What a real estate deal!

"Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory [to the USA in 1803]  because he was waging war with Britain and was strapped for cash. He wrongly believed the area a wasteland and hence strongly preferred to retain instead the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which occupied the western half of the island of Hispaniola (the eastern half being the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo). Saint-Domingue boasted a population of 500,000 and plantations of sugar cane, indigo, coffee, and cocoa rich enough to fill 700 ships a year. The French then promptly lost the colony when, in 1804, a successful revolution by black slaves led to the independence of the new nation of Haiti.”

From Financial Founding Fathers: The Men Who Made America Rich (2006)

The Lucasville Prison riot

It's the 20th anniversary (Easter Sunday, April 11, 1993) of the Lucasville prison riot in Southern Ohio. We were on a visitor list for a prisoner we’d known at OP, so were inside the walls shortly after it opened. Some people thought it was too good, too palatial for hardened felons. And compared to the old Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus (now gone), it was nice. But if you don't have your freedom, it's just another prison. Remember that and think on the Bill of Rights which is being eroded daily by executive order, by regulation, by the courts, by the Congress, by political correctness, and by our own laziness. 

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20130406/NEWS01/304060016/Lessons-learned-Lucasville-prison-riot

Yes, both parties have problems, but

Coconut flour—I’d never heard of it—but here it is

• Coconut flour is rich in protein, fiber and fat which makes it exceptionally filling.
• Coconut flour is also a good source of lauric acid, a saturated fat thought to support the immune system and the thyroid. Like most healthy fats, lauric acid also promotes good skin health.
• Coconut flour is an exceptionally good source of manganese which helps you to better utilize many nutrients including choline and biotin (found in eggs), vitamin C and thiamin. Manganese also supports bone health, nervous system function, thyroid health and helps to maintain optimal blood sugar levels.
• Coconut flour is not grain-based, and, as such does not present many of the issues that accompany grains. Coconut flour is gluten-free and, while it does contain food phytate, the mineral-binding effects of phytates in coconut are virtual nonexistent so coconut flour does not need to be soaked (read more about soaking coconut flour).

Salmon Cakes- Gluten Free

2 tablespoons onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons celery, finely diced
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
... 1 small garlic clove, finely minced
1/4 cup avocado, mashed
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning (or other preferred seasoning)
1/4 teaspoon dried dill
6 oz cooked salmon
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut flour
2-3 tablespoons full-fat coconut milk*
2 tablespoons coconut oil

Finely chop the onion, celery, parsley, and garlic. Place the chopped veggies, avocado, seasoning, salmon, and coconut flour to a bowl. Mix well then add 2 tablespoons coconut milk and mix again. Add additional coconut milk, up to a tablespoon, if needed to hold the mixture together. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.

Form patties and arrange on a plate or other dish. Make 14-16 mini cakes or 5-7 medium sized cakes. Cover place and place in the refrigerator for approximately an hour.
To cook, heat coconut oil in skillet over med heat. When the oil is hot, add cakes, cooking in batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding. Fry 4-5 minutes per side, flipping only once (make sure first side is crispy and golden brown before flipping).

I don’t cook gluten free; just thought it sounded interesting.

Hold on to the Constitution . . .

Obama has admitted numerous time he doesn’t like or trust our Constitution—because of the negatives.  It tells the people what the government can’t do to them. 

"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world." -- Daniel Webster

http://patdollard.com/2013/04/ted-cruz-obamas-view-of-federal-power-knows-virtually-no-bounds/

http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/04/president-obamas-top-10-constitutional-violations/

National Equal Pay Day, April 9, declared

According to John Goodman in his Health Alert Letter:

A recent study shows. . ."no evidence that antidiscrimination policies have made a difference, including the actions of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). . .  In addition to years of schooling and test scores, men and women differ in the amount of work they do. Men are more likely to work full-time; and among full time workers, men work 8%-10% more hours than women.  Also, men typically accumulate more continuous work experience and therefore acquire higher productivity in the labor market.  The gender gap shrinks to only 3½ % when adjustments are made for work experience, career breaks and part-time work."

My favorite equal pay story: One time I asked my boss Jay Ladd why Bruce (a librarian) made more money than I did when we had the same years of experience, almost the same name, and were both science librarians. He said, "Because he asked for more."

For Melissa Harris Perry who thinks kids belong to the community (aka the government)

Best comeback, smack down ever.

Obsequious, groveling, sniveling and up for a possible ambassadorship

Vogue editor Anna Wintour was a big fund raiser for President Obama and has Michelle Obama on the cover again and a puff piece inside called  "Leading by example." Laura Bush was up for the tough questions, but not the current FLOTUS.  Do they think she can’t handle it?

Unintended consequences of helping

Together our two parties have created a cushion for the unemployed, disabled, the poor, single mothers and low income--the earned income tax credit (EITC), child tax credits, Supplemental Security Income for the elderly poor, Medicaid, S-CHIP, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), unemployment insurance, food stamps (SNAP), subsidized school meals, summer lunch programs, low-income housing assistance, energy assistance, block grants to create education programs that have almost no long term results (like Head Start), Social Services Block Grants (Ohio got $63 million+)  and more. GW Bush expanded the food stamp coverage in 2002 and 2008, and Obama added the people to the nearly 50 million today, so if there is a food stamp president, they should both have the “honor.”

For many receiving state and federal benefits, they can't afford to work, or take a raise/better job because they would lose benefits. I heard a man on a Christian talk show last week say that after he and his wife lived together (blended family) for 3 years, they decided to marry because they thought it was a poor example for the kids, but she lost a lot of benefits by getting married.  I doubt that this was the intention of these programs, many begun in the 1960s, but it is the unintended consequences of making people more helpless and less independent. 

The only difference between the parties is the Republicans say this isn't good but vote to add to the deficit anyway, and the Democrats love it because it buys them votes. And it takes 74% of our federal budget when you toss in Social Security and Medicare for the older not poor (who paid into those programs their entire working lives).

"

OSU student destroys pro-life posters in a fit of “righteous” anger and misinformation

This Ohio State student (or maybe faculty) thinks everyone who has an abortion is a crack head and on welfare. That's the liberals' solution for poverty, disability and addiction--kill them before they can cost money.  All these methods were first tested on black, brown and poor women and girls so they would be safe for college co-eds like Ms. Poster Stomper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B7Eap1smsy8#!

Thatcher and Clinton

Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness

1. Soul, adorn yourself with gladness,
Leave the gloomy haunts of sadness;
Come into the daylight's splendor,
There with joy your praises render
Bless the One whose grace unbounded
This amazing banquet founded.
He, though heav'nly, high, and holy,
Deigns to dwell with you most lowly.

2. Hasten as a bride to meet Him,
Eagerly and gladly greet him.
There he stands already knocking;
Quickly, now, your gate unlocking.
Open wide the fast-closed portal,
Saying to the Lord immortal:
"Come, and leave your loved one never;
Dwell within my heart forever."

3. Now in faith I humbly ponder
Over this surpassing wonder
That the bread of life is boundless
Though the souls it feeds are countless;
With the choicest wine of heaven
Christ's own blood to us is given.
Oh, most glorious consolation,
Pledge and seal of my salvation.

4. Jesus, source of lasting pleasure,
Truest friend and dearest treasure,
Peace beyond all understanding,
Joy into all life expanding:
Humbly now, I bow before you,
Love incarnate, I adore you;
Worthily let me receive you,
And, so favored, never leave you.

Melissa Harris Perry

“We haven’t had a very COLLECTIVE notion that these are OUR children. We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents.”

Maybe giving women the vote was a mistake

The USSR and Maoist China tried this, Melissa. "MSNBC Host Melissa Harris-Perry narrating a new MSNBC “Lean Forward” spot, laments that we in America “haven’t had a very collective notion that these are our children.” She said, “we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to their communities.” Fits right in with the compulsory pre-k program Obama wants.

She's also the one who called an unborn baby "a thing" when explaining the cost of raising a child. "When you’re talking about what it actually costs to have this thing turn into a human, why not allow women to make the best choices that we can with as many resources and options instead of trying to come in and regulate this process?”

But apparently regulating is fine after they are born, just not before.

Monday Memories—Schmidt’s

Our Friday night date spot for years was Schmidt’s Sausage House in German Village.  I always ordered a Bahama Mama and my husband got the bratwurst.  Then they opened a restaurant on Henderson Road, maybe early 1990s.  It didn’t last long, and closed—no warning—we were there on a Friday and it closed on Monday.  By that time, we’d decided eating close to home was kind of nice, instead of fighting traffic to go down down town. For awhile we did Gottliebs on Third Ave., closing it down, and a spot on Fishinger Rd. in Upper Arlington, also closing it after a few years, and one on Rt. 33 that had a great view of the river, closing it.  We switched to Old Bag of Nails in Tremont Center, and it’s still going, but we eventually changed to Rusty Bucket on Lane Avenue because Old Bag dropped our favorite menu item.  Still miss those Cream Puffs from Schmidt’s, however. (Pictured above)

The founder of Schmidt’s,  Geo. F. Schmidt, passed away today at 91.

How low can he go?

I really thought my opinion of our president couldn’t sink any lower, but his use and abuse of the families of the Sandy Hook tragedy just blows my mind.  He will do anything to achieve his political ends.  His agenda is to 1) short term, take back the House, and 2) long term, destroy the Bill of Rights, and he will use these children’s deaths to do it.  Hundreds of Black children die in Chicago his home city of beatings, strangulation and guns, and he does nothing, because that doesn’t get him the House in 2014. The man is beyond contempt.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/01/14/is-chicagos-out-of-control-murder-rate-connected-to-its-sanctuary-city-policies/

Cheer up when attacked

Why marriage matters to civilization, and particularly to Judaism

“When Judaism demanded that all sexual activity be channeled into marriage, it changed the world. The Torah's prohibition of non-marital sex quite simply made the creation of Western civilization possible. Societies that did not place boundaries around sexuality were stymied in their development. The subsequent dominance of the Western world can largely be attributed to the sexual revolution initiated by Judaism and later carried forward by Christianity.

This revolution consisted of forcing the sexual genie into the marital bottle. It ensured that sex no longer dominated society, heightened male-female love and sexuality (and thereby almost alone created the possibility of love and eroticism within marriage), and began the arduous task of elevating the status of women.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Hollywood Casino in Columbus, Ohio

"Was happy to see in the Columbus Dispatch that the gambling profits had been lower than hoped for at the Hollywood Casino. Apparently, Columbus' reputation as a fat city is helping their restaurants turn a profit which balances the gambling losses.

Gambling destroys a lot of lives, and keeps money from creating good. It is a tax on the poor and low income, who disproportionately get sucked in (the rich have the stock market for gambling). Churches, liberal and conservative, mainline and fundamentalist, fought this for years. They are the ones who get to pick up the pieces. http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/10/25/columbus-prostitution-arrests-made.html"

What a lame comment—Obama on Thatcher

"She stands as an example to our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered." —Obama on Margaret Thatcher's passing.

So that’s what she did?  Set an example for women?   So did Sarah Palin—who had no husband’s shirt tails to power like Hillary.   So did Jan Brewer—who stood up to the President.  So did Sgt. Kimberly Munley who brought down the Ft. Hood terrorist in “work place violence.” A lot of thanks they’ll get.

“I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society — from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.”
Speech, Feb. 8, 1984

Compare Obama’s comment to John Boehner’s. “Margaret Thatcher, a grocer’s daughter, stared down elites, union bosses, and communists to win three consecutive elections, establish conservative principles in Western Europe, and bring down the Iron Curtain. There was no secret to her values – hard work and personal responsibility – and no nonsense at all in her leadership.”

If enough people note Obama’s lame tweet, he’ll probably have to put out something more comprehensive and truthful.