Sprucing up at the Bruces

A new look for the porch. We bought our summer home in Lakeside, Ohio,  in 1988 (actual house with plaster walls, basement and fireplace built in 1944) and had planned to remove the mid-80s, not architecturally appropriate porch. However, over the years we learned how great it was, solar gain in the winter so we could use it off season, and tight enough for AC in the summer. The problem was, it faded and discolored over 30 years and was sort of white, grey and yellow. So Wednesday it was painted to match the trim. The guys did a great job, and had painted the house in the spring. In the fall, the deck will be repainted, because it will require sanding and prep that Lakeside doesn't allow during the season.

On August 4, 2017

What could possibly go wrong? Mueller is best friends with Comey; has hired all Hillary supporting lawyers for the investigation; impaneled a Grand Jury from Trump hating D.C. They, not the Russians, are interferring with the election of Donald Trump.

Democrats wounded to the core with their poor decisions think Clinton couldn’t lose a national election which includes non-urban voters without help from Russia. Let’s review her campaign promises. She lauded open borders, refugee resettlement without vetting, and born-alive abortions. She proposed a 65% tax rate on estates that would impact small businesses and farms. She would have retained Obama’s heavy handed LGBTQ agenda, thus destroying Title VII and Title IX both of which benefit women. Trump campaigned on more security at the border, stronger economy with better jobs, patriotism (some nay sayers call that nationalism), he bragged on Americans--she called them deplorables--inviting more Americans to come back with a promise of fewer regulations, and a strong conservative for the Supreme Court.  No contest.   Spasiba. Спасибо.

This should be the investigation--The DNC and Awan. I had some time in the car yesterday when I went shopping in Sandusky and listened to Glenn Beck outline the last few years of the nefarious activities of Debbie Wasserman Schultz's (head of DNC in 2016) IT staffer.

Pakistani staff Imran Awan

• who hired his family and friends to work with Democrats 
• whose friends and wife fled the country as he was being investigated 
• who invested in various DC area businesses through Congressional Federal credit Union,
• who had numerous legal problems that should have had his security clearance pulled,
• who accepted funding from middle eastern "investors" in his failed businesses,
• who had access to the computers of numerous Democrats, who were paying him and his friends excessively high salaries,
• who then destroyed evidence before being arrested trying to flee. 

 Also Awan was fired by DWS at the last minute before going down--she stuck with him through 6 months of investigation, during which he still had access. She's either the world's most trusting employer, or she's sleeping with her staff.  But the media is fixated on a non-existent Russia story. This is not about bank fraud, although there is that, but about a REAL threat to our security. He worked for Democrats for 13 years, and knew their secrets.  I watched ABC morning news today--not a peep about the real story, but plenty on Trump.

On this day in 1964, the bodies of 3 civil rights workers, Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman, killed by the KKK in Mississippi were found. The KKK was the terrorist arm of the Democrat Party formed during the Reconstruction in the aftermath of the Civil War and revitalized during the Depression. But the Democrats continued to elect KKK members or former members like Robert Byrd, Hugo Black, etc. even well past the 1960s. None of the killers served more than 6 years.

The Republicans had been working for years on Civil Rights legislation, making slow progress. The deaths of these martyrs in June 1964 pushed President Johnson's legislation for the 1964 Civil Rights Act over the line, even without the support of many Democrats.

How to clean your mattress

 The original link is broken, but I found this gross, disgusting detail at LiveScience about what's going on in our mattresses. "According to materials published by Ohio State University, a typical used mattress may have 100,000 to 10 million mites inside. Ten percent of the weight of a two-year-old pillow can be composed of dead mites and their droppings. Mites prefer warm, moist surroundings such as the inside of a mattress when someone is on it. One of their favorite foods is dead skin, and people shed about one fifth of an ounce of the stuff every week, some of which surely ends up flaking into your mattress. (Also gross: About 80 percent of the material seen floating in a sunbeam is, in fact, flakes of dead skin.)"

May be easier to buy a new one, or hire someone to do it. Consumer Reports suggests: https://www.consumerreports.org/mattresses/how-to-clean-a-mattress/

U.S. Press Freedom Tracker

“Journalists in the United States face hostility from local and federal governments, along with a number of legal threats to themselves and their sources. This nonpartisan website aims to be the first to provide reliable, easy-to-access information on the number of press freedom violations in the United States—from journalists facing charges to reporters stopped at the U.S. border or asked to hand over their electronics.” https://pressfreedomtracker.us/about/

What would “a new nonpartisan website dedicated to documenting press freedom abuses across the United States” look like?  Same old left of center, biased news. Filled with opinion, and little research.  I checked on several on this list by adding two words to the name of the organization in a Google search: “Donald Trump.” Try it.

Partners

American Society of News Editors

Columbia Journalism Review

Committee to Protect Journalists

Freedom of the Press Foundation

Free Press

Global Editors Network

Index on Censorship

Investigative Reporters and Editors

Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University

Media Law Resource Center

MediaShift

National Association of Hispanic Journalists

National Press Club

National Press Photographers Association

News Media Alliance

NewsGuild-CWA

Newseum

Online News Association

PEN America

Poynter

Regional Reporters Association

Radio Television Digital News Association and Foundation

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Reporters Without Borders

Society of Environmental Journalists

Society of Professional Journalists

The Media Consortium

Columbia Journalism Review, a self styled media watch dog, nailed it in explaining why Trump tweets and runs circles around the media.

"Producing morning television or radio, after all, is so much easier when you dispense with the cumbersome business of “production values,” or the costs of journalism, just as long as you have compelling conte...nt. To set the morning agenda you don’t need studios, technicians, producers, fixers, interns, lights, cameras, hair and make-up. You don’t even need advertisers. All you need is a captivating guest who will, at around 6:30 am Eastern Standard Time, reliably say something that will set the agenda for the rest of the day. That way you can “own” the morning, enjoy the highest ratings, and make sure everybody is talking about your show–until tomorrow, when the cycle repeats itself."

https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/donald_trump_media_organization.php

A proud mother on her daughter's graduation

I met this young woman on Facebook, don’t remember exactly how, but I’ve enjoyed her posts over the years.  I’ve also seen photos of her beautiful daughter, so I was thrilled to see this testimony. There's no better sermon than a life of repentance and change. Ayesha Kreutz,  President of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of New York, writes:

"My oldest has graduated High school and changed her course, deciding to go to college and decided to double major. I suggested it since she got a really good scholarship. I have to say I am super proud of the girl.  See, she grew up with me. When I got pregnant with her it was the first time in my life I was sober, no drugs or alcohol, I quit everything. 

I was a single mother, though I absolutely loved her father, and we tried to make it work, I realized as I got sober he was an addict, more so than I was, his drug use far surpassed mine and after years of trying and going through DT's along with other issues we split for good.

Single, out of wedlock parenthood was terrible. We were homeless and I have been on the food stamp system as well. Through the journey of becoming who I am today, I worked hard to give my daughter a better shot than I had started her out on, by being a single mother. I even found a way to home-school while being a single mom and working full-time.

Eventually, by being obedient and faithful to the Word of Truth and building that relationship with Christ, things did turn around. 

I am married and a stay-at-home homeschooling mom and my oldest is a wonderful young lady. My husband Rocks!

She learned from my mistakes and purposed to listen to my wisdom to do better. She loves the Lord, picks good friends, is compassionate, loves her fellow-man, shares Jesus and through out high-school she danced 15 - 20 hours a week, played sports, even got all-star setter for volleyball and now has gotten a scholarship and going to college.

Many kids raised in adversity find ways to be bitter and angry and make excuses for their failure, but she has found ways to push through the excuses and find ways to make excuses to succeed.

So yep I am a proud mommy. I know college years can be even tougher and we really get a chance to see what they are made of.  So please give her a congratulation and if you are a 100% Bible-believing Christian pray for her and share words of wisdom with her."

How women see faces

Is this scientific study unfair to transwomen? Healthy heterosexual men and women were used in the study. "We investigated how 400 different human faces were evaluated for arousal and valence by a group of healthy male and female heterosexual students. As a whole, women judged all human faces as more positive and more arousing than men. In addition, they showed a preference for the faces of children and the elderly in the arousal evaluation. Regardless of face aesthetics, age, and facial expression, women rated human faces higher than men. A review of studies of sex differences in face processing, social interactions, empathy for pain, emotional memory, perception of infant faces (baby schema), faces-in-things (pareidolia), biological motion and actions, and erotic and emotional images is also provided." Journal of Neuroscience Research, 7 NOV 2016, pp. 222-234

At the Farmer's Market--giant zucchini at the organic tent

Benefits of summer squash such as zucchini--World's healthiest Foods newsletter

"Although summer squash has long been recognized as an important food source of carotenoids, only recently have research studies documented just how fantastic summer squash can be when it comes to these key antioxidants. For some groups of study participants, summer squash turns out to be the primary food source of alpha-carotene and beta-carotene in the entire diet! For lutein, zeaxanthin, and beta-cryptoxanthin (three other health-supportive carotenoids) summer squash also comes out among the top three food sources in several studies.   

When we think about food and antioxidants, what first comes to mind might be fresh fruit and vitamin C, or bright orange carrots and beta-carotene. Yet several recent studies have underscored the unique contribution made by summer squash to our antioxidant requirements. While not as rich in some of the more widely-publicized antioxidants like beta-carotene, summer squash is a very strong source of other key antioxidant nutrients, including the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. Since the skin of this food is particularly antioxidant-rich, it's worth leaving the skin intact and purchasing organic summer squash to help avoid potential unwanted contaminants."

Today I had beet tops and corn on the cob (2 minutes in the microwave) for lunch. Our Farmer's Market at Lakeside is great, and two of these items were organic, and the zucchini will last a long time unless I figure something out.

Male and female he made them

In yesterday’s seminar on bioethics at Lakeside we heard about CRISPR and growing human ears on the flesh of lab animals, and the trans-human era so we can become the lie the serpent told Adam and Eve.  But the speaker (reformed tradition) also referred to “the church.” Just what is that, I wondered? How did we get here with dozens of Bible studies, feel good self esteem sermons, pot luck dinners and loud rock music, the only “church” people under 50—or maybe under 90—know. Before creating life in the laboratory, let’s look at it the old fashioned way—God’s way.  Male and female.

The so-called Christian church has no one to blame but itself for society’s capitulation to the LBGTQ anti-God, anti-history, anti-tradition agenda.  How did we get from sperm and egg to a personal choice based on feelings or mental illness?

Beginning in 1930, one by one the major Protestant denominations began to accept barrier, chemical and surgical solutions for limiting children, who are blessings from God.  The scariest “climate change” horror stories the Left can throw at us can’t compare to what Christians have accepted as “faith” or “mission” where family planning or women’s health are concerned. Eventually most Christian denominations also accepted abortion. Read your church head quarter’s documents—ELCA (Lutheran) accepts abortion for any reason, even sex selection. Some Protestant denominations use the loophole of disability, incest or rape, as though those little ones are expendable and deserve death because of their parents’ mistakes. Unborn children can distinguish between English and Japanese, but their own parents can’t figure out whether they are human?

Other churches just ignore the problem and stick to safe,  feel good, come to Jesus sermons and adding another "how to" Bible study.  In fact, I’ve been a member of 3 different denominations (Brethren, UCC and Lutheran) and I’ve never known Christianity in any form other than anti-life, anti-family, and anti-reproductive sex.  Not only have I never heard a sermon on the sin of abortion, I’ve never heard a sermon on the joys of marriage (except at the church wedding). Only the Roman Catholic church and perhaps Orthodox, but I haven’t researched that, elevates the role of male and female, marriage and family; and even some liberal European priests and bishops are getting squishy and caving to society’s desire to destroy God’s plan for creation. Most practicing Catholics I know, and their political leaders like Pelosi, Biden and Kerry, support abortion and contraception and ignore their church’s teaching.

https://www.ncbcenter.org/files/8214/6902/2602/MSOB124_The_Mystery_of_Male-Female_Complementarity.pdf

http://steadfastlutherans.org/2015/09/god-made-them-male-and-female/

http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/more-than-50-united-methodist-clergy-show-support-of-marriage-of-gay-couple

https://issues.cune.edu/the-lgbt-disputes-teaching-and-practice-in-the-church-2/the-reformation-and-the-reform-of-marriage-historical-views-and-background-for-todays-disputes/

http://www.ppl.org/index.php/educational-resources/pcusa-members/87-a-short-history-of-the-presbyterian-church-on-abortion-part-I

http://www.ucc.org/clergy_network_facilitated_safe_abortions_years_before_roe_v_wade_05222017

Number one for me

Gorsuch. Trump's #1 accomplishment. "Gorsuch, in fact, may settle to the right of Scalia. In each of the 15 cases he’s weighed in on so far, Gorsuch has sided with the court’s single most conservative member, Justice Clarence Thomas. More than that, he’s joined every concurring opinion that Thomas has issued so far. That is, he didn’t just agree with Thomas on the outcomes of the case but also with the reasoning by which those outcomes were reached." Fivethirtyeight. com

Gender confusion

It is estimated that 0.3% of all American adults are transgender, but there is no agreement or definition on what that is or how you get there because it is based on a feeling about ones identity, not on biology or fact. "A transgender identity is not dependent upon medical procedures. While some transgender individuals may choose to alter their bodies through surgery or hormonal therapy, many transgender people choose not to do so." (Pew Survey, 2013)  I know anorexics who sincerely believe they are obese, dog owners who sincerely believe their pet is a member of their family, amputees who can still feel their missing limb, healthy people who believe they are sick and helpless, and rich people who live in fear of poverty. The feelings are real, but do we change laws, regulations and common sense to accommodate their feelings?

Wildlife talk at Lakeside

I attended a wildlife talk at Lakeside today (huge crowd). I left when the speaker got to the creepy crawler part. But the kids love that stuff.  The most common squirrel in Ohio is the flying squirrel and we have over 260 eagle nests. Again, children were told not to pick up bird feathers because only Native Amercians can use them. The Migratory Bird act has probably saved billions of birds and was passed in 1918, but the Department of Justice clarified the religious use of bird parts in 2012.

“The Department of Justice has taken a major step forward by establishing a consistent and transparent policy to guide federal enforcement of the nation’s wildlife laws in a manner that respects the cultural and religious practices of federally recognized Indian tribes and their members.”

 Fine. But you would think other religions could be respected for marriage and locker room traditions.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-policy-tribal-member-use-eagle-feathers

What has President Trump accomplished?

This is from the Facebook page of Dr. Jennifer Krawsczyn.  I don't know if she copied it from another source.  A few of the items were well under way under President Obama in my opinion, probably 5 years too late.  He presided over the slowest recovery in history, and for minorities and some professions, there is still no movement. For me, being pro-life, #1 was Gorsuch.  If Trump never accomplished anything else, it was enough to stop the socialist court from ruining the country and return it to its proper role.

"So what is going on Under a Trump Presidency after 6 months even with the push back, obstruction, and witch hunts of the deep state, the Dems, and the whole political insider system?? Let's see...

1. Supreme Court Judge Gorsuch supports Constitutional Law
2. 59 missiles dropped in Syria.
3. No longer in TPP
4. Illegal immigration is now down 70%( the lowest in 17 years)
5. Consumer confidence highest since 2000 at index 125.6
6. Mortgage applications for new homes rise to a 7 year high.
7. Arranged 20% Tariff on soft lumber from Canada.
8. Bids for border wall are well underway.
9. Pulled out of the lopsided Paris accord.
10. Keystone pipeline approved.
11. NATO allies boost spending by 4.3%
12. Allowing VA to terminate bad employees.
13. Allowing private healthcare choices for veterans.
14. More than 600,000 Jobs created
15. Median household income at a 7 year high.
16. The Stock Market is at the highest ever in its history.
17. China agreed to import American beef.
18. $89 Billion saved in regulation rollbacks.
19. Boosted energy independence.
20. MOAB for ISIS
21. Travel ban reinstated.
22. Executive order for religious freedom.
23. Jump started NASA
24. $600 million cut/saved from UN peacekeeping budget.
25. Targeting of MS13 gangs
26. Deporting violent illegal immigrants.
27. Signed 41 bills to date
28. Created a commission on child trafficking
29. Created a commission on voter fraud
30. Created a commission for opioids addiction.
31. Giving power to states to drug test unemployment recipients.
32. Unemployment lowest since May 2007.
33. Historic Black College University initiative
34. Women In Entrepreneurship Act
35. Created an office for illegal immigrant crime victims.
36. Reversed Dodd-Frank
37. Repealed DOT ruling which would have taken power away from local governments for infrastructure planning
38. Order to stop crime against law enforcement.
39. End of DAPA program.
40. Stopped companies from moving out of America.
41. Promoted businesses to create American Jobs.
42. Encouraged country to once again “Buy American” and hire American
43. Communicates directly to American people via Twitter without spin of hostile media
44. Cutting regulations - two for every one created.
45. Review of all trade agreements to make sure they are America First
46. Apprentice program
47. Highest manufacturing surge in 3 years.
48 $78 Billion promised Reinvestment FROM major businesses like Exxon, Bayer, Apple, SoftBank, Toyota...
49. Denied FBI a new building.
50. $700 million saved with F-35 renegotiation.
51. Saves $22 million by reducing white house payroll.
52. Department of Treasury reports a $182 billion surplus for April 2017 (2nd largest in history.)
53. Negotiated the release of 6 US humanitarian workers held captive in Egypt.
54. Gas prices lowest in more than 12 years.
55. Signed an Executive Order To Promote Energy Independence And Economic Growth
56. Has already accomplished more to stop government interference into people's lives than any President in the history of America.
57. President Trump has worked with Congress to pass more legislation in his first 100 days than any President since Truman.
58. Has given head executive of each branches 6 month time Frame dated march 15 2017, to trim the fat, restructure and improve efficiency of their branch.
59. And, last, there is the DEBT. Still way out there, butthe trend has reversed. What’s the difference between Presidents Trump and Obama? Approximately $1 Trillion! President Obama increased the US debt in his first 6 months by $1 Trillion more than President Trump! As of March, President Trump had decreased the US Debt since his inauguration by $103 Billion.

 And, with all the good news above, the draining of the SWAMP that is Washington DC is stalled.
Observe the pushback, the leaks and the lies as entrenched POWER refuses to go silently into that good night!"

False advertising of the Democrats

Anyone can change.  Why not just be honest about your past in slavery, KKK, Jim Crow, civil rights, woman's rights? The DNC may be incapable of looking at their own history.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/national-party-news/343960-false-advertising-how-the-democrats-attempt-to-rewrite

If they don't drink enough water, why is it my fault?

I've been blamed for the 18th c. slave trade, for the KKK, for Jim Crow, for segregated schools, for income gaps, for health outcomes from asbestos in old buildings in the inner cities, and now because blacks and hispanics don't drink enough water, all because my German and Irish ancestors arrived here without a penny to their names before the Revolutionary War.

"Non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics were 40% more likely to be inadequately hydrated compared with non-Hispanic White adults, the researchers found. People with lower incomes were 20% more likely to be inadequately hydrated compared to those with higher incomes. Tap water intake, which was lower among Blacks, Hispanics, and those with lower incomes, partially explained the racial/ethnic differences in hydration status."

Harvard Public Health Chan Newsletter, July 25 https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/significant-racial-ethnic-income-disparities-in-hydration-found-among-u-s-adults/

Jobs and poverty

The Census report of September 2016 has some interesting findings:  working decreases poverty! Jobs increase household income! Crazy as it may be from all the talk about income gaps and why we need more government assistance for victim groups, adding 2.4 million full time paid people (aka workers) to the payroll, reduced poverty and raised household income.  But also, not reported in the summary is that incomes of Hispanic households rose at a higher rate than white, black and Asian, and real median income of households maintained by a foreign-born person increased by 5.3 percent, while the median income of households maintained by a native-born person increased only by 4.4 percent.  Do you suppose that might cause some hard feelings among the "privileged" whites who are supposed to have all those advantages or black households who've been waiting for hope and change?

Summary of findings:
• Real median household income increased 5.2 percent between 2014 and 2015. This is the first annual increase in median household income since 2007.
• The number of full-time, yearround workers increased by 2.4 million in 2015.
• The official poverty rate decreased by 1.2 percentage points between 2014 and 2015.
• The number of people in poverty fell by 3.5 million between 2014 and 2015.

But for all the talk we hear about poverty from academe, from media, from government, I was shocked to read that chronic poverty rate, for 2009-2012, 48 months, was 2.4%. The other figure you see is people who fall into poverty for short periods of time.

And it's a funny thing about graphs, it's very clear in this report that after the most recent recession was over (June 2009) incomes continued to fall, where as if you look at the others  (1961, 1970, 1975, 1983-84, 1991, 2001) they either rose or flattened out, they didn't fall.

And what else?  The household income of a married couple in 2015 was about $85,000 and a single female household was $38,000. Marriage decreases the poverty rate for children. For related children in married-couple families, 9.8 percent and 4.8 million were in poverty in 2015, down from 10.6 percent and 5.2 million in 2014. For related children in families with a female householder, 42.6 percent and 7.9 million were in poverty in 2015, down from 46.5 percent and 8.5 million in 2014.

Income and Poverty in the United States 2015. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-256.pdf

Joy and a long life

Joy and good relationships are nice, but studies also show personality traits, and even political preferences, are also genetic. This is true: "Since aging starts at birth, people should start taking care of themselves at every stage of life, the researchers say." But you are born with your IQ and personality. You enjoy risk, or you're comfortable with more security.  Work with them.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo3gOoOSdhY  People vote their temperament.

Diet information sometimes conflicts

A recent article in JAMA says weight gain, even in small increments, before age 55 can make you susceptible to chronic diseases, but then a new article in NEJM based on the famous Nurses’ Study (began about 40 years ago) reports that 12 years of modest diet changes (more veggies, less meat, etc.) can extend your life.  I had a bowl of blueberries for breakfast yesterday, but it was downhill after that. Potato chips for a snack, biscuits and gravy for supper, and so forth. I just love those Pillsbury Grands (frozen).  So much better than mine.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/improving-diet-quality-over-time-linked-with-reduced-risk-premature-death/

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/07/weight-gain-from-early-to-middle-adulthood-poses-risks/

Transgendered in the Military

Diane McDermott writes at Facebook:  "Currently you can't JOIN the military if you have any medical conditions that require constant treatment or excessive accommodation. That's why people with asthma, diabetes, permanent STD's/STI's (like HIV), people with cancer or a recurring history of cancer and individuals with physical disabilities can't serve (except in very rare cases where a specific waiver is granted). Transgender individuals require hormone replacement therapy, they require psychiatric care during transition, and if they elect to get surgery it can take 2-4 years for them to recover to the point of being eligible to deploy. On top of that, after the surgery they are at a higher risk of infection for the rest of their life, which complicates any attempt at sending them to the field to train where hygiene isn't always able to be pristinely maintained or overseas. An overseas deployment also puts the individual at risk because they may not have steady access to their hormone replacement drugs, which leads to withdrawal and hormone imbalances as well as health problems. So, just like diabetics and cancer patients and individuals with physical or mental disabilities, it just isn't feasible to accommodate these people so that they can serve. President Trump makes right decisions for the best of all Americans and it isn't always easy politically, that's the difference between this President, the past presidents and the politicals, he makes the hard decisions regardless of the political fallout."

I do not question the patriotism of the individual men and women who identify as the other and want to serve their country.  I DO question the patriotism of the LGBTQ agenda and political motives. The less safe they make the rest of us, the better.

According to an advocacy website for trans, 19% have HIV (most are trans women, aka men) compared to 1% for the general population. Also, it's feelings not surgery and hormones that determines the status. Suicide attempts are at 41% compared to 4.6% in the general U.S. population. Of course, the blame and responsibility for those health problems are someone else's fault not the fault of the person with the disordered sense of gender.  https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/AFSP-Williams-Suicide-Report-Final.pdf

When the military uses sex instead of security for guidelines

What if the soldier believes she is NOT a woman, but just a man with large breasts and female genitalia, a man who has menstrual cycles and can bear children. She thinks surgery and hormones would be invasive and a violation of her body.   How far will the military go to accommodate her delusion?

What if the Marine says he want to marry a man, or declare him a domestic partner/civil union, but they are both heterosexuals who need the spousal benefits. . . special discounts, housing, access to resorts for vacations,  and healthcare. How far will the military go to accommodate their longing to be married for benefits, not love or sex? Will it demand to see fondling or anal sex?  If they were male and female would their motives be questioned?

What if the Airman wants a 13 day leave for his grandmother’s domestic partner’s funeral, but there’s no record he has a grandmother, in fact according to the records, he doesn’t even have parents. He insists this grandmother was his deceased grandfather’s domestic partner and her most recent partner has died.  How far will the Air Force stretch the definition of family for a man who insists this man is “family.”

What if a Coast guardsman demands to meet the physical fitness test for women because he is smaller and weighs less than the women in his unit. Should he be judged physically unfit just because he has no wish to be permanently a woman when men who’ve had a sex change or declared they are women can qualify under the lesser standards? 

A member of the Foreign Service lists his sister as a domestic partner to whom he is committed for life and they share a common residence. Their birth records have been changed through adoption so legally they are not siblings.

And there are so many other scenarios.There are existing rules, but rules about sex and behavior can be changed as we learned during the Obama years.   Polygamy and incest rules are “judgmental” and who is the government to pass judgment on relationships when changing society is more important than security?

Wednesday was a busy day at Lakeside

On Wednesday morning the ladies of the herb group met at the train station and carpooled to the Mulberry Creek Herb Farm on Bogart Road and had a lovely talk by owner Karen Langan.  She was raised on the farm next door, and after meeting her husband during her post graduate work in horticulture they began this organic herb farm 21 years ago.  What a delightful place just to soak in all the beauty.  There were also chickens (eggs for sale) and a peacock and an Eagle Scout troop dismantling one of the green houses to move to another area. After her talk we had a chance to browse until about noon.

Then three of us went to lunch at Manny's Sports Bar at Rt. 250 and Bogart Rd.  Great food and very pleasant surroundings. I rode with Susan, who lives in Texas and inherited her mother's Lakeside cottage about eight years ago. We had a wonderful time with girl talk and finding out who we knew in common.

Although it was picnic in the park night, we both had eaten late lunches at restaurants (Wednesday is Guys Club and they boat to local restaurants) and weren't in the mood for hot dogs and baked beans, so we just had tomato soup and rhubarb cobbler for dinner.  We're both enjoying reading novels (mine is a Debbie Macomber and he's reading Agatha Christie) on the porch, but also took a walk by the lake to see the craft show developing for tomorrow's tour of homes.

The program at Hoover was Ciaran Sheehan who with his friend Sarah Pfisterer and a wonderful pianist (don't remember her name) performed a beautiful selection of Broadway tunes.  They had both been in Phantom of the Opera, and he also performed for us "Bring him Home" which he sang at the funeral of Vice President Biden's son.  He was born in Ireland, and the publicity says he began singing in high school and toured with a heavy metal band. He went on to study acting and voice, and made his debut as Babet in Les Miserables. He's also been a producer and has done 3 PBS specials.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4591397/ciaran-sheehan