Observation on State of the Union

By Ann Coulter.

"Obama said, "We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook."

And then the government outlawed Edison's great invention, made the Wright brothers' air travel insufferable, filed anti-trust charges against Microsoft and made cars too expensive to drive by prohibiting oil exploration, and right now -- at this very minute -- is desperately trying to regulate the Internet."

The Key to Health, Wealth and Success: Self-Control

Now someone needs a study to see if a little parental control can help that very young child develop some self-control. Couldn't hurt.

"Problems surfacing in adolescence, such as becoming a smoker or getting pregnant, accounted for about half of the bad outcomes associated with low self-control in childhood. Kids who scored low on such measures — for instance, becoming easily frustrated, lacking persistence in reaching goals or performing tasks, or having difficulty waiting their turn in line — were roughly three times more likely to wind up as poor, addicted, single parents or to have multiple health problems as adults, compared with children who behaved more conscientiously as early as age 3."

The Key to Health, Wealth and Success: Self-Control – TIME Healthland

Sen. Inhofe Shapes Major GOP Bills to rein in EPA

Looks like at least some Republicans understand what happened in November. According to the NYT (via ClimateWire), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), will unveil a bill with House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) that would strip EPA of its authority to limit carbon emissions from power plants, refineries and other stationary sources.

At the same time, he will be a "first co-sponsor" of a much broader bill that would bar the federal government from regulating greenhouse gas emissions under any existing environmental law. That measure will be introduced Monday (today) by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who serves on the Environment and Public Works Committee, on which Inhofe is the ranking Republican.

Sen. Inhofe Shapes Major GOP Bills to Fight EPA's Greenhouse Gas Regs - NYTimes.com

Professor Cornpone, Newt Gingrich

When I worked in the Agriculture Library in the late 70s, ethanol, biogas, and saving the environment were huge topics. I did a lot of reading on it, and why it failed. It's bad for the wallet, and bad for the environment. I was shocked to see it resurrected as part of the current green movement, and to see miles and miles of fertile midwestern farm land converted to products to make energy for our cars and industry, when it took so much energy and water to make the conversion.

And now Mr. Randy himself, Newt Gingrich, wants to hitch his star to the Renewable Fuels movement, aka, burning food instead of feed people. The man is a moral mess. He married one of his high school teachers, left her for wife #2 when she had cancer, and left #2 for #3, one of his staff with whom he was having an affair all while he was investigating President Clinton for his moral lapses with an intern. In late 2009 he converted to Catholicism. He is a historian and in an interview I heard he liked the 2000 year tradition he was joining, so he doesn't think of it as a conversion. Those pesky marriage vows and bonds had already been taken care of so he could marry wife #3 who is a devout Catholic.

Why should anyone including Calista Gingrich, believe anything this man says? Really. Do we want this couple in the White House? Also, as much as I admire Roman Catholics for their stand on life, on marriage they are simply duplicitous. Liberal on annulments; conservative on divorce. So the rich and famous and political like the Kennedys and Gingriches can get their pass for playing around, but the ordinary teacher, clerk or nurse can't without a lot of soul searching, agony and money clout by someone in the church helping them out.

Review & Outlook: Professor Cornpone - WSJ.com

Young, hip librarians taking over the field

So, maybe you hadn't heard that rumor--that librarianship was young and hip. Well, I had, since I follow these things, although not as closely as I used to. You can tell by the cover of Library Journal.

Even so, Pearl has a large following and writes terrific book reviews and appears on NPR.

Tea Party Candidate?

In the State of the Union address, President Obama said Americans must "understand [that] if we don’t take meaningful steps to rein in our debt, it could damage our markets, increase the cost of borrowing, and jeopardize our recovery—all of which would have an even worse effect on our job growth and family incomes."

And then there was his WTF moments: " The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn’t know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do -- what America does better than anyone else -- is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We’re the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It is how we make our living."

Yes, sure sounds like a Tea Party candidate to me.

Why I don’t buy 48 cans of soup for $5.00 for Souper Bowl Sunday

Beginning in 2011, I’ve consciously bumped our tithe to 11%, by adding in 1% for food for the Lutheran Food Pantry, although I’d been donating groceries to the LSS box from time to time. This amounts to about $9.50/week, and if you’ve been to the store lately, you know that doesn’t buy much. That’s 4 cans of Progresso Soup, and 2 boxes of Ralston cereal, medium size at Marc’s, a no-frills supermarket.

So why not contribute $5.00 for 48 cans of soup to the Food Pantry which will buy them at the Mid-Ohio Food Bank in Columbus?

Here’s why. 1) I’ve already paid for that food through the USDA’s programs buying food to be processed by companies it contracts with. The acronym is TEFAP, The Emergency Food Assistance Program. The USDA buys the food, including processing and packaging, and ships it to the States which work out details of administration and distribution. The States select local organizations that either directly distribute to households, or serve meals, or distribute to other local organizations like LSS that perform these functions. Our Food Bank is also supported by foundations, non-profits, and donations which receive tax breaks. The quality is nutritious and meets government standards, but it’s not competitive with the brands you would buy at your local supermarket. They are below “house brand” quality. Subconsciously, you know that food processed in this way is actually more expensive in the long run. In 2010 the government food distribution program was $692,900,000. And they were asking government employees to beat the bushes because a lot of the food goes unclaimed.

2) When I pay $1.25 per can for Hearty Tomato Progresso Soup and donate it I’m more in touch with the family who will consume it, and I think that's closer to Jesus’ Matthew 25 idea of how to meet him in person. We meet him physically in the Eucharist and in service. What a wonderful opportunity.

3) And finally, when I purchase something at a local supermarket I’m circulating my tithe. I am indirectly paying the investor, the owner, the staff (many low income part-timers like students, disabled and elderly), my local community’s taxes, the trucking company that transported it, the local utilities, the processor, the box company, the graphic designers, printers and marketers who advertise the product, etc. Although the local, state and federal governments do purchase some of these items in TEFAP, the money has to run through so many fingers from my hand to DC and back again to Columbus to get to the poor, it becomes very inefficient and is the reason that the War on Poverty was already lost before the first shot was fired in the 1960s.

So, that’s why I buy 4 cans for $5.00 instead of 48. It’s actually cheaper and more spiritually fulfilling.

The price of oil shot up today

Just today I think I heard someone in the Obama regime pining for European prices for gasoline so we could be pushed further into green energy schemes. Now with the problems in Egypt, maybe he'll get his wish. Egypt's Regime on the Brink. Oil prices went up over 3%--oil goes through the Suez Canal as do our military fleets.

The Iconoclast at New English Review says: Stop giving aid to Egypt, to Jordan, to Pakistan, to Afghanistan, to the "Palestinian" Authority. No American aid will win friends among Muslims for Infidels. But American aid, and European too, can increase hatred for the Americans and the Europeans, not among those who are most fervently Muslim, for they are already suffused with such hatred, they batten on it, but among the more advanced (a term of relative rather than absolute value when applied to primitive, semi-savage societies with a political class even more coarse and ignorant and clownish than that to be found in much -- though not all -- of the present-day West), and secular.

Ron and Rand Paul Introduce “Audit the Fed” Legislation

It's about time somebody did it.

"The Federal Reserve cherishes its privacy and has fought tooth and nail to keep it. Nevertheless, its ability to shower greenbacks on favored corporations and foreign banks may soon be drawing to a close thanks to the 2010 elections.

On January 26 the father-and-son team of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) “introduced companion legislation in both chambers of the United States Congress to require a full and thorough audit of the Federal Reserve,” according to Business Wire. Officially titled the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011, the House and Senate versions of the bill are numbered H.R. 459 and S. 202, respectively."

Ron and Rand Paul Introduce “Audit the Fed” Legislation

Frances Fox Piven must be watching Egypt closely with longing

She recently mused about the need for our people to gather in the street and show their anger.

"In December, Piven wrote a piece for The Nation wherein she encourages the unemployed to get angry and says that an effective jobless movement in the United States should mirror those found in Greece and England:
“So where are the angry crowds, the demonstrations, sit-ins and unruly mobs? After all, the injustice is apparent. Working people are losing their homes and their pensions while robber–baron CEOs report renewed profits and windfall bonuses. Shouldn’t the unemployed be on the march? Why aren’t they demanding enhanced safety net protections and big initiatives to generate jobs?

An effective movement of the unemployed will have to look something like the strikes and riots that have spread across Greece in response to the austerity measures forced on the Greek government by the European Union, or like the student protests that recently spread with lightning speed across England in response to the prospect of greatly increased school fees.”

In February 2009, Piven indicated that there needs to be “tumult disorder pressure” that would ultimately force President Obama to “make choices.” She also went on to cite what she dubbed great moments of American change, which she stated began with elections and were coupled with “powerful, disruptive, unruly movements from the bottom of society.” Examples of how to bring about much-needed change, according to Piven include, “striking for example or by blockading the streets or by shutting down the schools.” Glenn Beck vs. Frances Fox Piven

Their Mubarak, our Barak. She's essentially asking people to rise up against Obama--who else holds that safety net? Higher unemployment, brought on by our government's foolish stimulus policies is just what she and other leftists are looking for to get the people steamed up and streaming into the streets.

Of course, it will be Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin's fault, not hers. Or maybe she plays well in Egypt?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions--Andrew Klavan

Full entry here.

Key Lime Pie

I just love Key Lime Pie. We haven't been to Florida for several years, but when we were, I'd have a piece every day and each restaurant's pie was different. In memory of our Florida trip I'm having a Dannon Light and Fit Key Lime Yogurt, which actually delivers the taste it promises with only 80 calories instead of a day's full quota.

Playing UNO with my sister-in-law Jean in her trailer.

Waivers for Favors: Big Labor's Obamacare Escape Hatch

It would appear that big businesses, foundations, think tanks, unions and even states that supported Obamacare, are now applying for waivers on the grounds that the costs would be prohibitive, and some employees might lose either jobs or coverage or both. Little companies or self employed probably can't get a waiver. But then, are we surprised?

VDARE.com: 01/27/11 - Waivers for Favors: Big Labor's Obamacare Escape Hatch

Why the Tea Party can't trust the Republican Party

President Johnson, a Democrat, declared a war on poverty, and poverty won (NYT declares War on Poverty lost, 1999). I remember reading the book by Michael Harrington in the 1960s that supposedly started that war. However, President Nixon, a Republican, was even more liberal than Johnson. He tripled anti-poverty spending, and promoted "The New Federalism" giving us the huge environmental regulatory agencies which strangle growth to this day. How does that help the poor? Under Nixon, Medicare spending rose by 246% and he took us off the gold standard. The two Bushes were Republicans but they were not conservatives. Clinton's increase in the Federal budget was 12%. George W. Bush's was 42%.

Also, don't trust racialist labels. Nixon wasn't a racist (although he didn't like gays), but Johnson was. Before he became President, Johnson had voted against virtually every bill that wouldn't have helped blacks. Both hurt the African American family by encouraging men to leave the home through various "poverty" programs like AFDC. Despite his spending habits, George W. Bush with his stance on abortion and stem cell research, at least was morally and ethically for the black community which with only about 14% of the population is having 42% of the abortions, including the late term horror that we've recently witnessed in Philadelphia.

Since 1961, with the exception of Ronald Reagan, we've only had Progressive Presidents--JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush I and II--men who grew the government and broke their promises. If the Tea Party-supported new members of Congress don't want to get Beltway Fever and eat pork, they need to distrust the Republicans, and ignore the Democrats, toss out the word "bipartisanship" and "civility" and get down to the business of America, which is business.

Is the city supposed to clear its sidewalks? Or just the residents?

I think I've seen a requirement for residents in our city (Upper Arlington, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus) to clear their side walks after a snow storm. We haven't had the snow that the northeast or west of Chicago have had, but we get 2-3 inches from time to time. Today I noticed that when driving west on McCoy Road, all the sidewalks on the south (residential) were clear, and all the sidewalks on the north (Thompson Park) were icy and snow covered and dangerous, because that's where people go to walk.

DISCO? No thanks

"Debra Moddelmog is a professor in the Department of English [at Ohio State University"]. She specializes in 20th century American literature, sexuality studies and intersectionality studies and is director of Diversity and Identity Studies Collective at OSU (DISCO). . . .She has organized and successfully carried out a new interdisciplinary minor in Sexuality Studies at Ohio State. Her work on diversity has had a significant impact on the Ohio State humanities curriculum."

There's a place for everyone (as a department head) at OSU.

Review & Outlook: After You, Mr. Ryan - WSJ.com

Yes, let some adults try to clean up the spending, taxing, waffling mess. "Amid his Reaganite sunshine and new admiration for the wonders of private enterprise, President Obama's political message in Tuesday's State of the Union address boils down to this: Republicans, it's your budget problem now."

Review & Outlook: After You, Mr. Ryan - WSJ.com

Richard Dreyfus is unhappy with Obama

Will a Hollywood liberal be called a racist?

When conservatives realized he was just another bag of hot leftist air, they were called racists. So, now that the left realizes he's just another statist influenced by money and lobbyists and concern for his own reputation, are they racists too? Or is there actually something more important about this man than the fact his father was from Kenya?

Community engagement--what is it?

At OSUToday I noticed a grant announcement for "community engagement."

Community Engagement RFA Deadline April 15

"Ohio State's Center for Clinical and Translational Science and the West Virginia Clinical Translational Science Institute Community Engagement and Research Program are jointly sponsoring a pilot research award designed to stimulate collaboration between the respective campuses as well as increase community engaged research, including community-based participatory research, in the Appalachian region."

So I started looking around--and what I found was a mountain of fuzzy definitions building in 2007 and 2008 which included words like "community concerns," "working collaboratively," "engage communities," "partnered and participatory research," and one definition even said "community engagement is not scholarship." On another site I found OSU's definition:

“Engagement is defined as a meaningful and mutually beneficial collaboration with partners in education, business, and public and social service. It involves using:

That aspect of teaching that enables learning beyond the campus walls;
That aspect of research that makes what we discover useful beyond the academic community; and
That aspect of service that directly benefits the public.”

So, based on OSU's definition, it's a way for faculty to complete teaching, research and service requirements without being in the classroom while receiving a federal or foundation grant, and also, if you Google "community engagement Alinsky" it's community organizing under another name (aka ACORN). Notice how Alinsky has been sanitized. It's a way to co-opt established groups that have had a long time mission to educate, feed, clothe and minister to people, and bring them into the government fold. Like churches, service organizations and non-profits.

Some definitions on the internet were so vague, even about the word "community," you really could use this grant money to research middle age Roman Catholic men who gather at Panera's for Bible study, or a condo association that wants the golf course to rip rap its side of the creek, or elementary students who want to play ball in the streets. The grants are quite toothsome.

Computer virus problems

I'm really out of commission here. I'm using an old computer xp I had in the basement. I picked up a virus disguised as a microsoft scan, so don't ever say yes to an offer to scan for viruses, even if it says it's microsoft. Don't know that I could have stopped it, but after being "cleaned" by a computer repairman, it reappeared and now the whole thing is fried.

CNN puts women in its crosshairs

According to Byron York, before CNN reporter John King had his horrified (and horrifying) mental breakdown on the air apologizing for another reporter's use of the word crosshairs (Chicago mayoral race being disucssed by Andy Shaw), CNN had been guilty a number of times of putting events and people in its crosshairs, particularly Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. He lists them here:

A look at transcripts of CNN programs in the month leading up to the shootings shows that the network was filled with references to "crosshairs" -- and once even used the term to suggest the targeting of Palin herself. Some examples:

"Palin's moose-hunting episode on her reality show enraged People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and now, she's square in the crosshairs of big time Hollywood producer, Aaron Sorkin," reported A.J. Hammer of CNN's Headline News on December 8.

"Companies like MasterCard are in the crosshairs for cutting ties with WikiLeaks," said CNN Kiran Chetry in a December 9 report.

"Thousands of people living in areas that are in the crosshairs have been told to evacuate," Chetry said in a December 21 report on flooding in California.

"He's in their crosshairs," said a guest in a December 21 CNN discussion of suspects in a missing-person case.

"This will be the first time your food will be actually in the crosshairs of the FDA," business reporter Christine Romans said on December 22.

"The U.S. commander in the East has Haqqani in his crosshairs," CNN's Barbara Starr reported on December 28, referring to an Afghan warlord.

"We know that health care reform is in the crosshairs again," CNN's Joe Johns reported on January 3.

Seven uses of "crosshairs" in just the month before the Tucson attacks, and just one of them referring to an actual wartime situation. And one reference to Sarah Palin herself as being in "crosshairs."

And not just Palin. On September 14, Mark Preston, CNN's senior political editor, referred to another controversial politician, Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, as being "in the crosshairs." "Michelle Bachmann is raising lots of money, raising her national profile," Preston said on September 14. "She is in the crosshairs of Democrats as well."

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/01/banning-crosshairs-cnn-used-it-refer-palin-bachmann#ixzz1Bcbm5FlM

A list of proposed budget cuts

Here's a few of my favorites:

"Stimulus" Repeal: Eliminate all remaining "stimulus" funding. $45 billion total savings

Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings. (ACORN type groups?)

Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.

Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings

Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually

Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings. With the punishment or fines the rest of us would get.

And so forth. Quite a list.

The Pitty Pat Papers: ACTION!!! At last!!

Tennessee Democrat stands by Nazi remarks

So much for the Democrats lowering the volume and being more civil. Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) has used the N-word, Nazi, to describe Republicans' repeal of the health care fiasco, and by implication, all of us who thought it was terrible that it got passed before it was read. All of us who went to the polls in November and exercised our right to vote to change it.

Mr. Cohen, shame on you! You guys railroad this disaster through, admit you haven't read it and have no idea what it will cost in the long run, and then call the victims of your plot, Nazis (national socialists). Now if some demented, apolitical man fires a gun into a crowd or drives his car into the window of a fast food restaurant, or flies his plane into a government building, we'll know who to blame.

Tennessee Democrat stands by Nazi remarks - Bloomberg

But he was taken out of context? Sounds like he's called us Nazis to me.
"They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels. . . . You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That's the same kind of thing. . . . The Germans said enough about the Jews and the people believed it and you had the Holocaust. You tell a lie over and over again. And we've heard on this floor, government takeover of health care."

According to Glenn Beck (and biographers), Goebbels got his methods from Edward Bernays, The father of Spin, who later changed the word "propaganda" to "public relations."

"During Bernays' lifetime and since, propaganda has usually had dirty connotations, loaded and identified with the evils of Nazi PR genius Joseph Goebbels, or the oafish efforts of the Soviet Communists. In his memoirs, Bernays wrote that he was "shocked" to discover that Goebbels kept copies of Bernays' writings in his own personal library, and that his theories were therefore helping to "engineer" the rise of the Third Reich."

President George W. Bush, $50 million to fight human trafficking (slavery), Sept. 23, 2003, before the U.N.

There's another humanitarian crisis spreading, yet hidden from view. Each year, an estimated 800,000 to 900,000 human beings are bought, sold or forced across the world's borders. Among them are hundreds of thousands of teenage girls, and others as young as five, who fall victim to the sex trade. This commerce in human life generates billions of dollars each year -- much of which is used to finance organized crime.

There's a special evil in the abuse and exploitation of the most innocent and vulnerable. The victims of sex trade see little of life before they see the very worst of life -- an underground of brutality and lonely fear. Those who create these victims and profit from their suffering must be severely punished. Those who patronize this industry debase themselves and deepen the misery of others. And governments that tolerate this trade are tolerating a form of slavery.

This problem has appeared in my own country, and we are working to stop it. The PROTECT Act, which I signed into law this year, makes it a crime for any person to enter the United States, or for any citizen to travel abroad, for the purpose of sex tourism involving children. The Department of Justice is actively investigating sex tour operators and patrons, who can face up to 30 years in prison. Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the United States is using sanctions against governments to discourage human trafficking.

The victims of this industry also need help from members of the United Nations. And this begins with clear standards and the certainty of punishment under laws of every country. Today, some nations make it a crime to sexually abuse children abroad. Such conduct should be a crime in all nations. Governments should inform travelers of the harm this industry does, and the severe punishments that will fall on its patrons. The American government is committing $50 million [I think this was domestic; another site reported $295 million internationally] to support the good work of organizations that are rescuing women and children from exploitation, and giving them shelter and medical treatment and the hope of a new life. I urge other governments to do their part.

We must show new energy in fighting back an old evil. Nearly two centuries after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, and more than a century after slavery was officially ended in its last strongholds, the trade in human beings for any purpose must not be allowed to thrive in our time.

--------------

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) (Public Law 106-386) was first enacted in October 2000, reauthorized in 2003, and President Barack Obama proclaimed January National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. But you'll see a shift, gradually, to emphasizing labor and other types of human rights abusesinstead of saving sex workers and children from a life of slavery. Notice the word order in Obama's speech: "Human trafficking is a global travesty that takes many forms. Whether forced labor or sexual trafficking, child soldiering or involuntary domestic servitude, these abuses are an affront to our national conscience, and to our values as Americans and human beings."

At Homeland Security, it's called The Blue Campaign, don't know why. Sounds a bit political, sort of like distributing blue t-shirts at the Tucson memorial for murdered citizens. Lots of PR, pamphlets and cards.

Because feminists write on this issue, they generally hated President Bush despite what he did for women, their examination of the 2000 Human trafficking act, the 2003 Operation Predator and PROTECT act, and their enforcement are generally seen as a failure. Link. However, if you read through these link, both the problem and the progress is amazing.

Barack Obama--News source

Based on the art work of the site, this collection of news articles with little or no editorial comment puzzles me. It's definitely Soviet style realism familiar to anyone exposed to 20th century art propaganda; you could paste in Lenin with St. Petersburg in the background with no effort and get the subliminal message. But we have many admirers of Marxist state communism and state socialism among us under the banner of Progressive. So are the creators of this website for Obama or against him? Do news stories, which always have an editorial slant, really tell a story without explanation or have they been selected to reveal a bigger story with headline creation? I think after reviewing the headlines, it's a pro-Obama site. Use of "anti-abortion" instead of "pro-life," for instance. "Repeal health care" instead of "repeal health care bill." It's the little things in love and politics that matter.

The tags appear to be created by robots, not people. That's untidy. Really can put a librarian's teeth on edge. I think a conservative website would be more careful.

Barack Obama

Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: We Just Witnessed The Media's Test Run To Re-Elect Barack Obama

The smearing of Palin over the Giffords shooting. There's a bigger issue.

"It does not matter whether you support Palin for President, whether you think she is electable, or even whether you like her. This is not about Palin, it is about the mainstream media's desire to have Barack Obama re-elected at any cost and to take down any Republican candidate who stands in the way."

Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: We Just Witnessed The Media's Test Run To Re-Elect Barack Obama

"Barack Obama is already gearing up for the 2012 election, with a report last week that his campaign will be headquartered in Chicago. Don't be surprised if he sticks with the theme of "change," which at first glance makes no sense coming from an incumbent. But it makes perfect sense when one realizes that the change he champions was never simply from Bush to himself or from a Republican to a Democrat. No, President Obama seeks fundamental change -- transformation -- from core American principles, like free enterprise, self-reliance, sovereignty and liberty, toward socialism "in the name of economic fairness.""
American Thinker: The Stealthy Spread of Socialism in the U.S.

For starters, Jared Loughner was male

“Boys, compared to girls, are 6 times more likely to have learning disabilities, 3 times more likely to be registered drug addicts, and 4 times more likely to be diagnosed as emotionally disturbed. Boys are at greater risk for schizophrenia, sexual addiction, alcoholism, and all forms of antisocial and criminal behavior. They are 12 times more likely to murder someone, and their rate of death in car accidents is greater by 50%.”

New Man, May/June 2003, p. 16

Federal grand jury indicts Loughner in Giffords shooting

Snapshot of a Culture of Death

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who made millions as an abortionist, “induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord.” Nine employees were also charged. He kept body parts in jars for no apparent reason.

Snapshot of a Culture of Death - By Kathryn Jean Lopez - The Corner - National Review Online

Yes, that sounds gross, but it's not far removed from a case here in Columbus where a father killed his 3 month old by dragging him on the street after he'd abused him. There's only 4 months difference between an 8th month fetus and a 3 month old baby. One is called abortion, the other murder. Both babies were helpless without adult protection. Neither can survive on his own.

How far will the Democrats go in looking foolish?

In an early concession to Democrats looking for a battle, the Republicans have decided to change the name of the Jobs Killing Bill to something less violent, like Jobs Crushing Bill. Why not just call it what it is, The bill to save American health care. Is that too long? Or how about this. Repeal Obamacare Bill. This looking for violence under every rock by Rep. James Clyburn is going to backfire, ah, misfire, uh, come back to haunt him. We're in for more turgid, bombastic, mendacious, unctuous, jejune, inchoate language than usual as our senators and congresspeople struggle for just the exact word while avoiding long used (but violent) verbs and idioms:
Shoot yourself in the foot
shoot down
Blow your top
blow up
In the cross hairs
crossfire
target
aim
Straight arrow
butcher
mangle the language
hang dog look
blood red
Gore
blood brothers
strangle
discharge
choke
strangle
die
death
murder
mow down
assassinate
wound
double barrel
trigger
sacrifice

More as I think of them.

The next list of smack downs, again criticizing the right, will be all the words that have been used to describe Loughner. Everything from crazy to nut job to nut case. I think many of those cruel terms (and I probably used a few of my own) were over the top, in part because he is a victim of his own disturbed thoughts over which he had not control. And he's a victim of a type of social protection. But the sheriff's office did know about his obsession with Giffords (according to Dupnik) and she should have had protection.

Tucson shooter obsessed with bizarre Internet movie Zeitgeist.

Byron York examines Loughner's obsession with a movie. "Zeitgeist" has three parts. The first tells us that Christianity is a myth, and that religion in general conditions us to believe other myths. The second tells us that the most powerful of those other myths is 9/11 -- we call it an act of terrorism when it fact it was an inside job perpetrated by the U.S. government. And the third part tells us the real powers behind 9/11 and the other myths are central bankers. They're making the myths for money, while we're just being duped."

Tucson shooter obsessed with bizarre Internet movie | Byron York | Politics | Washington Examiner

But if it hadn't been this movie, it would have been shadows on the wall, or the way his English teacher looked at him, or a girl who dumped him. Whatever, it sure wasn't Sarah Palin.

And Lee Siegel on movies in general (on government): "According to news reports, Loughner went to one of Congresswoman Giffords' public meetings and asked her this question: "What is government if words have no meaning?" It also appears in his YouTube video. In the light of what later happened, the question chills us. Its nihilism and its unbalanced lack of basic trust are haunting. Yet they are also the stuff, not just of right-wing suspicion of government, or of radical left-wing suspicion of same, but of scores of Hollywood movies, from Taxi Driver and Three Days of the Condor, to Guilty by Suspicion and Mercury Rising, to The Sentinel and Syriana, and, well, I can't keep up. For at least half a century, our movies, from simple to complex, have been driven by the idea that official words have no meaning and that government is either criminal or a sham."

American Nihilism | The New York Observer

Blackburn: Net neutrality is 'Fairness Doctrine for the Internet'

From the Hill: Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) spoke against net neutrality regulations today (Jan. 18) at an event put on by the Safe Internet Alliance. Representing the songwriters, singers, actors, producers and other entertainers in Memphis and Nashville, she said the creative community does not want the federal government to interfere with how they are able to get content to consumers via the Internet.

"Net neutrality, as I see it, is the fairness doctrine for the Internet," she said. The creators "fully understand what the Fairness Doctrine would be when it applies to TV or radio. What they do not want is the federal government policing how they deploy their content over the Internet and they want the ISPs to manage their networks and deploy the content however they have agreed on with ISP. They do not want a czar of the Internet to determine when they can deploy their creativity over the Internet. "They do not want a czar to determine what speeds will be available....We are watching the FCC very closely as it relates to that issue."

Blackburn: Net neutrality is 'Fairness Doctrine for the Internet' - The Hill's Hillicon Valley

And not surprisingly, Susan Crawford, a former special assistant to President Obama for technology policy, and favors strong regulations on tech issues. She wrote an op-ed for the NYT favoring regulation and needs to be watched closely.

One hundred per cent fatality, but other than that . . . it's a success

According to Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, abortions performed in the first trimester pose virtually no long-term risk of such problems as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) or birth defect, and little or no risk of preterm or low-birth-weight deliveries. For the tiny life in the womb, however, there is a 100% fatality rate (1,210,000 deaths by abortion in 2008, 88% in the first trimester).

Guttmacher supplies many, many statistics, mostly in percentages, not numbers. Federal-state Medicaid spent $1.3 billion for family planning services in FY 2006 for 9 million women, of which the federal government pays 90% of the cost, and the states pay 10%. Most of this is for contraception. 54% of the women having abortions report using contraceptives and 46% hadn't. So something isn't working--maybe all that money is going for office space, staffing,bureaucrats and grants to Guttmacher and Planned Parenthood (which gets the biggest piece of the pie)?

Alan E. Guttmacher, nephew to Alan F. Guttmacher, a former vice president of the American Eugenics Society for whom the above is named, assumed the duties of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) first as acting director, then director on August 1, 2010. President Barack Obama's position on abortion is the most anti-life of any member of Congress or President of the United States in the history of this country. The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) gives Obama a 100% score on his pro-choice voting record in the Senate for 2005, 2006, and 2007.

The herd of sacred cows will continue to graze if. . .

This herd of sacred cows has doubled in size in two years, from Bush cows to Obama cows.
Alan Simpson said that on Fox News last night. He's one of Obama's chairs of the Deficit Commission. It's short enough that one could actually read it, unlike the massive health care bill of over 2,000 pages. However, it's not terribly believable. If both parties have contibuted to the deficit, having a bipartisan (both parties) commission look at spending makes little sense. I think the American people should look at the spending so they aren't just moving money from the wallet to the pocket and calling it "savings," like shifting inefficient federal health costs to even worse state health costs.

I've only been a Republican for a decade, but since they seem to be the same party I registered with in the 1960s I see some problems. Republicans talk small government and fiscal responsibility, but once inside the beltway they become first RINOs, then progressives, then socialists, feeding at the public trough, schmoozing with the lobbiests, and playing games. Huey Long in the 1930s, an opponent of Roosevelt, wrote a pamphlet called Share Our Wealth, and his stealth theft of wealth is indistinguishable from today's government, regardless of which party is in power.

So I challenge you, liberal or conservative to find an agency, commission, program, department, task force, Congressional office, government GSE or think tank, and find a section of its budget and take it apart, piece by piece. Find the pork or the graft if it's coming to your city or state and you don't want it to die permanently, or decide why the entire thing is a scam if you can handle a really sharp knife. Or, you could do it by topic--like poverty, education, housing, health, or job training and dig out the waste as it resides in multiple departments like Education, Energy, Health.

Or, you could do it by non-profit status or by religion. How much are Lutherans or Methodists or Catholics or fair-housing groups and trade associations getting from government grants instead of their members, and are they then able to meet their original mission statement or do they have to be gradually silenced? Has Jesus' command in Matthew changed from "Therefore go, . . . because I said so" to "Therefore NO, . . . because the government says so."

Does the government need to still be offering zero percent down home mortgages? You can get one through the USDA. Did we learn nothing from the last three years? The USDA is right up there with HHS as the biggest spender of pork in government--it's in everything from day care to home mortgages. So citizens, let's call this pulled pork and see what we find, then pass it along to your Congressional representative.
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Update: Here's one from the Department of Energy someone could look at. The DOE's Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) was created in 1976 to assist low-income families who lacked resources to invest in energy efficiency. You would think that after 35 years, most low income homes would be insulated or have window replacements, but apparently not because $5 billion of ARRA money was dumped in their lap after an annual allocation of around $225 million. Imagine the frantic hiring and and equipment buying and ordering supplies hastily that must have put in motion! Although I didn’t find the cost, one of the grants was for a webinar for a nonprofit (NASCSP) to teach its members how to use social media and blogging to sign people up to use this money. And to think I started 12 blogs with no government or any start up costs.

Update 2: Rusty suggests: Well, that'll be easy as the Dept of Energy was the first I was going to eliminate all together. It has done nothing over the last 30? years. Next I would eliminate all agricultural subsidies. How much sense does it make to pay for a farmer NOT to plant something. Or pay them to plant corn for ethanol. Without a subsidy, fuel WITH ethanol would cost more than gas without. Then federal lands, that are leased to cattle operations in the West, need to be rented at rates that reflect prices for comparable non-federal lands. And after that, the Department of Education.

Update 3: Bill says: In the UK they froze senior benefits and the military budget and then went to the other government organizations with a % they must cut. The per cents are not small, like 20 and 25%. If the department head balks or says it can't be done, the department head gets eliminated. Then Carol adds, she thinks Social Security and the military are untouchables.

Update 4:Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe: "Other 10-year Cato spending cut estimates: Scrapping the departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development saves $550 billion; ending farm subsidies would produce nearly $290 billion. Cutting NASA spending by 50% would save $90 billion. Repealing Davis-Bacon labor rules produces $60 billion. Ending urban mass transit grants would save $52 billion. Privatizing air traffic control, as other nations have done, saves $38 billion. Privatize Amtrak and end rail subsidies and save $31 billion. Reform federal worker retirement, $18 billion. Retire Americorps, $10 billion. Shutter the Small Business Administration, $14 billion."Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe: What Congress Should Cut - WSJ.com

Linking unemployment to Why Tucson massacre will happen again

This may be next to Sheriff Dupnik's theories in cluelessness--Brett Arends at Market Watch links unemployment of young men to gun violence and predicts Tucson type murders will happen again. He strings unrelated statistics like he was decorating a Christmas tree. I was about to look up the comment requirements, but when I looked at them, someone said exactly what I was thinking? Who in the world would have employed Loughner with his problems? He hardly fits the profile of the unemployed.

"Loughner didn't kill Rep. Giffords because he was unemployed, but because he is crazy. He would be unemployed in any event because most employers are not going to hire someone who exhibits anti-social behavior to the extent that Loughner does."

Why Tucson massacre will happen again Brett Arends' ROI - MarketWatch

Arizona shooting victim arrested after threatening Tea Party member of panel

Do you suppose that ABC and Christiane Amanpour used poor judgement in bringing an understandably stressed out shooting victim on to a panel when the media clearly have been part of the run up to blame the wrong people for the tragedy? James Fuller probably believed their lies. He threatened the Tea Party representative, Trent Humphries, on the panel and was arrested. He will have a mental health evaluation, something which Loughner apparently either didn't have, or was allowed to ignore the results. Shame on ABC for not 1) vetting their panelists, and 2) not protecting their panelists. I watched the tape; Humphries hadn't said anything inflamatory--he was asking for calm and a period of respectful mourning. Fuller appears to have come prepared to challenge him.

Arizona shooting victim arrested after threat - Yahoo! News

Moonbattery: "Congratulations to ABC. People are finally going to watch the floundering Amanpour's This Week program. But good luck getting anyone to swallow the preposterous "mainstream" media narrative that this horrible story is about Sarah Palin and the Tea Party encouraging violence. Even ABC's own affiliates are starting to choke on the irony."

Former Black Panther Bobby Rush on gun violence

A reminder not to be silent on gun violence (Rep. Bobby Rush) - The Hill's Congress Blog

Rush asks: "Why is it that those extremist voices, who so passionately wail about states’ rights superseding federal rights, literally jumped for joy when, in June 2010, a narrowly divided U. S. Supreme Court overturned a Chicago law that local public officials put in place as a meaningful step to help stem the wave of gun violence?"

Note: The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Chicago's ban on private ownership of handguns, saying the Second Amendment applies to states and municipalities as well as the federal government.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/06/28/US-Supreme-Court-Chicagos-gun-ban-struck-down/UPI-18071277761369/#ixzz1BKiiMsl5

Maybe they lived in Chicago where gun violence went up when that "meaningful step" didn't save any lives of honest citizens?

Don't think this will happen, but it might calm down Chris Matthews

As seen on Newsmax:

"Chris Matthews said during a discussion with two liberal radio hosts: “What’s been the role of talk radio in fueling the heated language? I’ll mention a couple of names. People like Mark Levin, Michael Savage, for example, who every time you listen to them, they are furious. Furious at the left. With anger that just builds and builds in their voice and by the time they go to commercial they are just in some rage every night with ugly talk. Ugly sounding talk, and it never changes, it never modulates.”

Levin, a former Justice Department official, said: “I believe in the law. I believe in free speech. I believe in responsible speech. Now, you want people to tone it down? OK, good. Anybody who accuses me of inciting mass murder in Tucson, Arizona, is going to be sued. Period.”

The American Spectator observed on Thursday: “Levin’s challenge to Matthews and other left-wing media types comes on the heels of increasingly desperate attempts by the left-wing media to pin the Tucson violence by the mentally disturbed Jared Loughner on conservative talk radio stars."

Mark Levin Threatens to Sue Chris Matthews

At American Spectator: "I challenge Chris Matthews, I'll put $100,000 on the table, to find any example where Sarah Palin has promoted the murder of anybody," said Levin -- specifically excluding terrorists and the Taliban.

Levin went on: "A hundred thousand on the table if Chris Matthews can find anywhere Mark Levin has urged the murder of people who have different political viewpoints. That's the murder of politicians . . . where I said go out there and kill X,Y,Z. . . go out there and kill A, B, C. I challenge him right now. Sarah Palin. Me. Go ahead."

The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Mark Levin's $100,000 Challenge to Chris Matthews

Looking over the possibilities for 2012

Bachmann
Bolton
Ryan and Cain

Perry
Pawlenty
Thune and Paul

God bless them all.

Wide-Open GOP Presidential Field Spurs Dark Horses - WSJ.com

The Desperate and Hateful Left

The upside down world of the media and leftist celebrities and talkers. They are clueless about real terrorists and murderers, but scramble to find dots to connect from Loughner's mind to any political philosophy, except their own, of course.

". . . while little useful can be said about the [Tucson] murders themselves, the rush to narrative of our dishonest and increasingly desperate leftist media does have to be addressed. The Left—which has been unable to discover any common feature uniting acts of Islamist violence worldwide—nonetheless instantly noticed a bridge between the Tucson shooting and its own political opponents. The Chicago Sun-Times ran a slavering editorial blaming “the right.” MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson suggested that the killings were inspired by right-wing rhetoric. Politico’s Roger Simon did the same. . . Paul Krugman—who once encouraged readers to hang pro-war Democratic senator Joseph Lieberman in effigy—chimed in on his blog, deploring right-wing political rhetoric and linking a Sarah Palin–backed political ad to the murders. . . Film director Rob Reiner compared the Tea Party to the Nazis on Bill Maher’s HBO show last October. And in May, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg infamously blamed an Islamist attempt to bomb Times Square on “someone who didn’t like health care or something.”"

The Hateful Left by Andrew Klavan - City Journal

Here's what they really hate--she let little Trig live instead of aborting him. Photo from a Tea Party in Arizona by Yahoo.

Jump in gun sales since January 8

"Bloomberg cites Federal Bureau of Investigation data showing that in Arizona, one-day gun sales were 60 percent higher on Monday [Jan. 10] than on the Monday before the incident. Several other states showed a significant sales bump. And national sales increased about 5 percent." Slate

I wonder who they are arming themselves against? Rush Limbaugh, the fuzz ball talker who challenges people to think for themselves? Glenn Beck, who digs up historical facts about progressivism that have been edited out of school books and quotes Martin Luther King and Ghandi? Or, maybe they are afraid of mad men who shoot into crowds killing innocent by-standers and they're thinking if only one person in the crowd to see Giffords had been carrying a gun . . . Ya think?

Rhetoric at the OneNation Rally in October

Who in the main stream media asked these folks to temper their rhetoric? Who called for reduction of the vitriol? Who suggested this could have influenced an unstable college student in Arizona? Or even cleaning up the mess they made on the mall? There's a long list of sponsors, including the Communist Party USA, Democratic Socialists of America, United Methodist Church, International Socialist Organization, Obama for America (Organizing for America), and 350.org. All this hate was ginned up in response to Glenn Beck's very peaceful rally of 8/28 which was hymn singing and sermons on peace. What hypocrisy. These photos tell the story.

15 Photos From the #OneNation Rally You'll Never See In Legacy Media | Before It's News

Moral hectoring from the left

Someone commented at Ann Althouse's blog on Mrs. Obama's assessment of the Tucson tragedy: "Anyone else growing weary of moral hectoring from the Party That Frowns On Moral Hectoring?"

Mrs. Obama: "We can teach them [our children] the value of tolerance – the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us. We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree."

An Open Letter to Parents Following the Tragedy in Tucson | The White House

I have trouble forgetting how she dissed us--all Americans--during the campaign and election period. Where was her tolerance for differences then?

There's not a shred of evidence and no dots to connect, but the party of misinformation just keeps rolling on. This seems to be the only transparent thing about the Obama administration.

The Tucson Witch Hunt - NYTimes.com

A great talent destroyed by a family disease--alcoholism

Gerry Rafferty (1943-2011) The Ark



"Gerry Rafferty, the Scottish singer-songwriter best known for the hits 'Baker Street' and 'Stuck in the Middle With You,' died Tuesday [Jan. 4], the Guardian reports. The 63-year-old was hospitalized in November 2010 with liver failure and had been ill ever since.

Born in Paisley in 1947, Rafferty was the third child of a hard-drinking Irish miner who frequently abused his family. After his father died when he was 16, Rafferty left school to work and play music. . ."

I can't begin to tell how sick I am

of seeing Bonobos butts on every website I look at. They are everywhere. The pants are always tight and when it's not a rear view, it's the crotch. Reminds me of the cattle magazines we used to get in the Veterinary Medicine Library showing the business end of the bulls.

Tacky t-s “Together We Thrive” from Obama's campaign Organization

Besides being unbelievably tacky, the blue t-shirts given to "mourners" who were clapping and cheering in Wellstone 2.0, were from Obama's Organizing for America campaign to get him re-elected. It's a slogan from his 2008 campaign.

"In the controversy of the pep rally/rock concert style Memorial for those who lost their lives in Saturday’s Arizona tragedy, the mainstream media reported that the “Together We Thrive: Tucson & America” T-shirt given to mourners as they entered McKate Center was the idea of University of Arizona brass, not the Obama administration.

Yet the “Together We Thrive” slogan dates back to a post to Obama’s own Organizing for America in a Feb. 11, 2008 post by self-described “globalist” John Berry IV."

Theme of “Together We Thrive” T-shirt came from Obama’s Organizing for America

Organizing for America

Wobbly Earth Means Your Horoscope Is Wrong | Zodiac & Astrological Signs | Skywatching | LiveScience

It's all bunk, but I'm still a Virgo. Astrology is silly, but there are people who believe it. Better check--things are a changing. Must be that hopey changey thingy.

Wobbly Earth Means Your Horoscope Is Wrong | Zodiac & Astrological Signs | Skywatching | LiveScience

Loughner and How the Mental-Health System Doesn’t Work

I knew that once the media had exhausted the meme of "angry political right wing talkers and Fox" inflaming a disturbed man who turned out to be a threat to society who was known to police, and also a-political, they'd start in on the mental health system. Probably to try to boost Obamacare. But unfortunately for Newsweek, NYT and WaPo plus their wannabees like HuffPo, Loughner's family could afford care. Nothing was stopping care, except the concern for the civil rights and freedoms of the mentally ill of the last three decades. He is legally an adult; his problems were known to his family, his friends, his college teachers and to Sheriff Dupnik who attempted to shift the blame where there was nothing. Nothing mentioned in this article about inaccessibility or lack of services remotely applies to Loughner. Pima County has a mobile psychiatric unit that anyone—patient, family, acquaintance—can call on a 24-hour hotline and that will send a professional to evaluate or provide counseling to someone who seems troubled. But Loughner is an adult; he can refuse services, and the law protects that right. So they are wrong again--about his case. There well may be a shortage of beds, and state budgets may be strained, but none of that applies in this case and the media is still looking for someone or something to blame.

Loughner and How the Mental-Health System Doesn’t Work - Newsweek

Beautiful Letters: Keith Olbermann and Sheriff Dupnik Delcare Palin Guilty of Arizona Shooting

Caution!! THIS IS A PARODY! Because it is so close to how these two people think and act, you might think it really happened, but it didn't. Stay alert. Life is is stranger than parody.

Beautiful Letters: Keith Olbermann and Sheriff Dupnik Delcare Palin Guilty of Arizona Shooting

Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act

Let's return to a representative form of government and make the Congress accountable.

"One of the most important political stories of 2011 will be regulation, as the backwash of the outgoing Congress hits the federal agencies and the White House drives its agenda via rule-making rather than democratic consent." Review and Outlook, WSJ, Jan 14, 2011

"the Constitution vested Congress with the duty to make laws, not to make vague suggestions about what it might be good for the law to be. And now there is a growing movement to force Members to take responsibility for the laws they pass, and to force Administrations to be accountable for the laws they create through regulation."

Review & Outlook: The Congressional Accountability Act - WSJ.com

How the health care public option works

A doctor blogs about how Medicaid works in her state:

Today my office received the provider's newsletter from one of the Medicaid providers in Missouri. You know, the PUBLIC OPTION. The one you and I pay for with our tax dollars. In the newsletter, the provider boasted about the new programs for subscribers. Here are your tax dollars at work in Missouri:

1.Patients will get a $30 gift card for every 5 OB prenatal visits that they attend.

2.If you need a ride to get to your doctor's office, they will provide transportation.

3.This PUBLIC OPTION provider will pay for memberships for children to join a local 4-H club, Boys or Girls Club, Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, Girls Inc., Discovering Options or Select Caring Community Out-of-School Time Programs.

4.Oh, and the doctor will be paid $25 for a postpartum visit, WOW!!!

Ladies and gentlemen....THIS IS THE PUBLIC OPTION AT WORK. Providers get a pittance for seeing patients, BUT patients are paid to go to the doctor, rides are provided and their children's membership dues are paid to join after school clubs and activities.....all from taxpayer dollars that are ostensibly for health care."

Can we afford the public option? Is it any wonder the system is broke? Repeal Obamacare!

Jared Loughner is a product of Sheriff Dupnik’s office

Why Dupnik was so eager to deflect attention away from Pima county.

"This was not an act of politics. This was an act of a mentally disturbed young man hell bent on getting his 15 minutes of infamy. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department was aware of his violent nature and they failed to act appropriately. This tragedy leads right back to Sherriff Dupnik and all the spin in the world is not going to change that fact."

Jared Loughner is a product of Sheriff Dupnik’s office « The Cholla Jumps

Edward Bernays and Wallpaper

Glenn Beck did a program tonight on the original spin doctor, Edward Bernays, a double nephew of Sigmund Freud. He's the guy who decided the word propaganda needed to be changed to "public relations." He's the guy who invented a healthy breakfast for a company that wanted to sell more bacon and got us eating bacon for breakfast (which is odd since he was a Jew). He helped President Woodrow Wilson gin up the public sentiment for WWI (after being against war in his campaign).

So I think his followers must be working for HGTV, one of my favorite cable channels. Virtually every home buyer or apartment hunter on their "reality" shows 1) hates wall paper, 2) hates formica counter tops, 3) hates wall to wall carpeting, and 4) wants to have hard wood floors and granite counters. And the comments are suspiciously consistent in every show. If there are nice hard wood floors they rave; if there is carpet, they talk about the cost of replacement with wood. If there is wallpaper in the kitchen or bath, it's "Oh yuk, this is so dated."

Today I stopped at Lowes which used to have a fabulous wall paper department with a huge selection of books, and at least some in stock, particularly borders. No longer. The section is now tiny--I had to ask how to find it--maybe 20 books. I happen to like wallpaper, and carpeting. I think tile and hardwood floors are cold and difficult to keep clean with a pet (carpets get dirty too, but you just don't see the dust bunnies).

Think of all the self-employed guys who used to lay carpet or clean carpets or hang wallpaper, now out of business.

The American public didn't decide on their own that they preferred wood floors to carpeting--it came about through decorating and women's magazines, and TV shows like we see on HGTV. Someone has already picked out the popular colors for 2015--we just don't know it yet. Dark woods are coming back for kitchen cabinets after about 20 years of popularity of white and blonde. Afterall, how else would they convince people to remodel and replace perfectly good cabinetry?

I Set My Friends on Fire and Other Bands

James Clyburn, D-SC, wants to limit speech, words, and hurtful things that might cause confusion to a young man, but only if it's legally protected political speech. Interestingly enough, just two years ago, a blogger wrote about bands with violent names who were coming to Arizona on tour. Do you suppose Loughner, who used to play in a band, might have been influenced by "I set my friends on Fire," or "Fucked up" with a 300 lb. frontman, "Circle of Dead Children," "And You will know us by the trail of the dead," and "The Killers." Now that was just January 2009--and they sound like groups that would only appeal to a disturbed 20 year old. And what about Guns and Roses, will Clyburn ban them, or just Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. I don't know if they've played Tucson, but there's "Death Cab for Cutie," "Murder by death," "Cannibal corpses," "Bomb for Birthday," "Daggerhart," "The dash," [tombstone] "Dead 'til Friday," "Dead on arrival," "Naked toast and the butter knives," and "Bullet for my valentine." I think you get the idea, but Clyburn won't--he's too busy sharpening a dull knife.

I Set My Friends on Fire and Other Bands You Don’t Want to Hang Out With - Page 1 - Music - Phoenix - Phoenix New Times

Rapper 50 Cent has had his video for the song "I Still Kill" banned from both MTV and BET, but I'm guessing you can still download it; gansta rap has slightly fallen out of favor after feminists and black women protested, however, it's still being downloaded from the internet. Wasn't there one that shows a naked black woman's severed head? A study of lyrics content published in 2001 shows that 22 percent (N = 107) of the 490 gangsta rap music songs had violent and misogynist lyrics. Assault was the most frequently occurring criminal offense, portrayed in 50 percent of the violent and misogynist songs. Other rankings: rape only = 11 percent; murder only = 31 percent; rape and murder = 7 percent.

Gangsta Misogyny by Edward G. Armstrong - JCJPC, Volume 8, Issue 2

To my dear friend and Christian brother

Dear friend of many years,

I'm going to have to take a Christian brother to task here [e-mail about shifting blame to the wrong people for the Tucson murders]. All politicians are vilified. No more so now than during John Adams' day or Andrew Jackson's. That's not the point. Obama snarled back and made unpatriotic remarks about his country and the people he has sworn to protect and lead. That's where the gag order should have begun--with his mouth and angry words. He should have been above that. So his being such a hypocrite about "we" is not at all calming the waters now.

The left has been attacking Sarah Palin since they found out she allowed her Down Syndrome baby to live. I'd only seen one or two news items about her before she became McCain's running mate, and that's the first really ugly thing I saw posted on leftist blogs and Democrat web sites. "What was she thinking? Doesn't she know what a burden this child will be to society? She's so irresponsible." About 90% of women screened and told the baby has Down's choose to abort. Are "we", a so-called Christian nation, supposed to be proud of that? Are Democrats--who claim to want only the best for the weakest in society? And hatred for her has only grown--a Christian who didn't kill her child! Then they started in on how dumb and inexperienced she was--governor of our largest state compared to a one term Senator who voted present a lot. Much of that is just plain misogyny (hatred of women).

Friend, our president believes in, and he was the only member of Congress to support, late term abortion. This means, in case you're not up on how this is done, the child is turned so the head comes out last, and as she exits the birth canal, or the abdomen if a Cesarean, she's stabbed in the head and the brain destroyed while the head is still in the so-called "mother" so it can be called an abortion and not infanticide. Are you proud of this president and his party for believing this should be legal? And even though embryonic stem cell experimentation was made completely unnecessary by new developments during the Bush years, he still released new money (our tax money) so researchers could use more embryos for research (it was never illegal--just received limited government funding). Not a single medical advancement has ever been found through this ghoulish procedure, but it was the very first thing he did in January 2009.

The rumor about the $250 million for the India trip was from a source in India and was first printed in their newspapers, not ours, from one of their government sources. Then it was picked up here, and never denied by any WH source--it was only ridiculed. Maybe it was only $20 million. It doesn't really matter, a President needs to be safe, but what does matter is that during a time of extreme economic hardship for the average American, he has spent more on leisure, vacations, state dinners, etc. than any WH in recent history. He behaves like a medieval potentate.

Is there propaganda and misinformation on all sides--yes, especially the part about where he was born, which is just silly because if an American woman has a baby in Asia, or Africa, or the middle of the ocean, the baby is still an American citizen. But the birthers are no more silly than the truthers--the guys who claim Bush planned 9/11, and some of those were part of Obama's staff.

No one made money on TARP (2008 under Bush), and no one knows to this day why Paulson (Bush's Treasurer) thought everything was going to collapse. And ARRA? It hasn't even all been spent and was frittered away on various projects, like sidewalks on my street and road repairs in my suburb, that went primarily to unions who supported Obama. So of course, we're always going to be told it was successful, just like the lies we were told about Roosevelt and the Great Depression. He kept it going for a decade with his crazy economic schemes, yet somehow we were taught in school that he was some sort of savior because he put men to work building parks like the White Pines (which had been used as a park by the locals for years) or painting murals in the Post Office in Mt. Morris. Without TARP, and without ARRA, we probably could have recovered 6 months ago from this current recession, brought on by the government messing with banking and the housing market.

As an observant Christian, you well know that we Americans have become consumers and extremely materialistic. We love our entertainment--movies, football, golf--we love to redecorate our houses, buy new cars, and take trips. A 10% unemployment rate is a big wake up call--it's even scared some of the gen-x folks. Even as the stock market recovers it will be awhile before people trust enough to invest in small business or hire new workers. Our public service retirement funds (and that would be me) and social security (my husband) are way over extended and unsustainable, because no one thought ahead to how this would be paid for. No one said stop. Government health care was crammed down our throats before Congress read the bill and before Medicare and Medicaid were cleaned up.

And now? A Congresswoman is shot by a crazy man who thought 6 was 18 and had caused problems in his community for years--and no one stopped him. The Democrats in government and media are saying some how conservatives should stop talking about making cut backs, repealing Obamacare, being more responsible, and running the country with a smaller government. How they got to that conclusion from a bloody super market parking lot in Tucson, only a Democrat could tell you.

Include me "out," please

Dear President Obama,

Yes, "We can do better" is a good message for you, Mr. President, at Tucson last night. I've been aghast by your undignified, unpresidential, Chicago knee-capping remarks to over half the American public who don't support your programs, or who are even mildly critical. George W. Bush was vilified for everything from his speech, to his ears, to 9/11 response, to two wars, to spending too much on social programs yet somehow he managed to stay above the fray and not insult us. Your disparaging remarks abroad about the USA haven't pleased anyone but our enemies and your far left, angry supporters. You, Pelosi and Reid, yes, YOU can do better (you could even read bills before voting/signing them), especially now that the people have spoken at the polls. But please leave the rest of us out of this tragedy committed by one misguided person, voluntary, by choice, who was obsessed by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a man who was known to the local police as a problem, was disturbing his college classes, and grieving his bewildered parents who couldn't control him.

In 1963, I was also thrown into that plural pronoun WE when Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy. Oh, how the press and the politicians moaned and wept over what we as a nation had become--and then they toned it down when they found out he wasn't a right wing fanatic as they first said, but a confirmed Communist. I think I also got included in that WE when John Lennon was shot by a demented man obsessed with him. Every time there's violence at the end of a gun, I get thrown into the bag with all the crazies, most of whom are either demented or leftists, and I really don't appreciate it.

This was a terrible tragedy for the families involved; a terrible blow for Tucson. It is not about a national anything--not the national conscience, not our spirit, not even about being a "kinder gentler" nation, as the first President Bush liked to remind us. Political rhetoric had nothing to do with this incident, and could be addressed at another, calmer, less distorted news cycle, a media that for the most part, got everything wrong by taking their lead from Sheriff Dupnik who opined when he should have been doing an investigation into his own failures in law enforcement.

Manchester College School of Pharmacy

Congratulations to Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana, where I attended one year, as did both my sisters, and many of my friends and relatives (Church of the Brethren affiliated)
which has received a $35 million grant from Lilly to endow a School of Pharmacy. It's the largest in the college's history.

Manchester College School of Pharmacy

PND - News - Lilly Endowment Awards $35 Million to Manchester College for School of Pharmacy

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President: Regulatory 'tsunami' threatens economy, supports Obamacare repeal | Washington Examiner

"Threaten" "explosion" etc. Tsk. Tsk. Will James Clyburn (D-SC) label this hate speech? Vitriol?

"We must rein in excessive regulations and reform the regulatory process.

At the federal level alone, regulations already fill 150,000 pages of fine-print text and cost Americans $1.7 trillion a year. Many of these rules are necessary and business strongly supports them.

Yet in recent years, we have seen an unprecedented explosion of new regulatory activity. Furthermore, the administration is likely to turn increasingly to the regulatory agencies now that getting legislation out of Congress could be more difficult.

The resulting regulatory tsunami poses, in our view, the single biggest challenge to jobs, our global competitiveness, and the future of American enterprise."

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President: Regulatory 'tsunami' threatens economy, supports Obamacare repeal | Washington Examiner

Congressman James Clyburn wants to stifle free speech

Maybe Clyburn could start his free speech clean up with Hip Hop and Rap music.

TJMS: Congressman James Clyburn Discusses AZ Shooting And The Role Of Fiery Political Rhetoric In Today's Political Climate | Roland S. Martin Blog

Margaret Whiting, Clear-Voiced Singer, Is Dead at 86 - NYTimes.com

Margaret Whiting, Clear-Voiced Singer, Is Dead at 86 - NYTimes.com

If a Democrat judge had been killed

and a Republican Congresswoman wounded, what would the focus have been by the press? Oh, Palin, Rush, and Glenn still would have been blamed for the judge's death, but the drama would have shifted away from the wounded Congresswoman. As it is, his name is hardly mentioned.

The New York Times and the President urged caution in making judgements before we had all the facts in the shooting by committed Muslim Nidal Malik Hasan 14 months ago at Ft. Hood who had many ties to Islamic radicals. But have they urged caution in blaming Sara Palin in the shooting of Rep Giffords who was shot by an erratic, unstable at any speed, trouble maker known to the police? Of course not. Now there are calls from outraged Democrats for controls on speech without a shred of evidence that politics influenced the shooter at all. Will those limits include violence on TV, in movies, and in rap music? How about late term abortion? Can we stop that violence? Will the N-word and dissing women finally be banned from hip-hop? Will Facebook take down Bill Maher's "Seeing Palin kill that moose,a creature with a far higher I Q, inspired hate for her beyond what even I thought I was capable of." Sounds pretty vitriolic to me.

And Sheriff Clarence Dupnik who was the first public figure to blame conservatives, is continuing to spout off and place the blame somewhere other than Loughner and his home county.

And for once, Jon Stewart made sense.

“I wouldn’t blame our political rhetoric [for Tucson] any more than I would blame heavy metal music for [the 1999 shootings in] Columbine,” he said. “Boy, would it be nice to draw a straight line of causation from this horror to something tangible, because then we could convince ourselves that if we just stop this, the horrors will end. But . . . you cannot outsmart crazy. Crazy always seems to find a way; it always has.”

NY Cops Arrest Male Model in Castration Killing of Portuguese Journalist

Do you suppose this qualifies as a hate crime against a homosexual? A gay model castrates and bludgeons his older male lover. Or does being gay disqualify him for hate crimes?

Update: NY Cops Arrest Male Model in Castration Killing of Portuguese Journalist | The Blaze

Bumper stickers work

Coming back from the coffee shop I was behind an older van with a 1580 Catholic Radio bumper sticker, so I changed channels. The signal is better in my car than in the house. Most of the programming is pretty good--I click off when someone starts talking about the importance of praying to Mary or the saints. But in many areas, most Christians have more in the common than they are willing to admit. For the last two years, with a stronger signal, it reaches about 1.75 million listeners (assuming they turn it on, of course.).

Access Board to Set Standards for Medical Equipment under the Health Care Reform Act

All my husband's announcements for continuing education come to my e-mail, and increasingly most are actually offered on-line. The ways manufacturers find to be either "green" or "sustainable" are just amazing. As are the health and safety reguations. In looking through them I noticed one for ADA compliant workshops for a product to assist the blind (little raised bumps on walkways). As I was browsing through the product literature I came across the "Access Board" website for the federal government. The Obamacare (PPACA) is almost full employment for industries that supply anything medical, from workshops to lighting to equipment to computer records, and they will successfully put the small medical offices out of business and force patients into group practices and then push them to government health care when those also get regulated out of business. Imagine the cost for a one or two doctor clinic for just this one requirement while they are still paying off their college loans and the mortgages on the equipment purchased last year:

"The "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" authorizes the Access Board to develop new access standards for medical diagnostic equipment including examination tables and chairs, weight scales, x-ray machines and other radiological equipment, and mammography equipment. Access to such equipment has been problematic under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)."

Access Board to Set Standards for Medical Equipment under the Health Care Reform Act

The charlatans' response to Tucson tragedy - OrlandoSentinel.com

George Will can usually nail it:

"Last year, New York Times columnist Charles Blow explained that "the optics must be irritating" to conservatives: Barack Obama is black, Nancy Pelosi is female, Rep. Barney Frank is gay, Rep. Anthony Weiner (an unimportant Democrat, listed to serve Blow's purposes) is Jewish. "It's enough," Blow said, "to make a good old boy go crazy." The Times, which after the Tucson shooting said "many on the right" are guilty of "demonizing" people and of exploiting "arguments of division," apparently was comfortable with Blow's insinuation that conservatives are misogynistic, homophobic, racist anti-Semites.

The charlatans' response to Tucson tragedy - OrlandoSentinel.com

Food pyramid: USDA sued by doctors' group that wants vegetarian alternative

God forbid the "group" do some research and fund raising, and publish and distribute their own pyramid!

"The lawsuit charges that the federal government should address the worsening epidemics of obesity and diet-related diseases by withdrawing the MyPyramid diagram and adopt the Power Plate food diagram and dietary guidelines."

I'm shocked, just shocked, that this well educated group has never seen a fat vegetarian. I have.

Food pyramid: USDA sued by doctors' group that wants vegetarian alternative - OrlandoSentinel.com

It's like opposing teams seeing the same call differently

Keep it up!! Negative all the way around. This whole blog site is devoted to negative. That really solves our problems doesn't it? Gun sites.targetd reps,24/7 over and over lists of things wrong with Obama and his programs. What do you folks expect. All talking heads need to tone it down and negative blogs need to exam their posts as well. But I must say in defense of MSNBC I have actually heard Keith O. say" I apologize for----" Never gonna heard that Rush, Glen or Sean. it was my worst fear that it would come to this-but not surprized.Just very sad for us all.What ever happened to our mental health programs,have we cut that funding so badly we can helth the sick ones before they buy into all this hate,doesn't anyone read the signs anymore or do we just plain not care about people anymore.

The most negative, anti-American President in my lifetime lives and speaks from the White House, the above writer voted for him, fell for that hope and change, and supports his deficit spending, and yet she calls my blog negative? That's pathetic, and that's watching the game thinking only the other team is doing wrong things.

But let's see if I can come up with something positive. I thought the November elections were very positive--I rejoiced that the conservatives finally got some stiffening in their spines instead of spaghetti. I'm antipating the rescinding of Obamacare. I'm looking forward to seeing if Kasich can do a better job than Strickland, although it's going to be tough since so many powers have been taken away from the state by the federal government. Our church is out of debt and going to finally get serious about the Great Commission. I got some new books for Christmas that I love. I saw two "help wanted" signs last week--one was Wendy's and one was Panera's, but that means more people are going out for lunch and supper, which is a good sign there are people bold enough to ignore the President and dig in and start something. We got together with friends Friday night and Sunday--all nice, conservative, non-violent tea party types, although no one is a member that I know of.

There, is that positive enough for you, dearie?

A brief word for the sheriff of Pima County

"Free speech doesn't turn people crazy. Debate doesn't turn people crazy. Stop making excuses for these criminals as to why they did what they did. Why not instead of crying about "vitriol" you go find the accomplice to this murder?" John Galt for President

Bye-Bye PCs and Laptops

Not for me, unless they stop making them. I hate those itsy bitsy keyboards and bumping into people who are reading the news and social networking as they walk.

"While personal computers are not going to disappear altogether, the trend lines are clear. Gartner, the market research company, predicts that by 2013 the number of smart phones will surpass PCs, 1.82 billion to 1.78 billion. And that's not counting the tablets. Gene Munster, an analyst with the global investment bank Piper Jaffray, estimates that Apple iPad sales were 14.5 million for 2010, with another million tablets sold by competitors. Sarah Rotman Epps at Forrester Research predicts that 82 million Americans will be using tablets by 2015.

Access to the Internet—a key indicator of consumer behavior—by mobile devices also is on a strong uptick. According to a report by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, 59% of Americans accessed the Internet on their phones last year, up from 25% the previous year. The Chinese government recently reported that nearly 300 million Chinese residents now access the Internet via mobile phones. Comcast announced on Wednesday that it would deliver cable television to the iPad and similar Android tablets later this year."

Malone and Hayes: Bye-Bye PCs and Laptops - WSJ.com

The Progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010

Michelle Malkin has a great walk down memory lane with the progressive web art work and text, like aiming a rifle at Sarah Palin's daughter, a chimp defecating on McCain's head, kill Bush t-shirts. What? No memories of the President going after conservatives? Ridiculing Special Olympics? Throwing his grandmother under the bus? Advocating for partial birth abortion? I'd say those are hateful too. I'd say the iconic Mao t-shirts being sold on the internet liberal sites doesn't show much respect for the millions of Chinese he murdered, would you?

Michelle Malkin » The progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010

Vitriol and hate speech in Tuscon

Sheriff Dupnik continues to make himself out to be a fool and a political patsy, if he wasn't one to start with. He owes over half the country an apology. And he owes the families of the victims an apology for politicizing their tragedy. He owes the entire country his resignation. As a Democrat (and I assume an elected sheriff) he continues to blame, well, the dark side of politics--talk radio (code for Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and Fox--but not Huffington Post, Moveon.org, Daily Kos, Media Matters, etc.). You can be sure he isn't talking about his own party, or those to the left of it.

Today Glenn Beck played recordings of the "hate speech" from the left. Was it hate speech to play it? It's very, very specific. It's about rising up, creating a revolution, about piting poor against rich, and we all know the names and faces--Rev. Wright (Obama's racist former pastor), Frances Fox Piven (Communist, racist, sexist, university professor), Van Jones the WH green jobs czar (who has moved over to a cozy, protected think tank). Did Dupnik, or any mainstream media reporter or website ever suggest that they were causing problems? What about Cornell West (has called Obama a racist)? Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (has called the Boston police department racist but kept his TV show on NPR)? Jesse Jackson (during campaign 2008 said he'd like to castrate Obama--could just be jealousy)? Father Phleger (hysterical religious bigot from Chicago)? Do the anti-Israel people ever take responsibility for the death of Jews or Palestinians? Don't think so. No. It's only the other side.

Review & Outlook: Murder in Tuscon - WSJ.com

Arizona sheriff slams media ‘vitriol’ - On Media - POLITICO.com

But the media has a long list of miscalls and speculation on this terrorism stuff. Recent violent shooters the press got wrong from the get-go:

Amy Bishop (unhappy about tenure decision). James Lee (Discovery Channel shooter, Al Gore fan). Seung-Hui Cho (the Va Tech shooter). Steven Kazmierczak (grad student in social work from NIU). Joseph Stack (software engineer mad at the IRS who played in a band). Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (Columbine murderers of school children). Major Nidal Malik Hasan (Army psychiatrist who shot 30 at Ft. Hood)

We all know this is a political campaign for "net neutrality," and the Democrats never waste a crisis to move their agenda forward.