If you're on the fence; if you call yourself a Christian. . .

An excellent analysis, with the first point pretty much saying it all.

 1) The Democratic and Republican party platforms are as different as night and day, in my opinion, as far apart as evil vs. good. The 51-page Democratic platform is the most leftist ever. . . It is thoroughly socialistic (a socialist is a communist without a gun). The 54-page GOP platform is one of the strongest GOP platforms ever. A biblically alert person could be comfortable with almost all of it. Party platforms are a big issue to me. Although some "blow off" party platforms, I do not. . . If a person is not drawn to the "top-of-the-ballot" candidate, they ought to at least consider voting for the candidate attached to the best party platform.

http://www.charismanews.com/politics/opinion/59206-answering-the-big-question

4) There is no need to rehash them [Trump's bad behavior and language] here. So we won't. But let's turn to the other candidate. Although America has had some scandal-ridden candidates in its history, we have never seen any one major party candidate more constantly scandalous as Hillary (along with her husband). She seems to exceed all previous boundaries for wrongdoing. The scandals just don't stop. In the same way we did not take time to list all of Trump's misstatements, neither will we here rehash the seemingly continuous string of horrific scandals of the Clintons.

16) Freedoms come in "threes." Political freedom, economic freedom and religious liberty coexist together. Take one away and the other two will eventually disappear. One cannot exist without the other two. The genius of America is that it had all three, until recently. Trump fully grasps the loss of religious liberty. I have heard him speak on it in person on several occasions. He knows that economic and political freedoms are evaporating. He will reverse that. Hillary will decimate all three.

Why we need to stop Hillary

If every pro-life advocate voted against her, she wouldn't win. Don't sit back and let someone else do it because your candidate didn't win. My first three choices didn't either and boy, did I pout for a few days. But I looked at her views on abortion, the pending Supreme Court nominees, and her general criminal behavior, and had to suck it up.

She's not keen on the 2nd amendment although she does use armed security guards to protect her property and person. She criticizes Trump for wanting better vetting of Muslim refugees, but there was a fence around the DNC in Philadelphia and strict ID requirements so that no one could get in if not a delegate. (Although they did have to hire actors to sit in the seats for her speeches.)  She doesn't like our religious rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and will probably bring the full weight of her office to stop anyone from speaking out against government policies in any organization that has government grants or tax benefits--like all churches. It's already in the Johnson tax law, but haven't seen it used.

The email leaks, her tax returns showing her "charity" deductions all go the Clinton Foundation, the trail of bodies following her (another one recently in a suburb of DC--explosion, fire I think), the gun running reveals of this week, her record as Secretary of State during the creation of ISIS, her outrageous speaking fees which are just pay to play for foreign governments, hiring lawyer Khan to speak against Trump at the DNC, and on and on.  If you're supporting Hillary Clinton, why?

Hillary's pay to play Foundation and her gun running

I'm pretty sure Glenn Beck was claiming this in explaining 4 years ago what happened in Benghazi, but was probably ignored or called crazy by the other media. I recall his drawing on his chalk board a map of how the armaments moved, but ended up in the wrong hands.

"In Obama’s second term, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton authorized the shipment of American-made arms to Qatar, a country beholden to the Muslim Brotherhood, and friendly to the Libyan rebels, in an effort to topple the Libyan/Gaddafi government, and then ship those arms to Syria in order to fund Al Qaeda, and topple Assad in Syria". http://www.daily-sun.com/post/157634/Wikileaks-confirms-Hillary-sold-weapons-to-ISIS

96% of Hillary and Bill's charitable deductions went to the infamous Clinton Foundation.
Somehow, I don't think this is the way a 501c3 is supposed to work, if it were, we'd all set one up and pay ourselves and claim it on our taxes. But I'm guessing it's legal because Congress sets up these laws and rich politicians campaign against rich businessmen saying they are the crooks.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/12/96-percent-of-hillarys-charitable-donations-in-2015-went-to-clinton-foundation/

Why didn't she release her tax information during the primaries when running against socialist Bernie Sanders? I don't care if Trump ever releases his tax returns--they couldn't be as damning as Hillary's. He may not even be as wealthy as she is.  Over $10 million in speaking fees--ranging from $225,000 to $400,000. We've all heard this gravel voiced granny Gertie speak. Hopefully, her foreign audience had to listen through headphones to a translater.   That's just pay for play. And Washington Post is so biased in this article it doesn't even mention the "charity" she donated to--her own foundation. I also watched the ABC coverage of this, and it also didn't mention where her charitable deduction went, and immediately pounced on Trump!   https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-releases-2015-tax-return-calls-on-trump-to-release-his/2016/08/12/759bf95a-60a7-11e6-8e45-477372e89d78_story.html

Joe Biden and Gay Marriage

For the life of me, I don't understand why the "I'm Catholic but" people don't leave the Roman Catholic church and join any one of 35,000 different Protestant groups, probably 20,000 of which don't care at all what you believe. Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry give Catholicism a bad name. Catholics have a central authority, they cover more scripture in a month of daily masses than other churches do in a year, and they have a Pope, some better than others. They have up to the minute documents written by scholars on marriage, abortion, education, serving the poor, government, war, immigration, euthanasia, etc. and a catechism so fat you can use it as a door stop. They have beautiful cathedrals and great music.

Anything goes in Protestant churches, and you can leave because of the sermons or the potlucks and walk down the street and join one more to your liking. You can choose from hard rock or old hymns and liturgy for your worship style. You can be your own pope and decide what the Bible says about marriage and abortion and no one can contradict you because the Holy Spirit told you. 

 

 I just wish someone would ask them to leave and stop calling themselves Catholics. Many churches are looking for them and their wealth and would welcome them. http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/joe-bidens-unfaithful-catholic-witness-on-marriage/

Republican Party leadership is dishonest

The media are really jazzed that Mark Foley was at a Trump campaign rally. Yes, a gay Republican they drove out of office for phone calls with teen boys. Like when have they ever cared before--they want to name a ship after Harvey Milk who had a 16 year old sex partner. They think this is equivalency for the Muslim father of the gay night club shooter being at a Hillary speech.

The Republican "leadership" is acting badly. After making all candidates in their primaries pledge support for the winner they are saying NO, NO, we didn't mean Trump. He's not a politician and he says ridiculous things. So they'll support Hillary who actually DOES ridiculous things, illegal things, sneaky and awful things. Hillary who says it's OK to abort a baby on it's due date. Ayesha Kreutz says,

"Look I might not be a Trump fan but he won the Republican nomination fair and square, which is more than I can say for Hillary, those of you who are talking about the RNC pulling funding and support from him are wrong. We have a primary process and he won. The RNC has an obligation to support him now. If you/I didn't want him we should have found a way to win. Period. It is petty to keep pushing the RNC to ditch him. It is not American, don't like the process get involved and get it changed, like so many of us have done and keep trying to do, with little to no help although the voices of whining are many. I get Trump is a progressive Republican or blue dog Democrat and having him as the nominee sucks, I get it but HE WON it. So the issue is not him but us. As well let me say about Trumps situation now, if he wants votes the onus is on him to win the votes. No one owes him their vote, he has to earn it or win it. We are in the general and you have choices, vote for Trump, Killary, the Libertarian, or just vote down ticket and leave President blank but please stop with all the Trump withdraw stuff, it is weird and sad.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/09/politics/hillary-clinton-emails-judicial-watch/index.html

Do you remember the film about the Bush assassination?

No? Well, it was in 2006, I think. It won a prize. The Left can make a film about shooting an American Republican President in 2007 and win a prize, but it also invents threats against unqualified presidential candidates. The outrage and spin about Trump "threatening" an assassination of Hillary isn't real--it's an opportunity to smear Trump. Hillary mentioned in 2008 when Obama was the obvious choice that the campaign wasn't over--after all, look what had happened to Bobby Kennedy to change that campaign. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-405644/George-Bush-assassination-film-wins-award.html

"Death of a President" chronicles the sniper shooting of Bush on October 19, 2007, during a trip to Chicago and the ensuing investigation.

The film blends archival footage of Bush interspersed with fierce anti-war protests and other fictional scenes crafted by the filmmakers.

Actors posing as administration officials and Secret Service agents were digitally grafted into some images of the president and his entourage.

The filmmakers said they chose to use Bush rather than substitute a fictitious president to heighten the authenticity.

"I'm thrilled that the film is going to be shown in cinemas in the US in the near future," Mr Range said. "That's proof that people can see beyond the premise and see that it's a film about this post-9/11 world that we live in."

However, the £2million movie sparked controversy in America and the British film-makers had to be guarded by private security men at the film festival after threats were made on their lives.

The Republican and Democratic National Conventions, guest blogger Gerard J. Gianoli, M.D.

A Tale of Two Conventions—Controversy and Deceit

Gerard J. Gianoli, M.D.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” It was a time of controversy and a time of deceit. The Republican and Democratic National Conventions, now just over, showed some stark contrasts.

The Republican National Committee along with many in the GOP were less than pleased with the eventual nominee—Donald Trump. However, the controversy surrounding Mr. Trump’s nomination, for all its warts, was open for everyone to see. There was never any secret that the “GOP establishment” didn’t want a Trump nomination. Some of the prominent GOP stalwarts refused to endorse Mr. Trump and were absentees from the convention. In fact, Mr. Trump invited his vanquished opponents to speak at the convention and, like Senator Cruz, they were not constrained in what they could say. Such is the reality of a true democratic process—someone wins, the others lose, and some are sore losers. That’s all pretty much normal and expected. Regardless of who wins, there will always be discontent.

Contrast this to the Democrat primaries. All along the Democrat Party claimed to be neutral during the primary process, while Senator Bernie Sanders, among others, claimed there was favoritism and collusion. Recently leaked emails show that the process was anything but open and fair. It seems that the Democratic National Committee was in the tank for Secretary Clinton from the beginning, and worked at undermining the Sanders campaign.

Of course, Senator Sanders was unaware of the collusion against him when he endorsed Hillary Clinton, and he has since left the Democrat Party—a move that has not made many headlines in the press, but should have. When was the last time a presidential contender left in such manner? Even Ted Cruz—the sore loser of the GOP that made national headlines with his non-endorsement speech—is still a Republican. With its dishonest and conniving nature exposed by the emails, can we believe anything the DNC espouses?

Another claim long held by conservatives—of a liberal bias in the media—has been more than confirmed with the email leaks. They show not just bias but actual collaboration with the DNC and the Clinton campaign. Can we rely on independent information from the media, after seeing this collusion?

Although FBI director James Comey refused to recommend prosecution of Hillary Clinton, he did expose her extreme dishonesty with the American people, while essentially stating that Secretary of State Clinton and her staff were guilty of extreme incompetence. Both the dishonesty and the incompetence were known in advance of Comey’s statements. The only surprise was his refusal to recommend prosecution. Currently, Mrs. Clinton is professing that she has been exonerated by Comey—another untruth. How can we trust anything she says?

Donald Trump has been a very polarizing candidate, but looking at his past, he generally accomplishes what he says he will do. You may or may not like his policy positions, but we can generally conclude that they are what he says they are. One of the most important qualities of a leader is honesty. A leader who is not trusted cannot lead. While dishonesty is always a factor in political elections, dishonesty to this degree has not been a presidential election issue in my lifetime. The choices we have from our major parties are between a polarizing figure and a dishonest one.

While controversy surrounded the GOP convention, deceit was the overriding theme of the Democrats’ convention. Regardless of one’s feeling about Mr. Trump, he’s been forthright in his positions. Now knowing via the leaked emails of the media’s collaboration with the DNC and the Clinton campaign, we can understand why they will hammer Mr. Trump on any issue they can. However, given the level of deceit emanating from the Democrat Party, Secretary Clinton, and co-conspirators in the media, any rational American should disqualify them for this presidential election.

Gerard Gianoli, M.D., F.A.C.S. specializes in Neuro-otology and Skull Base Surgery.  He is in private practice at The Ear and Balance Institute, located in Covington, but is also a Clinical Associate Professor in the Departments of Otolaryngology and Pediatrics at Tulane University School of Medicine.  He pioneered treatments for Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence and other vestibular disorders.  His private practice has a worldwide reach, with patient referrals coming from all over the United States and from around the world.

Dr. Gianoli opted out of Medicare in 2001 and has had a 100% third-party-free practice since 2005.  He’s lectured and written extensively (as well as had numerous media interviews) on third party free medical practices and free market medicine.  His editorials have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Investor’s Business Daily, The Hill and other popular periodicals.

He has received numerous awards, including the American Academy of Otolaryngology’s Honor Award, and has been named in America’s Top Doctors and America’s Top Physicians every year since their inception in 2001 and 2003 respectively.  Dr. Gianoli practices all aspects of neuro-otology but has a special interest in vestibular (balance) disorders.  He has researched, lectured and published extensively on the topic of vestibular disorders.  Website: http://www.earandbalance.net/

For loyal Democrats

DEMOCRATS. I know how loyal you are. It's an admirable quality, except at the fringes of insanity. I used to be one of you and never questioned a candidate selected by the party. But how long will you hang in there with this?

"Hundreds of pages of emails, including many that Hillary Clinton didn’t turn over to the government, have been released by the nonprofit Judicial Watch. A report in the Wall St. Journal’s news pages says they “offer fresh examples of how top Clinton Foundation officials sought access to the State Department during Mrs. Clinton’s tenure.” Among the foundation donors that Clinton aide Huma Abedin offered to assist was Gilbert Chagoury. The Journal notes, “In the mid-1990s, he was known for his close association with Nigeria’s military dictator, Sani Abacha, which helped him land lucrative business contracts in construction and other areas.” (Wall St. Journal, August 10, 2016)

In case you're inclined to discount the WSJ, studies have shown that in its news coverage, it is our most liberal national newspaper.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3732075/Secret-emails-reveal-Hillary-s-closest-aide-took-orders-Clinton-Foundation-open-State-Department-doors-one-biggest-donors.html
 
http://nypost.com/2016/08/09/new-emails-show-huma-scheming-for-hillary/

                                           

Trump has no blood on his hands; Hillary does

Trump is trying to rally and warn pro-2nd amendment Americans about Hillary's Supreme Court choices changing the face of America, and Democrats are calling it an assassination threat. Didn't they scream that about Palin using the word crosshairs in a campaign blaming her for Gabby Gifford's shooting? Democrats actually do kill thousands and thousands of helpless Americans every year, who can't fight back or even speak out, the unborn, so they are very quick to blame others to deflect their bad behavior and abortion for any reason, even sex, platform.

Now Hillary can deflect attention from her behavior which caused the deaths of Americans in Benghazi and focus on imaginary fiction building on Trump's calling for gun owners to vote.

While Democrats cry out about Trump's words, Republicans are doing a body count, adding up the suspicious non-combat deaths of journalists and DNC staffers in Hillary's wake during this campaign. Broadcast media will never report these "suicides" and "murders." I wouldn't even expect to see it in a poorly made PAC ad, although if it were reversed, Democrats would have the jail cell ready for Trump.

Common Core is dumbing down our children

Yes, Common Core is a problem, but it is also a symptom--points back to the creation of the federal Department of Education in the 1970s. Like Obamacare, if you'd ever been allowed to vote on this, it wouldn't have passed. Compared to Common Core, Obamacare is a model of transparency--it was at least talked about and debated. It was in 46 states before people even heard the term! Public schools are supposed to belong to the public. I've included some information from this excellent talk given at a church in California.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyRr6nBEnz4

Summary: First, he stressed that families and religion are the enemies of teaching sexuality and Common Core and must they be silenced. He gave some examples from curriculum required in many schools and it definitely isn't age appropriate and is useful for nothing except warping the minds and propaganda.

Common Core is the brain child of Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft.  What are Bill Gates' credentials--he bought public education for $6 billion. What if it were the Koch Brothers? Would you hear about it in the media? There is no "benchmark" because the goals of Common Core have never been tested, and they are inappropriate in the lower grades. What are Department of Education Arne Duncun's qualifications? He's a sociologist not an educator, but Obama put him in charge of education. Medical clinics are being made part of the school system--can gather data on your children without your permission. Provide birth control and referrals for abortion with no input from parents.

Our Constitution's 10th amendment prohibits the federal government from meddling in state education. ("The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.") The Federal government pressured governors to accept Common Core or no grant money. But states have to pay all the costs and the costs swamp the piddling amount received.

The most dangerous lie in Common Core is that your teachers are free to teach. Gates claims you have to align tests to (his) standards. Gates did a great job with Microsoft--why are we letting him control our country's education system? ARRA money went to create Common Core tests--but no curriculum had yet been created. How's that for teaching to the test? David Colman who is the architect of Common Core, now controls College Board (SAT--the exams your kids need to get into college) and he has no credentials in education, has never taught, hasn't written scholarly articles. Even he claims he has no authority, not just other people--watch the fascinating introduction in the film. No one appointed him either, nor was he elected and he controls our entire education system.

"Common" in Common Core means drag everyone down to the lowest level; it's not fair that some kids are good in math and others aren't, so we offer lowest level possible not acceptable at any college with selective standards. The year before becoming president Barack Obama knew the truth about education, then he flipped when getting in office.  Be sure to watch the interviews of the people who grade the tests who earn $9/hr, an essay every 5 minutes.  They were recruited on Craig's List, no experience in education necessary. (Compensation is now up to $11/hr--I just googled it.) Ted Kennedy wrote the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, not George. W. Bush; then the worst of it was remodeled by Common Core which made it bigger and worse.

Arne Duncan was stunned that Republicans supported ESSA, “Every Student Succeeds Act”. It's a real mess.  Hillary supports Common Core--government control of your children, 24/7. Education is not a family issue, according to her. Now it's a federal village, not just any old village where you know your neighbor and her children and values.

There's no safe place for your children in public schools--88% of the parents agree, but only 19% think their child's school is broken. Home schooling may be the only way to avoid this. If even 10% of moms and dads demanded better, this would turn around.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-bill-gates-pulled-off-the-swift-common-core-revolution/2014/06/07/a830e32e-ec34-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html

"Because of the way education policy is generally decided, the Common Core was instituted in many states without a single vote taken by an elected lawmaker. Kentucky even adopted the standards before the final draft had been made public." Washington Post

"Indiana Gov. Mike Pence . . . led a repeal of the standards in his state. In the past week, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R), a former advocate of the standards, signed a law pulling her state out, days after South Carolina’s Republican governor, Nikki Haley, did the same." Washington Post

http://thenotebook.org/articles/2013/05/24/a-major-motive-behind-common-core-is-profit-not-education

Not even Communists and liberals like Common Core. http://www.workers.org/2014/06/17/profit-tech-corporations-gain-common-core-testing/#.V6nRQuRTFPw

What will we learn from Trump's tax returns? What will we learn from Hillary's medical records?

So, the Hillary camp, after finding out that Hillary outed a USA operative via her illegal email server and got him hanged in Iran, needs a diversion. So they are screaming for Trump's tax returns. (Darlene Reynolds)

 It's the timing; Hillary may have gotten Amiri killed by outing him. What do we learn from tax returns. She's certainly not going to show all her illegal contributions to her foundation. http://video.foxnews.com/v/5074591695001/eric-shawn-reports-the-execution-and-the-e-mails/?#sp=show-clips

When Democrats have strange tax returns, like Biden's paltry contributions (or Obama's that jumped up when he knew he was going to run for president) or back taxes not paid by Sharpton, it seems to be a resume enhancement.

Darlene suggests that with all his businesses, Trump's tax returns are probably comprised of thousands of pages and forms. It's the diversion that the Hillary camp is salivating for, because they (and the biased media) would talk about nothing else from here till the election.

Trump doesn't prepare his own tax returns. All tax loopholes (the rest of us call them deductions) have been designed by Congress, Democrats and Republicans. Trump, for all his faults, has never created tax laws to benefit the wealthy, even if he uses them. It would be very easy for Democrats who complain about the wealthy to just prepare their own returns and take no deductions, but no one will do that. Obama has been lusting after medical deductions which tax payers get, and the exclusions businesses get for offering insurance to employees which is the #1 benefit for business, and Obama thinks it belongs to him (the eventual aim of Obamacare). He also wants our tax exclusion on retirement savings and the mortgage deduction--thinks it all belongs to him/government. I'm sure Donald pays YUGE amounts to tax lawyers to get legal deductions, and Hillary's cronies in the media would be all over that like flies confusing the public and ignoring her foundation's shady dealings as a "charitable" organization that benefits only 2 people--Bill and Hillary. Chelsea is so rich she probably doesn't need it.

The way a Democrat politician thinks is that medical, mortgage and retirement deductions aren't fair--the poor really can't use them so the rest of us shouldn't have them.

Why such a slow recovery?

Some liberals/progressives/Democrats say the slow recovery from the recession (theoretically it ended in June 2009 before the ARRA even kicked in) is because Obama was left such a mess by Bush. Recessions, small and large seem to roll around about every 10 years, and the recovery takes longer than the drop. The Great Depression of the 1930s is a good example, or bad, depending on your politics. Many believe Roosevelt extended it by about 5 years through government meddling; others believe he saved the country. But that was then, this is now.

Obama’s policies have created the slow recovery through costly new regulations and a very “efficient“ bureaucracy--which compounds the problem. President Obama’s regulators have completed their 600th major rule. A major rule imposes costs of more than $100 million. Bush also loved regulations, but Obama has exceed him by 20%.  And it isn't over til it's over.

"The Administration has already issued 40 major rules in 2016 and it may have as many as 50 more in the pipeline. In only the past few months the Administration has issued major rules on drones ($2.6 billion); a fiduciary rule for retirement savings ($31.5 billion); and new rules on Arctic drilling ($2.1 billion). Going forward, the Administration plans to finish up greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty trucks ($31 billion), efficiency rules for manufactured housing ($4.1 billion), and more."

He'll push more through as he packs up to leave Washington, and can be confident if Hillary is elected that she will complete his economy killing plans. http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-all-time-regulation-record-1470435716

Music at Lakeside in Week 7 of season 2016

The evening programs this week at Lakeside Chautauqua have been quite spectacular. Our “week” begins on Saturday, so the Saturday night program is usually the big showcase, and she certainly didn’t disappoint. It was Megan Hilty, a TV and Broadway star with whom I’m not familiar, but she is a niece of long time Lakesiders Tom (deceased) and Jan Hilty. She performed as Glinda in Wicked, and has made guest appearances in Bones, The Closer, Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.  She appeared for 2 years in the TV show Smash, and although I didn’t see it, apparently many others did, because the front row seats were filled with fans. Smash is a fictional account of two women who want the part of Marilyn Monroe in a musical stage play. She played Ivy in the show and at Lakeside sang a number of songs from Smash. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwHH7mbGjBc

I don’t always go down to the park on Sunday evening (usually local performers), but the July 31 program was a group called the Ottawa County Blue Grass Band, and they were wonderful. Even though the park benches can get hard, they were worth the sit. A father and his two sons, plus a friend from Fremont. The weather was glorious and we could see the sailboats on Lake Erie as we sat under the trees. Many people having picnics on the lawn, or sitting in their golf carts on the street watching. This video is from the Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--jpofPo3hE

On Wednesday we enjoyed the opening night of our summer symphony with a program of “light classics,” followed by a reception. This is music director Robert Cronquist’s 46^th season, and the 53th season of the symphony.

Thursday’s program was really different--not exactly a monologue, not exactly a solo music performance. It was called Six Guitars and the artist Chase Padgett performed as 6 different characters playing 6 styles of music--an 87 year old blues player married six times, a Spanish classical guitarist, R & B, folk, rock and country. He was spectacular in each style as he told their stories, and in the end, each character confesses how he enjoys other styles. We also learned a lot about each genre. http://www.chasepadgett.com/shows/6-guitars/video/

My husband was so excited about this show. He's taking guitar lessons from Dr. Richard Smoot in Columbus and drives there once a week. Wednesday evening he carried some sheet music with us to the opening of the symphony because he needed an explanation about notation. The first 2 musicians--an excellent pianist and a public school music teacher--he asked didn't know, then he found a violinist who could answer his question He is really committed.

I learn so much at Lakeside. While waiting for the 6 Guitars program to start, the woman next to me told me about her battle with sun poisoning, which is different than sun burn. Then she pulled out of her purse flesh colored "sleeves" that she can pull on if she's wearing a short sleeve shirt; kind of looked like hose without feet. Sun protective clothing is quite expensive she told me, so she searched the internet and found these sleeves which are for tattooed people who are not suppose to show their tats at work--much cheaper. Next she's going to work on using knee-highs cutting off the feet. But some tattoo sleeve covers are really fake tattoo designs--looks like you have them instead of covering them.

On Friday evening we were just blown away by “The Sons of Serendip.” If they ever come to a venue within 50 miles of you, get there and take some friends. They are 4 men who were friends in college, all have advanced degrees (3 in music performance) and “day jobs,” but won 2 years ago in NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Micah Christian, the lead vocalist (only vocalist as near as I could tell) has a voice you just won’t believe. I think his is what the angels in heaven must sound like. He has an M. Div. and has been a missionary in South America. He works as a teacher. The other three are a cellist, a harpist and pianist. It’s a combination you don’t see everywhere, and as Micah Christian noted, “How often do you see a 6’4” black man playing the harp?” http://www.sonsofserendip.com/bio/ I think they may write a lot of their material, and at least two write for screen plays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oigeYMKv4yQ

Were our parents sour after the Depression and WWII?

"As Mr. Obama leaves office, the national mood is more sour than at anytime since the 1960s. The polls say some two-thirds of the voters think the country is on the “wrong track,” and a majority say they expect their children to do less well financially than they did. This reflects the historically slow economic recovery and incomes that have only recently begun to return to where they were when the recession ended."  Wall Street Journal

This quote from today's paper gave me pause.  I thought about my parents and their generation.  I wouldn't say they were happy go lucky, but they weren't sour on their future or their children's.  President Roosevelt had extended the Great Depression probably 5 years more than necessary than if he'd just settled in and done nothing.  The war was devastating with my father, his brothers, and cousins all serving and my mother's brother being killed in China. But of all the emotions that come to mind, "sour" isn't one of them. Obama's personal numbers still seem high, but everything he's pushed on us from Obamacare to ISIS to bathrooms has left people more dispirited and distrustful of government.

War memorial in Forreston, IL, pointing to Dad's name, 2007.

Janice Shaw Crouse asks

Which is more "Moral?"

Crudity v. Corrupt
Loud v. Liar
Arrogant v. Criminal...
Bombastic v. Dishonest
Egotistical v. Angry
Pompous v. Phoney

These are important points to think about since this is a very unusual campaign with candidates neither party seems to really like. 68% say they don't trust Hillary, and ROR (regular old Republicans) are sharpening their knives for Trump instead of Hillary because he threatens their power.

Republican politicians are digging their own graves

If our Republican elected officials who are refusing to support the people's choice (after pledging they would), how long do they think they'll have any influence when Democrats marginalize them or completely boot them out? What are their plans to rebuild the party since they didn't support the Tea Party elected politicians who helped them win back Congress in 2010 and now won't support the Trump voters? And how many of these "conservative" talking heads who make the rounds of the TV news and opinion shows for a nice salary will have a job if there is no viewpoint for them to represent?

Sex vs. Gender

There are certain biological malformations at birth that can cause some confusion about sex, but there's no evidence that sex can be changed with surgery, hormones and a president who's being held hostage by an aggressive movement to confuse people. These changes were being developed in 2012 by regulatory staff, around the time that President Obama did his flip on marriage,  not your elected officials. There's also no evidence that a simple, single stall or family restroom can't accommodate anyone who wants privacy, no matter how she expresses her discomfort and desire to use that assigned to a different sex.

It was regulatory bureaucrats who changed the word sex in title IX and VII to gender. This could destroy women's sports. The Courts have interpreted Title VII's prohibition against sex discrimination to mean discrimination against men because they are men and women because they are women. It was people with an agenda within government agencies that conjured up "gender identity." Gender is for grammar; sex is for biology. Don't get snowed by language.

Will ISIS claim this?

Last night, there was a mass stabbing attack in London’s Russell Square where a Somali teenager with a Norwegian passport murdered a 60-year-old American woman and injured five others. ISIS hasn't claimed it yet, but they sure get unhappy when the pope or president claims Islam is a religion of peace.

Showing my shocked face

 "Environmental activists and state government officials, declining to comply with subpoenas by House Republicans probing their "coordinated efforts" to punish climate change skeptics, face additional scrutiny as part of the congressional investigation."

 The Senate’s most liberal Democrats are demanding that 22 national and state-based think tanks disclose their donors. Destroying the first amendment word by word.

 http://dailysignal.com/2016/08/02/democrat-ags-green-groups-defy-subpoena-on-coordinated-climate-efforts/

LEADING FROM HIS BEHIND by Michael Ramirez

 Speaking of being unfit to be President.... It was bad enough that this President has already released terrorists and planners of terrorism from Gitmo for purely political reasons, endangering innocents, while he is putting more American boots on the ground. Now, President Obama has jeopardized the lives of Americans by giving $400 million in untraceable cash to Iranian sponsors of terrorism. Worse, he is allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons while ...at the same time, they are acquiring and developing three stage rocket technology, creating a nuclear arms race in a region with loads of cash, surrogates of evil, a thriving black market and increasing radical extremism and very little respect for life.

It is unconscionable. The world is a far more dangerous place because of a President who defines being unfit for office.

Using the IRS to take Americans out of an election cycle for 2 1/2 years, arming drug cartels with weapons, lying to the American public, illegal amnesties, importing the unvetted, continuing imperial, unlawful and unconstitutional behavior, endangering troops abroad and citizens at home... One could make a pretty good case for impeachment if there were Republicans with the will to use their constitutional authority and Democrats with a little virtue and integrity, and the willingness to put country before their political party.

It seemed appropriate to resurrect this cartoon from January.

The Obama Iran Policy
http://michaelpramirez.com/iran-policy.html