Marketing strategy for Lakeside

While looking for my map of the Great Lakes (wanted to figure out exactly where Lake Superior was) I found a power point illustration for a 2010 lecture at Lakeside on marketing strategy for our little town. I found a chart showing the recession of 2000 was over by November 2001 (how often are you told Geo. W. Bush inherited a recession) but with slow job growth and the recession of late 2007 was over in June 2009 with even slower job growth, and with both, plus the one in 1991, it was the private sector, not government programs that created the recovery. Looks like we're about due, doesn't it? But government won't learn, no matter who is in office.

Advertising

How many believe the hype, labels and advertising? I just made some "bullet proof" coffee, and the coconut oil label promises that it's pure, extra virgin, gluten free, certified organic by QAI (which has USDA approval), chemical free, Hexane free (a petroleum based solvent used in some processed foods), cold pressed, no trans & hydrogenated fats, a BPA free container which is reusable, bottled to retain nutrients, flavor and color. Ah, but here's the clincher. It promised me a "healthy soul." Not even my church promises that.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/10/bulletproof-coffee_n_6424258.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/style/the-cult-of-the-bulletproof-coffee-diet.html?_r=0

Black lives matter

Black lives matter began on social media, was picked up and distributed by mainstream news, all about the false narrative that police kill blacks out of proportion to the population. But crime isn't committed that way. The victimization rate for Blacks (27.8 per 100,000) was 6 times higher than the rate for Whites (4.5 per 100,000). The offending rate for Blacks (34.4 per 100,000) was almost eight times higher than the rate for Whites (4.5 per 100,000). (Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008 NCJ 236018) From 2003-2009 among reported arrest-related deaths, 42% of persons were white, 32% were black, and 20% were Hispanic. And crime rates for blacks is 8x that of whites. (Bureau of Justice. Arrest related deaths, 2003-2009. NCJ 235385) So Whites are being killed at a higher rate than Blacks. We don’t see it on tv.

Is voter ID racist

True the Vote released one of its largest voter-roll research findings to date this week, flagging more than 36,000 records in 16 counties for cases of duplications, death, double voting, minors registered, illegal addresses and so on. Maybe you're saying "so what," but this was Florida, the state where Democrats try to read minds in elections they lose based on hanging chads (a paper fragment when a hole is made). Every fake voter steals the right of someone who is a valid voter.

 If voter ID is racist , how was Obama able to get 99% of the black vote and the black voter turnout exceeded white voters in both 2008 and 2012? Two elections aren't a pattern, but if black voters don't turn out for Hillary, don't say it's the fault of voter ID.

Keeping college students ignorant

This could be the problem. Less than 1/3 of the top universities in the U.S. require a course in American history for a history major. Not. One.

 

• That means, not only do our future leaders from our elite universities not know about the Spanish, French, Dutch and Portuguese explorers and settlers; they don't know that less than 400,000 African slaves came to the former British colonies and that about 18 million went to the islands and South America.

• They don't know about the NW Ordinance of 1787, signed before the Constitution that outlawed slavery in new states and guaranteed religious freedom; they aren't taught about the horrific expense in blood and treasure of the Civil War; they don't know why we have a relationship with Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines, former colonies of Spain.

• They don't know the contribution of churches to the big 3 of the 19th century--abolition, temperance and women's rights; they don't know that whites and blacks marched together in the civil rights movement and it was Republicans that led the way for 100 years before LBJ got in the act.
• They don't know the incredible improvements in public health that our parents and grandparents paid for--they've never seen an iron lung or a person's face destroyed by small pox. Their babies don't die of measles.

• They don't know how the federal government has lied to native Americans still to this day and yet offer them cradle to grave assistance to keep them poor; they don't know why the Great Depression in the U.S. extended for a decade due to government programs instituted by FDR; they don't know how or when the military and schools were racially integrated or about the great bi-partisan efforts.
• They don't know that the U.S. government at the highest levels actually was infiltrated by Communist spies and sympathizers and it wasn't just about who could make movies. They probably don't know which came first Viet Nam or Korea or who we were fighting.

Yes, it's a shame that today's millennials learn history with social media lies or from late night comedy shows. They at least should know as much as the new immigrants do when they raise their hands to become citizens.

http://www.goacta.org/images/download/no_u.s._history.pdf

 "Of the 23 programs that do list a requirement for United States history, 11 allow courses so narrow in scope—such as “History of Sexualities” or “History of the FBI”—that it takes a leap of the imagination to see these as an adequate fulfillment of an undergraduate history requirement."

"Some strange topics can take the place of United States history. Of the schools that do not require a single course in U.S. history, majors have free-range to choose from niche courses such as “Soccer and History in Latin America: Making the Beautiful Game” (Williams College), “Modern Addiction: Cigarette Smoking in the 20th Century” (Swarthmore College), “Lawn Boy Meets Valley Girl” (Bowdoin College), and “Witchcraft and Possession” (University of Pennsylvania)."

And students and their parents go into debt for this drivel?

"Our colleges and universities, whether in the name of “inclusion” or globalism or a debased hope that they will attract more students by eliminating requirements, have created a vicious circle of historical illiteracy and the civic illiteracy that accompanies it."

I didn't major in history--I was a foreign language major, but I did have 2 or 3 courses in American history plus one in political science. This survey is just shocking, and certain explains how we've become so divided in the U.S.

People often say

Why would you consider selling your Lakeside cottage when you enjoy it so much?

Here's some photographic evidence.

 

 

Myths about blacks in prison

"Drug sentences do not explain blacks’ overrepresentation in prison. Blacks represent 39% of drug convicts, compared with 37% of all prisoners. This means that if all drug convicts were removed from America's prisons tomorrow, the share of black prisoners would drop from 37.4% to 37.2%. In the federal system, blacks accounted for 24% of 2015 drug-trafficking convictions and 6 percent of convictions for simple possession. It is blacks’ disproportionate involvement in violent street and property crimes that causes their over representation in prison, not drug prosecutions."

https://www.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/IB-HM-0716.pdf

The organ concert

Yesterday I joined a lovely group of women for a discussion of a common interest, and one mentioned that she's part of a group at home where she allows 10 minutes for an organ concert then cuts it off.  One woman in the group was new to that expression, and thought she meant music.  We explained: an organ concert is when people (mostly older) sit around an compare in great detail their surgeries, diseases, or just aches and pains.

I was about 50 when I noticed.  We were at a lovely restaurant, on the porch with a view of the river, and I could overhear the ladies at a nearby table doing one upmanship on knee and hip surgery, arthritis, and cancer. Around that time I heard the expression "organ concert" and I saw my future.

Ten years ago I wrote about the three forbidden topics for a pot luck. Weight, health and age. It's worth another look, so I don't tell you about my pain level today or why can't things be like they used to be, or whether I had too many calories yesterday.

Guys Club at Lakeside

 
Guys Club at lunch on Wednesday, July 6

What James Comey said about Hillary Clinton

He concluded Hillary was “extremely careless” in handling our nation’s secrets.

He admitted no reasonable person could have believed putting these emails on a private server was at all appropriate or acceptable.

He admitted 110 emails on the server were classified at the time they were sent — showing Hillary not only lied, but knowingly endangered national security as secretary of state.

He admitted Hillary deleted work-related emails before turning them over to the State Department, despite her claims otherwise.

And, most shocking, Mr. Comey even admitted it’s likely foreign governments hacked her emails — and our adversaries could know critical secrets about the U.S. government because of Hillary’s actions.

http://www.allenbwest.com/allen/heres-why-im-delighted-about-the-fbis-verdict-on-hillary

Donald Trump has zero ads to Hillary's thousands.  He's got a lot of material--they write themselves.

Thinking of Martha Stewart today . . . and how she decorated the jail

Wall Street Journal: "For our money, the most revealing words in FBI Director James Comey ’s statement Tuesday explaining his decision not to recommend prosecuting Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information were these: “This is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions.” So there it is in the political raw: One standard exists for a Democratic candidate for President and another for the hoi polloi. We’re not sure if Mr. Comey, the erstwhile Eliot Ness, intended to be so obvious, but what a depressing moment this is for the American rule of law. No wonder so many voters think Washington is rigged for the powerful."

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/07/05/he-saidshe-said-hillary-clinton-vs-james-comey-on-her-email-practices/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/for-hillary-clinton-political-fight-over-emails-is-far-from-over-1467767839

Can a young couple live on one income?

Some young'ns think a couple needs two incomes to survive these days. Not true. You just have to rein in the gottahaves to the essentials. In the old days of the 1970s, we didn't have cable contracts, phone contracts, eating out several times a week, computers to play with, 2 or 3 cars, homes where everything matched or it got replaced (we even got by with laminate counter tops), TV in every room, college debts, credit card debt, very few people I knew were paying support for another family in another house and few took vacations except the rich (a cottage at Lakeside was $45/week). We didn't have a paid vacation or paid health insurance. And at our house, no one smoked or drank alcohol, and that is a HUGE savings. Refigure your budget with a 1970 plan, and see if you really need to go to work, ladies.

That said, today so many things are cheaper. Computers, TV, microwaves, clothing, even food are a fraction of the cost of 40 years ago. And compared to the 80s, mortgage rates are laughable. A tithe is still 10% and that's the best budgeting tool.

On how bad Trump is

I have never cared for Trump. I always suspected he was a plant by the Clinton-Soros machine to take out the candidates they feared because it was such a stellar group. However, as he continued to win, he began to stab his mentors and creators in the back, until he began to believe he could do it. And even if I'm right (or if I'm just into conspiracy theories), on his worst day he's better than Clinton.

Crimes and misdemeanors, but no intent

"FBI Director James Comey announced that the FBI will not recommend charges against Hillary. Although he said that there was extreme "carelessness" in handling classified information, the lack of intent to violate the law precluded prosecution. That's a bit of a surprise given that the Department of Justice is currently prosecuting Petty Officer First Class Kristian Saucier for a similar crime where no inten...t was involved. This gives rise to suspicions, verging on certainty, that the law is different when your name is Clinton, that laws are for the "little people" and not those in charge. As Kurt Schlichter has recently warned, the sense that there's no such thing as rule of law in today's America is likely to be quite corrosive. If Hillary can do this much damage to America's fabric now, how much worse will things be with her in the White House?"

https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b.-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clintons-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system

http://www.9news.com/news/nation-now/glenn-reynolds-about-that-clintonlynch-accidental-meeting/264670390

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/fbi-recommends-no-charges-against-clinton-in-email-probe-225102

Explosion at the Bruce cottage

I decided to fix the last two eggs for breakfast this morning.  So I took out a heavy, deep, ceramic cereal bowl, sprayed it with non-stick spray, and cracked and dropped in the two eggs.  I covered it with a damp paper towel so I wouldn't have egg to clean up inside the microwave.  Zap for 1 minute.  Took a peek, then zapped for another minute.  I carefully removed the bowl (very hot).  Hmm. A slice of cheese would taste good on that, so I took the package out of the frig and removed a slice and placed it on the eggs, hoping it would melt.  It just sat there.  So I walked to the opposite side and took out a fork and knife. When I poked my wonderful egg/cheese meal with the fork it exploded.  And I mean, everywhere, including my nice light teal shirt that matches my teal and yellow summer slacks and all around the coffee pot and microwave.  Plus the steam scalded my right forearm. So, it wasn't cooling while I did those other tasks, it was building up steam.  There's a message here, and I'll figure it out.

A great story by a guy I don't know about another guy I don't know

This story by David Lester (don't know him) appeared on Facebook about the clean up in West Virginia after the recent flooding.

"On Thursday I was up to my ankles in every imaginable kind of waste helping a 70 some year old lady throw away every single one of her belongings. Then I look and another truck pulls in and this guy jumps out and says in a deep British accent "My name is Anthony...how can I help?"

That day we tackled every job that required no brains and lots of brawn and also strong stomachs. Came to find out Anthony heard about the flood devastation through friends in WV and international medi coverage and decided to fly in from London and help. He flew into Charlotte, rented a truck, loaded up with supplies and drove to Clendenin. I invited him to stay with us and he agreed. We shared military stories and he was a great guest. He returned every day back to the floods.

On Sunday (July 3) I didn't accompany him and he wound up putting a displaced elderly woman up in the Motel 8 in Dunbar for two nights on his dime. On this day of celebrating our Independence Day (which he calls traitor day😜) I wanted to give a shout out to this great guy that my family adores. Thanks Anthony for your kind heart and British wit!! And he doesn't do Facebook but I thought his efforts should not go unnoticed."

A wonderful July 4 story, don't you agree?

Looking for links I see a socialist web site is blaming funding cuts for disasters.  Really? For some people always look for political advantage.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/25/us/west-virginia-flooding-deaths/index.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/06/30/west-virginia-faces-new-reality-after-deadly-flood/86555454/

Did Thomas Jefferson read St. Robert Bellarmine

 There is no way to know if Thomas Jefferson ever read the original works of St. Robert Bellarmine. Chances are very good Jefferson knew of the writings of the 16th century counter-reformation Catholic who was extensively quoted in a book that was in Jefferson's library--a book that spoke out about the right of kings to rule. The Congressional Library still possesses a copy of Patriarcha, a book which once stood on the library shelf of Thomas Jefferson.  Patriarcha, was written by Robert Filmer, the privage theologian of James I of England in defense of the Divine Right of Kings and principally in refutation to the Jesuit Cardinal Bellarmine’s political principles of popular sovereignty.”

Jefferson's words echo that of a man who wrote two centuries earlier, and whose work itself echoes St. Thomas Aquinas.

With regard to the equality of men:

Declaration of Independence:  “All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”

Bellarmine:  “All men are equal, not in wisdom or grace, but in the essence and nature of mankind” (De Laicis,” c.7).  “There is no reason why among equals one should rule rather than another.” (Ibid.)  “Let rulers remember that they preside over men who are of the same nature as they themselves” (De Officus Princ.” c.22).  “Political right is immediately from God and necessarily inherent in the nature of man” (De Laicia” c. 6, note 1).

With regard to the function of government:

Declaration of Independence:  “To secure these rights governments are instituted among men.”

Bellarmine:  “It is impossible for men to live together without someone to care for the common good.  Men must be governed by someone lest they be willing to perish” (De Laicia,” c.6).

With regard to the source of power:

Declaration of Independence:  “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Bellarmine:  “It depends upon the consent of the multitude to constitute over itself a king, consul, or other magistrate.  This power is, indeed, from God, but vested in a particular ruler by the counsel and election of men” (De Laicis, c. 6, notes 4 and 5).  “The people themselves immediately and directly hold the political power” (De Clericis, c. 7).

With regard to the right to change the government:

Declaration of Independence:  “Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government. . .Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient reasons.”

Bellarmine:  “For legitimate reasons the people can change the government to an aristocracy or a democracy or vice versa” (De Laicis, c. 6).  “The people never transfers its power to a king so completely but that it reserves to itself the right of receiving back the power” (Recognitio de Laicis, c. 6).

https://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2013/09/17/st-robert-bellarmine-and-the-declaration-of-independence/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellarmine-Jefferson_High_School

http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2016/07/st-robert-bellarmine-and-declaration-of.html

https://suburbanbanshee.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/thomas-jefferson-and-st-robert-bellarmines-natural-law-teachings/

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=6607&CFID=27181055&CFTOKEN=86110878

Let's not forget about Nigeria

Nigeria was the first mission field I heard about as a child.  Church of the Brethren missionaries would come to our church in Mt. Morris and talk about their work. The Church of the Brethren in Nigeria is now larger than the mother church denomination, but is experiencing terrible persecution from Muslims.  What follows is from The Catholic News Agency and is the most recent I could find, a report of June 9 of a meeting at Heritage Foundation.  It will take more than a hashtag to solve this.  Boko Haram is more lethal than ISIS according to the Global Terrorism Index and the number of displaced people is second only to Syria.

“What is unfolding in Northern and Central Nigeria is one of the worst, most neglected humanitarian crises in the world,” Elijah Brown, executive vice president of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, stated at the Heritage Foundation on June 9, introducing the report.

Attacks on villages and schools by the terror group Boko Haram– most known for its April 2014 abduction of over 200 school girls in Chibok – have displaced millions in the last few years. Other problems that have arisen are attacks by militants of the Fulani herdsmen in the fertile Middle Belt region, destroying entire villages."

http://www.heritage.org/events/2016/06/nigeria

http://europe.newsweek.com/boko-haram-splinters-isis-over-child-suicide-bombers-us-general-473004

http://www.standwithnigeria.org/

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/17/world/global-terror-report/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/11/africa/nigeria-suicide-bombing-boko-haram/index.html

13 foods to avoid at the grocery store

With the exception of potato chips (which I have trouble resisting), I avoid most of these foods--they are very high priced (per oz.), full of fillers, HFCS, and, just stuff bad for you. I switched to real butter years ago, never drink pop, bought almond milk once before seeing what a rip off it was, avoid most processed meat (have an occasional hot dog for old time's sake), eat only old fashioned oatmeal (90 seconds in the microwave), buy regular yogurt and add fruit at home. You do become addicted to flavors and textures, so keep this junk away from kids even if it sounds healthy.

http://thestir.cafemom.com/healthy_living/198850/13_grocery_store_staples_experts?

"Many foods seem harmless and appear to be healthy with labels saying "natural" or "low fat," but these items aren’t what you think. You can create the same product or buy a true healthier alternative."

Sounds of the early morning walk at Lakeside

When the city walker starts out for a morning walk in a small town along a large lake (like Lakeside, Ohio where we have our summer home) at first she hears silence.  But the sounds begin to roll in the ear soon.  At first it is the disgusting crunch, crunch of the Mayflies underfoot at every intersection with a street light. An experienced Lakesider just reminds herself--it means the Lake is healthy.

Then she hears the birds--sparrows, black birds, robins, cardinals, jays, mourning doves--and all the others that she's been told about on the morning bird walks provided by Lakesiders but can't identify. It's a beautiful cool morning, but some people are running air conditioning window units unaware, something I don't hear at home because everyone has whole house AC.  Then if the windows are open, I hear some muffled talking, probably from rumpled beds, and a baby, very young is crying.  Maybe a wet diaper? No sleeping in for the new mom and dad.

Now there's something I never hear at home--a screen door slams as the resident walks to the porch with a hot cup of coffee.  I can hear the boats patrolling the shore, probably from the Customs and Border Protection from a near by port.  Other noises, like the tiny business district waking up and getting ready for customers. Someone needs to take vacations at another time so this tourist area can be served. If it weren't for the fact I need to stay on the flat streets, I'd head for the lakefront for other sounds--almost like a different place, but just two blocks.