Muslims in Ohio

We have thousands of foreign born Muslims in Central Ohio and many born here. I haven't seen any bullying or discrimination. I'm sure it exists--especially on the internet. I get nasty, unkind remarks for being an old White lady. That said, I have seen university employees who won't come to private homes for parties, women who won't join exercise classes if there are men in it, special accommodations for them in churches that provide education classes, men who have more than one "wife," and women who must always be accompanied by a male relative when out of the home.
However, I used to help with English classes for mixed ethnicities sponsored by our church, mostly Muslim but from a variety of countries. I thought the women were delightful, eager to learn, devoted to their families and fun, but some didn't like each other because of grievances in "the old country." One dear soul told me in her home country she was considered a descendant of slaves (she had blue-green eyes) and wasn't allowed to go to school.
Anyone with half a brain knows that all American Muslims aren't like the couple who killed Christians and Jews at a holiday party and had an arsenal in their home. But with their other half brain they aren't using, they'd better dust it off and understand that the President's party is leading them astray about the real danger of Islamic terrorism.
All the murdered people in San Bernardino were Christians and Jews, but in a show of concern for the "real" victims, "A handful of House Democrats will meet early Friday afternoon at the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, a Northern Virginia mosque that has controversial ties to terrorists who have engaged in terrorist acts against the United States,” reports The Washington Examiner.

Daily News lies—God can fix this

Our free and independent (from government control) press

Did you notice that CAIR already had family members of the shooters on hand for interviews by the time the rest of us were told their names?

Please:  it’s media ARE.

False positive mammograms

Women with positive mammography screens ultimately judged to be false were still at significantly increased likelihood for developing invasive breast cancer within the next 10 years, a study involving 1.3 million women showed.

So what is happening? Lots of things. Read this:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/BreastCancer/54978?

She can move quickly when an election is at stake

Wealthy liberals could just fire their accountants

Today I got an e-mail from  “Patriotic Millionaires,”  a group of more than 200 Americans with annual incomes over $1 million and/or assets of more than $5 million. (I’m not on the list as a millionaire, but am a gapper.) They are looking at the Forbes list and see too few blacks and Hispanics.  Well, there are more Blacks than Bruces!  Look, patriots.  All you have to do is fire your accountants—just skip over those loopholes that you’ve lobbied for.

* America’s 20 wealthiest people now own more wealth than the bottom half of the American population combined, a total of 152 million people in 57 million households.
* The wealthiest 100 households now own about as much wealth as the entire African American population in the United States. Among the Forbes 400, just 2 individuals are African-American.
* The wealthiest 186 members of the Forbes 400 own as much wealth as the entire Latino population. Just 5 members of the Forbes 400 are Latino.

San Bernardino and Colorado Springs

Catching up on the news coverage of the horrific events in San Bernardino, I see that no liberal wants to call this act terrorism and they are seeking a motive why a married couple, both Muslims with middle eastern names and dressed for assault with multiple bombs and guns, would kill people in a government building.  Whereas last Friday in a shooting in the parking lot of a Planned Parenthood building in Colorado, a man crazy as a loon was described within hours on national TV by prominent liberals as a terrorist, a conservative and a Christian, with nothing to back it up. They blamed the GOP, the NRA and “toxic” language arguing against our Bill of Rights.
Meanwhile, the New York Times has done an extensive background check on Dear and learned of his history of crime and assault on women, a pot head with bizarre behavior particularly on-line. NYT leads with the “Christian” angle, even though he was about as “christian” as the Westboro Baptist group that protests at funerals of soldiers, a group smaller than our church choir. Liberals in the press and on twitter are also criticizing those who are praying for the victims and their families.

Andy Griffith, Little Brown Church

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

How lovely.

No blogging today

I’m at the library.  No wireless connection today.  Guess I’ll have to invite my daughter over to check, and if she can’t get it going, I’ll have a service call.  Hate when this happens.

Imaginary Enemies

“Hunger in America is an imaginary enemy. Liberal advocacy groups routinely claim that one in seven Americans is hungry—in a country where the poorest counties have the highest rates of obesity. The statistic is a preposterous extrapolation from a dubious Agriculture Department measure of “food insecurity.” But the line gives those advocacy groups a reason to exist while feeding the liberal narrative of America as a savage society of haves and have nots.”

Liberal advocacy groups need problems.  If poverty were solved tomorrow, millions of well-paid, middle class bureaucrats, social workers, and non-profit fund raisers would be out of work.  Then we’d have a problem. . .

There are 123 wealth transfer programs, where is this money going if the poor don’t get it? TANF, SNAP, EITC, Section 8 Housing, Medicaid, WIC, SCHIP, and other disability from Social Security. 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/liberalisms-imaginary-enemies-1448929043

World AIDS Day

Approximately 70% of the new HIV/AIDS cases are in sub-Saharan Africa. Most people living with HIV or at risk for HIV do not have access to prevention, care, and treatment, and there is still no cure. I wonder if Africans think the billions being pledged in Paris to be spent on the fool's errand to stop the weather is well spent? Perhaps they remember (if alive) the malaria fiasco when millions died because of a foolish American author's testimony before Congress.

https://www.aids.gov/news-and-events/awareness-days/world-aids-day/

Rape in the Peace Corps

Yesterday I watched a CBS report on rape in the Peace Corps. ABC had done extensive reporting on this in 2011. Oversight of the Peace Corps is technically not Obama's job, not like cleaning up the VA (which he campaigned on in 2008) because commander in chief is his job description in the Constitution. But it is under the executive branch and he does appoint the director. However, if these two huge scandals had been reported in the Bush years, the media would have at least had his name in the story.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-finds-peace-corps-volunteers-blamed-fired-after-reporting-sexual-assault/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/us/11corps.html?_r=0

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/16/the-peace-corps-awful-secret.html

And so my liberal “friend” who reads my blog and only comments if I say something about Obama will then say, why must you blame him for everything?  You racist!  I’m only doing the job our media used to do for us—holding the president accountable when he doesn’t do his job.  And they should do that in a country where the “free” press keeps a protective eye on our liberties. They did that very well during the Bush Administration.  They didn’t let him get away with anything, and when they did support him, he usually got flak from his own party.

Plant yourself.

Connie, a friend from high school, posted this on Facebook about planting seeds in your own biodegradable urn. If you've ever visited an old cemetery with a lot of trees, you see nature has already taken care of this--just a little longer span of time.

In the United States, which contains 8 percent of the world's forests, there are more trees than there were 100 years ago. That's a lot of coming and going. Trees store CO2, produce oxygen, remove toxins from the air, and create habitat for animals, insects and more basic forms of life.

My high school class of MMHS 1957 has donated several trees to the town  campus to replace those that have died or been lost to storms, but even in Mt. Morris, there are far more trees than when the town was founded. The “reforestation” of the former Mt. Morris College campus effort was largely led by Lynne Fleming Wilburn and other local class members, who also tended our first tree in its very young years. (Source)

MMHS 1957 newest trees.

MMHS 1957 tree marker.

It’s a 2-fer for the left—attack free speech and religion

At this point, I doubt you can trust anything you hear or read about the crazy Mr. Dear who shot 9 people, none of them staff or clients at the Planned Parenthood Clinic. But that hasn't stopped all the leftist MSM, so I might as well take a stab. I've also heard his police record involves animal cruelty, domestic assault, smoking pot and being involved in bondage. Also he's never been a registered Republican, no sign of being a Christian, and his voter registration says his gender assignment may have failed. I haven't researched this carefully, as I don't have access to his records, but then neither do the New York Times or our Attorney General or PBS, and it hasn't stopped them.

There's no information at all on the shooter Dear's intelligence, state of mind, or what he said, and the media have already blamed Republicans for a "toxic" environment and no safe places for this man to go to not hear about dead babies. They don't blame hip hop for assaults against women, or Tarantino for gun violence, or the inflammatory speech from black lives matter for the cop he killed He’s some kook who lives in the woods and probably doesn't own a TV, but somehow is inflamed by rhetoric about killing the unborn. He shot nine people, none of them clinic workers or clients of Planned Parenthood. One report says he killed two in the parking lot then ran into the building.  If he was inflamed, he was also blind.

There was a family of 4 shot by a neighbor on the Hilltop of Columbus, Ohio last week. Hillary has not gone on national TV and the President has not said the dead boy could be his son. I’m guessing all these people are white, if you haven’t seen it on the national news. A man yesterday shot up and vandalized our most famous art center here in Columbus, then killed himself; no one has said he hated art or that it's terrible what toxic things are said about shocking edgy art displays because it inflames people.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/planned-parenthood-exec-blames-hateful-language-hateful-speech?

Stop setting goals and pushing sentimental posters

             

Nice thoughts, but really inaccurate with maudlin generalities. Setting goals is way over rated, and my favorite book is "Stop setting Goals." Many successful people watch TV; but they're even more successful if they produce, direct and act in TV shows.  I've always been a reader, and am a retired librarian--how many famous, rich librarians do you know--they don't even get appointed to be "librarian of Congress." Fearing change is a political statement--liberals fear some—like having a baby when not prepared, conservatives fear others like having liberals run the colleges. I'm a saver and investor, but have never gotten the hang of a budget. I don’t hold grudges, but I know extremely successful people who do. I like to talk about ideas, others like to share photos of grandchildren and pets.  Who is right and successful?

That said, I’m guessing a conservative, or right of center, person wrote it.

It seemed reasonable to remove Confederate flags, and then . . .

But the left eats its own.  Any appeasement just makes them more hungry.  The fragile students we’ve been laughing at on college campuses demanding “safe spaces” have become neo-fascists.

First, protests gradually grow more extreme. Venom is directed at fellow leftists who are deemed insufficiently radical.

In revolutionary France, wild-eyed Jacobins soon guillotined reformist Girondins, who were considered passe. During the Russian Revolution, extremist Bolsheviks marginalized liberal Mensheviks. In the 1960s, many members of the SDS and Black Panthers hated liberals who disapproved of their violence.

A group called the Black Justice League wants the name of liberal-but-bigoted President Woodrow Wilson removed from Princeton University.   [and the leaders are wealthy . . .]

Maximilien Robespierre, the spear point of the French Revolution, was an upper-middle-class lawyer. Russian revolutionaries Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin were the sons of prosperous Russian families. Former 1960s terrorist bomber Bill Ayers was the scion of a wealthy corporate executive.
Read More At Investor's Business Daily:

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-perspective/112715-782779-victor-davis-hanson-as-they-have-throughout-history-the-extreme-left-directs-its-hatred-at-others-on-the-left.htm

Obama can say we’re not a Christian nation, but that’s not how ISIS understands who we are.

“Secularists rush to deny the religious aspect of the conflict with jihadists. Whenever possible they talk about “extremists” or “terrorists” and try to avoid the obvious conclusion that the Islamic terrorists are motivated by their religion. Likewise, when the victims are clearly Christian, and have been targeted for torture and death because of their faith in Christ the secular news media will spin the story and relegate the horrors to “ethnic conflict” or “tribal wars.”

The fact of the matter is that Islamic terrorists are targeting Christians in specific attacks. Furthermore, we may not regard the countries of Western Europe and North America as particularly “Christian” countries, but the Islamic terrorists of ISIS do. They speak enthusiastically about the coming war with “Rome”, which is their shorthand for what they perceive as the Christian powers of the West.”

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/longenecker/are-we-witnessing-the-start-of-a-new-crusade/#ixzz3svE4MAO9

Decorating the tree for 2015

Bob put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving. We love looking at the old, tired ornaments--like the one our daughter's first grade teacher made (can teachers do that today?) and the little wood guitar I bought for our son, the cute wood ornaments purchased from a disabled woman (Jodi) at the UA Labor Day art show in the 1970s, and the various mementoes from our travels. We probably bought this tree in 1993 or 1994 at our daughter's urging--and have certainly gotten our money's worth. I suggested we go to a small table size tree like my parents did in their later years, but he said an emphatic NO.

When we moved to Columbus in 1967, I remember I went to the hardware store in the little Tremont shopping center behind our apartment complex and bought a package of gold painted angels which we used for years.  They are still in the box of decorations, but we haven’t put them on for a few years—the tree is a bit crowded.  We also have some table decorations we can hang from our years in the FCC Couples Circle 50 now about 48 years old. Of that couples group, I think Bob is the only man still living. We have some little cloth birds made by my mother into which she tucked money for the children.  The tree scarf was made by my sister I think for Christmas 1976, and we use it every year.

Same tree, 2010.

Same tree, 2012, with our niece and nephew, Julie and Joe from Indianapolis.

Same tree 2006, different glasses.

Same tree, 2000, with Dad, his first Christmas without Mom since 1934.  He made the “grand tour” and visited his children in three cities.

Computer scams and hoaxes

The last several days I've been getting phone calls from people with accents and noise in the background telling me they want to help me with my "windows" problem, or my reported computer problem. Usually I just hang up, because callers sitting in booths reading from a script need to earn a living and move on to the next sucker. But I've played along for a few questions then I ask them why they are running this scam. I chastise and castigate them before hanging up. Feels good. The economy has been completely restored, we're told, so no one needs to be working jobs like this even in India.

Non-use of technology

Periodically, I do a “fast” of Facebook or Blogging.  I sign off.  But when I return, there’s just as much posting as before.  Maybe more.  It’s a bit like a diet.  I can do it for awhile. In the “old” days, people gave up watching TV.  I can see myself in most of these studies.  Read on.

Resistance, addiction, and identity

“There are a number of studies that have focused on cases of deliberate, even conspicuous, non-use, as in when people swear off e-mail during their vacation or give up Facebook for Lent. In these cases of deliberate refusal of a technology, one of the key traits of the individual is her or his ability to resist the temptation of using technology. Approaches that frame (social) media and technology use as addiction fall into this mold (e.g., Andreassen, et al., 2012; Stieger, et al., 2013).

In other cases, non-use may represent an individual’s attempt to regain (a sense of) self-control over their own technology use (e.g., Ames, 2013; Baumer, et al., 2013; Schoenebeck, 2014). In many of these cases, the discourse is one of control. Because the resulting non-use may be partial or negotiated, these kinds of studies tend not to frame “use” as a monolithic concept for which non-use is the binary opposite.

Moving beyond the individual, the voluntary non-use of technology may function as the production or performance of a particular sociocultural identity. For instance, abstention from Facebook becomes an act of performing a particular identity, one bound up with “conspicuous non-consumption” and a rejection of neoliberal values of commodification (Portwood-Stacer, 2013).

Non-use (and use) of the smartphone app Grindr also figures prominently in partners’ negotiations about the status of their own relationship (Brubaker, et al., 2014). In another example, the Christian period of Lent becomes, for some, an occasion to limit use of social media (Schoenebeck, 2014).”

I tried to resist and regain power over my life, but just now I posted on Facebook:

Donald Trump is such a jerk, and he's the perfect Trojan Horse (for those who haven't studied history, that is not a condom but a trick) that the Democrats will use to elect Hillary. This woman has committed more crimes than most people already incarcerated, and will complete what Obama has left unfinished.

Academe—we reap what we sow

“After 50 years of teaching at Harvard, I have never met a less courageous group of people than tenured faculty.” Alan Dershowitz.

“There’s clearly a double standard. Minority students, gay students, transgender students, Arab students generally have a greater leverage and a greater voice, and their grievances are taken far more seriously than the legitimate grievances of Jewish students, Zionist students, Christian students, conservative students.”

http://dailysignal.com/2015/11/20/these-are-tyrannical-students-what-a-former-harvard-professor-thinks-of-college-protests/

Donations for personal hygiene

We took about $50 of groceries to the Thanksgiving service at UALC on Thursday (nicest church service of the year with the best hymns).  But I kept aside a bag of personal care items I’ve been buying—shampoo, sanitary napkins, deodorant, bar soap, toothpaste, tooth brushes, liquid hand soap. These are for Tammy Jewell’s ministry, “God’s Hygiene Help Center,” which offers basic hygiene care to people who have lost their dignity because they simply can’t afford everyday items.  Some are for children, some for out of work men and women looking for jobs, some for the elderly and homeless.

Jewell is a former victim of human trafficking who came to know Jesus. Now she reaches out to addicts and trafficking victims.  When she shares Jesus, she also offers some small material aid.

From UALC.org Cornerstone, Nov. 22-26, 2015

A hoarder’s collection becomes art

We’ve all known a hoarder—and maybe there’s a little of that in all of us.  I don’t think of myself as a hoarder, yet I do have favorite “collections,” like small pieces of Hull Pottery, works by Ohio artists, kitty boxes (small) made of glass, ceramic, card board, etc., glass and crystal that belonged to my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, books I’ll never read but like to look at on the shelves, old photographs, and when we put up the tree yesterday, I could see decorations 40-50 years old. I even have three editions of old Encyclopedia Britannica, about 100 years old. And of course, my clothing “archive,” dresses or jackets I wore in the past to dances, weddings, Easter services, etc. The oldest is from winter dance 1955, if you don’t count the dolls and doll clothes which are from the 1940s. These dollies (mine) are sitting on my great grandmother’s chair next to my husband’s grandparents’ secretary. But is that hoarding or saving antiques? Ask my daughter after I’m gone and she has to dispose of it.

         

  

This daughter was ashamed of her mother’s hoarding, but eventually learned to turn it into art.

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/a-mothers-hoarding-a-daughters-art/?

http://www.stephanielcalvert.com/resume/

          

The turkey monster

Our cat has always had "issues" about food--she was abandoned and homeless, then dropped at a rescue where the other cats terrified her, then she found us--for 18 years now. For 18 years she's believed she will be put on the street and must eat. Obviously, childhood memories don’t go away with lots of love.  Yesterday I cooked up the turkey carcass, but my SIL had done such a great job of cleaning it, there wasn't a lot left for casseroles or soup. So I chopped up the bits of skin, meat and fat after straining it thinking I'd dole it out to Lotza over the week-end. She demanded the whole thing! This morning she slept until 5 a.m. (instead of 3) in a turkey stupor. Now she's turning her nose up at the canned Friskies turkey. She's just staring at me, which if you've ever had a cat, you know the look.

Cats like to stir the water in their bowl, so her bowl is very heavy and says, “Dog.” When she would spill it on the marble, we couldn’t see it.

This is her favorite napping spot. . . my husbands’ legs.  Once she moves to our bed, she likes to sleep on my legs. She’s really not very large, maybe 6.5 lbs, so she a heat seeker.

Other turkey/cat stories:

This is humor.  http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/humor-cat-behavior-turkey-thanksgiving-tryptophan

Turkey is not toxic. https://www.facebook.com/notes/aspca/animal-poison-control-faq-turkey/455486574631

http://www.darwinspet.com/our-raw-foods/our-raw-cat-food/natural-selections-for-cat-turkey/

Three Word Wednesday for November 25

I must have been thinking turkey and pumpkin pie, because the 3WW day slipped right past me.  The clues this week are:

Habitual, adjective: done or doing constantly or as a habit, regular; usual.

Illustrious, adjective: well known, respected, and admired for past achievements.

Jumbled, verb: mix up in a confused or untidy way

and there is an event being reported on TV.

“Active shooter situation, Colorado Springs”
Norma J. Bruce
November 27, 2015

Several are injured, and the police are swarming.
Jumbled thoughts as family and friends agonize.
By-standers send in video and reports.
Waiting.  Waiting. A hostage is released! Then another!
These shootings seem to be habitual.
Except the victims and aggressors are different each time,
Illustrious of past events of which they were never a part
And could not ever imagine.

INCIDENTAL COMICS: Collecting My Thoughts

INCIDENTAL COMICS: Collecting My Thoughts

Thanksgiving 2015, Friday family photo

Isn’t this beautiful?  My husband has been taking guitar lessons for about a year, and his teacher, Dr. Smoot, wrote an arrangement for him and our son to play together.  So they were practicing in the living room and our daughter came in and looked in the piano bench for something in the same key.  I got all teary.  Had to eat another piece of candy.

It’s my recollection that I bought the piano in 1965 when I was a graduate student at the University of Illinois.  Which would make it 50 years old.  So I looked around and found a photo.

We had some great food, all prepared by my daughter, but she hasn’t sent the photos yet (she was having a contest with her sister in law in Colorado).  All I have are the pies.  For only 5 people, that’s a lot of pie. Hers are always very artistic.

Do you ever feel this way?

Special words

Liberté, égalité, fraternité and #blacklivesmatter

Although the media told us the recent events in Paris by Islamic jihadis were the worst since WWII, it was certainly not the worst religious violence in its history. Compared to what the French did to the Catholics, it was kids' play. In the French Revolution of the late 18th c., France was de-christianized, with thousands of citizens with ties to the church were murdered, imprisoned or deported. Churches, schools, nunneries, monasteries, schools, hospitals, etc. were violently destroyed. About 40,000 churches were destroyed and parishes left with no priest. The violence was at first against the throne with its ties to the Catholic church, then against everything Christian. Cries of Liberté, égalité, fraternité like the cries for "justice" and one group's lives mattering by our spoiled university students of today were meant only for a select few.

http://catholicexchange.com/a-new-look-at-the-french-revolution

http://www.wnd.com/2008/12/84742/

http://www.inthevendee.com/vendee-wars/vendee-wars.html

Ridiculous Black Friday stories

After we left our daughter’s home yesterday they were going to go out to buy . . . king size sheets.  One of the specials for Black Friday which started on Thursday. She should have been exhausted from her 2 days of cooking and planning, but there’s something about shopping that energizes some people.  Maybe I had that sort of energy in my 40s—and just don’t remember.

On Fox this morning I saw a story about 2 women who had shopped for “mini-sports” cars for their kids, and the containers for the toys wouldn’t fit into their cars.  So with the Fox reporter guarding their finds, they went off to find a rental car that would hold their treasures.

Now, think about it.  How much money can be saved if you need a rental car to haul home your treasures?

Students demand the President of Princeton stand up to bullies

Dear President Eisgruber,

We write on behalf of the Princeton Open Campus Coalition to request a meeting with you so that we may present our perspectives on the events of recent weeks. We are concerned mainly with the importance of preserving an intellectual culture in which all members of the Princeton community feel free to engage in civil discussion and to express their convictions without fear of being subjected to intimidation or abuse. Thanks to recent polls, surveys, and petitions, we have reason to believe that our concerns are shared by a majority of our fellow Princeton undergraduates.

http://100percentfedup.com/finally-fed-princeton-students-fight-back-black-lives-matter-terrorists-demands/#

I’m feeling safer already

This quote looks like it should come from The Onion, but unfortunately, it’s just our President speaking stupidly.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/analysis/2014/08/28/Experts-ISIS-makes-up-to-3-million-daily-in-oil-sales.html

Nellemann estimates that taxation has quickly become "the largest share of ISIL's income, both through taxation schemes of the local populous," various mafia-like schemes forcing payment with the threat of violence, as well as human trafficking. The expert suggested that "in 2015, [the smuggling] business is likely going to exceed a total of $2 billion, of which the Islamic State will slowly increase their share."

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20150912/1026925384/smuggling-migrants-isil.html

http://www.worldbulletin.net/economy/144677/how-isil-uses-syrias-oil-to-fuel-its-advances

In its online English magazine, Dabiq, ISIS lays out its justification for its brutality against the Yazidis on religious grounds:

"Enslaving the families of the kuffar [unbelievers] and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shariah [Islamic law] that if anyone were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Qur'an and the narrations of the Prophet."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/08/middleeast/isis-rape-theology-soldiers-rape-women-to-make-them-muslim/

As our president says silly things about the climate and terrorism, these women know first hand that it is an evil ideology, not climate that has created these rape farms and mass graves.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/12000148/Islamic-State-sex-slaves-Sinjar-mass-graves-show-what-were-fighting.html

What was the golden age of television for you?

In November 2011 Peggy Noonan wrote a column about the two golden ages of TV,  for which she was giving thanks that year. Here’s what I wrote about my TV memories in 2011.

“Looks like I missed both golden ages. My parents didn’t have TV when I was growing up so if I ever saw Playhouse 90 (1956-1961) I don’t remember it. I was just too busy going to school, dating or working at the drug store to sit down and watch TV. And of the second group I’ve only seen Law and Order (now in its 20th season), and much of it only in reruns--miss Jerry Orbach. Hardly ever watch it these days--too predictable. The others in the second golden age I’ve never seen. [Noonan cited "The Sopranos," "Mad Men," "The Wire," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "ER," "24," "The West Wing," "Law and Order," "30 Rock." ]

Over the years we’ve enjoyed Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) both when it was current and later in reruns; Mary Tyler Moore (1970-1977) and the spin-offs Rhoda and Phyllis; Love Boat (1977-1986) was great for seeing all the stars not usually seen; Cheers (1982-1993); the Bill Cosby Show (1984-1992) and still laugh and identify with the family situations and love the fashions [aside: unfortunately that memory has been tainted by recent sex charges]; Murder she wrote (1984-1996) with Angela Lansbury was never missed and we enjoyed it in reruns too; Golden Girls (1985-1992) although I think I saw this mostly on reruns; Murphy Brown (1988-1998)--great ensemble cast; Frasier (1993-2004) again mostly seen in reruns; Ellen (1994-1998); some of the movie channels like TNT and AMC for the movies I never saw when they were current; Third rock from the sun (1996-2001)--hard to believe Tommy is almost 30 [now 34]; we enjoyed Dharma and Greg (1997-2002); Monk ([was]still current and watching it tonight); The Closer ([then] now in the 5th season).

And remember the great variety shows--Sonny and Cher (1971-1974), Donny and Marie (1976-1979), The Captain and Tennille (1976-1977), Hee Haw (1969-1993) and now we even watch Lawrence Welk, which we never would have done in the 1950s and 1960s, as archives were dusted off with added interviews from the “Welk family” (1986- current) for its old time slot on Saturday evenings (tomorrow will be the Thanksgiving special on PBS). “

Democrats try to destroy the spirit of Thanksgiving. . .

I’d heard this before—actually from all the talking heads in the news, about how everyone is supposed to stay off politics on Thanksgiving.  But Democrats have carried it to new levels (low), according to James Taranto, of the Wall Street Journal.

“It’s Thanksgiving, and the Democratic National Committee is declaring war on uncles. “The holiday season is filled with food, traveling, and lively discussions with Republican relatives about politics sometimes laced with statements that are just not true,” the DNC declares on a website called YourRepublicanUncle.com. “Here are the most common myths spouted by your family members who spend too much time listening to Rush Limbaugh and the perfect response to each of them.”

There are 10 “myths,” with accompanying talking points in response—five about Republican presidential candidates, five about political topics. If you’re a Republican uncle and want to stump your DNC-informed niece or nephew, you might want to say something disparaging about Hillary Clinton or bring up national security, as these don’t make the list.

The talking points are unsubtle and tendentious enough that one suspects they were written by the unwieldy named Debbie Wasserman Schultz herself. Example: If your uncle says, “I like that Donald Trump! He says what he means,” you’re supposed to respond:” . . . you can fill in the blanks.

Happy birthday to my bouncing baby boy

From the first day he’s kept our life interesting and lively. He’s got the curly hair and long legs I’d love to have. Smart as a whip and intellectually stimulating.  Loves to talk politics with mom.  The light in the corner is probably his guardian angel checking in.

Posters about the jihadi risk in immigration

One of the memes/posters going around Facebook in the last few days concerns America’s rejection of European Jewish refugees in the 1930s, equating it to the current fear that there might be jihadis among the newest Syrian immigrants with no way to vet them. Let’s parse what was happening in the 1930s.

Our government’s response to the Great Depression.  In the 1930s the U.S. was weighed down by a terrible economic depression, and had the leadership of the Democratic party and Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) who continually failed to reenergize the economy. I don’t personally remember, but it colored the lives and behavior of my parents who were teen-agers in 1929.  Other countries had pulled out of that world wide depression in 3-4 years, but with the tinkering and social goals of FDR, we were well into it for a decade. People lost their savings, careers, farms, businesses, dreams and self esteem and were not thinking about the problems in Europe. Many Americans were still first and second generation immigrants from WWI and 19th c. recessions--thousands returned to their birth country.

The role of the media.  There was no social media in the 1930s, but radio and newspapers did a good job of misinformation and propaganda. Then as now the media lied to the American people about the seriousness of the situation.  Just has they sat on the information about the slaughter of the Christian Armenians and the Ukrainian famine and who was to blame (Moslems in Turkey and the USSR in Ukraine), so American intellectuals, Communists in the administration and politicians kept the public in ignorance.

Blame the Jews. America then as now, was awash in anti-Semitism.  If you think the publicity about Israel and Palestine on college campuses is lop-sided now, go back and read original material from the 1930s.  Rich Jewish bankers were blamed for everything that was wrong with our economy,  just as the “rich,” banks and investment companies were blamed for the collapse in 2007-2008.  Then as now, it was government manipulation of the markets and regulations  not Jews that created the mess, but a scapegoat was needed.  Following the traditions of centuries, it was “blame the Jews.” Today, even though the income gap is greater under Obama than any previous president, “the rich” has become a code word for our problems and Jews.

Black Professor reports on discrimination and bullying

“I can confidently say that when I was in graduate school, my identity as a Christian was far more under attack than my identity as a black,”

“I was repeatedly informed, ” [George] Yancey continued, “that Christians like me were the source of most of the problems in our society, and challenged to leave my Christian identity behind. Like many Christians today, I did not feel safe.”

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442224070/So-Many-Christians-So-Few-Lions-Is-There-Christianophobia-in-the-United-States

Usually those who do not like blacks or Muslims admit that they are intolerant but simply try to justify their intolerance. Those with Christianophobia tend to deny that they are intolerant but rather that they are fairly interpreting social reality.

Envisioning themselves as fair and free of intolerance allows them to blame those they detest rather than recognize how their emotions have distorted their intellectual judgments.

By documenting just how hateful some of the attitudes are toward Christians, and who tends to have such hateful attitudes, I hope to bring Christianophobia into the light so that we, as a society, can discuss this social problem and how we might address bigotry in all of its myriad forms.

http://freethinker.co.uk/2015/01/29/so-many-christians-so-few-lions/

Note: “So many Christians so few lions” is an anti-Christian  bumper sticker/slogan, which I assume is the reason for the title of the book.

http://heterodoxacademy.org/2015/11/24/i-should-not-write-this-op-ed-confessions-of-a-non-leftist-professor/

Do you ever feel like you’re from another time and place?

German Muslims join ISIS, then return to Germany

“Former militants who used to fight in the ranks of so-called Islamic State (former ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorist groups against the troops of the Syrian and Iraqi governments are now coming home, raising the threat of potential terror attacks to a new high, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told Bild am Sonntag.

The number of potential attackers currently living in Germany is “higher than ever before,” de Maiziere said, estimating the number of German citizens joining terrorists at 760 people, about one-fifth of them women, who usually do not fight among jihadists, but rather “assisting” the terrorists “in other ways,” de Maiziere said.

The vast majority of Germans fighting in Syria and Iraq are men in their 20s who were raised in Germany and had German or double citizenship, De Maiziere added.

According to the minister, some 120 German citizens have died in the conflict in the Middle East; while about 200 have managed to return back home. The rest is still somewhere out there, participating in terrorist activities, he added.”

Europe closed its eyes—all countries, not just Germany—to the dangers of their insipid multiculturalism, where all cultures are of equal value, and the U.S. is going down that path.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/23112015-germany-760-citizens-have-joined-islamic-state-200-returned-home/

Fellowship or worship? What do you look for in a church family?

Former Fundamentalist and Evangelical Dr. Wesley Vincent shares his faith journey to the Catholic Church. Hosted by Marcus Grodi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYSp9Q3CsEU

Dr. Wesley L Vincent, CP has a medical practice at 139 Hazard Ave, Suite 7, Enfield CT. He specializes in clinical psychologist, and has over 27 years of experience in the field of medicine.

As an adult he found a church with wonderful music and powerful sermons and after about 2 years discovers that the pastor’s “wife and daughter” were not—she was his girlfriend, and not divorced from her husband.  At another church, he felt he needed to correct what his son was learning in confirmation class. Some churches didn’t teach the trinity; another refused to use The Lord’s Prayer. He finally began to read the early church fathers thinking he would find justification for all the protestant churches different beliefs.

Music is good for you, especially in your later years

“Music, the most-studied art reviewed, has been shown to have a number of benefits. One landmark study compared older adults who were invited to join a choir to those not invited. Twelve months after the study began, choir members showed decreases in doctor visits, falls, and over-the-counter medication use. Improvements were seen in overall health rating and number of activities performed. In a larger study that randomly assigned individuals to a choir program or a control group, the choir partisans had lower scores on a depression/anxiety scale, and higher scores on a quality of life scale. A survey of older amateur singers before and after joining a musical group showed increases in emotional well-being, social life, quality of life, and self-confidence. In studies of instrumental music, 98 percent of 1,626 survey respondents said that playing an instrument in a group affected their health in a “uniformly positive” way. A study of organ players not only showed decreases in anxiety and depression, but also revealed increases in human growth hormone, a molecule associated with a number of positive health outcomes. Another study that compared the length of time a musical instrument was played (from zero to over 10 years) showed a possible linear relationship between the amount of playing and cognitive performance. However, not all studies reviewed showed such significant results, and in some cases the positive impact of a musical program were not maintained as early as three months after the program was completed. It should be noted that the studies with significant results were considered to be more rigorous.”

http://www.investigage.com/2014/01/22/can-music-dance-and-other-arts-programs-enhance-healthy-aging/

If you used to be active in the arts, but no longer are, perhaps you need to rethink why you’re enjoying life less, why there is more anxiety and depression, why you don’t feel well.  Pick up the trumpet, or sit down at the piano, or join that choir.  It’s good for you.

Republicans have led the way for women

Have you noticed how feminists have taken the back seat to LGBTQ issues, or to “blacklivesmatter” issues, or white microaggression, or any of the other victimology themes in today’s political and academic streams of thought? Now the media have to trot out Bruce Jenner for woman of the year, as if  hormone supplements, a manicure, and a glamorous dress make one a woman—accoutrements that a few years ago were an anathema for feminists. 

So looking back to the 2008 campaign I think Sarah Palin stole their thunder.  Feminists just didn’t know what to do with her, and gradually disintegrated, at least as victims.  The left had to seek new and fresh victims--trust fund black students, transgendered reality stars, and anchor babies wanting in-state tuition.

This item appear in SF Gate, September 21, 2008, written by Phyllis Schafly. Sarah Palin never became the first female vice president, but she perhaps did more—she led women out of the feminist swamp even if that looked impossible in 2008.

"Feminist anger against Sarah has exposed the fact that feminism is not about women's success and achievement. If it were, feminists would have been bragging for years about self-made women who are truly remarkable achievers, such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, or former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, or Sen. Elizabeth Dole, or even Margaret Thatcher. Feminists never boast about these women because feminism's basic doctrine is victimology. Feminism preaches that women can never succeed because they are the sorry victims of an oppressive patriarchy. No matter how smart or accomplished a woman may be, she's told that success and happiness are beyond her grasp because institutional sexism and discrimination hold her down. . . Sarah Palin is an exemplar of a successful, can-do woman, and the feminists simply don't know how to deal with her. I hope she will usher in a new era where conventional wisdom recognizes that feminist negativism is ancient history and American women are so fortunate to live in the greatest country on Earth." SF Gate, Sept. 21

What Obama has given us

1.  ISIS.  No matter what you think of the wars of the Bush era, they were essentially over before Obama took office.  He only had to do the mop up and withdrawal.  He hastily left a vacuum into which ISIS/ISIL/IS poured.  Then he underestimated them more than once—first calling them the JV team, then calling them contained.
2. Iran.  The other Arab/Muslim countries should be able to work out a solution to the Syrian refugee problem, and join forces to defeat ISIS (they are afraid too—different branches of Islam).  But because Obama made a deal with the devil (Iran), they don’t trust him and won’t work with him.
3.  Trump.  Probably the worst “Republican” candidate of an otherwise terrific bench, any one of which could run circles around Hillary Clinton, is Donald Trump.  But Americans are so fed up with our juvenile, lead from behind, hate America first, know-nothing president they are falling for Trump’s glib, bombastic “just bomb ‘em” and “close the mosques” temper tantrums.