She refused to say that

When the Catholics were faced with an updated English version of the Mass in 2011, one woman responded to the new wording, “I was offended at the insertion of "I have sinned greatly" into the Introductory Rite. "I don't go around sinning greatly," she said. "I am not going to say this."

Of course, we Lutherans don’t get big and little, grievous and ordinary.  We just sin constantly by violating all commandments as summarized into two by Jesus.  In the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) we say,

Most merciful God, we confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen. ( Lutheran Book of Worship, p. 56,  based on 1 John 1:8)

Thought, word, and deed.  That about covers it.  And that’s sinning greatly. 

Happy Birthday, Fats Domino

The B side of Red Sails in the Sunset (1963) was Song for Rosemary. He married Rosemary in 1948; they were married for 60 years (I think she died in 2008). Also to my knowledge he never grabbed his crotch to sell a song.

The YouTube of Song for Rosemary (instrumental) shows it's on Philips Record. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL3dmEec6ww

So many broken promises . . .

And like an abused wife, the voters came back for more.

Let’s personalize our Obama problem

If you had a friend/acquaintance who was upside down on his mortgage, had credit card debt of about $30,000, had borrowed not only from his parents and his children, but his shyster Uncle who was known to be a knee-capper, had not yet paid off his college loans and it was time for his kids to enroll, who nickel and dimed his church, who was known to cut corners at work, invested in Ponzi schemes and lied a lot, would you tell him it was a good idea to spend even more to cover his debts? Of course not. But that's what about 50% of the voters did in November in selecting a known spend thrift as their leader. And even now they swoon when he chatters on about everything except how to get out of the mess he made.

“During Barack Obama’s first term as president of the United States, the debt of the federal government increased by $5.8 trillion, which exceeds the combined debt accumulated under all presidents from George Washington through Bill Clinton.

The new federal debt accumulated in Obama's first term equaled approximately $50,521 for each of household in the country.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/first-term-obama-increased-debt-50521-household-more-first-42-presidents-53-terms

                             

Watching what New Yorkers drink

What does NYC chief nanny Mayor Bloomberg say about fruit/veggie drinks? A 12-ounce can of cola has 33 grams of sugar and about 136 calories. He limits the sale to 16 ounces (this will cost the consumer and the environment more). I have a Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness drink, 15.2 ounces, 60 grams of sugar, 280 calories. It has apple, pineapple, mango, banana, kiwi, (all in concentrate or puree) green tea, spinach, broccoli, barley grass, wheat grass, Jerusalem artichoke, and some other stuff. However, no sugar has been added--it's a natural ingredient in fruits and vegetables, especially in corn which is high in fructose a main ingredient in a lot of pop and fruit mix drinks. Now, my green drink (it's really tasty) is a lot more nutritious than pop with vitamins C, A, B, zinc and manganese, but I don't think Mr. Nanny is even looking at anything except sugar per ounce.

Blacks voted in Revolutionary times

Black history month. . .

Blacks voted long before the 1965 Voting Rights Act (which Democrats fought). The infamous 1856 Dred Scott decision in which a Democratic-controlled US Supreme Court observed that blacks “had no rights which a white man was bound to respect; and that the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.” Non-Democrat Justice Benjamin R. Curtis, one of only two on the Court who dissented in that opinion, provided a lengthy documentary history to show that many blacks in America had often exercised the rights of citizens – that many at the time of the American Revolution “possessed the franchise of [voters] on equal terms with other citizens.”

State constitutions protecting voting rights for blacks included those of Delaware (1776), Maryland (1776), New Hampshire (1784), and New York (1777). Pennsylvania also extended such rights in her 1776 constitution, as did Massachusetts in her 1780 constitution. 

As a result of these provisions, early American towns such as Baltimore had more blacks than whites voting in elections; and when the proposed US Constitution was placed before citizens in 1787 and 1788, it was ratified by both black and white voters in a number of States. (All references are to free blacks, not slaves.)

For citations and information about how Democrats fought against rights for blacks even into the 1960s, see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1072053/posts

Racist, American style, born in Texas

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/apr/16/2006041

http://www.stopliberallies.com/gringo-killer-jose-angel-gutierrez-professor-at-the-univ-of-texas-at-arlington-2480.html6-122222-1672r/

A haunted painting?

When you live with an artist (or two if you count me), you have a lot of art in the closets (we also buy it), so we're always rearranging. Last week we did a major shift. I've been hearing really creepy noises in the living room in the early a.m. I’ve decided it is the painting of the big house near Delaware, Ohio,  It is so large it has acrylic instead of glass in the frame to reduce the weight. When the heat comes on it makes expanding noises, then contracts.

He was an architect before he was a painter, so as architects will do, he remodeled it a bit for the painting--took off an addition that detracted from the original bones of the house. I think he also gave it a coat of paint. It had been refurbished about 20 years ago, but had fallen a bit in recent years. So if you drive by this house, it may not look quite like this.

The environmental regulations have become so restrictive that it is very difficult to save homes like these—lead paint, sometimes buried fuel oil tanks, etc.  Plus the heating costs with 12’ ceilings is often prohibitive. 

Tax in the Hat

The President proposed 29 new programs in the SOTU

And he’s running around campaigning for gun control.  Well, I might be trying to deflect the damage too because:

“On Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was first inaugurated, the total debt of the federal government was $10,626,877,048,913.08, according to the U.S. Treasury. As of the close of business on Jan. 17, the last day reported by the Treasury before Obama’s second inauguration, the total debt of the federal government was $16,432,631,489,854.70.

Thus, from Obama’s first inauguration to his second, the federal government’s debt grew by $5,805,754,440,941.62.

Given that the Census Bureau currently estimates that there are 114,916,000 households in the United States, the $5,805,754,440,941.62 debt increase under Obama equals about $50,521 per household.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/first-term-obama-increased-debt-50521-household-more-first-42-presidents-53-terms

Suggestions for Oscars 2014

“First, environmentalists that you are, arrive next year in Chevy Volts instead of gas-guzzling limos. Secondly, since you love to preach about gun control, ban all security and designate the surrounding area a gun-free zone. If it’s good enough for schools it’s good enough for you. Finally, since you’ll want to help the President you love so much, insist upon no more tax breaks for any of your productions. Do all this and you can proudly call yourselves Obama loving, Hollywood liberals!”  Paula Priesse

Les Paul and Mary Ford, Monday Memories

           

Metal Recommendations is giving away Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty 1957 2 PU VOS on Facebook.

I don't need a Les Paul Black Beauty, but can think of others who might. I remember listening to Les Paul and Mary Ford in the 1950s on 78 records in the family "music room" in our house at 4 South Hannah. In the back of the house overlooking the pine trees, the music room held the family piano, Carol’s saxophone, my trombone, Mom’s cello and the children’s record player.  In the evening the room doubled as my dad's office.  It also had a closet with built in shelves where books were stored.  Our piano was an upright, purchased used when we lived in Forreston, with a black varnish on it.  My mother refinished it to a lovely light walnut, I think.    Carol’s sax was originally my Uncle Clare’s as I recall, but was probably traded in later for one with better pads. One of my niece’s now has the cello, although a great-grandchild plays cello.  My trombone was sold in the 1960s before we moved to Columbus, although I do have one of much lower quality now.

           

But back to guitars.  We do have a guitar in our house.  My husband got one for Christmas 2011, and is teaching himself not only guitar, but how to read music.  He says he want to be better before he takes lessons.

            

Haitian Creole—a brief history

“Kreyòl, or Haitian Creole, is the major language of Haiti, spoken by nearly all the 10,000,000 people who live there, plus those in the widespread Haitian diaspora. Its vocabulary (but not the grammar) is primarily based on 18th-century French, with admixtures from African languages, English, and others. Although it is now an official language of Haiti, it has historically had second-class status to French, which was spoken only by the elite and educated, Kreyol being spoken by everyone else. Likely because its use was (and still is) strongly related to social class, the first texts in Kreyol did not appear until the 1920's; orthography (spelling) was finally standardized in 1979.”

The above is from the Book of Common Prayer (Episcopal)

My husband doesn’t speak Creole, French, or Spanish, but by the time his students graduate from Institution Univers located in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, they know those plus English.  Usually a senior is appointment to translate for him, although most of the students can understand, if not speak, English.

NASA Johnson Style (parody)

Brian Schwing, a 22-year-old Ohio State University intern from Cincinnati at NASA in Houston, directed NASA Johnson Style, which shows his fellow interns and astronauts at Johnson Space Center dancing like Gangnam Style singer Psy and singing altered lyrics about the space agency, written by Schwing.  Writing it was the easy part; it took 200 hours to produce and edit down 15 yours of footage to 4 minutes.

Ohio keeps some adults forever children

Ohio House Bill 61 introduced by Antonio and Pelanda will permit people who were adopted between the years of 1964 and 1996 to access their original birth certificates once they reach the age of 18. Adoptees who were born before 1964 and after 1996 have nearly unfettered access to their original birth records, while it is nearly impossible for adults adopted between these years to obtain the same documents.

I have no idea why this law was ever passed, but it was not for the good of the person whose birth information was fictionalized and falsified, signed and notarized. I suspect someone in the legislature or with great influence in the state of Ohio in the 1960s preferred not to be found out. It's the only thing that sounds logical in this completely un-American law.

If liberalism worked, Detroit would be fabulous

What if good people do bad things?

Abby Johnson writes:

You know, I'm a pretty good person. And I do lots of nice things. We give to dozens of prolife charities. We are active in our church. We volunteer for many different organizations. So what if I decided to go on a killing spree and murder 10 people? I mean, I do good things...so certainly I can get a pass!!

No? Well then, why do we give a pass to Planned Parenthood? Yes, they may do some good things...but they kill over 300,000 people a year.

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Now why would he lie?

http://www.factcheck.org/2012/10/obamas-inflated-jobs-claim/

• Viewers would need to pay close attention to the on-screen graphic to know that the ad refers only to employment gains starting in March 2010, omitting the 4.3 million jobs that were lost in the first year of Obama’s term.
• And there’s no way a viewer would know that the total counts only private-sector jobs, omitting continuing losses in government employment.

According to the most recent employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy has eked out a net gain of 325,000 jobs since January 2009, when Obama took office. And that’s giving credit for roughly 386,000 jobs that the BLS has announced, on a preliminary basis, that it will be adding to this year’s employment totals next year, as a result of its routine annual “benchmarking” analysis.

She will grow up to fight injustice, unless. . .

Where are the sad faces, outrage and body count for Obama’s wars?

At it again: our peace prize prez. "President Obama announced Friday that about 100 U.S. troops have been deployed to the West African country of Niger, where defense officials said they are setting up a drone base to spy on al-Qaeda fighters in the Sahara." [Washington Post]

In 2011 he sent troops to Uganda. In 2012, Mali. Somalia. Tunisia. Pakistan. Then with the Benghazi bumble we found out he was gun running tons of weapons to Syrian rebels. He sent back up troops to Jordan and Turkey for the Syrian Civil War.  Who has approved this? Certainly not Congress.

Remember how outraged Democrats were when Bush got Congressional approval for a war, named that or not, because of WMD intel from the Clinton years?

Remember how the press was right on top of every coffin or body bag that came home during the Bush years? Obama lost 2,000 American military in Afghanistan in 2.5 years; Bush 2,000 in 6 years. Where are the sad faces and sighs from the MSM reporters and Sunday panels?

Gallant, Goofus, and Highlights

              

My cousin Jodie Strickland of NC posted this “remember when” photo on Facebook today.  If you're from Columbus, you probably know it was published here--I think it was on Rt. 33 near 5th Ave. Garry C. Myers III, the CEO of Highlights, was the child model for Gallant of the cartoon panel, Gallant and Goofus of Highlights. His grandparents Garry Cleveland Myers and Caroline Clark Myers founded Highlights in 1946. He died January 26, 2005. The parents of young "Gallant" were killed in a plane crash and he and his siblings were raised by an aunt and uncle in Texas. He joined the board of Highlights when he was 24, went to work there when he got out of the Army and worked up through the ranks and became CEO in 1981. Gallant and Goofus appeared also in many sermons. The only reason I know any of that is because I wrote a blog about him in 2005.

WHY DO DOGS LIVE LESS THAN HUMANS? ANSWER OF A 6 YEAR OLD

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker ‘s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.
The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s Death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.

Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ”I know why.”
Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way I try and live.

He said,”People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?” The Six-year-old continued, ”Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
Take naps.
Stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you’re not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.
ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!

Although I’m not sure this is the original source, it can be found here.

Patch, pill or hypnosis, how did you quit?

I'm still waiting to meet a former smoker who quit permanently as the result of a government paid for program in their health plan, a work sponsored program, a drug patch or pill, hypnosis, talk therapy, etc. And I don't mean the 3-6 month quitter that the research reports in a clinical study so they get another grant from the NIH.  I'm sure they are out there, or why would we be spending so much money on them? [sarcasm].

Just Google "Smoking Cessation programs" (about 4.5 million hits).  Mayo Clinic claims it's had 45,000 participants in its program to stop using tobacco (smoking and chewing), with 110 randomized clinical trials involving more than 25,000 research subjects.  Where are the success stories?

When I see reports on what percentage of income the poor spend on cigarettes, there is usually a follow up appeal on why we should be spending more money on helping them quit.  Put where is the research that pills, patches, hypnosis and counseling actually pay?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/nyregion/poor-smokers-in-new-york-state-spend-25-of-income-on-cigarettes-study-says.html?_r=0

Why the scare tactics from the White House?

There are no cuts; it only slows down the spending. The 2012 federal budget was 3.53 trillion. The projected 2013 (by  CBO)  federal budget (WITH SEQUESTER)  is 3.55 trillion;  2014,  3.6 trillion;  2015,  3.8 trillion;  2016,  over 4 trillion.  So you see, he got his tax hikes and the GOP got no cuts.

Mr. Obama, you are an embarrassment.

There's no doubt President Obama is using the so-called Washington Monument maneuver in the fight with Republicans over sequestration budget cuts. It's a time-honored tactic of bureaucratic warfare: When faced with cuts, pick the best-known and most revered symbol of government and threaten to shut it down. Close the Washington Monument and say, "See? This is what happens when you cut the budget." Meanwhile, all sorts of other eminently cuttable government expenditures go untouched.

So now Obama is warning of drastic cuts in food safety, air traffic control, police and fire protection -- in all sorts of services that will allegedly be slashed if the rate of growth of some parts of the federal budget is slowed.

But perhaps the biggest example of the Washington Monument maneuver is coming from the Defense Department, where it goes by another name. Over many decades of defense budget battles, the Pentagon has often used a tactic known as a "gold watch." It means to answer a budget cut proposal by selecting for elimination a program so important and valued -- a gold watch -- that Pentagon chiefs know political leaders will restore funding rather than go through with the cut.

Byron York

Proverbs 3:26

EO Employer only wants. . . a

very creative, broad-based researcher who interacts well with others and who will utilize the extensive resources the museum has to offer in the way of collections, instrumentation, teaching and mentoring, and exhibition.

The American Museum of Natural History (NY, NY) is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer. The Museum encourages Women, Minorities, Persons with Disabilities, Vietnam Era and Disabled Veterans to apply. The Museum does not discriminate due to age, sex, religion, race, color, national origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other factor prohibited by law.

However, in order to be considered for this job. . .

Candidates need to be outstanding, and interested in almost any facet of Invertebrate Paleontology, including (but not limited to) systematics, paleobiology, evolutionary development, and environmental change. Oh yes, and exemplary research is required. And s/he is expected to conduct field work.

The successful candidate will use paleontological methods in combination with other approaches (for example isotopics, ct imaging and molecular techniques) to study the evolution of life in relation to earth history.

Can’t just be an egghead, either.  Must be able to play well with others---communicate effectively within the scholarly community and to a larger public is important.  No sluggards either. The appointed person is expected to maintain a high level of productivity in original research, to provide curatorial oversight of relevant collections.  Writing grant proposals that bring money home to papa institution is also critical, i.e.  seeking extramural funding.

And don’t forget the scut work--serving on committees and participating in Museum-sponsored exhibits and educational programs, and in the Comparative Biology Ph.D. program at the Richard Gilder Graduate School. Right out of grad school, you could expect to pay your dues.

No salary was mentioned in the ad (I suspect they have in mind a candidate from their graduate school), but when I checked a general site for this type of degree (nothing specific for museum work), it was respectably high—like between $80,000-$100,000, however, that would include in the mix those paleontologists who work in industry, especially fossil fuels. So I checked that and found for 2011:

“In universities the starting salaries for beginning assistant professors straight out of graduate school with a Ph.D. in hand range from $40,000 to $60,000 for an academic year of nine months. In industry and government, holders of doctorates can expect to earn $50,000 to $80,000 over a 12-month period. http://www.fallsoftheohio.org/ACareerinPaleontology.html

Raise the minimum wage—put more young and low skill people out of work

January 2013 Bureau of Labor Statistics:   “Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.3 percent), adult women (7.3 percent), teenagers (23.4 percent), whites (7.0 percent), blacks (13.8 percent), and Hispanics (9.7 percent) showed little or no change in January. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.5 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier. . . In January 2012, the unemployment rate for Blacks was 13.6 percent; down 3.1 percentage points from the peak of 16.7 percent in August 2011.

The state of statism

In our largest cities we have one party control.  That’s statism on a smaller scale--the belief that a government should control either economic or social policy, or both.  Arlington County where all the DC politicians and worker bees live has a 100% Democrat city council and they are asking for more taxes while promising to cut 20 jobs and give up one holiday, but still want a raise for government employees.  Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  Tiny cuts (which usually don’t materialize for 10 years), big tax increases (which begin right away).  It’s the one party way. Protect your folks, the public service unions.

Also left of center, and siding with the Democrats, is our “free press.”  We don't have a watch dog for the public, so in the largest one party cities like Detroit and Cleveland (Columbus has a Democrat mayor, but has not yet gone completely under due to the state government offices which are more balanced) schools will not educate, the streets and bridges will be unsafe, the crime rate will be high, fathers will not be in the home because mothers are paid to keep them away, and children have no role models.

It is a serious thing to want no conflict between philosophies and parties, or to say "they are all the same." Once upon a time the black man had to go to the back of the line for a job or education. How much better off is he if there is no line at all--which is what Obama's "recovery" has given us by passing out the stimulus money to the unions, banks and weak companies that needed to go bankrupt.  Blacks went to the polls in November with the October labor report showing 40.5 percent unemployment for young blacks, rising from 36.7 percent in September. But none of that mattered to them.  It is a one party system for American blacks, and they’ve got a man, working against their interests, in the White House who promises free stuff without working.

Another Sheeple photo

Obama’s sheeple holding up the economy?  No, it’s a tourism photo from Ireland.

Ohio Republicans are NOT pleased

“Earlier this week, Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, announced that his budget would endorse Obamacare’s dramatic expansion of Medicaid, America’s deeply flawed, money-losing health care program for the poor. Kasich’s decision, hailing from a large swing state, has enormous ramifications for both the politics and policy of health care reform. But what nobody is talking about is how expanding Medicaid will further increase premiums for people with private insurance. . . “Avik Roy,

Forbes

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2013/02/08/how-ohios-medicaid-expansion-will-increase-health-insurance-premiums-for-everyone-else/

A black woman looks around the inner city. . .

I look around see these inner cities that are devastated by broken families, abortion, poor education (which borders criminal), high incarceration rates, illiteracy, drug infestation and general black genocide; and I see the power structure is mostly all democrats, in city after city and for 15 and 40 years and I have to ask you people what in the world makes you think the "Democrat Party", which was the party of the KKK, Segregation and now socialism has changed. I mean I hear you all say it and I hear a lot of these folks say a bunch of sweet and "well intentioned" things but when I look around and see the pain, devastation and brokenness, it seems like they are feeding you a line of bull... just the same old planned genocide and eugenics, they wanted all along only more cloaked, today, in fancy elitism and patronizing niceties. So again I ask, what in the world makes you think these people have changed from their past? Ayesha Kreutz, FDFNY. (as posted on Facebook)

Peanut Butter dip

Like I needed another reason . . .

1 c. (heaping) plain Greek yogurt
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. honey
1/4 t. cinnamon (or a little more if you like)

http://foodfunlife.blogspot.com/2012/10/peanut-butter-dip.html

Good for a laugh—I guess you have to live here

Obamaland voters

He lies about the debt, deficit, rebuilding infrastructure, Benghazi, his school records, the pipe line, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the wars he has expanded, the sequestration and especially the economy, but his followers led by a bellwether just follow obediently. When fleeced, they’ll submit.

Bell-wether o' Barking cries baa, baa,
How many sheep have we lost to-day?
Nineteen have we lost, one have we fun,
Run Rockie, run Rockie, Run, run, run.

He’s lethal

LeRoy Carhart—late term abortionist.  Sort of a carpet bagger – travels to Maryland from Nebraska to do abortions.  Recently, one of his patients died.  But it’s always lethal for the baby, who could survive outside the womb.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-07-24/national/35236986_1_leroy-carhart-george-tiller-abortion-restrictions

“Carhart performs about 60 abortions a month in Germantown. Many of the women have been referred by other doctors. Six to 10 per month are late-in-pregnancy abortions; he declines to specify how late.”

Abortions are extremely lucrative, and money is the primary motive of the doctor.  He can make more before lunch in one day than a whole month of seeing a woman to term with a healthy citizen who will enjoy life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.  Plus, he won’t be sued if something goes wrong with the baby, and his malpractice insurance—well, he’s all ready mal-, so I’m not sure what sort of insurance he carries. We’ll see if he gets sued for the death of Jennifer Morbelli.

http://theothermccain.com/2013/02/11/how-many-more-women-will-die-before-abortionist-leroy-carhart-is-stopped/

Democrats’ suggestion for women vs. Republicans

Stealth and desensitization—the dumbing down of Americans

Were Christians in the 1990s just smarter about healthcare? They helped Republicans fight Hillarycare cooked up by the first lady and Ira Magaziner which included a section that would have denied insurance if parents refused to abort a child with disabilities. Yes, the party of choice. Now we have Hillarycare by stealth.

I don't know that this abomination is included in Obamacare (as it is 93% of Down Syndrome babies are aborted), but we don't know what's in it, do we? However, Christians who stayed home Nov. 6 gave us our current healthcare disaster. Obama could not have won without them.

"What most Americans don’t know is that IPAB [panel of bureaucrats, aka death panel] is set up to function exactly like the UK’s National Health Service rationing board known as NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence). NICE prevents doctors from prescribing state-of-the-art drugs for breast, stomach, lung, and prostate cancer or diseases like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and many others, she explains." http://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=19611

The Obama Flip Flop—Sequestration

How government programs hurt the poor

The Democrats’ War Against Women—disarm them

"Just fire a shotgun indiscriminately into the woods, Jill, if there's ever an intruder. You don't need an AR-15.” Luv ya, Crazy ol' Joe.

And then there's the Colorado guy, Joe Salazar, who thinks call boxes and whistles will be the match for a rapist. Oh, and kick off those high heels, ladies,  and run, or urinate on him. Yes, that should work.

Wise words

Except.  Be cautious, Conservatives.  Obama knows exactly what he is doing.  He isn’t really trying to build up the weak by pulling down the strong—he’s trying to pull down everybody. 

Benefits of implementing a wellness program

Wellness care and healthy lifestyle haven't been subjected to close scrutiny to see if they really do bring down health costs for businesses.  Yes, it's in every health/business bottom line article you see, but where is the research? "Free" preventive services aren't free and aren't preventive--those costs are built into the insurance.  Besides, if something is found during prevention, then it becomes diagnostic and treatment follows, and that isn’t free.  Someone has to pay.  Health costs keep going up, and I've been hearing this for at least 25 years. 

When they got people to stop smoking, the obesity rate went up. Where's the savings? And if  enough people live longer because of exercise and normalized weight, they just cost more in their 80s and 90s because they didn't die in their 70s.

Whether or not they reduce costs—which I doubt--these programs are becoming very intrusive and often are not optional.  The “choice” to participate now may mean that the employee is charged higher premiums for NOT participating.  Some choice, right?  And the spouse who doesn’t work at the company has to also submit.  I hate tobacco in all forms, but I don’t like it that an employee can’t smoke in his own home because of the company’s “wellness” plan.

Infantilizing Marco Rubio

When the Main stream Media ridicules an American Hispanic politician taking a sip of water during a speech, and then runs the clip over 100 times hoping to make him look silly, inexperienced and "other," it's not considered racism by Democrats. But requiring ID, or border security, or documentation for employment, is. If we'd had this sort of alert, tough, investigative press in the 70s, Nixon wouldn't have had a single worry.

Actually, Marco Rubio is an American born in 1971 whose parents immigrated from Cuba in 1956. That they fled Communism is probably a black mark with our leftist press. They adore Castro.   There is no such country as "Hispania," so I was sloppy to use it. It's a made up, catch-all term like Latino that lumps together people from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Central America, and South America even if their ancestry is German, Portuguese, Russian, Jewish, or Spanish. It's a little like assuming all residents of the United States claim England in their ancestry because they speak English.

Rubio And Netanyahu Bump Water Bottles In Israel

Shorts in a knot over Rubio’s water bottle placement

Leftist media try to make any conservative look foolish, not about content, but about taking a sip of water on camera. At least he didn’t drive into it with an intern.

Oh my! Oreos baked in a brownie mix!

You need Brownie mix, Oreos, peanut butter, and cupcake liners.-
-place cupcake liners in your muffin pan, spread peanut butter on 2 Oreos set them on top of each other, and into the liners. Pour Brownie mix on top of them. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Seen at Beyond a Mom Facebook.

You can’t chop out one amendment without affecting the others

This is from the Seattle Times.  As you may have heard, some states are limiting bullet sales, another (Washington state) has decided on a home inspection of registered owners.

“ 'In order to continue to possess an assault weapon that was legally possessed on the effective date of this section, the person possessing shall safely and securely store the assault weapon. The sheriff of the county may, no more than once per year, conduct an inspection to ensure compliance with this subsection.'

In other words, come into homes without a warrant to poke around. Failure to comply could get you up to a year in jail.

'I’m a liberal Democrat — I’ve voted for only one Republican in my life,' [Lance] Palmer told me. 'But now I understand why my right-wing opponents worry about having to fight a government takeover.'"

Why these sell is beyond me

Torn, faded jeans with platform high heels on an anorexic model.

But that’s the fashion and they do sell.  I guess it is because most of the fashion designers are gay men who prefer the form of  young boys.  So why do women fall for this?  If there is anything worse than the baggy look of a few years back, it’s the “back in skinny jeans” look that have Gen-Xers yearning for the body of their middle school days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/08/fashion/thursdaystyles/08FASHION.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

And it’s suggested you are homophobic if you notice!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/06/1

And men’s fashion too has to look like it’s for young boys. “Media trends are created by famous designer labels which have been managed by homosexual men for decades, and for several years they have been using stick-thin male models.”

http://www.examiner.com/article/straight-men-are-being-destroyed-by-gay-fashion-designers

Who pays taxes? We do.

"The most dangerous myth is the demagoguery that business can be made to pay a larger share, thus relieving the individual. Politicians preaching this are either deliberately dishonest, or economically illiterate, and either one should scare us. Business doesn't pay taxes, and who better than business to make this message known? Only people pay taxes, and people pay as consumers every tax that is assessed against a business. Begin with the food and fiber raised in the farm, to the ore drilled in a mine, to the oil and gas from out of the ground, whatever it may be -- through the processing, through the manufacturing, on out to the retailer's license. If the tax cannot be included in the price of the product, no one along that line can stay in business."
– Ronald Reagan, Speech at Hillsdale College, November 10, 1977

Physician reimbursement—or why you’ll wait, by Dr. Anna Meenan (retired at 54)

If you're wondering why your doctor is discouraged and depressed (and many are, though they don't show it) these days, this might help explain it:
http://www.physiciansmoneydigest.com/practice-management/Physician-Reimbursement-Dropped-Sharply
As best I can tell, these are the rates paid by COMMERCIAL insurers. Medicare and Medicaid pay even less than this, and have also been lowering many of their rates. If you think that this is what goes into the doctor's pocket, you are wrong. Out of these sums, the doctor must pay all the overhead of running an office: skilled labor, equipment, supplies, utility bills, and thousands of dollars in malpractice insurance. Think for a moment about what you were charged the last time you called a plumber, or the last time you took your car in for repairs, and put the value of those services up against the value of your life and health. I'm just saying.

$86 for code 99215. Just to clarify, 99215 is the highest code for an office encounter. This is what your doctor would code if you came to his/her office with, oh, let's say, out-of control diabetes with a life-threatening electrolyte imbalance, or if a senior citizen was brought in who was suddenly very confused and not eating. 

Dr. Meenan graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago, practiced in Rockford and formerly was with the medical clinic in Mt. Morris, Illinois

Who really cares? Bush or Obama?

As many faults as Bush brought to the table, Obama is making him look like a hero and statesman, which I doubt that he was. However, Bush was definitely a patriot, a committed Christian, and a man who loved his country. Obama is none of those.

In lives saved, Bush has no match in my life time. The embryonic stem cell executive order (it was never outlawed, it only limited government funding to cells lines already in use) allowed technology to catch up and save women’s bodies from becoming medical labs for experimentation, his moral leadership on abortion inspired thousands of local organizations and volunteers which are reducing that killing field, his trafficking in persons effort (there are more slaves today than during the 17-18th centuries of the Atlantic slave trade) and the PEPFAR AIDS drug assistance in Africa (Obama has let this slide since it wasn’t his idea), and freeing the women under control of the Taliban all put Obama, the peace prize prez, to shame.

AIDS affects gay men and and blacks more than any other demographic, but it was Bush, not Obama, who really stepped up to help. Just one more example of how people who blindly supported Obama where left out in the cold after he got their vote. Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said HIV/AIDS was a higher priority for Bush than it is for Obama, citing the ADAP waiting list and the distinction in PEPFAR as a key difference between the presidents.

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/index.htm

Minimum wage increases always hurt teens (Monday Memories)

Years ago (I was about 42 I think) I went to work in a local book store.  I knew nothing about selling books, but wanted part time work so I could be at home when the kids were out of school.  I never was able to figure out the cash register (very early computer style) or all the special promotions/gift cards/coupons.  It killed me to tear off covers and put books in the dumpster.  I hid pornography in the basement.  But because I had a master’s degree in library science, the manager put my salary at twenty five cents above minimum wage.  Truly, I wasn’t worth even that. Businesses that hire beginners like me are doing an act of service.   I made so many mistakes, it is embarrassing to remember.  However, I learned a lot, and it convinced me I really did need to work for the state.  The free market, especially the corporate world (was a chain), was not for me.

After 1998 strict gun control law, crime soared in Massachusetts

But the law will never be blamed.  It’s the fault of neighboring states.  Meanwhile, legal gun ownership is way down.

http://www.jeffjacoby.com/12950/after-the-toughest-gun-law-gun-crime-rose

How we got standard time—the railroads

http://www.wimp.com/trainstime/

Bait and Switch

I clicked on a Nordstrom link for Spring dresses, looking modest, decent length, pretty colors, but when I got there I found something like this, a t-shirt over a window curtain.  The is called a “drop-waist.”  The front looks like  underwear for men.

I had a dog named Polka-dot when I was 11.

The Book of Judith

Protestant Bibles don’t contain the book of Judith, although it was part of canon for the Eastern and Western Church until the Reformation.  It seems, though, St. Jerome had a bit of a struggle—I looked it up and he had to translate from the Chaldean texts to Latin.  (We saw his cell when we were in the Holy Land.)

There is a web site that focuses just on Biblical films, Bible Films Blog. It is amazing, or maybe not, how many films have been made about Judith.  The author, Matt Page (UK), is going to be writing about Judith the next week or so, and begins with a collation of all the films he could find, and the first 3 are silent films.

He lists 13 films about Judith—it has everything for today’s audience; religion, sex, violence, and politics.

A plan doomed to fail

No shock here. If the federal government passes enough mandates, and the states can't print money, soon there is no money for the poor.

"Obama administration officials said Friday that the state-based “high-risk pools” set up under the 2010 health-care law will be closed to new applicants as soon as Saturday and no later than March 2, depending on the state." reported in Washington Post today.

The plan is set up to fail--whether intentional or not. The wait to get in the high risk pool means the people are desperately sick by the time they get coverage, and very expensive to treat, thus depleting the money for those waiting. Bad, bad plan that only a massive bureaucracy could come up with.

And ultimately, it is the same plan for the rest of us.  Doctors are quitting rather than go along with the insane regulations—the documents to support this massive bill run to thousands of pages. 13,000 pages as of October 12 and 18 pages to define a full time employee.  There aren’t enough to meet the Obamacare guidelines and new doctors probably won’t materialize.  By the time we get to see a doctor, we’ll be too sick for effective treatment.

The government will add more snoops and IRS agents than doctors or nurses.

Food stamp king, jobs footman

Since January 2009, a net of 194,000 new jobs have been created. During that same time, 14.7 million have been added to the food stamp rolls.

Wrong on so many things, but especially this one

A holocaust for black America—40% of pregnancies of black women end in abortion. Democrats think it’s a plan to fight poverty.

Young Indiana athlete excels at life and sports

“The son of Marvin and Apryl Hoot, Nik is a well rounded athlete in spite of the fact that he is missing parts of both legs and doesn't have a fully developed set of fingers. He lives with these physical disabilities because his biological parents - an unknown couple from Russia - attempted to abort Nik. The abortion didn't take and in the fall of 1996 Nik was born - he was put up for adoption shortly thereafter.”

He’s had prosthetic legs since he was two years old and since then has been unstoppable.  His parents have adopted five other children with birth defects, who look up to him.

http://www.wane.com/dpp/sports/local_sports/wane-   woodburn-woodlans-warrior-nik-hoots-story-jwh

http://www.theabortionsurvivors.com/failed-abortions-get-informed/

Bad to the bone.

      

Noodling what you’re eating

A pending federal food-labeling rule that stems from Obamacare would overburden thousands of grocers and convenience store owners — to the tune of $1 billion in the first year alone. At first it was just for restaurants, but it has slopped over into the grocery industry for salad bars, food bars, soups and bakery items. Apparently there are people still who think death by chocolate is the equivalent in nutrition of a salad so they need big brother. All of us who shop at that store will pay.

http://facethepolitics.com/2013/02/supermarkets-angered-by-new-fda-obamacare-regulation/

Sequestration, or where are the cuts?

Most of our tax money (70%) goes for social programs, especially Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and Social Security.  Some conservatives don’t like Social Security and Medicare called an “entitlement,” but they truly are—we should be entitled to what we paid in with interest. (I’m not because I have a teacher’s pension and get nothing for what I paid in to SS in non-government jobs, nor a spousal benefit.)  And it isn't the fault of Obama, as some detractors claim (he's got more than enough problems without giving him that one.) That will only increase.

The defense budget is extremely small, although the sequestration was Obama's idea (now trying to blame GOP) and is a rather small amount, it will certainly hurt the thousands of civilian employees right now as other lower paid jobs become unavailable because of raising the minimum wage—which always hurts the economy. It's a wonderful 2-fer for the president to hurt the economy even more which seems to be his major desire as he flits from gay marriage to stomping out freedom of religion to passing out free contraceptives instead of freeing up businesses to create more wealth.

The federal government should have stayed out of education--it wastes a lot of that money, and that responsibility was left to the states. Head Start, one of the biggest federal wastes with a 40 year history of failure, will probably get money better spent on bridges and roads, that he never gets around to that despite his promises. http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/23/chart-of-the-week-70-of-spending-goes-to-dependence-programs/

Time to clean the House. . . and the Senate

If they can’t stand up to the executive branch then how can they be the representative branch? They are supposed to be representing US, as in We the People.  Obamacare didn’t get one Republican vote; 83% of Americans disagreed with the concept; it is so complex and unwieldy that it will take years to figure it out with law suits, lawyers, and new cottage industries. Obamacare is even more unpopular now than when it was passed, but the Democrats have the gall to lie and claim it is an achievement.

A viral joke—'Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers' program, or L.A.R.K.

at least I hope it isn’t real, but it is suitable for my Democrat readers who think Republicans unfairly blocked the Gitmo transfers to Illinois or the NYC trial.

Adopt a Terrorist  (HT Murray)

A Canadian female libertarian wrote a lot of letters to the Canadian government, complaining about the treatment of captive insurgents (terrorists) being held in Afghanistan National Correctional System facilities. She demanded a response to her letter.

Shortly, she received back the following reply:

From: National Defense Headquarters
M Gen George R. Pearkes Bldg., 15 NT
101 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa , ON K1A 0K2
Canada

Dear Concerned Citizen,
Thank you for your recent letter expressing your profound concern of treatment of the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists captured by Canadian Forces, who were subsequently transferred to the Afghanistan Government and are currently being held by Afghan officials in Afghanistan National Correctional System facilities.

Our administration takes these matters seriously and your opinions were heard loud and clear here in Ottawa . You will be pleased to learn, thanks to the concerns of citizens like yourself, we are creating a new department here at the Department of National Defense, to be called 'Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers' program, or L.A.R.K. for short.

In accordance with the guidelines of this new program, we have decided, on a trial basis, to divert several terrorists and place them in homes of concerned citizens such as yourself, around the country, under those citizens personal care. Your personal detainee has been selected and is scheduled for transportation under heavily armed guard to your residence in Toronto next Monday.

Ali Mohammed Ahmed bin Mahmud is your detainee, and is to be cared for pursuant to the standards you personally demanded in your letter of complaint. You will be pleased to know that we will conduct weekly inspections to ensure that your standards of care for Ahmed are commensurate with your recommendations.
Although Ahmed is a sociopath and extremely violent, we hope that your sensitivity to what you described as his 'attitudinal problem' will help him overcome those character flaws. Perhaps you are correct in describing these problems as mere cultural differences. We understand that you plan to offer counselling and home schooling, however, we strongly recommend that
you hire some assistant caretakers.

Please advise any Jewish friends, neighbors or relatives about your house guest, as he might get agitated or even violent, but we are sure you can reason with him. He is also expert at making a wide variety of explosive devices from common household products, so you may wish to keep those items locked up, unless in your opinion, this might offend him. Your adopted terrorist is extremely proficient in hand-to-hand combat and can extinguish human life with such simple items as a pencil or nail clippers. We advise that you do not ask him to demonstrate these skills either in your home or wherever you choose to take him while helping him adjust to life in our country. Ahmed will not wish to interact with you or your daughters except sexually, since he views females as a form of property, thereby having no rights, including refusal of his sexual demands. This is a particularly sensitive subject for him.

You also should know that he has shown violent tendencies around women who fail to comply with the dress code that he will recommend as more appropriate attire. I'm sure you will come to enjoy the anonymity offered by the burka over time. Just remember that it is all part of 'respecting his culture and religious beliefs' as described in your letter.

You take good care of Ahmed and remember that we will try to have a counsellor available to help you over any difficulties you encounter while Ahmed is adjusting to Canadian culture.
Thanks again for your concern. We truly appreciate it when folks like you keep us informed of the proper way to do our job and care for our fellow man. Good luck and God bless you.

Cordially,
Gordon O'Connor
Minister of National Defense

Remember the 2013 SOTU

Remember the President said that if Congress didn’t act on his ideas, he would do it without them?  The Congress was designed by the Founders to be the strongest of the three branches of government because it is elected by all the people. (President has electoral college, Supremes are appointed).  Originally, it was the House, then the Constitution was changed from the states sending the Senators to DC to the people electing them. (Thus, now the 50 states have no representation, probably not a good idea.)  Obama hasn’t usurped this “king” or “dictator” role all by himself—it’s been growing gradually by all administrations, especially FDR set things on a roll.  But he is the most blatant.  The first person pronouns in the speeches are just overwhelmingly annoying. The Constitution has been changed nearly 30 times, and it is outlined in the Constitution how to do this.  Obama does not respect the Constitution. He is a statist.  Big Government.  Big, and growing bigger.

More gun violence in gun controlled Chicago

Why did Catholics support Obama?

Fifty seven percent of practicing Catholics (attend mass at least once a week) voted for Romney.  Forty three percent who call themselves Catholic but rarely attend services, voted for Obama, the pro-abortion president. Every U.S. Bishop opposed the HHS mandate,  and it clearly looked like Obama stabbed them in the back after they’d supported him on immigration, taxes, etc.  But they just couldn't fight the fact that Catholics have been primarily Democrats for way too long.  I can’t imagine that they couldn’t see this coming when they supported a pro-abortion candidate in 2008.  So that also means that 43% of practicing Catholics think it is OK for Catholic charities and schools and hospitals to go under because of Obama's mandates.

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/02/15/why-did-so-many-faithful-catholics-vote-for-obama-again/

CNN—the lack of curiosity and journalism will destroy them

CNN Wonders: "Why are Republicans so fixated on Benghazi?" Doh! You mean like where was the President?  Why was there no protection?  Where are the arms that were being shipped to Syria? Gosh, fellas and gals.  There could be some Pulitzer Prize material there if you weren’t lackeys.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2013/02/15/cnn-incredulous-over-gop-fixation-benghazi-opposition-hagel

What happens when a city loses power—the Carnival Cruise Ship

Let me tell you why this happened on the Carnival Triumph: The cruise ship lost electricity, commented Rush Limbaugh.” If you want to see entire cities experience what happened on that cruise ship, then you stand by idly and let the environmentalist wackos have their way and encroach very gradually on your freedom to use electricity that you pay for.”

The CDC doesn’t mention the bacteria in reusable bags

CDC is investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to chicken.

CDC’s food safety steps recommend which of the following to prevent foodborne illness from raw poultry? Find the answer here! http://go.usa.gov/4MQA:
A) Wash hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling raw poultry.
B) Cook raw poultry to 165°F using a food thermometer.
C) Refrigerate food promptly.
D) Separate raw meat, poultry, and seafood from other food in your grocery shopping cart and in your refrigerator.

But they don’t mention the importance of washing the reusable bags—they are loaded with bacteria.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/rosenwald-md/post/your-reusable-shopping-bags-are-full-of-bacteria/2011/12/06/gIQA32nYZO_blog.html

Tutoring program only for children of color

What a dumb thing for a principal to do--he's just told minority children that they are the only kids in the school with academic problems, and the white kids can get a pass! It may not have been his intention to either discriminate against white children with learning problems or black kids with low self-esteem, but I believe he succeeded.  His excuse after the complaints rolled in?

“This is Andre Pearson [voicemail to upset white parent]. It’s focused for and designed for children of color, but certainly, if we have space for other kids who have needs, we can definitely meet those needs,”

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/02/13/parents-complain-about-school-ad-for-colored-only-tutoring-program/

So why would a tutoring program only be designed for children of color in the first place?  Could it be that they’ve been subjected to lower/different expectations all along?

President Who?

I'd love to say, "President Walker," or "President Jindal," or "President Rubio," but it will probably be someone not on the radar yet. Let's not chase special interest groups like the Democrats, where blacks vote 90% for a guy because of his skin color and still get stuck with the highest unemployment rate, and liberals get an attack of belated white guilt; let's go after ideas that help the whole country.

Water didn’t hurt Ted Kennedy’s career

Fussy about my orange juice

We drink a lot of orange juice, my husband more than I.  And over the years I’ve learned to avoid certain off brands (cartons designed to look like name brands) because they are either tasteless or bitter.  In the Alchemist Newsletter today I read about a disease that may cause that.

Oranges that are not "in the pink" can be detected using NMR spectroscopy, according to work by scientists at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) based in Fort Pierce, Florida. The researchers have used the amino acid composition of juice from oranges to identify those grown on trees infected with HLB, Huanglongbing, a pathogen that causes citrus greening disease. The study should allow fruit growers and processors to identify problem batches before products based on the citrus fruit, such as fruit juices, are manufactured. Additionally, work that leads to a better understanding of how the pathogen affects the amino acid profile of the fruit might lead to agrochemicals to inhibit infection in the first place.

Liberal Logic and Conservative Compassion

Liberal logic

Best quote of the evening

A real boondoggle for the phone companies.

This probably called a fee, not a tax, but it is, and it is soaring.

"The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion last year to provide phones to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who received the phones haven’t proved they are eligible to receive them.

The Lifeline program—begun in 1984 [under Reagan] to ensure that poor people aren’t cut off from jobs, families and emergency services—is funded by charges that appear on the monthly bills of every landline and wireless-phone customer. Payouts under the program have shot up from $819 million in 2008, as more wireless carriers have persuaded regulators to let them offer the service."

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/02/12/obama-phone-scam-cost-taxpayers-big-bucks-last-year-19952