Who is behind the current racial unrest, and what do they gain?

Harry Lewis observes: “Two NYPD officers, one Asian and one Hispanic, were shot dead in Brooklyn execution-style by a black gunman who identified "revenge" for the deaths of Brown and Garner as his motive. The gunman had murdered his girlfriend in Baltimore the previous day. The racial tension on the streets of New York and the nation fomented by the President of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, Sharpton, and others, and encouraged by the mayor of NYC, among others, has created an atmosphere in which violent criminals are emboldened to murder police officers in cold blood. Anarchists, communists, and fascists who have been stirring the racial pot for months with protests and demonstrations are celebrating these murders. The multicultural polarization of America, the deliberate policy of the Democratic Party, is leading to race hatred and cold-blooded murder. Is race war next?”

God is not dead in Gotham

Cheer up, you’re worse than you think,” Rev. Timothy Keller says with a smile. He’s explaining that humans are more weak, more fallen, more warped than they “ever dare admit or even believe.” Then comes the good news: At the same time people are “more loved in Christ and more accepted than they could ever imagine or hope.” Many Millennial Christians in NYC attend his Presbyterian church--and respond to his message. “Every other religion has a founder that says: ‘I’ll show you the way to God. Only Christianity of all the major world religions has a founder that says: ‘I’m God, come to find you.’

http://www.wsj.com/articles/kate-bachelder-god-isnt-dead-in-gotham-1419032446

My little book group that met at Panera’s a few years ago used his book,

And it is outstanding.  Maybe I’ll reread it.

Part 1: The Leap of Doubt
There Can't Be Just One True Religion
How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?
Christianity is a Straitjacket
The Church is Responsible for So Much Injustice
How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?
Science Has Disproved Christianity
You Can't Take the Bible Literally
Part 2: The Reasons for Faith
The Clues of God
The Knowledge of God
The Problem of Sin
Religion and the Gospel
The (True) Story of the Cross
The Reality of the Resurrection
The Dance of God

O-H-I-O

I don’t think we’ll have enough snow soon for this.  Weatherman Chris Bradley’s FB page.

Al Sharpton and Bill de Blasio should be considered accomplices in this murder

Preach hate for police and this is what you get. Two policemen killed. Assassinated. Targeted. From the surnames, I’m guessing both were minorities—one Asian, one Hispanic.  Alleged shooter Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot himself after being chased on foot.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/20/us/new-york-police-officers-shot/index.html

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/20/2-nypd-cops-shot-in-car-critically-injured/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/nyregion/two-police-officers-shot-in-their-patrol-car-in-brooklyn.html?_r=1

“I’m Putting Wings on Pigs Today,” a person believed to be the gunman wrote in an Instagram post that referenced both Brown and Garner posted just three hours before the officers were shot, the New York Post reported.  Al Sharpton has been arousing emotions of protesters who show up for all these rallies. deBlasio hasn’t been defending the NYPD.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/kerik-police-killings-nypd/2014/12/20/id/614261/

Actions have consequences

According to Reuters, 8 days before the Taliban faction known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) brutally massacred over 130 school children in Peshawar Pakistan on Tuesday, the U.S. released the terror group’s second in command, Latif Mehsud. He had been captured in October 2013 and held in an Afghanistan prison.. http://www.reuters.com/…/us-pakistan-afghanistan-militants-…

http://gopthedailydose.com/taliban-leader-just-released-by-obama-involved-in-the-pakistani-school-massacre/

http://www.hngn.com/articles/53165/20141218/pakistan-tragedy-prevented-taliban-commander-released-u-s-eight-days.htm

In a perfect world

That’s the name of a blog  by Don whom I vaguely remember meeting blogging or in a Usenet writers’ group. I’ll note it here so I don’t lose it again. http://mytypewriterbroke.blogspot.com/  The crazy thing about blogging, or the internet in general, is it’s just too easy to get side tracked.  And I really wasn’t looking for Don when I found him. Or Paula.

And Paula is still blogging. Goodness.  How many years.  Longer than me I think. Light Motifs. http://lightmotifs.wordpress.com/  I met her on Usenet. Likes to write romance novels.

Top 10 liberal superstitions

To read the complete article by Kate Bachelder (from October 2014)

1. Spending more money improves education. The U.S. spent $12,608 per student in 2010—more than double the figure, in inflation-adjusted dollars, spent in 1970—and spending on public elementary and secondary schools has surpassed $600 billion.  
2. Government spending stimulates the economy. Case in point is the $830 billion 2009 stimulus bill, touted by the Obama administration as necessary for keeping unemployment below 8%. Result: four years of average unemployment above 8%. . . .
3. Republican candidates always have a big spending advantage over Democrats. Yet the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee  raked in $127 million this cycle, about $30 million more than the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Democrats have aired more TV ads than Republicans in several battleground states, according to analysis by the Center for Public Integrity. . . .
4. Raising the minimum wage helps the poor. . . .Nearly 30% of the benefits would go to families three times above the poverty line or higher, in part because half of America’s poor families have no wage earners. Minimum-wage increases help some poor families—at the expense of other poor families (who won’t be able to find jobs at those salaries).
5. Global warming is causing increasingly violent weather. Tell that to Floridians, who are enjoying the ninth consecutive season without a hurricane landfall. . . .
6. Genetically modified food is dangerous. Farmers have been breeding crop seeds for 10,000 years, but the agricultural innovation known as genetic modification makes liberals shudder. . . .
7. Voter ID laws suppress minority turnout.  GAO released an analysis of 10 voter-ID studies: Five showed the laws had no statistically significant effect on turnout, four suggested a decrease in turnout (generally among all ethnic groups, though percentages varied), and one found an increase in turnout with voter ID laws in place. . .
8. ObamaCare is gaining popularity. . . the law’s approval rating hovers around 40%, and 27% of people told Gallup this month that the law was hurting them, up from 19% in January, while only 16% reported it was helpful . . .
9. The Keystone XL pipeline would increase oil spills.  In 2013 pipelines with a diameter larger than 12 inches spilled 910,000 gallons. Railroad tankers spilled 1.5 million gallons. Yet pipelines carry 25 times the oil that tankers do . . .
10. Women are paid 77 cents on the dollar compared with men. The mother of all liberal superstitions, this figure comes from shoddy math that divides the average earnings of all women working full-time by the average earnings of all full-time men, without considering career field, education or personal choices. When those factors are included, the wage gap disappears. A 2009 report commissioned by the Labor Department that analyzed more than 50 papers on the topic found that the so-called pay gap “may be almost entirely” the result of choices both men and women make.

Double standard for two men of color

Listening to the President's speech before he took off for Hawaii, I reflected again on the jail time for Dinesh D'Sousa who made a movie critical of Obama. His terrible offense? A minor political donation infraction. But it's hugs and kissy face for tax evader ($4.5 million) Al Sharpton from the President. The President in addressing the Norks talked a strong line about the tradition of creative freedom in film. . . something about this was a comedy, and what happens when it is a documentary. Like something about him? I think we've already got that answer. Nothing will happen to the North Koreans, but an immigrant American who is a conservative? Look out!

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/09/23/documents-federal-prosecutors-misled-judge-in-pursuit-of-prison-time-for-dinesh-dsouza-n1895285

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/11/19/lessons-from-rev-al-sharptons-4-5-million-tax-bill/

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2014/dec/19/obama-fbi-sony-hack-north-korea-china

Snail mail, for sure

Kelly Rogers Denton of 4 South Hannah Ave.,  Mt. Morris, Illinois says she received this letter on Tuesday, December 16th. It's postmarked December 15th, 1963 from Dixon, Illinois with another postmark from Seattle, Washington on December 11th of this year. Kelly put it on Facebook hoping to find out more information about the letter and who it was actually intended for. Kelly didn’t open the letter but believes it's a Christmas card. On FB, a discussion on the Mt. Morris determined that Carolyn Hackbarth (I went to high school with her) sent it.  I think someone knows where the Kiddell family lives. A Rockford station will do a story on Carolyn opening it. (Isn’t it illegal to open someone else’s mail?)

For me it’s doubly interesting since my family lived at 4 South Hannah where the letter was delivered.  Back in the day of 4 cent stamps you could make a wild stab at an address in Mt. Morris and the postman would get it there.  This one must have stuck in the bottom of a mail bag.  Would be interesting to know how it got to Seattle.

Elbert Guillory

Our protected victim classes are clashing

The left wing crazies are making it difficult to identify the protected victims!  A Muslim student at the University of Michigan is taken down for satire because he's a conservative. At Marquette, a Catholic university, a tenured professor was taken out for criticizing (in a tweet) the lack of free speech and discussion in the classroom of a female grad student instructor of a philosophy class (no tenure) who shut down a student (no first amendment rights) in an after class private discussion on gay marriage, accusing him of homophobia for believing the church's teaching on marriage which the university thumbs its nose at.  Wow.  You need a score card. Al Sharpton is attacking a female executive (there are very few) at Sony.  What if she turns out to be transgendered.  Would that trump Sharpton’s shakedown because of his race?

http://insider.foxnews.com/2014/12/18/student-says-his-home-was-egged-he-was-fired-conservative-column

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/12/17/marquette-university-tells-employees-opposition-to-same-sex-marriage-could-be-unlawful-harassment/

Leader of the swap was serving 2 life sentences

“The three Cubans released as a part of the deal belonged the so-called Cuban Five, a quintet of Cuban intelligence officers convicted in 2001 for espionage. They were part of what was called the Wasp Network, which collected intelligence on prominent Cuban-American exile leaders and U.S. military bases.

The leader of the five, Gerardo Hernandez, was linked to the February 1996 downing of the two civilian planes operated by the U.S.-based dissident group Brothers to the Rescue, in which four men died. He is serving a two life sentences. Luis Medina, also known as Ramon Labanino; and Antonio Guerrero have just a few years left on their sentences.”

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3951389545001/family-of-brothers-to-the-rescue-victim-rips-cuba-deal/?#sp=show-clips

Slap in the face of the families of the killed men.  They were not told the swap was going to take place.

Sharpton and Sony

Al Sharpton is beginning the shakedown of Sony. Will he ask for white executives or just roaming around money for this?. A white female Sony executive makes a remark about Obama, and suddenly all 12.5% of Americans need an apology?  She probably voted for him—twice.  Sharpton’s got some kind of gig blackmailing cities for protecting these "peaceful" protesters, many of which show up for all the lefty events. The reps from the police unions said on TV that the police are practically on first name basis with some of them. You can bet the organizers aren't paying. The police get overtime, Sharpton gets face time on TV, and the tax payers get the bill (except Rev. Al, he cheats on taxes big time).

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/nyregion/questions-about-al-sharptons-finances-accompany-his-rise-in-influence.html?_r=1

http://redalertpolitics.com/2014/12/11/sony-executive-jokes-obama-race-leaked-e-mail/

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/12/12/uk-sony-cybersecurity-obama-idUKKBN0JP29L20141212

Dennis Prager on the Pope and the Dictator

It took a Pope, a President and a Prime Minister to bring down the USSR. now a President and a Pope are propping up a dictator regime.

I don’t get to hear talk show host Dennis Prager often, but had him on today during a late lunch.  He is not happy with the Pope. And I paraphrase him on Obama's normalizing relations with the Castro dictatorship. The Pope is a very nice man, he said, but he is a Latin American. They find it hard not to love a leftist dictator. Can we imagine such nice things being said about the right wing dictatorship of South African apartheid?

Am I a victim of police harassment?

I've been stopped by the police 2.5 times (the 3rd time I was telling my husband what to do, so that gets a half although he was driving). It was always my fault, and I didn't argue with the police. Police have also come to the house when we called (burglary) and when a neighbor called (saw a strange car in the drive-way she didn't recognize). I called the police when there was a flasher in my library following young women around in the stacks and another time when a suspicious guy hung around a female employee at night. More recently, I took a cell phone to our local police which I found in my car that had drug messages on it (fell out of the pocket of someone who parked my car for me we found out later). I'm wondering now if I might have been a victim instead of being protected? (That's sarcasm.)

Jack Webb on being a policemen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7COcohB9n3w

Sony and Benghazi

Sony wasn't the first casualty of terrorists and films.  Remember the lies the WH told on the morning news shows about the video causing the Benghazi tragedy?  That film maker actually went to jail (supposedly on unrelated charges that were being ignored, and probably for his own safety after the government goof up). But there have been no more unflattering films made by Americans about Islam, have there? Few death threats against theaters and some bombings and beheadings seems to cool creative expression.

Victimology 101

“Student organizations representing women’s interests now routinely advise students that they should not feel pressured to attend or participate in class sessions that focus on the law of sexual violence, and which might therefore be traumatic.”

http://reason.com/blog/2014/12/16/profs-have-stopped-teaching-rape-law-now

Maybe doctors in training should not have to study virology or bacteriology for fear of triggering memories of children immunizations? Pre-vet students should be excused from equine rotation if a horse kicked them at the rodeo.

“It's time to admit that appeasing students' seemingly unlimited senses of personal victimhood entitlement, unenlightened views about public discourse, and thinly-veiled laziness is not merely wrong, but actively dangerous. Colleges are supposed to prepare young people to succeed in the real world; they do students no favors by infantilizing them. But worse than that, by bending over backwards to satisfy the illiberal mob, colleges are doling out diplomas to people who are prepared for neither real life nor their eventual professions. Should medical colleges abdicate their responsibility to instruct students on how to administer a rape kit to a victim, or ask a victim difficult questions about her trauma, because that discussion is triggering to some of the students?”

Ebola vs. mystery virus—where’s the hysteria?

The country had a melt down over Ebola which killed or sickened a few people and got us an Ebola czar with no experience for a few weeks. But there wasn't much said about the mysterious virus that has killed 12 children, left 94 with polio like paralysis, and sickened over 1,000. Lots of unanswered questions. We've finally got a new name: Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), but the experts are not sure how it is related to EV-D68 virus. CDC is unable to answer whether the EV-D68 epidemic is connected to the tens of thousands of illegal immigrant children allowed to enter the U.S. from Central and South America in the last couple of years. EV-D68 is known to have circulated in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

 http://sharylattkisson.com/two-mystery-illnesses-linked-to-…

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6340a6.htm?s_cid=mm6340a6_w

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6336a4.htm?s_cid=mm6336a4_w

http://www.cdc.gov/ncird/investigation/viral/sep2014/index.html

Covered in prayer for many months

This little guy’s family are members of our church.  He was born premature, and we prayed for months.  So happy to see him on Facebook.

BalletMet Nutcracker—a real delight

We enjoyed the matinee performance of the Nutcracker at the Ohio Theater on Sunday. Our 10 year old Lakeside neighbor who has been in several of Bob's paintings was performing in a small part. The devotion of the parents to exposing their children to this type of culture is admirable--her mother was probably there 8 hours Sunday because another child became ill and she will also do the evening performance. I did the football, baseball, track, cross country, soccer, cheerleader, Campfire, sports lunchroom, Jones musical gigs, UA high school choir--but I never told my kids about dancing lessons. It was fun to stand at the stage door after the performance to wait to see her. Bob gave her a Twinkie—other dancers got bouquets.

“We open on Christmas Eve, in the Stahlbaum house. There's music and presents and food, and the three Stahlbaum children are beside themselves with joy at the wonder of it all. There's danger on the horizon though, heralded by the arrival at the door of local magician Drosselmeyer. He brings bearing gifts for the children, including a wooden nutcracker. This is just the start of an adventure which will lead our characters into a war between mice and gingerbread men and through the Land of Sweets. “

We were pretty high up for $58/seat—not exactly nosebleed territory, but close.  Managing that many stairs was very difficult for me, and on Monday my legs felt like I’d been in a box for 2.5 hours—seats are pretty small.

Putting on my “fashion police” cap, I was so pleased to see that younger women are rejecting their mothers' idea of fashion (sweatshirts and jeans) for nice events in classy theaters. I was just amazed at the well turned out young ladies in dresses! and heels at this event. How refreshing. The "protest march" look was really getting old.

This photo is from the Internet and we think that is Lillian in the front (red hair). She was a “page,” and appeared in the 2nd act.