Obama and amnesty

Why does Obama believe Hispanics need an extra push from Washington?Their college enrollment increased 15% in 2011, and their high school drop out rate is very low. Hispanic families value education and marriage.  Black enrollment in college decreased during the same time 3% and many households are held back economically due to lack of marriage.  Maybe unions and the Chamber are anticipating cheap labor with amnesty, but let's look down the road a few years as these stats translate to graduate school, and white collar jobs. (Pew Report Hispanic College Enrollment, 2012)

How to become a millionaire selling Obamacare

Jonathan Gruber raked in a tidy sum "selling" Obamacare to adoring Democrat audiences who heard about the "stupidity" of American voters who would swallow the poison only with a teaspoon of lies. In the bill there was money to promote it; it went to states in the form of grants, and he was hired by 8-10 states (known at this time) at $300-$400,000 a pop. And Nancy Pelosi who claimed she didn't know him, is in the archives lauding his wisdom and position. The O Team is a piece of work.

http://www.vox.com/2014/11/13/7211279/obamacare-jon-gruber-controversy

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/14/despite-dem-claims-trash-talking-gruber-was-well-paid-adviser-for-obamacare-and/

http://mainenewsonline.com/content/14111660-jonathan-gruber-was-paid-well-advising-obamacare-programme

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/14/vermont-still-loves-jonathan-gruber.html

Charitable giving

Jesus preaches and teaches more on money than any other topic. Liberal Christians will remind you, if you forget. However, he never asks believers/followers to take money from others and pretend it's their own generosity. Nor does he ever suggest they ask Rome to respond to their responsibilities. Nor does he ever promise you will end poverty or change lives if you give--except maybe your own. Although Americans are the most generous in the world--giving to charity more than the GDP of some prosperous countries--the lowest income and least educated Americans (bottom fifth) give beyond their capacity. The wealthiest give proportionately the least. Giving helps your health, your happiness and even your looks! The giving season is coming--don't be stingy. http://online.wsj.com/…/SB100014240527023043374045792143334

http://www.aei.org/publication/arthur-brooks-to-unveil-new-research-on-charitable-giving/

http://allchristiannews.com/less-tithing/

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/05/19/68456_americas-poor-are-its-most-generous.html?rh=1

Fried Cabbage with sausage

I love fried cabbage.  I like to buy shredded/chopped cabbage and just toss some in the skillet for lunch. You don’t need this much butter, but it’s in the recipe. Or use olive oil.

FRIED CABBAGE WITH SAUSAGE

1 stick butter or margarine
1 small head of cabbage, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced into round pieces (I use turkey)
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes or rotel tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Melt butter in large skillet. Add cabbage, onion, and cook on medium high for about 5 minutes stirring to keep from sticking to pan. Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for 20 – 25 minutes.
Makes about 8 servings. Only 4 g net carbs per serving.

Sylvia posted this on Facebook, from Trisha Renee.

Life expectancy at 75, or why are Hispanics living longer?

Bob senior (b. 1913) and sons shortly before his death at 93.

Life expectancy is usually given for birth year, but you can also figure it from current age. Hispanics in the U.S. have the highest life expectancy, then white non-Hispanic, then black non-Hispanic. This applies at birth and ages 65 and 75. So something other than income and government benefits is at work. Those in the upper ranges are all pre-War on Poverty and pre-126 wealth transfer programs. Based on the CDC figures, I think I’ll go with my Mom and Dad’s ages—88 and 89. My two grandfathers were around 93.  My husband’s father was 93.

 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2011/022.pdf

"Hispanic" is a made up word to refer to people whose families come from a Spanish speaking country--Cuba, Mexico, South America (not sure if Brazilians are called Hispanic), etc. Generally, they are of European ancestry with a mix of Indian.

Divorce rates are lower; marriage rates are higher for Hispanic households. Hispanics are less likely to co-habit. Living together without marriage does not provide the health and wealth benefits of marriage. If it is an inter-ethnic marriage, those figures hold. Hispanic families are more likely to attend church than other groups. All these factors affect health (and wealth). However, more education = higher divorce rate. Since 2001 the largest minority in the U.S. population, Hispanics now have the highest college enrollment rate for freshmen since 2012, Will we see a lower life expectancy as they take on the culture of the majority?

http://www.gallup.com/poll/17404/Where-Hispanic-Americans-Stand-Religion-Politics.aspx

http://www.care2.com/causes/hispanic-college-enrollment-rate-is-higher-than-white-enrollment.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/sunday-review/why-everyone-seems-to-have-cancer.html

http://hispanics.barna.org/hispanic-priorities-marriage-family-and-youth/

Today I did go

 

Today I visited Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio, with the Conestoga group. Many famous people await the resurrection here, many species of trees, wonderful sculptures, and hundreds of stories (about 147,000) known only to the families. I'd driven past it for 47 years, and finally visited.  The average temperature this time of year is usually 55, but it was 31, and we were pretty cold.  The Docent did a wonderful job.  I hope to go again when the weather is nice.  Three OSU presidents, Edward Orton, William Oxley Thompson, and George W. Rightmire are buried there and five Ohio governors.   Also, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, famous WWI pilot.  Samuel P. Bush, grandfather and great grandfather of Bush 41 and 43 is also there. There are over 150 species of trees, and it’s a favorite spot for migratory birds.

Why the media blackout on Gruber? Silly question.

“Kirsten Powers [Democrat and liberal reporter for Fox] called out the mainstream media for ignoring several new videos that show one of the architects of ObamaCare admitting the administration was not transparent about what was in the bill back in 2009 and 2010.

Jonathan Gruber said that the “stupidity of the American voter” helped ObamaCare become law, acknowledging that the administration could not be forthcoming about taxes in the bill.

He said the administration exploited the lack of understanding of the average American.

The White House had not commented until today when Ed Henry pressed Josh Earnest on Gruber's admissions.

Powers said she can't understand why media outlets like The New York Times would not think this is worthy of coverage.”

http://insider.foxnews.com/2014/11/13/kirsten-powers-truly-stunned-media-blackout-stupid-americans-video

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/politics/gruber-obamacare-third-video/index.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gops-anti-obamacare-push-gains-new-momentum-in-wake-of-gruber-video/2014/11/12/e0d6b4d2-6aa7-11e4-9fb4-a622dae742a2_story.html  WaPo makes the story about the GOP instead of Gruber and Obama!

Required pre-school?

Our federal government has done such an amazing job on k-12 education and in containing costs for college (the cost of higher education has surged more than 500 percent since 1985), that now it wants to require pre-kindergarten education--even though its own program for the poor and low income (Head Start) shows no advantage--just so it can complete the job of state thought control.

 http://www.acf.hhs.gov/…/o…/head_start_executive_summary.pdf

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