At last, an honest Democrat

"Mr. [John] Cassidy is more honest than the politicians whose dishonesty he supports. "The U.S. government is making a costly and open-ended commitment," he writes [on the New Yorker web site]. "Let's not pretend that it isn't a big deal, or that it will be self-financing, or that it will work out exactly as planned. It won't. What is really unfolding, I suspect, is the scenario that many conservatives feared. The Obama Administration . . . is creating a new entitlement program, which, once established, will be virtually impossible to rescind."

Why are they doing it? Because, according to Mr. Cassidy, ObamaCare serves the twin goals of "making the United States a more equitable country" and furthering the Democrats' "political calculus." In other words, the purpose is to further redistribute income by putting health care further under government control, and in the process making the middle class more dependent on government. As the party of government, Democrats will benefit over the long run." Review and Outlook, Nov. 10

I would modify that editorial just a wee bit. Democrats will benefit over the short run; and in the long run, they will destroy the country. Think about what they were celebrating at the Berlin wall site yesterday--and now we're building one.

Where are your "green" priorities?

Certainly not with saving lives. We're about to repeat the slaughter of the disastrous malaria resurgence where our western environmentalists killed millions and millions of Africans every year for the last 30 by prematurely withdrawing DDT from the market because a bird egg might die (none have). On the advice of a non-scientist, Rachel Carson.

So now we're going to launch, with the blessings of our global power hungry president and congress, a war against all poor and undeveloped nations. From yesterday's WSJ

"Getting basic sanitation and safe water to the 3 billion people around the world who do not have it now would cost nearly $4 billion.

By contrast, cuts in global carbon emissions that aim to limit global temperature increases to less than 2 degrees Celsius over the next century would cost $40 TRILLION a year by 2100. These cuts do nothing to reduce the number of people without access to clean drinking water and sanitation." Bjorn Lomberg, WSJ, November 9.

Why Obama isn't at the Wall

Sure, he doesn't want to celebrate the fall of communism in Europe, flying a big RED flag that his socialist, statist policies won't work. There's a bigger reason, however. HIS EGO! He'd have to share the stage! Have you seen the photos!!! OMG! Every important president, chancellor, premier and former-anybody of Western Civilization is there.

• UK Premier Gordon Brown
  
• French President Nicholas Sarkozy
  
• Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel
  
• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
  
• German president Horst Koehler
  
• Poland's Lech Walesa
  
• Hungary's Miklos Nemeth
  and even
  
• the former USSR's Mikhail Gorbachev

Who established our institutions of higher learning and why

Interesting introduction in the book by James Anderson Hawes, Twenty Years Among The Twenty Year Olds A Story Of Our Colleges Of Today, (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1929) which attempted to explain to students of 80 years ago how much better off they were than those who had come before them. He probably wrote it before October (stock market crash).

"Harvard was the first college or school in America and was founded in 1636 by a vote of the "General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay," which agreed "to give four hundred pounds toward a School or College," for the purpose of educating a selected few for the Church from their earliest days, "dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in dust."

The next educational institution founded was the Collegiate School of the Dutch Church in New York, . . . The third institution William and Mary was not chartered until 1693, when it was organized by the Church . . . with a similar object, "that the Church of Virginia may be furnished with a seminary of Ministers of the Gospel, and that the youth may be properly educated in good manners, and that the Christian faith may be propagated among the western Indians to the glory of Almighty God."

In 1695 St. John's College at Annapolis, Maryland, was founded. . . Sixty-five years after Harvard, Yale was founded largely to supply a local demand for the early training of ministers and because Harvard even then began to be looked on as rather too liberal in theology for the good old Puritan Fathers.

Therefore the first five institutions of learning on this Continent were founded as schools to train young boys of a select class, as leaders in Church and State. Please note that the founding of all our early colleges was to provide the advantage of training selected leaders, and never apparently for the purpose of offering free higher education to any and all who might wish to learn something of almost anything. They certainly had no purpose of helping all-comers to get jobs or secure wealth for themselves. The principal object of the founding of these early colleges was frankly theological and for many years a majority, or at least a very large proportion, of those who graduated entered the ministry.

. . . the fact must be remembered that our entire educational system from top to bottom was instituted and for many years carried on directly by the Church in every one of our colonies. Not only was this the case in New England, but Princeton, founded next, was a product of the interests of the Presbyterian Church. The next founded was Pennsylvania, in 1750, when Benjamin Franklin interested the cultured Quakers in a center of learning for their city and section. . . the first with any definite idea of charity in helping the poorer classes.

The next in order was King's College in New York, changed at the time of the Revolution to Columbia. This institution was founded largely by the Episcopal Church and supported by Trinity, perhaps the richest private church corporation in the world. It was essentially aristocratic in its organization and a school for the better class of New Yorkers, especially of the Episcopal Church, as the charter reads,
“The chief Thing that is aimed at in this College is, to teach and engage the Children to know God in Jesus Christ, and to live and serve Him in all Sobriety, Goodliness and Righteousness of life, with a perfect heart and a willing Mind.”

Rutgers followed on a foundation by the Dutch Church . . ."

It takes a Romanian village

Matthew Dalton has an article in the WSJ today about fighting obesity, and why the "village" approach (i.e., government control) is needed. Except the fat women were gathered in a Romanian village. I don't know why they think these Romanian women didn't have "walk to school" days when they were children or that they should stay away from those Big Macs down the street.

"Instead of hoping that individuals can muster the self-discipline on their own to avoid processed foods, fast food and days without physical exercise, the idea is that governments must actively work to change environments and reduce the menu of harmful options available in everyday life.

As a result, hundreds of towns in Europe and elsewhere have adopted a version of this strategy, aimed particularly at preventing children from becoming overweight and obese. They hired dietitians to counsel children and their families in schools, organized walk-to-school days, hired sports educators and built new sporting facilities. The U.S. government, meanwhile, is increasing its funding for cities and towns to pursue so-called community-based obesity prevention, in an effort to gather data about which kinds of tactics work best."

Last night our condo association had its annual potluck. I overate. Now, why would a sensible, healthy eater who goes to exercise class 3 times a week, and eats 3-4 vegetables for lunch do that? Because everything tasted good and the fellowship was great, and it was 2 hours past my regular meal time. The artichoke dip was particularly wonderful both as an appetiser and a dessert. I'm not all that far removed from the village square in Romania.

So what about the government hitching a ride in your grocery cart or camping out in your pantry, telling you what to eat and when? This isn't about safe or nutritious food, you know. We're way past that. This is about control of every little aspect of your life.

I'm not sure if anyone understands the chemistry and biology and culture of obesity. But every time I read Junk Food Science by Sandy, I learn a little more. And she's not writing about food that's junk--it's the science.

Blood vessels might predict prostate cancer

"The study of 572 men with localized prostate cancer indicates that aggressive or lethal prostate cancers tend to have blood vessels that are small, irregular and primitive in cross-section, while slow-growing or indolent tumors have blood vessels that look more normal.

The findings were published Oct. 26 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. OSU news release. . .

"It's as if aggressive prostate cancers are growing faster and their blood vessels never fully mature," says study leader Dr. Steven Clinton, professor of medicine and a medical oncologist and prostate cancer specialist at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

"Prostate cancer is very heterogeneous, and we need better tools to predict whether a patient has a prostate cancer that is aggressive, fairly average or indolent in its behavior so that we can better define a course of therapy surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormonal treatment, or potentially new drugs that target blood vessels that is specific for each person's type of cancer," Clinton says.

Isn't that just so silly? Everyone knows who's been following JAMA for years that nothing happens in medicine that isn't about poverty, race, education or poor nutrition. If it were, there might be more grant money released for true research instead of keeping all those social science folk employed writing papers and applying for more grants.

Christian Dispensationalists and Israel

Prophecy and end times are not Biblical concepts in which I spend a lot of time. But many Christians do, and they spend years and forests debating each other--not unbelievers. Dividing the Bible into time periods (dispensations) with a message specific to certain groups or reading scripture like it was a daily newspaper is not what I do. However, some who do often provide interesting insights into history. Although I think Israel should be our ally regardless of what we believe about end times or find in Ezekiel or Zechariah, it is an amazing country (we were there in March) as pointed out by David Reagan at www.worldviewtimes.com .

"Another accomplished fact is the revival of the Hebrew language from the dead. When the Jews were scattered from their homeland in the First and Second Centuries, they stopped speaking Hebrew. The Jews in Europe mixed Hebrew with German and created a new language called Yiddish. The Jews in the Mediterranean Basin mixed Hebrew with Spanish and created a language called Ladino. But the Bible prophesied that the Hebrew language would be revived in the end times (Zephaniah 3:9), and that is exactly what happened in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries through the efforts of one man - Eliezer Ben Yehuda. Today, the people of Israel speak biblical Hebrew.

Equally certifiable is the reclamation of the Jewish homeland. As pointed out earlier, the Bible prophesied that it would become a desolation after the Jewish people were expelled from it. But the Bible also prophesied that when the Jews returned to the land, it would once again become a land of milk and honey:

"The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passed by. And they will say, 'This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.'" (Ezekiel 36:34-35)

When the Jews started returning to their homeland in the late 19th Century, it was a total wasteland. Nearly all the trees had been cut down and the soil was badly eroded. The land resembled a desert. Most of the valleys had become malaria-infested swamp lands. The Jewish pioneers began planting trees, reclaiming the soil, and draining the swamps. Today, Israel is the bread basket of the Middle East.

Another prophecy that has definitely been fulfilled in our times is the resurgence of the Israeli military. Zechariah 12:6 says that in the end times, God "will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples..."

The fulfillment of this prophecy can be seen today in the incredible military power of Israel. It is one of the world's smallest nations, yet it is ranked by all experts as one of the four top military powers in the world."

It isn’t me, honest

I found someone on the Internet with my name leaving comments at bars, restaurants and hotels about the quality of food and service over a two year period. She must be quite a traveller and loves to eat and party. I have no idea where Kalamaki or Zante-Town are, but she really likes to go there. Also, it’s not American English. And I wouldn’t order lamb or rabbit.

We drank here whilst we were on holiday in September. Staff very friendly. We had a breakfast here one morning and it was very nice. Hopefully we will see you the guys again in the future. Iguana Bar Kalamaki

After reading all the comments we were looking forward to eating here. What a disaster!! My husband had mousakka it was vry sloppy. I had grilled king prawns on a skewer looked very nice until I turned the skewer over and the prawns were burnt. I wanted to send the meals back but my husband did not want to make a fuss. Neadless to say we would not go back to this restaurant. Olive Tree Kalamaki

On our last visit to Kalamaki this was our favourite restaurant. Unfortunately things have changed. Frozen vegatables rather over grilled sword fish and very very dry Lamb Kleftico. Sorry we will not be eating here again. Zepos Kalamaki

We had disasterous meal here. The waiter could not speak good english and screwed up the order. Our main meals were ready before our starters arrived. So therefore the main meals were only aired. My son had Rabbit Stamas and it was full of bones. The location is lovely pity about the food. Village Inn Zante-Town

This is the real Norma, at our favorite date place, The Rusty Bucket, a sports bar in Upper Arlington. Not exotic--no prawns, rabbit or lamb on the menu--but I do love their Philly Cheese with fries and my husband loves Gary's 3-way.

Might this have been the source?

Apologists and victimologists are digging deep for accounts of discrimination and hostility toward Hasan for his faith. Could it be that he "started it?"

According to The Washington Post, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was supposed to make a presentation on a medical topic during his senior year as a psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Instead, Hasan lectured his supervisors and two dozen mental health staff members on Islam, homicide bombings and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting against other Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A source who attended the presentation told the paper, "It was really strange. The senior doctors looked really upset."

The Powerpoint, entitled, "The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military," consisted of 50 slides, according to a copy obtained by the Post.

Why would you think fellow military and physicians should have quietly accepted his beliefs uncriticially?

I'm just asking. Because Hasan had access to returning military who may have needed counseling, was the long term damage and planted bombs he imposed on the military the advice and counsel he was allowed to give as his supervisors looked the other way? Is the Army so PC that no one suggested he was unfit to treat anyone, even himself?

You can do anything, but stay off of my Darwin!

Ray Comfort and actor Kirk Cameron plan to give away 100,000 copies of a special edition of Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species" on 100 university campuses for the 150th anniversary of the book. Their book challenges the theory of evolution with a 50-page introduction that includes an overview of Darwin's life and presents a case for a universe created by God. [OMG--how shocking, just shocking!] Although I wouldn't expect this campaign to get many followers, or converts to Christianity, the vitriol and hysteria from their detractors are off the charts. Just google "Kirk Cameron Darwin" if you want to see how far we haven't evolved in terms of allowing someone with a different viewpoint freedom of expression. You can read the introduction at
Living Waters web site.

Someone once graciously said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” However, it seems that some contemporary atheists don’t share such honorable convictions. When they learned about this publication they threatened lawsuits, book burnings, and even censorship in vowing to tear the Introduction out of the book. If the Special Introduction has indeed been removed from this publication, you may view it freely on www.livingwaters.com to learn what some don’t want you to know.

It was Irish playwright and skeptic George Bernard Shaw who warned, “All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions.” Ray Comfort

I'll fight you for the library

I laughed so hard tears were streaming. . .



And on the impotence of proofreading

Slow Reading

Now I can feel good about it. Slow Reading by John Miedema. You'll feel better about all the time you wasted in speed reading classes.

Monday Memories--CBYF visits Chicago

CBYF is Church of the Brethren Youth Fellowship and I think this photo of the group from the Mt. Morris, IL church is Spring 1954, but I can't be sure. The young woman whose face is almost hidden left school to marry probably around 1955 and isn't in that year's annual, so that's how I'm dating this. There were more in the group--perhaps 20 if all showed up--but this was probably a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry and other sights. The first seven of us from the left, all went to Manchester College, a Brethren school in North Manchester, Indiana, but I'm thinking that because of transfers and marriage, maybe only one or two graduated there (we all did graduate, though). The young man in the photo didn't fare so well--he's in prison for killing a policeman when he was drunk, and he already had an artificial leg from a drunk driving incident. I'm not sure who took the photo--probably our Sunday School teacher, Forrest, a jolly farmer who put up with a lot from us. Pastor Dean Frantz is at the far right--he would be about 90 now.

When I see how nicely we dressed in the 1950s, I always feel a little sorry for today's teens trapped perpetually in jeans and t's. My dress (I'm 4th from the left) was a very delicate aqua in a "bubble" embossed, shiny cotton with cap sleeves and a circle skirt.

Lords of Entitlement

WSJ Review and Outlook, Nov. 9, 2009:

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi defied policy logic and public opinion late Saturday night, ramming through the House a nearly 2,000-page health-care leviathan that counts as the biggest expansion of the federal government since the New Deal. As President Obama likes to say, this was a "teachable moment" about our current government.

The vote was 220 to 215, with 39 House Democrats joining all but one Republican in opposition. Mrs. Pelosi had to cajole and bribe her way to the magic 218, and the list of her promises must be stacked to the ceiling. . .

Mrs. Pelosi's craftiest political turn was a last-minute compromise to strip federal funds from insurance plans that cover abortions. The deal—negotiated by Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak and supported by the National Right to Life Committee—gave cover to 40-some Democrats to support the larger bill.

However, as subsidized costs soar, government will have no choice but to ration medical care, starting with the aged and grievously ill. Is pre-natal life more valuable than the elderly? We're reminded of the way pro-lifers supported Anthony Kennedy over Laurence Silberman for the Supreme Court in 1987 merely because Mr. Kennedy was a Catholic who claimed to personally oppose abortion. Mr. Stupak played the right-to-lifers like a Stradavarius."

So while the rest of the world celebrates the fall of the Berlin Wall today (without our president who is just too busy to travel if the celebration isn't all about him), and debates who deserves the credit for bringing down that symbol of Communism and the dictator state, our own elected officials continue to build a wall, law by law, regulation by degree, czar by czar, to keep out freedom, economic prosperity, entreprenuership, and free speech, while opening the gates to every crack pot, old failed European theory of government control we've fought against for 100 years.

Seems like an awfully weak link

"Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army major suspected of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others at Fort Hood, worshipped at the same mosque as two of the 9/11 terrorists.

According to the London Sunday Telegraph, Hasan attended services at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Va., in 2001 at the same time as Sept. 11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hamzi and Hani Hanjour. Funeral services for Hasan's mother also was held at that mosque."

His faith may have influenced his killing rampage against his fellow soldiers, or he could have a brain tumor or a mental illness, but attendance at the same mosque with Islamic jihadists? I don't think so. Thirty two years ago a member of my church bought a gun, practiced at a shooting range, then one day murdered her husband, her children and the family dog before killing herself. Her family and our family had carried the advent banners down the aisle just the week before. Do you see any relationship between us there? And what about all the other law abiding, good citizens who attend that mosque in Great Falls?

Clarification update: From WaPo today, Hasan attended the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church in 2001, when its spiritual leader was Anwar al-Aulaqi, a figure who crossed paths with al-Qaeda associates, including two Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, one senior U.S. official said.

Since Aulaqi left in 2002 and settled in Yemen, his lectures promoting the strategies of an al-Qaeda military leader have shown up in computer files of suspects in terrorism cases in the United States, Canada and Britain, officials said. It is not clear whether Hasan knew the preacher well then or only later through his lectures on the Internet."

Their first mistake was letting Democrats define "reform"

Roman Catholics have more than 620 hospitals in the United States. At this time, nurses and other staff still have the freedom to pray with patients and to talk about spiritual matters. According to First Things, the bishops have a few simple but important priorities.

"First, everyone should have access to basic health care, including immigrants. The Church would hope to see that access broadened as widely as possible. But at a minimum, it should include those immigrants who live and work in the United States legally.*

"Second, reform should respect the dignity of every person, from conception to natural death. This means that the elderly and persons with disabilities must be treated with special care and sensitivity. It also means that abortion and abortion funding should be excluded from any reform plan, no matter how adroitly the abortion funding is masked. Whatever one thinks about its legality, abortion has nothing to do with advancing human “health,” and a large number of Americans regard it as a gravely wrong act of violence, not only against unborn children but also against women.

"Third, real healthcare reform needs to include explicit, ironclad conscience protections for medical professionals and institutions so that they cannot be forced to violate their moral convictions.

"Fourth—and this is so obvious it sometimes goes unstated—any reform must be economically realistic and financially sustainable. We can’t help anyone, including ourselves, if we’re insolvent. If we commit ourselves to health services, then we need to have the will and the ability to really pay for them. That’s a moral issue, not simply a practical one."

So, by definition of the bishops, this isn't reform at all. All you boomers who think abortion is simply a woman's right, better watch your back, because this "reform" is going to shred Medicare--instead of taking out the fraud and waste, it will just cut benefits. And you're now done having babies and abortions and thinking about knee replacements and kidney dialysis.

Generally, there's little difference between the parties except on two issues: 1)Democrats talk a good game about protecting the weak and helpless, but will cut them out with legislation and regulation at both ends of life, and Republicans don't. 2) The Democrats pander to minorities and special victim groups and put in place programs to keep them weak for their political gain, and Republicans don't. Other than that--deficits, lobbyists, corruption, lying to constituents, manipulating the immigration issue, growing government, breaking campaign promises--they are Siamese Twins.

*I haven't heard that foreign born people in the USA with green cards or student visas or spousal visa have had a problem with insurance, so maybe the bishops are being less than truthful here. Also, no one is denied access to health care because of lack of insurance. Illegals get much better care in the U.S. than they would in their homeland.

Pelosi Broke her Pledge

to put the final health care bill online for 72 hours before the vote, so why should we believe anything else about protections, cost savings, keeping private insurance, rationing, and abortion that she used to twist arms and can she even be trusted by the blue dogs to pass out the pork she promised at our expense? She can't keep a simple promise, nor can the President. Obama broke his campaign promise for transparency and being honest with the American people. That was to be part of the "hope and change." What a team of liars those two are. She calls it a victory; Obama says it's the most glorious event of their careers. I don't have enough bad words in my vocabulary to even describe them.

American Cubans cry foul

Capitol Hill Cubans find this very odd--the duplicity of a prominent environment organization which claims to work with business and governments to promote a healthier globe. Coziness with Castro doesn't sound very business-friendly to me, and I remember his promises from the 1950s! Interesting web site.

"The Environmental Defense Fund ("EDF") is an advocacy organization that vehemently opposes oil drilling, whether in mainland areas such as Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico and other U.S. coastal zones.

Therefore, it was shocking to read the following press release:

Environmental Defense Fund will send a team of experts to Havana, Cuba, on Sunday to discuss ways to eliminate overfishing, protect coral reefs, conserve coastal areas, and tap potential ocean energy - a signal that greater environmental cooperation may be on the horizon.
"...and tap potential ocean energy"?

Their website further elaborates:

Environmental Defense Fund has been in Cuba since 2000, working with our Cuban partners on scientific research and strategies for protecting coastal and marine resources. Our experts are working with Cuban scientists on research to ensure that if Cuba taps offshore oil and gas reserves, it is done right — in an environmentally sustainable way.

"...if Cuba taps oil and gas reserves"?

In other words, the same organization that absolutely opposes offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, or off any U.S. coast, is now looking to work with the Castro regime in order to ensure that they drill "in an environmentally sustainable way."

It's fascinating how the EDF is willing to provide such leeway to the Castro regime, whose environmental record includes grazing half of the island's eco-system for overambitious sugar cane harvests and polluting Havana's skyline with sulfuric acids, while being absolutist in their opposition to drilling in the U.S."

Also read at their site what happens when bloggers displease a totalitarian, statist government.

Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant--Obama

HT Murray

If the IRS and Medicare had a baby

it would look like this