The Story of Green Gables at Lakeside, by Janet Jennings

“What was the one of the biggest challenges you faced during 18 years of serving as House Chair of Green Gables?” I posed this question to Becky Johnson who is stepping down from this responsibility at the end of the 2020 Lakeside Chautauqua season. This was Becky’s answer: “…resolving the feral cat problem while trying to be sensitive to the cat lovers.”

This response is so typical of this gentle, tactful lady, who, along with Bret, is quick to show concern for other people. Friends know them as a loving, selfless couple who work tirelessly to make life happier or easier for others. The Johnsons have been far more than mere custodians of the 137-year-old house at 161 Walnut Avenue. They are first and foremost caretakers of people.

“Green Gables has been a place filled with women for over 90 years,” Becky wrote recently, “and I love thinking about the stories of friendships forged and relationships strengthened. I love Green Gables when it is full of women learning and sharing, and I love it when it is a quiet fall evening and we are putting it to bed for the winter.”

Becky took on the job of Green Gables House Chair in 2002, a couple of years after they had completed work on their own cottage on Jasmine. Since the Lakeside Women’s Club was organized in 1928, a member or committee has been appointed or elected to this task. Husbands sometimes pitch in to help as Bret has. It’s all volunteer. The House Chair is in charge of the interior of Green Gables. A few of her duties are opening and closing in spring and fall, hiring cleaners, purchasing supplies, readying bedrooms and bathrooms for renters, calling exterminators, plumbers, and handymen, making decor decisions, keeping the furnishings in good repair, working closely with the Resident Hostess, Librarian, and officers of the Club, the Lakeside administration and security. And those are just the basics.

What makes the job daunting is not only the age of the house, but, as Becky explains, “Making decisions on a public place is very different from working in your own home. I was conscious of trying to make Green Gables appealing to everyone who visited. Budgeting repairs at Green Gables is different as I tried to be a good steward of the Club’s funds.” Then, being Becky, she adds this positive note: “ I learned that regardless of the décor, women love being together in a
place where they can feel at home.”

Becky explained, “The general rule is that the Association is responsible for the exterior and the Club takes care of the inside. However, on big projects (HVAC, new foundation, updated kitchen, replacement of rotted joists, etc.) we partner with the Association to get the job done. In more recent years, we have been able to rely on Lakeside maintenance for smaller inside issues. Our relationship has evolved into a real partnership. Without them, the Club would be
at a real disadvantage.”

The Lakeside Association owns Green Gables and maintains the exterior as they do their other 46+ buildings. But the Lakeside Women’s Club, a separate non-profit, is not a tenant in the usual sense. The Association generously lets the Club use the house
because of an agreement worked out when Arthur Hoover was general manager of Lakeside. In 1928, Hoover persuaded the woman who owned the house situated at 161 Walnut, a prime piece of real estate, to sell to the Lakeside Association. It had been a boarding
house, but at that time was standing vacant, 45 years old, and in need of paint. Mr. Hoover then negotiated with Lakeside Trustees that the cottage would be used as the club house for a newly-formed Woman’s Club with his wife, Bessie Hoover, serving as founding president.

Next, the Lakeside Association painted the outside, and Mrs. Hoover
donated some of her own furniture from the Hoover home across the street at 205 Park Row. Her wicker set still occupies the spot in front of the fireplace today. Perhaps this was the beginning of the tradition that the Association would maintain the exterior and the Women’s Club (it was called Woman’s Club then) would take care of the interior. Sounds shaky, but somehow this unique arrangement has worked for 92 years.

Green Gables is heavily used during the season. Somebody once told Becky that they thought Green Gables was a place where old ladies went to knit. Becky laughs, “It’s that and so much more!” She has a favorite memory from June, 2016. The Johnsons were glued to the upstairs TV along with Lois Weller, the former Resident Hostess. The Cleveland Cavaliers were playing Game 7 in the NBA finals. The Johnsons are from Bedford and Lois lives in Parma, and no major
Cleveland sports team had won a title since 1964, so of course they were excited. “When the Cavs won, how we cheered,” Becky remembers, “and you could hear people all around yelling!”

Lois Weller appreciates Becky and Bret very much. She is very aware of how much leadership, time, and effort this generous couple has contributed to Green Gables and the Lakeside Women’s Club. She knows firsthand of their dedication to family, church, schools in which they have taught, children and youth in Lakeside, and persons for whom they have caretaker responsibilities.

Another person who worked with Becky and Bret the entire 18 years was Betsy Kennedy, former librarian of Green Gables. “With the Johnsons, it’s always been a family affair,” she said in a recent phone conversation. Betsy can’t say enough about the kindness of Becky and Bret—carrying heavy boxes of books to and from storage, lugging in tables for the annual book sale—and they always responded quickly and cheerfully to any request.

From the beginning Bret did his part, and when daughter Grace, or “Miss Gracie” as Betsy and Lois fondly call her, came on the scene fourteen years ago, it became a trio. As Grace was growing up, Betsy said that if a house cleaner didn’t show up, it was sometimes Bret and Gracie who raced upstairs to clean, change the bed, and clean the
bathroom. Grace has always felt that Green Gables is her second home. Becky recalls one fall when she and Bret painted walls while baby Gracie slept in her bouncy seat on the floor.

During the season for many years, the evening before the Tuesday meeting, Bret could be found mopping the kitchen and downstairs bathroom floor on his hands and knees. His simple explanation
was, “I know how to wash floors, and I thought it would help Lois.”

Reflecting back, Becky wrote, “Green Gables is a unique place that has a sweet cadence to it. It’s a place where everyone is welcome. It is filled with tradition that makes it familiar to people, year after year.”

Thank you, Becky, for devoting eighteen years of your life to our grand old lady, Green Gables, and being a big part of what makes it such a welcoming place.

When St. Matthew wrote about Donald Trump

For those virtue signaling, self-righteous, perfect Christians who believe President Trump is a fake Christian based on your judgements of his past life,  Jesus talked about you 2000+ years ago in a parable.

Matthew 21:28-32.

He's talking to the chief priests and elders of that time. The pastors, synod bishops, church board members, professors at elite colleges with "studies" programs, Christian counselors, workshop leaders, non-profit CEOs, the writers and editors of slick Christian journals, hymn writers, Sunday school teachers of note and faithful, tithing pew sitters in today's world.

Jesus said, "A man had 2 sons. He came to the first and said, "Son, go out and work in the vineyard today." That son said, "I will not," but later changed his mind and went.

The man went to his other son and gave the same order, and that one said, "Yes, sir," but he didn't go.

Which son did his father's will? Trapped, the wise ones said, "Of course, the first son."

And here Jesus really lays down the hammer. "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes, real estate developers and entertainers, are entering the Kingdom of God before you self-righteous hypocrites . (I've paraphrased a bit)

There was no one better than Matthew to tell this story because he too was a bad person, a hated, corrupt tax collector, yet Jesus told him to follow him, and to this day we read his words. He was a master at detail and organization. Matthew included 4 women in his genealogy of Jesus--2 were were prostitutes, Tamar and Rahab, one an adulteress, Bathsheba, and one an outsider, a non-Israelite, Ruth.

Just in case you didn't get the message. . .

BLM advocates are ignorant about real ethnic problems

https://www.africanews.com/2020/09/23/cameroon-protesters-call-for-end-to-bloodshed-from-anglophone-crisis/?

BLM advocates among white, guilt ridden, U.S. Christians should take a look at what is going on in Cameroon if they think every sin is about skin color or "racial justice." There are 250+ tribal/ethnic groups, all the same race (as Westerners define humanity) with many languages, plus a French speaking and an English speaking national division, and the usual divided Christian groups. And this is a simplification. Now riots to end the civil war. Loved hearing from the Cameroon-American woman who stood up to the rioters  https://www.prageru.com/video/i-love-america-too-much-to-stay-silent/

How some Democrats see Barrett’s adoption

When John McCain appeared with his adult POC adopted daughter during the 2008 campaign, Democrats accused him of having a "love child." Now they've progressed and are calling Judge Barrett a "colonialist" for having adopted children who are black Haitians. Democrats never see love, loyalty, compassion, humility, strength, wisdom, devotion, or even simple humanity. Only skin color.

A beautiful family reflecting American values

What a lovely family. Democrats are fund raising on hate for this woman and her values--life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, rights given to us by our Creator. Democrats have booed and belittled our Creator, and can't offer any of those values, especially not life. They offer no liberty, only subservience to the government, and they want guarantees and equity, not pursuit.

Black Lives Matter is covering up its Marxist roots

Americans need to understand that BLM founders are Marxists, and even if they take it off their website (where millions have already seen it), the demand to destroy private property, remove religious liberty and dismantle the nuclear family isn't going to go away. They've got a catchy slogan, but it covers up their goals.

https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/commentary/fact-checking-new-york-times-fact-checker-blms-china-links?

Mike Gonzalez is no light weight, know nothing like New York Times "reporters." NYT has met a real researcher/fact checker.

A Methodist Pastor speaks his mind on “privilege”

If you believe the MSM, the political hacks, critical race theorists, socialists, progressive church leadership and the community organizers/agitators life in the US is horrible, unjust, violent, bigoted, and extremely difficult. Further, from my position of White Privilege I can neither understand nor sympathize with the plight of the non-white populace. That may very well be true. However, those of us of any color in the US cannot even begin to understand how difficult daily life is in Venezuela and Peru and Honduras and Ecuador and Guatemala, etc. The inequity is truly incomprehensible. For my own tribe (Methodists) this is an appropriate time for a correction of perspective. “The least of these” may not be those of us living in the most prosperous nation in history. And yes, I know there are poor and oppressed people here. But we need to bring some comparable perspective to the current narrative.

Warren Lathem

Which cities have the highest rate of unmarried families?

Smartest Dollar this week features cities with the most single parent families--also the poorest in society (as a group--not all single parent families are poor). Ohio doesn't score well--Cleveland (73.3%) and Columbus (49.4%), #1 and #8. For smaller cities, Dayton (70.1%) was #1. https://smartestdollar.com/research/cities-with-the-most-single-parents-2020?

The solution for government workers (deep state and elected) is to throw more money at it. But when you look at the stats, either in print or in a graph, it primarily took off after the War on Poverty and affected more blacks than whites. In the worst days of Jim Crow, Blacks had a higher marriage rate and lower unemployment than whites. Driving dad out of the home with promises of government assistance in his place has been very harmful for the black family. But whites have followed the trend with marriage being considered a non-essential until other needs are fulfilled.

Also, not mentioned in this article is the effect of the pill and abortion in convincing women that they could go it alone.

Then when you see which ethnic group has done the best in solving this, it isn't whites, it's Asians, who have the highest marriage rate, the lowest unemployment and the highest education rate of any group in our society. It doesn't even mention that in the article, but you can check it in other sources.

Marriage, not government programs, is the solution to child poverty. What does BLM want to destroy? The nuclear family--i.e. marriage--because of its link to personal property and religion. Which group as the highest rate of child poverty because of unmarried parents--blacks. This is a statistic BLM will tell you is racist, because marriage is racist.

Who is the Nazi?

The party that is suggesting that Trump is a Nazi, is proposing a total lockdown of our society, taking that option away from the governors and mayors. They want to destroy the Electoral College which gives small states a say in our government. They want to pack the Supreme Court because they fear the Constitution that protects We the People. We are called the "United States" for a reason, and Democrats want to destroy that.

BLM believes private property, the family and religion must be destroyed

Divini Redemptoris , On Atheistic Communism

Pope Pius XI – 1937 https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius11/p11divin.htm

The Catholic Church has recognized the danger of Communism for over a century and three quarters.  It was speaking out about the atheistic concepts in 1845.  These paragraphs are from a 1937 encyclical—before I was born, and perfectly outlines the methods and goals and beliefs of Black Lives Matter, BLM—the messianic fervor, the ideals of “justice, equality and fraternity” (inclusion, equity and diversity), the deception, the violent hate and destruction and the eradication of private property. You don't need to reinvent an argument against the destruction of the family and private property--it's been done for you.

The Pope in this encyclical, 20 years after the Bolshevik Revolution, mentions the “world wide economic crisis” and of course, then it was a world depression, now a world pandemic. But Communists take advantage of our pain and real problems to achieve their goals. The whole racism, reparations, police chants are just a means to an end. Destruction of our society. There is no intention by BLM to return to an orderly society with injustices solved.

8. The Communism of today [1937], more emphatically than similar movements in the past, conceals in itself a false messianic idea. A pseudo-ideal of justice, of equality and fraternity in labor impregnates all its doctrine and activity with a deceptive mysticism, which communicates a zealous and contagious enthusiasm to the multitudes entrapped by delusive promises. This is especially true in an age like ours, when unusual misery has resulted from the unequal distribution of the goods of this world. This pseudo-ideal is even boastfully advanced as if it were responsible for a certain economic progress. As a matter of fact, when such progress is at all real, its true causes are quite different, as for instance the intensification of industrialism in countries which were formerly almost without it, the exploitation of immense natural resources, and the use of the most brutal methods to insure the achievement of gigantic projects with a minimum of expense.

9. The doctrine of modern Communism, which is often concealed under the most seductive trappings, is in substance based on the principles of dialectical and historical materialism previously advocated by Marx, of which the theoricians of bolshevism claim to possess the only genuine interpretation. According to this doctrine there is in the world only one reality, matter, the blind forces of which evolve into plant, animal and man. Even human society is nothing but a phenomenon and form of matter, evolving in the same way. By a law of inexorable necessity and through a perpetual conflict of forces, matter moves towards the final synthesis of a classless society. In such a doctrine, as is evident, there is no room for the idea of God; there is no difference between matter and spirit, between soul and body; there is neither survival of the soul after death nor any hope in a future life. Insisting on the dialectical aspect of their materialism, the Communists claim that the conflict which carries the world towards its final synthesis can be accelerated by man. Hence they endeavor to sharpen the antagonisms which arise between the various classes of society. Thus the class struggle with its consequent violent hate and destruction takes on the aspects of a crusade for the progress of humanity. On the other hand, all other forces whatever, as long as they resist such systematic violence, must be annihilated as hostile to the human race.

10. Communism, moreover, strips man of his liberty, robs human personality of all its dignity, and removes all the moral restraints that check the eruptions of blind impulse. There is no recognition of any right of the individual in his relations to the collectivity; no natural right is accorded to human personality, which is a mere cog-wheel in the Communist system. In man’s relations with other individuals, besides, Communists hold the principle of absolute equality, rejecting all hierarchy and divinely-constituted authority, including the authority of parents. What men call authority and subordination is derived from the community as its first and only font. Nor is the individual granted any property rights over material goods or the means of production, for inasmuch as these are the source of further wealth, their possession would give one man power over another. Precisely on this score, all forms of private property must be eradicated, for they are at the origin of all economic enslavement .

Hysterectomies and illegal immigrants

The hospital representative has spoken up and said they have evidence of two hysterectomies. The news has been full of the whistleblower version. You really have to search to get anything else on the story. However, I have another point.

I’m sure there are abortionists who don’t collect fetuses or baby feet, but the ghoul Gosnell in Philadelphia did. He even fed body parts to his turtles and the facilities were filthy. Then there was the abortionist Klopfer who died and they found thousands of preserved babies’ bodies and parts in garages in Illinois and Indiana. In Columbus, there’s a doctor on trial for “offing” his dying patients (25) with overdoses of fentanyl—Mt. Carmel (Trinity) system. Our local media paid some attention to local issues, but the Gosnell trial was completely ignored by MSM (he’s in prison). The Indian Health Service had a terrible expose published by WSJ last year (just found it) about the health of native Americans, and I doubt it even made a ripple, but the study covered 2005-2019. Three presidents. Charges were serious enough I’m sure it goes back much further, since the government’s cradle to grave health care has never had good results.

But somehow, Trump is responsible for the privately contracted medical system with a foreign doctor in one county in one state who the whistleblower says “collected uteruses.” And because Trump is president, the media make it a hot button issue implying it’s his problem, according to the national news and social media. I don’t recall our Ohio governor (forgotten which one) being responsible for what went on at Mt. Carmel, or the governors of Pennsylvania, Illinois or Indiana being responsible for what 2 abortionists did in their states. In fact, in order to protect the right of women to “health care,” those cases received only a fraction of the coverage of the hysterectomies. It seems all news is becoming political and “gotcha.”

Amin, the foreign Georgia doctor, has been working since 1988, and had already been charged and fined with Medicare and Medicaid fraud over 5 years ago. If the whistleblower’s charges (very serious, not just hysterectomies) are true, then there must be other workers who were negligent in not reporting this years ago. In Gosnell’s case, he was also having sex with some of his staff. Gross.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/us/2020/09/23/congressmen-ask-for-investigation-of-gynecologist-linked-to-georgia-immigration-detention-centre.html

https://heavy.com/news/2020/09/mahendra-amin/

https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/26/native-american-health-scandal-shows-why-government-run-care-can-be-deadly/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/nurses-defend-ohio-doctor-accused-murdering-25-patients-lawsuit-against-n1102796

What science or expert do you trust?

"According to the epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta, you should do just about the opposite of what’s being preached by college presidents, teachers’ unions, political leaders, and the scientific and media establishment. Unless you’re elderly or particularly vulnerable, you shouldn’t be wearing a mask all day, or shaming others for going unmasked. You should be careful not to endanger the vulnerable, but otherwise you should be exposing yourself to the virus in order to promote herd immunity."

https://www.city-journal.org/achieving-herd-immunity?

I was a medical librarian for 14 years, agriculture for 3 and I used to translate medical journals when I was a grad student.  If I'd ever tried to present my clients or employers with the mish mash of so-called politicized science we've heard the last 6 months, I would have been fired. I have no idea if Dr. Gupta is right, or whether 6' is the optimal number, or whether masks do any good.  This I believe: the elderly, like me, are at risk; those with other health conditions like smoking, diabetes, obesity and lung diseases are at risk even if not elderly; and rioting and looting and taking your exposure back to your family puts everyone at risk.

The Blessing in many languages

Yesterday I came across a new contemporary hymn called The Blessing, and it has caught the world by storm.  I think it was released live in March, and by May, because of Covid, it had become a world favorite using people of many lands and languages all singing together, although they weren’t. Each group is passionate about Jesus and their own country.  When Americans are patriotic, when they express love for country or Jesus, they are called xenophobic or racist by leftists, but when you see these people all working together despite their differences, you see that bond.  And since so many are singing in their own homes, in their own settings, you see how technology, fashion and music are really global.  I did this for over an hour yesterday, and it was mesmerizing.

https://youtu.be/m-UDnY1B0fI The India blessing, sung in English, Hindi, Urdu, Kannada, Gujarati, Odia, Malayalam, Punjabi, Nagamese, Bangla, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil.

And in Spanish https://youtu.be/13TuS5egUVI

And in French https://youtu.be/j1eCnolXi8s

And Arabic, 16 nations https://youtu.be/Qy0v69p5Jik

From Australia, asking blessings on their nation https://youtu.be/OOt7baaVSbE

And from Kenya, many blessings on their land https://youtu.be/G0BppDtl3_Q

Zimbabweans asking for blessing in time of Covid https://youtu.be/OA1tVs7VNcY

The Blessing Nigeria--tremendous creativity in this one--in English, Esan, Urhobo, Benin, Igbo, Tiv, Hausa, Brom, Yoruba, Kalabari, Ibibio, Okrika, Ijaw, and voice overs and prophecy. https://youtu.be/lewZ8ZhZB3Q

And the Swedes https://youtu.be/Z21Jyq7RPXo

Over 20 churches and groups in Lebanon sing for their country https://youtu.be/tQ818qHiHL0

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭7:9-12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

You now have the facts about this nomination

All we need are the facts.  We don’t have to call Fancy Nancy names like lunatic even though she’s gone on national television threatening to impeach the President for fulfilling his duty.

It’s a fact.  This has happened 29 times according to Ted Cruz.  Yes, and each time a president at the end of his term has done his duty, and the Senate did theirs.  Period. Barack Obama did it too—and he lost.  That also happens if the President and the Senate are not the same party.   Democrats and some Republican RINOs like Murkowski and Romney are just uninformed (and suffering from severe TDS) when they say this is unprecedented.  The RINOs are also stabbing their constituents in the back.  The courts, for some, are a bigger deal than abortion or the 2nd amendment. Honor your voters wishes.

It’s also a fact that Democrats are threatening to pack the court.

It’s also a fact that Democrats want to add 2 more states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. to their “quiver” to take over the country.

It’s also a fact that Democrats want to destroy the electoral college so only the major metropolitan areas, which they control (most burning from riots and looting) will have a say in governance.

It’s also a fact that the far left of the Democrat party is pushing the “green new deal.”  If you want to see how that works, take a look at California and Oregon burning from 40 years of bad environmental laws and regulations.

It’s also a fact that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed in 44 days from nomination, less time than we have now before the election.

So now my friends, you silent lurkers who read my posts every day, you can face your wild eyed friends and family with information.  Let them do the screaming and yelling and the ad hominem attacks.

Facial language fails with masks

Today I learned it is very difficult to scowl wearing a mask and have people get your message. The church I attend is still closed, so when we're in Columbus I attend St. Andrew Catholic, which is only a mile away. This has never happened before, but there were 4 men chatting 2 by 2 in the entry and in the back of the sanctuary. Usually, in my experience, Catholic churches are very quiet and people go there to worship not to catch up on the local news. I love the architecture, but the acoustics are poor with a lot of echo, so having someone talking (that sound seems to travel) makes it especially difficult for others to hear. I tried turning my head and scowling at them, but they either didn't get the message or they figured out I was a visitor and they had rights. I would like to tell them that  many churches in the U.S. are not open and they should appreciate what they have.

Critical race theory in education

I was reading a summary of an article on critical race theory in education about black teachers. I think 5 people were interviewed and from that the author, Michelle Jay who is black, concluded, "The study confirms several tenets of critical race theory including the assertion that racism is not aberrant, but endemic and permanent in American society, and routinely exists in public schools."

This is always the theme in critical race theory which is taught from the highest levels of government and military (reeducation camps) to first graders (get 'em while they are young and parents are clueless). Racism according to critical theory is endemic and permanent, so therefore society must be destroyed and rebuilt. That in a nutshell is BLM.  The talking heads on TV, including Fox, look pretty silly searching for logical, historical, rational reasons for the riots. It has nothing to do with police, or with George Floyd--they are just tools. This author was writing about this stuff 20 years ago.

If there’s a bright side the the house arrest virtual learning, it’s that parents are getting a look at what’s going on in education.

Do eye glasses protect you from Coronavirus?

I always thought it made sense that wearing eye glasses all day could protect one from virus particles, but never heard much about it. Now it's come to light again due to a study done in China (which I actually don't trust much). Two theories—glasses block the entry and keep your hands away from touching your eyes when your hands are contaminated. This is observational, as are the mask studies.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/2770873

Cheat sheet on Marxists among us

Marxists came up with critical race theory because there weren't enough poor people in the working class to overthrow the government. Too much opportunity.

Let's put it on an index card.

• Victimhood.
• Identity politics--race, sex, ethnicity.
• Indoctrination campaigns.
• Attacks on Western civilization.
• Rejection of truth and morality.
• Communal property.
• Intersectionality.
• Culture change.
• Community organizers.
• Grievance groups.
• Consciousness raising.
• Pathologize tradition and religion.
• Replace our history with the counternarrative of Marxism.
• Contempt for the middle class, common folk and flyover country.
• Anti-Semitism--especially anti-Israel.
• Capitalism is bad because it's so good, it interferes with change.
• Quash aspiration, individuality and ambition.
• Swell immigration to enlarge the victim groups.
• Loosen sexual mores to destroy the nuclear family.
• Suppress speech.
• Stifle criticism.
• Undermine authority of church and family.
• No assimilation of minorities.
• Take over the institutions--academe, corporations, churches.
• Control the language and the giving of names.
• Reject the Enlightenment--the source of today's racism.

You can learn Gregorian Chants on YouTube

OPChant is an educational YouTube channel created and maintained by two Dominican seminarians. For nearly a year they’ve been producing short videos that teach singers of all levels to perform and appreciate the traditional music of the Catholic Church: Gregorian chant. Singing in the original Latin text, these two scholars wish to share the beauty of the music that led them to discern their vocations.  They have 20,000 followers.

https://aleteia.org/2020/09/15/dominican-seminarians-reach-a-large-audience-teaching-chant-on-youtube/

Tucker interviews virologist from China

"As it happens, February 6th, that day the paper went online, was also the date of the first coronavirus death in this country. The American media had every reason to pay attention to what the Chinese scientists found. But they didn’t. For nearly two months, the paper was all but ignored by news outlets. On March 31st, this show broadcast its contents. By then, more than 3,700 Americans had died from the coronavirus. Tens of thousands were hospitalized. We imagined there would be a serious national effort to find out where the virus came from, and how the pandemic started. But we were wrong. There wasn’t. There was silence. Once again, the people in charge of our public health infrastructure simply ignored credible evidence that contradicted the Chinese government’s version of events."

Tucker talked to the virologist who fears for her life and fled China. It's not from nature, and the release was deliberate.

Which candidate for president is chummy with China? Biden. Facebook suppressed the video of the interview. Which candidate does Big Tech support? Biden. They've "fact checked" her and pulled her account, but they covered something completely unrelated from months ago.

Facebook and Big Tech believe in censorship.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/09/17/tucker_carlson_on_youtube_silencing_coronavirus_opinions_this_is_what_state_media_looks_like.html

I trust vaccines, but not Trump says Biden

Joe Biden says he trusts vaccines, he trusts science, but he doesn't trust Trump! Is Trump in the lab? Is he lining up the diverse group for the clinical trials? Of course not. He's promoting and pushing money to the firms doing the science. This vaccine has moved faster than any in history and multiple firms are working on it. All because of Trump's leadership. Biden is instilling hate, anger and distrust. How’s that for keeping people calm.  How’s that for hope? Who in the world would ever trust a vaccine with Biden's leadership? He has politicized science (although that had already been done in academia). If he wins, will he start all over because President Trump had provided the money? Probably. He wants to lockdown the entire country and raise taxes--why not start over and keep us really helpless. He hasn't read the distribution plan, but says he doesn't trust it--in fact, I think he said (with help from the media) that there was no plan in place. Biden is an anti-vaxxer. Last night I talked to a friend in the pharmaceutical business and am much encouraged. Time to toss Biden into the dust bin of history along with other socialists.

2019 crime statistics were decreasing

Before the current staged riots which have increased crime rates for 2020 in major cities, crime was decreasing. (Nine police have been shot in St. Louis since the death of George Floyd)  That must have made some CEOs of victim groups like BLM and ANTIFA very uncomfortable. It made Trump look good. Here's what happened in 2019--fewer women were assaulted and the cities were safer than 2018:

The rate of violent crime excluding simple assault declined 15% from 2018 to 2019, from 8.6 to 7.3 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older.

Among females, the rate of violent victimization excluding simple assault fell 27% from 2018 to 2019.

There were 880,000 fewer victims of serious crimes (generally felonies) in 2019 than in 2018, a 19% drop.

From 2018 to 2019, 29% fewer black persons and 22% fewer white persons were victims of serious crimes.

The rate of violent victimization in urban areas—based on the NCVS's new classifications of urban, suburban, and rural areas—declined 20% from 2018 to 2019.

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv19_sum.pdf?

The Census and critical race theory

Why did the Left oppose a citizenship question on the 2020 census? Why wouldn't the government want to know during enumeration how many are citizens? For over 40 years various interest groups have been artificially dividing us into racial and ethnic groups--they've created victim groups based on the Civil Rights movement and Act of 1964. There's a lot of money involved just for the pickin', and ready made jealousy and finger pointing that can be used for agitation and demanding more.

By emphasizing citizenship (but not ethnic ties), the government tells all people, but especially immigrants and their children, that it is concerned with their relationship not with the land of their ancestors but with the land to which they now belong. But how can you build grievances with such an outlandish idea.

https://www.heritage.org/government-regulation/report/eliminating-identity-politics-the-us-census?

The Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations (NAC) was created by Barack Obama in 2012. But not out of whole cloth, it was birthed in the "1960s and 70s, when the census office first began to create National Advisory Committees on race and ethnicity. It was in those heady days of postmodernism’s birth—when Marxism in its academic form was embarking on “the long march through the institutions”. The definitions of ethnic groups were etched into law. Each of the pan-ethnic groups that racial activists and government functionaries were adding to the census and other government surveys at the time (“Hispanics,” “Asians,” “Pacific Islanders,” etc.) were the subjects of a special census committee, starting in 1974. Four decades later, the Obama administration pulled all the difference committees into one giant NAC." We almost got (or maybe it's still in the works) MENA, Middle East and North Africa so yet another group could get a piece of the budget pie and a slice of power.

I suppose you could call it part of Obama's legacy. Suspicion, jealously, bean counting, inventing new words for differences, redistributing wealth based on grievances through special grants and poking "whites" (anything from Swede to Welsh to Spanish to Serbian) in the eye. When you understand how critical race theory academics have helped create identity groupings, you'll be better prepared to understand the distrust and unrest among artificially created groups are being churned today.

https://quillette.com/2018/10/23/inside-the-us-government-agency-where-identity-politics-was-born/?

Why do rich capitalists support Democrats?

People ask why Democrat billionaires, who are devoted capitalists, support Biden who says he'll be the most progressive president in our history. That's code for socialist/Marxist. Usually that's not good for capitalism. After all, the Soviets used to kill a peasant for owning one cow. Communism hasn't become kinder.

So here's the dirty little secret about capitalists. They want to make money. They can make more by getting the government to tie up other businesses in red tape or to shut them down completely with local, state and federal regulations. If they can make more buying off Union bosses, that will be done. It's part of overhead. If they can make more greasing the palms of senator XYZ in North Carolina than senator LMNOP of Illinois, they'll move the business south. It's the cost of doing business. Right now, many large corporations and entertainment venues (like sports) are really into "woke." One guy has the name of a rapist on his helmet. Kaepernick was encouraging the death of cops years ago. It's still about the money, and if it's blackmail, then it's just the cost of doing business.

Filibuster memes going around

The longest filibuster was the Democrats fighting the Civil Rights Act in 1964, 60 days. "Fact checkers," always on the side of the Democrats, are quick to point out these were "Southern Democrats," and it wasn't really as long as the memes say, but they never point out that Republicans are the ones who got it passed, and Republicans had passed the 1957 Civil Rights Bill. Democrats filibustered that one, too, and tried to water it down.

https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/The-Civil-Rights-Act-of-1957/?

Building a movement on victimhood

Did you ever wonder where and how we got the word, the made up word, "Hispanic?" Mexican Americans were just "white" in the census count "back in the day." They were proud to be "Americans," were working for assimilation. Same with Indian Americans like Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal. In the government reports for socioeconomic issues, they were "white." But leftists needed voting blocks, so they modeled a movement based on the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s among American blacks. People with no cultural, social or demographic affinities were lumped together--Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Colombians, Hondurans--or Chinese, Cambodians, Pakistanis--and organizations like "La Raza" were created to convince them they were victims and underserved. And it worked. Today we call it identity politics. They are all called, People of Color (POC) even if one grandparent was German the other Korean, to convince them of their victimhood. I call it a crime.

"They had the law on their side: a federal district court ruled in In Re Ricardo Rodríguez (1896) that Mexican Americans were to be considered white for the purposes of citizenship concerns. And so as late as 1947, the judge in another federal case (Mendez v. Westminster) ruled that segregating Mexican-American students in remedial schools in Orange County was unconstitutional because it represented social disadvantage, not racial discrimination. At that time Mexican Americans were as white before the law as they were in their own estimation."

Mike Gonzalez. https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/the-invention-of-hispanics/?

Killing a child because the MOTHER is disabled

Is this coming to the United States pushed by pro-abortion Democrat politicians like Harris and Biden and Pelosi? They insist they are “progressive,” and in modern language, that means abortion on demand for any reason at any point in the pregnancy. If China and England can rule against the mother, then why not a progressive U.S.?

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/06/murder-disguised-as-care

The author, Obianuju Ekeocha is founder and president of Culture of Life Africa and lives in the UK. Ethnically, she is Nigerian.  We’ve met her before—she achieved some name recognition when she called out Nancy Pelosi for cultural appropriation for wearing the Kente cloth stole to create a rather odd tribute to George Floyd. Here’s the scene: White powerhouse politicians pretending to be black knelt the length of time that presumably killed Floyd (the autopsy showed it was drugs). Odd beyond measure.  But on to the article . . . 

In this article she discusses the role of Justice Nathalie Lieven of the UK Court of Protection. She rules against the life of an unborn Nigerian Igbo child whose Catholic mother and grandmother do not wish to have her aborted.  It’s chilling how this woman has worked her entire career to take the lives of the unborn and to insert in law that parents do not have rights.

I followed up on this and found that a higher court ruled against this activist judge and for the mother and grandmother. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-uk-appeal-court-stops-forced-abortion-for-disabled-woman

Ironically, the Judge said she didn’t think the 22 year old mother understood what it meant to have a baby—that to her it was like a doll.  Well, then, what’s the excuse for the women and doctors/abortionists, college educated and financially stable who DO understand it is a viable baby at 22 weeks, and still choose an abortion?

A great week-end at Lakeside

A lovely concert in the park this afternoon at Lakeside. Bright sun, gorgeous lake views of Kelley's Island. A group from the other end of Lake Erie, Buffalo, NY, singing canal and folk songs. We've also spent the week-end with many friends, including 2 couples from our home church in Columbus, UALC, who have supported us through this difficult year. Judi and I enjoyed time on the hotel porch this morning. Yesterday we watched a wedding with Rob and Lynn on the hotel lawn--wedding vows in Lakeside are VERY public. 

 Photo from our neighborhood wine and chocolate gathering for our 60th on Friday evening in a neighbor's yard.

 

Critical theory and race

This is how Marxism's critical race theory works to dismantle the family with our tax dollars. I'm guessing this is part of the CARES Covid19 grant, although I haven't checked. Ohio State University got $300 million and requirements for its use is pretty loosey goosey.

"[The] next Lean In speaker on Monday, Sept. 28 from noon–1 p.m. Collins Airhihenbuwa, PhD, MPH, will explore how structural racism is at the core of health disparity and must be dismantled to achieve health equity and social justice. In this lecture, he will discuss ways in which critical race theory can be used to unpack structural racism for sustainable anti-racism actions needed to achieve health equity and social justice locally and globally."  Health Beat, Sept. 11, 2020

It is no paranoid, right wing conspiracy theory that academe is riddled with this. They do not hide it, and we pay for it, in more ways than we can imagine as young adults are infected with hate for the West and America and gather to burn down our central cities. Public health publications and conferences are smothered in this critical theory "research."

The speaker was born in Benin, Africa (formerly Dahomey, which was a center of the African slave trade before the European  colonial era--it was very lucrative) and lives in Georgia where he founded U-Rise. I checked the organization and it's all about 1619 and the pandemic of racism. The business address seems to be a condo or apartment. I suspect he's the one employee. It's that way with a lot of reeducation camp workshops that have been hired by universities, churches and corporations for at least 2 decades, maybe more.

Why OSU needs to outsource these workshops on racism, I have no idea. Not only are there bloated departments of diversity in every college, but the administration has its own Diversity and Inclusion department established 40 years ago.

September 11, 2001

Remembering that terrible day, September 11, 2001. I was sitting in my office upstairs, and Bob hollered up the stairs to turn on the TV. But for about 24 hours we were united in our fear, pain and patriotism. My siblings and I all called our father. Why I'm not sure. But it was just a comfort to hear his voice. Then the attacks on President Bush began from the media. Why did he not anticipate this; how could he not know; there were 100s of warnings, tips and false alarms; why did he stop and hesitate while reading to children, and on and on. Drip, drip, drip. The media were building doubt and distrust.

There was another similarity. It was a very small terrorist group that brought America to its knees. Same as today. But 19 years later, the group is internal. As you see the memorials for 9/11 (probably only on Fox) today, recall the "defund the police" chant from Leftist anarchists and Black Lives Matter. They do not honor our country, our culture, or our lives. No lives matter, especially not black, to Marxists and anarchists.

Many millennials do not remember this date. When I was young, we were reminded in school, literature and movies what December 7 was. Hollywood was in our corner (or pretended to be) then, and the evening news was 15 minutes--if we had TV (and my parents didn't). There was a small cadre of fellow travelers in every profession, every school and many corporations, but they were mostly ignored. They were patient, and we were weak, enjoying our freedoms and material goods.

September 11, 1960 and 2020

Today is our 60th wedding anniversary. We're having a much smaller celebration than we had in 2010 for our 50th--a few Lakeside friends and neighbors for wine and chocolate in our neighbor's yard which is big enough for outdoor social spacing and lawn chairs. I've purchased individually wrapped desserts in a variety of chocolate flavors--peppermint, raspberry, peanut butter, etc., and some soda for the kids. We hope the weather will hold--it's turned a little nippy here in Lakeside.

Last night Bob asked me what was our best year out of the 60, and I think it's not an actual calendar year, but 1967-1968. Definitely. As in 2019-2020, our lives changed dramatically. We moved from Champaign-Urbana, IL to Columbus, OH, to new career directions, an adorable, gorgeous baby girl to ease the pain of our losses, an exciting church with a ready made group of couples friends who welcomed us warmly, the purchase of our home of the next 34 years on Abington Rd., and all the wonderful things about a vibrant Columbus and scenic Ohio which continue to amaze us after all this time.

 

  

  

  

 

More reeducation camps available at Ohio State University.

The Medical College at OSU  "discovered" systemic racism after the George Floyd death in a Democrat, top to bottom run city-- Minneapolis. Since then the new regulations, programs and appointees to IED jobs at OSU have been a-poppin'. The federal government has pumped about $300 million into OSU in just 8 months, far exceeding the whole of 2019. (OSU Health Beat, Sept. 9) Supposedly the extra is to fight Covid19, but I suspect it will find its way into all manner of socioeconomic programs to fight disparities, racism, homophobia, etc.

"We’ve developed some educational opportunities, available in two tracks: 1) Anti-Racism and 2) Equity and Inclusion. The opportunities are offered to reflect our commitment to thwart racism and embrace the differences that make us excel. We encourage you to explore these resources, including the 21-Day Anti-Racism Challenge, the listing of educational opportunities and Conversations that Matter."

Here's a run down of some of the other offerings. It's a shame that special training in working with the deaf, disabilities, and victims of torture had such a poor turn out.

https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/-/media/files/wexnermedical/about-us/diversity/fy20-summary-report-of-training-completions2.pdf?

Why does the Left attack the U.S.?

Ninety-seven percent of the slaves sold by black African tribal leaders and Muslim slave traders to the Portuguese, Spanish and English slave traders went to South America and the Caribbean Islands. About 350,000 were sold in the English colonies and that was outlawed by the Constitution. But even before the Constitution, the Northwest Ordinance (ratified 1787) had already outlawed slavery, as had many states.

So why isn't the Left attacking Brazil or Colombia for what happened three centuries ago? 10,000 slaves arrived in Cartagena every month in the 17th century. After the 17th century the largest slave trade moved to Buenos Aires (Argentina). There are more slaves today in the "enlightened" 21st century than in the 17th and 18th centuries, and most of the slave trade comes from Africa without the assistance of western European counties.

Only the United States is a threat to Leftists, now controlling the Democrat party. So it must be attacked.

A Labor Day message from your pastor

“ This Summer of 2020 has been anything but carefree and relaxing. We have been dealing with Coronavirus all Summer and trying to avoid becoming ill. We have been living in fear, staying home, keeping our distance, isolating ourselves, wearing masks, avoiding crowds, sanitizing our hands, and trying to avoid touching anything. We have been missing ordinary human contact and the company of friends and neighbors. We missed going to our favorite vacation destinations, entertainment venues and other fun attractions. Our favorite parades and festivals and community events were cancelled. Instead of having fun and good times, we worried about contagious disease, about systemic racism, about economic hardship, about injustice and about tension, strife and violence in our cities. We worried about our jobs, our financial security and our families. I worry that the effect of all this prolonged fear and uncertainty is that many are feeling overwhelmed, despairing and hopeless.

Perhaps this Labor Day we should put this Summer behind us and set our hopes on better days to come. We can use this holiday as a time to make a break with negative thinking, to care for our own mental health, and to encourage and support one another. Prayer is a great antidote to anxiety and fear. Prayer lightens our burdens and eases our troubled minds. Prayer enables us to surrender to God, to trust in His care, and to grow in the virtue of Hope. Prayer makes things better. As this strange and distressing Summer comes to an end, I prescribe a generous dose of prayer. It is medicine for your soul and a pain reliever for your mind. And I promise you, you will feel better. “

Your pastor

The dumbest cancer movie ever

Last night I watched “Little Bit of Heaven” wondering the whole time why I was wasting my time, except it's the pandemic and I'm running out of old, stupid movies, and I like the actress, Kate Hudson, or the memory of her.  She made one really great movie, Almost Famous, and we can always hope. . . 

Our son, Phil, died at 51 in April of glioblastoma.  His first sign was a seizure in October. But one thing in the movie did ring true--her anger and hateful behavior toward her friends and parents as the hopelessness of the disease progressed. At 80 I moved in with Phil to take care of him, and eventually we moved him to our home. His friends (he was very popular and may have had more friends than Bob and I together) were wonderful to him and to us.  I'll never forget their kindness. Eventually, I'll forget his anger and maybe resurrect the good times--but then at 80, I'm forgetful anyway. 

Back to Hudson.  She has wasted her talent.  Also, I see it was a Weinstein movie. Enough said on the bizarre sex themes--from the condom pitch she, an ad executive, had to sell at a meeting, to the boy sex toy, to the little person (a male prostitute who calls himself “Little Bit of Heaven,” to her gastroenterologist who performed her colonoscopy with whom she has an affair.  And let’s not forget the black gay best friend and black female God she talks to--really so trite. Weinstein.

And the character’s name is Marley Corbett!

The native American and government services

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him had better take a much closer look at the American Indian." ~ Henry Ford

That quote is really inaccurate, and I don’t know if Ford said it,  but it has the right conclusion.

First.  The native Americans did not “let” the government take care of them. They lost the war, their land and their right to govern themselves except in very local, tribal issues. Some weren’t even allowed to keep their language, culture or schools.

Second.  What replaced their former culture and rights, many of which didn’t benefit everyone in their groups, like women, slaves, minorities, etc.,  was substandard and below what other Americans would have accepted if they were free.

Third.  Many accept the substandard land, housing, healthcare and schools they have today just to be left alone and live their own lives, but also they have a power structure that suits primarily their own leaders even if others don’t benefit. In their own areas, called “reservations,” they have their own criminal justice system—laws, police, courts, jails--with the highest rate of violence against women, domestic abuse and children in need of government assistance. 

Fourth.  American Indians who leave the reservation (my deceased brother-in-law is my example) have everything any other American has—good jobs, health care, families, nice middle class lifestyle, pension, church—yet love to “go home” for family events and gossip and special commemorative holidays.

Fifth.  Those who accept what the government offers do have cradle to grave health care and are among the lowest in health care standards of any group in the nation. When statistics are compiled, those who left the reservation, or never lived there at all (like my brother in law’s daughter who is 50%) are not separated out in to a different class, so they probably actually improve the data results because they are healthier with fewer lifestyle problems like alcoholism, abuse, smoking, STDs, poverty, etc.

Sixth. The 800+ recognized tribes didn’t choose to be wards of the government, they lost the battles and the war.  So why are so many Americans willingly trading their freedoms for a promise of security and health that will never materialize? Why are they flocking to Biden/Harris who promise them more government, more taxes, more deaths for their unborn generations, more foreign wars, less local control and more separating them into little groups based on differences in color and sex to weaken their resistance? 

Got me.  I just ask the questions.  I don’t have the answers.

A child centric world

Between rain storms this morning I walked with a neighbor to the little grocery store in Lakeside (one of my favorite things about this small town). Ron was telling me about their plans to take in the grandchildren's activities in three different states this fall. I asked him if his grandparents (or even parents) ever attended his school activities or special events. (He's 10 years younger--Vietnam vet.) I couldn't remember my own grandparents--I had 6 since my great grandparents were also living in the same town--attending anything except my wedding. I think my mom may have attended a play I was in or a musical event/recital. He agreed. He didn't think his parents or grandparents made an effort to go to children's events. His dad was working, he said, and his mom had so many household duties, grandparents were elderly. "Well," he said, "we live in a child centric culture."

If you're 50-ish, you probably remember grandparents who attended every dance recital and soccer game. I knew the grandparents of many of my friends, and I don't think mine were an exception.

Photo of my great grandmother and her siblings, sometime in the 1950s based on the car tail light, seated on right. Sweetest, dearest woman I ever met with a dear Tennessee drawl.

How riots fit in with BLM sympathy and support

A police officer is 18 1/2 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer.” Heather MacDonald, via Larry Elder.

With the media's assistance, the black men who have been shot by police--those in the news in 2020--have all had criminal records, have been resisting arrest, and had very serious records, including rape with robbery (several charges by the same woman) in the case of Jacob Blake, Jr. of Kenosha. Not a peep from the MeToo crowd who usually would ruin a man’s career based on a smack on the rear because the founders of Black Lives Matter are radical feminists.

The 3 men who were attacking Kyle Rittenhouse during a "peaceful protest" and were shot by him, a 17 year old, also had criminal records including sexual offense against a child, strangulation and weapons charges. These were not 3 good guys just helping out the community. If Rittenhouse had been black, I doubt we would know his name, but 2 of the 3 would still be dead. Media would get nothing out of that story and it certainly wouldn't fit the BLM narrative.

Police nationwide have close to a million contacts a year with the public who might be misbehaving in some way, whether speeding, disorderly and drunk, domestic abuse, or theft. In 66 years of driving, I've been stopped 2 times for speeding (45 in 35 mph zone) and once for wrong way to get away from a traffic accident. I have been at fault each time and didn't assume it was something about my physical appearance that created the problem. I wasn't drunk or high and didn't have a record, I was just wrong. so I just paid my fine. In keeping us safe, there are some confrontations with police that go badly--but more with whites than blacks and whites are shot at a higher rate. When a white man with a criminal record is shot resisting arrest or trying to kill police, it does not cause riots and looting. It serves no cause to do so.

Why do the media promote black criminals as victims and heroes? Why does the left push this narrative of the innocent (usually a man) black oppressed by the evil "man." Because the public is gullible--and for 3 or 4 decades the schools, churches, and entertainment industry have been pushing the lie. They are believing what they've been taught.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/table-43 This is the latest full year report on crimes by race; obviously based on numbers, whites commit more crimes and have more encounters with police. Based on population percentage and rates, blacks more likely to be victims and assailants. The 2019 half year report showed violent crime was decreasing, as it was in 2018. Well, that record won't stand because certain groups don't want less crime, safer neighborhoods, lower unemployment and more opportunity for minorities.

My answer to Jane

I don’t know Jane, but she’s on my Facebook Friends list—I think through an artist group.  Jane responded to one of my posts,  Trump is "a threat to our democracy." I see or hear this claim a lot, the media make endless such comments, but with no explanation. So I asked her:

Did moving the embassy to the capital of Israel which other presidents promised threaten democracy?

Did making changes in the penal system threaten democracy?

Did securing funding for black colleges threaten democracy?

Did strengthening the military threaten democracy?

Did undoing the terrible climate change agreement that only U.S. was following threaten democracy?

Did renegotiating trade agreements with Mexico and Canada threaten democracy?

Did continuing with the wall at the border that both Bush and Obama also funded threaten democracy?

Did removing the threat of jail and fines from a forced health insurance plan threaten democracy?

Did pulling out of international abortion agreements threaten democracy?

Did walking to an historic church in DC when it was being attacked by rioters threaten democracy?

Did helping Israel and UAE sign an historic peace agreement in 2020 threaten democracy?

Did withdrawing our troops from a region sucking up blood and treasure of Americans for almost 2 decades threaten democracy?

Did calling out NATO members for never paying their share of the military protection threaten democracy?

Did cutting red tape and bureaucratic rules to allow the economy to recover from the slowest ever recession recovery threaten democracy?

Do tweets intended to irritate Democrats and their unthinking followers threaten democracy?

Did asking Congress to do its job in the DACA (illegal) situation threaten democracy?

Does saving the unborn child from a painful abortion threaten democracy?

Does being the most pro-life president ever threaten democracy?

Does believing blacks and other minorities have a right to build their own companies and to have an investment in economic freedoms like yours threaten democracy?

Did exposing the corruption and illegal spying behavior of the last administration threaten democracy?

Did withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal threaten democracy?

Did the wage growth of the bottom 10% of wage earners threaten democracy?

Did expanding his base of support among minorities, releasing them from 60 years of Democrat party ownership, threaten democracy?

Did confronting China about unfair to Americans trade agreements threaten democracy?

Did appointing 2 fine conservative judges to the Supreme Court so it can do its job instead of creating law threaten democracy?

Did making us an energy exporter instead of importer threaten democracy?

Did creating a 6th military branch (space) threaten democracy?

Does maintaining a breathtaking schedule to promote all things American for Americans threaten anyone other than Joe B. Hiden?

Know what your party stands for before you vote

From  Joan Shaw Turrentine

"Our current society is mostly emotion driven, but good decisions are based on reason, not emotion. Before Election Day, when deciding where you’d like to help pilot our national plane (You know, the one we’re all going to fly or die in together) use your God-given reasoning power. Know each party’s platform when deciding your vote.

•Where does the ticket stand on religious freedom?

•Where does the ticket stand on life for the unborn?

•Where does the ticket stand on helping our low income citizens find financial freedom?

•Where does it stand on your pension plan?

•Where does the ticket stand on freedom for the citizenry to determine their own prosperity?

•Where does the ticket stand on adherence to the Constitution - separation of powers, bill of rights, etc?

Read the platform.

Read their RECORD - especially on hot-button issues such as race, gender-equality, etc

Don’t be fooled by labels thrown about.

Picture our country as you’d like it to be ten years from now.

Our RIGHTS as American citizens depend on all of us exercising our corresponding DUTIES as American citizens."

More parents are choosing Home Schooling

Gaj Wilcox comments:  “The effect of the Wuhan virus crisis is obvious in the responses: Parents reported declining participation in every institutional school option, with the exception of “charter school.” Still, the decline of “public school” was the most notable, falling from 83 percent to 76 percent.

Given the fact that this poll measured families, not children, the percentage of home-schoolers among the overall student population could be even higher. Samantha Spitzer, a certified teacher and home-schooling parent, believes this to be the case. Spitzer has been hosting “how to home-school” workshops throughout her local region of West Virginia this August. She’s seen dozens of first-time home-schoolers showing up at each forum.

“I talked to someone at my county school board office,” Spitzer said. “She left on a Friday evening, Aug. 7, and by Monday morning she had 175 notices of intent to home-school on her desk — all from brand-new families.” Based on public school enrollment numbers, Spitzer estimates that in one local county, as many as one-fourth of K-12 children might be homeschooled this year."

https://thefederalist.com/2020/09/03/thanks-to-coronavirus-panic-1-in-10-american-families-is-now-home-schooling/?

Me: Not everyone can afford to homeschool or has the talent, so this means you'll need to engage with your children/grandchildren even more to block the false information about sex, our history, the government. It's in the air and water, so be vigilant. We’ve got “woke” corporations because of the kids who were brainwashed in college, which got the kids with no American History from the high schools.  I’ve been retired 20 years, and we were seeing the results then on the college campuses.

Lakeside Labor Day week-end

So much excitement in Lakeside today. Reminds me of a day in June when we watched our neighbor Tom install a window. But today, another neighbor was giving away some furniture--a very nice oak chest. So 3 ladies stopped to investigate, and left their car parked in the middle of the road and 3 other cars had to stop and wait. Right outside our house--we could see it all from our porch. Lakeside is really rocking.

This is Labor Day week-end and there will be a lot of people here for a final good-bye.  But many people are staying because there is more here than their primary home town.  Like traffic jams.

Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing

Twenty-five years ago, the United Nations held its Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China—China, of all places, where millions of women are aborted and brutally and coercively sterilized every year. The prepared documents had all those ugly anti-life words we've come to associate with the pro-life movement. On Sept 12, 1995, this letter from Mother Teresa was read to the participants and it had been translated into 6 languages. It was kept a secret until then. For obvious reasons. Even 25 years ago, abortion was very political and the left was winning even then.

Dear Friends,

I am praying for God’s blessing on all who are taking part in the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. I hope that this Conference will help everyone to know, love, and respect the special place of women in God’s plan so that they may fulfill this plan in their lives.

I do not understand why some people are saying that women and men are exactly the same, and are denying the beautiful differences between men and women. All God’s gifts are good, but they are not all the same. As I often say to people who tell me that they would like to serve the poor as I do, “What I can do, you cannot. What you can do, I cannot. But together we can do something beautiful for God.” It is just this way with the differences between women and men.

God has created each one of us, every human being, for greater things– to love and to be loved. But why did God make some of us men and others women? Because a woman’s love is one image of the love of God, and a man’s love is another image of God’s love. Both are created to love, but each in a different way. Woman and man complete each other, and together show forth God’s love more fully than either can do it alone.

That special power of loving that belongs to a woman is seen most clearly when she becomes a mother. Motherhood is the gift of God to women. How grateful we must be to God for this wonderful gift that brings such joy to the whole world, women and men alike!

Yet we can destroy this gift of motherhood, especially by the evil of abortion, but also be thinking that other things like jobs or positions are more important than loving, than giving oneself to others. No job, no plans, no possessions, no idea of “freedom” can take the place of love. So anything that destroys God’s gift of motherhood destroys His most precious gift to women– the ability to love as a woman.

God told us, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So first I am to love myself rightly, and then to love my neighbor like that.

But how can I love myself unless I accept myself as God has made me? Those who deny the beautiful differences between men and women are not accepting themselves as God has made them, and so cannot love the neighbor. They will only bring division, unhappiness, and destruction of peace to the world. For example, as I have often said, abortion is the greatest destroyer of peace in the world today, and those who want to make women and men the same are all in favor of abortion.

Instead of death and sorrow, let us bring peace and joy to the world. To do this we must beg God for His gift of peace and learn to love and accept each other as brothers and sisters, children of God.

We know that the best place for children to learn how to love and to pray is in the family, by seeing the love and prayer of their mother and father. When families are broken or disunited, many children grow up not knowing how to love and pray. A country where many families have been destroyed like this will have many problems. I have often seen, especially in the rich countries, how children turn to drugs or other things to escape feeling unloved and rejected.

But when families are strong and united, children can see God’s special love in the love of their father and mother and can grow to make their country a loving and prayerful place. The child is God’s best gift to the family and needs both mother and father because each one shows God’s love in a special way. The family that prays together stays together, and if they stay together they will love one another as God has loved each one of them. And works of love are always works of peace.

So let us keep the joy of loving in our hearts and share this joy with all we meet. My prayer for all of the delegates, and for every woman whom the Beijing Conference is trying to help, is that each one may be humble and pure like Mary so as to live in love and peace with one another and make our families and our world something beautiful for God.

Let us pray.

All for the glory of God and good of souls. God bless you.

Mother Teresa, MC

https://spiritualdirection.com/2020/09/03/a-special-power-of-loving-mother-teresas-letter-on-women

Would you give up your pet?

I noticed this in a farm journal: "What is known is that ferrets, minks, domestic cats, and some dogs have become infected with COVID-19. But neither pets nor farm animals are thought to play significant roles in transmitting COVID-19. "

So if your governor asked you to give up your pet in order to be safe, would he have a fight on his hands? Biden wants a lockdown (to be safe) and Trump wants to open up (to be free), so which one would ask for your pet?

GK Chesterton, a hymn for these times

1 O God of earth and altar,
bow down and hear our cry,
our earthly rulers falter,
our people drift and die;
the walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide,
take not thy thunder from us,
but take away our pride.

2 From all that terror teaches,
from lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches
that comfort cruel men,
from sale and profanation
of honour and the sword,
from sleep and from damnation,
deliver us, good Lord!

3 Tie in a living tether
the prince and priest and thrall,
bind all our lives together,
smite us and save us all;
in ire and exultation
aflame with faith, and free,
lift up a living nation,
a single sword to thee.

Source: Ancient and Modern: hymns and songs for refreshing worship #582  public domain

Today I came across this hymn by Gordon Keith Chesterton published in 1907, before he became a Catholic (although I don’t think that matters).  It certainly speaks to today’s atmosphere and dilemmas for Christians.“Our earthly rulers falter, our people drift and die.” Isn’t that the truth!  “Tie in a living tether the prince and priest and thrall.”  What a powerful phrase.  Thrall isn’t a word we use much in the 21st century, but it means one in bondage or servitude or who is oppressed.  And doesn’t gold entomb us—striving for material possessions consume us.  Every line speaks to our situation today. Deliver us from lies of tongue and pen, from all the easy speeches . . .

It is sung to various tunes—meter 7.6.7.6 D.  I tried several, and I do like something rousing with a little oomph to go with the strong words.  Lancashire is nice (Lead on O King eternal). In the Methodist 1964 hymnal it is King’s Lynn.

Joe Biden and the Blakes

Why did Joe Biden go to Wisconsin and meet with Jacob Blake, an anti-Semitic follower of Louis Farrakhan, a man consumed with hate for the Jews? A man who hates Jesus and all white people and announces it publicly. He knew ahead of time who and what he was. Blake Sr. is the father of Jacob Blake, Jr., shot by police resisting arrest, who had been charged with sexual assault and stealing money and car of the woman he assaulted. Democrats have elevated him to a saint. Why does Biden say in his campaign ads Blacks are afraid to leave their homes, when for 8 years he with Barack Obama was in charge? Shouldn’t he have protected them then?  Was it the low unemployment rate, funding for black colleges or the First Step act that frightened them? Why is Biden beholden to BLM?

St. Gregory the Great

It's a good thing St. Gregory the Great didn't have social media. When he lived in a monastic community he didn't have as much trouble monitoring his speech as he did in his pastoral role.

"I must frequently listen patiently to their aimless chatter. Because I am weak myself I am drawn gradually into idle talk and I find myself saying the kind of thing that I didn’t even care to listen to before. I enjoy lying back where I once was loath to stumble. Who am I — what kind of watchman am I? I do not stand on the pinnacle of achievement, I languish rather in the depths of my weakness."

Sally Sims Stokes 1950-2020

A colleague of mine from the 1980s died in August. We shared an office in the main library of Ohio State University.  https://rappfuneral.com/tribute/details/31255/Sally-Stokes/obituary.html

She was a lot of fun and had a fascinating career. Particularly in historic preservation which sent her in many directions doing  research.

Voter manipulation isn’t from Russia

Some people I know are still in the Russia, Russia, Russia delusion about 2016, however, Google can manipulate the election by influencing that precious "undecided" group. Watch this testimony. https://youtu.be/rNvgl38TLvI Epstein is not a Trump supporter. The Left went crazy when this report came out, and when Trump repeated it (not using the exact numbers--could be over 10 million) the very ones who claimed to revere science screamed themselves blue and grew donkey ears. No paper trail, nothing to check with this method, Epstein says.

Now he says “Just by fiddling with search suggestion, Google has the power to turn a 50-50 split among undecided voters into a 90-10 split with no one knowing that they have been manipulated,” he said.

https://www.westernjournal.com/expert-warns-google-shift-10-vote-away-trump-hand-2020-election-biden/

The Number One financial donor to Hillary Clinton in 2016 was the parent company of Google. And you're worried about Putin?

Covid19 and demons.

Every news website I pull up from Washington Post to Ohio State starts and ends with Covid19 stories. You don't have to read too many of these to see there are other motives than just getting control of a serious world-wide health problem. The desire to save lives may have been a motivation at the beginning when little was known about transmission or treatment, but now it's about power.

This reminds me of some Christians' obsession with demons. Jesus cast out demons, and the Bible has a lot to say about demonic forces. We should accord demonic forces some respect, but not honor. Some people have an unhealthy fear and panic about demonic forces. They have given the demons more power than they actually have. They've given up their free will and their freedom in Christ.

And so it is with Covid19; too many have designated Covid19 the ruler over our government and our churches and our lives. They are willing to give up all our blessings to appease the demons.

THE CARRINGTON EVENT WAS NOT UNIQUE

“It might be time to rewrite the history books. New research shows that the Carrington Event--a monster solar storm that hit Earth 161 years ago today--might not be as unique as previously thought. Historical documents from East Asia suggest that Carrington Events (plural) have happened many times before . . . and probably will again.”

Please, not in 2020.  We’ve had enough.

Western science taught that this September 1, 1859 event was unique. The storm rocked Earth's magnetic field, sparked auroras over Cuba, the Bahamas and Hawaii, set fire to telegraph stations, and wrote itself into history books as the Biggest. Solar. Storm. Ever.

Now with records from Japan, China , Korean and Russian archives, if this were to happen today, instead of destroying telegraph stations, it could blow out the internet and transcontinental communication. A modern-day Carrington Event could cause widespread power outages along with disruptions to navigation, air travel, banking, and all forms of digital communication.

https://spaceweather.com/ for Tuesday, September 1, 2020

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/08/carrington-event-warning/

If it happens again, we know it will be blamed on President Trump and global warming

Mystic, Connecticut

The problem with blogging and facebooking every day is that I forget what I wrote about and when.  I was sure I had put a photo of my "new" print on my blog, but I can't find it.  Oh well, I'll just post it again, and when I do find it, I'll delete one.  It's a print of a tug boat in Mystic, Connecticut.  The little Christmas wreath on the back of the boat makes is appropriate for the Christmas season.  Lolly Stoddard is described at an Amazon site:

Lolly Stoddard is a well know artist in the shoreline area of Connecticut, where she resides with her husband whom she has known since childhood. She taught school for five years before concluding her teaching career to be at home with her three children who are now grown. Her artist endeavors grew along with her children, and her memories of their creative imaginations have helped enliven her children's books. Her first book "Town Small" was published by Mystic Seaport in 2002 and is now in its second printing.

  

Mountain Ivy Blue Ridge dishes

I couldn't resist. The next time you come for dinner or dessert, we'll be eating on vintage (< 1947) Mountain Ivy Blue Ridge Southern Pottery hand painted dishes with underglaze, displaying leaves and purple and gray berries (looks blue to me, my primary kitchen color), all with candlewick edges . It has approximately 7 place settings, except cups and saucers are 8, and usually those are the missing pieces, and I never use them. Meat platter and oval vegetable bowl, sugar/creamer (also don't use these). Now I have some rearranging and packing up to do to move some things to Columbus. History of the company, Erwin, TN 1917-1957. http://www.blueridge-spi.com/pottery/rap1997/history.html

Controlling risk

I wear a mask when I go out, even for my morning walk at 6:30 or 7 a.m. And I'm not wearing it to protect you; it's to protect me. I'm over 80, I'm in good health (with assistance from Big Pharma), but one statistic I do believe in the ocean of misinformation about Covid19, is that the elderly are more vulnerable. The more health deficits they have like obesity, heart disease, lung congestion, smoking, alcoholism, etc. the greater the risk they'll die of Covid19 if they get it or get really sick.

When I walk in the morning, I may cross paths 4 or 5 other walkers or joggers, breathing hard. (At 80 I don't move that quickly.) I wear my mask because they don't. When I walk later in the day to attend a program in the park I may share the street with 6 teen-agers laughing and talking and doing normal kid stuff. I wear my mask because they don't. When I go in stores I meet strangers complying with the mask rules, but with their masks in odd positions--or under their noses, or lifting it to sip the ubiquitous coffee of can of pop. I wear my mask because they don't. I do eat in restaurants. I'm sharing space with people eating and talking and laughing--doing normal human activities. So I wear a mask, except when eating. In the days before the pandemic, I saw people wearing masks who were in chemo treatment or recovering from surgery but still in church or shopping. I wear a mask because I know they weren't trying to protect the public.

But loneliness and depression are also a risk--for anyone even without the pandemic. And I have good reasons for grief and isolation after the recent illness and death of our son. A few brave friends and family violated all the rules and took the risk to be with us, for which we'll forever be grateful, but it was nowhere near the support we would have had in another year from our church, our neighbors, our clubs, etc. So I'll wear the mask because I don't want to live in a prison. I don't want to live like I'm dead.

I'm still going to church (outside), I'm still shopping, I'm attending as many live programs as this odd summer at Lakeside has to offer (praise God for our wonderful staff), I'm still going to restaurants, I'm still inviting friends to our home and going to theirs, I'm still browsing the used books in the "Little Library" boxes all over Lakeside.

And masks keep the summer bugs out of my teeth.

Videos of Blake and Rittenhouse

Videos have now been released of 29 year old Jacob Blake (Kenosha riots) struggling with police and resisting arrest before he was shot, and 17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse being attacked by several in the Kenosha riots before he used his gun on his assailants. I doubt that it will make any difference because these riots are not about "systemic racism" or grievances about equity or health, or which lives matter more, or any of the other social safety net jargon or class war language popularized in the last 30 years by academics.

For BLM it's about the destruction of the United States--and that includes Joe Biden who has contributed so much to the system (like the 1994 crime bill)  they hate in the last 50 years. For the Marxist founders of BLM we don't deserve to exist and should be destroyed.

Believe them when they say they are Marxists

You may have heard a social justice sermon on Sunday, or at least a mention of walk outs by wealthy athletes and systemic racism. Be reminded that BLM is not about being black; or a pay gap, or lack of opportunity, or the population of prisons. It's a Marxist organization. Believe them when they say it. It's on their website.

The intention of these riots is not to help or even create change. The intention is the same as all Marxist-based organizations. To destroy everything because it doesn't deserve to exist. Your state or mine, Portland or Kenosha, shouldn't be a state according to BLM because it was stolen, not from the French or Spanish, but from some indigenous people (who stole it from others). It shouldn't be a state because the United States shouldn't exist and needs to be destroyed. So why, in BLM thinking, would you rebuild or protect something that shouldn't be there?

Don't try to understand BLM using YOUR values. Look at them with THEIR values. Believe them when they tell you who they are. They are more honest about their motives than our major parties are about theirs. Then it will make more sense.

Twitter’s on going war against our President

Twitter fact checked an excellent summary by a Twitter user MelQ of the latest CDC report on what percent of deaths attributed to Covid19 were only Covid without some other serious illness (about 6%).

Tantrums of outrage roared in from the anti-Trumpers, because the president retweeted it. Now it's been removed by Twitter. Of course, anything Trump says about the economy, about Covid, HCQ, about abortion, about foreign relations, etc. has to be fact checked and denied by Big Tech. I don't use Twitter, however, when I read some of the "corrections" I wonder if NYT, WaPo or LATimes could stay in business if every word of their writers were searched for bias and opinion by Big Tech. Forbes has published an extensive denial of the original tweet, but with about mostly anti-Trump opinion and word fill (paid by the word?) of the writer who identifies as a digital health expert and avocado eater. I was not impressed with his or Twitter's assessment, because I read the CDC article, too. I'm not providing a link to the Forbes article--you can find it--because my assessment of its poor quality and misleading information won't be passed along, instead only the article will be seen.

Go to the CDC and look for the 6% article, and draw your own conclusions. I don't think it's much different from what we knew in March, that those who were dying were the elderly with 2-3 other conditions like obesity, lung problems, heart conditions, etc. that weakened them and death was not due only to the Corona virus.

The real story, Mr. Avocado Eater/digital health expert, is how many people are looking for hope and a return to their normal lives before our 50 state governments put us on lockdown and destroyed the economy. Or maybe, you're looking for your 10 seconds of fame?