Our first movie of 2014 will be

Philomena.  A woman looking for her child; a man looking for his career. 

The weather is supposed to be bitter tomorrow—a good day to go to a movie theater.

SeaTac minimum wage for hospitality and transportation workers upped to $15 January 1.

But there will be more law suits, because some are exempt.  There will also be many jobs lost as employers try to scramble not only to find the money, but to increase those who have been working for years above minimum.  How much does a mechanic deserve if the hospitality worker cleaning the hotel room or the driver of the van gets $15/hour as a beginning salary.  How many workers, if they are good, remain at minimum whether they are burger flippers or hotel maids?

And why does the city council think hospitality workers should earn more than McDonald’s or Burger King workers.  At least they get tips.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/31/news/seatac-minimum-wage/

Washington’s in for a rough economic ride.  Unions are pushing Boeing, who may just leave the state for a right to work state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/business/vote-on-boeing-contract-highlights-rift-in-machinists-union.html

The dispute highlights a rift within the union, one that reflects the varying priorities of its leadership. Union officials in Washington State want to preserve gains hard won from a company that has surging profits and record plane orders. But the international leadership sees a different threat — the possibility of losing a large manufacturing center and more than 10,000 union jobs to a right-to-work state where it would be difficult to win representation. And that could mean a big loss in dues — Boeing workers in the Puget Sound area paid $25.5 million in dues to the international union in 2012.

What he does best is campaign; least is lead

While Obama vacationed in expensive luxury in Hawaii, his minions shivered in DC and scrambled to put a happy face on Obamacare, and appeal to disappointed supporters for money to run against the evil Republicans or lose the Senate. We know he'll take his failed economic policies, blame them on the Republicans and campaign against the evil rich--and why not, the stock market soared at the end of 2013, and blacks and minorities are still looking for work. So let's raise the minimum wage and bring in more illegals to further mess up the job market for the less skilled and less educated. I can't wait for the wagging finger and angry face--but will he be able to still fool that many people?

When Obama was an Illinois senator, he had nothing but bad things to say about the Iraq War, but the Afghanistan War was the "good war." As a U.S. senator he gave comfort to the enemy by criticizing Bush and the war. When he ran for president the wars were virtually over removing one of his talking points and both countries were on their way to freedom from extremists, although not to the democracy Bush has envisioned. Bush freed more women than Lincoln did slaves (Atlantic monthly). So he really had little to say about it in 2009 except to follow Bush's plan of orderly withdrawal and support (with a lot of criticism from the leftist supporters). Now Obama is throwing it all away. He doesn't lead; he's returning to his roots.

Soldiers Home Protestant Chapel, Dayton, Ohio

I haven’t seen this lovely church in Dayton, Ohio, but I think I’ll put it on my List of Places to See in Ohio (LOPTSIO).  The above photo is scanned from my grandparents’ Souvenir of Soldiers Home. There is no date on the booklet, but I assume it is late 1800s since they were married in 1901. They had a number of relatives in the Dayton area, so perhaps they took in the tourists sites while visiting.

      

“Contrary to the prevailing notion that the hospital chaplaincy is a program of the past few years. the Dayton institution has had a chaplain since the opening of the home September 9, 1867.

On that date, Chaplain William Earnshaw began his work at the Central Branch of the Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers of the United States. It is significant that when there were only five employees, one of them should be a chaplain, a religious leader. IN providing the original quarters for officers, a house was built before 1870 for the chaplain. It has housed succeeding chaplains and their families form that day to this, except for two brief periods.

Chaplain Earnshaw was a very energetic man. It was under his direction that the old Civil War soldiers helped quarry the stone from the rugged easter edge of the grounds to build the chapel. The corner stone was laid on November 21, 1868 and the building dedicated October 26, 1870, making it one of the oldest church buildings in this area. At the time of the dedication, Chaplain Earnshaw declared that it was “the first church ever built by the government for the benefit of soldiers”. Certainly, it was the first chapel built for veterans and so is now the oldest in government service.

Captain T. B. Van Horn, a chaplain in the regular army, was commissioned by Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, to lay out the grounds of the new institution. It was no accident that the chapel was built on the highest point of ground of the then reservation. Previous to 1870, Chaplain Earnshaw had used a frame building just to the west as his chapel.

The chapel is a gothic structure, built of several different kinds of stone with a steep slate roof. The orignial pattern of the roof included 14 stars of David, the Jewish symbol now so generally recognized, surrounding a large cross. A cross surmounted each front entrance and another was cut in stone over the rear entrance. This was in the day when few Protestant churches used crosses. Before the steeple was added, the tower was adorned with a large clock. The bell which struck the hours and was tolled for services was made especially for the chapel by the Troy (N.Y.) Foundrys from melted-down Confederate cannon. Later the pointed steeple was built and crowned with an American eagle perched on its nest and holding the tip of the lightning rod in its beak. The outside walls of the chapel were once covered with Virginia Creeper vines, but most of these had to be pulled down for pointing up the stonework in 1947. In 1933, the front wall started to bulge and was taken down, stone by stone and laid up again the same way. Likewise, the large stained-glass window was taken down, section by section, and again placed in the rebuiltwall. The original name of the institution, National Asylum for Disable Volunteer Soldiers, is still engraved in stone above this window, although the name was changed to Home in 1872, just 2 years after the chapel was completed.

The inside of the chapel was unchanged from the original construction, except for installation of an organ, until 1947. At that time, new flooring, new linoleum and new carpeting changed the base, while redecorating, the new electric lights and the new chancel greatly modfied and beautified the the interior. The front platform has been enlarged, the console of the organ moved across the front to the opposite side of the organ and the original pulpit and high-backed chairs sold. An entire new front has been built in, consisting of altar and reredos against the background of rich red velour drapes, gothic-designed oak pulpit and chancel rail, also lectern and its rail, two communion rails and kneeling bench, one on each side of the broad steps to the altar, and an baptismal font of similar design and material. The Pileher organ, installed in 1900, was the first electric organ in the whole Miami Valley.

All this has made the interior as beautiful and worshipful as any church and matching the extraordinary charm and architectural appeal of the exterior.” . . .

“As the official librarian of the post, he solicited books for what he called the General George H. Thomas Library. This was in honor of his old war chief. The next year, 1868, Chaplain Earnshaw was notified of the gift of several hundred books and a hundred rare paintings by Mrs. Mary Lowell Putnam of Massachusetts, sister of the famous poet James Russell Lowell. This donation became the William Lowell Putnam Memorial Library in honor of her son who was killed in his first battle of the war. The Chaplain arranged and catalogued both libraries and made them available for use in the second and third floors of the old Administration Building, at present housing the Supply, domiciliary and Engineering offices of the Center. In 1880 the present library was built, but the two libraries were not merged until 1921 under the present librarian, Miss Helen Carson. Mrs. Putnam and her daughter continued to contribute to the library until 1913. Today [1950], a well-balanced library of old and modern books, totaling some 40,000, is maintained at the center.”

http://www.daytonhistorybooks.com/chapoldslodiers.html

According to the National Park Service, 28 pre-1930 buildings survive including the Putnam Library (Building 120) and the Home Chapel (Building 118).

“Dedicated in 1870, the Soldiers Home Chapel (Building 118) is the oldest building at the Central Branch and the first National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers stand alone chapel. The Gothic Revival chapel features a bell tower that holds the 1876 “Centennial Bell,” which was made in New York from cannons captured from Confederate forces during the Civil War. Both Catholic and Protestant services were held in the chapel until the construction of the Catholic Chapel (Building 119) in 1898. The Catholic Chapel, also built in the Gothic Revival style, is made of yellow brick with buttresses supporting it. The small bell tower has an octagonal spire rising from a square tower. The altar’s centerpiece is by Heinrich Schroeder, a widely known altar/pulpit builder for Catholic Churches.”

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/veterans_affairs/Central_Branch.html

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/115dayton/115facts2.htm

According to this article in the New York Times in 1885, Rev. Earnshaw had an accident and died.

Start and stop cleaning

While cleaning my office shelves, I came across some requests I’d made to the Upper Arlington Public Library in 2008.  These days I don’t bother.  These are just the requests I saved on a printout; although 4 out of 7 isn’t bad. Because of the age of these books, it’s hard to know if requests for an additional copy was filled, because by now they would have been withdrawn.

Twenty-first century gateways,, immigrant incorporation in suburban America (2008) Brookings Institution Press  Not filled

Immigration Solution (2008) Manhattan Institute.  Filled

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks had 15 holds and 1 copy. I asked for an additional copy.

Obama nation. 13 holds, 3 copies. I requested an additional purchase.

What’s the matter with California. Filled. UAPL owned 3 copies of What’s the matter with Kansas.

Reinventing Jesus. Filled

The dirty dozen; how 12 supreme court cases radically expanded government and eroded freedom (2008) CATO . Filled

The way of improvement leads home. (2008) U. of Pa press. Not filled

Our man in Mexico; Winston Scott and the hidden history of the CIA (2008) University Press of Kansas.  Not filled

Contrasting the Obama and Bush Christmases

George W. Bush spent 12 Christmases at Camp David, four with his father, and 8 with his family when he was in the White House.  That is one hour and 18 minutes from DC. Obama and family have spent 17 days (so far) in Hawaii this Christmas and New Year’s, and I’m all for that—we haven’t had to listen to his boring speeches as his signature legislation falls apart and the Department of Justice attacks the Little Sisters of the Poor.

http://aboutcampdavid.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-at-camp-david.html

Christmas 2008 at Camp David

January 4 update on New Year’s Resolutions

           

My resolutions are several, but one is to learn the books of the Old Testament, and one to clean several shelves a day, another to ride the exercycle 5 minutes a day.  These follow the specific, targeted, achievable, and timed plan I mentioned earlier. My resolutions will run through Jan. 31. I’ll rethink it for February. 31 days is a whole lot easier than 356.

I’ve done 3.5 book shelves (I always stop to read things which really slows me down), and by limiting the exercise to 5 minutes, I always go over the goal target.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon . . . This is how far I’ve gotten.

Not so set, are some thoughts to see more movies,  use our Museum of Art membership more, and possibly join the Columbus Conservatory—but see how vague those are.  That’s how resolutions get away from you.

Here’s a list of the top ten “spiritually literate movies” of 2013. That doesn’t necessarily mean Christian, but movies that address spiritual values—forgiveness, love, transformation, repentance.  That beats car chases, naked sex, and bad language any day.

So here’s a January resolution.  See one movie (I always feel so culturally illiterate when people talk about movies). I think Philomena will be my first choice, but the price of first run tickets is breath taking!

Update on the update: I have now finished all the shelves in my office. Dusted and rearranged. Books hate to be out of subject order, and when shelves are stationery, some have to lie down.

Something to try for the New Year munchies

Banana oatmeal cookies.

How Miranda came to love Maggie

For January book club (the group has been together for about 30 years, but I joined in 2000 when I retired), we are reading There is no alternative, why Margaret Thatcher matters (2008).  Thatcher was apparently quite a charmer and flirt with the men, but not that popular with women who decided she really didn’t like women.  The wife of John Hoskyns, one of her advisors, was a liberal when she first met Margaret Thatcher—very left wing, a Marxist chimes in her husband in an interview with Claire Berlinski, the author of the book.  Miranda says in an interview:

“She represented everything having to do with my own parents’ generation.  To do with middle-class values, behaving properly, wearing hats—all the kinds of things that I was longing to throw away.  Because the 60s—although I was already married and having children—in the 60s, I was thrilled with everything being overthrown. . . I wasn’t involved in it very much, but seen from the outside I thought it was a very good thing.  And she represented, as she did to everybody on the Left, the absolute antithesis of that.  She had nothing to do with that world of the 60s.  And I was in a very uncomfortable position, because I was beginning to see that John was right about what he was saying (he was conservative), or or at least my brain told me he was right.  My emotions told me he was all wrong, and he didn’t understand.  He kept saying, ‘How do you  think somebody like me, who’s an entrepreneur, can possibly make his way in the world with taxes and everything like that,’ and I kept arguing back, ‘Well, it’s your choice, you do it because you like doing it, you don’t mind about profits, they don’t matter,’ you know, all that sort of stuff.  I mean—I was pretty silly.”

Whether it was her husband’s sound logic, or Maggie’s charm, she comes around to seeing her as courageous, but with faults (not liking women) and correct in her political views.

Me too.

There are thousands of unclassified secret documents here.

Government gangs up on Little Sisters of the Poor

Little Sisters of the Poor vs. Obama/Sebilius: "The Little Sisters of the Poor arrived in America in 1868. Currently, there are thirty homes in the United States where the elderly and dying are treated as if they were Jesus himself and cared for with love and dignity until God calls them home. The Little Sisters serve more than 13,000 elderly poor people in thirty-one countries around the world." And the U.S. government plans to punish and fine them for not providing contraception and abortifacients--because they aren't religious enough to get an exemption.

 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/367509/central-deception-obama-administrations-case-against-little-sisters-poor-david-french

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/03/259378425/nuns-objection-to-health-care-law-is-unwarranted-justice-says

Save this for your next cold and sore throat

Seventeen tips from Reader’s Digest.

http://www.rd.com/slideshows/sore-throat-remedies-home-gargles/?

My mother swore by the salt and warm water gargle. Five shakes of ground cayenne pepper (or a few shakes of hot sauce) to a cup of hot water for sore throat relief is not one I’m familiar with. Tumeric and water I’ve heard of—it is supposed to be a powerful antioxidant, and scientists think it has the power to fight many serious diseases. For a sore throat remedy, mix 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon of salt into 1 cup of hot water and gargle.

And 14 others.

The war on women is a war on babies

Harvard Medical School on health goals/resolutions

1. “Set a very specific goal. For example: I will add one fruit serving — that’s half a cup, chopped — to my current daily diet.
2. Find a way to measure progress. For example, I will log my efforts each day on my calendar.
3. Make sure it’s achievable. For example, don’t set a goal of a daily 5 mile run if you’re out of shape. If you can’t safely or reasonably accomplish your goal, set a smaller, achievable one.
4. Make sure it’s realistic. It may seem counterintuitive, but choosing the change you most need to make — let’s say, quitting smoking or losing weight — isn’t as successful as choosing the change you’re most confident you’ll be able to make. Focus on sure bets: if you picture a 10-point scale of confidence in achieving your goal, where 1 equals no confidence and 10 equals 100% certainty, you should land in the 7-to-10 zone. An additional fruit serving a day is a small, manageable step toward better health.
5. Set time commitments. Pick a date and time to start. For example, Wednesday at breakfast, I’ll add frozen blueberries to cereal. Pick regular check-in dates: I’ll check my log every week and decide if I should make any changes in my routines to succeed. Find an outside deadline that will help keep you motivated. For example, signing up for a charity run or sprint triathlon on a certain date prods you to get a training program under way.”

This is exactly what I’ve been saying: making them specific and measurable.  I’ve set my New Year’s resolutions for Jan. 31. They are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic.

For instance, I’ve set a target (I don’t do goals) of 5 min. a day on my Power Spin 210, and 2 shelves a day (cleaning reorganizing) in my office.  I’ve achieved, or over achieved today. Also I’m learning the Old Testament books, and I’m up to Ezra/Nehemiah, Esther.

Think summer

From 89 Life Hacks http://www.viralnova.com/awesome-life-hacks/

7 inches possible for Columbus

However, we rarely get the snow that is predicted.  My husband did the mail run for me this morning (from one UALC campus to the other) and said the side streets are very slick.  I stayed in and drank my own coffee instead of going out.

“The impending storm promises to be the biggest blizzard since a storm called Nemo paralyzed the northeast last February, and may work to bring the northeast corridor to a standstill. Late Wednesday, Boston mayor Tom Menino announced a full closure of city schools on Friday, a full 36 hours in advance. That city appears likely to take the brunt of the storm.” Daily Beast

Happy New Calendar

 

Thursday Thirteen—a list of wonderful, thoughtful gifts

1.  A terrific dinner for the family at our daughter’s home and many seasonal parties and concerts (see last week’s blog).

2.  Several gift cards to my favorite coffee spot.

3.  A “deco red” outfit of a paisley shirt and vest from Coldwater Creek.

4.  Box of fresh, luscious pears from Harry and David.

5.  A little cat pin with rhinestones and green eyes.

6.  A new watch with real numbers, and a face that lights up. Expansion band, silver and gold color.

7.  A pale turquoise sweater with a giant floral print scarf, and a booklet explaining how to drape and tie it.

8.  Gift card to our Friday night date favorite restaurant.

9.  Subscription to Salvo. (magazine)

10. Subscription to First Things (magazine)

11. Cable knit zip front cardigan from LL Bean (wrong color and size, new choice to be decided since the catalog was tossed out)

12. Cat coffee mugs, pottery, Asian look, one black, one white.

13. Beautiful Finnish glass candle holders.

Would you like to join the Thursday Thirteen meme?

It began with ARRA, which we were told was a “stimulus.”

Although today Jan. 1, 2014, is the starting date for the insurance, Obamacare actually started in 2009 with $19 billion in the ARRA stimulus. It didn't stimulate anything except the bottom line of electronic medical records companies. There is no research showing EMR will save money or improve health. We have it as a result of a huge lobbying effort. You've seen how even private companies (like Target) struggle with stolen records, even my research information at OSU was compromised--just wait until your medical information is stolen from a national database. In my recent stay in a local hospital, the EMR couldn't even make it 2 miles down the road to my doctor's office. http://www.anh-usa.org/your-medical-records-are-part-of-a-19-billion-experiment/

And despite these billions of dollars and the perceived benefits of EHRs, physicians continue to hesitate in implementing fully functional electronic health record (EHR) systems. Even with incentives, systems are expensive and productivity hits are a major concern, but the major cause? Unlike other highly specialized, specifically tailored health information technology solutions, EHRs are awkwardly, poorly designed to be one-size-fits-all—and studies show they never do. The incentive program is slowly drawing eligible healthcare practitioners into the EHR fold, but the lack of specifically tailored EHR systems means that the U.S. will continue to lag the rest of the world when it comes to establishing a fully integrated, cost-effective health care system.

http://www.talkchart.com/blog/index.php/why-is-ehr-adoption-lagging-behind/

Information such as social security numbers, addresses, medical insurance numbers, past illnesses, and sometimes credit card numbers, can help criminals commit several types of fraud. These may include: making payments from stolen credit card numbers and ordering and reselling medical equipment by using stolen medical insurance numbers.

A key finding from the report is that fraud resulting from exposure of health data has risen from 3% in 2008 to 7% in 2009, a 112% increase.

http://www.informationweek.com/security/risk-management/emr-data-theft-booming/d/d-id/1087881?

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1110507

Oops. It’s much worse than insurance experts thought

It  has become much, much worse than I [Greg Scandlen] ever imagined. Obamacare is not even fully in effect yet and already we are seeing the President playing with the carriers like a toddler plays with toy trucks –

• Employers will be mandated to buy your policies for 2014

• (Oops, employers are angry)

• Employers won’t be mandated until 2015 – if then

• Small employers will give workers a choice of health plans through the SHOP program in 2014

• (Oops, we can’t get the web site ready in time)

• Small employers won’t have to offer a choice of plan until – sometime later

• You must cancel these individual policies

• (Oops, public backlash)

• You must reinstate these policies

• (Oops, many insurance commissioners won’t allow it)

• You must continue to cover providers and drugs even for cancelled policies

• The deadline for enrollment will be December 15, 2013

• (Oops, web site problems)

• The deadline for enrollment will be December 23, 2013

• (Oops, too much traffic)

• The deadline for enrollment will be December 24, 2013

• Never mind, there is no deadline

• First month’s premium must be received by December 31, 2013

• (Oops, back-end problems with the web site)

• First month’s premium must be received by January 8, 2014

• Make that January 10, 2014

How can anyone run a business this way? This is worse than being a federal agency. No federal agency would be expected to stop and start on a personal whim like this. These aren’t rules, they aren’t regulations, they are dictates based on nothing more than Kathleen Sebelius’ momentary feelings.

http://thefederalist.com/2013/12/27/insurers-enough-obamacare-aca/

ARRA and Homelessness

“Under Title XII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is allocating $1.5 billion for communities to provide financial assistance and services to either prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless or help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized.” copied from the Franklin Co. Ohio web site.

I checked Hamilton Co. (Cincinnati) and Montgomery County (Dayton area) and found something similar.  In order to get these funds, substantial changes needed to be made to programs already in place.

I wonder what became of the $1.5 billion? I was able to locate the third year report for Springfield, Ohio, which received about $816,000, but there were so many lines of requested information with “no information,” I really couldn’t read it. In the reporting year ending 2012, 42 people were served, 21 households.  Near the end, the compiler said Springfield already had a good program that was working when it received the money.

Like many grants in ARRA it was late getting out of the gate (the recession was technically over) or didn’t do anything about the economy.  A huge chunk of ARRA  ($19 billion) went for Electronic Medical Records assistance to force doctors into a system that was untried and had never been proven to save money.