These are the liberals . . .

Sorry, I can’t even quote them . . .

http://twitchy.com/2012/09/07/liberals-cuss-out-archbishop-timothy-cardinal-dolan/

And they probably vote.

What I did on my summer vacation

at Lakeside, Ohio, 2012

Ice cream social on Hotel Lakeside lawn

Week 1: June 25-29

2012 Elections Seminars on the 2012 elections, with a focus on the nomination process, presidential election, congressional/state elections and campaign finance
War of 1812 Presentations on the causes, major campaigns and outcomes of the War and a look at the War specifically in North Central Ohio

Download Week 1 brochure.

Week 2: July 2-6 (We missed some of this week, but were back on the 4th)

All Things Americana Seminars on topics related to American history and culture

Download Week 2 brochure.

Week 3: July 9-13

The Printed Word Seminars about the future of newspapers and libraries
The Sounds of Music Music-related seminars presented by several Hoover evening performers, including traditional, jazz and big band music

Download Week 3 brochure.

Week 4: July 16-20

The Great Lakes Seminars related to all five Great Lakes
Ethics in Society Seminars on state, national, international, and business ethics

Download Week 4 brochure.

Week 5: July 23-27 (we missed this one)

The Chautauqua Movement In conjunction with the National Chautauqua Network Meeting, gain further insight into the history of the Chautauqua Movement and the new Chautauqua Trail
The Olympic Spirit Presentations about the history of the Olympics, current happenings in London, and famous Olympians
9th Annual Vearl Smith Memorial Historic Preservation Workshop Historic preservation seminars presented by experts in the field (July 27)

Download Week 5 brochure.

Week 6: July 30-August 3

The World Today Issues of national/international importance selected in the spring based on current world events
Environmental Stewardship Seminars related to environmental issues and responsible use of natural resources

Download Week 6 brochure.

Week 7: August 6-10 (I skipped these)

Seeking Peace in a Multi-Faith World Speakers from Christian, Jewish & Muslim faiths present interfaith dialogue and “Peace with Justice” themes

Download Week 7 brochure.

Week 8: August 13-17

East Asia Experts on this geographic area address current political, business and cultural topics
Trends in Medicine Presentations about current happenings in the medical field

Download Week 8 brochure.

Week 9: August 20-24

9th Annual Civil War Week Seminars on numerous topics related to the Civil War

Download Week 9 brochure.

Week 10: August 27-31

26th Annual Senior Venture Week: Ohio Museums Representatives from Ohio museums explore museum concepts within the context of their unique collections

Download Week 10 brochure.

The Boyfriend

Ladies—you deserve better!

Women exposed to partner violence

There was an interesting study done in Cook County, IL about abused women (these days it's not even called "domestic violence," it's been down/up graded to "partner violence). I think the idea was that if identified as abused through screening by their doctors (aka primary health care setting), and then given the proper tools and resources, the women would do something to stop the abuse and improve their quality of life. Didn't happen. It's the second study that shows universal screening for partner violence does not prevent abuse. Sort of made me think of all the women who voted for Obama in 2008, have all the knowledge and resources to recover their dignity and pride in 2012, but will vote for him anyway. (JAMA, Aug. 15, 2012) The the answer is, more studies, more rigorous methods. I know a sample pool of several million women . . .

Not that I care much for Newt, but truth is truth

no matter where you find it.

Two womanizers, two excellent politicians, in the worst sense of the word. And both are Christians!

Yes, it certainly was an entertaining convention

Friday family photo—my Gators

My sister Carol’s grandchildren.

God and Jerusalem weren’t the only items deleted

Noonan on Good ol Joe

“As for Joe Biden, I love him and will hear nothing against him. He's like Democrats the way they used to be, and by that I do not mean idiotic, I mean normal—manipulative only to a normal degree, roughly aware of the facts of normal life, alert to and even respecting of such normal things as religious faith. I wish he did not insist on referring to his wife as "Dr. Jill Biden." I'm sure she has many doctorates, but so do half the unemployed in Manhattan.” WSJ 9/7/12

What Joe Pags got from the DNC and the RNC conventions

The Dems put on a good convention. President Obama gives a very inspiring SOUNDING speech. I'm confident 20,000 people in that arena will be voting Obama/Biden -- that's wasn't the job though. They lied, told half-truths, pandered, and made fun of the other side. What I took away from the RNC was, if you try, have drive, desire and ambition, YOU can realize the American Dream. What I got from the DNC was, you should get the spoils of someone else's work, strive to be in the Middle Class and trust that government knows better how you live than you do. The choice is very clear. Now, Romney/Ryan have to go on the offensive continuing the mantra that this current president has had four years to do what he said he would -- and the reality is, he's made things much worse. Pags

Northstar

We watched a horrible story on 10TV tonight about a horse that had deliberately been set on fire. He’s being treated at the OSU vet clinic and an anonymous donor is paying for his care and many people are making donations. The video was just awful. Did you know that fetuses are burned this way until dead so they can be aborted? Some are dismembered, removed piece by piece and struggle to live until they are stabbed in the brain. And you support abortion at anytime for any reason like our President?

Marriage is good for children and the economy

So why are Democrats discouraging both? The party platform is anti-traditional family, and anti-life.

What Obama inherited

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/06/us-usa-debt-downgrade-idUSTRE7746VF20110806

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNU04000000?years_option=2005-2012&periods_option=specific_periods&periods=Annual+Data

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/09/04/u-s-debt-now-exceeds-16-trillion/

Barack and Michelle—middle class kids going to Ivy League schools on your dime

Everyone agrees--Michelle Obama gave a flawless presentation. I've only seen a few clips, but I'd judge her a better speaker than her husband, with a rich, authentic voice. That said, some of it sounded a bit "hard luck" for such a middle class girl.

I had a nice life growing up in a small, midwestern town. My father owned a small business--2 trucks, one employee and a gas station, as I recall. What we called middle class in the 1950s, they call poverty today. No TV, no AC, one phone, one car, no health insurance, clothes made at home, and a garden for fresh produce. One thing I do know is Michelle and Barack Obama's parents/grandparents were far wealthier than mine, and I didn't finish my degrees at the University of Illinois (about a fourth the cost of Harvard) owing any money. What I couldn't earn in summers or after school, my parents paid. I know these "I came up from nothing and struggled and look what I've accomplished" memes are great for politics, but they really belong with those "I built that" stories. And neither one of them did that.

• 
  Fellow blogger LadyBug Crossing says:
  

  We were middle class, too. Dad worked as an engineer for a large company. Mom was a nurse - she worked weekends. We traveled the world with him. We lived in the same house (except when we were overseas and they rented it out) my whole life....

  We made do. We shopped the sale racks. Mom made our dress clothes. We kids didn't get cars when we turned 16. I went to public school. I went to college and graduated without debt thanks to Mom's nursing job providing the extra. I worked every minute I was home from school. I lived at home until I got married. My graduate degree was earned while i was working. It wasn't easy, but I did it! We scrimped and saved for our house. Our cars are 10 and 11 years old. We have no debt except the mortgage. If we can't pay for it, we don't buy it. imagine that? Will I apologize for having a great childhood? No. Will I apologize because I have a nice life? No. Will I apologize for giving my children a similar life? No. They know the value of a dollar, the value of their education, and that family is where it's at. :-)

P.S.
I won't show you photos of Michelle's wedding gown because there are probably copyright issues, but you can google. Gorgeous and she looked fabulous. Definitely the 1% type dress and the men wore tuxes, whether or not she had to skip a few school loan payments to pay for it.

Why Obama will have to tax the middle class even more

In a recent study of the Tax Policy Center (Brookings-Urban Institute, a liberal think tank) the researchers "looked at how high income-tax rates would have to rise in the top two or even three tax brackets to lower debt to sustainable levels under something akin to CBO's estimate if we continue the way we are. They conclude that even if the top rates hit 100%, the budget "cannot achieve the debt-reduction targets in some or any of the target years." Though conceding that near-total confiscation is "completely unrealistic," they report the results anyway "to indicate the infeasibility of achieving a high debt-reduction target simply by increasing top individual income tax rates." And this is from economists who favor higher taxes."

And undoubtedly, there are anti-life, anti-God Democrats in Charlotte today (the ones who booed at putting God and Jerusalem back in the platform) who would say go for it--100% rates for the "rich." But when the rich are gone, they'll come for you. The intention is not to have better social programs—it has always been about control.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444914904577615392065706990.html

The Clinton Tax Hikes and cuts

“It was not until after a 1997 tax cut, passed by Congress—a tax cut President Clinton resisted but ultimately signed—that the spectacular growth kicked in. While small in static revenue impact, the 1997 cuts included a reduction of the capital gains rate from 28 percent to 20 percent. This opened the capital floodgates necessary for entrepreneurs to develop, harness, and bring to market the wonders of the new information technologies.” from Heritage http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/09/clinton-tax-hikes-slowed-growth

Down the memory hole with the Democrats

From Mike Huckabee’s email update, Sept. 5, 2012

“You have to give the Democrats props for successfully sending the housing crisis down the memory hole. From their campaign rhetoric, you’d think the so-called “failed policies of the past” were all Republican ideas like smaller government and lower taxes. No, the economic crisis had nothing to do with the housing bubble that began with a massive Democratic push to force banks to give home loans to people who couldn’t qualify for them. But with terrible timing for the Democrats, that inconvenient truth has burst out of the crypt and back into the news, just as they were convening in Charlotte.

Yesterday, the Daily Caller revealed some previously unpublished court information about a landmark case that many consider the fuse that set off the subprime mortgage boom and eventually, the economic meltdown. It was a 1995 discrimination lawsuit against Citibank, on behalf of a group of African-Americans who claimed they couldn’t get loans because of their race. It was part of a coordinated effort at the time by progressive groups. The banks didn’t want to be sued or accused of racism, so they loosened requirements for credit history and down payments. What the Daily Caller discovered is that among the original plaintiffs in that case, there was a startling loan failure rate. Out of about 186 homebuyers, roughly half have since gone bankrupt or received one or more foreclosure notices. As few as 19 still own homes with clean credit ratings. Even some of the plaintiffs now say the banks never should’ve made those loans.

And here’s the kicker: the lead attorney on that case that prompted banks to start making home loans to people who couldn’t qualify for them was a young Chicago community activist named Barack Obama.”

Definition of marriage and spouse

US Code, Title 1, ch. 7: "In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word “marriage” means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife."

What is she trying to figure out?

Her president is offering her free birth control so he won’t have to discuss the economy, but what she’d really like is a job so she can pay her bills.

Who’s Obama’s brother’s keeper?

"Barack Obama Jr. first met George [Obama] in 1987, when George was five years old.  He met George again in 2006 when he visited Kenya as a U.S. Senator from Illinois; George was then in his early twenties.  Had Obama helped George along the way, perhaps this young man would not have ended up dirt-poor and living such a degraded life. So what’s the real story here?  Where’s George Obama’s “fair share”?  George’s tragic situation exposes President Obama as a hypocrite."

Barack Obama is an extremely wealthy man--not as rich as Romney by any means, but he's in the 1% easily.  And even if he loses in November, he will probably draw a bigger speaking salary than Clinton, who has become enormously wealthy. He could be helping all his siblings and never miss it. Instead, he wants my money.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/16/how-became-george-obama-brother/

Catholics for Choice at the DNC

“There are just under 300 active U.S. bishops  . . .  and neither they, nor their lobbying arm, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, really speak for the 68 million U.S. Catholics who share the belief that the use of contraception and the decision to end a pregnancy can be moral decisions and rightly should be made by individuals in accordance with their own conscience,” says Sara Hutchinson, domestic-program director of Catholics for Choice speaking to 6 people who showed up for her talk at the DNC convention in Charlotte. 

Catholics for Choice are supported by foundations, are not considered Catholics by the church and do not represent any of the teachings of the Catholic Church.  And apparently they can't even draw much of a crowd, even with the anti-Catholic press on hand.

Maybe my math is weak, but I think the Bishops speak for many more than this organization.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/315896/planned-parenthood-s-little-army-katrina-trinko

What has Obama done for the poor?

We know what Obama has done to the wealthy; what he's done to the middle class. He's redistributed their income and passed the largest tax increase in our history. But what has he done for the poor, the minorities, the people who depend on coal mining, or the oil industry in the gulf; what has he done for women--really--other than tossing birth control like M&Ms at them? What has he done for small business, the engine of the economy, other than slapping them with more regulations and impossible to follow insurance laws?

Today’s Wall Street Journal Review and Outlook reported: "The food-stamp boom began with the George W. Bush Republicans, who expanded benefits in the appalling 2002 farm bill. But the supercharger was a 2008 bill out of the Pelosi Congress that goosed eligibility and rebranded the program as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to reduce the stigma of being on the dole. Then there was the 2009 stimulus, which expanded the program again. Liberals argued then and still do that food stamps are one of the most effective ways the government can juice the economy. Really, they claim to believe this. . . "
Since the recession supposedly ended three years ago (before the stimulus package could even take effect) and Obama floated a massive stimulus and still the rolls grow, that obviously hasn't worked.

A woman earning $29,000 a year with Uncle Sam as her live in lover, can receive many government benefits to bring her usable income to that of someone earning $69,000. Where is her incentive to kick Sam to the curb under this president?

The news about HIV/AIDS isn’t good

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) was introduced 25 years ago, and thus there are now millions living with AIDS rather than dying from AIDS. ART is even providing protection for those who don’t yet have HIV infection. That’s good, right?  Not so fast.

JAMA, July 25, 2012: “In the United States, 1.2 million people are estimated to be living with HIV infection—20% are unaware of their infection—and about 50,000 people are estimated to become infected each year.  The cumulative number of AIDS deaths is approaching 650,000.  The most severely affected groups include men who have sex with men, blacks, and Hispanics or Latinos.”

Plus, ART doesn’t remove the increase in heart disease, cancer, dementia, low bone mass, co-infections with other venereal diseases and psychological problems of AIDS patients, plus a sense of invulnerability has returned and young gay men are back to the irresponsible, casual sex habits of the men who spread the epidemic back in the 1970s and 1980s.

This is fuzzy, but the top blue line is those living with undiagnosed HIV infection. The flat red line at the bottom is AIDS deaths.

There are two articles in this special JAMA issue on HIV/AIDS (July 25, 2012) that deal with the future.  Would you believe neither suggest celibacy or chastity as weapons in this battle? Yet both are completely effective.  Monogamy and marriage will not eliminate this scourge as long as gay men continue to bring the disease to the marriage bed and infect women, who in turn infect children.

Decision and choice

…"The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay."

Some studies show that as many as >60% are coerced into this “decision” by parents, boyfriend, spouse.  Where does a 17 year old go if Mom says it’s either Planned Parenthood or no funds for college, or you’re out on the street, or I will take away your smart phone?

She’s is so done with liberals, progressives, socialists, etc.

“I started out as a working man’s Democrat gung-ho for Clinton back in 2007. But watching the sexist mauling of Clinton and Palin by Obama’s frat boys while the press hurled charges of racism against anyone who dared criticize the creepy community organizer made me mad. I was so angry I finally coughed up the liberal Kool-aid and purged my system of the rot-gut drink I’d been swallowing for decades.

It’s been liberating. After toeing the liberal line for so long with all that political correctness I felt like I was trudging through quicksand with twenty pound weights. Defending the parasitic, oppressed masses and their entitled cries for “more, more” while trying to feed my own family on less and less, was sheer insanity.

I’ve heard people in self-help programs say they are grateful for all of their troubles, grateful for their dysfunctional spouses, parents, children, employees and friends because those circumstances and people woke them up. Well, it took a sociopathic Marxist to make me a pro-life principled real grass-roots conservative.

There’s freedom in true conservatism: freedom from anger, resentment, victimhood, dependency on government and hatred. They say conservatives give more to charitable causes. I believe it. Ever since I threw off the chains of liberalism, I feel more giving. If a co-worker slaving away at three jobs needs something, I’m there. When the usher passes around the basket at church I put in a little more than I used to, and I’m checking out area organizations truly dedicated to those who can’t help themselves and seeing how I can be of service. “

http://potterwilliamsreport.com/2012/01/07/obama-presidency-exposed-creepy-cronies.aspx

Who would want to be middle class?

When I was young, or even when I was middle age, politicians talked about helping the poor.  Now they talk about helping the middle class.  Maybe it’s because if a woman earns $29,000 a year (low income) and has 2 children, she qualifies for enough benefits from the government that she’d need a job that paid $69,000 a year to leave poverty and move up to the middle class.  So if she took time out to go to college so she could earn more money, and then had to pay off loans too (supplied by the government), it’s possible she just couldn’t get ahead and would rather stay poor. 

Should women be allowed to vote?

Frankly, I'm shocked that Democratic women are falling for this war on women, free contraception, Mitt will put us in chastity belts meme. If anything makes it look like we didn't deserve the vote 90 years ago, it's this issue. Hello--$16 trillion in debt; expanding the wars; exploding the clutch of czars; removing consumer rights; making health care industry an arm of the federal government when it can't manage Medicare and Medicaid.

Just in time for the Democratic convention

2016 Obama’s America

We’re planning to see the documentary “2016 Obama’s America “today, although I'm not sure I want any more bad news about Obama than I already know. I realized in 2008 he was completely out of touch with the average American and that he didn't like us much. Finding out why won't help much.  You are called a racist if you say he isn’t one of us, but he doesn’t act or sound like any politician, black, white, or brown, liberal or conservative that I’ve known before, but he has all the slick tools to accomplish with his mentors and cronies what he wants. Whether it was the politics of his parents and grandparents or because he was raised in his formative years outside the U.S., I don’t know, but he doesn’t know us, doesn’t understand us, and he hopes to end the U.S. that has become his enemy.

Update: It was different than I expected. The New Yorker says it is propaganda, but believe me, I see way more anti-Obama propaganda than I care to report, and some is really awful and poorly researched. D'Sousa uses Obama's own words, the audio of his book and his political speeches--at length--he doesn't do snippets. He also uses our $16 trillion dollar debt to come to his final conclusion. Neither are propaganda.

American Airlines—needs to respond

I was listening to Glenn Beck's account on his radio show of his rude treatment by an American Airlines employee, who said he deserved it when Glenn mentioned it to him. Even other passengers where noticing. The guy didn't like his politics (libertarian), or maybe his religion (Mormon), or perhaps his state (Texas). Glenn often talks about the importance of good service, because his parents owned a bakery and he worked there as a teen. 

AA’s employee was not a good representative for a service industry that takes our money. A complaint has been filed. So we'll see. Glenn and his employees won't be flying AA anymore he said, and I'm guessing after that description neither will some of his 10 million listeners, users of his TV network, his book clubs, or buyers of his best selling books, or those books he publishes for others. He's a bigger communications phenomenon than Oprah (who hasn't succeeded in launching her own TV network, and he has).  There's a steward working for AA who needs some retraining on keeping his politics to himself.

Update: Glenn reported last night he had received a response and AA says they will investigate.

Gorgeous curls

I got my hair cut today.  Oh my.  It’s so easy now (gray).  15 minutes and I’m done.  Anyway, I was watching another stylist work on the most gorgeous head of white hair across the room. I could see nothing but the face in the mirror and the body was covered. She just fluffed and fingered and the result was lovely. Imagine my surprise when she took off the cape and it was a husky, tall, 50-ish man!

After he saw 2016, the movie

He thought some of the talk show hosts on the right sounded too scripted in their enthusiasm for the new documentary about Obama.  So he went to see it himself—some applauded when it was over, but he was upset.

“Those who have already decided to vote for Obama will probably not even see the movie. It’s sad but they probably don’t want to know the truth when it is laid out so clearly for them in this documentary. The independents who are still deciding who they are going to vote for ought to see this film. I’m quite confident that any undecided voter who sees this film will know who to vote for after viewing this documentary. If you know you’re not going to support the “left” in this coming election, see the film out of interest if you like. But, fair warning, it’s disturbing – and quite frightening – to say the least.

Scott Paulson writes political news and commentary for CBS Local and Examiner.com and teaches English at a community college in the Chicago area.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/08/17/2016-obamas-america-movie-is-disturbingly-necessary/#blogbio

Democrats require a photo ID for the convention

It is said that the Democrats will be bussing college students and union members into the convention in Charlotte,  because the seats won’t be filled.  In any case, they are very strict about IDs.  Just not for voting.

Hope and Chair

Today is Empty Chair Day.  All over the country people are putting empty chairs on the lawn, drive way, balcony, and taking photos and circulating them.  We all got Clint Eastwood’s message.  Here’s mine:

Narcissist in Chief

Obama’s tribute to Neil Armstrong.

Today is Empty Chair Day

To support Clint Eastwood’s conversation with an empty chair at the Republican convention, put an empty chair in your yard today.

 

Monday Memories—The Wedding Dress

I came across this photo today in a package of photos I was planning to send my niece, Cindy, my sister Carol’s daughter.  She’s the young lady in the photo, and it was in a file of my Aunt Muriel, who died in 2011 and her daughter gave me some photos to return to family members.

Here’s what I know from the note on the back of the photo. The occasion was a display of family mementoes at the Church of the Brethren in Mt. Morris, Illinois, for the bi-centennial in 1976. My mother and her sister Muriel had a few items that belonged to their grandmother, Susan George, who had travelled to Illinois as a bride in 1855 from Pennsylvania. This seems to be Susan’s wedding dress, as it looks like the dress in the only photo we have of her, so we’re assuming it was saved for that reason. The photo isn’t very clear, but I think the item in the plastic bag is her straw bonnet.  In those days, Brethren women kept their heads covered, but the bonnets might be a simple covering with ties of sheer white net, or a straw hat, or black bonnet for Sunday dress. I don’t know where the dress is now, but I have the black bonnet.

Because of the 70s fashions, I’m not sure if Cindy is wearing her own dress with lacy sleeves, or if she might also be wearing a gown of the 19th century.  I’ll have to ask her and update this when I find out.

Let’s not repeat FDR’s mistakes

Many of President Obama’s failed policies to stimulate the economy are bit like Viagra, temporary and not a permanent solution for something systemic. They are out of FDR’s playbook in the 1930s when the Great Depression was rolling along for 10 years, with the blame always going back to President Hoover (who as a liberal Republican had actually tried many of the same government programs to boost the economy and was criticized by candidate Roosevelt). Using the excuse of the economy FDR put in place social programs.  In early 1941 Congress gave FDR unprecedented authority and funds to act militarily with speed in case the war in Europe got worse.  If you recall your history, Hitler a democratically elected Socialist, was rampaging through Europe installing his Aryan Nazi puppets.  Americans had been averse to war, especially the Communists, despite the horror stories about Jews, the disabled, the Gypsies, and the non-German nationals and how they were suffering.  Then when Hitler attacked the USSR, the darling of the American Communist Party, opinions changed.  When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, FDR immediately went into action. Close to a million Americans—Germans, Italians and Japanese—plus foreign nationals who were in the country for business or tourism, were either detained, imprisoned, or moved to relocation camps away from the two coasts.  Congress had never foreseen that the money would be used against Americans, but it was too late.  This could happen with any President, but for those of you who were outraged by Iraq and Afghanistan, just check the internet for the Congressional debates that went on in 2002 and 2003, and note that in the 1990s it was the Clinton administration, (Kennedy, Pelosi, Kerry,  etc.) warning of WMD.  Bush had Congressional approval for Iraq and Afghanistan regardless of whether it was a mistake or he had poor motives.  He had a lot of company (Obama who has continued those occupations for 4 years did not support him or the U.S. forces).  Obama has increasingly set himself up as a dictatorial monarch and ignores our Congress.  Let’s put a stop to this in November, and if Romney proceeds on the same course, boot him out too!

Golf, PGA and Chicago are now racist slurs—the dog whistling Democrats

“On the matter of those racist dog whistles all these middle-age white liberals keep hearing, the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto put it very well: "The thing we adore about these dog-whistle kerfuffles is that the people who react to the whistle always assume it's intended for somebody else," he wrote. "The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you're the dog." And a very rare breed at that. What frequency does a Mitch McConnell speech have to be ringing inside your head for even the most racially obsessed Caucasian NBC anchorman to hear the words "PGA tour" as "deep-rooted white insecurities about black male sexuality"? That's way beyond dog-whistling, and somewhere between barking mad and frothing rabid.”

No one explains the racism of pasty white men better than Mark Steyn.

Ryan’s extreme health care plan

"Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform proposal is as extreme as the health plan available to every member of Congress. Ryan envisions average seniors enjoying Capitol Hill-style medical options. This, itself, would be a choice. Seniors who oppose choice in health coverage will be 100 percent welcome to remain within traditional Medicare.

Ryan’s “far-Right” Medicare reform is co-sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon liberal Democrat. (2010 Americans for Democratic Action rating: 100 percent) Unlike most Democrats, Wyden understands that if Medicare traverses today’s path, by 2024, it will tumble into a canyon."

Read Deroy Murdock’s article here.

You’ll continue to hear scary stories about Bain Capital.  If it’s so awful, why do so many government pensions, union pensions, state teachers’ pensions, and left of center foundations all have their investments with Bain?  Billions and billions in Bain.

The story here.

I wonder what happened to the beach?

Is it environmentally friendly to haul 15 tons of sand from a NC beach to build a sculpture of a president who has failed?  It’s not a very good likeness.

Update: There has been a bad storm in Charlotte, and part of the Mount Obama has been washed away or damaged. Not a good sign.

Labor Day yard and rummage sales

So many holiday week-end yard sales! At the Heritage Society sale, I saw a beautiful set of white china with white decorative flowers with silver trim approx.7 place settings for $5, made in Japan. Right next to it was a cheap looking set of plates, big box store type, made in China, no cups or serving pieces for $10. These days women with dishwashers and microwaves don't want nice china with gold or silver trim. But why wait to set a pretty table? So I bought the $5 set and put my heavy Pfalzgraf in the neighbor's sale.

I just had to google it--the dinner plates at replacement site about $10 ea., cups and saucers about $12, and bread and butter plates $6, and I seem to have 7 of everything. 

 

Replacement China in the Wakefield pattern 364 made in Japan from Robbins Nest.

White on white, platinum trim

http://www.table-settings.com/tptanks/japan-fine-china/wakefield-364.html

Don’t settle for less under Obama

A good word from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

You might see hateful things at non-Christian web sites, but those are not as disturbing as what Christians say about each other.  Christ has a solution for that.  “A Christian community either lives by the intercessory prayers of its members for one another, or the community will be destroyed. I can no longer condemn or hate other Christians for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble they cause me. In intercessory prayer the face that may have been strange and intolerable to me is transformed into the face of one for whom Christ died, the face of a pardoned sinner. That is a blessed discovery for the Christian who is beginning to offer intercessory prayer for others. As far as we are concerned, there is no dislike, no personal tension, no disunity or strife that cannot be overcome by intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the community must enter every day.

Biblical Wisdom:  Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18

Socialist ideas, race baiting, dog whistling, free contraception, higher taxes, smaller economy . . .

A letter home from a new American, 1737

In a genealogy workshop this summer I met another Lakesider (she heard me mention Manchester College and asked me if I was Brethren) whose maiden name was Studebaker, a name I recognized not just from the automobile, but from the wagon company which at one time had some intention to save the Mt. Morris College in Mt. Morris, Illinois.  Today we met again and she loaned me her huge Studebaker genealogy book, “The Studebaker Family in America,” published in the 1970s by the Studebaker Family National Association.  One of the association’s links back to Europe was a letter written by 2 brothers, which is translated, and is an interesting peek at life for new immigrants in Pennsylvania. . . with our conventions and campaign speak in full force, some of these phrases will be familiar, yet extremely foreign to us.  We don’t remember today how burdened Europeans were with taxes and assessments, how if you were born poor, you stayed poor. . . or that people actually sold their children into labor contracts if they were too poor to pay for passage to get here!

“As to your question regarding brother John, there is, thanks to God, no reason for complaint, for life is pleasant here. For we are better off than in Europe, because anyone who is willing to work can make a good living here, except for certain craftsmen.
The craftsmen are not organized here as with you. [The reference is probably to the toolmakers of the district from which the writers came]. Yet things could be better organized here, if only there were some masters here. For steel and iron are plentiful in this country. Good steel and iron and coal and grinding stones are imported from England, and the coal is for sale here as with you. Also there are many rivers.

Yet anybody who wants to work on a farm, can live a life without worries, for not much has to be paid to the sovereign, the maximum is six shillings per one hundred acres in the national currency. Some give corn and some give peppercorn and others give one shilling per one hundred acres and some don't pay anything, once the sovereign has received his money. Much that was bought from the late Count [William Penn], as indicated above, has to pay one shilling per one hundred acres.
Furthermore let me tell you how a poor man be able to come across, who lacks the money to pay the passage. There is the following agreement: If a man has children, he can put them into service. A boy has to remain in service until he is twenty one. The girl has to stay until eighteen years of age. For this, people pay a lot of money. In that way, a poor man is able to free himself and his wife.”

After praising the crops one could grow, the writers go on to say in an almost amazed tone about the honesty and integrity of the authorities, and they were just folks like the ordinary people,

“Furthermore a word about the authorities. The authorities here are good ones. You can go to a person in authority in the same way as to a peasant. You don't have to take your hat off for a person in authority. They administer justice. Nobody suffers violence or injustice from them. They live a pious and God-fearing life. They don't harm or vex anybody as they do with you. When you sell something here, e.g., inheritance or tools, it does not concern the authorities.

Also an interesting insight into religion, especially since there are progressives among us who are downplaying this today. . . (note: Dunkers is the old term for Church of the Brethren and related groups which practiced adult baptism):

”As far as religion in this country is concerned, it should be said that there are all kinds of faiths here. Firstly, where authority is as it were, within; congregations, in which they have no baptism, neither for infants nor for adults. Then there are also here whole congregations of Baptists and Seventh Day Baptists [i.e., Dunkers] who also practice adult baptism, and they keep their Sunday on Saturday, yet lead a good life. There are also many "monists" [Unitarians?] as well as Reformed and Lutherans, and also a few Catholics in Philadelphia, whom the late Count [William Penn] wanted to expel, but they insisted on the franchise granted to them by the late Lord. So he had to keep his peace. But afterwards both we and all new arrivals of the male sex must go to the town hall before the magistrates to give up and renege allegiance to the Pope in Rome [illegible] of Great Britain in England. For the rest the authorities permit all faiths. If a person lives a quiet and pious life, he may believe what he likes.”The writers continue on to discuss labor—the shortage—and the problems with slave labor which the rich used, and relations with the Indians.  Read the rest of the letter here.

My grandmother’s childhood scrapbook showing advertising for the Studebaker Wagon of South Bend, Indiana.

And still the majority of blacks will vote for failed policies of Democrats

Democrats don’t applaud success, they apologize

Think about it—the party you support—is it pro-life?

Condi Rice is called Uncle Tom by Democrats

Obama supporters are calling Condi Rice and other black republicans "Uncle Toms" and pejorative, racist, ugly words. Perhaps they need to review the history of Stowe's book, how it influenced generations for good, and perhaps another story about a man who gave his life for others and then people change their lives of evil based on his life of good. Then perhaps look at the Jim Crow laws and the KKK which were arms of the Democrat party to undo the freedoms accomplished by amendments to the Constitution. It seems Democrats do a lot of that and use 19th century tactics to punish those who escape their clutches. Stowe's book was based on real slave narratives, particularly a man named Henson who after securing his own safety and freedom returned to the South to free others. Many black republicans are trying to lead their friends and family away from the Democrat plantation, but it's a tough struggle. There are some successes, therefore the name calling. Twitter and FB comments on Daily Beast are just frightening in their anger, fear and hate.