Black Civil Rights Mafia Betrays Black America

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican says Lloyd Marcus (Confessions of a Black Conservative). Black Americans are being mislead by dinosaur Civil Rights "leaders."

"Black kids were doing extremely well in the D.C. school voucher program. Obama killed the program to appease the teachers' union. Blacks overwhelmingly oppose illegal immigration. Obama and company support illegals because of their coveted votes. Blacks oppose gay marriage. Obama and the progressives support gay marriage. . . Please allow me to set the record straight. Beck and the Tea Party patriots are far greater stewards of MLK's dream than the "sold out" Black Mob."

American Thinker: Black Civil Rights Mafia Betrays Black America

Pertussis in California

In the first six months of 2010, there was a 418% increase from the 258 cases of pertussis reported in California during the same period in 2009. But don't blame immigration from Mexico, says the LATimes article. Mexico does an excellent job of vaccinating its children. (But do illegals once they are here?) Pertussis is whooping cough, and it's a sound you'll never forget once you've heard a child or adult who's had it. According to MMWR, pertussis is cyclical with peaks occurring every 3-5 years in the U.S. But if this increase continues in California, it would be the highest since 1963. Infants die of whooping cough--there are some parents who are spooked by vaccines, but they are putting their children and other children in grave danger.

Also, your immunity after awhile wears off and you may require a booster. I actually had the disease and don't think I've ever had the shot.

Today the world stops turning

It was probably sometime during 1956 when I stopped in to chat with a very young, stay at home mom, and was shushed because she was engrossed watching a "soap," As the World Turns, whose characters Penny Hughes (Rosemary Prinz) and Ellen Lowell (Wendy Drew) were struggling with Ellen's unwed pregnancy in the fictional Oakdale. The world stops turning today, September 17, 2010 having had a long run since it began April 2, 1956. I remember a few critical episodes from the 50's and 60's, like Ellen giving her son up for adoption and then later marrying the adoptive father, and Penny losing her husband Jeff (played by Mark Rydell) in an auto accident. I wouldn't recognize any of the story lines or characters today, so I don't think I'll tune in--I'll just remember them they way they were.

People are groomed to be Marxists

says Teague Cuddeback, a former protégée of a Marxist activist embedded within the Democratic Party. She was suckered too, so she points out what to watch for--particularly among idealistic young Christians who mean well, but don't know their Bible.

"We were young, impressionable, sometimes alienated but always seeking greater autonomy from anxious or overweening parents. We just knew we were changing the world for the better. It felt great to be appreciated, considered important, to be working under the guiding hand of someone older, but not too much older; someone in the know, well placed, intelligent, well-read, cheerful, always encouraging, affirming us as talented, valuable persons. We were praised for unselfishly standing for the disenfranchised, the disrespected, those without the legal power to do much for themselves. Oh, how we identified!"

She also makes this interesting comment about the Tea Parties:

"The TEA Party movement has emerged to the utter shame of the Republican Party. It is challenging the brain-dead thinking of those still surrendering their votes to Leftists whose policies are directly responsible for most of the social and economic ills we face today. They are having some impact. The Tea Partiers also have shocked and frightened Republican Party stalwarts who have been doing the same thing for so long with the same pathetic results and are threatened by voters who now demand accountability or their jobs.

Anyone who’s been to a TEA Party rally has felt the energy and desire to “get ‘er done” and know the blanket charges of racism are ludicrous. Democrats make these statements to disguise the fact they have been promoting genocide among blacks for decades and more recently encouraging Hispanics to be law breakers. The Tea Partiers – bless their souls – are attempting to demonstrate that it is the institutionalizing Democrats that block all efforts to unleash the native intelligence and skills of those kept poor by deception and fraud."

So ignore the charges of ignorance, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and take a good look at what you can do. You just might be able to see November from your house, your job, your polling place.

Ouch! Trees have feelings too

This afternoon I was at our city building which has a large concrete mall area with a low wall, and one round opening for a sycamore type tree--the type with the peeling, multi-colored bark. I'm guessing it's about 40 years old to judge from its girth. They left enough space in the original landscaping for it to really spread out.  The trees on the other side of the wall are spreading too, so it's getting harder to see the tree.  But up close you can see that huge hooks have been screwed into two lower limbs on which to hang "art."  One looks like it might be an elongated bell, the other a crooked globe trapped inside metal toothpicks.  They are BIG and HEAVY and in my judgement, not nearly as beautiful as a tree spreading its limbs to kiss the sky.  I'm afraid this is an example of tax supported "public" art--ugly rusting blobs of metal sitting around city buildings usually are. I have no idea why the artist didn't suggest an appropriate hanger for the art so the tree wouldn't need to be damaged and defaced.

Teachers union helped defeat Adrian Fenty

Why it's so hard to get a good education in a city school system. Did you know that even the non-union teachers have to pay dues to the union in order to teach in the system? They have a lot of money to defeat a politician who tries to change things to favor the students rather than the teachers--and there was indeed change happening in DCPS.

Teachers union helped unseat Fenty - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

Four years ago the newly elected Adrian Fenty, mayor of DC and a man with a passion for improving education, appointed Michelle Rhee chancelor of the DC Schools.

"Rhee hit the ground running. She closed schools. She removed principals (who are not covered by a union) whose schools scored low on tests with more reform-minded replacements. She proposed to the Washington Teachers' Union a contract that sharply curtailed job protection. And as the contract worked its way through an interminable set of negotiations, Rhee terminated hundreds of teachers in layoffs she attributed to budget shortfalls. And she brought the union contract negotiations to a successful conclusion, trading higher salaries for less job protection.

Rhee got results. The year after she arrived, DCPS had the greatest gains of any state in fourth-grade math and was one of only five states to show increases in math for both fourth and eighth grades. The high school graduation rate increased faster than in previous years. And last month, the U.S. Department of Education awarded D.C. one of its highly competitive Race to the Top grants." NPR Report

Do the right thing, Craigslist

Do the right thing. Shut down the sex ads and go back to making your money on used refrigerators and spare bedrooms for rent. The alternative is for all honest, decent people to stop using this service.

"More than 250 Craigslist sites exist around the world that still feature 'Erotic' sections where trafficked children and women are being sold for sex," according to the letter signed by 100 representatives from such groups as the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, the Rebecca Project for Human Rights and the Salvation Army."

Craigslist under pressure

Would you paint in a $200 t-shirt?

Mrs. O's $207 t-shirt for 9/11 service day

Would you even buy a $200 t-shirt? This is in keeping with Mrs. O's style--take 40 of your best friends on a trip to Spain and put them up in first class 5 star hotels while the little, unimportant people struggle with a recession, made worse by your husband's tax and spend policies. This "let them eat cake" attitude has given rise to an extended nickname for her, Michelle Antoinette Obama.

I think the tasteful light green cover ups the residents are wearing would have worked just fine for a paint in service day.

Mrs.O - Follow the Fashion and Style of First Lady Michelle Obama - Home - Service and a Statement Tee

Yesterday I bought a $4 Jaclyn Smith t-shirt at KMart (on sale). It is tasteful, practical, a good color for me, it covers what needs to be covered, and if I spill or splash something on it, I'll be sorry, because I think it's a great buy. Jaclyn Smith's designs are great for the mature woman--she's had a relationship with KMart for 25 years and isn't just a brand, but is an entrepreneur who participates in the design and production. I'm a much smarter shopper than Mrs. O. who during the 2008 campaign tried to commiserate with pink collar workers by complaining about her college loans, and the costs of private schools and piano lessons for the girls. Some rich people are clueless about how others live.


My $4 Jaclyn Smith just-because-I-like-it t-shirt

Smutty Nose and Herring Gut

The September 15 cover of JAMA is Monhegan, Maine, by Rockwell Kent. Monhegan is an island off the coast of Maine, accessible only by ferry; it has hiking trails, but no roads or cars. To get you there, the ferry will negotiate Herring Gut, the opening between tiny Smutty Nose islet and Monhegan.

The painting is owned by Colby College, a lovely and very liberal, liberal arts college I attended one summer where I had such a good time I didn't even attempt to transfer my credit hours to the University of Illinois for fear of pulling down my grade point.

40-Year-Old Virgin Actor Admits to Brutal Stabbing of Girlfriend, Blames "Chaos," Mistaken Identity - E! Online

Move along. This is not a hate crime. The victim is a white, straight, female. She'd have to be a Muslim, or a lesbian, or a minority for her ex-boyfriend to get an additional charge of "hate crime," and thus more years on the sentencing (which seems terribly light to me).

40-Year-Old Virgin Actor Admits to Brutal Stabbing of Girlfriend, Blames "Chaos," Mistaken Identity - E! Online

On the road to the wedding--Monday Memories

Today I received a 50th anniversary card from my cousin Sharon Weybright, which included a photograph of her and her fiance at an Oasis rest stop near Chicago, taken by her father, Leslie, when the family was on the way to our wedding in Mt. Morris, Illinois on September 11, 1960. I think the tollway was only about a year or two old then, and Fred Harvey Restaurants were the vendors. The Harvey restaurants started on trains in the 1870s and continued to serve travellers in automobiles until the mid-1960s.

Notice not only how glamorous Sharon is--hat, gloves, high heels (she was about 21), but how well dressed the people are who are entering the restaurant. It was a different time. No baggy jeans and butt cracks in those days!

They bought it--crook, line and stinker

The old "hope and change" message sounds pretty hollow today. And another stimulus isn't very stimulating, no matter what it's called. This item is from How Barack Obama Became Mr. Unpopular. Of course, if TIME and other news tools had been doing their job of vetting candidates, he might not have sneaked through, right? So why believe them now?

"We bought what he said. He offered a lot of hope," says Fred Ferlic, an Obama voter and orthopedic surgeon in South Bend who has since soured on his choice. Ferlic talks about the messy compromises in health care reform, his sense of an inhospitable business climate and the growth of government spending under Obama. "He's trying to Europeanize us, and the Europeans are going the other way," continues Ferlic, a former Democratic campaign donor who plans to vote Republican this year. "The entire American spirit is being broken."

Mr. Ferlic, what were you thinking?

The plight of the small businessman

Small businesses generate 65% of job growth and Obama plans to tax them to death if they are successful. So when the head of SBA says they need access to capital, that's only part of the story. Small business owners often pay taxes at individual income-tax rates rather than corporate rates, so these rich "fat cats" that Obama demonizes in almost every speech may be a dress designer or dry cleaner or dairy plant that employs 20 or 30 people and easily go over his magic number of $250,000. I'm not sure why Geithner, who couldn't even figure out his own income taxes, is saying Obama's increases will only affect about 3% of the population. We're retired, and looking at the tax charts it looks like we'll be paying more--I sure we all will, even if it's indirectly through higher prices.

As the saying goes, "I never got a job from a poor man." Increasingly, you only get a job through some level of government, and that will impoverish all of us, so the only people hiring will probably be poor, too. Ending Bush tax cuts?

She can pull it off; why can't he?

Today I've heard speeches from both the First Lady and the President. I doubt that you could get a piece of thread between them on political philosophy and beliefs. But somehow, she can sound like one of us and he can't. Is it the speech writers' fault? I don't think so. He doesn't know who he is--how can we? After watching a 90 minute rerun of the National Cathedral service on September 14, 2001, Obama's performance, and that is what it is, just makes me want to cry.

September 11, 1960

And all the while the world whirled by--the Vietnam War, the Jesus Movement, the Civil Rights movement, the cultural revolution in China, new immigrants fleeing their homelands, the rise of Feminism, assassinations of our leaders, apocalyptic religious timetables, the Cold War, the nuclear arms race, the obsession with youth culture, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of the European Common Market and the Euro, Middle East wars and terrorism, increasing depravity in entertainment, the 9/11 attack (on our anniversary!), the loss of family and friends through divorce and death, and technology drawing us inward while pushing us apart. Barely able to keep up the pace and race, we eventually got a garage door opener, microwave, computer and a cell phone. We traveled to Alaska, major cities and tourist spots in the U.S., Germany, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Finland, Estonia, Russia, and toured the Holy Land seeing sights we never dreamed we‘d see on trains, planes, buses, foot and camel. Whew! What a ride it has been. How fast the time has gone and how blessed we have been.
Update: September 12--a few party photos:

What a surprise! My sister had the wedding dress sent (a big hush, hush secret) which our mother made for her in 1955, and which I wore in 1960.



Another huge surprise--my brother came from Illinois! The new deck (finished on Saturday) worked out great.



We cut the cake about 3 p.m., but most of the guests were enjoying the lovely weather and were outside on the deck or in the tent.  The knife is the one we used at our wedding.

Our Indiana family drove over for the occasion and my son-in-law's father from Cleveland.

Friends from UALC enjoying some fellowship in the family room.  We think there were between 115-120 guests, most signed the guest register, which was also my original book from 1960.

The illusion of safety

While I was in the car today I was listening to a talk show where the host and listener/caller were discussing texting while driving. The caller was a truck driver and he said it was a federal crime with a $2700 fine and points on your license to text and drive for truck drivers. But he was talking on a hands free phone--assuming that was safe! It's not the hands, it's the brain. It's the equivalent of driving while drunk.

The Illusion of Safety « All 2010 News « News « College of Liberal Arts & Sciences « University of Illinois

Where’s Next: November May Determine Regional Winners

Democrats love to paint the lie that it is the Republicans who are the "fat cats." Gosh, how many times have we heard that phrase from the president's blue lips? Washington DC with hardly a blip of unemployment has seen its economy roaring. Never better for federal jobs--federal employment, excluding the postal service, remains roughly 200,000 larger than in 2008. New York City and Silicon Valley, bastions of liberal greed, are bloating on government grants courtesy of Obamanomics,is another. This article even says Ohio--specifically Columbus--will be one of the regional beneficiaries, although not the outlying areas. I wondered why he had so many return trips here--preaching to the union choir in campaign singy songy happy clappy praise choruses.

"Other regional winners from the Obama economy generally can be found in state capitals and University towns, particularly those with the Ivy or elite college pedigrees that resonate with this most academic Administration. One illustration can be seen in the relatively strong recovery of Massachusetts – home to many prestigious Universities and hospitals – which has seen jobs grow by 2.2 percent since the Obama ascension. Similar, albeit less dramatic recoveries can be found in Columbus, Madison and Minneapolis-St.Paul, with their large university communities and regional federal employment centers. Yet the political benefits of this growth may be limited. Many other parts of these same states, including the outer boroughs of New York are not doing well; aside from Columbus, Ohio has continued to skid as its industrial and corporate base dwindles, often moving to more business friendly states.

Wall Street CEOs love the Democrats--more regulation means less competition from the little guy and up and coming competitor.

But not so fast. Some regions are sticking to basics, sound planning, lower costs. And when this passes, those regions may siphon off some of that blue region growth.

" . . . the fastest growth in science, engineering and technical jobs has been in low-cost states such as North Dakota, Virginia, New Mexico, Utah and Texas. Just recently, several major Silicon Valley powerhouses – Adobe, Twitter, Electronic Arts and eBay – announced major new expansions in Utah, a state that is among a brood seeking to move prized businesses, including even entertainment, from the Golden State."

We'll see. November will be a contest of ideologies and the private sector against the public for economic growth.
Where’s Next: November May Determine Regional Winners | Newgeography.com

A Tsunami Approaches: The Beginning of the Great Deconstruction

I obviously was in the wrong public service profession. My teacher's pension, Ohio's STRS, is almost exactly the same as my husband's Social Security--a little less, for 24 years of service, and I'm not eligible for the SS spousal benefit if something happens to him, nor even my own Social Security payout.

"By 2010, the general public received a series of shocks. The first shock was the jobless recovery of the Great Recession that cost 8 million jobs. Most of the job losses occurred in the private sector yet the majority of the $800 billion Stimulus Bill went to “save and create” public sector employment.

The second shock was learning that civil servants earned twice that of private workers. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Federal workers received average pay and benefits of $123,049 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation.

The third shock was revelation of incredible retirement plans doled out by politicians since 1999. In 2002, California passed SB 183 that allowed police and safety workers to retire after 30 years on the job with 3% of salary for each year of service, or 90% of their last year’s pay. During the Great Recession, fireman began retiring with $150,000 pensions at age 52 despite a life expectancy approaching 80. In Orange County CA, lifeguards, deemed safety workers, retired with $147,000 annual pensions. The Orange County sheriff, recently convicted of witness tampering, will receive $215,000 annually while in jail. Bob Citron, the Treasurer of Orange County who pushed the county into bankruptcy in the 1990s, receives a pension of $150,000 per year. A tsunami of anger and resentment is building.

Keep bailing, folks. Looks like the public sector pension plans are going to have a melt down.

A Tsunami Approaches: The Beginning of the Great Deconstruction | Newgeography.com

Gov't: Spending to rise under health care overhaul

This doesn't come as a huge surprise, but who can we blame. The American people wanted him. His agenda from the beginning has been to destroy, and we are sure getting it. Don't worry about this "low" figure--the next report will show it to be much higher, I'm sure.

"Factoring in the law, Americans will spend an average of $13,652 per person a year on health care in 2019, according to the actuary's office. Without the law, the corresponding number would be $13,387. That works out to $265 more with the overhaul. Currently, Americans spend $8,389 a year per person on health care."

The Associated Press: Gov't: Spending to rise under health care overhaul

Said the pot to the kettle . . .

It's amazing that President Obama didn't notice the divisivness, hate and racism in Rev. Wright's sermons for 20 years--a huge UCC church in Chicago, but somehow he finds the leader of a tiny no-name sect in Florida threatening. My book club is bigger that that guy's church. Here he is "looking back" declaring integration a failure, white motives corrupt and immoral, yada, yada. Let's see, I think we heard almost the same line of thought in Obama's campaign speeches. Maybe he was listening after all.