Happy Mothers Day

Caesar, and the Things of God

Jesus doesn't leave Caesar alone. He's Lord over all. Not sure how this flap about "National" Day of Prayer will end. I'm sure we can be national without involving the government. We just might be much better at it in fact just praying for government officials rather than letting them set the rules.

Time line for National Day of Prayer

Newsweek, Caesar, and the Things of God | First Things

Although I believe there has been abuse of "the establishment clause" to impede religious expression, I see nothing here that's going to prevent Christians from having a national day of prayer. There are many "national day of . . ." that do not take "national" to mean the government. And I see no reason why these prayer meetings need to be inside government buildings.

Newsweek lost $28 million in 2009 and is for sale. If it's knowledge of the world is anything like its reporting on religion, we may know the problem. So Joe Meacham, who wrote the article on Jesus and Caesar, may want to do a little praying himself.

The Great Global Warming Blunder: How Mother Nature Fooled the World’s Top Climate Scientists by Roy Spencer, Ph. D.

My public library hasn't ordered this--yet. Not that I would expect them to--librarians are 223:1 liberal to conservative and book banning begins in the back room. I suppose I could request it, although I'll probably be told there's no money.

The Great Global Warming Blunder: How Mother Nature Fooled the World’s Top Climate Scientists « Roy Spencer, Ph. D.

In today's OSU Research, there's a story about McCarthy type behavior by global warming deniers. Except, McCarthy was a member of a U.S. Congressional committee that hauled people before Congress to belittle and humiliate them, to gin up dislike and hatred. That sounds like what our current Congress is doing, but certainly not to scientists. The state of Virginia is asking questions about how professors are spending tax dollars. Has Michael Mann really been cleared of suspicion? If so, by whom? His peers? Would the same guys accept bank CEOs called before a panel of bankers? The state is doing its job. Even if he were right about CO2 is he right to deny others access to professional, peer-review publishing? That's not McCarthyism, that's called oversight. And it's about time.

On Research… » It’s about time . . .

Our garage

I'm not bragging. It's a fact. We live in one of the prettiest condo complexes in all of metropolitan Columbus, with beautiful vistas no matter where we look. And we work hard keeping it that way with a very involved community board, landscape committee and maintenance company. Unless of course, you're driving through our NORC (naturally occurring retirement community) and notice the Bruce's garage. Something, and we aren't sure what, causes the bottom panel on the garage door to rot and peel. We've been here 8 years and have replaced it once already and now it's worse than when we replaced it the first time. Then within the last 2 weeks, a bird has pecked a huge hole and a small hole in the decorative door (not sure what it's called, but it doesn't go anywhere) above the garage door. I assumed in that space there are baby birds.

Tim A. Schuler

We were saddened to learn of the death of our friend Tim Schuler. For many years he lived in the Greensview area of Upper Arlington and owned a flower shop, being well known around here. The visitation is Monday at UALC Mill Run Church in Hilliard, 2-4 and 6-8, and the funeral is Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Mill Run Church. We became acquainted with Tim and his first wife Doris through our son, when our boys who are the same age met at VBS back around 1974. Mark was the only little boy I knew then who had more energy than mine. And what a charmer! They remained friends all through their school years. Tim is survived by his wife Pat and his 3 sons, David, Mark and Chris and their families.

From today's Dispatch: "SCHULER Tim A. Schuler, age 69, of Columbus, passed away unexpectedly Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at Mt. Carmel East Hospital. Complete obituary to appear in Saturday and Sunday's Columbus Dispatch. Arrangements by SCHOEDINGER NORTHWEST CHAPEL, 1740 Zollinger Road."

Turmeric

What do you do with turmeric? "Turmeric has a peppery, warm and bitter flavor and a mild fragrance slightly reminiscent of orange and ginger, and while it is best known as one of the ingredients used to make curry, it also gives ballpark mustard its bright yellow color."
WHFoods: Turmeric

While I was cooking lunch today (onions, green beans and corn), I looked through my spice shelf. Hmmm. Things were looking a bit long in the tooth. It's the ones without dates that I'm worried about--you know, the ones that cost less than a dollar, and are stamped with a purple stamp. How many years has that been? Some with dates were 2005. All in all, I removed 10 cans/bottles. What was I thinking? I'm a salt, pepper, cinnamon, allspice type of cook. My former daughter-in-law was a fabulous cook and used interesting spices. Maybe she inspired me to try something different. Some may be from that era--others may have been from our first apartment in 1960 when I was really adventurous.

Incidentally, I really like The World's Healthiest Foods website. Whenever I want to know something about food or nutrition I turn there. Love the bibliographies. It's a librarian thing.

I left blogger dot com and Facebook for six days, and both changed their templates and/or security/announcement system while I was gone!

May Break

There's lots to blog about--immigration, oil spills, deficits, our future, cap and trade scam, political philosophies, economics, history, etc., but my to-do list is getting long. So I'll shut down for awhile. See you later!

$282 million ARRA funds to one California agency

I suppose I shouldn't worry about Upper Arlington's few miles of ARRA sidewalks which were already planned when Berkeley Lab is getting over $282 million for a government agency that would have been funded anyway. Where did the money go that would have been supporting this research for the Department of Energy, and with California getting such huge chunks why is its economy in such poor shape? Don't these workers, flush with ARRA funds, go out and pay their mortgages, shop at Costco, and go to the movies? Is this another shell game? Is this why no one credits ARRA when there is a little uptick in the economy?

Berkeley Lab Awarded $12.8 Million in Stimulus Funds for Health Research « Berkeley Lab News Center

Sanitizer on my shoe

Given a choice, soap and water is a much more effective way to fight germs than a hand sanitizer. However, I keep a small pump bottle of the alcohol hand cleaner in the cup holder of my van for quick clean ups. The last time I bought one the pump top wouldn't unscrew and my empties were the wrong size. This morning at the store I passed the shelf with the hand cleaners and I picked one up to put in the cart. But I wasn't going to be fooled, so I tested the top to see if it would unscrew. It did--getting a small amount on my hand. So I attempted to screw it back down, and a small amount squirted to the floor, so I tried again, and a giant splat hit my shoe. Well, I don't know if it kills 68% of common bacteria, but it will certainly take the shine off your shoe!

Washing Hands With Soap vs. Hand Sanitizer: Which Is Better? - ABC News

The Three C's--Cows, Constitution and Commandments

This is going around. I got a good chuckle--hope you do too.

C O W S
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

T H E C O N S T I T U T I O N
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq .... Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.

T H E TEN C O M M A N D M E N T S
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this: You cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal,' 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery,' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment.

Albany NY Methodists help resettle Africans

There's an "amazing grace" Methodist church in Albany, NY called Emmaus--it has taken in and resettled many refugees including survivors of a 2004 massacre in a United Nations refugee camp called Gatumba, which lies in Burundi near the border with Congo.

"After decades of ethnic oppression, the Banyamulenge, third-generation Christians, identify strongly with the tribulations of Old Testament Jews. In their gospel songs, the survivors seek solace from the violence at Gatumba, which echoed the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s, and still threatens those they left behind.

Albany might seem an unlikely place for resettlement of refugees like Christine Nyabatware, a widow with five small children, and Butoto Ndbarishe, 13, whose twin sister was killed at his side during the massacre, along with his father, a pastor, and two brothers. But since the first family arrived here in March, coatless and stunned to find what appeared to be a cold desert of leafless trees, the city has become a beacon to other Gatumba survivors around the country. . . “The Americans show us love,” said Mr. Mandevu after a potluck meal in the basement of the church, where a congregation that includes members from Pakistan, Iran and the Philippines traded hugs. “People are so nice. Here no one can throw stones on you."

Safe From Persecution, Still Bearing Its Scars - New York Times

Here's a blogger that writes news for the Banyamulenge immigrants, and he has recently returned from helping the Haitians after the earthquake. It is our immigrants who keep us strong and in touch with our roots. My ancestors came here in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the story is always the same--a better life and freedom.

JOURNAL MINEMBWE/ MINEMBWE FREE PRESS

Greene and Greene Sanborn House

Sold for $1.7 million. Let's hope the Pasadena beauty has good owners who will love, restore and cherish it. Here's the brochure. We took so many photos when we were on a walking tour for Greene and Greene houses in 2006, I don't recall if this was one we saw (from the outside, since it was being used as an office).

The Sublime to the Ridiculous: A Victory for Religion

Paul said 2000 years ago the cross was an offense, foolish, scandal or mystery to some (1 Cor 1:18-25), and besides . . .

"it is safe to assume that the overwhelming majority of Americans killed in WWI were Christian. We do no disservice to that onerous 'ideal,' separation of church and state, in a simple acknowledgment of that. Especially as freedom of religion was one of the things those doughboys and sailors and Marines fought to protect. Can we not honor them in a manner they would see as fitting?"

The Sublime to the Ridiculous: A Victory for Religion

Supreme Court: Desert Cross Can Stay as Memorial to Fallen Vets

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Supreme Court: The Mojave desert cross can stay

Salazar vs. Buono

Flavors fade as we age

Wrinkles, chin hairs and now taste buds? "About 10,000 taste buds line an adult's tongue, throat and mouth, perceiving sweet, salty, sour and bitter. As the years pass, we lose some of them, and the taste buds that remain grow less sensitive. Salty and sweet tastes are usually the first to go.

Compounding the problem, older adults also begin to lose their sense of smell, a vital enhancer of taste. Dietitians say the consequences can become apparent as early as age 50, particularly for people who are prone to sinus and respiratory infections or take certain medications.

By the time seniors hit their 70s and 80s, most palates have dulled and favorite foods simply don't taste as good."

Read more Flavors fade as we age, but there are ways to compensate - Health - MiamiHerald.com

Glenn Beck is the new Woodward and Bernstein

"Between 1972 and 1976, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein emerged as two of the most famous journalists in America and became forever identified as the reporters who broke the biggest story in American politics." [from their archives--and they probably wrote that description]

Until now. Now Glenn Beck reveals two or three scandals, payoffs, and scams a week--he's leaving "famous journalists" in the dust. This week he's connecting the dots again--Franklin Raines' tenure at Fannie Mae (which helped create our current housing bubble and crisis), where he bought up the tools for a carbon exchange, then fell into disgrace, then hooked up with other Chicago green poverty pimps, labor unions, community organizers, financiers, CEOs, a future president, the wildly rich Joyce Foundation (funds the Tides Foundation's projects), a former vice-president, a variety of communist organizations and comes out squeaky clean to be an Obama advisor. Wow. What a roller coaster from power to disgrace to an even more powerful position all in one decade.

Where are the journalists when you need them, and why are they letting a "radio clown" do all the dirty work? Something like a tenth of American voters listen to or watch Glenn Beck--and they know how to investigate their little niche of the economy in their state or specialty and they send him tips, which his staff then investigates and verifies. This used to be what our "free press" did before it became a subservient lackey of the government. This week he has also covered the Democrats trying to sneak *Puerto Rico in as the 51st state using the Tennessee Plan, and the "black robe brigade," a period in our American history when pastors actually led instead of followed.

*Puerto Ricans have voted this down 3 times--they are U.S. citizens but the 3.8 million living here cannot vote in presidential elections and have no voting representatives in Congress. They don't pay federal taxes, but receive reduced welfare and other federal benefits. The two million Puerto Ricans living on the mainland have the same rights as all other U.S. citizens.

Update: Tonight Beck revealed the Wizard behind the curtain (I thought it would be Soros) is Joel Rogers of the University of Wisconsin, of the New Party, The Workers' Party, The Apollo Alliance or whatever name our "new" communists are going by. I don't think Beck mentioned this, but the Real Barack Obama blog noted him in 2008 as the husband of one of Obama's law partners. Lots of stuff on him on the web. Just Google.

What violence from the left?

Clicked through a lefty blogger's entries just now--a guillotine decorated his page, Bush and Cheney's heads were on a razor blade, the Statue of Liberty holding up a cross had the international stop symbol through it, violent images abounded, lots of nasty f-ing words about conservatives, libertarians and Republicans, along with take back our Bill of Rights, yada, yada. Didn't see Sarah, but I'm sure he's recommending violence against her too, because that's just what the left does. Now, when similar nonsense appears on conservative websites, Keith Olbermann, whom this blogger seems to admire and imitate, gets all quivery and hot-crotched. I didn't leave a comment--he's entitled to his opinion and protected speech, even as he would deny it to others, and my opposite views certainly would only encourage him. Like it does here, when liberals think they know something I don't.

Georgia O’Keefe Lifetime movie now DVD

The reviewer of this blog really enjoyed the Georgia O'Keefe movie. Another I read panned it.

Joan Allen as Georgia O’Keefe in Biopic on Lifetime | Women & Hollywood

I read through the timeline at Lifetime and found it very informative. If the library ever buys it, I'll check it out. It's available also at Blockbuster, according to Jane Davis, a Columbus watercolorist.

"The Blueprint" by Ken Blackwell

I didn't know Ken Blackwell had a new book out about the Obama Administration. I hope this doesn't make him a racist since he's a black Republican.

HughHewitt.com Blog : Hugh Hewitt : "The Blueprint" by Ken Blackwell

Chicago Carbon Exchange--the Players

"Here are the players and their roles:

Joyce Foundation – A group founded in 1948 that took a sharp turn to the left after its founder, Beatrice Joyce Kean died in 1972.

Barack Obama – President of the United States and one time Board member of the Joyce Foundation. Largely responsible for creating the Chicago Climate Exchange by funneling money to it from the Joyce Foundation.

Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) – An exchange dealing exclusively with Cap and Trade passes, techonology, etc. It was formed largely due to Obama's role as Board member on Joyce Foundation. Obama oversaw the funneling of money from that foundation to the CCX as well as to an entity headed by Bill Ayers' brother.

Valerie Jarrett – Senior advisor to Barack Obama and current Board member on the Joyce Foundation.

Al Gore – Founder of London-based Generation Investment Management (GIM). London also happens to be in the same country where climategate broke. GIM owns 10% of the CCX.

Goldman Sachs – Banking giant that, like Gore, owns 10% of the CCX. Also worthy of note is that at least six former Goldman Sachs executives work inside the Obama administration while Congress puts on a dog and pony show, publicly chastising other Goldman execs about their supposed complicity in the financial crisis.

Franklin Raines – Former head of Fannie Mae. While there, Raines used taxpayer dollars from Fannie Mae to purchase cap and trade technology."

Whether or not you like Glenn Beck, you might ask your favorite news source reporters why he is doing investigative reporting and they aren't. I think the charade going on about "punishing" Goldman Sachs is pretty clever since they're all on the same team. But it also serves a dual role of demonizing Jews, and indirectly by association, Israel, because "Wall Street fat cats" and "greedy CEOs" are just code words for Jews. Just check back into the anti-semitism of the 1930s.

CONSPIRACY REALITY: CONNECTIONS BETWEEN WHITE HOUSE, CHICAGO CLIMATE EXCHANGE AND GOLDMAN SACHS TOO BIG TO IGNORE - TheCypressTimes

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I was really bogged down in the beginning pages of May's book club selection, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society until Adrienne passionately reviewed it for me yesterday at coffee, so I've persevered and have gotten into the story--entirely written in letters (1946) about the occupation in 1940 by the German Nazis in WWII of Guernsey, a small British island. The literary society of the title began life as a pig roast when a local woman managed to hide a pig from the German soldiers and invited her nearly starving neighbors to share. My political antennae were up as I read this section on what marvelous record keepers, regulators and law makers the German occupiers were. They recorded each piglet born, gave it a birth certificate, and then the death needed to be reported too, and the Germans would issue a death certificate for the deceased animals. The Islanders saw their hard work and agricultural crops stolen from them by the occupiers, so they devised a plan, and circulated the same dead piglet amongst themselves, hiding one of the healthy one so that the count came out right when the Germans came.

And here's where I got to thinking about our own government regulations, becoming over the years ever more oppressive and anti-free market. Right now we're being treated to the dog and pony show of government employees (Congress) scolding Goldman Sach employees. One made the regulations so they could take a big cut, the other got around the regulations by risk taking and cleverness so they could keep their cut. The only difference between this and the circulating dead pig story is that Goldman Sachs employees float in and out of the government and help make the regulations so it will all work to their advantage. The Islanders of the novel didn't move back and forth among the ranks of the Germans.

Goldman Sachs is heavily into the 10 trillion valued cap and trade scheme owning, like Al Gore, a chunk of the thin as air exchange houses, such as the Chicago Carbon Exchange (CCX), in which Obama was involved (board member of the Joyce Foundation) before he came President.

Our wealth (through higher taxes) is being distributed through smoke and mirrors exchanges like the dead pig on Guernsey Island. Soon it will be no more. The patent to facilitate the new carbon exchange industry has been purchased by Franklin Raines, our illustrious attorney general, accounting fraudster and former CEO of Fannie Mae deeply involved in our housing collapse. Scott Lesmes formerly of Fannie Mae bundling mortgages to resell to investors is now in charge of the same system for carbon exchanges.

Is this analogy weak? You betcha, but it just shows you things aren't always as they seem and regulations can sometimes smell like a dead pig.