Thoughts on Jenner and Dolezal

Years ago, I cooked up some turnips, mashed them, served them with butter and salt, and told my kids they were mashed potatoes--because like typical kids they were reluctant to try certain things. They looked like potatoes; even tasted like potatoes. That didn't make it so. And I'm not sure they trusted me on vegetable night after that. Today I didn't straighten my hair, and I think I'm going to pass as Megyn Kelly. If you don't like my fantasy, you're a bigot.

                    

Rachel’s adopted siblings are black; she isn’t.  Sib-envy?

Support family farms, says the poster

I hope that little guy is in the driver's seat just for the photo. Looks about 8 years old.

Small family farms, averaging 231 acres, make up 88 percent of farms and 48 percent of total acres. Large family farms, averaging 1,421 acres, make up 3.9 percent of farms and 13 percent of acres. Very large family farms, averaging 2,086 acres, make up 4.6 percent of farms and 23 percent of total acres.

Farm and ranch families are 2% of the population and produce 262 percent more food with 2 percent fewer inputs (labor, seeds, feed, fertilizer, etc.), compared with 1950. 15% (21 million) of American workers produce, process and sell the nation’s food and fiber, but if you add in restaurant industry workers that's another 14 million. So it still takes a lot of people to feed America--and that doesn't include those Americans who have gardens for feeding their families.

Not sure what "support" means in this poster. The so called "food bill" of USDA is about 1 trillion and 80% goes to social programs not to farming--nutrition programs, energy assistance, rural housing assistance, changing our eating habits to make us less fat, more sustainable programs, etc.

About that kid on the tractor: On average, 113 youth, less than 20 years of age, died annually from farm-related injuries between 1995 and 2002. In 2011, 108 youth died. 33,000 children have farm-related injuries each year (OSHA). However, compared to sports related injuries for children, that's low. In 2009, an estimated 248,418 children (age 19 or younger) were treated in U.S. EDs for sports and recreation-related injuries that included a diagnosis of concussion or TBI. (CDC)

Rural love

I just noticed on TV the online dating service called farmersonly.com. I remember maybe 25 years ago reading the lonely hearts ads in the back of the agriculture and breed (no pun) magazines in the veterinary library.

"Out buildings in good shape. About 40 acres forest. Must like Jerseys. Good cook preferred, appearance not important, Box 423."

or something like that

Exercises for healthy feet

Exercising your feet on a regular basis not only improves overall foot health, but may also reduce your risk for injury. Walking is the best overall foot exercise. When you walk, you put your foot through its full range of motion, from the time your heel hits the ground until you lift off with your toes. Moreover, walking is one of the best forms of exercise for your entire body. It improves your cardiovascular health and can help your circulation, muscle tone, and mood.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/exercises-for-healthy-feet

See the website for simple workouts to stretch and strengthen your feet.

Foods that combat inflammation

Sometimes I feel like I will turn into a salad.  I’ve lost 30 pounds since Christmas—more fruits and vegetables, more exercise, and none of my favorites.  No potato chips, no Fritos, no peanut butter on crackers, no Cheddar cheese, no cookies. Last night we ate at the Rusty Bucket and I get their “3 side orders”—steamed broccoli, salad of tomatoes and cucumbers with mozzarella cheese in olive oil, and then a little cheat, onion rings. I just don’t think the carrots would have made me feel like I’d had date night.

Include plenty of these anti-inflammatory foods in your diet:

• tomatoes

• olive oil

• green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, kale, and collards

• nuts like almonds and walnuts

• fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines

• fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and oranges

Harvard Health Newsletter: “One of the most powerful tools to combat inflammation comes not from the pharmacy, but from the grocery store. “Many experimental studies have shown that components of foods or beverages may have anti-inflammatory effects,” says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. Choose the right foods, and you may be able to reduce your risk of illness.

               

St. James’ advice for the internet users

You probably didn't realize the Bible addresses using the Internet. I need to re-read this advice whenever I read The Daily Beast or The Huffington Post.

James 1:19-27 (NIV) My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Misconceptions about worship

Here’s something American Catholics and American Protestants share—we are overly concerned about how we feel during worship.  It’s all about me.  No, it’s about the risen Jesus.

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

We Americans in any case rather have come naturally to think that in the liturgy we want to express ourselves, and if it doesn’t feel like us, then we don’t want to say it!

But the whole tradition of liturgy is not primarily expressive of where people are and what they want to say to God. Instead it is impressive. It forms us, and it is always bigger than any given community that celebrates it.

Father Jeremy Driscoll

Putin and the assault on Ukraine

I don't know if any of my readers/friends are more sympathetic with Putin (who's pulling the righteous Christian act) than the Ukrainians, but countries have memories that reach back. 7 million Ukrainians were starved by Stalin in the 1930s. These are the horror stories I heard from my classmates in college, most born in the late 1930s or early 1940s whose parents told them.

http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/stalin.htm

By the spring of 1933, the height of the famine, an estimated 25,000 persons died every day in the Ukraine. Entire villages were perishing. In Europe, America and Canada, persons of Ukrainian descent and others responded to news reports of the famine by sending in food supplies. But Soviet authorities halted all food shipments at the border. It was the official policy of the Soviet Union to deny the existence of a famine and thus to refuse any outside assistance. Anyone claiming that there was in fact a famine was accused of spreading anti-Soviet propaganda. Inside the Soviet Union, a person could be arrested for even using the word 'famine' or 'hunger' or 'starvation' in a sentence.

The Soviets bolstered their famine denial by duping members of the foreign press and international celebrities through carefully staged photo opportunities in the Soviet Union and the Ukraine. The writer George Bernard Shaw, along with a group of British socialites, visited the Soviet Union and came away with a favorable impression which he disseminated to the world. Former French Premier Edouard Herriot was given a five-day stage-managed tour of the Ukraine, viewing spruced-up streets in Kiev and inspecting a 'model' collective farm. He also came away with a favorable impression and even declared there was indeed no famine.

Born and raised white in Montana, now she’s black in Spokane

If Bruce Jenner can claim he's a woman after 3 wives and half a dozen kids to jump start a new reality show, and Elizabeth Warren says on her college applications she's Native American, and Miley Cyrus says she's bisexual to get back in the limelight,I see no reason that white people can't claim to be black to get a job that requires minority status. Thanks to progressives, there are no rules about gender, race, species, consanguinity, marriage, parenting, or sanctity of human life (that's only for animals). White cops, bad; white Christians, bad; white male scientists, bad; unless they can transition to another gender, race, religion, or profession.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3121061/Local-NAACP-leader-professor-African-studies-outed-WHITE-parents-convincing-community-black-years.html

Ravi Zacharias on homosexuality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIw6ngIqaD0

Ravi Zacharias -35 year respected top religious scholar and speaker on Christ and Christianity and the Bible answers one of the tougher questions asked about Christianity and its "intolerance". (from 2009)

Laura Ingalls Wilder

One of the books that didn’t go to the give away pile or the dumpster in our most recent clean out was “Little House in the Ozarks; a Laura Ingalls Wilder sampler, The rediscovered writings.” (1991)  Before her novelist daughter Rose Wilder Lane began editing her fiction, Laura Wilder had written for many farm publications, and even other women’s magazines. If you are withdrawing books from your collection, you must never open them and browse.  They won’t make it out the door.  There are snippets in this book of stories that will later become part of her children’s fiction series. Nothing else will get done once you start to read.

The book is divided loosely into themes, it is not chronological and doesn’t have an index.  If you see something you like (I did) and don’t stick in a bookmark, you lose it (I did).

From Good Reads website:

In more than 140 articles and essays collected here for all to enjoy, this beloved author's writings on American life during a simpler time abound with humor and spunk that transcend the years. Laura Ingalls Wilder -- beloved author of one of the world's most treasured children's series, the Little House books -- wrote articles on a dizzying array of topics; articles that sparkle with her timeless wit and wisdom. Her interesting and insightful views on the changes motor cars and highways brought to her small town; the need to conserve natural resources; the role of women in the work force and in politics -- nothing seemed to escape her keen observation. With a foresight that is astounding, Wilder's many articles examine in depth the ways of life in this country during the late 1800s and early 1900s with a wisdom that holds relevance for our lives even today.

“Whom will you marry?” appeared in the June 1919, McCall’s magazine, and after much reflection when a younger woman asks her about becoming a farmer’s wife (he’s coming home from the war and she needs to give him an answer), Mrs. Wilder concludes at the end of the long article, not unexpectedly:

“If you want ease, unearned luxuries, selfish indulgence, a silken-cushioned, strawberries-and-cream life, do not marry a man who will be a farmer.

If you want to give, as well as to take; if you want to be your husband’s full partner in business and in homemaking; if you can stand on your own feet and face life as a whole, the troubles and difficulties and the real joys and growth that come from them; if you want an opportunity to be a fine, strong, free woman, then you are fitted for the life of a farmer’s wife, to be his partner, the providence of your own little world of the farm and bread-giver to humanity, the true lady of the world.”

Thank you for that, New York Times

Thanks to the New York Times investigative journalism, we now know more about Marco Rubio than Barack Obama. We know he took out student loans to go to law school and paid them back (shocker), that he lost money on one home sale during the housing bubble (wow), that he had 4 traffic tickets in 18 years (ouch), and he has an $80,000 boat bought after he got a $800,000 advance on his book. Gee, Bill Clinton can get more than that for two 15 minute speeches for foreign governments, and his speaking fees went up after Hillary became Secretary of State. NYT called Rubio's debt staggering, but Saturday one of their reporters, Lee Segal, wrote a piece on how to stiff tax payers and universities by defaulting on student loans.

http://freebeacon.com/politics/financial-expert-quoted-in-nyt-rubio-hit-job-is-obama-donor/

Can't wait to see what Soros money can dig up about Scott Walker. . . although actually just because David Brock is grateful for Soros' generosity doesn't positively identify his fingerprints all over the Rubio story. It was just the smell in the room.

Office clean out at the Bruces—it’s trash day

Yesterday we carried three sacksful to the church library and Tuesday an unbelievable amount of books and magazines to the public library Friends sale drop off.  This is what is left.  Stuff no one wants.  But it’s interesting to look through.  Codes.  Books and books of codes. Now all irrelevant, and there are new codes to keep architects, engineers, electricians, plumbers, and city planners and engineers in business. Plus a lot of Bible study workbooks, 10-15 years old, never looked at after the class, and of no use to anyone else.

What’s wrong with mothers these days?

Seems to be my week to rant about mothers. Yesterday is was mom walking across Tremont Road and using her phone on a gorgeous day outside ignoring her little daughter; but today, it was gorgeous mom, impeccable clothes, in 92 degrees, blazing sun pushing the baby stroller along Kenny Road (no shade) with her under one year age child practically naked with no canopy for cover. The sun exposure that causes melanoma is brief, intense exposure - a blistering sunburn. People in my neighborhood are in a great demographic--well educated, wealthy, married, beautiful homes, good schools--but that apparently isn't enough to develop common sense.

Update Thursday, June 11:
At the booth next to us at the Rusty Bucket were grandma and grandpa with their two adorable little grandchildren . . .grandma was talking on her cell phone and grandpa was scrolling through his messages. Kids sat there with nothing to do. Sigh.

Memories of Dad

When I was a teen-ager, my mother would often remind me to put on an apron when working in the kitchen. Sort of irritated me, but after all, she was the one doing the laundry. When I was 60 and visiting my parents, I'd just chuckle when my father would say, "Baby, put on an apron." (Didn't mind being called Baby because that's about as affectionate as he got, but having him tell me to wear an apron. . well. . .). This morning I put on my new light teal shirt (meeting friends for coffee at Worthington Panera’s) and looked down and there was a food splatter. I'd worn it on Sunday and made cabbage soup with a chicken broth base. I dabbed at it with cold water without much success, but I'll forever hear Dad when I put it on.

Time to vote with Republicans for change?

Quote Guttmacher and get called a Bible thumper

I have no idea who Marsha Holderfield, a commenter at the Daily Beast is, but she called me a right wing bible [sic] thumper who watches Fox (she didn't use that term) and said I was an embarrassment to women for citing statistics on abortion and the role Planned Parenthood plays in eliminating minority babies (38% of the pregnancies of black women). So I responded:

Marsha Holderfield, have you read the Planned Parenthood web site and literature? This is directly from them, as are the stats (Guttmacher Institute) on abortion. Planned Parenthood receives over $360 million annually in our tax dollars, and gives $2,142,076 to their “research” arm, Guttmacher. So unless you think Guttmacher is "right wing" or Fox moles, you're just wrong and have added nothing but insults to this discussion (you're hoping I'll give you that link to their masturbation guide for children, but I won't). And what is your problem with Fox News? Not enough left wing opinion like ABC, CBS and NBC mixed in with the hard news? People who watch cable news (about 40%) are much more engaged than those who watch broadcast (about 70%), and people who watch Fox also watch CNN and MSNBC and their local outlets. (Pew Research, "How Americans get their News"). There; I've written a paragraph without insulting you or calling you names. Let's see if you can do that. It will be good practice for your next job interview.

I mention job interviews because employers can search the internet too, it's not just the NSA or the IRS. They look for racism, sexism, ageism, hateful comments, unpaid bills, bad grammar and English, and who your friends are. I heard a Repo man on the radio say he's been trying to impound a car for six months, but the owner kept evading him and the bank who had hired him. On her Facebook page he saw that her mother died, so he went to the funeral home to remove her car. If I were still working I wouldn't be posting on FaceBook. At least not about politics.

The Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds, hide me.
Never let me be separated from you.
From the malignant enemy, defend me.
At the hour of death, call me;
and bid me come to you.
That with your saints I may praise you
forever and ever.

Amen.
(Attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola, but authorship uncertain)

Communion today.  With merging services this will be a first time for us to serve with this group. We call it a grace operation.

I've read the poem in Latin, and the modern English translation, but like this old one best (although some older ones use thee and thy). Looks more accurate and is also more poetic.

Hillary Clinton’s gender gap

The CNN poll via Byron York as reported in James Taranto’s WSJ column:

When asked whether [Mrs.] Clinton “cares about people like you,” 57 percent of women said yes, while just 36 percent of men said the same—a 21-point gender gap.

* When asked whether Clinton “inspires confidence,” 57 percent of women said yes, while just 41 percent of men said so—a 16-point gender gap.

* When asked whether Clinton “is honest and trustworthy,” 49 percent of women said yes, while just 34 percent of men agreed—a 15-point gender gap.

* When asked if they have an overall favorable or unfavorable opinion of Clinton, 54 percent of women said favorable, while just 38 percent of men said the same—a 16-point gender gap.

A bit of trivia on OSU minority enrollment 100 years ago

The worst thing you can do when de-cluttering, particularly removing books, is to peek inside. I was doing pretty good yesterday until I opened a small volume and found a list of African American veterinary students who attended Ohio State 100 years ago. It was a research project I never finished (in part because I was denied access to administration records on course work due to privacy concerns) from 16 years ago. I glanced through the list and Google called, so I searched the name of Charles Huston Minor, who graduated in 1916. I found out he later got an MD from OSU in addition to his DVM and practiced in NY where there is a database on the web of licenses. Also found photos in a 1920 Makio (OSU yearbook--every issue published from 1880 to the present is available) of him and fraternity brothers. Google never ceases to amaze me--a lot of this wasn't available 16 years ago, when I had to browse old class photos hanging in the vet hospital and figure who were minorities.

One hundred years ago blacks were accepted in the college, but not women. Also male foreign students from Asia and South America. Lest we think "progress" it's important to remember that horses had been the primary focus of veterinary medicine, and automobiles, trucks and tractors were replacing them, drastically diminishing the importance of veterinarians. Therefore, in order to survive, I suspect the school began accepting minorities--for whom there really wasn't much future in this field except working for the government in health inspection. The percentage of blacks in vet school was higher in the waning years of the horse than 100 years later during the small animal, exotic and avian era.

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.kvma.org/resource/resmgr/imported/8-04-The%20Early%20History%20of%20the%20Horse%20Doctor.pdf