First acupuncture visit

The first test--I was able to get out of my van when I got home without my leg collapsing.  It's been two hours and still no pain.  A lovely young lady, nice facility, and good explanations.  Big test will be whether leg pain wakes me up at night.

Monday Memories--Judgment Day

One time at the Meier's check out, the Muslim clerk told me that he had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, and they would sometimes argue with him on the right thing to do. The winner would determine his entry to paradise (like Christians, they believe in a judgment day of resurrection from the dead). If his bad deeds outweighed the good, he'll fall into hell. I had a similar problem today. Should I go back to Macy's and buy the dress I saw on Thursday, don't need, but didn't buy?

Melissa said, "If you find a dress that fits and looks good, you buy it whether you need it or not."  Paula opined, "I don't tell myself I can't have whatever thing I want... I just say to self, wait a bit. Many times the want was slight and disappears."  And then Sue, "If you go back and it's there, you should get it. Especially if it's on sale for a good price!"

So I went back. It's only about 7.5 miles to Tuttle Mall.  While I was at the cashier station I asked if there were coupons (yes) and if I used my Macy's card was there a discount (yes). So the on sale $79 dress cost $17. Deal.  I chatted with another customer and we were bemoaning the fact there really wasn't anywhere to wear a nice dress. She said she was shopping for a wedding, but it was on a Dude Ranch, so she wouldn't be dressing up.

 This obviously is not a photo of me, but is from the Macy's page.  Just wish it were about 6" longer.  If it doesn't look good, well, it's a week of coffee at Panera's.

Marco Rubio on Bill Clinton's sex life, Donald Trump's plans

“Those are issues [Bill Clinton] that in my mind are going to be discussed by others in this campaign. They want to raise them, they can raise them,” the Florida senator told The Daily Caller in a phone interview Saturday. “That’s not what my campaign is focused on.
“I’m not offended by it,” Rubio continued, referring to other campaigns raising the issue of Clinton’s sexual past. “It’s true, it’s on the record and I think it exposes a tremendous amount of hypocrisy in the mainstream media. I believe had that been a figure on the Right, the mainstream media would be giving extensive coverage to it.”

“But,” he said, “I, in my campaign, am going to focus on the issues that are confronting our country and the damage Barack Obama has done and how we are going to reverse them.”
Asked about the new emails released this week from Hillary Clinton’s time at the State Department, including one where the Democratic presidential frontrunner seems to explain to an underling how to send classified information on an unsecured server, Rubio said he didn’t yet have “a chance to review them, but I think it is par for the course.”

“We know for a fact that she was looking for the most convenient way possible to read this information even if it irresponsibly subjected not just classified, but sensitive information to foreign espionage,” he said.
“I think it was recklessness on her part and I think it disqualifies her to be commander in chief,” he added.
Speaking of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, Rubio said that he didn’t think the real estate billionaire was running as a conservative, but said he intends to support the Republican nominee for president, even if it ends up being Trump.

“I think Donald Trump is running as someone who is angry at Washington, at what Washington is doing wrong, and offers to shake it up,” Rubio said. “But when it comes to the specific policies to shake it up, they are not conservative policies.”

Pressed on whether he could support Trump as the Republican nominee, Rubio said: “Well, I am going to support the Republican nominee, as I said before, whoever that is, but I don’t think it will be Donald Trump when it is all said and done. I think it is going to be me.”

Some have speculated the so-called establishment might get behind Rubio when the primary heads into New Hampshire as a way to potentially blunt or stop the momentum of Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz  coming out of Iowa. Asked whether he has sought the endorsements of John McCain and Mitt Romney, the last two winners of the New Hampshire primary who remain popular in the Granite State, Rubio said he hasn’t “talked to either one of them about ever endorsing me.”

“[W]e need to win this campaign on our own,” he said. “I don’t think voters in New Hampshire — or Iowa for that matter — are going to base their votes on endorsements.”

http://dailycaller.com/2016/01/09/rubio-on-bill-clintons-sexual-scandals-not-what-my-campaign-is-focused-on/

Ever wondered about those dash board signals?

Baptism of our Lord, January 10

 

If your church follows the lectionary (C), tomorrow we celebrate the baptism of Jesus. Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 At our church we're in a series on Joel, so I don't know what the Gospel lesson is--it's not listed on the church website.

About 80% of Christian groups baptize infants, but I remember my baptism, Palm Sunday 1950 in Mount Morris Church of the Brethren. (A friend, Sylvia, who still lives in Mt. Morris looked it up--she was probably in the same group). My mother made the trip for instruction every Sunday afternoon for about 6 weeks, and I remember Rev. Foster B. Statler (d. 1971), and how patient he was with a bunch of wiggly, ignorant children trying to be holy. It's a nice memory, but it wasn't faith. That came later and has to be renewed often. Ten year olds don't know a whole lot more than infants, and maybe less!

Trochanteric Bursitis

Yup.  This pretty much describes it.  It takes a few seconds to get used to his accent.  Now it's my left hip, but in December 2013, it was the right hip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xA53i4CuW0&list=PL952C8B9184F9CDC1&index=4

Exercises.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1-8_1iwO7Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvWoBqdZPr0

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG6AIKmpvp8

 http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/sport-injuries/hip-groin-pain/hip-bursitis/rehabilitation-hip-bursitis

Obamanomics failed

Jeff Jacoby writes: Barack Obama claims that the economy, "by every metric," is better than when he came into office. In truth, a depressing array of "metrics" shows an economy that has yet to get back on its feet — notwithstanding the unprecedented sums spent by Washington in the form of stimulus projects, bailouts, and gargantuan budget deficits. This has been the weakest economic recovery in modern times. Seven years in, it's clear: Obamanomics was tried . . . and failed. . . The labor force participation rate — the share of working-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one — has sunk to 62.5 percent, a level not seen since the Carter administration. Since the recession ended, the economy has grown at an annual rate of just 2.2 percent. That is way below average for post-recession recoveries."

http://www.jeffjacoby.com/18338/the-weakest-economic-recovery-in-modern-times

What the Democrat candidates say about a recession that ended in June 2009:

"Our middle class is shrinking," one candidate warned during a debate. "Our poor families are becoming poorer, and 70 percent of us are earning the same or less than we were 12 years ago. We need new leadership."

Another candidate scorned the administration's happy talk about unemployment falling to just over 5 percent. "What they forgot to tell you," he told an audience, "is that statistic doesn't include those people who have given up looking for work, those people who are working part time. Add it all together and real unemployment is over 10 percent."

Do black lives matter to politicians?

The murder rate within the black male population of Baltimore is about 156 per 100,000. But it was the Freddy Grey case in Baltimore that energized the Black Lives Matter movement after smaller efforts in 2013 and 2014.  Compare the Baltimore figure that to the national figure of 5 per 100,000. And what about abortion among the black population? For comparison: In 1970, according to a 2012 article in the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City abortion rates for single white and black women stood at 7.43 and 10 respectively (the abortion rate is the number of abortions per 1,000 women ages 15-44), with the married women's rates half that. By 2005, the Baltimore rate was 86.2. The National Abortion Rights Action League, which cites that figure, did not provide the African-American rate, but it would be substantially higher. In New York City, for instance, Black and Hispanic abortions combined, is 73% of the total abortions in 2012.  If black lives matter in Baltimore, where's the evidence?

We know what brings down crime rates:  1)  arrest criminals, 2) more police going after crime, 3) jail time for criminals.  What is being proposed?  The Democrat Party--put the criminals back on the streets and tell police to back off.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/260788/blacklivesmatter-success-baltimore-murders-hit-300-daniel-greenfield

 http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-01-23/news/bs-ed-abortion-population-20120123-8_1_abortion-rate-abortion-statistics-favor-of-legal-abortion

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter

Visiting the Spine, Sport and Joint Center

 

 I had the opportunity to be treated at the lovely McConnell Spine, Sport & Joint Center this morning. Really nice DO, Jason Dapore. I saw this book in his exam room. 2nd ed., so the 1st would probably be cheaper. Becoming a Supple Leopard. Made me smile at the thought. I just want to be able to walk without limping.It was decided I would do the series of physical therapy exercises that I had for my right leg bursitis in 2014, plus so stretching and massaging for the calf pain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08uZGlEdk_s

I'm so loving the Electronic Medical Records mandate which we paid $30 billions for in HITECH Act. I've yet to have it ever be correct, whether in the network or outside the network. And good luck if you are outside your primary network--their systems don't talk to each other. Today I hand carried my printed records with me, and now looking over what they printed out to send home, they are using information quite dated. Have no idea where it came from . . . because the version I have was current last week. How would this office get records a year old? How many other medical bungle budget busters are out there because Washington knows how to run medical practices in Ohio? Zeke (Rahm's brother) Emanuel came up with this and there wasn't a shred of evidence it would save money or improve care. What a boon for the IT lobbies. And I haven't had a doctor look me in the eye since this nonsense started (unless they have an assistant who enters the information). 

Take notes; keep every piece of paper.

Politico has an article on how it has failed.  Yes, said it was Bush's fault.

What's happening in Oregon?

One of the issues of the Bundy stand off and occupation of a federal wildlife preserve is the excessive sentences for violating BLM policies. "Dwight and Steven Hammond originally received three month and one year sentences, respectively, for setting fires that spread to federal land in 2001 and 2006. However, the 9th United States Circuit Court of Appeals resentenced the father and son in October and said they have to serve out a five-year sentence mandated under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the law under which they were sentenced." Is this normal for another court to resentence someone, especially since the fires were on their land and spread? The federal government has problems with that all the time--their fires spread, and they don't go to jail. Sixty eight percent of the judges on the 9th circuit were appointed by Democrats, and it is notoriously liberal.

 http://dailysignal.com/2016/01/07/conservatives-agree-standoff-in-oregon-elevates-debate-on-federal-land-ownership/

Who owns the land?

Yes, George W. Bush was a better president

But he wasn't a Conservative.  Many of the things the left complains about as failures of Republicans were already taken care of when Bush became president, or had Republican support. Millions who didn't have Medicaid or sCHIP were eligible for those government health programs, and didn't sign up. Millions of healthy young adults passed on employer based insurance, preferring more pizza and beer rather than a co-pay. Obama saw that loophole to total government control and solved it by threatening fines and jail if a citizen didn't have health insurance.

 

Obama has given us ISIS and a Middle East in total collapse and a renewed Russian Bear. All presidents inherit the problems of the previous one.  Bush was handed a complicated mountain of intelligence from the Clinton administration guaranteeing there absolutely were WMD; that's why when we went to war, he had such strong backing from Democrats. Even Pelosi and Reid. They'd all seen the intelligence, too. Edwards and Kerry and Gore ran on that belief in the 2000 campaign. Bush had no access to that stuff and said little during the campaign, preferring domestic issues and education (until Obama, he was the biggest spender).

 

Obama wins in 2008 and inherits a war that is essentially over (and would have been over years before if Democrats hadn’t turned tail and run), but since he ran on that, he had to  muck up the withdrawal. His sympathies are often with the Muslims, although the Shiia and Sunni sure don't seem to care much for each other. Under Obama's watch, religious minorities in the middle east have all but been wiped out—100 years ago Christians were about 20% of Iran, Iraq, Syria and others, but there were many others, too, including Samaritans, Zoroastrians, Yazidi--yes, and Jews who’d been there for thousands of years--but he doesn't want them to come to the USA, preferring instead Muslims fleeing Muslims who believe in Sharia, and letting the fundamentalist Muslims forcibly “convert” them. 

 

Obama wants to punish and change America, and and you never saw that with Bush for all his faults.  What better way to accomplish this than importing people who hate western values and standards? Killing gays and oppressing women is OK with those who scream sexism and homophobia, except in the face of Islam. Bake a cake and go to jail; but kill gay lovers, and it will just be a cultural practice if you are an immigrant.

Have you looked at your pension today?

Even though the left, particularly Obama, love to blame Bush for the housing bubble bursting in 2007-2008 which was actually a result of years of government interference in the housing market, I'm NOT going to blame Obama for what is happening in China this week which is making mincemeat of my pension funds.

 China's economy has become so powerful, the only protection is for us is to have a president and Congress who are capitalists instead of socialists in heart and policy. Socialists only know how to tax the workers to spread the wealth. That doesn't grow the economy.  The irony is that China got this strong by kicking out its communist economists and liberalizing its capitalists. Right now, China's economy is in free fall.

I just got my TIAA-CREF December account report.  I withdrew (by law it's required after 70.5 years) about $4,000, but my gains in investment were about $8,000, so I ended the month at a higher balance than I started with.  That's how every retiree hopes it will work out.  However, the top .01% of the population lost billions on paper this week, and it is now trickling down to  those of us who saved and scrimped during our working years to have enough to retire.  I socked away 15% every month from my paycheck (maximum allowed) in addition to the required amount for the state pension. My health care comes out of my pension, and that's about 13%.  If all I had was a pension, I'd be in poverty.

I went to the Mall this morning . . . it's haunted too.

Caring about children, well, some of them

Hillary enabled and protected her husband--for political gain

“Bill Clinton was not just a workplace harasser, or even a serial adulterer; he was, and remains, someone credibly accused of sexual assault. And what goes unmentioned — for this obviously could be catastrophic for Hillary’s campaign — is that she has been his willing cohort, the energetic enabler who sought to destroy his accusers to protect their joint political and financial interests ... the Clintons have [turned] their fellow liberals and Democrats, in ...the media and beyond ... into serial equivocators and liars. Never mind that progressives continue to see (and often define) themselves as morally and ethically superior: in the fight to save Bill Clinton’s presidency there could be no adherence to larger truths, or moral consistency, or commitment to time-tested standards; all were sacrificed in defense of Clinton’s political survival.”

 http://www.city-journal.org/2016/eon0104hs.html

Poverty? Let's talk about guns . . .

After 6 years of Obama (2014) , the official poverty rate was 14.8 percent. There were 46.7 million people in poverty. Neither the poverty rate nor the number of people in poverty were statistically different from the 2013 estimates. By 1965, the launch of the “War on Poverty,” only 13.9 percent of American families were officially classified as poor, down from 32 percent in 1947 and 18.5 percent in 1959. What brought it down so quickly the previous 15 years? A booming economy. Always works. But let's talk about guns . . . because 126 wealth transfer programs just haven't lived up to expectations.

 https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/index.html
  

This is your brain on . . . bad food

"Poor diets lead to a host of medical issues: obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. But diet also influences the brain and can increase the risk for mental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers are uncovering the details of how the foods we consume affect our cravings, our moods, and even our memories."

And it starts in the womb!

Read more in "Let's eat: how diet influences the brain."

"They found that, in people in their sixties, those who were overweight or obese (those with the highest BMIs) had smaller hippocampi than people of healthy weights. In addition, over the course of eight years, everyone’s hippocampus shrank, but the overweight subjects experienced the biggest losses. The hippocampus normally shrinks with age, but it shrinks to a greater degree in dementia, which leads to memory problems. Other research in humans suggests that obese people score lower on memory tests, but losing weight through bariatric surgery can improve scores."

More good news about exercise--grows your brain

"A pair of thumb-sized struc­tures deep in the cen­ter of the human brain are crit­i­cal for our abil­ity to learn and remem­ber. Thanks to their shape, each of them is called hip­pocam­pus — which means sea­horse in Greek. These brain areas have the unique capac­ity to gen­er­ate new neu­rons every day. In fact, recent human stud­ies have shown that there are 700 new brain cells in the hip­pocam­pus every day. Most of these neu­rons, how­ever, do not sur­vive. In their new-born (pre-mature) phase, they need a great deal of sup­port to sur­vive, grow, and become an active mem­ber of the hip­pocam­pal com­mu­nity of neurons.

Research shows that we have the capac­ity to grow new neu­rons above and beyond what is gen­er­ally pro­duced in our hip­pocam­pus and to make them become mature and strong within weeks and months. The best way to gen­er­ate new hip­pocam­pal neu­rons is to exer­cise. . . "

Rest of article here. 

But it can also shrink . . . so look out.

January resolutions--that's about as far as I can go!

OK.  Here's how the month is shaking out.

• First orthopedist appointment, January 8, 8:30 a.m., Jason Dapore
• First acupuncture treatment, January 11, 10 a.m., Christina Wallace.
• Eye exam,  January 14, 11:15 a.m., Dr. Fillmore
• Dental check up, February 4, 7:30 a.m., Dr. Walton
• Mammogram, February 19, 9:00 a.m., James Cancer Center

Let's hope all the body parts stick together after this.

•  Art show in Springfield with Zimmers, January 8, 1 p.m.
•  SALT, January 23, 7:30 Zimmers
• Hair, January 26, 10 a.m., Melissa

LBD

A friend called this an LBD.  So I looked it up and found "Lewy Body Disease," but she meant Little Black Dress.

It's hard to find a dress that 1) covers your arms, 2) is below the knee, 3) has a flared skirt, and 4) doesn't dip to the navel in the front.  When I saw this last Spring at Macy's going out of business sale, I bought it without trying it on.  So I wore it to church.

Dress up, dress up for Jesus, ye women of the cross
Pack up designer blue jeans, it will not be a loss.
From picnic unto ball game His army you can lead,
But please for Sunday meeting, let Christ be Lord indeed.

Dress up, dress up for Jesus, don't let me be alone;
Your flesh I'm tired of seeing, you cannot trust your own.
Put on a suit or dress, each piece put on with prayer;
When playground duty calls you, then let your jeans go there.

Dress up, dress up for Jesus, each fam'ly to its post
Go forth into the conflict, and shout with all the host
You will not look so casual, from head unto your toes
Let grace and taste and beauty, give strength to trend oppose.