When enablers are addicted to feeling superior

I was listening to an advice program on the radio today—a mom called about her addicted, bi-polar son who wanted to move out of the group home to an apartment so he could be independent.  He was receiving SSD but always came to mom or a brother when he needed money (usually spent his check quickly). I don’t think she really wanted help.  She wanted to whine.  And she wanted to be the rescuer, even though she realized it was wrong.  The very kind, patient Christian host told her several times to let him fail, or he would never learn to be on his own.  It was like spitting into the wind. And so it is for so many government programs.

Disabling, enabling programs intended to help have grown as often under Republicans as Democrats. But as far as I know, only the GOP is demonized and lied about for being stingy meanies--like the Obama phone story (it was a Reagan program), or the EITC (Reagan) or when GW Bush gave a tax refund to everyone, and to be fair, even to those who hadn't paid income tax for years, or ever. Until President Obama, no president had grown the social programs like George W. Bush. He was an extravagant spender for domestic issues. There was a huge expansion under Nixon, also.  A smaller government with lower taxes is good for everyone. The best poverty program is a job. Raising minimum wage does not help the unemployed, and may actually hurt them.  A husband/wife household both working at current  minimum wage jobs puts that family above poverty level and outside most welfare type programs, including Medicaid and food stamps.  Obama wants tax increases not to help the poor, but to punish the rich, because based on GWB and JFK eras, tax cuts bring in more money to the government coffers (which again is a problem because they invent more programs).

Too little, too late

“In the fiscal year before Obama unilaterally enacted the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012, there were 6,500 illegal immigrant kids who entered the country, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. According to the Christian Science Monitor, "during the decade preceding fiscal year 2012, the federal government agency tasked with caring for unaccompanied minors who cross the border illegally dealt with an average of 7,000 to 8,000 cases a year."

The Monitor noted in the the fiscal year after Obama enacted DACA, "the number jumped to 13,625," and at least 50,000, most of whom have been from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, have entered illegally since October of last year. As Breitbart News has reported, federal and local officials are estimating at least 150,000-160,000 more will try next year.”

I guess Obama thinks they have no cell phones to call home and tell their friends all they get is a bus ride and a piece of paper.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/04/Obama-Doppelganger-Dies-in-US-Border-Patrol-Commercial-Aimed-at-Migrants

One Nation by Ben Carson

My husband has finished reading Ben Carson's "One Nation" (Sentinel, 2014), so I asked him to write a book review for my blog, but he said, "Oh, I couldn't do that." But he hasn't stopped raving about the book and opens it to quote from it. I tell him, "See? You could write that," but he shakes his head and continues to tell me how great it is. A neighbor stopped by last evening for a chat on our porch at Lakeside, so my husband immediately began telling him about the book, and opened it to one of his favorite sections.   ISBN 978-1-59523-112-3, $25.95. Buy it, or request for your public library. A keeper.

New media/sports celeb is also a Christian

Leave the dogs at home—hire a sitter if you must

Why do people bring dogs to parades and art shows? They bark at each other, and really don't listen when their owners yell at them. Small children are just moving, threatening objects. A dog’s sense of smell is about 1,000 to 10,000,000 times more sensitive than a human’s (depending on the breed) so imagine how they are interpreting the crowds and food tents! It also is very painful to their sensitive ears when 8 fire trucks, ambulances and police cars start those sirens. Dogs detect sounds in the frequency range of approximately 67 - 45,000 Hz (varies with different breeds), compared to humans with the approximate range of 64 - 23,000 Hz. Plus humans have better vision, so it sort of defeats the purpose of bringing them to parades--unless you're just showing them off.

Have a great holiday and remember what it celebrates

1962 cost of Living

Comparatively speaking, food was more expensive in 1962 than today, according to this chart. In 1962 we bought our first home, $14,000, but our income was more like $4,000, and a wife's income did not count in mortgage applications unless s...he was a nurse or school teacher (considered safe jobs). Banks were strict; no more than 1/3 of income could be home related. My father financed our 2nd mortgage. We rented the upstairs apartment for $65/mo which was the mortgage amount. Rental real estate is the only home that isn't a hole in the ground where you bury money. Tuition, fees and housing at the University of Illinois was probably about $1200/year ($30,300 today). I don't recall specific prices for food, but a good size candy bar was 10 cents. Yes, gas really was that cheap, but automobiles were very inefficient and less safe 40-50 years ago--I had a huge 4  door '69 Olds that got about 10 mpg. My husband had zero benefits in 1962--no insurance, no vacation, no pension. We purchased a hospitalization policy and a small life insurance policy--I think they were about $30/quarter. We paid cash for doctors and dentist. All that said, I think higher education has gone up faster than health care (1,120% since 1978; medical 601%), food or housing--probably because of all the government assistance and loans, and it will only get worse now that the government has taken that over completely.

We were not church members then, and if our "giving" was $10/year, I'd be surprised. We were definitely in Joe Biden territory. We always had month left over after the money ran out until we started to tithe.

Watching the morning scare stories

I'm glad we have TV warnings and coverage of bad weather, I really am, but the breathlessness and excitement, the stirring of fear. Do I see just a tad of wishful thinking for climate change/disturbance/wind change people? There are fewer hurricanes and tornadoes and the temps overall are dropping, and the icebergs were still floating on Lake Superior in mid-June, but why mess with a good story?  My next door neighbor has a huge ash tree.  Now that’s a concern. (Ash borer)

Hurricane Arthur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyUDGfCNC-k

Hobby Lobby decision

Really. I can't believe the hysteria on the left about the Hobby Lobby decision. You would think women have been condemned to the burka or a life of 15 babies before age 30. They should really take a breath and look at the decision about unions. That hits at the heart of unions forcing themselves on home care workers--mostly women. But four abortifacients? How many women who work at Hobby Lobby will this affect? Yes, there will be more cases, and each one will be different. Obamacare, on the other hand, has hurt millions of women with higher prices and fewer choices. That's where the war on women is--this other is just a cover. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/381637/hobby-lobby-actually-lavishes-contraception-coverage-its-employees-deroy-murdock

Cheat sheet for ISIS players

Here's a cheat sheet on the players of ISIL, aka ISIS, aka IS, 2004-2014. Although they've only popped into the headlines lately, you'll see they've got deep roots. Probably difficult to read on your phone, but note that ISIS targets both Assad and the U.S. Twelve groups sometimes killing each other, sometimes cooperating. http://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_EvolutionofISILRelationships_FactSheet_June2014.pdf

When will women say enough?

Someone is always offended, but it's always open season on 50% of the population in popular culture like hip-hop, videos, cartoons, movies, half time shows at sports events, and advertisements which ridicule women as sex objects and morons. Like most things, women could stop it by just saying no I won't buy/support that product, but instead we've had 40 years of campaigning, work shops, new laws, etc.

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/06/152311-benjamin-moore-sued-former-employee-paint-colors-racist/

Apache red?  Fiesta yellow?  Confederate red?  And Tucker Chocolate?

Genetic diversity in Mexico

A very interesting story about the genetic diversity among Mexico's indigenous and mestizo populations, especially for medical importance. But isn't it interesting that in the U.S. when minorities respond differently to medical treatments, it's because of poverty, discrimination and biased research. In Mexico, apparently it's because of different gene pools. Who knew? http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/06/people-mexico-show-stunning-amount-genetic-diversity

When the team analyzed the genomes of 511 indigenous individuals from all over Mexico, they found a striking amount of genetic diversity. The most divergent indigenous groups in Mexico are as different from each other as Europeans are from East Asians, they report online today in Science. This diversity maps onto the geography of Mexico itself. The farther away ethnic groups live from each other, the more different their genomes turn out to be.

Push the poor to the suburbs where there is no transportation or services

Even more money for Ohio State was announced by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. "Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded a $30 million grant to Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) and Partners Achieving Community Transformation (PACT) to help improve and revitalize the Near East Side neighborhood around University Hospital East.

PACT is a partnership between The Ohio State University, the City of Columbus and the CMHA. The federal Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Grant will allow PACT to redevelop and improve housing, empower people with workforce training and wellness programs, and grow this community by attracting new businesses."

Low income people are driven out of their neighborhoods in these types of  "initiatives" of transformation and empowerment and they rarely get the construction jobs and mom and pop stores can't wait it out. In Columbus we had German Village renewal in the 1960s, Victorian Village in the 1970s, and the Short North in the 1980s. In the 1990s, areas around Ohio State University were practically leveled as the University welcomed more initiatives, renewal and gobbling up land.  Where do these people go?  To the suburbs. No bus service, no churches of their denomination, no social services.  Here’s what I wrote in 2008 about a different alphabet soup of grants.

“Dear reader--housing doesn’t change lives. Marriage does. Parenthood does. Faith in God does. Employment does. Education can. Art and music can. Pets might. Leisure activities don't. Substance abuse will definitely change your life downward. But not housing. Ask any landlord who turned the keys over to a careless, slovenly tenant. Housing doesn’t create safe neighborhoods; it doesn’t get transportation issues funded; it doesn’t improve health; it doesn’t pass bond issues. In partnership with the private sector, this kind of housing for low income people creates jobs and profits for . . .the construction companies.”

What counts?

Way up north in Dixie

Our speakers today at Lakeside were Howard and Judith Sacks of the American Folklore Society (Columbus) who told us the real story about the song Dixie. In their book, "Way up north in Dixie," they tell the story of a Maryland slave, Ellen Cooper, who went west to Ohio as a free woman and later had a popular family band, The Snowdens. The words and music were hers, but the song is credited to Dan B. Emmett who lived in the same town and performed in minstrel shows. http://africanaheritage.com/Way_Up_North_In_Dixie.asp

These are two of Ellen Cooper Snowden’s sons who played in the family band.

The Truth about the Hobby Lobby decision

The vitriolic and blatant politicization of the Supreme Court decision on Hobby Lobby, as evidenced in the left wing media and social media, is nothing short of astonishing. They would lead you to believe that:

-Women’s right to birth control products has been taken away or severely impacted by the decision.
-That big business is trying to dictate women’s birth control rights and choices
-That this is all just a Republican plot to furt...her the (fictitious) “war on women”

None of that is true. Actually the only thing that has severely limited women’s health care choices is Obamacare.. .(if you like your plan you can keep it….if you like your doctor you can keep him…you’ll have more affordable choices for your healthcare)
The simple fact is no one is being denied birth control. The only thing Hobby Lobby's lawsuit eliminates is Hobby Lobby paying for any of the four drugs that are de facto abortion pills. The other sixteen drugs are covered by Hobby Lobby insurance. And the four abortion drugs are also available, you just have to pay for it yourself, or you c an get them free from Planned Parenthood. NO choices have been eliminated or severely impacted. All that’s happened is that all Americans rights to religious freedom have been protected.

It's startling how ill informed, or just plain susceptible to the deceptive propaganda the left is trying to use to divide the country for their own political gain. I've seen so much really pathetic, ignorant rhetoric on this topic today. C'mon get yourself informed and think for yourself. . Americans are smarter than that.

Written by Charles Rowland.

I agree, but Charlie, unfortunately, many Americans are NOT smarter than that.

A terrible tragedy

Sunday an Iowa mother of 15 died in an auto accident.  She was a blogger, a Christian, and an adoptive parent of special needs children.

http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/2014/06/esthers-mom.html

https://sites.google.com/a/windandfire.org/jennygroothuis/

Memorial fund website.

How sensitive do doctors need to be to the needs of transgendered?

According to the Williams Institute review conducted in April 2011, approximately 3.80 % of American adults identify themselves being in the LGBT community; wherein, (1.70%) identify as lesbian or gay, (1.80%) bisexual, and (0.30%) transgender, which corresponds to approximately 9 million adult^[1] Americans as of the 2010 census. (Wikipedia)

If our future doctors know more about the emotional needs and problems of the transgendered than how to help patients cope with depression, dementia or terminal diseases, here's an example from a med school ethics class. Also a good look at the discrimination and bullying of Christians in medical school. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/transgender-christian-doctor/

“This week in my medical school we began the ethics portion of my medical school’s curriculum.  This week, the main learning points were on Human Sexuality, Emotional Intelligence (Empathy), and Memory and Learning (How to deal with patients with dementia, learning disabilities, autism etc.). You might be interested to know that the only required classes were on Human Sexuality, with one of them being a Transgender panel. All the other classes were optional attendance; they covered topics such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and how to empathize with your patients. CBT is a very common helpful tool that can be used to treat everything from depression and anxiety to bipolar disorder. However, despite the importance of emotional intelligence and memory and learning, over half of the material was about human sexuality — and over half of the human sexuality content was about how to treat LGBT patients.”

Workplace awards for performance

Are you proud your contributions are being used for abortions? Ever wonder how a counselor at Aurora “exceeds” abortion visits? Do you think she’s suggesting other options?  Discussing the health hazards? Suggesting that abstinence might be an option?  That the client need not submit to the boyfriend’s demand that she abort? If the client is underage, do you suppose this will be reported to the police?  If she doesn’t speak English and brings in an “interpreter, do you suppose Aurora's staffer will suspect she’s been trafficked from another country and needs to quickly abort to get back on the pimp’s payroll? If the client seems conflicted, do you really think Aurora counselors will refer the client to an adoption service? Will she notice the teen has a pushy Mom insisting on abortion or she’ll be put on the street? Will the client tell the counselor about the abuse of her step-father, or will she just get signed up for a quicky abortion and sent home home alone to pass a bloody mess in the toilet?

Why we have an income gap in the U.S.--marriage

The Census figures income by "household." The top 2% of households has an income of $250,000+.  But those households are racially different.  The wealthiest households in the U.S. are Asian (they also have the largest households). 4.2% of Asian households are in the $250,000+ group; 2.1% of white households; .9% of Hispanics; and .6% of blacks. What else isn't equal?  Married couple households. Asian households are 63.2% married; whites 58.1%; Hispanics 55.1%; and 34.8% blacks. It's probably basic math, but two workers make more than one. 64% of college graduates are married, compared to 48% of high school graduates; in 1960 the difference was 76% and 72%. But it’s also apparent that there are some very wealthy, unmarried, single households not sharing their wealth with anyone.

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0693.pdf

Also, whites have the lowest college enrollment of all ethnic groups in the U.S. The number of female Americans enrolled in college was significantly higher than the number of males (11.3 million versus 8.6 million). That was not only due to higher population figures for females: 7.4% of the 3+ female population was enrolled in college, compared to 5.9% of the 3+ male population.

Black Americans demonstrated higher-than-average college enrollment rates, at 8% of the 3+ population – equaling just over 3 million enrolled. Female black Americans had a substantially higher enrollment rate (9.2% of the 3+ population) than their male counterparts (6.5%).

Non-Hispanic whites had the lowest enrollment rates. 6.2% of the 3+ group was enrolled in college last year, with females outpacing males (6.8% vs. 5.5%). A total of 11.65 million were enrolled in college.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/traditional/us-college-student-demographics-in-2012-36555/