The same people who scream and cry at Trump's behavior and claim he doesn't have American values (like my cousin Ron and former tenant Vern) and should be impeached are the ones lusting after every crazy program the 2020 candidates can come up with to distinguish themselves from the next socialist on the ballot. Green new deal. Death to the unborn. Confiscate the guns. Destroy free speech. Force the NFL to have 20% LGBTQ (I made that one up, but it they want it for TV why not football?). Tax wealth, not just income. Legalize and encourage homelessness with increased housing regulations. Start more forest fires with bad environmental rules. Fly in the illegals--don't make them walk; and force all artists and doctors to violate their religious beliefs.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
A simple prayer: Jesus, here I am, it’s Norma
When people ask how our family is doing in this difficult time, I usually mumble something like, just pray for a miracle, that's really all we need. That said, so many people have been Jesus with skin on we're so very grateful. Cards, e-mails, meals, invitations, even visits from complete strangers. Even the really awkward conversations that quickly become a tale of woe about their own problems, are meant well. I read a story this morning about prayer, I'd like to share (from Magnificat, Nov. 2019, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019, pp. 248-249)
Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan (d. 2002) was a prisoner of the north Vietnamese for 13 years, and after his liberation people suggested he must have had a lot of time to pray. He told them he was often so exhausted from the confinement and silence, he couldn't say a single word, then he told this story.
"There was an older man named Jim who would go to church every day at noon for just a few minutes, and then he would leave. The sacristan was very curious about Jim's daily routine, and one day he stopped him to ask: "Why do you come here every day?" "I come to pray," Jim answered.
"That's impossible! What prayer can you say in 2 minutes?"
"I am an old, ignorant man. I pray to God in my own way."
"But what do you say?"
"I say: 'Jesus, here I am, it's Jim.' And then I leave." After some years, Jim became ill and had to go to the hospital, where he was admitted to the ward for the poor. When it seemed that Jim was dying, a priest asked, "Jim, tell us how it is that from the day you came to this ward everything changed for the better? How is it that the patients have become happier, more content, and friendlier?"
"I don't know. When I could walk around, I would try to visit everyone. I greeted them, talked a bit with them. When I couldn't get out of bed I called everyone over to me to make them laugh, to make them happy. With Jim they are always happy!"
"But why are YOU happy?"
"Well, aren't you happy when you receive a visitor?" asked Jim.
"Of course, but we have never seen anyone come to visit you."
"When I came here I asked you for 2 chairs. One was for you, Father, and one was reserved for my guest."
"But what guest?" the priest asked.
"I used to go to church to visit Jesus every day at noon. But when I couldn't do that anymore, Jesus came here."
"Jesus comes to visit you? What does he say?"
"He says: 'Jim, here I am, it's Jesus!'" Before dying, Jim smiled and gestured with his hand toward the chair next to his bed, as if inviting someone to sit down. He smiled for the last time and closed his eyes.
The Cardinal continued. When my strength failed and I could not even pray, I repeated: "Jesus, here I am, it's Francis." Joy and consolation would come to me and I experienced Jesus responding: "Francis, here I am, it's Jesus."
Friday, November 15, 2019
Enjoying the Uline Catalog
Found a tidbit in the back of the Uline catalog (uline.com) comparing Texas and California--Uline has branches in both. So Liz Uihlein does a little comparison:
"Californians pay the highest income tax in the country, 13.3%; Texas does not have state income tax.
In California homeownership is at the lowest level since the 1940s.
California public schools system ranks 36th out of 51, Texas ranks 41st. Both states need to do better. [ I'm so old I remember when the California school system was the envy of the nation in the 1960s, although it was in decline, then came Proposition 13.]
Texas is the best state in which to do business and California has some of the most burdensome occupational licensing requirements in America [in case you didn't know this, that really hurts small business, particularly minorities, the backbone of the economy].
California's cost of living is 40% higher than the national average, whereas Texas is 9% lower.
California has the highest gas prices in the country and electricity rates are 50-75% higher than the national average. "
In Norma’s opinion: People are moving out of California, and many flee to Texas, Nevada and Arizona, but they are dragging with them their liberal values and voting which is what destroyed their lives in California! A California academic called rural people stupid, yet California produces 13 percent of the total cash agricultural receipts for the U.S., it is the sole producer of many crops. We could do with fewer elitist academics and more figs and olives.
California is controlled by leftists/Democrats/ socialists/progressives, or whatever you want to call them--if you've got money they want it. Young people and homeless people love it there. Unfortunately, this tsunami of bad decisions is coming our way.
Climate Change as religion
Senator Mazie Hirano of Hawaii (Democrat of course) believes Climate Change needs to be treated like a religion. Most conservatives thought it already was being promoted that way with more protections than real religions. Of course, if it were treated like a religious cult, maybe we could get it out of the classroom and every media source. I'm sure my public library has more books on climate change than Christianity, especially for children.
https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2015/10/22/religion-and-views-on-climate-and-energy-issues/
The party of Woke
Deval Patrick, recently of Bain Capital and Fox Business News, newly declared Democrat candidate for chief oligarch, states he loves that his party is moving further to the left. Indeed, we see that being played out in the hearings whereby the Democrats attempt to undo the election of 2016 and destroy the Constitution by inventing crimes, a system well known by leftists (Communists, Fascists, Socialists, statists of all stripes).
On MSNBC: “First of all, I love that the party has moved to the left. I love that we are the party of the woke,” Patrick said. “I believe that we also have to be the party of the still waking, and I have always conducted my personal life and my business life . . . yada yada" Strange talk for a wealthy venture capitalist.
By "still waking" I suppose he means more Antifa riots and college protests to silence conservatives, forcing women to accept men in their athletic events and locker rooms, destroying public schools with radicalized teachers, open borders for the 75 different nationalities entering the U.S. in the south including terrorists and trafficked children, full rights to our social safety net for illegal aliens, shredding the first amendment rights, confiscating guns from private citizens while allowing them for criminals, confiscatory green taxes to fill the wallets of government bureaucrats, reduction and weakening of the military, more sexual abuse of children aka transgendering through surgery and chemical castration and stealing your assets through a wealth tax.
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Have the holidays been cancelled?
But that set me to thinking about other unusual holidays. Our son Stanley died on February 13, and we were receiving Valentine cards and sympathy cards in the same mail drop. Our son Patrick died shortly before Thanksgiving, so that holiday in 1964 was pretty much a blur. I can’t even remember if we made the trip to Mt. Morris or stayed in Champaign.
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| Stanley, Christmas 1962 |
And my dear Mother, always one for stern advice, warned me not to let bad memories interfere with future enjoyment of holidays. It was wise advice, especially since I didn’t know she especially cared about holidays, which were always rather low keyed in my family, compared with my husband’s family blow outs and budget busting gifts.
Christmas both of those years was just awful. My sisters had adorable toddlers the same age as Stanley, which we needed to admire and coo about while remembering an earlier Christmas with Mom and Dad beaming holding 3 babies. I have a few photos from those years and I look like death warmed over, as we used to say in the 20th century.
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| Our final Christmas in our home of 34 years, 2001 |
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| Thanksgiving 2009 |
Another holiday alone memory is the fall of 1957. My college roommate, JoElla, and I decided we would just stay on campus for Thanksgiving and not face that 6 hour drive back to Illinois. We could relax, read, maybe go to a movie and catch up on laundry. What a disaster! We had no idea how deserted and lonely the campus would be, or how everything would be closed and we’d eat cold food in our dorm room. By Christmas I was so homesick I could barely function.
Then there was the year that my sister and I decided we’d do something totally different for the holidays because our adult children were squabbling with each other—I don’t even remember the year—sometime in the early 2000s—or what the disputes were. By comparison with this year, they were certainly minor. So we got together at Rehoboth Beach and had Thanksgiving dinner at a lovely hotel known for that event.
For years we shared and alternated our winter holidays with our son in law’s parents in Cleveland. I think we ate alone in a restaurant or would drive to Indianapolis to have dinner with Bob’s family—usually a huge crowd and that often made us feel even more lonely because by that time some of our nieces and nephews were grandparents and we couldn’t even identify some of the people.
And Oh My. The years I cancelled at the last minute our plans to drive to Illinois to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with my parents. One of us would always seem to come down with a cold and it would go through the family so I’d cancel the 10 hour trip. And guiltily I confess, that I often wasn’t too sad, because what looked like a fabulous idea during Indian Summer in October’s bright colors didn’t look so great in the ice and snow of late December. Mom was always understanding and gracious—not to worry, they would drive to Oregon and eat at the nursing home with my grandparents.
Again the holidays of 2017-18 were really bad. Our daughter had planned a great neighborhood football party, the invitations were out, the food was prepared, and their sweet little Chihuahua Abby died very suddenly. It was a horrible shock. We were all devastated, especially since in the previous 3 months Phil’s dear Rosa and our Lotsa Spotsa had died and it was like opening a raw wound. At the last minute, the five of us did get together, enjoyed the food, and watched the game. We cried and laughed and helped each other get through a very bad time. It was momentary—you don’t get over a tragedy just by enjoying a few laughs and some great food. But it helps.
The early Americans were still thankful for their good harvest in spite of all their losses, and Jesus was still born in a manger in Bethlehem to be setting out for the cross years later. We’ll remember what holidays are about and will be thankful for our hope which is in the Lord, and for modern technology and drugs which will battle this disease for us.
Echo from the past on climate change
"There is a rational reason why the academic community so readily has accepted what appears to be bad science. It's called MONEY. There are huge sums of taxpayers' money being spent to "save" our planet and much more to be spent in the future. We're not talking about mere billions here; we're talking trillions. . .
The clarion for global unity [by traditional liberals] was the threat of communism, although many of the same people had cheerfully embraced the teachings of Marx and Lenin earlier. With the collapse of world communism, their platform quickly shifted to global ecology and the threat of worldwide environmental disaster. As I heard one commentator remark, "The Reds have turned into the Greens." . . .
I readily admit that I also am biased in my evaluation of the radical leaders of the environmental movement. In reviewing the names that usually accompany environmental rallies they're almost always the same ones that enlist with groups like Planned Parenthood, NOW, the ACLU, Queer Nation, ACT UP, and many others. These radicals also go to great lengths to keep any contrary views out of the media, and they are not against blacklisting anyone who disagrees with them."
Sound familiar? This book was published in 1993--AOC was 4 years old. She knows nothing because that's all she knows. Think of the inroads into the heads of mush of college students that have been infected in the last quarter century, nonsense already 25 years old when this book was published! This climate change stuff and "socialism is great" were being fed to their parents in the 1990s. "Whatever happened to the American dream," by Larry Burkett, 1993.
The Kingdom of God is among you
"The Kingdom of God is Among You [within you]." How often I've heard that, or read it, and found the explanation (mine or theirs) unsatisfactory--especially the quibbling over the translation. As a protestant, particularly a Lutheran, I always get to be the Pope, the theology professor, the preacher of the day, the one who knows best, and most of the time, that's daunting. The words were heard in Jesus' spoken language, recorded in Greek, translated to Latin, and retranslated into hundreds of languages in multiple versions written and edited and published by people with beliefs and biases. But I like what Pope Benedict XVI wrote in "Jesus of Nazareth," Ignatius Press, 2007. He's has a great mind, and a fabulous translator.
"The new proximity of the Kingdom of which Jesus speaks--the distinguishing feature of his message--is to be found in Jesus himself. Through Jesus' presence and action, God has here and now entered actively into history in a wholly new way. The reason why now is the fullness of time (Mark 1:15), why NOW is in a unique sense the time of conversion and penance, as well as the time of joy, is that in Jesus it is God who draws near to us. In Jesus, God is now the one who acts and who rules as Lord--rules in a divine way, without worldly power, rules through the love that reaches to the end (John 13:1) to the cross . . .
In this context we understand Jesus' statements about the lowliness and hiddenness of the Kingdom; in this context we understand the fundamental image of the seed. . . in this context we also understand his invitation to follow him courageously, leaving everything else behind. He himself is the treasure; communion with him is the pearl of great price."
The book (in Latin) was developed before he became Pope, and his preface is worth looking at.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
The czar/tsar list
There was an earlier attempt to clean up the swamp back in 2011 with a bill introduced by Republicans because Obama had so many czars/tsars (good solid Russian term for Caesar) in place that were unelected, unconfirmed and unaccountable. They were not successful. George W. Bush had a similar number but most were confirmed, as were most of FDR's (who began the tradition). Imagine if someone had put in the effort and time to investigate and threaten each Obama czar the way Democrats have been completely focused on destroying Trump's choices or demanding they be leakers.
I haven't found a czar list for President Trump--just advisors, or friends/family which the media and Democrats have bitterly criticized, ridiculed and threatened. If there is a complete list, let me know.
Obama list:
AIDS Czar: Jeffrey Crowley
Auto Recovery Czar: Ed Montgomery
Border Czar: Alan Bersin
California Water Czar: David J. Hayes
Central Region Czar: Dennis Ross
Climate Czar: Todd Stern
Domestic Violence Czar: Lynn Rosenthal
Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske
Energy and Environment Czar: Carol Browner
Faith-Based Czar: Joshua DuBois
FCC's Diversity Czar: Mark Lloyd
Government Performance Czar: Jeffrey Zients
Great Lakes Czar: Cameron Davis
Guantanamo Closure Czar: Daniel Fried
Health Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle
Information Czar: Vivek Kundra
Intellectual Property Czar: Victoria Espinel
Intelligence Czar: James Clapper
Manufacturing Czar/Car Czar: Ron Bloom
Mideast Peace Czar: George Mitchell
Oil Spill Escrow Fund Czar: Kenneth Feinberg
Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein
Safe Schools Czar: Kevin Jennings
Science Czar: John Holdren
Stimulus Accountability Czar: Earl Devaney
Sudan Czar: J. Scott Gration
TARP Czar: Herb Allison
Technology Czar: Aneesh Chopra
Terrorism Czar: John Brennan
Urban Affairs Czar: Adolfo Carrion Jr.
War Czar: Douglas Lute
Weapons Czar: Ashton Carter
WMD Policy Czar: Gary Samore
9/11 Health Czar: John Howard
Cyber Czar: Howard Schmidt
Oil Spill Czar: Ray Mabus
Economic Czar: Paul Volcker
Ethics Czar: Norm Eisen
Afghanistan Czar: Richard Holbrooke
This was an O-list as of 2011--not worth the effort to update. A few I remember--like John Brennan, Paul Volcker, Cass Sunstein, James Clapper, Aneesh Chopra, Richard Holbrooke--they just join think tanks and wait for the power shift. I counted 10 drug czars—Nixon began that tradition—and the probably has just gotten worse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._executive_branch_czars
https://www.thenation.com/article/trump-kicks-off-the-return-of-the-czars/ (2016—but he wasn’t president yet)
Long term problems, guest blogger Jeffrey Verasano
Some sobering thoughts about our future, many I'd been thinking myself--the swamp of unelected sycophants in DC is indicative of all the institutions around us, many of which we've willingly chosen.
Jeffrey:
"There are several long-term problems that seem insurmountable.
- - The demographic time bomb has already been set
- - Most major institutions have been subverted from the inside as the Long March through the institutions reaches its peak. It's a lot harder to rebuild these then to destroy them. Being mad at liberal insanity is easy. Running for the school board, replacing principals and teachers, and rebuilding University education degree programs is a lot harder. Rebuilding Church attendance, taking over the bureaucracies. These are multi-decade challenges and I don't see any plan to even begin. [This is REALLY sobering}
- - The right is angry but the left is relentless. The very nature of the right being individualistic, versus the left being collective, puts the right at a long-term systemic disadvantage.
- - The default form of government is an oligarchal hierarchy, typically a monarchy or similar. Continuous centralization of power is natural whereas checks and balances are complex and artificial, historically present when rare circumstances align. We had those for a while but no longer do. Thus we see a relentless return to the default.
- - Empires occur in cycles and don't last forever. Whether you look at the Tytler cycle or others that have been written about, it is clear that's great societies arise out of specific values but once arisen their very success breeds alternate values which makes sustaining the empire nearly impossible. Courage breeds success, but success breeds laziness and ingratitude, plus attracts parasites and competitors.
Of course, the timeline for these civilization scale changes is up in the air and collapse could be put off for our lifetimes. But empires don't last forever and all the forces that have killed others are glaringly visible and on the rise. Other civilizations have had people just like us, who screamed warnings. Some of these may have created temporary patches, but no permanent solution is ever found.
The huge wild card is artificial intelligence. That is unlike any factor ever faced by mankind. In a generation or two the need to work and the competition that breeds will be all but eliminated, as robotics will multiply the productive capacity many, many times. But controlling AI may be impossible. The normal rules would have us comparing the geopolitical strategies and capacities of China, Islam, Marxists and Constitutionalists. But AI as a force will dwarf all of these.
So who knows..."
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Google and our health data
According to a story I watched on Fox today, we're not to be concerned that Google is controlling and distributing our health information and data--they are being HIPAA compliant. Big Whoop. What about being compliant with our wishes, with our concerns? Remember Henrietta Lacks? Did her medical information only matter because she was black? Researchers are lusting for this information--imagine having the data for 1500-2000 people with disease xyz with a key stroke instead of the 30 or 40 you can find with months of appeals and research. And cha ching, your data is part of a study which may bring the researcher/company millions.
https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/11/google-ascension-patient-records-project-nightingale/
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?
Monday, November 11, 2019
Veterans Day, 2019
When we were kids, November 11 was called Armistice Day—because it was the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th 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.”
Saturday, November 09, 2019
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.”
Friday, November 08, 2019
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
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