Islam and end times

My husband bought a book this morning at his UALC men's Bible study: "Resurgent Islam and America: The End times," by David Goldmann, (Xulon press, 2010). Goldmann is a former missionary in Northern Africa who lives in Columbus and has a great love for the Muslim people--which is why he brought Christ to them. His wife is in my book club. After he reads it, perhaps I can get him to write something about it.

So many Catholics are disagreeing with the Pope

R. R. Reno said in the December issue of First Things: “[the Pope] is dangerously wrong when he suggests that the way forward is to obsess less [about sex]. The opposite is true. . . our age is already obsessed with sex.  If we don’t speak—if our church leaders don’t speak—we’ll be absorbed into our culture’s way of thinking, and our children will be catechized by progressive creeds of sexual liberation.”

St. Augustine urged the faithful not to follow their bishops if the Bishops were not following holy scripture. "We may not assent to the teaching even of the Catholic bishops, if at any time they are deceived into opinions contrary to the canonical Scriptures of God; but if they should so fall into error, and yet maintain the bond of unity and charity, let the apostle's saying avail in their case: 'And if in anything ye are otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.' Now these divine words have so manifest an application to the whole Church, that none but heretics in their stubborn perverseness and blind fury can bark against them." (Cf. Augustine's Reply to Faustus the Manichaean (Contra Faustum), book 11, 5.)  Seems to fit some of today's controversies.

Growth of internet use and church membership

Is internet use and higher education affecting your church's attendance? "In the 2010 U.S. population, Internet use could account for 5.1 million people with no religious affiliation, or 20% of the observed decrease in affiliation relative to the 1980s. Increases in college graduation between the 1980s and 2000s could account for an additional 5% of the decrease." Allen B. Downey, professor of computer science (http://arxiv.org/pdf/1403.5534v1.pdf)

Before turning on your computer, smart phone or I-pad, arm yourself with the Lord's Prayer, one of the creeds, or a favorite psalm to balance out your strong social needs and to make contact with the One who really cares and listens and is never off line or out of range.

The worthy goals of the ACA

The two most important goals of Obamacare were to reduce the number of uninsured (estimated at about 44 million in 2009) and to reduce health care costs. Those were admirable goals with which no one can argue. Almost immediately the CBO figured there was not going to be a reduction in costs, and might even be an increase.

And the uninsured? Well, about half were young and in their youthful way had decided they'd rather have pizza and beer than do that co-pay and deduction at work; another large group made over $75,000 a year and just chose not to insure, or could self insure.

So that left about 30 million uninsured poor people, many of whom were already eligible for Medicaid but didn't sign up. Now even the most Obama-loving estimates are there will still be about 14 million uninsured when this all shakes out. For that, millions lost their doctors, their insurance and their jobs and we taxpayers lost hundreds of millions on a sign up system that didn't work, plus our right to privacy for our medical records. And the Democrats are scratching their heads on why they lost the election?

Maisie Dobbs

Maisie Dobbs Books in Publication Order

1. Maisie Dobbs (2003) [Best Price Here]
2. Birds of a Feather (2004) [Best Price Here]
3. Pardonable Lies (2005) [Best Price Here]
4. Messenger of Truth (2006) [Best Price Here]
5. An Incomplete Revenge (2008) [Best Price Here]
6. Among the Mad (2009) [Best Price Here]
7. The Mapping of Love and Death (2010) [Best Price Here]
8. A Lesson in Secrets (2011) [Best Price Here]
9. Elegy for Eddie (2012) [Best Price Here]
10. Leaving Everything Most Loved (2013) [Best Price Here]
11. A Dangerous Place (2015) [Best Price Here]

http://www.booksinorder.net/authors/jacqueline-winspear/

#11 is a stand alone.

Shortage of training and apprenticeships for skilled workers

83% of construction contractors are reporting a shortage of trained workers. Was it the last recession (ended in 2009) when 2 million were laid off, or something bigger like a failure in the education pipeline for new construction workers? Those factors include the dismantling of the public vocational and technical education programs, declining participation in union apprenticeship training and an increasing focus on college preparatory programs at the high school level. Surely, there must be some recent veterans who can stand in the gap.

 http://www.agc.org/…/2014_AGC_Workforce_Development_Plan.pdf

It’s unfortunate that many ideas in this report want the federal government to come to the aid of the unions, and they want legal recognition for illegal construction workers.  Local schools and communities and businesses need to step up.

One of the promises of the current administration was to streamline the regulations that choke small businesses, but the figure is still over $2 trillion in added costs according to a study by the  National Association of Manufacturers.  http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/09/10/study-federal-regulations-cost-us-businesses-2-trillion/

Dr. Gruber, ACA architect, admits they lied—but for a good cause

“This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure CBO did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. [In other words they committed fraud.] Okay, so it’s written to do that.  In terms of risk rated subsidies, if you had a law which said that healthy people are going to pay in – you made explicit healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it would not have passed… Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really really critical for the thing to pass. It’s a second-best argument. Look, I wish Mark was right that we could make it all transparent, but I’d rather have this law than not.”

Dr. Gruber: A lot of people weren’t stupid, many of the violations and problems were noted early on, but Obama controlled both houses of Congress, and even then it only passed by one vote.  Last Tuesday, many Democrats lost their jobs, thanks to your lies,  although to listen to the media and the president, they can’t figure out why.

American economic policy hides or obscures subsidies or costs—it’s not just the ACA

• As Dr. Gruber points out, in ObamaCare the healthy cross-subsidize the sick. He does not point out that embedded within this the healthy subsidize the sick for the portion of their sickness related to unhealthy behaviors. A Congressional floor vote to defend such a value choice, if made transparent and explicit, would certainly fail.
• ObamaCare also forces young people to subsidize older people by limiting the width of premium “rating bands” for insurance sold in the individual market. This was the result of closed-door lobbying by AARP. This one might pass Congress if voted upon explicitly, but the ACA’s architects hid it to avoid admitting that they were shafting young people.
• Social Security conflates forced individual retirement saving, insurance programs, and massive cross-subsidies, in part to hide the latter.
• So does Medicare. The biggest cross-subsidies are across birth year cohorts but there are plenty of others as well. Don’t get me started on trust fund accounting.
• The employer-side half of FICA payroll taxes that finance most of Social Security and part of Medicare are often framed as if they “are paid by the employer” when their true economic burden is borne by the employee in the form of lower wages. If all FICA taxes were imposed on the employee-side they would be more transparent and less popular.
• A minimum wage increase forces low-skilled unemployed workers to subsidize the wages of the low-skilled employed. Expanding the earned income tax credit is a more transparent way to help the low-skilled unemployed but it puts the costs on budget and in full view. The Left pushes to hide the costs and lies, claiming it’s a free lunch.
• CAFE fuel economy requirements are less transparent than a gas tax that would achieve a similar goal. But gas tax increases are wildly unpopular while raising CAFE standards appear only to make things harder “on the auto companies.”
• A global CO2 cap-and-trade system would have obscured the redistribution of global economic growth from developed economies to developing economies. An explicit and transparent carbon tax imposed only on developed economies would achieve a similar endpoint but would have made explicit this massive proposed global redistribution.
• For years policymakers used Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to subsidize homeowners through hidden credit subsidies. The Left pushed this for low-income homebuyers through affordable housing goals, while elected officials across the political spectrum supported the same thing for all homebuyers through special advantages conferred by government on these two firms.

http://keithhennessey.com/2014/11/10/honesty-about-lying/

http://michellemalkin.com/?p=161169

http://economics.mit.edu/files/6829

http://economics.mit.edu/files/6829  In this 2011 NBER research article , Gruber states it is doubtful that health care costs can be controlled through Obamacare.

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/11/10/video-obamacare-architect-brags-about-lack-of-transparency-in-law/

Baking in the new oven

I'm not sure how you baptize a new oven, but I just baked Pecan Lemon Loaf with a glaze in my new noisy oven (fan runs the whole time plus 10 minutes when cooling). I like Taste of Home magazine so I used a recipe from one of my annuals, and here's the on-line. Made a few mistakes--I don't bake much any more, but it will probably be edible.

 http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pecan-lemon-loaf

Donny and Marie—teen-agers dancing, singing and skating

I’m looking over a 4 leaf clover.  Look how covered up Marie is.  A little different than some exploited teen stars.

My new kitchen appliances

I know this is a first world problem and petty, but I've spent ca. $3000 on new kitchen appliances and I'm not sure I like any of them. Styles have changed and they don't look that terrific with my 1990s cabinets. All appliances are much larger than 20 years ago when this kitchen got a make-over by the previous owner. Then everything was flush. Now they look like they've been on steroids and everything is muscular and loud. Yes, loud. The new wall oven has a fan that doesn't turn off when it is in use! It actually blows my hair when I walk by! I upgraded the dishwasher for silence and get a noisy oven! We need to have a contractor slice about 1/2" off the counter so we can push the oven in all the way, but it will still stick out further than the old one. Sunday night we had dinner at a friend's and I noticed they have the same problem.

Now about that war on women the Democrats are waging . . .

The cost of a big wedding may not be worth it

The more you spend on the engagement ring and the wedding, the more likely you are to get a divorce according to this research: " ‘A Diamond is Forever’ and Other Fairy Tales: The Relationship between Wedding Expenses and Marriage Duration" Andrew M. Francis and Hugo M. Mialon. (September 15, 2014). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2501480 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2501480

We've been married over 54 years. Our wedding was low budget. I borrowed my sister's wedding dress; I didn't even have a shower. My husband's parents bought him a new suit. It was punch and cake in the church basement. I'm guessing weddings are really for brides and their mothers; men probably don't give a hoot. The important thing about a wedding is to be surrounded by friends and family, and skip the park or beach and find a church! And even that doesn't always take. If you can't get along before the wedding, a few words by a pastor won't change anything.

http://www.theknot.com/Vendors/Longaberger-Golf-Club-Event-Center/Profile/CAR/054/542850/profile?sid=FeilhLC0c4HJxNUWNuxbEw

http://www.eventective.com/USA/Ohio/Heath/68040/The-Dawes-Arboretum.html

http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/

http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/designer-rings.aspx

Why do wealthy, single women vote for Democrats?

R.R. Reno observes:

“Thus we have the seemingly odd political instincts of a single, 35-year-old McKinsey consultant living in suburban Chicago who thinks of herself as vulnerable and votes for enhanced social programs designed to protect against the dangers and uncertainties of life. Why would a woman whose 401K already exceeds $1,000,000 and who owns a condo worth almost as much be so concerned to expand public support for in-home care of the elderly? It’s because she’s not married and feels as though she’s going to have to take on all the responsibilities of life on her own—a prospect that is indeed daunting."
 
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/08/the-dilemma-facing-social-conservatives

She seems to think that if Republicans are in office they will somehow take away programs that help her?  She cares about the poor and thinks the GOP will slash benefits? 

I’d like to see the evidence that Republicans have ever NOT supported massive government spending (Obamacare was the first ever that didn’t have a single Republican vote). It’s a campaign lie that women and minorities are told to keep their vote. If they didn’t, all our debt and deficit would be only on the shoulders of the Democrats. Do you really want that responsibility? The best (and least) they’ve done is to vote against huge increases, but nothing ever decreases. The biggest social services president was GW Bush, until Barack Obama came along. His ARRA added $100 billion in federal aid to education in 2009, and yet when it wasn’t continued or increased, it’s called a cut and blamed on Republicans. Race to the Top is Obama’s program, but No Child Left Behind was Bush’s, both extravagant, wasteful interference in local education systems which now have to teach to the test.

If wealthy, white educated women are worried about their futures as they age, because they aren’t married, they need to be studying investments, markets, tax loop holes, etc., not supporting a president who cavorts with Hollywood celebs, lobbyists for banks, and Union officials and wants to take more of their hard earned money by raising tax rates or contemplating a wealth tax.

The federal government alone currently funds and operates 126 different welfare or anti-poverty programs. If even one is “cut” or “combined” there are screams of mean and stingy GOP, yet obviously they are not moving people up the ladder of prosperity (nor are they even included in studies of income, which they should be).

Medicaid and CHIP are the biggest with about 65,000,000 participants, and SNAP is next with about 46,500,000 (Oct. 2014)—and those don’t include Indian tribes who get cradle to grave medical support and a different type of nutrition support. SNAP has never come down after the big push of ARRA money to increase the rolls with more money for recruiting.  SNAP doesn’t include school lunch programs, or summer lunch programs, or breakfast programs, or WIC, or emergency food assistance, or commodity foods assistance, or special milk program (I think they had that even when I was in school) or farmers’ market programs, or community food projects. But name one that the woman in Reno’s example with a million in her 401-k would ever use, or even know anyone who used them. But she’s still afraid not to vote Democrat!

What happened from 1950 to 1965 was economic growth and big increases in family income. The transfers actually had a small effect on the rate of poverty in the War on Poverty. It just grew the government bureaucracy. The largest gains ever for the bottom quintile was before the War on Poverty. What happened after the War on Poverty was the slide in marriages and children being left in poverty.

By 1965 only 13.9 percent of American families were officially classified as poor, down from 32 percent in 1947 and 18.5 percent in 1959. The recession has been over for 5.5 years, yet the government is supplying about 32% of the income (in transfers) for the poor and the rate is still higher than in 1965. Lack of marriage of the parents is probably the biggest reason for children in poverty. Two adults working full time at minimum wage are well above the poverty line (although they might not get as much as those earning less because they might lose their eligibility for gov’t programs). Norma

http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap

http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato- journal/1985/5/cj5n1-1.pdf

http://www.heritage.org/childpoverty/united-states

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2010/rpt/2010-R-0235.htm

http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/public_policy_institute/econ_sec/2013/income-and-poverty-of-older-americans-AARP-ppi-econ-sec.pdf

Conservatives need to invest and support positive movies and TV

Bi-racial actress Stacey Dash, star of the movie and TV series Clueless, appeared at the Media Research Center's 2014 Dishonors Gala. Dash ripped Hollywood as being full of "hypocrites." The conservative explained how the city's residents don't practice what they preach: "Want proof? There are no movies made in Hollywood. They make them in places like Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina. Do you know why? Lower taxes. Hypocrites."

She also implored right-leaning Americans to get involved in the industry, saying, "Now, we as conservatives must put our money where our mouths are and we have to produce films and TV that show and represent the United States of America like we believe it to be. We can't wait for anyone else to do it."

https://grabien.com/story.php?id=15000

Ms. Dash is also a contributor for Fox News.

The Orthodox Church in Russia

In 1917 (year of the Russian revolution) the Orthodox Church had 50,000 parishes, a thousand monasteries and 60 theological schools.  By 1941, (World War II) Russia had 150 – 200 parishes, no monasteries or seminaries.  The Soviet Union collapsed about 25 years ago, and now in 2014 the Orthodox Church in Russia has 30,000 parishes, 800 monasteries, and over 100 seminaries and theological schools.  Christmas and Easter are again federal holidays and churches are overflowing on those days. Churches that had been turned into state or secular buildings like clubs, movie theaters or museums, have been returned to their former glory.   In just two decades since the fall of Communism, the church has become Russia’s largest and most important non-government organization.  Despite very poor regular participation (about 4%), about 80% of Russians claim the baptism of the Orthodox faith.  Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow, is leading the “in-churching” movement of Russian society, taking the good news of Jesus (and the Orthodox faith) to all segments of Russian society—bikers, drug addicts, and political candidates.  He believes the church can re-Christianize a secular society built by the Communists.  Popular testimonies are “how I went from being a good Communist to being a good Christian” and a book about the faithful with scars and warts called “Everyday Saints” is a best seller.

From In-churching Russia by John P. Burgess, May 2014 First Things

Since the church in Russia supports Putin, some think the regrowth of the church is a pact with the devil.  If it is, what can we say about the church in the U.S.  In many ways, the U.S. is becoming more secular, but the churches still chase the government for grants to support their  “good works,” and concede on gender issues in the name of “social justice.”

The church photo is from our trip to Russia in 2006.  This is the interior of The Church of the Spilled Blood which was closed by Stalin to store opera sets, and in 1970 it became a museum. These are not paintings, but mosaics.

Scott Walker—a winner

I'm really liking Scott Walker, not because of his looks or personality the way a lot of women choose political favorites, but because of what he's done for Wisconsin. Could he do the same for the rest of the country? The Democrats went all out to defeat him because they knew the importance of this race. He has faced down the unions and won; he’s promised to return tax money to the people and made good on the promise. President Obama , first lady Michelle Obama (twice), Bill Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka all stumped for his highly qualified and appealing opponent--but she lost. Lets hope Republicans don't shoot themselves in the foot again come 2016.

Salary gap in the sciences—is this fair?

http://www.the-scientist.com/Nov2014/11_14_SalarySurveyforWeb.pdf

Comparing salary information gathered in May 2008 to the most recent BLS data collected in May 2013, Saranna Thornton, an economist at Hampden–Sydney College in Virginia and chair of the committee on the Economic Status of the Profession at the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), found that while positions in chemistry, physics, and computer science received pay increases of 8.3 percent to 10.6 percent over the five-year period, the life sciences saw the smallest increases. Industry biochemists and biophysicists received just a 3.6 percent increase over the same time and those in the academic biological sciences a mere 4.6 percent. The Scientist, Nov. 1, 2014. 

Pecan Pie Muffins

Pecan Pie Muffins

1 - cup light brown sugar

1/2 - cup all purpose flour

2 - eggs, beaten

2/3 - cup melted butter

1 - cup chopped pecans
1 - teaspoon vanilla extract

additional pecan halves, optional

In a bowl, stir together all ingredients except pecan halves. Line a mini muffin tin with liners and spray the liners with non baking spray. Fill each mini muffin tins 2/3 full with batter. Top each with a pecan half. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 2 1/2 dozen mini muffins.

King Francis

Yesterday  in a Christmas catalog (I'm getting 2-3 a day) I saw a little statue of Pope Francis, solar powered, which will smile and wave through the window.  Keeping up with the culture, I suppose.  A tacky statue would be electric—coal fired, so yesterday. I wonder if the Pope spends much time on the internet and sees what is coming down the road in the sex culture wars.  Progressives in the U.S. don’t fret about the poor—they whine about their sexuality and who is sleeping with whom.  Will the church go from not recognizing marriage if either the man or woman is known to be sterile to recognizing those where everyone is sterile? This blogger for First Things has some serious charges against the Pope—covert operative and seditious authoritarian.  Wow. And that’s a loyal Catholic writing for a Catholic magazine.

"Set aside, if you can, the specific moral teachings that are in the dock. Suppress for a moment whatever conscientious sympathy you might have with Francis’ aims. What bewilders me here is the precipitous end-run being made around collegiality and subsidiarity, with scant regard for the trust of the faithful in the validity of the Church’s essential moral suasion on essential matters. If McGavin’s report is correct—what reason to think it is not?—Francis is more a covert operative than the shepherd we welcomed at the outset.

The law of unintended consequences is inexorable. And fearsome. We already have one seditious authoritarian in the White House. To think there could be another on the Chair of Peter breaks the heart." Maureen Mullarkey First Things   http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350910?eng=y

Internet Fast

Except for e-mail, and since no one telephones or writes letters anymore, that had to be the exception.

But I’ll still be journaling, and hope to have some really great thoughts after clearing out the shimmering screen time.