Elevating Chris Hayes

Chris Hayes has a little watched program on MSNBC called Up with Chris Hayes.  He’s come under fire (the only type he gets since he's never been in battle) for what he said about the meaning of the word "hero" in connection with Memorial Day.  It was sort of his his Sandra Fluke moment.  Now, the MSNBC political pundit has had to apologize.  But was it an apology?  He apologized for not living up to his own standards of rigor for political speech.  Huh? Then the 300+ comments are people arguing over Limbaugh, Fox, who is Chris Hayes, MSNBC ratings, etc.  Just read the apology.  It wasn't.

http://upwithchrishayes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/28/11924150-statement-from-chris-hayes#comments

I’ve never heard of him.  Now he’s famous for saying something really dumb and hurting a lot of people.  My uncle was killed in WWII in an exploding airplane due to the negligence of his commanding officer. Perhaps this is the type of war death that Hayes doesn’t want to call heroic.  Has he ever looked at the accident statistics for WWII or Vietnam?   

Adele—Make you feel my love

This young lady from Britain, Adele Adkins, now known by her first name,  has had an amazing career in just a few short years.  I think this one is lovely – nice to know beautiful love songs are still enjoyed. Many artists have covered this since 1997.    She has won a Best Songwriter Award, but this one was written by Bob Dylan.  She says criticism of her first album, 19, was that her songs weren’t as good as her voice.  She took it to heart, and now with her album, 21, she’s won songwriting awards.

When the rain is blowing in your face,
and the whole world is on your case,
I could offer you a warm embrace
to make you feel my love.

When the evening shadows and the stars appear,
and there is no one there to dry your tears,
I could hold you for a million years
to make you feel my love.

I know you haven't made your mind up yet,
but I would never do you wrong.
I've known it from the moment that we met,
no doubt in my mind where you belong.

I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue,
I'd go crawling down the avenue.
No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do
to make you feel my love.

The storms are raging on the rolling sea
and on the highway of regret.
Though winds of change are throwing wild and free,
you ain't seen nothing like me yet.

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.
Nothing that I wouldn't do.
Go to the ends of the Earth for you,
to make you feel my love.

http://www.billboard.com/news/adele-wins-songwriting-honors-at-ivor-novello-1007093552.story#/news/adele-wins-songwriting-honors-at-ivor-novello-1007093552.story

Gaydar is more accurate than you might think

From the press release about the Public Library of Science article, “The Roles of Featural and Configural Face Processing in Snap Judgments of Sexual Orientation.”

“After seeing faces for less than a blink of an eye, college students have accuracy greater than mere chance in judging others' sexual orientation. Their "gaydar" persisted even when they saw the photos upside-down, and gay versus straight judgments were more accurate for women's faces than for men's.

The findings, published May 16 in the open-access online journal PLoS ONE, suggest that we unconsciously make gay and straight distinctions.

"It may be similar to how we don't have to think about whether someone is a man or a woman or black or white," said lead author Joshua Tabak, a psychology graduate student at the University of Washington. "This information confronts us in everyday life."

Tabak says that our ability to spontaneously assess sexual orientation based on observation or instinct conflicts with the assertion that if people just kept their sexual orientation to themselves then no one else would know and discrimination wouldn't exist, an argument frequently used by opponents of anti-discrimination policies for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.” . . .

“It's unclear why some have better gaydar than others, since studies have only tested this aptitude in college students. Tabak speculates that "people from older generations or different cultures who may not have grown up knowing they were interacting with gay people" may be less accurate in making gay versus straight judgments. “

For this article.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0036671

Why I stopped blogging about libraries

When I first started blogging about 9 years ago, I actually still wrote occasionally about libraries.  I retired in 2000 and for awhile kept up with library news and information by participating in discussion groups.  Five years out, and it was pretty much hopeless. Today I came across some “library humor” (funny to no one except librarians) called Award for the Worst Title Change of the Year, or something like that, except it seems to have self-destructed around 2005.  So while back tracking I came across this paragraph, which reminded why I don’t write about libraries any more.

RDF and microdata both use the same fundamental triple data model. Please note that schema.org is just a specific set of vocabularies that can be used with HTML5 microdata, HTML5 microdata goes beyond this. schema.org is a pretty good microdata tutorial though, if you remember you don’t have to use it’s vocabularies. Here’s the actual microdata spec. Here’s a good microdata tutorial that pre-dates schema.org and is not schema.org-specific.

http://bibwild.wordpress.com/

Abortion laws in DC need to be changed

In our nation's capital, abortion can be performed right up to the final day of gestation, and for any reason. Is it any wonder our country has sunk so low?

 
"The toughest part of a D&E abortion is extracting the baby’s head. The head of a baby that age is about the size of a large plum and is now free floating inside the uterine cavity. You can be pretty sure you have hold of it if the Sopher clamp is spread about as far as your fingers will allow. You know you have it right when you crush down on the clamp and see white gelatinous material coming through the cervix. That was the baby’s brains. You can then extract the skull pieces. Many times a little face may come out and stare back at you. Congratulations! You have just successfully performed a second-trimester Suction D&E abortion.”

http://www.lifenews.com/2012/05/28/doctor-who-once-did-late-abortions-now-says-ban-them/

Did Romney and Bain Capital create jobs?

Many,  many thousands at Staples, Sports Authority, Gartner Group, Steel Dynamics, and save others by creating turn arounds.  Now let’s compare those tens of thousands of jobs created with how many Barack Obama’s administration has created by frivolously throwing tax dollars at campaign contributors and union buddies.

“There are two ways to look at job creation. The first is to look at jobs created and lost in Bain Capital’s companies at the time Romney left Bain Capital at the beginning of 1999. The second is to look at jobs created and lost in those same companies today. This gives Romney and Bain Capital credit for having invested in those companies when they were young. It is inappropriate to include companies that Bain Capital invested in after Romney left because he did not have any impact on those investments.” . . .

“Among Bain Capital’s investments under Romney, the large job creators are clearly Staples and Sports Authority. Both of these were small, young companies when Bain Capital invested in them. Bain invested in Staples when it had only one store, so there were likely fewer than 200 employees at the time. Bain appears to have invested in the Sports Authority when it had fewer than ten stores. Unfortunately, there are no public data to say how many people were employed at that time. At the end of 1998, Staples had more than 42,000 employees, Sports Authority had almost 14,000, Gartner Group had almost 3,000, and Steel Dynamics had over 500. So at the beginning of 1999, when Romney left Bain Capital, these four companies alone employed almost 60,000 total employees. While some of the job growth at Sports Authority came from acquisitions, there is no doubt that these four companies created tens of thousands of jobs over the period.

Fast forward to today. By the end of 2011, Staples had about 89,000 employees. Sports Authority is now a private company. The last time it reported employee numbers, in 2006, it had 14,300 employees. In addition, Gartner Group had over 4,400 and Steel Dynamics had over 6,000 employees. Using the most recently available data, these four companies alone employed almost 125,000 total employees.

Bain Capital also successfully turned around several existing businesses during Romney’s tenure. For example, Bain Capital bought Wesley Jessen Vision Care for $6 million in 1994. It had been a division of Schering Plough and was not profitable. Bain Capital and a new CEO turned it around and sold it to Ciba Geigy for over $300 million in 2001. When it was sold, it appears to have had 2,600 employees. Today, the company is part of Ciba Vision.

Overall, then, the companies Bain Capital funded under Romney have created tens of thousands of jobs using any measure.”
http://www.american.com/archive/2012/january/how-many-jobs-did-romney-create-at-bain

It's about relgious freedom--The First Amendment!

Catholic Charities in Boston, San Francisco, Washington DC and Illinois have had to give up foster care programs because they will not place children in the homes of gay couples, or co-habiting, unmarried couples. This is our government, state and local, interfering with religion and prescribing the beliefs and actions of the churches which have been commanded by Jesus to do certain things for society (see Matthew 25). However, it is also the logical result of churches, whether Baptist, Catholic or Pentecostal accepting government contracts to do the Lord’s work of taking care of the poor. Even so with the HHS Mandate (federal) the government is now prescribing what is a religious activity. If Catholics or Baptists serve only their own members (and what church does that?), then they can ignore these mandates. Can you picture this, however, a church turning away someone from a food pantry who wasn't a member? How will that play with the "hate all Christians" media?

You'll hear the current administration refer to "freedom of worship" rather than "freedom of religion." They are not the same--even the constitution of the USSR guaranteed "feedom of worship." Our Constitution guarantees us that the government will not interfer with religion--that is the "separation" we are to have, not the other way around. Our founders came from Europe where the King was often also the head of the church. It looks like that is happening again, with the President deciding what is worship and what is religion.

How was your Winter?

That’s the Lakeside greeting for the first meeting of the summer whether it is Memorial Day week-end or the first week of the season 4 weeks from now. I just heard it at the Coffee and Cream shop, and last night we had Marion and Jim over, so we heard it then, and when our neighbors Scott and Carol rolled in, we heard it. Margie from Delaware said it as did Jan from Virginia. Of course, those of us in Ohio had a very mild winter with little snow--although certainly more around Lakeside than Columbus since it gets the Lake affect snow.

I’ve had 2 wonderful morning walks along the Lakefront enjoying the iris, roses, poppies and the annuals that many people have already planted. I bought 2 flats of impatiens on Thursday which my husband planted yesterday. We are hoping we can keep them alive on a limited watering schedule until we’re able to be here on a daily basis at the end of June.

The Heritage Society is having its sale at South Auditorium, and many cottage owners have set up tables in front of their homes, too. One I stopped at this morning seemed to have all manner of furniture of various eras and designed painted in the same 4 colors--white, soft green, light yellow and cream, plus many attractive home décor items. Sort of “shabby chic” but not quite. So I asked the owner, who was putting them out. He said every thing had come from the dump or dumpster or put out for pick up. He repairs them, paints them and then has a sale. Not sure if the sale is for one of the local organizations, or his own purse. There was a lovely wicker 2 seater, with a slightly damage leg--better condition than ours--for $19, but I passed on that. The next one, if I replace this, will have to be sturdier. So often they come in sets, and we have 2 good chairs.

The deck has been scrubbed down, the porch roof swept, the grass mowed, the flowers planted, the weeds pulled, and the bushes were trimmed a week ago. Last October we planned to replace the toilet with a taller (old folks) more efficient model, but when it came up, a leak was found which damaged the floor, so that all had to be replaced, and then we decided to also raise the sink 3 inches to a more comfortable height, so the plumbing had to be extended. We also had the basement cleaned out and painted white. It looks very nice, but all this is to say that a cottage isn’t a boat with a hole in it where you throw money, but it sure is close!

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you . . .

“According to hagiography, Barack Obama was born to a hippy girl from an insignificant family and raised in poor circumstances, out of which he rose through brilliance. Yet his haughty demeanor, his stilted language when off the teleprompter, his cultural likes and dislikes, bespeak an upbringing in an environment at once so upscale and so leftist that it makes him almost a foreigner to ordinary Americans. No one raised in ordinary American circumstances, much less straitened ones, would cite with a straight face, as Obama did, the price of arugula at Whole Foods, the yuppie boutique, as an example of the cost of living. No one at home in American culture could refer to a U.S. Marine medical corpsman as a "corpse-man." Nor do ordinary folk talk about (or even understand) the need to "change the rules of power" in America. "Rules of power" belongs to the argot of doctrinaire nouveau socialists. How many American college kids would describe, as did Obama, his studying with Marxist professors as an attempt not to look like a "sell out"? No. Obama's official story is counterintuitive.

Consistent with the Barack Obama we know, however, are his real family, his real upbringing, and his real choices of profession and associates. His mother's parents, who raised him, seem to have been cogs in the U.S. government's well-heeled, well-connected machine for influencing the world, whether openly ("gray influence") or covertly ("black operations"). His mother spent her life and marriages, and birthed her children, working in that machine. For paradigms of young Barack's demeanor, proclivities, opinions, language, and attitudes one need look no further than the persons who ran the institutions that his mother and grandparents served—e.g., the Ford Foundation, the United States Information Agency, and the Central Intelligence Agency—as well as his chosen mentors and colleagues. It is here, with these people and institutions, that one should begin to unravel the unknowns surrounding him.”

“. . . In sum, though the only evidence available is circumstantial, Barack Obama, Jr.'s mother, father, stepfather, grandmother, and grandfather seem to have been well connected, body and soul, with the U.S. government's then extensive and well-financed trans-public-private influence operations.”

http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.1852/article_detail.asp

Pow Wow Chow

“Elizabeth Warren was touting her claim of Cherokee heritage as early as 1984, according to a cookbook titled “Pow Wow Chow” edited by her cousin that includes Warren’s recipes for a savory crab omelet and spicy barbecued beans.

The cookbook, edited by Warren’s cousin Candy Rowsey, is a compilation of “special recipes passed down through the Five Tribes families,” according to the introduction in a copy obtained by the Herald.

Warren, who has been under fire for claiming Indian lineage despite a lack of documentation, is identified as “Elizabeth Warren, Cherokee” under each of five recipes she contributes in the cookbook, published in 1984 by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum located in Muskogee. Warren is not listed as an official member of the Cherokee tribe and she has been unable thus far to document her claim of any Native American heritage.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/20220517pow_wow_factor_liz_touted_native_roots_in_84_cookbook/srvc=home&position=0

Grandpa, tell me ‘bout the good old days

Grandpa, everything is changing fast
We call it progress
But I just don't know
And Grandpa, let's wander back into the past
And paint me the picture
Of long ago

The New Left of the 60s and 70s is the parent and grandparent of today's Occupiers making a mess in Chicago, Boston and New York.  Instead of Vietnam, they are protesting NATO, or anything else that isn’t nailed down. What they have in common is the belief that evil is outside man, somewhere out there in society, and if they scream and yell and march enough, they might be able to come up with a plan. It seemed to work for Bill Ayers, who bombed some buildings in his youth as a member of the Weather Underground, and then after obtaining a cushy tenured position at the U. of Ill. helped groom a president.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/11/books/no-regrets-for-love-explosives-memoir-sorts-war-protester-talks-life-with.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/167989/bill-ayers-unrepentant-lying-terrorist-andrew-c-mccarthy#

Jay Carney has developed the Obama stutter

“Wendell Goler: The President has voiced support for the Occupy folks in the past, or at least their goals, did their actions in Chicago sour his support?

Jay Carney: Well I think you’re making broad comparisons between . . . uh . . . uh . . . different groups, what the President has said in the past is . . . uh . . . he has understood . . . uh . . . the frustrations Americans have about (pause) the (pause) failure in particular of Wall Street in some cases to . . . uh . . . uh, (pause) well obviously Wall Street’s role in the financial crisis that precipitated the worst recession since the Great Depression.”

Disco—it’s not just about Donna Summer

Wonder why race relations don't improve? While browsing a news story about Ohio State I found a piece of it: Faculty of Color Caucus of the Department of History; the Race, Ethnicity, and Nation Constellation of the Department of History; and DISCO, Diversity and Identity Studies Collective at OSU. Great for expanding opportunities for bureaucracies and listings on resumes, but do they benefit students or just expand grievances and victimhood? What can you do with a degree in victimology? Become a community organizer?

When job opportunities expand, neighborhoods are integrated, black and white children play together, the need for "leadership" drops as people do what comes naturally--friendships, collegiality, neighborliness--the definition needs to be expanded to keep the race baiters employed and receiving their block grants and research money.

If both sides are reasonable. . .

The left and right can discuss political issues--when it's Glenn Beck and his guest Canadian Muslim Marxist Tarek Fatah ("The Jew is not my enemy" is the title of his latest book) tonight on GBTV.  So why not friends, neighbors, fellow church members and families?  I personally believe it’s because “liberals aren’t.”  Views different than their own are threatening because they are rarely outside their bubble protected by the media. Beck, however, wants his listeners to hear more than one viewpoint even when he disagrees with it.

Tarek Fatah actually has respect for the rights and traditions of Western civilization. Born in Pakistan and a Canadian citizen, Fatah was very candid about the hatred many Muslims, including his own relatives, have for blacks and how they sat out the civil rights movement. He considers the Muslim Brotherhood fascists, racists, homophobes and haters of women. He also believes the Saudis are funding programs in many American liberal universities. He said Arabic for "my slave" is the same word for "black man."  I know of no country that has espoused Marxism that has been tolerant of blacks, so I’m still puzzled that he claims Marxism as his political choice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarek_Fatah

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/popular-canadian-marxist-muslim-obama-has-white-mans-guilt-sharia-has-no-place-in-islam/

Arab Spring brings in Sharia Law

What a shocker. The Right was right again! The Arab Spring so touted by liberals, including the President and Pelosi, a year ago is turning out exactly the way the crazy conspiracy talkers said--imposition of Sharia Law. Liberals just don't learn.

" . .women’s rights activists are particularly worried that the well-organized Muslim Brotherhood will use its religious and charitable groups to encourage uneducated and poor women to vote for its candidate, Mohammed Morsi. Morsi opposes women being allowed to serve in the presidency. He has called for the implementation of Islamic law and, at campaign rallies, referred to Islam’s holy book, the Koran, as the constitution."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/egyptian-women-feel-excluded-despite-the-promise-of-the-revolution/2012/05/21/gIQAXeEkgU_story.html

http://thepartyofknow.com/2012/02/05/glenn-beck-sharia-law-arab-spring-iran-emp-and-the-scary-future-for-america-and-the-world/

Snorkeling, surfing and Zumba?

Yes, that’s on the Judges’ agenda at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judicial conference on the beautiful island of Maui, HI (tax payer funded).  They have the tastes of the 1%. And probably the income. Schedule from The Kitchen Cabinet, a political site.

Saturday, August 11
1...2:00 p.m. – Conference Registration desk opens
Sunday, August 12
5:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Sport Fishing
12:00 p.m. – Golf Tournament
Monday, August 13
9:00 a.m. – Yoga
9:00 a.m. – Surfing Lessons
9:00 a.m. – Stand-up Paddle Board Lessons
12:00 p.m. – Welcome Luncheon & Book Review for Spouses & Guests
2:00 p.m. – Zumba
4:30 p.m. – Opening Program
6:00 p.m. – No-host Cocktail Reception
7:00 p.m. – Maui Dine Around
Tuesday, August 14
9:00 a.m. – Yoga
9:00 a.m. – Surfing Lessons
9:00 a.m. – Stand-up Paddle Board Lessons
1:00 p.m. – Tennis Tournament
2:00 p.m. – Floral Design Workshop (includes flowers & supplies)
7:00 p.m. – District Dinners
Wednesday, August 15
9:00 a.m. – Yoga
9:00 a.m. – Surfing Lessons
9:00 a.m. – Stand-up Paddle Board Lessons
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Day Trip and Tour of Upcountry Maui
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. – Gemini Catamaran Snorkel Trip (includes gear & lunch)
2:45 p.m. – A special treat! Ice Cream Social
6:00 p.m. – The Aloha Experience
Thursday, August 16
9:00 a.m. – Yoga
9:00 a.m. – Stand-up Paddle Board Lessons

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/19/Exclusive-9th-Circuit-Takes-Another-Plush-Maui-Vacation-At-Taxpayer-Expense-As-Others-Cut-Back

http://thehill.com/video/senate/228791-sen-grassley-criticizes-9th-circuit-judges-going-to-maui-for-conference-

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/judicial_conference/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/us/25sfninth.html

A few book suggestions for your conservative dad for Father’s Day

** means I checked it in the UAPL library and it has been ordered or purchased.  In the past (aka Bush years) there was a very poor selection of conservative titles.  This has changed.

On President Obama

The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House by Edward Klein, Regnery Publishing, 2012. **

 Blacklash: How Obama and the Left Are Driving Americans to the Government Plantation by Daneen Borelli, Threshold editions, 2012.  **

Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up  by Katie Pavlich, Regnery Publishing, 2012  **

 Masters of Audacity and Deceit, by William E. Been, Tate Publishing, 2011.

 Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America - and How to Stop Him, by Phil Kerpen, BenBella Books, 2011.

We've Been Had: How Obama and the Radicals Conned Middle Class America, by James R. Keena, Twin Creek Books, 2010.

 Breaking the System: The Obama Team’s Strategy for Changing America, by David Horowitz and Liz Blaine, David Horowitz Freedom Center, 2010.

The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America, by Pamela Geller with Robert Spencer, Threshold Editions, 2010. **

To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine, by Newt Gingrich and Joe DeSantis, Regnery Press, 2010, 2011 **

 The Manchurian President: Barack Obama’s Ties to Communists, Socialists and Other Anti-American Extremists, by Aaron Klein with Brenda J. Elliott, WND Books, 2010. Rev. updated ed. pb **

Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies, by Michelle Malkin, Regnery Press, first edition, 2009, 2010 reprint edition in paperback. **

The Audacity of Deceit: Barack Obama's War on American Values, by Brad O'Leary, WND Books, 2008.

The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate, by David Freddoso, Regnery Publishing, 2008. **

On other issues

The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown, by Richard L. Hasen, Yale University Press, forthcoming: expected publication summer 2012 **

The New Leviathan: How the Left-Wing Money-Machine Shapes American Politics and Threatens America's Future, by David Horowitz and Jacob Laksin, Crown Forum, 2012. **

The Compromising of America: An American Tragedy, by Richard McKenzie Neal, AuthorHouse, 2011.

Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America, by Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski, Threshold Editions, 2011.

The New Reagan Revolution: How Ronald Reagan's Principles Can Restore America's Greatness Today, by Michael Reagan with Jim Denney, Thomas Dunne Books, 2011. **

Death by Liberalism: The Fatal Outcome of Well-Meaning Liberal Policies, by J.R. Dunn, Harper, 2011.

 Global Governance, Poverty and Inequality, by Rorden Wilkinson and Jennifer Clapp (editors), Routledge, 2010.

Dissed Trust: America's Crisis of Truth, Faith, and Freedom, by William DeMersseman, WestBow Press, 2010.

Wake Up, America! We're Headed in the Wrong Direction, by Suzanne Vergotte, iUniverse.com, 2010.

Power Grab: How Obama’s Green Policies Will Steal Your Freedom and Bankrupt America, by Christopher C. Horner, Regnery Press, 2010.

The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care), by Rob Witwer and Adam Schrager, Speaker's Corner, 2010.

Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama is Inviting the Next Attack, by Marc Thiessen, Regnery Press, 2010. **

Candidate Obama vs. Author Obama

In 2008, Candidate Barack Obama said some very different things than the autobiographical Barack Obama (listed as Kenyan born by his agent for 20 years) wrote in 1995, Dreams from my father.  Some people caught on, like Michael Gledhill of NRO—but most people ignored the warnings.  As we’ve discovered in these past 3+ years, he doesn’t tell the truth,  lives in a fantasy world, and is a huge narcissist, even to the extent of inserting his name and alleged accomplishments  into all the biographies of the presidents since Coolidge except Gerald Ford at the White House web site.  Was he telling us his true feelings in his book, or on the campaign trail, or in the self-absorbed behavior of his presidency?  I think the book was closer to his real feelings—he disliked the United States then, and hates us now.

Candidate Obama claims that “throughout my life, I have always taken my deep and abiding love for this country as a given.” He tells us his “heart swells with pride at the sight of our flag.”

In Dreams, his heart swells at many things but the sight of the flag certainly isn’t one of them. There he presents a warts-only history of the U.S., a story of evil and suffering. U.S. society is a “racial caste system” where “color and money” determine where you end up in life. He tells us of white children’s stoning black children, Jim Crow, and heatless Harlem housing projects. He describes “Japanese families interned behind barbed wire; young Russian Jews cutting patterns in Lower East Side sweatshops; dust-bowl farmers loading up their trucks with the remains of shattered lives.”

Obama says the Hawaiian islands, where he grew up, are beautiful, but quickly reminds us that behind the beauty lurks the “ugly conquest of the native Hawaiians . . . crippling disease brought by missionaries . . . the indenturing system that kept Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino immigrants stooped sunup to sunset in [the fields].”

Candidate Obama proudly tells audiences that his white grandparents were raised in the American heartland. But in Dreams he describes this heartland as the “landlocked center of the country, a place where decency and endurance and the pioneer spirit were joined at the hip with conformity and suspicion and the potential for unblinking cruelty.”

Candidate Obama fondly tells audiences that one of his earliest memories is of sitting on his grandfather’s shoulders proudly watching the Apollo astronauts return to Hawaii after their splashdown in the Pacific. But in Dreams, even this event is an occasion for outrage, as Obama asks: “How could America send men into space and still keep its black citizens in bondage?”

American affluence offends Obama. The vast upper-middle class lives in a land of isolation and sterility. As a teenager, he envies the white homes in the suburbs but senses that the big pretty houses contain “quiet depression” and “loneliness,” represented by “a mother sneaking a tumbler of gin in the afternoon.” American consumer culture is comforting but mentally and spiritually numbing, yielding a “long hibernation.”

Studying U.S. law at Harvard, Obama concludes it is mainly about “expediency or greed.” Working in a large modern corporation, he sees himself as a “spy behind enemy lines.” Even science and technology draw his disdain as he warns of “technology that spits out goods from its robot mouth.”

Finishing Dreams, I could not recall a single positive sentence about the United States or European society.

Why 43 Catholic institutions are suing the government

“Effectively, the mandate prohibits us from asking what we’ve asked for more than 200 years, “Are you hungry?” Now we also have to ask, “Are you Catholic?” To qualify for the exemption, and so to be permitted to follow their beliefs, Catholic institutions may have to stop providing educational opportunities to as many non-Catholics as they currently educate, stop serving as many non-Catholics in need as they currently serve, and stop employing some of the non-Catholic employees they currently employ. But this kind of withdrawal from the world violates our religious commitment to serve all in need without regard to religion.

The exemption also involves an invasive federal government inquiry into an organization’s religious beliefs and practices, conferring powers on government forbidden by the Constitution. Specifically, for an institution to know whether it meets the government’s definition, it must submit to a governmental investigation whereby federal employees determine the religion of those employed and served by the entity, whether their beliefs are the same as the institution, and whether the institution hires and serves “primarily” those of in agreement.”

http://www.preservereligiousfreedom.org/issue/

Christians on the left

The Religious Left consists of three groups – the evangelical Left, the mainline Protestant Left, and the Roman Catholic Left.  The Religious Left parallels the Political Left.  Through their own organizations (all tax exempt) they advocate for “distributive justice,” not God’s justice.  They receive money from the government and from their own denominations and members to achieve their goals—feeding the poor, training the unemployed, rehabbing houses, and offering a variety of shelters for the illegal, the battered woman—everyone but the unborn.  The Good News of Jesus written in the Gospels and in the Epistles is a reflection of the values and ethics of the Old Testament, but leftist Christians have distorted the Biblical view of justice with the idea that government needs to redistribute goods and services through taxation to achieve justice.  This can only be done through coercion and force, but for Christians it should be through charity and tithe.  These Christians fail to see that they are enslaving people to the state, both the “donors” and the beneficiaries and muzzling their own pastors in the pulpit with “tax breaks.”