Transparency? The Press Corps reports

A new survey in Politico Magazine asked 60 members of the White House press corps varying in age and experience to share their thoughts on what life is really like within the Beltway for journalists.

Foreclosure of a mega church in Georgia

Blogger.com where I have my blogs has a feature called "next blog" so I was browsing today and found Church in the Now of Conyers, GA, and the last entry was about its foreclosure, Easter 2012. It was a huge, magnificent facility and not ugly like most mega churches. So I read through the pastor's timeline of how he started it in 1985 with 54 members, up to the sale for over $18 million, and about the other 90 churches in Georgia going through foreclosure.

Wondering where they went and expecting a rebuilding with renewed energy, I Googled. In 2010, he had announced he was gay, he says, to stem the tide of gay teen suicides. Really? How many teens listen to adults about their sexuality? Plus the highest suicide rate in the U.S. isn't gay teens--it's men over 85. And he'd been married twice and had 4 children. If claiming to be honest about sexuality, at least be honest about other things.

Over the centuries, millions of men and women have given up acting on sexual feelings and putting aside personal relationships from marriage to affairs to procreation in order to achieve a higher calling (whether or not you agree isn't the point). Millions more are caretakers for spouses and have set aside sexual desires for a higher form of expressing love.  Every day there are married people who choose to be faithful to their vows rather than act on their sexual desires.  He needed to be honest, but probably should have started with his first wife and the original congregation of 1985 and stop blaming society for his hiding his true feelings all these years. From celebrities to politicians to pastors: if you can't accept your homosexuality, don't be surprised when society isn't sympathetic with your cover up when you finally come out.

Listen, learn and exercise

I’m not really an exercise enthusiast, but since developing bursitis in December, I can’t do much walking, so I’m using my Gold’s Gym Power Spin 210 U—or an exercycle.  It keeps track of heart activity, speed, distance and calories.  I’ve figured out if I ride my power spin for 10 minutes at 3 levels of difficulty I burn about 40 calories; 4 times a day would be 160 calories, or one cookie with no chocolate chips. Sigh.

                         

              Photo predates our new carpet and flat screen TV.

Since exercising this way is boring, I’m trying to finish the audio of Jesus of Nazareth, the infancy narratives by Pope Benedict XVI, and have learned a lot, although I could probably learn more if I were reading.  For instance, today I learned that “King of the Jews” which is the title the Magi used, was not known to the Jews, and wasn’t used again in scripture until Pilot said it.  So it is a prefiguring in the infancy stories of the crucifixion.  Also the Magi brought myrrh, an expensive spice used for perfume, spice and anointing the dead. Because of the coming holy day, the women were not able to use myrrh on the body of Jesus and by they time they got to the tomb after the crucifixion, he was already gone, so the myrrh was not used—he was alive, not dead. Benedict uses a lot of Old Testament background and early church fathers.  Very interesting comments about the star made by believers even in the first and second century. It is not at all dogmatic—just provides the research and teaching over the years, even that which isn’t popular today.

“While he was interrogating Jesus, Pilate unexpectedly put this question to the accused: "Where are you from?" Jesus' accusers had called for him to receive the death penalty by dramatically declaring that this Jesus had made himself the Son of God-a capital offense under the law. The "enlight­ened" Roman judge, who had already expressed skepticism regarding the question of truth (cf. Jn 18:38), could easily have found this claim by the accused laughable. And yet he was frightened. The accused had indicated that he was a king, but that his kingdom was "not of this world" ( Jn 18:36).

And then he had alluded to a mysterious origin and purpose, say­ing: "For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth" ( Jn 18:37).All this must have seemed like madness to the Roman judge. And yet he could not shake off the mysterious impres­sion left by this man, so different from those he had met before who resisted Roman domination and fought for the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. The Roman judge asks where Jesus is from in order to understand who he really is and what he wants.

The question about Jesus' provenance, as an inquiry after his deeper origin and hence his true being, is also found in other key passages of Saint John's Gospel, and it plays an equally important role in the Synoptic Gospels. For John, as for the Synoptics, it raises a singular paradox. On the one hand, counting against Jesus and his claim to a divine mission, is the fact that people knew exactly where he was from: he does not come from heaven, from "the Father," from "above," as he purports to ( Jn 8:23). No: "Is not this Jesus, whose fa­ther and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" ( Jn 6:42). “

- See more at: http://www.imagecatholicbooks.com/book/226834/jesus-of-nazareth/#sthash.u4PCTbzR.dpuf

Thomas Watson, Puritan

I review a lot of books (from the agency hired to promote the books) and receive a lot of fluff. Rather than say "this stinks," I just don't blog about that title. That's why it's such a pleasure to report on a fantastic writer, rich with references, and blinding clarity. Thomas Watson, a British puritan (1620-1686). I was checking Google for a definition of a word we Christians hear a lot (glorify, glorification, glory) and found him. "Man's chief end is to glorify God." Absolutely wonderful. Put it on your bucket list--both the essay and the act.  http://thomaswatsonquotes.com/

How far should they go with personal, private speech restriction?

Will it end with Donald Sterling? He had a black/Mexican mistress was jealous of some hunky black athletes she was hanging out with, so he said some crude things.   Perhaps their 50 year age difference made him a bit insecure in his manhood?  Now they are going to take his team away from him for being a racist.  I heard that there's another team owner who has contributed to causes to support marriage and the gay mafia are going after him.

This may not turn out well--do you want your business destroyed because you contributed to Planned Parenthood or you're not vegan, or you own a fur coat, or use coal for your electricity, or you're a pagan, or you had two mothers, or you contributed to the growth of federal control over education, or your grandmother was the vice president of a bank in Hawaii? The Democrats won't always be in power and political correctness can swing both ways.

The first (or second) gay president.

The left is outraged that Glenn Beck made a joke about the possibility of Hillary Clinton being a lesbian and mimicking her husband's behavior with women. Why? Would that be more awful than her policies, or lack of leadership as Secretary of State? Are the Daily Beast and Huffington Post homophobic? Her sexuality isn't going to affect the right wing voters, and the left wing would just praise her bravery. Rumors of her liaisons came out years ago, and mostly from left wing sources.

Hillary’s 2008 campaign staff probably started the Obama gay boyfriend rumors, and Chicagoans were blogging about them, but things have changed a lot in 5 years.  Now it is resume enhancement. Even Barney remarked on that—and would he be insulted if someone said he was a closet heterosexual?

BARNEY FRANK: "When I was 14, I realized I was gay. I said I was a lot like the other guys, but there were two things that I knew made me different than the other guys. First of all, I was attracted to politics. Second, I was attracted to the other guys. Now that wasn't going to work well because to be in politics you had to be popular. To be a homosexual was not to be very popular. Well, if this was fiction -- spoiler alert -- by the time I retire, there was still a disparity between the popularity of being gay and the popularity of being a politician. But it had flipped. And my marriage polled better than my service as a committee chairman.

 

Sterling is a jerk, but that’s not against the law

Donald Sterling's record isn't "sterling," and past sins and law suits should have gotten him bumped from ownership, but a private conversation with his mistress? How many men would be fired across the country for that? Many. (Watch out for vindictive girlfriends and ex-wives, fellas.) This sets a terrible precedent as did the firing of a CEO who voted for marriage between a man and woman. Thought police beyond anything China and the USSR came up with.

"It seems his “girlfriend,” Ms. Stiviano, decided to tape a private conversation between the two. Apparently, Ms. Stiviano had recently been sued by the estranged wife of Mr. Sterling, so there is some potential nefarious motive involved. Furthermore, the taping of a conversation without consent of the other party is illegal under California statute. There is some question as to whether he knew he was being recorded. Let’s assume for the moment he didn’t.

The national outrage against Mr. Sterling has come from an act that could be illegal and inadmissible in a court of law. Nevertheless, the court of public opinion has tried and convicted Mr. Sterling of being a jerk."

Read more at http://allenbwest.com/2014/04/folks-youre-missing-point-donald-sterling/#pUUUict0fcPdl7UT.99

Harry Reid, on the other hand, is an elected official, and has maligned and insulted millions of Americans by declaring Tea Party people terrorists.  John Kerry, our Secretary of State, has insulted and maligned the people of Israel.  Hypocrisy is coming up with the spring flowers.Our president’s insults are just too many to note here.

Obama’s Malaysian junket

Obama is a terrible "leader." He goes to Malaysia and whines about a U.S. basketball team owner who was a known loose canon, but is silent about Democrats who call patriots terrorists and Supreme Court judges Uncle Toms, and then compares Malaysia's human right violations record to ours. Well, our violations include the government NSA snooping and IRS manipulating the code to stop right wing organizations he fears, and colluding with our "free press," but he wasn't that specific. Their violations involve freedom of religion, right to assembly, free speech, elevating some races and ethnic groups as protected, etc. Well, maybe he should have gone on about the similarities.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/04/24/malaysia-obama-should-speak-loudly-rights

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/08/09/harry-reid-launches-slanderous-attacks-on-tea-party-republicans/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/04/30/black-congressman-stands-by-comment-that-clarence-thomas-is-an-uncle-tom/

"I think the Prime Minister is the first to acknowledge that Malaysia’s still got some work to do. Just like the United States, by the way, has some work to do on these issues," Obama said. "Human Rights Watch probably has a list of things they think we should be doing as a government."
 http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/human-rights-malaysia-united-states-work/2014/04/27/id/567978#ixzz30SXBncO0

The criminal didn’t die—right away

I don't believe in the death penalty. The execution in Oklahoma of 2 men (one of which failed) is no where near as inhumane and violent as what babies in the womb are experiencing every day. For instance, the base of the fetus's skull is punctured with a sharp instrument such as a long scissors or pointed metal tube, or the body of the baby is cut into pieces and removed. A bit more violent than having a heart attack during a botched execution. One of these men, Charles Warner, raped and killed an 11 month old baby; the other, Clayton Lockett, tortured and murdered a 19 year old woman. Babies in the womb, on the other hand, did no crime except appear on the scene at an inconvenient time.

Lockett, 38, was convicted of the killing of 19-year-old, Stephanie Neiman, in 1999. She was shot and buried alive. Lockett was also convicted of raping her friend in the violent home invasion that lead to Neiman's death. Warner, 46, was found guilty of raping and killing 11-month-old Adrianna Waller in 1997. He lived with the child's mother.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/30/oklahoma-execution-botched-clayton-lockett

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/inmate-dies-heart-attack-oklahoma-execution-halted-20-minutes-due-vein-failure-officials-article-1.1773508

The Book of Common Prayer

The smoking gun—redacted e-mails

Ben Rhodes gave instructions on how to cover up the Benghazi failure.  Administration was reluctant to admit it hadn’t solved the “terrorist” problem right before the election.  I suspect there will be much more to come, if people can

tear their attention away from an 80 year old billionaire who said racist things. Read this piece by Sharyl Attkisson who was silenced at CBS (where Rhodes brother is president) when her investigative pieces became too bold and truthful.

http://www.sharylattkisson.com/new-benghazi-docs-april-29--2014.html

Her book: "My Fight For the Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation and Harassment in Obama's Washington"

The Donald Sterling kerfuffle

"How did Donald Sterling get away with behavior, in a professional sports league dominated by black players, which would get a college kid kicked out of school and scarred for life? Have they no morals clause in the NBA? How was Donald Sterling voted that lifetime achievement award by the NAACP? The answer to all likely lies in the adage: Follow the money." Patrick J. Buchanan

I'm listening to an NBA rep say he's going to take the team away from him and fine Sterling for being a bad old man and saying bad things in a private conversation. No punishment for being married with mistress.

Meanwhile, John Kerry still has his job.

This Clippers/NBA flap isn't about Sterling. He was a known racist for 3 decades, the league is 81% black, and they willingly take his money. It's obviously a sport that cares little about diversity. The NBA, Sterling and the players care about green, not black. The NBA should be ashamed of their phony outrage.

The media coverage and shock and horror IS about getting Obama off the front page, particularly as new evidence keeps coming out about the Benghazi cover up. WH advisor Ben Rhodes who came up with blame the video is found in numerous e-mails planning to protect the President in the 2012 election (and they were successful, weren't they?). Ben Rhodes brother is a highly placed executive at CBS. We've got the smoking gun, but if they can smother it with the Sterling story. . .

Today Ben Rhodes’ e-mails came out

Not that we didn’t know the video story was a lie.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/04/ben_rhodes_at_center_of_plan_to_whitewash_white_house_on_benghazi.html

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/04/29/the-ben-rhodes-email-foxs-new-false-benghazi-at/199067

http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/11/top-obama-officials-brother-is-president-of-cbs-news-may-drop-reporter-over-benghazi-coverage/

http://www.examiner.com/article/new-documents-reveal-benghazi-cover-up-emanated-from-white-house

Arkansas tornado kills father and 2 daughters

“Rob Tittle, a FamilyLife [Christian ministry focusing on strengthening the family] staff member and kindred spirit warrior for the family, died last night in the tornado that crushed parts of central Arkansas. Two of his daughters—Tori, age 20, and Rebekah, 14—were among the 16 killed in the storm.

Rob, 48, and his wife Kerry, had heard the tornado warnings and were shepherding their nine children under a stairwell when the tornado disintegrated their home. Rob was doing what a man does—putting his family first—when the twister hit.”

http://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/life-issues/challenges/death-and-dying/the-lord-gives-the-lord-takes-away?

She was told her baby was deformed—she refused to abort

Her husband left her.  Then at 20 weeks the ultrasound for her 2nd baby showed  a chromosomal disorder called Trisomy 18 in which the baby has an extra, 18th chromosome. It causes misshapen skulls, malformed ears, and mainly—heart defects. She was told the baby had no face.

http://blogs.christianpost.com/every-child/when-science-shakes-your-faithrefusing-to-believe-20475/

“Baby Abigael came into the world a perfect baby girl. No genetic defect. No missing heart ventricle. A beautiful face. It is hard for me to believe that these ultrasounds were a medical mistake—known to some as “false positives.” It is easier for me to believe my daughter is a miracle.”

Internet safety for teens

Keep children away from predators by sharing.

The Gosnell documentary getting close to goal

Kermit Gosnell was convicted of the murder of several live and viable babies at his clinic. It is thought that over a 40 year killing spree he murdered thousands of infants. Kermit Gosnell is currently serving several life sentences.

His case became controversial after the trial received almost no media coverage - and sparked allegations of a media coverup because the case shone a spotlight on abortion.

Producer Ann McElhinney said the record breaking success of the Gosnell Movie was a testament to the thousands of small donors who wanted the truth to be told.

"We have a huge number of small contributors giving to make sure the truth is not censored," she said.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gosnell-movie#home

http://www.toomanyaborted.com/gosnell/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/15/the-gosnell-case-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

Monday Memories—our trip to Illinois this Easter

Ladies of the class of 1957 MMHS enjoying breakfast




















Eating at LaVinja on Daysville Road, east of Oregon, IL. Really good Italian food and great service. With my brother and his wife April 19.  We were staying in Mt. Morris and he lives in Franklin Grove, so it was a good place to meet.

The movie Philomena

I loved that movie--although sad, it had a lot joy and forgiveness and humor. Amazing acting by Judi Dench and Steve Coogan.  When I see movies that are anti-Christian or anti-Catholic, I just remember the source—Hollywood (or whatever the international equivalent is). Its bread and butter is sex,violence, denying God, and sin, or there would be no story.  As far as the gay theme, I looked a little deeper.  The Catholic Church and Philomena were people of the morals of the time—sex outside marriage is immoral and only kings and statesmen got around it—and the public was in on that, even Philomena who acknowledges her sin in the movie/book. Even as a young teen she knew what she was doing.  The eighties and nineties and early 21st century, right up to Obama’s 2012 campaign during which he claimed to support traditional marriage, had a morality that didn’t support open homosexuality for public figures.  For librarians, like my dear boss Jay and his long time partner, no one cared, or all the lesbians like Dora and Pauline I worked with in the 1960s. Both parties were hypocrites.  Remember how the Democrats pushed out an active gay representative (Republican) from Florida whose life was well known to his fellow congressmen when he sent texts to young male staffers?  Anyway, in the Philomena story, her son who is gay, goes along with the prevailing morality in order to get ahead in Washington and keep his career, with a fake girlfriend and a hidden boyfriend. These were his choices for his career. So which is more phony?  The son or society? Many gays were open; he wasn’t.  He could have been a hairdresser, an actor, an author,  a librarian, etc., and no one would have batted an eyelash.  He chose his lifestyle and his career.

Back to the young Philomena, pregnant at 14 in the 1950s.  These days it is estimated that over 60% of the abortions are forced, in the same way relinquishing babies were forced in the mid-20th century. Today’s 14 year old “Philomena” is “encouraged”with threats of abandonment and financial need, to abort by boyfriend, parents, teachers, peers, and sometimes her church.  Frankly, although God doesn’t grade on a curve, the greater sin in my eyes is killing the child for the indiscretions of the parents.

It’s about the Resurrection

It's a week since Easter, the biggest holy day for Christians world wide. Our church welcomed 4,500. Unless you attend a liturgical service where you have the opportunity to say one of the three historical creeds, or sing some traditional hymns, it's possible to not hear much about the resurrection again until next holy week. You don't get the whole gospel unless this is included.

Resurrection of the body also our hope. Although we aren't given the details in the Bible, we will have physical glorified bodies, just like Jesus. The book of Acts makes 24 references to Jesus' resurrection and Paul talks about it often in his letters to the first century churches--it was a very successful time for the Christian church. Let's not get stuck on Good Friday; celebrate Easter all year.

“Living, He loved me;
Dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He’s coming—O, glorious day!” (One day, J. Wilbur Chapman)

The sad state of a formerly great organization

Where do they think the next generation of girl scouts are coming from, if not the womb?

Can coconut oil help dementia?

http://youtu.be/Dvh3JhsrQ0w

 

Dr. Newport is a neonatologist whose husband began showing signs of dementia at age 51. This is a TED talk, and it’s fairly technical.

Remember when people weren’t called racists if they didn’t like the president?

The liberal equivalent of “climate denial”

Canonization special

Two popes being canonized, and two popes attending.  April 27, 2014.  It has never happened before, and probably never will.  Some familiar U.S. media folk in the special like Peggy Noonan and Mary Matalan.

Benign fascism

“In the Twentieth Century, a nation of great beauty and culture embraced Fascism, and a backward peasant society embraced Communism, and the most evolved civilization in Europe embraced Nazism. And observers still wonder why the great anglophone democracies were almost alone in not going down this path. I think the reason's simpler than it seems: No one - Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, Franco - had devised a form of totalitarianism appealing enough to seduce them. Now they have. As the Bundy example illustrates, a free people will cheerfully abandon bedrock principles like equality before the law if state power is being used to torment a racist or a homophobe or someone whose very presence offends against the citizenry's sense of its own virtue. Whether or not this is a middle-of-the-road fascism, it's certainly a very flattering strain: what, after all, is wrong with benign despotism in the cause of preventing  "climate change" or transphobia - or ensuring that Nevada's desert tortoise has an area the size of the United Kingdom to gambol and frolic in?” Mark Steyn

Does it matter if Cliven Bundy is a racist? Not to her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0zoee4k7yE#t=61

Mark Steyn says: “. . . if what the Bureau of Land Management is doing is wrong, the fact that Cliven Bundy is a racist sexist homophobe whateverphobe doesn't make it right - any more than at Ruby Ridge FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shooting Vicki Weaver in the back of the head as she was cradling her ten-month-old baby and running away from him is made right by the fact that she allegedly had "white supremacist" sympathies.”

Un-African, and un-presidential

There's some fuss right now that Obama was playing golf instead of going to his aunt's funeral. Actually, Auntie Zeituni has caused him a lot of grief as a free-loader and law breaker who needed the Bush administration to pull Obama out of a mess with her in 2008 (a lot of thanks he got). Bush officials issued a 72-hour cease-and-desist order to all fugitive apprehension teams to spare Obama embarrassment over his auntie right before Election Day when it came out that she had been living illegally in the U.S. for some years, and had evaded a 2003 deportation order.

And look, his Kenyan father was a polygamist, as was his father, so she was only a half aunt in a family full of halves some with their hands out for a favor, expecting "my brother's keeper" treatment. Still, one of his half brothers, Malik, who is not a millionaire, managed to make it.

For his book and his political career, Obama's African family was useful when need presented itself. " A delegation of African relatives flew in for Mr. Obama’s inauguration in 2009 and received royal treatment." http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/us/politics/amid-politics-obama-drifted-away-from-kin.html?_r=0

The racism of Bundy vs. Biden and Reid

On the internet you never know what is true or what has been edited. Yesterday I read two accounts from blacks who are Cliven Bundy's friends who say he isn't a racist. I also read some of the full interview (and no way to verify that), which had obviously been edited to hurt his case against the BLM, because everyone knows it's worse to be racist than a gov't agency planning to kill or steal cattle of a private citizen. However, some of us remember the Biden and Reid comments about Obama during the 2008 campaign, which in my opinion were much worse, and they are elected to the most powerful offices in the land, and are Democrats. Bundy is just a cowboy.

As reported by CNN: “His [Biden] remarks about Obama, the only African-American serving in the Senate, drew the most scrutiny."I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man." “

LA Times: And Reid didn’t apologize until 2 years later, 2010: “Harry Reid, the Democrat Senate Majority Leader and the national government's highest-ranking Mormon, has admitted now remarking apparently with some amazement on the nation's highest-ranking black Democrat as being notably "light-skinned" and having "no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one."

What is PB2?

“It is powdered peanut butter, which is not nearly as strange as it may sound. To make it, the manufacturers squeeze the oil out of roasted peanuts, and what remains is the powdered peanut butter – all natural with no artificial sweeteners or preservatives. When you’re ready to eat it, you mix a bit of the powder with a little bit of water, and you get the same consistency as full-fat peanut butter, but with 85% less fat calories.” Daily Garnish Blog

Flourless brownies made with PB2,

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 1 cup PB2
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp water
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

325 degrees, 9 x 9 pan, 30 minutes. Beat egg and egg white. In a large bowl combine the PB2, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and mix well with a spatula. Add the egg and egg whites and stir. Add water, honey, vanilla and stir with a spatula until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan and bake about 30 minutes. Set aside to cool, then cut into 12 bars cutting 3 rows x 4 rows

Why the wealthy have done well under Obama

It’s a puzzle considering how Obama demonizes the “fat cats” that the upper 20% have done so well the last 4-5 years (aka the recovery) and the rest of the economy flounders. Record numbers are on food stamps, and many college new graduates are discouraged. Unemployment among young black men is much higher than before the recession.  This semi-annual report from Blackrock gives a pretty good explanation of how quantitative easing has helped the investors in stocks.  Now, this is a policy of the Federal Reserve, not the President’s, but at least he didn’t nix it.  If you are invested in a pension, 401-k or 401-b or IRAs, you’ve seen a similar, but smaller advance. People with CDs or savings accounts (usually less wealthy) have seen their savings eroded.

“One year ago, US financial markets were improving despite a sluggish global economy, as easy monetary policy gave investors enough conviction to take on more risk in their portfolios. Slow but positive growth in the US was sufficient to support corporate earnings, while uncomfortably high unemployment reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve would continue its aggressive monetary stimulus programs. International markets were more volatile given uneven growth rates and
more direct exposure to macro risks such as the banking crisis in Cyprus and a generally poor outlook for European economies. Emerging markets significantly lagged the rest of the world amid fears over slowing growth and debt problems.

Global financial markets were rattled in May when then-Fed Chairman Bernanke mentioned the possibility of reducing (or “tapering”) the central bank’s asset purchase programs — comments that were widely misinterpreted as signaling an end to the Fed’s zero-interest-rate policy. US Treasury yields rose sharply, triggering a steep sell-off across fixed income markets. (Bond prices move in the opposite direction of yields.) Equity prices also suffered as investors feared the implications of a
potential end of a program that had greatly supported the markets. Markets rebounded in late June, however, when the Fed’s tone turned more dovish, and improving economic indicators and better corporate earnings helped extend gains through most of the summer.

Although autumn brought mixed events, it was a surprisingly positive period for most asset classes. Early on, the Fed defied market expectations with its decision to delay tapering, but higher volatility returned in late September when the US Treasury Department warned that the national debt would soon breach its statutory maximum. The ensuing political brinksmanship led to a partial government shutdown, roiling global financial markets through the first half of October. Equities and other
so-called “risk assets” managed to resume their rally when politicians engineered a compromise to reopen the government and extend the debt ceiling, at least temporarily.

The remainder of 2013 was generally positive for stock markets in the developed world, although investors continued to grapple with uncertainty about when and how much the Fed would scale back on stimulus. When the long-awaited taper announcement ultimately came in mid-December, the Fed reduced the amount of its monthly asset purchases but at the same time reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining low short-term interest rates. Markets reacted positively, as the taper signaled the Fed’s perception of real improvement in the economy, and investors were finally relieved from the anxiety that had gripped them for quite some time.

The start of the new year brought another turn in sentiment, as heightened volatility in emerging markets and mixed US economic data caused global equities to weaken in January while bond markets found renewed strength. Although these headwinds persisted, equities were back on the rise in February thanks to positive developments in Washington, DC. For one, Congress extended the nation’s debt ceiling through mid-March 2015, thereby reducing some degree of fiscal uncertainty for
the next year. Additionally, investors were encouraged by market-friendly comments in new Fed Chair  Janet Yellen’s Congressional testimony, giving further assurance that short-term rates would remain low for a prolonged period.

While accommodative monetary policy was the main driver behind positive market performance over the period, it was also a key cause of investor uncertainty. Developed market stocks were the strongest performers for the six- and 12-month periods ended February 28. In contrast, emerging markets were weighed down by uneven growth, high levels of debt and severe currency weakness, in addition to the broader concern about reduced global liquidity. The anticipation of Fed tapering during 2013 pressured US Treasury bonds and other high-quality fixed income sectors, including tax-exempt municipals and investment grade corporate bonds. High yield bonds, to the contrary, benefited from income-oriented investors’ search for yield in the low-rate environment. Short-term interest rates remained near zero, keeping yields on money market securities close to historic lows.”

Income inequality?

Is this income inequality or job choice?  The owner of a local commercial and residential moving company, Two men and a Truck (franchise), is a woman, Gail Kelley. Right now, you can interview for a job at $12/hour lifting and moving heavy objects, but after 21 years as the owner, Ms. Kelley probably makes a lot more.

The President needs to know there are choices people make that can account for their success.  According to ColumbusCEO she originally wanted to be a ballerina, but failed. Then she wanted to be an artist (has a BFA from CCAD). After working for Radio Shack for 16 years, she and her husband bought this franchise and moved to Columbus. Now after business success she has started painting and is selling her work. Business success has allowed her to be an artist.

The real income gap—the occupation, not the gender

According to ColumbusCEO magazine, May 2014, there is a considerable income gap—among professions. Salary averages for a range of executive and professional occupations:

Annual Mean Wages—BLS, May 2012, Wage estimates (it doesn’t say if this is a national or local mean)

$40,970  real estate agents

$60,829  HR specialists

$67,080,  accountants

$71,500  architects and engineers

$82,600 software application developers

$122,,810  lawyers

$169,920 CEOs

$247,240 surgeons

The BLS figures are quite removed from occupational surveys (it is much lower).  Maybe the professions are promoting a rosier picture? Or different information?  For instance the Information Architectural Institute posts the salaries closer to the high nineties and includes the age ranges, benefits, geographic spread, education level, etc.

“For example the median expected annual pay for a typical Human Resources Manager in the United States is $89,406 so 50% of the people who perform the job of Accountant I in the United Sates are expected to make less than $89,406,” reports Salary.com .

The nationwide mean for CEOs is $176,840, but in Columbus it is $176,230, Indianapolis $189,100, and Cleveland $188.320, but the BLS figures are $169,920. Quite a gap between Columbus and Indianapolis, both state capitals and home of many businesses and industries.

Anyway, there is a big differences between a female real estate agent and a female surgeon, a male accountant and a male CEO.

ACA affects employment expansion

A new survey demonstrates the Affordable Care Act's negative impact on employment. According to the Journal, "nearly half of small-business owners with at least five employees, or 45% of those polled, said they had had to curb their hiring plans because of the health law, and almost a third—29%—said they had been forced to make staff cuts, according to a U.S. Bancorp survey of 3,173 owners with less than $10 million in annual revenue that will be released Thursday." WSJ editorial, April 24, 2014

“As part of its "Faces of the Affordable Care Act" multimedia feature, the Journal is profiling two small businesses—T. Cain Grocery Inc. of Fairhope, Ala., and retail and wholesale bakery Ovenly LLC of Brooklyn, N.Y.—and it will revisit them periodically to update readers on critical decisions they face or have made as they cope with the law.”  WSJ report

Decreasing the increase

The Democrats believe in and pass federal programs that require coercion and the Republicans believe in and pass federal programs that require choice. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of difference in cost or outcome. They all require sending money to Washington and letting them design the program. I sometimes wish the Republicans were the cheapskates (with our money) the Democrats accuse them of being--but all they can do is decrease the rate of increase--which brings out the howls that Republicans hate the poor, women, gays and children. Health insurance costs were increasing at a lower rate under Bush than Obama, but they were still increasing.

Reid rants

Imagine!

Glenn Beck is not a preacher or priest—he’s an entertainer with a political message

I first heard Glenn Beck on the radio right after 9/11. He was so silly in between thoughtful messages, I hated the program, and complained to the local a.m. station. Then I listened about once or twice a week in the car--Friday was really bad. Then he got a program on CNN (painful debut) and then moved to Fox where he really began to blossom with interesting guests. He's one of the best interviewers on TV or radio -- so different from Hannity or O'Reilly--and is fair even to those he disagrees with.

Then he said "take this job and shove it" and started his own TV network to add to his publishing and touring companies. Not only is he an author of many books, but he is a collector and devoted to American history. All over the country groups called 9/12 (for changing lives after 9/11) sprang up and he probably did more for book clubs than Oprah. A mention on his show shot authors to the top of Amazon, even those long dead. He had massive turnouts in Washington DC and Israel for his public presentations inspiring conservative movements without controlling them.

Liberals hate Beck, as do many traditional old guard GOP. Some Christians rail against him for his less than orthodox version of Christianity--a mixture of Mormonism, vague spiritualism with some Catholicism, and fundamentalist end times bias. But when he starts sounding like a preacher instead of an entertainer with a political message, I just tune him out. He is libertarian, pro-life, an advocate for the disabled, and a recovering alcoholic.

I know who my shepherd is and He knows me. I get hateful e-mails from Christian preachers and friends about Beck. Meanwhile the other side, the one that booed God three times at their last convention and put abortion in its basic beliefs, continues to take over the country.

Thought for today

Home again

Back from our Easter trip to Illinois. We met many new people. Like the two policemen, young, handsome and polite, who gave us a $130 ticket near Greenfield, Indiana, and the fine crew of good old boys who rescued us with a tow and tire repair near Danville, Illinois. Got to see the inside of an auto repair shop that was established by the owner's grandfather in 1924.  But great service!  If you’re ever near Danville and need help, call Carnaghi Towing and Repair, Tilton, IL.  Don’t ever ignore your “check tire” light.  Get it up on a rack and look for nails causing a slow leak.

We spent Wednesday evening with my husband’s sister Indianapolis, then went on to Illinois and spent Thursday through Sunday with my sister. We had a nice visit with my cousin Dianne. The ladies of my high school class had a breakfast at a local restaurant, while my husband was having breakfast with a group of men from the Church of the Brethren in Leaf River.  We had dinner with my brother and wife Saturday evening at La Vigna near Oregon. On Easter Sunday we attended services at Trinity Lutheran and had a nice Sunday brunch in Polo at LaBranche which is an extension of the facilities at the White Pines State Park.

On the trip I finished reading "Maisie Dobbs" for our May book club.  I'm not crazy about detective genre, but this was very interesting. Enjoyed it a lot. This is the first in a series, and I just might try another one.  It used to be that I would get car sick if I tried to read in the car, but that doesn’t bother me now.  Also started (audio) of the infancy narratives of Jesus by Benedict XVI and also liked that. I've probably read those dozens of times, and never found what he did.

What’s happening to college tuition rates of increase?

I don't think who is in the White House should affect college tuition, but this is odd--huge increases in the last 5 years.
•The 14% real increase in average published tuition and fees at private nonprofit four-year institutions from 2008‑09 to 2013‑14 was larger than the 9% increase over the previous five years.
•Average published tuition and fees at public two-year colleges increased by just 4% in inflation-adjusted dollars, from $2,425 (in 2013 dollars) in 2003-04 to $2,530 in 2008-09, but by 29%, to $3,264 in 2013-14.

And now the federal government has control of the loans? Looks like we're headed for another bubble ready to burst just like housing in 2007.

https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/tuition-and-fee-and-room-and-board-charges-over-time-1973-74-through-2013-14-selected-years

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2014/04/14-income-based-repayment-akers-chingos

This isn’t the real cost

The greatest cost is in loss of time and bonding between mother and child.  Most day care/childcare workers don’t have the level of training and love as the child’s mother—if they did, they’d be paid higher salaries or they’d open their own business, or become an administrator (who earn about the same as teachers) and hire the day care workers. No one in a nursing home says, “I wish I’d spent more time at the office and less at home with the kids.”

The average annual cost of care for an infant in a day-care center can range from $4,863 in Mississippi to $16,430 in Massachusetts, according to a report last year by Child Care Aware of America. Depending on your state, the average cost of full-time care for an infant in a day-care center ranges from 7 percent to about 19 percent of the state median income for a married couple with children, the report adds. In 2012, in 31 states and the District of Columbia, the average annual cost for an infant in center-based care was higher than a year’s tuition and fees at a four-year public 

The median salary of a day care worker is $8.94/hour, less than a receptionist, a retail clerk at WalMart, a cashier, a stocker, security guard, a fork lift operator, photo technician in department store, etc.  Unless she has a child in the center and gets a break on her costs, I’m thinking she’ll move on rather than go on food stamps.

And children are resilient, they can perhaps overcome this.  But what about Mom? How can she make up for the hours and years her child is in day care, and she’s 20 miles away in the classroom, or behind the computer, or driving in traffic?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/youd-better-budget-for-that-baby/2014/04/15/791a3ccc-c4d7-11e3-b574-f8748871856a_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

http://www1.salary.com/Retail-Stock-Clerk-Full-Time-salary.html

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobs/qt/childcare-worker-earn.htm

http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/mothers-prefer-home-child-care-by-people-they-know/2231074/

http://www.naccrra.org/sites/default/files/default_site_pages/2012/ccgb_mothers_workforce_jan2012.pdf

Rise of the superbug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikZQPB45Zbw

University of Texas at San Antonio microbiologist Karl Klose discusses the problem of antibiotic resistance in a 2013 TEDx talk.(There’s a gap in the middle—a technical talk with no tech back-up.)

Humans have more bacterial cells than human cells.  Yuk.

Snow on tax day, April 15 in Columbus, Ohio

Our next door neighbor’s deck.

Walhalla Ravine, Columbus

True health

"Scientific research has multiplied the possibilities for prevention and treatment, and has discovered therapies to treat many illnesses", said the Pope. "But when we speak of in full health, it is necessary not to lose sight of the fact that the human person, created in the image and semblance of God, is a unity of body and spirit. These two elements are distinct but inseparable, because the person is one entity. Therefore, even illness, the experience of pain and suffering, does not relate only to the bodily dimension, but to man in his entirety. This creates the need for an integral treatment, that considers the person as a whole and unites medical care with human, psychological and social support, spiritual guidance, and support for patients' families". Pope Francis, April 12, at the  Congress of the Italian Society for Oncological Surgery

Meet me in St. Louis

I'm watching "Meet me in St. Louis" with Judy Garland and Tom Drake who was "Uncle Buddy" to my nieces and nephew, the brother of their maternal grandmother who was also his dancing partner. Always fun to see this movie. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1531

Abortion clinics in minority neighborhoods

Let’s play ball!

Prayer

Don’t try these excuses