A simple prayer: Jesus, here I am, it’s Norma

When people ask how our family is doing in this difficult time, I usually mumble something like, just pray for a miracle, that's really all we need. That said, so many people have been Jesus with skin on we're so very grateful. Cards, e-mails, meals, invitations, even visits from complete strangers. Even the really awkward conversations that quickly become a tale of woe about their own problems, are meant well.  I read a story this morning about prayer, I'd like to share (from Magnificat, Nov. 2019, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019, pp. 248-249)

Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan (d. 2002) was a prisoner of the north Vietnamese for 13 years, and after his liberation people suggested he must have had a lot of time to pray. He told them he was often so exhausted from the confinement and silence, he couldn't say a single word, then he told this story.

"There was an older man named Jim who would go to church every day at noon for just a few minutes, and then he would leave. The sacristan was very curious about Jim's daily routine, and one day he stopped him to ask: "Why do you come here every day?" "I come to pray," Jim answered.

"That's impossible! What prayer can you say in 2 minutes?"

"I am an old, ignorant man. I pray to God in my own way."

"But what do you say?"

"I say: 'Jesus, here I am, it's Jim.' And then I leave." After some years, Jim became ill and had to go to the hospital, where he was admitted to the ward for the poor. When it seemed that Jim was dying, a priest asked, "Jim, tell us how it is that from the day you came to this ward everything changed for the better? How is it that the patients have become happier, more content, and friendlier?"

"I don't know. When I could walk around, I would try to visit everyone. I greeted them, talked a bit with them. When I couldn't get out of bed I called everyone over to me to make them laugh, to make them happy. With Jim they are always happy!"

"But why are YOU happy?"

"Well, aren't you happy when you receive a visitor?" asked Jim.

"Of course, but we have never seen anyone come to visit you."

"When I came here I asked you for 2 chairs. One was for you, Father, and one was reserved for my guest."

"But what guest?" the priest asked.

"I used to go to church to visit Jesus every day at noon. But when I couldn't do that anymore, Jesus came here."

"Jesus comes to visit you? What does he say?"

"He says: 'Jim, here I am, it's Jesus!'" Before dying, Jim smiled and gestured with his hand toward the chair next to his bed, as if inviting someone to sit down. He smiled for the last time and closed his eyes.

The Cardinal continued. When my strength failed and I could not even pray, I repeated: "Jesus, here I am, it's Francis." Joy and consolation would come to me and I experienced Jesus responding: "Francis, here I am, it's Jesus."

Enjoying the Uline Catalog

Found a tidbit in the back of the Uline catalog (uline.com) comparing Texas and California--Uline has branches in both. So Liz Uihlein does a little comparison:

"Californians pay the highest income tax in the country, 13.3%; Texas does not have state income tax.

In California homeownership is at the lowest level since the 1940s.

California public schools system ranks 36th out of 51, Texas ranks 41st. Both states need to do better. [ I'm so old I remember when the California school system was the envy of the nation in the 1960s, although it was in decline, then came Proposition 13.]

Texas is the best state in which to do business and California has some of the most burdensome occupational licensing requirements in America [in case you didn't know this, that really hurts small business, particularly minorities, the backbone of the economy].

California's cost of living is 40% higher than the national average, whereas Texas is 9% lower.

California has the highest gas prices in the country and electricity rates are 50-75% higher than the national average. "

In Norma’s opinion: People are moving out of California, and many flee to Texas, Nevada and Arizona, but they are dragging with them their liberal values and voting which is what destroyed their lives in California! A California academic called rural people stupid, yet California produces 13 percent of the total cash agricultural receipts for the U.S., it is the sole producer of many crops. We could do with fewer elitist academics and more figs and olives.

California is controlled by leftists/Democrats/ socialists/progressives, or whatever you want to call them--if you've got money they want it. Young people and homeless people love it there. Unfortunately, this tsunami of bad decisions is coming our way.

Climate Change as religion

Senator Mazie Hirano of Hawaii (Democrat of course) believes Climate Change needs to be treated like a religion. Most conservatives thought it already was being promoted that way with more protections than real religions. Of course, if it were treated like a religious cult, maybe we could get it out of the classroom and every media source. I'm sure my public library has more books on climate change than Christianity, especially for children.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/democrat-sen-mazie-hirono-believe-in-climate-change-as-though-its-a-religion/

https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/09/climate-change-as-religion-seminary-students-confess-their-sins-to-plants-in-ritual/

https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2015/10/22/religion-and-views-on-climate-and-energy-issues/

The party of Woke

Deval Patrick, recently of Bain Capital and Fox Business News, newly declared Democrat candidate for chief oligarch, states he loves that his party is moving further to the left. Indeed, we see that being played out in the hearings whereby the Democrats attempt to undo the election of 2016 and destroy the Constitution by inventing crimes, a system well known by leftists (Communists, Fascists, Socialists, statists of all stripes).

On MSNBC: “First of all, I love that the party has moved to the left. I love that we are the party of the woke,” Patrick said. “I believe that we also have to be the party of the still waking, and I have always conducted my personal life and my business life . . . yada yada" Strange talk for a wealthy venture capitalist.

By "still waking" I suppose he means more Antifa riots and college protests to silence conservatives, forcing women to accept men in their athletic events and locker rooms, destroying public schools with radicalized teachers, open borders for the 75 different nationalities entering the U.S. in the south including terrorists and trafficked children, full rights to our social safety net for illegal aliens, shredding the first amendment rights, confiscating guns from private citizens while allowing them for criminals, confiscatory green taxes to fill the wallets of government bureaucrats, reduction and weakening of the military, more sexual abuse of children aka transgendering through surgery and chemical castration and stealing your assets through a wealth tax.

Have the holidays been cancelled?

Our son who has brain cancer has decided that this year we won’t celebrate November birthdays, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.  Of course, we are disappointed, but he needs to be careful about viruses.

But that set me to thinking about other unusual holidays.  Our son Stanley died on February 13, and we were receiving Valentine cards and sympathy cards in the same mail drop. Our son Patrick died shortly before Thanksgiving, so that holiday in 1964 was pretty much a blur.  I can’t even remember if we made the trip to Mt. Morris or stayed in Champaign.

 Stanley, Christmas 1962

Bob's mother, grandmother, Aunt Babe, Aunt Bert

And my dear Mother, always one for stern advice, warned me not to let bad memories interfere with future enjoyment of holidays.  It was wise advice, especially since I didn’t know she especially cared about holidays, which were always rather low keyed in my family, compared with my husband’s family blow outs and budget busting gifts.

Christmas both of those years was just awful.  My sisters had adorable toddlers the same age as Stanley, which we needed to admire and coo about while remembering an earlier Christmas with Mom and Dad beaming holding 3 babies. I have a few photos from those years and I look like death warmed over, as we used to say in the 20th century.

 Our final Christmas in our home of 34 years, 2001

Thanksgiving 2009

                               
Another holiday alone memory is the fall of 1957.  My college roommate, JoElla, and I decided we would just stay on campus for Thanksgiving and not face that 6 hour drive back to Illinois. We could relax, read, maybe go to a movie and catch up on laundry.  What a disaster!  We had no idea how deserted and lonely the campus would be, or how everything would be closed and we’d eat cold food in our dorm room.  By Christmas I was so homesick I could barely function.

Then there was the year that my sister and I decided we’d do something totally different for the holidays because our adult children were squabbling with each other—I don’t even remember the year—sometime in the early 2000s—or what the disputes were.  By comparison with this year, they were certainly minor. So we got together at Rehoboth Beach and had Thanksgiving dinner at a lovely hotel known for that event.

For years we shared and alternated our winter holidays with our son in law’s parents in Cleveland. I think we ate alone in a restaurant or would drive to Indianapolis to have dinner with Bob’s family—usually a huge crowd and that often made us feel even more lonely because by that time some of our nieces and nephews were grandparents and we couldn’t even identify some of the people.

And Oh My.  The years I cancelled at the last minute our plans to drive to Illinois to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with my parents.  One of us would always seem to come down with a cold and it would go through the family so I’d cancel the 10 hour trip. And guiltily I confess, that I often wasn’t too sad, because what looked like a fabulous idea during Indian Summer in October’s bright colors didn’t look so great in the ice and snow of late December.  Mom was always understanding and gracious—not to worry, they would drive to Oregon and eat at the nursing home with my grandparents.

Again the holidays of 2017-18 were really bad.  Our daughter had planned a great neighborhood football party, the invitations were out, the food was prepared, and their sweet little Chihuahua Abby died very suddenly. It was a horrible shock.  We were all devastated, especially since in the previous 3 months Phil’s dear Rosa and our Lotsa Spotsa had died and it was like opening a raw wound.  At the last minute, the five of us did get together, enjoyed the food, and watched the game. We cried and laughed and helped each other get through a very bad time. It was momentary—you don’t get over a tragedy just by enjoying a few laughs and some great food.  But it helps.

The early Americans were still thankful for their good harvest in spite of all their losses, and Jesus was still born in a manger in Bethlehem to be setting out for the cross years later.  We’ll remember what holidays are about and will be thankful for our hope which is in the Lord, and for modern technology and drugs which will battle this disease for us.

Echo from the past on climate change

"There is a rational reason why the academic community so readily has accepted what appears to be bad science. It's called MONEY. There are huge sums of taxpayers' money being spent to "save" our planet and much more to be spent in the future. We're not talking about mere billions here; we're talking trillions. . .

The clarion for global unity [by traditional liberals] was the threat of communism, although many of the same people had cheerfully embraced the teachings of Marx and Lenin earlier. With the collapse of world communism, their platform quickly shifted to global ecology and the threat of worldwide environmental disaster. As I heard one commentator remark, "The Reds have turned into the Greens." . . .

I readily admit that I also am biased in my evaluation of the radical leaders of the environmental movement. In reviewing the names that usually accompany environmental rallies they're almost always the same ones that enlist with groups like Planned Parenthood, NOW, the ACLU, Queer Nation, ACT UP, and many others. These radicals also go to great lengths to keep any contrary views out of the media, and they are not against blacklisting anyone who disagrees with them."

Sound familiar? This book was published in 1993--AOC was 4 years old. She knows nothing because that's all she knows. Think of the inroads into the heads of mush of college students that have been infected in the last quarter century, nonsense already 25 years old when this book was published! This climate change stuff and "socialism is great" were being fed to their parents in the 1990s. "Whatever happened to the American dream," by Larry Burkett, 1993.

The Kingdom of God is among you

"The Kingdom of God is Among You [within you]." How often I've heard that, or read it, and found the explanation (mine or theirs) unsatisfactory--especially the quibbling over the translation. As a protestant, particularly a Lutheran, I always get to be the Pope, the theology professor, the preacher of the day, the one who knows best, and most of the time, that's daunting. The words were heard in Jesus' spoken language, recorded in Greek, translated to Latin, and retranslated into hundreds of languages in multiple versions written and edited and published by people with beliefs and biases. But I like what Pope Benedict XVI wrote in "Jesus of Nazareth," Ignatius Press, 2007. He's has a great mind, and a fabulous translator.

"The new proximity of the Kingdom of which Jesus speaks--the distinguishing feature of his message--is to be found in Jesus himself. Through Jesus' presence and action, God has here and now entered actively into history in a wholly new way. The reason why now is the fullness of time (Mark 1:15), why NOW is in a unique sense the time of conversion and penance, as well as the time of joy, is that in Jesus it is God who draws near to us. In Jesus, God is now the one who acts and who rules as Lord--rules in a divine way, without worldly power, rules through the love that reaches to the end (John 13:1) to the cross . . .

In this context we understand Jesus' statements about the lowliness and hiddenness of the Kingdom; in this context we understand the fundamental image of the seed. . . in this context we also understand his invitation to follow him courageously, leaving everything else behind. He himself is the treasure; communion with him is the pearl of great price."

The book (in Latin) was developed before he became Pope, and his preface is worth looking at.

https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/preface-from-jesus-of-nazareth.html?

The czar/tsar list

There was an earlier attempt to clean up the swamp back in 2011 with a bill introduced by Republicans because Obama had so many czars/tsars (good solid Russian term for Caesar) in place that were unelected, unconfirmed and unaccountable. They were not successful. George W. Bush had a similar number but most were confirmed, as were most of FDR's (who began the tradition). Imagine if someone had put in the effort and time to investigate and threaten each Obama czar the way Democrats have been completely focused on destroying Trump's choices or demanding they be leakers.

I haven't found a czar list for President Trump--just advisors, or friends/family which the media and Democrats have bitterly criticized, ridiculed and threatened. If there is a complete list, let me know.

Obama list:

AIDS Czar: Jeffrey Crowley

Auto Recovery Czar: Ed Montgomery

Border Czar: Alan Bersin

California Water Czar: David J. Hayes

Central Region Czar: Dennis Ross

Climate Czar: Todd Stern

Domestic Violence Czar: Lynn Rosenthal

Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske

Energy and Environment Czar: Carol Browner

Faith-Based Czar: Joshua DuBois

FCC's Diversity Czar: Mark Lloyd

Government Performance Czar: Jeffrey Zients

Great Lakes Czar: Cameron Davis

Guantanamo Closure Czar: Daniel Fried

Health Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle

Information Czar: Vivek Kundra

Intellectual Property Czar: Victoria Espinel

Intelligence Czar: James Clapper

Manufacturing Czar/Car Czar: Ron Bloom

Mideast Peace Czar: George Mitchell

Oil Spill Escrow Fund Czar: Kenneth Feinberg

Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein

Safe Schools Czar: Kevin Jennings

Science Czar: John Holdren

Stimulus Accountability Czar: Earl Devaney

Sudan Czar: J. Scott Gration

TARP Czar: Herb Allison

Technology Czar: Aneesh Chopra

Terrorism Czar: John Brennan

Urban Affairs Czar: Adolfo Carrion Jr.

War Czar: Douglas Lute

Weapons Czar: Ashton Carter

WMD Policy Czar: Gary Samore

9/11 Health Czar: John Howard

Cyber Czar: Howard Schmidt

Oil Spill Czar: Ray Mabus

Economic Czar: Paul Volcker

Ethics Czar: Norm Eisen

Afghanistan Czar: Richard Holbrooke

This was an O-list as of 2011--not worth the effort to update. A few I remember--like John Brennan, Paul Volcker, Cass Sunstein, James Clapper, Aneesh Chopra, Richard Holbrooke--they just join think tanks and wait for the power shift.  I counted 10 drug czars—Nixon began that tradition—and the probably has just gotten worse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._executive_branch_czars

https://www.thenation.com/article/trump-kicks-off-the-return-of-the-czars/  (2016—but he wasn’t president yet)

Long term problems, guest blogger Jeffrey Verasano

Some sobering thoughts about our future, many I'd been thinking myself--the swamp of unelected sycophants in DC is indicative of all the institutions around us, many of which we've willingly chosen. 

Jeffrey: 

"There are several long-term problems that seem insurmountable.

• - The demographic time bomb has already been set
• - Most major institutions have been subverted from the inside as the Long March through the institutions reaches its peak. It's a lot harder to rebuild these then to destroy them. Being mad at liberal insanity is easy. Running for the school board, replacing principals and teachers, and rebuilding University education degree programs is a lot harder. Rebuilding Church attendance, taking over the bureaucracies. These are multi-decade challenges and I don't see any plan to even begin. [This is REALLY sobering}
• - The right is angry but the left is relentless. The very nature of the right being individualistic, versus the left being collective, puts the right at a long-term systemic disadvantage.
• - The default form of government is an oligarchal hierarchy, typically a monarchy or similar. Continuous centralization of power is natural whereas checks and balances are complex and artificial, historically present when rare circumstances align. We had those for a while but no longer do. Thus we see a relentless return to the default.
• - Empires occur in cycles and don't last forever. Whether you look at the Tytler cycle or others that have been written about, it is clear that's great societies arise out of specific values but once arisen their very success breeds alternate values which makes sustaining the empire nearly impossible. Courage breeds success, but success breeds laziness and ingratitude, plus attracts parasites and competitors.

Of course, the timeline for these civilization scale changes is up in the air and collapse could be put off for our lifetimes. But empires don't last forever and all the forces that have killed others are glaringly visible and on the rise. Other civilizations have had people just like us, who screamed warnings. Some of these may have created temporary patches, but no permanent solution is ever found.

The huge wild card is artificial intelligence. That is unlike any factor ever faced by mankind. In a generation or two the need to work and the competition that breeds will be all but eliminated, as robotics will multiply the productive capacity many, many times. But controlling AI may be impossible. The normal rules would have us comparing the geopolitical strategies and capacities of China, Islam, Marxists and Constitutionalists. But AI as a force will dwarf all of these.

So who knows..."

Google and our health data

According to a story I watched on Fox today, we're not to be concerned that Google is controlling and distributing our health information and data--they are being HIPAA compliant. Big Whoop. What about being compliant with our wishes, with our concerns? Remember Henrietta Lacks? Did her medical information only matter because she was black? Researchers are lusting for this information--imagine having the data for 1500-2000 people with disease xyz with a key stroke instead of the 30 or 40 you can find with months of appeals and research. And cha ching, your data is part of a study which may bring the researcher/company millions.

https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/11/google-ascension-patient-records-project-nightingale/

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/henriettalacks/

Too much food

Read e-mail invites carefully. Last night I took a lovely arrangement of peanut butter cookies and chocolate mints wrapped in green foil to our fall condo meeting. Beverage and desserts were supplied--didn't need to do that. Now I have waaaay too much food here, and my daughter just stopped by with some frozen meals--her fabulous lasagna and beef stew. So I ate some cookies--just to free up some space.

Our loss

Protestants gave up so much when the book of Wisdom was removed from the Old Testament.

Wisdom 2:23-3:9 Today's reading.

God formed man to be imperishable;

the image of his own nature he made them.

But by the envy of the Devil, death entered the world,

and they who are in his possession experience it.

But the souls of the just are in the hand of God,

and no torment shall touch them.

They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;

and their passing away was thought an affliction

and their going forth from us, utter destruction.

But they are in peace.

For if before men, indeed, they be punished,

yet is their hope full of immortality;

Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,

because God tried them

and found them worthy of himself.

As gold in the furnace, he proved them,

and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.

In the time of their visitation they shall shine,

and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;

They shall judge nations and rule over peoples,

and the Lord shall be their King forever.

Those who trust in him shall understand truth,

and the faithful shall abide with him in love:

Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,

and his care is with his elect.

The Washington Post—a fantasy

I have a dream. No, it's more a fantasy. Jeff Bezos needs money (See? A fantasy since he's the richest man in the world). So he decides to sell the Washington Post which daily poisons the minds of elitist, sourpuss coastal Leftists and Democrats, those self-righteous, angry haters of America and those terrified of cleaning up the DC mess. He has every technological trick known to spew 1,200 articles a day, mostly anti-Trump . He doesn't get a lot for the fish wrapper in my fantasy--maybe $14.97--but a smart conservative snatches it up, and we again have a vibrant, interesting, fair and balanced, well-written, mature source of information and opinion in the land. We'll have real news instead of constant opinion written by 20-somethings. Some men want money, some want power. Through digital magic, he has both. [Businessinsider, this source, is also controlled by Bezos.]

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-washington-post-changed-after-jeff-bezos-acquisition-2016-5?

Veterans Day, 2019

When we were kids, November 11 was called Armistice Day—because it was the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month of 1918—the end of World War I.  And oh my, how many wars since then!  My parents remembered and told stories about the first Armistice Day since they were about 5-6 years old and remembered the celebrations.  I like to think of them running around as kids, in adjoining counties—Lee and Ogle--but not knowing each other, listening to the farm bells, celebrating what they probably didn’t understand. But since both my grandfathers had been registered for the draft, at least they could put that worry aside.

Dad, being deceased, technically is not honored today—that’s for Memorial Day, but he  “was inducted into the Marine Corps in March, 1944, at San Diego, California.  After completing his training, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Mayo and made two trips across the Atlantic and one trip each to Okinawa, the Philippines and Japan.  He was discharged in December, 1945.” [War Record of Mt. Morris]  It is my recollection he was home in time for Christmas that year, and I think Mom went all out—we got the doll house (to share) and the sled (to share). I’m not sure what he gave my brother, but we three girls each got pure silk hand bags—mine was red and yellow—I had it well into adulthood packed away, but have no idea where it is now.  Dad had worked for Standard Oil before going into the service, and he still had a job, but not the same territory, so he was driving every day to the area around Forreston and Freeport, and that’s why we moved in 1946 (or could have been early 1947—memory is a bit rusty).

The Mt. Morris Index kept up with all the soldiers away from home and although we have none of his letters  I was able to include one of his letters to the Index about a mix-up in his mail, August 1944 when he was still a private in one of my memory compilations of 2002.  The information from the Index I found in a file folder Dad kept in his desk on Lincoln St.--they would be 75 years old if someone in the family still has those newspaper clippings.  There are a few references to our family which moved to Alameda, California, while he was stationed in California. I think the editor (Tommy ?) did that for all the men who were in the war.   In the June 29, 1945, clipping it mentions he was a payroll clerk on the Mayo.  He told me years later that because he could type (won a prize at Polo H.S.) he wasn’t in combat.  I’d always figured it was because he had 4 children and was in his 30s—much older than most of the men!  He had a leave he spent in Mt. Morris because his ship was docked in Boston, but we were on the road with our mother returning from California, and didn’t get to see him.

This is so sad. . . evil in our land

“As the left has increasingly exposed itself in the Trump era as rabidly illiberal, irrational, and immoral, it is time for the right to acknowledge that the left is not merely wrong, but evil.

As an ideology, Progressivism – the rebranding of Communism – embraces totalitarianism and absolute statist control, which always and everywhere leads to misery, corruption, and brutality, and never elevates humanity.

Conservatives who believe that it is still possible to reason with the left and engage them in fair-and-square policy debates are clinging to a failed strategy, sadly. We must accept the reality that leftists have long since abandoned rational rules of engagement, if they ever had any; instead, they operate from a hate-filled mob mentality, a bloodlust for power, and a complete absence of moral boundaries. We cannot afford a lack of moral clarity about the undeclared civil war raging across the United States of America.” Richard Helmold  commenting on Mark Tapson article https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/02/leftism-not-just-wrong-evil-mark-tapson/?. . .

“The Democrat Party is the face of Moloch, the Canaanite god whom Milton called the “horrid King besmear'd with blood / Of human sacrifice.” It is a cult of criminality and death. On every political issue, Democrats take the side of chaos and destruction, crime and disorder. They hype the threat of white supremacism while whitewashing Islamic terrorism. They are actively engaged in erasing our history and undermining our rights. They support open borders over national security; sanctuary cities for criminal aliens and the abolishment of ICE over law-abiding citizens and legal immigration; infanticide over the sacredness of human life; the dismantling of Western civilization over its preservation. This is not simply wrong – this is evil.”

Baltimore and the Democrats, by guest blogger Peter

“There is a clear strategy by the Democrats to obtain majorities by using districting and migration to win elections.

We see it very clearly in Maryland. The northern part of the state is majority Republican voters. Roscoe Bartlett used to be our Congressman and he had a farm, took care of his animals and then drove to DC. He was one of only 3 scientists in Congress.

Then they resliced his district and we are now part of Elijah Cummings’ District. Needless to say, he was out of touch with rural issues.

But here is what else is happening. Under O’Malley, Baltimore City became an attractive destination for Mexican illegal immigrants. He could be seen posing on the webpage for the illegal immigrant organization that provides job referrals for the illegals in Maryland. They provide, for example, the labor to clean up Oriole stadium after the games. With the upcoming census, they will be counted allocating more Congressmen in Baltimore.

Around Baltimore city is Baltimore County which is light blue. So how to you secure those seats? By forcing migration from Baltimore City to Baltimore County.  How?

They just passed a new county law that rental property owners have to accept Section 8 housing vouchers, whether they like it or not. And the tenants don’t have to disclose that this is how they plan to pay the rent ahead of the lease.  This will trigger migration from Baltimore City with largely failing schools to Baltimore County with better schools.

I would not be surprised if there are similar undercurrents in Delaware county, PA, since the geographic and demoscopic situation is very similar.”

And then Peter adds:

“Now that we moved about 2 months ago to Harford County, its been a real eye opener. Harford County really has it together, runs a better than balanced budget, no proposed tax increases, a completely different environment in racial harmony than Baltimore City or Baltimore County despite the Trump flags flying everywhere in this county, schools that are run with a lot more common sense, a strong county procurement initiative to reduce sourcing costs across the board. We are still surprised on a daily basis. A couple days ago, we found out that we can source very inexpensive health insurance through the Harford County Schools for our kids. It’s actually a very innovative idea that actually reduces the cost for the school system.”

Two months ago

Where were you 2 months ago? Sept 8. Looking back at my diary, I see it was a quiet, peaceful Sunday, good church service and we were getting back into our fall routine after a great summer at Lakeside. Not a thought about brain cancer and how our lives would change forever in a few weeks.

And where were you 2 months before you were born? I was living a very quiet, peaceful life in my mother's womb, kicking and swimming, and so were you (different years and different mother, of course). Mom was 27 and chasing after my 2 older sisters. I don't know if we--all of us--were living at 203 E. Hitt St., not sure I ever asked when they bought the home I remember. The newspapers were full of the growing tension in Europe caused by Hitler who in a few weeks, about the time of my birth, would march into Poland, but the U.S., including FDR, was still planning to be neutral.

Two months before you and I were born we were the same persons we are today, just smaller. Yet there are women walking into "clinics" today, November 8, who have changed their minds and will kill their babies who could have survived outside the womb. “Oh, but that's rare,” you say—“It's a woman's right.” OK, name the figure, the number of babies, that is acceptable to you. 50? 100? Perhaps 1,000? Pick a number.

And remember, once you too were counting down 2 months to launch.

Please look out for bikers

“Drivers overtaking bike riders are the biggest cause of death among cyclists, says a study released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board. Bike safety is a growing problem that appears to be getting more worrisome, and, the board reported, “current available data likely underestimate the level of bicycling activity in the United States.” In 2017, 806 cyclists died in crashes with motor vehicles, which it found “was comparable to the deaths resulting from railroad or marine accidents and more than twice the number of deaths resulting from aviation accidents in the same year.” Last year, the death toll jumped to 857, its highest since 1990. The NTSB report, its most comprehensive look at bicycle safety in 47 years, comes as both Republicans and Democrats in Congress are pushing hard to provide more funding for what they see as a growing problem."

Call me crazy, but I don't expect Congress to solve this--they are much too busy trying to undo the election of 2016. However, why not lessen the hype on bicycles being a healthy lifestyle exercise and answer to fossil fuel global warming? Let's crack down on drivers using their cell phones--we lived nicely for years without talking on phones while driving. You might just save some bikers from death or injury.

I've looked at the report, https://www.ntsb.gov/…/Documen…/2019-DCA18SS002-abstract.pdf and unfortunately, it only includes the number of deaths, not the increase in bicyclists sharing the roads (if there is such a figure which would give the real story). Doesn't include the age of the bikers--is this like the huge increase in number of falls among the elderly--the boomers are taking more chances? Is there really any evidence that ripping up streets to create narrowing spaces for cars with bike lanes is actually decreasing accidents, or does it just encourage more bikers who eventually merge on to more dangerous roadways which have no protected lanes? That's what I think about when I see numbers, without rates, without percentage.

If accidents go up 2x, but the number of bikers has also gone up by 4x, then that needs to be included in the report before suggesting legislation and expensive regulations. Also, if it took 30 years to get to the 1990 number, then what has changed? Cell phones and age of riders trying to be "woke" is still my guess.

Whistleblower’s lawyer announced coup over two years ago

Mark Zaid, the whistleblower's lawyer, reported in 2017 that the coup against a lawfully elected U.S. President had started. Now all they had to do was make up a crime. So there you go--Democrats trying to destroy the President we elected. Crime? He beat their awful, terrible, no good candidate--not fair--he wasn't even a politician.

https://lidblog.com/mark-zaid/

It was enough to suck in the gullible and dishonest, but also the  wise and self-righteous.

https://www.glennbeck.com/chalkboard/dissecting-the-great-ukraine-lie?

Glenn Beck is always good with the visuals.

“Democrats and the media are working overtime to convince the American people that releasing the name of the Ukraine whistleblower will put his life in danger from those on the right. But actually, conservatives are the ones who want him alive to testify. If the Ukraine whistleblower's life is in danger at all, it's from those on the left. Why? Because he's the key that holds all their secrets together. He knows of all the corruption done in Ukraine by Joe Biden, President Obama, James Comey, John Brennan, Adam Schiff, and more. He knows everything about Fusion GPS, Hunter Biden, and Burisma. So, if any group wants the whistleblower gone, it's those on the left. This whistleblower is in the same spot as Al Capone's accountant was decades ago. And it's not a good spot to be in.”  Glenn Beck

What happened to Virginia? asks Michael Smith

"Joe Morrissey, the Democrat Virginia lawmaker who was jailed four years ago after the sex scandal involving his teenage secretary, wins a Virginia state Senate seat by a massive margin.

Ralph Northam who appeared in a KKK costume or blackface (he isn't sure) is still the Virginia's Governor.

Justin Fairfax, credibly accused of the sexual battery of an ex-girlfriend, is still Virginia's Lieutenant Governor.

Mark Herring, who, like Northam, admitted to appearing in blackface, is still Virginia's Attorney General.

Virginia went blue after the entire state government turned into a Democrat majority.

Some things I take from this:

1. Democrats are either hypocrites or they don't really care about sexual misconduct - or both.

2. Democrats are either hypocrites or they don't really care about exposition of racism by their leadership - or both.

3. Virginia, the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson (and by extension, the Declaration of Independence), has been infiltrated by Deep State loyalists working for the federal government.

4. The Virginia GOP is awful."

My comment on Mike’s excellent post:  Yes, the Virginia GOP is probably awful, but primarily Virginia has gone blue because it’s a suburb of DC, it’s where the deep state lives, sends their kids to school and worships. It’s where they shop and socialize. When their party is out of office, they just hunker down with a new position in a non-profit or think tank.

Trump is a terrible threat, for some reason.  Even though his policies have brought hope and new sources of income to people lower on the socio-economic scale of government career workers. he’s poked some holes, stirred up a few hornets’ nests, and questioned what their comfy life is all about. It’s not business as usual under Trump and that has distressed some very powerful people.

What does it feel like

To have an adult son with brain cancer. It’s sort of, kinda

Like I fell and broke my femur,

but someone wants me to run a marathon.

Like I have a hundred pound sack on my shoulder and

I’m on a treadmill going nowhere.

Like a good night’s sleep is a vague,

impossible to recover, memory.

Like the Psalms suddenly make sense and they never did before.

Like we’ve talked more in 4 weeks than the previous 30 years.

Like life is one long asthma attack.

Like noticing strange, unimportant things—

he has no gray hair and a very large vocabulary.

Like the world stopped on October 1, 2019.

Trump is. . .

Trump isn't a conservative, 

he's not a liberal,

 he's not a Republican,

he's not a Democrat.

He's an American.

You can tell he's not a Republican--he's got a spine, he fights, and he doesn't hide his success. 

You can tell he's not a Democrat--he was rich going in and will be poorer coming out.

 You can tell he's not a conservative because he's not 30 years behind. 

You can tell he's not a liberal because he's not offing babies.

Here’s how Democrats could help the country

The United States lacks a single, comprehensive federal law that regulates the collection and use of personal information. We've got piecemeal and pasted together regulations and state laws with enormous lobbying efforts by tech giants.

I have a suggestion. Maybe if we had a Congress or something like a gathering of people elected to study problems like this they could study it and pass laws? That might work. Instead we have fat cat politicians taking up space in Washington spending all their time colluding to oust the legally elected president whom they know they can’t beat with a ballot and their collection of clown candidates.

https://www.cfr.org/report/reforming-us-approach-data-protection?

Religious organizations were shut out of child care by Obama; reversed by Trump

The Obama administration was anti-Christian from the start, early 2009 (when he undid the Bush executive order not to expand the embryonic cell experimentation) to the finish in early 2017 refusing children good care because the agency had the audacity to believe in real marriage.

Now Trump is reversing that last minute anti-child order.

“In the closing days of the Obama administration, the federal government handed down a regulation that effectively barred from federal child-welfare programs organizations that believe marriage is between a man and woman. This affected many Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant organizations. This misguided policy was rushed into effect right before President Trump’s inauguration."

"Communities of faith have a lot to offer to children in foster care. Barna research shows that practicing Christians may be more than twice as likely to adopt compared with the general population—with Catholics three times as likely and evangelicals five times as likely. That’s because Christians are eager to open their hearts and homes for children in foster care. They are commanded by the Bible to care for widows and orphans in their distress (James 1:20). One need not agree with these beliefs to see that it is self-defeating for government to bar the participation of thousands of religious Americans from serving children in need because of their theological convictions."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-reverses-obamas-anti-christian-decree-11572813718?

The Trump administration I hope will look out for what's best for the children, not what's best for a political sexual agenda.

Beto has bombed

Robert O'Rourke was not a great candidate. As Mike Huckabee noted, he apologized for being a white man. He used a Spanish nick name, Beto, to attract minority support. He attacked the church, guns, fossil fuels, the border between Texas and Mexico, and he supported the Green New Deal, the militant LGBTQ agenda, Medicare for all, and his greatest political achievement so far was not losing to Ted Cruz as badly as expected. Boy, we dodge a bullet there, no pun intended. But the rest of the Democrat candidates are pretty much clones on policies.

• A fake Indian trafficking on minority sympathies
• a couple of candidates for the nursing home, one with connections in Ukraine,
• a blue eyed Spartacus,
• a former prosecutor whose political career boost included sleeping with her boss, and
• a mayor of a small town with a high crime rate whose claim to fame seems to be he is gay.

They are starting to make Adam Schiff look good.

Oh God movie (1977)

We had a nice Sunday with our son who has brain cancer--enjoyed lunch at his home and then watched the movie, Oh God, with John Denver, Teri Garr and George Burns (1977), directed by Carl Reiner. Hardly seemed possible that the movie is 42 years old! It's sweet and funny--it's spiritual, not religious. Good laughs (which we all needed) and some serious moments. Sort of pop-gnostic, a real set-up from the last century for the "nones" of this century. It makes fun of a minute portion of organized religion--the health and wealth gospel with a crooked TV preacher played by Paul Sorvino.

Teri Garr who is Denver’s wife in the movie played a lot of moms and supportive wives and girlfriends, so I wondered what had become of her. I checked, and she "retired" in 2011. She has MS which she kept hidden many years, but came out as an advocate for others and helping with fund raising. She also had a stroke and recovered. Lakesiders enjoy a grass roots program called Porch Stories,, which is modeled on the Moth.  Garr told a LA Moth Story where she discovers her boyfriend has been cheating on her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TI8E4p_U6A (language alert)

President Trump’s accomplishments

https://710wor.iheart.com/featured/mark-simone/content/2019-03-09-the-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-so-far/?

Shady, shifty, charlatan Schiff is trying to undo the president the people elected.  It’s a coup.

We go to the polls tomorrow

Usually, I don't pay attention to party for local political races, but because of the bad behavior of the Democrat national leadership and because a lot of politicians begin with school board or city council before running for state and national office, I'll have to change that. In Upper Arlington, there seems to be only one Republican for City Council, Angela M. Lanctot, so Republicans you know what to do.

We've had many flyers and ads dropped off or mailed, with no information on party--just handsome, slick photo-cards with smiling family and very general phrases. We've heard from one candidate, even had a personal visit, so often, I'm sure he's a very aggressive Democrat--great hair, smile.

Who in Ohio wants Warren?

I was looking at an article in Columbus Business First, "Top 3 donors in Ohio for Warren," wondering who in their right mind would support someone who wants higher taxes and socialism, someone who got her step up in life gaming the minority set aside. Of course, it's a slide show and starts at the bottom with aggregate $375 YTD. It lists name and employment. I was amazed how many were unemployed. Never did get to the top 3, but it was good for a chuckle.

A couples retreat

Believe it or not—I found this at a blog on a dairy site. I was reading an article on Oreo-Cowkies—Dutch Belted cattle—and noticed at the bottom there was a blog. https://www.progressivedairy.com/blogs/guest-blog/my-husband-and-i-held-our-own-couple-s-retreat-and-lived-to-tell-about-it   She bases her information and comments on the book “The One Thing.”

“When was the last time you sat down with your spouse without the TV on, without notifications on the phone buzzing nearby, with the kids in bed (or not home at all) and talked about any of the following:”

• What steps do we want to take to improve our spiritual life?
• How can we improve our eating habits?
• Do each of us get enough “me time” to decompress and destress?
• Is our marriage headed in the right direction?
• Do we support one another in front of our children?
• Do we need to think about helping aging parents?
• Are there any specific people we would like to get to know better this year?
• How often should we set money aside, and where should we put it?
• Have we reviewed our household budget?
• What causes are we passionate about?
• Do we feel useful in our work?
• What are the ultimate goals for the business?
• What are the key habits we want to develop this year as a family and as individuals?

When you’ve been married 60 years and your son has terminal brain cancer, somehow, none of the questions seem worth answering.  We’re eating poorly, our goals are to get to the end of the day, and there is no way to destress, even the tried and true like exercise (we both go to the fitness center).   And I have the feeling I’m going to continue to meet a lot of people I didn’t know before October 1.  However, my spiritual life is definitely improving—I spend more time in the Bible and reading theologians than I ever did.

Women surgeons

It's a cottage industry. Seeking out victims. Women outnumber men in medical school, law school, pharmacy and veterinary medicine. 40% of U.S. physicians are women (not sure those sexist stats are going to be collected indefinitely). 80% of veterinary students are women. But it's never enough. Today I got an e-mail from OSU about the 4th annual Women in Surgery Symposium and the focus? You guessed it. Workplace inequalities, bullying and microaggressions. This constant agitation by mushrooming "education" agenda driven non-profits is so lucrative, it will never go away. Maybe you'd better interview your surgeon before submitting to the knife. Make sure she isn't angry or stressed.

What’s wrong with Nancy Pelosi?

What is this woman smoking? "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s statement Friday on the surprisingly good monthly employment jobs report: “The October jobs report offers further evidence that the Republicans’ disastrous special interest agenda is hollowing out the middle class while enriching the wealthy and well-connected.”(WSJ)

CNBC reports the following key points that Fancy Nancy has called disastrous:

• Nonfarm payrolls rose by 128,000 in October, exceeding the estimate of 75,000 from economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
• There were big revisions of past numbers as well. August’s initial 168,000 payrolls addition was revised up to 219,000, while September’s jumped from 136,000 to 180,000.
• The unemployment rate ticked slightly higher to 3.6% from 3.5%, still near the lowest in 50 years.
• The pace of average hourly earnings picked up a bit, rising 0.1% to a year-over-year 3% gain.
• The unemployment rate for African Americans nudged down to a record low 5.4%

The tale of Lucky Jack

There's a German folk tale that Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) used to illustrate the failures of the church. The tale of "Lucky Jack." Perhaps you've heard of Jack; if not you'll recognize him because we're close to the ending of the tale. Our country is living out his story.

Jack finds a lump of gold. After his initial joy and satisfaction at his good fortune, he decides it's too heavy to carry, so he spends it on a horse. But really, what can a horse do? So he trades the horse for a cow so at least he has food, but she is too difficult to care for. So he trades the cow for a flock of chickens, and finally sells the chickens for a stone to sharpen his knife. But the stone is worthless so he tosses it into a lake having decided it wasn't worth anything.

Through the made up charges and offering no legal protections any American would have in a court of law, the angry Democrats are attacking the election of 2016, and plan to put their own leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in the White House. It's come to this. Our freedoms and protections, our Constitution and history are just a worthless stone tossed away when we could have had gold.

Feeling loved

Yesterday it was raining hard when I left the market with a plastic sack in each hand.  I saw a woman approaching from my left.

“Oh my Lamb, my Lamb” I heard her say in accented English with out stretched arms.  And she threw her arms around me and gave me a big hug. It was my neighbor whose daughter has metastatic breast cancer, knowing how I was feeling because of our son’s brain cancer.

Today a church friend brought over a lemon buttermilk pie. Just because she loves us.  She and her husband stayed to visit for awhile.  She’s a wonderful chef and cares for many in the church by bringing them comfort food or inviting them to her home for dinner—every week.  I haven’t tasted the pie yet, but I found a recipe on the internet.  https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/buttermilk-lemon-pie/

November 1 is All Saints Day.

We live in a football crazed and crazy town--Columbus, Ohio, home of the Buckeyes. I think I went to a Buckeye game in 1967. But we don't live far from the stadium-- the sounds, the tailgaters, the traffic, and of course, the games are always televised so it's even in my house, and there's usually a comment the next day along with the pastor's sermon. The "Horseshoe" holds over 100,000 screaming, adoring fans (only Michigan and Penn are larger).

That's how I picture All Saints Day. We run on to the field with our God and coach, and when we look up, there they are--all the saints who have gone before us, cheering, waving, singing, rocking the stadium. We look into the stands and see Mom and Dad, or that special Sunday School teacher, or the elderly man who came to the food pantry when we were serving, or our baby who died at birth now perfect and well, and they are so happy to see us, encourage us, and pray for us in our difficult and joyful times, both.

“Holy, Holy, Holy! all the saints adore thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
Who were and are and ever more shall be!”

https://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Holy_Holy_Holy/score/?

October 31

"Halloween" comes from "All Hallows Eve," from the Christian Feast of "All Saints." Various communities rearrange the date for "trick or treat," so also has church history scholars rearranged the date of celebration of remembering the saints who have gone before us. Some sources say 3rd century, some 8th century, and one I read today said 11th century when the Abbot of Cluny urged his monks to observe November 2 as "All Soul's Day." Still, Christians have always honored the dead and in the first and second centuries worshipped in the catacombs, where Romans buried and forgot their dead. Christians even saved small pieces of the bones of the deceased, called "relics." Christians expect a resurrection like Jesus' and they'll need their body for that.

In our Lutheran church the names of all the members who died since last November 1 are read aloud during the service, and then the names of deceased which the members have submitted. This Sunday the names of our grandparents, parents, siblings and children will be read from the pulpit while we take communion. It's a beautiful reenactment of the Christian hope. A great crowd of witnesses.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus . . ." Hebrews 12:1

Fairfax County, Virginia, now on the sanctuary crime list

Three of the top 10 sanctuary cities with the highest crime are represented in Washington by the leading proponents of protecting illegal immigrants, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, according to a new report.

The communities on the IRLI list are:
1. San Francisco.
2. New York.
3. Minneapolis.
4. Philadelphia.
5. Seattle.
6. Chicago.
7. TIE: Montgomery County, Maryland, and Fairfax County, Virginia.
8. Prince George’s County, Maryland.
9. Boston.
10. Santa Clara County, California.

That's a shame. Although it's been about 20 years since we visited relatives in Fairfax County, it use to be a lovely community.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/list-top-10-highest-crime-sanctuary-cities?

Peter Buttigieg, Democrat

Dr. Michael Hurd asks:

"Are you ready for a President who wants to outlaw all statues and references to Thomas Jefferson?”

"Are you ready for a President who wants to raise taxes to 70-90 percent?” 

“Are you ready for a President to nationalize medical care and most of private industry?”

"Are you ready for a President who will outlaw fossil fuels in a decade?"

"Are you ready for a President who wants to repeal the Second Amendment or, failing that, seize your weapons anyway?”

It's not his homosexuality, it's his beliefs. Mayor Pete Buttigieg. If you voted because of race in 2008, don't be drawn into another poor reason to select a president. Know what you're getting. Obama offered you the vague, Hope and Change and total transformation. Buttigieg offers loss of our history, confiscatory taxes, more climate change nonsense, and the loss of freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

Don't be woke, be awake.

Charlie Gaskill, 67

Last night we attended Charlie Gaskill's funeral at our Lytham Road campus of UALC. The sanctuary seats 750, and there were people standing in the narthex for the 90 minute service. Cars covered the neighborhood, and the parking lots were full. Charlie was a much loved and respected man who had battled chronic lymphocytic leukemia since 2006. What struck me was the many stories and metaphors about sports. In fact, the day Charlie got his diagnosis, we were told, he'd been on a 3 mile run. At 6'8" he played basketball at Capital University 1969-73, a Lutheran college in Bexley (Columbus). At one point, former team members were asked to come forward while a Catholic deacon who had been on the team was eulogizing him . We were sitting so far back and under the balcony I could hardly see, but it looked like about 15 men in their mid to late 60s went forward. There were many stories by his children, friends and the pastor about his thoroughness, kindness and athleticism. All 3 of his children had been active in sports, and Charlie and Susie cheered on and cared about the teammates of their kids too. They literally never missed a game from elementary through college sports. There were many young adults in the pews and some had flown in or driven long distances to be there to cheer Charlie on for the next big event.

Charlie's disease had visibly attacked his body, yet even after a very tough bout in the hospital, there he was at worship on Sunday, or offering his time, talents and worship to God's service. And so the verses he chose to be read were especially meaningful, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, "We do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are renewed day by day. . ."

https://www.schoedinger.com/obituaries/Charles-Gaskill-2/#!/Obituary

A hymn that’s good for all day

O God, creation's secret force,
Yourself unmoved, all motion's source
Who from the morn till evening ray
Through all its changes guide the day.

Grant us, when this short life is past,
The glorious evening that shall last;
That, by a holy death attained,
Eternal glory may be gained.

To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, Three in One,
May every tongue and nation raise
An endless song of thankful praise.

This hymn is by St. Ambrose, 4th century bishop, one of the most prolific of Latin hymn writers. It's said (Early Christian Hymns, Daniel Joseph Donahoe, 1908) he was the first to introduce the custom of singing hymns in the church. One source I have presents this as a morning song, another mid-day, and one as an evening song. Seems to work for all. And the translations vary. This one has a more modern English.

Ahab and Jezebel. Who’s the better comparison?

Hillary Clinton at the Cummings memorial on Friday compared our president and FLOTUS to Jezebel and Ahab, another power couple of the ancient Jewish scriptures. They've been used in the past to describe Bill and Hillary Clinton--perhaps she was aware of that book.

"Throughout his 2017 best-seller “The Paradigm: The Ancient Blueprint That Holds the Mystery of Our Times,” Jonathan Cahn explains how ancient paradigms have predicted political outcomes like Donald Trump’s presidential victory and Hillary Clinton’s defeat years before they happened.

Clinton said, "Like the prophet, our Elijah [Cummings] could call down fire from heaven, but he also prayed and worked for healing." "He weathered storms and earthquakes but never lost his faith. Like that Old Testament prophet, he stood against corrupt leadership of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel."

In "The Paradigm," Cahn made several parallels to both Hillary and Bill Clinton in relation to Queen Jezebel and King Ahab.

Queen Jezebel was raised under the worship of the goddess Ashtoreth and thus was an advocate of female power. She also championed Baal Worship involving the offering of children. Hillary Clinton has been considered a lifelong advocate of feminism for quite some time and was voted the chief advocate of abortion by Planned Parenthood – a lifelong issue for her.

Queen Jezebel worked with her husband Ahab to overturn traditional conservative values. King Ahab reigned in government and on the public stage for a period spanning 22 years. Hillary Clinton has been working with her husband Bill to overturn traditional conservative values for years. Bill Clinton also presided in government and on the public stage for 22 years from 1979 to 2001.

Finally, the reign of Ahab and Jezebel was marked by personal scandals. Specifically, the fall of Ahab was linked to the tribe of Levi. Similarly, the reign of Bill and Hillary Clinton was also marked by the Whitewater controversy and the Lewinsky scandal. The fall of Bill Clinton was linked to the Lewinsky – translated to ‘Levi’ in Hebrew – scandal."

No, I'm no O.T. scholar. This showed up in my e-mail from Cahn's PR company. I just thought it interesting that Bill and Hillary are a much closer match for Ahab and Jezebel as a power couple, than Donald and Melania.

Believing children’s fantasies

When I was a child I was horse crazy. Not only did I pretend my blue bike was a horse named "Red" (my best friend JoElla's bike/horse was named "Rusty" and oh the adventures we had), but at school recess I imagined I was a horse--could outrun all the boys in my class, too. My mother gave me wallpaper rolls so I could draw horses--all the time. At home I would gallop around the house on all fours, neighing and jumping around (imagine coming home from a 10 hour day on the fuel truck to that--poor daddy).

Fortunately, no teacher or doctor or parent took me seriously and knew I'd outgrow my fantasies. How did our society get snarled into these children's delusions and come to believe boys should be on girls' track teams using their bathrooms and pronouns? That it's OK to give children hormone blockers or destroy their body parts with surgery or chemicals. Why particularly are social workers, psychiatrists and surgeons falling for this tragedy called transgenderism? There are children born without kidneys, fingers, toes, arms, even brains. We don't say that is normal and everyone now has to play "let's pretend."

We know money is involved--that's always the first place to look. When same sex marriage was passed so easily, the agenda groups were left with bagsful of money and large staffs with no soliciting method. So an affliction of less than 1% became a cause and T was added to their acronym, although they really have nothing in common with homosexuals.

But there has to be more than just money. You can't even blame the Soviets, Maoists, or Che. Communists were always quite repressive about sex. It has to be the demand in our society to discount everything about a creator God who has a plan for us. Of course, Christians bought into it early on. Churches have caved to the contracept movement since the 1930s violating the first command to be fruitful and multiply. Then the demand for abortion in the 1970s became a mantra, a hymn for feminists, a "right" to destroy our future and our own children. And now we have a birthrate below replacement. The country can't survive and feed the hungry government programs without importing more workers, workers who will be willing to have babies, at least for one more generation.

Crazy how it all links together.

A mother's prayer

Hannah:

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted my request. Now I in turn, give him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Lord." (1 Samuel 1:27)

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson thinks the President is a racist

So Supt. Eddie Johnson thinks President Trump is a racist and he won't attend the meeting of the Chiefs of Police in Chicago because Trump will address them.

• Racism as in record low unemployment for blacks?
• Racism as in renewed attention on unequal prison terms for black men and the First Step Act ?
• Racism as in commuting the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson?
• Racism as in bringing misbehaving black college athletes safely home?
• Racism as in trying to protect the jobs of low income blacks from illegal workers?
• Racism as in wanting safer streets and neighborhoods in Chicago?
• Racism as in wanting to reduce genocidal abortion rate for black women which is 4x that of white women?

Tell me, Superintendent Johnson, what exactly has the President done to offend your race sensitivities?

Tell me all the great things President Obama and President Clinton did for blacks, other than boosting your pride?

It's Christmas catalog time

This week we've been getting Christmas catalogs. They quickly go in the trash, but I did browse the Hallmark catalog. On p. 24 there was something Christian. Must have slipped past the censors. Our 21st century culture is not unlike the one into which God took on flesh and became one of us to suffer and die for us.

It almost makes me look back with nostalgia to the 60s when Christians worried about the military-industrial complex instead of the minions of Moloch pumping children full of hormones, abusing them with surgery, and selling aborted baby parts to pharmaceutical labs.

Might be a good time for Jesus to return--just saying.

2006

What to expect after brain surgery—from a blog by someone who had it

Here’s what to expect after brain surgery (according to this writer at an advice blog):

1. It takes a long time to recover. I know that probably sounds obvious, but this point took a long time to sink in. I got really impatient with myself. I kept wondering, after just a week, when I’d start to feel like myself again. At two weeks, I started to panic. In the end, it took months – months! – before I felt normal. It’s been more than a year now, and guess what? Things still aren’t exactly where they should be. And that’s okay. Healing takes time. Be patient with yourself.
   –
2. You will be stoned out of your gourd. I was loopy from the medicine, and slept for days. DAYS. I could barely stay conscious for more than  a few hours, but I kept fighting it, which was dumb. Just sleep it off. You’ve earned your rest.
   –
3. You will have the attention span of a goldfish (because of the aforementioned medicine). TV shows will be really difficult to follow, and reading books or email will be absolutely impossible. Even the plots of movies you’ve already seen will be absurdly confusing. Have you tried watching Adventure Time? The episodes are only 11 minutes long, and they don’t really make sense anyway, so you might want to check them out.
   –
4. It might hurt. A lot. This should probably fall right into the “obvious” pile, but I did not anticipate this. The thing is, getting your head drilled actually causes pain. People will tell you that the brain doesn’t have any nerve endings, but your scalp and your skin do. Now is not the time to wait it out or to be tough. Because you could end up with a headache that lasts for – I kid you not – days. Take your damn painkillers. You can be macho at a more appropriate time, like at the grocery store or your child’s birthday party. (Also, if you start feeling really badly, or if cerebral fluid starts leaking out your nose or ears, call your doctor IMMEDIATELY).
   –
5. Nerves take a long time to regrow. When your surgeon cut into your skull, they also cut into a lot of tissue and nerve. Over the next few months, as these grow and heal, they’re going to be crazy sensitive. Every time I shivered, it felt like it reverberated straight across my skull and down into my brain. I’ve found that the best way to calm things down was to gently press a hand onto my head. Just a bit of pressure helped soothe my nerve endings. Also, consider wearing hats to ward away chills.
   –
6. Your senses might reset. Rand told me about this, and it still amazes me: whenever the brain is touched or traumatized, your senses are affected. In my case, I noticed that my already strong sense of smell (this nose ain’t for show, buddy) was now basically super-human. I could smell things that hadn’t happened yet. I also became acutely aware of the sound of my own voice, which sounded strange and foreign to me. Sometimes it still does. Things normalize after a few months, and I’ve got to admit: this is one of the cooler after-effects of brain surgery.
   –
7. You ain’t gonna poop for like, a week. The lower intestine is the last thing to wake up after major surgery. So take all those stool softeners the docs are giving you, okay?
   –
8. Steroids can you turn into a hormonal, rage-filled beast. The good news: they stop your brain from swelling, so you don’t die. The bad news: they transform you into the Hulk. But with acne. And a huge desire to eat everything in your fridge. Here’s a tip: try eating lots of lean protein and veggies, and accept that you might gain some weight, anyway. Be responsible, but don’t try to limit your caloric intake or diet (I can’t remember why – but I think it actually has a negative effect on muscle mass). Remember: it’s not permanent. You’re feeling weird because of the medicine, not because you’ve become Phinneas Gage or something.
   –
9. Scar tissue is a bitch. Check with your doctor on this one, but after you’ve healed completely, consider massaging the site of your incision to help break up the scar tissue that forms around it (I think that you, like me, will have a hole in your skull as opposed to a metal plate. So, please, be gentle). A little bit of scar tissue protects your skull, but if you have a lot (like I have) you might feel an uncomfortable pulling across your scalp. Do be careful: even now, a year later, I get headaches if massage my suture spot too much.
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10. Your head is going to look like a medieval dungeon. There’s the matted blood in your hair, and the weird jelly they put on your head, and the metal staples holding it all together and … ugh. Oh, and you’ll have weird scabs on your scalp, as well as some bruising. As gnarly as all that sounds, it is, apparently, normal.
    –
11. Obviously, this goes without saying, but you shouldn’t pick at anything.
    –
12. Your throat is gonna hurt like hell from the breathing tube.
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13. You are going to wake up crazy thirsty from the anesthesia, and no one is going to give you water, because they are concerned you are going to throw it up. So instead, you get to much on ice chips in an attempt to quench your crazy thirst. And then you will probably throw up anyway.
    –
14. Do you speak more than one language? I’m pretty sure you speak French. Anyway, you might get confused as to which language you are speaking, and to whom. I did that – kept talking to Rand in Italian, and getting mad when he said, “Baby, I can’t understand you.”
    –
15. Get someone to do your laundry. It’s amazing how quickly you will go through every single pair of pjs you have when you are wearing them non-stop. Ditto for pillowcases, which you will need to change nightly. And towels. You will basically amass a military barracks’ worth of soiled clothing and linens, but you will be too out of it to remember how to work your washing machine. Ask someone for help.
    –
16. Actually, for that matter, get someone to take care of you. Swallow your pride, and rely on other people. You will be in a daze. Making yourself food, getting dressed, washing your hair, are all going to be impossible without help. I was 31 when I had brain surgery. I can’t remember ever needing my mother more.
    –
17. People in your life are going to react to this in different ways. The crazy thing is, you won’t be able to predict who’s going to do what. Some of them are going to be amazing. They will come to the hospital and visit you and send you chocolate-covered fruit and call you to see how you are doing. They will stop by your house with food and presents and if they are grossed out by your head, they won’t show it. And some folks … well, some of them will drop off the face of the planet. They’ll say or do weird and insensitive things. They’ll dismiss what you’ve been through. It may hurt your feelings, it may be infuriating, it might just confuse the hell out of you. Whatever the case, try to go easy on them, okay? Some people are just bad in a crisis. Besides, you’ve got bigger things to worry about.
    -
18. Friends are going to look to you for cues on how to act. If you don’t want to talk about it, they won’t ask. If you are really open, they’ll be receptive to what you have to say. Decide how you want to deal with this thing, and you’ll find that everyone else will likely fall into step.
    -
19. The entire experience will be weird and surreal. My surgery was more than a year ago, and I still haven’t completely wrapped my head (heh) around what happened. Things seem to fall into two categories: “before my brain surgery” and “after.” That’s just how it is. It’s a weird thing.
    
20. For a very brief window of time, everything in your life is going to make sense. The petty things that bug you will fall away, and you’ll just be really grateful to be alive. Enjoy that feeling for as long as you can.-
http://www.everywhereist.com/20-things-you-can-expect-after-brain-surgery/

Splat! I fell at the library

The death rate from falls among the elderly is increasing, and no one seems to know why. In 2007, the rate of death due to falls was 47 per 100,000. This rate increased to 61.6 per 100,000 in the year 2016. Is it better records, or the baby boomers still taking risks?

I fell today. It wasn't far, and I wasn't hurt, but I sure felt foolish and I don't think anyone saw me. I was at the library which always has a nice display of used books for sale. They are arranged low on 3 shelf book trucks. So I sort of squatted down to get a better look and I tipped over! I kid you not. Splat. I was on the floor. So I sort of rearranged my legs to look like kids do sitting on the floor to browse the books. Of course, then I had to get up from that position! It was a struggle, but I did it. For just $2.00 I got 2 nice books I didn't need.

Update from my 84 year old Lakeside neighbor, Dorothy?

Oh boy, DO I IDENTIFY!!!

Back a few weeks, I fell out of bed trying to get to bathroom, hit my head on nightstand (black eye resulted), happened at 3:30 a.m. SO NO ONE AROUND to SEE. Bleeding profusely from leg wound that scraped metal part on walker which was close to bed (required 9 stitches).  YES, I drove myself to ER, no one ahead of me, got right in - I wasn't about to call 911 & have WHOLE neighborhood awake & asking questions the next day, NO WAY. WAS FUN going thru ALL RED LIGHTS, at 3:30 a.m. NOT MANY OTHERS OUT & NO Police cars IN SIGHT .

On Thanksgiving and suffering

I was on my way to reading something else in 2 Corinthians, but stopped at Paul's "thanksgiving" which follows his greeting, "grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." We hear that greeting so often, we sometimes don't even notice it. Christian pastors often begin their sermons with that.

I was writing in my gratitude journal; the words grace and gratitude are derived from the Latin gratis/gratus/gratia which means thankful. Eucharist derives from the Greek εὐχαριστία (eucharistia), meaning "thanksgiving," and root for "charity" is right in the middle.

Interestingly, in Paul's "thanksgiving" which I often skip to get on to the juicy stuff of resolving conflicts, and raising money, he uses the Jewish blessing "God of all encouragement" (consolation, paraklesis) ten times! And when does he encourage us? In every affliction. He mentions suffering or affliction seven times in this word of thanksgiving.

"Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement."

Although I never got to the verses I had planned to read, today I'm thankful for God's encouragement in a time of suffering.

https://www.wordsense.eu/grace/

I shared the above thought about thanksgiving and gratitude on my Facebook page, which allows others to respond immediately, not like a blog which has to be approved first.  A young Lutheran pastor from Texas, Phil Daniels, who a few years ago was a seminary student serving at our church, responded.  I don’t know when I friended him on FB, or how he happened to notice my little essay.

Philip Daniels: That is very insightful. I have noticed, as I have been working on sermons, how often I overlook those introductions in order to go onto the more meaty stuff ... and I'm a pastor! That has been something God has been teaching me both in my personal study and public proclamation: don't overlook those introductions. And I do love the word "Paraklesis" which has overtones of the word often used to describe the Holy Spirit. In the Septuagint we see Isaiah most famously use it in Isaiah 40:1: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. The Hebrew in that sense is "Nacham." As far as I can understand, the word is tied to both breath and resuscitation. In Arabic, the word means "to breath pantingly." While, this misses the mark, it does give us a little insight as words of comfort are often felt like gasps of living breath to those worn out by fatigue in the world. Yet the earliest parts of the Bible seem to use it in the comforting after a death (i.e. Genesis 24:67b, "So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.")

Nacham therefore is best understood as a revivification after the loss of someone or some ideal dear. And, oddly, one wonders if one has to experience this death in order to have this new breath breathed into one.

This is probably overanalyzing Paul in this context. On the other hand, I am also sure Paul would not be averse to such thinking. These are people who can offer comfort because a new breath has been put inside them. A Comforter has been called beside them. They can now breathe new life into the lives of those around them since they have been "comforted" indeed we could say they have experienced "nacham." If we forget that we have been revived, that we too have looked upon the cross and the body placed in the tomb; we can also declare that Someone has revived us and bids us to GO! and share the good news that we have.

In any case, keep reading and don't be afraid of the New Life found each New Day in the easy glanced-over parts of this Book of Life.

Catering to the confused

Air Canada announced that it no longer will use the phrase “ladies and gentlemen” on board its flights, as part of a “commitment to respect sexual identity, diversity, and inclusion.”

What's the fun in that? What are the guys going to transition to if airlines (tech firms, big pharma, academe, etc.) wipe out all the differences? How will they join the women’s track competition if there are no women?  It might be PC, but it's not respect.

Downton Abbey—a look back

Downton Abbey was a delight as a TV series, and I hope to see the movie. But have you ever wondered why the Grantham family were living in an abbey? Definition of an Abbey: a monastery under the supervision of an abbot or a convent under the supervision of an abbess. I don't claim to know anything about the British aristocracy or what the titles Countess, Earl, or Lady mean, but I do know they aren't priests, nuns or abbots. Our status symbols in the U.S. are all about money and celebrity, not titles--Jeff Bezos for instance is the richest man the world--and that means more power than a title handed down from his father. Even the wealthiest and most admired dynasties in the U.S. disappear in a flash when the money is gone, or the government takes it away. Movie stars who have a different admired status become wrinkled and don't get the good roles.

So why did Anglican British royalty and lesser folk live in buildings built by Roman Catholics? It goes back to the English Reformation and is one of the nastiest and unloving chapters in Christian history. King Henry VIII stole the wealth of the monasteries, had the owners killed off, chased off or imprisoned, and gave the lands and buildings to his supporters. The church had traditionally taken care of the poor and sick (as Jesus told them to do)--they were turned out also, and we had the seeds of the terrible poverty, wealth and abuses of the industrial revolution.

Not a big crisis, but. . .

As crises go in the Bruce family, this was not serious, but my coffee maker died yesterday morning in mid-drip. So today I went to Wal-Mart after the gym to buy a new one. I finally found one that didn't look like the dash of my new Pacifica, but there were no boxes except on the top shelf labeled, "Ask for assistance." So I went to the front of the store to ask an employee for help. She didn't speak English, but after wildly waving my arms and pointing to the ceiling she nodded and set out to find someone. After about 10 minutes of waiting, I went back to find her and through sign language she told me she had asked someone. I kept an eye on her and saw her talking to the disabled door greeter. He very slowly came back to the H aisle and asked what the problem was, and I explained it. He was tall, but greeting customers was really all he could do. And bless Wal-Mart for giving people opportunities to work. He seemed confused, so I asked him if he could find another employee with a ladder. Another 5 minutes and he'd found a short, able-bodied woman who could speak English, and she knew where the ladder in dry goods was. She carried it over to kitchen appliances and climbed to the top of the step ladder (which you shouldn't do) and retrieved the box. I examined the contents carefully, and the four of us decided I'd buy the coffee pot.

I've now made one pot of coffee; it's very slow, and it sort of spits, but after that much time (good thing I'm retired), it's not going back.

Insurgencies, civil wars and conflicts in Africa

As fingers point and hands are wrung about 50 soldiers pulled out of the Turkey-Syria conflict where the U.S. is attempting to hold back ISIS, can anyone tell me why this particular civil war in Syria is so critical to American interests?  I’m not looking for snarky, ad hominem attacks, this is a REAL QUESTION.

It’s about Africa, not the Middle East.

There are civil wars, insurgencies and tribal/ border conflicts all over Africa. Except for Kenya (Obama’s relatives) and Nigeria (Boko Haram kidnapping Christian girls) the U.S. media and politicians  rarely pay attention to the slaughter and mayhem in Africa, particularly of Christians by Muslims. And please spare me the trash talking about European colonialism—a quick look  at Wikipedia shows wars, conflicts and civil wars going back 1500 years, and most of these are tribal or Muslim sects.

Here’s a quick check, according to Wikipedia. See that source for more detail:

• On going insurgency in Egypt
• On going South Sudanese Civil War
• On going 2nd Libyan Civil War
• On going ISIL insurgency in Tunisia
• On going insurgency in Maghreb (Algeria and Morocco)
• Ongoing insurgency in Somalia
• On going conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia
• On going Burundian unrest
• Ongoing Anglophone crisis, Cameroon
• Ongoing Northern Mali conflict
• Ongoing Boko Haram, Nigeria
• Ongoing Kamwina Nsapu Rebellion, Democratic Republic of Congo

Is it the color of their skin? American blacks don’t care about Africa if it’s not directly related to U.S.  slavery? The amount of natural resources?  The distance? Language problems?  CIA doesn’t even have Fact Books on some of these countries.

Reflection on Exodus 17:8-13, with apologies to Moses.

In those days, Cancer came and waged war against Phil's brain. Phil Bruce therefore said to his medical posse, "Pick out the best you have--surgeons, nurses, therapists, med techs, hematologists, cardiologists, radiologists--and go out and engage Cancer in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."

So the posse did as Phil told them: they engaged Cancer in battle after Phil had climbed to the top of the hill with his family Norma, Bob, Phoebe and Mark. As long as Phil kept his hands raised up, his body had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, the Cancer had the better of the fight.

Phil's hands grew tired so they put a rock, his church, in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile, his family, extended family and close friends--Ron, Keith, Carl, Tom, John, Sara, and many others-- supported his hands, some on one side, some on the other side so he remained steady till sunset. And the medical posse mowed down the Cancer and tumors with the edge of medical miracles swords.

Janice Fiamengo looks at space travel

As we honor the women in space today, let's take a look at what other women are doing, disparaging space travel and exploration as ableist, colonialist, white supremacist, anti-native American, with a panel of angry resentful "scholars" male shaming. "Discovery" in their view is a racist, exploitive word, up to no good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UACktweQ3s

Janice Fiamengo who's about the smartest woman on the internet comments and analyzes. I don't see her as often as I used to. The Left has quite a campaign against her that seems to be working. She lives and works in Toronto.

I'm not sure one of these panelists is a woman, but they take the feminist line and may identify as one; I'm also not sure one of them is black, but she seems to identify as one; also not sure why the whitest is native American, but that's what pays her mortgage. It 's not lengthy, but will demonstrate for you the craziness going on in academe as wokeness moves from the social sciences into space travel.