Crime, corruption and fraud await us

Bernard Nathanson, killer turned life-giver

Bernard Nathanson was [d. 2011] an American medical doctor from New York who helped to found the National Abortion Rights Action League, but who became a pro-life activist. He gained national attention by becoming one of the founding members of the National Abortion Rights Action League, now known as NARAL Pro-Choice America. He worked with Betty Friedan and others for the legalization of abortion in the United States. He was also for a time the director of the Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health New York's largest abortion clinic. Nathanson has written that he was responsible for more than 75,000 abortions throughout his pro-choice career.

A CD, available for $4.50 from Lighthouse Media.

From his Washington Post  obituary:

Dr. Nathanson operated an abortion clinic in New York during the 1960s and 70s and helped found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, now called NARAL Pro-Choice America, in 1969.

New technology provided images, he said, that changed his mind about the morality of abortions. He performed his last such procedure in 1979 and became a high-profile anti-abortion lecturer and campaigner.

In the mid-1980s, Dr. Nathanson narrated "The Silent Scream," a film that shows the abortion of a three-month-old fetus in graphic detail and was screened at the White House by President Ronald Reagan.

Dr. Nathanson also produced "Eclipse of Reason," a film about late-term abortion, and wrote several books, including "Abortion Papers: Inside the Abortion Mentality" (1983) and the 1996 autobiography "The Hand of God."

"I know every facet of abortion," he wrote in his autobiography. "I helped nurture the creature in its infancy by feeding it great draughts of blood and money; I guided it through its adolescence as it grew fecklessly out of control."

A summation of the recent gaffs, glitches, and gotchas of the Obama Administration

Daniel Henniger

Obamacare mess:  “Even if you are a liberal and support the goals of the Affordable Care Act, there has to be an emerging sense that maybe the law's theorists missed a signal from life outside the castle walls. . . It requires whatever lies on the far side of chutzpah to say this after passing a 1930s-style law that is both incomprehensible and simply won't work. ObamaCare is turning into pure gravity. Nothing moves . . ”

Snowden the spy:  “What's more concretely frightening is that a dweeb like Edward Snowden could download the content of the NSA's computers onto a thumb drive and walk out of the world's "most secretive" agency. Here's the short answer: The NSA has 40,000 employees.”

The IRS scandal: “the agency managers' defense was that the IRS is too big for anyone to know what its agents are doing.”

Arab Spring:  Egypt is in flames; Syria is in a Civil War and Obama is arming the rebels who are killing Christians.

Immigration bill:  the 1986 IRCA hasn’t worked they say.  Why? Government is too big.

And now we find out he interfered in the Zimmerman case directly. . . not just by inserting his opinion.

 

“

Texas and Florida and Race

Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, had a plan to eliminate the "weeds" as she called them. And with the help of Democrats, it's working. The black and Hispanic babies aborted in Texas in the latest year on record exceeded the entire population of the city of Galveston. I just don’t understand the support that blacks and Hispanics give the Democrats.  The 48,728 black and Hispanic babies aborted in Texas in 2009 outnumbered the 47,762 people who, according to the Census Bureau, live in Galveston, Texas.  And Democrats were storming the capitol in Austin screaming “Hail Satan.”  Really—what is wrong with those people?

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/63-babies-aborted-texas-are-black-or-hispanic-annual-total-exceeds-population-galveston

ABC sure enjoys showing the prosecution in the George Zimmerman case in Florida. I've only had MSM to watch the last 2 weeks (when we could get reception), but have been shocked at the bias. There is zip, nada, zilch evidence that this is a murder; pressure from the President and Holder is very, very wrong.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2013/07/11/Ex-Police-Chief-Political-Pressure-Cost-Me-My-Job-for-Not-Arresting-Zimmerman

Unintended consequences—birth control

Oral contraception was developed in the West to control the populations of black and brown people in developing countries. (All the experimentation was done there first, then tried on poor Americans.) The unintended consequences are that our birth rate is below replacement and health issues for children have soared in the last 40 years of its expanded use in the USA. Now we have to bring in the people it was intended to control to work, pay taxes and support our elderly. Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood founder, was at least honest in her opinion of minorities whom she called "weeds" and in her support of Nazi infanticide projects and killing of the disabled. Today Democrats call it "women's health."

Professor Gates in 2009 was just Obama testing the water

“A case that should have been a local affair, The George Zimmerman trial has exploded into the national consciousness as a metaphor for American racism and justice. It isn’t, of course. But it has been cast as such by the media, President Obama and Department of Justice—who we now know even went so far as to bring busloads of protesters to fan racial animus and force a murder charge.” (Flyover Culture.com)

Obama has used this tragedy to increase racial tension and bring attention to his misguided gun control issues.  When will he turn his attention to black on black violence—in Chicago his home town where he built his base and DC where he currently resides? Hundreds every month.  Does he care? 

The city violent crime rate for Chicago in 2010 was higher than the national violent crime rate average by 148.31% and the city property crime rate in Chicago was higher than the national property crime rate average by 44%.
In 2010 the city violent crime rate in Chicago was higher than the violent crime rate in Illinois by 130.33% and the city property crime rate in Chicago was higher than the property crime rate in Illinois by 58.02%. . .336 murders in 2013.

We’re due for some good weather in Lakeside

On Wednesday July 10 we had thunder storms and tornado warnings, all while we were having our TV antenna replaced by some great guys from Radio Shack.  The evening entertainment’s props didn’t arrive, so they had to call friends 2.5 hours away who drove here with their stuff and joined the act.  But we were fortunate.  The damage to the east of us nearer Cleveland and Akron and Canton was really awful with a lot of damage to homes and businesses. We are promised good weather for the next 5 days.

And now we find out the White House directly interfered

It was bad enough that Obama poked his nose where it didn’t belong.  He doesn’t do that when both the victim and the accused are black, does he?  Only when he can get some publicity for his gun control mania.  But now we find out that after Zimmerman was released because his story checked out, the Department of Justice, Eric Holder, Obama’s policeman, pressured Florida to go after him by organizing rallies against a private citizen.

"Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained documents proving that the Department of Justice played a major behind-the-scenes role in organizing protests against George Zimmerman. Zimmerman is on trial for second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in February 2012.

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the DOJ on April 24, 2012. According to the documents JW received, a little-known DOJ unit called the Community Relations Service deployed to Sanford, FL, to organize and manage rallies against Zimmerman." (PJ Media)

This is sickening. Beneath contemptible. WH trying to frame a private citizen because of race.

http://nation.foxnews.com/2013/07/10/daily-caller-holder-spent-tax-payer-supporting-anti-zimmerman-protests

http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2012/04/17/secretive-doj-force-watces-trayvon-protests/

Obama bundlers get top ambassador posts

President Obama on Tuesday nominated two major campaign bundlers to two of the most prized ambassadorships available anywhere – London and Rome – part of a pattern that has seen him reward at least 18 top fundraisers with plum diplomatic positions since 2009.-

See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/18-and-counting-plum-ambassador-posts-go-obama-campaign-bundlers#sthash.vi0MOlFQ.dpuf

In April 2012  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/27/major-obama-bundler-gets-dutch-ambassadors-post/

Professing the Trinity

I don't refer to the Trinity in a job description--Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier--and we don't in our Lutheran church, Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (Columbus, Ohio). I usually only hear it here at Lakeside Sunday services at Hoover. But yesterday in a rerun of Mother Angelica on 88.1 FM (most powerful woman in TV/radio before stepping down, now 90) I heard her say, "I don't make the sign of the cross in the name of the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier; I make it in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Vatican, which even recognizes my baptism in 1950 in the Church of the Brethren, does not recognize a Catholic baptism using those words. This formula of words was developed so feminists wouldn't be offended by masculine terms. Why are non-religious people so insecure that they must change how other believers do things? If you have problems with the words Son or Father, get help.

Conservative and fundamentalist—there are significant differences

"Conservative" and "fundamentalist" are not synonyms for certain Christians who are not main stream or liberals. Conservatives prefer to go slow, reflect on the wisdom of the past, enjoy hymns, perhaps liturgy and resist cultural changes that infringe on the faith. Fundamentalists are heavy users of technology and media, they increasingly cooperate with the culture in dress and rock music, services that are events and shows, and preachers might appear in bright spangles or torn jeans. ()Christian History, Issue 102. They may work together, however, on social justice issues like abortion or education or saving the constitution.

Offended by abortion facts?

Pictures offensive?  Minority statistics offensive?  Cancer and suicide links offensive?  Well, it’s a messy business you support.

Tuesday at the Lake

This morning I walked the lakefront in Lakeside with one of Columbus' finest--a police officer. She's been on the force for 30 years and is a proud patriot and solid Christian. Strong in mind, heart and body.

Paula Deen is being held to a higher standard than the elected officials in our highest levels of government. So yesterday I bought one of her products at Wal-Mart--yes I did. I made a political statement for a Peaches and Cream cake.

We’ve hardly had any TV for 2 weeks—we think our renters in June moved the antenna and we can’t get it to move.  But this evening during a storm, channel 5 from Cleveland appeared.  About every 10 minutes they are running the video of the 3 women  held hostage in Cleveland. Michelle Knight, who was held hostage for 10 years by Ariel Castro in Cleveland, speaks out about her faith and new life. Good advice for us all. "I may have been through hell and back, but I am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face and my head held high," she said. "I will not let the situation define who I am. I will define the situation. I don't want to be consumed by hatred." And she testifies to her faith in God in the video, although that was not included in the AP summary I read.

I have a tip for Lakesiders who have hit the Patio Restaurant for too many hot fresh donuts in the morning or the Whistle Stop or Coffee N Cream for ice cream after the concert at night. If you walk into the Fountain Inn (3rd St. side) there is a slight slope down and a glass door that will pick up your reflection. This will give you 3 inches more height and slim you down by about 20 lbs. Works every time.

Lakeside Week 3—Sustaining and Appreciating Nature and the Environment

Today's speaker at Lakeside, David Kline, is an Amish farmer. He described how the Amish decide what advances in technology they will accept based on what it will do to their community and family life. He asked the youngest in the audience, a college student, if she would rather give up the automobile or her cell phone, and she said the car. Same with the Amish. He said their young people have ...little problem giving up their driver's license (when they are baptized), but the cell phone has been a different matter. As I left the lecture I walked past a family of 5, 3 small children, with Mom totally engrossed in her smart phone while walking with the kids. I guess there were no birds or flowers or puddles to talk about.

He is the editor of Farming Magazine for the small scale farmer and an author.  I learned that Amish buggy horses are Standard Breds that didn't make the cut for racing. He's quite a story teller. http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Larksong-Naturalist-Explores-Organic/dp/1590982010

Monday Memories--Looking like an aging July 4th queen

That’s sort of an odd compliment, but that’s what a high school friend wrote when I sent her this photo, my husband and son in the front and me in the back of a 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 convertible in the July 4 parade at Lakeside, Ohio.

Actually, I never went in for that queen stuff.  When I was growing up our town had a July 4 queen, the county had a Pork Queen, Forreston had a Sauerkraut Queen, I think 4-H had a queen and king, our high school had a homecoming queen and court.  Not me.  Never entered any of them.  Was I a snob about queen contests, or was I insecure.  Probably both, but I wasn’t about to have a panel (usually of men) judge me!  Until.  Once I did—in 1959.  The Arnold Air Society was having a “contest” for college women to be in their auxiliary. So I read the rules, and showed up.  I didn’t get in.  I had the brains but not the legs.  However, one young cadet noticed me and called me for a date for St. Patrick’s Ball.  On our first date he told me would marry me, and he did.

Over the rainbow in Lakeside with music

           

Tonight in the park at Lakeside we enjoyed four performers from The Musical Theater Project  performing “Families Love Musicals!”  And we certainly did.  They did an outstanding job.  About 30 minutes before the performance we had another rain storm, but the skies cleared and the show went on!

“Created expressly for families, this cabaret offers something for all generations to enjoy together, from the very young to the very young-at-heart! You’ll hear classic songs from more than 50 years of stage and screen musicals – songs including “I Won’t Grow Up,” “Getting to Know You,” “Pure Imagination” and “The Rainbow Connection,” plus sage advice like “Be Kind to Your Parents.” And it wouldn’t be a family cabaret without timeless songs that kids, their parents and even their grandparents cherish.”

Ice Cream Bread

I haven’t made this yet—my oven caught on fire last night, so it may be awhile, but I wanted to save the recipe which appeared on FB At Home with Terri.

Ingredients:
2 Cups Ice Cream, any flavor, softened (for best results use full fat)
1 1/2 cups Self-Rising Flour

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Spray and flour a 8 x 4 loaf pan, or line it with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl mix the ice cream and flour together until just combined.
3. Scoop into the loaf and smooth out.
4. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the loaf comes out with a few crumbs stuck to it.
5. Remove from the pan and allow to cool.

The picture is an example of butter-pecan ice cream -

For those that are scratching their heads wondering how this could work - let’s consider that most ice cream is made of eggs and fat/dairy. Toss in some self-rising flour and you have some basic ingredients for a bake-capable product. Just choose the flavoring of ice cream that seems promising and have a fun weekend of experimentation.

You must use self-rising flour or make your own.

You must - MUST have a rising agent in the flour. Self-rising flour is an easy solution (and commonly available). However, if you don’t have self-rising flour accessible, you can make it very simply:
For every cup of flour add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt (sift together).

Who is worthy of the great one?

There's a pattern. It's always someone or everyone else's fault when Obama flops or fails.

"President Barack Obama’s communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, says that our political system isn’t “worthy” of Obama and the opportunity the president presents. He made the remarks to the Washington Post.

“There’s a moment of opportunity now that’s important,” Pfeiffer tells the paper. “What’s frustrating is that we don’t have a political system or an opposition party worthy of the opportunity.”
A narcissist served by blind and deaf lackeys.

More instability for the economy

“U.S. debt-escalation leads to poverty and is theft from citizens. 76% of people living paycheck to paycheck (CNN Money). This is tragic, immoral, unbiblical, and wrong. So why is Obama/Soros/Reid/Pelosi so determined to beget an influx of foreign labor, adding more debt and instability to our country?”  Christians for a Sustainable Economy

What a stinking mess!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/07/02/white-house-to-delay-obamacares-employer-mandate-until-2015-far-reaching-implications-for-the-private-health-insurance-market/

http://bridgepostpolitics.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/postponement-of-employer-mandate-highlights-obamacare-troubles/

The War against Christians

From Evangelicals for Biblical Immigration: The Obama/Clinton/Kerry/Soros administration's "Arab Spring" has become an Anti-Christian decade, with jihadists destroying much of the partially-Christian Middle East, Europe and also here in America, and more coming if the asylum Gang of 8 "immigration bill" is approved by Congress.

On June 23, Catholic Syrian priest Fr. François Murad was murdered in Idlib by rebel militias. How he was killed is not yet known and his superiors “vigorously deny” that he was a victim of beheading, as some news sources are claiming. It is apparent, however, that he was a victim of the shadow war against Christians that is being fought by jihadists alongside the larger Syrian conflict. This is a religious cleansing that has been all but ignored by our policymakers, as they strengthen support for the rebellion.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/352494/shadow-war-against-syrias-christians-nina-shea

Cover ups are worse than the truth

“Must I Repeat? Quit Making Things Up! says Sarah Palin

Outrageous. Once again the cover-up is worse than the “crime.” Secretary of State John Kerry WAS on his boat while Egypt fell into turmoil resulting in an overthrow of its new government ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood that the Obama Administration had so recently supported and may still support. (That, however, we do not know because President Obama's absolutely dithering foreign policies, his "leading from behind," and his benign statements on the Muslim Brotherhood make no sense to sensible people.)

The State Department categorically denied Kerry was on his boat. Yet CBS had pictures to prove it. Goodness. There is no need to lie, even on such a "little" thing as the location of a government leader during a military confrontation happening in real time. (Benghazi? Ring a bell? There still isn't anyone in the media who'll find out where our Commander-in-Chief was that night.) Come on, Obama Administration! It's no big darn deal that Kerry was on his boat! We expect, and deserve, to assume that our highest ranking public servants to whom We the People have given the most responsibility are always working – even when they're clearing their heads and breathing in some fresh air on a yacht, or sweating away stress on a basketball court, or yukking it up with pals on the fairway... let's trust they're always preparing for the proverbial 3:00 AM phone call.

Being on his boat isn't the issue. Blatantly deceiving the American people is the issue.”

Better on a boat than in a bunny suit. https://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin/posts/10151711904498588

http://truckerphoto.com/kerryfunphotos.htm

Watch for the book by Gerhard Maroscher

In February 2013 I blogged about a letter I saw in the Columbus Dispatch written by a man from Circleville, Ohio warning Americans about giving up their guns. He told about the end of WWII when criminals roamed the streets in Austria and his mother protected her children with her illegal gun.  He is in the process of writing a book now (no title yet), and has completed the section he told about in his letter. “Writing the book has been an interesting journey. At times it has been emotional. Writing about my family’s experiences has made me appreciate my parents and America even more. It has also heightened my concern about the direction we are heading as a nation.”

In his letter to the CD he wrote:

Based on the experiences of my youth, I do not share many people’s blind trust in governments, especially big powerful governments. My father read the Constitution before he decided to request to immigrate to the U.S. with his family. He had had his fill of communism, National Socialism (Nazism) and governments that feel the need and have the power to arbitrarily confiscate weapons.

Of course, Europeans generally accept that they can’t own guns. But their history is such that they started out as serfs and always had a lord, king or emperor. There was always a powerful leader who had control over the lives of his subjects. We Americans threw off the yoke of aristocracy and had a new birth of freedom.”

Update: The book is nearing the finish line! I heard today from the author Gerhard Maroscher, and the title of the book is, “Why can’t somebody just die around here?” The first page of the book (after the preface) explains why that title was chosen.

Global warming folly sprinkled to cover scandals

Wall Street Journal: We were too soft on Obamacare

"These columns fought the Affordable Care Act from start to passage, and we'd now like to apologize to our readers. It turns out we weren't nearly critical enough.”

"The law's implementation is turning into a fiasco for the ages, and this week's version is the lawless White House decision to delay the law's insurance mandate for businesses, though not for individuals."

"This is more than a typical government snafu. It relates directly to the design of the law, which was thoughtlessly written and rammed through Congress with instructions for the bureaucracy to figure it all out," the editorial said.

Obama’s interference in Egypt isn’t popular there either

 

 

Ann Paterson is the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt.

July 4 blessings—if we can keep them

 

I'm thankful this July 4 for the First Amendment. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Can we keep these freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly or will we allow the President and the courts to dream up work arounds? Our president forces the HHS Mandate which violates the religion of millions; he calls peaceful assembly by hundreds of those who disagree with his policies "domestic terrorism;" our free press is eroded by his personal lapdog journalists and crony capitalist cyber giants; citizens speaking out brings out the thuggery at the IRS. Don't lose this treasure!

Obama supports the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

"An honest, capable and representative government is what ordinary Egyptians seek and what they deserve." President Obama, commenting on the removal of Morsi as leader of Egypt.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/03/statement-president-barack-obama-egypt

Yes, that's what Americans deserve too, but he calls peaceful opposition to his policies terrorism, and the Tea Party has just had a few posters and town meetings, not 33 million people in the streets.

Wendy Davis

"Depending on your point of view, Davis is either a brave hero fighting for women everywhere or the second coming of Kermit Gosnell, the notorious Philadelphia doctor recently found guilty of murdering babies." Nick Gillespie, Reason.com

Me?  I think she’s much closer to Gosnell than a hero.

Gettysburg and Uncle Jacob

My great great grandparents lived in Adams County, Pennsylvania, home of Gettysburg.  In early letters to their son David living near Ashton, Illinois, they weren’t too concerned about the war.  Later as things deteriorated, they sent their youngest son, Jacob, to Illinois to live with his older brother David, my grandmother’s father, who really didn’t know him because of the age difference.  But young Jacob got caught up in the war fever anyway, and at age 16 went to Dixon, Illinois, and enlisted.  He died in Tennessee of dysentery a few weeks before the war ended in 1865.  He is buried there in a national cemetery.  It was over 100 years before we even knew of his existence, let alone where he was buried.  One of his sisters in Iowa received a letter from him and his last pay record, which was also his death certificate. When genealogies were being assembled in the 1980s we found out about poor Jacob. His name was listed in the Lee County History compiled 50 years later, but no one in the family thought to read that.

There are no goats in heaven

This morning's speaker on Malabar Farm was excellent. I definitely want to visit. He showed the cutest baby goat photos. He said they are risk takers and get loose even if the grass is just as green on the right side of the fence; lambs are fine, though. Did you know there are no goats in heaven? Jesus said so. Only sheep. That must be why. Cute, adorable, but won't mind. Matt. 25:32-33.

 

 

 

 

 

The Bromfield book, although a novel, is said to be autobiographical.

Obamacare postponement

Louis Bromfield and Malabar Farm

 

This morning's lecture is on Louis Bromfield and Malabar Farm. At one time he was one of America's most successful authors. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married at Malabar Farm, which is now a state park.

The speaker is Thomas Bachelder, a former high school art teacher who is now a naturalist at Malabar Farm. He is writing a book These Thousand Acres: The Story of the Land That Became Malabar Farm.

Magic Bathroom cleaner

I haven’t tried this, but wanted to save the recipe, and putting it in the blog is easier than printing it.

What you need:
-1 Professional Spray Bottle (it is worth the extra $1, trust me!)
-8 oz. Distilled White Vinegar
-4 oz. Lemon Juice
-2 oz. Liquid Soap (I use Dawn)
-2 tsp. Baking Soda
-10 oz water
To Mix:
Funnel in all the ingredients, squeeze out the suds, screw on your cap and go make your bathroom sparkle!
To Use:
Clear the surfaces, use toilet tissue to wipe off any dirt, hair, spilled liquids, etc.  Using the lightest spray setting, spray down everything- sink, counter, mirror, faucets, tub and the whole toilet, inside and out. I let it sit while I sweep the floor. I then use a microfiber cloth to wipe down the surfaces from the cleanest to the dirtiest. In our house that means mirror, faucets, sink, tub/shower and then the toilet. Be sure to rinse out the tub/shower really well so it isn't slippery.
Stubborn stains in your tub?
Whether its a dirt ring at the top or dirt stuck in the textured bottom, this will solve your problem! Spray down the problem area heavily, and then using a sponge with a non-scratch scrubber, scrub in a circular motion. Again, rinse very well and then put on your shades because its going to be shiny.

You’ll be known by your friends

In the Texas state Capitol, while pro-lifers sang Amazing Grace, the pro-abortion crowd chanted “Hail Satan.”  They seem to think these posters are amusing. Some day these young ladies will be so embarrassed that this photo of them went viral.  But not today.  Today, they are tools of the pro-Satan crowd.

Bush helped the economy after a recession; Obama hurt it

We all know what PPACA (Obamacare) gave us--a lot of surprises that Congress who didn't read it didn't know about, plus enough economic slip ups to completely undo any benefit from the so-called stimulus.  Bush and his Republican Congress, on the other hand, boosted medical research as their signature medical effort. Medical research has great payback in the form of healthier workers and new investments. Making people spend more in insurance--seems to benefit 2 industries: insurance companies and the government bureaucracy. http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY03/Completed/overview.pdf

Art at the Rhein Center at Lakeside, 2013

Lakeside has a wonderful art center where classes of all types are taught. Here's what my neighbor's grand daughter Elle was able to do today. Aren't the colors great? My husband will be teaching (perspective) next week. Established in a dilapidated, boarded up building in memory of C. Kirk Rhein, Jr., a son and grandson of Lakesiders lost in TWA Flight 800, it is now a pleasant, busy, humming hive of laughter and effort. This spring it got a nice make-over with tents outside and a fresh coat of paint and new floors.  http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/article/20130624/NEWS01/306240022/Lakeside-gets-fresh-face

Joan Shaw Turrentine guest blogger on Obamacare impact

The Salvation Army truck just left, taking away the leftovers from our yard sale a couple of weeks ago. I finally have our garage space back! While we were loading the “stuff” on the truck, I asked the worker if it is true that most of the Salvation Army staff has had their hours cut to half-time. He affirmed the truth of what I had heard. So sad! Employers (particularly charities) cannot afford to hire full-time workers - thanks to all the oppressive regulations involved with our new “healthcare” laws which require extensive paperwork and fees for every full-time employee. In the light of the IRS scandal, one has to wonder whether faith-based charities (like Salvation Army) might be especially targeted for extra paper-work limiting their hiring. Throughout my 72 years as a citizen of this once-great country I have been a trusting, patriotic citizen. It breaks my heart that I can no longer trust our country’s leaders.

Amen, Joan. (NB)

Morality slipping in the United States

This is the agency in charge of your health

He knew it was a tax when he first lied.

Look where “wantedness” got us. 55 million dead.

Amy Grant at Lakeside, June 29

A great concert by Amy Grant last night at Hoover Auditorium in Lakeside. Except for a few of her Christian favorites popular early in her career, it was a secular concert for some very loyal fans. Can't believe she's 52. She must work out. She has great rapport with her audience and seemed to genuinely enjoy Lakeside. We were packed in cheek to jowl, and the doors opened at 7:30 (for 8:15 concert).

Lakeside Foundation had a dinner last night where we were updated on last year's projects (splash park and memorial garden) and the upcoming plans for the lakefront. $688,000 was raised in 2012, and the goal now is $700,000. We sat with 3 other couples, married in 1950, 1957, and 1960. Among us we had 222 years of marriage. I thought that might be a record, but looked over at the next table and I'm sure they were over 240.

Greenland is huge!

Have you ever looked at a globe or map – Greenland is enormous, and it only has about 56,000 people.  Right after WWII the U.S. offered to buy Greenland from Denmark for $100 million, but no deal.  We could have had 51 states!

 

Between 1989 and 1993, U.S. and European climate researchers drilled into the summit of Greenland's ice sheet, obtaining a pair of 3 km (1.9 mi) long ice cores. Analysis of the layering and chemical composition of the cores has provided a revolutionary new record of climate change in the Northern Hemisphere going back about 100,000 years, and illustrated that the world's weather and temperature have often shifted rapidly from one seemingly stable state to another, with worldwide consequences.^[46] The glaciers of Greenland are also contributing to a rise in the global sea level at a faster rate than was previously believed.^[47] Between 1991 and 2004, monitoring of the weather at one location (Swiss Camp) showed that the average winter temperature had risen almost 6 °C (11 °F).^[48] Other research has shown that higher snowfalls from the North Atlantic oscillation caused the interior of the ice cap to thicken by an average of 6 cm or 2.36 in/yr between 1994 and 2005.^[49]

Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland

 

 

Insurance for what? Votes.

And Paula Deen gets fired for what she said decades ago?

First, Minnesota State Rep. Ryan Winkler calls Justice Clarence Thomas an "Uncle Tom." Now MSNBC contributor has jumped in comparing the Justice to a Nazi. One thing about the far Left: Their blood-dripping hatred of minority conservatives knows no bounds.(Flyover Country)

Because he agreed that a 1965 voting law has outlived its legitimate lifespan, Justice Clarence Thomas is akin to a Jewish Nazi collaborator.  Michael Dyson -- a Georgetown professor -- explicitly invokes the holocaust in drawing his comparison. Appalling. Host Martin Bashir responds to this venom with a calm "thank you."

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/msnbcs-michael-eric-dyson-on-clarence-thomas-symbolic-jew-who-sided-with-hitler-to-commit-genocide/

I hope you can see the double standard.  If not, you are a Democrat.

Two large silver maples lost in one week

It’s been a bad week for silver maples at Lakeside.  The one on the lakefront was rotten inside, and the one at Second and Peach had a wide but not deep root system.

This home was a classic Dutch Colonial style, with mansard roof.  Air conditioner in the bedroom window  was still running when I walked past on Sunday morning. The tree appeared to be held up by the bark.

The angle at which it fell missed the house and little porch in the front.  Hollyhocks still blooming.  It fell Thursday evening during a storm. Also missed the house across the street.

The root system was very broad, but not deep.  Seemed to be on solid rock.

Rules, rules and more rules

We have a new baby pool and children’s splash park at Lakeside.  Lots of rules for parents to follow.

Evan Sayet on liberals

“Evan Sayet: How Modern Liberals Brainwash People Into Hating America” http://bit.ly/19xMqv7

Religious freedom and the founders

The founding fathers spoke eloquently, passionately, and frequently about the importance of religiously grounded morality to the success of their new republic. They provided governmental aid for religion in a variety of ways. The current effort to exclude religious perspectives and ideals and ensure a naked, ideologically "neutral" public square is at odds with their views, the history of our country, and the well-being of our society--a society that still, in many ways, sees itself as a "nation on a hill." Gary Scott Smith, Christian History, Iss. 102, p. 31.

The founders believed in religious liberty, not in kicking out religion. Fortunately, after Massachusetts and Connecticut set aside state churches, religion, primarily Christianity, flourished and Christians tackled slavery eventually abolishing it, creating public schools for factory children, closing saloons and ridding communities of public drunkenness, creating penitentiaries to replace cruel physical punishments for crimes, demanding rights for women so they could retain custody of their children, establishing the first public libraries, and pushing literacy for all so all could read the scriptures. Now Christians are in the forefront of saving the unborn, in a country that is disparaging marriage with a birth rate below replacement level. We weren't on the wrong side on those other issues, and we're on the right side now.

Families of Seal Team VI file law suit

Seal Team 6 families file $200 million law suit against Biden and Panetta and others. “It is hypocritical and outrageous that while the Obama Justice Department can criminally charge Edward Snowden for allegedly disclosing classified national security information and wage an international manhunt for his arrest, Biden and Panetta get off scot free for their callous, cynical, opportunistic illegal release of the identity of SEAL Team VI in the Bin Laden killing – allegedly orchestrated to boost President Obama’s and Vice President Biden’s reelection prospects in the months leading up to the 2012 November 6 election. This underscores how the nation’s ‘leaders’ in Washington are not held to the same standards as are other citizens. It therefore falls upon the families of Navy SEAL Team VI and special ops servicemen to seek justice in the civil courts, as Biden and Panetta are ‘not above the law.’ The hard reality is that Biden and Panetta are alive ‘feasting’ on their ‘political notoriety,’ power, and wealth, while the brave heroes who gave their lives for our nation’s security are dead, thanks to them! “ Gerard Direct, June 27, 2013.

Their deaths in Afghanistan was the subject of a one hour special on Glenn Beck last evening, which featured the story and families of 2 of the men. It was excellent.  Some of the best TV out there is produced by Glenn Beck’s company.

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130627-906917.html

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, four families of Navy SEAL Team VI and special ops forces brought suit in federal court in Washington, D.C. (Case No. 13-cv-974) over the death of their sons, whose helicopter was shot down by Taliban jihadists on August 6, 2011 in Afghanistan. Among those who died in the crash were 16 Navy SEALs and 8 special ops servicemen, including the sons of Charles Strange, Doug and Shaune Hamburger, Sidh Douangdara, and Billy and Karen Vaughn.

As alleged in the complaint, the disclosures of classified information by Vice President Biden and then newly sworn-in Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta that SEAL Team VI was responsible for the killing of Osama Bin Laden, put a "target on the backs" of the now fallen heroes and their families. Predictably, the Taliban retaliated by blasting the helicopter out of the air and killing all on board.

The George Zimmerman trial

If Trayvon Martin had been Hispanic, would you have ever heard of this tragedy? Or if he'd been white? Or if George Zimmerman was black? The media chase these things. Here in NW Ohio we're watching another murder trial. Victim is a black baby girl, killed in a drive by shooting and her 2 year old sister was wounded but survived. But it's local news, not national. There's no one to agitate because the men who killed her are also black. http://www.northwestohio.com/news/story.aspx?id=914545

Act like a pinata, GOP

We can save both babies and women

Designs by Birgit.

Natural wood repair

I haven’t tried this yet, but someone on FB says, “Naturally Repair Wood With Vinegar and Canola Oil. So, for a super cheap, use 3/4 cup of oil, add 1/4 cup vinegar. white or apple cider vinegar, mix it in a jar, then rub it into the wood. You don’t need to wipe it off; the wood just soaks it in.

We have a maple dresser here in Lakeside that could use some help.  I’ll let you know.

Many women choose based on gender

If we can't give them "liberty and the pursuit of happiness" at the fetal stage, I'd settle for life.

A noose of snooping gets tighter and more expansive

If there were ever a federal agency misnamed, it’s the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“(Washington, DC) - Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained records from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) revealing that the agency has spent millions of dollars for the warrantless collection and analysis of Americans' financial transactions. The documents also reveal that CFPB contractors may be required to share the information with "additional government entities."

The records were obtained pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed on April 24, 2013, following the April 23 Senate Banking Committee testimony of CFPB Director Richard Cordray. The documents uncovered by Judicial Watch include:

Overlapping contracts with multiple credit reporting agencies and accounting firms to gather, store, and share credit card data as shown in the task list of a contract with Argus Information & Advisory Services LLC worth $2.9 million

Deloitte Consulting: solicitation issue date 11/30/2011, award effective date 05/29/2012;

Argus: solicitation issue date 02/14/2012, award effective date 03/15/2012;

Experian: solicitation issue date 07/03/2012, award effective date 09/24/2012

An "indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity" contract with Experian worth up to $8,426,650 to track daily consumer habits of select individuals without their awareness or consent

$4,951,333 for software and instruction paid to Deloitte Consulting LLP

A provision stipulating that "The contractor recognizes that, in performing this requirement, the Contractor may obtain access to non-public, confidential information, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), or proprietary information."

A stipulation that "The Contractor may be required to share credit card data collected from the Banks with additional government entities as directed by the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR)."

The full extent of the CFPB personal financial data collection program is revealed in a document obtained by Judicial Watch entitled "INDEFINITE-DELIVERY INDEFINITY-QUANTITY (IDIQ) STATEMENT OF WORK." According to the IDIQ document's stated Objective: "The CFPB seeks to acquire and maintain a nationally representative panel of credit information on consumers for use in a wide range of policy research projects... The panel shall be a random sample of consumer credit files obtains from a national database of credit files."

To accomplish this objective, the CFPB describes the scope of the program accordingly:

The panel shall include 5 million consumers, and joint borrowers, co-signers, and authorized users [emphasis added]. The initial panel shall contain 10 years of historical data on a quarterly basis [emphasis added]. The initial sample shall be drawn from current records and historical data appended for that sample as well as additional samples during the intervening years [emphasis added] to make the combines sample representative at each point in time.

The CFPB data collection program has been highly controversial since the April 2013 hearing, when Cordray disclosed elements of the venture at a Senate Banking Committee hearing. At the time, the US Chamber of Commerce accused the CFPB of breaking the law by demanding the account-level data without a warrant or National Security Letter.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/feds-collecting-personal-confidential-data-on-consumers-credit-cards-bank-transactions/article/2532467

The IRS will be in charge of our health needs

And this is what we will get.

Remember, Krauthammer is a psychiatrist. He doesn’t throw these words around the way other political commentators might.

 

Snowden and Davis

We have strange heroes these days. Edward Snowden and Wendy Davis. Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, the woman they are cheering and admiring her shoes: "The law that Wendy Davis and her fellow “pro-science” acolytes so bravely stood against would have rendered it illegal to kill the child after this point [after 20 weeks]. And when I say kill, I mean kill. I mean break bones, rip apart limbs, crush skulls, drain fluids, still a beating heart, annihilate a brain that is capable of dreaming, and crush a nervous system. I mean: Kill. As David Freddoso put it yesterday, “Wendy Davis can now say, When the moment came to stand up for smashing the life out of a baby 6 mos into pregnancy, I was up to the task.” This is not an accomplishment of which she should be proud." http://www.nationalreview.com/article/352146/stand-death-charles-c-w-cooke/page/0/1

Paula Deen and the race card

"Yet, here is the reality: Deen told the truth about her past. Knowing everything: her empire, her contracts, and sponsorships were at stake–she told the truth. She was more honest under oath than at least 3 US Presidents, several dozen Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and Non-Denominational preachers and countless business leaders. Unlike the Pope, Joe Paterno, or Donald Trump, she acknowledged she hadn’t always gotten it right but that she and her company was committed to doing it better and were doing better."

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mariadixonhall/2013/06/saying-grace-paula-deen-progressives-and-race/

The SCOTUS DOMA Decision by the Numbers

Sharing this analysis of the SCOTUS decisions 'by the numbers':

50 The number of states whose marriage laws remain the same after the Court’s marriage decisions.

38 The number of states with laws defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. That includes California, where the scope of today’s Prop 8 decision beyond the specific plaintiffs will be the subject of ongoing debate and, most likely, further litigation.

12 The number of states that can now force the federal government to recognize their redefinition of marriage. The Court struck Section 3 of DOMA, which means that it must recognize same-sex marriages in states that redefine marriage.

1 The number of sections of the Defense of Marriage Act struck down yesterday (Section 3). Section 2, which ensures that no state will be forced to recognize another state’s redefinition of marriage, is still law.

0 The number of states forced to recognize other states’ redefinition of marriage.

Seen at Maggie Thurber’s Face Book page.

Saturday night program at Lakeside, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood

We had a great time at the opening program at Lakeside, June 23. Laughed ourselves silly. Sat with an OSU colleague from my library days, Lynda, and she took our photo. We’re really not that pale—the flash washed out what color we do have.

New Lakeside logo is wisely withdrawn

Although I'm not sure how a logo unveiled a few days ago became "iconic" (there are 3 buildings in Lakeside with a southwest mission style architecture from which the logo was drawn), but most didn't think it should replace the cross, which had 140 years history here. But this should save the expense of a copyright infringement case by Taco Bell.  Besides, “maize and blue” are not popular in Ohio.

 

For the coal miners union that supported Obama

I attended 2 Shakespeare lectures today by Ruth Gerrard Cole. Heard a great line for the coal miners who supported Obama. "Made I him king for this?"

“The only thing bold about a carbon tax is how much it would cost Americans and how little the environmental benefits they would gain in return. Even if America stopped all carbon emissions—no cars, trains, or planes; no factories, homes, or businesses that run on anything other than nuclear electricity; no manufacturing of plastics, which use oil as a feedstock, and so on—the global temperature would decrease by 0.08 degrees Celsius by 2050."

http://blog.heritage.org/2013/06/21/climate-change-the-cost-of-bold-action/

On DOMA

• If marriage isn't about one man and one woman, it is also NOT about two people--and this battle will continue for "equal rights and benefits." Could be 5 or more, or people related by blood (2 sisters and their first cousin), or people of a certain age (14 year old student and 32 year old teacher), or one person already being married wanting some legal status for the lover, or one or both having a serious disease, or anything that history has devised to protect the continuance of the human race. And then there's the divorce laws...imagine wife number 3 deciding she wants out of the clan and her share of the estate and the children she has birthed or cared for.

• There are thousands of laws concerning marriage and children. The GLBT community had an opportunity to go with something different without all those economic and political entanglements. But they wanted to be on the Me Too Train.

A little humor

Dismal news on the Middle East

Yesterday’s Chautauqua lecture at Lakeside was on the Middle East, specifically the Arab uprisings of 2011. Although a liberal academic (but I repeat), Lebanese American professor at Case Western Pete W. Moore gave one of the best and most balanced presentations I’ve heard on the subject, and of course, two years have passed in which they’ve been able to evaluate Morsi of Egypt and adjust for religion, poverty, government control, etc.  He was excellent in pointing out the differences among the many fighting factions of Islamists.  Also, since the situation has now been Obama’s for almost 6 years, there was only one mention of Bush, and the unspoken blame for our role in the increasingly explosive middle eastern battles and civil wars was squarely on our current administration (which is Bush-lite if you are on the right, and Bush on steroids if you are on the left).  But he gave one interesting example of how irresponsible behavior higher up affects the young.  He said 80% of the male citizens of the UAE (United Arab Emirates) do not finish high school.  They are virtually illiterate in Arabic except for speaking it.  They have been coddled by both their parents and their government, which will provide them with a cushy, do-nothing government job.  The citizens are so wealthy that all meaningful labor is imported, and those people have no rights at all.  It is a mirror image of what the United States does to its low income and welfare classes. He showed genuine grief in what is happening to the Syrian culture, a country where he has spent some time.  He talked some of their minority populations, many different Christian groups that have lived side by side with Muslims for centuries, and how they support Assad and will probably be wiped out if the Islamists succeed. The income level and education level in all these countries differ as does the type of government ranging from elected, to monarchy to dictator.  But what has happened in recent years is “rising expectations,” and a growing sense of being humiliated by their leaders and the very wealthy classes.  He also posted the trillions we’ve spent since 1979 in the area for the military and aid, including aid to Israel. Today’s lecture will be on Europe.

Modern medicine confirms biblical principles, again

JAMA Pediatrics 2013; 167(4):217-222

One hundred six (106) 10th grade high schools students who were fluent in English and free of chronic illnesses volunteered weekly with elementary school aged children for 2 months vs. a control group that did not but were on a waiting list (so their hearts were in the right place, so to speak).  After 4 months, they were tested and their cardiovascular risk facts had been reduced, compared to the control group.

The study suggests that those who increased the most in empathy and altruistic behavior also decreased the most in negative mood, and thus improved their cardiovascular risk profile.

The only problem I have with the study is the concept of “volunteering” now used in public schools.  It is required in many schools and thus is hardly volunteering.

Proverbs 11:17;  A man who is kind benefits himself,  but a cruel man hurts himself.”

This will be my summer reading—The Greater Journey

For our first meeting in the fall, our book club group usually choses the largest one, and McCullough always writes whoppers. I love non-fiction, and this one sounds fascinating.

In The Greater Journey, he tells the enthralling, inspiring—and until now, untold—story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, and others who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, hungry to learn and to excel in their work. What they achieved would profoundly alter American history.

Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in America, was one of this intrepid band. Another was Charles Sumner, whose encounters with black students at the Sorbonne inspired him to become the most powerful voice for abolition in the U.S. Senate. Friends James Fenimore Cooper and Samuel F. B. Morse worked unrelentingly every day in Paris, Morse not only painting what would be his masterpiece, but also bringing home his momentous idea for the telegraph. Harriet Beecher Stowe traveled to Paris to escape the controversy generated by her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Three of the greatest American artists ever—sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, painters Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent—flourished in Paris, inspired by French masters.

Almost forgotten today, the heroic American ambassador Elihu Washburne bravely remained at his post through the Franco-Prussian War, the long Siege of Paris, and the nightmare of the Commune. His vivid diary account of the starvation and suffering endured by the people of Paris is published here for the first time.

Telling their stories with power and intimacy, McCullough brings us into the lives of remarkable men and women who, in Saint-Gaudens’ phrase, longed “to soar into the blue.”

                  

Some pro-abortion folks just don’t get it

"From the stage at the recent Women Deliver conference, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s daughter Chelsea revealed that her much-admired maternal grandmother was the child of unwed teenage parents who “did not have access to services that are so crucial that Planned Parenthood helps provide.”

Chelsea’s grandmother was born of an unintended pregnancy. And new research shows that her family is not alone in treasuring a person who – if Planned Parenthood had been successful – would not have been born."

Seems like she hasn't put it together that if her maternal grandmother had been aborted that she, and her mother too, wouldn't be here. Wonder if NBC is proud of their 'Rock Center' "special correspondent" now? Actually, they probably are.

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/06/20/chelsea-clinton-laments-my-grandmother-did-not-have-access-to-planned-parenthood/

Oven baked chicken breasts

MELT IN YOUR MOUTH CHICKEN

1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup Greek yogurt -plain
1 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Spread mixture over chicken breasts, bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes

Oven baked Tacos

It looks like you have to guess at the amounts. 

(from Facebook)

Brown your ground beef and drain completely - then add refried beans, taco seasoning and about half a can of tomato sauce. Mix together and scoop into taco shells, (stand them up in a casserole dish).

Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

The Gang of Eight plan

Any immigration plan the Republicans come up with that is enthusiastically accepted by Democrats, and especially the President is a trick. Democrats are not necessarily smarter than Republicans, but they certainly are sneakier, and have a bigger bag of tricks. They have been pulling this scam about how they care about the little guy and the poor for so long, while lynching blacks, passing Jim Crow laws, aborting babies that could live outside the womb, keeping the poor out of their neighborhoods with strict zoning and EPA, and condemning generations to live the welfare plantation, that one could assume we have a very dumb electorate. One of their favorite heroes is FDR who kept the country in a Depression for almost a decade and imprisoned Americans according to their race.

Ask yourself why Democrats want lax border security, or no borders. Who benefits? Unions? Big business? Mexico? Democrat voter rolls? Why are rules or fences different than check points that currently exist between all countries?

Reread the 1986 immigration law that they say doesn't work. Enforcement is the key. It provides for guest workers, border security, rules for employers so American labor doesn't suffer, amnesty for "3 million" and guess what the Democrats got--amnesty for those already here.