Saturday, January 19, 2013
Corey Reynolds/David Gabriel
"I got season 7 of “The Closer” for my birthday in September. But we had to start watching from season one (husband rules), so we just finished it Thursday. Then we watched the additional material--fascinating panel discussion after the final episode of the cast (without Simmons who plays Chief Pope) plus main writer and director and producer. Hearing Brenda/Kyra without the accent and seeing David Gabriel/Corey Reynolds wearing earrings is a hoot. He's so drop dead gorgeous it is not a good look for him.
There is good news out there.
"In a 24/7 news cycle, sometimes we miss the good news. Another disease is close to being licked, maybe not on schedule (1995), but real progress. In 1986 there were about 3.5 million cases of Dracunculiasis in 20 countries of Africa and Asia. In 2011 there were 1,058, and the first 9 months of 2012, only 521 cases were reported. This nasty thing comes from drinking stagnant water with larvae which then grow in the body and come through the skin of the foot or leg and is terribly painful and debilitating.
JAMA, Jan. 9, 2013 and WHO, Oct. 2012 http://www.who.int/wer/2012/wer8743.pdf"
"Does anyone on the VP's task force read the reports we pay for? In December 2012 Bureau of Justice report: from 2001 to 2010, the rate of violence committed by strangers declined 47 percent and the rate committed by offenders the victims knew declined by 41 percent. Of the violence by stranger 10% used a gun; known assailant, 5% used a gun. Huge drop in 20 years.
How’s that Arab Spring love affair working for Obama supporters?
“The Arab Spring has triggered unrest among competing ethnic groups in Northern Africa, the latest manifestation of which is the taking of 40 gas-plant employees taken hostages in eastern Algeria. The captors blamed French military intervention in nearby Mali. But Shiraz Maher, writing for the Wall Street Journal, explains animosity in the region lingers after NATO forces assisted Libyan rebels in deposing and killing Muammar Gaddafi. Weaponry left over the Libyan conflict is plentiful in the black market.” Yale Global Online
As Obama continues to take credit for the draw down of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (voted against anything that would have speeded the end of the war when Bush was in office), he expands hostilities in the middle east. But his ga-ga, so in love supporters don’t see any problems. We still have no answers about Benghazi and the shipping of arms from Libya to Syria—40 tons, as I recall.
Friday, January 18, 2013
By Paula Priesse—Is Lance Armstrong the biggest liar? Not even close!
And this Washington Post headline today: “Is Lance Armstrong the world’s biggest liar?”
I dunno, did Lance say this: 1) “Transparency & the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”
2) “If I don’t have this done (economic recovery) in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”
3) “Today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office.”
4) “No family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.”
5) “These negotiations (Obamacare) will be televised on CSPAN.”
6) “We are going to work with you to lower your premiums by $2,500.”
7) “If you have insurance that you like, then you will be able to keep that insurance.”
Then there’s Gitmo, the stimulus, “private sector doing fine,” Benghazi and so on and so on. Sorry, much more but out of space. So Washington Post, “Is Lance Armstrong the world’s biggest liar?” NOT EVEN CLOSE! P
Is no one reading the December 2012 report?
According to the Justice Department, actual violence is down dramatically since 1994. The virtual and entertainment industry violence is way up, if being unable to find a movie to watch is any indication.
Violent crime against youth, 1994-2010
Public blames parents and Hollywood
“This isn’t just about guns,” Biden said on Thursday at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. “It’s about the coarsening of our culture.
“Yes, that’s what I said, the coarsening of our culture, whether it’s with video games or movies or behavior,” Biden said.
Other types of violence is also declining.
“In 2010, strangers committed about 38% of nonfatal violent crimes, including rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. “ Of those incidents, about 10% of violent victimizations committed by strangers involved a firearm, compared to 5% committed by offenders known to the victim.
How not to protect teachers or students
Yesterday teachers in Columbus received training in survival in the event of a school shooter. But someone needs to look at the current procedures. A teacher told me they don't know when they have lock down drills at her school if it is a drill or the real thing. That's just stupid. So if a teacher throws a hammer or stabs the assailant or throws a chemical from the lab to save his own life or to protect the kids, and it's not for real but just a drill, who will be blamed for the injury or assault?
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Language changes with the times and money flow
I remember "wife abuse." But after gender equality, they found out that women also abused men, it became "spousal abuse." But then it was revealed that living together (aka shacking up) also produced nasty outcomes so it became "domestic violence." But research showed that gays and lesbians abused their lovers, so it was called "domestic partner abuse." Now it is "intimate partner violence" (IPV) which is different than “elder abuse.” We have an amazingly flexible language, always ready and willing to keep up with the flow of grant money.
http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1556964#qundefined
Oh well. Like other rates of violence, the rate has gone down dramatically in the last 20 years.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Why are Americans working less?
From the Wall Street Journal article, The Wages of Unemployment
1. Food stamps—even before the down turn in the economy the program was expanding under Bush. There are over 30 million more Americans receiving food stamps today than in 2000.
2. Social Security disability payments. Supposedly, we’re healthier than ever, but five million receiving disability by 2000, 6.5 million by 2005, and rising to nearly 8.6 million today.
3. Pell grants. More people in college, fewer in the work force. In 2000, fewer than 3.9 million young men and women received Pell Grant awards to attend college. The number rose one-third, to 5.2 million by 2005, and increased a million more by 2008. In the next three years, however, the number grew over 50%, to an estimated 9.7 million.
For many, it just doesn’t pay to work! And obviously, this problem did not start with Obama!
Obama needs to check the stats
Violent crime is way down since 1994 among the young, but Obama will never look at the stats. Doesn't fit his template of ripping the country apart by creating animosity among groups, races, genders, and religions. Now he wants to put in place a plan that will discourage people with depression or anxiety or bi-polar disorder from getting help because they fear being manipulated in a federal database. He's turning their doctors into snitches.
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/vcay9410.pdf"
"Is there anything in Obama's proposals to take your 2nd amendment rights that would have saved the children of Sandy Hook? How about the 100+ black children in Chicago killed 2011-2012?"
Today I bought Velveeta labeled, “original”

Photo from Gr easy
Generally, I buy real cheese, but it is difficult to resist, and it is quite fattening. Also, it makes my atrial fibrillation kick in, for some reason. But I do remember the wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches, macaroni and cheese and scalloped potatoes my mother used to make. How did she get such simple foods to taste so good?
I also remember the great stuff she could make out of the wooden box! Sometimes it would have wheels, we could paint it, put dollies in it, make houses, etc.
Today’s Velveeta still comes in 32 oz packages, and is labeled “pasteurized prepared cheese product.”
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The right to keep and bear arms
It’s not about hunting deer; it’s not about a national guard. Read your history of the Bill of Rights. Our founders feared the very power Obama is grabbing.
It looks like the president is planning to override the Constitution and our representative form of government (Congress makes the laws). Democrats should be very worried to be associated with this. You'd have to be from another planet without a course in American history, or a statist intent on taking away all personal freedoms, to think the 2nd amendment applies only to a National guard.
"When the first Congress convened for the purpose of drafting a Bill of Rights, it delegated the task to James Madison. Madison did not write upon a blank tablet. Instead, he obtained a pamphlet listing the State proposals for a bill of rights and sought to produce a briefer version incorporating all the vital proposals of these. His purpose was to incorporate, not distinguish by technical changes, proposals such as that of the Pennsylvania minority, Sam Adams, or the New Hampshire delegates. Madison proposed among other rights that "That right of the people... to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country; but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person. " In the House, this was initially modified so that the militia clause came before the proposal recognizing the right. The proposals for the Bill of Rights were then trimmed in the interests of brevity. The conscientious objector clause was removed following objections by Elbridge Gerry, who complained that future Congresses might abuse the exemption to excuse everyone from military service.
The proposal finally passed the House in its present form: "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.: " In this form it was submitted into the Senate, which passed it the following day. The Senate in the process indicated its intent that the right be an individual one, for private purposes, by rejecting an amendment which would have limited the keeping and bearing of arms to bearing "For the common defense". "
1982, Preface, THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS REPORT of the 97th Congress.