New safety standards for Amish buggies

This may not be a problem in your state, but in Ohio there have been 1400 accidents in the last 10 years involving animal drawn buggies and wagons with motor vehicles resulting in 17 fatalities.

"After a decade of advocacy and education, Ohio State University Extension recommendations for lighting and marking animal-drawn equipment have been standardized, paving the way for national and international adoption of safety procedures on vehicles, such as Amish buggies, horse-drawn farm wagons and urban carriages.

The standard, officially adopted by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), outlines the practices and procedures for establishing a unique identification system for slow-moving, animal-drawn vehicles on public roadways or highways. The document includes proper lighting and marking of both the vehicle and the animal, such as the use of headlamps, tail lamps, battery-operated or generator-powered lighting systems, and retroreflective material, as well as how to display the slow-moving emblem."

Read the OSU press release with links to instructions and diagrams.

Buy real food

I've started buying butter. It's because of the ingredients list on the package: cream, salt. Have you ever worked your way through the list of ingredients on margarine? Oh sure, it has zero cholesterol, but what's that other stuff? How do we know it isn't going to gum up the works down the road a few generations. The latest thing I saw at the market was "spreadable butter by Olivio" which was more expensive than butter but had about 1/3 the cholesterol. In recent years one of the problems with margarine was increasingly the fat content was reduced--that's done by adding water and that affects cooking and baking. I've seen margarine with a fat content as low as 35%.

My grandmother's butter churn, Superior, 1910 . It could make 5 lbs of butter, and that would last about a week. Grandma didn't care much for meat, but obviously liked rich cream sauces, soups, and baked goods. Although the farm house had no rural electricity, they had a generator, and that wheel on the side, although it could be hand cranked, had a belt to attach to the generator.

I remember when Mom started buying margarine. There was a huge advertising campaign for it, and it was cheap--and white. Yes, I think it was against the law (dairy lobby) to make it look like butter. So you got this white blob and added a little packet of color. It was the job of the youngest daughters of America to stir that mess up and then it was scooped into a dish. It had no flavor as I recall--just greasy. Then there was a big improvement. The white stuff came in a bag with the yellow dye inside. Squishy, squishy twist and shout. This was also a kid's job. Eventually, margarine came in blocks like butter, then tubs and somehow it was made to taste better. I still prefer butter, and since it actually tastes good, I think you use less.

Chad, aka Murray, guest blogger

Obama didn't know his aunt was living in this country illegally. An immigration judge ORDERED her to leave the United States years ago after denying her request for asylum. Now that Obama does know, what's he or anybody else doing about it?? I guess that tells us something about how he feels about illegal immigration. Of course, the media brushed this off already. I found out from a little blurb in the local newspaper. Can you imagine the headlines if this were McCain or Palin? Now the government is investigating whether any laws were broken in the disclosure that Obama's aunt was living in this country illegally!

Obama wants to raise taxes on corporations and hit the big oil companies with a windfall profit tax. I mean, you just know before you get to economics 101 that the end result of this is higher costs to the consumer and they actually pay the price. Plus some companies will layoff people or the larger ones will plant their business in another country where taxes are lower. Now that's what I call a great economic stimulus plan!

Obama is going to lower income taxes for 95% of the population. Well, he better import some people cause 95% of the people don't pay taxes anyway. You supposed the tax break includes his illegal aunt?

Obama is going to share the wealth so that all the non- contributors do not have to worry, they will get more of the money that you contributors earn. This continues a trend that we already have going for us. Encourage people not to work.

Obama cannot tell you where all the campaign donations have come from nor will he even try. No one is even investigating. He claims the money is coming from small donors like you and me. Yeah right! Here we're going through the toughest economic times of our live time and he wants us to believe that the little people donated hundreds of million dollars to his campaign. Tells you how he feels about campaign finance reform. If you do not have to prove where the donations come from then there are no rules.

Obama wants us to believe that the entire economic mess is Bush's fault. Bush hasn't done everything right but he certainly isn't responsible for the crash. Obama doesn't mention that it was his party that stopped all attempts to head off the housing bubble and the demise of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae while taking campaign in donations from them. So how can he help resolve it if he doesn't know who or what caused it?

Obama has a lock on this state. I'm registered in Illinois. As far as the election goes it's not because he is the best man for the Presidency it's that the voters do three dumb things that perpetuate getting idiots and morons elected. They vote their party or in this case because Obama is an Illinois Senator and black. These types of voters made their decision months ago. Now since Obama has a lock on Illinois and since we still have this idiotic electoral college, my vote means nothing thank you very much!

From now on call me Chad.
Murray

Voter fraud is everywhere

Only if Obama loses will it get investigated. Check out this news video story from Atlanta about how many Georgians are voting in Florida or Ohio, both battle ground states. This morning on the radio I heard a very disturbing interview with John Fund about fraud in Wisconsin. In Ohio with the same day register and vote "golden week," it was golden for fraud. Even people like BuckeyeRINO who went to vote early said he could understand why they are careful on election day and so sloppy during early voting.

The early voting environment in my county doesn’t lend itself to confidence in the integrity of the system that Jennifer Brunner has provided us with. No matter how the elections turn out, there will still be questions raised about how they were conducted. My early voting experience in Erie County was, at the least, unsettling.

My son said he voted early at Vet's Memorial last week (before the early rush) and was surprised no one asked for ID especially since he had moved since registering. In Ohio they're accepting park benches as addresses for the homeless. Tough to mail a confirmation to a bench. You can never match up a vote with a registration, so how will Brunner stop this fraud?

I was supposed to be a poll watcher today, but the new rules made that virtually impossible unless you can be on your feet from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.--they won't allow shifts.

Due to the clarification issued by the Franklin County board of elections, effective Monday, October 27, 2008--Each political party is limited to one poll observer per precinct for the ENTIRE DAY. If you are receiving this email you have been scheduled for a half day shift and we are going to have to ask you to commit to the entire shift. We understand that working the entire day is a sizeable obligation. If you are NOT able to fulfill this commitment please reply to this email by 3pm Tuesday, October 28, 2008.

Most of the center left Democrats I know would not want fraud, but will they object? Would they get as angry as they did about the Supreme Court returning the decision to Florida about hanging chads, after ballots were handled multiple times in trying to determine the intention of the voter couldn't possibly be what was shown on the ballot? Unless Democrats raise the objections, I don't think we'll hear a peep from the Obamachine.

Both parties have teams of lawyers ready to go, just as they did in 2000, when the investigation would have moved on to another state even though each recount still came up with Bush as the winner. Ohio Democrats cried buckets in 2004, despite the significant advantage that Bush had. They couldn't believe their own polls or post voting surveys which had given Kerry an advantage could be wrong. Our press is useless--we have to rely on student news media and bloggers, which is just silly. Maybe one of the 3rd party candidates could investigate voter fraud--doesn't look like AG's of the winning party will do it.

Unintended consequences

My favorite breakfast is a sliced Honey Crisp apple (preferably huge and from Minnesota, but I'll take Michigan or NY if nothing else is available) and half a cup of whole walnuts. The problem is I had a frenulectomy in 1977 to close the gap between my front teeth. Let me tell you, when you've had surgery in your mouth you'll know it forever. I can't actually bite into a whole apple--it has to be sliced. After that surgery, all my teeth started to shift. You wouldn't think a tiny piece of flesh removal could do that much, but it did. Probably because I still have all my permanent teeth, even four wisdom teeth, as well as most of my childhood fillings. Even brushing my teeth and flossing can't remove the residue from this sticky breakfast, so I often don't eat until I get back from the coffee shop where I might talk or smile. The tiny shift of my front teeth has affected the enamel on my bottom teeth wearing it thin--so on it goes, 30 years later.

Every time we do something to improve something else, or to discourage something, or to destroy something, there are unintended consequences waiting. For instance, polio was virtually unknown when my grandmothers were children. Improved sanitation of the 20th century actually created the epidemics that began around the time of WWI. Middle class people were much more likely to get polio than the poor, and there was a time when they thought African Americans were immune! But in fact, in earlier times, everyone had had some exposure as children, got sick, and then recovered but had continued immunity. After the public water supplies were cleaned up, no one was able to withstand the exposure, which occasionally still lurked in water.

Let's jump a head to a bigger problem. Slum housing. At least, that's what it used to be called. In the earlier centuries in America, poor people built or rented their homes, and moved up or down as their income and circumstances dictated. The freedom to own land was a huge appeal to the immigrants who came here in the 18th and 19th centuries. My maternal grandparents had rented in Wichita when they were first married in 1901, then returned to Illinois in 1908 and lived out their lives on a farm inherited from grandma's father. My paternal grandparents were tenant farmers in the next county in the 1920s, had a large family (nine children) and a disability (my grandmother was blind). My grandmother's parents and other relatives were very good about helping, but there wasn't a government plan to assist them like there would be today for disabled poor people. There was charity, of course--my dad got a grant to go to college from the Polo Women's Club. So first their own children helped with the farm labor doing age appropriate tasks, and eventually, their adult children pooled their money and purchased a small home for them in town during WWII. Later, my grandfather who went to work in a plant when all the younger men had gone off to war (he really wasn't suited for farming), was able to save money, buy another home, and then another home, renting one. That's how housing worked in the early to mid-20th century.

Both Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt extended what started as a panic, then became a recession and then a depression by inserting government programs into problems instead of letting them heal themselves. My maternal grandparents had already begun sinking because of the easy credit for agricultural land and products in the 1920s. Like today, it was an over extension of credit that brought the economy down, but my other grandparents, tenants who had nothing anyway, really weren't affected. The New Deal of the 1930s built on Hoover's (a liberal Republican) mistakes and extended the Depression another 8 years. But worse still are the long term, unintended consequences of those programs.

The New Deal began the federal government's interference in the housing market which extends right up to the balance today in our 401-k and 403-b. It went way beyond zoning and health and safety, long a concern of government. The reason for the housing shortage after WWII, for the existence of all those Lustron homes in Mt. Morris, was rent control, and the government giving a corporation money to develop a house to meet the need and use factories developed during the war. Cheap housing just disappeared from the market, so rent and home prices soared. The government created that shortage. We didn't have fewer buildings in 1946 than 1941, just more rules. So who benefited from that? Certainly not the poor. Then when the poor had no access to even bad housing, the government stepped in again and built public housing, which quickly became a cesspool of crime, rigid segregation by race and very inhospitable living conditions. When public housing failed (remember the demolition of Cabrini Green in Chicago?), the government came up with new plans to "solve" the housing crisis--housing vouchers, community development agencies and non-profits, tax breaks or subsidies, condemning large tracks and rebuilding with tax incentives which created gentrification and scattered the poor yet again!

You think Katrina destroyed housing and hurt the poor? Nothing like what the residue of our federal government's housing experiments over the years have done! At every step, private enterprise has either been discouraged through regulation, or allowed to run wild through lobbying efforts and kick-backs to government officials who hold the keys to housing very tightly. Fast forward to the latest failure of our government to help the poor and low income with housing: the creation of the Community Redevelopment Act under Jimmy Carter, and it's expansion during the Clinton era to the point where banks were held hostage by "non-profits" with massive amounts of government funding receiving huge fees for each low income family they stuffed, unprepared, into a mortgage that didn't fit.

None of this was intended. There were enough good intentions to wall paper Washington DC. But there are consequences when you try to change people's behavior through government programming or reprogramming. Don't be fooled by politicians who weep and mourn over our "selfishness" when we have spent trillions on these government created crises and have only kept the poor down longer than they would have been if we'd done nothing and only stood by and wrung our hands.

Change round up

This doesn't look like a good idea to me. Keep your change, dig it out of the bottom of your purse, wallet or pocket and put it in a dish, box or piggy bank at home. Periodically take it to the market (this little piggy, get it?), buy canned food, and donate it to your local food pantry. I have a bunch of reservations about food pantries, but right now many people are stopping by for help who perhaps in the past were donors. The price increases in the stores are shocking--higher fuel costs, less investment in local companies due to punitive environmental regulations, and it's only going to get worse as the coal industry is shut down through the global warming, cap and trade hoaxers. Government do-good, feel-good programs hurt the poor first. The trillions we spend on poverty programs are disturbingly inefficient and wasteful of tax money, propping up inefficent industries, farmers and community organizers. Better to step in and do your part personally than to turn more over to the government.

Yesterday I spent about an extra $10 at Meijer's--some things that are easy to store and will provide a bit more variety than what might be on the shelves. I've heard things are lean and the shelves empty. Instead of a big blow out of grocery bags at Thanksgiving and Christmas, our church has the food bin in the lobby on Sundays during November and is asking that people donate smaller amounts the entire month. Sometimes businesses collect food; sometimes radio or TV stations. Which ever, this week when you're shopping pick up a few extra cans and donate. Keep your change, and then recycle it. Know where it is going.

Having a chat with the Devil about fear

In 1527 Martin Luther provided some theological and practical thoughts on how Christians should respond to the plague. The Black Death (bubonic plague) had swept across Europe several times since its initial appearance in 1350 brought there through trade with Asia. It was discovered in Wittenburg in August, the university was closed, and the students sent home. Luther was busy so he stayed, but in November replied to a pastor on what Christians should do. Luther was always very practical, and of course, people of that era didn't know about bacteria (lived in the intestines of rats and could be transmitted to animals or humans through fleas) or how the disease was spread, but he did know what Scripture said about helping one's neighbor.

He provides almost a script in confronting fears, horror and disgust when caring for the sick (it was a truly ugly, disgusting way to die). His advice is useful when confronting fear of any kind:

When anyone is overcome by horror and repugnance in the presence of a sick person he should take courage and strength in the firm assurance that it is the devil who stirs up such abhorrence, fear, and loathing in this heart. He is such a bitter, knavish devil that he not only unceasingly tries to slay and kill, but also takes delight in making us deathly afraid, worried, and apprehensive so that we should regard dying as horrible and have no rest or peace all through our life. And so the devil would excrete us out of this life as he tries to make us despair of God, become unwilling and unprepared to die, and, under the stormy and dark sky of fear and anxiety, make us forget and lose Christ, our light and life, and desert our neighbor in his troubles. We would sin thereby against God and man; that would be the devil's glory and delight. Because we know that it is the devil's game to induce such fear and dread, we should in turn minimize it, take such courage as to spite and annoy him and send those terrors right back to him. And we should arm ourselves with this answer to the devil:


"Get away, you devil, with your terrors! Just because you hate it, I'll spite you by going the more quickly to help my neighbor, I'll pay no attention to you.

I've got two heavy blows to use against you. The first one is that I know that helping my neighbor is a deed well-pleasing to God and all the angles; by this deed I do God's will and render true service and obedience to him. All the more so because if you hate it so and are so strongly opposed to it, it must be particularly acceptable to God. I'd do this readily and gladly if I could please only one angel who might look with delight on it. But now that it pleases my Lord Jesus Christ and the whole heavenly host because it is the will and command of God, my Father, then how could any fear of you cause me to spoil such joy in heaven or such delight for my Lord? Or how could I, by flattering you, give you and your devils in hell reason to mock and laugh at me? No, you'll not have the last word! If Christ shed his blood for me and died for me, why should I not expose myself to some small dangers for his sake and disregard this feeble plague?

If you can terrorize, Christ can strengthen me.

If you can kill, Christ can give life.

If you have poison in your fangs, Christ has far greater medicine.

Should not my dear Christ, with his precepts, his kindness and all his encouragement, be more important in my spirit than you, roguish devil, with your false terrors in my weak flesh? God forbid! Get away, devil. Here is Christ and here am I, his servant in his work. Let Christ prevail! Amen.

The second blow against the devil is God's mighty promise by which he encourages those who minister to the needy. He says in Psalm 41:1-3, "Blessed is he who considers the poor. The Lord will deliver him in the day of trouble. The Lord will protect him and keep him alive; the Lord will bless him on earth and not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed. In his illness he will heal all his infirmities."


Are not these glorious and mighty promises of God heaped up upon those who minister to the needy? What should terrorize us or frighten us away from such great and divine comfort? The service we can render to the needy is indeed such a small thing in comparison with God's promises and rewards that St. Paul says to Timothy, "Godliness is of value in every way, and it holds promise both for the present life and for the life to come" I Tim. 4:8. . . [and continues for more pages] from "Whether one may flee from a deadly plague," in Martin Luther's basic theological writings, ed. by Timothy F. Lull, Fortress Press, 1989, p. 736-755

A note with this passage says Luther suffered a severe attack of cerebral anemia in 1527 followed by deep depression which may be one reason for the mild tone!

The 2005 edition of this title has been google scanned.

It's just not the same

When Annoyed Librarian went over to Library Journal, the home camp of the people she ridiculed (for pay), I thought she'd lose her readers. I haven't read her in weeks, but stopped by today. Just doesn't have the same feel at all. All the zip and zing is gone. But her loyal followers are still there. Not enough that I'd de-link AL, heaven knows it's very hard to find good consistent bloggers of my gender talking about something besides baby spit up and fashion trends, so I hate to eliminate someone who is good at pointing out the various shibboleths of the profession. Sometimes it was the only way for me to keep up on the various technological enhancements of librarianship by reading her making fun of them.

Where Hillary misjudged Barack

I was reading through a January 2007 article "Hillary, Barack: The Differences And Similarities," By E.J. DIONNE JR and noticed where she, and the McCain-Palin campaign made their mistake:

In a 2002 speech, Clinton signaled her respect for this approach by praising Al From, the DLC's founder and chief executive, for understanding "from the very beginning . . . that the right ideas were more important even than improving technology, organization or fundraising." Both Clintons have employed Mark Penn, the premier DLC pollster who is incessant in his efforts to locate the political center.

If Obama had the right ideas he'd be a lot further ahead; if he had no ideas, he'd still be ahead; he has every tired, worn-out socialist marxist idea that failed around the world, that guarantees our economy will be crushed under more regulation and more taxes, he's stomping the center left and he's still ahead.

The economy collapsed after the 2008 conventions (although I was blogging about Fannie and Fred 18 months ago) making the race about something totally different, and it was the Democrats' fault, and yet the Obamachine was able to grab that brass golden ring and ride the Merry Go Round and Round and Round with it. Clever clips, better graphics, and much faster responses. Their turn around time on a McCain slip was amazing, but McCain might take days to bring up an Obama flip or flim-flam. When we walked out of the Nationwide Arena Friday evening, all pumped up by Ahnold, Hank Jr., and McCain, what was projected on the white building across the street, but an Obama ad about 50 ft high. Brilliant.

And even if Americans--decent, hard working, religious people who close their eyes and ears to his socialist garbage, his dangerous economic plan, and his disgusting abortion views--really understood his ideas, he'd still be ahead. Even when they clearly know that he can't reduce taxes for 95% of Americans because a huge percentage don't pay taxes, and by increasing taxes on business he drives them out of the country, he'd still be ahead. Even if they went on line and totalled the trillions we've spent on poverty programs, he'd still be ahead. He's got what Hillary said wasn't as important as the ideas--TECHNOLOGY, ORGANIZATION AND FUNDRAISING.

Love him or hate him, admire or denigrate him, his minions and lackeys are masters of puppetry, show, fluff, alinskyized groups, speed and visual impact. He picks an old-time, aging liberal for a running mate and uses text messaging to announce it, and the kiddoes swoon from excitement, ignorning the fact that Democrats refused Biden several times. They get little old ladies to leave their home in Illinois and paint store fronts and make coffee in Wisconsin; they get honor scholars to come home from Europe and give false addresses in Ohio and live in a dump so they can bus in the homeless and confused who haven't voted in years, or maybe never. They build a Greek Temple for $5 million to announce what we all knew--he was going to be the candidate and then rip into Palin for her clothes; he prances around Europe posing with fascist imagery but the kids have never studied history, so still they swoon. His agents and organizers, managers and gurus understand that what matters is the feeling, the excitement of the moment, not the facts. Reminds me of the movie Face in the Crowd.

Lonesome Rhodes:This whole country's just like my flock of sheep!
Marcia Jeffries: Sheep?
Lonesome Rhodes: Rednecks, crackers, hillbillies, hausfraus, shut-ins, pea-pickers - everybody that's got to jump when somebody else blows the whistle. They don't know it yet, but they're all gonna be 'Fighters for Fuller'. They're mine! I own 'em! They think like I do. Only they're even more stupid than I am, so I gotta think for 'em. Marcia, you just wait and see. I'm gonna be the power behind the president - and you'll be the power behind me!

Obama is lauded as an articulate intellectual when in fact he stammers and stutters and repeats old ideas calling it change; he talks about social programs as though we haven't already spent trillions and suffocated the poor with a well fed, well paid bureaucracy; when he can't face the truth he just jokes about it, tosses someone under the bus, or sends in his goons to destroy the questioner. He has no past that anyone can find--not legislative or personal, but it doesn't matter. In this election it's the money--and he's spent over half a billion (much through theft and fraud), the right technology (some of it in the state offices of Ohio) and a solid organization of adoring volunteers and paid staff.

He must be the messiah

The dead are rising in Cleveland, missing aunts are found in Boston, homeless in Columbus have addresses, a birth certificate is miracuously found and declared valid in Hawaii. And money--it just appears from nowhere, no one, no how--follow the money.

See James Taranto: Beloved Aunt: America is fed up with compassionate conservatism. Is heartless liberalism the answer?

Clearly Obama is anything but a soft touch. In fact, his blasé attitude about deporting his beloved aunt and bankrupting fellow Americans [coal story] is downright chilling. Maybe a period of heartless liberalism is a needed corrective after eight years of compassionate conservatism. But here's the big question: Would Obama be as brutal in defending America's interests as he is in pandering to xenophobes and global warmists?

Top three presidents since WWII were mature

Of all our presidents since World War II, the three who ranked highest among all American presidents in a 2005 survey of scholars by the Wall Street Journal were: Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower. Joe Biden says there will be an international incident soon after the election of Barack Obama to test him. Article here.

IBD/TIPP Tracking Poll: Day Twenty-One

Now it shows a 2.1 point spread?
Posted: Sunday, November 02, 2008. 46.7 to 44.6 with 8.7 undecided. It's hard to imagine anyone being undecided at this point, you can only hope they are pro-life coal miners.

"The race tightened again Sunday as independents who'd been leaning to Obama shifted to McCain to leave that key group a toss-up. McCain also pulled even in the Midwest, moved back into the lead with men, padded his gains among Protestants and Catholics, and is favored for the first time by high school graduates."

Sounds like some Christians just might be realizing that if we got 40+ million abortions with Roe v. Wade and pro-life presidents, how many more will there be when we have the one who has the most leftist record ever in the history of the nation on abortion.

Although I listen to conservative radio in the morning, the news breaks are all CNN. Today Tammy Bruce (no relation, lesbian, former president of NOW, former lefty now a conservative) was subbing for Laura Ingraham who has laryngitis. So it was a bi-polar moment when the news came on--it was all rah, rah Obama, McCain doesn't have a chance after hearing Tammy trying to rally the troops for McCain-Palin.

Update, final poll: Final IBD/TIPP Tracking Poll Shows Obama Leading McCain 51.5% to 44.3%.

pea and poop

Usually I don't worry about spelling and typos on the internet, because everyone dashes something off, and often doesn't take the time to look through. But this one on my site meter was just too cute to pass up.

"the solution to my environmental problem is people letting their pets pea and poop in other peoples yard on the sidewalk at the park and killing the grass"

Now, I don't talk about pea and poop, but I might have noted something I saw at the park that was killing the grass, and we have certainly all been stepping in it as we get closer to the election.

I'm not sure what vegetative matter (peas and poop?) and how much heat it took to make coal, but it's an essential part of the economy of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky. The article in the Dispatch today covering what Sarah Palin said about the most recent outrageous take down of our economy promised by Obama--to bankrupt the coal industry and cause higher electricity costs--with cap and trade so high no one will be able to afford it, didn't even get the quote right. I've listened to it several times and even with his trademark stammer and stutter (off teleprompter) you can clearly hear the word "bankrupt" and his intentions, but the headline is: "Palin charges Obama would cripple Ohio's coal industry." Obama promised he will bankrupt anyone who builds a coal fired plant and the CD writer tries to explain it away.

The media owners of the CD and PD, WaPo and NYT need to get some pre-1990 text books and take a look at what happened to the press after they helped bring in "reform" in Cuba in the 1950s, Russia in the early 20th century, China in the 1940s, Vietnam in the 50s, Korea in the 40s, etc. After the marxist dictator takes power, they are the first to go, next it's the buddies and cronies who still have some backbone and know where the bodies are buried. Go back and read some of those trials from the 1930s in the USSR, like Bukharin's, all those loyal revolutionaries who had sacrificed so much and shed the blood of others for the marxist dream. Then next in line are the unions. Of course, most of those governments, with the exception of North Korea which is still taking food aid for its starving people, have now come full circle and dumped their endless 5 year economic plans built on a million graves and are beating us at our own game. Pea and poop, indeed.

Allegory of Unfaithful Jerusalem

When gays sift through Scripture hunting with no avail for support for their sexual practices and marriage to each other, the big one that is skipped over is male/female and husband/wife imagery for spiritual truths that is everywhere, from the story of Creation to the final judgement. In the Old Testament a major theme is God's relationship with Israel, as husband and wife, and in the New it is Christ the loving bridegroom and the believing Church the bride.

This morning I was looking up a reference that Martin Luther had made to a passage in Ezekiel about caring for your neighbor in times of the plague (he's writing in the early 1500s when this was a big concern), and read the entire Ezekiel 16. I'm sure in conservative churches, Americans hear this passage often as an allegory of what has happened to the United States and her abandoning Christian roots, but it wouldn't happen from the pulpits and classrooms of UALC where I'm a member. Given that this is the day before we elect new leaders, throw the bums out, pass or toss bond issues, say yes or no on various issues from water rights to street lights, it's an amazing read. Take it to the polls instead of that guide your party has printed up so slick and pretty.

I'm not going to reprint the entire chapter because it is easily available on the internet. I use almost exclusively the NIV, although for "English as it was never spoken," I use NASB, because it is so literal with little attention to the beauty of our language. Regardless of the translation/paraphrase you use, the message is the same.

God's spokesman, "Son of man," begins in verse 1 with a description of a female baby of mixed ethnicity being thrown away; then God finds her in the trash still with the umbilical cord uncut, cleans her up, and says, LIVE. He then provides her with the finest of everything. She grows up and becomes beautiful. They make a covenant (marriage). But then she uses her beauty, fame, wealth, everything God gave her, and even the abundant food, to go a whoring--making sacrifices to foreign idols. This ungrateful wife even sacrifices her own children to idols, and forgets her youth when she was naked, bare and kicking about in her own blood when rescued by God. Here's the passage, however, that really struck home for me as an allegory of our country at this time.

Ez 16:32-35 " You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! 33 Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors. 34 So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you."

Comments on the Berg-Obama legal standing case

American Thinker (article by Mark J. Fitzgibbons) stopped by to respond to D. who left a response here calling Mark J. Fitzgibbons an idiot (I had quoted him). The backstory is: dismissing a challenge to Obama's constitutional qualifications to run for President on grounds that a mere citizen does not have legal standing to sue. I couldn't find a photo of Mr. D., so I googled his image, finding this D shaped exit hole made by an Emerald Ash Borrer. So here's the response.

"First of all, thank you for blogging about the issues I raised in my piece in American Thinker, "Who Enforces the Constitution's Natural Born Citizen Clause?"

The comment of this person "d" neglects that my piece does in fact address and criticize Senator McCain's motion to dismiss for lack of standing.

This person "d" refers to himself as a lawyer, as in "we lawyers." "This" lawyers did address the importance of standing in my article. And I also address, without the luxury of space in that article, the fact that courts have given somewhat wider standing latitude when constitutional rights are being litigated. I know this from having written briefs in constitutional cases, including before the United States Supreme Court. I am also very much aware that the mere raising of a constitutional claim does not create standing. However, as my article does address, the court-made doctrine of standing should not preclude citizens from enforcing the Constitution in this case, and should not be assumed to be broader than the Constitution itself to the point that the Constitution may not be enforced by citizens, which certainly would be the opposite of the intent of that document.

Since I assuredly won't be asking "d" to be co-counsel in any case, I am not worried about his criticism of Mr. Berg's failure establish facts at the pleading stage in a manner consistent with evidentiary standards. Since the case was dismissed before discovery was had, we do not know whether the allegations contained in the pleadings lacked merit or not. And I know that "d," as one of "we lawyers," would be able to blog about the best evidence rule for all the people who have relied on FactCheck.org as conclusive evidence of Senator Obama's natural born citizen status.

Therefore, as you so aptly state, lawyers and judges do sometimes "use exactly the same law and/or regulation to mean the exact opposite if its intent." The Roman historian Tacitus wrote about that, and how it aided the fall of the Roman Empire. Indeed, the "inconvenience of facts," a term employed by "d," may have been avoided by resorting to judicial doctrines instead of the Constitution itself, which is why the decision in the Berg case has offended so many people."

Now if Mr. D. will just come back. I suspect he was an Obama-robo-spider, crawling the internet with pre-planned responses. Here, Spiddy, here Spiddy. Come and get it.

I revisited the original post at American Thinker and found 81 comments. I don't know if D dropped by to offer suggestions there or if he just picks on little old ladies. But the responses are well worth reading, if you have the time.

Environmental Stewardship Study Guide

The May 2008 The Lutheran features a cover topic "Stewarding God's creation," with a study guide on p. 19.


The author of the guide, Robert C. Blezard, has a MDiv from Boston University with some additional work at Lutheran seminaries at Gettysburg, PA and Philadelphia. I haven't been to seminary and I've only had enough science (4 years in high school, 1 year in college) to meet graduation requirements. But folks, this guide is not a guide, it is a political tract.

How do you write a study guide for a Christian journal that doesn't guide, doesn't encourage study, isn't Biblical, isn't accurate historically and isn't scientific? Is it any wonder ELCA is losing members to more conservative denominations who have something to say, or to agnosticism which says, I don't know?

For starters, "stewardship" isn't a "clunky term." Adding a suffix to a verb or noun is a perfectly acceptable way to create another noun--kinship, friendship, guardianship, etc. It's not clunky; it's the way our language expands on an idea. Why the author thought the word even needed explanation, I don't know--Christians have been having "stewardship Sunday" forever. And why chose the most narrow definition of steward, i.e., NOT the owner, when it means manager, agent, superviser and director?

And how does a pastor/writer ask "Who's world is it anyway? Who created it?" without offering a few Bible verses? It's unreasonable for the writer to assume the participants have been taught anything except evolution in school, everything and everyone evolved from a blob of something or a big blast, unless they were homeschooled! I attended elementary school in the 1940s and 1950s and even I only learned evolution--several shifting versions and different timelines. Here's a few suggestions for Pastor Blezard:

Gen. 1:1, Ps 90:2, Jeremiah 10:6, Isaiah 43:10, Revelation 4:11, Job 38:4-7.

Why waste limited space (it's a one page guide) with poorly constructed questions guaranteed to get a one word answer such as,

"If a steward of a plantation farms in a way that depletes the soil and jeopardizes future cultivation, is that good stewardship?"

A plantation? Hey! bring it on home--ever heard of a farm, garden or flower pot? Then he goes on to present only two models of how billions of people in thousands of cultures have viewed the earth, either

1) endless and indestructible or 2) finite and fragile.

My area of research was agricultural journals of the 19th century, and be assured there were minimally educated people with great sophistication on how to care for and improve the land (and organizations such as extension to teach those who didn't know), and in most cultures people knew enough about their local living conditions, forests, deserts, and mountains not to contaminate them.

Along with endless questions and no Biblical references, the author makes statements with no footnotes that may or may not be true, but we know he believes them.

We are now 6 billion strong and the Earth is showing great signs of strain

Larry Rasmussen says the Hebrew words are better rendered "to serve and protect." (Genesis 2:15)

Use of Earth (note the capital letter) resources, both renewable and nonrenewable, is escalating at an alarming rate, with dire consequences.

Global warming is just one consequence, along with a shrinking wildlife habitat, dwindling freshwater supplies, collapse of fisheries, species extinction, and degradation of air and water.

Scientists say these pressures imperil the capacity of the planet to sustain life.

Not a reference or footnote. And who is Larry Rasmussen? His neighbor? Cousin?

Then comes a long list of questions (Exercise 4) that just beg for a few statistics if they are going to be discussed. I write a lot about buildings, consumerism, food, applicances, etc., yet off the top of my head, if I had to discuss with fellow church members the size of houses and cars in my life time, we'd be reduced to reminiscing about the family Chevy and grandma's house.

I'm bullish on protecting Lake Erie and keeping the western states from piping our fresh water to deserts that were never intended to be agricultural land, but Exercise 5 is really weak. He seems stuck back in the 1970s when no one swam in the Great Lakes and there was no regulation of waste (or when the mid-west still had industries).

Again, he gives an either or statement:

Should human health or economic interests come first in making decisions?

When DDT was removed from the international market, was the human health of the Africans considered, or just a few Americans who wanted to run free and barefoot through the grass birdwatching? Let's define some terms here. Economics for who? Haitians? Rwandans? Maybe they'd like some of the lifestyle we denigrate as "poverty." Maybe they'd just once like the opportunity to be overweight or obese.

Since the first paragraph says,

"God gave us a perfect home, full of life and resources, and charges us to take care of it,"

I think it would be appropriate for a Lutheran pastor to mention the Fall. The world isn't perfect, Pastor, and hasn't been for thousands of years. Creation ended with God's stamp of approval and he pronounced it VERY GOOD. Not a single industry, business, government, culture or smoke stack messed it up. Man was deceived by Satan, began to doubt, then denied what God said, and then disobeyed. Deceit, doubt, denial and disobedience continue to this day, and is probably most evident in the pantheism of global warmism and worship of the environment and "Mother Earth."

God has the solution for sin, and the first paragraph would have been the perfect spot to insert the name of Jesus and his work on our behalf on the cross. I think it's good to always let your readers know where you're coming from, and Jesus' name appears no where in this guide for Lutheran Christians. So next time. . . let's put it right up front and go from there.

Obama plans to bankrupt Ohio's coal industry

Oh sure you can build it, but no one will come.

"So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted." B.O.

That's like telling Iowans they can't grow corn. Floridians they can't invite tourists. New Yorkers they can't borrow money. Detroit they can't build cars.

Listen to this terrifying (for Ohioans) interview

HT BizzyBlog.

A sinner saved by grace

Remember Mr. T? He was one my son's favorite TV characters. He has a nice testimony at Belief.net.

I was baptized when I was four years old. But when you’re younger you really don’t understand that stuff. Then I got rebaptized in 1977. As a Christian you forgive and you feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and you visit the sick, and comfort the lonely. If I’m a true follower of my lord and savior Jesus Christ, I got to do the things you’re supposed to be doing. You just can’t say, "I believe in Jesus" and then don’t forgive somebody [or] hold a grudge against somebody. Don’t get me wrong--if somebody jumps me I’m gonna fight, but I don't send out hate vibes if I don’t like that person or the way that they dress. That’s negative energy. Then there is a contradiction to the God I serve, the God of love. He forgave me, and I should do good to the people who cross me.

In 1979, before I got famous, there was a contest called the Toughest Bouncer in America. I used to bodyguard for some celebrities and other people, and when I wasn’t doing that I used to work at a disco as a doorman or a bouncer. When I started training for the contest I called my pastor, Rev. Henry Hardy of Cosmopolitan Community Church [in Chicago]. I’ve been going there since 1977. I said, “Pastor Hardy, they’re having a contest, and when I win this contest I’m going to give you the money, so you can buy food and clothes for less fortunate people in the community." I won two years in a row—it was over $10,000. I didn’t have no car then, but I was blessed. So I gave the money freely, and then my blessing came back in the form of "Rocky III." A very nice interview here.

Voters to Weigh In on Ballot Initiatives on Election Day

In my opinion, if the moral leadership at the top is as deformed and stunted as Obama's, the local issues may not matter that much, but we all have local issues--school bonds, rezoning, e-regs, gambling casinos, and the ones that aren't clear--like Ohio's payday lenders. Here's a item from my husband's AIA newsletter, The Angle. I think architects must be torn. On the one hand, they are small businesses, and salaries and commissions are low. Obama's new taxes will kill the little guy, opening up more opportunities for the mid-size and larger firms to move in for the kill. On the other hand, they can't make it without the government contracts, and they are salivating over the go-green hype.

"Next Tuesday’s election has voters buzzing about the presidential candidates and the many congressional, state, and local races. However, ballot initiatives, unless they are highly controversial, tend to fly under the radar and do not receive the necessary press coverage so voters can fully understand the issues.

In this election, there are 152 initiatives on ballots across the nation.“Ballot initiatives bypass legislatures and put lawmaking power directly in the hands of the people,” notes Billie Kaumaya, manager of AIA State Relations. “For this reason, it is very important for voters to research each issue and to make an informed decision.”With that in mind, the State Relations team has compiled a chart of just some of the initiatives on the ballot next week that may impact architects and encourages members to further investigate these initiatives:

Taxation Initiative Summary

Arizona Proposition 100: Prohibits state and local governments from establishing a new tax or fee on the sale, purchase, or transfer of real property.

LiabilityInitiative Summary

Arizona Ballot Number 201: Issues a Homeowners’ Bill of Rights.
Sustainability/Energy Efficiency Initiative Summary

California Proposition 7: Requires utilities to generate 20% of their power from renewable energy by 2010, 40% by 2020, and 50% by 2025.

California Proposition 10: Provides $1.25 billion for research, development, and production of renewable energy technology and offers incentives for purchasing solar and renewable energy technology.

Florida Ballot Number 3: Authorizes the government to prohibit consideration of the installation of renewable energy source devices as a factor in property assessments for tax purposes.

Missouri Proposition C: Requires investor-owned electric utilities to generate or purchase electricity from renewable energy sources. Requires 2% of the retail sales to be from renewable sources by 2011, 5% by 2014, 10% by 2018, and 15% by 2021.

Land Use Initiative Summary

Georgia Amendment 3: Authorizes the state legislature to provide for the creation and regulation of infrastructure development districts. Allows counties and municipalities affected by these districts to approve their creation.

Louisiana Amendment 6: Removes certain restrictions for the taking of blighted property when property is taken for the removal of a threat to public health or safety caused by the existing use or disuse of the property.

Nevada Question 2: Prohibits the government from occupying property taken in an eminent domain action until the government provides all property appraisals. Requires the government to prove that property taken in an eminent domain action be taken for “public use.” Provides that just compensation be at the highest assessed value. (Nevada law requires constitutional amendments to pass in 2 consecutive elections. This also passed in November 2006).

Rhode Island Question 2: Authorizes a $2.5 million bond to purchase or protect conservation easements and public recreation easements, greenways and other open space, recreation lands, agriculture lands, forested lands, and state parks.

Water Infrastructure Initiative Summary

Maine Question 3: Authorizes the state to issue a $3.4 million bond to raise funds for drinking water and wastewater programs, including the construction of such facilities.

Missouri Constitutional Amendment 4: Limits the availability of grants and loans to public water and sewer districts only. Removes the limits on the amount of funds available.

Ohio Issue 3 Protects: private-property rights for owners of land with underlying groundwater or non-navigable waters located on or flowing through the property.

Pennsylvania Bond Question: Authorizes the state to borrow $400 million for grants and loans for the acquisition, construction, improvement, expansion, extension, repair or rehabilitation of drinking water system, storm water and no-point source projects, nutrient credits, and wastewater treatment system projects.

Building Permits Initiative Summary

Oregon Measure 63: Exempts owners of residential or farm property from building, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical permits and inspections when making certain changes or those totaling less than $35,000 in one year.

To view all of the ballot initiatives in your state, please visit your state’s election page."

Sarah Palin will appear at Road to Victory Rallies in Canton, Marietta, Columbus and Owensville today!

Road to Victory Rally with Sarah Palin-Canton, OH

McKinley Senior High School

Canton Memorial Fieldhouse

1735 Harrison AvenueCanton, OH 44708

Sunday, November 2ndDoors Open: 9am

Road to Victory Rally with Sarah Palin-Marietta, OH

Marietta College Dyson Baudo Recreation Center

215 Fifth Street Marietta, OH 45750

Sunday, November 2nd Doors Open: 11:30am

Road to Victory Rally with Sarah Palin-Columbus, OH

Lane Aviation - Rickenbacker International Airport

2295 John Circle DriveColumbus, OH 43217

November 2nd

Doors Open: 2pm

And November 3rd, tomorrow at

Road to Victory Rally with Sarah Palin-Lakewood, OH

Lakewood Park14532 Lake Avenue(at Belle Avenue)

Lakewood, Ohio 44107

Monday, November 3rd

Doors Open: 6:30am