The affordable housing game

The paper reported another real estate sale fee increase (you pay a hefty fee when you sell property based on sale price) to build "affordable housing" in Columbus, Ohio. And if you check the business news for your town, you'll probably see the same thing, different amount, different catchy name or acronym.

I've tracked this ploy for 40 years, under various names at my blog. Even 20 years ago, based on the transfers that went into this, there should have been no unaffordable housing for the workers our booming economy is drawing to central Ohio. Why? Because if you're smart and invest wisely, you move up and sell that house to another family. We bought our first home, a duplex in a shabby neighborhood, for $14,000 in 1962, the renter (now a FB friend, a liberal) paid our mortgage, and 2 years later we "moved up" to a nicer area and our renters paid both mortgages plus the car payment, and we paid back my father from whom we borrowed the down payment.

Many do benefit from "affordable housing" government (local, state, federal) programs. Middle and upper middle class. Developers, builders, sub-contractors, bureaucrats, government employees, banks, non-profits who get the grants, churches, salesmen, and even groups like ACORN who provide the workshops on how to use the money. The article names specific programs and funds. So what happened to "North of Broad," "Crossing at Joyce", "Home Again," "Restore Columbus," and CHIP, to name just a few that a decade ago were the darlings of the housing saviors?

https://www.columbusunderground.com/fee-increase-will-go-to…

https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-george-bush-isnt-fiscal.html

https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-need-for-affordable-housing-in.html

There were 160 housing programs in the federal government in 2012. That figure probably hasn't shrunk. I suspect they may have been at the bottom of the 2007-08 housing bubble that burst.

A Protestant tours a Roman Catholic Cathedral

Excellent explanation of what the architecture, art, windows, altar, ambry (where oil is stored), etc. mean. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOlU_4pzft4

FBI Lovebirds play

The play FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers   is a “ dramatized staged reading of text messages between Trump nemesis FBI Agent Peter Strzok and his lover, fellow FBI Agent Lisa Page and their subsequent interrogation by a congressional committee. Dean Cain (Gosnell, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) and Kristy Swanson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pretty in Pink) play the roles of Strzok and Page. The staged reading premiered this summer at a theater in Washington D.C.

Politico called the play “Hamilton for the MAGA crowd.” National Review praised Cain and Swanson’s performances, stating that the play left the D.C. audience “howling.” Townhall also praised the lead actors and stated that FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers is a “hilarious glimpse into DC.” Even Vice News on HBO ran a story about the production, calling it “the most dangerous play in Washington, D.C. . . .

On October 7th at 9PM EST, FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers will be uploaded to YouTube, where millions more can access it and learn the truth behind the Mueller Report. “

Myrna walked away from the Democrat Party in 1988

“I was raised in a Democrat household. We even have pictures of my older sister in diapers with Roosevelt election buttons all over it (1940). That's how strongly my family followed the Democrat Party in the 1940s.

I married my husband in 1965, and he was a Republican, thanks to one of his college professors, who was also a TV news commentator. My father could not understand how a young man, who isn't wealthy, is a Republican. So, for years, I remained a Democrat, even though my husband was a Republican. But I did listen to some of the things my husband said.

Fast forward to 1976. My husband and I became Amway distributors. Amway was a short name for the American Way. Of course we went to rallies and heard both Rich DeVos (Betsy's father in law) and Jay Van Andel. They were Dynamic and inspiring, mostly because they were telling the truth about America, free enterprise, working hard, and lifting up your fellow man, while lifting yourself up at the same time. I had never heard some of those ideas expressed like that before, and they really got into my American heart and mind. I fell in love with the Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct of that company, which caused me to join, aside from the products and inspiring speeches. That company was a pure American ideal and I loved it. But still, I remained a Democrat.

Now it was 1988, and the Democrat Party had their convention. When I watched the small group bring forth the name of Jesse Jackson, an extortionist, to be their choice for nominee for president, that's when I had had enough. I mentally walked away, physically re-registered as Republican, and have never looked back.

Seeing how the Democrat Party has morphed into what it is today, or actually exposed itself for what it has always been, I believe I did the right thing. I will never go back. “

Whatever happened to MS-13

In early 2018, there were dozens of articles about the dangers of MS-13 in high profile publications. Over a decade before in 2006 it was estimated that each career gang member cost taxpayers $1.7 to $2.3 million in a 10 year period. The New Yorker reported in January 2018, "There are roughly ten thousand MS-13 members in the United States, and some fifty thousand spread throughout Central America, but the gang is diffuse and disorganized, grouped in a loose patchwork of local chapters known as cliques. Its members are ruthless—they rob, extort, and kill—but they have relatively little money to show for all their violence. . ."

When Donald Trump called MS-13 animals, and they were streaming over the border with caravans of illegal immigrants, Democrats were quick to call him a racist, even though the ruthlessness and cruelty of this gang of central American origin had been reported for over 25 years. Even though in 2012 under Obama, it had been labeled by the government as a "transnational criminal organization."  Now I hardly see a single reference to them.

That's how Democrats are chasing reasons to impeach. Run from one Trump imagined travesty to the next. From bombshell to bust, from racist to war monger usually in just a few hours . . .

https://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Content/Documents/Impact-of-Gangs-on-Communities.pdf

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/former-gang-members-offer-advice-on-how-to-combat-ms-13

Carson on the homeless problem in California

I watched Fox's interview with Ben Carson about the federal government (my tax money) helping out the homeless disaster created by the Democrats with all their building red tape which only helps the wealthy and well-placed. He held up San Diego as a good example with wrap around services. California has one of the largest economies in the WORLD--they can solve this without Florida, Montana and Ohio money just by cleaning up their own local laws. It’s the same reasons their forests and neighborhoods burn.  Environmental wackos, aka climate change alarmists.

“The leadership in San Diego has a grasp of the homelessness situation, which stems in part from rising housing costs,” Carson said. “To reduce homelessness in San Diego, the city has developed a housing plan which takes the appropriate steps to alleviate some of the impediments to the production of affordable housing.”

"Impediments" my granny's bean soup--it's mismanagement and swallowing all those "green" regulations.

https://fox5sandiego.com/2019/09/19/mayor-meets-with-ben-carson-about-homeless-services-funding/

Homocysteine

I wrote about homocysteine in February at this blog.

Today I noticed this after seeing Dr. Bret Scher on a Prager U video. https://lowcarbcardiologist.com/meat-and-homocysteine-irrelevant-or-dangerous/

This video is on how the government made us fat is good. https://www.prageru.com/video/how-the-government-made-you-fat/

Heavy marijuana use provides a lifetime of problems

"Study members with regular cannabis use and persistent dependence experienced downward socioeconomic mobility, more financial difficulties, workplace problems, and relationship conflict in early midlife."

Cerda, M., Moffitt, T.E., Meier, M.H., /Harrington, H. L., Houts, R., Ramrakha, S., Hogan, S., Poulton, R., Caspi, A. "Persistent cannabis dependence and alcohol dependence represent risks for midlife economic and social problems: A longitudinal cohort study" Clinical Psychological Science, 2016 . https://health.ucdavis.edu/newsroom/pdf/2016_APS_Persistent-cannabis-dependence.pdf 

Study done on New Zealand middleclass ages 18-38 in longitudinal study. Dependent cannabis users ended up (at 38) in lower socio-economic rung than parents; non-users ended up higher. Although often they were also alcohol users, cannabis dependent have more financial and workplace problems than alcoholics.

I doubt this study is a surprise to those who have been around heavy marijuana users, but those who push legalization will find reasons to ignore. Easier to control citizens with dumb-downed brains and social status so society can be blamed.

President addresses UN on religious freedom; a first

“The President will call on the international community to take concrete steps to prevent attacks against people on the basis of their religion or beliefs and to ensure the sanctity of houses of worship and all public spaces for all faiths.” https://www.christianpost.com/news/trump-to-give-historic-religious-freedom-speech-at-united-nations-evangelical-leaders-invited.html.   80% of the world lives under religious oppression.

His address concerns all religions, but this is the worst time in history for Christians. "In 2017 Pew released a report showing that the number of countries where Christians fell victim to government restrictions and social hostilities grew from 108 in 2014 to 128 the following year. In its World Watch Monitor Report, covering 2016, Open Doors, an organization supporting persecuted Christians, found that: “More than 200 million Christians in the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian experience persecution because of their faith.” Other sources claimed that the true figure for 2016 may be as high as 600 million.. https://www.churchinneed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/persecution-1-1.pdf

https://www.newsweek.com/christian-persecution-genocide-worse-ever-770462

As thousands gathered last week to protest a climate model that has been proven false or inadequate for decades, real people were being tortured, turned into refugees and killed for their faith.

This how Facebook works

Q: How many people does it take to change a lightbulb in a Facebook group?

1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed.

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently.

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.

17 purists who use candles and are offended by light bulb discussions.

6 to argue over whether it's 'lightbulb' or 'light bulb'.

Another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid.

22 to tell THOSE 6 to stop being jerks.

2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is 'lamp'.

15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that 'light bulb' is perfectly correct.

49 to post memes and gifs (several are of Michael Jackson eating popcorn with the words added, “I’m just here for the comments.”)

19 to post that this page is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a light bulb page.

11 to defend the posting to this page saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant here.

24 to discuss the merits of LED/swirly fluorescent light bulbs

44 to claim LED and fluorescent bulbs will kill you.

12 to post F.

8 to ask what F means.

7 to post 'Following' but there's 3 dots at the top right that means you don't have to.

3 to say "can't share"

2 to reply "can't share from a closed group"

36 People to post pics of their own light bulbs.

15 People to post "I can't see S$%^!" and use their own light bulbs.

6 to report the post or PM an admin because someone said "f÷×$"

4 to say "Didn't we go through this already a short time ago?".

13 to say "Do a search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs".

1 to bring politics into the discussion by adding that (insert politician of choice) isn't the brightest bulb. This usually takes place within the first three comments.

50 more to get into personal attacks over their political views.

5 admins to ban the light bulb posters who took it all too seriously.

1 late arrival to comment on the original post 6 months later and start it all over again.

Lots of Bible

I'm in an (older) adult Sunday School class after the 9 a.m. church service at Lytham Rd UALC; we're using "Hebrews (The people's Bible)" by Richard E. Lauersdorf. I'm in an (older) adult Bible study class on Thursday mornings; we're studying Hosea with handouts from Pastor Jeff. I'm in a women's Bible Study group on Saturday morning at Lytham Rd. UALC; we're using "God of Covenant, a study of Genesis 12-50" by Jen Wilkin (Lifeway Press, 2018) and as a couple we're in a SALT (Sharing and Learning Together) group using "Making sense of the Bible; rediscovering the power of scripture today" by Adam Hamilton (Harper, 2014).

Our Sunday School class has an outstanding teacher--Charlie Ollermann--a lawyer who grew up in Nebraska. He manages to keep this class from wandering too far afield. Last week there were 40 in the class, and I brought cookies and they all sang happy birthday to me. The Thursday group is mainly retirees and Pastor Jeff Morlock who is our pastor for seniors always brings up good points. Jeff's wife is also a pastor and has recently taken a position at St. John's Lutheran in Grove City. The Women of the Word on Saturday is a group that has been together perhaps 15 years, and we come and go as our schedule allows. Mary Jo Sullivan's prayers make it worth coming. This fall's offering on Genesis follows the first part, and includes a video. The Lifeway instructor, Jen Wilkin, is excellent. Our SALT group doesn't meet regularly--maybe 10 times a year, so it takes us a while to work through a book, but the Hamilton book is very well written and we're enjoying it.

Town Hall with candidate Bernie

Do the women who ask silly questions at Town Halls know the U.S. birth rate is below replacement rate? So are they asking the candidates to reduce the populations of black and brown countries? Do we have a name for that?

https://dailycaller.com/2019/09/04/bernie-sanders-abortion-climate-change/

A member of the audience asked Socialist Sanders about human population growth during CNN’s climate town hall Wednesday. She specifically asked Sanders whether he would support measures to curb that growth.

My exercise log turned 8,000 today

In late December 2014 I had a check up and the scale at Dr. Bush’s office said 170 (which I call 165 on mine).  So I started a log for riding my exercycle and told myself I’d ride to Jeanne’s home in Indianapolis, about 180 miles and back.  When I met that goal I said how about Debbie’s in California (Bob’s other sister).  Meanwhile I started using my Silver Sneakers membership at the Metro next to Panera’s on Bethel road.  So I recorded miles (and for awhile minutes, but that ended in a few weeks) in a small notebook for which I’d had no use.  Today, on the second notebook I logged in 8,000!  My routine usually is to go to Lifetime Fitness on Henderson Rd near by, but I’m down to about 4 miles (3 on cycle and 1 on treadmill), but if it’s nice I walk maybe a mile outside, and occasionally use the treadmill in my office while watching the news. I’d also been doing a resistance routine and some regular stretching, but when we got back from Lakeside on Labor Day, that sort of dropped off.

Looking back through the first log I see I was far more successful at weight loss in 2015 than in 2019.  After 6 months of logging my miles, I’d lost 30 pounds—obviously I also stuck to my tried and true diet plan of “eat less move move” aka ELMM. I’ve put about 13 back on.
I was working on our Spain travel plans then, both saving money and trying to lose weight for all the walking we’d be doing.  Unfortunately, I developed bursitis and did have to carry a cane much of the time in Spain. To save money, I stopped having my hair colored ($500/year), gave up my morning coffee (about $2/day) at Panera’s, sold a piece of pottery for $500, rolled the change in the piggy bank (about $200) and cashed in some points on our Freedom Card, about $200. Saving money for me is easier than losing weight!

Riitta and I on the stairs in Gaudalest September 2015

April 2015 with new exercise outfit

Doc Martin and Downton Abbey

I thought Doc Martin the series on PBS was over, so I obviously missed season 8 (spring 2019). Now I see it's been cancelled after season 9.  My friend Bev says I can get it at the library.  I think 9 should be on soon.  The U.S. gets these later than U.K.

And then there’s Downton Abbey the movie.  Several Facebook friends have seen it and thought it quite good.  I guess we’ll miss that one too since it seems to be a limited engagement.

Wildhood

I am offered a lot of books to review, and occasionally I accept. If you've been baffled by adolescent behavior--your pupils, your kids, your grandchildren, or even your own if you can remember that far back, this is the book that explains it, and why it's probably necessary. "Wildhood; the epic journey from adolescence to adulthood in humans and other animals," by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers (Scribner, 2019). I'm assuming that Barbara is the scientist and Kathryn the word magician, because it's both very learned, and easy to read.

Using the lives of four animals, Ursula the penguin, Shrink the hyena, Salt a humpback whale, and Slavc a wolf (plus dozens of examples of other animal species--salmon, bats, gazelles, seals, etc.) they provide a look at everything you see in teenagers from status, to anxiety, to bullying, to risk taking, to privilege to sexual coercion. Is your son living in your basement? If animal parents were that protective, the species wouldn't survive.

"Animals will suffer pain, forgo food, give up sex, and betray others just to ensure they've not left out or driven from a group. You might say that for social animals, status is like gravity. It's powerful and inescapable. It's invisible. It exerts an omnipresent force, and it molds how a creature moves through the world and behaves around others." p. 97

Now, doesn't that sound just like junior high school?

Sneak peek at “A republic, if you can keep it”

It's a wonderful day to sit on the deck with a cuppa and enjoy the blue sky and rustling leaves with a good book. But because it's so lovely, the lawn crew has shown up and there's a very loud mower just a few yards away, so I'm back inside. Even after 18 years here in this delightful spot with mature trees and a creek, I'm still thrilled to have them doing it and not Bob.

I'm loving "A republic, if you can keep it," by Neil Gorsuch. In the introduction he introduces us to his roots and branches, some fascinating people. All of us should have to write a paragraph or two about parents, grandparents, great uncles, etc. and their challenges and contributions so we understand how we got here.

Of his mother (pgs 13-14): "My mother was brilliant and a feminist before feminism. Born in Casper, Wyoming, she graduated from the University of Colorado at 19 and its law school at 22. That was a time when almost no women went to law school. She studied and taught in India as a Fulbright Scholar and went to work as the first female lawyer in the Denver District Attorney's Office. There, she helped start a program to pursue deadbeat dads who had failed to pay child support, long before efforts like that were routine. Her idea of daycare often meant me [Neil] tagging along. She never stopped moving. When she ran for the Colorado state legislature, where she was soon voted the outstanding freshman legislator, she wore out countless pairs of shoes walking the entire district again and again. As kids, we just had to keep up. Later, she served as the first female administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington."

With a mother like that, how could he be anything other than a great lawyer and judge.

720,000,000 million women off to the salt mines

With Trump, we know who's in charge. If Biden were elected, who knows. Did you hear that child care proposal to put 720,000,000 women to work? Yikes. And at a union event.

Let's ignore the number which was more than twice our population, and look at child care tax credits. Currently it's $2,000 and Trump is doubling that for next year. Also, do you really know women who aren't working because of the tax credit? Of course not. The unemployment rate is ridiculously low now, and any qualified parent can name his/her price (his comment was also sexist). There are thousands of doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, teachers and academics who think they are better qualified to raise their children to school age, and that marriage and home are too important to give up for a tax credit. Besides, they want to stay home and listen to the record player.

Hitler and the disabled—the slippery slope of the left

https://www.lifenews.com/2019/09/13/before-the-nazis-killed-jews-they-euthanized-hundreds-of-thousands-of-disabled-people/

The article he refers to appeared in the NYT in 2017, and there's a pay wall, but this is a decent summary--if there can be anything decent about the Nazis. The Democrats, Antifa, BLM, Occupy movement and pink hat Trump haters and Hollywood celebs have cheapened that word and its memories. I had read about this years ago, but many people don't know that methods were tested on the disabled. Germany actually had some outstanding facilities for children and adults with challenges. Imagine the horror of the parents and siblings who came to visit or look for them! Hitler also learned from the Turks who slaughtered many thousands of Armenians. It's the power of the state--National Socialism (aka Nazi)--and it's the very thing President Trump is resisting. But Trump's enemies are clever--they know that most people don't know history, don't know the meaning of words, even, and that the big lie can be repeated and repeated until their minds are mushy. Hitler's socialist model first killed his own citizens before moving beyond the borders.

A nice birthday week

Today my friend of 45 years, Nancy, and I went out for lunch at the OSU Golf Club, and I’d had a hair cut and style with Melissa earlier, so I felt good.  We both had the quiche.  Our condo association had Monday and Tuesday set aside for drive way/street resurfacing, so we’d all been doing a little extra walking, since everyone’s cars were parked in the parking lot of the church next door.  Fortunately, the weather was bright and sunny, and except for wet shoes in the morning, it all went well.

I'd been carrying 2 Barnes & Noble gift cards in my purse for a year, so today I stopped in and purchased, "A Republic, if you can keep it," by Neil Gorsuch, (2019) and "Call sign Chaos" by Jim Mattis, (2019). I rarely buy books, but these looked like keepers. In fact, I think it was Hugh Hewitt who said the Mattis book would still be read 100 years from now. I doubt that, but in today's environment a few months would be good.  So I’m calling them a present to myself, even though I think I got the cards for Mother’s Day.

But the big splurge, not intended for birthday, but coincided is a new car.  We now have a white Chrysler Pacifica Touring L with heated seats and steering wheel and all the latest gadgets for safety and audio.  It’s going to take a while to learn all the new features, like keyless entry and start and the motor turning off at stop signs.

Then Saturday evening we’re going out with our daughter and son-in-law to try a restaurant in Grandview.

Equity for Muslims

I received a notice today that OSU is having a "health equity" lecture on care of Muslim patients. Usually when liberals use the term "equity" they are discussing oppressed or low income groups, but according to Pew Research American Muslims have a higher education level than Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Adventists, Baptists and Catholics, and we're told that education translates to income. So what inequity will be discussed? FGM perhaps? And isn't that a cultural/religious issue? Pork on hospital menus? How women are gowned or how hygiene standards are kept by Muslim staff? I know there are sharia concerns, but that doesn't sound like "equity." Since we have so many foreign and non-Christian medical staff, are there lectures on how to treat Christians? https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/07/creeping_sharia_in_health_care_.html