An oxymoron--paid volunteers

A better deal than Americorps! That only pays a stipend and qualifies you to be a "public servant" to repay your college debt. Charity for Debt might pay off your college loans at up to $20 an hour for your "volunteering." Plus, if you join Americorps to pay off your college loans you might get stuck recruiting people for food stamps.

We need a new name for this feel good enterprise (Charity for Debt is a "non-profit," but I don't know if it receives government grants for its own staffing and programs). Look. It's not charity if you're working off your debt. In the 17th century we settled a lot of the east coast with people working off debt--it was called indentured servitude. Some people worked off their trans-Atlantic passage. And you're not volunteering if you get your debt reduced for each hour you work. Oh, and it's tax free pay so an hour of work may go 30% further in "volunteering."

I can't balance my check book, but I know that much about how the non-profits (and the government) spin. I've also been a volunteer.

Andrew Breitbart introduces Sarah Palin

Andrew Breitbart calls out Trumka and other lefties, unionists and community organizers April 16 in Madison for what they are--divisive, angry, rude and haters. The Tea Party, on the other hand, has been the most peaceful, clean-up-after-themselves protest group in the history of America, he says. They were gathered to protest high taxes. (Is it 102 days we work for the government?) When you see and hear the leftists screaming and yelling at anyone who disagrees with them, you realize that Obama's Arizona sermon on civility was verbal foreplay for the left and tossing his hat in the ring for the next campaign (when isn't he campaigning?). "Lack of civility" is their code phrase for "we hate the Tea Party."

I think Breitbart's "go to hell" directive is probably accurate in geography, and is language they can understand. And don't you love how the pundits are shocked, just shocked, at language they hear everyday at the office and on TV . . . anything but the issues is good fodder. And Sarah gives it to the GOP for their wimp factor on the budget and urges them to fight like a girl.

"We didn’t elect you just to rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking Titanic," Palin said during a rally in front of the Wisconsin statehouse in Madison. "What we need from you, GOP, is to fight." Pointing to the national champion University of Wisconsin women's hockey team, Palin said the GOP could learn from its resolve and “needs to learn how to fight like a girl."

Did you know--HIV and TB

Tuberculosis is the number one killer of people with HIV? IDSA News.

It's the week-end

Busy Friday. At least for me, because I usually don't plan much. Attended a lecture at the Faculty Club at Ohio State by Loren Haarsma of Calvin College, on "Is Faith the opposite of Reason?" [No, irrationality is the opposite of reason, and unbelief is the opposite of faith.] I parked at the vet college, and since it was a beautiful day, walked the 20 minutes to my destination, giving both my body and mind some good exercise.

In the evening we had our date night at the Worthington Rusty Bucket with Wes and Sue, and then back to their lovely condo in southern Delaware county for strawberries and angel food cake. Lovely evening and we always enjoy getting together with fellow Lakesiders

Today I joined with women from my Saturday Bible study group to walk for MS at the Columbus Zoo. There was a huge crowd, with many teams. Also could see many participants with canes and walkers and wheelchairs who are afflicted with this terrible disease. One gal took a photo with her cell phone, but doesn't know how to send it, so it may or may not get added to this blog. Our team's name was "Overcomers" for Jim Manos [totals not in yet], but we were also walking for Jackie's husband--she's part of our group. I'm not sure why but certain areas of the country have more MS than others, and Columbus is one of them. Panera's was very generous and provided with a really nice snack at the end of the walk--love those Asiago bagels!

This afternoon we went to the Mill Run Tavern movie theater (the theater has been there a long time, but I think the food service is new) to see Atlas Shrugged. It's a good thing I keep up on politics and governmental economic mischief with my blog, or I might have been a little confused. The bad guys have such great lines in this movie, just like our elected officials and some corporations on the government dole. It's only part 1, so we'll have to wait and see what happens. The book was written in 1957, but the plot of the film takes place just about 4 years from now. I can't say it was great film making, but the actors did an adequate job--didn't recognize anyone. Ayn Rand was a libertarian and an atheist, so Christian conservatives won't like a lot about this film. I do think it shows the direction we're heading with more and more government regulation and distribution of wealth (except the truly wealthy get to keep theirs).

Tomorrow is a joyous day, being Palm Sunday--but we all know Friday's next and then Sunday's coming. And actually that's good news too--in fact, that's what it's all about, for Christians. Tomorrow night we're getting together with our couples group from church to hear about a mission trip to Romania.

Did you know--health statistics

Persons were considered uninsured [in a MMWR article] if they did not have private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program insurance a state-sponsored or other government-sponsored health plan, or a military plan, or if they had a plan that covered only one type of coverage or had only Indian Health Service coverage. If they were uninsured for any period of time, even if only 1 day, during the year they were considered "uninsured."

You need fossil fuels for wind energy

Shhh. Wind Turbines are Fossil Fuels. | Institute for Energy Research

Time's Nearly Up for Elizabeth Warren

Czarina Elizabeth may be in trouble with her schedule to get this nonsense up and ready, but be assured, the concept will stay. And even if she's bumped, like Van Jones, she will be in the wings, because it is ideology, not the economy, not love of country, not even what's best for all nations, that matters to our president.

Elizabeth Warren is the architect behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the new agency created to police many financial products, including mortgages, and a centerpiece of the Administration's reform efforts. Opposition from Wall Street, Republicans, and some moderate Democrats prevented the Harvard law professor and longtime critic of the banking sector from being nominated to head the bureau after its creation last year. Instead, President Barack Obama appointed Warren as a special adviser in September and asked her to prepare the bureau for its July 21 launch. The move was seen by her supporters as a chance for Warren to placate her critics and clear the way for an eventual nomination.

Six months later, she's not on target, and Obama is looking at replacements. Probably it takes some business or management experience to tackle this job--ya think?

Time's Nearly Up for Elizabeth Warren - BusinessWeek

VIP Tickets to Emanuel’s Inauguration: $50,000

Some mayors take their oath of office at City Hall or in their chambers and then go to work. Not Rahm Emanuel. He's the second Chicago thug to throw his Democrat hat in the ring and he's doing it by charging $50,000 a head to attend his inauguration. He of the foulest mouth with a reputation as a knee capper, who slid between the lines of the rules for residency in Chicago to be its mayor, has bigger plans, I'm sure. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if he didn't stab his old boss Obama in the back to grab 2012.

VIP Tickets to Emanuel’s Inauguration: $50,000

Did you know. . . pay equity

"In a 2010 study of single, childless urban workers between the ages of 22 and 30, the research firm Reach Advisors found that women earned an average of 8% more than their male counterparts." Carrie Lukas: There is no male-female wage gap.

Democrats lie about Ryan's plan, and don't even blush

Tonight on Fox I watched a Democrat being interviewed about the lack of specificity in Obama's budget speech, and instead of answering about Obama, he chose to attack Republicans, and even then had no specifics except they want to destroy Medicare. Huh?

Wall Street Journal has unpacked the Democrats' criticism of Ryan's plan, which many people really like, even though he doesn't provide any specific tax cuts. And no, unlike Obama, he doesn't suggest raising taxes during a recession (which technically is over, aren't you glad?)

Here are some highlights, but read the whole editorial.

Federal deficits have increased 259% over the last three years and the Ryan budget starts to repair the damage. It would bring next year's deficit below $1 trillion, down from estimates of roughly $1.6 trillion for 2011. . .

Mr. Ryan proposes smaller deficits for the next 10 years, falling to 1.6% of GDP in 2021 versus 4.9% for the White House. According to CBO, debt held by the public falls to 67.5% of the economy a decade from now from about 69% today, while it rises to 87.4% in Mr. Obama's version. . .

Mr. Ryan's plan [called premium support] is that it offers the true health-care reform that Mr. Obama promised but which vanished in the political drive to put 30 million more Americans on the government rolls. Economists from the center-left to center-right have been recommending premium support for decades, and it was first proposed by Stanford's Alain Enthoven in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1978.

Some version has since been endorsed by everyone from President Clinton's 1999 Medicare commission, chaired by Democrat John Breaux, to Bob Dole and Tom Daschle in 2009. Another iteration was floated this week by a group of Nobel laureates including Ned Phelps, Vernon Smith and George Akerlof.

Heritage says that one of the key provisions of Ryan's plan is eliminating Fannie and Fred.

Ryan's Roadmap

Until recently, Americans were known and admired everywhere for their hopeful determination to assume responsibility for the quality of their own lives; to rely on their own work and initiative; and to improve opportunities for their children to prosper in the future. But over time, Americans have been lured into viewing government – more than themselves, their families, their communities, their faith – as their main source of support; they have been drawn toward depending on the public sector for growing shares of their material and personal well-being. The trend drains individual initiative and personal responsibility. It creates an aversion to risk, sapping the entrepreneurial spirit necessary for growth, innovation, and prosperity. In turn, it subtly and gradually suffocates the creative potential for prosperity.

I am John Galt

Atlas Shrugged is coming to a theater near you (ca. 277 screens)--or at least, me. Atlas Shrugged the Movie will be shown at the Movie Tavern, Mill Run Shopping Center in Hilliard, Ohio, 3773 Ridge Mill Dr., April 15-April 21, showings at 10:45 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 7:20 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. (Dates and times could change, www.movietavern.com) Movie Tavern is a restaurant/theatre serving food and drink, so you can make it a date night or book club event. The book was written in 1957, but is relevant to today's political and economic realities.

Read a review of book theme and why Conservatives didn't like Rand when she was alive in WSJ. Donald L. Luskin: Remembering the Real Ayn Rand - WSJ.com

When Rand created the character of Wesley Mouch, it's as though she was anticipating Barney Frank (D., Mass). Mouch is the economic czar in "Atlas Shrugged" whose every move weakens the economy, which in turn gives him the excuse to demand broader powers. Mr. Frank steered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to disaster with mandates for more lending to low-income borrowers. After Fannie and Freddie collapsed under the weight of their subprime mortgage books, Mr. Frank proclaimed last year: "The way to cure that is to give us more authority." Mouch couldn't have said it better himself.

But it's a misreading of "Atlas" to claim that it is simply an antigovernment tract or an uncritical celebration of big business. In fact, the real villain of "Atlas" is a big businessman, railroad CEO James Taggart, whose crony capitalism does more to bring down the economy than all of Mouch's regulations. With Taggart, Rand was anticipating figures like Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide Financial, the subprime lender that proved to be a toxic mortgage factory. Like Taggart, Mr. Mozilo engineered government subsidies for his company in the name of noble-sounding virtues like home ownership for all.

To be seen

It wasn't about the workout, which was probably great cardio. It was to be seen. When she's jogging through a busy intersection, dodging cars and trucks, weaving around traffic wearing this

on the bottom and even less on the top, then she's not fooling anyone.

We have several parks within a mile or two of Henderson and Reed, a corner with two busy gas stations and two shopping centers--she could have driven there and had a safe, healthy, exhilerating run without putting herself or others in danger. But who would be there to see her except ladies on a stroll or pushing baby buggies.

Children, wanted and unwanted

It's a great imponderable. My faith and church informs me that God loves all his children, from conception to old age death, both those who know him and those who don't, the ones with blessings and the ones without. For now, I'll just have to trust that, because I don't always see it working in real time and place.

I'm thinking about little three year old Zack (not his real name) who is actually wanted by two different foster families who have been sharing custody of him for a year and a half. The original foster family who raised Zack from birth have negotiated every legal delay and trick to keep him, and although they signed off from the beginning on plans to adopt him (were told this was not an option), it is obviously their goal. The other foster family, which immediately stepped up to the plate when the state discovered it even existed (months after his birth), is Zack's uncle and his wife, who also raised his half sibling. Zack's birth parents are totally incapable of caring for child (although they have visitation rights) both by behavior and intelligence--the mother being mentally challenged and the father being the boyfriend of her mother (grandmother of the child--remember the movie "Precious?") who took advantage of the woman's low intelligence and had sex with her. So here's a little guy loved too much by people who are asking the court to split him down the middle. On the sidelines, I'm left to ponder what motivates people to even agree to raise a child of such doubtful intellectual heritage and future possibilities and problems--but I'm glad there are people willing to take such risks. That's a risk God takes with us, and one we don't see that often at our level. Both a stranger and a relative took him in and want him, and are now fighting over him with lawyers, judges, guardian ad litem, social workers and child psychologists in pitched battle over a little guy who is happy and well adjusted with both families.

The other special group of children God loves are those with Down and Fragile X syndromes. If you keep up with news from the pro-life community, or have followed the vilification of Sarah Palin and her Down Syndrome child born shortly before she was selected by McCain as a running mate in 2008, you know that over 90% of the children are now aborted after pregnancy testing reveals their condition. This has all sorts of ramifications for other families with mentally challenged children, because these families were strong backers of special health benefits, legislation and schooling for their children. They are now out of the advocacy business. But recently a mouse model in which the critical gene is knocked out has been developed that allows researchers to probe the synapses of brain neurons. Even later in life, mice with Down syndrome or fragile X syndrome (FXS) that are given targeted treatment can experience improvements in cognitive function. Findings from such animal studies have paved the way to human trials. And things are moving rather quickly. There is hope on the horizon that there will be therapeutics developed to help those with the most severe symptoms of stereotypic behavior, hyperactivity and inappropriate speech (Sci Transl Med. 2001:3[64] 64ral).

Other drugs are also being tested that show improved cognition in mouse models. One little mouse model, Ts65Dn, has been particularly useful in testing for memory deficits. This is wonderful news--but comes much too late for so many children killed before they saw the light of day. I wish all children, challenged or blessed with good health, could be as loved as little Trig Palin.

If the therapies under study for FXS and Down syndrome prove effective, the approach may have implications for other developmental disorders that involve invtellectual impairment or autism-like symptoms, or even more common disorders like Alzheimer Disease. The brain is more plastic than ever before imagined. (Summary of material from JAMA Jan. 26, 2011)

A very filling lunch

No vegetables, but I had two at breakfast.

I attended a noon lecture at the veterinary college at Ohio State at noon, so was a bit hungry when I got home about 1:15. So I decided to fry up half an onion, a medium sized potato with the skin, and a hard cooked egg in a little olive oil. It tasted so good, and was so filling, I decided to look up why.

Onion--11 calories. This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B6, Folate, Potassium and Manganese, and a very good source of Vitamin C. Amino acid (protein quality) score: 22; completeness score (nutrient balance) 53; inflammatory factor 65. Onions contain a variety of other naturally occurring chemicals known as organosulfur compounds that have been linked to lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Hard cooked egg--77 calories. This food is a good source of Riboflavin, Vitamin B12 and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Protein and Selenium. One egg contains 6 grams of high-quality protein and all 9 essential amino acids. Amino acid score: 132; completeness score 43; inflammatory factor -51. Although egg yolk contains much cholesterol, it also contains a lot of lecithin. Lecithin is an emulsifier, which can lower blood cholesterol. Eggs contain a lot of vitamin A, which can rarely be found in meat. Vitamin A can not only maintain the integrity and promote the growth and development of the epithelial cells, but also can increase the immune function of the body. In addition, the content of vitamin E and B2 in eggs are higher than the meat. Eggs hold great satiety powers (they will stick with you for a long while after you've eaten them).

White potato, medium, with skin-- 130 calories. This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin B6 and Potassium, and a very good source of Vitamin C. Amino acid score: 83; completeness score 49; inflammatory factor -78. Eaten with its skin, a single medium sized potato of 150 g provides nearly half the daily adult requirement (100 mg) of vitamin C. The potato is a moderate source of iron, and its high vitamin C content promotes iron absorption. It is a good source of vitamins B1, B3 and B6 and minerals such as potassium, phosphorus and magnesium, and contains folate, pantothenic acid and riboflavin. Potatoes also contain dietary antioxidants, which may play a part in preventing diseases related to ageing, and dietary fibre, which benefits health. Potatoes rate high on the satiety index.

1 tbsp olive oil--124 calories. This food is rich in monounsaturated fat, rich in antioxidants and phenolic compounds with a variety of protective effects for the heart, low in Cholesterol and Sodium. Vitamin E and K. Amino acid score: 0; completeness score 3; inflammatory factor 4.

Some links.
http://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/home
http://www.potato2008.org/en/potato/factsheets.html
http://www.herballegacy.com/Wilson_Medicinal.html
http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-eggs.html

Free DC to be more corrupt?

The Mayor protests giving DC children a chance at a good education with DC scholarships (vouchers), or even a life. And he wants statehood.

. . . the mayor of Washington, D.C., Vince Gray, already serving under a cloud of corruption, was arrested while protesting Congress’ budget agreement. Gray, city council members and more than 200 protesters blocked Constitution Avenue and diverted police resources, shouting, “Free D.C.” and “We can’t take it no more,” all in response to new restrictions on spending that Congress placed on the District of Columbia. But they should have been protesting outside Constitution Hall, not the Capitol, because that is where the Framers created the role for our nation’s capital that Gray is complaining about today.

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Budget deal axes 'czars' already gone

No Obama Czars lost their heads in the budget deal. They were either promoted or already gone. Are Republicans this easy to fool? Unfortunately, yes. That's why they need the Tea Party.

Budget deal axes 'czars' already gone - Robin Bravender - POLITICO.com

House Republicans attached an amendment to a spending bill that passed the chamber in February to block funding for nine White House policy advisers. Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise, the author of that amendment, warned at the time against what he called "a very disturbing proliferation of czars" under President Obama.

"These unappointed, unaccountable people who are literally running a shadow government, heading up these little fiefdoms that nobody can really seem to identify where they are or what they're doing," Scalise said in February. "But we do know that they're wielding vast amounts of power."

Senate Democrats at the time vowed to fight the measure, calling the language "an intrusive micromanagement of the president's White House staff via appropriations."

With the narrower anti-czar rider, both sides have an opportunity to claim victory. Republicans walk away with the talking point that they dethroned unelected officials playing key roles on controversial policy initiatives; the White House and Senate Democrats can claim they protected most of the advisers that matter — those who are still there.

David Brooks--a conservative who was dead wrong about Obama

"Two personalities inhabit New York Times columnist David Brooks, who, like Christopher Buckley, is a friend. One personality is that of the idealist. On Inauguration Day, the idealist in Brooks claimed that Barack Obama was “a pragmatist, an empiricist” who intended “to realize the endof- ideology politics.” The other personality inhabiting Brooks is that of the realist. It takes a lot to rouse the realist. Trillions of dollars, in fact.

“There is evidence,„ Brooks wrote in early March [2009] about Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget, “of a party swept up in its own revolutionary fervor. . . . We end up with deficits that are $1 trillion a year and stretch as far as the eye can see. . . . Federal spending as a share of GDP is zooming from its modern norm of 20 percent to an unacknowledged level somewhere far beyond.

“Those of us who consider ourselves moderates—moderate-conservative, in my case—are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was.”

A couple of implications are worth noting. The first is that a deep, recurring pattern of American life has asserted itself yet again: the cluelessness of the elite.

[Christopher] Buckley, [David] Gergen, and Brooks all attended expensive private universities, then spent their careers moving among the wealthy and powerful who inhabit the seaboard corridor running from Washington to Boston. If any of the three strolled uninvited into a cocktail party in Georgetown, Cambridge, or New Haven, the hostess would emit yelps of delight. Yet all three originally got Obama wrong.

Contrast Buckley, Gergen, and Brooks with, let us say, Rush Limbaugh, whose appearance at any chic cocktail party would cause the hostess to faint dead away, or with Thomas Sowell, who occupies probably the most unfashionable position in the country, that of a black conservative.

Limbaugh and Sowell both got Obama right from the very get-go. “Just what evidence do you have,” Sowell replied when I asked, shortly before the election, whether he considered Obama a centrist, “that he’s anything but a hard-left ideologue?” "

Hey, Big Spender | Hoover Institution

Milton Friedman--which government departments to eliminate

Twelve years ago, Milton Friednman discussed with Peter Robinson of Hoover Institution (Stanford) the basics of libertarianism, and the cabinet offices he would eliminate in the federal government. . . Agriculture, Commerce, Education, etc. down to about four fundamental functions. If you have time, watch the entire interview. If you want to see just the "abolish" parts, start around 20. Rand Paul has suggested many of the same cuts to reduce the budget deficit.



Obviously, Glenn Beck is no right wing, fascist kook--he's a libertarian and channeling Milton Friedman, but without the blackboard. (A fascist believes in more government, not less--Nazi is shorthand for national socialism.) Friedman says, behind every government program is a smoke stack--a cost to a third party for which they receive no compensation. More housing has been torn down under HUD than public housing built. Government now owns something like 1/3 of all the land in the U.S.

No need to cut entitlements for the poor

Thomas Sowell suggests Congress start with entitlements for the rich. If you saw John Stossel's program on Fox last week, he suggested the same thing.

Sowell writes: "My plan would start by cutting off all government transfer payments to billionaires. Many, if not most, people are probably unaware that the government is handing out the taxpayers' money to billionaires. But agricultural subsidies go to a number of billionaires. Very little goes to the ordinary farmer. Big corporations also get big bucks from the government, not only in agricultural subsidies but also in the name of "green" policies, in the name of "alternative energy" policies, and in the name of whatever else will rationalize shoveling the taxpayers' money out the door to whomever the administration designates, for its own political reasons. The usual political counterattacks against spending cuts will not work against this new kind of spending-cut approach. How many heart-rending stories can the media run about billionaires who have lost their handouts from the taxpayers? How many tears will be shed if General Motors gets dumped off the gravy train?"

To Cut Deficits, It's Best To Pick Low-Lying Fruit - Investors.com

The Budget, NPR and Planned Parenthood

$38.5 billion in cuts is peanuts and meaningless. Dropping the funding for NPR and Planned Parenthood would have meant nothing for their budgets--rich donors would have stepped forward, but both Republicans and Democrats are eyeing a bigger battle down the road, and seem to want to save their ammunition.

Planned Parenthood’s Abortions Every 95 SECONDS: PP Spent $1M Electing Democrats

The real reason the Republicans caved on NPR and Planned Parenthood

But here's something you can defund on your own--The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation--it supports Planned Parenthood, even though abortion puts a woman more at risk for breast cancer. And using the "emergency contraception pill" increases it even more. KNOW YOUR CHARITY!

Update: Review & Outlook: Spending Cut Hokum - WSJ.com April 13 WSJ: It's not even $38.5! "A mini-revolt is brewing among Republican backbenchers on Capitol Hill now that the specific spending cuts in Friday's budget deal are being revealed. After separating out the accounting gimmicks and one-year savings, the actual cuts look to be closer to $20 billion than to the $38 billion that both sides advertised. This is not going to help Speaker John Boehner's credibility with the tea party."