Coerced Abortion Awareness Week

Sunday, April 12 – Sunday, April 19, 2015

http://www.afterabortion.org/churchawarenessproject/coerced-abortion-awareness-week/

Still pro-life

I was listening to Mike Gallagher this morning (conservative talk show) and you would have thought not believing in the death penalty belongs only to the left.

I'm pro-life and consistent--no death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The same reasons you hear for killing a fetus are used for him--cost, inconvenience, kinder in the long run, etc. Of course, babies aren't guilty of a crime, but at least we don't need to participate.

Depending on how you count, it’s close to a million

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2006/04/word_count.html

Global Language Monitor estimates * that—as of this writing—there are exactly 988,968 words in English. GLM has done a remarkable job suckering even the respectable press into believing that we're on the verge of adding the millionth word to English—at which point we'll presumably see another flurry of articles about GLM. Even so, its claim is a bogus one.

Child porn in Niles, Illinois libraries

From the Chicago Tribune: Anti-pornography activist Megan Fox created a 2:30 video urging Niles IL residents to vote against incumbent trustee Linda Ryan.

In the video, which was posted on Fox's YouTube channel on March 11, she accuses Ryan of voting to allow child pornography on library computers. On Nov. 19, the library board voted to add content filters on adult computers that would block all nudity and pornography. At the time, viewing pornography was already against library policy.

During the meeting, Ryan was one of the trustees who voted against the filtering policy, arguing that it went too far, getting in the way of patrons' ability to access information. Fox used the clips from the meeting to suggest that Ryan would be fine with child pornography. In the video, she also insisted that American Library Association's policy were putting children in danger. 

That was reported at the LIS web site (discussion site for librarians).  Then a comment from “SafeLibraries” on March 25:

Chicago Tribune got the story wrong. That paper has for over a year of reporting on Megan Fox consistently and obviously intentionally left out that the issue is child porn. Leaving out that the issue is child porn puts a spin on every story Chicago Tribune writes. The spin is that Megan Fox is a prude and libraries are perfectly fine when they make porn available. The reality is that Megan Fox is exposing child porn, and besides, libraries are breaking the law when they make porn available, depending on the state law applicable. In Illinois, they are breaking the law.

"In the video, she also insisted that American Library Association's policy were putting children in danger." You do understand that ALA policy is that librarians are not judges so they may not determine what is child pornography, right? Chicago Tribune never reports that even though it is written in ALA's guidelines for how libraries should write policy.

If a library trustee supports ALA diktat on allowing child porn over her own state's law that precludes all porn in public libraries, then that is someone who is violating the public trust, correct? Megan Fox is allowed to speak out on that, correct? It's wrong for Chicago Tribune to spin stories to hide the child porn issue, correct?

Finally. Justice at Ft. Hood

"On Friday at the central Texas base, 42 of Hasan’s victims will receive a Purple Heart and two will get the Defense of Freedom medal: former Ft. Hood Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley and the late Army Reserve Capt. John Gaffaney, a former colleague of Platoni’s."

Wonder where all the protesters were when this injustice was going on for all these years?

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83250862/

There really is a war against women

George W. Bush freed more Muslim women than Lincoln did slaves, but most of those gains have now been lost under this president. And the people who have been helping them like doctors, teachers, and lawyers are now at risk. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa11/1279/2015/en/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/laura-bush-afghan-womens-gains-are-at-risk/2013/11/14/0c105688-4bed-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html

http://www.cfr.org/afghanistan/looming-threat-afghan-womens-rights/p26124

“Before the Taliban came, women played an incredibly important part of that society. Seventy percent of the nation's teachers were women. Half of the government workers in Afghanistan were women, and 40 percent of the doctors in the capital of Kabul were women.

The Taliban destroyed that progress. And in the process, they offered us a clear image of the world they and the terrorists would like to impose on the rest of us.

The central goal of the terrorists is the brutal oppression of women -- and not only the women of Afghanistan. The terrorists who help rule Afghanistan are found in dozens and dozens of countries around the world. And that is the reason this great nation, with our friends and allies, will not rest until we bring them all to justice.”  George W. Bush, Dec. 2001

The Maya Angelou stamp

The words on the stamp, “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song,” were written by Joan Walsh Anglund in her children’s book “A Cup of Sun.”

She had 18 books of poetry, essays, plays, short stories—and the Postal Service couldn’t find even one line of hers that fit?

One of the myths of fossil fuel

"Contrary to what many people believe, fossil fuels are not the remains of dead dinosaurs. In fact, most of the fossil fuels we find today were formed millions of years before the first dinosaurs.
Fossil fuels were formed from plants and animals that lived 300 million years ago in primordial swamps and oceans. Over time the plants and animals died and decomposed under tons of rock and ancient seas." U.S. Dept. of Energy

Actually, I’m a 6 day creationist, but God has no problem creating with the appearance of age.

A TV reporter tried to ruin Memories Pizza—it backfired

“The owners of Memories Pizza would have been fully within their rights to keep every penny of the $842,000 donated to them by supporters through the astonishing GoFundMe campaign that followed the attacks on them by gay activists and their media allies. That's how I'm sure most donors intended the money. It was for the people who'd had their very livelihood threatened for no reason whatsoever. They have never been asked to cater a gay wedding, and they almost certainly never will be. They'd never taken any sort of initiative to attack gay people. All they did was honestly answer a question about their faith from a TV reporter on a fishing expedition”

Instead these classy people are funding other good causes. . . disabled children, a women’s help group, firefighters, police trusts, Christian churches, and Washington florist Barronelle Stutzman, 70, who was fined $1,000 after declaring she would not serve a gay wedding.”

http://www.caintv.com/memories-pizza-announces-its-p0

As we drove to Illinois on Thursday, we were certainly sick of this story, considering all the other important, life threatening things going on in the world. Who you sex with has become an obsession of the left. . . Iran’s nuclear bombs on the other hand, no sweat.

Climate change is biggest global threat

No prayers for Christians

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/white-house-summit-violent-extremism-opens-muslim-prayer-no-other-faiths

A Muslim prayer was recited at the start of the second day of the White House summit on “Countering Violent Extremism,” but no other religious text was presented during the portion of the event that was open to the press.

Imam Sheikh Sa'ad Musse Roble, president of the World Peace Organization in Minneapolis, Minn., recited a “verse from the Quran” following remarks by Obama administration officials and Democratic members of Congress.

Of course, this was February.  Surely by Easter and the killing of many Christian college students in the land of his ancestors, Mr. President would have something to say. . . Nope.

Black lives matter, except in Kenya

Mark Steyn Slams Obama for 'Dishonoring' Dead Christians, Media Still Silent -

See more at: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2015/04/09/mark-steyn-slams-obama-dishonoring-dead-christians-media-still

STEYN: The biggest story of our time is the extinction of some of the oldest Christian communities on the planet at the hands of Islam remorselessly. You [Obama] dishonor those Kenyan students in death by not identifying them as Christians, as you dishonored the Egyptians only a couple of weeks earlier.

STEYN: And I think in that sense, Christianity for him is something he associates with white imperialism, whereas Islam is the exotic other and it's a victim group. And the fact is that on his watch, the last Christian church in Afghanistan was razed to the ground. On America's watch, the Christian community in Iraq, an American protectorate, has been exterminated on America's watch. And that is something that ought to be shameful for him! And people -- this isn't funny, by the way.

We've seen this guy who staged this act of Rose Garden theater over Bowe Bergdahl. It's not a small thing when the leader of a supposedly free people lies to those people about what's going on in the world!

Stationary bike benefits

Calories Burned

The number of calories you burn with a stationary bike workout will depend on your weight, the length of the workout and the intensity of your effort during the workout. The more you weigh, the faster you will burn calories, and the longer and harder the workout, the more calories you will burn. In one hour of biking at less than 10 mph, a 160-lb. person can burn 292 calories. With the same workout, a 200-lb. person can burn 365 calories and a 240-lb. person can burn 436 calories. In one hour of biking at speeds greater than 10 mph, a 154-lb. person can burn about 590 calories, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Workout Types

Stationary bike machines typically provide several preset workout modes. In manual mode, you can adjust the resistance of the pedals manually throughout the workout to simulate hills. In preset modes, the pedals’ resistance will change automatically according to a preset pattern. Common preset workouts include hills, intervals and fat burn.

Benefits

Regular physical activity can benefit your health in many ways. Getting at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise each week can reduce your risk of heart disease, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes and some cancers, according to the CDC. Regular exercise can also improve your mental health and mood and promote better sleep, suggests the CDC.

http://livewell.jillianmichaels.com/stationary-bike-workouts-lose-weight-4522.html

For Belly Fat

Step 1

Stretch your body dynamically before getting on the bike. Dynamic stretches are performed in motion and they will get your connective tissue loosened up for the exercising movements ahead. Do stretches like leg swings, alternating toe touches, lateral lunges, knee highs, ankle bounces, side bends and trunk rotations.

Step 2

Adjust your seat to the proper height. Sit on the bike, place your feet on the pedals and slowly turn the cranks. Pay attention to your knees. Move the seat to a position where your knee is just short of being straight when you turn the cranks.

Step 3

Begin to pedal for a warm-up. Sit on the seat, place your hands on the handle bars and start pedaling. Go slow at first and gradually increase your speed for five minutes. This will slowly raise your core body temperature and further loosen up your muscles.

Step 4

Increase your speed to your exercising intensity. Pedal hard enough that your breathing becomes labored and you are sweating. Stay at this pace for the duration of your workout. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 60 to 90 minutes of cardio for weight loss. Split your sessions into two or three bouts during the day if you do not have time to do it all at once.

Step 5

Include interval training into your workout to increase your intensity. The more vigorously you exercise, the more calories you'll burn. Pedal for 30 seconds at a very fast pace, then pedal slowly for 60 seconds. Alternate back and forth for an entire workout or implement 10-minute interval sessions into your long workouts. If you do intervals for your whole workout, keep the total time to 30 to 45 minutes because of the intensity.

Step 6

Execute proper form when you are riding. Forcefully push the pedals down with your feet, maintain an erect posture and do not lean on the handle bars. Keep your core tight throughout your workouts and make sure to drink water to stay hydrated.

Step 7

Finish with a light cool-down. Do your cool-down the opposite of how you did your warm-up. Pedal gradually slower through a five-minute time frame.

Step 8

Ride your bike often to get the best results. Work out at least four days a week and continue to work out every week.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/189913-how-to-ride-a-stationary-bike-to-burn-belly-fat/

Itsy bitsy yummy snack muffins

I make these in several flavors but today it is chocolate oatmeal. I don’t like to measure, so I use a cake mix for the basic dry ingredients.

1 box of Devil’s Food cake mix (at Marc’s this is $1.19)

1/2 cup of coconut oil, melted

1 egg

1 cereal bowl (I didn’t measure) of cooked oatmeal (about 1 minute in the microwave) made with quick-cook oats, mixed with two scoops of dark chocolate powder and a little sugar

Mix the oatmeal, egg/shortening and cake mix; will be stiff.  Spray the mold/cups of a mini-muffin tin, put about a rounded teaspoon of batter in each and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

This makes about 30-36 little muffins, depending on how much batter you use.  I’ve also made this using mashed potatoes (can’t taste it); also tasty is yellow cake mix using apple sauce and chopped walnuts or dried cranberries. I’ve also used a spice cake mix with a jar of baby food carrots and raisins.

If you need them to be a little sweeter, sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Freeze, then take out 2 for dessert, and they won’t make you fat.

How we know race relations are improving—just watch the haters

We know that race relations in the U.S. are improving--high profile positions held by blacks, like the presidency, governorships, CEOs, growing black middle and upper class, blacks in the 1 percent group,  higher rate of voting among blacks than whites, high enrollments in college, all health and welfare indicators improving, but most of all, racialists and haters like the Daily Beast, Huffington Post, Daily Kos, the paid Twitter-haters, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the President’s speech writers are ratcheting up their hate talk and finger pointing. They are afraid of losing their meal ticket, or their voter base. They must keep blacks in fear.

Confession and forgiveness

I play a YouTube while I'm exercising (Gold's Power Spin 210) because after 5 minutes all the news shows repeat. This morning I heard the phrase, "Going to confession is like getting free health care." That might mean more to Catholics because Confession is a sacrament for them, but it is also a basic principle. Whether you confess your sins to another person who prays with you and suggests changes or directly to our Lord, it is a tremendous relief to hand off that burden. How many health problems are stress related due to unforgiveness and grudges carried way too long?

Heterodox marriage—a useful term with 780,000 matches in Google

It was new to me; so I looked it up.

adjective: heterodox

1. not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs.

   "heterodox views"

   synonyms:
   unorthodox, nonconformist, dissenting, dissident, rebellious, renegade

“The United States Supreme Court is hearing two pivotal cases and could, at its whim, change the definition of marriage and custom that has guided human society since ancient times. From experience, we know this — for the most part, aside from sex, men prefer the company of men and women prefer the company of women. We have never had a society where the norm was for men and women to cohabitate, particularly with children.”

Read more: https://amazingopinionsite.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/the-united-states-isnt-ready-for-heterodox-marriage/

Hitler and the wedding cake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1_gqbQcI60

Hilarious.

Forrest Gump—believe in something bigger than yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoQMPgn0GBA#t=94

Ladies' Lunch in Mt. Morris

A few ladies of the class of 1957 gathered for lunch at the McKendrie Street Cafe (at Pinecrest)on April 4 and we enjoyed some cake left from the fall class reunion.