This isn’t funny

The culture of dependency and hopelessness fostered by our federal and state governments have turned millions into slaves of the dole.  The biggest cause of poverty among children is unwed mothers.  Remember the Obama ad about Julia—total dependency.  Then if she tries to make something of herself with completing her education and getting a better job, she might find out she needs to give up benefits her family relies on.  So she hesitates, and doesn’t move ahead with her life.

40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton

                      

In 1970, a 22-year-old Sandra Cano was pregnant with her fourth child, after having lost custody of two of her children and adopting out the third. Abortion was illegal in Georgia, the state where Cano was living, except in extreme circumstances, but lawyers argued that she should be allowed to abort. In a decision released on the same day as Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed.

While the better known Roe v. Wade struck down all state restrictions on abortion pre-viability, Doe v. Bolton extended the right to abort through all nine months of pregnancy. But Doe v. Bolton was a lie claimed Cano: that she never actually wanted nor requested an abortion and that she was tricked into signing an affidavit about abortion in the process of filing for divorce from her husband and seeking to regain custody of her other children.According to Cano she actually fled the state when her mother and lawyer tried to force her into getting an abortion.

Norma McCorvey, the Roe of Roe v. Wade also believes abortion is evil.

“I was persuaded by feminist attorneys to lie; to say that I was raped, and needed an abortion,” Norma stated in last year’s ad. “It was all a lie.”

“Since then, over 50 million babies have been murdered. I will take this burden to my grave,” she said.

In 2003, Norma  filed to re-open Roe v. Wade, a petition that was dismissed. Much like Sandra, however, Norma continues to speak out about her involvement in the case.

“I'm 100 percent sold out to Jesus and 100 percent pro-life,” Norma writes in a testimony published on her website. "No exceptions. No compromise."

Full story of both women here.

The speech

Collectivist drivel. Four more years of listening to what the Russians got for 70.

"Everyone who watched the growth of [the Nazi and Fascist] movements in Italy and Germany has been struck by the number of leading men, from Mussolini downward, who began as socialists and ended as Fascists or Nazis. And what is true of the leaders is even more true of the rank and file of the movement. . . Many a university teacher during the 1930s has seen English and American students return from the Continent uncertain whether they were communists or Nazis and certain only that they hated Western liberal civilization."

The Road to Serfdom, F.A. Hayek.

Reminds me of a story. . .

Maybe I need to go back to coloring my hair. In the parking lot at Marc’s today I was walking carefully because we had about 1/2" of snow and I wasn't sure what was under it. A woman walked up to me, grabbed my arm and shoulder, and said, "Let me help you." She hung on all the way to the door. When she took off her knit cap, I decided she was every bit of 65. Must have been her good deed for the day.

And here’s the story. . .

An elderly woman spent a day shopping at the mall. Upon return to her vehicle, she found four strange males sitting in her car. Frightened, the woman dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun. She told the men that if they did not get out of the car, she would shoot. The four men ran off quickly, whereupon the lady got into the car. Her key however, would not fit. The woman realized that her car was the identical one parked a few spaces down. She went to the police department and reported the story. The officer on duty laughed hysterically and pointed to the other end of the counter where four pale men had reported a car jacking by a mean old lady; no charges were filed.

He forgot a few million—about 55 million

Designs by Birgit poster

The most anti-life president in the history of our country hides behind cute children. Even if born alive after an abortion, he won’t protect them.

Caffeine in energy drinks

If you get a little buzzed on coffee, watch out for those energy drinks.  Chart if from “patient page” of JAMA (free for download).

Te’o has given cartoonists some great opportunities

Unfortunately, the President just isn’t funny anymore.

The best of Abby

Dear Abby,

My husband has a long record of money problems. He runs up huge credit-card bills and at the end of the month, if I try to pay them off, he shouts at me, saying I am stealing his money. He says pay the minimum and let our kids worry about the rest, but already we can hardly keep up with the interest. Also he has been so arrogant and abusive toward our neighbors that most of them no longer speak to us. The few that do are an odd bunch, to whom he has been giving a lot of expensive gifts, running up our bills even more. Also, he has gotten religious. One week he hangs out with Catholics and the next with people who say the Pope is the Anti-Christ, and the next he's with Muslims.. Finally, the last straw. He's demanding that before anyone can be in the same room with him, they must sign a loyalty oath. It's just so horribly creepy! Can you help?

Signed, Lost

Dear Lost,

Suck it up and stop whining, Michelle. You're getting to live in the White House for free, travel the world, and have others pay for everything for you. You can divorce the jerk any time you want. The rest of us are stuck with the idiot for 4 more years.

Signed, Abby

If we can save even one child . . . Barack Obama

Corey Reynolds/David Gabriel

"I got season 7 of “The Closer” for my birthday in September. But we had to start watching from season one (husband rules), so we just finished it Thursday. Then we watched the additional material--fascinating panel discussion after the final episode of the cast (without Simmons who plays Chief Pope) plus main writer and director and producer. Hearing Brenda/Kyra without the accent and seeing David Gabriel/Corey Reynolds wearing earrings is a hoot. He's so drop dead gorgeous it is not a good look for him.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1556631/"

There is good news out there.

"In a 24/7 news cycle, sometimes we miss the good news. Another disease is close to being licked, maybe not on schedule (1995), but real progress. In 1986 there were about 3.5 million cases of Dracunculiasis in 20 countries of Africa and Asia. In 2011 there were 1,058, and the first 9 months of 2012, only 521 cases were reported. This nasty thing comes from drinking stagnant water with larvae which then grow in the body and come through the skin of the foot or leg and is terribly painful and debilitating.

JAMA, Jan. 9, 2013 and WHO, Oct. 2012 http://www.who.int/wer/2012/wer8743.pdf"

"Does anyone on the VP's task force read the reports we pay for? In December 2012 Bureau of Justice report: from 2001 to 2010, the rate of violence committed by strangers declined 47 percent and the rate committed by offenders the victims knew declined by 41 percent. Of the violence by stranger 10% used a gun; known assailant, 5% used a gun. Huge drop in 20 years.

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/vvcs9310pr.cfm"

Taxes pay for abortions

How’s that Arab Spring love affair working for Obama supporters?

“The Arab Spring has triggered unrest among competing ethnic groups in Northern Africa, the latest manifestation of which is the taking of 40 gas-plant employees taken hostages in eastern Algeria. The captors blamed French military intervention in nearby Mali. But Shiraz Maher, writing for the Wall Street Journal, explains animosity in the region lingers after NATO forces assisted Libyan rebels in deposing and killing Muammar Gaddafi. Weaponry left over the Libyan conflict is plentiful in the black market.” Yale Global Online

As Obama continues to take credit for the draw down of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (voted against anything that would have speeded the end of the war when Bush was in office), he expands hostilities in the middle east.  But his ga-ga, so in love supporters don’t see any problems. We still have no answers about Benghazi and the shipping of arms from Libya to Syria—40 tons, as I recall.

Who’s the biggest liar?

By Paula Priesse—Is Lance Armstrong the biggest liar? Not even close!

And this Washington Post headline today: “Is Lance Armstrong the world’s biggest liar?”

I dunno, did Lance say this: 1) “Transparency & the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”

2) “If I don’t have this done (economic recovery) in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”

3) “Today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office.”

4) “No family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.”

5) “These negotiations (Obamacare) will be televised on CSPAN.”

6) “We are going to work with you to lower your premiums by $2,500.”

7) “If you have insurance that you like, then you will be able to keep that insurance.”

Then there’s Gitmo, the stimulus, “private sector doing fine,” Benghazi and so on and so on. Sorry, much more but out of space. So Washington Post, “Is Lance Armstrong the world’s biggest liar?” NOT EVEN CLOSE! P

Is no one reading the December 2012 report?

According to the Justice Department, actual violence is down dramatically since 1994.  The virtual and entertainment industry violence is way up, if being unable to find a movie to watch is any indication.

Violent crime against youth, 1994-2010

Public blames parents and Hollywood

“This isn’t just about guns,” Biden said on Thursday at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. “It’s about the coarsening of our culture.

“Yes, that’s what I said, the coarsening of our culture, whether it’s with video games or movies or behavior,” Biden said.

Other types of violence is also declining.

“In 2010, strangers committed about 38% of nonfatal violent crimes, including rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. “ Of those incidents,  about 10% of violent victimizations committed by strangers involved a firearm, compared to 5% committed by offenders known to the victim.

Violence by strangers declining

Cowboy Quesadillas

              

Don’t blame the fast food industry.  I’ll bet this could do it!

How not to protect teachers or students

Yesterday teachers in Columbus received training in survival in the event of a school shooter. But someone needs to look at the current procedures. A teacher told me they don't know when they have lock down drills at her school if it is a drill or the real thing. That's just stupid. So if a teacher throws a hammer or stabs the assailant or throws a chemical from the lab to save his own life or to protect the kids, and it's not for real but just a drill, who will be blamed for the injury or assault?

Comparing Ohio and Illinois

Obama’s Second Inauguration

Language changes with the times and money flow

I remember "wife abuse."  But after gender equality, they found  out that women also abused men, it became "spousal abuse."  But then it was revealed that living together (aka shacking up) also produced nasty outcomes so it became "domestic violence." But research showed that gays and lesbians abused their lovers, so it was called "domestic partner abuse."  Now it is "intimate partner violence" (IPV) which is different than “elder abuse.”  We have an amazingly flexible language, always ready and willing to keep up with the flow of grant money.

http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1556964#qundefined

Oh well.  Like other rates of violence, the rate has gone down dramatically in the last 20 years.

Why are Americans working less?

From the Wall Street Journal article, The Wages of Unemployment

1.  Food stamps—even before the down turn in the economy the program was expanding under Bush. There are over 30 million more Americans receiving food stamps today than in 2000.

2.  Social Security disability payments. Supposedly, we’re healthier than ever, but five million receiving disability by 2000, 6.5 million by 2005, and rising to nearly 8.6 million today.

3.  Pell grants. More people in college, fewer in the work force. In 2000, fewer than 3.9 million young men and women received Pell Grant awards to attend college. The number rose one-third, to 5.2 million by 2005, and increased a million more by 2008. In the next three years, however, the number grew over 50%, to an estimated 9.7 million.

For many, it just doesn’t pay to work!  And obviously, this problem did not start with Obama!

Exploiting children

Obama needs to check the stats

Violent crime is way down since 1994 among the young, but Obama will never look at the stats. Doesn't fit his template of ripping the country apart by creating animosity among groups, races, genders, and religions. Now he wants to put in place a plan that will discourage people with depression or anxiety or bi-polar disorder from getting help because they fear being manipulated in a federal database. He's turning their doctors into snitches.

http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/vcay9410.pdf"

www.caintv.com

"Is there anything in Obama's proposals to take your 2nd amendment rights that would have saved the children of Sandy Hook? How about the 100+ black children in Chicago killed 2011-2012?"

Today I bought Velveeta labeled, “original”

Photo from Gr easy

Generally, I buy real cheese, but it is difficult to resist, and it is quite fattening.  Also, it makes my atrial fibrillation kick in, for some reason.  But I do remember the wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches, macaroni and cheese and scalloped potatoes my mother used to make. How did she get such simple foods to taste so good?

I also remember the great stuff she could make out of the wooden box!  Sometimes it would have wheels, we could paint it, put dollies in it, make houses, etc.

Today’s Velveeta still comes in 32 oz packages, and is labeled “pasteurized prepared cheese product.”

Flip, flop, clippity clop, through the slop

Texas releases map of gun owners

The right to keep and bear arms

It’s not about hunting deer; it’s not about a national guard.  Read your history of the Bill of Rights. Our founders feared the very power Obama is grabbing.

It looks like the president is planning to override the Constitution and our representative form of government (Congress makes the laws). Democrats should be very worried to be associated with this. You'd have to be from another planet without a course in American history, or a statist intent on taking away all personal freedoms, to think the 2nd amendment applies only to a National guard.

"When the first Congress convened for the purpose of drafting a Bill of Rights, it delegated the task to James Madison. Madison did not write upon a blank tablet. Instead, he obtained a pamphlet listing the State proposals for a bill of rights and sought to produce a briefer version incorporating all the vital proposals of these. His purpose was to incorporate, not distinguish by technical changes, proposals such as that of the Pennsylvania minority, Sam Adams, or the New Hampshire delegates. Madison proposed among other rights that "That right of the people... to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country; but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person. " In the House, this was initially modified so that the militia clause came before the proposal recognizing the right. The proposals for the Bill of Rights were then trimmed in the interests of brevity. The conscientious objector clause was removed following objections by Elbridge Gerry, who complained that future Congresses might abuse the exemption to excuse everyone from military service.

The proposal finally passed the House in its present form: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.: " In this form it was submitted into the Senate, which passed it the following day. The Senate in the process indicated its intent that the right be an individual one, for private purposes, by rejecting an amendment which would have limited the keeping and bearing of arms to bearing "For the common defense". "

1982, Preface, THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS REPORT of the 97th Congress.

Guns and hypocrisy

The clean out sort of fizzled

I started a major clean out the week of New Year's, I was going through boxes, repacking and pitching, but it fizzled. I'd
planned to go through all the greeting, holiday  and  sympathy cards, but after the project sat half finished, I put them all back in the box and pushed it under the bed . After reading through notes, some 20 years old or more, I just sighed.  Obviously, older ones are somewhere,  but where? I guess I’ll leave it for my daughter to figure out.  She’ll have no probably throwing everything out.

Then I bundled up a huge stack of clothing--mostly blazers from
the 90s and took them to the Discovery resale shop, along with craft items I'll never finish. I think one was an embroidery project from my last pregnancy (1964), and I'm not sure exactly what it was supposed to be. I was never very good at it. I wasn’t able to find a home for the cute window shade material I found in the attic, so it went too.  I took in two twin bed quilt/covers.  In our Abington Rd. house I had a border painted to match the print. They just take up too much space and will never be used again for anything except an extra blanket. Let's hope we never lose power in the winter, because they were my fall back option.

The genealogy genie has been visiting, and I’m getting a few blanks filled in.  Yesterday I found my husband’s cousin Jane—she wasn’t exactly lost, but we didn’t have an address.  I plan to send a note to my first cousin Joe whose name came up on the internet as a chef in a restaurant in Upland, CA.  I’ll see if he can tell me where his siblings are. It seems odd to know where a 3rd cousin twice removed is buried, but not have an address for a first cousin.

Ten Ways To Get In Shape To Own A Horse

I don’t own a horse, but saw this on the Facebook page of someone who has three.

1. Drop a heavy steel object on your foot. Don’t pick it up right away. Shout “Get off,stupid! Get off!”
2. Leap out of a moving vehicle and practice “Relaxing into the fall”. Roll lithely into a ball, and spring to your feet!
3. Learn to grab your checkbook out of your purse/pocket and write out a $200. check without even looking down.
4. Jog long distances carrying a halter and holding out a carrot. Go ahead and tell the neighbors what you’re doing.They might as well know now.
5. Affix a pair of reins to a moving freight train and practice pulling it to a halt. And smile as if you are really having fun.
6.  Hone your fibbing skills. “See hon, moving hay bales is fun!” and ” I’m glad your lucky performance and multi-million dollar horse won you first place - I’m just thankful that my hard work and actual ability won me second place”.
7. Practice dialing your chiropractors number with both arms paralyzed to the shoulder, and one foot anchoring the lead rope of a frisky horse.
8. Borrow the US Army slogan; “Be all that you can be’…(add) bitten, thrown, kicked, slimed, trampled.”
9. Lie face down in the mud in your most expensive riding clothes and repeat to yourself: “This is a learning experience, this is a learning experience,…”
10. Marry Money!

Violent crimes against youth—down

It appears that all those stories about how good things used to be for kids will have to be revised a bit.  The DOJ ‘s Violent Crime against Youth 1994-2010.

“From 1994 to 2010, the overall rate of serious violent crime against youth declined by 77%, from 61.9 victimizations per 1,000 youth ages 12 to 17 in 1994 to 14.0 per 1,000 in 2010 (figure 1). Among serious violent crimes against youth, the rate of rape or sexual assault declined by 68%, robbery declined by 77%, and aggravated assault declined by 80% . The overall rate of simple assault declined by 83% during the same period, from 125.1 victimizations per 1,000 youth in 1994 to 21.6 per 1,000 in 2010. Declines in simple assault against youth were similar
from 1994 to 2002 (down 61%) and from 2002 to 2010 (down 56%). Declines in serious violent crime were greater from 1994 to 2002 (down 69%) than from 2002 to 2010 (down 27%).”

“The rate of serious violent crime against youth ages 12 to 17 involving weapons declined by 80% from 1994 to 2010, and
the rate of serious violent crime involving serious injury decreased by 63%.”

“According to the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) the homicide rate for youth ages 12 to 17 declined by 65%, from 8.4 homicides per 100,000 youth in 1993 to 3.0 per 100,000 in 2010. Most of the decline in youth homicide occurred from 1993 to 2000, when the rate declined by 59% (from 8.4 per 100,000 in 1993 to 3.4 per 100,000 in 2000).  During the early 2000s, the youth homicide rate fluctuated, increasing in 2006 and 2007.
In 2010, the youth homicide rate was about Table 8 13% lower than the rate in 2000.”

Some headlines don’t surprise

Quentin Tarantino yells at interviewer when asked about movie violence

Report: Lohan was drinking and driving, popping pills during 'The Canyons'

Obama May Use Executive Power on Gun Control

Report: Lance Armstrong to admit doping to Oprah

Millions notice pay hit after payroll tax hike

A scramble for flu shots is under way

Democrats not done raising your taxes?

No charges for NBC host for on-air ammunition clip

Tiger Woods 'not worth' $3 million appearance fee, says Qatar golf official

How great grandfather’s death and wealth was reported

I’ve been doing some genealogy this week.  I move back and forth between recent, ancient, mine and my husband’s. Find a Grave on the internet and County histories are quite valuable.

The Elwood Indiana paper reported on my husband’s great grandfather’s death this way.

“Pioneer Resident of City Fell a Victim of Heart Trouble Sunday Afternoon and Died Before Assistance Could Reach Him. Had Attended Meeting Earlier in the Day.”

And it goes on to talk about Lewis Heffner’s contributions to the city, but particularly speculated on his wealth (based on inflation it would be about $3.5 million today) in sawmills and in farms and that he had two surviving daughters, one being Mrs. C.L. (Abbie) Bruce, my husband’s grandmother.

However, in my genealogy notes, I have the memories of C.L.’s daughter, Roberta, about her grandfather’s death, and she said:

“Grandfather Heffner was not a religious man, but after his wife died he went to a revival and confessed and joined.  He walked home in a blizzard, and collapsed and died (turned to stone, she said).  He was a Mason.  He had no will, and his assets were divided between Abbie and Vinnie.” 

Roberta said he owned 2 sawmills, one in Elwood, IN and one in Arkansas, and 3 farms and some buildings in Elwood.  Each daughter got about $50,000 each.  Roberta's parents (Abbie and Casselman) owned the sawmill/coal business in Elwood, to which her father added automobiles (Nash, Chevrolet).  Aunt Vinnie owned the Arkansas Mill and 2 farms and some of the buildings.  Her husband (Uncle Lew Whipple) quit working after they married.  He was so bad with the customers, that Roberta's grandfather paid him $50/week to stay away from the office.

Hospital hygiene—let’s get with the program!

Columbus Dispatch reported Thursday on a 2 year effort to improve hand washing in central Ohio hospitals. It's up from 29% to 86%. That's good, but folks, I learned this in first grade! I've been in the hospital 2 times in the last decade, and was shocked at the careless hygiene. The national hand-hygiene compliance rate is less than 50%, and doctors are worse than nurses. But there's no bigger bang for the buck, so take the time! http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/01/10/hospitals-efforts-raise-rate-of-hand-washing-to-86.html

Let’s save Social Security and Medicare by raising the age of eligibility

Social Security was designed for a nation with a life expectancy in the 60s. The plan was that not many would ever get what they were taxed for. Now it has increased by about 60% or about 30 years. But the years after 85 have also increased. If we want to save the safety net that many poor and low income rely on, the retirement age needs to be raised, as well as the Medicare age.

http://www.elderweb.com/book/appendix/1900-2000-changes-life-expectancy-united-states

Teachers apply for training in protecting themselves and their students

Over 1,000 Ohio teachers have already signed up for this program to provide free first responder training to educational employees. In order for a teacher, administrator or other school employee to be able to have a gun with them at school  in Ohio, all they need is to be able to legally carry a concealed firearm and a simple vote by their school board. No Ohio law prohibits them from having a gun at work. Many school boards have already voted to allow this.

“While Ohio generally prohibits firearms at schools, the law includes a provision that allows teachers and staff to carry firearms if the school board approves it. The Armed Teacher Training Program seeks to help teachers get permission to carry concealed firearms on the job and provide advanced training that goes above and beyond the typical requirements of concealed carry.”

The Academy awards

This is how serious politicians are about violence--not a peep about blood drenched academy award nominations--or any movies.

"The task force is slated to hold meetings this week with victims of gun violence, gun safety groups, hunting groups and gun owners. The task force will also meet with representatives of the film and video game industries."

Hollywood is a big donor to their campaigns, particularly Democrats. Do you think Biden is brave enough to discuss violence with them?

Twenty first century values

Joe Biden’s gun task force

2011 homicide rates, NY: 5 homicides with a rifle.  1 in 3 million chance of being killed by a rifle in that state.  But that's how crazy the left is. This hoop-la over guns is a cover up for a failed Congress and failed Presidency. He didn't do anything about dead black children in Chicago. Why?  Well, there was a campaign going on.  Now that he’s won, Obama wants to dismantle the Constitution.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

What proposals will come out of this that you think would have kept any of the mentally ill who shoot up malls, military bases, or schools from their insane rampages?

Texas teachers flocking to concealed carry classes

While the debate begins to rage in Washington on gun restrictions following last month's deadly school shooting in Connecticut, teachers in Texas have been flocking to the classes which will allow them to carry concealed weapons, 1200 WOAI news reports.

"But any gun is better than no gun when the bad guy has a gun."

Read more: http://www.the950.com/pages/joepags-kprc.html?article=10679231#ixzz2HQJe0bau

Sheffield ELEGANCE 502 Luncheon Plate 9.375 in. White Flowers Platinum Japan

What are you waiting for?  Do something crazy today for the New Year—like set a pretty table just for the heck of it.  You deserve it.  I bought 7 of these 9+” plates at a thrift shop in 2010 thinking I’d use them, but I never have.  They are very pretty.  I think I paid $1 each for them.  These days, platinum or silver edges are not popular because of microwaves and dishwashers, but why not use them if you have them?  So I’m toping mine with some pretty, not matching, but plain bowls with a silver rim, and will use the left over ham and bean soup tonight that my daughter made with her brother’s gift ham.

What might have they become?

Here’s my problem . . .

Found. Frank Lloyd Wright leather bound sketchbook

I’ve been shifting, repacking, tossing and trimming.  I had boxes of notebooks.  I found this one, c 2004 stored with the other $4.00 ones.  But it’s for sketching and not blogging, which is probably why I never used it.  The design is May Basket, the same as one of our pillows.

Accommodating newer technology

We did some furniture/TV shifting last night. We moved a smallish flat screen that travels to the lake house in the summer to my condo office and put the one that had a "hang-over" in the bedroom. But now the cat can't sit on it. But that meant we had to move some tables, too, since the little table wouldn’t hold the heavier TV in the bedroom.  Then that moved table didn’t seem steady, so I weighted it down with a very heavy piggy bank.

With our son-in-law’s help finding the bargain we bought a new TV (RCA) at Best Buy with a built in DVD player for the family room (aka office, aka man cave).  He loves to shop at that store and knew all the questions to ask.  It takes up a lot less room than the monster that was there, but he took it home to use in his basement exercise room—which seems only fair since it belonged to them. Flat screens don’t view well from the side like the rounded screens, but because they are so much lighter in weight, it’s not difficult to adjust them.

What dogs are probably thinking based on their breed…

I saw this on Facebook.  I have a Chihuahua grand puppy who visits.

Home made ham and bean soup with cornbread

My son got a large ham for Christmas and talked his sister into making bean soup with it.  She shared, so I thought corn bread might go well with the bean soup.  Don’t you love Google when you’re sorta, almost sure you could wing it, but you’d better check?  This is from Heather Likes Food.

Ingredients

2 cups Bisquick baking mix (I had Jiffy on hand)

1/2 cup sugar

½ cup cornmeal

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup water

½ cup melted butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix together eggs, water, and butter. Add the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. There’s no need to get the lumps out, over mixing will make your cornbread dry and tough. Pour batter into a greased 8×8 pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle. ENJOY!

Inmates are lining up to sign on!

Beth Shaw writes, “Dianne Fienstein received a petition signed by over 100K people stating they'd gladly give up all their weapons when all law-abiding citizens give up their guns. One guy who signed the petition as WV128943 said he hopes to see people unarmed when he is out in a few months so that he can pursue his career in a safer environment. He added that every one of the inmates people who have signed the petition have double pinky promised to give up their guns under the above mentioned conditions.”

Chinese scientist engaged in lawsuit against the Nobel Prize Assembly

A Chinese scientist, Dr. Rongxiang  Xu, claims to have discovered “human body regenerative restoration science''  and has filed a suit in Orange County, California, seeking credit for the research that led to the work of Sir John B. Gurdon (England) and Shinya Yamanaka (Japan)  for their discovery that "mature, specialised cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body."

“The work of Gurdon and Yamanaka led to a practical medical use for stem cell research that sidesteps the main argument by anti-abortion opponents” a feat pretty much ignored by our President who in 2009 reinstated embryonic stem cell research paid for by government funding (it was never illegal or restricted).

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/08/world/europe/sweden-nobel-prize-medicine/index.html

http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e8414/rr/619952

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1087407/world-renowned-scientist-dr-rongxiang-xu-speaks-out-about-nobel-assembly-statement-claiming-they-have-not-heard-of-him

Our generation, not so much . . .

This is never a problem for us because of the age of most of the people with whom we socialize, but I sure wish the people at the next table would try it!

Al Gore—naked hypocrite

Al Gore, inherited tobacco money and a famous name, and now has further enriched himself in ways no one can support.

1) Sold his failing cable network to Al-Jazeera, an Islamic presence in our media and huge critic of US;

2) kept it out of... the hands of Glenn Beck, a libertarian and Mormon who made his money the old fashioned way (didn't inherit it);

3) avoided the new taxes of 2013 by clenching the deal in 2012, taxes he claimed were good for us;

4) will be paid in filthy fossil fuel money so he can enlarge his already huge carbon footprint.

Hypocrisy, your name plate says Gore. Wear it like a proud Democrat.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/45752

About Snopes and other fact checking websites

I'm a librarian, and I've been impressed by Snopes' research, the on-line search operation conservatives hate.  The owners have never kept it a secret that they are a small operation.  When you go to the library you can get a lot better information asking one reference person who will go after your question with a good strategy, experience, and a gut feeling that develops over time (or you're the 10th person that day to ask), than you will if you try to google it yourself and look at the first 5 based on an algorithm that favors some advertiser. 

In my opinion, the reason people don't like Snopes is because they put faith in a really dumb viral story they saw on the internet, and get mad when it is disproven. There are more fact finders debunking right wing stories than left because the right seems to have so many gullible folks. (Better gullible than mean and destructive, right?) When I write a conservative blog entry, the screamers and nasties are usually liberals who call me every imaginable name--but they are really mad about the facts I cite. (My filter deletes people with bad manners.)

I NEVER share a story without checking it first, and probably 50% of the time there are errors or exaggerations--quotes from famous people seem to be the worst—why try to improve on Billy Graham or John Wayne?  It’s a mystery.

Facts don't belong to a political party, but politics do definitely influence which questions are answered. Is Snopes' ownership liberal?  Probably.  And librarians are 223:1 liberal to conservative, but most people still go to the library for information and pay taxes to support them.

http://www.rd.com/home/rumor-detectives-true-story-or-online-hoax/

Promises, promises—your Social Security

At the outset of the Social Security program (law was passed in 1935), the federal government published an informational pamphlet that stated the following about Social Security taxes: "And finally, beginning in 1949, 12 years from now, you and your employer will each pay 3 cents on each dollar you earn, up to $3,000 a year. That is the most you will ever pay." 

Social Security is a better program for the poor than the middle class. 

"A person who earns $15,000/year will pay $86,000 in payroll taxes (employer and employee combined) over 44 years of work. When he retires, his annual benefit will be $10,128 or 11.8% of his lifetime payroll taxes. But a person who earns $110,000/year will pay $627,000 in payroll taxes over 44 years of work. When he retires, his annual benefit will be $31,260/year or 5.0% of his lifetime payroll taxes."

Most of us today would be thrilled to get almost 12% on our retirement accounts. The down side is you can't pass it along to your survivors like a private account.

This is a very informative site. 

The Tennessee Waltz

This song, the B side of Boogie Woogie Santa Claus,  is forever associated with Patty Page, who died New Year’s Day.  Page was the top-selling female singer of the 1950s with more than 100 million records.  It tells of a love lost to a friend, who danced the Tennessee Waltz with the singer’s lover.  It was written by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart in 1946, but was made famous by Page in 1950.

In 1950, I wasn’t listening to too many pop tunes, although I’m sure I heard them in the background on radio.  But I do remember hearing Tennessee Waltz around 1950 when riding in the horse truck with Charlie Ranz.   He sang it. Silly me.  I wanted to actually hear the Tennessee Waltz, not just a song about the Tennessee Waltz, and asked him if he knew THAT song.

 

Summer 1950 on a gray pony with Charlie Ranz with his truck in the background. Sweet memories of a dear man.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57561785/patti-page-remembered-by-george-jones-charlie-daniels/

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/01/02/tennessee-waltz-singer-patti-page-dies-at-age-85/

Here’s my plan

Genealogy the casual way

Found a few more cousins on Facebook over the holiday--grandchildren and great grandchildren of my grandparents, Joe and Bessie (seated), children and grandchildren of Gladys (far right), Dad's sister who died in 1976. She had the biggest smile and greatest laugh in Northern Illinois. My dad had four sisters--all loaded with personality and good looks.

Crafting religious freedom

"Lang may yer lum reek!"

We Bruces don't have any Scottish customs (but I do have a genealogy from Cousin Jim Bruce going back to Scotland), but I thought this one might be nice. A traditional Scottish New Year toast is: "Lang may yer lum reek!" It's not as racy as it sounds. It means "Long may your chimney smoke"--a reference to coal and keeping warm and prosperous. We've come a long way since enough coal for the fireplace was a good luck toast. We are very blessed indeed!

I'm going to try the "drop a note about the good things that happen" in a jar idea and then read them next New Year's Eve--an idea which I found on Facebook. I have a nice glass jar with a blue lid that had candy in it--from a client, I think. So I dropped in a note this evening about the wonderful church service last night and dinner with friends to bring in the New Year (technically not 2013, but a nice memory), and I asked my husband for a good thing, and he said, "Northwestern won its first bowl game in 64 years."

From Day 1 of the page a day calendar we got from sister Debbie.

"God uses marriage to help us eliminate loneliness, multiply our effectiveness, establish families, raise children, enjoy life, and bless us with relational intimacy. But beyond this, marriage also shows us our need to grow and deal with our own issues and self-centeredness through the help of a lifelong partner."

If I did this

I’d be writing poetry in my home office.

http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/poetry-at-work/

My 2009 New Year’s Resolution

Was to buy a decent floor lamp.  I think this might be it. JC Penney’s.

Uses three 40W bulbs and one 100W bulb, maximum—not sure how that compares with what I bought in December 2009 or if you can have all that wattage on at one time.  When I was growing up, my parents had floor lamps with a number of bulbs so you had some control over the light.  They are not a piece of art, but that’s OK if all you want to do is read or mend something.

Different rules, of course, for California.  They’re probably hoarding their old lamps. “Due to Title 20 legislation, California customers will receive a lamp with an on/off switch and a free compact florescent bulb.” Woot!

Have a blessed and holy New Year!

Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1901)

The January selection for our book club is Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1901). I'm finding it very interesting, and Kipling's knowledge of the country of his birth which he left at a young age is amazing. Also enlightening are the notes and introduction in my used paperback copy (Penguin, 1987) by Edward Said, probably read by thousands of high school and college students in the last 25 years. Dinesh D'Sousa calls Edward Said Obama's founding father.... "One of Obama’s founding fathers who remains relatively unknown is the Palestinian radical Edward Said. Prior to his death in 2003, Said was the leading anti-colonial thinker in the United States. Obama studied with Said at Columbia University and the two maintained a relationship over the next two decades."

Said is actually an excellent writer, and I’m thankful to have his critical analysis of a novel 110 years old.  But as a man without a country, a U.S. immigrant always unhappy with his adopted home, he reminds me so much of all the transient (in soul and sometimes body) faculty and foreign students I knew at the University of Illinois in the 1950s-60s. Because I was a foreign language major many of my instructors were emigres—driven from homeland by politics or war.  First degree relatives shot, burned or imprisoned, never to be seen again.  The cultural heritage of centuries ripped away.  Many of my classmates came to the U.S. as “displaced persons” as toddlers or children after WWII--grateful for their lives, but always mourning what had been lost to Stalin, or Mao, or Hitler, or Tito, etc.  Some had been ethnic Chinese whose families had lived for years outside China, sort of double displacement.

No matter what is good in the novel Kim, Said can't get past British imperialism, as Obama can't get past what he calls American imperialism. One can substitute Said's situation for what he says about colonial powers/Kim's: "For what one cannot do in one's own [homeland--anywhere in the middle east or Asia] where to try to live out the grand dream of a successful quest is only to keep coming up against one's own mediocrity and the world's corruption and degradation, one can do abroad." (p. 42 introduction, Penguin ed.) I think Said enjoyed his tiny celebrity status as the ultimate anti-colonialist, and he would have been a nobody in any other country without the give and take and freedom of speech he was allowed in the U.S. and classrooms filled with adoring disciples ready to deny anything good in Western civilization.

If you live with a librarian. . .

Lunchtime conversation may include, “I was looking at the UN statistics on homicide yesterday and noticed some very odd things.” Then the spousal eyes glaze over—sandwich in hand he heads for his man cave.

Of course, the compilers warn that not all countries keep stats the same way, nor are all current. But you can’t miss the obvious—the homicide rates for North America-- Canada (1.6 per 100,000) and the United States (4.8)--are far lower than Central and South America. Brazil 21 per 100,000, Columbia 31.4, Dominican Republic 25, Jamaica 40.9, El Salvador 69.2, Honduras 91.6. 

And then there is poor little French speaking Haiti (6.9)—apparently far safer than its island neighbor, Spanish speaking Dominican Republic, which is much more wealthy and developed.  And the African countries are almost as high—Cote d’Ivoire is 56.9 for instance, Lesotho 35.2, Malawi 36, except those African countries with Islamic rule have low homicide rates.  (Maybe covering up the women works since most homicides are committed by men.) The tables don’t specify guns or knives, clubs or poison. But countries with lower gun ownership than the U.S. do have higher homicide rates. 

Like every other bad social charting, our homicide rate soared with the war on poverty and then began dropping in the 90s, although it hasn’t returned to the 1950s level before the government encouraged men to leave their families and let them fend for themselves.

Norway has the highest rate of gun ownership in Western Europe, yet possesses the lowest murder rate. In contrast, Holland's murder rate is nearly the worst, despite having the lowest gun ownership rate in Western Europe. Sweden and Denmark are two more examples of nations with high murder rates but few guns

 http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/homicide.html

There are plenty of statistics out there—but I’m sure Congress will just throw them at each other since this isn’t about life, safety or property, but about politics.

As they play kick the can again

the President gives everyone a raise for showing up!

Why liberals hate Tim Scott, a newly appointed black Republican from South Carolina

“Taxation is a form of slavery. When a man does not receive the benefits of his toils because it is taken from him by the government, that is a form of slavery. As a black man, he [Scott]should be anti-tax.

Looking back at the creation of the unions, one must remember that unions were created in order to keep the black man from getting certain jobs. Even today, the Democrats in the state of New York do not allow BOCES programs in the state’s five big-city minority-student school systems because they don’t want black kids to learn a trade that might enable them to compete with white tradesmen for unionized jobs. As a black man, Rep. Tim Scott should be anti-union.

As far as abortion, when one reads the words of the Eugenists who promoted abortion to kill off black babies in the wombs of their mothers in order to “improve the genetics of the population,” and when one considers the fact that abortion mills are purposely placed in ghettos where they’ll be more likely used to kill black babies, it is no surprise that Rep. Tim Scott is against abortion.

All three of these things that this liberal despises Tim Scott for opposing are things that the Democrat Party use to institutionalize inequality in society.”

The Frederick Douglass Foundation

Mental illness and guns

Mack Rights writes about how the mentally ill respond to psychotropic drugs

“People talk about mental illness all the time, but they don’t too often speak of the side effects of psychotropic anti-depressants. Nor do they like to talk about the fact that 90% of mass murders are done by those on psychotropic drugs. Nor do they talk about the fact that many on these drugs commit suicide due to constantly changing brain chemistry. Nor do they talk about why so many on these drugs actually mentally snap.

While I’ve written about this more extensively in the past, I’ll give a brief description. Anti-depressants and ADHD drugs very often change the brain’s chemistry so that it begins to rely upon the artificially high level of neurotransmitters in their brain’s synapses. These neurotransmitters then guarantee that the drug taker feels good all the time, no matter what happens. This is bad when the taker of the anti-depressant suddenly doesn’t like the fact that he or she is no longer able to feel sadness upon being informed of sad news. Many of the normal emotions in life are then repressed. The feeling of artificial and euphoric happiness is the feeling all the time no matter what is going on.

Eventually, the person may try to experiment with trying not to take the drugs that the brain has become reliant upon. A crash occurs. A major crash sometimes. The brain’s synapses become devoid of the neurotransmitters that we require to function in life. This crash can also occur when the drug is replaced with another. These crashes are common. By the way, if you are taking anti-depressants or ADHD drugs and are freaked out by what I’ve just written, please do not try to quit using these drugs without help from professionals. The addictions are real, and the withdrawals are severe.

And that’s why guns aren’t recommended for people whose happiness depends upon the use of a drug to maintain an acceptable brain chemistry.”

Gun control laws and liberal policies

What became of Mark Basseley Youssef?

Jeddah had Raif Badawi of Saudi Arabia could get the death penalty for his offenses against Allah--an internet web site “Saudi Arabian Liberals." Don't we have someone in jail in this country for being offensive to Allah and the Muslim faith? Blamed for something he didn't do? Benghazi?  So what's happening with Mark Basseley Youssef? Amnesty International considers Badawi to be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression. What has AI said about our government's prisoner's freedom of expression?

He got a year in prison

A Resolution for 2013

It's not about children, about safety, or violence, it's about politics

A gun control debate in Congress is probably needed, because the general public needs to hear about declining gun violence rates and the thousands of gun laws on the books; also include our failing mental health system and rising violent themes in movies and video game industry. Then let Jamie Foxx testify and brag about his killing only white people in his latest movie.

 

"Ivy League bound youngsters in private schools across the nation are the beneficiaries of top notch security systems which almost always include armed personnel. Yet ruling class pols like Obama and Bloomberg want to deny regular folks the same security their children enjoy. Obama, with his four-year "under the radar" push against our Second Amendment rights, has no problem suggesting the underclasses put their kids in harm's way."

 

American Thinker

 

A task force report on firearms dated April 2002 on violence involving children based on a systematic review of all available studies. They went to a lot of work, but I doubt Congress will ever consider it because the task force couldn't determine the effectiveness of the firearm laws to prevent violence or reduce violent outcomes. Minds are already made up and this has become a political issue, not one based on facts and figures.

 

Task force on violence

 

When Britain and Australia disarmed their citizens, the criminals did what the bad guys always do--they didn't obey the law.

 

Culture of violence

 

Homicide is primarily a problem of maleness--victim and perp--youth and ethnicity. Homicide rates among non-Hispanic, African-American males 10-24 years of age (62.2 per 100,000) exceed those of Hispanic males (21.5 per 100,000) and non-Hispanic, White males in the same age group (3.4 per 100,000) (CDC 2009a). Obama ignored these facts until white suburban children were killed, then said he had been too busy fundamentally transforming our society to do anything like appoint a task force. Can't imagine why blacks support him, except for his race.

 

CDC Report on Youth Violence

 

No surprise here. "Researchers found that people who played a violent video game for three consecutive days showed increases in aggressive behavior and hostile expectations each day they played. Meanwhile, those who played nonviolent games showed no meaningful changes in aggression or hostile expectations over that period."

 

Violent video games

 

 

More abortion coverage for military women

I certainly don’t think of abortion as “healthcare” since someone always dies, but was surprised that the U.S. military was “behind” the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) coverage of abortion (for any reason, even gender selection, any time even when viable) for its staff. In fact, ELCA congregations are required to carry this insurance.

“Congress, in the pre-Christmas rush, passed a Democrat-sponsored provision that will allow women in the U.S. military to use their health insurance to pay for abortion in cases of rape or incest. Right now, the Defense Department pays for abortion only when the mother's life is at stake.
The expanded abortion coverage is included in the defense authorization bill that is now on its way to President Obama for his anticipated signature. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), introduced the abortion measure.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/congress-expands-abortion-coverage-women-us-military

Tribute to the Minnick boys

I didn't expect to ever see our family on YouTube. Here's a very touching tribute to the Minnick boys, sons of my cousin Evelyn Corbett. I noticed it on the Facebook page of their brother-in-law, married to my first cousin, once removed. They spent much of their childhood in Mt. Morris, Illinois and attended school there. Lonnie died in January of 2010, and Larry died in February of 2010.  Julian (little blond boy near the end) died in 1987.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjyvi0tJx2I&feature=share

What we’ve come to expect—David Gregory

 

End of the year contributions

The Christian’s first responsibility is to tithe to the home congregation where we worship, serve and enjoy the fellowship of Christian friends. Our home church supports through our tithes and offerings over 50 missions from food pantry to crisis pregnancy to campus outreach to foreign missions and missionaries.  However, there are many other worthwhile organizations and services from which we benefit directly or for which we pray, or to which we’d like to add additional support.  There are some that were dropped last year due to their health insurance for paid staff covering abortion (something which many ministries may soon have no control over if it is mandated by the President and HHS in a move to squelch religious freedom). Also this year there were many political appeals, and after the election and our earlier donations which failed to make changes, we did not continue.

Four of these have direct ties to people we know from within our congregation who are serving the Lord full time.  Because I listen to or watch a lot of Catholic media which I find superior to what is available on Protestant stations, I support them (no advertising).  Lakeside, of course, is a private Chautauqua association where we have had a second home since 1988, and where we vacationed with our children beginning in 1976.  We benefit tremendously from its outstanding programming 10 weeks during the summer, and want it to continue for many years in the future.  My husband has been on several boards there and teaches at the art center.

                      

Pregnancy Decision Health Centers, Columbus $100

Lutheran Bible Translators $100

Eternal Word Television Network, Alabama $25

St. Gabriel Catholic Radio AM 820. Columbus $25

168 Film Project, John Ware $25

Pinecrest Community, Mt. Morris, IL $25  (broken link)

Hilltop Preschool, Columbus, Jane Leach $25

World Mission Prayer League $25

Into the Field (Jennifer Cameron)  $25

Cum Christo  $25

C.O.C.I.N.A.  (Haiti) $100

Lakeside Association  $1250

         

Prayer on public property

Apparently, religious faith is OK on state property in times of crisis. In an article on how to help children cope with the Newtown tragedy at an Ohio State medical website, I noticed this suggestion: "Please keep all of the victim’s families in your prayers."

(Apostrophe alert, but since the writer's heart was in the right place, I didn't correct it.)

Where is the logic?

What a bunch of liberal boobs

wrote one reader when the NY paper, The Journal News, published the names and addresses of gun owners of several NYC suburban counties.  “You also made a map for criminals to use to find homes to rob (both those who don’t have guns, and those who do, since often burglaries about about stealing guns).   The paper has treated law-abiding gun owners, exercising their 2nd amendment rights, like sex offenders.  Everyone in that community should drop their advertising and subscription to that paper.  Somewhere I think I saw on the internet that the home address of Janet Hasson, president and publisher, had been posted. I supposed it would require too much real journalism to find the illegal guns.

http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/newspaper-gun-owners-map/2012/12/26/id/469039?s=al&promo_code=114AC-1#ixzz2GCUsxjGl

When I went to college, an A was an A

But not anymore.  The more prestigious the college, the more grade inflation.

“Contemporary data indicate that, on average across a wide range of schools, A’s represent 43% of all letter grades, an increase of 28 percentage points since 1960 and 12 percentage points since 1988. D’s and F’s total typically less than 10% of all letter grades. Private colleges and universities give, on average, significantly more A’s and B’s combined than public institutions with equal student selectivity. Southern schools grade more harshly than those in other regions, and science and engineering-focused schools grade more stringently than those emphasizing the liberal arts. At schools with modest selectivity, grading is as generous as it was in the mid-1980s at highly selective schools. These prestigious schools have, in turn, continued to ramp up their grades. It is likely that at many selective and highly selective schools, undergraduate GPAs are now so saturated at the high end that they have little use as a motivator of students and as an evaluation tool for graduate and professional schools and employers.”

http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=16473

Christian cruises

The only Christian cruise we ever took was in 2009 when a group of Lutherans and Greek Orthodox from Columbus, Ohio, traveled to the Holy Land via a cruise ship after flying into Greece.  It was a fabulous, spirit filled trip.  We did have good food and some Christian entertainment, but nothing I would call hedonistic.  It’s just a great way to travel (we were bussed to the sites after docking).  One woman did meet her future husband on the cruise (he was a waiter).  This Catholic blogger seems to see it as a particularly distasteful Protestant form of entertainment and doesn’t like it that Catholics are now doing it.

I can see Protestants having Cruises, there is some logic there. In most Protestantism (not all), there is no sanctuary and entertainment is a key factor in bringing in the crowds, so a Cruise makes sense. Plus, with the contraceptive and divorce mindset firmly implanted, a Cruise is great for those couples who are holding off having kids so they can see the world first, as well as a great place to find a second spouse. And with Christians in general not too far removed from the mainstream Paganism, it seems a Cruise is a venue all Americans should be up for. And that's why Catholics should not be following behind.

http://catholicnick.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-catholic-cruises-are-not-good-idea.html