Paula Priesse—How can this be?

August 4th – NBC: “Al Qaeda threat is ‘real and serious’ intelligence chief says.” ABC: “Senior U.S. Official: Intercepted Al Qaeda Communications Indicate Planned Attack ‘Big,’ Strategically Significant,” CBS: “Source: Terrorists behind embassy threat in place.”

How can this be? Last fall President Obama assured voters 32 TIMES that he had al Qaeda on the ropes. Examples: 9/13 – “Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead.” O used this same line seven other times. 9/25 – “Al Qaeda has been weakened” 9/28 & 10/5 - “They (al Qaeda) are on the run.” 10/9 - “al Qaeda is on its heels.” & 10/23 - “That’s why, working with Joe Biden and our national security team, we’ve been able to decimate al Qaeda.”

Either O last year was full of it or (heaven forbid) this is a cynical ploy to justify the NSA actions while keeping Benghazi & the IRS off the front pages. So which is it O-loving media? Regardless, 22 U.S. embassies are closed ‘til August 10th so it doesn’t appear it’s al Qaeda who is “on the run.” For once Mr. President, tell Americans the truth! P  (from her Facebook page)

Recent book chronicles women’s role in Iraq, long before the “combat” approval

Recently I was asked to review a new title, "All I could be; my story as a woman warrior in Iraq," by Miyoko Hikiji, Chronology Books, 2013. $18.95, ISBN: 978-1-933909-58-5. If you have a daughter or granddaughter considering a military career, she will most definitely benefit from Miyoko's story. If you've never read an account of our soldiers in Iraq, make this the first or only one. If you've ever questioned the dedication or challenges of today's military, read this book. If you've suspected sex on the battlefield now that women are in combat with men, you're right. If you’ve ever wondered what they do with human waste in the desert, you’ll find out.  She's a good writer with an ear for dialogue, and she took good notes when she was there (has  B.S degrees in journalism and psychology). And yes, she is a Japanese American, 5th generation, but grew up in rural Iowa and is a Christian, so she also brings that to her story. Recommend this to your local public library.

http://www.kcci.com/news/central-iowa/Iowa-Army-veteran-writes-book-on-woman-in-combat/-/9357080/18422922/-/gs3wrz/-/index.html  Interview with Miyoko at KCCI in Iowa.

She was U.S. Army, then joined the Iowa National Guard when she'd completed her time; her unit was called up after 9/11, and I think she had days to go before completing that obligation, but didn't ask to be released early (which some did). She was in transportation and supplies, technically non-combatant, but it sure was nerve wracking in my opinion.

http://www.allicouldbe.com/ is the website of Miyoko’s blog.

Kingston Trio at Lakeside, Week 6

We walked to Hoover Auditorium in a downpour last night, but the Kingston Trio was fabulous and worth damp clothes. They've kept their program fresh, with a few old favorites for the sing a long audience (which seemed at bit older than usual). The group began 56 years ago, and none of the originals perform, but one has been with the trio 37 years, so that's not too shabby. When the audience joined in on the MTA song, I thought of Snowden (did he ever return, no he never returned) and the riots in Brazil over the fare increase. Charlie is handed a Starbucks instead of a sandwich. Being an Ohio audience, we loved the song about trying to get to Morrow, Ohio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qp88oumRQvs#at=14  The original Kingston Trio sings To Morrow.

1959 hit for the Trio, the MTA . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP1bvY7IqZY

A lament for the vanishing bookstore

For this topic I’m going to refer you to an article by Mark Lisheron,  but note Chautauqua is misspelled throughout the article. Also, industrialization didn’t kill the traveling Chautauqua, radio, movies and the Great Depression did. The local business community put up the funds to bring the performers (like Redpath) to the rural communities.  When there are no profits, there is no charity.  My parents grew up in adjoining counties in Illinois (didn’t know each other) and Lee County had two Chautauquas  (one in Dixon, IL and one in Franklin Grove, IL).  His point is simple.  Even with Amazon, the independent bookstores are hanging in there and publishers and authors are making money.  At Thursday’s lecture on East Asia Gene Swanger recommended the book China goes global by David Shambaugh at least 3 times, and strongly recommended that we purchase it at our local bookstore, Fine Print, which just opened 2 years ago. (Before that Cokesbury had a branch here in the summer.) Even if it costs a little more, Gene said, the whole community benefits from having a book store, and he noted with pleasure that it usually has many children in it.

“Ann Patchett, prize-winning novelist and co-owner of one of those dwindling number of local bookstores, was giving [in the WSJ] another of those waspish scoldings schoolmarms used to regularly dispense in the old Chatauqua days.

This time the recalcitrant pupil was President Obama, who snubbed Patchett’s Parnassus Books in Nashville to deliver a speech on job creation Tuesday at an Amazon warehouse two hours away in Chattanooga.

Amazon, for the last 41 people in America who haven’t heard the familiar Walmart refrain, is a destroyer of small business, a killer of jobs, a giant bent on monopoly. . .

Book sales grew by 7.4 percent last year alone, $451 million more than the year before, according to Association of American Publishers figures. Amazon gets singled out, but I’ve purchased books from Alibris and at least half a dozen online sellers whose job-producing businesses weren’t even imagined in the heyday of little corner bookshop.

I’d like to believe that with $6.5 billion spent on books in 2012 somebody is making money. I hope one of those somebodies is Ann Patchett. Many of my books came from stores like hers. I loved some of those stores.  . . ”

The latest Terrorist threat

Good thing Obama's got that terrorist threat going--what with the heating up of the new Benghazi information on gun running, more about IRS targeting going right to the top, and the crappy jobs report, he needed that.

‘On August 2, the State Department announced that as a result of unspecified, but credible threats about potentially imminent al Qaeda attacks, diplomatic missions in 21 countries will be closed beginning Sunday, August 4 and will remain closed at least until the end of August. So non-specific were the apparent threats that the US response was equally non-specific, affecting US missions from the Sudan to Asia, without any indication as to whether any specific sites were identified as targets. The move was apparently prompted by credible intelligence pointing to an al-Qaida plot “against American diplomatic posts in the Middle East and other Muslim countries.”

The State Department warned American travelers to “take every precaution to be aware of their surroundings and to adopt appropriate safety measures to protect themselves when traveling.” It also warned travelers in the affected countries that consular services might not be available to them in an emergency and that they should take that into account when making their travel plans.’ Gerard Direct, Aug. 2

Teaching math over the years

1. Teaching Math when I was in school
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit ?
2. Teaching Math In 1970s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?
3. Teaching Math In 1980s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit ? Yes or No
4. Teaching Math In 1990s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
5. Teaching Math In 2000s
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it's ok).
6. Teaching Math In 2010
Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?
ANSWER: His profit was $375,000 because his logging business is just a front for his pot farm.

Seen as a comment at VA Viper blog.

Looking back with regrets, but forgiven and set free by Jesus

Ayesha writes:  “I had my first abortion at 14. I was in my 2nd trimester and had to go to Saratoga, New York, for them to perform the killing, as I was too far along for local doctors to do it. In my early 20's I had (at the time) a much welcomed and relieved miscarriage; at 24 I was pregnant again and this time scared, but happy about it. Before this pregnancy I had never known a sober day in my life. Getting pregnant saved my life. I only wish I had accepted the life God gave me the first two times. I cannot take back killing my first child Navar, nor can I take back not wanting the second one, but I have repented and I am forgiven and set free. I can also say without question that if I had kept that first child my life would have been forever changed and for the better. There is nothing happy, joyful or safe about killing your child. There is always hope and always a better way. All life is precious.”  From Ayesha Kreutz’ Facebook page.

The very rich and the poor love Obama

He’s their sugar daddy. You've got to love it when the "experts" complain that growth is slow because of greedy corporations only investing for the short term, and CEOs making buckets of money by laying off workers. Who do they blame?  Republicans, not Obama who has kept the economy at its miserable growth level by his policies and burdensome regulations. Are the rich getting richer? Oh yes, they love Obama.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/07/31/reasons-americas-slow-economic-growth/

“The real reason American corporations aren't investing is that the folks who control and run them have become so selfish and greedy that they are focused on only one thing: Maximizing short-term profitability.
When the folks who control and run American corporations get together to set future goals, for example, they don't agree to, say, hire and invest heavily for the next several years in order to produce higher earnings and stock prices 5-10 years from now. In a business and investment culture ruled by annual bonuses and quarterly earnings reports, 5-10 years from now is so far into the future that it's barely worth considering. Instead, the folks who control and run American corporations set annual bonus and quarterly earnings targets designed to maximize profits and stock prices today.
In a period in which economic growth is weak (because corporations aren't investing), the way to hit annual profit targets and get those bonuses is to "increase efficiency." And "increasing efficiency," everyone knows, is usually just a synonym for cutting costs, firing employees, and scrimping on investment.
So big American corporations are maximizing their profits and letting mountains of cash build up on their balance sheets while, in the process, starving the economy and their employees of cash that would otherwise turbo-charge consumer spending and economic growth.”

If Obama won’t do what is right for the economy, why should American corporations help him drag us down?  I’d invest short term too, if I had a corporation.

The brown bag lunch is now off limits

I see that a major city, Seattle maybe, has expanded the politically correct no-no’s used in official announcements to “brown bag.”  That’s because back in the 40’s and 50’s there were clubs and establishments that had a skin tone rule—no darker than a brown bag—for African Americans.  Never mind that this was in the black community. 

I do remember this brown bag rule. In the 1970s my husband and I were part of a racially mixed couples club.  Five black couples, five white couples and membership was rather fluid.  The blacks in the group were socially and economically above most of the whites, as I recall—a judge, a dentist, a pharmacist, a businessman, civil service, teachers.  Yes, we were going to change the world through friendship and fair housing laws.  I remember one black couple complaining there were no other black families in their neighborhood.  “I thought you white folks all moved out when we moved in,” he joked.  As it turned out, and remains so today, most black churches, social clubs and businesses were all on the east side of Columbus, and most of the white couples lived either in Worthington (north) or Upper Arlington (northwest) and really didn’t have much appeal for black families with children.

One year we decided to have a holiday season dance and each couple would invite a few friends, we’d bring food, and hire a combo.  Even with friends, that’s a small group, but one of the black couples was a member of a private social club, and able to get that facility—I think it was perhaps a former bar or restaurant.  Not very fancy, but better than what the rest of us had to offer. Ed, the member who was very dark, told me that in the 1950s he wouldn’t have been accepted for membership because of the “brown bag” rule.  I thought perhaps that was local to our area, but if Seattle had it, and still remembers it in 2013, I guess not.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2013/07/31/political-correctness-brown-bag-citizens-are-out/

“Citizen” is also on the chopping block—might offend illegals.  Before you know it, “worker” will make the list.

How to make/take money from white fans

Rachel Jeantel, Trayvon Martin’s friend from Miami, has clarified the used of "nigga" on national TV, so it must be OK for Obama's BFF to use the word to make millions from white fans who are clueless. She also explained to gullible Piers that when Trayvon attacked Zimmerman, it was just “whoop ass” and he wasn’t going to kill him. 

Summer is going quickly

The homosexual agenda in Presbyterian denominations—guest blog

What Norma says about church numbers declining is largely true - with the exception of some non-mainline churches that are conservative and are not subject to a large bureaucracy at their denominational headquarters. Southern Baptists lost members for the first time this past year! The Assemblies of God (if I'm not mistaken) are not losing members. My denomination, the PCA, has had one year when it lost members - two years ago. There has been a mass exodus from many of the 'mainline' denominations - largely for the same reasons people and churches are bailing out of the ELCA. [Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, created in 1988 with the merger of 3 synods, the former synod with which UALC was affiliated.]  A homosexual agenda - both in regard to ordination issues and marriage. Though I am not in a mainline denomination - not affiliated with the National Council of Churches or World Council of Churches--I am somewhat familiar with the mainline Presbyterians.

The past five years they have seen a significant number of churches leave for smaller, more conservative Presbyterian bodies - not the one I belong to as it is too conservative for them (on women's issues mostly). A new denomination in Presbyterianism was formed just last year called "ECO" (Evangelical Covenant Order). These were mainly large metropolitan churches across the nation who were tired of fighting the bureaucracy on homosexuality. In 1981, the EPC (Evangelical Presbyterian Church) began out of dissatisfaction with the then Northern Presbyterian Church (it no longer exists as in 1983, they merged with the Southern Presbyterian Church). A few years ago it was about 40,000 members. It has more than doubled in size from the last couple of years - and the reason?  PCUSA churches unhappy about the developments with regard to homosexual marriage and ordination. The EPC is now the third largest Presbyterian body in North America - still just a fraction (as is the PCA) of the mainline Presbyterians - but those folks are hemorrhaging members and will continue to do so as they put forward that radical homosexual agenda.

[guest blogger is a pastor in PCA]

About those fast food wage protests . . ..

Why do you think they are pushing for $10/hour minimum for fast food workers, rather than say $15? Well, they need to keep it low enough to continue to qualify for Medicaid, EITC, SNAP, WIC, housing, school lunches and snacks and summer meals for the children, etc., which could bring their disposable income to levels higher than their managers. There are people who turn down higher paid jobs rather than lose important benefits, especially those with chronic health problems. I know a manager who recently lost a $10/hour employee to a $9/hour job at another firm.  He couldn’t afford a pay raise to $12.50.

 

Overnight Oatmeal

I doubt that my husband will ever give up his cooked oatmeal with raisins, but this looked interesting. Obviously more expensive than regular oatmeal.

OVERNIGHT OATMEAL

INGREDIENTS
1 container (6 oz) Greek yogurt, any flavor
1/4 cup uncooked old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup fruit

Instructions:
In container with tight-fitting cover, mix yogurt and uncooked oats. Stir in desired fruit.

Cover; refrigerate at least 8 hours but no longer than 3 days before eating.

The Green Room makeover

You won’t appreciate this since I don’t have a photo of what it looked like before.  This is where I attend lectures in Lakeside.  Sometimes they are in Orchestra Hall (the movie theater), but usually in this room. It is now called The Chautauqua Room.  It is in the Fountain Inn. Today’s lecture in the morning was on research and advancements in types of dementia (Alzheimer’s, Lewy Body) and this afternoon was on hospice.

Obama the bystander President

Black on black. . . politics

Carlos Danger

Week 6 at Lakeside

Today we’ve had a record low for this date—both the low and the high temperatures were record lows!  Lake Erie is warmer than the air temperature.

Last night’s program was David Cassidy, 1970s teen idol, and lots of his formerly teen fans showed up to fill Hoover Auditorium in Lakeside. In fact, at breakfast this morning I was sitting next to a table of them, analyzing every move plus that of his band and stage helpers. Cassidy rose to fame in the TV show “The Partridge Family,” and is the son of two actors, Evelyn Ward and Jack Cassidy.  Shirley Jones, who played his TV mother, was his step-mother. During these shows, like last week’s Peter Noone, the rocking grandmas provide a lot of entertainment.  He was recovering from a burn and possibly coming down with the flu so was having some voice problems.  I suspect his shows are usually longer, but he made a good effort, and had an adoring audience.

This week’s programming looks good.  On Monday and Tuesday the theme is health and medicine. Alzheimers, hospice, updates on vaccines, nutrition, and 60 tips for the caregiver. (Bev: should I take notes?)  Wednesday is something on ombuds, and I don’t think I’ll attend those, but the morning bird walk at 8 a.m. looks good.  Then Thursday is a Lakeside favorite, Gene Swanger talking about East Asian Culture.  The Lakesiders love him.  The Symphony starts its 50th season this week, and the conductor gave a talk today that I attended. My husband is teaching perspective drawing and painting at the Rhein Center and registered a full class today.

The boring Knox speech

Obama says he wants to assure that the middle class has access to good jobs, education, retirement, healthcare, etc.  Except.  There's no evidence that the middle class is shrinking, and isn't he the president of all the people? All 5 quintiles?  There is still great mobility, despite a recession that was over in 2009, despite the millions added to SNAP rolls during the Obama reign. What about the poor, for instance? They need jobs so they can make it into the middle class; government assistance and transfers won't get them where they need to go. There are so many areas where the economy could boom in just energy, spreading out to more jobs, but Obama and Democrats block them. Then Obama blames "Washington" and "phony scandals."

Don't buy Obama's lies about the middle class. "A Treasury Department analysis of income-tax returns for two 10-year periods, 1987-1996 and 1996-2005 by Treasury economists Gerald Auten and Geoffrey Gee, representing 84 million returns for 120 million taxpayers, found that economic mobility has not changed. From the 1980s to 2005, many Americans progressed both in terms of absolute mobility — they became better-off in absolute terms — and in terms of relative mobility — they rose to another part of the income distribution." Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Market Watch

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamespoulos/2013/07/26/at-knox-college-a-new-speech-for-obama-but-the-same-unimaginative-economics/