Thomas Sowell on Ferguson’s victims

"The first victims of the mob rampages in Ferguson have been people who had nothing to do with Michael Brown or the police. These include people — many of them black or members of other minorities — who have seen the businesses they worked to build destroyed, perhaps never to be revived.

But these are only the first victims. If the history of other communities ravaged by riots in years past is any indication, there are blacks yet unborn who will be paying the price of these riots for years to come.

Sometimes it is a particular neighborhood that never recovers, and sometimes it is a whole city. Detroit is a classic example. It had the worst riot of the 1960s, with 43 deaths — 33 of them black people. Businesses left Detroit, taking with them jobs and taxes that were very much needed to keep the city viable. Middle class people — both black and white — also fled." Thomas Sowell

Eric Holder denies reports of his own department

Eric Holder says no more profiling--race, gender, ethnic group, age--but he'd have to ignore his own DOJ reports. "Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008 Annual Rates for 2009 and 2010."

Blacks were disproportionately represented as both homicide victims and offenders.

*The victimization rate for blacks (27.8 per 100,000) was 6 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000). The offending rate for blacks (34.4 per 100,000) was almost 8 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000) (table 1).

* Males represented 77% of homicide victims and nearly 90% of offenders. The victimization rate for males (11.6 per 100,000) was 3 times higher than the rate for females (3.4 per 100,000).

*The offending rate for males (15.1 per 100,000) was almost 9 times higher than the rate for females (1.7 per 100,000).

*Approximately a third (34%) of murder victims and almost half (49%) of the offenders were under age 25. For both victims and off enders, the rate per 100,000 peaked in the 18 to 24 year-old age group at 17.1 victims per 100,000 and 29.3 offenders per 100,000.

Most homicides are with in the same group—93% of blacks are killed by blacks, 84% of whites are killed by whites, but when it is an interracial crime it is most likely a stranger, and black on white crime is much higher percentage than white on black.

See also: Easy access to the FBI’s supplementary homicide statistics reports

Unbroken the movie

Millions of people loved and read the book "Unbroken," and will wonder why his faith in Jesus Christ has been left out of Angelina Jolie's film. Stop wondering--I think we know why. But it does change his story. You can catch his real story of liberation on video. http://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelist-greg-laurie-disappointed-director-angelina-jolie-chose-to-leave-out-world-war-ii-heros-christian-faith-in-unbroken-movie-125839/

"But his life was changed, and he was, as he told me personally, 'instantly healed of PTSD' as well as his dependence on alcohol. When I interviewed Louis in front of over 45,000 people at Dodger Stadium, he was far more interested in talking about his conversion at the Billy Graham Crusade than his other amazing exploits. Louis Zamperini used his story as a bridge to tell the 'greatest story ever told,' the story of Jesus Christ."

Jonathan Gruber on abortion as a poverty tool

http://www.nber.org/papers/w6034.pdf

The 1996 welfare reform, signed by Clinton, pushed by Republicans, and decried by the liberal media, sort of coincides with falling abortion rates.  Gruber speculated in 1997 that an aborted child was better off than a child living in poverty—at least for the taxpayer.  I think improving the lives of single moms is a better plan.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41917.pdf  This report is a good summary of pre- and post-welfare reform programs.

A dramatic transformation in single mothers’ welfare, work, and poverty status has occurred over
the 27-year period examined in this report. The period has seen a marked structural change in the
provision of benefits under a number of programs that contribute to the fabric of the nation’s
“income safety net.” In turn, single mothers’ behavior has changed markedly over the period, in
part a response to structural changes to income “safety net” programs, with more mothers
working and fewer relying on cash welfare to support themselves and their children in the postwelfare
reform era.

Blacks and police—the myths, memes, and mistakes

Police community relations? Black victims are more likely than white to report crime, and 91% report the police came within an hour. Such careful attention to the needs of the black community since the outcries of the 1980s has resulted in saving many lives--mostly young black men. It also resulted in many bad guys being taken off the street--which makes Eric Holder angry.

The group most likely to be victimized by crime are not blacks (32.9 per 1,000), but American Indians (56.8 per 1,000) who have cradle to grave government supervision, health care, social workers, special police, many transfer programs, and reparations who mainly reside on land away from other groups. Victims of crime, regardless of race, are usually poor and urban. The myths and memes spreading with the riots encouraged by the administration will only hurt the very people Democrats claim to care about most.

 http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/bvvc.pdf

Landrieu—end of the Democrats in the South?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/12/07/mary-landrieus-seat-will-be-held-by-a-republican-for-the-first-time-in-132-years/

“The last time the Senate seat currently and temporarily held by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who lost in a runoff race Saturday night, was held by a Republican was in 1883. When Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) takes over the seat in January, he'll not only complete the Republican sweep of Louisiana's state house and Senate seats, he'll move the Deep South one step closer to being completely red.”

Do you have a college age son?

Mayor deBlasio says he has warned his bi-racial son about the police (who protect the family, btw). He's married to a black, former lesbian. But I digress. If I had a college age son I'd warn him about the campus rape-hysteria. The UVA isn't the first and won't be the last. I'd suggest not going to bars because if he takes a girl home she'll accuse him of putting a rape drug in her drink. I'd suggest he not live in a co-ed dorm that the universities encourage and sanction. Even after a relationship of 3 months and her climbing into his bed, he can be accused of rape (I think this was in a Philadelphia paper). Even if she signs a paper saying the sex was mutually agreeable, she can claim coercion. I'd suggest never being outside his apartment or dorm after 10 p.m. because all the notices I get from OSU seem to be about 2 a.m. crimes. I'd tell him that the presumption of innocence does not apply when the accusation is rape, and the case will be handled by the campus police and a kangaroo court, not experienced officers or our judicial system. Not that he would listen to me. . . but I'd nag anyway.

Can HIV drugs help people with MS?

I’ve known a few people who had HIV/AIDS, but I know many more who have MS.  “HIV and lower risk of multiple sclerosis: beginning to unravel a mystery using a record-linked database study,” Mia L van der Kop, J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry jnnp-2014-308297 Published Online First: 4 August 2014 doi:10.1136/jnnp-2014-308297

http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2014/07/16/jnnp-2014-307932

“Even though multiple sclerosis (MS) and HIV infection are well-documented conditions in clinical medicine, there is only a single case report of a patient with MS and HIV treated with HIV antiretroviral therapies. In this report, the patient's MS symptoms resolved completely after starting combination antiretroviral therapy and remain subsided for more than 12 years. Authors hypothesised that because the pathogenesis of MS has been linked to human endogenous retroviruses, antiretroviral therapy for HIV may be coincidentally treating or preventing progression of MS. This led researchers from Denmark to conduct an epidemiological study on the incidence of MS in a newly diagnosed HIV population (5018 HIV cases compared with 50 149 controls followed for 31 875 and 393 871 person-years, respectively). The incidence rate ratio for an HIV patient acquiring MS was low at 0.3 (95% CI 0.04 to 2.20) but did not reach statistical significance possibly due to the relatively small numbers in both groups. Our study was designed to further investigate the possible association between HIV and MS.”

Wouldn’t this be wonderful news?

Bill Cosby, UVA, and Eric Garner

I have no idea if Bill Cosby is guilty of the charges made against him by women, much like the "Jackie" in the Rolling Stone article who accused an entire fraternity at UVA, a story that was later completely debunked. But if he is guilty, he must have hundreds of accomplices over 60 years in the media, talent booking agencies, entertainment industry, and the women themselves who seemed to come back for more. But it's really strange that in 2014 a man who did more for the black family than all Obama's team is now vilified, and another man, 43 years old, with a 30 year history of criminal activity who resisted arrest and died, is being mourned like a saint. If you tried to write this as fiction, who would believe you?

The University of Virginia phony rape scandal and the real scandal of the media and the administration

Buck Sexton writes: “The Left has gone mad over the Rolling Stone retraction.

I don't mean it's angry and self-righteous- that's always the case. I don't mean its arguments are weak, self-contradictory, unprincipled- I expect that too. This is different.

Many progressives have absolutely lost all touch with reality over the rapidly collapsing tale of the most vicious, sadistic campus rape imaginable.

They aren't reevaluating based on the facts, they are doubling down, and saying things so stupid, and so immoral, it is hard to believe they are serious.

Here we have a prime example:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…/no-matter-what-jackie-said…/

A leftist commentator, in a major newspaper, writing flat out- the truth of the Rolling Stone story of a hideous gang rape at UVA doesn't matter.The individuals falsely accused don't matter. The University and administrators defamed in the piece don't matter.

It's the cause that matters. Only the cause. Always the cause.

This thinking dictates we must believe every and all accusations of rape, right away, without questioning or investigating. That's not an overstatement, read the piece and you will see an incoherent but fervent attack on the presumption of innocence as a principle. And written by a lawyer no less!

She is not alone, by the way. Other commentators have somehow perversely turned this into a case of "rape denialism." First off, I'm not sure that's even a thing, because rape is a serious criminal violation in every state and nobody anywhere in this country denies that it exists, and it happens far too often. One rape is too many.

But denialism? If something is said to be true, and it isnt, are we to say its true anyway, lest we be denialers? This is absurd.

Are there "murder denialists?" If someone wrote a story about how a fraternity was engaging in ritualized human sacrifice and stacking dead bodies in its basement, without anyone who noticed caring enough to call the cops- I think it would raise some eyebrows and strain believability. At a minimum, it would require investigation.

This isn't "denialism," it's rationality.

Which brings us to the next point of the bitter enders on the Left here- that the entire onus of everything wrong in this whole situation is on Rolling Stone. That's just simply not true.

Did a Rolling Stone reporter find a far too convenient, one-in-a-million story with the sort of sensational implications that would get national attention? Yup. Did that reporter then fail to uphold even the most rudimentary standards of journalism in a rush to publish something that should have required additional levels of fact-checking and even more vigilant journalistic ethics?Indeed.

But Rolling Stone isn't the only party at fault here. Despite the shrill (and in the case of MSNBC's Chris Hayes twitter tirade- childishly profane) effort to place this all on a magazine that would have ceased to exist in a rational world many years ago, there is the very real possibility that the subject of the story-- "Jackie"- lied.

That doesn't mean she fabricated the whole thing, although that is entirely possible, but she did apparently get facts wrong. Not jumbled, not vague- wrong. And that's apart from the basic credulity issues surrounding all this.

Nobody downstairs at the fraternity house was unnerved enough by the site of a woman covered in blood, bruises, and broken glass to do anything? None of her friends cared? No administrator called the police? Didn't tell her parents? Not a single, honorable person is to be found anywhere at UVA or anywhere in this story?

Of course, this is what got the story so much attention. In a country where the sexual assault scourge on campus is well-established and now even has the White House involved, this story was an outlier. Nobody had ever heard of an attack like this at a major university with such callous responses from so many.

And now those in the media who were willing to use the most baseless slurs- "rape apologists"- against anyone who questioned this outlandish narrative want to tell us all that something still happened to Jackie. It's not her fault. Maybe she got foggy, or maybe she exaggerated a little because of the trauma.

(How do they know this, by the way? Any of it? Aren't they relying on a retracted magazine piece for all of their facts too?)

But even a material exaggeration of facts in a sexual assault is problematic (and under oath, would be perjury). If someone punches me in the face at a bar, that's assault. I can't just decide to add that brass knuckles were used, and I was also robbed, in order to make the assailant seem worse and get more time. In a criminal court, the details of the crime have very real implications for the charges brought, and the length of sentence. It's not ok to intentionally get creative or exaggerate a crime, no matter how much catharsis it may give a victim.

This is all starting to feel very much like the Duke Lacrosse case of 2006- another story that to an honest reader from the beginning seemed very, very improbable, but it turned into a national media sensation anyway. "Race, class, sex, and privilege"- that was the story. And it was all a big, fat, grotesque lie.

And if you recall, the disgraced, almost comically evil prosecutor in that case- Mike Nifong- still would claim that "something happened that" after the accused lacrosse players were said by the state of North Carolina to be completely innocent! Not "not guilty," but "innocent!"

It seems the Nifong effect is on display now. Rolling Stone is disgraced, the entire rape story may have been a fabrication, and there are Leftists who think that those who questioned the initial story- even though they were right to do so- are somehow the real problem.

The truth always matters. There is no cause that can make the truth irrelevant. The Left is dead wrong on all this, but don't expect them to admit it anytime soon.

Why the left needs racism

Racism, in my opinion, was dying out before 2009--panicked Democrats then had to ratchet it up because without victims, who would vote for their progressive policies which demand more government? Obama took his amazing win and frittered it away on insurance reform that about 10% of the population needed, added mandates no one wanted, and ignored the financial plight of many blacks and a deteriorating middle eastern problem. So who gets blamed? Everyone who wasn't black. Crime rates have been dropping for 2 decades, and that was upsetting for Democrats too--that party must have victims for the nanny state.  These links are to articles are the observations of James Taranto, writer for Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324591204579038930800899184 Third part

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703922804576301162877959524 Second part

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704671904575193921155425154  First part

If Saul Alinsky had a son

If the late Saul Alinsky had fathered a black son, he’d look like Barack Obama. … Alinsky emphasized that the overarching objective of any crusade is NEVER to promote peace or reconciliation, but rather to be unwaveringly ‘dedicated to an eternal war’ in which ‘there are no rules of fair play’ and ‘no compromise’ whatsoever; to mercilessly ‘pulverize’ people with ‘fear’; and ultimately to ‘force their capitulation.’”—John Perazzo, Front Page, Dec. 5, 2014

Hillary Clinton is also a big fan of Alinsky.

Are we being lied to about race and income by the media and politicians?

Today I was looking at the U.S. Census.  Now, to answer a question, you can’t always get a table of Honey Crisp apples.  Sometimes it’s apples and oranges in a box.    For instance, I looked at the Family Income by race—but the table didn’t define “family.” That’s not necessarily mom, dad and kids.  I suppose for census purposes it’s any group of related people living in a household, but I don’t actually know.  Anyway, it’s Table 695. Money Income of Families—Number and Distribution by Race and Hispanic Origin: 2009. U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012   Based on that table, the percent of white families earning over $100,000 is 27%; the percent of black families earning over $100,000 is 12.1%; the percent of Hispanic families earning over $100,000 is 12.4% and the percent of Asian families earning over $100,000 is 37.7%.  So if whites are 77.7% of the population and blacks are 13.2%,  and Asians are 5.3%, if something needs to be investigated, if something isn’t “fair,” if the president wants to address a wealth gap, wouldn’t it be the fault of the Asian families?  What are they doing to “deserve” such a big slice of the pie?  Marriage?  Education?  Values? Entrepreneurship? Have you ever heard the president chastise Asians for their education, intelligence, hard work?  Their median family income is $75,027, black family income is $38,409.

Thankful for what

It’s a little beyond Thanksgiving, the holiday, but I watched Dr. Jeremiah on a Christian TV channel and liked the subject—thankfulness.  Thought it would be good to have it on file. http://www.lightsource.com/ministry/turning-point/video-player/thankful-for-what-435307.html   The sermon begins at about 19:50—or you can watch and listen to the music (contemporary) and then sermon.  Take away.  Thankfulness is not a feeling, it’s an action.  The feeling will come after the action.

Paul is the “thankfulness” writer of the Bible, and most of those letters were written from prison.

Warnings of peak oil are nearly as old as the oil industry

“. . . the International Energy Agency forecasts that U.S. production will still surpass Saudi Arabia’s output of 9.7 million barrels a day, and overtake Russia’s 10.3 million, perhaps sometime next year. This would make America the world’s largest oil producer, which it was from the dawn of the oil age through 1974. Thanks to the fracking boom, the U.S. surpassed Russia as the world’s largest natural-gas producer in 2013. “  Peak Oil Debunked Again.

White privilege?

I like to shop at Volunteers of America.  Today I got a "Baby Boom Box" radio (about 7") for 90 cents, a Charles Dickens novel on cd for 90 cents plus a 10th ed Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary for $2.93.  Checking out I heard the door alarm go off and a customer came back--there were multiple apologies between clerk and customer as her bag was checked.  The customer, a white 30-ish woman, then announced that now she realized how poor and minorities feel who are subjected to this suspicion "all the time." She was giving a "white privilege" mea culpa rant right there where you can buy a coat for $2.00.  The Asian clerk who had limited English looked a little puzzled. The woman next to me who was buying a nice cookbook for $1 just rolled her eyes.

Use of force by police

Better policing has improved life for minorities and saved many lives. But that information, even though it's from government sources, doesn't buy votes. "Two decades of data on police interactions with the public don’t support the idea that something extraordinary is afoot, that the police are becoming “militarized” as President Obama has suggested, or that distrust between police and local communities has produced an enormous spike in conflicts. By contrast, the data show that significant crime declines have been accompanied by a leveling off and then a reduction in confrontations with the police, as reported by Americans of all races."

 http://www.city-journal.org/2014/eon1204sm.html

From the archives of Obama opening his reign by soothing race problems, blaming the police of Cambridge for doing their job--the Louis Gates incident in 2009:

"The actions of the Cambridge Police Department, and in particular, Sgt. Joseph Crowley, were 100 percent correct,'' said Hugh Cameron, president of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police. "He was responding to a report of two men breaking into a home. The police cannot just drive by the house and say, 'Looks like everything is OK.'

"Sgt. Crowley was carrying out his duty as a law enforcement officer protecting the property of Professor Gates, and he was accused of being a racist," Cameron added. "The situation would have been over in five minutes if Professor Gates cooperated with the officer. Unfortunately, the situation we are in now is the environment police work in now." From ABC news which also noted that the residence in question belonged to Harvard, not Gates (I did not fact check ABC).

This is why Eric Garner died. He was selling loose cigarettes in a state where cigs are $12.50+ a pack--Obama added $1 in 2009 and Bloomberg added $1.65.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/nyregion/05loosie.html?

French toast sticks

I made a breakfast casserole (eggs, bread cubes, ham, Half n Half) and had a lot of crusts left over, so I googled the dilemma, “what to do with bread crusts” and found this.  I had some cinnamon/sugar mix left from making snickerdoodles the other day, so it solved 2 problems.

Baby Boom Box

Today I bought a Baby Boom Box (AM and FM radio) at Volunteers of America for 90 cents.  It’s really cute. It was missing the clip that covers the 4 AA batteries, but I figured that wouldn’t be a problem if it worked.  It works fine, has good quality sound, BUT there isn’t an off on switch, so it looks like I’ll need to remove at least one battery to turn it off.

Friday Family Photo—napping with Abby

All I need to know about life I learned from a snowman

It’s okay if you’re a little bottom heavy.

Hold your ground, even when the heat is on.

Wearing white is always appropriate.

Winter is the best of the four seasons.

It takes a few extra rolls to make a good midsection.

There’s nothing better than a foul weather friend.

The key to life is to be a jolly, happy soul.

It’s not the size of the carrot, but the placement that counts.

We’re all made up of mostly water.

You know you’ve made it when they write a song about you.

Accessorize! Accessorize! Accessorize!

Avoid yellow snow.

Don’t get too much sun.

It’s embarrassing when you can’t look down and see your feet.

It’s fun to hang out in your front yard.

Always put your best foot forward.

There’s no stopping you once you’re on a roll.

 http://www.inspirationalarchive.com/1552/all-i-need-to-know-about-life-i-learned-from-a-snowman/#ixzz3L1ietOoF

Why wasn’t this a hate crime?

Not once was this gang rape and beating of a girl at a school dance with many students watching called a "hate crime."  I blogged about it in 2009, and see some of the "men" and boys were convicted in 2013.  No riots about race, either--couldn't see her face in the court drawings, but she appeared to be white, the assailants black and Hispanic.

 http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/07/16/juries-deliberating-in-2009-richmond-high-school-gang-rape-case/

The war on women doesn’t include rape and cross-racial crime.  Too touchy. Al Sharpton didn’t show up.  The president didn’t say she could have been his daughter. And why 4 years to get a conviction?

The lies about Ferguson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2PYJPPFx9Q#t=301

Conspiring to put an innocent man in jail—truth is a casualty.

Benjamin Aaron Shapiro, known as Ben Shapiro (born January 15, 1984 is an American conservative political commentator, best selling author, radio talk show host, attorney, and media consultant.

A native of Los Angeles, Shapiro graduated from UCLA and Harvard Law School. He has written five books, starting with Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth in 2004, writes a column for Creators Syndicate, is editor-at-large of Breitbart News, and founder/editor-in-chief for the media watchdog group TruthRevolt. Wikipedia

The Christmas catalogs keep coming

I mentioned the huge number of catalogs we've been getting. Yesterday we got "Wireless," which sells just about anything, especially t-shirts.  If you've got a train buff on your list look at VQ7722, $34.95.  Supposedly, each engine and caboose is so detailed you can identify it. Then there is "Easily manipulated by grandkids," that would work for some I know. "Prayer the world's greatest wireless connection." Some really nice long sleeve black T's with musical instruments. "World cat herding champion." "With age comes oldness." "Careful, or you'll end up in my novel." "Back in my day we had 9 planets." http://www.thewirelesscatalog.com/wireless/T-Shirts_3RA.html

 

 

How to use a crisis

Something's a little fishy. Obama loads up our local police with all that left over war stuff--even Ohio State got some and lumbering multi-wheeled armored trucks suitable for sand dunes look a little silly on campus.  Then he decides local control of the police isn't good enough to protect blacks, and the police really need more federal control. http://wdtn.com/2014/09/09/ohio-and-military-equipment/ Then he has tax dodger Al Sharpton at his beer summit as though he speaks for law abiding African Americans. 

And how about that lefty media getting vapors about what one GOP woman said on Twitter?  Ayesha Kreutz, a black woman FB friend, comments:

“So, I read a headline ONLY that some GOP woman has resigned? What? She resigned over making a comment about the Obama girls looking bored and their clothing apparently. What in the world is happening people? Now, don't get it twisted, sure it is kind of mean spirited IMHO to pick on kiddos especially those of high profile people, but hey, it is part of the job I suppose, it happens. But how in the world is this lady resigning and not Barack Obama?

• He can launder money (Solyndra) and not have to resign?
• He can get an United States ambassador killed ( Benghazi) and not have to resign?
• Obama and his administration did more than Nixon ever thought of doing, he has an enemies list and targeted citizens with the IRS, and no resigning for him?
• He can lie repeatedly to the American people as a matter of fact he is a prolific liar I would list the list but they are endless, yet no resignation?

This is just the mega short list of why he should resign, though impeachment is much better. Democrats should be ashamed to let this guy represent them, If he was a Republican president he would have been impeached already and we would have brought up the charges ourselves. The GOP has its head somewhere bad or else the White House has so many secrets/scandals on these folks and are threatening to use them. If that is the case for the good of the country you all need to step down; other wise grow a pair.”

Then an NFL player posted a photo of the rear end of Malia, and nary an outcry for sexualizing the first daughter.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/2/ferguson-police-werent-invited-white-house-meeting/

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/01/obama-white-house-summit-ferguson

“Protesters in Ferguson were confronted by police driving armoured personnel carriers and carrying assault weapons, who repeatedly used tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators. Last week, teams of officers armed with military-grade weaponry and army-style fatigues were once again seen driving around Ferguson, although the overall response by law enforcement was more calibrated.”

What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Popular Culture in the White House by Tevi Troy

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15824285-what-jefferson-read-ike-watched-and-obama-tweeted

I was at Half-Price Books today and noticed this title on the Clearance shelf for $2.00.  I almost selected it because I like to read about readers. I looked at the chapter on President G.W. Bush, and was surprised to see the author got it right, whereas Bush detractors (most of the media) were totally off base.  Bush was an avid reader—he and Rove used to have competitions. 

Laura Bush’s recommendations

“Mr. Bush was more of a reader than many Americans imagined — he had reading contests with Karl Rove, his top political adviser, measured not just by the number of books finished, but the cumulative number of pages and even square inches of text. He was particularly drawn to Lincoln, reading 14 books about the Civil War president while in office.

His reading at times had impact. Natan Sharansky’s book “The Case for Democracy” helped inform Mr. Bush’s second-term focus on spreading freedom around the world.

And Alistair Horne’s history of the war in Algeria, “A Savage War of Peace,” taught Mr. Bush that more people died after the French withdrew — reinforcing his own reluctance to pull out of Iraq.

“Obama’s book selections have been harder to read,” said Mr. Troy, the author of “What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted.”  Obama’s book list

President GHW Bush’s summer list

Bush’s last year and WaPo finds out he reads

Suggested reading, GW Bush

The dumbing down of smart

“In researching my book National Insecurity, I looked at 10 of the most prominent think tanks in Washington over a period of a decade. These organizations produced almost 12,000 events, papers, and research reports over that time. Of these, the vast majority concentrated on just a few topics -- such as the Middle East, the war on terror, and China -- linked closely to whatever was in the headlines at the time. Other areas, deserving of focus but outside the "buzz zone," got much less attention. The areas that got by far the least coverage? Science and technology -- never mind that they are responsible for most of the changes redefining life on the planet and many of the emerging threats with which humanity is grappling. “ and lack of creative thinking is most apparent in Washington, D.C. Of the 2014 global thinkers on the FP list, only 2 are from the U.S.

David Rothkopf

The last Thanksgiving

How to Gruberize the African American

About 97% of blacks who voted in 2008 voted for Barack Obama, who in turn bailed out banks, made a fantastic deal with insurance companies that promised them 30 million more customers, frolicked with the stars and celebrities, took lavish vacations, and golfed a lot. Now 6 years later, race relations have never been worse, young black men still have terrible unemployment and Obama is opening up new jobs for illegals. To look like he cares, he invites Al Sharpton to a big muc...kety muck meeting on police violence. Al owes us Americans about $4.5 million in back taxes. So I guess that makes him an expert on crime. Also violence in the black community has dropped dramatically in the last 2 decades while rates in white communities remained flat due to some tough laws and policing, but Obama's AG Eric Holder wants to stop "profiling" and let more criminals run loose in black communities because the arrest rates for black thugs is just too high. Black voters have been Grubered.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/report-highest-rate-unemployment-hispanics-rhode-island-203-blacks-nevada

Calories vs. exercise

My doctor always told me that calories really do count, and it’s virtually impossible to lose weight with just exercise.

Ready to jump off the calorie-counting bandwagon? Here's what to do instead:

• Instead of counting calories, eat smaller portions. It may seem like a basic concept, but it's easy to forget that bigger portions have more calories. Most of us gauge a serving as "the amount we're used to eating," a recent study found. That would be restaurant food -- where meals are served on platters, not plates. And the more we look at (and eat) huge portions of food, the more we see them as normal -- to the point of serving ourselves the same amounts at home. Unfortunately, studies show that when we're served more, we tend to eat it. When researchers from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign served subjects bigger helpings, people ate up to 45% more food. One caveat: there's no reason to eat fewer vegetables; they're much less calorie dense than other foods (they contain fewer calories per gram). A cup of raw broccoli, for example, contains only 31 calories, while the same amount of chocolate ice cream boasts close to 285.
• Instead of counting calories, choose foods that use more calories. Some foods require more energy than others to digest and metabolize, says John Berardi, PhD, CSCS, president of Precision Nutrition, and author of The Metabolism Advantage. We call this the thermic effect of food, Aldana says. The difference is very small, he cautions, just a few calorie's difference, for example, to eat a slice of bread made from whole grains vs. one made from refined flour. (Refined flour digests easily, leaving you with the full 4 calories per gram, while whole grains use up part of their 4 calories per gram during the digestion process, he says.). For example, if a woman were to start eating only foods that take a lot of work to digest (high-fiber, protein foods) she might save about 12 to 15 calories per day, the same amount she could expend by walking for about four minutes. But for some people -- especially those stuck in sedentary jobs or crunched for time -- it just may be worth it. Besides, foods that take more work to digest, like those high in fiber, tend to be those that are better for you. And choosing the best nourishment for your body is a much healthier food focus than counting calories.
• Instead of counting calories, make sure you consume the right kind. Nearly one-quarter of Americans' calorie intake comes from sweets, desserts, soft drinks, and alcoholic beverages, research from the University of California, Berkeley notes. Another 5% comes from salty snacks and fruit-flavored drinks. Nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, contribute only 10% to the average American's calorie budget. "When it comes strictly to weight loss, a calorie is a calorie, Klein says. However, when it comes to your health, it's best not to blow your calorie budget on foods that lack nutrients. Nutrient-dense choices like fruit, vegetables, and whole grains can help prevent heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, while those lacking in nutrients, like candy, soft drinks and white bread can contribute to a whole host of health problems.

Black lives matter by Mychal Massie

Blacks in Ferguson are shouting "black lives matter." I say, "Oh really, since when have black lives mattered?" Nearly 2,000 unborn black children are murdered daily with approval from Obama to Sharpton to Jackson. More than 8,000 blacks are violently murdered every year by other blacks. Blacks in predominantly black neighborhoods are figuratively held hostage by black drug dealers, black pimps, black gangs, ad nauseum. Yet when in defense of his life a police officer shot and killed a black thug, you have these fools rioting and screaming black lives matter. If black lives mattered they wouldn't be murdering one another. If black lives mattered blacks would clean up the neighborhoods they live in. If black lives mattered Obama wouldn't be president.

Gary Bauer, president of American Values, said: “This ought to be the epitaph of [the Obama] administration: In the last five years under this president more babies have been murdered than jobs have been created.” For the people who will now post ignorant comments, let me add this supporting fact. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) seasonally-adjusted employment number, over the 5 year period of obama being in office, the number of jobs created by obama shows an increase of 3.66 million as of May 2014. During the same period of time the Guttmacher Institute recorded there had been 6.6 million unborn children murdered by abortion. Yet these ignorant black people are rioting and burning down their own homes and what few businesses there are in the town, screaming "black lives matters." However, it is obvious that given the choice of telling blacks to get a job or have an abortion, Obama would opt for the abortion. - Mychal Massie (http://mychal-massie.com/premium/)

Citizens of London

Our book club selection for December is no easier than The Book Thief of last month—another WWII story, although this one isn’t fiction. The three primary figures, Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and John Gilbert Winant all have their own biographies, but Lynn Olson is a master at pulling their lives, loves and contributions to England’s war effort into an interesting stew. What an amazing writer!  I’m having to skip large segments, that I’m sure are interesting and rich in detail, but I’ve only got a few more hours to finish the book.

“At this point [1941], Britain's policy of appeasing Adolf Hitler had failed, and the old appeasers were out of power. Winston Churchill had taken over as prime minister, and Britain was at war with Nazi Germany. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was aiding the British, but faced a U.S. Congress skeptical of actually going to war. As London endured devastating German bombing raids, some Americans were there, assuring the British of support and agitating for American entry into the war.” NPR 

What is more revealing in the book is what isn’t said: 1) even in modern times, authors will not criticize FDR for the communists in his administration who fought to keep the U.S. out of the war, and 2) inside politics regardless of whether it is Lincoln, Clinton, Bush or Obama, is a nasty, sausage making stink.

Winant’s reaction to FDR’s death I think sums up how so many minions in Washington, London, Paris, Baghdad, or Beijing feel about those whose boots need a licking:

”Despite his frustrations with a number of FDR’s policies and the president’s occasional offhand treatment of him, Winant never wavered in his support and fondness for the leader who had been his friend and close ally for more than a decade.  “I’m Roosevelt’s man,” he once said.  “If Roosevelt wants me to do anything, I’ll do it.  That’s my political future.”  In a telegram to the president several years before, Winant said simply:  “Thank God for you.” pp. 356-357

It could Holder talking about Obama—although I can’t imagine Condi Rice slobbering over Bush that way. It’s a type of loyalty and subservience usually accorded to Christ or global warming/climate change gurus.

The sexual liaisons seem to be right out of the bedrooms of Europe’s monarchs in the middle ages you read in romance novels.  Really, the sexes have made no progress at all. Or wait, maybe it’s politics that has made no progress in centuries.

OK, back to the book, and the last chapter which tells what the 3 men did after the war.  I know Winant committed suicide, and I think Harriman’s wife, Pamela Churchill, became the darling Democrat who went on to fame and glory as a political activist for the Democratic Party and a diplomat  and wrote her own autobiography including information about her sexual escapades. People my age followed the slow death from cigarettes of Edward R. Morrow.

[Mrs.] Harriman's life was equally scrutinized for her many liaisons. Her second husband once called her "the greatest courtesan of the 20th century," the Irish Times reported. "She loved men, and men loved her, and she knew how to please men," said Garry Clifford, the Washington bureau chief of People Magazine. CNN Obituary

That said, this is a lively group that has been meeting for 30 years, and they are always bright, witty and gracious. This will be our Christmas gathering at Carolyn’s home in Clintonville.  I think she is one of the “founding mothers” of the club which I didn’t join until October 2000.

Media try to blame GOP for racial divide in Missouri

While the progressive on-line news sources like the Daily Beast and Huffington Post (and some yellow journalism rags like the New York Times) try to stoke hatred for the GOP as racists, let's remember St. Louis and Ferguson are controlled by elected Democrats. The much maligned prosecutor McCulloch is a powerful player in Missouri Democratic politics. Also, most famous African American political and media leaders of national fame whose names I would recognize have been Republicans--Martin Luther King, Jr., James Weldon Johnson, Edward Brooke, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Clarence Thomas, Booker T. Washington, Walter E. Williams, Sojourner Truth, Jackie Robinson, Snerdly (Rush Limbaugh's call screener) and Eldridge Cleaver, to name a few. Frederick Douglass was the first African American to have his name on a national party nomination (Republican) in 1888. Their writings and speeches may have set the world on fire, but they didn't burn down their community's businesses.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/opinion/columnists/2014/11/26/ferguson-voting-matters/19536643/

http://www.thenation.com/blog/191593/inconvenient-political-truth-st-louis-prosecutor-democrat

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/black-voters-in-st-louis-county-direct-their-anger-at-the-democratic-party/2014/10/14/e6957b8a-4f02-11e4-aa5e-7153e466a02d_story.html

http://www.kmov.com/news/politics/Ferguson-fallout-reaches-race-for-county-executive--280874412.html

Ferguson blinders—Cornel West

Professor Cornel West appeared on CNN International to give his take on Ferguson, and said right at the outset, “Ferguson signifies the end of the age of Obama. It’s a very sad end. We began with tremendous hope and we end with great despair.”

Despite the huge drop in crime and violence in black neighborhoods in the last 2 decades due to better policing and stiffer penalties, he then he went on to blame the "Jim Crow" justice system--a system designed and carried out by the Democrat party.

Firearm-related homicides declined 39%, from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011 according to the Department of Justice. About 50% of those not killed were young, black males. There were over 1.5 million firearm non-fatalities in 1993 compared to about 478,000 in 2011.

When it couldn't destroy black progress, the party invented the War on Poverty—now trillions spent and 126 transfer programs.

Really, very few people were looting and burning--and they were organized by and sent in by outsiders with a political agenda.

Meanwhile, in Kenya where our President has family

teachers are being killed, civil servants are fleeing, Muslim terrorists Al-Shabaab are attacking.

http://www.irinnews.org/report/100891/terrorism-hits-education-health-in-kenya-s-marginalized-mandera

“The northern Kenya region has historically been marginalized by successive governments, leaving access to basic social services such as education and healthcare limited. While demand for teachers stands at 20,000, there are only about 12,000 in the region, according to KNUT.

UNICEF says about 80 percent of girls in North Eastern Province are not enrolled in school.

The doctor-to-patient ratio is 1.0 to 100,000 in the larger northern Kenya region, according to Fredrick Oluga, a member of the advisory council at the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPPDU). Nationally, according to government figures, the ratio is 1.0 to 20,000. The global recommendation is one doctor for every 1,000 patients.

Indicative of the level of need in northern Kenya is the dependence on civil servants from other parts of the country. KMPPDU’s Oluga added that there are just 41 doctors in northern Kenya, forcing them to be on call 24 hours.”

Jammies

It’s never the obvious

I saw on a liberal site that the Ebola scare in the U.S. was induced by the GOP and cost Obama the Senate. Really? The media (which had a melt down over Ebola and really overdid it) are in Obama's pocket and the CDC and the HHS are controlled by Obama, and their spokespersons were all over the media. And the charges of racism when a black African died and the white Americans didn't? That was the GOP? The nurse who decided to violate her quarantine was a Democrat, right?  Now if they want to discuss the outsiders in Ferguson diverting attention of Obama's power grab over immigration, we could have a "conversation."

Our house guest this week-end is a citizen of Guinea in West Africa, which along with Sierra Leone is still having outbreaks of Ebola according to WHO.  However, he has lived in Haiti for the last two years.  He did note that when he arrived in Miami he was questioned closely by security and then allowed to pass.  He said his mother had died in July, and his sister urged him not to come home for the funeral, because then he wouldn’t have been allowed to return to Haiti.

I write because. . .

Granite vs. Formica

Does anyone else object to remodeling with an eye to "resale" years later? I just don't like paying for something that maybe, possibly someone else wants and I don't. Specifically, granite counter tops. Yes, I confess, I like Formica. There. I've said it. Granite is costly, heavy, it stains, needs maintenance, and I think it's difficult to keep bacteria free. The only thing worse is marble tile--which is what we have now. We lived in our other house 34 years; our early improvements in the 60s and 70s were old fashioned and out of date by the time we moved in 2002. The new owners ripped out most of what we'd done, with the exception of the extremely feminine wallpaper in our daughter's room (and they put their son in that room!) and then they got a divorce! This link is to a commercial site, but I like it.

http://www.formica.com/en/us/knowledge/homeowner/kitchen/things-to-know/top_6%20reasons_to_choose_solid_surfacing_over_granite

http://en.over-blog.com/Advantages_of_formica_laminate_sheets-1228321774-art312413.html

http://www.improvenet.com/r/costs-and-prices/formica-countertops

Shia LaBeouf’s performance for art

Sexual assault of men by women usually doesn't get much attention (it’s actually rather common in prisons as reported about half of sexual assaults are by female staff), but Shia LaBeouf claiming he was raped during his performance art seems a bit odd even with our gender wars thirsty media. Or maybe the fan just considered it her performance art? Maybe he wasn’t getting enough attention just by being strange? At least it got him in Time and USA Today.

http://time.com/3609444/shia-labeouf-says-he-was-raped-during-a-performance-art-project/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/11/28/shia-labeouf-i-was-raped/19608751/

Chuck Schumer spoke only to Democrats; the rest of us knew this

“Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them [in 2008],” declared the senior Senator from New York. At the time, the middle class had just experienced the economic shock of their lives, and the election was a mandate to change direction from Bush-era economic policies, Schumer told the National Press Club. “We took their mandate,” Schumer explained, “and put all focus on the wrong problem – healthcare reform.” But then he stepped in it even deeper and said, “We were in the middle of a recession. People were hurting and saying, 'What about me? I'm losing my job. It's not health care that bothers me. What about me?’" Even worse, Schumer argued, the program only provided benefits to “about 5 percent of the electorate,” while “only about a third of the uninsured are even registered to vote.”  He will pay dearly for telling the truth.  You just don’t “underbus” the President—only he gets that privilege.

Eight-five percent of the people had health insurance, and 87% of those who had it were satisfied. Obamacare benefits 5 percent of the population. “The costs for this system will be borne mainly by the middle class; the wealthy can afford a wide range of options, while most of the government benefits will apply to the small percentage of the population.

See more at: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/columns/2014/11/28/how-obama-marginalized-democratic-party?

Unfortunately, Schumer he was supporting O-care when he actually could have done something, and his party remembers it well. Politics, such fun, innit?

Michael Brown and what ifs

If Michael Brown had been shot by a black police officer, and everything else was the same, including the investigation, we would have never heard of him (rate is actually higher because about 1 in 4 police officers were members of a racial or ethnic minority in 2007 according to BJS); if Michael Brown had been white and shot by a police officer of any ethnic group after knocking over a store owned by an Asian and everything else was the same, including the investigation, we would have never heard of him--except hate crime might have been added to the list. That's how I know who and why Ferguson is such a big story. Obama is bringing in 5 million + illegals to take jobs and benefits and blacks will be hurt the most. Some other crisis is needed to cover the problem of Obama's power grab.

Coffee vs. Chocolate for caffeine

Woot! “A typical cacao bean contains less than 1/20th of the caffeine present in coffee . . .” Caffeine Content

According to Livestrong.com dark chocolate has heart and blood pressure benefits:

Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate

. . .  dark chocolate, which is packed with antioxidants known as flavanols. These antioxidants help the body's cells resist damage. Specifically, flavanols are believed to improve vascular health by lowering blood pressure and improving blood flow to the brain and heart. Flavanols can also help blood platelets be less sticky so that they don't form clots as easily. The higher the cacao content, the more flavanols the chocolate will contain. When choosing a dark chocolate, look for a high cacao content with the least amount of sugar or other ingredients that add calories.

According to the Live Well web site by Jillian

Caffeine in Coffee

Eight ounces of generic brewed coffee averages 95 milligrams of caffeine, according to the National Nutrient Database. The range is 102 to 200 milligrams. A 16-ounce cup of coffee -- the “grande” or medium size in most coffee shops -- contains 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine. A coffee shop’s standard 1-ounce shot of espresso averages 75 milligrams of caffeine, while generic brewed espresso averages 40 milligrams. A 16-ounce vanilla latte contains 150 milligrams of caffeine.

Decaffeinated Coffee

Decaffeinated coffee does contain some caffeine. In a study published in the October 2006 issue of the "Journal of Analytical Toxicology," University of Florida researchers found that 16-ounce cups of brewed regular decaffeinated coffee, a medium coffee at most coffee shops, contained anywhere from 3 to 13.9 milligrams of caffeine.

Caffeine in Chocolate

A 1-ounce square of unsweetened baking chocolate contains 23 milligrams of caffeine. A large 3.5-ounce bar of very dark chocolate, which contains 70 percent to 85 percent cocoa, averages 80 milligrams of caffeine. Regular dark chocolate, with 50 percent to 69 percent cocoa, contains around 70 milligrams in a 3.5-ounce bar. The same amount of plain milk chocolate contains 20 milligrams of caffeine. Hot cocoa averages 9 milligrams of caffeine per 8-ounce cup.

From comments at Jillian’s site.

“Journal of Chromatographic Science, Vol. 46, pp 892-899 (2008)

Standard Reference Material 2384 Baking Chocolate from the National Institute of Standards & Technology (Gaithersburg, MD), 90 % cocoa solids, was determined to have 26 mg/g (2.6% by weight) theobromine and 2.4 mg/g caffeine.

Food Research International, Vol 42, pp 707–716 (2009)

Chocolate with 60% cocoa solids (from a leading Croatian chocolate manufacturer) was determined to have 9 mg/g (0.9% by weight) theobromine and 0.8 mg/g caffeine.

Even taking the lower, latter figure for caffeine content, this translates into 23 mg of caffeine in 1 oz (28.35 g) of chocolate containing 60% cocoa solids (e.g. bittersweet baking chocolate). “

Like everything else on the internet, people disagree on the amount of caffeine in chocolate—some claiming there is none naturally, that it is added.

Q. How much caffeine is in Chocolate?

A. The small amount of caffeine present in chocolate occurs naturally in the cocoa bean, unlike the caffeine in soft caffeine drinks which is added during the manufacturing process.

Here caffeine are some comparisons that may be helpful:

Coffee 8 fl. oz. 65-120 mg

Cola-type soft drinks 12 oz. 30-55 mg

Milk Chocolate 1 oz. 5-10 mg

Dark Chocolate 1.4 oz. 7-50 mg

The amounts of caffeine in specific HERSHEY'S chocolate products are listed on the Chocolate Products Caffeine page.

Maybe I’ll go with this explanation:

“Chocolate derived from cocoa beans is a weak stimulant. It contains two stimulating methylxanthines (a class of alkaloid molecules), a significant amount of theobromine (and theophylline) and a small amount of caffeine. The slight stimulatory effect of chocolate is it seems as much due to the combination of theobromine and theophylline than caffeine.

Generally, caffeine and theobromine have very different effects on different people. Theobromine is relatively mild and helps elevate serotonin levels producing a really nice side effect of feeling good over a longer period of time. Caffeine is a stronger stimulant and acts relatively quickly as a wake-up drug. Compared to the caffeine, the theobromine has about one-quarter the stimulating power.

However, chocolate contains too little of these compounds to create a similar effect to portion equal to coffee. A typical cacao bean contains less than 1/20th of the caffeine present in coffee (from zero to 1000 parts per million of caffeine per bean).”

 

Asian solidarity or duped young people?

Ferguson and St. Louis voters have freely elected a Democratic party power structure, and there is not a shred of evidence, as determined by the Grand Jury, that there was anything improper in the behavior of the police. All U.S. government studies show that relations between police and blacks has been improving for 20 years, and violence has dropped dramatically, making black communities safer  (Police-Public Contact Survey). On the other hand, there has been a great deal of illegal behavior by some residents and outsiders in looting, burning and destruction of property, some of it owned by Asians and blacks. These people want to undo the progress of the last 20 years. Is this really what the "Asian Solidarity" group wants?

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpp08.pdf

An estimated 776,000 persons experienced force or the
threat of force by police at least once in 2008 (table 17). This
total represented an estimated 1.9% of the approximately
40.0 million people experiencing face-to-face police contact
during 2008

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is an
annual survey that collects data on crime against persons age
12 or older from a nationally representative, stratified, multistage
cluster sample of U.S. households. Since 1999, the
Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS) has been administered
every 3 years as a supplemental survey to all persons ages
16 or older within households sampled for the NCVS.

Joan is thankful for . . .

I give thanks --

• For the unconditional love of family. It provides me with the security to discover who and what I am and who and what I can become.
• For the gift of time. Each hour of each day and night offers new opportunity for me to reach out, take, give, be, and grow.
• For the beauty of the Earth. It encourages my heart and rescues me from the tedium of daily life.
• For the full use of my senses. The ability to see, touch, taste, smell, and hear allows me to become one with God’s creation.
• For my community of faith. Through the Christian church the noble, unselfish, and servant nature of humanity finds voice as we support each other in the quest for meaning and purpose in life and opportunities to contribute to the betterment of society and the building of the Kingdom of God here on the Earth.
• For my freedoms: I have freedom for living given me by my God. It is only through Him that the unselfish, tender, and noble parts of me can withstand the onslaught of the self-serving and callous nature struggling to emerge from within. I have freedom for living given me by my country. It was founded on the principal that all of us are created equal, and I can express beliefs and live as my own conscience dictates. I have freedom for living given me by my family and friends. Because they love me, they accept the unlovely parts of me and support me when I face adversity so that I can emerge on the other side of the conflict a stronger and more deserving creature.
• For my heritage. The long line of love and commitment goes back generations – the love for God and the respect for others and self that I learned by example.
• For those whose lives have intersected with and impacted mine. From the aunts and uncles of my childhood, to colleagues of bygone years, to eager students, to fellow worshippers, to thoughtful bloggers – they have all had a part in making me who I am.
• For those whose lives I have been able to touch. I have seen: the visible light when a student finally succeeds in a difficult task or understands a complex concept, the smile flashed when another person hears his/her worth affirmed, the comfort found by sharing a common interest, concern, or grief.
• For a searching mind and spirit. Life-long learning allows me to live many lives in one.
• For communication. How lonely the road would be could we not share thoughts, ideas, and beliefs with others.
• For a comfortable home and adequate food.
• For a modicum of financial security. My life need not revolve around meeting basic needs. Free of this burden, I can fly.

Joan is a retired teacher who lives in Georgia—we followed each other as bloggers and now we are friends on Facebook.  What’s interesting about this list (reposted at FB from a 2007 blog entry) is that only the last 2 refer to anything material—which I think is how most retirees feel.

A note of thanksgiving from our step-nephew

Not all moms are perfect, nor are all dads, but without them we wouldn't be here to even express an opinion. I got lucky. I have four sets of parents. My mom and dad, my stepmom and stepdad, my in-laws, (both passed) as a result of my marriage, and the "Big Brother" organization, Big Brother (also passed) and his wife. Each one of them did, and continues to love me in their own special way. I don't deserve any of it, but am sure glad God knew ...I was going to be a handful and positioned eight good people along the way to coach, mentor, and guide me into becoming the best person I could be. Thanks (names in the original). Yes, it's almost Thanksgiving, and this man has much to be thankful for in his life. Author on the right in the photo.

Message from a black Ferguson resident

My Name is William G. Lillas....

I wanted to clear up a few black and white questions and answers. The things I state are facts. They are not downloaded from some media website, not propaganda, just observations from a 83 year old black man, born in America:
"I was told by my parents (yes, a married man and woman with my last name), that I was n*****. We lived in “N***** Town” in a small Texas town, no A/C, grass growing through the floor, no car, no TV. We washed our bodies with lye soap that my mother made, by hand. I thought I was a n*****, until I graduated high school, went to college, did an enlistment in the Army, and got a job. I am now retired, own my own home, have 6 children by ONE WOMAN, and we all have the same last name. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts, a Master’s Degree in Sociology. My retirement, VA disability from combat in the Korean War (I only have one leg), and part-time pay in a local college, is about $125,000 a year. From dirt poor n*****, to old, black, proud American.

Yes, I am black, and I can say “n*****”, because I understand the true meaning of the word.

Let’s clear up a few things about the Michael Brown incident.

-Fact: It is not called "shoplifting or stealing", it's called "robbery", which is a felony. Brown stole something and assaulted someone, that means ROBBERY. It’s on video, and it’s a fact. Not shoplifting, not theft, not “lifting” a few cigars, but ROBBERY!
-Michael Brown, like Trayvon, was portrayed by the media as a “little black boy”, cute little headphones, and his cap and gown photo, gunned down by a ruthless police assassin, executed by “whitey”. First, I have never seen a cop drag a person into their car’s driver door to arrest them. So, let us be clear, Michael Brown was a n*****; a sorry assed, criminal, hoodlum, n*****. Nobody wants to say that, but I will. He had a criminal record a mile long, was known for numerous assaults, robberies, including the one you saw with your own eyes, and still refuse to call it a robbery. He was, like so many others, living a life that he thought he was “entitled” to, just for being alive. Gangsta rap, weed, drinking, guns, and those stupid-assed low profile rims, makes him some kind of bad-ass n*****.

I have fought communist Chinese and North Korean soldiers in the 1950’s with more honor than that n*****. Yep, I peeled potatoes and shot communists. That’s the only job a n***** soldier could get.

Rodney King? Black Riots!

Trayvon? Black Riots!

-Hurricane Katrina? Black Riots! Stealing TV’s, designer clothes, etc.

O.J. Simpson kills white man and white woman, found NOT GUILTY? Did white folks riot? Nope!

In fact, when is the last time white people rioted? Civil War, maybe? That’s because they are, relatively, civilized people, much like many black Americans. Protesting is one thing, hell, I’m all for it. Even if you are an ignorant idiot, you have a right to protest.

-Stop only showing the young black "cap and gown" photos of Michael. Charles Manson may have a few of those laying around, as well. Show the n***** "gangsta" photos of the "poor unarmed teenager" (grown man) pics that have been removed from his Facebook page, holding the loaded pistol, smoking weed, with a mouthful of money.

-Militarization? The stupid-assed media that publicizes this has no idea what “militarization” really is. Cops wear helmets and vests, and drive armored vehicle because unemployed n*****s thrown bricks at them, moron! You put on an "Adam 12" uniform and walk down the streets of Ferguson during the criminal riots. I can guarantee that you'll jump into the first armored "military tank" that you see.

-You only "want the police" when you "need the police", otherwise, you mock and fear what you do not understand about the police. And by the way, the police are trained to take your shit, but I wouldn’t fuck around with those Army National Guard, they aren’t as well disciplined “culturally” to take your shit like police do every day. They will ventilate your black asses with M-16s, with military precision and extreme prejudice.

-And finally, the way we protest and demand justice, is run down the streets breaking shit, looting stores, and acting like a bunch of untrained monkeys? Hell, after Rodney King, criminal n*****s were actually killing people, thinking they were entitled to be worse criminals than they already were. For those black criminals that do that, you are a disgrace to your race, inflamed by idiots like Al Sharpton, instead of listening to logic from proud black Americans, like Bill Cosby, Samuel Jackson, Colin Powell, Allen West, me, etc.

-You blame white people for your ignorance, criminal acts, unemployed laziness, etc.

-You blame white people for 89% of the prisons in America being full of blacks. They did nothing wrong, the racists white cops framed them all, right? No chance at school, no chance for college, military, employment?
BULL SHIT!

-More n*****s kill n*****s, than n*****s killing whites, whites killing n*****s, and whites killing whites….COMBINED. I find this astounding.

-It's not white peoples' faults, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by a white man years ago. You can go to school, get a job, buy a house, and vote, JUST LIKE WHITE FOLKS!!!! You are not a slave, you are not discriminated against! Slavery is abolished, and nobody alive today, was alive when it was popular. Get over it! You are discriminated against because you are a criminal, sorry-assed n*****. Otherwise, black Americans are treated like everyone else.
-If you choose to create "baby daddy and baby mama", and fake disabilities as an excuse for laziness to draw social security disability…… instead of husband, wife, family, job, mortgage, it's YOUR FAULT, not white folks. And there are a lot of proud black Americans that will tell you the same, as I AM ONE OF THEM!!!

-Remember, the way you act on the camera, is remembered by everyone who sees it. They will never forget it. It shows them how you, as the black race, respond to situations that don’t particularly go the way you think they should. It will become a reference standard, something they expect from you when the next media report doesn’t go your way. Stop being stupid n*****s, and be a proud black American. My parents raised me well, but they were wrong about one thing, I am not a n*****.
I will not be around long. While my mind is still sharp, and my aim is still good, my body is eaten away with cancer. It started in the prostate, and is spreading rapidly. After I die, I have asked my children to publish my writings, and include my name. Although I am not expecting any miracles, I can only hope that Americans will stop blaming color, start blaming criminals, and see people for what the y really are. We have too many countries that want us dead. We should not be fighting each other.

"William G. Lillas"

The gentle giant wasn’t

I think they (the media) need to stop identifying Michael Brown with a photo of him in a cap and gown as an unarmed teenager. He was high, violent and huge (6'5", 289 lbs), had assaulted and robbed a small Asian store owner for something he easily could have paid for, and was struggling with a 5'10"policeman who received a call about the robbery, reaching in his car for the officer's gun when he was first shot while punching the police officer. For someone not high, a flesh wound to the hand probably would have stopped him, but he kept going struggling for the gun. That is NOT an unarmed, gentle giant. It's probably time for the media to leak the rest of his record now that the grand jury is over. After listening to the "step-father" (it’s never been clear if he is married to Michael’s mother or just lives with her) rouse the crowd of rioters to loot and burn Monday night, we also know his role model--maybe his record should be checked too. Where else but in the media do violent thugs get this much attention and sympathy?

Breakfast make up

We had lunch at the OSU golf course dining room for our son’s birthday yesterday and of course, I had to celebrate with some decadent chocolate cake. So today I'm making up for my indiscretion with a baked sweet potato for breakfast--769% of Vit. A requirement and 65% Vit. C. Low in sodium, and very low in saturated fat (until I add salt and butter) and cholesterol. It is also a good source of fiber, Vitamin B6, potassium and manganese. Blogs are pretty good for posting about what you eat, because others find that more interesting than Ferguson or illegal immigration.

We’re hosting a Haitian doctor on Friday, and I’m not sure what to fix for dinner.  In fact, I learned Sunday that he isn’t Haitian, he is an African working in Haiti.  Recently we hosted someone from Michigan, and she was a gluten free guest, and fortunately I had made a big pot of homemade vegetable soup, although she didn’t eat any of the hot rolls. We met her at Lakeside this summer and she is hoping to go on the next Haitian mission sponsored by our church.

I have no idea who the person on the right is, but on the left is our 46 year old birthday boy wearing his braces.

The crimes against Ferguson

This wasn't a "protest" it was nation-wide, well-organized crime by thugs and criminals hoping to create a revolution a la the 1960s--like grandpa's. The people of Ferguson have been the victims of these criminals. Our president's address just added to the suspicion and frustration. Violence and crime in our nation has never been lower--so crime must be hyped to instill fear in voters. The black-officer-kills-black-felon rate was 32 per 100,000 black officers in 1998, (lastest year I could find stats, but violent crime was higher then) which is higher than the white-officer kills-black-felon rate of 14 per 100,000 white officers. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/11/24/president-obama-delivers-statement-ferguson-grand-jurys-decision

But what is also true is that there are still problems and communities of color aren't just making these problems up.  Separating that from this particular decision, there are issues in which the law too often feels as if it is being applied in discriminatory fashion. I don't think that's the norm. I don't think that's true for the majority of communities or the vast majority of law enforcement officials. But these are real issues.  And we have to lift them up and not deny them or try to tamp them down. What we need to do is to understand them and figure out how do we make more progress.  And that can be done.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/11/25/40-Ferguson-Area-Businesses-Trashed-Vandalized-or-Destroyed-by-Protestors

Today Show survey on the Ferguson case

Green is rain, purple snow—for busy travel day

This is the forecast for Wednesday, November 26, 2014.  Not great for travelers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/11/24/east-coast-timing-and-impacts-for-wednesdays-winter-storm/

Democrats go after the bad

A caller to the Michael Medved show (98.9 fm Columbus) today commented that when something bad happens, it's good for the Democrats because they are perpetual ambulance chasers.

• More single moms? Vote Democrat.
• Neighborhood housing stock collapsing? Vote Democrat.
• 11 million illegals taking American jobs? Vote Democrat.
• Bad infrastructure? Vote Democrat.
• Gays want to marry and straights don't? Vote Democrat.
• VA hospital long wait list? Vote Democrat.
• IRS and NSA and Secret Service scandals? Vote Democrat.
• Health care too expensive because of red tape, fraud, and regulations? Vote Democrat.

The ones who cause the problems think they should get to fix them! And somehow, the public buys this gruberazation, because maybe the voters really are stupid.

Monday Memories—first and second birthdays

With two birthdays and a national holiday falling within the same week, it used to be sort of hectic the 3rd or 4th week in November. There was awhile when we did a lot of togetherness; now we get together on Thanksgiving, and possibly a separate night out if anyone is free.  This photo is their first co-birthday (12 months and 3 days apart).  I think as soon as I let go of Phil he went into the cake with both hands.  It was a party at Aunt Jeanne’s in Indianapolis and many people came.