The new carpet is installed—Friday Family Photo

Not seriously different than the old carpet, except in my office which was very dark forest green and the stairs to the lower level which were sisal, it really looks different.

Is he draining the swamp or feeding the alligators?

This certainly wasn't what we were told, and if this was known, why did Obama (surrogates) spend thousands of dollars on an apology campaign in Pakistan? Why was Susan Rice sent to 5 talk shows to tell lies? Was she in the ladies room when Petraeus spoke about Al Qaeda?  On September 12, on Facebook and blogs and conservative discussion groups people were already connecting the dots and crying foul.  The main stream press didn’t make it a story until it was about sex under and desk after the election. President Obama peddled the lie about the video to the United Nations 10 days after the Rice disgrace and still refuses to say what his role was or when he heard claiming it is all “under investigation.”

                

"Former CIA Director David Petraeus testified in a closed-door hearing Friday morning that his agency determined immediately after the Sept. 11 Libya attack that "Al Qaeda involvement" was suspected -- but the line was taken out in the final version circulated to administration officials, according to a top lawmaker who was briefed."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/16/petraeus-to-testify-knew-libya-was-terrorism-from-start-source-says/

Timeline at the Anchoress

How unions kill jobs

The company had warned it would file a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to shut operations if enough workers didn't end their weeklong strike by 5 p.m. ET Thursday.

Twinkies were my husband’s favorite snack before he started watching for sugar on the label.  I probably haven’t bought anything Hostess in years, but the company provided a good living for many people.

Wikipedia:  Hostess Brands, Inc. was founded as Interstate Bakeries Corporation (IBC) in 1930 and was the largest wholesale baker and distributor of bakery products in the United States.  It is the owner of the Hostess, Wonder Bread, Nature's Pride, Dolly Madison, Butternut Breads, and Drake's brands. For many years it was based at 12 East Armour Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri. In 2009, after it emerged from a 2004 bankruptcy, the name was changed to Hostess Brands, Inc., and the headquarters moved to Irving, Texas.^[2] Hostess Brands, Inc., declared Chapter 11 again in 2012.^[3] 

In May 2009, Wonder Bread closed in Columbus, Ohio. The plant was almost 100 years old, and according to the local news was too expensive to retrofit for “natural” products demanded by the consumer.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2009/03/11/wonder_bread_close.ART_ART_03-11-09_C8_QHD6BNI.html

Let’s hope Rayburn, the CEO, doesn’t ever run for president because he’ll be blamed for taking our Twinkies.

             

What shall we do? Guest blogger, Joan

We have  a president who was voted in by the part of the electorate largely incapable of critical thinking - beginning with single women under the age of 29, and the "receivers" of government largesse, etc.

The questions in my mind in addition to the aforementioned unfortunate reason for the accelerated demise of the "republican" form of government are:

• Why is there not more outcry about the voting fraud? The lack of proper identification; some of the Ohio districts having not one single vote for Romney; a cargo plane crashing (reason please?) with 47000 pieces of mail, largely ballots from our servicemen in Afghanistan. The only one screaming is Allen West. More screaming, please.
• And, it was my opinion from the start that the conservatives among us never explained why conservatism trumps liberalism. Fundamental Christians are largely Democrats. It's so touchy feely to help those less fortunate. Never mind that this approach keeps them remain less fortunate. Why haven't we gone to the heart of the matter? It's a philosophical difference. It is the difference between success and failure.
• Our children are not taught the Constitution in school, history has been rewritten, how often do you hear the Pledge of Allegiance these days? Patriotism seems limited only to the military. Seems to me, we have a lot of work to do, and the answer, I don't believe, is in the "perfect candidate" unless that candidate does not have to fight ugly in primaries and go off the deep end early on, and unless that candidate takes the time to sell "conservatism". It's time to wake up a sleeping population.

Guess they will wake up in ashes.

And so I wonder what I can or should be doing. Feel like a voice in the wilderness.

Any ideas, Norma?

Not all Supreme Court decisions are morally right

And some are based on the transient, immoral culture rather than the law.

Dedicated to the lapdog media

Filioque—what separates the Eastern and Western churches

The Roman Catholic catechism has a 2 paragraph footnote in the explanation of the Trinity, (Article 1, Paragraph 2,  243, )which explains the rift between the Eastern and Western churches.

245 The apostolic faith concerning the Spirit was confessed by the second ecumenical council at Constantinople (381): "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father." By this confession, the Church recognizes the Father as "the source and origin of the whole divinity". But the eternal origin of the Spirit is not unconnected with the Son's origin: "The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is God, one and equal with the Father and the Son, of the same substance and also of the same nature... Yet he is not called the Spirit of the Father alone,... but the Spirit of both the Father and the Son." The Creed of the Church from the Council of Constantinople confesses: "With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified."

246 The Latin tradition of the Creed confesses that the Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque)". The Council of Florence in 1438 explains: "The Holy Spirit is eternally from Father and Son; He has his nature and subsistence at once (simul) from the Father and the Son. He proceeds eternally from both as from one principle and through one spiration. ... And, since the Father has through generation given to the only-begotten Son everything that belongs to the Father, except being Father, the Son has also eternally from the Father, from whom he is eternally born, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son."

247 The affirmation of the filioque does not appear in the Creed confessed in 381 at Constantinople. But Pope St. Leo I, following an ancient Latin and Alexandrian tradition, had already confessed it dogmatically in 447, even before Rome, in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon, came to recognize and receive the Symbol of 381. The use of this formula in the Creed was gradually admitted into the Latin liturgy (between the eighth and eleventh centuries). The introduction of the filioque into the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed by the Latin liturgy constitutes moreover, even today, a point of disagreement with the Orthodox Churches.

248 At the outset the Eastern tradition expresses the Father's character as first origin of the Spirit. By confessing the Spirit as he "who proceeds from the Father", it affirms that he comes from the Father through the Son. The Western tradition expresses first the consubstantial communion between Father and Son, by saying that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque). It says this, "legitimately and with good reason", for the eternal order of the divine persons in their consubstantial communion implies that the Father, as "the principle without principle", is the first origin of the Spirit, but also that as Father of the only Son, he is, with the Son, the single principle from which the Holy Spirit proceeds. This legitimate complementarity, provided it does not become rigid, does not affect the identity of faith in the reality of the same mystery confessed.

I hope that’s clear. . . because it split the church forever, and all Protestants (who use the Nicene creed) follow the Western tradition. Even the most devout Christian has difficulty explaining the Trinity, and this makes it even more difficult. If you’re looking for age (tradition), then that would be the Eastern church, but the Magisterium would decide for filioque.

 

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From a great Republican

Did anyone in America fall for this?

President Obama sent Susan Rice out to defend his false story about a spontaneous mob reacting to a video so he could cover up that his battle against al-qaeda is not being won, and that the CIA was moving arms to Syria from Libya.  When word came out that she might become Secretary of State, and people obviously remember what she did in September, of course there’s grumbling. Hero Obama to the rescue.

“Don’t pick on the little lady.

Wednesday, President Obama bizarrely cast the U.N. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, as some delicate flower the boys should stop picking on for her dissembling claims on five Sunday talk shows following the killing of 4 Americans in Benghazi. But, there is no damsel in distress and Obama’s paternalistic bravado in defense of a top administration official is going to come back to haunt him.”

Kirsten Powers

Deflect, evade, sneer, whine, blame.  It’s getting very old. Can’t this man ever act (pretend) presidential? Even people (some who read this blog) who voted for him realize what is going on.

Thursday Thirteen—what I uncovered in my office

Today we’re having new carpet installed in my home office and the stairs to the upper level and the lower level and the upstairs hall (same pattern).  But everything had to be moved out of the office (not things on the wall shelves).  To move the desk, everything had to be taken out of the drawers and I found a rolling 25 gallon tub for that. To move a 3 shelf unit for photo albums, all had to be moved.  The computer, modem, wifi, phone, etc. had to relocated temporarily. It’s just amazing what turns up in a move—even a move from the office to the dining room.

1.  A birthday letter to me from my mother from 1996.  She died in 2000, and I didn’t pack away that letter, but wasn’t real sure where it was.   Like having her here to tell me about the day of my birth and why my nickname was “Peachy.” 

2.  Lots of homemade cards from my friend Lynne.  We’ve been friends since high school.  I have a scrap book for her cards and poetry, but somehow a little sack of them stayed behind in my desk.

3.  A box of note cards with a Frank Lloyd Wright design, plus lots of miscellaneous cards, many as mementoes from museums and travels, from the days when I did less e-mail and more personal notes.

4.  A little stamp with my name on it from when I was a Slavic language cataloger at the University of Illinois library. I think the main entry card was stamped with the cataloger’s name in case there was a problem.

5.  A set of weights my daughter gave me for Christmas 2 years ago, 3 lb.., 5 lb., 8 lb.  Almost like new.  They were hard to move.

6.  The first issue of George magazine.  I collect first issues of serials, and this one didn’t get into the storage box when I rearranged my collection 2 years ago.

7.  Scissors for crafts.  Zig zag, shaped patterns, etc.  I’m not crafty, so not sure why I bought them. It was probably either a good deal or I had a flash of ambition that dissipated before I got home.

8.  Pennies, twisty ties,paper clips, mystery keys to suitcases I no longer have and rubber bands too brittle to use.

9.  A letter with the last 41 cent postage stamp on it (I’d made a note on the envelope).

10. A photo of my sister and me from 2002 printed from my computer, but I don’t seem to have either a digital copy or print of it.

11. Lots of carefully saved instructions, guarantees, warranties, for digital stuff I almost never use or have replaced.

12. A very nice, never used color coded notebook with 3 x 5 cards. 

13. A faded poem on yellow lined paper from my husband written in 1960 on the anniversary of our first date.  It was probably in the desk because I repacked that box of memorabilia when we moved here, and so it surfaced 11 years later.

If you’d like to play Thursday Thirteen, or read along, you can join in.

Warming has stopped—but not the debates

“The world stopped getting warmer almost 16 years ago, according to new data released last week.

The figures, which have triggered debate among climate scientists, reveal that from the beginning of 1997 until August 2012, there was no discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures.

This means that the ‘plateau’ or ‘pause’ in global warming has now lasted for about the same time as the previous period when temperatures rose, 1980 to 1996. Before that, temperatures had been stable or declining for about 40 years. “

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2217286/Global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago-reveals-Met-Office-report-quietly-released--chart-prove-it.html#ixzz2CIeSq5l4

Climate change was not an issue during the campaign, for either candidate, but we can expect Obama to dust off the issue, even with the reports that warming has stopped. He needs to grovel for his base left.

Questions I’d like to have answered by the Congressional investigation

‎1) Who denied the help, 2) who started the spin about the video, 3) who benefits from the cover up, and 4) why is the CIA in Libya funneling weapons to Syria? These are questions I'd like to have answered by the investigation, but I know they won't be, and even if they were, Obama would find a way to blame someone else.  The only time this man wants to be out of the spotlight is when the buck is trying to stop.  The sex story of Petraeus, Broadwell, Kelly, Allen, Kelly’s sister, and the FBI guy is complicated and morphing—it perhaps needs a different investigation.  And this isn’t for the investigation, but are they showing “fat” photos of Hillary, or has she really gained that much weight? Maybe she needs fewer parties and more attention to what her people are doing?

How to lose the race

If you're competing in a horse race, and one of the horses has a better record, better sire and dam, better trainer, and is stronger, it's only fair to the other horses and owners to put him in hobbles to run the race. If Obama owns the track.

The cover up may involve sex, and it looks like national security too

Too bad there is no journalist or TV reporter who could look into the implications. Jill’s twin sister, Natalie and her child custody case,is really one of the more interesting sub-texts of this mess, which no one on reality TV or the Soaps would even attempt. http://www.humanevents.com/2012/11/14/jill-ted-petraeus-scandal-infographic/

And you thought the battle would end with recognizing gay marriage?

Our church is no longer a member of ELCA, but when we pulled out, it wasn’t exactly about “gay marriage” because that hasn’t yet been voted on.  The issue which had been voted down since 1988, but approved in 2008, was that three ordained and licensed homosexual pastors wanted to be open about their partners, but when they signed on they had agreed to be celibate.  There are very naïve Christians out there who think if we just make a concession that only love and personal commitment matter, then we can get on with the business of the Gospel.  However, it’s not quite that simple, because other groups like polygamists, man/boy love and incest groups are waiting in the wings also asking for the church to give them its blessing, because really, doesn’t God just care about love, not the gender, the age, or the number?

Today at Dear Prudence (Slate) I read one I’d simply never thought of:  twin gay brothers in a committed homosexual relationship with each other.  The advice columnist saw no problem, nor did their counselor, because even the men thought it was a little odd, and hadn’t told their parents, who knew they were gay but wondered why they hadn’t found a permanent partner.

This, dear Christian brothers and sisters, is where you are heading. 

Stocks slumping, layoffs jumping

All because businesses preferred Romney.

Layoffs can be found at dailyjobcuts.com, which is updated daily, and unless you were watching before Nov.6 it might be hard to gauge. However, we know many employers were waiting to see if Romney could kill Obamacare, and thus save jobs. But one I saw I think predates the election, or at least there were rumors. and that's layoffs at Southern Illinois University. Many colleges are over staffed, and have whopping pensions to pay off. Illinois is in deep doo-doo with all gov't associated programs and unions, and we've elected one of them to mess up the rest of the states.

http://thesouthern.com/news/local/siu-layoffs-possible-in-january/article_46eccbae-2ee5-11e2-997c-001a4bcf887a.html

SIU is facing the prospect of covering more employee pension costs under a deal Gov. Pat Quinn wants finished by early January. In addition, sequestration measures that might happen if the federal government pitches over the “fiscal cliff” could severely cripple research and student aid funding.

Did she hid them In her socks?

“The FBI found a substantial amount of classified information improperly secured on the personal computer of disgraced CIA director Gen. David Petraeus’ mistress, sources said yesterday.

The files were discovered on a machine removed from Paula Broadwell’s Charlotte, NC, home as the feds investigated her sordid affair with the military commander whose biography she co-wrote.

Investigators also found documents Broadwell admitted taking from secure government buildings, a source told ABC News, adding the government demanded that they all be returned.”

How did this man ever manage something as complicated as the “surge” if he can’t stay out of messes like this?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/paula_had_top_secrets_WukhCN61iSxyauU5ErBAtK

Remember David Gergen of the Clinton WH said Sandy Berger hiding classified documents in his socks was innocent, too.

Imagine if we had a press corps like Bush had !

The Libya mess expands and morphs

The White House (Jarrett, Obama, Clinton, Rice, etc.) decided to go into Libya without Congressional approval or knowledge. It blew up in their faces. Now they lie, cover up and play musical chairs with positions close to the president. I’m looking for a story link about how effective representative government is during an Obama term.  Have you got any? One?

The minority Republican says . . .

“I can understand the peoples support for the Democrat Party. Much of what they say they stand for sounds moral and compassionate, especially concerning the poor and minority populations. Yet, my convictions and research eventually led me to reject the Democrat ideology, preferring to side with people and political parties more aligned with the morals and values consistent with my Christian faith.

I used to be a Democrat, but I am no longer. I am a registered Republican. Not because I thought the Republican Party was so righteous, but because there came a time in my life as a Democrat, that I could no longer reconcile my politics and my faith.”

“. . . The primary reasons why I reject the Democrat platform is because it has within it the most immoral and ungodly principles to guide this nation. Our preference for this course for our nation is a sure sign that we as a nation have not rejected the Republican Party, per se, but we have rejected God. Just like in the days of Samuel, when the Israelites demanded that Samuel “appoint them a king,” God told Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me.”

. . . “But the reason I choose not to vote Democrat has little to do with the fact that they are the party of Jim Crow and the KKK, but that today they are on the wrong side of the EVERY ISSUE that matters to me most. “Choice,” “Reproductive Rights,” “Marriage Equality,” “Fair Share,” are all repackaged code names for the same age old sins: “child-killing,” “sodomy,” and “covetousness.” Nothing new under the sun.

http://minorityrepublican.com/2012/11/11/post-election-rant/    You might enjoy reading her entire essay. . . or maybe not.  If you want to write to her about being a hater, racist, homophobe, etc., you’ll have  to register.