Too much food

Read e-mail invites carefully. Last night I took a lovely arrangement of peanut butter cookies and chocolate mints wrapped in green foil to our fall condo meeting. Beverage and desserts were supplied--didn't need to do that. Now I have waaaay too much food here, and my daughter just stopped by with some frozen meals--her fabulous lasagna and beef stew. So I ate some cookies--just to free up some space.

Our loss

Protestants gave up so much when the book of Wisdom was removed from the Old Testament.

Wisdom 2:23-3:9 Today's reading.

God formed man to be imperishable;

the image of his own nature he made them.

But by the envy of the Devil, death entered the world,

and they who are in his possession experience it.

But the souls of the just are in the hand of God,

and no torment shall touch them.

They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;

and their passing away was thought an affliction

and their going forth from us, utter destruction.

But they are in peace.

For if before men, indeed, they be punished,

yet is their hope full of immortality;

Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,

because God tried them

and found them worthy of himself.

As gold in the furnace, he proved them,

and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.

In the time of their visitation they shall shine,

and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;

They shall judge nations and rule over peoples,

and the Lord shall be their King forever.

Those who trust in him shall understand truth,

and the faithful shall abide with him in love:

Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,

and his care is with his elect.

The Washington Post—a fantasy

I have a dream. No, it's more a fantasy. Jeff Bezos needs money (See? A fantasy since he's the richest man in the world). So he decides to sell the Washington Post which daily poisons the minds of elitist, sourpuss coastal Leftists and Democrats, those self-righteous, angry haters of America and those terrified of cleaning up the DC mess. He has every technological trick known to spew 1,200 articles a day, mostly anti-Trump . He doesn't get a lot for the fish wrapper in my fantasy--maybe $14.97--but a smart conservative snatches it up, and we again have a vibrant, interesting, fair and balanced, well-written, mature source of information and opinion in the land. We'll have real news instead of constant opinion written by 20-somethings. Some men want money, some want power. Through digital magic, he has both. [Businessinsider, this source, is also controlled by Bezos.]

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-washington-post-changed-after-jeff-bezos-acquisition-2016-5?

Veterans Day, 2019

When we were kids, November 11 was called Armistice Day—because it was the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month of 1918—the end of World War I.  And oh my, how many wars since then!  My parents remembered and told stories about the first Armistice Day since they were about 5-6 years old and remembered the celebrations.  I like to think of them running around as kids, in adjoining counties—Lee and Ogle--but not knowing each other, listening to the farm bells, celebrating what they probably didn’t understand. But since both my grandfathers had been registered for the draft, at least they could put that worry aside.

Dad, being deceased, technically is not honored today—that’s for Memorial Day, but he  “was inducted into the Marine Corps in March, 1944, at San Diego, California.  After completing his training, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Mayo and made two trips across the Atlantic and one trip each to Okinawa, the Philippines and Japan.  He was discharged in December, 1945.” [War Record of Mt. Morris]  It is my recollection he was home in time for Christmas that year, and I think Mom went all out—we got the doll house (to share) and the sled (to share). I’m not sure what he gave my brother, but we three girls each got pure silk hand bags—mine was red and yellow—I had it well into adulthood packed away, but have no idea where it is now.  Dad had worked for Standard Oil before going into the service, and he still had a job, but not the same territory, so he was driving every day to the area around Forreston and Freeport, and that’s why we moved in 1946 (or could have been early 1947—memory is a bit rusty).

The Mt. Morris Index kept up with all the soldiers away from home and although we have none of his letters  I was able to include one of his letters to the Index about a mix-up in his mail, August 1944 when he was still a private in one of my memory compilations of 2002.  The information from the Index I found in a file folder Dad kept in his desk on Lincoln St.--they would be 75 years old if someone in the family still has those newspaper clippings.  There are a few references to our family which moved to Alameda, California, while he was stationed in California. I think the editor (Tommy ?) did that for all the men who were in the war.   In the June 29, 1945, clipping it mentions he was a payroll clerk on the Mayo.  He told me years later that because he could type (won a prize at Polo H.S.) he wasn’t in combat.  I’d always figured it was because he had 4 children and was in his 30s—much older than most of the men!  He had a leave he spent in Mt. Morris because his ship was docked in Boston, but we were on the road with our mother returning from California, and didn’t get to see him.

This is so sad. . . evil in our land

“As the left has increasingly exposed itself in the Trump era as rabidly illiberal, irrational, and immoral, it is time for the right to acknowledge that the left is not merely wrong, but evil.

As an ideology, Progressivism – the rebranding of Communism – embraces totalitarianism and absolute statist control, which always and everywhere leads to misery, corruption, and brutality, and never elevates humanity.

Conservatives who believe that it is still possible to reason with the left and engage them in fair-and-square policy debates are clinging to a failed strategy, sadly. We must accept the reality that leftists have long since abandoned rational rules of engagement, if they ever had any; instead, they operate from a hate-filled mob mentality, a bloodlust for power, and a complete absence of moral boundaries. We cannot afford a lack of moral clarity about the undeclared civil war raging across the United States of America.” Richard Helmold  commenting on Mark Tapson article https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/02/leftism-not-just-wrong-evil-mark-tapson/?. . .

“The Democrat Party is the face of Moloch, the Canaanite god whom Milton called the “horrid King besmear'd with blood / Of human sacrifice.” It is a cult of criminality and death. On every political issue, Democrats take the side of chaos and destruction, crime and disorder. They hype the threat of white supremacism while whitewashing Islamic terrorism. They are actively engaged in erasing our history and undermining our rights. They support open borders over national security; sanctuary cities for criminal aliens and the abolishment of ICE over law-abiding citizens and legal immigration; infanticide over the sacredness of human life; the dismantling of Western civilization over its preservation. This is not simply wrong – this is evil.”

Baltimore and the Democrats, by guest blogger Peter

“There is a clear strategy by the Democrats to obtain majorities by using districting and migration to win elections.

We see it very clearly in Maryland. The northern part of the state is majority Republican voters. Roscoe Bartlett used to be our Congressman and he had a farm, took care of his animals and then drove to DC. He was one of only 3 scientists in Congress.

Then they resliced his district and we are now part of Elijah Cummings’ District. Needless to say, he was out of touch with rural issues.

But here is what else is happening. Under O’Malley, Baltimore City became an attractive destination for Mexican illegal immigrants. He could be seen posing on the webpage for the illegal immigrant organization that provides job referrals for the illegals in Maryland. They provide, for example, the labor to clean up Oriole stadium after the games. With the upcoming census, they will be counted allocating more Congressmen in Baltimore.

Around Baltimore city is Baltimore County which is light blue. So how to you secure those seats? By forcing migration from Baltimore City to Baltimore County.  How?

They just passed a new county law that rental property owners have to accept Section 8 housing vouchers, whether they like it or not. And the tenants don’t have to disclose that this is how they plan to pay the rent ahead of the lease.  This will trigger migration from Baltimore City with largely failing schools to Baltimore County with better schools.

I would not be surprised if there are similar undercurrents in Delaware county, PA, since the geographic and demoscopic situation is very similar.”

And then Peter adds:

“Now that we moved about 2 months ago to Harford County, its been a real eye opener. Harford County really has it together, runs a better than balanced budget, no proposed tax increases, a completely different environment in racial harmony than Baltimore City or Baltimore County despite the Trump flags flying everywhere in this county, schools that are run with a lot more common sense, a strong county procurement initiative to reduce sourcing costs across the board. We are still surprised on a daily basis. A couple days ago, we found out that we can source very inexpensive health insurance through the Harford County Schools for our kids. It’s actually a very innovative idea that actually reduces the cost for the school system.”

Two months ago

Where were you 2 months ago? Sept 8. Looking back at my diary, I see it was a quiet, peaceful Sunday, good church service and we were getting back into our fall routine after a great summer at Lakeside. Not a thought about brain cancer and how our lives would change forever in a few weeks.

And where were you 2 months before you were born? I was living a very quiet, peaceful life in my mother's womb, kicking and swimming, and so were you (different years and different mother, of course). Mom was 27 and chasing after my 2 older sisters. I don't know if we--all of us--were living at 203 E. Hitt St., not sure I ever asked when they bought the home I remember. The newspapers were full of the growing tension in Europe caused by Hitler who in a few weeks, about the time of my birth, would march into Poland, but the U.S., including FDR, was still planning to be neutral.

Two months before you and I were born we were the same persons we are today, just smaller. Yet there are women walking into "clinics" today, November 8, who have changed their minds and will kill their babies who could have survived outside the womb. “Oh, but that's rare,” you say—“It's a woman's right.” OK, name the figure, the number of babies, that is acceptable to you. 50? 100? Perhaps 1,000? Pick a number.

And remember, once you too were counting down 2 months to launch.

Please look out for bikers

“Drivers overtaking bike riders are the biggest cause of death among cyclists, says a study released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board. Bike safety is a growing problem that appears to be getting more worrisome, and, the board reported, “current available data likely underestimate the level of bicycling activity in the United States.” In 2017, 806 cyclists died in crashes with motor vehicles, which it found “was comparable to the deaths resulting from railroad or marine accidents and more than twice the number of deaths resulting from aviation accidents in the same year.” Last year, the death toll jumped to 857, its highest since 1990. The NTSB report, its most comprehensive look at bicycle safety in 47 years, comes as both Republicans and Democrats in Congress are pushing hard to provide more funding for what they see as a growing problem."

Call me crazy, but I don't expect Congress to solve this--they are much too busy trying to undo the election of 2016. However, why not lessen the hype on bicycles being a healthy lifestyle exercise and answer to fossil fuel global warming? Let's crack down on drivers using their cell phones--we lived nicely for years without talking on phones while driving. You might just save some bikers from death or injury.

I've looked at the report, https://www.ntsb.gov/…/Documen…/2019-DCA18SS002-abstract.pdf and unfortunately, it only includes the number of deaths, not the increase in bicyclists sharing the roads (if there is such a figure which would give the real story). Doesn't include the age of the bikers--is this like the huge increase in number of falls among the elderly--the boomers are taking more chances? Is there really any evidence that ripping up streets to create narrowing spaces for cars with bike lanes is actually decreasing accidents, or does it just encourage more bikers who eventually merge on to more dangerous roadways which have no protected lanes? That's what I think about when I see numbers, without rates, without percentage.

If accidents go up 2x, but the number of bikers has also gone up by 4x, then that needs to be included in the report before suggesting legislation and expensive regulations. Also, if it took 30 years to get to the 1990 number, then what has changed? Cell phones and age of riders trying to be "woke" is still my guess.

Whistleblower’s lawyer announced coup over two years ago

Mark Zaid, the whistleblower's lawyer, reported in 2017 that the coup against a lawfully elected U.S. President had started. Now all they had to do was make up a crime. So there you go--Democrats trying to destroy the President we elected. Crime? He beat their awful, terrible, no good candidate--not fair--he wasn't even a politician.

https://lidblog.com/mark-zaid/

It was enough to suck in the gullible and dishonest, but also the  wise and self-righteous.

https://www.glennbeck.com/chalkboard/dissecting-the-great-ukraine-lie?

Glenn Beck is always good with the visuals.

“Democrats and the media are working overtime to convince the American people that releasing the name of the Ukraine whistleblower will put his life in danger from those on the right. But actually, conservatives are the ones who want him alive to testify. If the Ukraine whistleblower's life is in danger at all, it's from those on the left. Why? Because he's the key that holds all their secrets together. He knows of all the corruption done in Ukraine by Joe Biden, President Obama, James Comey, John Brennan, Adam Schiff, and more. He knows everything about Fusion GPS, Hunter Biden, and Burisma. So, if any group wants the whistleblower gone, it's those on the left. This whistleblower is in the same spot as Al Capone's accountant was decades ago. And it's not a good spot to be in.”  Glenn Beck

What happened to Virginia? asks Michael Smith

"Joe Morrissey, the Democrat Virginia lawmaker who was jailed four years ago after the sex scandal involving his teenage secretary, wins a Virginia state Senate seat by a massive margin.

Ralph Northam who appeared in a KKK costume or blackface (he isn't sure) is still the Virginia's Governor.

Justin Fairfax, credibly accused of the sexual battery of an ex-girlfriend, is still Virginia's Lieutenant Governor.

Mark Herring, who, like Northam, admitted to appearing in blackface, is still Virginia's Attorney General.

Virginia went blue after the entire state government turned into a Democrat majority.

Some things I take from this:

1. Democrats are either hypocrites or they don't really care about sexual misconduct - or both.

2. Democrats are either hypocrites or they don't really care about exposition of racism by their leadership - or both.

3. Virginia, the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson (and by extension, the Declaration of Independence), has been infiltrated by Deep State loyalists working for the federal government.

4. The Virginia GOP is awful."

My comment on Mike’s excellent post:  Yes, the Virginia GOP is probably awful, but primarily Virginia has gone blue because it’s a suburb of DC, it’s where the deep state lives, sends their kids to school and worships. It’s where they shop and socialize. When their party is out of office, they just hunker down with a new position in a non-profit or think tank.

Trump is a terrible threat, for some reason.  Even though his policies have brought hope and new sources of income to people lower on the socio-economic scale of government career workers. he’s poked some holes, stirred up a few hornets’ nests, and questioned what their comfy life is all about. It’s not business as usual under Trump and that has distressed some very powerful people.

What does it feel like

To have an adult son with brain cancer. It’s sort of, kinda

Like I fell and broke my femur,

but someone wants me to run a marathon.

Like I have a hundred pound sack on my shoulder and

I’m on a treadmill going nowhere.

Like a good night’s sleep is a vague,

impossible to recover, memory.

Like the Psalms suddenly make sense and they never did before.

Like we’ve talked more in 4 weeks than the previous 30 years.

Like life is one long asthma attack.

Like noticing strange, unimportant things—

he has no gray hair and a very large vocabulary.

Like the world stopped on October 1, 2019.

Trump is. . .

Trump isn't a conservative, 

he's not a liberal,

 he's not a Republican,

he's not a Democrat.

He's an American.

You can tell he's not a Republican--he's got a spine, he fights, and he doesn't hide his success. 

You can tell he's not a Democrat--he was rich going in and will be poorer coming out.

 You can tell he's not a conservative because he's not 30 years behind. 

You can tell he's not a liberal because he's not offing babies.

Here’s how Democrats could help the country

The United States lacks a single, comprehensive federal law that regulates the collection and use of personal information. We've got piecemeal and pasted together regulations and state laws with enormous lobbying efforts by tech giants.

I have a suggestion. Maybe if we had a Congress or something like a gathering of people elected to study problems like this they could study it and pass laws? That might work. Instead we have fat cat politicians taking up space in Washington spending all their time colluding to oust the legally elected president whom they know they can’t beat with a ballot and their collection of clown candidates.

https://www.cfr.org/report/reforming-us-approach-data-protection?

Religious organizations were shut out of child care by Obama; reversed by Trump

The Obama administration was anti-Christian from the start, early 2009 (when he undid the Bush executive order not to expand the embryonic cell experimentation) to the finish in early 2017 refusing children good care because the agency had the audacity to believe in real marriage.

Now Trump is reversing that last minute anti-child order.

“In the closing days of the Obama administration, the federal government handed down a regulation that effectively barred from federal child-welfare programs organizations that believe marriage is between a man and woman. This affected many Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant organizations. This misguided policy was rushed into effect right before President Trump’s inauguration."

"Communities of faith have a lot to offer to children in foster care. Barna research shows that practicing Christians may be more than twice as likely to adopt compared with the general population—with Catholics three times as likely and evangelicals five times as likely. That’s because Christians are eager to open their hearts and homes for children in foster care. They are commanded by the Bible to care for widows and orphans in their distress (James 1:20). One need not agree with these beliefs to see that it is self-defeating for government to bar the participation of thousands of religious Americans from serving children in need because of their theological convictions."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-reverses-obamas-anti-christian-decree-11572813718?

The Trump administration I hope will look out for what's best for the children, not what's best for a political sexual agenda.

Beto has bombed

Robert O'Rourke was not a great candidate. As Mike Huckabee noted, he apologized for being a white man. He used a Spanish nick name, Beto, to attract minority support. He attacked the church, guns, fossil fuels, the border between Texas and Mexico, and he supported the Green New Deal, the militant LGBTQ agenda, Medicare for all, and his greatest political achievement so far was not losing to Ted Cruz as badly as expected. Boy, we dodge a bullet there, no pun intended. But the rest of the Democrat candidates are pretty much clones on policies.

• A fake Indian trafficking on minority sympathies
• a couple of candidates for the nursing home, one with connections in Ukraine,
• a blue eyed Spartacus,
• a former prosecutor whose political career boost included sleeping with her boss, and
• a mayor of a small town with a high crime rate whose claim to fame seems to be he is gay.

They are starting to make Adam Schiff look good.

Oh God movie (1977)

We had a nice Sunday with our son who has brain cancer--enjoyed lunch at his home and then watched the movie, Oh God, with John Denver, Teri Garr and George Burns (1977), directed by Carl Reiner. Hardly seemed possible that the movie is 42 years old! It's sweet and funny--it's spiritual, not religious. Good laughs (which we all needed) and some serious moments. Sort of pop-gnostic, a real set-up from the last century for the "nones" of this century. It makes fun of a minute portion of organized religion--the health and wealth gospel with a crooked TV preacher played by Paul Sorvino.

Teri Garr who is Denver’s wife in the movie played a lot of moms and supportive wives and girlfriends, so I wondered what had become of her. I checked, and she "retired" in 2011. She has MS which she kept hidden many years, but came out as an advocate for others and helping with fund raising. She also had a stroke and recovered. Lakesiders enjoy a grass roots program called Porch Stories,, which is modeled on the Moth.  Garr told a LA Moth Story where she discovers her boyfriend has been cheating on her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TI8E4p_U6A (language alert)

President Trump’s accomplishments

https://710wor.iheart.com/featured/mark-simone/content/2019-03-09-the-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-so-far/?

Shady, shifty, charlatan Schiff is trying to undo the president the people elected.  It’s a coup.

We go to the polls tomorrow

Usually, I don't pay attention to party for local political races, but because of the bad behavior of the Democrat national leadership and because a lot of politicians begin with school board or city council before running for state and national office, I'll have to change that. In Upper Arlington, there seems to be only one Republican for City Council, Angela M. Lanctot, so Republicans you know what to do.

We've had many flyers and ads dropped off or mailed, with no information on party--just handsome, slick photo-cards with smiling family and very general phrases. We've heard from one candidate, even had a personal visit, so often, I'm sure he's a very aggressive Democrat--great hair, smile.

Who in Ohio wants Warren?

I was looking at an article in Columbus Business First, "Top 3 donors in Ohio for Warren," wondering who in their right mind would support someone who wants higher taxes and socialism, someone who got her step up in life gaming the minority set aside. Of course, it's a slide show and starts at the bottom with aggregate $375 YTD. It lists name and employment. I was amazed how many were unemployed. Never did get to the top 3, but it was good for a chuckle.

A couples retreat

Believe it or not—I found this at a blog on a dairy site. I was reading an article on Oreo-Cowkies—Dutch Belted cattle—and noticed at the bottom there was a blog. https://www.progressivedairy.com/blogs/guest-blog/my-husband-and-i-held-our-own-couple-s-retreat-and-lived-to-tell-about-it   She bases her information and comments on the book “The One Thing.”

“When was the last time you sat down with your spouse without the TV on, without notifications on the phone buzzing nearby, with the kids in bed (or not home at all) and talked about any of the following:”

• What steps do we want to take to improve our spiritual life?
• How can we improve our eating habits?
• Do each of us get enough “me time” to decompress and destress?
• Is our marriage headed in the right direction?
• Do we support one another in front of our children?
• Do we need to think about helping aging parents?
• Are there any specific people we would like to get to know better this year?
• How often should we set money aside, and where should we put it?
• Have we reviewed our household budget?
• What causes are we passionate about?
• Do we feel useful in our work?
• What are the ultimate goals for the business?
• What are the key habits we want to develop this year as a family and as individuals?

When you’ve been married 60 years and your son has terminal brain cancer, somehow, none of the questions seem worth answering.  We’re eating poorly, our goals are to get to the end of the day, and there is no way to destress, even the tried and true like exercise (we both go to the fitness center).   And I have the feeling I’m going to continue to meet a lot of people I didn’t know before October 1.  However, my spiritual life is definitely improving—I spend more time in the Bible and reading theologians than I ever did.