My New Year’s Resolutions

But I'll tell you anyway. I've achieved my New Year's Resolutions. The trick is to set targets, not goals; make them achievable and measurable and for short time periods.

1) Learn the names of the books of the Old Testament; 2) clean my office book shelves; 3) use my Power Spin 210 U at least 5 minutes a day. By January 31, 2014.

I'm trying to think of something for February.

Update: For February, 4 hugs a day (suggested by my husband), 10 minutes a day on the Power Spin 210 U, and read the books of the Old Testament that begin with H. Achievable and measurable.

Fresh take on an old Chinese proverb

State of the Union feel good throw aways

The president’s SOTU list—pre-K education; “equal pay”, raising the minimum wage or extending unemployment benefits--is not going to address the real drivers of upwardly mobility--marriage before parenthood and a high school education. Head Start after 50 years shows no discernible advantage in learning, behavior, parenting practices, or health outcomes (at $8,000 per child it does supply a lot of jobs) so why add compulsory pre-k education?  Marriage of her parents is a child's best hope to stay out of poverty, but welfare programs discourage mothers from marrying. Raising the minimum wage won't help people who haven't finished high school--it just decreases their employment opportunities. 92% of black teenagers in Chicago can’t find employment; how will raising the minimum wage help them? And the $10.10 minimum for government workers was a throw away since it is a tiny minority with few at that level.

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2013/04/10/black-unemployment-n1561096/page/full

And that new retirement vehicle? That’s puzzled everyone.  Don't look at MYRA if you have a 401-K or IRA. It's government backed securities. The rate of return this past year would have been about 1.4%. If you need more to open an IRA, just save it in your piggy bank and then invest. On your worst day, you'll get more than 1.4%.  The stock market has been going like gang busters since 2010. If there had been a MYRA, the return would have been dismal. http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2014/01/30/myra-not-needed-you-can-set-up-your-own-retirement-plans/

They were wrong about the horse

At one time the horse was a machine essential to truckers and transportation, farmers and taxis. 100 years ago it was predicted that the auto would replace the horse, and it did as a draft animal, but there are over 9 million horses in the U.S. now, up from the approximately 3 million in 1960, but down from the 25 million 100 years ago. At the turn of the last century it was predicted that the auto in 100 years would be cheaper than a horse--now that didn't happen.

http://www.americanequestrian.com/pdf/US-Equine-Demographics.pdf

http://www.theequestrianchannel.com/id3.html

A short list of acceptable words

          

“When discussing issues with liberals, it’s practically impossible to know what’s considered racist [or homophobic or sexist] and what isn’t. After all, these are people who see racism in dry asparagus and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Even the words Chicago, golf, crime, chair, Constitution and Founding Fathers are considered racist. Calling Juan Williams by his first name is also racist, as Newt Gingrich found out last year. For some, even God is a gun-toting white racist.” . . .

Who can forget a “chink in the armor,” or “niggardly,” or “handicapped,” or “woman,” or “traditional marriage,”  --all of which are objected to by some victim group. In hip-hop or pop music, however, everything goes—bitch, nigger, slut, nappy headed ho, fag, etc. If Bush is shown in a cartoon with giant ears, it isn’t racist, just political, but for Obama it is racism.  It’s OK to abort a child with an extra chromosome, but not OK to call him mentally retarded—use intellectually challenged.  It’s OK for the government to bully citizens with threats of IRS audits of donor lists, but not OK for school children to tease each other. That only leaves the obese, unborn (it, product of conception, parasite) and the elderly as unprotected classes of words.  A short list, isn’t it?

Swearing, cussing and four letter words describing genitals and bodily functions are OK with the left and right both.

http://www.conservativefiringline.com/a-short-list-of-words-not-c/

Can you believe what day it is?

Could teachers afford a Big Mac?

How much should a fast food worker who hasn't finished high school earn? Perhaps half of what a school teacher, who has a B.S. and M.S. earns? A public school teacher averages $39.27/hour or $55.52/hour with benefits. A teacher's average salary is higher than nurses and construction workers, and higher than college teachers per hour with benefits. But would they buy a big mac if those employees made $20/hour? Don't believe me? Scroll down to page 7 of the Bureau of Labor report for the details of your industry. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf

The push for higher minimum wage is actually a push to, 1) close industries to punish their owners, 2) move more people to government programs to create more Democratic voters. At $15/hour, many low income workers would lose their government benefits (SNAP, EITC or Medicaid), and they make the same economic choices we all do based on the axiom, "Money talks, it says good-by," and they would probably chose not to work.

Where slavery is still the strongest—30 million

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/10/slavery-per-capita-map-wo-arrows.jpg

This is not some soft, liberal, by-modern-standards definition of slavery. This is slavery. There are 30 million people living today as forced laborers, forced prostitutes, child soldiers, child brides in forced marriages or other forms of property. There are 60,000 right here in the United States – yes, really. This map shows the proportion of each country that is enslaved. It's highest in Mauritania, a shocking four percent, due in part to social norms tolerating the practice. A little more than one percent of people in India are enslaved, which translates to 14 million Indians living as slaves today. You can see the breakdown by numbers of slaves here.

http://www.state.gov/j/tip/

http://www.catwinternational.org/

http://www.notsosuper.org/

Peter Schiff on the Daily Show—a trap

“Of the more than four hours of taped discussion I conducted [on the topic of minimum wage increase], the producers chose to only use about 75 seconds of my comments. Of those, my use of the words “mentally retarded” (when Samantha Bee asked who might be willing to work for $2 per hour – a figure she suggested) has come to define the entire interview. I'm now receiving hundreds of angry e-mails and am being described in the media as a hateful bigot." Peter Schiff

But they also edited out the other group he noted willingly works below minimum--interns--and some work for nothing, or pay to work.

“The Daily Show” was never interested in an honest debate about the minimum wage. Nor is it concerned with the intellectually disabled, whom they have no qualms about offending if they can get a laugh. In fact, it's “The Daily Show” that wants to tell the intellectually disabled they are worthless, as they want to make it illegal for them to have jobs. I did not notice any intellectually disabled people working at “The Daily Show.” I’m sure many would jump at the chance, particularly if they were offered minimum wage or higher. But since they choose to pay their intellectually capable interns zero, why should they be expected to pay the intellectually disabled more?

This is how Huffington Post spun it on their headline. "Rich CEO Tells 'Daily Show' The 'Mentally Retarded' Are Maaaybe Worth $2 An Hour."

http://www.schiffradio.com/b/The-Daily-Show:-The-Daily-Show:-Intellectually-Dishonest-about-the-Intellectually-Disabled/-525361918630098994.html

What Schiff is being charged with isn’t a $2/hour minimum, but not knowing the correct term is no long “mentally retarded,” rather “mentally challenged,” or “intellectually disabled.”  It’s OK for the left to promote aborting 90% of babies with Down Syndrome, but don’t you dare call the survivors of the massacre “retarded.”

Immigration reform? Let’s try 1986 version

We could save a lot of money and hot air by just enforcing our old immigration law. By ignoring it, we now have many millions more illegal aliens within our borders, giving Mexico a good reason not to value its citizens, mostly brown skinned, who they send north for opportunity even though Mexico is rich in natural resources.

"The act I am signing today (Nov. 6, 1986) is the product of one of the longest and most difficult legislative undertakings of recent memory. It has truly been a bipartisan effort, with this administration and the allies of immigration reform in the Congress, of both parties, working together to accomplish these critically important reforms. Future generations of Americans will be thankful for our efforts to humanely regain control of our borders and thereby preserve the value of one of the most sacred possessions of our people: American citizenship.” President Ronald Reagan

See how well bi-partisanship works?

Seasons of Gray; a modern day Joseph story

I'm watching a movie at home. Don't do that very often. "Seasons of Gray: A modern day Joseph story." It’s excellent, and I think would be appropriate for your small group or Sunday school class, or to introduce your non-church friends to the Biblical story of faith, reconciliation and forgiveness. As the producer and editor says, “We want to show how God uses for good the things man intends for evil. We’re excited about the film getting a chance to bring this message to a broader audience.”

Brady Gray is the favored son of a two-time widower on a Texas ranch, and dad makes things tough for him by showing favoritism. He has dreams. He's forced off the ranch by his jealous brothers, after a violent beating and branding. He hangs on to his faith. Brady makes a new life for himself, then is accused of sexual assault and thrown in jail.  Very touching jail scenes as he becomes accepted by the other inmates.  In his darkest moments Brady still trusts God. 

Small budget, good acting (good looking, too). Don't confuse it with the 50 shades of gray, this is a faith based film. It was produced with support from Watermark Community Church in Dallas. “Seasons of Gray” is “the culmination of a nearly decade-old dream by former Watermark staff member Paul Stehlik, now a missionary in Africa, to share biblical stories through the medium of film, updated in a modern cultural context for contemporary audiences.” This film is a great start. I loved the fresh telling of an old, old story.

The DVD is now available.  If I can talk the librarian into it, there will be a copy in the UALC church library.

 http://www.seasonsofgray.com/

Echo Light Studios

Review: Dallas Star

Facebook page

Windows Live Writer

I've been blogging for 10 years, but even so, nothing has made it easier than Windows Live Writer. I write my draft, it checks my spelling and grammar, let's me download the photos, and check the labels. If I copy something from another online source which has links, it picks up the links for me.  Then I hit publish.  It retains the drafts in case I find a mistake after I've posted it. I've become dependent and hardly know how to code or revise my template anymore.

http://www.hanselman.com/.../DownloadWindowsLiveWriter201...

The President is just wrong about the poor

Americans are not poor due to an income gap or rising  income inequality—that rate has been fairly stable over the years (also the poverty stats don’t count all the 79 means tested programs).

Here's the research, Mr. President. It's behavior and choice. People aren't poor because others are rich.

"If you do these [four] things, it’s almost impossible to remain poor:
1. Finish high school,
2. Get a job,
3. Don’t have children until you get married.

Those who do these things have only a 2 percent probability of remaining in poverty and a 75 percent probability of joining the middle class." John Goodman

The only new idea the left seems to have is universal preschool. (They don’t know how to reform any existing programs, so why not throw money after one more?) But the more common tactic (e.g., Paul Krugman) is to use inequality as an excuse for enacting the traditional liberal agenda — deficit spending, minimum wage increase, more unemployment compensation. If you think any of that is going to solve the fundamental problem, I know a bridge in Brooklyn that is for sale.

Remember welfare reform of the mid-90s? Even a job, any job, reduces the poverty rate. Wealth transfer doesn’t solve poverty.

"The poverty rate among full time workers is 2.9 percent as compared with a poverty rate of 16.6 percent among those working less than full time and about 24 percent for those who don’t work. Unfortunately, the percentage of adult males working has been declining for decades. The work rate among young black males is below 50 percent. By contrast, when single mothers substantially increased their work rates in the mid-1990s, the poverty rate among mother-headed families reached its lowest level ever.. .

We already spend more than enough money on means-tested programs for poor and low-income people to bring them all out of poverty. There were about 46.5 million people in poverty in 2012, a year in which spending on means-tested programs was around $1 trillion. If that money were divided up among the poor, we could spend about $22,000 per person. For a single mother and two children, that would be over $65,000. The poverty level in 2013 for a mother and two children is less than $20,000. So this strategy would work, but giving so much money to young, able-bodied adults would not be tolerated by the public. Besides, if government gave this much cash to non-workers, many low-wage workers would quit work so they too could collect welfare.”

Ron Haskins, http://www.brookings.edu/.../19-war-on-poverty-what-went...

Why is it called a farm bill?

This isn’t what the Founders meant

Black Chicagoans give their State of the Union response

Watch this SOTU response. One of the best you'll see.

 http://allenbwest.com/2014/01/incredible-video-black-chicago-sotu-response/

Thursday Thirteen--13 cities in the U.S. named for saints

How many of these have you visited?

The big ones everyone knows. . .

1. St. Louis
2. St. Augustine
3. San Francisco
4. San Antonio
5. San Diego
6. Santa Barbara
7. Santa Clara
8. Santa Ana
9. Santa Maria
10.Santa Monica
11. St. Paul

And then the not so well known

12. St. Joseph, Illinois
13. St. Mary’s City, Maryland

I have visited 1,3,4,5,6,9,10,11 and 12. That I can remember. We were in Maryland a few years ago and so St. Mary's City is a possibility. This shows the Catholic Spanish and French influences.

And there are many more cities, states, rivers, parishes and counties named for saints. But. . .I only needed 13.

Los Angeles isn't named for angels, but for Mary. "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reyna de los Angeles" (although it's a little murky).
Sacramento is named for the sacraments (after the river), but that's not its original name.
Santa Cruz is Holy Cross.

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Thirteen, check here.

Income inequality?

Inequality? Income gap? Actually white collar workers and particularly CEOs or business owners may work 60-70 hours a week, some with no vacation for years if they are owners of small businesses. Why are they demonized by this President? Years ago when a $60,000/year salary was pretty good money for a new college graduate, I knew a young woman in the investment field and thought she had it pretty good--and she did (and still does and now makes 6 figures with a stay at home husband to watch the kids and manage the household help and investments), however, she was working 70-80 hours a week at 21 for that salary and sharing a tiny apartment in New York with 2 other  women. The Wall St. company brought in catered meals--entry level workers didn't even get a break for lunch or dinner. Her annual income today should not be compared with other women who have made different choices, like working part time, or a 37.5 hour week, or 10 months a year so they can be home in the summer with the kids, or going into the arts or becoming a pastor. Oh yes, the first job for this honor student was below minimum wage as a summer resort waitress working for tips.

POTATO PUFFS

I’ll probably never make this, but it sounded good. Potatoes combined with milk are practically a perfect food, but this may be gilding the lily. Potatoes are high in vitamin C, have no cholesterol, are fat-free, have many vitamins and minerals and are cheap and easy to store. It's the gravy, cheese, sour cream and sides that give it a bad name

Ingredients

• 3 cups of mashed potatoes
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup sour cream (optional extra for serving)
• 1 heaping cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives or parsley
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lightly grease with butter 8 - 9 of the wells of a nonstick muffin  pan.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk the eggs then mix in the sour cream. Stir in both cheeses and the chives. Add potatoes and mix well. Spoon them into the pan filling the cups to slightly below the top. Bake 25- 35 minutes until they pull away from the sides of the cup and are golden brown. Remove from oven and let them cool 5 minutes in pan. Serve with sour cream if desired.

However, there is some bad news, too

Another bad storm is predicted for next week with a lot of snow.

“If this verifies [Chris Bradley, Channel 10] we'd be looking at a classic storm for Ohio with low pressure moving up from Texas and Oklahoma into Central Kentucky. The snowfall projections are above a foot across nearly the entire state.”