To an accusation about not being caring and noble

I was reading a medical newsletter, Medpage “Gupta Guide,” on how the shutdown was affecting medical conferences, and found out the government had actually called people back who were to speak at or attend a medical conference—flights, hotels, registration already paid for.  Burning up bucks to save a penny.  The comments at the article got pretty heated as some thought others too progressive, who in turn thought conservatives were not being caring  and noble.

I already get one viewpoint and one viewpoint only from all of the mainstream media, Hollywood, TV, movies, "comedy shows", academia... the "progressive" socialist/communist left-wing viewpoint. I am so sick of it. I should be able to read medical related articles without the indoctrination continuing ad nauseum. They redistribute tax dollars in exchange for votes, which is the farthest thing from "caring and noble".

They send billions of dollars and 20 F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abrams tanks to Muslim Brotherhood terrorists in Egypt. Sent billions of dollars and were running guns to the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya and got 4 Americans killed there and many injured. And now this Presidential Administration is giving arms, weapons, and US military support and our blood and treasure boots on the ground to Al Qaeda Muslim terrorists in Syria. And purposely leaving our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel, hung out to dry and be annihilated. It is insane. None of that is "caring and noble".

They use it to fund wasteful, corrupt, power-hungry government agencies (IRS, EPA, OIG, OSHA, etc.) and the President told them to use their tax-payer-funded POWER to target, attack, and destroy their political opponent American citizens using mob gangster terror tactics. Not American...not noble or caring. . . 

It is not caring or noble to indoctrinate and teach people that they are not capable of being responsible for themselves and that big daddy government must step in and be their father or husband at the expense of the tax-payer who can't afford anything but peanut butter and is working their rear off.

Beckoning illegal aliens to come here with ads and billboards in Mexico in order to get them on welfare and GET THEIR VOTE is not caring and noble for those of us who are picking up the bill, but can't afford to pay for our kid's college. So don't lecture others about not being caring if they do not subscribe to your "progressive" viewpoint, because you have had the wool pulled over your eyes.

Whose budget—guest blogger Nancy Junker

The US House and US Senate are suppose to pass a budget bill. The Senate, under Harry Reid, has not done so since Obama took office. Why is this? I can only imagine that it is because with the spending levels they want, and the economy in the tank producing lower tax revenue, it would be sooooo out of balance. The progressives do not want the voters hearing about this.

Bills may be initiated in either chamber, but spending bills originate in the House. We have not had a budget in 5 years, so it is difficult to put any spending bills in perspective. Just rack them up!

Bills that originate in one chamber and are passed go to the other chamber. That chamber either takes it up as is, or creates its own bill on the same subject. When this bill passes, a conference committee consisting of members of both chambers meet to negotiate the differences. A compromise version then goes to both chambers for a vote. Almost every bill that the House has passed in the last 5 years has been dead on arrival at the Senate. They simply do not take it up. Harry Reid demands that the House send him a bill that only contains items that he agrees with. There are no votes on the Senate floor. There are no conference committees to negotiate differences. It is his way or nothing.

This is what is being done with the CR and the Debt Ceiling. The Democrats are not willing to negotiate at all. They know full well that if and when the Republicans cave, there will be no bargaining chips left for them in the budgeting process.

But why have we been funding the federal government with CR’s for the last 5 years anyway? Remember the good ole days when we had appropriation bills for each department of the government? There would always be a scurry near year end to get them all done. Many would end up being combined in the haste. When the Republicans had control, the Democrats would berate them for not getting the business of the government done in a timely fashion. Now the Democratic Senate won’t consider an appropriation bill from the House is it is not in total agreement with it and we don’t have conference committees to negotiate differences, we just pass continuing resolutions to keep spending levels the same with I would assume the automatic percentage increases that are always included in the”baseline” budgeting process. And that baseline has increased enormously over the last 5 years. Remember all the stimulus money that was added?

This is no way to run the government.

Ashley’s response to Chad (the Obamacare poster boy)

My name is Ashley Dionne and I’m a 26-year-old recent graduate from Michigan.

The phony Obamacare signup poster boy [Chad Henderson] made me want to send a message about how Obamacare is really affecting people....

I graduated from The University of Michigan in 2009. In my state, this used to mean something, but even with a bachelor’s I was told I was too educated and wouldn’t stay. I watched as kids with GEDs and high school diploma’s took the low-paying jobs for which I applied.

I went back to school and got a second degree and finally found work at a gym. I work nights and only get 32 hours a week for eight dollars an hour. I’m unable to find a second job at this time.

I have asthma, ulcers, and mild cerebral palsy. Obamacare takes my monthly rate from $75 a month for full coverage on my “Young Adult Plan,” to $319 a month. After $6,000 in deductibles, of course.

Liberals claimed this law would help the poor. I am the poor, the working poor, and I can’t afford to support myself, let alone older generations and people not willing to work at all.

This law has raped my future.

It will keep me and kids my age from having a future at all.

This is the real face of Obamacare and it isn’t pretty

Obama Bucks

Don’t read or buy this book

I thought it was just me that had a problem with "The Great Controversy, past, present, future; how it will end." Don't bother to buy it, or even accept it as a gift.  It's being advertised on Glenn Beck.  First, it's so anti-Catholic, Martin Luther could have written chapter 3, "An era of spiritual darkness,"; second, it was written by a 7th Day Adventist woman, Ellen G. White,  in the 19th century, which isn't a good sign considering the number of Christian cults founded by women; third, some sources say large sections are plagiarized (although what difference that would make I don't know); fourth, Christians squabble over several different millennial theories and I think this is post-tribulation historical with 7th day accoutrements ending with guidelines from an 1880s newspaper, since White is one of the founders.  I'm not into that stuff myself, believing Jesus is coming back.  Period.

Have they found the reason for Colony Collapse Disorder?

“. . . in recent years, an alarming number of bee colonies across North America and Europe have begun to collapse. As part of the phenomenon, formally known as Colony Collapse Disorder, worker bees fail to return to the hive after their pollen-collecting trips nearby. We still don’t fully understand what’s driving this trend, but the list of culprits likely includes pesticides, viral infections, intensive agriculture and perhaps even the practice of feeding bees high fructose corn syrup in place of the honey we take from them.

New research, though, suggests there may be an overlooked problem: the exhaust fumes produced by diesel-powered engines. As described in a study published today in Scientific Reports, a group of researchers from the UK’s University of Southampton found that the pollution produced by diesel combustion reduces bees’ ability to recognize the scent of various flowers—a key sense they use in navigating and finding food sources.”

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/10/are-diesel-exhaust-fumes-to-blame-for-honeybee-colony-collapse/

White House talking points on NBC Meet the Press

Rand Paul does a good job of setting her straight on how power of the purse works, still, her bias is aggravating. He has to explain how representation works.  70% in his state don’t want Obamacare, so why should he try to save it?  She gives new meaning to lapdog media.

Harry says—a book you’ll enjoy

Do you know a boss (not yours) well enough to need a stocking stuffer for Christmas? This is only $9.95--"Harry says; boss talk without the warm fuzzies," edited by Bruce Feldman. (Blue Point Books, 2006, isbn-13: 978-1-883423-12-4).  I received a review copy and have had quite a chuckle reading it. You can read the whole book on your coffee break--very brief. I cite the page number and that's the only thing on the page.

"Judge people by what you have seen them do, not by what they say they did. And never confuse, "I can do it," with, "I have done it." One is confidence talking. The other is experience." p.22

"Doing it over is not quality control." p.40

"Count on the boss being the only one who knows that landing the plane near the airport isn't good enough. Either a job is done right or it isn't." p. 43

This one sort of reminds me of some of the government's War on Poverty programs that have spent billions, and the final report says it hasn't worked in 40 years, so Obama orders up more money (Head Start). "My employees don't mind making mistakes as long as they get paid for fixing them."  p.54

If you've ever been forced to work on a team: "Working together is a way to carry around a lot of weight if it's evenly distributed. Otherwise, it's a way to start a lot of trouble."  p. 58

Another first for Obama

According to the House Committee on Natural Resources, the Obama administration has taken the unusual step of shutting down only the most popular tourist memorials in the nation’s capital, including the World War II Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and the National Mall. Other, lesser-visited sites, have been left open.

"Via William Jacobson, NBC's affiliate in Washington, D.C. reports that police ordered tourists and Vietnam war veterans who were visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall to leave the memorial at one point on Friday.

After one group of veterans went around the barricade, "the park ranger told them the wall was closed," NBC's Mark Seagraves reported. "Later another group of vets showed up and moved the barricades. At that point, the memorial filled with vets and tourists. That's when police came and moved everyone out."

Now THAT’s a love letter!

October 5, 1780
"I have told you, and I told you truly that I love you too much. You engross my thoughts too intirely to allow me to think of any thing else. You not only employ my mind all day; but you intrude upon my sleep. I meet you in every dream-and when I wake I cannot close my eyes again for ruminating on your sweetnesses. 'Tis a pretty story indeed that I am to be thus monopolized, by a little nut-brown maid like you-and from a statesman and a soldier metamorphosed into a puny lover. I believe in my soul you are an inchantress."

Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, October 5, 1780, two months before their wedding

Banned Books Week

Oh darn.  I missed Banned Books Week.  It was last week and I was in the hospital (briefly) and paying attention to bigger issues. Yes, BBW is a hoax. You can get these books anywhere. What the American Library Association calls a ban really means someone complained about a book--it wasn't banned or burned. No American author in the USA was threatened--that's for Europe and the Middle East. We have the right to complain, too. It's covered in the First Amendment.  We pay for our public libraries and schools--should we be thrilled with every selection? Can we say, "Why so many Martha Stewart?" What about poor quality binding or illustrations? Is that OK to complain about? Or price? Or disrespect toward a race, gender or religion? Or new books on the occult outnumbering new titles for a religion a bit more common in the neighborhood, for instance, Christianity? Banning of sorts does exist, but it starts in the back room where decisions are made on what to buy. And the library field is overwhelmingly liberal.

Who opposes Obamacare? Most Americans.

I went to the polls directly to see what was said. The story that accompanies the USA Today-Pew Poll blames the Republicans for a misinformed public and that of the 19% without insurance, only about 40% know they are mandated to get insurance. This does not surprise me; they are young, or poor or non-political--millions could have had insurance either through Medicaid or their employer, but just didn't sign on. This was completely unnecessary legislation.

Comparing Diltiazem (Cardizem) and Atenolol

Results comparing Diltiazem with Atenolol for Cardiac Arrhythmia are based on 701 research studies conducted by health experts on 309,631 patients, trial data from the FDA, and 877 patient discussions on the web. Regarding effectiveness, health experts concluded Diltiazem was effective about as often as they concluded Atenolol was effective. Regarding safety, health experts concluded Diltiazem was safe about as often as they concluded Atenolol was safe. However, in FDA trials, the average incidence rate of the top 5 side effects common to both Diltiazem and Atenolol was lower in Diltiazem. Finally, patients on average mentioned experiencing side effects common to both treatments more often with Diltiazem

She’s dead, but not a terrorist. Democrats unhinged with hate words

DC Police have said the woman they shot and killed today (unarmed last I heard) was an isolated incident, and not an act of terrorism. Meanwhile, Democrats have called Republicans jihadists, arsonists, anarchists and terrorists for resisting a health care law that will consolidate government control over more of the economy without any health benefits for the people.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/shots-fired-u-s-capitol-report-article-1.1475378

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/22/pelosi-republicans-legislative-arsonists-government-shutdown

Democratic lawmakers are definitely not holding back with name-calling lately, even comparing conservatives to arsonists, people with bombs strapped to their chests, and extortionists.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/10/66593/

Don’t declare a win yet

I think conservatives are getting too excited about the roll out failures of Obamacare. It might take years to get the bugs worked out. And if you've ever battled insurance companies over messed up payments or health records (like the time my husband was billed for a pap test), just multiply this by a number you can only imagine. Keep your eye on the (government's) goal. Whether it was a deliberate plan to fail or not 1) it's the first day and involves a number of computer systems that track our daily lives and usually they don't communicate; 2) the ultimate goal is single payer. This has never been about better health; it's always been about control and power. Even the SCOTUS declared it legal only because it is a tax. Unfair taxation was what birthed this nation. And it may be what kills it.

Barry-cades

What they put around the WWII memorial in Washington, DC to frustrate the veterans who'd had their trip planned for weeks. Thank you Republican representatives who came to their rescue and removed them.  In a number of cases, the National Park Service only supervises parking lots, and local groups pay for and control the memorials. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/1/elderly-veterans-force-entry-wwii-memorial-defianc/

                     

$197 million was raised to build the WWII memorial in DC, a project suggested and promoted by Marcy Kaptur (D) of Ohio for 5 years before it was finally approved. The federal government chipped in $16 million, the rest came from from individuals, veterans groups like the American Legion and VFW, and corporations. I donated. I want it open.

Janice Crouse reports Democrats are hiring protestors to march at WWII and other DC memorials ... paying $15. Homeless and others earning some extra cash.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/shutdown-overreach-more-guards-at-wwii-memorial-than-benghazi-park-service-closes-park-it-doesnt-run/article/2536710

The government shut down scam

When the rest of us have a set back or need to budget, we move money from the non-essentials. Not the government. Those departments raced to spend their allotment before the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30) because of the use it or lose it mentality, and always asking for more based on what was spent the previous year. If I were short of cash, I would be making coffee at home for 5 cents instead of paying $2 at a shop where I could chat with my neighbors. If I were running low, I'd make every trip in the car count. And I'd make sure my church pledge was paid before I'd take out the credit card at Macy's.

This government shut down has happened 17 times since 1976. I bounced one check in 53 years because I had 2 checking accounts when I was a private contractor and wrote a check on the wrong account. Imagine your credit rating if you'd done this that often. And you don't even get to print money!

Head Start closures being reported

A report for WCTV by Julie Montanaro is being discussed on Facebook.

Here’s my take.  Some of the Head Start employees (often parents of the children enrolled) may suffer from the shut down, but there is evidence that any boost the children get disappears by third grade. 40 years and this is the research. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/executive_summary_final.pdf    The report  ( Head Start Impact Study. Final Report. Washington, DC. January 2010) was sat on for four years and released on a Friday evening in Feb. 2010, so you may have missed it. Obama chose to increase the funding for Head Start anyway, as you can see from the graph, and maybe that’s the story. In government if spending billions doesn’t work, spend more.

The mission of Head Start was to give poor children a "head start" for school readiness—make up for all that middle class children got at home in vocabulary, reading readiness, socialization, good nutrition, etc. It was part of that social experiment called the “War on Poverty” of the 1960s. 40 years and $8 billion later it has failed in its mission. The most successful event to lift children out of poverty is the marriage of their parents. Co-habiting parents yields about the same results as single parent home. Poverty falls to 8% compared to 56% for single parent families. Marriage of parents also gives them a boost in health and education, and children raised with fathers are less likely to enter the criminal justice system.

Uncle Sam just isn't a good step-father because government can't be a parent and apparently isn't all that great at being a pre-school facilitator. Head Start isn't the only program--many churches support pre-schools in low income neighborhoods (mine included). My neighbor runs one--it's a delightful program. And the results are about the same--dedicated, loving, committed personnel pour their lives into these kids. The best we can say about Head Start (and private charities that do this) is that the children are safe, well cared for, and often employs the parents.

Buried deep in this article about budget increases for Head Start FY2011 you find a reference to the 2010 report of its failure of mission, although it doesn’t link to the government report I cited above. http://earlyed.newamerica.net/blogposts/2010/a_closer_look_at_obama_s_fy11_budget_head_start-27490

Little pets

A Rhinoceros Beetle from Costa Rica can reach the size of 6.75 inches.  That’s a horn in the front.  They are harmless, I’m told.

And then there’s my grand puppy, Abby, a Chihuahua, dressed for Buckeye football.

Socialists, humor about

Socialists, humor about

Happy 10th blogiversary to me

Jorn Barger of Robot Wisdom coined the term "weblog" Dec. 17, 1997.  It meant a diary or log kept on the world wide web in reverse chronological order, or simply BLOG, that others could read. Technically, I started blogging on October 3, 2003, but then back dated it to October 1 because it just looked untidy the other way.

Barger thought blogs should be primarily links to other people’s writings. Why I don’t know.  I like to include links to the articles and sources I cite, but it’s just plain boring to come across a blog that has two sentences and then a link to someone else who thought of it first and did the research.

I’m not sure when blogging peaked—maybe 2005-2006, as least for young people—so it was hot less than a decade.  Now if I want to read the people I met blogging I need to track them down on Face Book, Twitter, or Pinterest because after 2012 it was just hard to find them.  Social media has moved on to the pithy and brief, the bitter and sarcastic.

For this blog I’ve written over 12,000 posts and had about 580,000 page views in 10 years (Blogger tracks that for me).  But I have 9 other blogs, or maybe 10, so all told, I’ve said and read a lot in 10 years. I used to print them off (don’t really trust Google to maintain Blogger forever), but that soon became a space hog in my office, so I quit doing that about 5 years ago.

Here’s what I used to blog about—13 topics.  The longer I was retired, the less I wrote about libraries; the older I got the less I said about parenting; after a few years, I’d pretty much exhausted my memory on the good old days and family stories; the people who ran the memes like Thursday 13 and Monday Memories and the poetry challenges all turned to other ventures.  So that sort of leaves “current events,” or what a mess the world is in.  And recipes.  That’s always a good fall back.

Commonly held myths about end-of-life issues

Some people don’t have a health care power of attorney or living will because they don’t realize how important these documents are. Others worry that such documents mean they are signing their lives away. Not so.

These powerful documents make sure that you get the treatment you would want for yourself if you couldn’t communicate your wishes. Here are a few myths that shouldn’t get in the way of creating a health care power of attorney or living will:

Myth: More care is always better.

Truth: Not necessarily. Sometimes more care prolongs the dying process without respect for quality of life or comfort. It’s important to know what interventions are truly important. It’s often impossible to know that in advance. That’s where the advice of a healthcare team is invaluable.

Myth: Refusing life support invalidates your life insurance, because you are committing suicide.

Truth: Refusing life support does not mean that you are committing suicide. Instead, the underlying medical problem is considered to be the cause of death.

Myth: If medical treatment is started, it cannot be stopped.

Truth: Not starting a medical treatment and stopping a treatment are the same in the eyes of the law. So you or your health care agent can approve a treatment for a trial period that you think may be helpful without fear that you can’t change your mind later. However, be aware that stopping treatment can be more emotionally difficult than not starting it in the first place.

Myth: If you refuse life-extending treatments, you’re refusing all treatments.

Truth: No matter what treatments you refuse, you should still expect to receive any other care you need or want — especially the pain and symptom management sometimes called intensive comfort care.

Myth: Stopping or refusing artificial nutrition and hydration causes pain for someone who is dying.

Actually, what is listed here as TRUTH is not.  You can find valid studies that state removing hydration from a dying person increases their pain.

[Truth: Unlike keeping food or water from a healthy person, for someone who is dying, declining artificial nutrition or intravenous hydration does not cause pain.]

Harvard Health Beat, Sept. 26, 2013

Agenda 21 is growing while we squabble over Obamacare

We the people will get Obamacare, even if Congress, the unions, and hundreds of crony political donors don’t—and even they will too, eventually.  At least the Democrats and the President voted for it, even if not a single Republican did. And while we’re spinning our wheels on a power grab for one sixth of the economy, a bigger prize is out there ready to gobble us up, and that’s Agenda 21. For that there will be no vote.  We have no say, even if you try to stomp it out at the local level, which is nearly impossible because people are even more apathetic locally than they are nationally.

To see what’s going on there you only need to attend your local school board meeting or city council. For Agenda 21 we have no one in charge, because no has been elected. But every time you hear the word “sustainable,” or “smart growth,” or even something that sounds as positive as “government grant for a new bike path” you are being conned. http://www.offthegridnews.com/2013/08/31/private-property-seized-under-eminent-domain-for-ohio-bike-path/  In northern Ohio a $75,000 “planning grant” is planning to grab millions of federal dollars for bike paths in just one area of one state.  These are wonderful and scenic, unless you need to get to work in a bitter cold, northern Ohio winter storm. 

Eventually, it is hoped to remove automobiles and replace them with mass transit and biking or walking.  We’ll hear various reasons—Ohioans are too fat, or the air quality, or there’s an endangered animal, or farms are causing too much run off in the water, but do not be fooled; as with Obamacare, it is about power.

Voting will be a thing of the past, as will private property, the family farm, local control of zoning (zoning is now considered racist and HUD will come after you.) The push for mass transit, “pack and stack” housing even in the suburbs, control of all local meat and produce, Common Core education plans—it all leads to the global plan.

So that you don’t think this is just one more crazy, paranoid blogger, check out what has happened in Westchester Co., NY, one of wealthiest, and best integrated regions to live in the U.S.  A lot of liberals live there.  There are 253,000 registered Democrats, 135,000 Republicans and 120,000 not affiliated to any party.  After negotiating with Westchester to build 750 low income housing units (HUD sued under an 1863 law), the feds (HUD) decided Westchester really needed to absorb 10,768 low income housing units. Skip to about minute 39 in this video to see the “grand experiment” of the federal government taking over a local community by deciding that zoning is racism. http://www3.westchestergov.com/state-of-the-county  If they can do it in wealthy, liberal Westchester, what chance does your county have?

While our representatives in Washington are squabbling over a break the bank take over, something bigger is coming down the path.  A country we can no longer use.

Cooking the books, secret deals

What benefits babies more than this OSU health plan?

Married parents. It’s been confirmed in numerous health, welfare, and financial studies.  Better health, less poverty. There is a 50 to 80 percent difference in child well-being between cohabiting and married families. Most government transfer programs encourage the parents to NOT marry.

I noticed this announcement at OSU health plan.

The Ohio State University Health Plan Inc., together with Your Plan for Health (YP4H), encourages all benefits-eligible expectant mothers to sign up for the Buckeye Babies program–designed to support moms-to-be during their pregnancy, through the delivery of a healthy, full-term baby, and to guide moms through the initial stages of breastfeeding and infant care. Post-partum health coaching is also available.

A trusted nurse, well-versed in evidence-based maternal-child health care–will work with you every step of the way to answer questions and ensure the moms receive needed support. Services are complimentary and confidential.

http://www.urban.org/publications/311001.html

Ladies—it’s up to you. You control the financial and physical health of your children.

Comparing the health care law with other important legislation, all of which had bi-partisan support

The original draft of the 1935 Economic Security Act, which established the Social Security Administration was 64 pages

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 - forbidding discrimination based on race and sex: 8 pages

The 19th amendment to the Constitution, giving Women the right to vote in 1920: 1 page

The Emancipation Proclamation, with which Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in 1863: 5 pages

Or, if you really want to get back to basics: The Declaration of independence came in at 1 page in 1776

And the Constitution: 4 pages long in 1787

Health care reform, Pelosi version - almost 2,000 pages, and she admitted she hadn’t read it.

Cavuto and Obama on the health care disaster

OBAMA:  “If you’ve talked to somebody who said, ‘Well, I don’t know. I was watching FOX News and they said this is horrible…”

NEIL CAVUTO:  Mr. President, we at FOX News are not the problem. I hate to break it to you, sir. you are. Your words are, your promises are. We didn’t sell this healthcare law, sir. You did. Remember this?

OBAMA: “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period.”

NEIL CAVUTO:  Not so.  Mr. President, tell that to tens of thousands of retirees at IBM and Time Warner and dozens of others, who have been dumped from their coverage and told to find their own coverage. Now, FOX News didn’t break that news to them, Mr. President, their companies did.

FOX News didn’t push more of those firms to hire part-time workers, your healthcare law did.

FOX News didn’t incentivize fast-food restaurants to scale back their benefits, your healthcare law did.

FOX News didn’t make doctors want to opt out, your health care did.

FOX News didn’t make insurance premiums skyrocket, your health care law did that.

Just like FOX News did not grant hundreds of exemptions to companies that needed them, you did.

And FOX News didn’t delay one key provision after another, including (just today) online enrollment for those small business exchanges. You did that, sir.

Just like it wasn’t FOX News that said, “We had to pass this to see what was in this.” You did. Or, was that Nancy Pelosi?   Sometimes, I’m confused. but of this I am not.

FOX News didn’t redo basic math. sir, you did.

FOX News didn’t say you can cover 30 million more Americans and not see a hit in premiums, you did.

FOX News didn’t say you could throw in those with pre-existing conditions and not have to pay for it, you did.

FOX News didn’t all but say you can get something for nothing. You did.

FOX News didn’t come back years later and say, “Oh yeah, we did raise some taxes.” You did, Â just the other night.

Here’s where you are right about FOX News, however, Mr. President. We were on this very early. We can do math, and did. You cannot and did not. We said it and proved it. You didn’t and we’re suffering for it.

Take it from the numbers guy here at FOX. Numbers don’t lie. The number of Americans working part-time and nervous, the number of retirees days away from being dumped on exchanges, and anxious. The number of company bosses with news to pass along on those exchanges, still clueless. The number of doctors who want out. The number of congressmen opting out.

No, Mr. President, none of those numbers lie, but with all due respect, sir, I can only conclude, you do.

I know, I know, I know, you hate us at FOX, but please, please, look in a mirror and fast. You think we’re the skunk at your picnic, but that does not mean we are the ones that stink, because that smell account isn’t coming from the folks reporting on your law. Mr. President, that smell is your law.

More on bread pudding

I’m always on the look out for bread pudding that tasted like my mother’s.  I’ll just jot this one down. Haven’t tried it yet. I probably wouldn’t do the sauce.

Grandma's Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce
• 4 cups (8 slices) cubed white bread
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Sauce Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions for Pudding:
Heat oven to 350°F. Combine bread and raisins in large bowl. Combine milk and 1/4 cup butter in 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat until butter is melted (4 to 7 minutes). Pour milk mixture over bread; let stand 10 minutes.

Stir in all remaining pudding ingredients. Pour into greased 1 1/2-quart casserole. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until set in center.

Directions for Sauce: Combine all sauce ingredients except vanilla in 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens and comes to a full boil (5 to 8 minutes). Stir in vanilla.

To serve, spoon warm pudding into individual dessert dishes; serve with sauce. Store refrigerated.

 

Remembering Mollie Orshansky

Who invented the government's definition of poverty? Mollie Orshansky. She liked to say she was very poor, however, she managed to get a college degree in 1935 and landed a nice government job, something neither of my parents, who were about her age, were able to do during the Great Depression (extended to “great” by FDR, when the rest of the world just had a plain old depression).

Because of her research and government service, poverty will never go away, it will just get redefined with an ever rising threshold.  In fact, under Obama a higher percentage are poor than in 1965 when the War on Poverty began. If you have an ounce of common sense you know that's a lie because we have 126 federal programs that transfer money from the middle class to the bottom classes.

Here’s a bibliography of her work. http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v68n3/v68n3p79_bib.html

He calls Republicans terrorists . . .

The cupboard is bare! Pelosi

NEARLY 20 PERCENT OF NEW OBAMACARE WAIVERS ARE GOURMET RESTAURANTS, NIGHTCLUBS, FANCY HOTELS IN NANCY PELOSI'S DISTRICT....OH, AND HER WEALTH GREW BY 62% IN 2011 TOO....HUMMMMM.   Blacksphere on Facebook

http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/17/nearly-20-percent-of-new-obamacare-waivers-are-gourmet-restaurants-nightclubs-fancy-hotels-in-nancy-pelosi%E2%80%99s-district/

“Crony capitalism at its most basic. Create onerous regulations and then give out exemptions to allies and constituents. The only wrinkle in this case is that the demographic subsection unburdening itself of ObamaCare is the same demographic subsection that has been most pointedly exuberant in advocating health care reform, with California Democrats even passing symbolic health care laws just like the ones that their most liberal supporters are now opting out of.”

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/05/18/pelosi-district-gives-20-percent-of-obamacare-waiver/

I was created; and you?

What if the Declaration of Independence said "all men evolved equally" instead of "all men were created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." Wouldn't that sound silly--some might be more evolved, some less. Some might still be slugs or worms trying to catch up after a few billion years in the slime (I don't believe in evolution--I'm just funning you). From the preamble to the final amendments, our founding documents say our rights don't come from the government, but from God. As wonderful and wise as those documents are, they don't give us anything and they are supposed to protect us from tyranny and over reaching of the government.

Senator Byrd and Paula Deen

Because I was in high school in the 1950s, we did learn about black Republicans, new civil rights laws passed after the civil war, and we knew that it was Ike that desegregated the schools, but I never at that time thought much about parties. Now when I read liberal websites I see "youngsters" under 40 seem to think Jim Crow and the KKK were Republicans, but they were laws and the terrorist arm of the Democrats. A prominent Democrat remained in the Senate for years who had a history with the KKK, having been a Kleagle, a Klan recruiter, in his 20s and 30s, and used the term "white nigger" in the 21st century, but a TV chef lost her job because she said the N-word in her past. Aren't political standards strange?

Margaret Thatcher on freedom

Doctors pressured to push Obamacare

"With open enrollment set to begin next week, enrollment groups and medical societies are hoping America's doctors can inform patients about their options for expanded coverage under the 2010 health law." Medpage.

So far, I haven't met a doctor who liked Obamacare or thought it was a good idea, so why ask them to push it? Some plan to by-pass insurance plans all together.

So I asked self, "I wonder what an 'enrollment group' is?" I looked it up, and here is one called "Enroll America."

"Enroll America is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to maximize the number of uninsured Americans who enroll in health coverage made available by the Affordable Care Act. Enroll America is a collaborative organization, working with partners that span the gamut of health coverage stakeholders—health insurers, hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, employers, consumer groups, faith-based organizations, civic organizations, and philanthropies—to engage many different voices in support of an easy, accessible, and widely available enrollment process."

You should see the fancy website. My goodness--one of the best. Clicked all over the page, but not a peep on how it is funded (except the donate button, and I seriously doubt this staff, offices, website, training sessions, etc. are covered by donations). I bet this group didn't wait 3 years for their non-profit tax status.

If you like your health care plan, tough.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Nebraska informed Todd Blome  (and 46,000 policy holders) his health care plan will terminate at year’s end, and if he wants to move to a similar plan his new premium will go up 65 percent, costing him nearly $4,000 more per year.

He distinctly remembers President Obama looking into TV cameras and assuring Americans “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep you health care plan. Period.” Blome’s letter says otherwise.

“Stupid me, I took the president literally,” Blome said.

http://watchdog.org/107894/some-nebraskans-premiums-to-triple-under-obamacare/

And those subsidies that are buying off some states won’t be permanent.

Wired and transmitting

The heart monitor I’ve been wearing since September 16  apparently transmitted something I was ignoring, the doctor was contacted by the company, and then I was called about 7 p.m. Wednesday evening and told to go to the ER. Isn't technology amazing--all sorts of things going on behind our backs we don't know about!

I'm home now--released from the hospital late yesterday afternoon. When the cardiologist walked in with the flock of young docs in training, I'd already heard the discussion held outside my room. I don't know how often Huffington Post is listed in the record as a possible cause of heart problems, but it's in mine. Because of the medical school down the road at OSU, you see a lot of doctors coming through the ranks. They all seemed to know what Facebook and blogging are.

I met the most interesting people--asked most of the staff who had the time how long they'd been working at Riverside, career goals, etc. The woman cleaning my room turned out to be a former neighbor in the 1970s when we lived on Abington Rd. One guy had changed careers from real estate after the 2008 downturn; he began in a very low level job (which he hated) and kept applying within as jobs opened up. The echocardiogram guy had relocated from Cleveland where there were many med tech schools but no jobs, and we had a good laugh about Columbus residents and the first snow flake to fly.

One lady doctor looked to me to be 15, so I just had to ask--she was 28. One lady intern had the most fabulous bedside manner and special touch, that I hope she's around the next time I need her.  And I got to give my name and birthdate at least 30 times. 

The food was excellent—fresh and tasted “homemade”--and you could order any time.  All the staff seemed to have special training in being friendly.  When I raised the blind, I looked down on the new addition to the hospital.  It is always expanding.

“Atrial fibrillation is an irregular and often rapid heart rate that commonly causes poor blood flow to the body. During atrial fibrillation, the heart's two upper chambers (the atria) beat chaotically and irregularly — out of coordination with the two lower chambers (the ventricles) of the heart. Atrial fibrillation symptoms include heart palpitations, shortness of breath and weakness. “ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/atrial-fibrillation/DS00291

Illinois crooks

Cook County Commissioner William Beavers was convicted on March 21, 2013 on tax-evasion charges at the federal courthouse in downtown Chicago. A jury found Beavers guilty on one count of corruptly impeding the Internal Revenue Service and three counts of filing a false federal income tax return for 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Others and there are many.

Cruzing

He did a great filibuster (it was actually a non-filibuster thanks to Harry making up more rules, but you know what I mean).

Generation X Becoming Less Christian, Less Republican

HARTFORD, CT, May 31, 2012 – Members of Generation X – the 35 million Americans born between 1965 and 1972 – have become less Christian and less Republican over the course of their adult lives, a new study [2012] by Trinity College shows.

Striking declines in the number of Catholics and Baptists combined with sharp increases in the number of non-denominational Christians and those claiming no religious affiliation (Nones) show increased religious polarization in this generation, even as its political re-orientation towards the Democratic Party has been accompanied by modest growth in the number of political independents.

Born in the wake of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the Gen X-ers constituted the most Catholic generational cohort in American history, with fully one-third of them identifying as Catholics in 1990. But two decades later, approximately one out of five had fallen away from the faith. It was only thanks to the addition of approximately one million Latino Catholics their own age that the proportion of Gen X Catholics decreased to only 26 percent of the cohort.

In addition, shifts in religious identification since 1990 have resulted in the ranks of the Nones swelling by 67 percent (2.2 million persons) and those in the conservative, non-denominational Generic Christian tradition growing by 51 percent (1.8 million). Put another way, the percentage of self-proclaimed Nones increased from 11 percent to 16 percent of this cohort between 1990 and 2008. This increase is surprising since Americans have historically increased their religious identification between early adulthood and their mid-40s, as they marry, have children, and become settled in their communities.

Those were among the key findings of a new report by Barry Kosmin and Juhem Navarro-Rivera at Trinity College, who looked at the religious and political affiliations of Generation X, whose members reached adulthood during an era when American society was much influenced by the Christian Right. The findings are important as predictors about the future of American society, particularly the relationship between religion and politics, issues that have been front and center during this year’s presidential campaign.

The data are derived from the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), a large, nationally representative sample of adults in the Continental United States. The surveys were conducted in 1990 and again in 2008, highlighting trends over an 18-year period. The 1990 ARIS involved 113,723 respondents, including 16,959 adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years. The 2008 ARIS had an overall sample size of 54,461, with 6,407 respondents between the ages of 36 and 43 years.

“Generation X has shifted its allegiances to a surprising degree” said Barry Kosmin, director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture (ISSSC) at Trinity. “Many in this generation of Americans have abandoned their religious roots and political affiliations in adulthood. Historically and sociologically, that’s an unexpected development.”

In terms of political affiliation, Gen X-ers leaned Republican by 5 percentage points in 1990 (34 percent to 29 percent Democratic), but in 2008 they favored the Democratic Party by 7 percentage points (33 percent to 26 percent Republican) This partisan shift away from the GOP was even more pronounced among Generation X  Nones. In 1990, Nones were evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, but by 2008, Nones leaned Democratic by more than 2 to 1 (33 percent to 15 percent).

“The fact that identification with religion declined among Generation X as they aged suggests that the secularization of Americans is not just about young people from today’s Millennial Generation abandoning religion because it has become too politicized,” said Juhem Navarro-Rivera, a research fellow at the ISSSC. “It is also an ongoing and wider process that involves older generations in American society, as exemplified by Generation X.”

The report’s religion data are based on responses to the question: What is your religion, if any? And the political party data are based on responses to the question: Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a Republican, Democrat or Independent?

For more information about the ARIS series methodology, please visit: http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/about-aris/metholodogy.
To download a copy of - The Transformation of Generation X: Shifts in Religious and Political Self-Identification, 1990-2008 please visit:
http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/files/2012/05/ARISGENX2012.pdf

Barry A. Kosmin and Juhem Navarro-Rivera. "The Transformation of Generation X: Shifts in Religious and Political Self-Identification, 1990-2008" Faculty Scholarship (2012).
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jnr_prri/4

Backlash—Mike Huckabee—Today

“Over the weekend, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her center-right party won the biggest election victory of any chancellor since East and West Germany were reunited. Ordinarily, Americans aren’t that interested in other nations’ elections. But this could be one more domino in an emerging worldwide shift from left to right. First, Australian voters threw out the progressives after six disastrous years and elected a conservative leader who vowed to undo all their job-killing policies. Something similar happened in Norway. In Colorado, two liberal state senators who forced gun control onto the public were recalled. France hasn’t had an election yet, but the voters are drowning in buyer’s remorse for electing Socialist President Francois Hollande. His approval rating is a record-low 23 percent.

And now in Germany, conservative leader Angela Merkel not only triumphed, but support for the progressive Green Party cratered after they proposed a weekly “meatless” meal day. Germans who once lived under communism said they’ve had enough of politicians trying to control every aspect of their lives, even down to what they eat for lunch.

I’ve always said that nothing makes people want to vote for conservatives like putting liberals in charge for a year or two. If this backlash against big government overreach is as widespread as it seems, then our 2014 elections might be very interesting, indeed. And if the Republicans do win big, it might be hard to say who they have to thank more: Barack Obama for trying to force Obamacare down Americans’ throats, or Michelle Obama for trying to force broccoli down our throats.”

Global alarmists have a problem . . . the climate isn’t cooperating

Planet Gore at National Review Online

“Antarctic sea ice has grown to a record large extent for a second straight year, baffling scientists seeking to understand why this ice is expanding rather than shrinking in a warming world.

On Saturday, the ice extent reached 19.51 million square kilometers, according to data posted on the National Snow and Ice Data Center Web site. That number bested record high levels set earlier this month and in 2012 (of 19.48 million square kilometers). Records date back to October 1978.

The increasing ice is especially perplexing since the water beneath the ice has warmed, not cooled.”

The IPCC has a dilemma

But there’s a problem. While the climate models confidently predicted that temperatures would maintain an inexorable rise in the 21st century, in fact, although more and more greenhouse gases have been pumped into the atmosphere, the global temperature has resolutely refused to budge.

So the IPCC’s dilemma is this. How can it expect the public to believe that recent warming is mostly manmade when the models on which it has based this claim have been shown to be fatally flawed?

But they are certain anyway . . .

One of the expected conclusions of the report to be released Friday in Stockholm from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- the international group that assesses the science related to climate change and its impacts -- is that there's 95% certainty that man-made global warming is real. A 2007 IPCC report put the confidence level at about 90%.

Inflammatory, violent language from Democrats

Senator Reid calls Republicans anarchists, and Rep. Pelosi calls them arsonists. That's pretty stiff language for people who thought the Occupiers were just great.  All because the U.S. should not take on more debt? She's the one who said she didn't read the bill on healthcare.  Now that we know it’s going to increase costs and still leave millions without health insurance, she's gets all bitchy?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/22/pelosi-republicans-legislative-arsonists-government-shutdown

http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/reid-goes-ballistic-on-tea-party-anarchists/

Depopulation by choice

Many countries are being depopulated, not by war, but by birth control, abortion and natural death. Europe, Korea and Japan can't replace their own any longer, and have too few children being born to maintain the pensions and retirement costs (like medical and other social services) of their parents and grandparents.  A total fertility rate of 2.07 is required to maintain population and Japan’s is 1.39.  China, too, doesn't have enough young people, or women to continue its economic revolution.  But globalists and leftists in the United States continue the push for abortion and gender selection and households with no children.  Almost as though they had a plan to take over when certain developed countries are took weak and depopulated to fight back.

http://pop.org/content/facts-of-global-depopulation-1518

There are no “cuts”

Both liberals and conservatives have ideas about people on food stamps that need adjusting.  If you volunteer at a food pantry you'll see another side. I've worked the Lutheran food pantry in Columbus (3 days of food usually run by churches in most communities) and found people dependent on government programs are very resourceful, and if they have a special diet, they request those items. They also "budget" to a degree and manage to make their food last all but 3 days so they can come to the pantry at the end of the month. They will also turn down food if their children don't like it, or are getting breakfast, lunch and snacks at school. And like the rest of us, they pick out what they like even if they know better. Most that I observed look like they wouldn't be able to hold a job--alcoholics, pot heads, mentally ill, small children at home, elderly, handicapped, low IQ, or no transportation. With other federal and state benefits, a person on welfare in Ohio "earns" about $12.60/hour or about what an entry level teacher would get; in Hawaii they would get the equivalent of about $29/hour. That's another reason they are not working. They don't have the skills to earn that much and with TANF, Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, section 8 housing, HEAP, etc. they are better off not to work.

This is not to say there aren’t people down on their luck or in between jobs who need occasional help, but that’s rarely the regulars I see at the pantry. When a carpenter or stock broker loses his job and the mortgage is upside down or they’ve been through foreclosure, they need help too.

Pants on fire Prez

“Negotiation is how the Founders intended for things to work. They knew that people would disagree, but in negotiation and bargaining, all would come to something that was right for the country and about which everyone could at least accept, if not really agree. Mr. Obama has never really understood the office he holds, and it is always about him, not the country." Wall St. Journal 9-24-13, commenting on the lies Obama told himself and the nation about "never in the history of this country" yada, yada, when in fact 25 times since 1973 this has happened. I guess private schools (he never attended a public school) don't do any better with history than public schools. Or maybe it was that darn teleprompter again.

How the left terrorizes the poor

Republicans