The native American and government services

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him had better take a much closer look at the American Indian." ~ Henry Ford

That quote is really inaccurate, and I don’t know if Ford said it,  but it has the right conclusion.

First.  The native Americans did not “let” the government take care of them. They lost the war, their land and their right to govern themselves except in very local, tribal issues. Some weren’t even allowed to keep their language, culture or schools.

Second.  What replaced their former culture and rights, many of which didn’t benefit everyone in their groups, like women, slaves, minorities, etc.,  was substandard and below what other Americans would have accepted if they were free.

Third.  Many accept the substandard land, housing, healthcare and schools they have today just to be left alone and live their own lives, but also they have a power structure that suits primarily their own leaders even if others don’t benefit. In their own areas, called “reservations,” they have their own criminal justice system—laws, police, courts, jails--with the highest rate of violence against women, domestic abuse and children in need of government assistance. 

Fourth.  American Indians who leave the reservation (my deceased brother-in-law is my example) have everything any other American has—good jobs, health care, families, nice middle class lifestyle, pension, church—yet love to “go home” for family events and gossip and special commemorative holidays.

Fifth.  Those who accept what the government offers do have cradle to grave health care and are among the lowest in health care standards of any group in the nation. When statistics are compiled, those who left the reservation, or never lived there at all (like my brother in law’s daughter who is 50%) are not separated out in to a different class, so they probably actually improve the data results because they are healthier with fewer lifestyle problems like alcoholism, abuse, smoking, STDs, poverty, etc.

Sixth. The 800+ recognized tribes didn’t choose to be wards of the government, they lost the battles and the war.  So why are so many Americans willingly trading their freedoms for a promise of security and health that will never materialize? Why are they flocking to Biden/Harris who promise them more government, more taxes, more deaths for their unborn generations, more foreign wars, less local control and more separating them into little groups based on differences in color and sex to weaken their resistance? 

Got me.  I just ask the questions.  I don’t have the answers.

A child centric world

Between rain storms this morning I walked with a neighbor to the little grocery store in Lakeside (one of my favorite things about this small town). Ron was telling me about their plans to take in the grandchildren's activities in three different states this fall. I asked him if his grandparents (or even parents) ever attended his school activities or special events. (He's 10 years younger--Vietnam vet.) I couldn't remember my own grandparents--I had 6 since my great grandparents were also living in the same town--attending anything except my wedding. I think my mom may have attended a play I was in or a musical event/recital. He agreed. He didn't think his parents or grandparents made an effort to go to children's events. His dad was working, he said, and his mom had so many household duties, grandparents were elderly. "Well," he said, "we live in a child centric culture."

If you're 50-ish, you probably remember grandparents who attended every dance recital and soccer game. I knew the grandparents of many of my friends, and I don't think mine were an exception.

Photo of my great grandmother and her siblings, sometime in the 1950s based on the car tail light, seated on right. Sweetest, dearest woman I ever met with a dear Tennessee drawl.

How riots fit in with BLM sympathy and support

A police officer is 18 1/2 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer.” Heather MacDonald, via Larry Elder.

With the media's assistance, the black men who have been shot by police--those in the news in 2020--have all had criminal records, have been resisting arrest, and had very serious records, including rape with robbery (several charges by the same woman) in the case of Jacob Blake, Jr. of Kenosha. Not a peep from the MeToo crowd who usually would ruin a man’s career based on a smack on the rear because the founders of Black Lives Matter are radical feminists.

The 3 men who were attacking Kyle Rittenhouse during a "peaceful protest" and were shot by him, a 17 year old, also had criminal records including sexual offense against a child, strangulation and weapons charges. These were not 3 good guys just helping out the community. If Rittenhouse had been black, I doubt we would know his name, but 2 of the 3 would still be dead. Media would get nothing out of that story and it certainly wouldn't fit the BLM narrative.

Police nationwide have close to a million contacts a year with the public who might be misbehaving in some way, whether speeding, disorderly and drunk, domestic abuse, or theft. In 66 years of driving, I've been stopped 2 times for speeding (45 in 35 mph zone) and once for wrong way to get away from a traffic accident. I have been at fault each time and didn't assume it was something about my physical appearance that created the problem. I wasn't drunk or high and didn't have a record, I was just wrong. so I just paid my fine. In keeping us safe, there are some confrontations with police that go badly--but more with whites than blacks and whites are shot at a higher rate. When a white man with a criminal record is shot resisting arrest or trying to kill police, it does not cause riots and looting. It serves no cause to do so.

Why do the media promote black criminals as victims and heroes? Why does the left push this narrative of the innocent (usually a man) black oppressed by the evil "man." Because the public is gullible--and for 3 or 4 decades the schools, churches, and entertainment industry have been pushing the lie. They are believing what they've been taught.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/table-43 This is the latest full year report on crimes by race; obviously based on numbers, whites commit more crimes and have more encounters with police. Based on population percentage and rates, blacks more likely to be victims and assailants. The 2019 half year report showed violent crime was decreasing, as it was in 2018. Well, that record won't stand because certain groups don't want less crime, safer neighborhoods, lower unemployment and more opportunity for minorities.

My answer to Jane

I don’t know Jane, but she’s on my Facebook Friends list—I think through an artist group.  Jane responded to one of my posts,  Trump is "a threat to our democracy." I see or hear this claim a lot, the media make endless such comments, but with no explanation. So I asked her:

Did moving the embassy to the capital of Israel which other presidents promised threaten democracy?

Did making changes in the penal system threaten democracy?

Did securing funding for black colleges threaten democracy?

Did strengthening the military threaten democracy?

Did undoing the terrible climate change agreement that only U.S. was following threaten democracy?

Did renegotiating trade agreements with Mexico and Canada threaten democracy?

Did continuing with the wall at the border that both Bush and Obama also funded threaten democracy?

Did removing the threat of jail and fines from a forced health insurance plan threaten democracy?

Did pulling out of international abortion agreements threaten democracy?

Did walking to an historic church in DC when it was being attacked by rioters threaten democracy?

Did helping Israel and UAE sign an historic peace agreement in 2020 threaten democracy?

Did withdrawing our troops from a region sucking up blood and treasure of Americans for almost 2 decades threaten democracy?

Did calling out NATO members for never paying their share of the military protection threaten democracy?

Did cutting red tape and bureaucratic rules to allow the economy to recover from the slowest ever recession recovery threaten democracy?

Do tweets intended to irritate Democrats and their unthinking followers threaten democracy?

Did asking Congress to do its job in the DACA (illegal) situation threaten democracy?

Does saving the unborn child from a painful abortion threaten democracy?

Does being the most pro-life president ever threaten democracy?

Does believing blacks and other minorities have a right to build their own companies and to have an investment in economic freedoms like yours threaten democracy?

Did exposing the corruption and illegal spying behavior of the last administration threaten democracy?

Did withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal threaten democracy?

Did the wage growth of the bottom 10% of wage earners threaten democracy?

Did expanding his base of support among minorities, releasing them from 60 years of Democrat party ownership, threaten democracy?

Did confronting China about unfair to Americans trade agreements threaten democracy?

Did appointing 2 fine conservative judges to the Supreme Court so it can do its job instead of creating law threaten democracy?

Did making us an energy exporter instead of importer threaten democracy?

Did creating a 6th military branch (space) threaten democracy?

Does maintaining a breathtaking schedule to promote all things American for Americans threaten anyone other than Joe B. Hiden?

Know what your party stands for before you vote

From  Joan Shaw Turrentine

"Our current society is mostly emotion driven, but good decisions are based on reason, not emotion. Before Election Day, when deciding where you’d like to help pilot our national plane (You know, the one we’re all going to fly or die in together) use your God-given reasoning power. Know each party’s platform when deciding your vote.

•Where does the ticket stand on religious freedom?

•Where does the ticket stand on life for the unborn?

•Where does the ticket stand on helping our low income citizens find financial freedom?

•Where does it stand on your pension plan?

•Where does the ticket stand on freedom for the citizenry to determine their own prosperity?

•Where does the ticket stand on adherence to the Constitution - separation of powers, bill of rights, etc?

Read the platform.

Read their RECORD - especially on hot-button issues such as race, gender-equality, etc

Don’t be fooled by labels thrown about.

Picture our country as you’d like it to be ten years from now.

Our RIGHTS as American citizens depend on all of us exercising our corresponding DUTIES as American citizens."

More parents are choosing Home Schooling

Gaj Wilcox comments:  “The effect of the Wuhan virus crisis is obvious in the responses: Parents reported declining participation in every institutional school option, with the exception of “charter school.” Still, the decline of “public school” was the most notable, falling from 83 percent to 76 percent.

Given the fact that this poll measured families, not children, the percentage of home-schoolers among the overall student population could be even higher. Samantha Spitzer, a certified teacher and home-schooling parent, believes this to be the case. Spitzer has been hosting “how to home-school” workshops throughout her local region of West Virginia this August. She’s seen dozens of first-time home-schoolers showing up at each forum.

“I talked to someone at my county school board office,” Spitzer said. “She left on a Friday evening, Aug. 7, and by Monday morning she had 175 notices of intent to home-school on her desk — all from brand-new families.” Based on public school enrollment numbers, Spitzer estimates that in one local county, as many as one-fourth of K-12 children might be homeschooled this year."

https://thefederalist.com/2020/09/03/thanks-to-coronavirus-panic-1-in-10-american-families-is-now-home-schooling/?

Me: Not everyone can afford to homeschool or has the talent, so this means you'll need to engage with your children/grandchildren even more to block the false information about sex, our history, the government. It's in the air and water, so be vigilant. We’ve got “woke” corporations because of the kids who were brainwashed in college, which got the kids with no American History from the high schools.  I’ve been retired 20 years, and we were seeing the results then on the college campuses.

Lakeside Labor Day week-end

So much excitement in Lakeside today. Reminds me of a day in June when we watched our neighbor Tom install a window. But today, another neighbor was giving away some furniture--a very nice oak chest. So 3 ladies stopped to investigate, and left their car parked in the middle of the road and 3 other cars had to stop and wait. Right outside our house--we could see it all from our porch. Lakeside is really rocking.

This is Labor Day week-end and there will be a lot of people here for a final good-bye.  But many people are staying because there is more here than their primary home town.  Like traffic jams.

Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing

Twenty-five years ago, the United Nations held its Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China—China, of all places, where millions of women are aborted and brutally and coercively sterilized every year. The prepared documents had all those ugly anti-life words we've come to associate with the pro-life movement. On Sept 12, 1995, this letter from Mother Teresa was read to the participants and it had been translated into 6 languages. It was kept a secret until then. For obvious reasons. Even 25 years ago, abortion was very political and the left was winning even then.

Dear Friends,

I am praying for God’s blessing on all who are taking part in the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. I hope that this Conference will help everyone to know, love, and respect the special place of women in God’s plan so that they may fulfill this plan in their lives.

I do not understand why some people are saying that women and men are exactly the same, and are denying the beautiful differences between men and women. All God’s gifts are good, but they are not all the same. As I often say to people who tell me that they would like to serve the poor as I do, “What I can do, you cannot. What you can do, I cannot. But together we can do something beautiful for God.” It is just this way with the differences between women and men.

God has created each one of us, every human being, for greater things– to love and to be loved. But why did God make some of us men and others women? Because a woman’s love is one image of the love of God, and a man’s love is another image of God’s love. Both are created to love, but each in a different way. Woman and man complete each other, and together show forth God’s love more fully than either can do it alone.

That special power of loving that belongs to a woman is seen most clearly when she becomes a mother. Motherhood is the gift of God to women. How grateful we must be to God for this wonderful gift that brings such joy to the whole world, women and men alike!

Yet we can destroy this gift of motherhood, especially by the evil of abortion, but also be thinking that other things like jobs or positions are more important than loving, than giving oneself to others. No job, no plans, no possessions, no idea of “freedom” can take the place of love. So anything that destroys God’s gift of motherhood destroys His most precious gift to women– the ability to love as a woman.

God told us, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So first I am to love myself rightly, and then to love my neighbor like that.

But how can I love myself unless I accept myself as God has made me? Those who deny the beautiful differences between men and women are not accepting themselves as God has made them, and so cannot love the neighbor. They will only bring division, unhappiness, and destruction of peace to the world. For example, as I have often said, abortion is the greatest destroyer of peace in the world today, and those who want to make women and men the same are all in favor of abortion.

Instead of death and sorrow, let us bring peace and joy to the world. To do this we must beg God for His gift of peace and learn to love and accept each other as brothers and sisters, children of God.

We know that the best place for children to learn how to love and to pray is in the family, by seeing the love and prayer of their mother and father. When families are broken or disunited, many children grow up not knowing how to love and pray. A country where many families have been destroyed like this will have many problems. I have often seen, especially in the rich countries, how children turn to drugs or other things to escape feeling unloved and rejected.

But when families are strong and united, children can see God’s special love in the love of their father and mother and can grow to make their country a loving and prayerful place. The child is God’s best gift to the family and needs both mother and father because each one shows God’s love in a special way. The family that prays together stays together, and if they stay together they will love one another as God has loved each one of them. And works of love are always works of peace.

So let us keep the joy of loving in our hearts and share this joy with all we meet. My prayer for all of the delegates, and for every woman whom the Beijing Conference is trying to help, is that each one may be humble and pure like Mary so as to live in love and peace with one another and make our families and our world something beautiful for God.

Let us pray.

All for the glory of God and good of souls. God bless you.

Mother Teresa, MC

https://spiritualdirection.com/2020/09/03/a-special-power-of-loving-mother-teresas-letter-on-women

Would you give up your pet?

I noticed this in a farm journal: "What is known is that ferrets, minks, domestic cats, and some dogs have become infected with COVID-19. But neither pets nor farm animals are thought to play significant roles in transmitting COVID-19. "

So if your governor asked you to give up your pet in order to be safe, would he have a fight on his hands? Biden wants a lockdown (to be safe) and Trump wants to open up (to be free), so which one would ask for your pet?

GK Chesterton, a hymn for these times

1 O God of earth and altar,
bow down and hear our cry,
our earthly rulers falter,
our people drift and die;
the walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide,
take not thy thunder from us,
but take away our pride.

2 From all that terror teaches,
from lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches
that comfort cruel men,
from sale and profanation
of honour and the sword,
from sleep and from damnation,
deliver us, good Lord!

3 Tie in a living tether
the prince and priest and thrall,
bind all our lives together,
smite us and save us all;
in ire and exultation
aflame with faith, and free,
lift up a living nation,
a single sword to thee.

Source: Ancient and Modern: hymns and songs for refreshing worship #582  public domain

Today I came across this hymn by Gordon Keith Chesterton published in 1907, before he became a Catholic (although I don’t think that matters).  It certainly speaks to today’s atmosphere and dilemmas for Christians.“Our earthly rulers falter, our people drift and die.” Isn’t that the truth!  “Tie in a living tether the prince and priest and thrall.”  What a powerful phrase.  Thrall isn’t a word we use much in the 21st century, but it means one in bondage or servitude or who is oppressed.  And doesn’t gold entomb us—striving for material possessions consume us.  Every line speaks to our situation today. Deliver us from lies of tongue and pen, from all the easy speeches . . .

It is sung to various tunes—meter 7.6.7.6 D.  I tried several, and I do like something rousing with a little oomph to go with the strong words.  Lancashire is nice (Lead on O King eternal). In the Methodist 1964 hymnal it is King’s Lynn.

Joe Biden and the Blakes

Why did Joe Biden go to Wisconsin and meet with Jacob Blake, an anti-Semitic follower of Louis Farrakhan, a man consumed with hate for the Jews? A man who hates Jesus and all white people and announces it publicly. He knew ahead of time who and what he was. Blake Sr. is the father of Jacob Blake, Jr., shot by police resisting arrest, who had been charged with sexual assault and stealing money and car of the woman he assaulted. Democrats have elevated him to a saint. Why does Biden say in his campaign ads Blacks are afraid to leave their homes, when for 8 years he with Barack Obama was in charge? Shouldn’t he have protected them then?  Was it the low unemployment rate, funding for black colleges or the First Step act that frightened them? Why is Biden beholden to BLM?

St. Gregory the Great

It's a good thing St. Gregory the Great didn't have social media. When he lived in a monastic community he didn't have as much trouble monitoring his speech as he did in his pastoral role.

"I must frequently listen patiently to their aimless chatter. Because I am weak myself I am drawn gradually into idle talk and I find myself saying the kind of thing that I didn’t even care to listen to before. I enjoy lying back where I once was loath to stumble. Who am I — what kind of watchman am I? I do not stand on the pinnacle of achievement, I languish rather in the depths of my weakness."

Sally Sims Stokes 1950-2020

A colleague of mine from the 1980s died in August. We shared an office in the main library of Ohio State University.  https://rappfuneral.com/tribute/details/31255/Sally-Stokes/obituary.html

She was a lot of fun and had a fascinating career. Particularly in historic preservation which sent her in many directions doing  research.

Voter manipulation isn’t from Russia

Some people I know are still in the Russia, Russia, Russia delusion about 2016, however, Google can manipulate the election by influencing that precious "undecided" group. Watch this testimony. https://youtu.be/rNvgl38TLvI Epstein is not a Trump supporter. The Left went crazy when this report came out, and when Trump repeated it (not using the exact numbers--could be over 10 million) the very ones who claimed to revere science screamed themselves blue and grew donkey ears. No paper trail, nothing to check with this method, Epstein says.

Now he says “Just by fiddling with search suggestion, Google has the power to turn a 50-50 split among undecided voters into a 90-10 split with no one knowing that they have been manipulated,” he said.

https://www.westernjournal.com/expert-warns-google-shift-10-vote-away-trump-hand-2020-election-biden/

The Number One financial donor to Hillary Clinton in 2016 was the parent company of Google. And you're worried about Putin?

Covid19 and demons.

Every news website I pull up from Washington Post to Ohio State starts and ends with Covid19 stories. You don't have to read too many of these to see there are other motives than just getting control of a serious world-wide health problem. The desire to save lives may have been a motivation at the beginning when little was known about transmission or treatment, but now it's about power.

This reminds me of some Christians' obsession with demons. Jesus cast out demons, and the Bible has a lot to say about demonic forces. We should accord demonic forces some respect, but not honor. Some people have an unhealthy fear and panic about demonic forces. They have given the demons more power than they actually have. They've given up their free will and their freedom in Christ.

And so it is with Covid19; too many have designated Covid19 the ruler over our government and our churches and our lives. They are willing to give up all our blessings to appease the demons.

THE CARRINGTON EVENT WAS NOT UNIQUE

“It might be time to rewrite the history books. New research shows that the Carrington Event--a monster solar storm that hit Earth 161 years ago today--might not be as unique as previously thought. Historical documents from East Asia suggest that Carrington Events (plural) have happened many times before . . . and probably will again.”

Please, not in 2020.  We’ve had enough.

Western science taught that this September 1, 1859 event was unique. The storm rocked Earth's magnetic field, sparked auroras over Cuba, the Bahamas and Hawaii, set fire to telegraph stations, and wrote itself into history books as the Biggest. Solar. Storm. Ever.

Now with records from Japan, China , Korean and Russian archives, if this were to happen today, instead of destroying telegraph stations, it could blow out the internet and transcontinental communication. A modern-day Carrington Event could cause widespread power outages along with disruptions to navigation, air travel, banking, and all forms of digital communication.

https://spaceweather.com/ for Tuesday, September 1, 2020

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/08/carrington-event-warning/

If it happens again, we know it will be blamed on President Trump and global warming

Mystic, Connecticut

The problem with blogging and facebooking every day is that I forget what I wrote about and when.  I was sure I had put a photo of my "new" print on my blog, but I can't find it.  Oh well, I'll just post it again, and when I do find it, I'll delete one.  It's a print of a tug boat in Mystic, Connecticut.  The little Christmas wreath on the back of the boat makes is appropriate for the Christmas season.  Lolly Stoddard is described at an Amazon site:

Lolly Stoddard is a well know artist in the shoreline area of Connecticut, where she resides with her husband whom she has known since childhood. She taught school for five years before concluding her teaching career to be at home with her three children who are now grown. Her artist endeavors grew along with her children, and her memories of their creative imaginations have helped enliven her children's books. Her first book "Town Small" was published by Mystic Seaport in 2002 and is now in its second printing.

  

Mountain Ivy Blue Ridge dishes

I couldn't resist. The next time you come for dinner or dessert, we'll be eating on vintage (< 1947) Mountain Ivy Blue Ridge Southern Pottery hand painted dishes with underglaze, displaying leaves and purple and gray berries (looks blue to me, my primary kitchen color), all with candlewick edges . It has approximately 7 place settings, except cups and saucers are 8, and usually those are the missing pieces, and I never use them. Meat platter and oval vegetable bowl, sugar/creamer (also don't use these). Now I have some rearranging and packing up to do to move some things to Columbus. History of the company, Erwin, TN 1917-1957. http://www.blueridge-spi.com/pottery/rap1997/history.html

Controlling risk

I wear a mask when I go out, even for my morning walk at 6:30 or 7 a.m. And I'm not wearing it to protect you; it's to protect me. I'm over 80, I'm in good health (with assistance from Big Pharma), but one statistic I do believe in the ocean of misinformation about Covid19, is that the elderly are more vulnerable. The more health deficits they have like obesity, heart disease, lung congestion, smoking, alcoholism, etc. the greater the risk they'll die of Covid19 if they get it or get really sick.

When I walk in the morning, I may cross paths 4 or 5 other walkers or joggers, breathing hard. (At 80 I don't move that quickly.) I wear my mask because they don't. When I walk later in the day to attend a program in the park I may share the street with 6 teen-agers laughing and talking and doing normal kid stuff. I wear my mask because they don't. When I go in stores I meet strangers complying with the mask rules, but with their masks in odd positions--or under their noses, or lifting it to sip the ubiquitous coffee of can of pop. I wear my mask because they don't. I do eat in restaurants. I'm sharing space with people eating and talking and laughing--doing normal human activities. So I wear a mask, except when eating. In the days before the pandemic, I saw people wearing masks who were in chemo treatment or recovering from surgery but still in church or shopping. I wear a mask because I know they weren't trying to protect the public.

But loneliness and depression are also a risk--for anyone even without the pandemic. And I have good reasons for grief and isolation after the recent illness and death of our son. A few brave friends and family violated all the rules and took the risk to be with us, for which we'll forever be grateful, but it was nowhere near the support we would have had in another year from our church, our neighbors, our clubs, etc. So I'll wear the mask because I don't want to live in a prison. I don't want to live like I'm dead.

I'm still going to church (outside), I'm still shopping, I'm attending as many live programs as this odd summer at Lakeside has to offer (praise God for our wonderful staff), I'm still going to restaurants, I'm still inviting friends to our home and going to theirs, I'm still browsing the used books in the "Little Library" boxes all over Lakeside.

And masks keep the summer bugs out of my teeth.

Videos of Blake and Rittenhouse

Videos have now been released of 29 year old Jacob Blake (Kenosha riots) struggling with police and resisting arrest before he was shot, and 17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse being attacked by several in the Kenosha riots before he used his gun on his assailants. I doubt that it will make any difference because these riots are not about "systemic racism" or grievances about equity or health, or which lives matter more, or any of the other social safety net jargon or class war language popularized in the last 30 years by academics.

For BLM it's about the destruction of the United States--and that includes Joe Biden who has contributed so much to the system (like the 1994 crime bill)  they hate in the last 50 years. For the Marxist founders of BLM we don't deserve to exist and should be destroyed.