Browsing the new books at UAPL

I stopped by the Upper Arlington Public Library today to return 2 books I didn't read--one on laptops and one on i-pods. Or was it i-pad. But I did find the Teddy Roosevelt book we're doing for bookclub next month. The records are extremely difficult to read, so I had actually reserved one thinking they were all checked out, but one was on the shelf, so a staff person had to remove my reserve.

Then I went to the New Books Non-Fiction shelf. This is always an interesting exercise because I always look through the 200s--religion. Those darn Christians--the shelf is wiped clean as usual! Just other religions like wicca, four on Judaism and a "why I left the [right wing] church" title. You can't even find a Christian book on this library's "holiday" book list. But that's old news. I blogged about that before.

But I see on the new book list they do have Glenn Beck's new book on George Washington. One. With seventeen holds.

Ah yes, banning books in the selection process. A time honored tradition.

Fog explains tax cuts

Fog, whose real name is Rob, explains how tax cuts work.

ECON 102: Taxes. Tax receipts are a non-linear, inverse function of tax rates. I.e., when rates are cut, economic activity is stimulated and tax receipts increase.

Corollary: Economic activity is NOT a zero-sum game. I.e., the rich are not getting rich at the expense of the poor.

And then he ponders. Why must the liberals continue to blame the rich?

Rick Santorum's Tax plan

THE SANTORUM SOLUTION

Cut and simplify personal income taxes by cutting the number of tax rates to just two - 10% and 28% and return to Reagan era pro-growth tax rate;

Simplify the tax code and reduce middle income taxes by eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT);

Simplify the tax code, encourage savings and investment, and reduces taxes by eliminating the Death Tax;

Lower the Capital Gains and Dividend tax rates to 12% to spur economic growth and investment;

Reduce taxes for families by tripling the personal deduction for each child;

Reduce and simplify taxes for families by eliminating marriage tax penalties throughout the federal tax code;

Retain deductions for charitable giving, home mortgage interest, healthcare, retirement savings, and children;

Eliminate the cap on deductions for losses incurred in the sale of a principal residence;

Cut the corporate income tax rate in half to make our businesses competitive around the world, from 35% to 17.5%;

Eliminate the corporate income tax for manufacturers to spur middle income job creation in the United States and benefit from the job multiplier effect in manufacturing;

Increase the Research & Development Tax Credit from 14% to 20% and make it permanent to spur on innovation in America;

Eliminate the tax on repatriated taxable corporate income invested for manufacturers equipment investment, 5.25% corporate tax rate on other repatriated income invested in the USA, and 100% expensing for new business equipment;

How people spend the work day

Seventy percent of Internet porn traffic occurs during normal work hours (between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.), with people in the Eastern time zone accounting for 30% of Internet porn use.

More disturbing statistics about this addiction.

I wonder whatever happened to the "hostile environment" employment rule.

William Daley out as Chief of Staff

Wouldn't you be anxious to leave, too? Sinking ship (I hope).

Daley gave his letter of resignation to the president in a private meeting in the Oval Office last week, recounting the administration's successes of his one year on the job and saying it was time for him to return to his hometown of Chicago.

President Obama made the news official this afternoon [Jan. 9] in a brief appearance in the state dining room of the White House, where he told reporters in somber tones that he is sorry to see Daley leave.

William Daley to step down as Obama's chief of staff - latimes.com

If it works for gay marriage, let's try file sharing

Now no one can speak against it.

"Sweden is now the first and only country to recognize Kopimism as a religion, the group said.

"For the Church of Kopimism, information is holy and copying is a sacrament," it said in a statement. "Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains, and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore, copying is central for the organization and its members."

Philosophy student Isak Gerson, spiritual leader and founder of the Church of Kopimism, said being recognized by Sweden is a big step towards removing the stigma around copying.

"Hopefully, this is one step towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution," Gerson said in a statement.
PC magazine

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Today our bookclub met at Panera's on High Street to discuss "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski which was an Ophrah selection in 2008, and is a retelling of the Hamlet story, which Shakespeare retold from an old, well known story. I wasn't enthusiastic about this book (huge and a bit wordy), but finally sat down on the week-end and plowed about 2/3 through, skipping some sections. An amazing Edgar, who can't speak, and amazing dogs. And the story takes place in Wisconsin, so I felt a little at home. Actually, once I got into the story, I started to enjoy it. It was a lively and enthusiastic group, although smaller than usual. Our leader, Judy, did an excellent job providing additional resources.


Remaining titles for February through May:
The Big Burn; Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that saved America
The Good Earth
Wait Till New Year
Hold Up the Sky

Women not making much progress on TV

"For many decades women have struggled to overcome past stereotypes that narrowly define what it means to be female. Similarly, males have struggled to correctly position themselves in light of females’ newfound identify and empowerment. In many ways identity continues to be reshaped; and few forums are more public and more fraught with pitfalls than reality television, where outlandish behavior from both genders is encouraged, rewarded, branded, and packaged as lifestyle. The overwhelming popularity of the genre leaves many to wonder, “Where have young men and women arrived?” This study takes an in-depth look at language to examine gender portrayals in the most watched reality cable shows among children and teens ages 12 to 17. The findings paint an unfortunate picture of questionable progress for males and females.

Based on Nielsen data, four MTV shows ranked as the most-watched during the 2011 television season. They included: Jersey Shore, Real World, Teen Mom 2, and 16 and Pregnant. Analysts conducted content analysis on the most recent full season of each show. Study variables for this examination were designed to track and reflect the language as well as the context and tone of that language." From Executive Summary, Reality on MTV; gender portrayals

See full report by Parents Television Council here.

"Females talked about sex acts more than men, talked about sex more graphically than men, mentioned sexual body parts more than men, and talked about intercourse and preliminaries to intercourse more than men."

Apparently, this is a real turn-on for the male writers and producers, who are making a lot of money from turning these women into sluts.

Walnuts for breakfast

Most days I have the same breakfast. An apple, handful of walnuts, and raw carrots. I figure if I'm careless the rest of the day, at least I've covered some of the basics, plus without grain, dairy or sugar in my system, I don't get hungry. Today I read:

"The FDA has recently allowed a qualified health claim to be placed on packages of nuts, including walnuts, which says "Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease."

This 1.5-ounce serving would equal about 20 walnut halves, which would have about 277 calories, about 14% of a 2,000-calorie diet. For some people, this amount of walnuts, and this amount of calories from one food, would be excessive and would not be a prudent step to take towards their health goals. Yet, for other people this amount would fit perfectly in a meal plan and would increase its health benefits.

The serving size we feature on our website, one-quarter (1/4) cup (approximately 10 walnut halves), still provides a good amount of nutrients, but only has about 160 calories—approximately 8% of a 2,000 calorie diet." George Mateljan, World's Healthiest Foods

New Beth Moore study at UALC

Women of the Word (WOW) of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church is doing an 8 week study with video and workbooks with Beth Moore called Mercy Triumphs. There are four different opportunities to be in a study: Tuesday evening 6:45 at Mill Run; Thursday morning at 9 at Lytham Road, and 12:30 in the afternoon at Mill Run, and Saturday morning at 9:15 at Lytham Road. Today we did the introduction which examined the family relationship between James and Jesus, and between us and our natural family and our church family.

From a review

If you’re familiar with Beth Moore’s ministry, you know that James: Mercy Triumphs is also a homework-driven study. Although the teaching segments are powerful, daily homework assignments take the participant deep into the meaning of the simple but profound teaching found in James.

The sessions are designed to be a combination of large group and small group components. James: Mercy Triumphs allows Bible studies or small groups to take advantage of the compelling teaching style of Beth Moore, allowing study leaders to focus their attention on the administrative and coordination aspects along with small group facilitation.

A well-designed Leader Guide is included in the Leader Kit (along with a copy of the Member Book and DVDs. Member books as well as additional Leader Guides are available. With two table discussion options to choose from for every session, there is plenty here for your leaders to work with as they prepare for and facilitate the session.

For participants who want to dive a little deeper, this study also includes a next level aspect with articles by Melissa Moore Fitzpatrick (Moore’s daughter). Taking a look at subjects like the Acts 21 reference to the Nazirite Vow, unity and diversity, perfection, and Paul’s collection for the Jerusalem church, these reading provide some fascinating insights into the world of the early church.

The fifth level of participation is to memorize the book of James. I've always had difficulty with memorization, so I won't do that level, but I can do the other four.

Would 8 year olds write a song about Occupiers?

Did you care about politics when you were in third grade? Did your children or grandchildren. I was learning to ride a bike, playing with dolls, and imagining someday I would own a horse. It's possible I knew who the president was.

Kid Pan Alley is a non-profit that promotes song writing among children. Gee, whatever happened to letting kids be kids, develop some life experiences, bumps and bruises, and then writing about it later and becoming mega-million rock stars or TV wannabees?

Kid Pan Alley, a foundation that works with elementary schoolchildren, will take more careful notice of the lyrical content of student-produced songs after an Oct. 21 concert at Woodbrook Elementary, Albemarle County [Virginia] schools spokesman Phil Giaramita said.

The concert, which culminated a songwriting workshop led by Kid Pan Alley, featured third-grade students singing a song that championed the Occupy movement. . .

The blog Big Government referred to the lyrics of the song as “Marxist rhetoric.”

“The simplistic left wing economic nonsense of this ditty boggles the mind. But to an impressionistic third grader, it plants poisonous seeds at odds with long egalitarian American traditions that disdain class hatred,” the blog states.

Jefferson Area Tea Party Chairwoman Carole Thorpe said she was skeptical that the lyrics to the song had come exclusively from third-graders.

“Even [after] a cursory glance at the lyrics to this song, I find it hard to believe that an eight-year-old would have something to say about the bubble bursting,” Thorpe said Tuesday. “I know it says on their website that the ideas come from the kids, but I would question how much input the facilitator had to do with writing the song.” Albemarle third-graders' Occupy song draws criticism | Daily Progress

Can't imagine the shorts in a knot (after wetting them) if a group of children had written something about Jesus and then performed it. No use even speculating. Lawyers for ACLU would have stopped the performance.

Jose Rico will lead Obama's education efforts for Hispanics

Jose Rico is the new "executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics." He was named to the post on Dec. 7, 2011, to assist President Obama's efforts to improve the academic achievement of Hispanic students. He has been in the administration as an advisor since April 2009, and most recently served as the White House Initiative's deputy director since Feb. 1, 2010. He has worked for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant Rights and New Leaders for new Schools program. He is a disciple of Mike Klonsky who created the small schools movement. Rico was a principal at Multicultural Arts High School for awhile in Chicago in this movement, 75% Hispanic and 25% black, and failed. Or rather his school did--very poor rating. Rico has worked with La Raza, a racist organization promoting hyper-loyalty to Mexico and which advocates taking over a number of southwestern states.

Mike Klonsky is one of the reasons I won't contribute to the funds appeals at the University of Illinois. The other reason is Bill Ayers. These characters have never apologized or done jail time for their anti-American activities in the 1960s-1970s. According to Wikipedia (not always the finest source, but certainly the quickest) "The Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist)'s predecessor organization, the October League (Marxist-Leninist), was founded in 1971 by several local groups, many of which had grown out of the radical student organization Students for a Democratic Society when SDS split apart in 1969. Michael Klonsky, who had been a national leader in SDS in the late 1960s, was the main leader of the CP(M-L)."

If Rico had needed Senate approval instead of appointment by presidential fiat he wouldn't have passed the sniff test, but recently Obama has decided to by-pass Congress on virtually everything. Even the lefties are raising their eyebrows, knowing it's a bad precedent, and the next president could be a Republican and "do unto others" as they have done to you.

The man who would be FDR : Obama's Recess appointments

"When even a New Republic writer suggests that Barack Obama's Wednesday recess appointments to the Consumer Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board are probably unconstitutional, you know we're in for a good fight… at least if Senate Republicans have the courage to take it on.

The left-leaning Politico also notes that "… President Barack Obama’s decision to jam the Senate and install three labor nominees and a consumer watchdog without a confirmation vote raises unsettled legal questions that could have a long-lasting impact past his presidency."

The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Obama's Tin Ear Returns

Santorum on abortion

From George Will's column today:

On Sept. 26, 1996, the Senate was debating whether to ban partial-birth abortion, the procedure whereby the baby to be killed is almost delivered, feet first, until only a few inches of its skull remain in the birth canal, and then the skull is punctured, emptied, and collapsed.

Santorum asked two pro-choice senators opposed to the ban, Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., this: Suppose the baby slips out of the birth canal before it can be killed. Should killing it even then be a permissible choice? Neither senator would say no.

On Oct. 20, 1999, during another such debate, Santorum had a colloquy with pro-choice Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Santorum: "You agree that, once the child is born, separated from the mother, that that child is protected by the Constitution and cannot be killed. Do you agree with that?"

Boxer: "I think that when you bring your baby home . . ."

Boxer Santorum exchange here so you can see how she tries to weasel out of a simple question.

I think there are two of Obama's czars (Sunstein and Emanuel) who believe that within one year of birth it would be OK to kill a baby born alive. Obama is the only (then) Senator, as I recall, who actually approved of partial-birth abortion as described here, but you can see from this account, how careless Democrats are with life and which why when carried to its logical end, having life totally under the control of the government is acceptable to them.

The story of Edgar Sawtelle

Our Book Club on Monday will be tackling this book.

Whether it is capturing every nuance of puppy behavior (“when she ran a finger along his belly fur he squirmed to keep sight of her eyes”), following Edgar through the dictionary as he picks names for his first litter, “Essay,” “Pout,” “Tinder,” “Opal,” “Umbra,” or delivering long sections of narrative that Mr. Wroblewski himself has named intriguingly (“Three Griefs,” “What Hands Do”), this rich and hefty book never flags. NYT Book Review June 13, 2008

Maybe the book doesn't flag, but I did. It may be the most boring of boring books I've ever read--but thousands love it. I'll cheat.

Worse economic analysis out there--today

Derek Thompson seems to think that married couples have children because of tax deductions. I've heard of welfare mothers having more babies because of the welfare check, the food stamps and housing allowance, but a deduction is hardly an inducement to go through 9 months of pregnancy and 20 years of dependency. Right now the tax code is quite anti-family--Thompson needs a lesson in history. You can tell Thompson is a Democrat--well, demographics tell us that, with 90% of reporters and journalists in bed with the party--but also, because the only way he can think to help the poor to to take more tax money from someone else, skim it for the politicians and government employees, and then look at a pie chart and feel good.

Atlantic opinion

Live simply that others may simply live

Saint Elizabeth Anne Seton was an Anglican with a large family who converted to Roman Catholicism after her husband's death. She founded the Sisters of Charity in the United States. This quote on living simply was featured today. I don't believe this.

Living simply has its own rewards, but it is always relative. Compared to some of our neighbors in our condo complex, we live simply. I am buying coffee in the morning for $.95 instead of $1.89 and putting the difference in our Haiti fund, but I could make it at home for five cents and put $2 in the kitty instead of one. A friend returned from India last Friday. She said the poverty was so appalling she could think of nothing but getting home to a shower and non-spicy food. She was so grateful for what we have!

Nothing is a more oppresive slave master than materialism and always wanting more stuff. Maybe we're not those hoarders like we see on reality TV, but our belongings own us. But there's no way that the stuff I don't lavish on myself makes it to a victim of the Haitian earthquake or the child of a low caste family that cleans latrines in India. Even if I were to take the money I saved and send it to a trusted NGO or Christian charity, there are just too many salaries to be paid and too many palms to be greased. What changes the lives of people is honest governments and solid infrastructures. Dictators will take your donation for an improved well and if there are no roads and no working trucks, the foodstuffs will be eaten by rats before it is ever unloaded at the dock or airport.

You do what you can because it is the right thing to do, not because you will change someone else's life. Look through Matthew 25 and what Jesus says about the poor, the imprisoned, the thirsty, the ill. He never promises a changed world; only a changed you.

Running on his record--Obama

Obama can't be blamed for Europe's very serious economic crisis--they are socialists and they did it to themselves. I do blame him for his promises during the 2008 campaign, which so frightened America's business community, particularly smaller businesses, that you could see them shuttering their plans for expansion, hiring and investment as soon as he was chosen the Democrat candidate in July 2008. Add to that the hostile take over of Congress by the Democrats in January 2007, and we had 2 full years of weak investments and tightening of belts before he ever took office. The crazy mortgage crisis was bi-partisan--putting people into mortgages who couldn't afford them benefitted banks and politicians like Frank and Pelosi, and utopian fantasies that the left has saddled us with since the 19th century and can be credited to Carter, Clinton and Bush, not Obama.

Obama is a progressive (the popular word), a socialist (not so popular) which is just the foundation for communism, the word that's never spoken because it's so old fashioned and discredited these days. He hasn't been in power long enough to be blamed for everything that's wrong in Washington, but look at his Illinois record, his Senate record, his associates and his appointments, and you see a pattern; you see basic values (the government is the solution to everything) and crony capitalism. Philosophically and economically, he's the love child of Saul Alinsky and George Soros. In a way, it's unfair to make him run on his record, but he's the one who elevated the blame game to Super Bowl proportions, who never takes responsibility, who saddled business with an unworkable health bill that no one read, who's such a narcissist he actually thinks he's the 4th best President in our history!!!! He puts himself above Washington, Jefferson and Adams. OMG!! The man has a lose screw and even his most devout supporters realize this now. He can't be trusted with the economy.

What do Catholics believe happened at the Cross and Resurrection?

On the way home from the coffee shop this morning I was listening to a discussion of death and judgement by two Catholics. Frankly, I can't imagine why Catholics even talk about Jesus--the Christian life and faith seem to be one of pleading, pleasing, payment and purgatory. I'm not sure what they think happened on the cross, but whatever it was, it wasn't good enough to have the assurance in this life of eternal life. There is a rule for absolutely everything, and the church has written and defined the rule based on the flimsiest scriptural evidence.

A New Year's Thought

"We have only one life to live, only one. Think of this for a moment. Here we are in this world of time making the journey of life. Each day we are farther from the cradle and nearer the grave. Solemn thought. See the mighty concourse of human lives; hear their heavy tread in their onward march. Some are just beginning life's journey; some are midway up the hill, some have reached the top, and some are midway down the western slope. But where are we all going? Listen, and you will hear but one answer—"Eternity." Beyond the fading, dying gleams of the sunset of life lies a boundless, endless ocean called Eternity. Thitherward you and I are daily traveling."

Preface How to Live a Holy Life by James Orr (1844-1913)

I stood beside the open sea;
The ships went sailing by;
The wind blew softly o'er the lea;
The sun had cloudless sky.
Some ships sailed eastward, some sailed west,
Some north, some southward trend.
How can ships sail this way and that?
But one way blows the wind.
An old sea-captain made reply
(His locks with salt-spray wet):
"'Tis not the wind decides the course;
'Tis way the sails are set."

(Some sources attributed this poem to Edna Wheeler Wilcox, but hers is different but similar, and Orr died before hers is dated)