A new Maisie Dobbs novel

While purchasing two Maisie Dobbs novels for my husband’s birthday, I found the 2015 title, "A dangerous place." It's 100 years since WWI, and her mysteries involve that era--or the ramifications of the war into the 1930s. Here's an essay she wrote in 2004. http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com/essays-skylarks.php

“Maisie Dobbs returns in a powerful story of political intrigue and personal tragedy: a brutal murder in the British garrison town of Gibraltar leads the investigator into a web of lies, deceit, and danger. Spring 1937”

Library Journal 3/15/2015

Admirers of Winspear's Agatha Award-winning series may be surprised that this 11th installment jumps the psychologist/private investigator's narrative forward several years. At the close of 2013's Leaving Everything Most Loved, Maisie was at a crossroads, shuttering her London office and preparing a journey to India while weighing a marriage proposal from her dashing lover, James Compton. The new book opens four years later in 1937, with a now-widowed Maisie devastated by James's tragic death and her ensuing miscarriage. Reluctant to return to England, she's temporarily taken refuge in Gibraltar, a military outpost and hotbed of geopolitical intrigue. There she stumbles upon the body of a murdered photographer and steps into a mystery touching the local Sephardic Jewish community and nearby turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. Within the tumult, the always introspective Maisie uses her work to regain a measure of inner peace.

VERDICT After hinting at change for several books, the series finally appears to have passed a crucial turning point as it nears the precipice of World War II. While some readers may wonder at the way Winspear handled her heroine's doomed offscreen marriage, many will embrace the arresting period detail and emotional resonance of seeing a new, if heartbreaking, chapter of Maisie's life unfold.

I need to get out more

After exercise class today I decided to go to Tuttle Mall—our conveniently located Macy’s closed this spring.  On my way there I glanced in my side mirror and thought the guy behind me was eating vigorously a candy bar.  But he wasn’t.  He was shaving with an electric shaver.  I’d seen jokes about it but had never seen it. Who doesn’t get up early enough to shave? And what happens to all those little stubbly hairs that drop on your clothes?

Then I missed the street into Tuttle, so I took the next one.  There was a huge apartment complex (not particularly attractive) that wasn’t there the last time I shopped up there.  Something Lofts.  I think that means a gathering place for single adults.  Then the older (maybe 5-6 years old) townhouses can be home when they mature a little.

So I was shopping for a red dress or blouse or sweater.  At our church we wear red for Pentecost, and the only red dress I had was too small and I gave it away about 3 years ago.  So I had a 20% off card, and some money left on a Christmas gift card, and I found just the dress I wanted at 65% off (probably a winter dress, but at 100% polyester it is hard to tell.  Then I got a surprise.  It had a built in girdle!  I tried it on—looked pretty good, but I thought I’d have to call for help to get out of it.

Anyway, with the sale, the discount and the gift card, the $60 dress cost me about $4.50.

For $4, I can be a bit uncomfortable.

Shock and Awe—Hillary has announced

A very wealthy white woman who came to prominence on her husband's reputation with no track record of personal accomplishment has announced she wants to be our next socialist president. I'm guessing that in part the campaign will be about gender. She may be the best example of the 20th century woman's movement failures.

http://theweek.com/speedreads/540672/hillary-clinton-paid-female-staff-72-cents-each-dollar-paid-men-when-senator

http://theweek.com/speedreads/540672/hillary-clinton-paid-female-staff-72-cents-each-dollar-paid-men-when-senator

At least on this blog, Hillary’s weight, age, pants suits and heavy legs are off limits!

Happiness is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iK9PLdVXK4

The General Social Survey (GSS) of the University of Chicago NORC  has been monitoring societal change and studying the growing complexity of American society since 1972. In his book “Coming Apart” (2012) Charles Murray uses its data on self-reported happiness.

For U.S. whites (which is the group to which he limits this discussion) between 30-49 from 1990-2008 31% described themselves as “very happy,” 59% “pretty happy,” and only 10% as “not too happy.” However, when it comes to our closest relationships, family, the currently married report the highest level of happiness—40%. Separated, 16%; divorced 17%; widowed 22%; and never married 9%.

Ladies, ready for this?  The happiest, most satisfied work/vocation category is homemakers at 57%, with paid employment at 44%. For attendance at religious services, those who attend more than weekly are at 49%, with weekly at 41%; those who attend once a year or less are at 26% and 25% (I call them Creasters if they attend at Christmas and Easter and then eat a holiday meal together). Also Murray reports that your involvement in your community contributes to your sense of happiness whether that is in a group, as a volunteer, in politics or even informal social interactions.

All of these relationships and activities add up to what Murray calls “social capital”—satisfying work, happy marriage, strong social relationships and strong religion. You can add to your capital and invest in your future and the future of your country.

And isn’t it interesting the very things that make us happy are those most maligned by media, Hollywood, pop culture and internet memes—it’s almost as though someone/something wants us to be miserable.

Mia Love says

“Now more than ever, the American people require a president with a proven record of honesty and integrity. A president who will be a champion for America because it is an exceptional nation built on a foundation of liberty and freedom. Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton is not that leader. This is not about party, it’s not about Washington, it's about us and what kind of country we want to leave for our children. If "our" United States of America is going to remain exceptional, we must demand more of those who wish to lead our nation.”

Household hacker-Salt tips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPSb3Nzk0Og#t=176

Some of these I knew, some I’d forgotten.

How the early church judged those who sought membership

Apostolic Traditions was written by Hippolytus who feared the church was straying from tradition and falling into heresy and false doctrine, so he wanted to record the right way to ordain leaders like bishops and deacons and how to bring in new members. Nothing of the original Greek remains, but there are translations.  This simplified version by Kevin P. Edgecomb  is based on the work of Bernard Botte (La Tradition Apostolique. Sources Chretiennes, 11 bis. Paris, Editions du Cerf, 1984) and of Gregory Dix (The Treatise on the Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus of Rome, Bishop and Martyr. London: Alban Press, 1992)

15 Those who are newly brought forward to hear the Word shall first be brought before the teachers at the house, before all the people enter. ²Then they will be questioned concerning the reason that they have come forward to the faith. Those who bring them will bear witness concerning them as to whether they are able to hear. ³They shall be questioned concerning their life and occupation, marriage status, and whether they are slave or free. ⁴If they are the slaves of any of the faithful, and if their masters permit them, they may hear the Word. If their masters do not bear witness that they are good, let them be rejected. ⁵If their masters are pagans, teach them to please their masters, so that there will be no blasphemy.

⁶If a man has a wife, or a woman has a husband, let them be taught to be content, the husband with his wife, and the wife with her husband. ⁷If there is a man who does not live with a woman, let him be taught not to fornicate, but to either take a wife according to the law, or to remain as is.

⁸If there is someone who has a demon, such a one shall not hear the Word of the teacher until purified.

16 They will inquire concerning the works and occupations of those are who are brought forward for instruction. ²If someone is a pimp who supports prostitutes, he shall cease or shall be rejected. ³If someone is a sculptor or a painter, let them be taught not to make idols. Either let them cease or let them be rejected. ⁴If someone is an actor or does shows in the theater, either he shall cease or he shall be rejected. ⁵If someone teaches children (worldly knowledge), it is good that he cease. But if he has no (other) trade, let him be permitted. ⁶A charioteer, likewise, or one who takes part in the games, or one who goes to the games, he shall cease or he shall be rejected. ⁷If someone is a gladiator, or one who teaches those among the gladiators how to fight, or a hunter who is in the wild beast shows in the arena, or a public official who is concerned with gladiator shows, either he shall cease, or he shall be rejected. ⁸If someone is a priest of idols, or an attendant of idols, he shall cease or he shall be rejected. ⁹A military man in authority must not execute men. If he is ordered, he must not carry it out. Nor must he take military oath. If he refuses, he shall be rejected. ¹⁰If someone is a military governor,^a or the ruler of a city who wears the purple, he shall cease or he shall be rejected. ¹¹The catechumen or faithful who wants to become a soldier is to be rejected, for he has despised God. ¹²The prostitute, the wanton man, the one who castrates himself, or one who does that which may not be mentioned, are to be rejected, for they are impure. ¹³A magus shall not even be brought forward for consideration. ¹⁴An enchanter, or astrologer, or diviner, or interpreter of dreams^b, or a charlatan^c, or one who makes amulets, either they shall cease or they shall be rejected. ¹⁵If someone's concubine is a slave, as long as she has raised her children and has clung only to him, let her hear. Otherwise, she shall be rejected. ¹⁶The man who has a concubine must cease and take a wife according to the law. If he will not, he shall be rejected.

17 Catechumens will hear the word for three years. ²Yet if someone is earnest^a and perseveres well in the matter, it is not the time that is judged, but the conduct.

^a Lit. has the authority of swords
^b Other ancient authorities add or one who clips the fringes of garments,
^c Lit., one who stirs up the people

---------------------

Given the lax standards of today it is amazing that the persecuted and outlawed church of the third century would not accept people who would not change their lifestyle or profession in preference for sinning. And they needed witnesses—which many churches still recommend . . such as a god parent or sponsor. Military leaders were to defy orders. Political leaders were not welcome to take instruction. Gladiators had to give up their jobs. Slaves, however, could become Christians and by their witness might convert their masters, but not magicians or those in the occult who wouldn’t give it up. Sexual immorality (prostitute, wanton man, the castrated, and one “who does that which may not be mentioned”) was enough to cause rejection—and I don’t see an exception for giving up the practice. A faithful concubine, however, could be accepted in the fellowship, but the man had to give up his concubine or make her a wife.

Dr. David Samadi on belly fat

There are five things that are essential in order to lose that unwanted belly fat: a clean diet, four to five days of moderate to vigorous exercise a week, proper rest, self-control, and determination.

1. Physical inactivity. Losing belly fat is not impossible without exercise, however, it is much more difficult.
2. Eating or drinking too much sugar. Avoid sugary drinks like soda and fruit juices and foods high in sugar. Drink water and eat naturally sweet fruits instead.
3. Eating too much fat. Cut back on desserts, fried and processed foods, etc. Load up on healthy carbohydrates and protein instead. It will make you feel fuller for longer.
4. Drinking too much alcohol. The liver does not burn fat when processing alcohol. Alcohol contains empty calories and increases your appetite, causing you to eat more. When drinking, stick to a low calorie wine or liquor.
5. Eating your feelings. People tend to eat more, and less healthy, when they are stressed out or feeling down. Stress can increase your cortisol level which increases belly fat.
6. Eating late at night. Our bodies don’t process food as quickly or effectively when we sleep, which makes it more likely to turn into fat. Avoid eating anything at least 2 hours before bedtime.
7. Not getting enough sleep. Not getting enough sleep increases our cortisol levels, which as we know, increases belly fat. The average adult should get around 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night.
8. Not eating enough protein. Protein helps us feel fuller for longer. It also helps balance our blood sugar levels and maintain a strong metabolism. Grilled chicken, hard boiled eggs, fish, and quinoa are all excellent sources of protein.

http://samadimd.com/latesthealth/8-bad-habits-that-give-you-belly-fat 

Dr. Samadi is a regular contributor to Fox News on health issues.

Obama is critical of Walker

Ben and Steven, happily ever after in Dearborn, Michigan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmdiqB_8l2k

Muslim bakery says no to same sex engagement and wedding service.  But where is the left?  Why no progressive TV coverage?

The backlash has nothing to do with love, commitment or marriage and everything to do with hate—hate for Christians.

Hillary for President?

Eating on $29 a week—Gwyneth Paltrow

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/gwyneth-paltrow-food-stamp_…? Gwyneth Paltrow is on a publicity stunt. This not the budget for SNAP, nor is it intended to be the only source of income, however, there's a wonderful on-line recipe book that shows it can be done with delicious, frugal and well balanced meals. “Good and Cheap is a gorgeous cookbook for people with limited income, particularly those on a $4/day food stamps budget.” http://www.leannebrown.com/cookbooks/

Gwyneth Paltrow is actually a very distant cousin on my mother's side (via the Danners).

How about asparagus pizza?

 

Did you know there are no goats in heaven?

Jesus explains in Matthew 25 why there are no goats in heaven; we are to love and help the poor, not so we will change their lives, but as a way to meet Jesus face to face. We are never instructed to close the gap between quintiles by reducing or taking the incomes of others, nor do we need to stand in the way of those who are trying to escape poverty--which many government programs do. We are not obligated to help the wealthy, fair-skinned Mexican government officials continue to be irresponsible and neglectful of their own brown citizens, by inviting people to cross the border to earn money to send home, and stay here illegally, decimating their culture and villages.

Another presidential campaign already?

The 2016 campaign is up and running. Here’s the score card since both Clinton and Rubio will probably toss in their hats this week.

The Democrats will again talk about

• the war on women, gender and sex issues, and tell us
• the economy is great except for the middle class,
• the solution being to take more money from the rich.

The Republicans will again talk about

• growing the economy,
• expanding the middle class and
• reducing the size of the government.

Neither party knows what to do about the poor—after all, the War on Poverty is over 50 years old and the only people it’s lifting are the government employees in the program and about $22,000 per poor person is being transferred and even government reports say Head Start creates no permanent gains and $20,000 roofs on $30,000 houses in bad neighborhoods doesn’t reduce crime. The poor are rarely mentioned these days. We have a good immigration law (Immigrant Reform and Control Act of 1986, 1990), but neither party wants to follow it because both unions and big business want more and cheaper workers and the Democrats want more voters.

But even I think the desire to help the poor during the LBJ years had a stronger moral footing affecting millions than fighting bakers and florists over gay weddings in the Obama years which might affect under a hundred.

Neither party seems to know what to do about the spreading wars among Muslims groups in the Middle East. Bush thought he could drag them into 21st century democracy and it was working until Democrats who supported the war started to fight him, and Obama thinks he can ignore terrorism, threats against Israel and the U.S. and wiping out Christianity, the oldest religion in the region.

If I sound discouraged, you’ve interpreted this correctly.

Coerced Abortion Awareness Week

Sunday, April 12 – Sunday, April 19, 2015

http://www.afterabortion.org/churchawarenessproject/coerced-abortion-awareness-week/

Still pro-life

I was listening to Mike Gallagher this morning (conservative talk show) and you would have thought not believing in the death penalty belongs only to the left.

I'm pro-life and consistent--no death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The same reasons you hear for killing a fetus are used for him--cost, inconvenience, kinder in the long run, etc. Of course, babies aren't guilty of a crime, but at least we don't need to participate.

Depending on how you count, it’s close to a million

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2006/04/word_count.html

Global Language Monitor estimates * that—as of this writing—there are exactly 988,968 words in English. GLM has done a remarkable job suckering even the respectable press into believing that we're on the verge of adding the millionth word to English—at which point we'll presumably see another flurry of articles about GLM. Even so, its claim is a bogus one.

Child porn in Niles, Illinois libraries

From the Chicago Tribune: Anti-pornography activist Megan Fox created a 2:30 video urging Niles IL residents to vote against incumbent trustee Linda Ryan.

In the video, which was posted on Fox's YouTube channel on March 11, she accuses Ryan of voting to allow child pornography on library computers. On Nov. 19, the library board voted to add content filters on adult computers that would block all nudity and pornography. At the time, viewing pornography was already against library policy.

During the meeting, Ryan was one of the trustees who voted against the filtering policy, arguing that it went too far, getting in the way of patrons' ability to access information. Fox used the clips from the meeting to suggest that Ryan would be fine with child pornography. In the video, she also insisted that American Library Association's policy were putting children in danger. 

That was reported at the LIS web site (discussion site for librarians).  Then a comment from “SafeLibraries” on March 25:

Chicago Tribune got the story wrong. That paper has for over a year of reporting on Megan Fox consistently and obviously intentionally left out that the issue is child porn. Leaving out that the issue is child porn puts a spin on every story Chicago Tribune writes. The spin is that Megan Fox is a prude and libraries are perfectly fine when they make porn available. The reality is that Megan Fox is exposing child porn, and besides, libraries are breaking the law when they make porn available, depending on the state law applicable. In Illinois, they are breaking the law.

"In the video, she also insisted that American Library Association's policy were putting children in danger." You do understand that ALA policy is that librarians are not judges so they may not determine what is child pornography, right? Chicago Tribune never reports that even though it is written in ALA's guidelines for how libraries should write policy.

If a library trustee supports ALA diktat on allowing child porn over her own state's law that precludes all porn in public libraries, then that is someone who is violating the public trust, correct? Megan Fox is allowed to speak out on that, correct? It's wrong for Chicago Tribune to spin stories to hide the child porn issue, correct?

Finally. Justice at Ft. Hood

"On Friday at the central Texas base, 42 of Hasan’s victims will receive a Purple Heart and two will get the Defense of Freedom medal: former Ft. Hood Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley and the late Army Reserve Capt. John Gaffaney, a former colleague of Platoni’s."

Wonder where all the protesters were when this injustice was going on for all these years?

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83250862/

There really is a war against women

George W. Bush freed more Muslim women than Lincoln did slaves, but most of those gains have now been lost under this president. And the people who have been helping them like doctors, teachers, and lawyers are now at risk. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa11/1279/2015/en/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/laura-bush-afghan-womens-gains-are-at-risk/2013/11/14/0c105688-4bed-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html

http://www.cfr.org/afghanistan/looming-threat-afghan-womens-rights/p26124

“Before the Taliban came, women played an incredibly important part of that society. Seventy percent of the nation's teachers were women. Half of the government workers in Afghanistan were women, and 40 percent of the doctors in the capital of Kabul were women.

The Taliban destroyed that progress. And in the process, they offered us a clear image of the world they and the terrorists would like to impose on the rest of us.

The central goal of the terrorists is the brutal oppression of women -- and not only the women of Afghanistan. The terrorists who help rule Afghanistan are found in dozens and dozens of countries around the world. And that is the reason this great nation, with our friends and allies, will not rest until we bring them all to justice.”  George W. Bush, Dec. 2001

The Maya Angelou stamp

The words on the stamp, “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song,” were written by Joan Walsh Anglund in her children’s book “A Cup of Sun.”

She had 18 books of poetry, essays, plays, short stories—and the Postal Service couldn’t find even one line of hers that fit?

One of the myths of fossil fuel

"Contrary to what many people believe, fossil fuels are not the remains of dead dinosaurs. In fact, most of the fossil fuels we find today were formed millions of years before the first dinosaurs.
Fossil fuels were formed from plants and animals that lived 300 million years ago in primordial swamps and oceans. Over time the plants and animals died and decomposed under tons of rock and ancient seas." U.S. Dept. of Energy

Actually, I’m a 6 day creationist, but God has no problem creating with the appearance of age.

A TV reporter tried to ruin Memories Pizza—it backfired

“The owners of Memories Pizza would have been fully within their rights to keep every penny of the $842,000 donated to them by supporters through the astonishing GoFundMe campaign that followed the attacks on them by gay activists and their media allies. That's how I'm sure most donors intended the money. It was for the people who'd had their very livelihood threatened for no reason whatsoever. They have never been asked to cater a gay wedding, and they almost certainly never will be. They'd never taken any sort of initiative to attack gay people. All they did was honestly answer a question about their faith from a TV reporter on a fishing expedition”

Instead these classy people are funding other good causes. . . disabled children, a women’s help group, firefighters, police trusts, Christian churches, and Washington florist Barronelle Stutzman, 70, who was fined $1,000 after declaring she would not serve a gay wedding.”

http://www.caintv.com/memories-pizza-announces-its-p0

As we drove to Illinois on Thursday, we were certainly sick of this story, considering all the other important, life threatening things going on in the world. Who you sex with has become an obsession of the left. . . Iran’s nuclear bombs on the other hand, no sweat.

Climate change is biggest global threat

No prayers for Christians

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/white-house-summit-violent-extremism-opens-muslim-prayer-no-other-faiths

A Muslim prayer was recited at the start of the second day of the White House summit on “Countering Violent Extremism,” but no other religious text was presented during the portion of the event that was open to the press.

Imam Sheikh Sa'ad Musse Roble, president of the World Peace Organization in Minneapolis, Minn., recited a “verse from the Quran” following remarks by Obama administration officials and Democratic members of Congress.

Of course, this was February.  Surely by Easter and the killing of many Christian college students in the land of his ancestors, Mr. President would have something to say. . . Nope.

Black lives matter, except in Kenya

Mark Steyn Slams Obama for 'Dishonoring' Dead Christians, Media Still Silent -

See more at: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2015/04/09/mark-steyn-slams-obama-dishonoring-dead-christians-media-still

STEYN: The biggest story of our time is the extinction of some of the oldest Christian communities on the planet at the hands of Islam remorselessly. You [Obama] dishonor those Kenyan students in death by not identifying them as Christians, as you dishonored the Egyptians only a couple of weeks earlier.

STEYN: And I think in that sense, Christianity for him is something he associates with white imperialism, whereas Islam is the exotic other and it's a victim group. And the fact is that on his watch, the last Christian church in Afghanistan was razed to the ground. On America's watch, the Christian community in Iraq, an American protectorate, has been exterminated on America's watch. And that is something that ought to be shameful for him! And people -- this isn't funny, by the way.

We've seen this guy who staged this act of Rose Garden theater over Bowe Bergdahl. It's not a small thing when the leader of a supposedly free people lies to those people about what's going on in the world!

Stationary bike benefits

Calories Burned

The number of calories you burn with a stationary bike workout will depend on your weight, the length of the workout and the intensity of your effort during the workout. The more you weigh, the faster you will burn calories, and the longer and harder the workout, the more calories you will burn. In one hour of biking at less than 10 mph, a 160-lb. person can burn 292 calories. With the same workout, a 200-lb. person can burn 365 calories and a 240-lb. person can burn 436 calories. In one hour of biking at speeds greater than 10 mph, a 154-lb. person can burn about 590 calories, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Workout Types

Stationary bike machines typically provide several preset workout modes. In manual mode, you can adjust the resistance of the pedals manually throughout the workout to simulate hills. In preset modes, the pedals’ resistance will change automatically according to a preset pattern. Common preset workouts include hills, intervals and fat burn.

Benefits

Regular physical activity can benefit your health in many ways. Getting at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise each week can reduce your risk of heart disease, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes and some cancers, according to the CDC. Regular exercise can also improve your mental health and mood and promote better sleep, suggests the CDC.

http://livewell.jillianmichaels.com/stationary-bike-workouts-lose-weight-4522.html

For Belly Fat

Step 1

Stretch your body dynamically before getting on the bike. Dynamic stretches are performed in motion and they will get your connective tissue loosened up for the exercising movements ahead. Do stretches like leg swings, alternating toe touches, lateral lunges, knee highs, ankle bounces, side bends and trunk rotations.

Step 2

Adjust your seat to the proper height. Sit on the bike, place your feet on the pedals and slowly turn the cranks. Pay attention to your knees. Move the seat to a position where your knee is just short of being straight when you turn the cranks.

Step 3

Begin to pedal for a warm-up. Sit on the seat, place your hands on the handle bars and start pedaling. Go slow at first and gradually increase your speed for five minutes. This will slowly raise your core body temperature and further loosen up your muscles.

Step 4

Increase your speed to your exercising intensity. Pedal hard enough that your breathing becomes labored and you are sweating. Stay at this pace for the duration of your workout. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 60 to 90 minutes of cardio for weight loss. Split your sessions into two or three bouts during the day if you do not have time to do it all at once.

Step 5

Include interval training into your workout to increase your intensity. The more vigorously you exercise, the more calories you'll burn. Pedal for 30 seconds at a very fast pace, then pedal slowly for 60 seconds. Alternate back and forth for an entire workout or implement 10-minute interval sessions into your long workouts. If you do intervals for your whole workout, keep the total time to 30 to 45 minutes because of the intensity.

Step 6

Execute proper form when you are riding. Forcefully push the pedals down with your feet, maintain an erect posture and do not lean on the handle bars. Keep your core tight throughout your workouts and make sure to drink water to stay hydrated.

Step 7

Finish with a light cool-down. Do your cool-down the opposite of how you did your warm-up. Pedal gradually slower through a five-minute time frame.

Step 8

Ride your bike often to get the best results. Work out at least four days a week and continue to work out every week.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/189913-how-to-ride-a-stationary-bike-to-burn-belly-fat/

Itsy bitsy yummy snack muffins

I make these in several flavors but today it is chocolate oatmeal. I don’t like to measure, so I use a cake mix for the basic dry ingredients.

1 box of Devil’s Food cake mix (at Marc’s this is $1.19)

1/2 cup of coconut oil, melted

1 egg

1 cereal bowl (I didn’t measure) of cooked oatmeal (about 1 minute in the microwave) made with quick-cook oats, mixed with two scoops of dark chocolate powder and a little sugar

Mix the oatmeal, egg/shortening and cake mix; will be stiff.  Spray the mold/cups of a mini-muffin tin, put about a rounded teaspoon of batter in each and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

This makes about 30-36 little muffins, depending on how much batter you use.  I’ve also made this using mashed potatoes (can’t taste it); also tasty is yellow cake mix using apple sauce and chopped walnuts or dried cranberries. I’ve also used a spice cake mix with a jar of baby food carrots and raisins.

If you need them to be a little sweeter, sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Freeze, then take out 2 for dessert, and they won’t make you fat.

How we know race relations are improving—just watch the haters

We know that race relations in the U.S. are improving--high profile positions held by blacks, like the presidency, governorships, CEOs, growing black middle and upper class, blacks in the 1 percent group,  higher rate of voting among blacks than whites, high enrollments in college, all health and welfare indicators improving, but most of all, racialists and haters like the Daily Beast, Huffington Post, Daily Kos, the paid Twitter-haters, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the President’s speech writers are ratcheting up their hate talk and finger pointing. They are afraid of losing their meal ticket, or their voter base. They must keep blacks in fear.

Confession and forgiveness

I play a YouTube while I'm exercising (Gold's Power Spin 210) because after 5 minutes all the news shows repeat. This morning I heard the phrase, "Going to confession is like getting free health care." That might mean more to Catholics because Confession is a sacrament for them, but it is also a basic principle. Whether you confess your sins to another person who prays with you and suggests changes or directly to our Lord, it is a tremendous relief to hand off that burden. How many health problems are stress related due to unforgiveness and grudges carried way too long?

Heterodox marriage—a useful term with 780,000 matches in Google

It was new to me; so I looked it up.

adjective: heterodox

1. not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs.

   "heterodox views"

   synonyms:
   unorthodox, nonconformist, dissenting, dissident, rebellious, renegade

“The United States Supreme Court is hearing two pivotal cases and could, at its whim, change the definition of marriage and custom that has guided human society since ancient times. From experience, we know this — for the most part, aside from sex, men prefer the company of men and women prefer the company of women. We have never had a society where the norm was for men and women to cohabitate, particularly with children.”

Read more: https://amazingopinionsite.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/the-united-states-isnt-ready-for-heterodox-marriage/

Hitler and the wedding cake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1_gqbQcI60

Hilarious.

Forrest Gump—believe in something bigger than yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoQMPgn0GBA#t=94

Ladies' Lunch in Mt. Morris

A few ladies of the class of 1957 gathered for lunch at the McKendrie Street Cafe (at Pinecrest)on April 4 and we enjoyed some cake left from the fall class reunion.

Obama’s Easter message

I see he used his speech to dis Christians.  Way to go. Yet he sat in Rev. Wright’s church for 20 years and never heard his hate sermons.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/7/obama-blasts-less-than-loving-christians/#!

The whitewashing of Irish slavery

“During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, [Oliver] Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.” http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/irish-the-forgotten-white-slaves-says-expert-john-martin-188645531-237793261.html

Some was hatred of the Irish who were considered less than human by the British, some was hatred of Catholicism, and some was profit motive. Muslims were not involved in this slave trade as they were in most.

You can find various sites on the Internet (and in libraries where we used to find things) that deny Irish slavery was like African slavery.  Really, as a percentage of the population I think the islands and South America had a higher percentage of Irish than African.  They didn’t fare well, but are the founding families of many light skinned African Americans. Between the slavery of the 16th and 17th century and the famine immigration of the 19th century, Ireland’s population was decimated.

Small town churches

We've been living in Columbus since 1967, but I still slip and call Mt. Morris "home." We had Good Friday service at Trinity Lutheran with a community choir and chimes and Easter Sunday at the Church of the Brethren in Mt. Morris with my cousin Dianne as the reader. With small congregations and limited professional musicians (to which I'm accustomed at a church with 9 services) I'm always amazed by the love and hard work these little churches put forth to praise the Lord. Pastor Ginny's Easter sermon was one of the best I've heard.

Trinity Lutheran, Easter 2014

The color scheme now is more beige, but it looks much the same as when we were married in 1960.

Christine Baranski and The Good Wife’s wedding planner

How lucky we were!  We'd never seen an episode of the TV series The Good Wife, and after hearing the hysteria for a day (radio news during our auto travel from Ohio to Illinois) from the MSM about an Indiana pizzeria instead of the details of Obama's selling us and Israel down the river in Iran negotiations, we get to see Christine Baranski defend the left's idea of religious freedom guaranteed in the First Amendment while the screen writers fumbled the Christian viewpoint.

The one redeeming line was at the end of the episode where it was pointed out that Obama defended traditional marriage when he wanted to win the presidency (he was lying, of course, but Democrats lie for their causes). That said, Baranski is an outstanding actress and millions will never check the weak argument presented by the actress portraying a Christian wedding planner.

Here’s the point.  Baranski’s character is correct, Jesus never commented on homosexuality.  It was a practice and lifestyle not known to Jews.  It was for pagans, Greeks and Romans where even they didn’t have marriages for homosexuals—it was a form of acceptable pedophilia or prostitution to engage in outside of marriage.

Jesus also never addressed pornography or pedophilia, or space travel or nuclear war or environment or guitars in worship services or many other things that pull us apart these days.  That said, no Christian church exists strictly on the words of Jesus in the four gospels. The Church of the Brethren in which I was baptized at age 12 loves the book of James which doesn’t present the gospel.  The Lutheran church where I am now a member baptizes babies and Martin Luther wanted to throw out the book of James (he is the reason Catholic and Protestant Bibles have a different number of sacred books).

The Christian church managed to thrive for years with no formal canon/scripture; and today every church whether Protestant, Catholic or Independent has a form of church hierarchy, with accepted rules and traditions passed down by word of mouth or printed documents. Churches have statements of faith, synods, boards, brotherhoods, deacons, pastoral organizations.  How to “do” church appears first in the book of Acts not the gospels and most churches follow that in some form.  But the oldest “here’s how to do it” record, The Didache, is a list of rules on baptism, the Eucharist, worship, how to treat each other, no abortion and no sex with young boys, no fighting or gossip, etc.

Marriage is a part of Scripture from Genesis forward, and in Christian teaching, Jesus Christ created the world and all that is in it, including sex for procreating and marriage.  Tradition and all church groups from the Creation right up to 2012 when a tiny political minority combined with a large number of those who think marriage is worthless anyway worked to get the law changed.  It’s not hard to change a law for an event people don’t even care about—but that doesn’t mean Christians have to give up 2000 years of history and tradition and the First Amendment just because screen writers don’t know how to do research.

In the United States the First Amendment protects millions from government interference in religion—Amish who don’t have to go to public school, truck drivers who won’t deliver alcohol, Quakers who don’t get drafted in war time, Sikhs who wear head coverings, prisoners who don’t need to shave and it should protect wedding planners and bakers who don’t wish to be part of the bonding event for gays. And truly, who has killed and imprisoned more gays than governments?

Fix your eyes upon Jesus

We really enjoy this couple on HGTV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7iPEDnqwm0

The new religion with which to violate the first commandment—Climate Change

“The highest ranking woman in the Anglican communion has said climate denial is a “blind” and immoral position which rejects God’s gift of knowledge.

Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal church and one of the most powerful women in Christianity, said that climate change was a moral imperative akin to that of the civil rights movement. She said it was already a threat to the livelihoods and survival of people in the developing world.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/24/climate-change-denial-immoral-says-head-episcopal-church

Al Gore is high priest; prayers for Mother Earth; a Yoga pose instead of folded hands and bowed head; global treaties are the new scripture; and the collection plate—your confiscated taxes to a global government.

Democrat memes and lies

In their age and education group, there are no gaps—in fact in many cities they out earn men.  Except for the Democrat White House.  Women really do make quite a bit less if they work for the president.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/male-female-pay-gap-remains-entrenched-at-white-house/2014/07/01/dbc6c088-0155-11e4-8fd0-3a663dfa68ac_story.html

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/more-evidence-the-gender-wage-gap-is-due-to-choice-not-discrimination/article/2557200#!

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/apr/09/genevieve-wood/what-pay-gap-young-women-out-earn-men-cities-gop-p/

1 Corinthians, 15:14

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

Illustration from White Horse Inn Blog.

The income gap

On average, young married men, aged 28-30, make $15,900 more than their single peers, and married men aged 44-46 make $18,800 more than their single peers.

Marriage transforms boys into men.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/04/02/dont-be-a-bachelor-why-married-men-work-harder-and-smarter-and-make-more-money/

For all races and ethnic groups. Black men enjoy a marriage premium of at least $12,500 in their individual income compared to their single peers. The advantages also apply, for the most part, to  men and women who are less educated. For instance, men with a high-school degree or less enjoy a marriage premium of at least $17,000 compared to their single peers.

http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IFS-ForRicherForPoorer-Final_Web.pdf

A hedge of protection

Prayer Tip: Pray a “hedge of protection” around family, loved ones, and church leaders in order to keep them safe from the attacks of the Evil One (see Job 1:10, Psalm 80:12, Isaiah 5:5). In Bible times people would often build a hedge of thorns around their homes to keep out predators.

Learn more about the benefits of building a spiritual hedge around yourself and others at http://www.fairborndailyherald.com/news/lifestyle-religion/152407805/Devotional:-Gods-hedge.

Obama’s desired legacy

First destroy Israel, then the great Satan (U.S.)

http://www.economist.com/node/21647692

“Chants of “Death to America” remain a feature of Friday prayers at Tehran University, even though they seem more of a perfunctory ritual than a real display of rage.” NYT, Dec. 2014

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/30/us-iran-usa-ties-insight-idUSKBN0MQ1RE20150330

Good News about Onions from “World’s Healthiest Foods Newsletter”

• The flavonoids in onion tend to be more concentrated in the outer layers of the flesh. To maximize your health benefits, peel off as little of the fleshy, edible portion as possible when removing the onion's outermost paper layer. Even a small amount of "overpeeling" can result in unwanted loss of flavonoids. For example, a red onion can lose about 20% of its quercetin and almost 75% of its anthocyanins if it is "overpeeled." [I confess—I over peel]
• The total polyphenol content of onions is much higher than many people expect. (Polyphenols are one of the largest categories of phytonutrients in food. This category includes all flavonoids as well as tannins.) The total polyphenol content of onion is not only higher than its fellow allium vegetables, garlic and leeks, but also higher than tomatoes, carrots, and red bell pepper. In the French diet, only six vegetables (artichoke heart, parsley, Brussels sprouts, shallot, broccoli, and celery) have a higher polyphenol content than onion. Since the French diet has been of special interest to researchers in terms of disease prevention, onion's strong polyphenol contribution will very likely lead to follow-up studies that pay closer attention to this unique allium vegetable.
• Within the polyphenol category, onions are also surprisingly high in flavonoids. For example, on an ounce-for-ounce basis, onions rank in the top 10 of commonly eaten vegetables in their quercetin content. The flavonoid content of onions can vary widely, depending on the exact variety and growing conditions. Although the average onion is likely to contain less than 100 milligrams of quercetin per 3-1/2 ounces, some onions do provide this amount. And while 100 milligrams may not sound like a lot, in the United States, moderate vegetable eaters average only twice this amount for all flavonoids (not just quercetin) from all vegetables per day.
• When onions are simmered to make soup, their quercetin does not get degraded. It simply gets transferred into the water part of the soup. By using a low-heat method for preparing onion soup, you can preserve the health benefits of onion that are associated with this key flavonoid.
• When we get quercetin by eating an onion-rather than consuming the quercetin in purified, supplement form-we may end up getting better protection from oxidative stress. That's exactly what happened in an animal study where some animals had yellow onion added to their diet in a way that would provide the same amount of quercetin provided to other animals in the form of purified quercetin extracts. The best protection came from the onion version of this flavonoid, rather than the supplement form.
• Several servings of onion each week are sufficient to statistically lower your risk of some types of cancer. For colorectal, laryngeal, and ovarian cancer, between 1-7 servings of onion has been shown to provide risk reduction. But for decreased risk of oral and esophageal cancer, you'll need to consume one onion serving per day (approximately 1/2 cup).

Now, head for the kitchen and chop some onions!

http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v64/n3s/fig_tab/ejcn2010221t1.html

http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v64/n3s/fig_tab/ejcn2010221t2.html#figure-title

Monday Memories—Easter 2015

With stops in Indianapolis to see family and friends, a stay with my sister and brother-in-law in Mt. Morris, dinner out with my brother and cousin Dianne and their spouses, Good Friday and Easter services, a trip to Sterling to see my Aunt Lois, dad’s youngest sister, and her daughter Rhonda (my first cousin), lunch with “the girls” of the class of 1957, we had a lot of memories to share over the past week. Bob took his guitar with him and practiced faithfully.

Tim Cook, the face of gay corporate bigotry

It’s all about the money. Apple owns businesses in four Muslim countries where to be gay is a death penalty offense, but wants to attack and destroy the income of Christian bakers and photographers for their beliefs.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/416176/want-evidence-hysterical-anti-christian-bigotry-look-no-further-boycottindiana-david

And look how long he hid in the closet all for Apple.  Now that’s evidence of the strength of his convictions.  But everyone else has to change and accept his lifestyle, which he hid for years on behalf of his career.

http://www.ibtimes.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-says-hes-gay-it-may-not-matter-chinas-conservative-market-1716365

Michael Hurd’s observation on hypocrisy of Apple and other businesses

“On Sunday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that his company would “never tolerate discrimination.” He then compared Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act to Jim Crow; he equated a law guaranteeing the rights of individuals to take part in only the transactions they want to a law forcing individuals to take part in only those transactions the government deems worthy. But Cook is happy to do business with and in Saudi Arabia, as Erick Erickson points out, as well as Uganda, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. All of those countries are quite unfriendly to homosexuals.

Other companies looking to boycott Indiana include Smallbox, Salesforce, and Angie’s List; particularly, they want to disassociate from businesses headquartered in Indiana. Yet all of these companies work with businesses with outlets in places like Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is punishable by death.”

Hypocrisy on the left should hardly be news; but it seems each new generation forgets the concentration camps, the reeducation ordeals, the starvation of kulaks, the show trials, the banishments to Siberia—all in the name of socialist/leftist ideologies.

http://www.redstate.com/2015/03/31/time-tim-cook-apple-stand-homosexual-rights-china/

http://www.examiner.com/article/apple-boycotts-indiana-opens-stores-saudi-arabia

http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2013/08/15/obamas-gay-muslim-hypocrisy/

http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/politics/indiana-religious-freedom-and-the-utter-hypocrisy-of-the-left

How the media see the parties’ candidates

Indiana isn’t targeting gays. Liberals are targeting religion.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-intolerance-1427760183

The Indiana law is a version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) that passed 97-3 in the Senate and that Bill Clinton signed in 1993. Both the federal and Indiana laws require courts to administer a balancing test when reviewing cases that implicate the free exercise of religion. . .

The federal RFRA followed the Supreme Court’s Employment Division v. Smith ruling in 1990 that abandoned its 30-year precedent of reviewing religious liberty cases under strict scrutiny. Congress responded with RFRA, which merely reasserted longstanding First Amendment protections.

In 1997 the Supreme Court limited RFRA’s scope to federal actions. So 19 states including such cultural backwaters as Connecticut, Rhode Island and Illinois followed with copy-cat legislation, and Indiana is the 20th. Courts in 11 states have extended equally vigorous protections.

As I noted earlier. . . this is political, it’s about the 2016 election and having a “gotcha” question for Republicans, because the Democrats have NOTHING except sex.

“This was not a deliberate attempt to breach the security of NSA.”

No, of course not.  It was just two drug dealing prostitute transgenders stealing a car from the man they were having sex with and then they drove the wrong way.  No problem.  Nothing to see.  Move on. Definitely not terrorism.

Washington Post story to beat all stories.

It does make one wonder how intruders can make it all the way into the White House after jumping a fence, when they get shot making a wrong turn into the NSA.  What is going on there that is more important than the security of the President?

Baltimore Sun

John Vogel