Worse than it looks

Less than 400,000 of the African slave trade came to the future United States.  Most went to South America and the Caribbean Islands. But the 13 million?  Those all belong to us.

This and That Thursday

So, it's the first day of Spring. Over the noise of the furnace fan this morning I could hear birds outside calling me and when I took the trash out I found one tiny yellow flower

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My husband is enjoying the good life in California with his sister , so I made a wonderful salad of several dark greens, onions, olives, tomatoes and the left over corned beef. He's probably at some ridiculously expensive restaurant. Or on Deb's patio.

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Quantitative easing has apparently ended (it's what made the rich even richer during the Obama reign), so the stock market took a swim in the quick sand today. Good luck fellow retirees, our pensions are in for a bumpy ride.

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I heard an ad for the new Noah movie today that was really a disclaimer--"based on the book of Genesis with artistic license." I guess so since about 98% of Christians familiar with it have panned it. It's not a story about overpopulation and the environment, but the movie is. Hollywood has discovered religious people like to buy tickets for movies with sound values and non-embarrassing themes, but this sounds like a bust.

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Abortion enthusiasts are selling silver necklaces with little coat hangers.  How cute. Coat hanger abortions are a myth, and always have been. And if it were true, those who do it, are pro-choice, not pro-life.

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Our noon Lenten service at UALC Lytham Rd.  was poorly attended. Too many regulars skipped worship to watch the Buckeyes get defeated in basketball. Some even skipped the Bible study!

Conservatives can be naive

Wow! I do get frustrated with Conservative bloggers, Facebook Friends, radio talkers and media personalities for depicting Obama as dumb and ineffective (obviously some of it is racism). He has carefully presented a weak sister effeminate image to the world, and it's working. He has destroyed our health insurance system and helped weaken values and morals thousands of years old. That is not a weak man in mom jeans (another act); you'll just need to find a new name for it, folks. Stop underestimating a man who is calculating enough to go on TV choosing basketball winners and play foil on a comedy show to redirect our attention from the resurgence of the Soviet Union and the theft of our freedoms. He is a president in stage make-up playing the buffoon all the while laughing at his audience.

International pornography ring based in Louisiana

Mothers of boys, watch out who you "friend" on social media.  A large, international child pornography operation, with most of the victims boys, has been uncovered and the 27 year old ring leader arrested. "Jonathan Johnson, 27, of Abita Springs, La., has been charged with operating a child exploitation enterprise. He admitted to creating multiple fake female personas on popular social networks to target and sexually exploit children and to coaching other child predators in his inner circle to do the same. Jonathan Johnson has been in federal custody since his arrest June 13, 2013, and faces 20 years to life in prison." Of the 13 other men arrested so far, most were 30 and under. Male subscribers to the boy porn site were making them rich and selling their souls for this abomination.

http://www.myarklamiss.com/story/d/story/14-louisiana-men-arrested-in-massive-child-porn-op/12548/bYre4BUc-ES5lbbBL_d16A

Raising the minimum wage

I got an e-mail from a liberal think tank this morning: "Progressives are making raising the minimum THE top women's issue of 2014."

Oh goody. I wonder how many unemployed or underemployed women will benefit from that? Recently I read that in Illinois there were 5,000 jobs and 10,000 needing those jobs, but none of them had the skills to do those jobs. Even with a GED, most could only read at 3rd or 4th grade level, and those without a GED didn't want to spend the time and effort to get one when welfare benefits paid better than the jobs! And those jobs were above minimum wage!

Women need to finish high school and they need to be married before having children. That's what improves life for women, not an increase in the minimum, which will take a chunk of their government benefits giving them no advantage at all.

If a woman is earning $15,000/year at a minimum wage job and qualifies for SNAP, EITC, housing, Medicaid, etc., and then is raised to $20,000, and loses half of the government aid, where is her gain? $20,000 hardly improves her life and chances of moving up.

Natural gas is our weapon

On Meet the Press (Aug. 2008), Pelosi said while defending her investment in natural gas: “I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels,” she said at one point. Natural gas “is cheap, abundant and clean compared to fossil fuels,” she said at another. Later she clarified that and said she meant compared to oil and coal. Yes, I'm sure, after someone explained it to her.

“If the early 21st century is the “golden age of gas,” as the International Energy Agency has declared, who will be its king? Until 2009, the answer seemed obvious: Russia. But a funny thing happened on the way to the “third Rome” that Russian nationalists view as their destiny. In that year, propelled by the technological innovations of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) and horizontal drilling, U.S. gas production surpassed that of Russia.”  Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/201003-can-fracking-save-the-world

White House Pastry Chef resigns

White House pastry chef, Bill Yosses, is resigning--FLOTUS just made it too tough to ply his trade. "“I don’t want to demonize cream, butter, sugar, and eggs,” he explained. While he called his resignation a “bittersweet decision,” Yosses already has future projects lined up for his post-White House career. 

Yosses is gay, has married his partner, but I guess that didn’t protect this baker.

Tax codes favor the rich?! Are you kidding me? Guest blogger, Kay the CPA

I see tax returns where people earn next to nothing, their choice, yet due to the great tax credits for the "lower" income earners, they walk away with over $6,000 of a "refund.” A refund?!  There was no tax payment to start with!! How wrong is that, I ask.

Those with over $125,000 (depending upon status, tax issue, etc.) have to endure those tax benefit limitations on their Schedule A, alternative tax calculation, limits on deductible IRAs, limits on student loan interest deductions, etc. ... And it doesn't take much for a married couple to get those "dings" of the upper income level to kick in. A nurse and a labor worker can bring in what I would call a decent wage, yet the tax code will not provide those couples with many benefits, other than the child credit, and again, that is limited.

The tax code does everything it can to boost up the lower income earner and brings down the "upper" income earner. That is the tax code.

And try to do some estate planning. The laws for cash poor farmers, who are land wealthy, are detrimental for any planning. How fair is that?

I wouldn't cut off the hand that feeds me (speaking to liberals). The upper income earners are those people who are paying the way for Medicaid and other handout programs. The big corporations are vital to our IRA retirement funds, and that’s YOUR retirement fund.

Two days until Spring

It was wonderful to see the grounds crew show up today and blow and rake leaves.  Let’s hope we don’t have anymore snow storms.  I remember one year we had a huge storm in April about 30 years ago.

Monday Memories, pt. 3—Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob—Frank Lloyd Wright

Sunday morning, March 16, after our tour of the Hardy Art Collection at the Chateau in Nemacolin, we boarded our bus for Fallingwater, one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous houses in our area of the country, and then from there continued on to Kentuck Knob.  Fallingwater had just opened for the season, and was snow free, but very chilly.   The water was running free of ice, and we could hear it even in the house. 

It was designed for the Edgar Kaufmann, Sr.  (1885-1955)  family of Pittsburgh of department store fame. Edgar Jr. inherited the property and gave it to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to make available to the public.

Fallingwater stands as one of Wright's greatest masterpieces both for its dynamism and for its integration with the striking natural surroundings. Fallingwater has been described as an architectural tour de force of Wright's organic philosophy. Wright's passion for Japanese architecture was strongly reflected in the design of Fallingwater, particularly in the importance of interpenetrating exterior and interior spaces and the strong emphasis placed on harmony between man and nature. Wikipedia.

Kentuck Knob video, 2010.  10 miles south of Fallingwater, completed in 1956 for the Hagan family.  Now owned by the Palumbo family of England.  The trees were planted after it was built.  The land had been clear cut for farming many years ago.  Of course, we were not allowed to take interior photos which is the policy of most historical places and museums.

Pt. 1—Carnegie and Frick Museums

Pt. 2—Nemacolin Woodlands Reserve

Monday Memories, Pt 2—The Nemacolin Woodlands Resort

Between the two museum tours, the Carnegie and the Frick we had a wonderful lunch in Pittsburgh at Lydia’s of Insalata Caesar, a trio of pasta—malfatti with fresh spinach and ricotta, ziti with sausage and onion, and wild mushroom ravioli with thyme butter sauce, topped off with assorted cookies. 

In the beautiful sun room at the Chateau in Nemacolin

Then we continued on to The Nemacolin Woodlands Resort near Farmington, Pennsylvania, about 215 mi. from Columbus. At Nemacolin (named for a famous Indian) there are several elegant hotels, cottages, houses and town homes to rent; wonderful restaurants, a zoo, swimming, skiing, tennis, bowling, dog sledding, off road driving instruction, fly fishing, golf, shooting ranges, spa and fitness, special activities for children and babysitting, an RV park and wonderful shops. There are also accommodations and spa for your pets (dogs, I think). Nearby in Ohiopyle is river rafting. And, a casino.  Really there is something for everyone, and all ages.

The owners of the resort, the Hardy family of 84 Lumber, have art valued at $45 million--everything from antique cars to Tiffany lamps to paintings and prints.   After breakfast in one of the wonderful restaurants in the Chateau Hotel, our group gathered in the registration area and with docents viewed a very small piece of the collection, primarily paintings, Tiffany glass and some glass sculptures. The collection is best described as eclectic and idiosyncratic.

Monday Memories—Our Week-end in Pennsylvania Pt. 1

We had a wonderful week-end of art through Art Escapes of the Columbus Museum of Art. We visited the Carnegie and Frick museums in Pittsburgh; had an Italian lunch at Lydia's; then stayed at the Nemocolin Woodlands Resort, which has a number of art collections, and we saw only a part of it; then on to Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob homes, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Carnegie and Frick museums in Pittsburgh

At the Carnegie Museum of Art we caught the last day of the 2013 Carnegie International—35 artists from 19 countries. None of us were too excited by Phyllida Barlow’s sculpture at the entrance which looked like scattered steel wrapped with pink and orange ribbons, but after the tour, it made more sense.

One of my favorites was the neon sign pieces by He An, or at least it was until I learned how he had made it—stole the signage from various fast growing cities in China.

While we were observing Erika Verzutti’s strange forms and objects assembled on the floor, we saw a delightful little girl about 7 or 8 with her notebook, trying to copy the imagines.

There was some interesting art made from confiscated guns by a Mexican artist and an abstract sequence of “film frames” by Sadie Benning. Cubes by Lara Favaretto made of confetti were fascinating, although the docent explanation wasn’t clear. There was a large exhibits of photos of lesbians of South Africa by Zanele Muholi. I didn’t find anyone who liked the soft sculpture by Sarah Lucas—sort of stuffed panty hose in very suggestive positions which was supposed to represent the oppression of women, I think. I spent the most time (up close) examining the photos by Taryn Simon of women of the James Bond movies. There are just too many to mention all of them. I’ve not been a fan of contemporary art, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Pezzuti collection we saw last month, which I enjoyed much more than the 2013 International.

“An American Odyssey” is showing at the Frick Museum from March 1 to May 25, 2014.  There are many other things to see there like the Frick home and a car collection. This is from the Warner Foundation, the private collection of Jack Warner, who believes American history can be told through its art.

“The Warner collection is one of the most important collections of American art formed in recent decades, and the breadth and variety of works represented are both artistically and historically illuminating. Portraiture, still life, landscape, and genre painting are all represented with major groups of works by Hudson River School artists and American Impressionists, as well as significant groups of work by individual artists like Winslow Homer (1836–1910) and Mary Cassatt (1844–1926).“  http://www.thefrickpittsburgh.org/eventlist/events/index.php?eID=7881

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110227/NEWS/110229628

The unaffordable care act

“The actual number of Americans who were involuntarily uninsured was, at worst, somewhere around 13 million [not 47 million as claimed] And it is a myth that these people were ever denied care. This is why HHS isn’t keeping up with the number of uninsured who are signing up through the exchanges. The plight of the uninsured was a phony issue. A genuine issue, on the other hand, was increasing insurance premiums. And, perversely, the authors of Obamacare never addressed the underlying causes of this problem. In fact, the ironically named Affordable Care Act actually exacerbated the cost problem.”

Obamacare is unaffordable

Research you can use. . .

Enjoying Jack Benny 60 years late

I enjoy watching The Jack Benny show on my "rabbit ears" TV--I rarely listened/watched when it was one of the most popular and long running radio/TV shows in history (1932-1955 radio; 1950-1965 TV). I was looking at the FaceBook page and noticed that the wife (4th) of his announcer and side kick Don Wilson was Lois Corbett. That's the same name (not person) as my aunt.  But also the photo on the page shows a different Don Wilson, an Asian martial arts guy.  Considering what Don Wilson (rotund) looked like, that's hilarious.

Cornelius the Centurion, Acts 10

Interesting passage in Acts for Bible study today (and Sunday sermon) which included Cornelius the Centurion. He was an Italian gentile respected by the Jews, a Roman soldier of high rank, over 30, literate, with administrative skills necessary for his rank and position. He was a spiritual leader of this family and staff. Big cultural divide here between him and Peter. He was not a Christian, but is described as righteous, God-fearing, devout, generous to those in need, prayerful, and had a visit from an angel who said, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God." How often Christians think they can't pray or work together with those whose theology or practices are different than their own, who are Mormon or Catholic or Muslim. God apparently has other plans.

The latest change in the law

Obama finally sees the solution for those who can't afford the Affordable Care Act--prioritize your expenses and buy less of optional items like cable and shoes. Would you ask this over spender for advice on your budget?

The most recent change he's made in the law without Congressional approval is to say if it creates a hardship, you don't need to sign on (until after the 2016 elections to save the Democrats). Ironically, he has finally admitted that Obamacare IS THE HARDSHIP for millions.

 http://hotair.com/archives/2014/03/12/oh-by-the-way-obama-just-quietly-suspended-obamacares-individual-mandate-until-2016/

[T]he individual mandate is probably done for.

I would now assume that no one will pay the individual mandate fine for 2014. The administration may give up on the mandate in the course of the ongoing enrollment period if the political pressure is great enough, or they may keep up the pretense of it through the end of the enrollment period in March (when it will have finished its work, so to speak, since its purpose is to influence choices made during that period) but then exempt everyone from it as they did with the employer mandate for this year. Having now exempted from the fine people whose policies were canceled and who haven’t spent the money to get more expensive and less appealing new coverage, the politics of still applying the fine to everyone else who is uninsured this year will probably just not be sustainable, and the politics of exempting people from it (especially if they can hold out on doing so until after March 31) will be far too appealing for this White House to resist. They may claim the mandate will be back in 2015, but if they do exempt everyone from it in 2014 it will be hard to bring it back. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/366853/pounding-panic-button-yuval-levin

http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/12/krauthammer-obamacare-hardship-exemption-essentially-cancels-individual-mandate-video/

http://www.thewire.com/national/2013/12/obama-issues-hardship-exemption-those-cancelled-health-plans/356359/

Not NSYNC

Lance Bass of the boy band NSYNC gets the name of the health web site wrong.  It’s HealthCare dot gov.  He plans to help the President flog the health insurance site that has flagged so badly.

Progressives’ War on Women and Poor continues--90+ lawsuits

“Our faith teaches us that in the face of suffering, we can’t stand idly by, and that we must be that Good Samaritan.” So said President Obama during the Prayer Breakfast the other week. So say his progressive allies and friends, and his administration, too . . .  all the way to the courthouse.

Begin with the most obvious example: the court case brought against the administration by the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Little Sisters argue that their refusal to comply with the HHS contraception-and-abortifacients mandate on grounds of conscience will incur some $2.5 million in annual fines. That’s $2.5 million that could otherwise feed, house, and warm those for whom they care.

If the appeal doesn’t go their way, the administration will have successfully kneecapped their unique mission among the old, the sick, and the dying, whom they take in and treat as “family” when everyone else has thrown them out.

All of which raises an interesting point. From the perspective of sheer public relations, taking on the Little Sisters should have been the political equivalent of slapping babies. Why wasn’t it?"

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/373053/progressivisms-war-winners-mary-eberstadt#!

The Lerner Report

Lois G. Lerner, the now-retired Director of IRS Exempt Organizations, was extensively involved in targeting conservative-oriented tax-exempt applicants for inappropriate scrutiny. The Lerner report. http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Lerner-Report1.pdf

And I don't believe she made these decisions to target conservative groups without instruction from those above her.

It’s apparent that Lerner became very impatient waiting for changes in the law, and just decided to take matters into her own hands.

“Republicans are fighting back against proposed new IRS rules that they say would make formal the tax agency’s infamous crackdown on Tea Party groups that oppose the Obama agenda, stripping them of their free speech rights during election cycles. The new rules, first unveiled around Thanksgiving when no one was  paying attention, would prevent so-called 501(c)(4) social welfare/advocacy groups from participating in certain kinds of political activity. Such nonprofit organizations would be prevented from communicating with voters about candidates or political parties within 60 days of a general  election.   “Every American needs to know about this abuse of power,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) said in a recent speech on the Senate floor. Although new IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said he did not participate in drafting the rules, he has refused demands to block their implementation. Senate Democrats such as Mark Begich (Alaska) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) are demanding that the IRS crack down further on right-leaning nonprofits like Americans for Prosperity.” CRC Organization Trends, March 2013