Roy Rogers and Trigger

The cover of the Ohio Historical Society's Timeline, April-June 2012, is Roy Rogers and Trigger, rearing up. Rogers real name was Leonard Slye and he was born in Duck Run, Ohio. I just glanced at the cover, but it looks like Trigger has been airbrushed, so I checked the internet to make sure he was a stallion (yes, purchased when he was 4 years old and died in 1965). Rogers owned several Palaminos, so maybe this was a stand in. The saddle gear looks the same as the 1943 Life magazine pictured on the inside, but that Trigger has four white stockings, whereas the one on the cover of Timeline does not. Could explain the missing "other" gear. A picture of the cover is not on the OHS website yet. . .

Oil is expensive, but water is priceless

I own stock in Pentair. "More than one billion people worldwide – roughly one out of every seven – have no choice but to use unsafe, contaminated water. To help solve this issue, Pentair, Inc. (NYSE: PNR), a leader in sustainable water solutions, and its Foundation announced today (Mar 21) a new five-year grant totaling $1 million to the non-profit Water Missions International (WMI). The multi-year grant will fund the implementation of clean water and sanitation projects in developing countries, further building on the work of Pentair's Project Safewater initiative with WMI."

I don't get too excited about companies making donations to non-profits--their usefulness on the planet is job creation and supporting investors. However, it's good PR and brings attention to very worthwhile projects like WMI, a Christian effort.

From the WMI website: "At the core of our work with safe water and sanitation is something called the Great Commission. Jesus Christ told his followers to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them.” Those first followers of Christ spread throughout the known world, healing physical hurts and sharing the good news that God had reached out to people through Jesus Christ, making a way for us to know God and have a relationship with Him. Often, the healing that people experienced opened their hearts to hear the message about Jesus. The same is true today.

When people see the “miracle” of filthy disease-laden water turned into clean, clear water, they see a tangible picture of what God does in the lives of those who believe in Him. He cleanses us, washing away the filth of the past, so that we can offer our lives as vessels of hope to the world around us. This is the Living Water message. As we work all over the world to provide sustainable safe water solutions, we share this message of hope and transformation. And we marvel again and again at its power to transform the human soul."

A product of rape, a product of conception

Mike Adams, a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington wrote of his love for his fiance:

"After we became engaged, Anna revealed a secret to me. I always knew she was adopted. But I did not know that when she was 32 years old she embarked on a mission to locate her biological mother. She did this so she could learn the reasons why she was given up for adoption. She did it for peace of mind but the result of her research was unsettling: Anna found out she was a product of rape.

When I found out the news, I acted immediately. I killed Anna while she was sleeping and then dumped for body off of Johnny Mercer’s pier at Wrightsville Beach. And now I face a long legal battle in which my lawyers will attempt to argue that Anna, as a product of rape, does not have the same rights as other persons. In fact, whatever rights she may possess are outweighed by a compelled need to destroy evidence of rape, which might remind a rape victim of a past sexual assault.

My argument will be simple: I believe that Anna was no more or less of a person as an adult than she was as an unborn child. Therefore, it would have been permissible to kill her at either stage of development so long as that killing was motivated by compassion for the victim of rape."

And the arguments for and against will be: here.

The Manhattan Declaration

Sometimes I have to step outside my conservative Christian safe place and answer those who think I'm just weird or going over the edge. Really, friends, there are millions with my view. Perhaps it's you who is out of step or over the edge with your wish for government care 24/7? I had this viewpoint before they drafted theirs, but it's nice to find such confirmation.

"While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, claims our attention, we are especially troubled that in our nation today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions." From the Manhattan Declaration; a call of Christian Conscience, Nov. 20, 2009.

The Manhattan Declaration

Today's thoughts

Washington Post is reporting Islamists took more than 70 percent of legislative seats in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party alone has nearly half of the seats in the newly elected parliament. My goodness. What paranoia. At least isn't that what the conservative talkers like Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity were told when they warned of this a year ago? When they didn't see a lot of hope and change in the Arab Spring?

Link to Washington Post , because some people think you're quoting Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh if you don't use their source.

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Remember watching our current President, then campaigning in 2008, when he said energy prices would need to go up? Well, he sure called it. AEP is going along with it. He's even hurting the homeless.

"Jennifer Eschbach of the Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations said the rate increases faced under the most recent rate plan, which since was rescinded by the PUCO, raised the monthly rate of a homeless shelter in Canton from $786 to $1,728. Dispatch story"

"In classic Obama heavy-handed style, the President is using the regulatory power of the EPA to manipulate the free market to favor natural gas and renewable energy by regulating coal-fired electricity out of existence.

Obama’s blunder is ignoring the transition cost of eliminating about half of the country’s cheap and dependable source of electricity. Higher energy costs resulting from the shift from coal to Obama’s choice of electricity generation will drain the disposable income of consumers and, most important, be a huge barrier to the creation of new manufacturing jobs." Tom Borelli's opinion

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We have a lot of family in California. High gas prices; high taxes.

"One of the last states to have a tax rate as high as California is proposing was Delaware in the 1970s. Its rate hit 19.8%. Then-Governor Pete du Pont cut the rate to 10.3% in 1979 and later to 5.95%, and after five years the state's revenues had nearly doubled and its credit rating went from the worst to one of the best. None of these facts matter to [governor] Mr. Brown or his allies because the tax increase is simply about the political power to deliver money to the interests that live off government."
Link to Wall Street Journal editorial comments

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Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin

Stalin and Hitler were both rulers of socialist nations, just a slight difference of opinion on who should be killed. I've never forgotten the simple little museum we visited in Estonia. They really, truly thought the Americans would come any day and free them from the Soviets after WWII. In Finland the wounds are still not healed.

What the author Timothy Snyder "calls the bloodlands were the territories of eastern Poland and western Soviet Union, including the Baltic states, which had the misfortune to be controlled at different times by two of the most murderous leaders in history: Stalin and Hitler. As a result 14 million people were deliberately murdered in that zone between 1932 and 1945, until 1939 almost exclusively by Stalin and afterwards by Stalin and Hitler together." . . .

"Stalin could not admit that collectivization of the farms had failed in the early 1930s and so millions had to die for his refusal to face this reality. His commissars on the ground even saw peasants dying of starvation as saboteurs undermining the Soviet economy. And Stalin’s paranoia about foreign plots drove the Great Terror and his attitude to returning Soviet prisoners of war, most of whom were sent to the Gulag.

Hitler, in turn rather, than accept the folly of his war policy, blamed the Jews for the circle of enemies around him: Britain, the USA and Russian and therefore made their annihilation the only remaining war aim once he was on the defensive."

From the blog Creativeconflictwisdom

I won't read this book; I just began reading last week the Prologue and first two chapters of Bonhoeffer by Metaxas and that's about as much evil and demon possession I can handle for now. Those of you who fancy yourselves do-good humanists or socialists/progressives will continue to blame two crazy, psychotic sociopaths, and never examine the political system that allowed them to create their killing machines.

Bookworm didn't like Obama four years ago

For all the same reasons I didn't, but she's a better writer/blogger. I suspect she's a librarian, but don't know her name or profession.

The problem with Obama’s race is that you’re not allowed to dislike him simply because you don’t like him. From my point of view, irrespective of skin color, I find Obama boring and platitudinous, I dislike and distrust his friends, I find appalling his lack of practical experience, and I disagree with him from top to bottom when it comes to his political positions. He is, to me, an utterly undesirable candidate. However, in the world of identity politics, all of this is clearly a front for my unspoken racism. It is impossible for those on the Left to believe that, if someone is in a politically correct minority, he can be disliked for reasons other than his minority status. . ."

"It will be interesting, assuming Obama continues in politics for a while (whether as a 2008 presidential candidate or a 2012 candidate), to see if we’re allowed to dislike him without being tarred with the racist brush. It will also be interesting if, God forbid, he wins the 2008 presidential primaries, to see if the press will be able to make itself write anything even slightly negative about him. And considering the horror with which Hillary’s attacks against him are being greeted, will the Republican candidate be able to say anything negative, no matter how substantive, without being tarred with the racist brush? The one thing I can promise you is that, if Obama loses, it won’t be because he’s boring, antisemitic (or, at least, his friends are), uninformed, unexperienced and a leftist. In the eyes of the MSM, whose opinion will be disseminated around the world, he can lose only because he’s black. And that’s the problem with Obama’s race."

Flashback to January 20, 2008

Trayvon Martin

Not my blog, not my writing; but does bring up some interesting points, like why is a black life only valuable or a black killing tragic only if a non-black is the perp? Most blacks are killed by other blacks; most gays are killed by other gays; most rapes happen to men and take place in prison; most Hispanics, etc. etc. Except for women. And then the press only cares if she's a lesbian.

"First, in terms of characterizing America as a racist nation, the fact that we have a black president kind of, sort of, a little bit, makes it stupid to try to paint a whole nation with the “racism” brush just because a big Hispanic man in a bad neighborhood pulled a gun on a big black guy in the same neighborhood. That’s true whether the killing was motivated by self-defense, insanity, or racism.

Second, people are beginning to catch on to the media’s games. In a way, it’s useful that the Martin killing followed on the heels of the Toulouse massacre. It’s a reminder that the media has a few templates for murder: When a black person dies at the hands of a non-black person, it’s a front-page racially motivated crime. When a non-black person dies at the hands of black person, it’s a bottom of page 27 story. And when a Muslim kills people while shouting “Allah is great,” Islam has nothing to do with it. Here, the media is sticking to its narrative with regard to both the Martin and Mohammed stories, despite pesky little details that put the lie to the media narratives.

Third, this was a one-person crime. Zimmerman didn’t belong to a White (or Hispanic) Supremacist movement. He wasn’t a corrupt small town sheriff. This wasn’t just another in a long line of racially motivated murders in the same community. It’s awfully hard to make a serious case for institutional American racism based on a sordid neighborhood dispute."

And on to the next point.

Why does the left hate Sarah Palin so?

She isn't as conservative as many Republicans; she's not running for President; she had an athletic scholarship in college. Yet, they go on and on and on. Today I got an e-mail from a liberal friend who said he admired me but. . . how could I possibly share a world view with [gasp, choke] Sarah Palin? Like I should share a world view, as he apparently does/did with Ted Kennedy or John Kerry or Hillary Clinton?

I'm convinced the ridicule, antipathy, and vitriol directed at Sarah Palin is not about her politics, but what she represents--first because she allowed her child with Down Syndrome (93% of whom are aborted after screening finds them) to live and didn't encourage her teen-age daughter to abort her grandchild, and second because she energized a flagging and failing Republican party with her zest and no-shirt-tails rise in politics and perhaps gave birth to the Tea Party movement--or at least mid-wifed it (at least she knew the date of the original, and the libs didn't).

I went to a local college to hear her speak and I can't even describe the sparkle and energy and the fresh spirit she brought, even though I'm sure she'd given that speech many times. She's everything Barack Obama isn't--pro-life in every sense of the word including pep and energy, pro-family, pro-business, pro-little guy, pro-American and pro-Christian. I gave up on her as a politician when she abandoned her post in Alaska due to the harassment and ridicule from the highest offices to the lowest scumbags (like Bill Maher and Dave Letterman) on TV, but that doesn't deny what she was able to do within one week in 2008. And Barack Obama is still afraid of her and he is campaigning against her even though she's not running. If Sarah Palin's message of hope is allowed to survive, there really would be change and the Democrats know it. Socialism in America would be writhing and gasping for air.

When I was in first and second grade there was a boy in my class, who today if allowed to live, would probably do just fine with some attitude adjustment on the part of the school system. In 1946-47 he was ridiculed by the teacher and teased by the other kids, and dropped out to work on the family farm after second grade. I had 3 classmates who had siblings who didn't attend school, but one came to church and was cherished by her family and was never kept hidden away. My Uncle Ben had a son about my Dad’s age who after he became an adult was moved into a special home, and when he died about a decade ago, my father arranged for his funeral to be buried in the town cemetery with the rest of his family.

One of my sons was born with multiple physical and mental handicaps and died shortly after birth. Whether I would have been one of the brave parents fighting for his rights who helped to get the ADA passed, or whether our marriage could have survived those challenges, I never had to find out. But our little Patrick is one reason I think children should be allowed to live, even if it is just the 9 months of the womb life. I learned a lot from him and look forward to seeing him at the resurrection.

The primary reason I'm against the HHS Mandate is everything the Bible teaches about the sacredness of life and that is what the Roman Catholic Church is supporting. It's not the liberals who reach out to help the poorest and weakest, it is the church. When we see those in need and we help, even the ones who are sick or in prison, we are meeting Jesus. We are never promised that hunger or poverty will end the way the liberals do when asking for more money, or that people won't be unjustly imprisoned the way politicians do when running for office; only that we will meet Jesus when we love and care for them. You don't build powerful political allies with a philosophy like that.

How Media Matters deals with Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh insulted one woman taking on the sanctity of life teachings of the Catholic church, and apologized to her. Media Matters in an effort to shut him up permanently has launched a nationwide call to all progressives and leftists to destroy a popular, conservative radio talk show host by going after his sponsors--not just those with whom he has contracts, but anyone at local affiliate stations who advertise during the hours he is on and who have contracts with the local station. This is their business, they have employees, they contribute to the local economy. This is an attempt to destroy him, and in that effort is having a significant impact on these small businesses, many of whom can't supply their orders because their web sites have been snarled by leftists in a carefully orchestrated "book burning." The so-called fairness doctrine is just one more way to destroy the first amendment which has another clause being eroded by the HHS Mandate--the free exercise of religion. Be careful dear progressives, or you may be left with only turtles and milfoils (aquatic beetle) as your news sources.

"Anyone referring to the past to criticize the present should, together with all members of his family, be put to death. Officials who fail to report cases that have come under attention are equally guilty. After thirty days from the time of issuing the decree, those who have not destroyed their books are to be branded and sent to build the Great Wall. Books not to be destroyed will be those on medicine and pharmacy, divination by the turtle and milfoil, and agriculture and arboriculture."

Attributed to Li Ssu, in Records of the Grand Historian of China, 109 to 91 BC.

Spring Break 2012

Forsythia in bloom

I've been out for a 25 minute walk. Looks like some storms are on the way--very dark in the northwest. Our forsythia which were cut back to about 6 inches when the wall and sidewalk were built in 2009(?) are blooming gloriously--about 6 ft. tall now. New grow, new energy, we all need that. If you've got some ratty looking, spindly bushes, cut them back. They'll thank you.

A morning prayer attributed to Saint Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.

Amen.

Blago's gone to jail now, but. . .

We've still got a Chicago Democrat as head of the nation, and the press never even peeked at any funny stuff going on about his Senate seat. It was all swept under the rug. . . probably for a lower sentence or a hurry up parole for Blago. From April 2010:

Chicago Democrats have run Illinois into the ground. Since Rod Blagojevich became governor in 2003, Illinois state government has spent roughly $500 billion dollars (yes nearly half a trillion). Yet, we are:

48th in job growth
36th in education
Leading the nation in youth violent crime
3rd in the nation in gambling revenue.

Are you ready to be bamboozled again in 2012?

"The Clinton campaign has specifically cited a phrase pulled from one of Deval Patrick's gubernatorial campaign speeches, which champions the power of words.

In 2006 Patrick gave a speech quoting famous phrases: "'We have nothing to fear, but fear itself,' … just words. 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.' Just words. … 'I have a dream' … just words,'" he said, switching effortlessly from FDR to JFK to MLK.

On Saturday in Wisconsin, Obama said, "Don't tell me words don't matter. … 'I have a dream.' Just words. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' Just words. 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.' Just words. Just speeches."

Obama also campaigned in 2004 on the slogan, "Yes we can," which Patrick did in 2006."

ABC News account of plagiarism charge by Clinton campaign

"As reported by the Chicago Sun Times on Friday from South Carolina:
"Don't be hoodwinked. Don't be bamboozled," Obama told crowds several times during the day.
As a movie and Denzel fan, those words were very familiar to me. They're from Spike Lee's Malcolm X. I remember going to see that movie soon after Bill Clinton won in 1992.

They were the eternal words of Malcolm X regarding political maneuvering in the African American community."

Sometimes the truth causes outrage--and it should

"The billboard -- placed at the bustling intersection of Sixth Avenue and Watts Street by the nonprofit pro-life organizations Life Always and thatsabortion.com -- is about half a mile from one of three Planned Parenthood locations. Those facilities jointly reported nearly 17,000 pregnancy terminations in 2010, according to Life Always. A Planned Parenthood spokesman confirmed that number, adding that about 92 percent of terminations were conducted during the first trimester. Twenty-eight percent were medication-induced abortions performed within the first nine weeks."

Black anti-abortion billboards

Is abortion justified and merciful in rape cases? The Roman Catholic view

"Women who have been the victims of this crime [rape] have suffered a very great wrong. However, if pregnancy results, the unborn baby is entirely innocent of any wrong. Justice forbids this [an abortion], while mercy demands that the wrong already done be limited and overcome, so far as possible, with healing love. This requires correctly drawing the line between good and evil: the rapist’s act was evil, but the woman who was raped remains good, and the baby, though unwelcome, proceeds in part from her, is innocent, and so belongs on her side of the line. To reaffirm herself, she must accept the baby’s goodness, with the conviction that nothing that happened can make her and her baby bad. Nurturing the baby until its birth, she can then decide whether or not to accept the responsibilities of motherhood."

G. Grisez, The Way of the Lord Jesus: Living a Christian Life, Vol. 2 (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1986), 501.

Kony 2012 is falling apart--probably won't stop interference in Uganda

When I'm wrong, it's big time. The Kony video which I actually did research before I passed along the information, took me in too. I began to suspect something amiss when I saw that World Vision didn't list that area as the biggest problem for child soldiers. I knew Obama had already entered Uganda, which should have raised a red flag, but . . . hey, I can get suckered in by a pretty video too. I just didn't check carefully enough--a real problem with social media. Now this: "Jason Russell, whose half-hour documentary urging action against Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony has taken in more than 100 million views during the past week, was arrested Thursday night for allegedly masturbating in public and vandalizing cars, NBC San Diego reports.' "

Link to Jason Russell story

World Vision information on child soldiers in Africa

U.S. troops in Uganda

Obama and his desire to destroy the Catholic Church

I've been puzzled that the Bishops were surprised at Obama's duplicity and lies. This sermon by Father Sammie L. Maleta, Jr. of Indiana on Feb. 5, 2012 gives the background on Obama's war on the Catholic Church (and indeed all Christians), the largest non-government provider of health services. "We will go out of business before we pay to have a child murdered." So why is Obama attempting to create a crisis? So the government can step in and provide the service at higher cost and become one step closer to socialism. Why is Obama so focused on "reproductive services" when there are so many problems in the world? Why did it become more important than the Bill of Rights? Even if you voted for Obama, you didn't vote for THIS! It's a very fine sermon. Don't miss it. Now I understand, and know a whole lot more than I did before. It's not the one you heard in your parish, and if you are a Protestant, you certainly haven't heard it.

Anniversary of our First Date--St. Patrick's Ball

Thirteen things about my date to the St. Patrick's Ball
1. Balls at the University of Illinois were usually sponsored by a campus wide or large organization and held in more public places like the Armory or the Athletic building; dances were for the individual fraternity, sorority or independent residence. Other balls during that era were Sno-Ball, Beaux-Arts Ball, Military Ball, Interfraternity Ball and Panhellenic Ball.

2. Balls always had a nice dance band or small orchestra; dances usually a combo. To not have live music would have been unthinkable. There was also a photographer to take a formal portrait.

3. First we had a coffee date to get acquainted, since the St. Pat's Ball was an invitation from a guy I didn't know.

4. I borrowed a red lace dress from my housemate Sally who was slightly smaller.

5. My date wore a jacket that had belonged to his grandfather, who was slightly larger.

6. I weighed more than my date.

7. He borrowed a car from a friend.

8. I was 19 and living in McKinley Hall.

9. He was 21 living in Armory House.

10.My date was one of the few good dancers I'd ever dated. We went to many more dances.

11. He was a city boy, I was a small town girl.

12. He probably wanted to impress me so he told me that night he'd like to marry me.

13. He did.

From March 16, 2006 Blog