2016 the film

It’s doing very well at the box office.  Here from Patriot Post is a summary of Dinesh D’Souza’s film.

D'Souza's film is based on his books, "The Roots of Obama's Rage" and "Obama's America," in which he asserts that Obama's worldview was shaped most directly by the anti-colonialist views of his father, and that Obama is now intent on unmaking American so that he can remake it according to his worldview.

In a 2010 Forbes Magazine editorial on Obama, D'Souza concluded: "[Obama] is trapped in his father's time machine. Incredibly, the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anti-colonial ambitions, is now setting the nation's agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son. The son makes it happen, but he candidly admits he is only living out his father's dream. The invisible father provides the inspiration, and the son dutifully gets the job done. America today is governed by a ghost."

Watch for it tomorrow night. . .

 

“Sky & Telescope magazine has traced the history of the term in at least two articles and it has even been part of the change of how the term is used.

Here is a summary of what the articles describe:

• The original usage of the term was like the modern statement “When pigs fly.”
• Another described an infrequent event related to volcanic eruptions. The dust ejected high into the atmosphere, can give the moon and sun and bluish hue when see through the dust. While infrequent, blue moons do occur.
• A usage closer to the popular modern concept can be traced to the Maine Farmers’ Almanac that related the term an extra full moon during a season. The seasons normally have three full moons. When a season has four, the third one is called “Blue Moon.” Historically, the months had names, such as Harvest Moon, Egg Moon or Lenten Moon. Because those full moons were related to specific events related to the seasons, there came a time when a season had an extra full moon without a name; the third month in that series was named “Blue Moon.”
• Sky & Telescope also stated that it contributed to the popular notion with articles in 1946 and 1950 that cited the Maine Farmers’ Almanac, but added that a second full moon in a month was a “Blue Moon.”

http://jeffreylhunt.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/august-31-blue-moon/

Does Congress know about this? 200 Marines have landed in Guatemala

"Guatemalan authorities say they signed a treaty allowing the U.S. military to conduct the operations on July 16. Less than a month later an Air Force C-5 transport plane flew into Guatemala City from North Carolina loaded with the Marines and four UH-1 "Huey" helicopters."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_GUATEMALA_US_MARINES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-29-18-33-58

Don’t blame the Democrats for these creeps

http://redalertpolitics.com/2012/08/29/leftists-say-murder-ann-romney-via-twitter-call-mia-love-house-ner/

Whose war on women?

Communist Party of the USA endorses Obama

President Obama--get over it

Man up and stop blaming others for your failures.

Love from the Republican convention in Tampa

What a great poster to replace a fading Obama poster

The Democrats big lie about Katrina

The first line of defense in a hurricane, tornado or earthquake is the city, county and state authorities. During Katrina and Rita the mayor of New Orleans, Democrat Ray Nagin (Chocolate city Nagin) and the Democrat Governor of LA Kathleen Blanco failed in their responsibilities. Nagin thought they were prepared up to category 3 (it was a 5) and Blanco dithered about 2 days despite Bush’s urging before she did anything. So who do Democrats blame for 1800 deaths? President Bush. So far with Isaac there has been one death. Let's see if they will give Obama the credit or Governor Bobby Jindal who's been on top of this from the beginning.

How many “hot button” racialist words can you find?

“The Americas Before 1900 Working Group fosters comparative and transnational approaches to the cultures and histories of the early Americas in both research and teaching. Conceptualizing connections across the hemisphere’s cultures and languages is especially crucial for understanding the kinds of colonial encounters and transitions to modernity that proliferate from the pre-Columbian era to the advent of industrialization. We bring historians and literary scholars of both Latin America and Anglo-America together to discuss hemispheric questions such as how narratives across cultures address the legacy of slavery; how colonial encounters influence modern forms of jurisprudence; and how systems of quantification develop across different imperial spaces. Convening in Spring 2013, we anticipate broadening these questions as we create a space for ongoing dialogue about the interconnectedness of the Americas to each other and the rest of the globe. “

It’s just a guess, but research on pre-european cultures with groups killing and sacrificing each other is probably not a part of this Ohio State University Working Group’s conceptualizing connections.

You’ve bought a lie

Wellness exams, electronic records and preventive care do not save money or lives. But that's how Obamacare has been sold. Well trained doctors free of government red tape and payment schedules do. I know a woman who needs surgery tomorrow and is in constant pain, but it may be 4-5 months; I called in July for an appointment with a common specialty and couldn't get in until December. We are Medicare. Welcome to our playpen, all you who thought Obamacare would be so terrific.

Ask you doctor about PPACA

Go ahead, ask your physician at your next visit what she or he thinks of current Washington-directed reform and its impact on the doctor-patient relationship. What you hear will likely surprise you, because it will likely be markedly different from what you hear from Washington. The policy theorists are simply too far removed from the reality of front-line patient care. Health reform, whether via the implementation of ObamaCare or the GOP's "repeal and replace" plan, should no longer ignore the input and counsel of experienced, front-line, practicing doctors.

http://theweek.com/bullpen/column/232510/what-my-doctor-thinks-of-obamacare

Dog whistle or whistling in the dark?

Apparently dog whistle racism is when the slurs, slams or words are so subtle, so coded, so obscure, that only Republican politicians say them and only black people and Democrats understand them, if indeed they can hear them. Therefore, calling Obama the food stamp president is racist not because with his failed policies more Americans are using SNAP than ever before, but because he is black and to criticize him is code racism. Hello. He has criticized Romney for telling students to borrow from their parents rather than the government! Most people using food stamps are white. 40% of black women are having abortions.  Do the math. Americans elected him in 2008; he couldn't have been elected without the white vote. But what was historic and post racial in 2008 is now racist as millions try to abandon him because he has failed. He has broken his promises, and minorities particularly have been hurt. That's not code--that's the truth.

Sacred places

I think it's just so "special" (and transparent) that Brian Williams of NBC is so hurt that he can't go into the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake, even though he could go into any Mormon church for public worship if he so desired. It seems it's been a while since he's gone to church--any church. There are off limits and sacred places in all denominations, faiths and churches. I'd like to see Brian walk down the aisle at our church and decide he wants to stand at the pulpit and tell jokes during one of the sermons, or serve the elements during communion or crash a children's Sunday school class, or sign up to attend a women's retreat. Even the most liberal and Open churches would probably stop him. And that little aside about polygamy? Did he preface it with Barack Obama's father was a polygamist and he has a number of half-sibs and extended family members he's not taking care of?  Did Williams ever do a piece on Obama’s pastor, Rev. Wright’s, Black Theology?

Obama is far more extreme than Akin on abortion—he supports infanticide

“Missouri has recently been at the center of the conversation on abortion thanks to controversial comments from its U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin concerning women, abortion and rape.

But pro-life advocates say Obama is more extreme than Akin on abortion because of his record as a state senator from Illinois, when he refused to support a law that would provide medical protection for survivors of late abortions.”

http://www.lifenews.com/2012/08/28/abortion-survivor-rips-obama-on-infanticide-support-in-new-ad/

Rape discussion is good for politics, but. . .

Not much action in tracking down rapists.  But we can be sure if they do impregnate the women they violate, that the little suckers will be snuffed because feminists and politicians are really tough on products of conception.

“Rape-kit pileups [11,000] aren’t a problem just in Detroit. In recent years, cities across the country have reported mountains of kits—11,000 in San Antonio, 1,200 in Albuquerque, 4,000 in Houston—according to Sarah Tofte, who has studied the national debacle for the advocacy group Human Rights Watch. Experts estimate that hundreds of thousands of kits are languishing in police warehouses.”

“In one especially horrific case, Worthy says, a convicted rapist named Shelly Andre Brooks had raped and murdered five women after raping a woman whose kit was just recently entered into the database through Worthy’s initiative. If that rape kit had been tested and entered into the database sooner, the man could have been caught sooner—and five women’s lives could have been saved. “That’s why it’s so horrible, this whole thing,” Worthy says.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/28/rapists-beware-detroit-prosecutor-ids-21-attackers-in-rape-kit-probe.html

Romney in Michigan

Obama is hoping Michigan voters will trade religious freedom for the union bail out of the auto industry. But his lead in the polls is shrinking according to this WaPo opinion piece. " the Romney campaign has also been highlighting two other issues that have particular resonance in Michigan. One is the administration’s contraception and abortifacient mandate, which hurts the president with the socially conservative Reagan Democrats in such places as Macomb County. There are 2.4 million Catholic voters in Michigan, and Obama’s assault on religious liberty has alienated many of them. In May, the Michigan Catholic Conference filed suit against the Obama administration over the Health and Human Services mandate — and Catholic priests will be preaching against it in parishes across the state between now and Election Day. Look for Romney to underscore his opposition to the HHS mandate — and his endorsement by Lech Walesa — with these Catholic voters, many of whom are of Polish and Ukrainian descent. The second issue is welfare reform. . . . "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-thiessen-romneys-play-for-michigan/2012/08/26/383e8a56-ef9e-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_story.html?socialreader_check=0&denied=1

Sometimes it drives me crazy

that there are middle class career women who seem to know so little about food. . . about money. . . about politics.

Today I was reading a blogger discussing “food insecurity” which in government speak means that at some point during the past week or month, you were unsure about whether you’d have enough food. It doesn’t mean the gut pinching hunger that Haitian children experience unless they are eating at school.   She mentioned that there have been times in her life when she ate only cereal and milk.

Eeek!  For the same price for a box of cereal she could have made enough potato soup to feed a family, or scalloped potatoes, or maybe macaroni and cheese, or perhaps beans and rice. Cheaper and goes further.  Processed cereal in a box may be the worst buy per ounce and poorest nutrition available. 

E-books and public transportation—by Jeff at the Fluffington Post

I like to strike up conversations in coffee shops about the books people are reading, which may be a thing of the past with the e-book becoming so popular. Jeff liked looking at the covers. . .

“Public transportation has many pains and too few pleasures, but among the latter was the opportunity to anticipate burgeoning best sellers by observing how frequently certain books emerged from totes and backpacks. Books like How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Infinite Jest, Devil in the White City, Who Moved My Cheese, Freakanomics, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

I considered it my CTA Browsing Library. Occasionally, an obscure title even prompted my next read, such as Michael Ondaaje’s Coming Through Slaughter.

But the E-reader Age is shutting the curtains on this peeking-tom pastime. A Kindle, Nook or iPad means no book jackets. No book jackets mean the only way to determine if those over-pierced commuters in combat boots are reading The Goebbels Diaries or The Nanny Diaries is to – *gulp* – ask them.”

You can read the whole piece here.

Huntington Bank is going to “revitalize” an Ohio State University neighborhood

I haven't looked into this. . . so this is simply a wild guess based on what has happened in the past to revitalizing "blighted" neighborhoods close to valuable real estate belonging to a powerful entity. The poor and low income move out; the yuppies, students and professional classes move in; the former residents move to the suburbs where they have fewer services, churches, social clubs; families and friends are scattered; new non-profits and government agencies spring up to help, employing the people now living in the old neighborhood; the cycle continues requiring even more investment by the tax payer.

Just six months into the agreement — in which Huntington gets the title of official consumer bank of Ohio State and can market directly to faculty, staff, students and alumni — there are early signs of just how transformative that investment could become.

Each month, Huntington has sent out a cadre of bankers to canvas the target neighborhoods to get an idea of what interest there is in using the bank as a resource and where the need is highest. Of the $100 million set aside, $75 million is earmarked for private lending — such as small business owners or homeowners — and commercial real estate firms to revitalize those neighborhoods.

Huntington, which is working informally with Campus Partners in the University District and PACT (Partners Achieving Community Transformation) in the Near East Side, will use the other $25 million for direct equity investment in those neighborhoods via community projects or development opportunities.

With input from those living and operating businesses in the Near East Side, PACT (eastpact.org) — a partnership between the city of Columbus, Ohio State and the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority — is creating a master plan for its community that is expected to be ready by the end of this year. Having a partner like Huntington with resources at the ready puts PACT a step ahead in how quickly it can implement its plan, said Dawn Tyler-Lee, PACT executive director. As one of the PACT founders, Ohio State is committing $10 million to the revitalization project.

http://oncampus.osu.edu/2012/08/huntington-agreement-will-revitalize-key-osu-neighborhoods/

Jeremiah 29:11 prayer

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I said this to myself as a prayer for a young woman I met in the coffee shop.  I thought perhaps she was in high school, but she told me she was finished with college.  “What field are you going into?” I asked.  “Oh, I don’t know. I’ll probably start looking next week.”  “So nothing you took in college really piqued your interest?” I said.  “Not really, I sort of liked business administration so maybe I’ll work in an office.”

College is usually 4, sometimes 5 years.  If she started as the recession hit in 2007-2008 maybe she found it easier to borrow money than go to work?  Or, maybe her parents are wealthy.

Nixon was the first president to provide funding for Planned Parenthood

And all Republican presidents have continued that, including a hefty amount from George W. Bush (ca. $250 million in 2003). The Fiscal Year 2009-2010 annual report also shows that Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s net assets as of June 30, 2010 topped $1 billion, specifically $1,009,600,000.00. I’m not sure why the taxpayer needs to be supporting such a wealthy organization, the largest provider of abortions in the country, now about 340,000 a year. Forty years ago both liberals and conservatives thought this was a way to bring down poverty—by reducing welfare payments for out of wedlock babies.  But, the incidence of unwed motherhood has only increased, and as contraception goes up (also a major service of PP), so does the abortion rate.  PP also uses its funds to decrease births among the black and brown peoples of development countries.

http://www.covenantnews.com/lefemine041031.htm

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/planned-parenthood-s-annual-report-got-4874m-tax-money-did-329445-abortions

Obama campaign lies about Romney’s abortion position

"Romney’s official position has always been that there should be exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and when the mother’s life is endangered. Even PolitiFact, the left-leaning “fact checking” website, declared the Obama ad was a “Pants on Fire” lie."

The position I hold, that babies shouldn't be punished for the sins of the father, is outside Romney's position, and outside most pro-life Republicans, the majority of whom make exception for incest and rape. But it's a convenient lie for Obama, nevertheless, because most people won't check. This year, pro-choice Democrats are left out completely with no place to go. Before Obama, they were thrown a bone to keep them in the party by parsing words. The Republicans are much more "big tent" and at least for the campaign include Libertarians who like to believe morality shouldn't be legislated, although we do it all the time on other issues. [quote from Weekly Standard]

Harry Reid’s scam—NYT reports on Romney’s tax returns

The whole point of Harry's scam was to seed doubt and to reveal Romney's wealth and tax advantages--which almost all members of Congress have, because they come in middle class and leave fabulously wealthy. President Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Kerry, the Kennedys, etc. all use a clutch of lawyers to protect their wealth. We Bruces just use one accountant, and since we pay by the number of forms, I’m well aware that if you itemize, there are loopholes.

http://staging.weeklystandard.com/blogs/new-york-times-reports-romney-paid-federal-taxes-will-harry-reid-apologize_650849.html

Even the low income and welfare recipients receive tax advantages through their landlord, where they are folded into the rent, regardless of whether the county/city is paying it or the renter. There are government officials like Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s right hand, who’ve become enormously wealthy taking advantage of tax breaks for poverty pimping.

Anti-life groups go after Romney

Anti-life groups are organizing to defeat Romney. "Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund plans to spend more than $3 million in Ohio and Virginia against Mitt Romney in the wake of his pledge to “get rid” of the women’s health advocacy group. The group is one of several liberal-leaning women’s organizations planning to spend millions of dollars in crucial election states to swing undecided female voters toward President Obama. Joining them are NARAL Pro-Choice America and EMILY’s List, two abortion-rights groups who are also planning aggressive campaigns." Why does PP need our tax money to kill more black and poor babies? Couldn't they just cut back on the salaries of the directors? Or ask for more from their elitist, white Democrat wealthy supporters? Why are they targeting black neighborhoods?

Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund planning revenge on Mitt Romney - The Hill - covering Congress, Pol

Soothing salve

Earlier in the summer our herb study group at Lakeside made something called "flower salve." I've never used anything so effective for soothing and calming a bug bite. So when my bone bruise began to irritate my skin (from a fall) I borrowed a little from a friend. I could see that I would quickly use it up, so I went looking for something similar at the store and found Burt's Bees Hand Salve. Although I don't care for the fragrance (eucalyptus) it sure stops itching and soreness

. http://www.burtsbees.com/natural-products/body-hand-care/hand-salve.html

I’d tell you what was in the flower salve, but I put it in a safe place, and can’t find it.

You’re going to feel so silly if

you’ve thrown your vote away over a fluke of contraception and a phony war on women.

A "non-partisan" Pew Research study says the American middle class faces its "worst decade in modern history" — and the first bump down starts on Jan. 1. The equally "non-partisan" Congressional Budget Office now says that the tax and budget changes due to take effect at the beginning of 2013 will put the country back in recession and increase unemployment. This is a revision of their prediction earlier this year that in 2013 the economy would contract by 1.3%. Now they say 2.9%.”

http://news.investors.com/article/623481/201208241814/democrats-make-akin-war-women-face-of-republican-party.htm?p=2

Middle class income

This is what happens when the President decides he needs to redistribute income.  He grabbed a fifth of the economy and left employers and investors in limbo, stalling the recovery and new jobs.

Loyal Democrats will vote for 4 more years of this.

 

Friday family photo—Tampa

A hurricane is heading for Tampa.  I’m praying for my family there that they will be safe and have no damage to property.

Today’s new word—biological colonialism

When people with money for medical procedures, probably living in the West, obtain organs from the poor and destitute in developing countries, or from political prisoners in China.

Rick Warren says religious freedom comes before all the others

Rick Warren, like a lot of other pastors and priests, was in Obama's pocket in 2008, but he has wised up, and now agrees with his Catholic brothers and sisters and other Evangelicals that without religious freedom, the others don't matter. Another pastor, Bishop E.W. Jackson who is African American, has called on Christians to leave the Democratic party.

Read here

10 cheapest U.S. cities to live

I don’t plan to move—I already own 2 paid for homes in Ohio, but I do like to browse the real estate market.  It’s sort of like watching HGTV, only this is Kiplinger’s list.  Most of the places on their annual list of the ten cheapest U.S. cities to live in are located in the South or Southwest. Four are in Texas.  None of them have my friends or children residing there. I was a little surprised to see Springfield, IL, and although it may be cheap, Illinois is going broke due to bad governance.

Read more: http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/cheapest-cities-to-live-in-the-united-states/1.html?cid=32#ixzz24TRJgWvH

Pill and knife can take my life, but words will never hurt me

"People with intellectual disabilities" is the current, upgraded, government approved term for "retarded," a simple word now out of favor everyone understood and which wasn't a pejorative in the 1950s and 1960s. It evolved to mentally handicapped and developmentally disabled, but many thought "disabled" offensive and "handicapped" implied charity (cap in hand to receive alms).  The definition has expanded a bit. "An individual is considered to have an intellectual disability when: (1) the person's intellectual functioning level (IQ) is below 70-75; (2) the person has significant limitations in adaptive skill areas as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills; and (3) the disability originated before the age of 18.  "Adaptive skill areas" refers to basic skills needed for everyday life. They include communication, self-care, home living, social skills, leisure, health and safety, self-direction, functional academics (reading, writing, basic math), and work."

It's ironic that we're so careful about words implying a low IQ when society approves of the abortion of over 90% of Down Syndrome babies, like Trig Palin, who do meet the new higher, loftier, politically correct terms. Remember the old comeback for bullying? Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.     "Pill and knife can take my life, but words will ever hurt me."

Potty mouths

Here at Lakeside I see only broadcast TV, much more than I would see in Columbus. I've seen some talk shows (Kelly Live) and some fall previews. What I'm noticing is what potty mouths the writers are creating for women. They are saying things to other women that would not be allowed for male characters. It's demeaning, disgusting, and I'm guessing about 90% male created, just like fashion. Since I also get to see the comedies and dramas from the 60s and 70s it really underscores the poor taste and poverty of thought of today's writers, producers and actors.  I think since Regis left Live, Kelly has let her writers put more edgy stuff out there.  It’s not attractive, my dear.

In Ohio you can’t teach school

if you don’t join the union.

And then the union will send your dues to the Democratic Party.

Women have been finding ways to control their fertility since the beginning of time, but it’s a fairly new action for governments.  In the early 20th century it was lauded as a way to control or eliminate minorities and poor people, and now it’s promoted as a way for women to be free to pursue careers or to not be burdened with raising a child.  Communist countries and Nazi Germany excelled at this, although abortion, not contraception was the primary means to control population.  For as long as they’ve been keeping track in the U.S., as the use of contraception goes up, so do abortions. You can probably figure out why.  Contraception may be a health issue to the president, but it is a behavior issue for women. Also, the chemicals in contraceptives make a woman’s skin more susceptible to UV rays, and could make her a better candidate for skin cancer.  Of course, a pill can’t protect a woman from an STD, but did you know it can actually make her uterus more susceptible by changing the uterine lining?  The chemicals in contraceptives go through a woman into her urine and are flushed into our water system.  The jury is still out on how that is affecting men. Keep in mind, any health problem that goes against prevailing political goals will be labeled a myth or at least will be downplayed.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/11/15/prostate-cancer-may-be-linked-to-birth-control-pills-in-water-supply/

http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v129/n12/full/jid2009168a.html

http://www.healthguideinfo.com/birth-control/p93773/

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2900603.html

Crinolines and camp

Yesterday at Lakeside (Civil War Week) we had a lecture on Crinolines, corsets and cravats.  During the question and answer period, I discerned that there are some gray haired ladies who don’t remember the crinolines of the 1950s. As they stood up in their shorts and capri pants, they pondered the restrictions.   I’m not sure how long those crinolines of the 1950s were in style—looking at photos of me in 1953, my dresses are hanging straight, but by 1955, I had a hoop with crinolines underneath, and by 1959 the chamise style with a baggy waist and straight skirt was all the rage.  I can even remember playing softball in high school wearing crinolines; we just scooped up our skirts and ran like the devil for first base (I never got much further).  When Priscilla and I went to camp on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin around 1956, we took dresses to wear to dinner, even though we were staying in log cabins.  So I must have taken some crinolines to camp.

 

 

.

What not to wear

Along with HGTV’s House hunting shows in foreign countries, TLC’s What Not to Wear is always a good time burner.

 

A campaign about Fluke and Akin

The wars are expanding while our soldiers still die in Afghanistan, Muslim extremists are replacing the "Arab Spring" Pelosi and Obama swooned over, our debt is ballooning to $16 trillion, our religious freedoms are being threatened by the HHS Mandate, the unemployment rate isn't budging after 42 months above 8%, we were suckered into a stimulus that failed and now he wants another one, Obamacare is the biggest middle class tax increase in history, our President is proud to be the "food stamp president," and the Democrats are trying to say don't look there, we've got bigger issues, contraception and rape? Fluke and Akin. Really?

Fat Cat at his right hand has very sticky fingers

Valerie Jarrett became a millionaire after serving only three years as a Commissioner for Planning and Development in Chicago under Mayor Richard Daley. In just the past few years she has acquired an 11 percent interest in the $100 million Kingsbury Plaza, a 46-story luxury apartment complex developed by Habitat Company her landing pad after leaving the Planning Commission.  . .

http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=697000

http://freebeacon.com/jarrett-towers/

Obama’s executive orders show a disorder

I think Richard Nixon had one executive order to circumvent our representative form of government (Congress) and Obama has had over 900.  They started increasing under Clinton, GW Bush ran with it exceeding most of our living presidents, and then Obama just went crazy. He has a "We can't wait" campaign. Now it's the ports.

That's how he got around the stalled DREAM act and went for DACA. Anyone fooled by the roll out right before the election?  Only Democrats and minorities. I don't think he was born in Kenya, but I suspect a banana republic that has known only dictators. You don't need to be a college student or even have a GED for DACA--"currently enrolled" also includes an education, literacy, or vocational training schools, and education program leading to a GED!!!

Educators at any level getting more paybacks as well as pulling in more Hispanic voters.  It’s a 2-fer.

Hillary Clinton’s assistant

Huma Abedin served for a dozen years as the assistant editor of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, publication of which was the main business of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Both the institute and the journal were founded by Abdullah Omar Naseef, a wealthy and influential Saudi academic who became a financier of the al Qaeda terror network as well as the secretary-general of Muslim World League – one of the most significant joint ventures of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Saudi government in terms of spreading Islamic supremacist ideology. Naseef recruited Huma Abedin’s parents to run the journal when it started in the late seventies, and it has been an Abedin family venture since that time, with Naseef remaining closely involved.

So why is it Islamophobia to ask questions about a woman with close ties to the U.S. government’s secrets?

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/jamie-glazov/huma-abedin-islamist-connections-and-willful-blindness/

Stimulus funds spent to promote Obama plans

Payback in politics certainly isn't unique to Obama's team.  Obama’s use of stimulus funds is being questioned—stimulus funds for his media buddies.  And who watches MSNBC?  Not very many.  For a President who complains about fat cats, half a million is no big deal.  But for one who promised things would be different, yes, it is the Chicago way. I did check out the PR firm.  Some reporters who formed a company in the late 80s.  Al Gore was an early client.

"Spending reports under the federal Recovery Act show $495,000 paid to McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations LLC, which the Labor Department hired to raise awareness “among employers and influencers about the [Job Corps] program’s existing and new training initiatives in high growth and environmentally friendly career areas” as well as spreading the word to prospective Job Corps enrollees.

The firm ultimately negotiated ad buys for “two approved spots” airing 14 times per week for two months on “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” and “The Rachel Maddow Show,” according to a project report, which listed the number zero under a section of the report asking how many jobs had been created through the stimulus contract. David Williams, president of the nonprofit watchdog Taxpayers Protection Alliance, called the contract “questionable” because it created no jobs and because of the placement of the ads on shows viewed as friendly to the administration’s policies.

Read more: Labor Department spends stimulus funds for ads during Olbermann, Maddow shows - Washington Times

Dragging women back to the 50s—the Obama ad

The woman in the ad looks terrified.  Romney wants to drag women back to the 1950s.  I remember the years before 1973.  Abortion was not a political issue; it wasn’t even a religious issue.  It was a non-issue because as a nation we believed the pre-born deserved a chance at life, that life began at conception (all the medical texts said so), and that life was good. But in 1973 the Supreme Court decided Americans had a new right, one that had never existed before—a right to abort a living being from the womb. We’ve been thrown into a moral morass far worse than the battle against slavery, and which involves many more millions, particularly blacks who are targeted in billboards and clinic placements.  

The big issue in the ad is contraception, but we know that it will heat up to include abortion—as will the insurance clause which will eventually be free abortions included in all insurance plans. Sandra Fluke and friends won’t stop with contraception. This is the evil empire of our era.

Twenty years ago the Republicans had a very clear pro-life plank in their platform. “The unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. . . the party affirms our support for a human life amendment to the Constitution.”   CNN suggests this is the draft for 2012.   It only seems to come up in election years.

"Faithful to the 'self-evident' truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed," the draft platform declares. "We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children."

The party will also reaffirm its opposition to federally-funded stem cell research and demand that the government "should not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage."

But even 20 years ago, Republican feminists and liberal Christians were urging a “big tent” on this moral issue, and Republicans have lost ground (I wasn’t a Republican in 1992, but I was a pro-life Democrat who have also been marginalized).  zMany Republicans are/ were willing to accept this huge evil in order to win at politics.  Pathetic.  So we can’t blame the Democrats if the old or current platforms have fallen into disuse.

http://www.wibw.com/home/nationalnews/headlines/Romney-Outdated-On-Womens-Issues-Obama-Ad-Says--165222196.html

Toss a few olives in that summer or Greek salad

• Dozens of health-protective nutrients have been identified in olives, and recent studies have taken a very close look at olive varieties, olive processing, and changes that take place in olive nutrients. The overall conclusion from these studies is exciting for anyone who loves olives of all varieties. Greek-style black olives, Spanish-style green olives, Kalamata-style olives, and many different methods of olive preparation provide us with valuable amounts of many different antioxidant and anti-inflammatory nutrients. While there are trade-offs that occur during olive ripening and olive curing - for example, decreased oleuropein with advanced stages of ripening yet increased amounts of anthocyanins - it's impossible to rule out any single type of olive as being unworthy of consideration as a uniquely health-supportive food, particularly in terms of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.
• Hydroxytyrosol, an olive phytonutrient that has long been linked to cancer prevention, is now regarded as having the potential to help us prevent bone loss as well. Several recent laboratory animal studies have found increased depositing of calcium in bone and decreased loss of total bone mass following consumption of this olive phytonutrient (as well as oleuropein, another key phytonutrient found in olives). These findings are fascinating, since consumption of a Mediterranean Diet has long been associated with decreased risk of osteoporosis, and olives often find themselves on center stage in Mediterranean Diet studies.
• In traditional herbal medicine practices, preparations from olives and olive leaves have often been used in treatment of inflammatory problems, including allergy-related inflammation. New research may help explain how olives work to provide us with anti-inflammatory benefits, especially during circumstances involving allergy. Olive extracts have now been shown to function as anti-histamines at a cellular level. By blocking special histamine receptors (called H1 receptors), unique components in olive extracts may help to lessen a cell's histamine response. Because histamine is a molecule that can get overproduced in allergy-related conditions and can be a key player in the inflammatory process, it's likely that the anti-inflammatory benefits we get from olives involve this anti-histamine pathway. It's also possible that olives may have a special role to play as part of an overall anti-allergenic diet.

From today’s newsletter The World’s Healthiest Foods

Veep choices

Biden is so weak he makes Obama look good. Ryan has wonderful strengths to balance some of Romney's weaknesses. So which presidential candidate is more secure?

The Obama economy—he owns it now, no more blame game

 

Until Obama came along, Bush was probably the all time big spender on social programs, not that it got him any love from the left.  But Obama long ago piled up bills enough for several presidencies.

Still, I can’t imagine George W. Bush whining and complaining and pouting like Obama has done for 4 years.

Monday Memories of the summer of 2012

From my son’s garden

Jalapeño jelly

 

pints of salsa

And there’s more on the way.

Hindsight is always 20-20

“On July 27, 2000, a first-term Congressman [Paul Ryan] from Wisconsin signed his name to the Housing Finance Regulatory Improvement Act. The 30-year-old legislator didn't have much company. Of 435 Members of the House, only 12 were willing to join Paul Ryan in sponsoring a bill to reduce the taxpayer risks at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Eight years later to the day, a federal bailout of the two mortgage giants was on its way to the desk of President George W. Bush. Almost $190 billion in taxpayer financing later, the toxic twins of the housing crisis maintain their massive role in mortgage finance.

On Friday, the U.S. Treasury said it is relieving the two government-sponsored enterprises of the requirement to pay regular dividends to taxpayers. Instead, the toxic twins will simply pass to the feds any profits they make. Fan and Fred's investment portfolios will also have to shrink more quickly, which is very good. But the deal suggests that they will continue to slap taxpayer-backed guarantees on mortgage bonds forever, or until there's a reformer in the White House.”.

Obama and Biden who were in the Senate in the mid-2000s did nothing, but later complain about the mess they inherited.  I looked through v.1 of the testimony in 2000 and see Maxine Waters was quite hostile to the idea of reforming or restricting F&F.

 

If only they had listened