Reeducation camps on college campus and in China for Uyghurs

The Uyghurs, alternately Uygurs, Uighurs or Uigurs, [pronounced Wee-gers] are a Turkic-speaking minority ethnic group originating in Central and East Asia. They are Muslims. These days you hear about them being imprisoned in camps and reeducated by the Chinese [aka Communists]. I first heard of them at a Lakeside lecture over a decade ago, when the world began to find out about how they were being discriminated against and stripped of their unique culture.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-uighur-camps-swell-as-beijing-widens-the-dragnet-1534534894?

When I see what is happening in our schools and universities, I often think of that name. Wee-gers. The difference is, our children aren't going against their will. We're sending them and paying exorbitant fees to have a generation stripped of their religion and values.

The Obamacare battle during a pandemic

Yes, indeed, this might be just the right time to talk about Obamacare and what it denied and what it provided. We've just seen how the government can deny us medical care by claiming a greater need--for hospitals to have enough respirators and masks, you can't have your hip surgery or heart cath. We've experienced "access" staring at a screen on the smart phone and hearing a mumble from a cave. We've experienced denial to visit relatives on lockdown because of government directives run by bureaucrats. It's government health care at its most grim.

There are similarities to 2009 when 85% of us not already on a government plan lost the health care we liked and got a substitution because 15% of us wouldn't sign up for what was already available through Medicaid, or VA, or wouldn't pay a co-pay from their employer. Millions of Americans lost health care they liked, lost doctors who'd been treating them for years. There is already a cradle to grave health care system provided by our government--it is the BIA, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Can you image Pelosi accepting that for her grandchildren?

Now we've learned no matter how good our insurance is we can lose access to health care in a New York minute, (or an Ohio governor's minute). And you're so naïve to think the government couldn't do it again when Joe Biden wants you to go to jail for not having Obamacare?

Dressed for the farmer’s market

Skin is your largest organ, so I go covered. I wear a mask to protect me from your germs, breath and droplets. "As of right now, respiratory droplets are considered the main way the coronavirus is spreading, according to the CDC. The center's site states, "These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs."

The Farmer's Market has moved from "downtown" up to the old stone school building 7th and Walnut. Don't bring a bag--you can't use them. I got a lovely rhubarb pie, a quart of peaches and a tomato. Not as many vendors, but a good size crowd. Health challenged can go at 8:30 and otherwise opens to public at 9 a.m., Tuesday and Friday.

What is our culture, our society?

If this isn't a racist society or culture, what is it?

• A culture of excellence. A culture of achievement.
• A culture of do-overs.
• A culture of second or third chances.
• A culture of competition. A culture of love of neighbor.
• A culture that respects history with all its flaws.
• A culture of religious freedom or freedom to have no religion.
• A culture of generosity and love.
• A culture of families making life better for their kids.
• A culture of immigrants, refugees and old timers living and succeeding together.
• A culture with respect for education, the arts, hard work, amber waves of grain, and old glory waving.
• A culture of nationalism, patriotism, good old boys, and ladies night out.
• A culture of freedom of the press and freedom of speech (increasingly controlled by the fat cats of technology).

A culture where the people are ready to say, enough already.

News from the frontline in Columbus, Ohio

Here is information from last night from a friend on the front line downtown. Again, you are NOT seeing the truth in the news or from anyone in government. This has not been about George Floyd for a long time!  Bonnie (a retired Columbus police officer)

“I am typically a very patient, understanding person especially at work, but what I witnessed tonight in downtown Columbus was intolerable and they should all be ashamed of themselves. I am writing this post so you can all understand what is truly going on. These people are absolutely not peaceful. Tonight this group stole construction equipment and blocked the streets so cars could not pass. This group broke into businesses and stole property. This group physically blocked vehicles from traveling around downtown by stopping cars in the middle of the street. This group screams profanities constantly and threatens to kill officers and their families. I am so proud of the officers I work with. I nearly lost my temper on so many occasions tonight, and we have been dealing with this "group" for a month now. Things are not getting better. I promise you. These are paid agitators who could care less about equality and justice. They are rude, violent, and destructive. Please, pray for something to change soon. This has to stop. They are destroying the city.”

The assumption of rising violence against Blacks

Every article I read about BLM--left, right, middle, Christian, secular, black or white--begins with the obligatory statement about violence against Black Americans by whites. Nonsense.

Violence was at an all time high in the early 90s--over 25 years ago--and is half what it was then. And violence has decreased far more in the black community than white. The only systemic violence against Blacks is from the left, in the killing chambers of abortion clinics. Otherwise, Blacks outside the womb are far safer now than 25 years ago.

Then the next error in these articles, posts or memes, and this one usually from the Christians who vote for Democrats, or Christians who don't vote at all or Democrats who don't like Christians is that more government money or programs, in other words, doing more of what we've been doing for 60 years, will somehow work the next time. (Kind of like the socialism thing--we'll get it right the next time.) For some reason, usually lack of information from MSM (CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, NYT) which they slavishly watch or read, they don't know these programs have been bipartisan, supported by both parties, in fact, some of the most successful like EITC have been from Republicans. By ignoring our bipartisan failures, they get to demonize Republicans and demand everyone vote for Democrats--again.

A third error is white people who rend their garments about systemic racism can't even tell you what they personally are doing wrong even though they say they are part of the system. Or if they can think of something, they won't remedy it without demanding other people change.

The vast majority of violence visited on the black community is committed by black people. Not police. Not the schools. Not the government. And it’s the same for whites, Asians, lesbians, etc. although higher for blacks.  This not "whataboutism." Listen to the Chicago statistics for this past week-end. Where are the marches, riots and looting for these invisible victims?

Systemic racism charges

If your pastor or priest or rabbi solemnly intones the myth of "systemic racism" from the safe and sanitary virtual pulpit, please write or call him immediately and offer to be his/her confessor for all the racist acts and thoughts he/she personally has made in the last week, or month or year as part of the system.

The system which is

their community,

their congregation,

their church,

their theological school,

their alumni association,

their PTA,

their pension plan,

their fair housing group,

their gated community,

their social clubs,

their children and parents,

where they eat

where they shop or

where they vacation.

That's just a small start because in a myth that vague and all encompassing which moves on storm waves of fairy tales of microaggression and unconscious bias, everything is part of the system. That sets the bar so high, no one will ever be pure and it can be funded FOREVER by foundations, corporate guilt, taxes and reparations.

Yet it is so vague, the accuser can be blameless. She can post signs and make jokes about politicians or a party not to her liking. So demand some answers. Why would you, who doesn't believe the myth of systemic racism, have to listen to charges of criminality, hate crimes and sin without proof of participation and then be expected to drop money in the virtual collection plate (please click on the screen, and follow directions, etc.) ?

And ask your black friends--and I mean real friends, not the gardener you hire for the church lawn or the academic colleague working on a grant application--please ask them what in the USA or your denomination is holding them back--today, yesterday this past month

Ask them if they've been a victim of a violent or property crime and who was the offender.

Ask them if they were denied a promotion because of racism. Ask them if they were denied service in a store or restaurant. Ask them if they were turned away from medical care (other than during the pandemic).

If they can't think of anything, then please step away and work on your own issues. If they can, ask them what government program not already in place will improve their life. If they do have something to contribute, set about changing yourself.

Unacceptable

This is not acceptable. Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (UALC) still doesn't have an opening date, and when it finally gets there (I guess we need more money and more staff?):

• The Traditional service will be held during the week with the day and time yet to be determined. A video recording of the service will be available on the following Sunday morning. Holding the service during the week allows us to:

o Make good use of our preaching and presiding staff.
o Record the service for online worshipers.
o Potentially increase the number of services (and thus allow for more worshipers) by adding services on additional days. This will keep us from having to turn over the sanctuary between worship hours and helps to minimize risk for all involved.

And it's all for the health of us old folks.

Our nearby neighbor, St. Andrew reopened in May. "On Tuesday, May 26, we will resume the celebration of public daily Masses at 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. May 30/31 will mark the return to Sunday Masses with our NEW SCHEDULE: 4:30 p.m. (Saturday Vigil) and 7:30, 9:15 and 11 a.m. on Sundays. The sanctuary will reopen for prayer throughout the week beginning Tuesday, May 26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m."

Saturday night in Lakeside

Last night in the park at Lakeside, Ohio, we enjoyed a Fleetwood Mac tribute group. They were as happy to see us as we were to see them. They hadn't had a gig since Valentine's Day. It's not my music, but it was a large crowd, socially distancing and wearing masks. We were all happy to be together, while safely apart. It baffles me that with all the talent, skill and college degrees we have on the staff of our churches, no one can come up with a plan that serves God and man.

It seems Christians don't have ushers who can pass out masks, or volunteers to wipe down benches and pews after use, or organizers who are as flexible as other non-profits, or soloists in place of community singing, or parking lots and parks.

We are facing enemies every bit as evil as those warned about in the Old Testament, yet we have a spirit of timidity and fear that I could never have imagined in my parents' generation, who by the time I was 5 years old had lived through WWI, the 1918 pandemic, the Great Depression and WWII, and increasingly outbreaks of polio. To my knowledge they never closed their little rural churches, some of which may not have had indoor plumbing let alone fancy high tech computers and Bible studies using Zoom.

MIT priest loses job because he doesn’t follow BLM dogma

"In a blog post and an email to [MIT] students published at the beginning of June, [Fr. Daniel] Moloney spoke out about the errors of the new approach to fighting racism — dividing people, accusing them of prejudice, and canceling those who disobey — and called instead for a Christian path of charity and solidarity." You know, like MLK.

He also committed the sin of pointing out there was not yet evidence that Chauvin was motivated by racism in the death of Floyd. And as we all have discovered after weeks of rioting, all that is needed is a cell phone video to convict, not constitutional rights.

An official of MIT objected to this sort of "hate" speech, and that Maloney didn't bow to the BLM dogma, so the Archdiocese of Boston didn't back him and asked for his resignation.

I think statues of Martin Luther King, Jr. will be next.

https://spectator.org/father-moloney-mit-george-floyd-racism-boston/

This is your Democrat party

From open boarders to defund the police. From sanctuary cities to autonomous zones. From knock down confederate statues to dismantle Abraham Lincoln emancipation memorial. From terrorizing people wearing MAGA hats to terrorizing the nation. From criticizing the President for holding a Bible in front of a church to defacing that same church by looters and thugs. From Democrat controlled Minneapolis to anarchist controlled cities all over the nation.

THIS is your Democrat party controlled by a few culture killing mobs in our society.

Indoctrination and mind control

As we are all distracted by marches, rioting and tearing down statues of emancipators and liberators, you should track down and object to the brainwashing your children and grandchildren are getting in schools and universities from the organizers and funding groups of BLM and ANTIFA.  Much of this preceded their existence and has been building in influence and power incrementally since the 1980s through diversity and inclusion programming. And now it’s a perfect storm.

I reviewed the indoctrination for Ohio State medical staff and found it appalling. It begins with a statement of fact (not theory, hypothesis or idea) that systemic racism exists and is a health crisis (OSU and Columbus have declared it a health problem which gets more grants from the federal government, the life line for all state universities). The solution is it must be destroyed through various manipulative and compulsory methods, and if you disagree or publish research to the contrary, you are a racist and part of the problem. No disagreement or alternate views allowed.

It essentially, invalidates all programs, changes, research, efforts and good will established or instilled since the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and our remarkable achievements unknown in the history of the world since outlawing slavery in our costliest war in blood and treasure of our history.

It also ignores the actual fact that there are 30-40 million slaves in the 21st century and suggests instead we focus on microaggression and unconscious bias instead of real pain, actual health problems and tragedy of millions, much of it still coming from Africa.

Corporate Socialism by Michael Rechtenwald

“For anyone wondering about corporate socialism and what I mean by it, it's very simple: State socialism is socialist only "on the ground." There's nothing "socialist" about the state itself within socialism. Those who run the state don't live according to socialist principles. They are the ruling elite. They control the means of production. They live like oligarchs, because they are essentially oligarchs.

The same goes for "corporate socialism." There's nothing "socialist" about the corporationists  who run the corporate socialist system. They are the ruling elite. They don't live according to socialist principles. They are oligarchs.

In both cases, socialism is promoted to and for the masses. Both are two-tiered systems: oligarchy on top, "socialism" on the ground. Both are monopolistic.

There is nothing pure in this world.

The difference between corporate and state socialism is just who is in control of the resources and the means of production--the state actors in one case, the corporatists in the other.

The difference between corporate socialism and mere cronyism is that under corporate socialism the corporate socialists promote socialism on the ground--in order to satiate the masses, eliminate competition, and pretend to be noble.”

And who financed the Russian revolution?  A different viewpoint. https://youtu.be/PaFklTLNy8c  Professor Antony Sutton

I don’t have a smart phone, but 8 out of 10 do

If telemedicine/virtual care were so wonderful, and it didn't mean poorer care and limited access why weren't they using it before to solve all those health care gaps we'd heard about? Almost all poor and minority groups have smart phones. According to Pew (in 2019) black and Hispanic adults have mobile devices such as smartphones in shares similar to whites. About eight-in-ten whites, blacks and Hispanics own a smartphone.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/20/smartphones-help-blacks-hispanics-bridge-some-but-not-all-digital-gaps-with-whites/

You Will Obey! Ohio State’s mandatory reeducation camp

“If you haven’t already, you must complete the mandatory sexual misconduct education by Tuesday, June 30. Everyone plays a key role in keeping Ohio State safe, and it’s important to know how to identify, disrupt and report sexual misconduct. The course is required for all faculty, staff and student employees.”

Marxist controlled BLM is defacing the achievements of Blacks

It's mind blowing that for decades statues of Lincoln and other emancipators and abolitionists have quietly witnessed to our achievements and withstood the Democrat control of our parks, cities and states. Now when the country has enjoyed a renaissance of black wealth, record low unemployment and entrepreneurship, when Blacks achieved the pinnacle of power at all levels of government and control all major cities, their history has to be defaced, destroyed and burned.

Only 13% of black voters turned out to vote in Barack Obama as the first black president in 2008, although 95% of those who voted, chose him. So obviously, without overwhelming support from Whites, Obama would have not made it to the most powerful office in the world. Yet, there is a very desperate, but well organized element in our society trying to obscure that achievement in color blindness of our country. There is a plot to keep Blacks back, to deny their success and achievements. Almost as if there were a very sinister force or cloud taking over. . .

Destruction of the Emancipation statue

I watched a Black woman on TV "explain" to a crowd (mostly young white adults) why the Lincoln emancipation statue needed to be destroyed--it showed slaves subservient and didn't represent how they participated in the emancipation. I suppose there's an element of truth there, but it is art and it also didn't show Lincoln as a man much vilified for his beliefs, his lack of a formal education and his physical appearance.

It particularly did not show the many free Blacks of that pre-war time who owned slaves. They owned slaves at a higher rate than southern whites according to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. PBS host and Obama's friend and mentor.

I was probably in my 30s or 40s before I found out that before the Civil War freed Blacks in the U.S. owned slaves. I don't recall that was covered in American history in high school or college. But it wasn't until Prof. Gates wrote about it, that I learned that free Blacks owned slaves at a much higher rate than whites, something like 25% compared to about 1.5%.

Free American Blacks were voting before the Revolution (long before women) and most likely helped ratify the amendments and send the men to Congress. There were very wealthy free Blacks who owned a lot of property as well as small businessmen and craftsmen of all manner of the arts in the South.

That would be hard to show in a piece of art, but BLM leaders should at least acknowledge it and reject the white Marxists who are now in control of their movement.

It’s science unless it isn’t

“For the first two months following the coronavirus outbreak, public-health experts insisted that we “follow the science” and implement their recommendations, even if it meant millions of lost jobs and significant restrictions on constitutionally protected activities, such as church attendance and freedom of assembly. Blue-state governors quickly positioned themselves as executors of this neutral scientific knowledge, condemning anti-lockdown protesters as “anti-scientific;” meantime, social media companies banned anti-lockdown groups and censored content from lockdown skeptics.

But when protests erupted in the U.S. after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, many public-health experts reversed course—and subordinated “science” to their activist politics. The same doctors and nurses who once shamed churchgoers released petitions in support of Black Lives Matter and marched with tens of thousands of protesters in the streets. They categorized racism as a public-health threat and rationalized their participation in street demonstrations by deeming Covid-19 transmission the lesser of two evils. In other words, public-health experts rejected science in favor of progressive politics.”

https://www.city-journal.org/beware-the-progressive-scientific-alliance

Why Is It So Hard to Talk about Race?

Ohio State University is announcing yet another useless discussion, or  “conversation.” When race and conversation appear together you know you’re about to get a lecture and a dose of “reeducation” about how terrible the U.S., and you're a part of it because you're white. It's microaggression and unconscious bias.  It’s not about racial equality. It's indoctrination. It's about power. And now the same people who apparently failed with billions of dollars in grants over the last 50 years, are going to fix it. Like Nancy Pelosi--after 40 years in government she'll get it right this time by knocking down statues.  You should see the bold black letters on the website of the Kirwin Institute. SOLIDARITY WITH BLACK LIVES MATTER.  The Kirwin is almost 20 years old.  It's a relic of the failed liberal/left model of academe and they are racing to catch up, to pretend to be "woke." The educators who have led the way for so many years with failed programs have completely lost control of the narrative and handed it over to the anarchists.  And by the way, William "Brit" Kirwin is a white man.

Announcement:

Amid unprecedented levels of attention on racial equality, it can still be difficult to name and discuss the problems we face. Hosted by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, this webinar addresses the challenges people of color and white people have when discussing race, including realities and the fear of consequences. The webinar is Thursday, June 25 from 1-2 p.m.” 

I  looked through some of its annual reports and research articles.  No solutions, just harangues.  Nothing about schools that succeed, small businesses that promote wealth, community organizations that actually improve conditions. Nope.  Mortgage discrimination; health disparities; payday loan rip offs.  So, if all that money spent and staff salaries paid out, perhaps they can join the anarchists.

Toledo isn’t very healthy

Holy Toledo!  It’s at the bottom of 100 cities for heart health. 100.  It’s about what we eat, and how much we exercise, and our smoking and drinking habits. It's lifestyle, and we have control over that.

https://www.13abc.com/video?vid=571489272

Detroit is Number 99.

In the summer, we’re close by in Lakeside and our TV local news comes from Toledo.