Creepy old Joe Biden

Chocolate mashed potato cookies

Lately I've been hungry for cookies made with mashed potatoes. I have no idea why--not sure I've ever had any. But I made them yesterday, and have pronounced them good--after eating 2. Here's what I did:

• 1 box of Devil's Food cake mix for all the dry stuff you usually put in cookie dough.
• 1 stick of melted butter, to which I added 2 squares of dark baking chocolate and 2 eggs. Mix thoroughly.
• 1 1/2 cups of mashed potatoes, without any seasoning or butter, but with some milk/cream to make it fluffy.

Mix it all thoroughly, drop in balls, or teaspoons to ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 11 minutes at 350.

I rolled the balls in sugar and pressed with a fork. The last batch I flattened and then frosted when they cooled. Makes about 45 medium size, soft, not terribly sweet cookies. Potatoes probably add a lot of nutrition without many calories. Most recipes I found  for something similar used dry flake or processed instant, but I was making soup for lunch and wanted the potato water, so just make them myself.

The soup was really good, too.  I cooked some frozen mixed vegetables in the potato water with some onions and cauliflower. To make a cream sauce, I added about 2 Tbsp of flour and 2 Tbsp of sour cream together to make the white sauce with the potato water.

Cloth diapers vs. disposable

I hadn’t looked at figures like this since the 1970s when we were told diaper services were cheaper than home washed cloth diapers, but noticed it today in a story about a woman who got a $.25 minimum wage increase and now she could afford more disposable diapers for her grandchild.  I hope she doesn’t have any government benefits she’s counting on like Obamacare, because that pay increase could really mess her up in claw back or fines if she skip it.

My first reaction was she should buy cloth diapers, but then I looked it up.  It’s pretty much a wash (no pun)—the more children you have using that original investment, the lower the cost per diaper change, but that’s about it.  Also learned a bit reading the comments.

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/cloth-diapering-a-real-world-analysis/

“If we assume 2240 diaper changes in Year 1, and lets assume that there will be fewer diaper changes in Year 2 (we’ll say on average 5 changes per day – 1825/year) then we would say that over the course of Year 1 and Year 2, there will be 4,065 diaper changes. That gives us a cost of$.28 per diaper change. . .

Total cost to use disposable diapers for 2 years – $1354.25
Assuming 4,065 diaper changes over the course of 2 years, that gives us a cost of $.33 per diaper change.”

Americans unaware of what they voted for when reelecting Obama

“Up to 6 million Americans are expected to pay a penalty for not having coverage in 2014, according to recent Obama administration projections. The 2014 penalty for this tax season is $95, or 1 percent of family income — purposefully on the weaker side to let people adjust to this new coverage scheme. Most of the uninsured won't actually face the penalty because they'll qualify for an exemption, either related to their inability to afford coverage or some other hardship.

But it's likely that a lot of people who will have to pay don't know it yet. Despite the unpopularity of the individual mandate and the high-stakes Supreme Court case over it three years ago, there's still limited awareness of the penalty among those who could risk triggering it. Nearly half of uninsured Americans weren't aware of the penalty, and almost as many don't realize the law offers financial help to purchase coverage, according to a Harris Poll survey in the fall.”

So of course, Democrats want a work around, as if this is the only problem with the government taking over 1/6 of the economy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/17/democrats-are-bracing-for-another-obamacare-backlash/

Government speak: “The fee is sometimes called a penalty, fine, or Individual Shared Responsibly Payment. It is part of the Individual Shared Responsibility Provision, which is often called the Individual Mandate. “

Adding a child to insurance under Obamacare rules

It’s been a lot of years since I added a baby to our health insurance, but as I recall, we simply called our agent, who then probably filled in the blanks on a form, and like magic the little one had insurance from the minute we supplied the information.  Not today.  Not under Obamacare. Story from Sharyl Attkisson.

“A true story. About a baby who was born on June 4, 2014 A.D., in America. The baby’s name is Hannah Johnson, 8 lbs 14 oz. Green eyes, brown hair and a beauty to behold. When Hannah was born (the very first newborn to be added to the health insurance rolls of our office since healthcare.gov went live) we printed out the Change Form from SelectHealth’s website and faxed it in, just like we had always done. The reason we did it that way was because, to our knowledge, no one told us to do it any other way. So off it went, on June 30, 2014. On July 7th we called in to SelectHealth to make sure that the baby had been added, because neither we nor the insured had received anything confirming that little Hannah was on the policy.
Fortunately though, SelectHealth informed us that they had received our request and that the addition was being processed. They confirmed that “the addition was being processed” because apparently no one ever told the customer service reps at SelectHealth that they would need to add the baby some other way. When a few weeks passed without any confirmation that the baby was indeed insured, Hannah’s mom called into SelectHealth to follow up on the policy endorsement. She continued this process, calling in to her insurance company to inquire about little Hannah’s status, for a couple of months without any resolution. In fact it wasn’t until mid September, a good three months after Hannah’s birth, that SelectHealth told Hannah’s mom that they actually couldn’t change her health insurance policy. That all changes to the policy needed to be routed through healthcare.gov. “  Read the rest of the story here—it gets worse.

According to a survey, the top 10 Astroturfers

TOP 10 ASTROTURFERS by Sharyl Attkisson

Astroturfers often disguise themselves and publish blogs, write letters to the editor, produce ads, start non-profits, establish Facebook and Twitter accounts, edit Wikipedia pages or simply post comments online to try to fool you into thinking an independent or grassroots movement is speaking. They use their partners in blogs and in the news media in an attempt to lend an air of legitimacy or impartiality to their efforts. They call truth a myth, then “de-bunk it;’ they build straw men then chop them down; and I think they make about 20% of their stories about LBGT, even though that’s 2% of the population. (My opinion, not Sharyl’s.)

1. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Everytown

2. Media Matters for America

3. University of California Hastings Professor Dorit Rubenstein Reiss and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Dr. Paul Offit

4. “Science” Blogs such as: Skeptic.com, Skepchick.org, Scienceblogs.com (Respectful Insolence), Popsci.com and SkepticalRaptors.com

5. Mother Jones

6. Salon.com and Vox.com

7. White House press briefings and press secretary Josh Earnest [I’d add Marie Harf]

8. Daily Kos and The Huffington Post

9. CNN, NBC, New York Times, Politico and Talking Points Memo (TPM)

10. MSNBC, Slate.com, Los Angeles Times and Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC and Jon Stewart.

http://sharylattkisson.com/top-10-astroturfers/

You can be sure my blog has no sponsors, no ads, it’s 100% Norma’s research, opinion, and experience. When I’m wrong and when I’m right, I’m standing on real grass, not Astroturf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU

I believe Barack Obama is a Christian

I’ve read his testimony given at a UCC conference before he became president.  It’s good.  Marks all the boxes, and is more conservative than most main-line Christians could say.

That said, if he were a Muslim mole in the White House, what would be different?

Although, Muslims are allowed to lie in their faith for Allah.  Christians are not.

Resistance Training improves cognitive function in older women

[Excerpts from the article] The EXCEL (EXercise for Cognition and Everyday Living) study was a 6-month randomized trial. Eighty-six community-dwelling women 70 to 80 years old were randomly allocated to twice-weekly resistance training (RT) (28 women), twice-weekly Aerobic Training (AT) (30 women), or twice-weekly balance and tone (BAT) training (control group) (28 women). Participants were classified as having probable mild cognitive impairment if they had a score lower than 26 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment8 and had subjective memory complaints. . . .

In senior women with subjective memory complaints, 6 months of twice-weekly RT improved selective attention/conflict resolution, associative memory, and regional patterns of functional brain plasticity compared with twice-weekly BAT exercises. In contrast, 6 months of twice-weekly AT improved physical function. We provide novel evidence that RT can benefit multiple domains in those at risk for dementia.

While we previously demonstrated that 12 months of twice-weekly RT significantly improved Stroop Test performance in cognitively healthy women 65 to 75 years old, (3) our current study found an improvement after only 6 months in women 70 to 80 years old with probable mild cognitive impairment. Thus, the benefits of RT on selective attention/conflict resolution may be more potent among those at greater risk for dementia.

Baker et al (6) previously demonstrated that 6 months of AT improved selective attention/conflict resolution and set shifting performance in older women with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. This may be attributed to differences in both the frequency and intensity of AT between the 2 studies. In addition, our study participants were older and had lower baseline Mini-Mental State Examination scores.

We also demonstrated that 6 months of RT twice-weekly significantly improved associative memory performance, co-occurring with positive functional changes in hemodynamic activity in regions involved in the memorization of associations. (10) Impaired associative memory is a hallmark of early stages of Alzheimer disease.

“Resistance Training Promotes Cognitive and Functional Brain Plasticity in Seniors With Probable Mild Cognitive Impairment” Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(8):666-668

Resistance training is a specific component of any strength training routine. Technically put, resistant training is any exercise performed against an opposing force produced by a resistance. This resistance can be made from pushing, squeezing, pulling or bending. http://everything-about-pilates.com/resistance-training/

It’s not like there’s anything serious going on

Every time I think it's time to stop reporting how the media treated President Bush because it's old news, something like this appears. The media fawn over these antics while the middle east and northern Africa go up in flames. This makes the interview with bopping bloggers look classy. One of his selfies showed him making the pointed gun motion with his fingers—something that would get him kicked out of school!

Coptic Christians in Libya. Why?

"The 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians were marched to a beach, forced to kneel and then beheaded on video, which was broadcast on a website that supports Islamic State. The victims were among thousands of unemployed Egyptians desperately seeking work in Libya, despite the risks. Egypt’s foreign ministry said it was banning travel to Libya and had set up a crisis centre to bring home Egyptians."

Have you wondered why they can't get jobs in Egypt? Christians in Egypt are the garbage collectors--can't get other work. A few years ago the government killed their pigs and gave their jobs to unions. Now the country is awash in trash and their businesses have been destroyed.

The U.S. has been at war with Muslim controlled states off and on since 1801. Jefferson refused to pay ransom for enslaved American sailors , and thus the line "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of TRIPOLI. . ." memorializes that war in the hymn of the U.S. Marine Corps. Do you think that was just a pretty place to behead Christians in that video of a beach? These guys are all about symbolism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripoli_Monument_(sculpture)
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYPpGqBUTHg

Healthy heart for life

3 easy steps--eat 5, move 10, sleep 8. I found this nice book at Marc's for $1.99. On the website it's about $30. Copyright is 2012. I get the Mayo Newsletter, and find them interesting. If books could make you healthy or make you an artist, I'd be all set. http://store.mayoclinic.com/products/bookDetails.cfm?mpid=136

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYGsqqzCMSE

Do the Rich Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes?

What is fair? What is rich? Is rich Nancy Pelosi and Ruth Bader Ginsberg who are high profile multi-millionaires? Is rich a household with a doctor and lawyer married to each other with many years of education to pay for? Fair would seem be those who earn 10% of the country's income would pay 10% of the taxes; the group who earned 20% would pay 20% of the taxes and so on. But that's not the case. According to IRS data, the top 10% of all earners -- the people making $150,000 and above -- pay 71% of all federal income tax while earning only 43% of all income. The bottom quintile because of transfers for housing, food, health, education, etc., actually pay a negative tax--less than zero according to the CBO. Is that fair; are they rich?

Transcript of Prager University

http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS20811.pdf

http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/44604-AverageTaxRates.pdf

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Co-habiting not good preparation for marriage—but didn’t we already know that?

Although I think co-habiting is not good preparation for marriage, this report doesn't cite enough sources, and some are old. That's not unusual for social science reporting. Although the study on differences of income was one I hadn't seen (co-habiting men earn less over a life time than married men, and often less than their housemate). My personal thought is the "finances" angle for co-habiting is phony; women are hoping for a transition to something more permanent and men are hoping for a few more months/years of less permanence. It is always about commitment, and about half don't want that so they settle for something less. I've never talked to a married woman who co-habited before marriage who said in hindsight that it was good for the marriage, even those that last. Small sample, of course.

http://dailysignal.com/2015/02/13/5-facts-cohabitation-may-not-know/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thf02132015

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25267281

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3599792?sid=21105873629393&uid=2&uid=3739256&uid=4&uid=3739840

Dinner attire at Downton

Today we’d be lucky if they just pulled up their jeans, covered the butt-crack  and took off the baseball cap.

An old fashioned movie, Old Fashioned

Despite the snow and some white outs on the way to the theater, our St. Valentine's date worked well. We saw "Old Fashioned" at Lennox 24 near the OSU campus then had dinner out. The movie truly is old fashioned, with gorgeous cinematography filmed in Tuscawarus County, Ohio, in Oct. and Nov. 2011. In fact, I'd say NE Ohio had a supporting role. The opening in theaters was held back to coincide with the opening of “50 shades of Grey.”  It truly is the antidote to the 50 shades movie.

Rik Swartzwelder wrote, directed and acted in the film. (He's from New Philadelphia, Ohio, now lives in California). He plays Clay, a guy who not only owns an antique store in the college town where he has a not so lovely past, but old fashioned ideas about who he will marry and what their courtship should be. He meets Amber, the free spirit type, who reminds me of some of the loopy 1970s film characters--on the run when a problem comes up, 3 credit hours from her degree, a cat lady, odd fashion taste and a horrible marriage in her past. These two people, one who can't forgive himself for his past, and one who flees her past, fall in love. There are interesting supporting sub-plots, like Clay's buddies, and Amber's co-workers at the flower shop. This is not an overtly Christian film, but has Christian values, and you can leave the theater without having heard a single swear word even though the story line includes some crude characters in its backstory.

As we left the theater my husband said it had a "168" feel (short films with a Biblical theme organized by John David Ware) so I looked that up and see that Rik Swartzwelder has worked with Ware (who grew up in our church) in workshops for writers and directors that is also a part of the 168 project.

We suggested the film to our waitress--that she take her boyfriend. She said she didn't have a boyfriend and would see if she could get a group of her friends to go. And that's just the crowd that should see this movie. Searching singles tired of the hook-up culture of meaningless sex and moving on.

http://www.timesreporter.com/article/20111001/NEWS/310019937

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Fashioned_(film)

http://www.fandango.com/oldfashioned_176952/moviereviews

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptxW2lhzbVQ

Bursitis hip pain

“Bursitis of the hip is inflammation of one or both of the bursae (plural of bursa) found between the hip bone and the muscles on the outside of the hip. A bursa is a fluid-filled sac that cushions and lubricates areas of the body where friction is likely to occur. “ Link

I still have some, but much better than a year ago.  I don’t do a lot of stairs (2-3 years ago I was doing stairs for exercise), but can do it almost pain free.  I had physical therapy last spring, and continue to do a few minutes of those stretching and strengthening exercises most days.  I’ve lost 15 pounds, which really help, and am exercising on a stationary bike. If I wear high heels it is usually only an hour or two on Sunday. Ice packs are really useful if you do much exercise.  Cuts the inflammation.

“To prevent and ease hip pain during work, play, or daily activities:

• Reach and stay at a healthy weight.
• Wear well-cushioned shoes, and avoid high heels.
• Walk up and down stairs one at a time, leading with your strong leg when you go up stairs or curbs, and with your weaker or sore leg when you go down.
• Warm up before activities.
• Avoid activities that make one side of the pelvis higher than the other, such as running in only one direction on a track or hiking or doing yard work sideways on a slope. Keep your hips level.
• Sleep on your uninjured side with a pillow between your knees, or on your back with pillows beneath your knees.
• Stretch after an activity, when your muscles are warm.”

Pilates in Pink

I stopped at the Half Price book store yesterday and found this exercise DVD for $2.00 with the pink resistance band.  I’m watching it now, and think the warm up exercises for the arms and fingers are well worth the price.  I think this may be slightly different than the $10-15 DVD still available in stores, but I’m enjoying my bargain. Finding a good spot where I can see it from the floor will be challenging.  When I was getting therapy for my shoulder/rotator cuff injury about 15 years ago I had a set of bands.  However, once they develop a tiny hole, it’s all over.

Where is the outrage—4 murder victims

This morning on the news I heard about the video confession of Donald Hoffman who murdered viciously 4 people about a year ago in Bucyrus, Ohio. Not sure of the weapons--blunt force and strangulation were cited. He was on cocaine, don't know about the victims. But, I only mention this because there was no one gathered at his arraignment last year except the crying family members of the victims. No thousands holding candles or charging hate crimes for the White House and Department of Justice. In the photo, he looks like he could be the twin of the guy who killed the 3 in Chapel Hill. He also had a long history with the police and violent behavior. I don't recall any outrage over these 4 murders. Anyone else in Ohio, or Florida, California or Illinois remember this case?

One thing the killing of 3 young adult Muslims in Chapel Hill by a self proclaimed atheist proves to Americans is that Muslims really can rally, demonstrate and speak out against the unspeakable--but only from a very safe distance from ISIS and the Middle East wars. They have the free speech, religion and assembly protection offered by this country. So they really do have a voice in condemning evil.

It appears she didn’t like Bob Simon

“Simon’s so-called “reporting” consisted of lying about American boys on the front lines in Vietnam, lying about Israeli soldiers trying to protect their country, lying about an Israeli fence built to try to keep Islamic terrorists out of Israel so it would be harder for them to bomb coffee and pizza shops, bars, synagogues, and Passover Seders. Even in one of his few mildly decent reports, about persecuted Christians in the Middle East, Simon still took the opportunity to attack Israel, the one place in the region where Christians are actually safe. I would link to some of these “stories” as evidence, but I don’t want to lend the lies any credence. Search “YouTube” for Bob Simon and Israel and you’ll see.”

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/77169/bob-simon-anti-israel-self-hating-jew-who-also-lied-about-us-in-vietnam-rih/