Politico leaves out Schumer's big gaffe

The problem is, Charles Schumer said we have 3 branches of government--the House, the Senate and the Presidency. If you watch the entire video you hear it; if you read Politico, that part is left out.

"I would urge my Republican colleagues that no matter how strongly they feel [insert gaffe here, you know, we have three branches of government. We have a House. We have a Senate. We have a president. And all three of us are going to have to come together and give some] … it is playing with fire to risk the shutting down of the government just as it is playing with fire to not raise the debt ceiling," Schumer said. "That could lead to terrible, terrible problems."

Here's how it works, Chuck:

Five blogs

were updated today--Illegals Today, Growth Industry, Church of the Acronym, Collecting my thoughts, and Coffee Spills, plus several Facebook entries. Snowed in.

Chicago Blizzard: City Officials And Residents Brace For Snow Storm

Weather news from Chicago. Stay home.

Chicago Blizzard: City Officials And Residents Brace For Snow Storm - WGN

1994--it wasn't all that long ago people were asking

What is the internet, anyway?

Firefighters forced to participate in gay pride parade win legal battle

Four firefighters lodged a complaint against San Diego for being forced to participate in the city’s gay pride parade in 2007. Although the firefighters objected numerous times to taking part in the event, the fire department disregarded their complaints and the firefighters report they were sexually harassed.

Let's not pretty up the terms. Gay Pride means pride in homosexual acts, men having sex with men (MSM) is the medical term because the costs to the health of the men are considerable, and sodomy is the Biblical term. Why should anyone, straight or gay, be forced to parade a sexual preference that may not be his own?

Firefighters forced to participate in gay pride parade win legal battle :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Wonder where the women went?

For 40 years, women have been getting special help in the sciences, math, engineering and computing fields. Summer camps, workshops, girly places on the internet to talk techy, special scholarships--collectively the government and foundations must have spent billions. There's been some headway--women now outnumber men in some of these fields (called STEM, science technology engineering math) as college grads, but they don't continue on to excel in graduate school. I suspect it's the "fun factor." How many nights can you spend on a problem eating cold pizza before it gets old? For guys, they think that's a blast. Not so much, gals. A high school science teacher told me that when she teaches physics to boys, it confirms what they already know. Not so with the girls, who have no intuitive or learned sense of the field.

So today I was browsing Crunch Gear and saw in its "About Us" there are no women. I clicked over to the job search and wondered how many women are even applying for these positions, let alone landing them and then advancing.

Douglas W. Elmendorf--a very important guy

"Elmendorf may be the most important financial analyst in America: his client list is all 535 members of the U.S. Congress. His job is to "score" or provide a cost estimate of important legislation wending its way through the House and Senate. His cost analysis can often make or break a bill's future."
Douglas W. Elmendorf - WhoRunsGov.com/The Washington Post

Others on the CBO Staff

In his own words (blog): "The United States faces daunting economic and budgetary challenges. The economy has struggled to recover from the recent recession: The pace of growth in output has been anemic compared with that during most other recoveries and the unemployment rate has remained quite high. Federal budget deficits and debt have surged in the past two years, owing to a combination of the severe drop in economic activity, the costs of policies implemented in response to the financial and economic problems, and an imbalance between revenues and spending that predated the recession. Unfortunately, it is likely that a return to normal economic conditions will take years, and even after the economy has fully recovered, a return to sustainable budget conditions will require significant changes in tax and spending policies."

Origen--was he such a bad guy to have a dream?

Yesterday I was listening to a Catholic call-in talk show on 1580 am (Columbus), and a father (dad) called in upset about the litany that was going to be used at his child's first communion. I knew nothing about this--I've never been to one. He said that instead of saints, they were using Solomon, Sarah and Origen. Again, I was left out of the loop, but apparently, whoever wrote this is a sister of whoever does some of our confessions at UALC when they don't use the LBW--they just don't sound right in real time--too chatty and modern for my taste (and sins).

So the dad mentioned that Origen didn't believe people would go to hell for their unbelief, and so despite his influence on hundreds of years of Christian thought and his hundreds of written works, he is not a saint. So today I looked him up in Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley, Word Books, 1982, pp. 98-99.

"Origen's vision, it seems knew no limits. It extended so far as to teach that all creatures including the devil himself would one day be restored to communion with God. Hell would be emptied. That doctrine above all others caused him no end of trouble. . . Origen's error lay in turning a dream into a doctrine. Orothodox Christians felt that they could not turn the dream into a doctrine because such an idea almost always tends to deny man's free will and its eternal consequences."

Sigh. Yes, it's a lovely dream, isn't it? Hell would be emptied; I'd like to see that one myself, even though I'm a firm believer in consequences.

"The end of all desires for Origen came in 254. In the persecution instigated by Emperor Decius, Origen was singled out for special attack. He was flung into prison, chained and tortured. The authorities made him as miserable as possible while preserving his life in connstant torment. Decius' reign of terror for the church ended in 251 and Origen was released. The torture, however, had taken its toll on the white-haired professor. He died 3 years later, at the age of 69 at Tyre."

Origen and Origenism - Original Catholic Encyclopedia

TOBRAMYCIN/DEXAMETHASONE SUSPENSION - OPHTHALMIC (Tobradex)

My husband has had an eye infection for 12 days. If you do nothing for conjunctivitis it's suppose to go away in 2-5 days. The "doc in a box" (after hours clinic linked to our internist) prescribed Gentamicin--after 8 days--nothing improved and he was getting a bit stir crazy from staying inside and in the family room, sleeping in the guest room. The optometrist yesterday prescribed tobramycin dexamethasone, and after 12 hours, he's 100% better. Dr. Bieber said he's seeing at least 2 patients a day with this same eye infection. So, be forewarned, "it's going around."

TOBRAMYCIN/DEXAMETHASONE SUSPENSION - OPHTHALMIC (Tobradex) side effects, medical uses, and drug interactions.

The Middle East

Biden and Clinton are all over the map on Egypt, and Obama was attending a party for his out going staff while Egypt burned. Is anyone minding the store in Washington?

"Which brings us to the question of what the United States should do. The Administration seems to have struggled to find its footing so far. Secretary of State Clinton asserted on January 25 that “the Egyptian government is stable,” and Vice President Biden assessed three days later that it was not time for Mubarak to step aside, adding that “I would not refer to him as a dictator.” The Administration has veered from calling for an “orderly transition” in Egypt to a “national dialogue” between government and protesters to resolve “legitimate grievances.” On Sunday, Clinton stated on CNN that “we do not want to send any message about backing forward or backing back. . . . We’re not advocating any specific outcome.” Well, that clears things up."

Do we support a dictator? Do we let Egypt become another Muslin fundamentalist country? Where has your personal magnetism and charisma gone, Mr. BO?

But, in my opinion, this is also not a good time to put much stock in what Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh say. They were hysterical yesterday. Beck is just out of his element--totally unprepared for this emergency, and Rush who has a better grasp of history and the world just hates Obama too much to find any rational thing to say. So in the words of Beck, "Do your own research." And pray for the Egyptian people.

The Right Side of History | The Middle East

Update: I have no idea who Mark Levine is, but he's getting play in AlJezerra and Huffington Post. Mark Levine: Obama: Say the D-Word
"It's incredible, really. Cairo is burning and the President of the United States can't bring himself to talk about democracy in Egypt, or the Middle East more broadly. He can dance around it, use euphemisms, throw out words like "freedom" and "tolerance" and "non-violent" and especially "reform," but he can't say the one word that really matters: Democracy."

Now listening to Mubarak who says he wasn't interested in being a dictator, but doesn't want to abandon his responsibilities. Hmmm. A little late to the gate.

Observation on State of the Union

By Ann Coulter.

"Obama said, "We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook."

And then the government outlawed Edison's great invention, made the Wright brothers' air travel insufferable, filed anti-trust charges against Microsoft and made cars too expensive to drive by prohibiting oil exploration, and right now -- at this very minute -- is desperately trying to regulate the Internet."

The Key to Health, Wealth and Success: Self-Control

Now someone needs a study to see if a little parental control can help that very young child develop some self-control. Couldn't hurt.

"Problems surfacing in adolescence, such as becoming a smoker or getting pregnant, accounted for about half of the bad outcomes associated with low self-control in childhood. Kids who scored low on such measures — for instance, becoming easily frustrated, lacking persistence in reaching goals or performing tasks, or having difficulty waiting their turn in line — were roughly three times more likely to wind up as poor, addicted, single parents or to have multiple health problems as adults, compared with children who behaved more conscientiously as early as age 3."

The Key to Health, Wealth and Success: Self-Control – TIME Healthland

Sen. Inhofe Shapes Major GOP Bills to rein in EPA

Looks like at least some Republicans understand what happened in November. According to the NYT (via ClimateWire), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), will unveil a bill with House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) that would strip EPA of its authority to limit carbon emissions from power plants, refineries and other stationary sources.

At the same time, he will be a "first co-sponsor" of a much broader bill that would bar the federal government from regulating greenhouse gas emissions under any existing environmental law. That measure will be introduced Monday (today) by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who serves on the Environment and Public Works Committee, on which Inhofe is the ranking Republican.

Sen. Inhofe Shapes Major GOP Bills to Fight EPA's Greenhouse Gas Regs - NYTimes.com

Professor Cornpone, Newt Gingrich

When I worked in the Agriculture Library in the late 70s, ethanol, biogas, and saving the environment were huge topics. I did a lot of reading on it, and why it failed. It's bad for the wallet, and bad for the environment. I was shocked to see it resurrected as part of the current green movement, and to see miles and miles of fertile midwestern farm land converted to products to make energy for our cars and industry, when it took so much energy and water to make the conversion.

And now Mr. Randy himself, Newt Gingrich, wants to hitch his star to the Renewable Fuels movement, aka, burning food instead of feed people. The man is a moral mess. He married one of his high school teachers, left her for wife #2 when she had cancer, and left #2 for #3, one of his staff with whom he was having an affair all while he was investigating President Clinton for his moral lapses with an intern. In late 2009 he converted to Catholicism. He is a historian and in an interview I heard he liked the 2000 year tradition he was joining, so he doesn't think of it as a conversion. Those pesky marriage vows and bonds had already been taken care of so he could marry wife #3 who is a devout Catholic.

Why should anyone including Calista Gingrich, believe anything this man says? Really. Do we want this couple in the White House? Also, as much as I admire Roman Catholics for their stand on life, on marriage they are simply duplicitous. Liberal on annulments; conservative on divorce. So the rich and famous and political like the Kennedys and Gingriches can get their pass for playing around, but the ordinary teacher, clerk or nurse can't without a lot of soul searching, agony and money clout by someone in the church helping them out.

Review & Outlook: Professor Cornpone - WSJ.com

Young, hip librarians taking over the field

So, maybe you hadn't heard that rumor--that librarianship was young and hip. Well, I had, since I follow these things, although not as closely as I used to. You can tell by the cover of Library Journal.

Even so, Pearl has a large following and writes terrific book reviews and appears on NPR.

Tea Party Candidate?

In the State of the Union address, President Obama said Americans must "understand [that] if we don’t take meaningful steps to rein in our debt, it could damage our markets, increase the cost of borrowing, and jeopardize our recovery—all of which would have an even worse effect on our job growth and family incomes."

And then there was his WTF moments: " The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn’t know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do -- what America does better than anyone else -- is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We’re the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It is how we make our living."

Yes, sure sounds like a Tea Party candidate to me.

Why I don’t buy 48 cans of soup for $5.00 for Souper Bowl Sunday

Beginning in 2011, I’ve consciously bumped our tithe to 11%, by adding in 1% for food for the Lutheran Food Pantry, although I’d been donating groceries to the LSS box from time to time. This amounts to about $9.50/week, and if you’ve been to the store lately, you know that doesn’t buy much. That’s 4 cans of Progresso Soup, and 2 boxes of Ralston cereal, medium size at Marc’s, a no-frills supermarket.

So why not contribute $5.00 for 48 cans of soup to the Food Pantry which will buy them at the Mid-Ohio Food Bank in Columbus?

Here’s why. 1) I’ve already paid for that food through the USDA’s programs buying food to be processed by companies it contracts with. The acronym is TEFAP, The Emergency Food Assistance Program. The USDA buys the food, including processing and packaging, and ships it to the States which work out details of administration and distribution. The States select local organizations that either directly distribute to households, or serve meals, or distribute to other local organizations like LSS that perform these functions. Our Food Bank is also supported by foundations, non-profits, and donations which receive tax breaks. The quality is nutritious and meets government standards, but it’s not competitive with the brands you would buy at your local supermarket. They are below “house brand” quality. Subconsciously, you know that food processed in this way is actually more expensive in the long run. In 2010 the government food distribution program was $692,900,000. And they were asking government employees to beat the bushes because a lot of the food goes unclaimed.

2) When I pay $1.25 per can for Hearty Tomato Progresso Soup and donate it I’m more in touch with the family who will consume it, and I think that's closer to Jesus’ Matthew 25 idea of how to meet him in person. We meet him physically in the Eucharist and in service. What a wonderful opportunity.

3) And finally, when I purchase something at a local supermarket I’m circulating my tithe. I am indirectly paying the investor, the owner, the staff (many low income part-timers like students, disabled and elderly), my local community’s taxes, the trucking company that transported it, the local utilities, the processor, the box company, the graphic designers, printers and marketers who advertise the product, etc. Although the local, state and federal governments do purchase some of these items in TEFAP, the money has to run through so many fingers from my hand to DC and back again to Columbus to get to the poor, it becomes very inefficient and is the reason that the War on Poverty was already lost before the first shot was fired in the 1960s.

So, that’s why I buy 4 cans for $5.00 instead of 48. It’s actually cheaper and more spiritually fulfilling.

The price of oil shot up today

Just today I think I heard someone in the Obama regime pining for European prices for gasoline so we could be pushed further into green energy schemes. Now with the problems in Egypt, maybe he'll get his wish. Egypt's Regime on the Brink. Oil prices went up over 3%--oil goes through the Suez Canal as do our military fleets.

The Iconoclast at New English Review says: Stop giving aid to Egypt, to Jordan, to Pakistan, to Afghanistan, to the "Palestinian" Authority. No American aid will win friends among Muslims for Infidels. But American aid, and European too, can increase hatred for the Americans and the Europeans, not among those who are most fervently Muslim, for they are already suffused with such hatred, they batten on it, but among the more advanced (a term of relative rather than absolute value when applied to primitive, semi-savage societies with a political class even more coarse and ignorant and clownish than that to be found in much -- though not all -- of the present-day West), and secular.

Ron and Rand Paul Introduce “Audit the Fed” Legislation

It's about time somebody did it.

"The Federal Reserve cherishes its privacy and has fought tooth and nail to keep it. Nevertheless, its ability to shower greenbacks on favored corporations and foreign banks may soon be drawing to a close thanks to the 2010 elections.

On January 26 the father-and-son team of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) “introduced companion legislation in both chambers of the United States Congress to require a full and thorough audit of the Federal Reserve,” according to Business Wire. Officially titled the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011, the House and Senate versions of the bill are numbered H.R. 459 and S. 202, respectively."

Ron and Rand Paul Introduce “Audit the Fed” Legislation

Frances Fox Piven must be watching Egypt closely with longing

She recently mused about the need for our people to gather in the street and show their anger.

"In December, Piven wrote a piece for The Nation wherein she encourages the unemployed to get angry and says that an effective jobless movement in the United States should mirror those found in Greece and England:
“So where are the angry crowds, the demonstrations, sit-ins and unruly mobs? After all, the injustice is apparent. Working people are losing their homes and their pensions while robber–baron CEOs report renewed profits and windfall bonuses. Shouldn’t the unemployed be on the march? Why aren’t they demanding enhanced safety net protections and big initiatives to generate jobs?

An effective movement of the unemployed will have to look something like the strikes and riots that have spread across Greece in response to the austerity measures forced on the Greek government by the European Union, or like the student protests that recently spread with lightning speed across England in response to the prospect of greatly increased school fees.”

In February 2009, Piven indicated that there needs to be “tumult disorder pressure” that would ultimately force President Obama to “make choices.” She also went on to cite what she dubbed great moments of American change, which she stated began with elections and were coupled with “powerful, disruptive, unruly movements from the bottom of society.” Examples of how to bring about much-needed change, according to Piven include, “striking for example or by blockading the streets or by shutting down the schools.” Glenn Beck vs. Frances Fox Piven

Their Mubarak, our Barak. She's essentially asking people to rise up against Obama--who else holds that safety net? Higher unemployment, brought on by our government's foolish stimulus policies is just what she and other leftists are looking for to get the people steamed up and streaming into the streets.

Of course, it will be Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin's fault, not hers. Or maybe she plays well in Egypt?