Resentment and envy

Thomas Sowell's story (from 2000 and told in several versions through the years) about Boris and Ivan isn't about Russians, but about envy and resentment. The Democrats don't care that under the new tax plan there will be a higher deduction for children, or that the middle class will have more money to spend or invest. No. What enrages them is that the already wealthy might pay fewer taxes (they already pay the bulk of the taxes, so the cuts will obviously apply to them). So, hurt everyone is their plan, just so the rich can't get a break from onerous taxes. 

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell062300.asp

"THERE IS AN OLD STORY about two Russian peasants, Boris and Ivan. Both are poor as dirt, the only difference between them being that Boris has a goat and Ivan does not. 

One day, a good fairy appears at Ivan's hut and tells him that she can grant him just one wish -- but that it can be anything he wants. Ivan says, "I want that Boris' goat should die.""

Oromo Evangelical Church in Columbus, Ohio

We enjoyed having guests today at UALC from Oromo Church (east side of Columbus) the fastest growing North American Lutheran Church (NALC) congregation. The congregation is in negotiation to purchase a church building so our church is helping from the mission fund.  It serves the Ethiopian refugee community, which has about 6,000 in Columbus, about half of which are Muslim. Their pastor was a bishop in his homeland with oversight of 600,000. I think I heard that Ethiopia has the largest Lutheran Church in the world. On fire for Jesus.

50 years ago I wondered why Christians didn't just worship together--i.e., in the style I knew--take in the immigrants--just one big family. But now that I know more history I recognize that most immigrants in the U.S. stayed together for worship as they learned the language, food and culture. The Methodists in Ohio used to have German speaking churches (Lakeside had special meetings in German), as did the Lutherans, and the Finns, Swedes and Norwegians had their Lutheran churches. In the 20th c. in Cleveland already established 19th c. Hungarian speaking congregations--Jewish, Roman Catholic, Reformed and Lutheran responded to the refugee crisis of 1956 as the Hungarians fled their communist oppressors, and many still have services in Hungarian. There are several Chinese and Korean congregations in Columbus, some rent sanctuaries in other churches, some are house churches, some are stand-alone and have services in both Mandarin and Cantonese. By maintaining their language and culture, they can be very effective missionaries in Asia where there are other diaspora Chinese communities. By the second or third generation, the non-English services sometimes are dropped, there are mergers, and new polities develop. But this is what I call real diversity, not the artificial, victim type; fitting in, yet staying together for the glory of God.

Violence against women in music

Wondering if Kathy Griffin of Trump severed head fame in her "comedy" routine got the idea from Kanye West who in one of his videos carried the severed head of a woman in his right hand, and got no push back. Oh sure--it's just zombies, who are attractive voluptuous white women.

"West's video shows him, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, and Nicki Minaj living in a sort of torture-palace-mansion thing, littered with the dead, dying, and dismembered bodies of models. Occasionally, models — who may be zombies, or vampires, or vampire-zombies? — try and break into the mansion; they are, naturally, killed and dismembered. [Taylor] Warren appears in the clip as a vampire who kills a man with a stiletto and drags his body across the bottom of a drained swimming pool. Later, Kanye raps an entire verse while dangling Warren's severed head by its hair from his right hand."

Those are the clips that appear on the internet--West carrying a severed head.

Were the women concerned? Nah. Taylor Warren: "I shot with Kanye when he held my decapitated head, and that was really amazing! I was super stoked to be a part of it. We met before we shot the scene and he said, 'Hey, how's it going,' and then I had to kneel down and he was holding me by the hair — I couldn't move or talk because it would ruin the shot! Between takes, he still had my hair and would talk to the director or on his phone while I was chilling three feet below him, but I couldn't help but think, 'This is so surreal and amazing.' "

In 20 years she'll be claiming abuse.

Obesity as a disease and a label

The Cleveland Clinic began calling obesity a disease in 2008, and AMA in 2013. Supposedly, this was to reduce discrimination and increase insurance coverage and government funding for research. Changing the label hasn't changed the problem. In 1991 approximately 12% of the US population was obese, and it was 38% in 2014 (CDC figures) with no single state having a rate lower than 15%, not even those with super active, outdoorsy populations that surf and climb mountains. Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans all have different rates, with Native Americans the highest and Asian Americans the lowest.

Now obesity is called a pandemic. I can't exactly find the right figures to compare, but in 1976 the median weight for adult males and females was 170 lbs. and 137.8 lbs. In 2014, the last I could find in CDC the average (not median) weight for adult males and females was 195.7 lbs. and 168.5 lbs. In 45 years the height for men increased 1/10 of an inch; and no gain at all for women (I could have sworn women were getting taller just from watching sports.)

We seem to be victims of our own achievement. Whereas for millions of years, most of the globe except for the very rich, didn't have enough calories and had to do physical labor to survive. Now we have far more calories than we need with food waste being a huge problem, and technology from automobiles to television to computers to moving from farm to city the last 100 years have conspired to create this new disease, never before known to humankind. We don't even have to get out of a chair to answer the phone or change TV channels.

Here's some librarian trivia. The 1987 report (DHHS 87-1688) used 1976-80 data, and the word "obesity" didn't even appear, except in the Library of Congress cataloging data for the report. The words used were "overweight" and "severely overweight."

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/body-measurements.htm

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_11/sr11_238.pdf

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2013/06/obesity-is-now-considered-a-disease/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/192036

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1614362#t=articleTop

The older non-traditional student

When I was a freshman at Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana (now university), I recall there were two “older” women students; one was in her early 40s and actually in my classes, don’t know the age of the other, a little younger, but she had been a missionary and was updating her credentials. I met her years later when I went back to MC to search the archives for some genealogy information and she was the archivist then. Mt. Morris College where my parents and grandparents had attended had merged with MC after its closing in 1932, so their college records were at MC.  Of course, at 18 I thought anyone over 25 was ancient, but it was a novelty then to have women the age of our mothers in our classes.

I thought that when I retired I would take advantage of all the programs for older and non-traditional students available at Ohio State University, which is virtually next door.  But that also meant driving there, parking, bad weather, etc., and I never did sign up.  I took two evening classes at the local high school, one in accounting and one in Spanish.  I didn’t do well, and although all of us were college grads just updating skills, I was one of the oldest.   For a librarian, being able to search the internet and have information at my finger tips, is like heaven, even though I still prefer print on paper. I don't enjoy the classroom or deadlines anymore, so over the years, the internet with YouTube, on-line news, and access to journals through Ohio State has been my teacher and class mates.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00223989809599261  Stressors of college, comparing traditional and non-traditional students

"Significant differences were found between the nontraditional and traditional students for events in the following categories: academics, peer and social relations, family and network, autonomy and responsibility, and intimacy. Nontraditional students enjoyed going to classes and doing homework more, whereas traditional students worried more about school performance. Peer events, including social activities, had much more impact on traditional students, whereas nontraditional students reported much more responsibility in the home. The results suggest that there are significant differences between the groups in their perceptions of stressors."

The Great Recession--was it?

The academic definition of a recession set by the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research described the last recession as the 18-month period from December 2007 to June 2009. Using the broader definition of the word “recession” as a period of reduced economic activity, it is customary these days to claim the recession as two years,  the period from December 2007 to January 2010--"The Great Recession."  That would give the Bush administration 12 months and Obama administration 12 months.  Obama, however, had Democrat control of both houses his first two years, and Bush was saddled with a hostile Congress his final two years, led by Reid and Pelosi. The Democratic Party controlled a majority in both chambers of the 110th for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995  (2 independents voted with Democrats). The Recession was global, but in the U.S. it belongs to the Democrats, with the roots of the housing crisis going back to1977 and the Community Reinvestment Act.

The current struggle to stop tax reform and keep economy busting regulations in place is led by Democrats even today, with a number of anti-Trumper Republicans assisting them out of personal animosity for the president.  The sluggish economy finally lifted in the final year of Obama’s reign with a Republican Congress. Determined and heroic Americans both liberals and conservatives in small businesses and the energy fields began to regain their footing, and the stock marked recovered.

Since November 2016, there has been more hope and change in the economy, something Obama just couldn’t deliver, despite his promises. Trump's detractors say he inherited a robust economy--which is only partially true--the Democrats had forgotten the middle income worker (aka "deplorables" according to Clinton).
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cra-debate-a-users-guide-2009-6
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/good-news-for-the-president-in-latest-trump-scoreboard-2017-11-03

http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/no-troop-surge-as-110th-congress-gets-to-work-the-call-is-raise-minimum-wage-end-iraq-war/
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/impact-110th-congress-us-foreign-policy

Christmas in ‘Nam by guest blogger Bill G.

Christmas of 66, my unit received a bunch of letters from 4th graders in Des Moines.

At the time, the public wasn't getting a lot of anti war media but it was building.

The 1st sergeant handed out 2 letters at random and told us ...”Reply and be thoughtful.”

My two kids had the same last name, Green, so I assumed they were related, somehow (they weren't).
The letter from the little girl was as one would expect ...thanking me for fighting for my country, wish you could be home, etc.

The boy wrote the same type of letter...but added the following:
“I wish that I could take your place so you could be home ...”
With a P.S. ... “Can you send me a machine gun?”

Any way...I sent the young girl, Denise, a dress ... And the boy, a  silk jacket that had a tiger embroidered on the back.

Some weeks later, I am told to report to the commanding officer ...

Turns out the teacher spoke to the Des Moines paper and there was a front page article about the letter project and my letters back to the kids.

Those were the days.

Note:  Bill and I have never met, except in an e-mail group.  He posted this story and I asked permission to share since so many of us remember the VietNam years.  He served as a helicopter gunner  in the Mekong Delta from 1966-68 when he was 19.

What do Democrats hate most?

What do Democrats hate most? 

1. President Trump.
2. The electoral system.
3. The Bill of Rights.
4. White men.
5. Free market.
6. Tax cuts.
7. Small businesses.
8. Israel.
9. Fox News.
10. Unborn babies.

Of course, it's #1, but the others are being used in the rage. Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, something Clinton, Bush, and Obama all promised, well, that's the reason there's violence in the middle east, not Iran's threats, or Hamas' bombing women and children.

Of course, it's #1, but all white men are in there too.  Everyone on the left is so deep in identity politics that all things bad about the U.S.A. can point back to white men.

Of course, it's #1, but unborn babies have been the target of the Democrats hate long before Donald Trump said he might run for president.

We all know #1 is the biggest, most expansive, intense, and bigly hatred we've ever encountered. Hatred for Trump is bigger than 20th century nationalist or communists or socialist indiscriminate hatred for groups. It's a hate that has brought long time enemies on the left and right together to bring him down. The hate for Trump is eating brains and diminishing people. He's accused of being boorish and bumbling, yet the haters exceed all his faults. Hatred for a race is condemned, or for sexual preference, or for a religion (except Christianity--that's OK), but hatred for an individual is condoned and encouraged. Hate eats the soul; makes the hater ugly.

What do the haters fear most--that he might really deliver on his promise to make America great again.

Now for a little snow humor

The deadly politics of assault

Yes, Roy Moore was the better of two bad candidates in Alabama, but this way the Democrats AND Republicans can’t pound on him and drive him out of the Senate.  Hopefully, the winner will have only 2 years to vote to kill the unborn, raise taxes and destroy the military. There is still a Republican majority in the Senate, although with all the RINOs, and losing on the Obamacare mess where millions lost their health insurance by one vote—McCain, who hates Trump—I’m not sure it does much. There are many Republicans in the House and Senate who hate Trump and will do anything to stop anything that sounds like it’s legacy material. He’s gored their elephants as well as the Democrats’ asses.

The sexual assault thing isn’t going to go away, and all the white men you know are possible targets. Eventually, it won’t matter his age or profession, if he ever made a suggestive remark or leaned up against a woman, or told a dirty joke he will be outed.  There won’t even have to be a clever Washington Post reporter snooping around. There will be no trial, just accusations. The most recent NYC bomber will have a trial, but not these guys.  Count on financially supporting your sons and sons-in-law even if you make it through the ground glass barrier.

I watched a video Tuesday of the 19 men in media/entertainment who have been accused, and since I didn’t know any of the movie or TV stars in the video, I just picked one and googled the story.  One woman making the accusations had received a call at 2:30 a.m. to come to her ex-boyfriend’s apartment and bring a friend for the other guy, which of course, any sensible person would have refused, and she couldn’t find anyone still awake, so she went alone!  From there she weaves a great story of assault. Have her brains fallen out from drug use or been pickled by alcohol? But the guy lost his career (couldn’t even tell you his name but I guess he’s famous).

The Democrat team  has nothing but -isms, identity politics, and that doesn’t fund the military, protect the border, educate the children, bring jobs to low income rural areas, rebuild the infrastructure, reduce regulations, reduce graft and corruption in all large agencies, protect the environment, or allow us to keep our precious Bill of Rights, which includes freedom of religion and speech.  Their team’s focus on race, gender, color, sexual confusion and same sex makes the nation just a bunch of treacherous mole holes to break an ankle in.

Identity politics--what else does the left have?

Matthew Continetti dates the problem of identity politics to 1973 when the Leftists faced the problem that socialism was dying and fading. How to carry on the fight against capitalism? Make everything about victim and victimizer, oppressor and oppressed. View everything through the prism of race, gender, and class and begin in the universities to destroy any sense of national spirit, identity or cohesiveness.

When I returned to my career at the university in 1978, the movement was well underway. The grandchildren of those students are our modern day "snowflakes" who now think socialism is a better plan.

"The American people are united by our creed of freedom and equality, and also by our habits, our manners, our national language, our territorial integrity, our national symbols—such as the National Anthem, the Flag, and the Pledge of Allegiance—our civic traditions, and our national story. We should tell that story forthrightly and proudly; we should continue our traditions of local government and patriotic displays; we should guard the symbols of our heritage against attack; and we should recognize that the needs of our citizens take priority."

Imprimus, November 2017, vol. 46, No. 11

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-problem-of-identity-politics-and-its-solution/

The Trump investigation

The investigation is tainted with swill from the dossier, the spying by Obama Administration, adulterous and marital relationships within an overwhelmingly biased team, with the Trump hating media at the teats recycling the whole mess to the American people, it's little wonder that half the electorate are regurgitating slop.

Snowball cookies my mother never made

When I'm at a party, I usually reach for one or two of these.  Don't recall that Mom ever made them, nor have I, but they do appear at Christmas parties.

Snowball cookies

Yield:30

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup pecans, chopped

powdered sugar

Directions: 

Blend softened butter with powdered sugar. Add vanilla.

Mix in salt, flour and chopped pecans.

Form dough into 1 inch balls or flattened cookies and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes. While hot, roll in powdered sugar. Let cool and roll again in powdered sugar.

Practicing to be happy

You can practice being happy--it's a choice.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/shawn-achor-s-6-exercises-for-happiness-1.3040937

"1. Gratitude Exercises. Write down three things you're grateful for that occurred over the last 24 hours.
They don't have to be profound. It could be a really good cup of coffee or the warmth of a sunny day.

2. The Doubler. Take one positive experience from the past 24 hours and spend two minutes writing down every detail about that experience. As you remember it, your brain labels it as meaningful and deepens the imprint.

3. The Fun Fifteen. Do 15 minutes of a fun cardio activity, like gardening or walking the dog, every day. The effects of daily cardio can be as effective as taking an antidepressant.

4. Meditation. Every day take two minutes to stop whatever you're doing and concentrate on breathing. Even a short mindful break can result in a calmer, happier you.

5. Conscious act of kindness. At the start of every day, send a short email or text praising someone you know. Our brains become addicted to feeling good by making others feel good.

6.Deepen Social Connections. Spend time with family and friends. Our social connections are one of the best predictors for success and health, and even life expectancy."

Speaking of having a purpose

Most women I know over 60 have one purpose in life--the grandchildren and/or great grandchildren--men go another direction, either still working or they are on boards or the golf course. I don't have any of those in my life, and I'm not huge on volunteering (I have a few activities in that category). My FBF tell me posting at my blog or Facebook just won't count. But having a purpose is really good for you.

Sample of questions asked of participants in the study over 7 years.  "Effect of a Purpose in Life on Risk of Incident Alzheimer Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment in Community-Dwelling Older Persons" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2897172/ 

Statement
1	I feel good when I think of what I have done in the past and what I hope to do in the future.
2	I live life 1 day at a time and do not really think about the future.
3	I tend to focus on the present because the future nearly always brings me problems.
4	I have a sense of direction and purpose in life.
5	My daily activities often seem trivial and unimportant to me.
6	I used to set goals for myself, but that now seems like a waste of time.
7	I enjoy making plans for the future and working them to a reality.
8	I am an active person in carrying out the plans I set for myself.
9	Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them.
10	I sometimes feel as if I have done all there is to do in life.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4054865/ 
"Cognitive and Social Lifestyle: Links with Neuropathology and Cognition in Late Life"  This article is more skeptical.

Woman of color is whiter than I am

"To the casual observer, [Elizabeth] Warren, now the Democrats' Senate candidate, might seem a 100 percent woman of non-color. She walks like a white, quacks like a white, looks whiter than white. She's the whitest white since Frosty the Snowman fell in a vat of Wite-Out. But she "self-identified" as Cherokee, so that makes her a "woman of color." "
Mark Steyn, Washington's Redskins, https://www.steynonline.com/8279/washington-redskin

Ten tips to keep your brain young

A team of neuroscientists reviewed 17,000 medical studies on keeping the brain healthy as we age. This speaker at a Ted talk (works for a game company) reviewed what they found.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tcEgqTWbxQ

1. Physical exercise:  especially brisk walking 30 minutes a day,  5 times per week, vigorous aerobic exercise pushes out waste.  https://www.brainhq.com/brain-resources/everyday-brain-fitness/physical-exercise

2. Brain exercise : brain fitness games / New language /ball room dancing/ music lessons / chess / bridge ; good if it’s fun, but you don’t have to be good—grows new neuro connections.

3. Eliminate toxic substances : Cigarettes / Alcohol / Toxic substance in household products like shampoo, soap;  Cosmetics database dot com will reveal toxicity.

4. Socialize:  5 social ties are good for the brain / isolation is bad for you / volunteer /

5. Have a purpose: pick a cause and it’s good for society https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22566582

6. Relaxation : Spa / Meditation / read a book / walking in nature

7. Manage stress: stress causes brain shrinkage

8. Pick a good doctor: prevention oriented

9. Protect head from injury ; people who text while driving have 23x the accident rate; equivalent to 4 drinks  https://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cause-of-accident/cell-phone/cell-phone-statistics.html

9.  Recommends Mediterranean Diet :  lots of colors; Fish / Almond, nuts / Vegetables / Fruits

10. Positive outlook:  way of thinking and responding matters.  Nun study, http://hapacus.com/blog/nuns-prove-happiness-leads-to-longer-lives/  most positive lived longer, had neurological signs of Alzheimer’s in brain, but not the disease.

The Bayeux Tapestry

The challenge of the internet: you start looking for one thing and then find another.  I was browsing the course offerings at Coursera https://about.coursera.org/ which has 3 levels of offerings taught by instructors at different universities, and came across the Age of Cathedrals under general interest (not a degree program).  When I looked up the instructor, M. Howard Bloch, I decided to look for videos and found one on the Bayeux Tapestry.  I'm not particularly a craft person, but I do following quilting, crocheting, knitting groups on Facebook.  This is history in embroidery.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?197293-1/a-needle-hand-god

The Bayeux Tapestry is the world’s most famous textile–an exquisite 230-foot-long embroidered panorama depicting the events surrounding the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is also one of history’s most mysterious and compelling works of art. This haunting stitched account of the battle that redrew the map of medieval Europe has inspired dreams of theft, waves of nationalism, visions of limitless power, and esthetic rapture.

https://french.yale.edu/publications/needle-right-hand-god-norman-conquest-1066-and-making-and-meaning-bayeux-tapestry

Blood transfusions from women to men

If further study shows that men receiving blood transfusions from women who have been pregnant is more risky than receiving blood from men, I wonder if the research will be accepted or condemned as transphobic. It would show that men and women aren't interchangeable based on feelings. Just in case history and biology haven't shown that to be obvious.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2657356?redirect=true

https://www.sciencealert.com/blood-transfusions-from-women-could-be-more-risky-for-men

A rank, fly bitten codpiece . . .

Insults in Shakespeare--perfect for today's social media.