Saint Thomas Aquinas

At Mass this morning I heard that today is the Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (d. 1274). Then the homily by the young priest was a 2 minute reflection on that. I was so excited. Finally, I knew a saint mentioned in Mass. I had received for review, the book "Practical theology spiritual direction from St. Thomas Aquinas; 358 ways your mind can help you to become a saint from the Summa Theologiae" by Peter Kreeft (2014, isbn 978-1-58617-968-7). Kreeft admits in the introduction that reading 4,000 pages of Summa is a challenge, but in it he's found more personal spiritual nourishment and more motivation to be holy than in most other spiritual writers.


 Ignatius Press link

Cage free eggs won't be cheap

Right now, the US market has about 300 million laying hens, and only about eight percent of them are cage-free, according to this story in Wired.

 
In 2014, the US as a whole produced nearly 100 billion eggs, totaling $10.2 billion in revenue. This kind of mass production depends on cages. With those tiny wire boxes, farmers can micromanage everything about a bird’s life. They can even help automate egg collection by forcing the bird to lay its eggs directly into a funnel that drops down into a collection area.

Today, eggs are widely available and cheap mostly because of caging systems.

Let's hear it for collard greens (which taste really good with a little bacon and onions)

• The cholesterol-lowering ability of collard greens may be the greatest of all commonly eaten cruciferous vegetables. In a recent study, steamed collard greens outshined steamed kale, mustard greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage in terms of its ability to bind bile acids in the digestive tract. When this bile acid binding takes place, it is easier for the bile acids to be excreted from the body. Since bile acids are made from cholesterol, the net impact of this bile acid binding is a lowering of the body's cholesterol level. It's worth noting that steamed collards show much greater bile acid binding ability than raw collards.
• We get unique health benefits from collard greens in the form of cancer protection. The cancer-preventive properties of collard greens may be largely related to 4 specific glucosinolates found in this cruciferous vegetable: glucoraphanin, sinigrin, gluconasturtiian, and glucotropaeolin. Each of these glucosinolates can be converted into an isothiocyanate (ITC) that helps lower our cancer risk by supporting our detox and anti-inflammatory systems. 

From The George Mateljan Foundation Healthy Food Tips, Jan. 26, 2016

Cruciferous Vegetables

• Arugula
• Bok choy
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Chinese cabbage
• Collard greens
• Daikon radish
• Horseradish
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Land cress
• Mustard greens
• Radish
• Rutabaga
• Shepherd's purse
• Turnip
• Watercress 

" The vitamin K content of cruciferous vegetables — especially kale and collards — is fascinating to think about in light of intensive research over the past five years on cancer, inflammation, and cruciferous vegetables. Vitamin K is a conventional nutrient that clearly helps regulate our inflammatory response, including chronic, excessive inflammatory responses that can increase our risk of certain cancers. Studies on cruciferous vegetables and cancer prevention have not typically focused on vitamin K per se, but we suspect that the amazing K content of cruciferous vegetables is definitely related to their cancer-preventive properties through mechanisms involving better control of inflammation."

Hillary blames the GOP for Flint water problems

The documentary, Trapped.

"Four abortion providers received a standing ovation from an audience at the Sundance Film Festival this week after the group secretly attended the premiere of the pro-abortion documentary Trapped." Secretly? I'm surprised the blood on their hands didn't give them away.

Pregnant women are trapped; about 60% are forced into an abortion by peers, boyfriends, husbands and parents.  What are you going to do when threatened with rejection, loss of love, support and financial help, or loss of tuition money for college? It's tough raising a child even if you have an education and a good job.  Without a safety net, it's almost impossible. There is very little "choice" in the pro-choice movement.

 An article in The Daily Beast is headlined, “Coerced Abortions: A New Study Shows They’re Common.” The article is based largely on information from the Guttmacher Institute (a pro-abortion research center) but raises the topic of “reproductive coercion.” This is an interesting twist on the concept. Rather than looking at women who are coerced into having an abortion, it looks at women who are coerced or tricked first into getting pregnant, then also coerced into aborting the baby, identified as “reproductive control.”

 http://thefederalist.com/2015/09/18/how-many-women-are-pressured-into-abortions/

In his own words

 With a little editing, it sounds like our president cares about the slaughter of 58 million babies since Roe v. Wade.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opl0jnKbn5Y

Calories and salt overload

I noticed a "groupon" ad showing a photo of a Thurman to go cheeseburger.

So out of curiosity since it looked so gross, I checked the calorie count--about 1300 calories, 96 g fat, and 2000 mg sodium! Yikes. Do people eat this stuff? So I checked out my favorite Friday night date meal at the Rusty Bucket (although I only eat half and my husband eats the other half on Saturday). My Philly Cheesesteak is 717, but I also get fries which are 390. Good thing I only eat half. Before you go out to eat, read the menu on line, then look it up. 

 

Donor beware

" A morbidly obese man hailed by Michelle Obama for setting a good example for Americans by slimming down turns out to be a sex offender. A race-obsessed Black Lives Matter activist turned newspaper columnist insists he’s African-American even though he’s not. A holier-than-thou Latino actress aims to politically empower fellow Latinos – but only if they’re Democrats. These three people have all created or had connections to sketchy non-profit organizations."  Foundation Watch

Tuesday Musings

I had a hair appointment this morning. It's the only time I see People magazine. If you think the Oscars were white, you should see the Golden Globe awards. Even the double page of ladies dressed to the nines didn't have a black or brown woman.

Also, I picked up my new glasses, although they aren't that new--the frames are from my 2008 prescription.  When I looked through the selection of frames, they didn't look that out of date.

Today there are over 31 percent more women on college campuses then men, so why do we need lopsided assistance like special grants, scholarships and workshops exclusively for women? This isn't your grandmother's university.  http://www.criticaldifference.osu.edu/

About estimates. Apparently the measuring stick (device) was lost in the snow of the blizzard in Washington, and now they don't know if there was a record! These are the experts predicting the demise of the planet within a fraction of an inch of the ocean. Also, Washington Post and New York Times reported "hundreds" attended the March for Life on Saturday when in fact there were thousands, you can even count noses in the photos, and there were probably hundreds just stranded on the PA Turnpike. These are the brilliant news sources that create the polls to tell us who we should be voting for.

EWTN's Doug Keck was reporting on radio this morning that in returning to Alabama his group got stranded, and stayed at a Walgreen's.  I assume the staff couldn't leave either. I checked Google, and found photos of a storm in 2014 where people were sleeping in the aisles of a Walgreen's using packages of Maxi-pads for pillows.

Life expectancy--Monday Memories

When you are born, there is a life expectancy assigned and I'm sure many factors are included, especially gender and race and how others that age fare. Mine was 65.2. Then the longer you live, the more that is adjusted. I received my withdrawal account for my TDAs and each year my balance/withdrawal is refigured based on my life expectancy. Now it is about 98. In other words, the money needs to last that long! That's sort of scary, isn't it?

My grandfathers lived into their 90s as did one of my grandmother's sisters (Ada) and my mother's sister (Muriel) and brother (Leslie). But not my parents. Looking back, none of those who lived into their 90s had any medical care as children--they weren't even born in a hospital.

                                                          With Aunt Muriel in 1991.

Enjoying great music

I enjoy the Lawrence Welk reruns of the syndicated archives by OETV on PBS. I didn't watch it when I was young. Tonight I watched the 1967 salute to the Indy 500, recreated in 2004. "Norma Zimmer, features a special salute to the “Indianapolis 500”, the exciting and popular auto race. The show opens with some of the cast driving around in little cars, singing “Indiana” and then bounces along the road with “Tico,Tico” by Myron Floren. The Lennon Sisters sing “There’s A Kind Of Hush” and Norma joins Jim Roberts to sing “Make Believe”, the classic duet from “Showboat”." Great music.  Norma Zimmer died in 2011.

United States is 49th in press freedom

We're #49 in World Press Freedom. Canada is #8.  "In the United States, 2014 was marked by judicial harassment of New York Times investigative reporter James Risen in connection with the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer charged under the Espionage Act with giving him classified information. US journalists are still not protected by a federal shield law that would guarantee their right not to name their sources or reveal other confidential information about their work. Meanwhile, at least 15 journalists were arbitrarily arrested during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against black teenager Michael Brown’s fatal shooting by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri."

 http://index.rsf.org/

Gender Identity and homeless shelters

Emergency shelters are the next target for regulations from the federal government elevating gender identity over health, safety, privacy, and religious liberty concerns. Why is this tiny fraction of a fraction of the population considered more important than the health, safety, privacy and religious liberty of women who have been women since conception and who have struggled for centuries for the crumbs of laws and protections given to men?

 http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=%2Fpress%2Fpress_releases_media_advisories%2F2015%2FHUDNo_15-150

Flint and Detroit

Flint, MI sort of stole the news last week, because I don't remember seeing much about this union protest in front of Obama's venue in Detroit. I haven't been watching much news lately, so maybe I missed other stories of Democrat contolled unions and black groups protesting when Obama’s in town, which if he were Bush, would be a call for total rebellion. There must be a lot of corruption in the city government if they can't make schools tick with $16,000 per student plus all the other wealth transfer programs.

"According to the U.S. Department of Education, just 8 percent of Detroit eighth-graders can read proficiently. And just seven in 10 students graduate. Detroit public schools spend roughly $16,000 per pupil per year but the schools have many code and building violations. (All Democrat mayors since 1962.) The unionized teachers went on strike last week with complaints about conditions and charter schools. The protest was outside Cobo Center before President Barack Obama's visit to the auto show." (from my FaceBook wall)

http://dailysignal.com/2016/01/20/detroit-public-school-teacher-sick-out-underway-while-just-8-of-students-can-read-proficiently/

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2016/01/21/obama-takes-credit-for-auto-industry-comeback-during-visit-to-detroit/

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-union-teacher-sick-tied-obamas-detroit-trip-36398081

Ethnicity, gender and religion in campaign 2016

There's an interesting video out there with Rubio responding to questions about his religion.  One appears to be off the cuff (unless the question was planted) and the other in a prepared speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy2Fjk00tTA

 

Many Republicans who complained of Obama’s lack of experience (in anything), will have to eat their words if Marco Rubio is elected. Has Rubio done anything other than be a politician? The question in the video came from an atheist.  Atheists and agnostics are also condescending, accusing the religious people of being illiterate bumpkins and troglodites. Films for example, and some politicians with sketchy theology and history, but who pretend to be Christians. They are becoming very aggressive, putting up billboards that are anti-God and ads on TV. And of course, the anti-God people pretty much control the culture so they control the conversation.

 

The a second event on the video is linked to the first, with the audience member wanting to hear a "formula" statement about faith.  Rubio talks about his current church attendance and affiliation, which is Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic. Now that presents a puzzle, but he’s an excellent word crafter and seems to pull it all together. He says that when he and his family became Southern Baptist (had actually been Mormon for awhile) and he really studied the Bible it revitalized all the lessons and liturgy he’d learned growing up as a Catholic, so they “reverted” to Catholicism but continue to follow the Southern Baptist sermons (Christ Fellowship)  and still occasionally attend because they like the pastor (mentioned his name, but I’m not familiar with that). The Catholic church is a big umbrella with a lot of leeway on beliefs (Pelosi and Kerry for instance have not been denied communion for their abortion and gay marriage beliefs), whereas the Southern Baptist umbrella, if there is one, is pretty small with little deviation from doctrine allowed. Next to Cruz, Rubio is the most talented speechifier of all the candidates, and even if you don’t like him, you have to be amazed as his quickness.

 

If Rubio pulls ahead, Trump will find a way to smear Catholics, and then point to Rubio as being duplicitous because he attends two churches (like he stirred up the Cruz birther issue). However, this makes Rubio conversant in three religious languages and styles, Mormonism, Baptist and Catholicism—and all three have a very strong social action/justice commitment. Trump in a narcissistic know-nothing in any language. Especially religion.

March for Life in DC

Today is the "Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children." Thousands are gathering in Washington DC (and other locations) on the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and a huge blizzard is headed that way. It is estimated that 58 million unborn in the U.S. have been killed in those 43 years. Events are still on-going, although some buses have been cancelled. I guess Michigan and Buffalo are there--this is no big deal for them!

 Pro-life is also pro-woman. Many are being pressured, or cut off financially if they don't submit to the wishes of boyfriend, parents, or peer group. It also means the right to live if you are old, sick and disabled. Don't you believe the progressive lies about "there are no death panels." Of course not. They are called "ethics committees," and there's one waiting for you if you get too expensive or inconvenient to care for. In our society we are valued for what we can contribute to the general good, not because we are children of God. 

Things are moving quickly. Two years ago would you have believed people could be fined and jailed for not baking a cake? Before Obama, would you have believed that the IRS would control your medical records and you could be jailed for not buying a product? Stay informed, people. Soon you may be jailed for not signing off on a hospital's demand to withdraw food and water.

 As First Lady, Hillary asked Mother Teresa why the US had not yet had a female president. The little woman sitting beside her at lunch replied, "Because she has probably been aborted."  I don't know if this is an urban legend, but it's something to think about especially since she is now full bore pro-choice--even for gender selection.

My name is Mahtob

You may remember the film "Not without my daughter" starring Sally Field. That little girl is grown up and telling her own story, and Glenn Beck interviewed mother and daughter tonight. After experiencing the physicial and mental oppression of women in Iran, and then their amazing escape, she needed to learn not to hate her father. Glenn asked her how she did that, and she said it was attending a Lutheran school and her teachers telling her Bible stories about God's love and protection. Title of her book is "My name is Mahtob."

 http://aeispeakers.com/speakerbio.php?SpeakerID=1030

 Mahtob Mahmoody, on her own, and in tandem with her mom, has spent much of her life sharing her message of hope and inspiration with audiences throughout the world. She is a harbinger of peace not hatred, of forgiveness not bitterness, of celebrating the good AND the bad experiences in life that mold our character. Drawing the best from her Iranian and her American heritage, Mahtob employs anecdotes from her life to illustrate the beauty of a multi-cultural existence.

A felony, but who cares?

Mrs. Clinton on abortion

"Hillary Clinton has recently moved to the absolutist position on abortion, writes our columnist William McGurn, and she’s been rewarded with Planned Parenthood’s “first presidential primary endorsement in its 100-year history.” The candidate has now abandoned the longtime Clinton formulation of “safe, legal and rare” in favor of “safe, legal, unlimited—and federally subsidized,” according to Mr. McGurn." (Wall Street Journal)

Unlimited, ruthless abortion of American babies, 36% of which will be black. Whew. She just gets worse and worse.

Mrs. Clinton's platitudes

The murder rate within the black male population of Baltimore is about 156 per 100,000. Young black men being killed by other young black men. The national rate is 5 per 100,000. So what is Mrs. Clinton's solution?

"There needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And that requires a very clear agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief."

Why do thinking people vote for someone who babbles these platitudes that no one believes, not even her?

 http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/police/homicides/

 https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2015/08/07/baltimore-surges-past-detroit-in-number-of-homicides-in-2015/

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-homicide-updates-20151221-story.html

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/14/us/Baltimore-homicides-record.html