Halloween smiles

We’re looking at a 30 year war—Panetta

"I think we're looking at kind of a 30-year war. It's going to take a long time to be able to go after these elements. It can't be [that] we're going to go in one day and pull back the next day." That's according to Leon Panetta, former defense secretary for Barack Obama. Panetta also criticized Obama for taking off the table the option of boots on the ground. "If we don't, at least in my view -- if they establish a base of operations in that part of the world, it's only a matter of time before they will then use it as a basis on which to attack this country," Panetta added. He also argued in his new book that it was a mistake to leave Iraq in the first place. He should send the commander in chief an autographed copy of that book.

From Patriot Post Daily Digest, Oct. 7

In his book “Worthy Fights” he writes, the White House was “so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests.” And finally, “To this day, I believe that a small U.S. troop presence in Iraq could have effectively advised the Iraqi military on how to deal with al-Qaeda’s resurgence and the sectarian violence that has engulfed the country.” His account directly contradicts Barack Obama’s latest story – that total U.S. withdrawal “wasn’t a decision made by me.” Actually, yes, it was, and it was a terrible and costly one.

Allen West sums it up:

“Yeehaw, we finally have reports that our air strikes have killed 29 ISIS fighters -- and how much does one Tomahawk cruise missile cost? ISIS closing in on another major city, Kobani -- and the Kurds admitting they have not received any arms support. We have a growing issue with Ebola in the United States and referred to as a top national security concern. We have our children afflicted with a mysterious respiratory illness and virus that is causing paralysis and just took the life of a young New Jersey pre-schooler. And let's be honest folks, there are nearly 103 million Americans out of work. But have no fear, Obama has it all under control -- I heard him say so last night at a fundraiser. And he will say so again today at several more fundraisers. What a guy!” Facebook post, Oct. 7

Democrats pathologize women and it works at the polls

Women seem to gravitate to the party that sees them as victims, needing a lot of help from the government. They don't walk the talk of, "I am woman hear me roar," and are sleeping with Uncle Sam who has promised to take care of them. "Among unmarried women, Democrats now lead Republicans by 22 points, 58-36 — up from an 11 point lead in July." Washington Post today.

Make the best use of time

It’s the ideology—that won’t change

In 2014 and 2016 many Democrats running for office claim they are not Obama. They will be running from the sluggish economy, from Obamacare increases coming in January, from the executive order that will come on immigration right after the election, from the IRS scandal, from snooping on journalists, from worsening relations with Israel, from the expanded wars in the middle east, from the rollout of Obamacare and the sign up mess, from the sloppy Secret Service mess, from the questions about Ebola. But Obama isn't a person as much as he's an ideology, one that many Democrats subscribe to. They too believe in a government too big to fail.

Our president is a hypocrite

An Obama administration official traveled to Oklahoma City Saturday to offer words of praise to congregants at the mosque attended by Alton Nolen. I wonder if he then stopped by to talk to the traumatized employees of the food processing facility, or if he made a sympathy call on the murdered woman's family, or visited the other woman stabbed multiple times. If Nolan had been a member of a Christian church, would Obama have sent someone to praise them for their good works in other areas?

Monday Memories—missionaries to Nigeria

When I was a youngster, the Church of the Brethren in Mt. Morris, IL would host our Nigerian missionaries. Later my high school principal Evan Kinsley and his wife Lucile went to Nigeria as teacher missionaries in the mid-1960s.  The Church of the Brethren was very successful in Nigeria and had begun work with women and girls establishing a school. The kidnapped girls in the news recently were from a school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. Boko Haram the group terrorizing that area  is an extremist Islamic sect in northern Nigeria violently seeking a “pure” Islamic state. The girls are probably great grand daughters of those early converts. Most of the affected families are part of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN--Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria). EYN, the CoB mission, now has about a million members and is much larger than its shrinking grandmother in the U.S.

My mother’s cousin, Marianne Michael (on the George side), served in Nigeria. From 1948 to 1961, the Michaels carried out missionary work for the Church of the Brethren, including the organization of the Garkida Girls’ Life Brigade and the establishment of an adult literacy program for women. Michael published extensively in the Gospel Messenger about her missionary work. Her archives are at the University of Iowa Libraries. We usually correspond at Christmas, but now that she’s in a nursing home and in her late 90s, I don’t hear from her.

http://www.one.org/us/2014/10/01/brave-nigerian-schoolgirl-shares-her-escape-from-boko-haram/

http://blog.brethren.org/2014/bringbackourgirls-zooming-out-but-staying-focused/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/nigeria-4-churches-burned-down-scores-killed-in-deadly-boko-haram-attack-on-christians-122439/

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/colinfreeman/100271043/chibok-school-abductions-a-story-of-ancient-islam-and-20th-century-missionaries/

The least recommended college majors

Here are the top 12 majors not recommended by people in the field:

8-12 (Tie): Liberal Arts

• 25% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $36,600

8-12 (Tie): Political Science

• 25% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $41,700

8-12 (Tie): Art History

• 25% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $36,900

8-12 (Tie): Sociology

• 25% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $37,400

8-12 (Tie): Psychology

• 25% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $36,300

6-7 (Tie): Art

• 26% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $36,100

6-7 (Tie): English Language

• 26% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $38,700

5. Journalism

• 27% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $38,100

4. Social Science

• 28% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $37,300

3. Visual Communications

• 29% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $37,300

2. History

• 33% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $39,700

1. Anthropology

• 35% wouldn’t recommend this major
• Starting pay: $36,200

I don’t see anything remarkable; except for journalism, I assumed the same about these majors when I was in college. But obviously, if only 25-35% are unhappy in the job, they are finding other satisfaction besides salary.

Survey was by PayScale and reported in Higher Ed Morning.

I wonder if this was used with gender if it would explain some gender gap in wages.

“In both 1978 and 2005, engineering, physics and mathematics lagged behind many of the humanities departments in attracting women, who tend to flock to fields ranging from art history to English, as well as the “softer” sciences, such as biology and environmental studies.” (2006, The gender gap in majors at Yale)

Then the Harvard Crimson did an article on the differences of majors by genders.  And yes, anthropology was the most female of all the majors, but most of these were listed.

Georgetown University did a study in 2011 of differences in gender and race in selecting a major. The study found that white men are concentrated in the highest-earning majors, including engineering and pharmaceutical sciences, while women gravitate toward the lowest-earning majors like education, art and social work. https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/omooxnult5yvuctf0ftl

October 5, a perfect day, a reposting from 2003

The sky is an October color--a blue you see in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio this time of year, bordered in my side and lower vision with brilliant hues and just enough green left over from the wet summer to make a lump in my throat. But the lump is already there. Today is his birthday and I'm probably the only person who remembers.

As we drive past small towns and corn fields on a familiar route, I say to my husband, "Stanley would be 42 today." It takes a few seconds for him to pull up a memory of that plump, blonde toddler and reconstruct him as an adult old enough to be a grandfather.

"I wonder what he would look like," he says. I can't see his eyes behind his sun glasses.

"Probably just like you. Your baby pictures look so similar, except your hair was more red."

"Maybe he'd be bald by now--mine really started going after 45," he recalled.

I have little memory of what he actually looked like. I've browsed the photo album so many times that all I see when I try to recall his face are black and white and fading color snapshots and a color portrait taken at the department store in Champaign, Illinois. I do remember the way he looked when they placed him on my abdomen in the delivery room with that "what's happening" expression and the way he looked in that little casket in a new blue suit. No photos at the beginning and the end to blur history.

"We wouldn't have the kids now," he says, mentioning they'd be stopping by later to see the DVD of our trip west.

We are quiet. The harvest ready fields roll by and I think again of my favorite Old Testament verse, "Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten. . ." Joel 2:25

Go and make disciples

• After the resurrection the women who discovered it were told to go to the disciples and tell them. God used the tell-a-woman method that has worked well over the centuries because they followed his instructions. Then the 11 disciples met Jesus who was about to give them a new command (make disciples). The Bible reports, some worshipped him and some doubted. So if 11 guys who'd spent 3 years with him, watched him feed 5,000 and heal cripples and turn water into wine didn't always get it right, why expect people 2,000 years later to be smarter and more obedient than they were? I find that there are licensed drivers who disobey traffic laws; teachers with 2 degrees who don't apply even common sense let alone education principles; dog owners who don't pick up their pet's poop; and presidents who lie about health coverage after innumerable speeches of promises. And he is a Christian. So apparently Christians are forgiven, but not perfect.

Bombing Humvees

"During the past six weeks U.S. combat jets have bombed and eliminated 41 Humvees originally given to the Iraqi military, but afterwards captured by ISIS forces. CNNMoney cited a statement from Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, that the bombs that U.S. jets are dropping on the Humvees cost $30,000 each, while the armored vehicles themselves originally cost about $250,000 each, depending how each was equipped." (New American via CNN) 

If you Google that story, you'll find other news items and opinion pieces about ISIS capturing U.S. equipment as early as June. So why does Obama claim he didn't know they were a problem, or is this when he called them the JV team?

Some of the left over equipment has been given to cities and colleges so they can repress riots and unruly Tea Party members.

Pumpkin pie angel food cake

 

http://realhousemoms.com/pumpkin-pie-angel-food-cake/

We need to import workers for those we’ve killed

For forty years America has legally been aborting its future; now our birth rate is below replacement.  Immigration of hard working brown people who don't speak English and aren't wanted in their own country seems the solution. But is it?

A fired up President Barack Obama had a message to immigration activists at a dinner [Oct. 2] in Washington, D.C.: "No force on earth can stop us."
 
"The clearest path to change is to change [the voter turnout] number," said Obama, "Si se puede, si votamos! Yes, we can, if we vote!"

The inequality focus has made things less equal

The coalition that elected Obama have lost the faith--in America. That's what happens when you believe a socialist who wants to fundamentally transform a capitalist country.

"In the latest grim tiding of the public mood, merely 42% think the American dream that "if you work hard, you'll get ahead" remains true, down from 53% in 2012 and 50% in 2010. According to the Public Religion Research Institute poll last week, the steepest declines in belief in the last two years were among people under age 30 (down 16 percentage points), women (14 points) and Democrats (17)."

A president whose focus has been on reducing inequality has in fact reduced growth, thus hurting the very people he claimed to care about. http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-president-of-inequality-1412292383

Who is working?

A record 92,584,000 Americans 16 and older did not participate in the labor force in September, as the labor force participation rate dropped to 62.7 percent, a level it has not seen in 36 years (September 1978), the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/record-92584000-not-labor-force-participation-hits-36-year-low

ObamACAre: A Strategic Response for Individuals and Businesses – Our Middle Class Rescue Plan

I haven’t seen the book, but I know one of the authors.

After Bob (financial advisor) Matt (attorney and health insurance consultant) told me (Julie) what they learned from their respective expertise, I (American patriot) almost fell over myself to help them write and edit the book. Our audience is middle class, working poor, Christian, American citizens – or almost everyone in the whole nation! We simply must reach them with a way to counter the radical, regressive agenda plaguing the halls of power and influence.

Here is the pitch: All American employers and individuals need the proper knowledge before they make 2015 health care decisions … Dropped coverage, rising deductibles, tax penalties, financial cliffs all make the future of healthcare and compensation uncertain for families, especially in the middle class. How will you navigate this complicated environment to ensure you are doing the best you can? The healthcare system is in crisis. People need help.

The report is available as a printed booklet OR as a download. Both are $9.99. Please see more details here: http://centerpointstewardship.com/

Our new living room couch—Friday Family Photo

Monday we went shopping for a couch—stopped at 3 stores, and finally purchased one at Kittles we had seen last week. When they told us the delivery charge we decided to take it with us—we were sure it would fit in my van because we’d moved one of our couches to the lake house during the summer (which is why we needed a new couch). So for 2 days the couch was in the garage in the van.  Wednesday our son and another man came and moved our living room couch to the family room, and brought in the new couch.

This is the couch in the van.

This is the couch in the living room. This couch is larger (taller) so we may have to get a larger painting.

This is the couch with a brown sheet from a twin set.  The stretch elastic bottom sheet works really well over the back cushions.  And they have already paid for themselves.  Last night our cat throw up her supper on the sheets, so I’ve already washed them.  Usually she throws up on the white carpet.  They were very inexpensive (100% polyester) and are an exact color match.

I’m now looking for pillows that will have both blue (chair) and brown.

I bought a package today

Quite tasty.

Which is a bigger problem for native Americans, the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the name Washington Redskins?

“In 2011, the Department of the Interior's Inspector General (IG), Mary Kendall, testified to Congress about the "gross program inefficiencies at many levels of Indian Affairs and in tribal management of federal funds."³¹ The IG described, for example, how the BIA funded a fish hatchery at a reservation for 14 years and yet no fish were hatched. Eventually, a BIA official visited the reservation and found that the alleged hatchery was actually a real estate development that the tribes had been funneling taxpayer money into.

In another incident, the BIA spent $9 million for public ferryboat service in Alaska, but the money was redirected to a private tour boat operation.³² And in Montana in 2011, 10 people—including BIA employees—were indicted for a decade-long scheme that embezzled $1.2 million from a tribal lending program operated by the Fort Peck Tribe.³³

The IG found that in one BIA region, millions of dollars were wasted on road projects that were never competed. She noted that "internal management controls were so broken down that wage-grade employees were earning over $100,000 a year, with overtime, without explanation."³⁴ On one of the road projects, $2.4 million had been spent, but the IG couldn't find any of the work that was supposed to have been done.”

http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/interior/indian-lands-indian-subsidies

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/26/politics/american-indian-settlment/index.html

The BIA and the BIE have approximately 9,000 employees.

The 2014 budget request for the Operation of Indian Programs account is $2.2 billion, an increase of $37.2 million above the 2012 enacted level, excluding a proposed transfer of Contract Support Costs out of OIP to a stand alone account.