Ask you doctor about PPACA

Go ahead, ask your physician at your next visit what she or he thinks of current Washington-directed reform and its impact on the doctor-patient relationship. What you hear will likely surprise you, because it will likely be markedly different from what you hear from Washington. The policy theorists are simply too far removed from the reality of front-line patient care. Health reform, whether via the implementation of ObamaCare or the GOP's "repeal and replace" plan, should no longer ignore the input and counsel of experienced, front-line, practicing doctors.

http://theweek.com/bullpen/column/232510/what-my-doctor-thinks-of-obamacare

Dog whistle or whistling in the dark?

Apparently dog whistle racism is when the slurs, slams or words are so subtle, so coded, so obscure, that only Republican politicians say them and only black people and Democrats understand them, if indeed they can hear them. Therefore, calling Obama the food stamp president is racist not because with his failed policies more Americans are using SNAP than ever before, but because he is black and to criticize him is code racism. Hello. He has criticized Romney for telling students to borrow from their parents rather than the government! Most people using food stamps are white. 40% of black women are having abortions.  Do the math. Americans elected him in 2008; he couldn't have been elected without the white vote. But what was historic and post racial in 2008 is now racist as millions try to abandon him because he has failed. He has broken his promises, and minorities particularly have been hurt. That's not code--that's the truth.

Sacred places

I think it's just so "special" (and transparent) that Brian Williams of NBC is so hurt that he can't go into the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake, even though he could go into any Mormon church for public worship if he so desired. It seems it's been a while since he's gone to church--any church. There are off limits and sacred places in all denominations, faiths and churches. I'd like to see Brian walk down the aisle at our church and decide he wants to stand at the pulpit and tell jokes during one of the sermons, or serve the elements during communion or crash a children's Sunday school class, or sign up to attend a women's retreat. Even the most liberal and Open churches would probably stop him. And that little aside about polygamy? Did he preface it with Barack Obama's father was a polygamist and he has a number of half-sibs and extended family members he's not taking care of?  Did Williams ever do a piece on Obama’s pastor, Rev. Wright’s, Black Theology?

Obama is far more extreme than Akin on abortion—he supports infanticide

“Missouri has recently been at the center of the conversation on abortion thanks to controversial comments from its U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin concerning women, abortion and rape.

But pro-life advocates say Obama is more extreme than Akin on abortion because of his record as a state senator from Illinois, when he refused to support a law that would provide medical protection for survivors of late abortions.”

http://www.lifenews.com/2012/08/28/abortion-survivor-rips-obama-on-infanticide-support-in-new-ad/

Rape discussion is good for politics, but. . .

Not much action in tracking down rapists.  But we can be sure if they do impregnate the women they violate, that the little suckers will be snuffed because feminists and politicians are really tough on products of conception.

“Rape-kit pileups [11,000] aren’t a problem just in Detroit. In recent years, cities across the country have reported mountains of kits—11,000 in San Antonio, 1,200 in Albuquerque, 4,000 in Houston—according to Sarah Tofte, who has studied the national debacle for the advocacy group Human Rights Watch. Experts estimate that hundreds of thousands of kits are languishing in police warehouses.”

“In one especially horrific case, Worthy says, a convicted rapist named Shelly Andre Brooks had raped and murdered five women after raping a woman whose kit was just recently entered into the database through Worthy’s initiative. If that rape kit had been tested and entered into the database sooner, the man could have been caught sooner—and five women’s lives could have been saved. “That’s why it’s so horrible, this whole thing,” Worthy says.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/28/rapists-beware-detroit-prosecutor-ids-21-attackers-in-rape-kit-probe.html

Romney in Michigan

Obama is hoping Michigan voters will trade religious freedom for the union bail out of the auto industry. But his lead in the polls is shrinking according to this WaPo opinion piece. " the Romney campaign has also been highlighting two other issues that have particular resonance in Michigan. One is the administration’s contraception and abortifacient mandate, which hurts the president with the socially conservative Reagan Democrats in such places as Macomb County. There are 2.4 million Catholic voters in Michigan, and Obama’s assault on religious liberty has alienated many of them. In May, the Michigan Catholic Conference filed suit against the Obama administration over the Health and Human Services mandate — and Catholic priests will be preaching against it in parishes across the state between now and Election Day. Look for Romney to underscore his opposition to the HHS mandate — and his endorsement by Lech Walesa — with these Catholic voters, many of whom are of Polish and Ukrainian descent. The second issue is welfare reform. . . . "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-thiessen-romneys-play-for-michigan/2012/08/26/383e8a56-ef9e-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_story.html?socialreader_check=0&denied=1

Sometimes it drives me crazy

that there are middle class career women who seem to know so little about food. . . about money. . . about politics.

Today I was reading a blogger discussing “food insecurity” which in government speak means that at some point during the past week or month, you were unsure about whether you’d have enough food. It doesn’t mean the gut pinching hunger that Haitian children experience unless they are eating at school.   She mentioned that there have been times in her life when she ate only cereal and milk.

Eeek!  For the same price for a box of cereal she could have made enough potato soup to feed a family, or scalloped potatoes, or maybe macaroni and cheese, or perhaps beans and rice. Cheaper and goes further.  Processed cereal in a box may be the worst buy per ounce and poorest nutrition available. 

E-books and public transportation—by Jeff at the Fluffington Post

I like to strike up conversations in coffee shops about the books people are reading, which may be a thing of the past with the e-book becoming so popular. Jeff liked looking at the covers. . .

“Public transportation has many pains and too few pleasures, but among the latter was the opportunity to anticipate burgeoning best sellers by observing how frequently certain books emerged from totes and backpacks. Books like How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Infinite Jest, Devil in the White City, Who Moved My Cheese, Freakanomics, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

I considered it my CTA Browsing Library. Occasionally, an obscure title even prompted my next read, such as Michael Ondaaje’s Coming Through Slaughter.

But the E-reader Age is shutting the curtains on this peeking-tom pastime. A Kindle, Nook or iPad means no book jackets. No book jackets mean the only way to determine if those over-pierced commuters in combat boots are reading The Goebbels Diaries or The Nanny Diaries is to – *gulp* – ask them.”

You can read the whole piece here.

Huntington Bank is going to “revitalize” an Ohio State University neighborhood

I haven't looked into this. . . so this is simply a wild guess based on what has happened in the past to revitalizing "blighted" neighborhoods close to valuable real estate belonging to a powerful entity. The poor and low income move out; the yuppies, students and professional classes move in; the former residents move to the suburbs where they have fewer services, churches, social clubs; families and friends are scattered; new non-profits and government agencies spring up to help, employing the people now living in the old neighborhood; the cycle continues requiring even more investment by the tax payer.

Just six months into the agreement — in which Huntington gets the title of official consumer bank of Ohio State and can market directly to faculty, staff, students and alumni — there are early signs of just how transformative that investment could become.

Each month, Huntington has sent out a cadre of bankers to canvas the target neighborhoods to get an idea of what interest there is in using the bank as a resource and where the need is highest. Of the $100 million set aside, $75 million is earmarked for private lending — such as small business owners or homeowners — and commercial real estate firms to revitalize those neighborhoods.

Huntington, which is working informally with Campus Partners in the University District and PACT (Partners Achieving Community Transformation) in the Near East Side, will use the other $25 million for direct equity investment in those neighborhoods via community projects or development opportunities.

With input from those living and operating businesses in the Near East Side, PACT (eastpact.org) — a partnership between the city of Columbus, Ohio State and the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority — is creating a master plan for its community that is expected to be ready by the end of this year. Having a partner like Huntington with resources at the ready puts PACT a step ahead in how quickly it can implement its plan, said Dawn Tyler-Lee, PACT executive director. As one of the PACT founders, Ohio State is committing $10 million to the revitalization project.

http://oncampus.osu.edu/2012/08/huntington-agreement-will-revitalize-key-osu-neighborhoods/

Jeremiah 29:11 prayer

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I said this to myself as a prayer for a young woman I met in the coffee shop.  I thought perhaps she was in high school, but she told me she was finished with college.  “What field are you going into?” I asked.  “Oh, I don’t know. I’ll probably start looking next week.”  “So nothing you took in college really piqued your interest?” I said.  “Not really, I sort of liked business administration so maybe I’ll work in an office.”

College is usually 4, sometimes 5 years.  If she started as the recession hit in 2007-2008 maybe she found it easier to borrow money than go to work?  Or, maybe her parents are wealthy.

Nixon was the first president to provide funding for Planned Parenthood

And all Republican presidents have continued that, including a hefty amount from George W. Bush (ca. $250 million in 2003). The Fiscal Year 2009-2010 annual report also shows that Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s net assets as of June 30, 2010 topped $1 billion, specifically $1,009,600,000.00. I’m not sure why the taxpayer needs to be supporting such a wealthy organization, the largest provider of abortions in the country, now about 340,000 a year. Forty years ago both liberals and conservatives thought this was a way to bring down poverty—by reducing welfare payments for out of wedlock babies.  But, the incidence of unwed motherhood has only increased, and as contraception goes up (also a major service of PP), so does the abortion rate.  PP also uses its funds to decrease births among the black and brown peoples of development countries.

http://www.covenantnews.com/lefemine041031.htm

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/planned-parenthood-s-annual-report-got-4874m-tax-money-did-329445-abortions

Obama campaign lies about Romney’s abortion position

"Romney’s official position has always been that there should be exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and when the mother’s life is endangered. Even PolitiFact, the left-leaning “fact checking” website, declared the Obama ad was a “Pants on Fire” lie."

The position I hold, that babies shouldn't be punished for the sins of the father, is outside Romney's position, and outside most pro-life Republicans, the majority of whom make exception for incest and rape. But it's a convenient lie for Obama, nevertheless, because most people won't check. This year, pro-choice Democrats are left out completely with no place to go. Before Obama, they were thrown a bone to keep them in the party by parsing words. The Republicans are much more "big tent" and at least for the campaign include Libertarians who like to believe morality shouldn't be legislated, although we do it all the time on other issues. [quote from Weekly Standard]

Harry Reid’s scam—NYT reports on Romney’s tax returns

The whole point of Harry's scam was to seed doubt and to reveal Romney's wealth and tax advantages--which almost all members of Congress have, because they come in middle class and leave fabulously wealthy. President Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Kerry, the Kennedys, etc. all use a clutch of lawyers to protect their wealth. We Bruces just use one accountant, and since we pay by the number of forms, I’m well aware that if you itemize, there are loopholes.

http://staging.weeklystandard.com/blogs/new-york-times-reports-romney-paid-federal-taxes-will-harry-reid-apologize_650849.html

Even the low income and welfare recipients receive tax advantages through their landlord, where they are folded into the rent, regardless of whether the county/city is paying it or the renter. There are government officials like Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s right hand, who’ve become enormously wealthy taking advantage of tax breaks for poverty pimping.

Anti-life groups go after Romney

Anti-life groups are organizing to defeat Romney. "Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund plans to spend more than $3 million in Ohio and Virginia against Mitt Romney in the wake of his pledge to “get rid” of the women’s health advocacy group. The group is one of several liberal-leaning women’s organizations planning to spend millions of dollars in crucial election states to swing undecided female voters toward President Obama. Joining them are NARAL Pro-Choice America and EMILY’s List, two abortion-rights groups who are also planning aggressive campaigns." Why does PP need our tax money to kill more black and poor babies? Couldn't they just cut back on the salaries of the directors? Or ask for more from their elitist, white Democrat wealthy supporters? Why are they targeting black neighborhoods?

Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund planning revenge on Mitt Romney - The Hill - covering Congress, Pol

Soothing salve

Earlier in the summer our herb study group at Lakeside made something called "flower salve." I've never used anything so effective for soothing and calming a bug bite. So when my bone bruise began to irritate my skin (from a fall) I borrowed a little from a friend. I could see that I would quickly use it up, so I went looking for something similar at the store and found Burt's Bees Hand Salve. Although I don't care for the fragrance (eucalyptus) it sure stops itching and soreness

. http://www.burtsbees.com/natural-products/body-hand-care/hand-salve.html

I’d tell you what was in the flower salve, but I put it in a safe place, and can’t find it.

You’re going to feel so silly if

you’ve thrown your vote away over a fluke of contraception and a phony war on women.

A "non-partisan" Pew Research study says the American middle class faces its "worst decade in modern history" — and the first bump down starts on Jan. 1. The equally "non-partisan" Congressional Budget Office now says that the tax and budget changes due to take effect at the beginning of 2013 will put the country back in recession and increase unemployment. This is a revision of their prediction earlier this year that in 2013 the economy would contract by 1.3%. Now they say 2.9%.”

http://news.investors.com/article/623481/201208241814/democrats-make-akin-war-women-face-of-republican-party.htm?p=2

Middle class income

This is what happens when the President decides he needs to redistribute income.  He grabbed a fifth of the economy and left employers and investors in limbo, stalling the recovery and new jobs.

Loyal Democrats will vote for 4 more years of this.

 

Friday family photo—Tampa

A hurricane is heading for Tampa.  I’m praying for my family there that they will be safe and have no damage to property.

Today’s new word—biological colonialism

When people with money for medical procedures, probably living in the West, obtain organs from the poor and destitute in developing countries, or from political prisoners in China.

Rick Warren says religious freedom comes before all the others

Rick Warren, like a lot of other pastors and priests, was in Obama's pocket in 2008, but he has wised up, and now agrees with his Catholic brothers and sisters and other Evangelicals that without religious freedom, the others don't matter. Another pastor, Bishop E.W. Jackson who is African American, has called on Christians to leave the Democratic party.

Read here