Bats are 1/5 of all mammal species. I find that amazing. Twice they've found their way into our home and we don't know how. The reason for their large number is they evolve very quickly--none of that million year stuff for them (which I don't believe anyway). But their population is recovering. Don't leave the door open too long.
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/279/1734/1797
A mother replies to an article in the Washington Post about single moms. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/12/18/the-unbelievable-rise-of-single-motherhood-in-america-over-the-last-50-years/
“As a single mom left alone with two small children after my ex-husband left, I never used public welfare, educated my children in private schools through scholarships, and put myself through graduate school. One child graduated from medical school and the other is a dean's list student in college. The secret? They had a loving, nurturing and committed parent in their life who never missed a recital, lacrosse game, etc., even while studying for the bar exam. Was it hard? Absolutely. Was it impossible, no. With the help of lots of miracles, I was determined they would not be a statistic of their parents' faltered dreams. I didn't have the time/interest in dating and chose early on not to bring men around my two young daughters. I brought these two into the world and they were a priceless gift to me. As such, they were my top priority and remain so. Being their mom is my greatest accomplishment. If people looked on children more as a gift and treated them as such, the world would be better off.”
The Daily Beast (on line Newsweek listing to the left) is claiming in a headline today, "Cops waging war on the mayor." Police go into minority neighborhoods and put their lives on the line every day. That's where the highest crime rates are according to the Bureau of Justice statistics. Crime has been reduced dramatically in the last 2 decades.Take the offender off the street and save black lives. But where's the political and financial gain for Sharpton in saving lives?
"Blacks were disproportionately represented as both homicide victims and offenders. The victimization rate for blacks (27.8 per 100,000) was 6 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000). The offending rate for blacks (34.4 per 100,000) was almost 8 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000)," . http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf
NYC was actually becoming a safe city for residents and tourists. deBlasio even teaches his son to be afraid of police and announces it! He ratcheted up the hate and fear for the police who were carrying out his policies on selling cigarettes. Sharpton, deBlasio, Obama and Holder have blood on their hands for this tragedy of killing 2 minority police officers and have painted a huge target on every police officer in every city.
Sarah Palin used the word "target" in a campaign ad and was blamed by Democrats for a mentally ill man shooting Gabby Giffords and others. Al Sharpton, Holder and Obama have openingly been fomenting race hatred, not speaking out when protesters were encouraged to kill cops with chants about kill the pigs. Now supporters of the protests are claiming the shooter was mentally ill and they bear no responsibility.
It’s not that I’d never heard of these 5, just didn’t realize there was a term, “The Five Colleges of Ohio.” I’ve actually only been on a campus tour of Oberlin, although we see Ohio Wesleyan each time we drive through Delaware. Now that would make a good bucket list, wouldn’t it? Visit small colleges in Ohio.
“The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Higher Education and Scholarship in the Humanities Program has awarded $2 million dollars to The Five Colleges of Ohio, in collaboration with The Ohio State University. The grant establishes The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Languages to support language teaching and to build faculty interest and expertise in the uses of blended learning pedagogies.
The program will allow recent recipients of a doctoral degree in language from Ohio State to have a two-year liberal arts teaching and research experience at one of The Five Colleges of Ohio: Denison University, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University or the College of Wooster.”
So counting The Ohio State University, that’s six. Right? So that’s 5 colleges each with 2 post doctorate fellows in over lapping years for four years plus one collaborator. There should be enough even with the cuts for overhead. Not sure how it works for these, but for usual grants the institution takes 56% for overhead. . . or did when I was at OSU.
This is odd. I was browsing the amounts of the 126 federal welfare and anti-poverty programs, and to my surprise saw that #23 in dollar amount was "Adoption Assistance." $2,480,000,000. $2.5 billion for adoption assistance? Right up there with the School breakfast program, $2.9 billion. Part of the $7,256,000,000 the federal budget allows for fostering and permanency for children, #17 on the list.
“Key federal programs supporting child welfare services include Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, Guardianship Assistance, Chafee Foster Care Independence Program, Promoting Safe and Stable Families, Child Welfare Services state grants, Child Welfare Research, Training and Demonstration, CAPTA state grants, the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention grants, Abandoned Infants Assistance, Adoption Opportunities, and Adoption Incentives.”
So I Googled, and found that this is money for adopting special needs children. Each state seems to have similar requirements—the child can have physical or mental handicaps, black children are younger than white to be included, in custody of the state, can’t be returned to biological family, adopting family can be a relative, etc.
“Adoption Assistance – The Adoption Assistance program provides funds to states to subsidize families that adopt children with special needs who cannot be reunited with their families, thus preventing long, inappropriate stays in foster care. This is consistent with ACF's goals to improve healthy development, safety, and well-being of children and youth and to increase the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and youth. To receive adoption assistance benefits, a child must have been determined by the state to be a special needs child, e.g., older, a member of a minority or sibling group, or have a physical, mental, or emotional disability. Additionally, the child must have been: 1) unable to return home, and the state must have been unsuccessful in its efforts to find an adoptive placement without medical or financial assistance; and 2) receiving or eligible to receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), under the rules in effect on July 16, 1996, title IV-E Foster Care benefits, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.
In accordance with the Fostering Connections to Success and Improving Adoptions Act of 2008, beginning in FY 2010, revised Adoption Assistance eligibility requirements that exclude consideration of AFDC and SSI income eligibility requirements are being phased in over a nine-year period, based primarily on the age of the child in the year the adoption assistance agreement is finalized. For FY 2012, the phase-in of the exclusion of consideration of AFDC and SSI applies to otherwise eligible children for whom an adoption assistance agreement is entered into and who have reached the age of 12. The revised eligibility requirements also apply to children based on time in care and siblings of children to which the revised eligibility criteria apply. In FY 2010, federally-recognized Indian tribes, Indian tribal organizations and tribal consortia with approved title IV-E plans also became eligible for the program
Funds also are used for the administrative costs of managing the program and training staff and adoptive parents. The number of children subsidized by this program and the level of federal reimbursement has increased significantly as permanent adoptive homes are found for more children. The average monthly number of children for whom payments were made has increased more than 80 percent, from just over 228,000 in FY 2000 to an estimated 429,700 in FY 2010 and 470,400 projected in FY 2012.
The Adoption Assistance program underwent a program assessment in CY 2005. The assessment cited the program’s success in increasing the permanent placement of foster care children, effective administration at the state and federal levels, and coordination with related programs as strong attributes of the program. As a result of assessment, the program is working with states to ensure that their Adoption Assistance laws and policies comport with federal requirements.” (Administration for Children and Families
Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees, p. 335-336)
I wonder if families who do not release a special needs child for adoption, who do not abuse him, or abandon her, whose child is never in foster care . . . are they eligible for help? More research needed.
Update: Another law, proposed. Don't know if it passed the Senate. H.R. 4980 requires states to track and report disruptions to finalized adoptions and guardianships, one of the biggest blind spots in research on the child welfare system. The few sample studies on the subject suggest that up to 30 percent of adoptions fail.https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/news/house-passes-adoption-incentives-package-senate-expected-to-act-soon/7653If this is a good program that inspires, motivates and moves ahead children “in the middle,” or who are “under represented minorities” and it shows such remarkable success, why isn’t it standard for all students?
“AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the achievement gap by preparing all students for college and other postsecondary opportunities. Established more than 30 years ago with one teacher in one classroom, AVID today impacts more than 800,000 students in 44 states and 16 other countries/territories.”
http://www.avid.org/avid-impact.ashx
AVID students complete college entrance requirements at a rate of 2.5 times greater than U.S. students overall.
Notice that the bottom quintile is lifted briefly about 10 years, and after that the top quintile takes off. Poverty is lucrative business for politicians and bureaucrats.
With 126 programs to transfer wealth, there's not enough incentive to give up the government safety net and take the risk that education, investing and marriage require.
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?”
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 DoubtPreach 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/
“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/
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-…
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.
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.
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://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2014/dec/19/obama-fbi-sony-hack-north-korea-china
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.
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?
“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.”
Slap in the face of the families of the killed men. They were not told the swap was going to take place.
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