Where’s the vigilant media we used to have in this war?

Reading about the Americas who recently died in Afghanistan, including civilians, I saw no mention in the article that this has been Obama's war for over 4 years, and that more Americans have died there under his administration than 8 years of Bush. But then, the origin of the news was the Washington Post, part of the POM, protect Obama media. You'd have to read the readers' comments to even find out Obama is President--after sifting those blaming Bush.  Afghanistan heated up in early 2009 and Obama diddled and fiddled around, not providing the troops asked for. I think they knew our peace prize prez was weak and it gave them a real boost. By the time he acted, it was too late. Now it's his war.

Sharing the un-wealth of health

It would have been easier and cheaper—but that’s not the Democrat way

The Columbus Dispatch yesterday had one of those health insurance tear jerker stories--single man, no family, too young for Medicare, and apparently too rich for Medicaid. His surgery had already been covered up to $30,000 by a state program, but he's getting bills for the rest (didn't say what that was--it was rotator cuff surgery). And he will be covered by Obamacare if Gov. Kasich takes the federal carrot, which will be used up in a few years. And even with the explanation which this poor young journalist tried to paste together from an extremely complex law, looked to me wouldn't cover his situation anyway.

Why didn't Obama go for that small window of people who fell through the cracks of the other government health care programs--Medicaid, VA, S-CHIP. Thousands will be hired to "help" people sign up and comply with the new regulations; where were they when millions didn't know which government programs to use? Millions of young people just did not want to pay the employers' co-pay so that's why they didn't have insurance--now the young will be hardest hit. Many others were wealthy enough to self insure.

But covering just those who needed it, he couldn't take over 1/5 of the economy.  He had a crisis—the high unemployment and a temporary recession—so he used it to grab the health care industry and institute many new taxes.

Plan B for children, brought to you by the party that thinks IDs for adults is racist

So. Why do you suppose the abortion industry is pushing Plan B on young girls? Certainly isn't for their health, is it? It's against the law for men to be having sex with young girls. Then they can just send them to the drug store. Mom and Dad will be in for a surprise when either the abortion or baby (these drugs must be used exactly as directed) or the venereal disease arrives for their daughter not yet old enough to drive.

Have you figured it out? This will actually create more pregnancies (more sex does that), and that means more money for the abortion industry. An ob/gyn who does abortions can make more money before noon on one day than he can in a month of delivering babies which require months of pre-natal care. 

For as long as stats have been kept on contraception, the more it is available, the more sex happens and babies are conceived and the more STDs infect women.

Brought to you by the same party who thinks an ID for adults to vote is racist.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/judge-orders-fda-plan-b-pill-women-ages-article-1.13084

www.nydailynews.com

If there is no bread on the table, there are no crumbs on the floor—Gay marriage

The so-called gay marriage event/law will eventually pass--nothing in the progressive movement of the last 100 years hasn't. You can see politicians rushing for the bandwagon. But I believe they will be getting an old worn out pair of shoes, scuffed, run down, out of fashion and tossed aside because no one but they and a few nuns and priests from the 70s seem to want it. And if gender doesn't matter, neither does age or number or consanguinity. If there is no bread on the table, there are no crumbs on the floor.

They could have lobbied and demonstrated for something new and fresh, free of the hundreds of laws now circling marriage, but instead they wanted what they really can't have--God's blessing and ours. Marriage is not respected today by the young, or even by most Christians who either shack up or serially marry--which seems to guarantee more divorce and remarriage. Marriage today is just one more lifestyle of choice. Our birth rate in the U.S. is below replacement rate and almost 41% of children are born to unmarried women, up from 18.4% in 1980. That's a good indication that marriage doesn't matter much. The state doesn't care about love--it has an interest only because families with children make better citizens and pay more taxes and will fight for their country (family) if need be. Those laws will have to go too since gay couples are by definition infertile and will need donors or AI--and new custody battles involving egg donor, sperm donor and partner. Should be a cottage industry for lawyers.

God will be the judge

of those who support the murder of the unborn with “legal, safe and late” abortion.  Like Obama voters.

“[Investigators] found jar after jar after jar of fetal remains and specifically severed feet in jars,” he explained in front of a panel following the compilation of the Grand Jury Report. “They found medical waste bags just strewn everywhere.”

Williams also outlined that several babies had been found with their spinal cords severed. It was believed that Gosnell birthed a number of babies alive, then “snipped” the back of their neck with scissors in order to kill them.

One of Gosnell’s employees, Adrienne Moton, testified against the abortionist last month, admitting that she had “snipped” the necks of ten children.:

Kermit Gosnell trial

Studying achievement, rather than failure

"Black men are overrepresented on revenue generating intercollegiate sports teams. In 2009, they were only 3.6% of undergraduate students, but 55.3% of football and basketball players at public NCAA Division I institutions (Harper, 2012)."

It would probably be called a racist comment if a sports announcer said this, but it appears in The Black Male College Achievement Study.

http://www.gse.upenn.edu/equity/sites/gse.upenn.edu.equity/files/publications/bmss.pdf

Obama wants your retirement funds!!

Obama is after your retirement funds.  Right now it's a $3 million cap.  Actually, I could have had this much if I had gone back to work sooner (returned to work when my youngest was a senior in high school) and if I had worked to age 65.  This in one of the lowest paid professional fields--librarianship.  Look out liberals.  He's coming after YOU.  My final 14 years as faculty at Ohio State University, I socked away the maximum allowed and did without trips to Spain, Bahamas, and Mexico like the Obama girls have enjoyed.  Now he even wants that!  Yes, punish people who are frugal and invest for old age.  Find new and inventive ways to hurt the American economy.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/04/05/Obama-Budget-to-Target-Success-by-Capping-Retirement-Accounts-at-3-Million

How can legalization of same sex marriage affect my own marriage?

Writes Stella Morabito on April 6:  This is #6 of her 10 points

[Same sex marriage]  is the vehicle by which all civil marriages may soon be abolished, including yours. When children are no longer considered central to state purpose, marriage becomes nothing more than a contract between any two (or more) people. A reversal of DOMA could give force to an emerging movement called "singlism," which argues that the state should cease recognition of marriage because it is discriminatory against those who do not have partners.

Furthermore, the un-defining of marriage is only one part of a package deal that includes the transgender push for the un-defining of gender. This is already happening under the radar through laws that define gender identity only on self-perception: seeing yourself on any given day as male, female, both, or neither. If that goal is achieved, the reduction of your "marriage" to social and legal gibberish will be complete. And as we become more isolated from family bonds in the eyes of the state, the state becomes freer to define our humanity.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/04/ten_qa_on_same-sex_marriage_canards_and_evasions.html

TB is making a strong comeback

There is now a TB strain that is totally drug resistant (TDR-TB) to add to the extensively drug resistant (XDR-TB) strain, identified in 2006, and the Multidrug-resistant TV (MDR-TB), which emerged in the early 1990s.  Those in the U.S. and Europe who have any of these difficult to treat strains of the old disease that was once thought conquered, have recently been in South Africa, but it has also emerged in India (2012), Iran (2009) and Italy (2007). 

In the U.S. MDR-TB accounted for 1.3% of the 10,528 cases of TB in 2011, and there were 6 cases of XDR-TB.  One woman who returned to TN from South Africa with XDR-TB had a strain that took 2 years to treat, including 90 days in isolation.  Eventually, she was cured.  Most people in the U.S. who have TB are foreign born, or were born into communities where the foreign born live.  Others at risk are homeless (aka undomiciled in NYC), substance abusers, and people with HIV.

Emerging Infectious Diseases, March 2013

JAMA, March 20, 2013

So incest is like homosexuality? It will never happen, liberals claimed—just about a week ago.

Columbia professor David Epstein [who used to write articles about Sarah Palin, not complimentary] pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempted incest [Attempted?  It went on for 3 years.] on May 10th, the Columbia Spectrum reported.

Epstein, who is still employed at the university, was originally charged with felony incest after it was discovered he was having what appeared to be a consensual relationship with his daughter, 24, in December.

Hormones now available over the counter for teens

The war on women has moved to the war on teens.  No woman should be self-prescribing a medication with toxic ingredients that amount to a year's worth of contraception in one dose. It's pretty silly to worry about plastics in baby bottles or beef and chicken laced with hormones, and then ingest this pill loaded with hormones ready to act on a not yet mature teen reproductive system.

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/04/05/pro-life-groups-slam-morning-after-pill-ruling-girls-will-be-exploited/

http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-17833-levonorgestrel+oral.aspx?drugid=17833&drugname=levonorgestrel+oral

These instructions obviously were written during a time when children needed a prescription for this drug.  Also, the instructions are rather complicated. Teens should be reporting the assault to the police, not browsing the shelves at CVS.

SIDE EFFECTS: Nausea/vomiting, abdominal pain, tiredness, dizziness, changes in vaginal bleeding, breast tenderness, diarrhea, or headache may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly.Remember that your doctor has prescribed this medication because he or she has judged that the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects.Tell your doctor immediately if any of these rare but very serious side effects occur: lower abdominal pain.A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is rare. However, seek immediate medical attention if you notice any of the following symptoms of a serious allergic reaction: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing.This is not a complete list of possible side effects. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist.In the US -Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.In Canada - Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to Health Canada at 1-866-234-2345.

The March job numbers

663,000 people left the workforce in March and only 88,000 jobs were added, but somehow the Obama administration paints a happy face on this because by destroying the will to work in so many Americans, Obama somehow wins. It's too late to blame Bush so I suppose now it will be the sequester he agreed to in order to raise taxes.

Obama's former economic advisor Austan Goolsbee called it a "punch in the gut." The stock market agreed. I call it another failure of his policies. The "recession" was over before the first stimulus dollar was out the door in 2009, and still he can't make the formula of higher taxes + more regulation + more government take overs work. That's why he's dancing on the Sandy Hook graves--it's all he's got.

Friday Family Photo—Easter in Indianapolis

I had my 2nd eye surgery a week ago Wednesday. Now I'm as blind with glasses as I used to be without them. I've always been able to see my mother when I looked at my hands; now I see her when I look in the mirror.

Does she or doesn’t she?

                  

Do you remember the first time you colored your hair—not to experiment over the bathroom sink, but to have it done professionally?  From the 1950s to the 1970s, the number of American women coloring their hair rose from 7 percent to more than 40 percent, so when I was young hair coloring was just a bit edgy, or for the elderly.

I had my brown hair with a few strands of dull gray “high lighted” with blonde probably in the mid to late 80s, because I recall the children  were grown and gone.  I was being picked up in Rockford at the bus by my parents and I was sort of concerned about what my mother would say.  She said nothing.  So finally I asked her what she thought of my new hair color, and she took a closer look.  She said it looked just like my hair did when I was a child so she hadn’t noticed—that’s sort of the image she had of me.  Dad didn’t notice either.

So I continued.  Depending on whether I had a curly perm or straightened it, sometimes it looked blonde, sometimes highlighted. Then in the late 90s I switched to light brown, over all color, but occasionally had it high lighted, like this photo from 2002—which looks completely blonde but which was actually high lights a bit over done.  A few times I tried to do it myself to save some money, but the mess and the poor results were not worth the savings.  One time a professional got it way too dark and there was nothing I could do.  It was sort of a dark, reddish brown.  I just had to live with it.

                        

When I turned 71, I decided to let it grow out and see what it looked like.  My kids don’t like it at all—makes them feel older, and I noticed immediately that people treated me different, as though I were more frail and less intelligent.  Oh well.  It saves about $500 a year.  See the Easter post (Friday family photo) for the results.

A terrible threat

We must not let the Democrats take back the House.

Pawn Stars slot machine at Hollywood Casino in Columbus

"Love their show. Hate the casino that Ohioans voted down several times. When Penn National moved it out of the Arena district to the depressed Hilltop, it passed. Construction workers got jobs, prostitution increased, but usually these places bring in their own people for the best paying jobs. This is just glamorized organized crime regardless of whom they bring in for entertainment. Columbus will pay in social costs down the road. I think the excuse was we could keep all that money in the state.

                   

When was the last time you checked your shut off valves?

Check your shut off valves. We're remodeling 2 bathrooms; toilets and shut off valves will be replaced. And while we're at it, we'll have our other shut off values also replaced. A neighbor with an identical unit the same age (1977), had one break a few days ago at night, and the damage wasn't found until morning. It will be some extra cost we hadn't planned on, but will be worth it.

Highline Classic

Choose your weapon—cell phone or rifle

Distracted driving, aka talking texting on a cell phone, is estimated to cause 333,000 total injuries, and 2600 fatalities annually. (JAMA, vol. 309, no. 9. p. 877)  In 2010 there were 358 murders involving rifles. (Wikipedia)  Gun violence has been dropping for 20 years (DOJ, Bureau of Statistics), while cell phone deaths have been increasing. The President is proposing new federal restrictions on gun ownership, which won't affect criminals at all, only law abiding citizens. And he is giving away cell phones.

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/guntime1.html

So the government is actually killing people with free cell phones! The federal government gives away "Obama phones," a misnomer since the program was begun under Reagan in 1984 (Lifeline) with land lines so the poor would have a phone, and Bush expanded it to cell phones in 2008. Mean old nasty Republicans who didn't care about the poor.

Who remembers

I remember eating at the Woolworth's in Dixon, Illinois when shopping with my mother. I checked on line and it opened in 1914 and closed in 1988.  Which means she may have eaten there when shopping with her mother.  This photo is not that store—it wasn’t that large, but I think they all looked similar.  The Dixon store had a bad fire (according to Lee Co. history) in 1943, and was rebuilt.  As I recall, there was also a Woolworth’s in Champaign, Illinois.