Reading to children

The word gap in early childhood is important. A child with a Mom who reads to her may hear a million more words than one who doesn't have that advantage.  I have many happy memories of Mom reading to my brother and me in the big burgundy late 40s chair with arms large enough to hold two children of school age (the chair, not hers). I can probably even remember the books. We didn't know what an advantage she was giving us even though we lived in a rural town of 1,000 with all 12 grades in one building. No amount of DEI later in life or Head Start as toddlers can surpass a mother who reads to her children. I remember the Little Engine that Could, the Ugly Duckling, and the Wee wee Mannie and the big big Coo to this day. Those stories had an ideology and lessons, great illustrations and challenging vocabulary plus Mom did great accents.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190404074947.htm?

Good-bye Summer

Good-bye summer.

 
That's what I think on September 1. It's my favorite month, though. It was the start of school (in the old days) and I loved school. It is the month of my birthday and anniversary of our wedding (64 this year). Did you know that Good-bye is a contraction of "God be with you?" Think on that each time you say good-bye. You are blessing them with God's presence and protection. It's the basis of that old hymn, "God be with you till we meet again." 

“God Be With You Till We Meet Again”, which was written by Jeremiah Rankin, was simply composed so his church choir could have something to sing when they parted each week. Rankin was the minister for the First Congregational Church in Washington, D.C. and said this about the hymn, “Written…as a Christian goodbye, it was called forth by no person or occasion, but was deliberately composed as a Christian hymn on basis of the etymology of “goodbye,” which is “God be with you.” He got the idea for the first stanza of the song when he saw the dictionary definition of “good-bye” was short for “God be with you.” The song was written in 1882 when Rankin was 54 years old."

Additional details in  Discipleship Ministries | History of Hymns: 'God Be with You Till We… (umcdiscipleship.org)

Harris' CNN interview August 29, 2024

Kamala Harris said something odd in her "interview" with Dana Bash on CNN last night. It sounded like she said money seniors saved on drugs (negotiated by Biden?) could have gone to fight fentanyl that has been devastating our communities (and she DID NOT say caused by drugs at border crossings). How does that work? How does the money saved in Mr. Senior Citizen's wallet get to the ICE to fight border criminals funded by China? Is this just word salad with brown lettuce? I looked up the Inflation Reduction Act, and couldn't figure out the money supply chain on that one. Everything I've read said the consumer is saving (and there are many exceptions and will only affect a few and doesn't start until next year).

"The Inflation Reduction Act amends the non-interference clause by adding an exception that requires the Secretary of HHS to negotiate prices with drug companies for a small number of single-source brand-name drugs or biologics without generic or biosimilar competitors that are covered under Medicare Part D (starting in 2026) and Part B (starting in 2028). Under the new Drug Price Negotiation Program, the number of drugs selected for price negotiation is 10 Part D drugs for 2026, another 15 Part D drugs for 2027, another 15 Part D and Part B drugs for 2028, and another 20 Part D and Part B drugs for 2029 and later years. These drugs will be selected from the 50 drugs with the highest total Medicare Part D spending and the 50 drugs with the highest total Medicare Part B spending. The number of drugs with negotiated prices available will accumulate over time."

What sort of shell game has she added to gaslighting?

Overall, the interview was poor, didn't reflect well on her.  Tim Walz looked sort of silly sitting there like a Secret Service watchman in Butler, PA. Harris was evasive, and seemed to be looking down at her notes.  She looked tired and exhauted, but then last week was her big event, so perhaps she was tired.  It was billed as an "hour event," but it was more like a half hour, and Harris said little.

Kamala vs Kamala campaign ads

Have you seen Trump's Harris vs. Harris campaign ads?

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS, 2024: Everyday prices are too high... Food, rent, gas, back-to-school clothes.

HARRIS, 2023: That is called Bidenomics!

HARRIS, 2024: A loaf of bread costs 50% more... ground beef is up almost 50%... There's not much left at the end of the month.

HARRIS, 2023: Bidenomics is working!

HARRIS, 2024: The price of housing has gone up. It feels so hard to be able to just get ahead.

HARRIS, 2023: We are so proud of Bidenomics!

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/08/26/trump_campaign_ad_quotes_harris_on_high_prices_thats_called_bidenomics.html

Robert F. Kennedy Jr,'s speech to support Trump

You may have missed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s speech last week where he endorsed President Donald Trump for a second term. The major media outlets working with the DNC have completely censored him and refused to cover his campaign. The DNC tried to bankrupt him, just as they (i.e. Democrats) did Trump by bringing frivolous lawsuits. I probably don't agree with him on most issues, especially abortion, but he and Trump have shown the complete hypocrisy and illegal behavior of the Democrat party that screams "threat to democracy" every chance they get while doubling down on election interference. He's still on the ballot in some states. It's a good speech on many levels. Mainly it shows the complete corruption of the party in power in the White House, but if you watched how they crowned their current candidate with no input from the voters, you know that.

https://www.youtube.com/live/CG_dz4DjrkA?si=RojQgmPzCOhWmdP9

RFK jr aligns with Trump on many issues like ending the wars, protecting the border, protecting children from chronic diseases; they disagree on many others. Team of Rivals. (Abraham Lincoln). His biggest concern seems to be the health of children, and the rise on chronic health conditions.  He often refers to "when my uncle was President" which is about 1960, and an easy figure to remember. 
He condemns ultra processed food as the culprit in the shocking statistics on chronic diseases in children. Toxic chemicals he names as the second culprit--hormone disrupters cause girls to reach puberty earlier. Mass poisoning, he says. $4 trillion now on chronic diseases, whereas in 1960 it was zero. 70% of school lunches are processed food--poor have a high burden of chronic diseases. 74% of Americans are obese, he says. Imagine if they all needed Wegovy or Ozempic. A boon for Big Pharma. Or for less money give organic fruits and vegetables to every family. Make Americans Healthy Again.

 Of course, I want to save children too, but in the womb. They have to be born before Kennedy can improve their diet.

Put on your big girl pants

This may be the only sympathetic feeling I have for Kamala Harris: speaking in public. I'd bring along a guy for support, too (Walz). I'd let someone else speak for me if I could, too.  I'd make up rules to benefit only me, too. I spoke to my church as a teen-ager after a conference; I spoke at my professional organization's national meeting when I was the president; I spoke about how to use the library at freshman orientations in the Veterinary college for a number of years; when the WWW came online, I gave a seminar on how to use it, and a few other times. It was painful each time. I don't like public speaking. But she signed on for the job and she should start behaving like a big girl. We know she can, because she spoke to her sorority sisters rather than do her Vice President duties in meeting with Netanyahu of Israel a few days after she was anointed by the party to take Biden's place.

The crime scene was swept clean--July 13

The only police detective experience I've had is watching 8 years (plus re-runs) of the Closer. And even I knew this wasn't right.

"A SWAT counter-sniper who was working the Pennsylvania rally where former President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated last month agreed with Republican lawmakers Monday that an “odd” pattern of evidence-handling had occurred following the deadly shooting.

Washington Regional SWAT counter-sniper Ben Shaffer said it was “absolutely” concerning that the roof of the AGR International building had been quickly scrubbed and gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks’ body disposed of before an official autopsy report could be released."

Trump rally counter-sniper backs bombshell 'evidence tampering' claims by House GOPers (nypost.com)

Trump rally counter-sniper Ben Shaffer sparks uproar as he supports GOP's 'evidence tampering' allegation - MEAWW News

House Republican Forum on the Attempted Assassination of Former President Trump | C-SPAN.org

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks to Tucker

"In 1960 when my uncle was president our chronic disease rate was about 6%. Now it's 60%." Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the Tucker Carlson show speaking about why he decided to back Trump. He believes 8 years of Harris would be devastating to the country.

 
Fact checkers deny this (I just checked), Annenburg, a far far leftist organization devoted to keeping your right to speech and assembly within "proper" bounds (i.e., supporting Democrats) says so, and then all lackeys comply. The "fact" checker then reports on RFKjr stats, and it looks to me like the researchers don't agree on the percentage (not the idea). Since Kennedy was then a Democrat running without approval of the party because he would draw off votes from Biden, Annenburg had to stomp it out. It's who this "fact" checker is.

Kennedy is still running in 40 states. Biden has now withdrawn his Secret Service protection, which he only got because Trump brought it up at the RNC. It's who they are.

Zuck and Kamala have a lot to answer for

Too little, too late. "Mark Zuckerberg 'comes clean' in damning letter about Facebook's election interference and pandemic censorship."  He admits what we all knew.

Just one more reason not to trust Harris, especially since she's been wearing her MAGA hat and steal Trump's ideas.

"Zuckerberg said in his damning letter addressed to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that in 2021, senior officials from the Biden-Harris administration, including the White House, "repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn't agree.""

https://www.theblaze.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-comes-clean-in-damning-letter-about-facebooks-election-interference-and-pandemic-censorship?

What's wrong with Democrats who support Harris?

I heard at the "All In" Podcast (193) that the media have given Harris 84% positive coverage and Trump 89% negative coverage. No bias there. What a disservice to Democrats! That means media want Democrats to vote for higher taxes, for losing all private health insurance, for taxing unrealized capital gains, for being priced out of home ownership, for price controls, for more inflation, for candidates Harris/Walz both of whom have had zip/nada/zilch employment in the private sector when technically we are a free market, capitalist economy, and a candidate, Kamala Harris, raised in Berkeley and Montreal with parents who were Communists swamped in the lies of socialism from conception to the last one in the room when Biden made his awful decisions.

 
And don't kid yourself that Harris/Walz are just going after envy vote--want to only tax the rich. It always falls to the Middle class. The poor don't pay taxes, they receive subsidies. The rich have so many tax lawyers they probably won't even notice, especially when they move their assets out of the country. Lots of countries are looking for their money--our government tries to drive them out! It will all fall to the middle class to keep the tax hungry Harris away from the door.

Does anyone with a brain work in the legacy media?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSpGiFqL8_E I think this is episode 193. Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks & David Friedberg cover all things economic, tech, political, social & poker.

Gender affirming care

It's not "gender affirming care." That's word salad. It's toxic.

Humans don't have genders. We each have a biological sex. Nouns have genders. Old English had genders; modern English for the most part does not. There may be a few of us where something went wrong with the design, but we shouldn't aim for the anomaly. There are people born without arms, too. 

It's also not care and it's not affirming to create words and phrases that deceive. "Affirming care" is violent and cruel. It is not positive, confirming or expressing agreement.

Praying for the opening of a new business

Prayer opportunities in the everydays. Isn't it nice to be included in God's work through prayer? I think this prayer is a model to join the Lord's work in a new business from my friend Darlene, a former member of our church now living in SC. (used with her permission)

"Would you all pray for my son Drew today? He is an executive chef of a new restaurant having their grand opening tonight. Pray for their success.

 
Pray that each of them, especially Drew leading them. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. Not all of them are Christians but pray for the salvation of the ones that are to lead the ones that are not. I saw a caring and a love for each other among the servers, cooks and management. Pray for that love to grow.

When we were there for the friends and family, I felt a change in the atmosphere as I entered the restaurant. I could feel a release of the burdens of the day and a relaxation take over. Pray (especially in the times we are in) that the customers receive that same feeling. Pray for favor with God and man for the whole staff.

 
Pray the Lord be magnified and each person be lifted up! Pray they have a great time serving their customers and enjoying their work! and have fun. It would be an escape for the staff also.
Above all, commit their work to the Lord and they will be established.

 
Thank you for your prayers. I love you all ...Be blessed, Darlene"

Guttmacher, CDC and Pew

Although we know a lot about the U.S. populace from our government census, it doesn't ask about religion. So when you see those figures, it's not from the government census. There may be other agencies and organizations that do count heads for religion, but the Pew Research organization is the only one I know, and the one most quoted. Here's what it says about Christians, and it should be marching orders for all churches.

"Christians continue to make up a majority of the U.S. populace, but their share of the adult population is 12 points lower in 2021 than it was in 2011. In addition, the share of U.S. adults who say they pray on a daily basis has been trending downward, as has the share who say religion is “very important” in their lives."

"As of 2021, 21% of U.S. adults describe themselves as Catholic, identical to the Catholic share of the population in 2014."

That means Catholics are holding their own and Protestants are not. Also, it means that lack of religious observances like regular prayer and church attendance are factors in the increasing divisiveness in our society,

Here's another tip about statistics. Researchers rely on the Guttmacher Institute for abortion statistics. It is the research arm of Planned Parenthood. CDC is our government agency that tracks health and the reproductive health of the nation. Although reproduction is the opposite of abortion, that's where to look for abortion statistics. If you read an article about abortion or contraception, there is usually a mix of statistics using both CDC and Guttmacher. Those are the only two the Pew Research articles quote from. Although it's odd, abortion statistics from Pew is classed with religion and assigned to its religious editor. As far as I can determine neither one tracks, records or is concerned about the negative effects of abortion on the health and welfare of women, especially not in the long run. For that you'll need smaller, more female friendly organizations.

I looked up the 2 Pew religion writers/editors and one specialized in American blacks and Muslims and Europeans and the other in Muslims. Do you see any specialization gaps here?

I look at strange things so you don't have to.

Some DNC humor--Michelle Obama

 

Why do Democrats demonize their wealthy donors?

Maybe at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee the Republicans insulted their rich donors, but I don't remember that (referring to Michelle Obama's slam at the wealthy during her speech). I know the Democrats listen to their rich donors, because that's what began the march of daggers in the back for Biden. In mid-July George Clooney, a film star, called on Biden to get out, to retire, to fade away, to fall on his sword to save the party in power.  And he wasn't alone. All those Hollywood stars and corporate magnates with deep pockets and PACs were afraid Trump would rain on their power parade. During the 2016 campaign when another woman was campaigning for the White House, "At least 85 of 154 people from private interests who met or had phone conversations scheduled with Clinton while she led the State Department donated to her family charity or pledged commitments to its international programs, according to a review of State Department calendars released SO FAR to The Associated Press. Combined, the 85 donors contributed as much as $156 million. At least 40 donated more than $100,000 each, and 20 gave more than $1 million. (Fox, 8-23-16) In their 40 years of political life (as of 2015) the Clintons raised $3 Billion for their campaigns and their foundation. (WaPo, 11-19-15)  And they did it office sucking up as much money as they could.

Josh Shapiro

We all know Democrats dumped Josh Shapiro for vice president because he is Jewish and they need Michigan, but when Trump calls him a "Jewish Governor" they get the vapors and the liberal media pile on. Democrats have abandoned the working class, Blacks, Catholics and Jews all in search of power and their Marxist policies. Don't be fooled.

The one percenters--us

I usually ignore these memes, but I read it today, and it sort of sobered me. Especially thinking about those 99%. How many of these ring true for you, 99 % of those born between 1930 and 1946 (worldwide) are now dead. If you were born in this time span, you are one of the rare surviving 1% ers of this special group. Their ages range between 77 and 93 years old, a 16 year age span.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE 1% ers:

You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900's.

You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.

You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.

You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.

You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch.

Discipline was enforced by parents and teachers.

You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you "imagined" what you heard on the radio.

With no TV, you spent your childhood "playing outside".

There was no Little League.

There was no city playground for kids.

The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.

We got "black-and-white" TV in the late 40s that had 3 stations and no remote. (Kids were normally the remote.)

Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).

Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.

Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.

'INTERNET' and 'GOOGLE' were words that did not exist.

New highways would bring jobs and mobility. Most highways were 2 lanes (no interstates).

You went downtown to shop. You walked to school.

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.

Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.

You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.

They were glad you played by yourselves.

They were busy discovering the postwar world.

You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves.

You felt secure in your future, although the depression and poverty were deeply remembered.

Polio was still a crippler. Everyone knew someone who had it.

You came of age in the '50s and '60s.

You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.

World War 2 was over and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life.

Only your generation can remember a time after WW2 when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.

You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better.

More than 99% of you are retired now, and you should feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"

If you have already reached the age of 77 years old, you have outlived 99% of all the other people in the world who were born in this special 16 year time span. You are a 1% 'er"!

* * *                              *  *  *      

My parents didn't get a TV until they could get color transmission from Rockford, IL--I think it was 1957 and I was already away at college.

No, don't remember Little League, but we had community "commercial leagues" sponsored by local businesses, and the American Legion sponsored teams. There was a Corbett Oil team (my dad sponsored it). For younger kids I think there were "junior" teams. Anyone else remember that?

Yes, I remember party lines. We were 59-L. My older sisters (teens) were telephone operators so we knew the gossip.

Walking to downtown and school was about same distance. Small and smaller towns.

Playgrounds were school grounds. Easy to get to. Also, streets and sidewalks were safe. If you were playing soft ball you'd just yell, CAR.

Not sure our lives overflowed with plenty, but I do remember our first refrigerator which replaced the ice box. Big boxes were fun.

Yes, polio was huge in my memory. Affected family and friends.

I don't recall a time of no international threats. We had duck and cover drills and classroom movies about "the bomb." All the theaters had WWII movies. Plus we had parents who remembered the Depression and lived accordingly.

And, although I never thought much about it at the time, we had pretty clothes. Today's closet for a young girl is full of sweats, T-s, and ugly shoes.

Kamalanomics

Michael Boskin says that there are three sources of insights into Harris’s economic thinking, “her positions when running for president in 2020, the Biden-Harris economic policies, and the economic program she rolled out Friday.”

 
Starting with the new policies she announced in a speech last Friday, Boskin explains that Harris wants to give first-time home buyers a $25,000 government check, favors subsidies to developers on low-income housing, and supports price controls on groceries." (Kamalanomics, Hoover Institute)

I wouldn't call those "insights," or "thinking." Give the general home buying public $25,000 to buy a house and all housing prices go up $25,000. That's 5th grade math. Only the free market works--even Communist China learned that when their economy was flailing. Definitely cat-lady economic theory.

 

US families need to earn a staggering 80% more than they did in 2020 to 'comfortably afford' a home nowadays — despite the median income only going up 23% in that time

Rough Sleepers September book club selection

Our book club assignment for September is Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder.  Here is a summary of a model program from 1985 to the present at its website with a description of the book. Our History | Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (bhchp.org)

"2023:  Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People by Tracy Kidder is published. Kidder tells the story of Dr. Jim O’Connell, (Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program) BHCHP’s founding physician and the BHCHP Street Team as they offer medical care and friendship to “rough sleepers”, our patients living on the streets. Tracy Kidder, a Pulitzer prize-winning author followed the Street Team for 5 years resulting in this New York Times bestseller.

Rough Sleepers appears on the cover of the New York Times magazine with a 10,000-word author essay by Tracy Kidder and a photo montage of patients cared for by the BHCHP Street Team.

Barbara McInnis House respite program [in 2023] opens the Complex Addiction Treatment (CAT) team specializing in the respite care of people with active SUD using best practices from addiction medicine, harm reduction, and trauma informed models of care. This is a unique model of care: The team’s goals are 

(1) to provide effective care to respite patients at BMH who are at high risk for adverse outcomes related to drug use 

(2) to retain these patients in care at BMH to address the medical need(s) for which they were admitted and 

(3) to decrease triggers and trauma for patients in respite who are not using drugs by cohorting and better supporting patients for whom cessation of use is not an option."

Additional information

Find Immediate Homelessness Assistance | SAMHSA

Need Housing Assistance? - HUD Exchange

"SAMHSA’s SOAR program increases access to Social Security disability benefits for eligible children and adults who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have a serious mental illness, medical impairment, and/or co-occurring substance use disorder." However I found it so complex, I couldn't figure it out. Find Treatment Locators and Helplines | SAMHSA  Definitely would require a whole department of specialists. But I also looked at the number of applicants in 17 years this department has helped, and I was not impressed.

"Under federal disability rights laws, alcohol addiction, whether current or past, is typically considered a disability due to the effects it has on a person’s brain and neurological functions and is protected by the ADA. 7 On the other hand, though drug addiction is generally considered a disability, the ADA only allows protections for those in recovery and not currently engaging in illegal drug use. 7

Is Addiction a Disability? ADA Protections & Disability Benefits (americanaddictioncenters.org)

Dr. Jim O'Connell wrote a memoir in 2015. House Calls To The Homeless: A Doctor Treats Boston's Most Isolated Patients : Shots - Health News : NPR

Medicaids-Role-in-Housing-1.pdf (macpac.gov)

Thousands in Columbus are waiting for affordable, Section 8 housing (dispatch.com)