Remember to reset your clocks tonight

Why is unemployment in Yuma so high?

Yuma, Arizona, has the highest unemployment rate in the nation—27.3% in December 2012.

Here was a response at The Straight Dope website where readers write and respond that made the most sense, from a resident of Yuma :

Aside from agribiz, the two main employers are the Army (Yuma Proving Grounds) and the Marine Corps (MCAS Yuma). A lot of the testing and such is done by contractors in the defense industry. 

From my observation, part of the reason for the shortage of jobs is that the companies who subcontract at these bases tend to transfer in specialists from other locales, because few locals are likely to have the required skills or training needed. What's left over for the natives are jobs in the service sector--and employers hire as few people as they can operate with and then overwork them.

Another important employer (though this is changing, I hear) is the criminal justice system--the county sheriff, US Border Patrol, Customs, a big state prison, etc. A lot of those people are trained at the local community college, AWC. Criminal Justice is also a big major at the Yuma branch of Northern Arizona University.

There isn't a lot of industry because there isn't much room for it. Once you subtract all of the federal land (YPG, MCAS, the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range, and a couple of large wildlife refuges) and what's left of the irrigated farmland (what hasn't been developed yet), there isn't really much private land left over. There is a carpet fiber plant in the city (which seems to change name and ownership every couple of years), but it's mostly automated.

The Bismarck, North Dakota metropolitan area had the nation’s lowest unemployment rate of 2.2 percent.

The cost of date night

We usually go out on Friday nights (our date night), but will pass because we've both been ill. However, keep in mind that Obamacare is adding $44.2 Million Per Year to our (collective) eating at restaurant costs after the initial $315.1 million to comply with the regulations. It's because we don't know that chocolate cake with fudge topping has more calories than steamed cabbage. Retailers can add up the costs, but no one has yet figured out the benefits.

Pizza will be hardest hit.

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2013/02/21/restaurants-prepare-cost-new-menus-mandated-obamacare

Hope and Change

I have no idea if this is real or photo shopped.  With drones and ambivalence on the part of the WH, I don’t think any business owner would make himself a moving target like this.

Obama signs another feel good act

The Violence Against Women Act bill that Obama signed today extends federal aid to gay, immigrant and tribal victims, while adding services for its original beneficiaries and a large voting bloc: women. But VAWA never denied services to Indian women or to lesbians or transgendered women, so what's the hoopla? Look at California's web site, and you'll see plenty of money going to Indians last year from VAWA. Mainly, it's grant money for "public servants" to earn a very healthy income and although a woman might find support and assistance AFTER the abuse, if she refuses to get out of an abusive situation with her Lesbian lover or a boyfriend, there's not much the agency that gets the money can do.

What happens to Head Start money after it leaves Washington’s bureaucracy?

Here in Franklin County, some if goes for “Sisterhood”  CDCFC is a nonprofit organization funded by the U.S. Office of Head Start. Since 1985, CDCFC has provided comprehensive early education and development services to income-eligible Head Start preschool children, ages 3-5, and their families. An Early Head Start program was added in spring 2007, to serve pregnant women and children ages 0-3.  Its budget went from $200,000 25 years ago to $20 million in 2011 for 3800 children.

“CDCFC (Child Development Council of Franklin County, Inc)  has created the Sisterhood Program, a new initiative for women involved in the lives of Head Start and Early Head Start children. Designed to empower and motivate women to be self-sufficient, and to take control of their lives, the Sisterhood Program utilizes individualized and/or group education, support and advocacy services to aid members in becoming productive, involved members of their communities. One of the program’s primary goals is to provide support for members as they deal with life’s challenges, while also improving their positive self image and their feelings of self worth. The group will do several community outreach projects throughout the year as well, including neighborhood “clean-ups,” aiding the homeless, and motivational speaking, to encourage other women.”

Head Start’s funding in Franklin County, Ohio  per child is $7,816; funding for Early Head Start is $10,984; funding for Early Head Start ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) slots is $15,562. Head Start employs 400 and brings $20 million in federal dollars to Columbus' economy. And that's why it will always get funding; not because it helps children prepare to read and do math in school, but because it "helps" our economy. (figures from 2011 annual report)

Premium rate shock for 2014

Thank you, all Obama supporters for making our health care even more costly than before he took office.

"As conservatives predicted, Obama, Pelosi and Reid all lied about Obamacare as they rammed it through Congress, sight unseen. Rates are going to skyrocket. Employers will drop coverage. Physicians will stop accepting Medicare patients. Insurance carriers will go bankrupt. Care, when you can find it, will be rationed. And the system is going to melt down, with the poor and seniors suffering most.
Obama lied — and people will die. Obamacare is an Angel of Death hovering over the very fabric of this society."

http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/03/5861-ceo-prepare-for-obama-rate-hike/

Jerome McCorry

Interesting.  The same man who led an anti-gun protest at a  gun show and sale in Dayton recently, is a convicted rapist (who has served his time, I hope) on a watch list; he also led a "hoodie" demonstration in Dayton about 6 months ago to protest the killing of Trayvon Martin.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/gun-control-opponents-supporters-express-their-vie/nT7qs/

Our peace prize prez

The Drone Debate

VAWA, Violence Against Women Act, Again

The Violence Against Women Act (1994), which probably did nothing to protect women from domestic violence in its former wording, has been expanded in 2013 to include the GLBT demographic, which according to testimony has a much higher rate of domestic violence than the straight community. Violence in the lesbian and bi-sexual groups was stated as higher than for heterosexual women and men, or gay men.

The CDC report found that 29.4 percent of lesbians and 49.3 percent of bisexual women reported experiencing some form of severe physical violence in their lifetimes, compared with 23.6 percent of heterosexual women.

I glanced through several web sites to see about the funding (aka “follow the money”) and found 18 grants in Wikipedia, and 21 on the DoJ page, connected to the current VAWA.  That’s full employment for a number of activists in a variety of fields—social workers, grant writers, lawyers, workshop planners, college professors, etc.  This list is from Wikipedia, so may not be complete.  I’ll keep looking.  Like Head Start which did nothing in over 40 years for children (who grew up to become adults), it is a jobs program.

• STOP Grants (State Formula Grants)
• Transitional Housing Grants
• Grants to Encourage Arrest and Enforce Protection Orders
• Court Training and Improvement Grants
• Research on Violence Against Indian Women
• National Tribal Sex Offender Registry
• Stalker Reduction Database
• Federal Victim Assistants
• Sexual Assault Services Program
• Services for Rural Victims
• Civil Legal Assistance for Victims
• Elder Abuse Grant Program
• Protections and Services for Disabled Victims
• Combating Abuse in Public Housing
• National Resource Center on Workplace Responses
• Violence on College Campuses Grants
• Safe Havens Project
• Engaging Men and Youth in Prevention

This is the grants/program information from the Department of Justice. http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/docs/ovw-grant-program-factsheet.pdf

The DoJ reports on 21 different grants doled out to the states.  Ohio received over $8 million in 13 grants. Lots of grants for native American groups in the western states. $400,225,051 for over 750 grants to all states. Just can't find any comprehensive report.  We know violence is down in all areas in the last 20 years—usually attributed to better law enforcement and an aging population.  If it were VAWA, wouldn’t they take credit?

http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/grant2012.htm#oh

I thought I’d found one “results” report that might show a project had made a difference—the Safe Haven Demonstration project in Chicago (report was 2005 and 2008), but I was wrong.  Mainly, it was urging whites in a supervisory role to be more sensitive to cultural differences (2005) and noting how many families had been served with the additional money from VAWA since the program had been in place before 2002. 

http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/fss/supp_info/DV/SafeHavenSiteExperienceFullReport.pdf

Rand Paul objecting to the President going after yet another one of our Rights, #5

“be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”

"I cannot sit at my desk quietly and let the president say that he will kill Americans on American soil who are not actively attacking a country."

Paul has been asking for weeks—and Holder has answered, “Yes, we can.”

He is filibustering the nomination of Brennan

 

.

Obama’s programs haven’t helped minorities and women—even Democrats say that

"Sequestration will impact everyone, but it will have a particularly harmful effect on communities of color who were hit first and worst by the great recession, and have yet to significantly feel the effects of the recovery. Federal budget cuts under sequestration would quickly mean cuts to federal, state and local public-sector jobs, which disproportionately employ women and African-Americans." --Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)

TSA gets $50 million in new uniforms

I hope the rumor that they were in part made in Mexico was an ugly rumor from the GOP.

Why the rush to arm government agencies?

According to one estimate, since last year the Department of Homeland Security has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm.

DHS also purchased 2,700 Mine Resistant Armor Protected Vehicles (MRAP).

Heads up, Colorado. You’re about to be had.

Colorado residents--you are about to lose your 2nd amendment rights. Speak up. Keep in mind that serious loss of civil rights by race, ethnicity or gender, historically happens under Democrats.

Gun control opponents say the proposals will not reduce violence. They say lawmakers should focus on strengthening access to mental health services for people who could be dangerous to communities.

http://www.coloradoan.com/viewart/20130304/NEWS11/303040038/With-heated-advocacy-on-both-sides-gun-control-bills-advance-in-Colorado-Legislature

Sequester Games

Today I heard that an official in APHIS requested permission to decide on how to make cuts in his county’s service, but it was denied because it wouldn’t have met Obama’s goals of the sky is falling and it’s all the GOP’s fault.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/5/email-tells-feds-make-sequester-painful-promised/#ixzz2Mh2XlbwL

I wonder if Mr. Brown will have a job next week.  Not even a union can save him from questioning the White House.

Mr. President, here’s another cut

Inefficiency, inaccuracy and underuse in managing federal property costs taxpayers at least $1.6 billion each year, according to a report the House Subcommittee on Government Operations issued in February. Of course, this can't be put at the feet of the current administration--the federal government has been growing for years regardless of who was President. But this one could stop it.

http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/failures-in-managing-federal-real-property-billions-in-losses/

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-283

It could even be a 2-fer if the Department of Education were dismantled and its property sold. Educational accomplishment in the U.S. has flat lined while federal spending has soared since the ED was established in 1979 under Carter.

Algebra, 1953-54

Also known as atheists

The mission of the Center for Inquiry is to “foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values.”  Oh, are they (all 10 of them if that many) upset that there are religions represented in the military. No freedom for the men and women who protect their rights to be atheists.  That's how they are.

2013 fishy version

Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman

“Let me tell you how it will be
There’s one for you, nineteen for me
‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don’t take it all
‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah I’m the taxman. “

Written by George Harrison, Beatles, 1966, when he found out about Britain's progressive tax system (his was 95% so he could support their social welfare system) and wrote a protest song.

This man sets all manner of records—first politician to support killing the born alive aborted babies, the president with the most people on food stamps, administration that has purchased the most ammunition for homeland use. . . and so forth

Church websites

I visit a lot of church web sites. There are two persuasive, inviting messages I seek on the first click before the description of programs, services, and what a great, friendly staff and congregation it has: 1) The timeless message--Jesus and the Gospel--who he is and what he does; and 2) the targeted message--an address, including the city and state (a squished Google map of the streets isn't much help without that).

In the U.S. we have hundreds of different denominations within the “Protestant” family of Christians, and even if they have the same grouping, like ELCA or American Baptist, that doesn’t say anything about what the local congregation stands for.

Just for fun, put your denomination into the Google or Bing search window and add a medium to large city.  Then select a few. What does it say about Jesus; can you find the address easily if it passes the first test?

This one got the address part (first), but no gospel or who is Jesus. The other had the address at the top, right under the name. Is mentioning the Good News the same as proclaiming it?

The Secret Gift by Ted Gup

Book club today--I have a fresh cold, so I will pass and NOT pass it on.  Our March selection is a very interesting and heart warming story that takes place for the most part in Canton, Ohio. The secret gift, by Ted Gup. His grandfather, Sam Stone, had secretly given $5 to needy families in 1933, and Gup follows up on the outcome, plus the dark secrets of his grandfather's past.

I was left with the question of why does Gup know so little about how FDR's programs (aka New Deal), intended to help, extended the Depression for over 10 years. Also, I wondered as I read the inspiring stories of struggle and accomplishment, whether our country today that already has about 50% of the population receiving some sort of government benefit (some of it we paid up front like Social Security and Medicare), could ever rebound or even know how, from such a disaster.  Gup is a college professor, and in that environment where over 98% vote "progressive" or Democrat or liberal, there is little room for peeking under the covers of the accepted wisdom that FDR was a great guy and helped the country recover.

The most brilliant leader in centuries—Benedict XVI

“It will remember him as the greatest and most learned intellect ever to occupy the Chair of Peter. No public official in our time has been anywhere near his intellectual equal. This disparity is itself the cause of much disorder, if we grant, as we must, that truth is the essence of intellect and indeed order. In reading Benedict, I have always been struck by how familiar he is not just with the Old and New Testaments (in their original languages) but with his constant referring to the Fathers of the Church, especially Augustine, and the intellectual popes like Gregory the Great and Leo the Great, and also Irenaeus, Basil, Maximius, Origen, Bonaventure, and I do not know them all.

He knows German philosophy well, and always cites Plato. He is at home with all the Marxist philosophers. Indeed, in Spe Salvi, he cited two of the most famous ones as witness to the logical need of a resurrection of the body. Benedict is a member of one of the French academies. No one has really begun to do his homework on what this pope has thought his way through. The media and most universities are, basically, hopeless. I suspect his final opera omni in a critical German edition will equal in length that of Augustine, Aquinas, and Bonaventure.”

“What Benedict did [in Jesus of Nazareth, 3 vol.] was to state, in brief, his considered opinion and research. He concluded that all the evidence available to us over a 2,000-year period, including the latest scientific evidence, indicates that Jesus Christ is who He said He was.”

Father James Schall, Georgetown University political science professor 

To our free press

The debt limit—this explains it

How to keep people poor and bankrupt the middle class

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in a report on February 11, about one-sixth of federal spending went to “means-tested welfare” in 2011 through 10 major programs.  Medicaid is the biggest chunk, and the second-largest is the food stamp program. 

                

Eligibility for these programs has expanded as has the generosity of the benefits. They are a disincentive both to work harder or smarter or advance, and a disincentive for marriage, so they have probably hurt women and children the most.

Americans required to pledge allegiance to Mexico in Spanish language class in Texas

“RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas - Every day students in Texas public schools pledge allegiance to the flags of the United States and Texas.

But when  teacher  Reyna Santos in a Rio Grande Valley high school assigned students to stand and pledge allegiance to the Mexican flag and sing Mexico's national anthem, one student, Brenda Brinsdon, refused.

The resulting controversy has one East Texas lawmaker wanting changes in the state's curriculum on how culture and patriotism are taught in schools.”

http://www.wfaa.com/news/education/Texas-high-school-students-say-Mexican-pledge-sing-anthem-One-refuses-134287008.html

“As an alternative task to reciting the pledge and anthem, she was assigned an essay on the history of the Mexican revolution — an assignment for which she received a failing grade.

According to a lawsuit, filed in federal court Wednesday (Feb. 27), Brinsdon was not allowed to return to the Spanish class after her story received media coverage. She was made to sit in the office each day instead of attend class and ultimately failed the course.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/28/texas-teen-suing-school-district-after-she-was-punished-for-not-reciting-mexican-national-anthem-in-class/

The Obama Fan

A teacher asked her 6th grade class how many of them were  Obama fans.

Not really knowing what an Obama fan is, but wanting to be liked by the teacher, all the kids raised their hands except for Little Johnny.

The teacher asked Little Johnny why he has decided to be different…AGAIN.

Little Johnny said, “Because I’m not an Obama fan.”

The teacher asked, “Why aren’t you a fan of Obama?”

Johnny said, “Because I’m a Republican.”

The teacher asked him why he’s a Republican. Little Johnny answered, “Well, my Mom’s a Republican and my Dad’s a Republican, so I’m a Republican.”

Annoyed by this answer, the teacher asked, “If your mom were a moron and your dad were an idiot, what would that make YOU?”
With a big smile, Little Johnny replied,

“THAT WOULD MAKE ME AN OBAMA FAN.”

Let a fictitious physician from Ayn Rand’s imagination almost 60 years ago explain it

A retired doctor posted this on Facebook today and it is the direction our President is taking us in healthcare faster than even his most loyal supporters could have imagined in 2007.  It is from Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (1957): 

“I quit when medicine was placed under State control some years ago,” said Dr. Hendricks. “Do you know what it takes to perform a brain operation? Do you know the kind of skill it demands, and the years of passionate, merciless, excruciating devotion that go to acquire that skill? That was what I could not place at the disposal of men whose sole qualification to rule me was their capacity to spout the fraudulent generalities that got them elected to the privilege of enforcing their wishes at the point of a gun. I would not let them dictate the purpose for which my years of study had been spent, or the conditions of my work, or my choice of patients, or the amount of my reward. I observed that in all the discussions that preceded the enslavement of medicine, men discussed everything—except the desires of the doctors. Men considered only the ‘welfare’ of the patients, with no thought for those who were to provide it. That a doctor should have any right, desire or choice in the matter, was regarded as irrelevant selfishness; his is not to choose, they said, but ‘to serve.’ That a man’s willing to work under compulsion is too dangerous a brute to entrust with a job in the stockyards—never occurred to those who proposed to help the sick by making life impossible for the healthy. I have often wondered at the smugness at which people assert their right to enslave me, to control my work, to force my will, to violate my conscience, to stifle my mind—yet what is it they expect to depend on, when they lie on an operating table under my hands? Their moral code has taught them to believe that it is safe to rely on the virtue of their victims. Well, that is the virtue I have withdrawn. Let them discover the kind of doctors that their system will now produce. Let them discover, in the operating rooms and hospital wards, that it is not safe to place their lives in the hands of a man they have throttled. It is not safe, if he is the sort of man who resents it—and still less safe, if he is the sort who doesn’t.”

http://blog.aynrandcenter.org/the-forgotten-man-of-socialized-medicine-and-us/

Shakespearean Insults

You’re nothing but a yeasty, milk-livered maggot pie; Oh yeah? Take that, you paunchy, rump-fed pignut.

While Chicken Little squeaks about the sky falling, look what’s going on in DC

While Obama threatens the rest of us with miniscule cuts, look what's going up for Homeland Security employees--a palace--the largest ever--1.3 million square foot complex (phase 1) the largest since they built the Pentagon in WWII. My, what do they have in mind for the little people? And this is just one of the many construction projects in and around Washington. There has been no recession there either for gov't employees or private "partnerships" with construction firms and banks. http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/133423

Ayesha shares her son with you

“I remember my first abortion like it was yesterday. There are times I revisit those days and play back all chaos in my life. I think about some of the words spoken to me: "This is for the best" "Trust me", "You are too young, this will ruin your life." "How will you finish school ; what kind of life will you be able to give this child?" I even remember the moment in the room, when I changed my mind and said, "Hello, is there anyone out there, I want change my mind." and the nurse came by and said it was too late. I remember every moment so clearly sometimes and it always sends me to a place of what if. I wonder what he would have looked like, I wonder how it would have changed my life, I wonder what he would have been today?

Yes, there is great sadness, but it is okay because in the end I have let my children live and the lord says that in letting our children live we can find Joy. John 16:21 - A woman when she is in travail has sorrow, because her hour has come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

This is part of why so many woman have such pain and shame. They suffer in silence, never admitting to the sin of killing their child and thus never letting go of the burden or travail of pregnancy. In coming out and letting the child live even in such a small way as this, we allow healing to begin. It is hard to relive such painful memories, but I remember the times when I did not even admit I was in pain. I would rather feel the pain and release the shame than live in darkness and allow the enemy to win.

I get to imagine he would have been a great man of God, whom the Lord is well pleased....”

Shared from her Facebook post, March 1, 2013, with permission.

Could the federal government ever do what Starbucks did?

In January 2009 the stock of Starbucks was about $7, and today it’s in the mid-fifties, down a little from a few months ago.  So how did they turn it around without a government stimulus package?

“The company cut costs when a serious recession hit the economy in 2008. Raises were slashed to a minimal amount, vacation and personal time was cut and the health plan was altered to require more out-of-pocket expenses on the part of employees. The company pushed product sales hard, requiring managers to more aggressively market retail items such as coffee mugs, coffee makers and ground coffee to their walk-in customers.

Recently, the company has made some changes to improve its compensation for management employees. Starbucks has maintained health-care coverage as well as a stock-option program, known as Bean Stock. The company has also increased its contributions to its 401(k) program a retirement savings plan that is available to hourly and salaried employees.”

Read more: The Average Salary of a Starbucks Store Manager | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_7486618_average-salary-starbucks-store-manager.html#ixzz2MIILv2l9

Sadly, no one in this administration and very few in Congress have business experience, and when they get to Washington it’s like having play money to spend.

Just a few more weeks ‘til Spring

Reporting on the Pope by the media

Perhaps this is apocryphal, but apparently there was a reporter assigned to the Holy See by a major news agency who got to Rome and wanted to know where the sea was. It was told as an example of how little the regular media know about spiritual matters.

I wondered about Shepard Smith today on Fox Report, when in the afternoon show he gave a few minutes to today's historic event of the Pope becoming emeritus and instead used his time to mention sex scandals in the church involving boys and priests. Fortunately, there was a guest who set him straight (no pun intended). If he had said gay priests, he could have narrowed it down to a few, but then would have been accused of homophobia. But to be anti-Catholic and condemn a faith of l.2 billion people is OK. 

Shepard Smith needs to open a newspaper and see what’s going on in the schools.

I watched his 7 p.m. show on Fox News to see if he’d actually report just the news of this historic day. He did.  Maybe he got my e-mail.

Pope Benedict’s final words

“You know that today is different than previous ones. I’m no longer the Pope. Until 8:00 p.m. I am, but then afterwards I am no longer Pope of the Catholic Church,” he said.

Pope Benedict then offered a window into how he sees this stage of his life.

“I’m simply a pilgrim that is starting the last stage of his pilgrimage on Earth,” he remarked, “but I would still like with my heart, with my love, with my prayer, with my reflection, with all my inner strength to work for the common good of the Church and of humanity, and I feel very supported by your sympathy.
“Let’s go ahead together with the Lord for the good of the Church and of the world,”

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/popes-last-words-thank-you-for-your-friendship-and-love/

A kind of madness

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/27/us-usa-fiscal-woodward-idUSBRE91Q11620130227

I searched through 4 pages of Google trying to find this reported in the MSM.

How more money affects educational success

Or, not much.

Trayvon v. Olijawon

The media decided the death of Trayvon Martin, a black teen, a story worthy to be trumpeted across the nation as race hatred because the man who killed him in FL was, they thought, white (actually he was Hispanic).  But when black teen Olijawon Griffin was robbed of his jacket and phone by nine other black teens and then stabbed to death when he tried to get it back in DC, it only made a blip on the local news there.  Black on black crime just doesn't sell or get the journalism award. (He had a FB page—I looked at his football and h.s. graduation photos).

When his mom, Lunette Griffin, wept and went to court, it didn't make the news in Columbus or LA or the cable news channels like when Trayvon's parents did.  The president didn't expand on or stir up racial tensions with the story and say Olijawon could have been his son.  The one year anniversary of Olijawon's death in November will not be observed except by family and friends. Trayvon's mom is  interviewed on gun violence. No one will interview Lunette about knives or gangs of teens who roam the streets of DC.  Why?  It would meet no political agenda for the President or the media. Black teens robbing and killing a black teenager with a knife will not set any racial fires smoldering or pass any new gun laws. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/six-teens-indicted-on-murder-charges-in-stabbing-at-woodley-park-metro-station/2013/02/27/d9e20b5a-812d-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

The decline of Rome

It’s been interesting to see Rome the last few days on TV via Vatican TV as the final 48 hours of Pope Benedict XVI have been broadcast.  But 700 years ago, things weren’t looking good for the mighty city.

"In the early 1400s the Eternal City must have been, in most respects, a wretchedly uninspiring sight, a parent that the Florentines may well have wished to disown. A million people had dwelled in Rome during the height of the Empire, but now the city's population was less than that of Florence. The Black Death of 1348 had reduced numbers to 20,000, from which, over the next fifty years, they rose only slightly. Rome had shrunk into a tiny area inside its ancient walls, retreating from the seven hills to huddle among a few streets on the bank of the Tiber across from St. Peter's, whose walls were in danger of collapse. Foxes and beggars roamed the filthy streets. Livestock grazed in the Forum now known as il Campo Vaccino, 'the Field of Cows.'

"Other monuments had suffered even worse fates. The Temple of Jupiter was a dunghill, and both the Theater of Pompey and the Mausoleum of Augustus had become quarries from which the ancient masonry was scavenged, some of it for buildings as far away as Westminster Abbey. Many ancient statues lay in shards, half buried, while others had been burned in kilns to make quicklime or else fertilizer for the feeble crops. Still others were mangers for asses and oxen. The funerary monument of Agrippina the Elder, the mother of Caligula, had been turned into a measure for grain and salt.

"Rome was a dangerous and unappealing place. There were earthquakes, fevers, and endless wars, the latest of which, the War of the Eight Saints, witnessed English mercenaries laying waste to the city. There was no trade or industry apart from the pilgrims who arrived from all over Europe, clutching copies of Mirabilia urbis romae (The Wonders of Rome), which told them which relics to see during their stay. This guidebook directed them to such holy sights as the finger bone of St. Thomas in Santa Croce, in Gerusalemme, the arm of St. Anne and the head of the Samaritan woman converted by Christ in San Paolo fuori le Mura, or the crib of the infant Savior in Santa Maria Maggiore. There was a hucksterish atmosphere to the city: pardoners sold indulgences from stalls in the street, and churches advertised confessions that were supposedly good for a remission of infernal torture for a grand total of 8,000 years.

"The Mirabilia urbis romae did not direct the attention of the pilgrims to the Roman remains that surrounded them. To such pious Christians these ancient ruins were so much heathen idolatry. Worse, they were stained with the blood of Christian martyrs. The Baths of Diocletian, for example, were built with the forced labor of early Christians, many of whom had died during the construction. Antique images that had survived a millennium of earthquakes, erosion, and neglect were therefore deliberately trampled underfoot, spat on, or thrown to the ground and smashed to pieces."

From Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King, Penguin Books, 2000

Obamacare adds to restaurant costs

Thank God for the nanny state. I truly believed Death by Chocolate had fewer calories than mixed vegetables. Now that I know better, I'll never, never eat that bad stuff again.

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2013/02/21/restaurants-prepare-cost-new-menus-mandated-obamacare

“Section 4205 of Obama’s law requires restaurants and similar retail food establishments with 20 or more locations to list calorie content information for standard menu items on all menus and menu boards, including drive-through boards. The law also requires vending machine operators who own or operate 20 or more vending machines to disclose calorie content for certain items.”

Notice how these regulations on size just keep businesses from expanding, denying jobs to people who need them?

A man for all flavors

It worked for Castro, Hussein and Ceausescu

So let’s try it in those states where he’d been defied.

From Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona

She’s been in the President’s cross hairs for years.

"I’m appalled to learn the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has begun to release hundreds of illegal aliens from custody, the first of potentially thousands to soon be freed under the guise of federal budget cuts. This is pure political posturing and the height of absurdity given that the releases are being granted before the federal ‘sequestration’ cuts have even gone into effect.

This represents a return to exactly the kind of catch-and-release procedures that have long made a mockery of our country’s immigration system. The news is especially concerning when coupled with DHS’ acknowledgment that it may not be able to maintain operation of 34,000 immigration jail beds, as mandated by Congress.

Everyone knows the federal government must get a handle on spending, and it is well past time that the President begins working with Congress to find real budget solutions. But we cannot let public safety and the rule of law be collateral damage of the President’s failed leadership to pass a budget."

All of history in one package

Although the title of this article is called Why Jews are Better off in the Catholic Church than in the Jews for Jesus, it contains a lot of rather detailed history from how the Torah was made, what is tradition, the Crusades, Martin Luther, The inquisition, a sprinkle of Wicca and Scientology and the “way home” for Jews.  I came across it while looking for something else.

The Torah

Every Torah scroll is made from living creatures. The parchment is lambskin, ritually prescribed sinews hold the pages together, and plants provide the ink. Jewish tradition holds that God dictated Torah to Moses as a stream of Hebrew letters, one at a time. Jewish scribes who hand copy Torah scrolls are extremely careful to preserve the exact sequence, not adding or subtracting even a single letter. Jesus referred to that tradition when He said, "Till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished." (Mt 5:18) An iota is a yod, the smallest Hebrew letter. A dot is the smallest part of a Hebrew letter. The Torah in every synagogue is an exact copy of an exact copy of an exact copy of the Torah that God inspired Moses to write down by hand. . .

The Scriptural Cafeteria

All Christendom had accepted the Catholic Sacred Scriptures for 1,500 years when Luther altered Romans 3:28. But Luther altered a lot more Scripture than one word. He removed from his Scriptures the entire books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees as well as Esther 10:4-16:24 and Daniel 3:24-90 and chapters 13 and 14.

The Jews for Jesus respond that Luther chose only those Scriptures for the Old Testament that were recognized by the rabbis as the Tanach, the Palestinian canon, rather than those recognized by the Catholic Church, the Alexandrian canon.

For three centuries before Christ arrived, Judaism used two different versions of Scripture. Jews living in Palestine used the Hebrew Palestinian canon, which did not have these seven books, while Jews who lived outside Palestine used the Greek Septuagint version, called the Alexandrian canon, which did. When St. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, he used the Greek Septuagint because it contained all of the books recognized by the Church as inspired. All Christendom had accepted the St. Jerome Bible for a thousand years when Luther suddenly decided to use the Palestinian canon because he did not accept the doctrine of purgatory implied in 2 Maccabees. Luther, in fact, wanted to delete as well the books of Hebrews, James, Jude, and the Revelation, but was persuaded by the other Reformers to leave them in place. Luther chose for his Old Testament only those books historically accepted by people who did not recognize Jesus, rather than those who did.

 

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Sequestration and alarming the public

Oh, but there’s more.  Obama's plans (actually Janet Napolitano) to be "fiscally responsible" includes releasing criminals ready for deportation--before sequestration (which he refuses to negotiate while he's on the campaign trail). Now this move, folks, is totally transparent--he's trying to scare people into accepting more tax increases with no cuts. Where is the savings as these really bad guys are released in the SW states (who then have to do the mop up on their dime). I wonder if while robbing or raping, these guys will be able to tell a Democrat from a Republican from an apolitical know-nothing who has never voted?

Napolitano whined: “Look, we’re doing our very best to minimize the impacts of sequester. But there’s only so much I can do.” Imagine that. Absolutely no fat in the ICE or Homeland Security to cut except to let criminals go loose to make more mayhem. This is blackmail.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-detained-immigrants-sequester-20130226,0,7739089.story

The President really likes to hit on Brewer, governor of Arizona. Look out Arizona supporters of Obama. The released criminals that Obama is setting free could be in your neighborhood, all in the name of blaming Republicans for budget cuts he agreed to when he got his tax increase.

Fidel Castro did this too. Opened the jails and mental hospitals and told them to go to the U.S. in 1980. Saddam Hussein did a similar thing in 2003 with his jailed criminals--just turned them loose to create panic.  When leaders don’t know how to lead, they just create panic.

Bread and Circuses

Mona Charen writes:

"Mrs. Obama has been all over pop culture. Her Oscar outing followed hard on the heels of a mean “mom dance” on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Her husband, meanwhile, has been golfing with Tiger Woods. Some members of what used to be (long ago, boys and girls, when non-cool presidents were in office) the adversarial press corps joined forces to chant a question at the returning President Obama after his golf outing. They had lodged complaints with the press secretary about lack of access, apparently crestfallen that the White House refused to permit pictures of Obama and Woods on the course. Their shouted question wasn’t about the sequester, or Benghazi, or Syria, or Hagel; no, the pressies chanted in unison (Occupy-style) “Did you beat Tiger?” Their crush on Dear Leader is undiminished.

The president makes himself available to friendly questions from the press — see the latest 60 Minutes interview — and is always available to chat about his basketball final-four picks or what’s on his iPod. In short, both he and his wife have mastered the art of being celebrities-in-chief. The man who wrote two autobiographies before he was 45 (earning a tidy fortune in the process) is a genius at marketing himself. Together, the Obamas provide “circuses” aplenty for the masses. As for bread, that’s another matter."

Did you know that in order to coerce the Republicans into higher taxes and no cuts, they are releasing criminal illegal immigrants due for deportation as an early sequestration move?  But dance on Bo.