Michael B. Bateham and Sullivan D. Harris and me

The problem with spring cleaning is you stop to look things up.  When I found two copies of Ohio Farmer, July 1998, in the laundry room, I decided to look up my article in that journal, "A passion for writing agriculture" (I think the editor supplied the title). But that search also brought up, The Serials Librarian: From the Printed Page to the Digital Age, Issue 2, 1999, Norma J. Brace [misspelled my name], A Commitment to Women— The Ohio Cultivator and The Ohio Farmer of the Nineteenth Century.  Serials Librarian used to combine articles into special issues, maybe still does if it exists today. Both men had successful careers in publishing and I had a lot of fun researching their lives.  What is shocking is they want $41 for the article, or $162 for the issue! Really, if you need this, try Interlibrary Loan. Or, I probably have a hundred or so stashed somewhere.

From 1845 to 1865 the editors of two Ohio agricultural periodicals encouraged women authors, editors and poets by publishing their fiction, essays, poetry and household advice. Thomas Brown of The Ohio Farmer a weekly family newspaper out of Cleveland, and Michael B. Bateham and Sullivan D. Harris of The Ohio Cultivator a semi-monthly journal published in Columbus, offered discussions of woman's suffrage, female higher education, domestic issues and temperance in the columns of Josephine Bateham, Frances Dana Gage, Anna Hope, Hannah Tracy Cutler and Metta Fuller Victor, among others.

Pay equity for women

"According to a new analysis of 2,000 communities by a market research company, in 147 out of 150 of the biggest cities in the U.S., the median full-time salaries of young women are 8% higher than those of the guys in their peer group. In two cities, Atlanta and Memphis, those women are making about 20% more. This squares with earlier research from Queens College, New York, that had suggested that this was happening in major metropolises. But the new study suggests that the gap is bigger than previously thought, with young women in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego making 17%, 12% and 15% more than their male peers, respectively. And it also holds true even in reasonably small areas like the Raleigh-Durham region and Charlotte in North Carolina (both 14% more), and Jacksonville, Fla. (6%)." 
From "7 facts you need to know to debunk the ‪#‎EqualPayDay‬ lie."

The new girl on the soccer team

 Don't kid yourself. What they really want are slots on the women's sports teams. Toilets? Heck, they can use the bushes. But since gender no longer means the shape or presence of genitalia, and DNA at the cellular level doesn't change anyway--they can test the mother's blood for sex of the baby as early as 7 weeks--think what the lighter weight, smaller male athlete with superior oxygen use because of his maleness can do on the girls' soccer, golf, archery, cross country and rowing team, when he can't make it competing against men. Women's hearts are smaller and that affects how the blood and oxygen makes it to and through the muscles, obviously affecting endurance and training. But once the government has decided some guys aren't males because of how they "feel," you're just a bigot if your daughter or granddaughter doesn't place and you complain about the "girl" with the hairy legs, muscular arms and a penis.

http://www.curvemag.com/Lifestyle/Transgender-Rights-and-Sports-411/ 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2576016/Transgender-woman-sues-CrossFit-competition.html

How old is your church?

Recently, our church has been cooperating with a rather new congregation/church called Rock City.  I'd never heard of it until about 5 years ago when I went to an early movie at the Lenox Center, and found that the church had rented the theater and had about 5 services before noon! It was created in 2011 from a Bible study group. They were so loud, we could actually hear them in some of the other theater spaces.  Now they've grown, and are also having services on Sunday at our local high school and expanding to other suburban locations.  So, as far as I know, this is a pastor-based, rock music service, Christian church, not tied to classic Protestantism like Lutherans, or Presbyterians or Methodists, and not having any authority but its pastor and his advisors, but I'll do a bit more research.  It's the everyone's a pope phenomenon of American Christianity.

Here's an interesting outline--I'd seen something similar on Facebook, although not as complete. Of course, all Christian churches/sects will say they were "founded" by Jesus Christ, and for some reason God let the church go dark (his word says this can't happen), and then their particular founder or group (whose names are not given in the Bible) rediscovered the various truths of the church. This list doesn't include groups like Vineyard or Mormons or the various Wesley off-shoots.  But then, there are about 35,000 just in the U.S., so I suppose it would get too complicated. I've added some in italics that are not part of the web site.

Name: The Catholic Church
Founded in: 33 AD
Founded by: Jesus Christ

Name: Orthodox
Founded in: 1054
Founded by: A separation from the Catholic Church

Name: Lutheran Denominations
Founded in: 1517
Founded by: Martin Luther and his disciples

Name: The Church of England
Founded in: 1534
Founded by: King Henry VIII

Name: Presbyterian
Founded in: 1560
Founded by: John Knox (in Scotland) and John Calvin

Name: Congregationalist (most now UCC)
Founded in: 1582
Founded by: Robert Brown

Name: Baptist
Founded in: 1605
Founded by: John Smyth

Name: Dutch Reformed
Founded in:1628
Founded by: Michaelis Jones

Name: Quakers
Founded in: 1652
Founded by: George Fox

Name: Amish
Founded in: 1693
Founded by: Jacob Amman

Name:  Church of the Brethren/Brethren Church
Founded in: 1708
Founded by: Alexander Mack

Name: Methodist
Founded in: 1744
Founded by: John and Charles Wesley

Name: Unitarian
Founded in: 1774
Founded by: Theophilus Lindley

Name: Episcopal
Founded in: 1789
Founded by: Samuel Seabury

Name: Disciples of Christ (Christian Church)
Founded in: 1804
Founded by: Group of Presbyterian Ministers (Campbell movement, Restoration movement)

Name: Seventh Day Adventist
Founded in: 1860
Founded by: Ellen White

Name: Salvation Army
Founded in: 1865
Founded by: William Booth

Name: Christian and Missionary Alliance
Founded in: 1865
Founded by: Albert Simpson

Name: Assemblies of God
Founded in: 1914
Founded by: A group of Pentecostal preachers

Name: United Church of Christ
Founded in: 1957
Founded by: Union of several groups (including those birthed by the Puritans)

Name: Calvary Chapels
Founded in: 1965
Founded by: Chuck Smith

Name: Vineyard
Founded in: 1975
Founded by: Kenn Gulliksen, John Wimber

Name: Rock City Church
Founded in: 2011
Founded by:  a Columbus Bible study group

The real war on women--sex selective abortions

During election years, the Democrats make a big deal about the "war on women," but they are the ones who support abortion for any reason, any time, including sex selection. You might think that's a problem just in Asian countries, but it's a huge problem also in the U.S. among our immigrants or even career couples who desire only one child. American mothers of Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, Cuban and Japanese ethnicity had the highest sex ratio of any American demographic. God has already provided for more male conceptions and births than female, because males are less viable, but aborting a living child in the womb because tests can now show she is a less desired female truly is war. Women have always been the biggest victims of war.

 http://www.wnd.com/2016/04/congress-gets-earful-on-ultimate-war-on-women/#!

 https://www.pop.org/content/worlds-vanishing-children

 http://liveaction.org/gendercide/

 http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Democratic_Party_Abortion.htm

How does any Christian support these people?

My Pony--Friday Family Photo

Are any of my Columbus/central Ohio acquaintances camera collectors? I have a Kodak Pony 135 Camera model C with flash attachment (all pieces including cover and screws) leather case, and instruction book. Just come and get it or pay UPS shipping. I bought it in Fresno, CA in 1957 when I was in Brethren Volunteer Service. So this model is about 60 years old. Don't remember why I thought I just had to have it, but probably only used 2 or 3 rolls of film and the last time I used it was about 1972. This is what they look like.

I

I also bought these neat shoes.

Quite amazing these internet resources

Why buy a book or commentary on scripture written last year by a flash in the pan when you can have one written by Thomas Aquinas? Free.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews by
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Latin and English here. 

And, The Golden Chain is also quite spectacular.  In this Thomas Aquinas pulls together all the early church fathers' commentaries on the four gospels.

50 shades of gender

If progressives have their way with us, men will have no say in what happens to their unborn children, and women will have no say in what happens in the stalls of the restrooms. Last week the head of Planned Parenthood told men to sit down, shut up, and just write the checks when it comes to abortion and Bruce Springsteen told women to shut up and find another place to take of business.


   

http://freedomdaily.com/creepy-man-dressed-woman-arrested-spying-mall-bathroom-stall/

When you see statistics about HIV in women, keep this in mind. In New York City, from 2007-2011, there were 191 new diagnoses of HIV infection among transgender people, 99% of which were among transgender women. This is "self-identification" according to the CDC and the external genitalia doesn't matter. But in gathering data on diseases, they are called "women." Two-Spirit is not yet a category for health.

If you go to the CDC website on treating STDs of transgendered people, you'll see the definition does not include what the genitalia look like or whether they've had hormone shots and breast implants like Bruce Jenner, but it is how they feel about their gender assignment. Springsteen's not siding with "freedom fighters," he's siding with potential perverts. He lost some money in this deal, probably covered by insurance, but mostly it was the fans and the small vendors who have to eat the costs of his ignorance and hypocrisy. Some one percenters are just that inconsiderate.

I didn't think about the airlines collecting data on gender. How long will this be legal, does it discriminate against transgender or questioning and does Bruce Springsteen fly commercial? "Recent research by Javier Donna, assistant professor of economics at Ohio State, examines a large dataset with 6.4 million flight bookings in 2014 to analyze gender differences in the demand for planning business travel. The research finds female travelers book two days earlier than their male counterparts on average. Female travelers save about $17 per trip, or about 2% of the average ticket price."

Vera-Ellen

I am watching On the Town tonight with Vera-Ellen and Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, and I'm thinking, boy! she is thin.  Wonder if that's anorexia.  But it was to get worse. "Vera-Ellen has been thought to have suffered from anorexia before much was known about the disease. The transformation in her appearance is particularly stark between her appearances in On The Town (1949) and White Christmas (1954). In the latter movie, her legs appear less than half the size of just 5 years before." (Wikipedia)

One side effect of anorexia is rapid aging. Many people have asked why Vera-Ellen always covers her neck in "White Christmas" - it is assumed that her neck is where she started to visibly age. She also had a daughter, Victoria Ellen Rothschild, who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Understandably, this was a very traumatic event, and helps to understand why she withdrew from public life. She would divorce her second husband, Victor Rothschild a few years later in 1966. He died in 2008 at the age of 85. It should be stated that while Vera-Ellen did definitely age, as she dropped out of sight, she aged with grace. http://greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com/2012/12/vera-ellen-later-years.html

It's interesting to read the commenters debating whether she was just slim and gorgeous or anorexic. 

Two white politicians joking about colored people

Colored People's Time, or CPT, or CP Time (also referred to as Black People Time) is an American expression referring to a negative, racist stereotype of African Americans as frequently being late. Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and candidate for president and Bill DeBlasio, mayor of NYC, used the term in a scripted "comedy" routine. Now, black comedians use it (I wasn't familiar with it), and get laughs because it's an insider joke. But where's the outrage? No one announced it on Twitter with the phony mob scene.  The two white folks on stage were rich Democrat politicians, so just look away. Nothing to see.

My friend Joan says, "the news report I read (a story that the media has barely touched, so I would not have even read except that I looked it up phrased the story as mildly as possible, something like "(Clinton and de Blasio) told a joke that MAY HAVE BEEN interpreted as racially insensitive." Then the article went on to explain that it was a scripted joke, which is okay because de Blasio's wife is black. The article seemed to think it was ridiculous for anyone to see the skit as racially demeaning. Such a far cry from media reactions to virtually ANYTHING else involving an interaction between a non-leftist white person and a black person, the black community, or any non-leftist-approved idea - all proof-positive of vicious racial hatred. Remember just yesterday when writing the words "ALL lives matter" expresses racial hatred? Remember how anything negative expressed about the president exemplifies racial hatred?"

DeBlasio's wife is also a former Lesbian.  Can we have some LGBQT jokes next time?

Fundamental transformation

Today’s climate activism “exists to promote the Democratic agenda, whatever it may be this week,” writes Wall St. Journal columnist Holman Jenkins. And that agenda does not include “policies that might actually alter the course of climate change. The president’s power-plant rules, even if climate models are accurate [a huge IF], would affect global temperature a century hence by 0.03 degrees Celsius. His fuel mileage rules, though costly to Detroit and a life-support for Tesla, would have even less effect.” Fundamentally transforming America while helping no one.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/history-of-a-climate-con-1460502164

http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/04/climate-scientists-rip-apart-epas-global-warming-rule/

 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-will-not-be-dangerous-for-a-long-time/

The election gets stranger and stranger

And probably more dangerous for us all. Trump not only hasn't read the Constitution, he seems to not understand the basics of the primaries' rules. Admittedly, they are arcane, and virtually impossible to understand, but doesn't he have staff? The locals have been preparing for this for over a year, and he blithely decides he's been cheated because he didn't win.

Socialist Sweden?

Bernie thinks we should be socialists, like Sweden? Not so fast, says this Swede Johan Norberg. Sweden was wealthy before Socialism he assures us, and has fallen in rank, and had to undo much of it. Americans of Swedish heritage are even more successful than the Swedes of Scandinavia. Genes have a lot to do with the success of Sweden. They work hard, and don't like to take hand outs. Let Johan set the record straight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lbRkfsrt1E

 Many of the Swedish services which all enjoy he says are supplied by a fairly brutal system which taxes the poor the most (VAT). The best benefits go to the rich, otherwise they'd leave the country. Late comers (like immigrants) don't have the Swedish values of hard work and trust in government. In the 1980s the tax rates were so high in Sweden, a famous children's author, Astrid Lindgren, owed 102%; the founder of Ikea, billionaire Ingvar Kamprad, left the country due to taxes. So they had to cut taxes and introduce free markets.

Oh, and all have school vouchers so they can choose private or public or religious schools.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/sorry-leftist-americans-your-swedish-utopia-does-not-exist/article/1000785 

"The descendants of Scandinavian migrants in the US combine the high living standards of the US with the high levels of equality of Scandinavian countries. Median incomes of Scandinavian descendants are 20 per cent higher than average US incomes. It is true that poverty rates in Scandinavian countries are lower than in the US. However, the poverty rate among descendants of Nordic immigrants in the US today is half the average poverty rate of Americans – this has been a consistent finding for decades. In fact, Scandinavian Americans have lower poverty rates than Scandinavian citizens who have not emigrated. This suggests that pre-existing cultural norms are responsible for the low levels of poverty among Scandinavians rather than Nordic welfare states. - See more at: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/06/scandinavian-unexceptionalism.html#sthash.ZEBQTBZ0.dpuf

Dashed dreams all around

Dennis Prager said on his show today that in 2008 when Obama was elected, 7 out of 10 Americans thought it was good for race relations, but for different reasons. Whites thought, finally we've proven we're not a racist nation, and Blacks thought, finally our issues will be addressed. Both were wrong, and I don't remember a time in recent history when racial tensions have been worse.

Except for Obama being a Democrat, I was happy in 2008 that a black had been elected. I was one of those naive white folks forgetting that we have a whole industry dependent on keeping the pot stirred.

More on my wonderful chocolate drink

Remember when I was blogging about the wonderful benefits of dark chocolate, for brain and body, including weight loss? Check back here, and here, and here, in case you've forgotten.  After reading about a drink to help cognitive function, I thought, how hard could that be to mix up, so I started making a dark 100% cacao drink (Hersey's brown ribbon container), one to one with Splenda.  But, also, peanut powder for cooking that is 85% less fat is now available, so today I mixed some of the peanut powder with my  chocolate drink, and Shazam!, it was good.  I don't know if it has any health or brain benefits; but I just love the chocolate peanut butter flavor.

Jif is not my peanut butter of choice (I buy Krema), however, it does have handy "to go" packages that are just right for my husband's trips to Haiti.  He misses the regular lunch time due to his schedule and eats peanut butter jelly in the dorm, and these are just perfect.

Highly religious Americans are happier and more involved with family

Pew Research has determined this--but also says highly religious Americans are also no more likely to exercise and eat right or recycle than the not so religious.  Well, go for what's important and work on the less important stuff.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 12, 2016) – A new Pew Research Center study of the ways religion influences the daily lives of Americans finds that people who are highly religious are more engaged with their extended families, more likely to volunteer, more involved in their communities and generally happier with the way things are going in their lives.

For example, 47% of highly religious Americans – defined as those who say they pray every day and attend religious services each week – gather with extended family at least once or twice a month. By comparison, just 30% of Americans who are less religious gather as frequently with their extended families. Roughly two-thirds of highly religious adults (65%) say they have donated money, time or goods to help the poor in the past week, compared with 41% who are less religious. And 40% of highly religious U.S. adults describe themselves as “very happy,” compared with 29% of those who are less religious.

However, in several other areas of day-to-day life – including interpersonal interactions, attention to health and fitness, and social and environmental consciousness – Pew Research Center surveys find that people who pray every day and regularly attend religious services appear to be very similar to those who are not as religious.

For instance, highly religious people are about as likely as other Americans to say they lost their temper recently, and they are only marginally less likely to say they told a white lie in the past week. When it comes to diet and exercise, highly religious Americans are no less likely to have overeaten in the past week, and they are no more likely to say they exercise regularly. Highly religious people also are no more likely than other Americans to recycle. And when making decisions about what goods and services to buy, highly religious Americans are no more inclined to consider the manufacturers’ environmental records or whether companies pay employees a fair wage.

Additional key findings in the report include:

Three-quarters of adults – including 96% of members of historically black Protestant churches and 93% of evangelical Protestants – say they thanked God for something in the past week. And two-thirds, including 91% of those in the historically black Protestant tradition and 87% of evangelicals, say they asked God for help during the past week. One-third of religiously unaffiliated Americans say they thanked God for something in the past week, and one-in-four have asked God for help in the past week.

Nearly half of Americans (46%) say they talk with their immediate families about religion at least once or twice a month. About a quarter (27%) say they talk about religion at least once a month with their extended families, and 33% say they discuss religion as often with people outside their families. Having regular conversations about religion is most common among evangelicals and people who belong to churches in the historically black Protestant tradition. By contrast, relatively few religious “nones” say they discuss religion with any regularity.

One-third of American adults (33%) say they volunteered in the past week. This includes 10% who say they volunteered mainly through a church or religious organization and 22% who say their volunteering was not done through a religious organization.

Three-in-ten adults say they meditated in the past week to help cope with stress. Regularly using meditation to cope with stress is more common among highly religious people than among those who are less religious (42% vs. 26%).

Nine-in-ten adults say the quality of a product is a “major factor” they take into account when making purchasing decisions, and three-quarters focus on the price. Far fewer – only about one-quarter of adults – say a company’s environmental responsibility (26%) or whether it pays employees a fair wage (26%) are major factors in their purchasing decisions. Highly religious adults are no more or less likely than those who are less religious to say they consider a company’s environmental record and fair wage practices in making purchasing decisions.

Three-quarters of Catholics say they look to their own conscience “a great deal” for guidance on difficult moral questions. Far fewer Catholics say they look a great deal to the Catholic Church’s teachings (21%), the Bible (15%) or the pope (11%) for guidance on difficult moral questions.

When asked to describe, in their own words, what being a “moral person” means to them, 23% of religious “nones” cite the golden rule or being kind to others, 15% mention being a good person and 12% mention being tolerant and respectful of others.

These are among the latest findings of Pew Research Center’s U.S. Religious Landscape Study. Two previous reports on the Landscape Study, based on a 2014 telephone survey of more than 35,000 adults, examined the changing religious composition of the U.S. public and described the religious beliefs, practices and experiences of Americans. This new report also draws on the national telephone survey but is based primarily on a supplemental survey among 3,278 participants in the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, a nationally representative group of randomly selected U.S. adults surveyed online and by mail. The supplemental survey was designed to go beyond traditional measures of religious behavior – such as worship service attendance, prayer and belief in God – to examine the ways people exhibit (or do not exhibit) their religious beliefs, values and connections in their day-to-day lives.

Trigeminal Neuralgia

Another condition/disease I've never heard of, but am now praying about.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/trigeminal-neuralgia/basics/definition/con-20043802

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/trigeminal_neuralgia/detail_trigeminal_neuralgia.htm

 http://www.ninds.nih.gov/find_people/voluntary_orgs/volorg245.htm

http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-TRIN.htm

Big name atheists

". . . most big-name atheists are ex-Protestants or products of Protestant cultures. For Protestants, you actually have a core, inner self – one who either believes or doesn’t believe. So a few days (or years) of doubt can convince you that your identity is “atheist.” A Catholic or Orthodox upbringing, on the other hand, tends to give you the impression that things are messier. You might doubt one day and believe the next, but if you keep going to Mass, then at least part of your identity is religious – because your identity isn’t some inaccessible, unchanging inner “self.” Instead, it’s is shaped and fundamentally defined by your context and social relationships. This way of doing things, while it has its own problems, is less likely to lead to disillusioned atheism than Protestantism is."

I'd never thought about it.

 http://www.patheos.com/blogs/scienceonreligion/2016/01/think-the-muslim-world-needs-to-reform-think-again/

Ignorance about abortion, on both sides

This was written by Abby Johnson who runs a non-profit, And then there were none, to help former abortion workers, of which she was one. She has also had abortions, and is also a Christian.

"Yes, in the United States, a woman can get an abortion until the date of birth. There are several providers who will perform abortions in the third trimester. Many believe that these abortion law only take place for severe fetal anomaly, but that is not the case.

We had a worker leave not too long ago from a late term abortion provider. She said that if they were going to do 10 abortions a day, 8 of them would be past 26 weeks. And out of those 8, 6 would be completely healthy babies.

The laws allow for abortion into the third trimester for physical AND emotional health. What that means is that a woman can walk into a late term abortion provider and state that she is emotionally distressed about her pregnancy and that will be a legitimate excuse (under the law) to terminate her pregnancy up until the date of birth. 

States can legislate to protect babies from abortion in the third trimester. However, there are several states that have absolutely no laws on the books regarding late term abortion.

The bottom line is that healthy babies are killed every day up until the date of birth in the United States. This is what our current laws allow. But in the end, there is no difference in the humanity of a child at 8 weeks compared to a child at 30 weeks. If we are willing to brutally murder an innocent child in the womb during the first and second trimesters without batting an eye, it should be no surprise that we can kill them at any age."

After reading this, are you still "pro-choice," and do you still support Planned Parenthood?

The Dark side of Progressivism

I have read that FDR gave up using the work "progressive" in favor of "liberal."  Today there is a swing back, but many do not recognize it's dark origin.

"Believing that social progress “required the individual to be controlled, liberated and expanded by collective actions,” progressive intellectuals perceived human persons as “lumps of human dough” to be formed on the “social kneading board.”

That molding, [Thomas] Leonard points out [in the book, Illiberal Reformers: race, eugenics, and American economics in the Progressive Era], was to be done “by the best and the brightest, those who, uniquely, ignored profit and power to serve the common good – which is to say, the progressives themselves.”

These experts denied inalienable rights. Their hero, Woodrow Wilson, called them “nonsense.” The editors of the progressive journal, The New Republic, spoke for the movement when it ridiculed individual liberties as “quaint and retrograde.” The leading progressive legal scholar, Roscoe Pound (1879-1964) author of Social Control Through Law, argued the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights “were not needed in the [founders time] and they are not desired in our own.”

Believing that the State superseded even God, progressives encouraged government officials to embrace eugenics – “the social control of human breeding” to rid the nation of perceived undesirables. . .


In addition to supporting literacy tests, forcible sterilization, abortion, and government control of human heredity, Progressives also called for a legal “minimum wage.”

They believed a minimum wage would deter “immigrants and other inferiors from entering the labor force” and would idle “inferior workers already employed.” In other words, given the choice of hiring a native Protestant or immigrant Catholic at the same pay, the employer would undoubtedly hire the superior Protestant. Unemployable inferiors would be institutionalized, sterilized, or banished to work in rural “celibate colonies.”

George J. Marlin

Fear

This is how apostolic authority and succession worked in the first century church

Acts 6:1-7

 

As the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the Apostles who prayed and laid hands on them.

The word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly;
even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcGkS4QR26g 

This is a compilation, mostly from The Journal Home.

Obama's legacy

This can't be all Obama's legacy, but I fear it's what he will become known for as historians evaluate his eight years.

• Forced wedding cakes; 
• men sharing bathrooms with little girls; 
• jail time for not buying health insurance you can't afford; 
• legal marijuana;
• legal euthanasia of the sick and elderly; 
• veterans dying while waiting for treatment; 
• Iran becoming a nuclear power; 
• red lines and lines in the sand  in Syria and Ukraine
• millions dead in the middle east and immigrants swarming all over Europe; 
• phenomenal growth of ISIS; 
• global ridicule; 
• quick rise of crime rate to that of the mid 1990s (so far this is only happening in his home town, but wait til he opens the prisons); 
• opening Cuba for rich American tourists; 
• wealthiest 1% ever

Think this is Obama bashing?  Deny this.

When in your lifetime do you recall before Obama's terms that 

• a business person was required to participate in a celebration of religious intent or lose his business, do jail time, or pay a fine; 
• you were required to purchase a product by the federal government or pay a fine or go to jail; 
• it was legal to buy marijuana, a gateway drug; 
• states were passing laws to allow euthanasia of the elderly or sick; 
• a president campaigned on the tragedy of wait times for VA hospitals, and then did nothing about it; 
• America agreed to Iran becoming a nuclear power with no strings attached after years of sanctions; 
• lines in the sand in Syria, right next to the rubble of buildings, historical sites, and mass graves; 
• there was no ISIS before Obama and his faulty withdrawal from Iraq; 
• the US was a laughing stock around the world--no one would trust the word of our president or Congress;
• the crime rate which had fallen dramatically after the Omnibus Crime Bill of the mid 90s, blacks and other minorities benefited the most, but Obama intends to undo that with the help of his Attorneys General who think there are too many black criminals in prison; 
• the US would get nothing of his grand opening of Cuba, aside from the leisure industry--there are still American-Cubans in jail there and he made no deals, made no demands for human rights; 
• when before Obama did presidents make the top income earners, the wealthiest they've ever been while at the same time complaining about it and taking their contributions

Now, I could have added who, before Obama's terms, would have believed nuns would be forced by the federal government to buy birth control for their employees, but I forgot that one.

Equal pay day

Dumb and dumber. "The national observance of Equal Pay Day recognizes the wage gap between working women and men, and offers remedies to address pay inequity. Columbus Museum of Art and Women’s Fund of Central Ohio are partnering to present ‪#‎wageart‬, Equal Pay Day, a day-long event to make the gender income gap more visible and to position the role of art in generating awareness. Please note: Museum admission for the day will be adjusted for gender income inequality, $10.78 for adult admission for women, and evening admission is donation based, benefiting The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio."

Well, I certainly wouldn't attend something that charged by gender, and by the way, what if someone transitioning shows up. Will they ask for a birth certificate? DNA sample? Art is definitely in the eye of the beholder (or listener), and I know plenty of men who put too high prices on their terrible art, and it doesn't sell. Women do it, too. If a male silversmith spends 80 hours a week at his craft (with a wife who works for pay) and eventually sells something for a colossal price years later, and a female quilter who works her craft around the babies, and displays at the state fair occasionally, but gets barely enough to pay for materials, I don't call that inequity. It's art. My husband paints watercolors and there are many female water colorists who charge 6 times what he does and they get it.

Abortion is about profit, not "health"

"The modern abortion culture that once said it was all about “safe, legal, and rare” has today set mothers against their own children as though they are enemies. Instead of providing genuine counseling and support for women during a difficult time and a hard decision, staff members add up tallies on white boards listing the clinic’s abortion quotas for the month, according to what we have heard from former managers of abortion clinics. Managers of those clinics recount being told that “everyone who is pregnant who comes through the door gets an abortion.” Clinic workers are told to “up-sell” everyone with additional testing, products, and services — all to improve the bottom line. Basically, the clinics are looking for profit.  http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433689/abortion-clinics-quotas-profits

Abortion clinics that 15 years ago would’ve spent an hour with young pregnant women now brag that they see five women in an hour. Many of today’s clinics perform webcam abortions, except in states where these have been banned because of numerous life-threatening injuries and deaths resulting from the practice."

 

Today I mailed a contribution for the legal defense of David Daleiden, facing three law suits from Planned Parenthood which receives half a billion in federal funds every year to kill the unborn, The National Abortion Federation, and the biotech company Stem Express.  They are after him for those damning videos--you remember, don't you? The PP abortionist who sipped her wine and nibbled her salad while discussing how she could crush a living baby just right to keep the body parts in good shape for sale to a medical research lab. Or the PP council member who joked about hoping to get enough to buy a Lamborghini sports car ($200,000). Ghouls and witches.

California Attorney General, Kamala Harris, who has contributed over $80,000 to Planned Parenthood ordered a home seizure of Daleiden's property. Serious, serious conflict of interest. And believe it or not, this prize is running for Barbara Boxer's seat!  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/apr/6/kamala-harris-california-ag-behind-daleiden-raid-s/

How much lower can Democrats go?

Who is hurt when you don't forgive?

Mary Poplin writes: "I was with Mother Teresa in Calcutta when [Christopher] Hitchens’ book came out, following his critical BBC movie. I had the opportunity to ask Mother about it and, struggling to recall the incident, she replied, “Oh, the book. It matters not. He is forgiven.” She and the sisters simply obeyed Christ’s commandment to forgive unconditionally.

Some say that not forgiving is like drinking poison hoping the other person dies. The sisters, read his book, prayed and fasted, examined themselves for any error, and let it go. They were free of his vitriol; he was bound by it."

You won't find it at my church either, Margaret

From a commenter at a Catholic blog:

"I have been to many Masses in many parishes over my long lifetime, and I can't remember the last time I heard a homily against abortion, gay "marriage," artificial birth control, cohabitation, etc.---all issues that have contributed to the "social disaster" in our country. The Sunday after the Supreme Court legalized gay "marriage", I heard not a word about it at Mass then or since, but we did have a "great" homily that Sunday on protecting the environment!"

Easter greeting

“O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
St. John Chrysostom – Paschal Sermon

Flash back to April 2014

Trump on abortion and punishing the woman

It's like the "when pigs fly" question. I'm strongly pro-life. Met (on the internet) yesterday a 70 year old pastor adopted at birth who was the result of incest/rape, a story of how God brings something good out of evil like Joseph being sold by his brothers and later saving a whole nation. So I don’t make exceptions to kill the baby for the man’s crime. However, “IF abortion becomes illegal,” will never happen, and that was Matthews question. And when it was illegal up to the 1970s, all those ridiculous stories about women dying in back alley abortions were just that, and the movement has admitted the phony statistics because the ends justified the means. Trump stepped into a gotcha question—in his thinking, and most who claim to be conservatives, if you violate a law, you pay for it. Except you really don’t. I’m guessing he doesn’t either as a business man. How many rich kids go to jail for marijuana possession, or a heroine overdose, and how many CEOs go to jail for cooking the books. Did President Clinton go to jail for having sex with a staff member, which in most companies would have at least cost him his job, laws put in place by progressives wanting to protect women from aggressive bosses. 

 

Everyone who participates in an abortion is killing a living human being—the parents, the abortionist, the nurse, the clerk who does the paper work, the friend who drives the mother to the clinic, the donor who helps pay the bills, the legislator who made it possible, the pharmaceutical company who makes the drugs or company who creates and sells the special equipment. Even the insurance company which covers it (many churches have this coverage for their staff). Right now it is legal to do that. But whether or not they will ever be prosecuted in the U.S. in anything but their own soul, can’t even be imagined. 

 

The law is over 40 years, and you can’t go back. There are millions of women who regret their abortions (and probably just as many who don’t), and only through God’s forgiveness for what they have done can they be whole. It is estimated over 60% are pressured into it, by boyfriends, parents, or peers, and in my opinion, they need to do some soul searching also.

Contraception

"Humanae Vitae was issued in 1968. It is fair to say that it dropped on the world like a bomb. It marked the beginning of a huge divide in the Church. Major theologians held press conferences and told Catholics they did not need to live by this decision, that it was based on inadequate understanding of natural law and that Catholics were free to do what their consciences told them to about contraception. It is certainly true that Catholics are obliged always to act by their conscience. But we must remember that the conscience is not an individual's opinion. The conscience is really the place within – it's called the inner sanctuary – where a person talks with God and tries to find out what God deems to be right. A judgment of the conscience should not be what the individual judges to be right, but what God judges to be right. If a Catholic is confused about contraception, he or she needs to ask: What does God think about contraception?
But how do we know what God thinks? Catholics naturally look to the Church to learn what God thinks since Catholics belong to a church that claims to be guided by God, the Holy Spirit.

After one of my talks, a woman told me that her conscience was perfectly comfortable with contraception. I told her I didn't want to be judgmental but there's a problem with that statement. If the conscience is the sanctuary where God speaks to a person, where the Holy Spirit guides us, what she is saying is that the Holy Spirit has managed to tell her that contraception is moral. That same Holy Spirit did not manage to inform Pope John Paul II that contraception is moral. Pope John Paul II was on his knees praying for more hours in any given day than most of us are in a month's time. And he certainly did not want to place burdens on people. In his prayer he undoubtedly asked the Holy Spirit: What do you want me to tell your people? How do I guide them? How do I bring them closer to Christ? We know he did not hear the Holy Spirit tell him to teach that contraception is moral." Janet E. Smith, Contraception: Why Not?

Some consider the abortion pill contraception.  Now the FDA has extended its kill time to 10 weeks. We know the babies die; and some mothers will, too.
 http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/abortion-pill-fda-rules/2016/03/30/id/721570/
 http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/fdas-abortion-pill-expansion-targets-babies-up-to-10-weeks-into-pregnancy-96027/

Most powerful Christian in U.S. dies on Easter at 92

You went a long way, Rita Rizzo of Akron, Ohio.  Mother Angelica created EWTN, the largest Roman Catholic television network in the U.S. with $200, a makeshift studio in a monastery’s garage in Irondale, Alabama, and one on-air personality, herself. The first time I heard her on the radio with her outspoken viewpoints on what was wrong and right in the world whether it was domestic abuse, poverty or the Vatican, I couldn't believe it. Funny, opinionated, deeply religious, and technologically savvy. Beginning in 1981 with nothing but a vision, her little EWTN is now a huge network with 24-hour-a-day programming to more than 264 million homes in 144 countries. The most powerful hierarchy and bishops in the land couldn't have done this. A child of divorce (at a time when it was a terrible sin) and poverty, she grew up in Canton, OH. She had a stroke 15 years ago, so I probably never heard her live. In my opinion, next to the Pope, she may have been the most powerful and influential Catholic in the world. And to die on Easter. Oh my.

In 1957 facing back surgery, she made a "deal" with God--"If you let me walk again, I'll build a monastery." She did walk again, with crutches and leg braces, and built the monastery, Our Lady of Angels, in Alabama. "When you make a deal with God," she said, "be very specific." (Story told by her biographer, Raymond Arroyo.) Her crippled legs were healed in 1998 and she removed the braces.
 
 She was 58 years old (and had already built a monastery) when she got her vision for spreading the gospel via radio and TV. I was planning my retirement at that age! She was way ahead of the Pope when he called for the New Evangelism. USCCB wasted millions trying to do what she did. Now critics of EWTN say it needs to change, it did its job, its audience is aging and so is the staff. Everyone chases the millennials. Your church and mine included. It's why the Pope has a Twitter account and your pastor wears jeans instead of a robe.She wasn't afraid to tell a bishop or cardinal to go stick his head in a toilet, or announce he wasn't preaching Catholic doctrine, and then under pressure would give an insincere apology. When liberal bishops talked to John Paul II about ordaining women she chastised them and said women were already the most powerful in the church and didn't need to be priests.

Originally, Mother Angelica said she wouldn't let the culture set her agenda--it would be scripture and the catechism. But by the early 90s, she was so sick of the liberal agenda, she jumped into the fight.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y35TxlQkICI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXh6VcYHMBI

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

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYxdvGmFWj4

Homeless outing in Licking County

One of our Ohio branch campuses of OSU is having an event to draw attention to homelessness. 

"The Ohio State University at Newark Dean/Director William L. MacDonald, Ph.D., will be sleeping outside on April 7 at the shared campus of Ohio State Newark and Central Ohio Technical College with United Way Executive Director Deb Dingus to kick off 50 the United Way and bring awareness to homelessness in Licking County." OSU news On Campus, March 24, 2016

It might be useful to assign good students and staff to compile a list of all the federal, state, and local tax supported programs for Licking County, add in the church charities and non-profits, and then figure out the overlap and wasted resources and determine if this homelessness is lack of income for available housing stock, mental illness, a temporary expulsion from a home situation due to misbehavior or domestic violence, or inefficient use of resources by professionals (social workers, government employees and academics).

The U.S. spends approximately $22,000+ per person in the low income/poor bracket available through tax supported programs. That’s $88,000 for a household of one mother and 3 children on top of what other income she might have. That doesn’t include food pantries, free medical clinics, church employment training, etc. Only one nation (Norway) spends more per person on social welfare than the U.S. USDA reports that only 4 percent of poor children were hungry for even a single day in the prior year because of a lack of funds for food. (http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp138710.pdf http://www.nationalreview.com/article/424009/poverty-us-we-spend-much-more-person-social-welfare-europe-does-robert-rector)

After the Dean draws attention to homelessness in Licking County, Ohio, will anything change?

Book Reviews--no thank you

Everyday I am offered 2-3 books to review and mention on one of my blogs or on Facebook. These are free, and rarely worth keeping or recommending, but occasionally I get something really good, like the very first book by Pope Francis, co-authored with Benedict, or an interesting first novel or a pink NIV Bible for elementary school girls. Today it was another anti-Catholic, anti-religious book about child abuse. Here’s my not surprising response (I usually just send a “Thanks, not this time” reply).

“Sorry, wrong reviewer, Lissy. I realize you’re just doing your job. Everyday I open the paper or see on the local news about a teacher or coach or youth organization leader who has been charged with crimes against children, yet no one blames the public school system, which has far more employees than religious organizations. And at the same time, we ordinary citizens are called “transphobic” if we don’t want sexually intact men wearing make up and dresses in little girls’ restrooms. Crazy world. This sounds like another religious witch hunt, and we know how those end.”

One time I was sent something on race relations that was really intended to worsen them instead of improve them, so I sent a similar note. Surprisingly, the gal wrote back and apologized, told me she felt the same way (she was black), but needed the job and worked out of her home.

Alcoholic finds Christ and her writing vocation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzEfMfs5qFQ

Heather King, who lives in LA and is a Catholic, tells her story of addiction and compulsion to coming to sobriety and joy, and then her vocation, writing. I found her reading her blog, which included this video. Funny, inspiring and entertaining.  You'll love this. I learned so much--and enjoyed her talk thoroughly.

"I'm an ex-barfly Catholic convert and I'm proud. I write, speak, give retreats, edit, and clean bathrooms.

Look for my monthly column, "Credible Witnesses," in MAGNIFICAT; and "The Crux," my weekly column on arts and culture in TIDINGS, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of L.A.

My heroes are Flannery O'Connor ("The writer has no rights except those he forges for himself within his own work”) and the late comic Bill Hicks ("Play from your F-ING heart!")."

Poor Baby, her book (essay) about abortion, available on Amazon.

" I came of age during the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. I’m a former waitress, an ex-lawyer, a sober barfly, a Catholic convert, and a self-supporting writer. I’ve been financially independent all my life. But I’ve never much been able to reduce the mystical to the political. I’ve never been much moved to call myself a feminist. The feminists had said that sleeping around would be empowering. The feminists had maintained that “choosing” would make me free. The feminists had asserted that there’d be no repercussions. The feminists had been wrong. That I’m for life—and against abortion, war, the prison industry, capital punishment, and the destruction of all that is most precious in us and the people around us—is a given. That I’m for life is why I suffered, in silence, in guilt, in sorrow, for over twenty years. Even women, who will talk about anything, don’t talk about abortion. But I do, in this 10,000-word essay that I hope might open the door to a new way of thinking about and talking about this difficult subject. Because abortion is not a political issue; abortion is a mystical issue. Abortion is a matter of emotional and spiritual poverty, of what we inherit from our parents and what we pass on to our children, of what we absorb from a culture that is saturated with violence. As Dostoevsky observed: “Love in reality is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.” "Poor Baby" is the tragicomic story of a harsh and dreadful thing. May it shed some light on our collective yearning for love. NOTE: POOR BABY is a 54-page essay, not a full-length book."

http://shirtofflame.blogspot.com/p/books.html

Donald Trump's qualifications to be President

I saw this on Facebook, and have no idea of the provenance, authenticity or truthfulness of the author (who said he was a Democrat).

Life long voting democrat and blue collar: Lets check out Trump's presidential qualifications:

Obama is against Trump
The Media is against Trump
The establishment Democrats are against Trump
The establishment Republicans are against Trump...
The Pope is against Trump
The UN is against Trump
The EU is against Trump
China is against Trump
Mexico is against Trump
Soros is against Trump
Black Lives Matter is against TrumpMoveOn.Org is against Trump
Koch Bro's are against Trump
Hateful, racist, violent Liberals are against Trump.

 

Bonus points
Cher says she will leave the country
Mylie Cyrus says she will leave the country
Whoopi says she will leave the country
Rosie says she will leave the country
Al Sharpton says he will leave the country
Gov. Brown says California will build a wall.

Trump for President!
------------------------------
I believe the SuperPac lady who left the campaign who said he never intended to run; but did so well at the beginning, he just continued.  His political advisors are very frustrated with his open mouth insert foot campaign, the latest being women getting abortions should be punished, which later had to be retracted, and his "3 most important functions of the federal government being security, education and healthcare," 2 out of 3 of which are the Democrat platform.

Ten Conservative Principles by Russell Kirk

And Donald Trump doesn't fit any of them.

Ten conservative Principles

Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability. Human nature suffers irremediably from certain grave faults, the conservatives know. Man being imperfect, no perfect social order ever can be created. Because of human restlessness, mankind would grow rebellious under any utopian domination, and would break out once more in violent discontent—or else expire of boredom. To seek for utopia is to end in disaster, the conservative says: we are not made for perfect things. All that we reasonably can expect is a tolerably ordered, just, and free society, in which some evils, maladjustments, and suffering will continue to lurk.

Sorting Christmas cards at Easter

 

Since we were having Easter dinner here in two days, I thought it might be time to put away the Christmas cards. I take one last look, keep the letters and photos (which after 55 years is now a huge box for my kids to go through when I graduate to the next phase) and toss the rest.

Three things I have to pass on to you.

1) NEVER send cards with sparkles! My goodness. What a mess. My couch and jeans were covered.

2) Please, always write your last name!!! By the time I sort and throw the cards out, the envelopes are long gone and I get confused by all the Nancys, Jims, and Johns.

3) Third, I was rereading a handwritten note from my cousin Sharon and since she is (I assume) a U.S. citizen but has lived in Canada since her marriage 55+ years ago to Angus, she is paying attention to our election, but is seeing Canadian news sources. She writes: “Only Cruz and Trump use the words radical Muslims. I just heard Islam may not qualify as a religion under the Constitution. It only contains 15% religion and the rest is political ideology, which could take you anywhere even violence, depending on who is running the service even having you pledge allegiance to them. Maybe there is something going on here.” I had heard something similar—that it is a cultural ideology not a religion.I know this doesn’t sound like a Christmas greeting, but she also included her travels, health report and weather for Toronto. And it is all handwritten!

Then going through the cards I found notes I hadn't responded to, so I phoned Ann, a local call, who had scribbled something about genealogy that really puzzled me, but she was referring to a chapter in a book from 2003 that I had contributed. Stories of Ohio; tales my grandparents told me, by Dorothy Briss.

I had a note from my college roommate, Dora, and attempted to e-mail her but it bounced, and I looked her up on Google and phoned her in Boston. We had a great chat. Among the cards were some that had been returned to me that I had sent relatives in a nursing home years ago, which included an address for a cousin my aunt had requested. So I googled her, and found out she had died in late December. She and I had corresponded for years about genealogy, but I'd never met her. She's been a Church of the Brethren missionary in Nigeria, and one of the memorial suggestions was for the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, because that was the area where she served. Marianne Michael was 98.

Easter Blessings

I'll be off line for a few days. 

Six failures of Obamacare--according to John McCain

Although I thought John McCain was a very weak candidate to go against Obama in 2008--old white military hero of memory against a young handsome black hope and change vision for the future, I'm still getting e-mails from him.  Today I received this--and he's speaking for Arizona, although it's much the same in other states.

1. HURTING THE ECONOMY: The CBO has projected that Obamacare will result in 2.5 million fewer full-time jobs by 2024 and increase taxes by $1.2 trillion in the next decade. During these tough economic times, [Arizona] Congresswoman Kirkpatrick stands by her vote as her constituents face job losses and higher taxes.
   
2. INCREASED DEDUCTIBLES: This year, Arizonans are facing a 21% increase in health care insurance deductibles. Yet, Congresswoman Kirkpatrick has done nothing to reduce these higher costs on Arizona families.
   
3. FAILED INSURANCE CO-OPS: The Arizona insurance co-op was removed from the Federal Marketplace resulting in 59,000 Arizonans losing their health insurance. Congresswoman Kirkpatrick continues to stand by Obamacare, proclaiming it as her proudest vote.
   
4. FALSE ASSURANCES ABOUT OBAMACARE: Despite her previous assurances, Americans who liked their plans were not able to keep them. Congresswoman Kirkpatrick even contradicted her own support of maintaining existing health insurance policies by voting against the Keep Your Own Health Plan Act.
   
5. INCREASED PREMIUMS: After voting to pass Obamacare, Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick announced that the new law would expand protections to consumers. Unfortunately, Arizona families have only seen tremendous increases in their premiums each year with no relief in sight. In fact last year alone, premiums increased by an average of 17.5 percent in Arizona.
   
6. FEWER CHOICES: Fewer insurers are offering Obamacare plans on the 2016 exchanges, according to a report from Government Accountability Office and federal and state Obamacare exchange data. Congresswoman Kirkpatrick promised more choice and competition but has stood silently by as the number of plans continues to decrease.

Imagine

Easter celebrates the bodily resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ, the hope for all Christians; but here's what appeared in my mailbox.

• $17.32B: In Easter-related spending is expected in 2016
• 89%: Of Americans believe chocolate bunnies should be eaten ears first
• 81%: Of parents steal from their kids’ Easter baskets
• 1.5B+: Marshmallow Peeps are consumed each Easter
• 2.6B: Eggs are purchased each March

Imagine if $17 billion were given to agencies to improve housing for the poor or elderly with no cut for government bureaucracies.

Luther and Trump

If you know your church history, you know that Martin Luther split the church by deciding that Scripture meant what he said it meant, not what the Church declared. He discarded a number of books of the Old Testament, or said he didn’t like them (like James, Revelation, Esther, and Hebrews which remained canon, and he much preferred John to the other Gospels) all the while declaring “sola scriptura” to be the basis of faith. He changed the Catholic church’s definition of original sin and justification to one he created. 

  

But the implications went far beyond the church—probably because there were many forerunners of revolt who didn't like papal control, and the church was in great need of reform. Or, scratch a religion, any religion, and you get politics. Once that Bible cat was out of the bag, all sorts of interpretations began cropping up among others, and one was the horrible conditions of the peasants of Europe, who were virtually slaves to the local Lords. This was ready to explode even before Luther since their lives were so awful, not unlike slavery in the U.S. but often worse. So when the peasants got word of what Luther was saying and posting and writing (liberty in all things), they thought he could be their leader against both the church and the lords. Wrong. Luther sided with the German power structure, not the peasants. They rioted; Luther didn’t support them. Over 100,000 peasants died, as well as people in other classes who were poor or had less power. 

 

Let’s jump ahead 500 years. Luther was hot headed, intemperate, nasty, prone to deep depression, but brilliant in gathering supporters and translating Scripture into the language of the people, German. He touched a nerve both spiritually and politically. His ideas exploded all over Europe.

 

Does that sound familiar? Like today’s headlines?

Lard is good for us--again

When I was growing up, there were always several pounds of lard in the house. Mom cooked everything in it. Plus she was the most fabulous pie baker in the world with the flakiest crusts--all made from lard. But she always read the health articles in the ladies' magazines, and sometime in the 1950s, lard disappeared from our home, and even the grocery stores. I've never purchased it, but it's been coming back in style the last 10 years and is much healthier than the oils that replaced it.

 http://empoweredsustenance.com/lard-is-healthy/

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3176558/It-s-healthier-cook-LARD-sunflower-oil-Extraordinary-experiment-shows-ve-told-cooking-oils-wrong.html

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/28/cooking-with-lard-baking_n_5212804.html