What became of Mark Basseley Youssef?

Jeddah had Raif Badawi of Saudi Arabia could get the death penalty for his offenses against Allah--an internet web site “Saudi Arabian Liberals." Don't we have someone in jail in this country for being offensive to Allah and the Muslim faith? Blamed for something he didn't do? Benghazi?  So what's happening with Mark Basseley Youssef? Amnesty International considers Badawi to be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression. What has AI said about our government's prisoner's freedom of expression?

He got a year in prison

A Resolution for 2013

It's not about children, about safety, or violence, it's about politics

A gun control debate in Congress is probably needed, because the general public needs to hear about declining gun violence rates and the thousands of gun laws on the books; also include our failing mental health system and rising violent themes in movies and video game industry. Then let Jamie Foxx testify and brag about his killing only white people in his latest movie.

 

"Ivy League bound youngsters in private schools across the nation are the beneficiaries of top notch security systems which almost always include armed personnel. Yet ruling class pols like Obama and Bloomberg want to deny regular folks the same security their children enjoy. Obama, with his four-year "under the radar" push against our Second Amendment rights, has no problem suggesting the underclasses put their kids in harm's way."

 

American Thinker

 

A task force report on firearms dated April 2002 on violence involving children based on a systematic review of all available studies. They went to a lot of work, but I doubt Congress will ever consider it because the task force couldn't determine the effectiveness of the firearm laws to prevent violence or reduce violent outcomes. Minds are already made up and this has become a political issue, not one based on facts and figures.

 

Task force on violence

 

When Britain and Australia disarmed their citizens, the criminals did what the bad guys always do--they didn't obey the law.

 

Culture of violence

 

Homicide is primarily a problem of maleness--victim and perp--youth and ethnicity. Homicide rates among non-Hispanic, African-American males 10-24 years of age (62.2 per 100,000) exceed those of Hispanic males (21.5 per 100,000) and non-Hispanic, White males in the same age group (3.4 per 100,000) (CDC 2009a). Obama ignored these facts until white suburban children were killed, then said he had been too busy fundamentally transforming our society to do anything like appoint a task force. Can't imagine why blacks support him, except for his race.

 

CDC Report on Youth Violence

 

No surprise here. "Researchers found that people who played a violent video game for three consecutive days showed increases in aggressive behavior and hostile expectations each day they played. Meanwhile, those who played nonviolent games showed no meaningful changes in aggression or hostile expectations over that period."

 

Violent video games

 

 

More abortion coverage for military women

I certainly don’t think of abortion as “healthcare” since someone always dies, but was surprised that the U.S. military was “behind” the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) coverage of abortion (for any reason, even gender selection, any time even when viable) for its staff. In fact, ELCA congregations are required to carry this insurance.

“Congress, in the pre-Christmas rush, passed a Democrat-sponsored provision that will allow women in the U.S. military to use their health insurance to pay for abortion in cases of rape or incest. Right now, the Defense Department pays for abortion only when the mother's life is at stake.
The expanded abortion coverage is included in the defense authorization bill that is now on its way to President Obama for his anticipated signature. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), introduced the abortion measure.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/congress-expands-abortion-coverage-women-us-military

Tribute to the Minnick boys

I didn't expect to ever see our family on YouTube. Here's a very touching tribute to the Minnick boys, sons of my cousin Evelyn Corbett. I noticed it on the Facebook page of their brother-in-law, married to my first cousin, once removed. They spent much of their childhood in Mt. Morris, Illinois and attended school there. Lonnie died in January of 2010, and Larry died in February of 2010.  Julian (little blond boy near the end) died in 1987.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjyvi0tJx2I&feature=share

What we’ve come to expect—David Gregory

 

End of the year contributions

The Christian’s first responsibility is to tithe to the home congregation where we worship, serve and enjoy the fellowship of Christian friends. Our home church supports through our tithes and offerings over 50 missions from food pantry to crisis pregnancy to campus outreach to foreign missions and missionaries.  However, there are many other worthwhile organizations and services from which we benefit directly or for which we pray, or to which we’d like to add additional support.  There are some that were dropped last year due to their health insurance for paid staff covering abortion (something which many ministries may soon have no control over if it is mandated by the President and HHS in a move to squelch religious freedom). Also this year there were many political appeals, and after the election and our earlier donations which failed to make changes, we did not continue.

Four of these have direct ties to people we know from within our congregation who are serving the Lord full time.  Because I listen to or watch a lot of Catholic media which I find superior to what is available on Protestant stations, I support them (no advertising).  Lakeside, of course, is a private Chautauqua association where we have had a second home since 1988, and where we vacationed with our children beginning in 1976.  We benefit tremendously from its outstanding programming 10 weeks during the summer, and want it to continue for many years in the future.  My husband has been on several boards there and teaches at the art center.

                      

Pregnancy Decision Health Centers, Columbus $100

Lutheran Bible Translators $100

Eternal Word Television Network, Alabama $25

St. Gabriel Catholic Radio AM 820. Columbus $25

168 Film Project, John Ware $25

Pinecrest Community, Mt. Morris, IL $25  (broken link)

Hilltop Preschool, Columbus, Jane Leach $25

World Mission Prayer League $25

Into the Field (Jennifer Cameron)  $25

Cum Christo  $25

C.O.C.I.N.A.  (Haiti) $100

Lakeside Association  $1250

         

Prayer on public property

Apparently, religious faith is OK on state property in times of crisis. In an article on how to help children cope with the Newtown tragedy at an Ohio State medical website, I noticed this suggestion: "Please keep all of the victim’s families in your prayers."

(Apostrophe alert, but since the writer's heart was in the right place, I didn't correct it.)

Where is the logic?

What a bunch of liberal boobs

wrote one reader when the NY paper, The Journal News, published the names and addresses of gun owners of several NYC suburban counties.  “You also made a map for criminals to use to find homes to rob (both those who don’t have guns, and those who do, since often burglaries about about stealing guns).   The paper has treated law-abiding gun owners, exercising their 2nd amendment rights, like sex offenders.  Everyone in that community should drop their advertising and subscription to that paper.  Somewhere I think I saw on the internet that the home address of Janet Hasson, president and publisher, had been posted. I supposed it would require too much real journalism to find the illegal guns.

http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/newspaper-gun-owners-map/2012/12/26/id/469039?s=al&promo_code=114AC-1#ixzz2GCUsxjGl

When I went to college, an A was an A

But not anymore.  The more prestigious the college, the more grade inflation.

“Contemporary data indicate that, on average across a wide range of schools, A’s represent 43% of all letter grades, an increase of 28 percentage points since 1960 and 12 percentage points since 1988. D’s and F’s total typically less than 10% of all letter grades. Private colleges and universities give, on average, significantly more A’s and B’s combined than public institutions with equal student selectivity. Southern schools grade more harshly than those in other regions, and science and engineering-focused schools grade more stringently than those emphasizing the liberal arts. At schools with modest selectivity, grading is as generous as it was in the mid-1980s at highly selective schools. These prestigious schools have, in turn, continued to ramp up their grades. It is likely that at many selective and highly selective schools, undergraduate GPAs are now so saturated at the high end that they have little use as a motivator of students and as an evaluation tool for graduate and professional schools and employers.”

http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=16473

Christian cruises

The only Christian cruise we ever took was in 2009 when a group of Lutherans and Greek Orthodox from Columbus, Ohio, traveled to the Holy Land via a cruise ship after flying into Greece.  It was a fabulous, spirit filled trip.  We did have good food and some Christian entertainment, but nothing I would call hedonistic.  It’s just a great way to travel (we were bussed to the sites after docking).  One woman did meet her future husband on the cruise (he was a waiter).  This Catholic blogger seems to see it as a particularly distasteful Protestant form of entertainment and doesn’t like it that Catholics are now doing it.

I can see Protestants having Cruises, there is some logic there. In most Protestantism (not all), there is no sanctuary and entertainment is a key factor in bringing in the crowds, so a Cruise makes sense. Plus, with the contraceptive and divorce mindset firmly implanted, a Cruise is great for those couples who are holding off having kids so they can see the world first, as well as a great place to find a second spouse. And with Christians in general not too far removed from the mainstream Paganism, it seems a Cruise is a venue all Americans should be up for. And that's why Catholics should not be following behind.

http://catholicnick.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-catholic-cruises-are-not-good-idea.html

Vinyl is thriving

Who knew? My son, that’s who.  He keeps up on these things with his playing guitar and composing. He told me yesterday when he showed me a new album by his neighbor who is the drummer with Joshua P. James and the Paper Planes.  But today's Columbus Dispatch has an article about it. Says the young people know about vinyl but we old folks still think it's dead. Yup.

http://www.joshuapjamesandthepaperplanes.com/enter.cfm

Christmas blessing to all

Monday Memories—December 24, 2012

                         

Remembering Christmas gifts through the years--not from my past--but our kids'. Hippity hops; a cardboard puppet stage that had to be assembled the night before; little cars with miles of tracks; bathrobes and slippers made by my sister; stretch Armstrong; board games like Racko and Stratego; educational (of course) magazines from Grandma and Grandpa Corbett; Fisher Price anything when they were still made of wood from Grandma and Grandpa DeMott; a Chicago Bears sweatshirt from Auntie Lynne Wilburn; Barbie doll clothes and stuff; and others for which I'd have to drag out the photo albums (remember those clumsy things before all photos were imprisoned on smart phones?).

The above MM banner is a bit more recent—Christmas 2001—the last in our home of 34 years.  The books are Tolkien I believe.

Today’s torturous ultra-high heels remind me of Chinese custom that lasted over a thousand years

"The practice of binding feet was originally introduced about a thousand years ago, allegedly by a concubine of the emperor. Not only was the sight of women hobbling on tiny feet considered erotic, men would also get excited playing with bound feet, which were always hidden in embroidered silk shoes. Women could not remove the binding cloths even when they were adults, as their feet would start growing again. The binding could only be loosened temporarily at night in bed, when they would put on soft-soled shoes. Men rarely saw naked bound feet, which were usually covered in rotting flesh and stank when the bindings were removed.”  Jung Chang, Wild Swans: The Three Daughters of China

Beginning at an early age, the bones in a girl child’s feet were crushed as toes were bound and arches were destroyed.  She was in constant pain, but her bound feet were her greatest asset. I suppose corns, bunions, callouses and broken ankles plus being unable to walk or run  is less painful, but it still amazes me that women  still do this to appeal to men.

"I regret binding my feet," Zhou says. "I can't dance, I can't move properly. I regret it a lot. But at the time, if you didn't bind your feet, no one would marry you."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8966942

As we roll off the fiscal cliff

Don't be fooled as we roll off the fiscal cliff. It's not about the wealth of the top 1 or 2 percent. The federal tax system is "progressive" and has been for close to 100 years--wealthier people pay taxes at a higher rate than others, but there just aren't enough of them to impact our debt. That plan he dangled during his campaign isn't enough to float the government even 2 weeks. You can't get blood out of a turnip--even the top 20% of households now pay more than 94 percent of income taxes. What he really wants is the wealth of the middle class, that middle bracket (20%) of the 5 quintiles. Now, there's something that really matters, and you all have it, so in this administration it obviously belongs to someone else--our government. (The 2 lowest quintiles--40%--pay no federal taxes--they get money and stuff from the gov't).

http://taxfoundation.org/article/cbo-report-shows-increasing-redistribution-tax-code-despite-no-long-term-trend-income-inequality

Away in a manger

Bless all the dear children, born and unborn.

Forbes list of top 10 grossing movie stars

Do you suppose any of them will come out against violence in movies; or will they just point fingers at the NRA?

1. Robert Downey, Jr. total box office for the year: $1.5 billion

2. Kristen Stewart, $1.2 billion

3. Christian Bale, $1 billion

4. Daniel Craig, $951 million

5. Robert Pattinson, $793 million

6. Taylor Lautner, $779 million

7. Andrew Garfield, $752 million

8. Jennifer Lawrence, $748 million

9. Will Smith, $624 million

10. Mark Wahlberg, $598 million

Advent Blogging Break