What not to wear

I thought of that cable show “What not to wear” when I saw Hillary in this odd outfit.

Maybe it looks better without the teleprompters.

Let’s estimate how much is owed to the insurance companies since Healthcare.gov can’t compile that information

This is Reuters, not Fox, for all of you who are checking my sources. I found out about this from Fox though, as the news was quietly released by Reuters around 8 PM last night.

"Health plans will estimate how much they are owed, and submit that estimate to the government. Once the system is built, the government and insurers can reconcile the payments made with the plan data to "true up" payments, he said."

That's right. Your federal government is going to send your tax dollars to insurance companies based on their ESTIMATES of how much they are owed.

I love that phrase "once the system is built". Really? They created a health care plan with no provision for payments?

From Dr. Anna Loska Meenan

Healthcare.gov still riddled with ADD

A market based alternative to Obamacare

1. Obamacare moves American health care in the wrong direction. It undermines the doctor–patient relationship, centralizes health care decisions, and increases health care costs.
2. Therefore, Obamacare should be stopped and fully repealed.
3. Once this is accomplished, Congress and the states should pursue patient-centered, market-based reforms that get health care reform back on track.
4. Such reforms should focus on letting individuals choose and control their own health insurance; allowing the free markets to respond to consumer demand; encouraging employers to provide portable health insurance to their workers; helping those in need through civil society, the free markets, and the states; and protecting the right of conscience and unborn children.

After Obamacare

Obamacare can’t fix stupid

David Horowitz

Watched an interview with David Horowitz on Glenn Beck tonight. He used to be a Communist, as were his parents. He discussed his book "Black book of the American Left." He says Jarrett and Axelrod, Obama's advisors, had the same upbringing he did, but have remained Communists. He says the take over of the country began in the schools, and mentioned the junk history films by Oliver Stone that are shown in schools so will probably be absorbed by little heads of mush   (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/magazine/oliver-stone-rewrites-history-again.html)  Years ago, when I was still a Democrat (which was a much different party then) I read his autobiography. He’s quite a prolific writer and this is his collected writings, but there will be more in the series.

This link is to an interview at Heritage Foundation.

Cranberry-Orange Caramel Corn

This sounds good—if you’re having a crowd in so you don’t eat too much.

Yield: 10 cups

Ingredients

• 10 cups popped popcorn
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup whole almonds
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/2 packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, undiluted
• 1 teaspoon orange or vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place popcorn, cranberries and almonds in a large bowl; set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan heat butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and orange juice concentrate over medium heat until butter is melted. Bring to a boil and boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in extract and baking soda (mixture will foam).
3. Pour syrup mixture over popcorn mixture in bowl; stir to coat well. Spread evenly in a large, rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan, lined with foil and sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake 30 minutes, stirring twice during baking time. Stir caramel corn as it cools on baking sheet. Store in an airtight container.

The Popcorn Board | 330 North Wabash Avenue | Suite 2000 | Chicago, IL 60611

Giant Eagle Holiday Greetings

                       

        

Yesterday I got a notice from Giant Eagle that I had "saved" $320.36 in 2013 by shopping there--$147.01 in fuel perks, $3.15 coupons, and $170.20 weekly specials. I really don't like playing games with my food, but I do have a loyalty card (reluctantly) and buy gift cards, and some bakery specials, or dash in dash out things at the Giant Eagle closest to my home (a mile). I only mention this to remind us how efficiently the private sector manages to keep track of a fraction of the U.S. citizens, but Healthcare.gov still can't even figure a subsidy or a price for a few thousand, but expect millions of currently uninsured. This website was contracted out to many companies (probably political cronies like Michelle's college roommate) with no one in charge of the overall concept. It was designed to fail so Obama could quickly move on the the next step: single payer.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/health-care-enrollment-on-web-plagued-by-bugs/2013/12/02/e3021b86-5b79-11e3-a49b-90a0e156254b_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

Monday Memories—Class of 1958 reunion

The class of 1958 of Mt. Morris High School had a class reunion on July 6, 2013, and I just noticed the photo at the Mt. Morris website.  Except for Carol Hayes and Kay Egan, I’m not sure I would recognize these people. Most of the activities I was in at MMHS they were too, like band, Pepsters, GAA (the girls, anyway), yearbook, dances, and church youth groups.

Magic Chicken and Biscuit Casserole

Yield: 8 servings
4 Tbsp butter
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (I’m going to use left over turkey from Thanksgiving)
Up to 2 cups mixed vegetables (can use frozen, fresh or a mix)...
¼ onion, diced small
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups reduced fat biscuit mix
1 ½ cups skim milk
1 ½ cups chicken broth
2-3 chicken bouillon cubes (if using canned broth, use all 3)
1 can fat free cream of chicken soup

Heat oven to 350° F. In a 9X13 dish, place butter in cubes and allow to melt in the oven.

Heat the broth and dissolve the bouillon, set aside.

Remove the dish from the oven and layer chicken on top of the butter, do not stir.

Place your favorite mix of vegetables and onions on top of the chicken, do not stir (I used corn, green peas, carrots, spinach and bell pepper).

Top with the cheese, no stirring! Combine the biscuit mix and the milk, pour over the top and again, do not mix!

Mix together the broth and the cream of chicken soup, pour THIS over the top of everything, again, DO NOT STIR…yep, it looks like a mess, but bake for 45-50 minutes and the magic happens!

Remove when top is evenly browned and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. This is absolutely delicious!

By Cristal R. of SBC, Enjoy, seen at Gail’s Recipe Share

Kanye West says blacks don’t have connections

like Jews do or the Bushes, not even the President!  I wonder why Obama raised more money in 2012 than Mitt if he has no rich folks he can find to support him. (As of September 21, 2012) Forbes

- James Simons: $4.1 million

The hedge fund ‘quant king’ is the biggest billionaire donor to the left, giving $2 million to Obama-backing super PAC Priorities USA Action as well as supporting left-leaning Majority PAC and House Majority PAC.

- Irwin Jacobs : $2.1 million

The retired head of chip manufacturer Qualcomm also cut a $2 million check to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC backing Obama’s reelection.

- Jon Stryker: $2 million

Medical device heir, like Jacobs and Simons, pitched in $2 million to Priorities USA Action. He’s also a longtime donor to LGBT causes.

- Anne Cox Chambers: $1.6 million

The 92-year-old Cox Enterprises TV billionaire backed Obama supporters Priorities USA Action.

- George Soros: $1.275 million

The legendary investor hasn’t supported Obama directly, but he’s contributed to left-leaning groups Majority PAC, House Majority PAC, and American Bridge 21st Century.

- Haim Saban: $1 million

The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers mogul has divided his donation between C Priorities USA Action and left-leaning Majority PAC and House Majority PAC.

Bundlers

- David Shaw, New York hedge funder: $500k+

- James Crown, of the Henry Crown dynasty of investors: $500k+

- Marc Lasry, New York hedge funder: $500k+

- Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce.com: $500k+

- Penny Pritzker, business executive and Hyatt hotel heiress: $200k-$500k

You get what you voted for

Elect a Chicago community organizer (twice) as your president and you should not be surprised to find that all he is capable of is spewing propaganda and dividing us by personalizing attacks on those who oppose his grandiose, wildly impractical efforts at reshaping our lives to suit his sophomoric view of the good life. http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/12/lets_talk_turkey.html

It was announced earlier this week that Families USA, a self-proclaimed non-partisan organization (about as non-partisan as the Republican Governors—check out its Board/staff), has been given a $1.1 million grant to establish a database of ObamaCare "success stories." Families USA received the money from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on Oct. 4. The grant is meant to help Families USA expand the database of “real people” sharing their stories of enrolling in ObamaCare. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/01/obamacare-website-re-do-deadline-set-for-saturday/

What the western media reported . . .

Pope Francis criticized capitalism and free markets.  That was about all—perhaps a few sentences in the Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel).  I’ve learned to never trust the media to translate the Pope.

Pope Francis also says in the exhortation that politicians should not pander to or prey on the poor for votes, that countries with high debt are doing a disservice to the poor, and that welfare programs are not the answer to the problem of poverty. He also calls for a greater emphasis on Catholic teaching on the principle of subsidiarity, which is absolutely opposed to all forms of "collectivism." So while Pope Francis is criticizing capitalism's negatives, he is certainly not endorsing socialism.

The exhortation needs to be taken as a whole, not cherry-picked apart depending on one's political viewpoint. In his exhortation, Pope Francis chides both liberals and conservatives, society in general, self-centeredness, secularism, totalitarianism, the Catholic Church, the division that exists among Christian Churches, the "silent complicity" that enables human trafficking, and even priests who deliver boring homilies.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/12/what_the_pope_really_said.html

He said that when our hearts are filled with desire for material things we have little room for God—I think I’ve heard that message every year about Christmas.  He said that in this age, many worship money.  But if reporters don’t go to church, this might be news to them.

He said he wanted everyone to have a personal encounter with Jesus and that Jesus was waiting with open arms. 

“Now is the time to say to Jesus: “Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace”. How good it feels to come back to him whenever we are lost! Let me say this once more: God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy.”

“I never tire of repeating those words of Benedict XVI which take us to the very heart of the Gospel: “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”.

Why didn’t the press report that?

And yes, he did name the “free market system” as not meeting the demands of the poor, and I disagree with him there, because of what we have to compare it with--socialism, communism,  monarchies, and tribal/ethnic hatreds,which killed off about 100 million in the 20th century through democide (governments killing their own people, not war deaths). The conditions in Argentina, his home country, are very different than the United States (they are not built on English law as the U.S. is). 

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html#

Smoking cessation campaigns

Last year the government spent $54 million on Tips from Former Smokers. These are very moving stories. Sad, too. Lives ruined, or dead. The CDC says 1.6 million were persuaded to quit and after 3 months 220,000 were still abstinent. I don't know how they track that, but I've never known anyone who quit smoking with the federal government's help.
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/resources/ads/tips-2-ad-ellie-full.pdf

My dad quit when he began coughing blood in his 30’s; my father-in-law quit when he reached for the 3rd pack of the day; my son-in-law quit in his early 40s; my brother-in-law quit in his 50s with some back sliding; my niece quit because her son had asthma; my girlfriend quit after lung cancer treatment.  Most of the other family members I recall who were heavy smokers died of different types of cancer—lung, liver, throat, or heart disease.  We lost them much too soon.

Quitting is tough. But not nearly as bad as chemo or COPD or asthma and being sick for the rest of your life.

Hollywood hypocrisy

Ohio State University and the Annenberg Public Policy Center surveyed gun violence in top-grossing movies, finding that the frequency of gun violence had more than tripled in PG-13 films since 1985. The PG-13 rating was introduced in 1984.

Gun violence in PG-13 movies has rivaled the frequency of gun violence in R-rated movies since 2009, and actually surpassed it in 2012, according to the study. (CS Monitor, Nov. 12).

Not only does this mean the rating system is meaningless, but that Hollywood celebrities and entertainment investors are total hypocrites about gun control and the 2nd amendment because they are trafficking in guns and directing it to children and teaching them how to use guns and resolve conflicts. http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/moviegunviolence.htm

Loaded words in this article about shopping

Doesn’t seem to be much love for retail in this article.  I wonder if the author understands that it is the advertising for products (which must be sold to make a profit) that pay his bills?  This article guarantees a negative impression of American retailers. http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/retail-tricks

America's malls and department stores would like to see you shell out even more.

subtle psychological tricks

latest scientific research on the shopper's brain

stores are squeezing more pennies from your pocket

something more insidious

subconsciously plants that second idea

free from other manipulations

subconsciously influenced the shoppers

Fight back against these hidden retail tricks

Know when to act FAST—Stroke

A lawless government

The “fat cats” will love Obama’s choice

The wealthiest should love Obama's choice of Janet Yellen to head the fed. She will continue the easy money policy. And predictably, Obama will continue to demonize the "fat cats" because it plays well among his supporters. http://www.mrt.com/business/article_60e80d86-57b4-11e3-8100-0019bb2963f4.html

To the extent they pay any attention to the Fed, most Americans think the Federal Reserve system is part of our government.  It isn't.  Although the president appoints the Chair and members of the board, it is a private institution owned by private member banks (a non-profit!). Yes, indeed, it  controls our lives, but it's not part of our three branches of government, it is not part of the civil service system, you'll never see a budget or an audit (although it has been called for) and no one in government monitors it. Confusing?  Yes.

Friday family photo—down on the farm

Cousin Gayle and me summer of 1984