The cost of childcare

In the 1960s, childcare was about 2% of the family budget. (Not ours--we had one income.) Today it is 17%, 2nd only the mortgage or rent. (USDA statistics reported in Parent Link, Group Publishing). 2 things come to mind. First, many well-educated, married mothers are employed, so a big chunk of their income goes to pay someone less qualified than themselves to raise their children and model values. Second, single moms are paying an even bigger percentage in childcare and have no choice.

5,000 empty seats greet the President

Barack Obama "launched" his election compaign Saturday at Ohio State. That's amusing considering he hasn't stopped campaigning. But there were many empty seats. One commment at FB:

I was on campus last week for a meeting, and as I was walking along the Oval, I saw a student with a clipboard. She was asking people a question, each person said "No" and kept walking. When she came to me, she said, "Do you want to see the president when he comes to OSU?" I said "No, thank you," and kept walking-- just like all the others!

George Will on his son Jon

An excellent article with photos for Jon’s 40th birthday, a life enhanced by modern medicine, a society diminished by moral shrinkage.

The full garish flowering of the baby boomers' vast sense of entitlement encompasses an entitlement to exemption from nature's mishaps, and to a perfect baby. So today science enables what the ethos ratifies, the choice of killing children with Down syndrome before birth. This is what happens to 90 percent of those whose parents have prenatal testing.

Which is unfortunate, and not just for them. Judging by Jon, the world would be improved by more people with Down syndrome, who are quite nice, as far as humans go.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jon-will-40-years-and-going-with-down-syndrome/2012/05/02/gIQAdGiNxT_story.html

Happy Birthday American Bible Society

May 5, 1816 - The American Bible Society was founded in New York City "to encourage the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures throughout the world." An early goal was to place a Bible in every home, especially those on the American frontier.

According to Wikipedia, The American Bible Society provided the first Bibles in hotels and the first pocket Bibles for soldiers (during the American Civil War). The first translation by the Bible Society was in 1818 into a Native American language. By 1912, the Society issued Bibles for use in the United States in 83 languages besides English. Foreign circulation was rising steadily, increasing from 250,000 copies in 1876 to over 2,000,000 copies in 1915. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the ABS distributed more than one million Scriptures and offered downloadable portions free of charge to those affected by the tragedy.

It has also maintained its commitment to military, including producing a pocket-sized military Bible, developed jointly with the aid of Catholic and Protestant chaplains from all branches of the armed forces.

It has also provided Scriptures to victims of natural disasters. Following the tsunami in 2004, ABS worked in cooperation with the United Bible Societies and partner Bible Societies in Thailand, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka to provide a host of Bible resources to people in the affected regions. In 2005, it sent nearly a million Bibles and Scripture portions to those who survived the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

ABS has formed a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to give a free Bible to each of its new homeowners in the United States.

What goes into “best school” in . . . ?

It doesn’t say anywhere in the Wall Street Journal listing of Best Schools by major that the graduates have jobs, but in business and economics Ohio State and Rutgers outrank Harvard.  So looking through the comments about these rankings, I see:

Rod Schultz asks:  “Would anyone in the right state of mind really pick Ohio State or Rutgers over Harvard to study business and economics?”

Rick Joseph responds:  “Certainly! Subsequent to a comprehensive evaluation of the tuition costs at each institution, the debt incurred after graduation, the relative ranking of the universities under consideration, etc. Ohio State and Rutgers, as well as Florida, Texas, Virginia would be preferable over Harvard.

Not surprisingly there have been several recent studies (like "Estimating the Return to College Selectivity Over the Career Using Administrative Earnings Data," Stacy Dale and Alan B. Krueger, NBER Working Paper (June 2011), and those that show employers prefer State University Grads over Ivy League, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477643369663352.html?mod=WSJ_PathToProfessions_TopLEADNewsCollection) that have doused cold water on the traditional Ivy League fetish when considering an undergraduate degree. Since the 1950s these institutions are not what they once were, they are considerably overpriced, and most flagship public universities have become exceptional institutions on par or better. Ask most high school students in states like Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Florida where they would prefer to attend and very few would pick the Ivy League institutions over their flagship state universities.

 
Today, the fetish for the "Ivies" is limited mainly to the Northeast.”

Well said.

The economy continues to struggle—Obama just shrugs it off

I talked to a friend today heading for his son’s graduation—majors are math and piano performance. “Does he have a job?” I asked. “No, he’ll go to grad school.” Meanwhile his parents are paying for him to go to China for a month to travel. I don’t know how students are counted in labor force stats, and labor force participation is the lowest it has been since 1981—63.6% civilian labor force participation.  It probably helps the statistics to keep them in school as long as possible.

Paul Ryan’s assessment of the economy

Hidden, and not so hidden taxes.

“Now that they can’t pass all the laws they want, because of the House, they are hyper-regulating everything. Regulation of financial services, energy, health care, on down the line — is stifling job creation, placing a huge hidden tax on the economy. They’re promising massive tax increases in January, and they’re not doing a thing to get the debt under control, so that just means tax increases and higher interest rates, with the threat of inflation. That produces a great deal of uncertainty. People just have a gut feeling that the country is in decline,” said Ryan.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/299099/ryan-obama-s-julia-creepy-christian-schneider

Forward Julia!

Who is writing Obama’s reelection material?  The slogan is “Forward,” the classic Marxist/socialist agit-prop poster, and a fictional Julia (not to be confused with the fictional girlfriend in his book who didn’t understand why blacks were angry after seeing a fictional play) is appearing in ads?

Will Julia survive the ridicule? See the collection of really funny (some sad) take-offs on Julia at Alexa Shrugged.

Energy issues

The Dublin Republican Club's Tri-County Forums
Constitution in Crisis Series
The topic for the June forum is:
Ohio's Energy Resources, Fueling America's Future

Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 7:00 PM

Dublin Community Rec Center
5600 Post Rd
Dublin, OH 43017

If I wanted America to fail . . .

begin with energy . . .

The first time I watched this in April it had about 10,000 hits—now almost 2 million.

Let’s celebrate these young adults

My friend Kay, whom I’ve never met except on-line, writes about her niece and nephew:

“We're heading off to Iowa for two college graduation celebrations!  Both graduations are examples of choices and responsibilities exhibited by the graduates . . . both walking away debt free, one heading off to a job after finishing her master's degree, the other going on to a 4-year program of his choice, both free of government mandates. Our daughter had that same experience. I guess that makes all of them (and us) not part of the 99%, even though they are not the 1%...where does that put them? Where is the news about individuals like these young adults?”

Where indeed, except in special stories and remembrances of families and friends who know what our young people are made of.

Although Obama is a tool

of our homegrown socialists like Bill Ayers and Friends and a self-centered narcissist without any evidence that he cares about the United States’ destiny, don’t confuse him with Hitler if you dislike his leadership. Even though his ridiculous “Forward” slogan for the 2012 campaign is so reminiscent of everything hokey  in Soviet  propaganda  archives.  I’m reading “Bonhoeffer” by Eric Metaxas, and although there are many parallels with our situation in America in 2012,  Hitler isn’t one of them.  At least not Hitler the man.

The parallels are the early 1930s when almost immediately after taking office Hitler begins changing the constitution and taking away the basic freedoms of German Jews, then ordinary Germans, then the disabled, the mentally handicapped and other marginalized, non-perfect people who up to that time had been loved and well cared for.  The churches become infected by “brown shirts” and split into three divisions.  Perhaps I’ve misread the intent of the author’s text, but the good, decent, noble family, honorable and aristocratic Germans (Metaxas’ words not mine), particularly in the military and close to Hitler, did not really become outraged and begin plotting for assassination until after their shock and horror as Hitler’s plans to take over neighboring countries became evident.

We in America have become immune to the millions being killed in the name of “women’s rights” and “reproductive health.”  Ninety-three percent of Down Syndrome babies are being aborted, and 40% of black babies.  We are saluting the only president who ever received an endorsement from Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States.  What will be the horrible events that wake us up?

What you can do in Logan, Ohio--and it's free

Paul A. Johnson Pencil Sharpener Museum - Mon to Sat, 9am to 5pm; Sun 11am to 5pm; Rev. Paul Johnson began his collection over 20 years ago. His Pencil Sharpener Museum, previously located at his home, has been moved to the Welcome Center and is open daily. This amazing collection of over 3400 pencil sharpeners has been featured in national magazines and is reputed to be the largest collection in the United States. Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center, 13178 St. Rt. 664 S, Logan; 740-385-9706; FREE

Bishop John Bradosky speaks at the prayer breakfast

Today all across the nation people met to pray. Our church, Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, hosted 2 events, a breakfast at the Mill Run campus and a noon worship at Lytham Road, our original church building where we attend the 8:15 traditional service. I attended the breakfast and Bishop Bradosky of the North American Lutheran Church hit it out of the ball park. He gave a fantastic review of religion in America--the role of the Great Awakening, the beliefs of the founders, how the United States form of government is different than all others, that 94% of the founding documents were based on the Bible, that clergy and pastors had a huge role throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, including the founding of such important universities as Harvard and Columbia, that "separation of church and state" was intended to protect the church from being harrassed by the state, not the other way around by keeping the church out of the public square, and that the change needs to begin not in the White House, or the state house, or the court house, but in the house of God! Wow. We were speechless. He even suggested that we all take a course on the Constitution!! We met in the fellowship hall where on Sundays there are 2 services, so I guess you could say this is the first time in my life I've ever heard a sermon about religion in America from the pulpit of a church where I was a member.

Ohio Liberty Council calls for investigation of Occupiers in Ohio

Press Release Columbus, Ohio - The Ohio Liberty Council (OLC), reacted to the failed terrorist attack in Cleveland, by calling for a full investigation by the media and law enforcement officials throughout the state, of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Ohio Liberty Council President, Tom Zawistowski, said, "The evidence is clear that the Cleveland terrorists were active members of the Occupy Movement in Cleveland. A movement that, in April, held "training camps" for activists in Ohio at which media reports indicate attendees were trained to "create havoc and disruptions" and to "create gridlock". Our organization provided documentation to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in April indicating that it was likely that the Occupy Movement would be orchestrating violence in Ohio before this year's elections, including plans to attack TEA Party groups throughout Ohio."

Zawistowski went on to say, "We believe that the Occupy Movement is being funded by the UAW and the SEIU and is being managed by groups like Progress Ohio. These groups may be encouraging this type of criminal activity by the type of people they are recruiting and the training they are providing. Reports indicate that their goal is to create civil unrest and to intimidate citizens and groups who oppose their big government agenda. The media and our law enforcement agencies have been way behind the curve on this activity and they need to start taking this threat seriously before someone gets killed."

Sample of solicitation for “spring training” by MoveOn.org and other progressive and leftist organizations to encourage the type of violence we saw yesterday.  And yesterday was just a training exercise for disrupting the election in the fall.

“Inspired by Occupy Wall Street and the fight for workers in Madison, Wisconsin, the 99% will rise up this spring. In the span of just one week, from April 9-15, 100,000 people will be trained to tell the story of what happened to our economy, learn the history of non-violent direct action, and use that knowledge to take action on our own campaigns to win change.”

http://moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=268

Americans blind to our moral problems

Now Planned Parenthood is in court demanding tax money to kill even more minority and poor children. http://www.startribune.com/nation/149525735.html  If you’re contributing to PP, here’s the results: black children are aborted at 5 times the rate as white children and Hispanic children don't fare much better.  You can talk all you want about women’s right to choose, but the fact remains, the abortion industry disproportionately selects black babies for death.

The only president ever endorsed by Planned Parenthood is Barack Obama, our first black president, whose mother was an unmarried teen-ager (father was a polygamist and already married back in Kenya). 

Abortion is our era's "Jews of Germany" moral dilemma of the 1930s and 1940s, and the 19th century outlawing US slavery problem. The difference being only in the number killed.

Why May 1 isn’t about the working man, and is only a Communist holiday

Ilya Somin, a libertarian who writes at FaceBook and at Volokh Conspiracy, a law/libertarian blog comments on  May 1, which although originally about “labor” is now an international celebration lauding communism, which killed 70-100 million people in the 20th century.

“1) all of the labor wrongs in the entire history of the US don't compare in scale to the evils of communism, and 2) many of the alleged wrongs (including bad working conditions) were primarily the result of the fact that the US at the time was a poor country by modern standards. Almost everyone in 1900 had bad working conditions compared to today. The solution to those problems was and is economic growth.”

EVERYTHING I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM NOAH'S ARK [Author Anonymous]

All seems to be advice conservatives planning for November 2012 need to learn. . . particularly #11.  (The site I checked said the Author is Anonymous, but usually he’s out there somewhere waiting to sue someone for copyright infringement.)

1. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.
2. Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone might ask you to do something REALLY big.
3. Don't listen to critics -- do what has to be done.
4. Build on the high ground.
5. For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
6. Two heads are better than one.
7. Speed isn't always an advantage. The cheetahs were on board, but so were the snails.
8. If you can't fight or flee -- float!
9. Take care of your animals as if they were the last ones on earth.
10. Don't forget that we're all in the same boat.
11. When the doo-doo gets really deep, don't sit there and complain-- shovel!
12. Stay below deck during the storm.
13. Remember that the ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic was built by professionals.
14. If you have to start over, have a friend by your side.
15. Remember that the woodpeckers INSIDE are often a bigger threat than the storm outside.
16. Don't miss the boat.
17. No matter how bleak it looks, there's always a rainbow on the other side.

Obamanopoly

“CIA drone missiles hit militant targets in Pakistan on Sunday for the first time in a month, as the United States ignored the Pakistani government’s insistence that such attacks end as a condition for normalized relations between the two perpetually uneasy allies.” Washington Post .

And right in the middle of negotiations. Sure wish we could find all those war protestors who used to hang out on the intersections of Columbus. They’re probably too busy campaigning for Obama. At least Bush got approval from Congress. Obama doesn’t even ask.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/us-drone-strikes-resume-in-pakistan-action-may-complicate-vital-negotiations/2012/04/29/gIQAIprqpT_story.html

And speaking of campaigning for Obama, which actually began January 2009 for November 2012. Did you see the photos of the White House Correspondents dinner—you know the one—for the post racial President? He’s so post racial that it seems black folks were hard to find for this event. I looked carefully at a photo that seemed to show several hundred people at table, and could only spot one person of color. Maybe the wait staff were black? Or, maybe he sat all the black people together, or up front?

Will the Left let Mitt feed them waffles and syrup?

Rolling Stone interviews Barack Obama who has been campaigning since January 2009 for the November 2012 election. How many ways to count the waffles: 1) it’s complicated; 2) I’ve made it clear; 3) it’s very important to me; 4) It’s important to understand yada yada.  Dribble on the syrup: 1) It’s a matter of heart; 2) fairness and justice; 3) “scared and concerned.”

Obama on race: “My view on race has always been that it’s complicated. It’s not just a matter of head—it’s a matter of heart. It’s about interactions. What happens in the workplace, in schools, on sports fields, and through music and culture shapes racial attitudes as much as any legislation that’s passed.”

On gay marriage: “I’m not going to make news in this publication. I’ve made clear that the issue of fairness and justice and equality for the LGBT community is very important to me.  . . “

On Keystone Pipeline:  “(I)t’s important to understand that Canada is going to be moving forward with tar sands, regardless of what we do. That’s their national policy, they’re pursuing it…The reason that Keystone got so much attention is not because that particular pipeline is a make-or-break issue for climate change, but because those who have looked at the science of climate change are scared and concerned about a general lack of sufficient movement to deal with the problem… “  Interview with Rolling Stone.

5th Global University Summit

I looked through the program web page and could find nothing substantive, certainly nothing about escalating student tuition in conjunction with increased government loans, which I think should be on the agenda. But at least it is honest about how heavily higher education depends on government support.

University presidents from around the world will gather in Chicago, Illinois, from April 29 to May 1, 2012, for the 5th Global University Summit.This Summit brings together leadership of major research universities and industry from across the world to deliberate upon critical issues facing higher education globally in the 21^st Century. The theme for 2012 is “Developing Talent to Drive Innovation in a Global Society.”  OSU Today

“Higher education depends heavily on government support in every country. Therefore, Global University Summits are always held in conjunction with the G8 Summit to draw the attention of world leaders to the needs of higher education and its vital role in helping us deal with the challenges of the present and the future. The 2012 G8 Summit will take place at Camp David from May 20 to May 21, 2012.”  “About” Summit web site