Cleaning out the Christmas catalogs

I usually pitch as soon as I look at them, but a bunch have been stuffed into the corner magazine rack.  Today it’s bye bye to buy buy.  Over the years we have used Harry and David, and maybe LL Bean many years ago.  Someone has sold our name.

Frontgate (out door furniture)

Gaelsong (Celtic)

Wind and Weather (home and nature)

Plow and Hearth (décor)

Uno alla volta (one at a time) (3)

The shop Monticello (Thomas Jefferson Foundation)

Art Institute of Chicago

National Geographic (3)

Harry and David (fancy food)

Gardener’s supply company (nature)

Smithsonian (4)

Expressions (home accents)

Wine country gift baskets

Vermont country store (2)

Bas Bleu (bookseller)

Acorn

Duluth trading (men’s work clothing)

Signals

Bed and Bath

L.L. Bean (I’ve lost track—probably 10)

NorthStyle (women’s)

Hammacher Schlemmer (tech)

Bissinger’s (chocolate)

Charleston Gardens (home and garden)

Gumps San Francisco

Sharyl Attkisson

I watched a great interview with Sharyl Attkisson-- explaining how there are campaigns to destroy reporters who don't toe the line, how the government bureaucracy extends from party to party, administration to administration, how there is incestuous relationships between staff of government and media (sometimes siblings, sometimes friends, sometimes lovers). Her new book is "Stonewalled." After 3 years, she's just now getting some of the documents on Fast and Furious she requested when she worked for CBS. The plan, she says, is to draw it out so long that eventually the public loses interest.

I’ve been reading Citizens of London by Lynne Olson, which is about WWII, and although I’m not nearly finished, I see the power of the press and the flesh already and I’m only 50 pages into the story.

http://sharylattkisson.com/

http://humanevents.com/2014/11/20/fast-and-furious-white-house-doj-targeted-sharyl-attkisson/

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/11/20/bombshell-email-proves-that-white-house-doj-targeted-reporter-sharyl-attkisson/

Cheesecake Pumpkin Pie

Cheesecake Pumpkin Pie

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract...
2 eggs
1 (9 inch) graham cracker crust or regular pie crust
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.

Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Top with whipped cream if desired.

From FB page of Cheryl Ciuffreda via Welcome Home

Why amnesty now?

Obama says he taught constitutional law

What Obama plans for illegals is illegal for presidents to do. It's not "just" an executive order. He himself noted 22 times (that is on record) that what he wants to do is illegal.

I also don't agree with him and all the talking heads that our immigration system is totally "broken." You can't break what you don't use. Illegals ignore the law, ICE ignores it, presidents ignore it, politicians at all levels ignore it, unions and corporations ignore it. Why would a new or revised version be any different if the intention is open borders, more Democrats and more low wage workers?

There are many who want immigration reform--legally--but not what Obama gleefully announced. Why is Obama trying to deep 6 his party?

In 2008:

"Senator Obama received a mandate from the voters to fix our ailing economy, which has shed more than a million jobs so far this year, not to enact a massive amnesty," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR, in a FAIR news release. "Voter turn-out increased across the board as record numbers of all Americans expressed dissatisfaction with the direction of the country. Immigration policy was clearly not a decisive factor in the presidential election, as it was not discussed during the campaign, and the records of both candidates were nearly identical."

Sixty percent of respondents said tougher enforcement and a crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers was important to them. Only 21 percent supported a legal path to citizenship for illegals.

Fifty-seven percent said that amnesty would hurt American workers, while only 26 percent said that amnesty would aid economic recovery.

 https://www.numbersusa.com/…/poll-reveals-no-mandate-amnest…

King Obama

And don’t add the drivel that Reagan and Bush violated the law in the same way.  They didn’t.  Do your homework. Obama appears to not only be shredding the Constitution, but the careers of many Democrats at the same time.  It’s his policies that lost the party the Senate; and he could very well be trying to deep six 2016 for them. There are many supporters of immigration reform in both parties.  No one, out side of his lackies and the media, support this. Is he blind to how unpopular his policies and leadership are?  Even with Democrats?

https://www.numbersusa.com/content/news/november-10-2008/poll-reveals-no-mandate-amnesty.html

Fighting for us?

The Haircut

One day a florist goes to a barber for a haircut. After the cut he asked about his bill and the barber replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The florist was pleased and left the shop. When the barber goes to open his shop the next morning there is a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The cop is happy and leaves the shop. The next morning when the barber goes to open up there is a 'thank you' card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.

Later that day, a college professor comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The professor is very happy and leaves the shop. The next morning when the barber opens his shop, there is a 'thank you' card and a dozen different books, such as 'How to Improve Your Business' and 'Becoming More Successful.'

Then, a Congressman comes in for a haircut, and when he goes to pay his bill the barber again replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The Congressman is very happy and leaves the shop. The next morning when the barber goes to open up, there are two dozen Congressmen lined up waiting for a free haircut.

And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of our country and the members of our Congress.

Korean American describes life for a Christian on college campus

Ellice Young Eun Park: "I went to a school in the Bay Area where the dominant belief was atheism, agnosticism, and Buddhist - and Hindu-informed culture. The hatred towards Christianity and Christians was pretty hot, I have no problem saying this to anyone. They're not radical militants, but they're cool, interesting, and academically super intelligent people. Some are very sweet, and funny. Hatred towards Christians comes wrapped in many faces.

My first week there! I was told, "This school knocks the Christian beliefs out of you. Most people here who start out Christian become atheists or agnostics by the time they graduate." I stared that person square in the eye and asked, "oh yeah? That isn't happening to me, not by anyone here." They looked at me and said, "I guess we will see, but my bet is it will get to you too." Sure enough, I sat in a biology class where the teachers main knock off joke was to mock Jesus, mock the existence of a Christian deity, and mock Christians. They didn't knock my faith out, but they fired me up after being in the comforts of the lca bubble. Maybe I should thank them, huh.

Interfaith dialogue is a joke if the main aim is to mock and try to shame someone out of their beliefs, or scare it out of them, or rule it against them. What, so are the Muslims going to fight for America for Americas protection and interests, and be patriotic to the USA after kicking the Christians out of the military--making it a hostile environment for Christian soldiers?

Pray for the Christian friends and family you have. Write a letter, use your voice, stand for your beliefs because nobody else will do it for you. I think we buy into this idea that Christianity is a dominant religion and sit back to see what others do. But the reality is that popular culture loves bashing on Christians, academics celebrate slashing at Christians, millennials are mostly uninterested in Christian belief, and devout Christians are a real minority. Jesus did say that many would call him Lord And did so much for him, but that he would not recognize them. Let's at least stand for those we love! even if we won't stand for ourselves.

Josh Mandel is still the youngest State Treasurer in America

He won 82 of Ohio's 88 counties in the 2014 election, including traditional Democratic strongholds of Lorain, Jefferson and Trumbull. In fact, Josh won more counties in 2014 than he did in his 2010 election over the incumbent.‎

His 14-point win was the largest margin of victory for any incumbent Ohio Treasurer in a quarter of a century.‎ This is despite his opponent spending over $3 million against him and the unions doing additional independent expenditures.

He beat his opponent in her home county, her own statehouse district that she currently represents, and even her own precinct. Barack Obama won Hamilton County in 2008 and 2012.‎‎‎‎

From e-mail of Citizens for Josh Mandel

‎-

Seeing blacks as victims does them great harm—Thomas Sowell

“Under an implicit threat of losing their federal subsidies, the Minneapolis Public Schools have agreed to reduce the disparity in punishment of black students by 25 percent by the end of this school year, and then by 50 percent, 75 percent and finally 100 percent in each of the following years. In other words, there are now racial quota limits for punishment in the Minneapolis schools.

If we stop and think -- as old-fashioned as that may seem -- there is not the slightest reason to expect black males to commit the same number of offenses as Asian females or any other set of students.

When different groups of human beings have behaved differently in all sorts of ways, in countries around the world, for thousands of years of recorded history, why would we accept as dogma that the only reason one set of students gets punished more than others is because the people who are doing the punishing are picking on them?

Politically -- which is the way the Obama administration looks at everything -- any time they can depict blacks as victims, and depict themselves as their rescuers, that means an opportunity to get out the black vote for Democrats.

On the surface, this may look like a favor to blacks. But only on the surface.

Anyone with common sense knows that letting a kid get away with bad behavior is an open invitation to worse behavior in the future. Punishing a kid for misbehavior in school when he is 10 years old may reduce the chances that he will have to be sent to prison when he is 20 years old.”

A legacy of liberalism

Now 2 people have died from Ebola in the U.S., 12 from EV-D68

TB is a much more serious disease than Ebola, accounting for 1.3 million deaths worldwide. In 2010, foreign-born persons accounted for 60% of all TB cases diagnosed in the United States, as compared to 47% of all TB cases in 2000. The number of states with at least 50% of TB cases occurring among foreign-born persons has increased from 21 states in 2000 to 33 states and the District of Columbia in 2010. The TB case rate was 1.2 per 100,000 for U.S.-born persons and 15.6 for foreign-born persons, and Asians have the highest rate of all groups in the U.S. Foreign-born Hispanics and Asians together represented 79% of TB cases in foreign-born persons, and accounted for 51% of the national case total. From 2009 through 2013, the top five countries of origin of foreign-born persons with TB were Mexico, the Philippines, India, Vietnam and China   (CDC)

http://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/statistics/TBTrends.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/tb/statistics/reports/2013/pdf/report2013.pdf

As we fret over one more death from Ebola in the U.S., there have been 9,000 from CRE, Carbapenem-resistant Enterobasteriaceae. It's highly lethal for the elderly, debilitated, and children with critical illnesses. There are guidelines to reduce its transmission in hospitals, but few have adopted them. 94% of the cases are related to health care.

http://www.wired.com/2014/07/cre-fivefold/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/31/cre-nightmare-bacteria-spread/13322879/

http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/prevent/top-cdc-recs-prevent-hai.html

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/677157#af1  “Rising Rates of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae in Community Hospitals: A Mixed-Methods Review of Epidemiology and Microbiology Practices in a Network of Community Hospitals in the Southeastern United States,” Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, vol 32, no.8, Aug. 2014

12 children have now died of a respiratory polio like illness whose numbers are unusually high as thousands more children came across the border than years before. CDC assures us there is no relationship. Just a coincidence.

http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/outbreaks/EV-D68-outbreaks.html

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/10/08/Sharyl-Attkisson-Lack-of-Transparency-About-Enterovirus-Outbreak-Causing-Americans-to-Question-if-Illegals-Responsible

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/09/the_invasion_of_enterovirus_evd68.html

Senator Obama

Is popcorn considered “fast food?”

One of the major fall outs from the women's movement of the 1970s was more children eating in restaurants. We rarely eat at "fast food" places, but all restaurants where we do eat have a lot of children. It's a lot cheaper and healthier to feed them at home. With the money you save, hire a sitter and go out without them. http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx…

You’ll find an excellent graphic at this article

http://www.healthline.com/health/fast-food-effects-on-body

Thinking Spain for 2015

Light blue dot.

The voters who were grubered

How government benefits hurt the poor in the long run

Minimum wage increases will affect only about 1% of American workers.  This is a political club, not a help for workers. The problem is unemployment, lack of skills, under the table pay, low education levels, but Democrats say changing things for 1% will give those families a great benefit.  Not as long as it pays better to receive government benefits if you don't or can't work: if you would lose your Medicaid if you accepted a raise, why would you try to advance? If you had to move out of Section 8 housing if you got a promotion and the pay wouldn't cover the new apartment, would you?

 http://news.yahoo.com/welfare-pays-more-entry-level-shocking-number-states-144812704.html

The authors found that in 11 states, “welfare pays more than the average pretax first-year wage for a teacher [in those states]. In 39 states, it pays more than the starting wage for a secretary. And, in the three most generous states a person on welfare can take home more money than an entry-level computer programmer.”

STEM Women

I've seen stupid stories about women, but this beats all. Feminists got their naked lady tattoos in a knot over this guy's shirt and ignored the science. Now that should help the camaraderie in the lab.

"At first, people were excited. Then some women noticed that one of the space scientists, Matt Taylor, was wearing a shirt, made for him by a female "close pal," featuring comic-book depictions of semi-naked women."

It became a bigger story than Kim Kardashian's naked butt, which as far as I could tell had no scientific merit. Women can wear anything they want or nothing at all, all in an effort to attract men, but by golly, men better stay covered in something gender neutral and pretend they don’t care about what women look like—not even cartoonish women.

 http://www.usatoday.com/…/shirt-comet-girls-femin…/19083607/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2834451/Philae-comet-probe-scientist-embroiled-sexism-row-shirt-featuring-scantily-clad-women.html

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/13/living/matt-taylor-shirt-philae-rosetta-project/index.html

Liberal logic

Comment on Democrat voters, Michael Petrino

“The Republicans are deceiving themselves if they think Democrats, or those who vote for them, are disturbed by the fact that Gruber is a liar and a simpleton, or that Obamacare will ultimately bring them great pain. Honesty and integrity are characteristics that are not highly valued by Democrat voters. If they were highly valued, Hillary would not be the leading contender for the Democrat nomination in 2016. Ted Kennedy would not have been returned to office over and over again after he killed Mary Jo. Bill Clinton would not be revered after the no lo plea and the statements by a number of women that he assaulted them. Barney Frank would not have been reelected many times after it was discovered that a prostitution ring was being run out of his apartment by his partner. Charlie Rangel would not have been reelected after he was found to have engaged in violations of the tax code. Democrats just do not care; they want politicians who can be relied upon to give them "free" stuff.”

This comment was made at the article about how Gruber and CBO cooked the books on Obamacare.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/jonathan-grubers-stupid-budget-tricks-1416009107