Record cold in South Carolina

Global warming is natural and has been taking place the last 8,000 years or so; that said, there are so many things individuals, organizations, non-profits and the local, state, and federal government can do to preserve the best and enhance the rest without damaging cultures and nature. Unfortunately, it has become a political battle and a war for profits as investors and utilities chase the latest windmill and solar panel. The gulf between gain and truth seems to be getting wider.

http://www.drroyspencer.com/2014/11/earliest-snow-in-columbia-sc/

Why Democrats talk about gaps instead of consumption

This is why the Democrats have to talk about a gap rather than quality of life and consumption.

1. The typical poor household, AS DEFINED BY THE GOVERNMENT, has a car and air conditioning, two color televisions, cable or satellite TV, a DVD player, and a VCR. If there are children, especially boys, the family has a game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.

2.  In the kitchen, the household has a refrigerator, an oven and stove, and a microwave. Other household conveniences include a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone, and a coffee maker.

3.  The home of the typical poor family is in good repair and is not overcrowded. In fact, the typical average poor American has more living space in his home than the average (non-poor) European has.

4.  By its own report, the typical poor family was not hungry, was able to obtain medical care when needed, and had sufficient funds during the past year to meet all essential needs.

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/what-is-poverty

The Christmas drawing

Our niece Joan who is a year older than our daughter has 8 grandchildren, and one of the moms has already posted who buys for whom at Christmas.  She’s going shopping. It’s arranged so siblings don’t get each others’ name.

Arielle BUYS FOR Jaxon.
Bella BUYS FOR Hallie.
Brody BUYS FOR Taylor.
Taylor BUYS FOR Brody.
Anthony BUYS FOR Arielle.
Hallie BUYS FOR Bella.
Kali BUYS FOR Anthony.
Jaxon BUYS FOR Kali.

I’ve got to say, I’m impressed with her organization.

Pathetic Democrat campaign tactics

It's just stunning that in the 2014 election all the Democrats have in their tool box of lies is equal pay for equal work for women (1963 law) and the myth that Republicans will return blacks to slavery and Jim Crow, when Democrats control all the major cities with the highest black unemployment, and we've had a black president for 6 years and a higher black voting rate than whites.

Democrats, instead of just saying, I’m not happy with Obama’s record, will lie that voting with him 97% doesn’t mean they approve, or they pretend ignorance, or they make outrageous statements like the female Senator from Louisiana a state that had a female governor during the Katrina disaster, that southerners don’t like women and blacks therefore she’s in a tough race.  Louisiana also has a minority governor at this time. She’s desperate to separate herself from Obama, so she just makes things up.

The Walker vs. Burke race in Wisconsin—most important in nation

I hope he wins. If he can turn Wisconsin from the steep left going over a cliff, any governor should be able to learn from him. It may be the most important election in the nation on Tuesday. Unions are going all out to defeat him. And that's BIG money. The academics are going crazy with fear that their reign of terror over students could be challenged. Walker has something very few Republicans have--a backbone (you thought I would use a different word, admit it).

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/102914-724074-unions-seek-to-oust-wisconsins-walker-for-daring-to-stand-up-to-them.htm

The reality is that Wisconsin has made a remarkable comeback in four years. The $3.6 billion budget deficit Walker inherited is now a surplus. Property and income taxes have been cut by $2 billion — for everyone. Jobs have come back, and the unemployment rate is down to 5.6% from 7.7% when he entered office.

How liberals respond to a discussion on “mercy” killings.

The Righteous Mind; why liberals and conservatives can’t get along

Wharton professor Philip Tetlock recently spoke with Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind.

Close ties, state universities and federal government

How dependent are state universities on the federal government?  In September 2014, Ohio State University received 185 grants totaling over $39 million.

Friday family photo—All Hallows’ Eve

Tomorrow is All Saints' Day, the day we remember in the Christian faith all the saints beside us, around us, and those who have gone ahead of us to wait and welcome us home. Today is All Hallows' Eve, the day before (eve) All Hallows' feast day, celebrated since the 3rd century. In the secular world it is contracted to Halloween and people like to dress up; some as though they are already decayed and dead. Sort of to scare away what they know is coming. God declares us holy... in our baptism, so we are all saints (sanctus in Latin). Celebrate--it really is a Christian festival, but be holy and God centered--it's not a time for sexy costumes or the living dead! The first Sunday in November in the Lutheran church we honor the saints who have gone ahead--we read their names in our services, and we'll be serving communion. I remember last year as I was saying, "the body of Christ given for you," the names of my parents and in-laws were being read from the pulpit.

One slur that can be overlooked, another that can’t

So a member of Obama's administration bad mouthed the leader of Israel, our only ally in the middle east. Called him chicken shit or something like that. The media just skips over that word or uses symbols, so I’m actually not sure what he said. Anyway, he said Benjamin Netanyahu was a piece of poo and a coward. Obama has ignored the slur. It's a good thing that staffer didn't say, "Washington Redskins" or he might have been fired immediately for being so hateful.

http://omnifeed.com/article/dailysignal.com/2014/10/29/chickens-slur-doesnt-faze-israels-netanyahu

“Certainly, that’s not the administration’s view, and we think such comments are inappropriate and counterproductive,” said National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey, according to The Hill. “Prime Minister Netanyahu and the president have a forged an effective partnership, and consult closely and frequently, including earlier this month when the president hosted the prime minister in the Oval Office.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/white-house-calls-chickenshit-netanyahu-slur-inappropriate/

What do teachers think of Common Core? The Gallup Poll

This is a deceptive Gallup poll--teachers are split positive and negative on Common Core (more Democrat teachers are positive than Republican, duh!). 56% say it is positive that there are unified standards in the U.S. BUT. Only 1% say it focuses on individual needs! Is this sacrificing the individual for the whole? Only 2% say it improves learning, improves communication, improves teaching, covers the basics, or holds teachers, districts and schools accountable. Only 3% ...say it improves reading and writing, in depth learning and positive change. Common Core has been bankrolled by financiers like Bill Gates ($150 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) in collaboration with UNESCO to develop a "master curriculum." It's not nationalism run amuck, it's globalism on steroids, with the end goal some sort of squishy morality on "fairness," "sustainability," and "peace."

http://www.gallup.com/poll/178892/teachers-offer-split-decision-common-core.aspx

The U.S. dropped its membership in UNESCO under Reagan, but GW Bush reinstated it in 2002. UNESCO had a plan called International Baccalaureate (IB) long before Obama had his eye on the WH, although many on the right want to blame Obama. When Common Core was imposed, many U.S. schools were already IB schools and didn't have to change much because they are so similar. IB emphasized socialist morals and goals. Academic rigor was replaced with fuzzy societal goals like redistribution of wealth, downplaying patriotism and nationalism, and stronger direction by the federal government.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/12/21/15ib.h32.html?

Hillary Clinton being absolutely clear about her socialist plans

1) Hillary, what she believes: “Don’t let anybody tell you that, uh, you know, it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs. You know that old theory, trickle-down economics. That has been tried, that has failed. It has failed rather spectacularly.”

2) Hillary, a few days later after her handlers realized it was toxic:  “Let me be absolutely clear about what I’ve been saying for a couple of decades: Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in an America where workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out—not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas.”

U.S. corporations have the highest tax rate in the world.  Even if #1 translated to #2, it would be a lie. When politicians say, "let me be absolutely clear" be ready for more lies.

in #2 she sounds a lot like Van Jones six years ago before he was outed and fired who sounds a lot like the old 19th century Marxism.

#1 will be a good campaign sound bite for the Republican candidate (Walker, Jindal, etc.), and I hope they aren’t too timid to use it.  Such pansies.

The Democrats are abusing blacks

http://RebelPundit.com Chicago activists Paul McKinley, Mark Carter, Joseph Watkins and Harold “Noonie” Ward recently went on the record with RebelPundit to deliver a message to black communities across the country.

Democrat leadership gobbles up the dollars and starves the people out.

This Democrat says she’s not wealthy

Huffington Post on Elizabeth Warren in 2012: $700,000 from Harvard, book royalties, consulting fees, $5 million house, and mutual funds and stocks worth $8 million. But she actually told Congress that she wasn't wealthy. Of course, she also told everyone she was an American Indian.

Quarantines are for less important people

Kaci Hickox, the nurse and epidemiologist who was quarantined in New Jersey after recently returning to the U.S. with a fever after treating Ebola patients in Africa, actually works for the CDC, whose standards are lower than New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and the Pentagon, and probably your state. She thinks her rights have been violated because she had to live in a tent for 3 days (ask some American soldiers about that). Anyone want to bet which party she belongs to? Right.  She’s a Democrat.  I don't know who or what HLN is, but its poll said 91% want health care workers quarantined upon reentry.

But quarantines are OK for other people. "Hickox’s travels as a nurse took her to Myanmar, Cambodia, and Nigeria and convinced her of the importance of quarantines and “health surveillance,” according to the University of Texas-Arlington newsmagazine. “I realize that we need to find better ways to improve health surveillance and outbreak response in settings with poor resources,” Hickox said. “My training in the EIS with the CDC will allow me to learn the gold standard of this kind of work.”

Doctors without Borders with whom she worked for a year has had 9 deaths and 16 illnesses from Ebola.

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/10/193424-nurse-connected-to-cdc/

http://gotnews.com/ebola-nurse-complaining-quarantine-left-wing-democrat-cdc-employee/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/ebola-quarantine-issue-proves-divisive/2014/10/27/

Mauritania—where slavery is alive, unwell, and open (but illegal)

Where there is still slavery--Mauritania. And many don't even realize they are slaves. Something like 10-20% of the population with lighter skinned Arabs enslaving dark skinned Africans. A tradition of centuries.  This is a fascinating video made by CNN, at great risk  Stay with it (it isn’t long) for the interview with the Arab slave owner who became an abolitionist.  http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2012/03/world/mauritania.slaverys.last.stronghold/index.html

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt carried a gun due to death threats

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt has lunch with students at the Ohio State University on November 13, 1959.

Notice the purse under her arm in the first photo? Did you know, in her later years, Eleanor Roosevelt was a "pistol packing" liberal? Pictured in the second photo (discovered at the FDR Library) is her pistol permit. Former First Ladies did not have Secret Service protection until 1964 and Eleanor had numerous death threats against her and a bounty for her head by the KKK for her outspoken support of civil rights throughout the 1950s. It is said that she always carried a gun in her purse when she traveled. Tom Betti spoke with tour guides at great length at her home in Hyde Park, New York and they insist she target practiced and was ready to defend herself! She was never afraid of anyone, but prepared to defend friends, herself, and what she believed in. One thing is clear from her ID photo, don't mess with Eleanor!

Courtesy of Columbus Landmarks Foundation

https://www.facebook.com/ColumbusLandmarksFoundation

When we finally have that “conversation” about race. . . let’s tell the whole story

I was probably in my 30s or 40s before I found out that before the Civil War freed blacks in the U.S. owned slaves. I don't recall that was covered in American history in high school or college. But it wasn't until Prof. Henry Gates (Obama's friend in Boston and PBS host) wrote about it, that I learned that free blacks owned slaves at a much higher rate than whites, something like 25% compared to about 1.5%. Some of course, bought their wives and children after they bought their own freedom, although those were still counted as slaves in the census.  But many owned large numbers and nice plantations that needed slave labor. Also, Gates reported that only a very small number of African slaves ever came to colonies that became the U.S.--most of the 10+ million went to South America or the Caribbean where they died in huge numbers and had to be replaced. Free American blacks were voting before the Revolution and most likely helped ratify the amendments and send the men to Congress. There were very wealthy free blacks who owned a lot of property as well as small businessmen and craftsmen of all manner of the arts in the South.

To sustain their economic activities, free people of color acquired increasing numbers of slaves. Urban artisans--carpenters, bricklayers, stonemasons, mechanics-purchased black apprentices, hod carriers, and helpers; merchants and business people bought haulers, carters, and stock boys; plantation owners purchased house servants, cooks, mechanics, and field hands. By 1830, approximately 1,556 free black masters in the Deep South owned a total of 7, 188 slaves. Representing about 42 percent of the black owners in the South, they owned 60 percent of the black-owned slaves. In the Charleston District, 407 owners held a total of 2, 195 slaves. In New Orleans, there were 753 free black owners, including 25 who owned at least 10 bondsmen and women and another 1 16 who owned between 5 and 9 slaves. Although some of these slaveholders owned members of their own families, or loved ones, unable to free them by law, in 8 rural Louisiana sugar and cotton parishes, 43 Creoles of color ( 1.2 percent of the black slaveholders in the South) owned a total of 1,327 blacks, or lout of 9 slaves owned by blacks. In St. John the Baptist Parish, 3 plantation owners held 139 blacks in bondage-an average of 46 slaves each; in Pointe Coupee Parish, 8 planters held 297 slaves, an average of 37 slaves each. In 1830, approximately lout of 4 free black families in the region was a slaveholder.  “Prosperous Blacks in the South, 1790-1880”

http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/L_Schweninger_Prosperous_1990.pdf

More recently, the Cherokee nation has expelled descendants of their black slaves which since the Civil War had been considered part of the nation according to a treaty they had with the U.S.  Before being forcibly removed to Oklahoma, over 7% of the Cherokees owned slaves--more than the whites in the same states and they took their slaves with them on the “trail of tears.” I suspect that the action had much more to do with money than racial animosity--there was a huge government settlement to be divided up a few years ago. Imagine thinking your family was Cherokee since 1866, and then you get exiled from the tribe over a few billion dollars.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-cherokees-one-nation-divisible-judge-will-decide-if-black-members-can-be-expelled/2014/05/06/8690e56c-d55e-11e3-aae8-c2d44bd79778_story.html

What this really shows is that slavery, which exists in larger numbers today than in the 18th century, is a human problem, not a white American problem.  Africans enslaved and sold people of other tribes, and the Arab Muslims were the middlemen to get them to the coast for the Europeans to sell.  Cherokees and other Indians had slaves long before the Europeans stepped ashore, and saw no problem in buying and selling black Africans.

http://ballandalus.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/trans-saharan-slave-trade-and-racism-in-the-arab-world/

http://randomthoughtsonhistory.blogspot.com/2014/04/just-finished-reading-black-property.html/

Lutheran Bible Translators—Ebola

“Lives and well-being of Sierra Leonean and Liberian coworkers are threatened because of the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa – spreading rapidly and claiming the lives of thousands. We have 28 coworkers in Sierra Leone and over 40 in Liberia. They have years of translation and teaching experience and encourage others to use and understand the Scriptures. The loss of even one worker would be a devastating blow to the mission of God’s Word being accessible in the heart language. Because of the Ebola Epidemic, coworkers are having to find new ways to accomplish their work while keeping themselves and their families safe.”

Powdered caffeine is dangerous

Senator Sherrod Brown wants the FDA to regulate powered caffeine.

“Caffeine is an accepted part of our culture – you would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t enjoyed a cup of coffee or tea, or a can of soda or an energy drink to concentrate or gain energy. Powdered pure caffeine, however, is not well understood and its high concentration makes it dangerous.

Even a small amount of powdered caffeine can kill.

According to the FDA, one teaspoon of powered caffeine is like drinking 25 cups of coffee all at once. That is more than six times the recommended daily amount of caffeine for an adult. Teenagers – who may be tempted to use powdered caffeine to stay awake in class or to improve their sports performance – are recommended to have no more caffeine than what you would find in a single cup of coffee.
To complicate matters, the recommended serving size of powdered caffeine is one-sixteenth of a teaspoon. That amount is so small that it’s nearly impossible to estimate without a food scale and a special miniature measuring spoon. Most kitchens don’t have those tools, putting powdered caffeine users at risk for fatal measuring errors.

Too much caffeine can cause rapid or erratic heartbeat, seizures, and even death but, despite these risks, powdered caffeine can be purchased online or in stores with little warning or guidance. Kids and teenagers can even purchase this deadly stimulant in bulk online with the click of a button and no parental supervision. “

(Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio newsletter)

http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-daily-briefing/2014/10/102714-powdered-caffeine.html