Booker T. Washington meets Occupy Wall Street

“In meeting crowds of people at public gatherings, there is one type of individual that I dread. I mean the crank. I have become so accustomed to these people now that I can pick them out at a distance when I see them elbowing their way up to me. The average crank has a long beard, poorly cared for, a lean, narrow face and wears a black coat. The front of his vest and coat are slick with grease, and his trousers bag at the knees.

In Chicago, after I had spoken at a meeting, I met one of these fellows. They usually have some process for curing all of the ills of the world at once. This Chicago specimen had a patent process by which he said Indian corn could be kept through a period of three or four years, and he felt sure that if the Negro race in the South would, as a whole, adopt his process, it would settle the whole race question. It mattered nothing that I tried to convince him that our present problem was to teach the Negroes how to produce enough corn to last them through one year. Another Chicago crank had a scheme by which he wanted me to join him in an effort to close up all the National banks in the country. If that was done, he felt sure it would put the Negro on his feet.”

From Up From Slavery, an autobiography http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/washington/ch15.html

HIV and HBV

Worldwide, hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease and death, accounting for up to half of all cases of cirrhosis and liver cancer.  Four hundred million people are infected with HBV in Asia and Africa with the infection occurring through perinatal transmission (before and after birth).  In more developed countries HBV is most often acquired during adolescence or adulthood through sex and drugs. Statistics from NEJM May 10, 1012.

Human immunodeficiency virus  (HIV) infects about 33 million people worldwide, the majority in Asia and Africa. According to the CDC, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM)¹ represent approximately 2% of the US population, yet are the population most severely affected by HIV and are the only risk group in which new HIV infections have been increasing steadily since the early 1990s.  Since the beginning of the US epidemic, MSM have consistently represented the largest percentage of persons diagnosed with AIDS and persons with an AIDS diagnosis who have died.

“HBV is 100 times easier to transmit sexually than HIV ( the virus that causes AIDS). HBV has been found in vaginal secretions, saliva, and semen. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if a person’s sexual partner is of the same or the opposite gender. If one partner has hepatitis B, the other one can get it. Oral sex and especially anal sex regardless (whether it occurs in a heterosexual or homosexual context), are possible ways of transmitting the virus.” http://www.liverdisease.com/hbvtransmission.html

Medical advancements can help, but humans obeying God’s laws of chastity and marriage will do miracles for global health.

NOISE, newly revised book on media culture

                                

“NOISE, by Teresa Tomeo, a veteran broadcast journalist in both the Catholic and secular markets, makes a compelling and irrefutable case about the dangers of our dominant media culture—and the liberalism and immorality that comes with it.

Tomeo gives a sobering analysis of each of the nine dominant forms of media, revealing how they are rapidly dismantling families and destroying lives, and what we can do about it.”

Are you sick of “The View”

It’s not a TV program I watch, but occasionally I do catch a reference to it, or see it when flipping/clicking channels in the summer when we don’t have cable.  Now there is “The Catholic View for Women.”  WHOA!  You’re not Catholic?  Your beliefs and ethics probably don’t reflect what you see on The View, or Oprah, of Ellen either, but they are tolerated.  I heard about this show because I occasionally listen to Teresa Tomeo on the radio when I’m in the car. She’s good. These women sort of have the classic “coming home” Catholic stories—swept up into the women’s movement, cafeteria Catholic, no training in their faith, and attended church at Christmas and Easter—just like a lot of Protestant women. Although I’m a Lutheran, the women on Catholic View for Women are much closer to God than the women on secular, sexy, sexist television.

You have a lot more in common with these women than you do Oprah or Ellen or, God forbid, Joy Behar.

http://www.thecatholicviewforwomen.com/episodes/episode-1.aspx

How does a Tea (taxed enough already) Party Congressman vote?

This is the record for Raul Labrador (ID-1)who got 100% in the vote study important to the Tea Party. Steve Stivers from my district in Ohio only got 45%. Asterisk item is considered a bonus and can boost score. Labrador technically isn't a member of the Tea Party, but endorses all the principles and is very conservative. He was born in Puerto Rico and is a Mormon. http://www.labrador4idaho.com/

Repeal ObamaCare YES
Strike pork funding for drug intelligence center YES
Eliminate Legal Services Corporation YES
Cut energy subsidies YES
Strike funding for NLRB NO [Yes]
Cut Amtrak grants YES
Cut most continuing appropriations spending 5.5% YES
Stop many new leases for oil and gas drilling NO
Roll back most spending in the bill to 2006 levels YES
Limit Davis Bacon YES
Passage of continuing appropriations billNO
DC school vouchers YES
Bar EPA from passing greenhouse gas regulations YES
Disapprove Internet regulations YES
Republican Study Cmte. Budget YES
Bar funding for speech regulations YES
Cut agriculture dept. spending bill by 5% YES
Cut ethanol subsidy YES
Strike new flood insurance programs YES
Eliminate federally subsidized flood insurance program YES
Cut Energy - Water appropriations bill spending by 5% YES
Pass Cut, Cap and Balance YES
Cut Botanic Garden funding by $3 million YES
Cut Interior-Environment appropriations by $3 billion YES
Increase debt limit NO
Limit NLRB's powers YES
Pass Colombia trade agreement YES
Pass Panama trade agreement YES
Pass South Korea trade agreement YES
Revive expanded trade adjustment assistance NO
Pass bloated spending bill for five departments NO
Require congressional approval of major regulations YES
Impose 3.6% income tax surtax NO
Pass bloated omnibus appropriations bill NO
*Didn't sign discharge petition on anti-trade bill YES
*Sign Cut, Cap and Balance Pledge Letter YES
*Sign Letter in opposition to debt ceiling increase "compromise"
YES

Club for Growth Tea Party Freshmen Study

Get over yourself isn’t good advice for Obama

"Obama should get beyond his own narcissism and realize that, win or lose in November, he's just a temporary part of something that's bigger than himself."

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obama-vandalizes-wh-presidential-biographies/543386

This is dumb advice. A narcissist doesn't believe he is bragging, haughty or shameless, and he believes the most important event in the history of the world is his own existence. So he can't very well move beyond what he doesn't know is there.

                    

Browsing through “For the Good of Illinois”

This website for corruption and fraud in Illinois works similar to one we have in Ohio. “We educate, engage and empower citizens to demand a transparent, accountable and limited government.”

“United Neighborhood Organization is getting $98 Million. Sounds like a nice organization. I decided to google them. Their home page is http://www.uno-online.org/. It states that it is “Modeled after the Saul Alinsky style of community organizing.” If you don’t know who Saul Alinsky is, google “Saul Alinsky Marxist”. The CEO of UNO is a gentleman by the name of Juan Rangel. He also happens to be one of Rahm Emanuel’s campaign co-chairman. “

http://forthegoodofillinois.org/blog/2011/01/springfields-dirty-little-secret/

Roger Eddy [Hutsonville superintendent]  is a poster boy example of Illinois public greed. We are confident that Roger Eddy’s total compensation will exceed $300,000 per year- when our Freedom of Information Act Request regarding Roger Eddy’s taxpayer funded health insurance as a state rep is fullfilled. We’ve called on Eddy to release the number, he refuses to do so. UPDATE: State of Illinois rejects request saying that the citizens DON’T have a right to know what the state is paying for the Eddy family health coverage, click here to read.

With two base salaries equaling $181,969; Roger Eddy outearns every governor of the 50 states. Source: The Book of States 2010.

http://forthegoodofillinois.org/blog/2012/02/roger-eddy-makes-289078-per-year-at-taxpayer-expense/

In late 2010, the Bellville News Democrat “reported that nearly 389 Menard employees received $10 million from taxpayers for workers’ compensation injuries. More than 230 claims were filed by guards for repetitive trauma damage to their wrists and elbows that were caused by locking and unlock cell doors.” This must be due to the extra hard springs and mechanics inside Illinois prison doors. Regardless, the story triggered a Federal investigation, which seems to be on-going.

It also triggered HR 131, which can be read here.

http://forthegoodofillinois.org/blog/2012/05/auditors-report-proves-the-need-for-forensic-audits/

2016: Obama's America | Official Movie Trailer

2016: Obama's America | Official Movie Trailer

Only in America, a viral e-mail worth posting

Usually I "Snope" viral e-mails and find them "mixed," or "false," but this one I can remember most of these incidents--although I'm not sure about Nike. Only in America is the name of a cable TV show, a Brooks and Dunn CW song, a blog. . . but this isn't those.

ONLY IN AMERICA ...

Only in America could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000 a plate campaign fund raising event.

Only in America could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when we have a black President, a black Attorney General, and roughly 18% of the federal workforce is black.

Only in America could we have had the two people most responsible for our tax code, Timothy Geithner, the head of the Treasury Department and Charles Rangel who once ran the Ways and Means Committee, BOTH turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.

Only in America can we have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be harmed by the backlash.

Only in America would we make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege while we discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just become American citizens.

Only in America could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country's Constitution be thought of as "extremists."

Only in America could you need to present a driver's license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote.

Only in America could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when the return on equity invested in a major U S oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of a company making tennis shoes (Nike).

Only in America could the government collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a trillion dollars more than it has per year for total spending of $7 million PER MINUTE, and complain that it doesn't have nearly enough money.

Only in America could the rich people who pay 86% of all income taxes be accused of not paying their "fair share" by people who don't pay any income taxes at all.

Newsweek’s gay president cover

An awful lot of people don’t read, they glance.  Many don’t read well, they skim. They do know, however, what the words “gay president” under the photo of Barack Obama means even if after 12 years of public school they can’t pass a 4th grade reading test in Cleveland or Detroit. What were they thinking? Especially with that YouTube video that’s been going around for several years.

                               

Rev. Wright, Dr. Whitaker and Obama’s wide stance

I’ve been reading about the bribe to keep Rev. Jeremiah Wright quiet during the 2008 campaign (although I personally think he enhanced Obama’s resume for many radicals) and now the contract for about $6 million that the Chicago medical center v.p. who offered the bribe got from the administration (Dr. Eric Whitaker) the same medical center that appointed Michelle to its board with a fat salary after Obama became senator, and I’m wondering how this is so different than the John Edwards scandal, taking money for his mistress that was intended for the campaign and lying that the baby was produced by a campaign staffer. A bribe is a bribe is a bribe.

Also, now that Newsweek has announced that we have a gay president and we know that some of the gay PACs were pressuring him to flip flop yet again (first he was for it when running for Senate, then against it when running for President, now he’s for it) and we know Axelrod was orchestrating first the “leaks” about his girlfriends before the gay support, then put Biden out there to test the waters of the west coast, then the eastern establishment, so Obama could do his graceful flip into that messy sludge, why is a “wide stance” in a men’s restroom rumor enough to get a Republican run out of office, when openly soliciting money from the gay demographic is supposed to be a strong reason to reelect the president for evolving to a position we all knew he held?

I know we’re supposed to believe campaigns today are just as down and dirty as the 18th century when sexuality rumors were standard fare, but I do think the Obama campaign has scraped the bottom of the smelly, rotting offal barrel. And all this to distract from an expanding war, weakened borders, and a flagging economy?

Is it legal to buy votes?

"Health-insurance companies must tell customers who get a premium rebate this summer that the check is the result of the Obama administration's health-care law, according to federal guidelines released Friday," The Wall Street Journal reports.

Keeping up with sex acronyms

Having been a librarian, I developed a real fondness for acronyms of all kinds.  I came across an unfamiliar one today, because, well, it’s not one I would need often, and even in the medical literature I can’t recall seeing it before: AFAI—age at first anal intercourse—and no surprise here, “There appears to be a strong link between AFAI and infection with HIV/STIs, as well as tendencies to engage in higher risk sexual behaviour.”  Although for older baby boomers that age was 35, for Gen-Y it is 18.  I would attribute that to the increasing acceptance, and even encouragement of gay sex, since this study was exclusively about gay men.  And, my, how flippant the writers are about this, calling it a “sexual debut.”

http://sti.bmj.com/content/88/4/252.full

“Further education around safer sex practices that specifically targets gay-identified youth may also be required to ensure their sexual debut does not lead to poorer sexual health outcomes. “ As we’ve learned from the “safe sex” message given to school children, it actually encourages all sex, and is now increasingly called “safer sex” because there is no such thing as “safe sex.” There are always consequences, whether psychological, sociological, spiritual or biological.

The perversion and redirection of charity

Really, it's enough to make one never want to donate to a foundation, even one that funds good causes. The next generation bespoils the direction and intention of the founder. It becomes a playground of the left.

"The Kresge Foundation, established with a $1.6 million endowment from K-Mart founder Sebastian Spering Kresge in 1924, has morphed into a $3 billion behemoth. Ideological giving has grown along with the foundation’s fortunes under the stewardship of former Minneapolis mayoral candidate Rip Rapson.

The group gave approximately $9 million to Washington, D.C., organizations between 2003 and 2006 with nearly half that money going to the American Red Cross. Rapson took over in July 2006; between 2007 and 2011 Kresge gave $52 million to 68 organizations based in Washington, D.C. Nearly all of that money has gone to liberal groups, including lavish grants to the Center for American Progress, Tides Foundation, Sierra Club, and Progressive America Fund.

None of these political groups received funding from Kresge prior to 2007."

Read the whole story.

Together again--after 27 years

This was my Mother's Day surprise. Our son and Kristina, a girlfriend from high school days, stopped by for a visit.

The State’s interest in marriage—procreation

Marriage is and always has been heavily regulated by the state or even its precursor—the tribe.  Why? Despite the fact that some couples are infertile, or never intend to have a family, or are too old to have children, the reason is the very existence of the state—stable families are beneficial to the state.  For thousands of years marriage had very little to do with love or sex, and everything to do with stabilizing society.   “The secular case against gay marriage,“  The Tech, Vol. 124, issue 5, Feb. 17, 2004, p. 5

“Some argue that the link between marriage and procreation is not as strong as it once was, and they are correct. Until recently, the primary purpose of marriage, in every society around the world, has been procreation. In the 20th century, Western societies have downplayed the procreative aspect of marriage, much to our detriment. As a result, the happiness of the parties to the marriage, rather than the good of the children or the social order, has become its primary end, with disastrous consequences. When married persons care more about themselves than their responsibilities to their children and society, they become more willing to abandon these responsibilities, leading to broken homes, a plummeting birthrate, and countless other social pathologies that have become rampant over the last 40 years. Homosexual marriage is not the cause for any of these pathologies, but it will exacerbate them, as the granting of marital benefits to a category of sexual relationships that are necessarily sterile can only widen the separation between marriage and procreation.

The biggest danger homosexual civil marriage presents is the enshrining into law the notion that sexual love, regardless of its fecundity, is the sole criterion for marriage. If the state must recognize a marriage of two men simply because they love one another, upon what basis can it deny marital recognition to a group of two men and three women, for example, or a sterile brother and sister who claim to love each other? Homosexual activists protest that they only want all couples treated equally. But why is sexual love between two people more worthy of state sanction than love between three, or five? When the purpose of marriage is procreation, the answer is obvious. If sexual love becomes the primary purpose, the restriction of marriage to couples loses its logical basis, leading to marital chaos. [There is an article about Johnny who loves his lunch...it's point is much in line with this paragraph. Where do you draw the line? ...] “

What I’ve always been

I’ve always been a CREATIONIST and I’ve always been PRO-LIFE. There were many years I didn’t know the HOW, but I’ve always understood the WHAT and WHO even as a very young child observing life around me (probably 3-4 years old).  There were 25 years between my baptism in 1950 and my recommitment/confirmation when I let go of God’s hand, but I never let go of those two beliefs.

I’ve always known CREATION has a purpose and LIFE has meaning, even when I was taught otherwise in school or church.  Whether Creation took 6 days or 6 billion trillion years, makes no difference in my belief; both are equally marvelous.  Whether she is a is a zygote making a journey down a fallopian tube or a frail woman 105 years old in the nursing home bed who hasn’t spoken since she was 87 making a journey home to Jesus, I’ve always believed she is God’s creation and loved by God. 

I’ve always known there was a rich and glorious life beyond what I could see, experience or understand, no matter if it was the vastness I saw in the night sky, or the pictures in the family encyclopedia with transparent drawings showing a baby’s development month by month in the womb.  I’ve always been a wise old woman, even when I was a child. 

I’ve always cared about and loved God’s physical world--and wondered about the events and choices that moved lives and nations.  As a 5 year old I wondered why my grandmother was blind and my uncle was killed in the war.  And I still don’t know, but I know God does.  And until the past two decades or so, I thought caring was enough, because caring made me a “good” person.  Caring made me better than people who didn’t care as much as I do. Caring elevated me above the hoi polloi, the commoners, the great unwashed who didn‘t believe as I do.

In brief moments of extreme self-love, I even imagined I was more merciful and caring than God because I knew better how life should be ordered and what made sense and what didn’t!  At this age I know caring does nothing, so I will speak out when I am able to promote God‘s Creation and Life. You can argue about candidates or fossil fuel with me, both were put here by God, but you won’t budge me on Creation and Life.

Consequently, I won’t change what I believe about Man and Woman who were made in God’s image. Perhaps you are enamored by a current social or political movement and you care deeply and sincerely about this blip in time, but I care about history and the future.  Next year, next decade, maybe you’ll move on to yet another political cause-- legalizing polygamy or incest perhaps renamed to remove the stigma--but I’ll still be where I started, loving and respecting God’s Creation and Life. 

I believe God enjoys and delights in the sanctity of a life He created yesterday or 100 years ago. What I believe is not just who I am, but it is rooted outside myself in who God has revealed himself to be in his created Word spoken in the beginning, his written Word, in his Word Jesus Christ who came to us through the womb of a woman, in his Church on earth, and in all other forms of religions which don’t yet have his full revelation, but do grasp that Creation and Life are precious and holy.

Don’t blame the Media for this

Some Conservatives claim Obama was never vetted--like the lies he told about his father's Kennedy connection [Kennedys had nothing to do with his father coming to U.S. as a student] and the Selma speech on the campaign trail. His claim to be coming back to Selma is a bit odd since he was born 4 years before the Selma event. But it was all out there even in 2008--it is part of the fiction and mythology America elected. But no one cared--they voted for him anyway--lying wasn't a big whoop then or now. He also lied to his leftist supporters, and when gay donors began pressuring him, he got a new Christian revelation that he should support same sex marriage. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032902031.html

“What happened in Selma, Alabama and Birmingham also stirred the conscience of the nation. It worried folks in the White House who said, “You know, we're battling Communism. How are we going to win hearts and minds all across the world? If right here in our own country, John, we're not observing the ideals set fort in our Constitution, we might be accused of being hypocrites.” So the Kennedy’s decided we're going to do an air lift. We're going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is.

This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great-grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that the world as it has been it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama [4 years after he was born], because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I’m not coming home to Selma, Alabama.”

In the Land of the Blue Burqas

“Kate McCord is not her real name. To protect herself and the men and women she talked with, all of the names in this book have been changed. Though in the midst of a high-powered career, Kate left it all, sold everything, and went to Afghanistan to start a non-governmental organization with the goal of helping Afghan women. She taught herself the local language and served there for more than five years. Now she wants to you to know the Afghan men and women she has come to love.

Riveting and fast paced, In the Land of Blue Burqas depicts sharing the love and truth of Christ with women living in Afghanistan, which has been called "the world's most dangerous county in which to be born a women." These stories are honest and true and the harsh reality of their lives is not sugar-coated. These stories provide insight into how a Jesus-follower brought Jesus' teachings of the Kingdom of God to Afghanistan.”

From promotional material by Moody Publishing at Books and Culture.

I know people who were missionaries in Muslim countries, and they don’t hide their identities.  I wonder what is so different about our “ally” that we’ve spent billions and blood on for the last 10 years?

Some call it evolution, I call it politics

"I believe marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian, it’s also a sacred union." Barack Obama, 2008. [Needed to get the Christian values voters and moderates during the 2008 election.]

"President Obama this hour signed legislation that repeals the "don't ask, don't tell" law that bars openly gay men and women from serving in the U.S. military." Dec. 2010. [Needed to placate the leftists who don't like the military no matter what, wanted to weaken morale and thumb his nose at the conservatives.]

"The President of the United States has made the determination that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), 1 U.S.C. § 7, as applied to same-sex couples who are legally married under state law, violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment." Eric Holder, Feb. 2011. [Needed to rally support of his left wing base.]

"At a certain point, I've just concluded, that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," May 2012 [Money immediately pours in from wealthy gays and celebs as his campaign coffers are nearing empty.]