Obama's goal

Maggie Thurber at Thurber’s Thoughts has some scary, but sobering thoughts on the possibility of an Obama second term. His approval rating is plummeting. After listening to Dems gripe for seven years about Bush's deficit of billions, we've seen him plunge us into trillions in two months. The people will catch on--eventually--but it will be too late. He doesn’t care; that’s not his goal.

The goal is not the presidency - that's merely a tool with which to achieve the agenda: the European-style socialism of America and the total consolidation of power within the hands of radical leftists. Sacrificing his re-election would be a small price to pay for the accomplishing this nefarious feat.

And sometimes it's the cat

"Roughly 240 Americans wind up in emergency rooms every day for sprains, fractures or other injuries from a fall caused by a dog or cat, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said dogs and cats account for 88 percent of all fall-related injuries in emergency departments."

No one was seriously hurt, but I sat on the cat's tail today--she was standing next to the toilet and I didn't notice her. Boy, did she hiss.

"Women are 2.1 times more likely to have a pet-related fall than men, they said.

Tripping seems to be the biggest risk. About 31 percent of dog-related and 66 percent of cat-related injuries were caused by tripping. Another 21 percent of dog-related injuries occurred when people fell after being pushed or pulled by dogs.

The CDC said pet owners need to be aware that their furry friends can cause accidents. They recommended pet obedience training to reduce fall-related injuries."
Reuters

Against global warming hysteria?

Here's what James Taranto suggests:

Reader, if you are against global-warming hysteria, high taxes, socialized medicine and a weak foreign policy, Sunday is your day. Show how you feel about the issues by turning on your lights in the evening and leaving them on until you go to bed. If you go out for a drive after dark, make sure you turn your headlights on too.

Granted, the EarthHour people have a head start on us. They started planning this months ago, whereas we're giving you all of 48 hours notice. Yet we think the outlook is bright for this effort. Tell your friends, tell them to tell their friends, and so on, and we'll bet millions of people across the country will turn their lights on Sunday night.

If no one will listen to the silent majority, let's at least make sure they see us.

We don't waste electricity willy nilly, and I go to bed early, but I could leave the TV on.

Friday Family Photo

This has probably been on the blog before--need to scan some new photos. However, we just didn't take as many pictures 40 years ago. I think my husband took more photos (digital) on our Israel trip 2 weeks ago than we owned in our first 40 years of marriage (started traveling in 2001). This seems to be May 2007 and my husband is tending the back 40.


I just can't tell you how much we love this place. We feel like we are in paradise--and when things don't grow (I have a brown thumb) I just poke a few silk flowers in the ground from Garden Ridge and no one seems to notice. One year we won a prize for nicest patio. This view is the patio and deck in the back which overlook a creek and woodsy area where we see deer, heron, Mallards and Canada geese, and more recently, huge patches of replaced grass because something from the golf course near by transplanted itself over here where it wasn't wanted. The green growing leggy thing behind my husband isn't ours, but she never trims, one of the disadvantages of condo living.

I've heard a storm is coming this week-end, so we'll need to wait a bit before things look this green. All the trees are budding, so it must be time for our biggest snow or wind storm of the year. After all, we do live in central Ohio.

Tea with the President and Congress

“It is precisely those members of Congress who have had the most to do with creating the risks that led to the current economic crisis who are making the most noise against others, and summoning people before their committee to be browbeaten and humiliated on nationwide television.” Thomas Sowell.

And you, Mr. President, were a member of the very Congress that helped bring the economy to its knees. So for you, a used tea bag and yellow gold print symbolizing cowardly and costly.

Obama's stem cell ban and the barn door

While we were in Israel, home of another human life miracle which took place over 2000 years ago, President Obama was reported to have lifted "the ban" on embryonic stem cell research. First of all, there was never a ban on the research, only on expanding the use of human embryos in research funded by the U.S. taxpayer, an ethical dilemma with the potential to make abortion and euthanasia look like kindergarten stuff (and to turn young women into fertilized egg machines for pay). The announcement was really for show--one of the few campaign promises he could keep (other than the one where he promised to drive us over the socialist cliff to financial ruin--which he seems hell-bent on keeping). Second, he's too late; the research has moved so quickly we no longer need that death trap. Third, despite its availability (was never illegal or banned) embryonic stem cell research has never produced that first cure or break through.

Here's what President Bush said in 2001. And thank you God for a President with guts and a good heart.

"My administration must decide whether to allow federal funds, your tax dollars, to be used for scientific research on stem cells derived from human embryos. . .

My position on these issues is shaped by deeply held beliefs. I'm a strong supporter of science and technology, and believe they have the potential for incredible good -- to improve lives, to save life, to conquer disease. Research offers hope that millions of our loved ones may be cured of a disease and rid of their suffering. I have friends whose children suffer from juvenile diabetes. Nancy Reagan has written me about President Reagan's struggle with Alzheimer's. My own family has confronted the tragedy of childhood leukemia. And like all Americans, I have great hope for cures.

I also believe human life is a sacred gift from our creator. I worry about a culture that devalues life, and believe as your president I have an important obligation to foster and encourage respect for life in America and throughout the world.

And while we're all hopeful about the potential of this research, no one can be certain that the science will live up to the hope it has generated. . . " Speech 9 August 2001

Then in November 2007 came an announcement in respected journals that research groups in Wisconsin and Japan generated “induced pluripotent stem” (iPS) cells with the properties of human embryonic stem cells by direct reprogramming of adult cells. No human life needed to be destroyed in this breakthrough.

"Unlike embryonic stem cells, which are obtained by destroying live embryos, iPSCs are made directly from adult cells by adding a small number of factors to these cells in the laboratory. These factors remodel the mature cells and convert them into stem cells that are functionally identical to stem cells obtained from embryos. No human eggs are required and no human embryos are generated. Adult cells are obtained from a simple skin biopsy, 1/10th inch in diameter and about as painful as a blood draw. One study was able to produce an average of 10 pluripotent stem cell lines from a single skin biopsy. This approach can be used to generate stem cell lines from patients with specific genetic diseases to better study these conditions, and to provide patient-specific stem cells for possible stem cell therapies."

And then shortly before Obama's announcement came this one (which I supposed caused his handlers to hurry with his announcement before he got left in the dust)

"Led by scientists Kathrin Plath and William Lowry, UCLA researchers used genetic alteration to turn back the clock on human skin cells and create cells that are nearly identical to human embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to become every cell type found in the human body. Four regulator genes were used to create the cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells. Science Daily

While the servile media drooled at the thought of embryos being destroyed in the name of science, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, observed:

“Advancements in science and research have moved faster than the debates among politicians in Washington, D.C., and breakthroughs announced in recent years confirm that the full potential of stem cell research can be realized without the destruction of living human embryos. This issue is not about whether federal dollars should fund stem cell research. There is little debate about that, and Republicans enthusiastically support adult, cord blood, and pluripotent stem cell research that have shown so much promise in recent years. The question is whether taxpayer dollars should be used to subsidize the destruction of precious human life. Millions of Americans strongly oppose that, and rightfully so. Taxpayer dollars should not aid the destruction of innocent human life.” ABC News Blog (probably never got on national news)

Thursday Thirteen--the little things will make us healthier, wealthier and wise

1. Pick up $10 worth of food at the supermarket this week to donate to the local food pantry. $10 won't be noticed in your pantry--doesn't buy a lot--but if everyone did it, many could be helped, and your local economy will benefit too. This week $10 at Marc's bought two large boxes of corn flakes, 2 large cans of spaghetti sauce, and 6 medium size cans of chunk pineapple in natural juice.

2. Reduce your own calories by 100-200 a day. Again, you won't miss them--it's a bite while waiting at Panera's snack table or cleaning up that bit of gravy with a piece of bread; you won't go hungry, but if you're consistent, you'll lose 10 lbs or so in the next 6 months. You'll feel better, the clothes will not need to be replaced, and you might even save on some medical bills. Your knees will thank me.

3. Your city government is probably making cuts "for show" so it can apply for some stimulus money. That's YOUR money--just say NO. Organize a few friends, grab a trash bag, put on an orange hunter's vest, and pick up some roadside trash. Make your mayor look foolish.

4. Go out to eat this week. Yes, waitresses and busboys and stock owners have bills too. If you aren't doing your favorite spot, try McDonald's or Wendy's. There are lots of healthy things on the menu. Can't swing the whole meal? Just go for dessert.

5. If you choose a sit-down restaurant, leave a generous tip. Everyone has to live, and you need to keep some of this in your own community and not send it all to Washington for the Obamacons to spend.

6. Plan a modest outing or vacation. Yes, Florida and Las Vegas are fun, but check out some local festivals--keep the souvenir budget in the hands of local crafts people.

7. Don't neglect your church tithe. You don't tithe? Well, no wonder your budget is a mess. That should come off the top. But if you're the $5 a week Christian, consider doubling that. If everyone in the pew did just that, most churches could pay off their mortgages and feed the African children.

8. Learn or relearn some basic cooking and sewing skills like grandma and mother had (well, not my grandmothers--they weren't known for their cooking although they could garden and can). This week I cooked up a mess of pinto beans--about $1.00. Tasted quite good. Somewhere I have a recipe for pinto bean cake from a good-ol-boy from Kentucky. Don't let the government tell you that food stamps are the only way--you can do a lot with 10 lbs of potatoes, a package of macaroni, a gallon of milk, and a few pounds of real cheese. The rice pudding I made--well, that needs a little work.

9. Death and taxes. Be prepared. Update your will--or at least locate it, and update your health directives. You just never know, and you don't want this to be a burden to your children or spouse. Martin Luther made this #1 in preparing for the next life: said you should get all your worldly affairs in order so that in the event of your death, "there won't be occasion for squabbles, quarrels or other misunderstanding" among the survivors.

10. Clean out your garage. You'll feel light and some worthy organization can resell your donations--this puts money into your local economy while adjusting your self-esteem and sense of self-worth. Plus, sweeping the garage out will burn a few calories to help with #2.

11. Help the post office (threatening lay-offs of employees) by sending a get-well or birthday card this week. It's still one of the best bargins out there.

12. If you're so inclined or need to, buy something BIG. Our friends Wes and Sue of Worthington just gave central Ohio a big boost. They put their lovely ranch with the huge lot, right price and a great school district on the market and it sold in 3 days. Then they needed a home, so they bought a half double (Bob Webb home) in a community of about 80, and are happily picking out appliances, wall colors and floor coverings. 30 year mortgages are at an historic low--4.85%, and there are great deals on new and used cars at Jack Maxton.

13. Every time you see a daffodil or forsythia blooming this Spring, pause and give thanks. Then take a deep breath and thank God for all the neat, colorful people blooming in your life. The oxygen and positive thoughts will do wonders for your wrinkles and attitude.

Can we hire this woman?

Marcia Picou, Baton Rouge, LA comments at Morning Bell about members of both parties:

I believe that any Congress person who voted for authorizing the stimulus plan without reading it, which will very likely waste billions upon billions of dollars, if not trillions (by the time interest is added in during payback time), should be held more accountable than the employess at AIG who received bonuses .

I believe we could turn our country back towards being a democratic Republic by three things:
Beginning term limits for congressional people,
limiting any raises and perks for Congress - only the American people should be allowed to vote for this, and
institution of the FairTax.

I also wish that Obama and the current administration would stop whining about what they “inherited” - they HELPED to create the inheritance.

Well said, Marcia. Now run for office.

Is the Federal Reserve Banking system part of the federal government?

I would say no, but a school teacher I was chatting with at the coffee shop said, "Of course it's part of the government." If it is, that is never said on any of the web sites of the twelve banks that comprise "the system." Now granted, the Board of Governors of the Fed is a federal government agency, but that's a board, not the Fed itself. The members of the Board are appointed by the President and approved by Congress for 14 year terms.

But the Fed itself is a central bank, private shareholder owned, and no matter where you look for answers you'll find either right wing, anti-semites who will swear it's a plot by Jews to own the world, or extremely non-commital bank owned sites and publications which are pretty mum about who and what they are.

I know this. There's a lot out there about what the Fed does, but not about who is in charge or who owns it.

Today, the Federal Reserve’s duties fall into four general areas:

conducting the nation’s monetary policy by influencing the monetary and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates

supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nation’s banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers

maintaining the stability of the financial system and containing systemic risk that may arise in financial markets

providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation’s payments system.

It doesn't report to you and me, the taxpayers. The URL is not dot gov. And Ben Bernanke, not Barack Obama, is the most powerful man in the world.

I wish he were that harmless!

Washington Post graphic comparing Bush and Obama via The Foundry.

When the word "HOPE" means something

Yesterday I came across the web page for Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora, Colorado, an evangelical, confessional, liturgical, Bible-believing Lutheran church and member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It also has a web master who knows how to design an easy-to-navigate web page and a pastor with a heart for communicating the Gospel from the pulpit, from Sunday school, and with decently current technology. So many churches (and libraries, businesses and schools) seem to have cartoonists and quasi-lunatics on contract for web design with a cacophony of colors, hidden links, and wiggling widgets. I was looking through their key to the events of Holy Week, and now the names and places really jump out at me after so recently visiting Jerusalem, the Upper Room, Caiaphas' home, the Mount of Olives, and Gethsemane. There are many Christians who want to focus exclusively on a "social justice" message for Jesus, but 1) one-third of the Gospels are devoted to one week of his life, and 2) all the moral and ethical values Jesus taught had already been given to the Jews long before his birth. He wasn't needed for that message; he was needed for our salvation.

What they're planning in Norway

Could this be in our future?

"Finance Minister and Socialist Left Party leader Kristin Halvorsen says her party wants a ban on the sale of gasoline driven cars by 2015. She says that new technology will be available by then.

- The Socialist Left will adopt this as a goal, but it must of course be effectuated in cooperation with other countries, she says.

In an interview with Aftenposten, Halvorsens says she believes that by 2015 the development of new technology will have advanced to the point where it is quite possible to demand that all new cars be emission free. Norway Post, March 26, 2009"

If they can ban the sale of new cars, I suppose they can ban the driving of the old. That's what you get with the socialist left, Obamamas and Obamans. You voted socialist, I didn't. Although this Norway story isn't all just gas--isn't all tree-hugging greengoes. Follow the money. Petroleum and natural gas are huge industries in Norway which has been pumping North Sea oil for nearly 40 years. Right now the price of oil is down, so the lack of major new discoveries in recent years has accelerated its decline and shift towards natual gas. According to one source I read, last year oil and gas companies spent a record of nearly $19 billion to seek and tap new petroleum resources off Norway. Now if they find it's profitable (i.e. the per barrel price goes up and your price at the pump), I assume they'll continue to sell their stash.

Have you read your STRS newsletter this month?

How about that part about bonuses for the fund managers even though all that money was lost. Really, was it their fault? Want some ACORNish outrage showing up at their door step Mr. Frank and Mr. Obama? Our pensions are not looking so great. This piece is not from that, but it could be

. . . we are just starting to see the unraveling of public pension systems that could well shake some of society’s basic foundations. Policemen, policewomen, firefighters, teachers and other public employees form the backbone of society. Many of these people happily take jobs offering lower wages in return for the psychic income of public service and, of equal importance, the financial income of a generous pension when they retire.

My pension is far from generous, certainly not like the public school teacher who has taught 30 years then retired because it didn't pay to continue. I only have 23 years, and some of that I had to buy back from Illinois. But many retired public servants do quite well, and then create other careers. I talked to a man the other day at the Senior Center--he and his wife had 5 pensions between them.

Card Check is NOT free choice

Every worker should be free to decide whether to join a union.

"Suppose to vote in state and national elections you weren't allowed a secret ballot behind a curtain. Suppose to vote you had to go downtown and vote in the baseball stadium, where your choices would be flashed on the scoreboard, before a howling mob. Your boss, and your co-workers, and your neighbors would all know who you voted for.

That is how the unions and liberal Democrats want to change the law in regard to employees choosing whether they want a union." American Spectator

"Union organizers waited for us in the break room, sat with us at lunch whether we wanted them to or not, and walked us to our cars at the end of the day. The entire time they were constantly badgering us to sign the cards. …I refused to sign the card every time they asked, and I know many others shared my sentiment. But none of that mattered to the UAW, because the pressure did not let up. In fact, one day, an official approached me again claiming fifty percent of the plant had signed — so now I was going to have to sign the card to ‘get my information in the system.’

I signed the card then because I thought I had to. I didn’t learn until later that even then, I should not have been forced to sign the card. I hope you’ll vote to defeat the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act." Testimony of worker Larry Getts before the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions

Obama then, Obama now

Will the real Obama please stand up? Is it the guy on the campaign trail without the teleprompter, or the one who spoke to us last night looking at the words on a giant TV screen (who is the guy at the keyboard behind the screen telling him what to say)? On the campaign trail, he promised to spike our energy costs, promised to destroy Ohio's coal industry by making "retrofitting" so expensive no one would stay in the business. Then last night, he says the "new energy prices" can't be a shock to the consumer. It's called a tax, whether you think it's that or not. Oh yeah!

“These undisputed, audio-taped remarks, which include comments from Senator Obama like ‘I haven’t been some coal booster’ and ‘if they want to build [coal plants], they can, but it will bankrupt them’ are extraordinarily misguided.

“It’s evident that this campaign has been pandering in states like Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania to attempt to generate votes from coal supporters, while keeping his true agenda hidden from the state’s voters.

“Senator Obama has revealed himself to be nothing more than a short-sighted, inexperienced politician willing to say anything to get a vote. But today, the nation’s coal industry and those who support it have a better understanding of his true mission, to ‘bankrupt’ our industry, put tens of thousands out of work and cause unprecedented increases in electricity prices.

“In addition to providing an affordable, reliable source of low-cost electricity, domestic coal holds the key to our nation’s long-term energy security - a goal that cannot be overlooked during this time of international instability and economic uncertainty.

“Few policy areas are more important to our economic future than energy issues. As voters head to the polls tomorrow, it is essential they remember that access to reliable, affordable, domestic energy supplies is essential to economic growth and stability.” Mike Carey

Is the real Obama the guy who claimed to be a Christian on the campaign trail, and is now going to punish those who make the majority of charitable contributions in this country? Liberals outnumber Conservatives, but they are pikers at the collection plate. Look at Biden's record. Look at Obama's before he decided to run for President and one of his savvy aides noticed he was a cheapskate.


Biden's charitable donations by % of income. Of course, they didn't mind accepting money from AIG for their campaigns.

Updating my trip log

I'm still writing about our Holy Land Cruise in early March, but it's dated March 18 so I can keep it all together, consequently it doesn't appear at the top of the blog. Here's our first day in Israel.

That's me by the fence.

The Obamacons

No, Barack Obama is not to blame for the years and years of marxists and socialists with which we have peopled our Congress [beginning in the 1920s], but he has given them permission to act like fools. First, he appointed a tax cheat as Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner, who skipped ethics class and church, to lead us out of a mess created by years and years of government tampering with the economy to the tune of trillions and trillions in bad paper. Second, by having zip-nada-zilch business experience and being the titlular head of ACORN, President Obama helped create the mob mentality in Congress and in front of the AIG execs' homes, the very people the Obamacons hired to get us out of the mess. Creating and inciting mobs to violence (someone had to pay for the bus, the meals, the driver, the "community organizer" to gather them up from street corners and bars) is resorting to the old USSR and Chi-Com tactics of decades past. Worked then, why not today?

In today's WSJ, Hernando de Soto says something very important about contracts--something so key to this trumped up AIG bonus frenzy, he probably didn't even realize it, since I don't think he's that sympathetic to capitalists, and writes about the disparity between the poor and wealthy.

"Ever since humans started trading, lending and investing beyond the confines of the family and the tribe, we have depended on legally authenticated written statements to get the facts about things of value. Over the past 200 years, that legal authority has matured into a global consensus on the procedures, standards and principles required to document facts in a way that everyone can easily understand and trust.

The result is a formidable property system with rules and recording mechanisms that fix on paper the facts that allow us to hold, transfer, transform and use everything we own, from stocks to screenplays." WSJ article

What he left out is that Congress has violated this long tradition of honoring a contract. Everyone (at least on their staff) from Obama on down through the newest elected Representative, like Mary Jo Kilroy from Ohio, knew that the people getting the "bonus" (i.e. a salary due at the end of a service) were not the people who ran AIG into the ground. They were the people hired to fix the mess. Now, given how they were treated, how mobs were hired and their families threatened by the likes of Barney Frankenstein in trumped up phony televised hearings, would you want to sign on for government service to help your country?

If the contracts with AIG are worthless, so are your mortgage, your college transcript, your bank CD certificate, your credit card interest agreement, your auto lease, your pension plan payout and the menu at your favorite restaurant.

Catch the Green Scum Scam before it devours you

The Global Warming steam roller will demolish that part of the economy Obama hasn't. (I hope those of you buried in the most recent blizzard in the west are listening.) Even GWB couldn't protect us from the EPA, the endangered polar bear crowd, and Algorism. The greenies plan to kill us just like they did the African children by removing DDT, their only hope of survival. They thrived during the Bush years while he looked away and ignored Toto-Kyoto. Go here to read Dispelling the Global Warming Myth. The architects and building trades are so covered up with this nonsense I can hardly open my husband's e-mail.





"Due to the efforts of Heartland and others, the public is beginning to catch on to the cosmic scam that Al Gore, James Hansen ("an embarrassment to mankind") and others--mostly not scientists--have been perpetrating. Meanwhile, the Obama administration, seemingly determined to inflict the maximum possible damage on the economy in the shortest time, is trying to ram a cap-and-trade carbon tax through Congress before opposition can be mobilized. It's easier to do that, of course, when you know that Congressmen won't read the statute before they vote on it. So our only hope is an informed citizenry."

2009 International Conference on Climate Change Don't miss John Theon!

“I have publicly said I thought Jim Hansen should be fired,” Theon said. “But, my opinion doesn’t count much, particularly when he is empowered by people like the current president of the United States. I’m not sure what we can do to have him get off of the public payroll and continue with the campaign or crusade. I think the man is sincere, but he is suffering from a bad case of megalomania.”

Sometimes Christians have to hold their noses

Thousands of Roman Catholics are protesting Notre Dame's honoring of the President. Story here. It does seem odd that the only pro-abortion President (public) in our history will be honored by one of the most famous Catholic institutions, but then as an ELCA Lutheran (the group that for six years has been trying to write its own mushy, obfuscating response to God's plan for marriage), I'll have to sit this one out. Any man who is the offspring of a 17 year old, unmarried at his conception, impregnated by a married man must have some self-hate and loathing either for himself or his parents to be such an advocate of murdering the unborn.

Protest in Fairfield, Conn.

"The identities of most current and former AIG employees remain private, for now, but for those executives whose names are known, life now includes security guards at their homes, reporters in their driveways, and vehicles invading their neighborhoods. Nobody was hurt and the protest went off without incident, but the event should serve as a dire warning for anyone even thinking about participating in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s new Public-Private Investment Program. Morning Bell, March 23, 2009"

Thanks, Barney Frank. One more notch in your belt. You just didn't get it when accused of "McCarthyism." It's the techniques--smear, innuendo, fear, blame by association, and you have them all. But you're the one, with your Congressional colleagues who signed the AIG bonsus contracts.

Through its power to subpoena witness and hold people in contempt of Congress, HUAC [formed in 1938] often pressured witnesses to surrender names and other information that could lead to the apprehension of Communists and Communist sympathizers. Committee members often branded witnesses as "red" if they refused to comply or hesitated in answering committee questions. In perhaps its most famous investigation, HUAC-member Richard Nixon, after weeks of dramatic hearings, was, at the final hour, able to reveal that Alger Hiss, a former State Department official, had lied to them about having "ever been a Communist." More importantly, however, the questioning style and examination techniques employed by HUAC served as the model upon which Senator Joseph McCarthy would conduct his investigative hearings in the early 1950s. Following Senator McCarthy's censure, however, and his subsequent departure from the Senate, the American public grew increasingly wary of the "redbaiting" techniques employed by HUAC and others. The work of the committee continued to decline in importance throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s until the committee itself was renamed the House Internal Security Committee in 1969, prefiguring its eventual abolition in 1975. GWU site