Marriage and income gap inseparably linked--Joseph Perkins

And that was the headline of the opinion page in the Jan. 26, 2000 Dixon (IL) Telegraph. I had saved the paper because it announced my mother's death on January 24. Today I was cleaning out a sack of old calendars and found it.

I'm not familiar with the work of Joseph Perkins (hated by Democrats for leaving their plantation), a black columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune (at that time). I don't think any person who's seen the research doubts the relationship between wealth and marriage, or crime and a father in the home. Perkins points to a "new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute which said that "the gap between rich and poor was significantly greater in the late 1990s than during the 1980s." Don't they always say that with a moving clock? At that time our country was in the longest period of economic expansion with the economy generating more than 20 million new jobs and $2 trillion in additional economic output since WWII, but the "rich have gotten richer, while the poor have remained in place."

Perkins says it doesn't have to do with tax policy or Republicans or spending on anti-poverty programs. "The reality is that the single biggest determinant of a family's upward or downward mobility is whether the family is headed by a married couple. . . Only one out of 20 married couple families are poor. He goes on to point out that single parent families have grown during the past three decades (1970s through 1990s).

The problem of the poor is not the availability of jobs, for the economy has generated so many new jobs during the past decade that anyone who can't find a job just doesn't want to work. And the problem isn't taxes because most poor folks don't pay taxes, and many actually receive checks from the government in the form of the earned income-tax credit. No, to close the income distribution gap, the next president will have to have the courage to say that the path to upward mobility for the nation's least-well-off begins at the marriage altar."

And here it is 11 years later, we don't have a 3.5% unemployment rate, and still our leaders think the solutions are rehabing houses, more stimulus money, and jobs programs. But women need to keep their legs closed and men need to keep their pants zipped, and they need to finish school and get married before they start a family.

Perkins apparently left his post in 2005, I found him as a columnist more recently at Examiner.com, but his e-mail bounced.

Liberals Leave The Reservation

The Republicans and conservative media got around to reading the bill, and Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation says it is indeed bad [as Krauthammer said the first day], "The tax cut deal, we now know, has been so freighted with liberal special interest tax giveaways that true conservatives cannot support it in good faith.

The blame for this state of affairs will be on the left. Tax rates will go up on all Americans on Jan. 1, hitting a country beset with 10 percent unemployment and a stagnant economy. It’s baffling that, two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the left has held fast to its belief that penalizing success will somehow incentivize hard work and produce wealth."

Personally, I think Obama is chuckling and rubbing his hands with glee. His far left base is too dumb to even understand what he did. And so are the Republicans. He's made the Republicans stumble and look silly on their campaign promises before they even get to take over.

Morning Bell: Liberals Leave The Reservation | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Monday Memories--a visit from Lynne and Genie

Friends from Illinois came to visit on Labor Day Week-end 1972 and "Aunty Lynne" brought two handmade Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls (which I still have) for our children. We had a dinner party, according to the newspaper article, attended the Upper Arlington Art Show, an ice cream social, a band concert and the fireworks at Northam Park. Our friends had also visited in May that year and we toured German Village where we ate dinner at Schmidts, attended a Couples Circle group of First Community where we heard a presentation by the church choir director, and attended church on Sunday at First Community Church.

These little bits of history all arrived in the mail this afternoon. I think I have copies somewhere, but these are really good memories. I'm glad Lynne saved them.

Mark Madoff’--was he as dumb as a rock or in on the crime?

How was all this going on and he knew nothing? And how must he have felt that the man he trusted and loved screwed over everyone including his family. Dad got off easy--he'll be taken care of the rest of his limited life span in prison. Not so his sons and their families. How would he ever get a job? Still, it's awfully cowardly to leave his mother, brother, wife and children to face the public wrath.

Mark Madoff’s Suicide | Sense on Cents

If it hurts to fail, just keep doing the same thing until it feels good

In February 2008 when the economy was tanking, President Bush gave us a $152 billion stimulus. The President and his economic advisors believed that if you put money in the hands of the people, we'd spend it.

"In the past seven years, the system has absorbed shocks: recession, corporate scandals, terror attacks, global war; yet the genius of our system is that it can absorb such shocks and emerge even stronger," he said. "In a dynamic market economy, our economy will prosper and it will continue to be the marvel of the world." [He was wrong, but isn't it refreshing to see the words of a President who believes in us.]

If anything we went out and made purchases in 2008 we might have made in 2009 or 2010, making Obama's recession even worse, just like the cash for clunkers, or cash for drywall did in 2009.

By February 2008 people were starting to be cautious. So then Obama decided that the Bush stimulus wasn't big enough and he wanted even more. Was going to be for infrastructure, he said. Here a sidewalk (in Upper Arlington), there a bridge (to no where). Now that plan has really been a disaster and he makes Bush look like a piker, because very little even got to the hands of the American private sector--most went to save the unions and create more government jobs. Now he wants still another stimulus, aka extension of unemployment benefits another year, even though this will be the third beyond the usual 26 weeks people used to get and the others haven't stimulated the economy either. So how many stimuli do the economists want to try before they admit defeat?

Bush stimulus signed

The Progress Report: Obama's Stimulus Package

Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour, arrested in London student protests

If anyone should be able to afford tuition hikes, it should be this druggie, who when he woke up, claimed to be sorry. Yes, that's what they all say.

Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour, arrested in London student protests

Don't we wish!

Company Waivers to Affordable Care Act

As of late October, "thirty or so companies and organizations, from the fast food giant McDonald's (115,000) to Maverick County (1), have applied for and received waivers excluding them from the current healthcare legislation/requirements. These entities will not be required to adhere to the minimum annual benefit level which is included in low-cost health plans. These plans are primarily often used to cover part-time or low-wage employees, and will affect over a million people nationwide." There are probably many more now added to this list.

Company Waivers to Affordable Care Act

If it truly is "affordable care" and what we had wasn't, why the need for waivers?

Update: "more waivers to one provision of the new federal health reform law, doubling the number in just the last three weeks to a new total of 222. One of the more recognizable business names included on the newly-expanded list of waivers issued by the feds is that of Waffle House, which received a waiver on November 23 for health coverage that covers 3,947 enrollees. Another familiar name was that of Universal Orlando, which runs a variety of very popular resorts in the Orlando, Florida area. Universal was given a waiver for plans that cover 668 workers."

Conservatives for Patients' Rights

Thinking about snowy Minnesota

They are really socked in, aren't they? The roof of the Metrodome caved in! And it's snowing here in Columbus, too, and we're not good with snow. We'll be socked in the rest of the day, and I'm guessing the children's choir concert will be cancelled this afternoon, plus school tomorrow. Time to get out the Douglas County Record for some old fashioned, small town news. I've never been to Douglas County, MN but reading that paper sure brings memories of back home in Illinois 50 years ago--deer hunter ethics award; piano recital photo from the Baptist church; Republicans having a Christmas party (and even calling it that); all kinds of photos of the 4-H members' awards; and would you believe it, a 2 for 1 special at the Pit Stop Restaurant during NASCAR races! You can't find better snowy day reading than a small town newspaper. Last January, Pastor Borchardt of the Millersville Trinity Lutheran Church said, "When it hits 30 below I promise I will turn on the furnace."

Swedish security police: Violence was 'an act of terrorism' - CNN.com

It's small comfort, I know, but apparently the Swedes who can't define rape because of Feminism messing with their national intelligence (brain, not spying), can still determine terrorism and link it to Islamic Jihad.

Swedish security police: Violence was 'an act of terrorism' - CNN.com

Anna Ardin, Julian Assange Rape Accuser, May Have Ceased Pursuing Claims

Jon Stewart agrees with Glenn Beck--finally

This is really funny, even if he is a little late to the party.

Maybe it's someone's birth certificate?

Julian Assange has made a threat. He says he has a secret. If any harm comes to him personally, or if WikiLeaks is somehow wiped off the Web, there will be consequences. "It's locked up so tight that even sophisticated military computers can't crack it open. Assange has said that if he or WikiLeaks croaks, the key gets sent out as well, and the whole world gets to see the great big secret inside. Unless that happens, though, what's in that file is anybody's guess -- and the mystery is what makes it such a powerful life insurance policy." Technology News

If you wait long enough

everything comes back in style. But I'd probably have to take out the crinoline in the 1960 dress.

The Pigford President: Obama Signs Black Farmers Settlement

In Pigford I settlement the USDA said we had some 18,000 black farmers, and made payments to 14,500 for some loan discrimination. (The original investigation turned up a possible 205 problem loans.) Then in Pigford II they somehow found 97,000 black farmers who claimed discrimination, but not a single government employee has been investigated or fired? Remember that under Bush people went to jail for misspeaking about Valerie Plame's job assignment, but billions during a recession and no one loses his job?

And the Commander in Thief said, these billions (reparations under any other name . . . ) are "the principles of fairness and equality and opportunity."

This was all brought up by then-Senator Obama in 2007, who in a hanging chad moment, decided surely 80,000 black farmers must have missed the deadline for filing, and in probably the only significant act of his senate years, decided to reopen the case.

» The Pigford President: Obama Signs Black Farmers Settlement - Big Government

Pigford: Racism Against Black Farmers or Government Fraud? | The Stir

Weigel : A Black Farmer Against Pigford

CRS: The Pigford Case

Me & Mrs. Sherrod — And The $1.25 Billion Pigford II Black Farmers’ Settlement - Big Journalism

Faux finishes--are they gone yet?

I don't know when faux finishes became popular, but I know the guy decorators of our place were here before 1990. Most of the faux is gone now except for one tiny room. We discovered sanding down a faux comb glaze was virtually impossible and spread dust throughout the house, so we ended up just painting over it and having an odd texture show through the new paint.

The walls used to be the color of the blue carpeting, with a comb glaze.

According to the WSJ, the new color for 2011 is sort of a hot pink; the color for 2010 was turquoise. Not sure what khaki and peanut are, but that and this very pale gold will be with us for awhile.

Democrats help Chinese firm chase stimulus dollars

Although this is no big surprise, it is a bit of a shock that MSNBC is reporting it. Apparently, this doesn't count as "shipping US jobs overseas." We're just giving the Chinese the entire country, not just the jobs.

"Top Democratic fundraisers and lobbyists with links to the White House are behind a proposed wind farm in Texas that stands to get $450 million in stimulus money, even though a Chinese company would operate the farm and its turbines would be built in China.

The farm’s backers also have close ties with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who, at the height of his hard-fought re-election bid this fall, helped blunt congressional criticism over stimulus dollars possibly going to create jobs in China by endorsing a proposal by the Chinese company to build a factory in his home state. Although his campaign received thousands of dollars in donations from the wind farm’s backers and Reid stood on stage with them at a campaign event they hosted, his office declined to answer any questions about the wind farm’s organizers or their plans for Nevada."

It looks like one American had the decency to hang his head.

The Chinese still get to use coal and petroleum, while these same Democrats stop our energy souces in the Gulf, California, Texas, the Appalachian states like southern Ohio, our life blood, and Alaska. What a piece of work!

Dems help Chinese firm chase stimulus - Business - Going Green - msnbc.com

Fewer children adopted after equality rules force agencies to shut

Many Lutherans are misled about the end result of the push for equality for all things homosexual. Our congregation, UALC, has recently left the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which had decided to impose on its 10,000 congregations the minority belief that God will bless non-celebate gay clergy. As one Lutheran writer (not of that synod) noted, it is a form of secular fundamentalism, whereby the prevailing culture must be obeyed or you are not a loving, giving congregation. When I say misled it's because, 1) most of those 10,000 congregations never even got a chance to vote, or were unaware that the task force after of 20 years of failing kept rewriting and nudging and finally won in August 2009, and 2) this isn't the end of the story.

In the UK, there are adoptable children going without parents because Christian agencies closed rather than place children against their Biblical principles of married couples. In Canada, which has recognized gay marriage for some years and discussion of it negatively from church pulpits is hate speech, the courts are now reviewing polygamy, polyandry and polyamory for legal status and inclusion in employee benefits.

In the U.S. the definition of hate crimes was expanded in 2010 (and the word FAMILY was redefined for employee benefits) in the Defense Appropriations Act, and it's not a stretch to see that it will go from bodily harm to speech causing mental or spiritual distress. In the U.S., the most vulnerable population is not the unborn who can be sliced and diced and ripped from the womb with approval of our President, but an extremely small special demographic with the highest income and education.

So, even if a Christian agency or a Christian church decides to "go along to get along" with the culture, they will then have to face the next hurdle. I'm sure the next ELCA task force on sexuality is already meeting. If a gay couple in a loving stable relationship is acceptable, why not a family where wife #4 hasn't been able to conceive and wants an infant of her own to share with the sister-wives, or why not a woman with four boy-toys who decides she wants to raise a toddler and she can provide a more economically secure home with five incomes instead of one or two, than a married couple with one?

Fewer children adopted after equality rules force agencies to shut - Telegraph

Polyamorists decry anti-polygamy law - The Globe and Mail

Read The Bill: H.R. 2647 - GovTrack.us

Still taking applications

Almost 5 years ago I wrote a blog about the perfect daughter-in-law. Someone today responded and said she was having issues with her mother-in-law and would look at my list for help. Well, apparently my ideas weren't very good because I still don't have a daughter-in-law. I say that as a joke, because obviously, I have no say in the matter.

I suspect it's my son . . . he just can't get over the idea that he wants to be wrong only 50% of the time. Can you imagine?

This was most likely the proverbial straw

Although I didn't technically leave the Democratic party until 2000 when I voted for Bush (about whom I knew little) instead of Gore (whom I actually liked at that time), today I accidentally came across a straw--don't know if it was the "last straw"-- that I think mattered to me more than Clinton's deplorable behavior in office. The Rwanda genocide in 1994 and the United States' nonresponse (except for hand wringing). The USA didn't mind smacking other governments around if we needed their natural resources, but killing a million people in a matter of months? Black people? No big deal. Not even black Democrats cared much--their leverage was with the wrongs of the 18th and 19th century. And the United Nations? What a piece of worthlessness!

My disaffection with liberalism had a long history--we hadn't been a good match for a number of years dating back to the mid-1970s. I had always been pro-life and since I enjoyed reading history the humanism base of liberalism was pretty hard to swallow. It seemed pretty obvious just from the genocidal and "death by government decree" (USSR, Maoist China) and action in the 20th century, that humans were not perfectable no matter how much money you threw at them through government programs, and that there would be no perfect kum-by-ya harmony in any government's plan. And then in 1994 when we became a "small business" the barn door was left unlocked and all the horses upon which I'd ridden for years began to escape.

So it was personal, spiritual and political, but I left and have never been sorry. Conservatives turn into Republicans who turn into RINOs, but at least conservatives seem to understand that human beings are not perfectable, which all of history, common sense, and trillions of debt confirms. I don't know, maybe liberals don't really believe it either--but I know I did despite all evidence to the contrary, my own behavior, and the church's teachings.

Paula Priesse - "Petro Detector"

Paula decides to live petroleum free with her friend's help and a petro detector.