Turkey

Did you know that a 4-ounce serving of turkey breast contains only 1 gram of fat and is the leanest type of meat you can include in your diet? Health newsletter

Yes, and that's why it is so tasteless and needs mustard, mayo or butter on the sandwich.

Humanism has more rules than God!

We are SO advanced, aren't we? We like to think in the 21st century our American life style is based on more freedom than the past--that we aren't bound by so many stuffy rules or finger wagging moralizing. We are just so evolved! HA! We might as well go back to wearing hats and gloves and leave the voting to the men folk.

When people felt undergirded by God's law, precepts, statutes and commands--one, two or three centuries ago--they had far more freedom than today when humanism and all its grandbaby systems rule the day--new age religions, socialism, environmentalism, Agenda 21 goals, thousands of rules and regulations for business, educators with hands tied so a 3rd grader doesn't smell a peanut or get bullied on the playground or doesn't know how to put on a condom, and employees can file a complaint if a supervisor says, "Merry Christmas," or compliments her appearance. But women have "choice."

In our focus on the victims, the whiners and the objectors, if a pastor preaches about marriage between a man and woman, he's homophobic or insulting single moms. If you live in the country enjoying a few acres, someone will try to regulate you to save Mother Earth by moving to multi-story housing and taking the bus to work. And God forbid if your BMI is a little high--you'll have the federal government asking for your tax money to correct everyone else's weight and install a farmer's market in your neighborhood! Movies and TV can make a fortune for their investors on wardrobe malfunctions, sloppy sex with any gender, and anything goes vocal screaching, but don't you put a nativity scene in the public square.

Humanism in all its forms puts us under pressure to redeem ourselves, and since the beginning of time, since God asked Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" we've just been making up more rules--and lies.

Monday Memories--Dad's Ranchero

I think Dad's was all red. My goodness, it was fun to drive! But then, I was 19--woot!

Allowing the arrest and detention indefinitely of American citizens

I was not in favor of foreign terrorists captured in middle east war zones being given the rights of Americans to our civilian trial process within the U.S., however, I believe U.S. citizens should have them. I'm very concerned about the new Defense Authorization bill just signed--especially since we've recently heard Tea Party groups called terrorists by the other team. That word is just being used too frequently. There's a lot to think about in this article (long).

Glen Greenwald on the new military authorization bill

In hindsight, the Bush administration went too far, and in watching the Obama flip flops and broken promises, I think we've started down a very dangerous road of eroded rights and pot-holed guarantees.

If you won't give it, we'll take it--the Occupists

This is what "social justice" theology gets you--rude, ungrateful pagans who don't want what Jesus has to offer, Forgiveness of sins.

The displaced occupiers had asked the church [Trinity Wall Street], one of the city’s largest landholders, to hand over a gravel lot, near Canal Street and Avenue of the Americas, for use as an alternate campsite and organizing hub. The church declined, calling the proposed encampment “wrong, unsafe, unhealthy and potentially injurious.”

And now the Occupy movement, after weeks of targeting big banks and large corporations, has chosen Trinity, one of the nation’s most prominent Episcopal parishes, as its latest antagonist.

“We need more; you have more,” one protester, Amin Husain, 36, told a Trinity official on Thursday, during an impromptu sidewalk exchange between clergy members and demonstrators. “We are coming to you for sanctuary.”

Occupists get nasty with Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church

Newt on Gay Marriage

Newt definitely shouldn't be talking about marriage, or mistresses for that matter, or divorce. The Bible is silent on gay marriage and you just can't make an argument from silence, but it has plenty to say about marriage between a man and woman, the only marriage the Bible recognizes. It has enough to say on being a father and husband, that the Roman Catholic church should reexamine its annulment procedures (Newt was baptized a Lutheran, became a Baptist, and is now a Roman Catholic).

The National Organization for Marriage, which previously criticized Gingrich for his two divorces and extra-marital affairs, said the former Speaker of the House signed its anti-gay-marriage pledge Thursday.

In the pledge, candidates promise to pursue a constitutional amendment forbidding same-sex marriage and to create a presidential commission to investigate "reports of Americans who have been harassed or threatened" for opposing same-sex marriage.

Gingrich Signs Anti-Gay Marriage Pledge He may sincerely believe that marriage is between one man and one woman, but so far, there's not much evidence.

This is insane--cut throat pre-K applications

Are New Yorkers crazy? $30,000 for a private pre-school, and 28,817 applicants for 19,834 slots in the city’s public pre-K programs? So some have formed co-ops. Sounds like they aren't the play groups that I had with 3-4 other Moms in Upper Arlington in the early 1970s.

The dearth of high-quality preschool education for poor children has been widely reported, but there is a growing middle-class gap when it comes to prekindergarten. “Access is actually lower for middle-income people than it is for people that are poor,” said Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, a research and advocacy group that supports universal prekindergarten. Those who say middle-class families should just pay for preschool themselves, Mr. Barnett said, “don’t understand how expensive it is.”
Underground Pre-K Groups.

I don't really agree with the author on the benefits of pre-school (33% higher income in one study). The children who attend high quality schools also come from highly educated, 2 parent, high income homes with a lot of enrichment opportunities. If not, they probably lose any gains they supposedly got in pre-school. It appears that New York's strict standards, regulations and red tape for child care have caused a higher demand, fewer facilities, and a way for those on top to stay there.

The author and her husband and some other families they knew in their neighborhood created a co-op pre-school. Ending 3 weeks early after some families moved and replacements had to be found, it was exhausting. "Emotionally burned and mentally depleted, my husband and I vowed never to do it again." But they did.

One commenter, "Redstate," really became unglued with older mothers puzzling over how it could be such a big deal to help a child get ready for kindergarten. Another practically has your kid enrolled in prison if you don't get him into pre-school!

In my opinion, which means nothing to young parents or New Yorkers, the push to get more children in school before age 5 is a quest for more schools, more public teachers and more union members.

How to lie with headlines about the Republicans

Today I was looking for information on a training program for women that I saw in the recent budget consolidation bill (1200 p.) that was being rammed through. In the process of googling, I found this article at the Washington Post Answer Sheet but don't know if these programs were actually cut:

43 education programs Republicans want to eliminate
Forty-three education programs — including those that promote literacy, teacher development and droppout prevention — have been targeted for elimination in a Republican-sponsored bill in the House as a first step toward rewriting the law known as No Child Left Behind.

And then when I read the article, I found out the reason they wanted to eliminate them was because
1) they'd already lost their funding in the last budget bill;
2) Obama had proposed a consolidation and the program was part of that;
3) they hadn't been funded in recent years;
4) they were approved but never funded; and
5) they were duplicates of other programs.

Note: The House is controlled by the Republicans; all revenue originates in the House (Art.1, Sec. 7, Constitution of the United States)

Here are two an examples:
Even Start Family Literacy Program had received $66.5 million in FY 2008, 2009, and 2010, (which means it was a Bush program), but it had been deemed ineffective by the OMB and the children and parents in the program showed no better gains than those not in the program.

The High School Graduation Initiative (Drop Out Prevention) provided grants ($50 million in FY 2010 and 2011) to help schools increase high school graduation rates. The program did not receive funding in FY 2008 or 2009. It duplicates the ESEA Title I (Aid for the Disadvantaged) program. The fact that the FY 2008 and FY 2009 years were mentioned, indicates to me this was originally a Bush program, but was probably not funded by the Democratic House.

As soon as Obama took office in 2009, all Bush programs were scrubbed from the web, even applications forms and reports of success or failure, so unless you can find mention of them in a state document, it's awfully difficult to research. Obama added money to education programs with the stimulus, so the 2009 education budget although proposed during Bush's final year actually reflects the Obama infusion. Then when the stimulus ended, a drop in funding is shown for 2010.

Gingrich and Fannie and Fred

"Mr. Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in two separate contracts with Freddie between 1999 and 2008. The former Speaker stuck to his line that "I was approached to offer strategic advice" and had warned the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to stop lending to bad credit risks." WSJ Review & Outlook, Dec. 17, 2011.

I would have given them the same advice for free.

December 16 is Tea Party Day

Today is the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. On December 16, 1773, a band of patriots called the "Sons of Liberty," disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded three ships and threw 342 chests of tea into the harbor. Tea was heavily taxed and had become a symbol of British oppression. Earlier that year, the men of Marlborough, Massachusetts, declared in writing: "Death is more eligible than slavery. A free-born people are not required by the religion of Jesus Christ to submit to tyranny, but may make use of such power as God has given them to recover and support their liberties. ... [we] implore the Ruler above the skies that He would bare His arm in defense of His Church and people, and let Israel go." From Faith2Action newsletter.

Of course, the story was much bigger than tea in the harbor. England had ignored laws which forbade the colonists to trade with any other country, resulting in great wealth for New England. When George III came to the throne in 1763 and ships of war showed up to enforce the old laws, and soldiers began to break into businesses and homes, the citizens protested. The cost of the wars with France were enormous and since it was to protect the colonies, George decided the Americans could pay with new taxes. This was done without the people's consent--a basic principle of English law. A Stamp Act was passed requiring paid stamps (a tax) on documents and newspapers. The "Sons of Liberty" pulled down a building were the stamps were sold and hung and burned a stuffed figure of one of the sellers and other riots followed. The Stamp Act was repealed.

In 1767 new taxes were levid on glass, paper, paints and tea, to pay for the king's soldiers in the colonies, judges and other officers who answered to the king not the people, and to line the pockets of leading citizens so they would be loyal to the king. In answer to the new taxes, the people agreed not to import these items, "eat nothing, drink nothing, wear nothing" from England. So the taxes were removed--all except on TEA. The cost wasn't the issue--the price was made very low--it was a tax to show the American people that they couldn't thumb their noses at the king.

From my grandmother's American history textbook, "The Leading Facts of American History," by D. H. Montgomery, Boston: Ginn & Co., 1891.

Hitchens the atheist is dead

When I heard on Catholic radio this morning that Christopher Hitchens had died from cancer I thought, well, now he knows. When I stand before God, He will see only the righteous of Jesus Christ. Hitchens knows for sure now, but I pray that he accepted the Lord's hand at the final moment. It's never too late; God is merciful. He waits. But, Oh what a waste of a life for the one who waits to the end.

Rueters announcement of death

This just has to be fake--no one is this dumb

TIME magazine put the protestors on the cover for person of the year. Supposedly, this is a real quote from a protestor at Occupy Toronto.

“It’s weird protesting on Bay Street. You get there at 9 a.m. and the rich bankers who you want to hurl insults at and change their worldview have been at work for two hours already. And then when it's time to go, they're still there. I guess that's why they call them the one per cent. I mean, who wants to work those kinds of hours? That's the power of greed.” – Jeremy, 38

The Texas Planned Parenthood rebuke

Why does Obama hate poor people? He'd rather poor Texas women in a government funded health program get nothing than see Planned Parenthood Funding, which disproportionately kills black babies, get cut. For a guy whose unmarried, teen mother chose not to abort her bi-racial child, I think this man has serious issues.

Jeopardizing women's health

A face only a mother could love

Alert PETA. Trouble ahead. The naked mole rat is a useful model for aging and cancer. "The strictly subterranean naked mole rat lives as long as 30 years and shows negligible senescence, no age-related increase in mortality, high fertility until death, and resistance to spontaneous cancer and experimentally induced tumorigenesis. They also live in full darkness at low oxygen and high carbon dioxide concentrations and are unable to sustain thermogenesis or feel certain types of pain. " Nature, via JAMA, Dec. 7, 2011

December 15 is Bill of Rights Day

Today is Bill of Rights Day, when the American people tweaked the Constitution to include some precious protections the signers didn't include. This is from CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank, and in my opinion, they should have included what the Supreme Court has done to not just speech, but prohibiting the exercise of religion.

Looking at health care costs

Actually, I do own a book by Newt Gingrich, "Saving Lives & Saving money" published in 2003. I'm not sure what his point was. About 1/3 of it was examples of health plans he liked. About 1/2 was anecdotes about businesses and people who controlled their costs. I think the rest was photos of him. Like Obama, he's a narcissist. It's a gray, dull book. Stodgy, uninteresting. Maybe he's a good speaker, but he's not a good writer--if he wrote it. I couldn't find any recommendations for the government, so I don't know if he was campaigning for or against a federal take-over of health care.

When "Anyone but Obama" no longer works for me

When someone says, "I promise you. . . " the I-you relationship is gone if the promise is broken, and the promise is worthless from the start if the person making it is not competent to keep it, or is of poor character. Frankly, I don't understand why conservatives want to believe Newt Gingrich's promises. Has he kept them in the past? Is he a man of character? I thought I was in the ABO crowd, but on the other hand, if we have a Republican Progressive in office who has supported big government in all the areas we've been fighting Obama, what have we gained? Newt has either been a poor academic or a rich politician/lobbyist all his working life--just like our current President. AND if elected AND he has a Republican House or Senate, who will stop the overreaching executive branch as we slide further into socialism? Neither party has a good record of saying NO to its own guys.

1. Newt is a BIG government guy, and not too supportive of capitalism. Conservatives say they want smaller, less intrusive federal government. Charles Krauthammer on Gingrich's attack on Romney: "What conception of capitalism do you have if you attacking your opponent for entering what is the risk taking of capitalism? It's the old line from Schumpeter which is that capitalism is creative destruction. And this kind of attack is what you'd expect from a socialist," Krauthammer continued."

2. Newt was an academic before elected to Congress. Conservatives have been quite critical of Obama for his lack of business sense and his poor understanding of the bottom line. Newt likes to say he has a "consulting business," but it's really a lobbying job and he's on the payroll.

3. Newt has been a supporter of some sort of massive federal health care for 20 years--probably since Obama was in grad school. Conservatives say they don't like Obamacare.

4. Newt is good in front of a microphone--people like his speaking style, even if he says nothing and lies. Conservatives have not appreciated this quality in Obama.

5. Newt could match Obama for self-centeredness and narcissism. Someone said (a former wife, maybe?) "he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room." I don't know about the rest of you, but we already know that emperor has no clothes. Is it OK for white guys, but not black guys?

6. Newt is a career politician. Conservatives claim they want a new broom--and not a socialist broom either.

7. Newt was a lobbyist for Fannie and Fred, who helped created the 2007 recession and implosion. Conservatives have Barney on YouTube and play it frequently--denying there was any problem within the GSE's. And when Barney Frank says Gingrich has no ethical core, we're in deep, deep trouble.

8. Obama has flip flopped on the Iraq War--he has nothing good to say about it, actually came close to treason when he was a Senator, in my opinion, but to listen to him yesterday you'd think it was the best thing since sliced bread. Gingrich is like that about global warming--he was cozy and loving to the concept when it suited his pocket book, now he says it was a mistake. Do Conservatives believe what he said then or now?

9. Newt led the charge to impeach our serial adulterer in chief, Bill Clinton, while cheating on his wife. Conservatives who approve of that hypocrisy, please raise your hand.

10. And finally, Newt's favorite President is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the guy who extended the last Depression over 10 years. 'nough said?

Cass Sunstein downplays the regulations by lying

"Cass Sunstein, the director of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, has been shopping around lower numbers [about the increase in regulations that are strangling the economy] that selectively compare Mr. Obama's first two years favorably with Mr. Bush's last two. Administrations are typically most active on the way out, and in any case the Bush regulatory record is nothing to crow about. But Mr. Sunstein's numbers are even more misleading because they only include the rules that his office reviews while excluding the prolific "independent" agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission.

This means that if Congress tells, say, the Securities and Exchange Commission to write a new rule, it doesn't enter Mr. Sunstein's tally. So it omits, for example, some 259 rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial reregulation law along with its 188 other rule suggestions. It also presumes that Mr. Obama is a bystander with no influence over his own appointees who now dominate the likes of the National Labor Relations Board."

WSJ Regulation for Dummies

She turned down bariatric surgery

A recent issue of JAMA (Dec. 7, 2011) has an update on a woman who had counseling about the various options of bariatric surgery in 2009--Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, and laparoscopic adustable gastric banding. She suffered from severe obesity, depression, anxiety and osteoarthritis. She also had hypothroidism with Graves disease, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis of both knees, a benign breast mass, and menometrorrhagia. Her doctor recommended the surgery because she'd been unable to lose weight dieting. Although I'm not sure why the "update" was published, we did learn she chose not to proceed and that she believed she was being rushed. She thought it might affect her mood and her social life and she wouldn't be happy. Now after 2 years, she's considering it again--wants to enjoy her retirement, she says.

I only mention this because weight counseling is included in Obamacare, because the nanny state is so worried about obesity. It seems that people don't always accept, understand, or believe their doctors, even if it's covered by insurance. Who knew?

I wonder what they did with all the poor people who used to live there?

I saw this in the OSU Today on-line News today.

Campus Partners for Community Urban Redevelopment has housing opportunities for faculty and staff in the Weinland Park neighborhood, which is just steps from the university's main campus and other great amenities like the Short North. A great deal of investment is taking place in the neighborhood, making it a perfect place to call home, and many housing opportunities are coming for all income levels and housing needs. Also, the Faculty & Staff University District Homeownership Incentive Program is available in this area.

Demolished neighborhood waiting for new housing.

Weinland Park neighborhood is north of downtown Columbus, and a group of 20 organizations plus Ohio State (Ohio taxpayers) and Columbus (city taxpayers) have pledged $15 million to develop housing in the area plagued by crime, foreclosures and vacant houses, according to an article in the Dispatch about 15 months ago. Seven years ago when this was proposed the average household income was about $15,200. Why would they want faculty earning over $100,000 to invade their space?
Proposed in 2004 by Deborah Pryce
Crime statistics

Weinland Park neighborhood, the elementary school and housing, is like a petri dish for Ohio State projects. I looked through a proposal by the architecture/urban design students and it included a component on obesity and fresh food sources.

If these kids had fathers, mom would probably have a car and could drive to Krogers to shop, or, maybe they wouldn't have to live in a neighborhood where they are guinea pigs!