Twenty first century values

Joe Biden’s gun task force

2011 homicide rates, NY: 5 homicides with a rifle.  1 in 3 million chance of being killed by a rifle in that state.  But that's how crazy the left is. This hoop-la over guns is a cover up for a failed Congress and failed Presidency. He didn't do anything about dead black children in Chicago. Why?  Well, there was a campaign going on.  Now that he’s won, Obama wants to dismantle the Constitution.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

What proposals will come out of this that you think would have kept any of the mentally ill who shoot up malls, military bases, or schools from their insane rampages?

Texas teachers flocking to concealed carry classes

While the debate begins to rage in Washington on gun restrictions following last month's deadly school shooting in Connecticut, teachers in Texas have been flocking to the classes which will allow them to carry concealed weapons, 1200 WOAI news reports.

"But any gun is better than no gun when the bad guy has a gun."

Read more: http://www.the950.com/pages/joepags-kprc.html?article=10679231#ixzz2HQJe0bau

Sheffield ELEGANCE 502 Luncheon Plate 9.375 in. White Flowers Platinum Japan

What are you waiting for?  Do something crazy today for the New Year—like set a pretty table just for the heck of it.  You deserve it.  I bought 7 of these 9+” plates at a thrift shop in 2010 thinking I’d use them, but I never have.  They are very pretty.  I think I paid $1 each for them.  These days, platinum or silver edges are not popular because of microwaves and dishwashers, but why not use them if you have them?  So I’m toping mine with some pretty, not matching, but plain bowls with a silver rim, and will use the left over ham and bean soup tonight that my daughter made with her brother’s gift ham.

What might have they become?

Here’s my problem . . .

Found. Frank Lloyd Wright leather bound sketchbook

I’ve been shifting, repacking, tossing and trimming.  I had boxes of notebooks.  I found this one, c 2004 stored with the other $4.00 ones.  But it’s for sketching and not blogging, which is probably why I never used it.  The design is May Basket, the same as one of our pillows.

Accommodating newer technology

We did some furniture/TV shifting last night. We moved a smallish flat screen that travels to the lake house in the summer to my condo office and put the one that had a "hang-over" in the bedroom. But now the cat can't sit on it. But that meant we had to move some tables, too, since the little table wouldn’t hold the heavier TV in the bedroom.  Then that moved table didn’t seem steady, so I weighted it down with a very heavy piggy bank.

With our son-in-law’s help finding the bargain we bought a new TV (RCA) at Best Buy with a built in DVD player for the family room (aka office, aka man cave).  He loves to shop at that store and knew all the questions to ask.  It takes up a lot less room than the monster that was there, but he took it home to use in his basement exercise room—which seems only fair since it belonged to them. Flat screens don’t view well from the side like the rounded screens, but because they are so much lighter in weight, it’s not difficult to adjust them.

What dogs are probably thinking based on their breed…

I saw this on Facebook.  I have a Chihuahua grand puppy who visits.

Home made ham and bean soup with cornbread

My son got a large ham for Christmas and talked his sister into making bean soup with it.  She shared, so I thought corn bread might go well with the bean soup.  Don’t you love Google when you’re sorta, almost sure you could wing it, but you’d better check?  This is from Heather Likes Food.

Ingredients

2 cups Bisquick baking mix (I had Jiffy on hand)

1/2 cup sugar

½ cup cornmeal

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup water

½ cup melted butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix together eggs, water, and butter. Add the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. There’s no need to get the lumps out, over mixing will make your cornbread dry and tough. Pour batter into a greased 8×8 pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle. ENJOY!

Inmates are lining up to sign on!

Beth Shaw writes, “Dianne Fienstein received a petition signed by over 100K people stating they'd gladly give up all their weapons when all law-abiding citizens give up their guns. One guy who signed the petition as WV128943 said he hopes to see people unarmed when he is out in a few months so that he can pursue his career in a safer environment. He added that every one of the inmates people who have signed the petition have double pinky promised to give up their guns under the above mentioned conditions.”

Chinese scientist engaged in lawsuit against the Nobel Prize Assembly

A Chinese scientist, Dr. Rongxiang  Xu, claims to have discovered “human body regenerative restoration science''  and has filed a suit in Orange County, California, seeking credit for the research that led to the work of Sir John B. Gurdon (England) and Shinya Yamanaka (Japan)  for their discovery that "mature, specialised cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body."

“The work of Gurdon and Yamanaka led to a practical medical use for stem cell research that sidesteps the main argument by anti-abortion opponents” a feat pretty much ignored by our President who in 2009 reinstated embryonic stem cell research paid for by government funding (it was never illegal or restricted).

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/08/world/europe/sweden-nobel-prize-medicine/index.html

http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e8414/rr/619952

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1087407/world-renowned-scientist-dr-rongxiang-xu-speaks-out-about-nobel-assembly-statement-claiming-they-have-not-heard-of-him

Our generation, not so much . . .

This is never a problem for us because of the age of most of the people with whom we socialize, but I sure wish the people at the next table would try it!

Al Gore—naked hypocrite

Al Gore, inherited tobacco money and a famous name, and now has further enriched himself in ways no one can support.

1) Sold his failing cable network to Al-Jazeera, an Islamic presence in our media and huge critic of US;

2) kept it out of... the hands of Glenn Beck, a libertarian and Mormon who made his money the old fashioned way (didn't inherit it);

3) avoided the new taxes of 2013 by clenching the deal in 2012, taxes he claimed were good for us;

4) will be paid in filthy fossil fuel money so he can enlarge his already huge carbon footprint.

Hypocrisy, your name plate says Gore. Wear it like a proud Democrat.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/45752

About Snopes and other fact checking websites

I'm a librarian, and I've been impressed by Snopes' research, the on-line search operation conservatives hate.  The owners have never kept it a secret that they are a small operation.  When you go to the library you can get a lot better information asking one reference person who will go after your question with a good strategy, experience, and a gut feeling that develops over time (or you're the 10th person that day to ask), than you will if you try to google it yourself and look at the first 5 based on an algorithm that favors some advertiser. 

In my opinion, the reason people don't like Snopes is because they put faith in a really dumb viral story they saw on the internet, and get mad when it is disproven. There are more fact finders debunking right wing stories than left because the right seems to have so many gullible folks. (Better gullible than mean and destructive, right?) When I write a conservative blog entry, the screamers and nasties are usually liberals who call me every imaginable name--but they are really mad about the facts I cite. (My filter deletes people with bad manners.)

I NEVER share a story without checking it first, and probably 50% of the time there are errors or exaggerations--quotes from famous people seem to be the worst—why try to improve on Billy Graham or John Wayne?  It’s a mystery.

Facts don't belong to a political party, but politics do definitely influence which questions are answered. Is Snopes' ownership liberal?  Probably.  And librarians are 223:1 liberal to conservative, but most people still go to the library for information and pay taxes to support them.

http://www.rd.com/home/rumor-detectives-true-story-or-online-hoax/

Promises, promises—your Social Security

At the outset of the Social Security program (law was passed in 1935), the federal government published an informational pamphlet that stated the following about Social Security taxes: "And finally, beginning in 1949, 12 years from now, you and your employer will each pay 3 cents on each dollar you earn, up to $3,000 a year. That is the most you will ever pay." 

Social Security is a better program for the poor than the middle class. 

"A person who earns $15,000/year will pay $86,000 in payroll taxes (employer and employee combined) over 44 years of work. When he retires, his annual benefit will be $10,128 or 11.8% of his lifetime payroll taxes. But a person who earns $110,000/year will pay $627,000 in payroll taxes over 44 years of work. When he retires, his annual benefit will be $31,260/year or 5.0% of his lifetime payroll taxes."

Most of us today would be thrilled to get almost 12% on our retirement accounts. The down side is you can't pass it along to your survivors like a private account.

This is a very informative site. 

The Tennessee Waltz

This song, the B side of Boogie Woogie Santa Claus,  is forever associated with Patty Page, who died New Year’s Day.  Page was the top-selling female singer of the 1950s with more than 100 million records.  It tells of a love lost to a friend, who danced the Tennessee Waltz with the singer’s lover.  It was written by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart in 1946, but was made famous by Page in 1950.

In 1950, I wasn’t listening to too many pop tunes, although I’m sure I heard them in the background on radio.  But I do remember hearing Tennessee Waltz around 1950 when riding in the horse truck with Charlie Ranz.   He sang it. Silly me.  I wanted to actually hear the Tennessee Waltz, not just a song about the Tennessee Waltz, and asked him if he knew THAT song.

 

Summer 1950 on a gray pony with Charlie Ranz with his truck in the background. Sweet memories of a dear man.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57561785/patti-page-remembered-by-george-jones-charlie-daniels/

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/01/02/tennessee-waltz-singer-patti-page-dies-at-age-85/

Here’s my plan

Genealogy the casual way

Found a few more cousins on Facebook over the holiday--grandchildren and great grandchildren of my grandparents, Joe and Bessie (seated), children and grandchildren of Gladys (far right), Dad's sister who died in 1976. She had the biggest smile and greatest laugh in Northern Illinois. My dad had four sisters--all loaded with personality and good looks.

Crafting religious freedom