A good question, Ann.

I’m not on a pilgrimage

There’s one educational theme week at Lakeside in which I don’t participate—the interfaith week aka peace and justice week. I use that week to take an art class or get some housecleaning done or go to lunch with friends.  I am not on a spiritual journey or pilgrimage.  I don’t investigate the twists and turns, the doubts and insights of other religions or quasi-Christian cults.  I found Jesus—or rather He rescued me—in 1974.  The exhausting journey ended, but not the learning, the joy, the comfort, and the little pieces to fill in the ever widening picture of God’s love, creation, mercy and justice.

When the journey ended I found a small shelter with a little food and water for an exhausted traveler. No more learned lecturers with too much college and not enough faith.  No more puzzling over supposed truths in the sacred writings of  Buddhism or Hinduism or Islam.  No more asking the government to be the failing god in our society.   It was peaceful and had a beautiful view.  That little shack is now a richly appointed castle of precious stones, luxurious fabrics, glittering art and sensuous music.  Why would I step out and follow yet another exhausting path of pot holes, rocks and poison ivy when Jesus has already said, “I am the Way?”  If you want to continue on, be my guest.  Jesus and I will sit here by the open door and wait for you to return.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Prayer attributed to St. Patrick

Sunday morning worship by Lake Erie

Dr. Ben Carson on common sense

What if it’s not a train wreck, but is on track?

Perhaps you think Obamacare is a "trainwreck" because of the delays and exceptions to the mandate? Maybe not. Perhaps it is just on track. Here's a note from a friend who is an accountant. Keep in mind, the rates have already gone up in anticipation of the coming mandate.

"The mandate to cover everyone regardless of health must be covered in the insurance world. In order to cover their losses and costs due to this mandate, the insurance companies have been raising rates (which Obama promised would not happen...obviously he doesn't understand insurance.) Now Obama has delayed the implementation of the mandate/Obamacare...which was ...deliberate..So when the insurance companies post profits next year, Obama can say: “See how bad those insurance companies are."

Do NOT underestimate this president by automatically assuming he is failing at his job. Consider it is a carefully laid plan to create failure so he can blame capitalism.

Sledgehammers kill

You haven't heard of this case, but I saw the sentencing story of the 14 year old on Cleveland TV news today so just Googled "sledgehammer murder" and was shocked by how many stories came up that weren't the story I was looking for. OK. 2 black teenagers killed the parents of a white woman who had been attacked by the 18 year old and hospitalized. It happened in April 2013. Imagine the hate crime accusations if the victims had been black and the perps Hispanic, Asian or white? In this case, no mention of the race of the teens was even noted in most of the stories I browsed. Only when I found a news account with photos of their attackers did I find that out. This is not a game of "gotcha" keeping track of black on white crimes; only an observation that the media tries to whip up hatred only when it works for them.

Time to remove sledgehammers from the market along with pressure cookers and box cutters. They are just too dangerous in the hands of crazy people.

Federal employees don’t want Obamacare—92.3% want to keep what they have

Who knew that when President Obama promised, “If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period,” he was only referring to federal employees … and himself? . . . Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just revealed what lots of people believed all along: the real goal is a single-payer, government-run health care system.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillmatthews/2013/08/12/shocker-new-survey-finds-nearly-every-federal-employee-rejects-obamacare/

I’m beginning to suspect that the snafus and hold-ups aren’t that at all.  Maybe the intention all along was that it would be so bad, there would never be a roll out, and the government would then just declare it had to be the only route, and dispose of the insurance companies and exchanges all together. Why couldn’t all the nation have had what federal employees have.  A choice of multiple plans to suit our needs?

Conservatives I follow

Wishing women well

I watched an interview with a young Cleveland woman competing in an invention contest at Wal-Mart. If she wins, thousands of Wal-Marts will be marketing her product.  It's a "table shade," and she has a patent.  She was quite excited about the opportunity.  I wonder how many corporate giants offer prizes for inventions.

Yesterday I was chatting with the woman who cleans the lobby and women’s restroom at the local hotel.  While she cleaned the floors and I used the stall, we discussed the early starting date for schools.  I asked about her children.  “My boy is getting his Master’s degree in Chicago, and my daughter will be a junior in college in Toledo,” she said.  I don’t know why she’s cleaning restrooms with that “pay it forward” genealogy, maybe she just wants some extra spending money for Christmas, or maybe she’s writing a novel about how people are treated in service jobs.

Although I don’t remember her name (many people we meet at Lakeside we see only a week or two in the summer), but we took a number of art classes together within the last decade, I recognized her coming into a lecture yesterday. I remembered our chats after class and how sweet and encouraging she always was.   Her husband was leading her and she had that recognizable shuffle of dementia.  So sad.  But his loving care and attention was even sweeter.  Another friend we’ve known perhaps 20 years and who is still doing things alone also has Alzheimer’s, according to her husband. Very talented and active in community affairs, her bright sparkling personality will be (is) missed.

I got my summer LAS News from the U. of I. today.  Interesting story about Christina Brodbeck, one of the 3 U. of I. students who developed YouTube. They sold it in 2006 to Google for $1.65 billion in stock.  Now in her early 30s she is an “angel investor” and has invested in 22 start ups. She came to the U. of I. to study history (AB ‘0l, History) and also studied Russian.  She picked up a book on HTML and taught herself web design.  Later she got an advanced degree in multimedia design at San Francisco State University.

Do not release balloons for your special event

Even those labeled “bio-degradable” can kill an animal, bird or plant.

This picture is worth a thousand votes

Another Father Dowling mystery solved

Father Dowling was a TV character in the late 80s early 90s.  A great show.

 

Born in Ireland, he’s now in prison ministry.  Whether he was a real angel or a real priest, he certainly saved the day for the injured woman.

Oprah is promoting her new movie with lies

Her comments comparing Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin were just absurd,  But the O has really gone overboard with misinformation. Oprah needs to brush up on history. In an interview with Parade magazine to flog her new movie, she put the figure for lynching in the U.S. at millions. The actual number of persons lynched, 1882-1968, was tallied by the Tuskegee Institute at 4,743, of whom 1,297—that’s 27 percent—were white. Does she know Republicans tried to stop lynching with laws at the federal level and they were voted down by Democrats? So is she that ignorant, or is she deliberately trying to drum up racial hatred among blacks? Why should I buy her products, read her magazine or watch her failing TV station (she's a billionaire) if she is this wrong about something very important?

And the Swiss clerk says Oprah lied about the hand bag incident. Given how she's moved thousands to millions, I'm inclined to believe the clerk. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2389798/Oprahs-liar-Sales-assistant-Swiss-racist-handbag-row-denies-telling-TV-host-view-item-afford-it.html

The intention is to attack Christians, not build support for gays

When Christians are attacked for marriage sermons and beliefs on the sanctity of sex within marriage, it's "hate speech" from the left.  All cultures, societies, nationalities and religions for thousands and thousands of years have supported marriage between male and female. Yes, there are blips and problems along the way--it doesn't work for everyone. Likewise, there have been loving relationships and households under other names that have worked without marriage. As recently as 2008 President Obama and Hillary Clinton were running for the highest office in the land supporting traditional marriage.  Just because they saw a political benefit for caving into the pressure of the gay lobby, doesn’t make what they said in 2008 “hate speech.”  Same sex agreements and ceremonies have a track record of being recognized by the state less than a year.

I've read there are a thousand + laws about marriage (I assume they are counting states and federal together)—taxes, benefits, etc., which apparently brings this down to money. Gay men are the most educated and successful demographic in the country.  They are about 1.7% of the population.  It would be interesting to know how many have shared bank accounts, named beneficiaries on pension and IRA,  joint mortgages with right of survivorship, wills with the partner as beneficiary.  They won’t get those benefits with a marriage license.

Monday Memories—visiting Niagara Falls

Photo from FlyoverCulture.com

After attending my brother’s wedding in 1963 in Kalamazoo, Michigan we continued on east and visited Niagara Falls from the American side, and New York City.

Then about 40 years later we travelled with friends on a tour bus to do a Frank Lloyd Wright tour of Buffalo, New York, and we again saw the Falls, but from the Canadian side.  So many new buildings had been built (hotels and casinos) that they have blocked the winds that cleared the mist.  We couldn’t see much. Apparently Ontario has no zoning authority on lands owned by the Indian tribes that have the hotels and casinos.  And here we thought Indians were all OK with saving the environment.  Even taller buildings (40 stories, maybe) were being proposed. I blogged about this trip in 2009.

Rising cost of health insurance under Obamacare

The average price for the lowest-cost ObamaCare "bronze" plan in eight states [Ohio is one of them] is 122% higher than the cheapest plan currently available in those states, according to an IBD analysis of rate filings and a recent Government Accountability Office report.

Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/politics/080213-666235-cheap-obamacare-twice-as-costly-as-existing-plans.htm#ixzz2bgkoK4z1

September 11—a decade apart from Democrats’ point of view

Civilian deaths in Iraq rising—highest since 2008

More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in July by al-qaeda type groups--Muslims killing Muslims. Car bombs ripped through markets, shopping streets and parks late on Saturday as Iraqis were out celebrating Eid, the end of the Muslim fasting month, killing 57 and wounding more than 150.  Attacks in Baghdad on Tuesday killed 50. The State Department boldly called these killers terrorists. Meanwhile, the Ft. Hood terrorist attack on our military is still called "workplace" violence.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/11/us-iraq-violence-idUSBRE97A05H20130811

Meanwhile,  Obama continues to arm the Syrian rebels—we’ve learned nothing since arming al-qaeda and bin Laden back in the 1980s.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/06/15-arming-syrian-rebels-us-afghanistan-1980s-riedel

5th Dimension wows the Lakeside audience

We enjoyed a fabulous performance at Lakeside’s Hoover Auditorium last night by the 5th Dimension featuring Florence LaRue. They did many of the songs made famous by the group in their early years in the 60s and 70s, but also others well known to the baby boomer generation, and it's a great family show with a lot of audience participation. Ms. LaRue is a strong Christian, has a B.A. in Education and has been an active member of The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, CA, where she sings in the choir, serves with the homeless ministry and missionary work. She also has a solo act. The other female singer in the group, Patrice Morris, is also a pastor and has sung with many gospel groups and is a featured speaker at many events, especially focusing on marriage. She is an active member of the praise team and ministerial staff of Cathedral of Praise International Ministries, Rialto, CA. Her voice is so powerful that must be some fabulous singing in her church! I’m going to look for her CDs.

They surprised the audience, and their band, by asking us to sing along with them—God Bless America. I thought perhaps that was the final number, but it continued.  Each member of the group had a chance to perform solo, and the richness and power of their voices were incredible.

 

Update: Both Florence and Patrice were at the 8:30 worship on the lakefront, and were introduced by Pastor Jennings. We also stopped and talked to them at breakfast at the Patio Restaurant. It was a real thrill.

Cheesy Bread Sticks

1 (10 ounce) can Pillsbury pizza crust dough
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup provolone cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
Preheat oven to 425. Unroll pizza dough onto a greased cookie sheet and brush with butter. Sprinkle cheeses and spices evenly over the dough.
With a pizza cutter, cut dough lengthwise into 12 long strips. Then cut those in half to make 24 strips. Do not seperate strips. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Recut along each strip and remove from cooking sheet. Serve sticks warm with marinara sauce.
http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-cheesy-breadsticks-149066

I’ve never heard of Hugh Schwyzer who taught women’s studies at Pasadena City College

but I’ve certainly thought this about women’s studies in general and the men who advocate for them in particular.  I knew male students who thought these classes might be a good way to meet chicks.   It’s not a good career track.  Notes from the professor’s Twitter account in which he fesses up to the scam he’s pulled off for years .

“So the real story you all missed is that I talked my way into teaching women's studies on the basis of 2 undergrad courses only . . . The college knew that at the time, and since I had a history degree and wanted to teach it, they let me. . I then built a career as a well-known online male feminist on fraudulent pretenses. My mania let me talk a good game. . . But there was no there there. . . So with the clarity that comes from a shitload of anti-psychotics, I'm sorry I've been such a breathtakingly cocky fraud.”

He has also  used racism in white-dominated feminist spaces to shut down and silence black women.

http://twitchy.com/2013/08/10/bad-boy-male-feminist-melts-down-i-used-sex-and-charm-and-whiteness-to-scam-you-all/