Saturday, September 09, 2017

Jan writes for “The Verse” about crises

“Sometimes it takes a crisis for me to value our connectedness. A hiccup in travel plans, an unexpected diagnosis, a natural disaster, actions against loved ones -- any challenge can bring out the best in our shared humanity, if we choose to participate.  Recent images and stories of people helping each other, offering whatever assistance each could provide, across divides which suddenly seem much less significant than before, give me hope for the future.” Jan

I’m copying her words from the newsletter of the Hymn Society just because they reflect my own views. I’ve watched the videos and photos and stories coming from Houston, and I’m sure it’s repeated in Louisiana which is also having flooding, and Oregon and Montana with the terrible fires, and in Florida with people now fleeing in long lines on the the 2 ways out.

This issue of The Hymn Society Verse also has a link to a nice list of hymns from Gia Publications suitable for worship in times of crisis and some downloadable hymns free until November 1.

Friday, September 08, 2017

What Happened, Hillary?

No voter gets all she wants in any election. I wanted Ted Cruz--young, son of immigrants, conservative values, Christian, best debater in decades on the public stage. After 8 years of stumbling speechifying, I was so looking forward to something different. I certainly wasn't looking for snippets on Twitter.

That wasn't to be, and I didn't run away and join the NeverTrumpers. Although I didn't care about the wall, I did care about saving future generations of Americans, who would in turn give life to more generations, so I voted for Trump. Not that he was a huge advocate for life, but hey--"anyone anytime ladies' choice" Hillary was a sure bet against life. Donald Trump is not the one who elevated the judges to their current over weighted roles, but he at least can influence and balance it. Judges were never meant to make law based on their feelings or on their hatred for the President.

Second, I wanted to see low income Americans helped with something besides hand outs to their ineffective leadership. Democrats have kept them on the dole so they would keep cranking that D lever in the voting booth. Nothing helps the poor like a good job. That meant fewer regulations and laws against the small capitalists coming up who hire Americans and grow the economy at home. That meant less crony capitalism with the big players like banks, high tech and big Ag. The only candidate who seemed to care was a business man, not a politician.

Third, I wanted to see the brakes put on the erosion of the First Amendment, especially stopping the federal government from destroying our freedom of religion. Again, that was Trump, not known for being particularly religious, but he understands that is the solid foundation of the First Amendment.

Fourth, race relations had plummeted under Obama and he empowered and emboldened the left to destroy our basic values. Not sure which candidate could reverse that, but it sure wasn't Hillary Clinton. The Alt-Left, socialists, globalists and SPLC types are trying to convince us that "Make America Great Again" is racist and neo-Nazi, but it certainly has more gravitas than "Hope and Change."

Fifth, I was quite sure Trump wouldn't hand our biggest enemies billions of dollars, or welcome home traitors who worked against our military. He might prove me wrong, but with NKorean nukes pointed at Japan and South Korea, would we really want Hillary who ran out on Benghazi making the deal?

Friday Family Photo--Phil and the praise band

Labor Day parade in Canal Winchester, Ohio, praise band from Gender Road Christian Church on a float.   Phil is 2nd from left, playing base guitar. Phil says everyone on the parade route was very enthusiastic, praising God, singing and dancing. The children particularly treated them like rock stars.

Relief for Houston

I was looking through the web page for First Presbyterian Church of Houston that has suggestions for disaster relief (no more material stuff—the drop offs are full), and I decided to look through the sermon and Sunday School topics, because some churches that say they follow Christ actually follow the culture and a political ideology.  Found this one on architecture, part of the church’s Faith and Culture series, not a topic that churches usually focus on.  http://fpchouston.org/messages/architecture/651/

Thursday, September 07, 2017

Wednesday, September 06, 2017

President Trump's message on DACA

"In June of 2012, President Obama bypassed Congress to give work permits, social security numbers, and federal benefits to approximately 800,000 illegal immigrants currently between the ages of 15 and 36.  The typical recipients of this executive amnesty, known as DACA, are in their twenties.  Legislation offering these same benefits had been introduced in Congress on numerous occasions and rejected each time. . . .

"The temporary implementation of DACA by the Obama Administration, after Congress repeatedly rejected this amnesty-first approach, also helped spur a humanitarian crisis – the massive surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America including, in some cases, young people who would become members of violent gangs throughout our country, such as MS-13. . .
"The decades-long failure of Washington, D.C. to enforce federal immigration law has had both predictable and tragic consequences: lower wages and higher unemployment for American workers, substantial burdens on local schools and hospitals, the illicit entry of dangerous drugs and criminal cartels, and many billions of dollars a year in costs paid for by U.S. taxpayers.  Yet few in Washington expressed any compassion for the millions of Americans victimized by this unfair system.  Before we ask what is fair to illegal immigrants, we must also ask what is fair to American families, students, taxpayers, and jobseekers."
 
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/09/05/statement-president-donald-j-trump

And Speaker Paul Ryan

"President Obama’s DACA program was a clear abuse of executive authority, an attempt to create law out of thin air. Congress writes laws, not the president, and ending this program fulfills a promise that President Donald J. Trump made to restore the proper role of the executive and legislative branches. Now, the House and Senate, with the president’s leadership, will work to find consensus on a permanent legislative solution on this and many immigration issues, such as border security and interior enforcement." From Facebook

Unions and right to work


Public-sector workers had a union membership rate (34.4 percent) more than five times higher than that of private-sector workers (6.4 percent). So our taxes pay the salaries of govenment workers and then they lobby against us. Never waste a crisis, so government union membership grew during the recession. Among occupational groups, the highest unionization rates in 2016 were in education, training, and library occupations (34.6 percent). I think this suggests that women, who dominate those fields, seem to want protection despite all the bravado and complaints about a patriarchy, and see the government as a father/spousal figure. (Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016.)

https://www.law360.com/articles/899211/challenges-continue-for-organized-labor-in-2017

"The union agenda has also shifted since the 1940s. What was once a collective bargaining focus has morphed into a political operation using those millions in member dues to support other liberal organizations and campaigns. From 2012 to 2015, union bosses have given away over a half-billion dollars to groups many of their members would never support."
 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/6/union-support-for-donald-trump-gives-big-labor-cha/

A comment from a FB friend:  "And, in Ohio, they have what they call a "fair share fee" for those who don't wish to join the union, but pay their share of the union representing them. The difference is supposed to be what goes to political activity. What is a fair share? 100%, of course. Nothing fair or accurate about that at all. Having served as union rep and on state executive board, I can tell you much of what is done is clearly partisan political activity, including much of what goes on in their conventions."

Tuesday, September 05, 2017

Fourteen years later the OSU fire is still a cold case

I was looking through some old letters to my family and noticed this one, April 19, 2003, and I wondered what had happened with the investigation into this tragedy: 

 "I don't think our latest tragedy here would have made your news, but 5 students died in a house fire on the campus early last Sunday (13th) a.m. Actually, only 2 were OSU, the other 3 were Ohio University (Athens, OH). Many still hospitalized. An old house with 12 bedrooms that the kids just love to rent, close to campus. Celebrating one of the guys’ 21st birthday, so everyone had been drinking. Happened about 3 or 4 a.m. Now they've decided it was arson, so people are really upset. Will be a big murder investigation--maybe the biggest Columbus has had. All the bios in the paper indicated they were all really good kids, but if you combine the gases and smoke inhalation with the fact that they may have not been as alert as possible, it was lethal. One young OU girl was from Dublin, north of here, and 1200 people came to her funeral yesterday.  The smoke was so dense the firemen had trouble finding them.  One girl was rescued unconscious by the fireman lying on top of her to protect her and scooting her by looping his arms under her.  But he didn’t know there was another student also in the room--and had barely found her."

Then it was 5 years. http://www.10tv.com/article/victims-legacies-live

The Dispatch caught up with the survivors 10 years later. http://www.dispatch.com/article/20130413/NEWS/304139720

Now it's fourteen and it's a cold case.  Families of the deceased still stay in touch and try to make life good in memory of their loved ones.
http://nbc4i.com/2017/04/13/still-no-answers-14-years-after-ohio-state-university-fatal-fire/




Monday, September 04, 2017

Monday Memories--Book club memories 2002

From a letter. "I had book group here September 9. I finished the book, “John Adams,” that Monday morning!  I made my mother’s apple walnut “Autumn bread” recipe and Phoebe’s cheese ball with crackers.  The leader, Carolyn A. did a fabulous job.  She’s been a John Adams fan for 20 years, and brought along all her other books about him, many of which had wonderful illustrations.  Our next selection for Oct. 7 is “Peace like a River” by Leif Enger.  I’ve been taking it down to jury duty, but haven’t made much progress.  In December I’ll be leading “The Persian Pickle Club” by Sandra Dallas, a wonderful story about women in the Depression.  Everyone loved the condo [we'd moved in January 2002].  It was still light enough they could see the grounds.  One lady asked me if we overlooked a park.  It really is that lovely.  I must get busy and finish the decorating.  It is hard after you live with it for awhile, because you sort of don’t notice some of the oddities.  This group formed in 1979, and still has about 3 or 4 of the original members, and some who’ve been with it for 19 or 20 years.  I didn’t join until I retired in 2000, so I’m a real novice at reading on command.   One woman said that when they started they had 20 women and 24 babies."

From a letter.  "Book group meets tonight, [November 4, 2002].  I stop at Adrienne’s about 2 miles north, and she’ll drive us up to Muirfield (northwest of here) to the hostess’ home.  The book is Anne Tyler’s “Back when we were grown ups,” and I can’t say I enjoyed it much.  I hope someone else has something to offer.  I can’t imagine a woman taking so long (she is 53 when the novel opens) to figure out her 4 daughters are all losers. With names like Patch, No-No, Biddy, and Min-Foo, what can you expect? Although people usually talk about Tyler’s humor, I thought the only funny part was when she gets together with her old boyfriend from high school/college for dinner (she is a widow and dumped him to marry her husband) and finds out what a dud he is too.  She had sort of romanticized the memory of their time together. I sort of felt they deserved each other--she’s been wearing a fake happy face for 30 years and he’s been following rigid routines and is mad because she walked out on him."

Secrets of the Alhamba

In September 2015 we visited Spain, including Granada and the Alhambra. It was an amazing trip hosted by our Finnish friends the Tulamos.  We celebrated my birthday at a Flemenco theater in Granada.  Interesting video on how it took 500 years to figure out the inscriptions of the Arabic in the Alhambra. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170817-the-secret-world-of-granadas-alhambra-palace

https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/09/hola-we-home-from-spain.html


 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Did the federal government create the obesity epidemic?



Lots of pretty charts in this report, but it looks to me like obesity rates began soaring with the War on Poverty, about the same time that marriage rates began dropping. Hmm. More government is supposed to solve what government created?

http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/TFAH-2017-ObesityReport-FINAL.pdf

A Harvey rescue of a Chihuahua Rescue

Many people support the rescue services of specific dog breeds, especially when one breed becomes popular and then people lose interest and discover a Great Dane doesn't work well in a one bedroom apartment.  I don't know the source of this photo, but it looks like this Good Sam has picked up a boat load from a Chihuahua Rescue.  (Website of a California rescue.) There are some "deer heads" (like our little Abby), "apple heads" (sort of a pug nose), long hair, short hair, and mixed breed.  All sizes.  But bless this guy who apparently took them out of the rain and flooding--and I'm sure they are grateful, but shivering more than usual. In 2005 was blogging about Jinky The Hollywood Dog who was a long hair Chihuahua mix rescue with a lot of personality.

Sources for abortion from the Bible

From Catholic Answers: Question: where is abortion mentioned in the Bible?

Answer: Though we don’t find the word abortion mentioned in any biblical text, we can deduce from Scripture, not to mention natural law, reason, Church teaching, and patristic witness that abortion is intrinsically evil. On abortion, consider these Scripture passages:
  • Job 10:8,
  • Psalms 22:9-10,
  • Psalms 139:13-15,
  •  Isaiah 44:2, and Luke 1:41. 
In addition:
  • Genesis 16:11: Behold, said he, thou art with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Ismael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
  • Genesis 25:21-22: And Isaac besought the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and he heard him, and made Rebecca to conceive. But the children struggled in her womb...
  • Hosea 12:3: In the womb he supplanted his brother, and as a man he contended with God.
  • Romans 9:10-11: But when Rebecca also had conceived at once of Isaac our father. For when the children were not yet born, nor had done any good or evil (that the purpose of God according to election might stand) . . .
The truth that these verses tell is that life begins at conception. Rebekah conceived a child—not what would be or could be a child. Note James 2:26: ". . . a body apart from the spirit is dead. . ." Since the soul is the principle which gives life to the body, then a child carried in the womb of its mother has a soul because it is alive. To kill it is murder.

Sunday, September 03, 2017

DACA, the Executive Order mess

I don't know what President Trump intends to do about DACA, but it is a mess that Obama handed him that should have been decided by Congress, not the President. So. . . he should turn it over to Congress and step aside. Let the Republicans get some backbone and the Democrats take back their party. Obama had a Democratic Congress his first two years, but he squandered his power on the failed ACA theft instead of getting Congress to make some tough decisions on immigration.  Also, he knew the Executive Order could be undone by the next president, but it made him look good--compassionate, kind, and power hungry.

The main problem with the current immigration law is it wasn't followed.
The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the exclusive right to legislate in the area of immigration. Most of the relevant laws, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), are found in Title 8 of the United States Code. State governments are prohibited from enacting immigration laws. Despite this, a handful of states recently passed laws requiring local police to investigate the immigration status of suspected illegal aliens, creating some controversy.

Three federal agencies are charged with administering and enforcing immigration laws. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigates those who break the law, and prosecutes offenders. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) handles applications for legal immigration. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is responsible for keeping the borders secure. All three agencies are part of the Department of Homeland Security. https://www.hg.org/immigration-law.html



Winding down the season at Lakeside


Yes, it’s September. But chilly here on Lake Erie. The heat is on in the cottage! We return to Columbus today after church on the lakefront and breakfast. There was a terrific, end of season program last night—Riders in the Sky—a cowboy quartet, their 10th time at Lakeside and I think we’ve seen most of them. They showed some Roy Rogers footage; it was great fun played to an almost full Hoover auditorium. Then we picked up Bob’s paintings at the Patio restaurant and went to the fireworks.

This morning will be my final walk—I’ve been getting 4-6 miles a day, something I can’t do at home unless I get in the car and drive to the park. I still need flat areas for walking or I’ll irritate the bursitis. Here I’ve got streets that 10,000 years ago were Erie’s shoreline.

I’m watching EWTN thanks to Roku, which has worked well this summer with no cable TV. A Mother’s Day gift from our daughter and son-in-law. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen is on, still going strong after all these years. I remember my parents watching him; a real pioneer in religious TV. He’s talking about people marching and protesting in the streets who have no program or ideology, not even a coherent Marxism, so I assume this one is from the 1960s, but it plays well today.

We’ve decided to keep the cottage, year by year. We’ve got more help now and Bob is hiring more than he used to. He bought a new light for the hall and probably paid the handyman more than the cheap fixture cost. He thought our nephew would be coming near the end of summer and could do it, so when that didn’t work out, he hired a local man. Next year it will be a new washer dryer, and maybe new carpet for the porch. This has faded, but then 30 years isn’t bad

It's what real men do; the Harvey hurricane and flood

This has gone viral. Can't find the original source. I've seen it combined with video of a redneck monster (huge tires) car pulling a submerged military vehicle out of the muck.

"Let this sink in for a minute.....Hundreds and hundreds of small boats pulled by countless pickups and SUVs from across the South are headed for Houston. ...Almost all of them driven by men. They're using their own property, sacrificing their own time, spending their own money, and risking their own lives for one reason: to help total strangers in desperate need.

Most of them are by themselves. Most are dressed like the redneck duck hunters and bass fisherman they are. Many are veterans. Most are wearing well-used gimme-hats, t-shirts, and jeans; and there's a preponderance of camo. Most are probably gun owners, and most probably voted for Trump.

These are the people the Left loves to hate, the ones Maddow mocks. The ones Maher and Olbermann just *know* they're so much better than.

These are The Quiet Ones. They don't wear masks and tear down statues. They don't, as a rule, march and demonstrate. And most have probably never been in a Whole Foods.

But they'll spend the next several days wading in cold, dirty water; dodging gators and water moccasins and fire ants; eating whatever meager rations are available; and sleeping wherever they can in dirty, damp clothes. Their reward is the tears and the hugs and the smiles from the terrified people they help. They'll deliver one boatload, and then go back for more.

When disaster strikes, it's what men do. Real men. Heroic men. American men. And then they'll knock back a few shots, or a few beers with like-minded men they've never met before, and talk about fish, or ten-point bucks, or the benefits of hollow-point ammo, or their F-150.

And the next time they hear someone talk about "the patriarchy", or "male privilege", they'll snort, turn off the TV and go to bed.

In the meantime, they'll likely be up again before dawn. To do it again. Until the helpless are rescued. And the work's done.

They're unlikely to be reimbursed. There won't be medals. They won't care. They're heroes. And it's what they do."

Saturday, September 02, 2017

The man who predicted the resurgence of Islam

“The more important a book to our civilization, the quicker it disappears from the [library] shelves today. Recently, for instance, I discovered that the whole classics section (Greek and Roman) had been eliminated from Toronto’s Central Reference Library, on grounds of “no public interest.” And then that the classics sections in several college libraries had shrunk to the point where I now had more standard texts in my little apartment. . .

And no wonder, it seems to me, that we have ignorant mobs attacking relics of the past, such as public statuary. It becomes much easier to animate these mobs because, in the absence of materials unread and unrespected, they will believe anything about the past they are told.”

(By David Warren writing in The Catholic Thing, who was shocked to see that The Great Heresies by Hilaire Belloc had been reprinted.)

Hate crime bias

I've always been against the concept of "hate crime," especially in murder cases since people don't usually kill people they love (domestic violence for instance is not called a "hate crime" between 2 gays or lesbians, but it's very high), but the belief that blacks can't be racists, or the extreme caution in labeling their deeds as "hate" is absurd. Fredrick Demond Scott may be mentally ill (as his mother says) but he also has a grudge against middle age white men. It's hate. It's race based.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/08/31/kill-all-white-people-suspect-5-shootings/623482001/
"Prosecutors announced Tuesday that Scott is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Steven Gibbons, 57, and John Palmer, 54. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Baker also named Scott as a suspect in the shooting deaths of 67-year-old David Lenox, 57-year-old Timothy S. Rice and 61-year-old Mike Darby.

Palmer, Leno, Rice and Darby were all shot in the back, three of them in the head, on Kansas City trails. Gibbons was shot in the back of the head on a city street, according to prosecutors.

Police said they don't know if the killings were racially driven and are still searching for a motive. Scott is not believed to have known any of the victims."
"Kill all white people" ought to give police a clue about motive.

MS-13 in Columbus, Ohio

Here are the fine folks that sanctuary cities are protecting.  Notice, this designation as a criminal organization happened long before Trump became the president.
 
"In 2012, the United States government designated MS-13 as a “transnational criminal organization.” It is the first and only street gang to receive that designation. MS-13 has become one of the largest and most violent criminal organizations in the United States, with more than 10,000 members and associates operating in at least 40 states, including Ohio. In Ohio and elsewhere in the United States, MS-13 is organized into “cliques,” which are smaller groups of MS-13 members and associates acting under the larger mantle of the organization and operating in a specific region, city or part of a city. "
 
 

Disaster reports by CRS

Congressional Research reports on national disasters the last 5 years (through Obama's second term) via beSpacific Research.
"Updated daily, beSpacific  (Sabrina B. Spacific) has a searchable database of over 44,000 posts on subjects including: the financial system, high profile government documents, privacy, cyber-security, knowledge management and strategic knowledge services, legal research, FOIA, civil liberties, privacy, Congressional and regulatory issues pertaining to law and technology, copyright and intellectual property, energy, the economy, education, tech related litigation, and libraries/librarians."

Although I look at her site every day, she is politically to the left in what she selects to show, although that seems to be the standard for government and civil liberties research.  Still I always find something worth investigating further in her research. She keeps her editorializing at a minimum. All information, all library collections and all librarians have a filter, and that's where information restriction begins.