Hope and Chair

Today is Empty Chair Day.  All over the country people are putting empty chairs on the lawn, drive way, balcony, and taking photos and circulating them.  We all got Clint Eastwood’s message.  Here’s mine:

Narcissist in Chief

Obama’s tribute to Neil Armstrong.

Today is Empty Chair Day

To support Clint Eastwood’s conversation with an empty chair at the Republican convention, put an empty chair in your yard today.

 

Monday Memories—The Wedding Dress

I came across this photo today in a package of photos I was planning to send my niece, Cindy, my sister Carol’s daughter.  She’s the young lady in the photo, and it was in a file of my Aunt Muriel, who died in 2011 and her daughter gave me some photos to return to family members.

Here’s what I know from the note on the back of the photo. The occasion was a display of family mementoes at the Church of the Brethren in Mt. Morris, Illinois, for the bi-centennial in 1976. My mother and her sister Muriel had a few items that belonged to their grandmother, Susan George, who had travelled to Illinois as a bride in 1855 from Pennsylvania. This seems to be Susan’s wedding dress, as it looks like the dress in the only photo we have of her, so we’re assuming it was saved for that reason. The photo isn’t very clear, but I think the item in the plastic bag is her straw bonnet.  In those days, Brethren women kept their heads covered, but the bonnets might be a simple covering with ties of sheer white net, or a straw hat, or black bonnet for Sunday dress. I don’t know where the dress is now, but I have the black bonnet.

Because of the 70s fashions, I’m not sure if Cindy is wearing her own dress with lacy sleeves, or if she might also be wearing a gown of the 19th century.  I’ll have to ask her and update this when I find out.

Let’s not repeat FDR’s mistakes

Many of President Obama’s failed policies to stimulate the economy are bit like Viagra, temporary and not a permanent solution for something systemic. They are out of FDR’s playbook in the 1930s when the Great Depression was rolling along for 10 years, with the blame always going back to President Hoover (who as a liberal Republican had actually tried many of the same government programs to boost the economy and was criticized by candidate Roosevelt). Using the excuse of the economy FDR put in place social programs.  In early 1941 Congress gave FDR unprecedented authority and funds to act militarily with speed in case the war in Europe got worse.  If you recall your history, Hitler a democratically elected Socialist, was rampaging through Europe installing his Aryan Nazi puppets.  Americans had been averse to war, especially the Communists, despite the horror stories about Jews, the disabled, the Gypsies, and the non-German nationals and how they were suffering.  Then when Hitler attacked the USSR, the darling of the American Communist Party, opinions changed.  When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, FDR immediately went into action. Close to a million Americans—Germans, Italians and Japanese—plus foreign nationals who were in the country for business or tourism, were either detained, imprisoned, or moved to relocation camps away from the two coasts.  Congress had never foreseen that the money would be used against Americans, but it was too late.  This could happen with any President, but for those of you who were outraged by Iraq and Afghanistan, just check the internet for the Congressional debates that went on in 2002 and 2003, and note that in the 1990s it was the Clinton administration, (Kennedy, Pelosi, Kerry,  etc.) warning of WMD.  Bush had Congressional approval for Iraq and Afghanistan regardless of whether it was a mistake or he had poor motives.  He had a lot of company (Obama who has continued those occupations for 4 years did not support him or the U.S. forces).  Obama has increasingly set himself up as a dictatorial monarch and ignores our Congress.  Let’s put a stop to this in November, and if Romney proceeds on the same course, boot him out too!

Golf, PGA and Chicago are now racist slurs—the dog whistling Democrats

“On the matter of those racist dog whistles all these middle-age white liberals keep hearing, the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto put it very well: "The thing we adore about these dog-whistle kerfuffles is that the people who react to the whistle always assume it's intended for somebody else," he wrote. "The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you're the dog." And a very rare breed at that. What frequency does a Mitch McConnell speech have to be ringing inside your head for even the most racially obsessed Caucasian NBC anchorman to hear the words "PGA tour" as "deep-rooted white insecurities about black male sexuality"? That's way beyond dog-whistling, and somewhere between barking mad and frothing rabid.”

No one explains the racism of pasty white men better than Mark Steyn.

Ryan’s extreme health care plan

"Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform proposal is as extreme as the health plan available to every member of Congress. Ryan envisions average seniors enjoying Capitol Hill-style medical options. This, itself, would be a choice. Seniors who oppose choice in health coverage will be 100 percent welcome to remain within traditional Medicare.

Ryan’s “far-Right” Medicare reform is co-sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon liberal Democrat. (2010 Americans for Democratic Action rating: 100 percent) Unlike most Democrats, Wyden understands that if Medicare traverses today’s path, by 2024, it will tumble into a canyon."

Read Deroy Murdock’s article here.

You’ll continue to hear scary stories about Bain Capital.  If it’s so awful, why do so many government pensions, union pensions, state teachers’ pensions, and left of center foundations all have their investments with Bain?  Billions and billions in Bain.

The story here.

I wonder what happened to the beach?

Is it environmentally friendly to haul 15 tons of sand from a NC beach to build a sculpture of a president who has failed?  It’s not a very good likeness.

Update: There has been a bad storm in Charlotte, and part of the Mount Obama has been washed away or damaged. Not a good sign.

Labor Day yard and rummage sales

So many holiday week-end yard sales! At the Heritage Society sale, I saw a beautiful set of white china with white decorative flowers with silver trim approx.7 place settings for $5, made in Japan. Right next to it was a cheap looking set of plates, big box store type, made in China, no cups or serving pieces for $10. These days women with dishwashers and microwaves don't want nice china with gold or silver trim. But why wait to set a pretty table? So I bought the $5 set and put my heavy Pfalzgraf in the neighbor's sale.

I just had to google it--the dinner plates at replacement site about $10 ea., cups and saucers about $12, and bread and butter plates $6, and I seem to have 7 of everything. 

 

Replacement China in the Wakefield pattern 364 made in Japan from Robbins Nest.

White on white, platinum trim

http://www.table-settings.com/tptanks/japan-fine-china/wakefield-364.html

Don’t settle for less under Obama

A good word from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

You might see hateful things at non-Christian web sites, but those are not as disturbing as what Christians say about each other.  Christ has a solution for that.  “A Christian community either lives by the intercessory prayers of its members for one another, or the community will be destroyed. I can no longer condemn or hate other Christians for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble they cause me. In intercessory prayer the face that may have been strange and intolerable to me is transformed into the face of one for whom Christ died, the face of a pardoned sinner. That is a blessed discovery for the Christian who is beginning to offer intercessory prayer for others. As far as we are concerned, there is no dislike, no personal tension, no disunity or strife that cannot be overcome by intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the community must enter every day.

Biblical Wisdom:  Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18

Socialist ideas, race baiting, dog whistling, free contraception, higher taxes, smaller economy . . .

A letter home from a new American, 1737

In a genealogy workshop this summer I met another Lakesider (she heard me mention Manchester College and asked me if I was Brethren) whose maiden name was Studebaker, a name I recognized not just from the automobile, but from the wagon company which at one time had some intention to save the Mt. Morris College in Mt. Morris, Illinois.  Today we met again and she loaned me her huge Studebaker genealogy book, “The Studebaker Family in America,” published in the 1970s by the Studebaker Family National Association.  One of the association’s links back to Europe was a letter written by 2 brothers, which is translated, and is an interesting peek at life for new immigrants in Pennsylvania. . . with our conventions and campaign speak in full force, some of these phrases will be familiar, yet extremely foreign to us.  We don’t remember today how burdened Europeans were with taxes and assessments, how if you were born poor, you stayed poor. . . or that people actually sold their children into labor contracts if they were too poor to pay for passage to get here!

“As to your question regarding brother John, there is, thanks to God, no reason for complaint, for life is pleasant here. For we are better off than in Europe, because anyone who is willing to work can make a good living here, except for certain craftsmen.
The craftsmen are not organized here as with you. [The reference is probably to the toolmakers of the district from which the writers came]. Yet things could be better organized here, if only there were some masters here. For steel and iron are plentiful in this country. Good steel and iron and coal and grinding stones are imported from England, and the coal is for sale here as with you. Also there are many rivers.

Yet anybody who wants to work on a farm, can live a life without worries, for not much has to be paid to the sovereign, the maximum is six shillings per one hundred acres in the national currency. Some give corn and some give peppercorn and others give one shilling per one hundred acres and some don't pay anything, once the sovereign has received his money. Much that was bought from the late Count [William Penn], as indicated above, has to pay one shilling per one hundred acres.
Furthermore let me tell you how a poor man be able to come across, who lacks the money to pay the passage. There is the following agreement: If a man has children, he can put them into service. A boy has to remain in service until he is twenty one. The girl has to stay until eighteen years of age. For this, people pay a lot of money. In that way, a poor man is able to free himself and his wife.”

After praising the crops one could grow, the writers go on to say in an almost amazed tone about the honesty and integrity of the authorities, and they were just folks like the ordinary people,

“Furthermore a word about the authorities. The authorities here are good ones. You can go to a person in authority in the same way as to a peasant. You don't have to take your hat off for a person in authority. They administer justice. Nobody suffers violence or injustice from them. They live a pious and God-fearing life. They don't harm or vex anybody as they do with you. When you sell something here, e.g., inheritance or tools, it does not concern the authorities.

Also an interesting insight into religion, especially since there are progressives among us who are downplaying this today. . . (note: Dunkers is the old term for Church of the Brethren and related groups which practiced adult baptism):

”As far as religion in this country is concerned, it should be said that there are all kinds of faiths here. Firstly, where authority is as it were, within; congregations, in which they have no baptism, neither for infants nor for adults. Then there are also here whole congregations of Baptists and Seventh Day Baptists [i.e., Dunkers] who also practice adult baptism, and they keep their Sunday on Saturday, yet lead a good life. There are also many "monists" [Unitarians?] as well as Reformed and Lutherans, and also a few Catholics in Philadelphia, whom the late Count [William Penn] wanted to expel, but they insisted on the franchise granted to them by the late Lord. So he had to keep his peace. But afterwards both we and all new arrivals of the male sex must go to the town hall before the magistrates to give up and renege allegiance to the Pope in Rome [illegible] of Great Britain in England. For the rest the authorities permit all faiths. If a person lives a quiet and pious life, he may believe what he likes.”The writers continue on to discuss labor—the shortage—and the problems with slave labor which the rich used, and relations with the Indians.  Read the rest of the letter here.

My grandmother’s childhood scrapbook showing advertising for the Studebaker Wagon of South Bend, Indiana.

And still the majority of blacks will vote for failed policies of Democrats

Democrats don’t applaud success, they apologize

Think about it—the party you support—is it pro-life?

Condi Rice is called Uncle Tom by Democrats

Obama supporters are calling Condi Rice and other black republicans "Uncle Toms" and pejorative, racist, ugly words. Perhaps they need to review the history of Stowe's book, how it influenced generations for good, and perhaps another story about a man who gave his life for others and then people change their lives of evil based on his life of good. Then perhaps look at the Jim Crow laws and the KKK which were arms of the Democrat party to undo the freedoms accomplished by amendments to the Constitution. It seems Democrats do a lot of that and use 19th century tactics to punish those who escape their clutches. Stowe's book was based on real slave narratives, particularly a man named Henson who after securing his own safety and freedom returned to the South to free others. Many black republicans are trying to lead their friends and family away from the Democrat plantation, but it's a tough struggle. There are some successes, therefore the name calling. Twitter and FB comments on Daily Beast are just frightening in their anger, fear and hate.

2016 the film

It’s doing very well at the box office.  Here from Patriot Post is a summary of Dinesh D’Souza’s film.

D'Souza's film is based on his books, "The Roots of Obama's Rage" and "Obama's America," in which he asserts that Obama's worldview was shaped most directly by the anti-colonialist views of his father, and that Obama is now intent on unmaking American so that he can remake it according to his worldview.

In a 2010 Forbes Magazine editorial on Obama, D'Souza concluded: "[Obama] is trapped in his father's time machine. Incredibly, the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anti-colonial ambitions, is now setting the nation's agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son. The son makes it happen, but he candidly admits he is only living out his father's dream. The invisible father provides the inspiration, and the son dutifully gets the job done. America today is governed by a ghost."

Watch for it tomorrow night. . .

 

“Sky & Telescope magazine has traced the history of the term in at least two articles and it has even been part of the change of how the term is used.

Here is a summary of what the articles describe:

• The original usage of the term was like the modern statement “When pigs fly.”
• Another described an infrequent event related to volcanic eruptions. The dust ejected high into the atmosphere, can give the moon and sun and bluish hue when see through the dust. While infrequent, blue moons do occur.
• A usage closer to the popular modern concept can be traced to the Maine Farmers’ Almanac that related the term an extra full moon during a season. The seasons normally have three full moons. When a season has four, the third one is called “Blue Moon.” Historically, the months had names, such as Harvest Moon, Egg Moon or Lenten Moon. Because those full moons were related to specific events related to the seasons, there came a time when a season had an extra full moon without a name; the third month in that series was named “Blue Moon.”
• Sky & Telescope also stated that it contributed to the popular notion with articles in 1946 and 1950 that cited the Maine Farmers’ Almanac, but added that a second full moon in a month was a “Blue Moon.”

http://jeffreylhunt.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/august-31-blue-moon/

Does Congress know about this? 200 Marines have landed in Guatemala

"Guatemalan authorities say they signed a treaty allowing the U.S. military to conduct the operations on July 16. Less than a month later an Air Force C-5 transport plane flew into Guatemala City from North Carolina loaded with the Marines and four UH-1 "Huey" helicopters."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_GUATEMALA_US_MARINES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-29-18-33-58