No Ordinary Time--FDR and Eleanor on the home front

Our September book club selection is No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It's about FDR and Eleanor and the WWII White House. I'm slogging through it, but I didn't like FDR much before, and like him even less now. He extended the Depression by a decade, and then after rescinding the failed programs by 1943 since the war created full time employment, he relaunched his socialist dreams in 1944 (at least that's where I am now). And Eleanor's fertile mind an energy seemed behind much of what he did. But the author is a masterful and excellent writer and researcher. She definitely deserved the Pulitzer for the amount of detail she pulled together to recreate what seems like a minute by minute account of those years.

A Cuban freedom lover living in New York

On Facebook there is a page called “Humans of New York” with photos of odd, interesting, and fashionable people.  Sometimes there is a brief explanation, sometimes a whole story.

                                 

A couple weeks ago, I posted this photo with this caption:

"He barely spoke any English. But I did gather that he'd recently moved from Cuba, and had come to America for "La Libertad."

After seeing the post, the man sought the services of a translator in order to fully express his story. Here is the version that showed up my inbox today:

"This is my story and it’s real. I was born in the humble town of Central Guatemala on the Island of Cuba after Castro's revolutionary triumph. I have been living in exile in the USA for the past 3 years. I come from a very beautiful and united family. I miss and love my family immensely. I never stop thinking about them, not even for an instant. Despite living here in America I still worry about their well-being and day-to-day necessities.

My mother, who is the most precious person in my world, is battling cancer. Not being able to see her face-to-face and tell her how much I love her deeply hurts me. Due to Castro's cruel dictatorship, however, living in America means that my entry into Cuba is not permitted. As such, it’s not possible for me to see my mother, to hug her, and to tell her how much I miss her. I am afraid that I may never see my mother again.

Being a professional sportsman gave me the opportunity to represent Cuba in a workshop in Venezuela named ‘Barrio Adentro Deportivo’, which is one of the methods used by the Cuban regime to portray Castro's dictatorship as benevolent. Many of us are ‘selected’ to go abroad using coercion, deceit and threats. If you refuse to go, the regime degrades your economic and social status. Some Cubans opt to follow this charade and use it as a means to improve their social and financial status. Others, like me, decide to use it as a gateway and potential escape to a better life.

Migrating to a new country has been a very difficult experience, as it has been for many other Cubans who, like me, made the decision to leave Cuba to be embraced by this and other nations. These adopting countries have given many of us their support and solidarity because they are aware of the suffering we have experienced in leaving behind our families, friends, culture and, often, our hearts. Many of us have risked our lives fleeing through the borders of several nations in search of liberty. It is shameful and painful, but nevertheless true, that many Cubans have to face such calamities in order to achieve a right that The Creator has given to all humanity: the right to freedom."

Wow.  What a message.  I wish our President and Senate would read this! Thank you, young man for reminding us.

The cost of medical care?

How many times have I heard in my adult years that our health care is the most expensive in the world, but with only mediocre results?  However, have you ever seen the research?  Does that include over the counter?  Supplements? Exercise club memberships? Insurance policies that cover tattoo removal? Does that include everyone in the census (people) or citizens? Does it include the profit insurance companies make or the dividends investors (retirees like me) get in their 401-Ks?  Pelosi thinks welfare payments and unemployment benefits actually provide a return to the economy.  Don’t health care costs?

What is known for sure, is that today the Health and Human Services mandate of Obamacare goes into effect.  This we know is a violation of the First Amendment freedom of religion clause. This, if it takes place, will enormously raise your health costs because it will put the Roman Catholic church out of the health care and social services business—or so they (the U.S. Bishops) have promised.  Obama thinks the Catholics should be like the Amish, who have religious freedom because they take are only of their own.   The Catholic church is the largest provider of social services in the United States.  Even Catholics who are poo-pooing this because they use contraceptives and see no big deal, don’t seem to realize that this camel’s nose is way inside the tent, and soon Catholics will be scooping out the dung that will include insurance coverage for abortions, gay couples, and other things coming down the “choice” pike like incest, polygamy and man boy love.

What is also known is that to the three biggest government health systems we have, the VA, Medicare and Medicaid, are riddled with waste, cost overruns and fraud, and there is no reason to think Obamacare will be different. A recent issue of JAMA includes a story about dual billing of VA for Medicare Advantage—to the tune of about $13 billion.  Now if the feds can’t track its own veterans which is a much smaller population than the entire country, why do they think they can follow the rest of us. Obama is simply shifting costs to the states, which are mandated to balance their budgets, which he isn’t. 

This man is so bad, so evil, and so statist, that our only hope is to vote him out before he completely destroys our country.

John Wesley’s advice for singing our national anthem

Actually, Wesley, one of the most famous hymn writers of all times had never heard the Star Spangled Banner strangled as we’ve heard recently at the Olympics and at various sporting events. . . But, he did give “Directions for Singing” in his 1761 preface to Sacred Melody, and some apply to our difficult national anthem and the screeching and yodeling we sometimes hear as performers attempt to stamp it with their own interpretation.  And here are a few tips:

1.  Learn these tunes before you learn any other; afterwards learn as many as you please.

2.  Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.

3. Join with the congregation

4. Sing lustily and with good courage.  Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice wit strength. . .

5.  Sing modestly.  Do not bawl . . .

6. Sing in time. . . Do not run before nor stay behind it. . .

7. Above all sing spiritually.  Have an eye to God in every word you sing.  Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. . .

Forward

Obama's mail to Chicago come January, 2013.

Closing out the closer with half price goods

I'm so disappointed in this season's Closer, TNT's award winning program now in its 7th season. Last night's tired old, anti-Catholic scripts that has been done on dozens of shows; predictable group think and talk; Kyra is a caricature of Brenda; and last night's episode wasn't a cliff hanger, it was over the cliff. Maybe they've brought out all the reserve team writers and directors for this season, so we won't miss it when Major Crimes begins immediately after its death. They shouldn't have waited so long to end it. . .

TV writers are not so clever about their anti-Christian bias, if you watch a series for any length of time. All the boogey men and rumors and myths are brought out in the story, then the priest, minister, pastor, etc. are absolved in the end, but the seeds of suspicion and hate have been firmly planted. This also happens on Bones and Law and Order. But Muslims--they are not treated this way. They are usually the victims of prejudice in the story line by unnamed bigoted groups. All the Closer team was going along with the theme--a murdered priest had been a child molester, the church was doing a massive cover up--but he was completely innocent and had been killed by someone whose confession he had heard. Closer also has a strong anti-Mexican theme in many stories and with blatant stereotyping, but allow the one Hispanic character (whose Spanish sounds about as good as mine) on the show always has to interpret the church to the rest of the crew.

Once upon a time, you were an embryo

 

Monday Memories—wringer washer at our 2nd apartment

Or maybe it was our third apartment.  It was on Third Street, in Champaign, Illinois.  I think it was called Harvard Apartments.  I was living in a rented room at Maude Peter’s home in Urbana so I could do my student teaching at Urbana High School (in Spanish), and Bob was finishing a class in Indianapolis living with the Moir family in the Spring of 1961.  We’d been married less than a year and were already “separated” by circumstances.  So we probably moved in shortly before I graduated—I have photos taken at the apartment of me in my cap and gown.  Anyway, there was a wringer washer in the basement (we lived on the third floor) for the tenants.  As I recall, it was 25 cents a load; for that you got wash and wring, and if you were really quick, you could get er done.  Fortunately, I’d helped with the wringer washer my mom had before 1953, so I knew how to use one. After our son Stanley was born, it was really important, because trying to boil diapers on the kitchen stove and wring them out, and dry them on a rack, was a lot more work.

 

                                                      

Mitt Romney in Jerusalem

"Let me turn from Iran to other nations in the Middle East, where we have seen rising tumult and chaos. To the north, Syria is on the brink of a civil war. The dictator in Damascus, no friend to Israel and no friend to America, slaughters his own people as he desperately clings to power.

... Your other neighbor to the north, Lebanon, is under the growing and dangerous influence of Hezbollah.
After a year of upheaval and unrest, Egypt now has an Islamist President, chosen in a democratic election. Hopefully, this new government understands that one true measure of democracy is how those elected by the majority respect the rights of those in the minority. The international community must use its considerable influence to ensure that the new government honors the peace agreement with Israel that was signed by the government of Anwar Sadat.

As you know only too well, since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, thousands of rockets have rained on Israeli homes and cities. I have walked on the streets of Sderot, and honor the resolve of its people. And now, new attacks have been launched from the Sinai Peninsula.

With Hezbollah rockets aimed at Israel from the north, and Hamas rockets aimed from the south, with much of the Middle East in tumult, and with Iran bent on nuclear arms, America’s vocal and demonstrated commitment to the defense of Israel is even more critical. Whenever the security of Israel is most in doubt, America’s commitment to Israel must be most secure.

When the decision was before him in 1948, President Harry Truman decided without hesitation that the United States would be the first country to recognize the State of Israel. From that moment to this, we have been the most natural of allies, but our alliance runs deeper than the designs of strategy or the weighing of interests.

The story of how America – a nation still so new to the world by the standards of this ancient region – rose up to become the dear friend of the people of Israel is among the finest and most hopeful in our nation’s history.
Different as our paths have been, we see the same qualities in one another. Israel and America are in many respects reflections of one another." - Mitt Romney in Jerusalem

Making the legal seem illegal

I receive a weekly digest from the U.S. Treasury Dept. (although it seems not that often) and today it was about FATCA, Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act  --an act passed by the Obama Administration in 2010. A little late for Timmy Geithner, though.

"FATCA was enacted in 2010 by Congress as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. FATCA requires foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to report to the IRS information about financial accounts held by U.S. taxpayers, or by foreign entities in which U.S. taxpayers hold a substantial ownership interest."

Reading through the complex, obscure language that only bureaucrats can compose, I did determine that it isn't illegal to have foreign investments or work for foreign companies, so why are Obama ads (in Ohio, a swing state) making a big deal about Romney's legal investments regulated by our ever vigilant IRS?  Except of course, to make voters think he's doing something illegal.
 http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1653.aspx

John Tesh opens Week 6 at Lakeside

John Tesh was fabulous last night! One of the best shows ever!! I thought I might have to leave because of the deafening sound level, but after about 3 numbers he began the interaction with the audience and talk part, so that reduced the pain level. The 11 member band was so loud, we couldn't hear Tesh at the piano. In the middle of the show he gave his Christian testimony. Lakeside loved it.

On our way back to the cottage about 10 pm, our 80 something neighbor whizzed by on his bicycle, and said, “That was the best program I’ve heard at Lakeside.”

Tesh was co-host of Entertainment Tonight for 10 years.  This was his “big band” sound and a similar show is airing on PBS.  He is married to Connie Sellecca (20 years) who he say was the inspiration of his current radio show. The night before Lakeside the band was in Dayton, and one of the trumpet players had appendicitis, so they came to Lakeside with a PhD trumpet player from U of Cincinnati who plays with the symphony there.

Pandering to His Base

I just don't get it.  I know many intelligent, capable, patriotic Democrats who just don't care about what Obama is doing and the company he keeps.  What has blinded them?

He is moving sharply to the left on issue after issue: immigration, religious liberty, welfare, gay marriage, the environment, race, the role of government. Why? It's an election year!

And then there are the expanded wars . . . the crony capitalism . . . the deliberate moves to hurt the economy by denegrating small business . . . what is up with this guy and his supporters?

Pandering to His Baseyear! Have Democrats really gone over the cliff as a party?

Fancy Nancy and the President's trips to Israel

The Kitchen Cabinet says:

"Nancy Pelosi - the gift that just keeps on giving... with Mitt Romney currently visiting Israel, guess she was feeling nervous for Obama when in her interview with Al Hunt she remarked that, he "has been there [Israel] over and over again."

Hmmm, not once as President, and only twice before that while in the Senate, and NEVER as a private citizen.

Pelosi also said that Republican Jews are being "exploited", but did remark, "And they’re smart people." Yeah, smart enough not to vote for Obama this time Nancy... getting anxious yet?"

More here: http://www.weeklystandard.com/​blogs/​pelosi-president-obamas-been-is​rael-over-and-over-again_64907​8.html and interview transcript here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/​2012-07-27/​pelosi-says-republicans-use-isr​ael-to-distract-transcript-.ht​ml

Current fashions

I noticed recently that frames for glasses are getting larger and rounder again (noticed this in the late 60s and eventually they got huge, then smaller again in the 90s until we were back to "Wanda the witch" tiny frames by 2003). So I asked a woman who works for an optometrist, and she confirmed.

Also, what's up with young (ish) women wearing baggy sweats rolled at the waist with skinny t-shirt tops. Not very flattering. Is that the yoga look?

Ladies: I know they make fun of "mom jeans," but trust me when I say perhaps you should leave that painted on style to your teen daughters.

I must say, though, I do approve of the many pretty dresses available now in the stores. Many lovely floor length, summery, swishy styles. Just a few more sleeves please. This one is from Kohl's, similar to the one I'm wearing to church.

Not so wild about technology

I'm blogging from my living room using my new laptop. We watched Glenn Beck in the family room, although the picture wasn't the greatest. We've had a week of complete equipment failure. Computer, modem, cell phone, regular phone--you name it, I've probably cursed it. I have a few more cords to buy--and my book bag looks like the "snake pit" with so many cords--camera, radio, cell phone, laptop, nook, i-pod. My older printer cord (at the lake) won't work now, and we're going to get an HDMI? cord to connect to the TV.

The Chick-fil-a hypocrisy of Democrats

Interesting that Democrats, the party with a history of organizing and membership in the KKK, serial criminal behavior, treasonous speeches when we're at war, looking the other way when Jews were being slaughtered in Europe, supporting of the return of Jim Crow by disenfranchising legal voters by protecting the illegal and dead ones, and the killing of the pre-born for the last 40 years have a problem with Christians exercising legal rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Now it’s a failure of connectivity

Computer fixed, can get e-mail, but barely can get blogger and no luck with FaceBook.  Somedays I hate technology.

But Mother Nature isn’t being much kinder.  Last night two bats got in the house, apparently when we opened the front door around twilight, but we really don’t know since we didn’t discover them until around 11 p.m. We thought there was just one, but the cat found the 2nd one, upside down on the dining room blinds.

There’s supposed to be a big storm this afternoon.  After the seriousness of the last two on June 29 and July1 which interrupted services for quite awhile, I bought a new flashlight, bottled water, and cooked this evening’s dinner at noon.

He didn’t say it, or didn’t mean it, but it doesn’t matter, we know his heart

James Taranto writes:  “Still on the defensive over "you didn't build that," President Obama's campaign is out with yet another ad claiming he didn't say that, or at least he didn't mean that. This one features Stephanie Cutter, the deputy campaign manager. . . [we haven’t seen this in Ohio yet].

“If Obama has made any permanent, across-the-board cuts [he claims 18 times] in either individual or corporate tax rates, that's news to us. As far as we know, such tax cuts as have been enacted since 2009 have been temporary and targeted--designed to provide "help" to particular segments of the economy or "stimulus," not to improve the overall business climate.

“Then Obama takes credit for "investing" in (read spending on) "infrastructure"; in Pell Grants, which transfer money from taxpayers, including businessmen, to colleges and universities; and in "expanding broadband access," an area in which the private sector is doing fine.

“Now remember all the governmental goodies Obama credits with building small businesses: roads and bridges, teachers, the Internet. It's all right there on Cutter's list. She's confirming, not refuting, Mitt Romney's account of Obama's collectivist philosophy.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443477104577548173266014782.html?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb_h

Restoring Love

We have several friends from the Columbus area that are heading to Dallas for Glenn Beck's Restoring Love. God speed, dear friends. You are all an inspiration to us.

Last night we listened to Kalai sing Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" on Glenn Beck's 5 p.m. program. Beautiful, but not like you've ever heard it. Our God is marching on . . . Restoring Love. Glennbeck.com/music.

According to another blog, Revolutionary Artists: "Kalai was born “Kaniela Ka Lei Ali’i ‘O’ Kalani Kala’i” in December, 1979, in Kailua, Hawaii and raised in Alaska. Kalai, despite a permanent injury in his left hand, at the age of 16 learned guitar by watching his father, Danson, a Hawaiian music icon who has performed with Eric Clapton and Van Morrison."

Women for Obama

For free contraceptives and abortion on demand, Obama offers women higher taxes, more regulation of their small businesses, more ballooning college debt, and more dependence on government programs like SNAP and Medicaid pushing them out of the middle class into the lower class. Such a deal! No wonder women have had such a struggle over the years! They fall for a pretty face and a bunch of lies everytime.