Blogging from the porch

No connection at the cottage today, so I'm on the hotel porch.

Friday family photo

I found a cute pillow sham with 2 cats at Volunteers of America for 26 cents.  She looked so cute on it I went back and got the other one.

Thomas Sowell on how much this will cost you

Obama insisted it wasn't a tax. Court says it is.

The Supreme Court's Decision

The Supreme Court gets it wrong, sometimes. And then it's really big. And hurtful. Like in 1857 when it declared blacks weren't citizens (Dredd Scott) and therefore didn't have a right to sue in the courts and in 1973 when it decided the unborn baby wasn't either a human or a citizen and didn't have a right to life.. Justice Roberts (paraphrased) said it's not the court's responsibility to protect the American people from bad laws--we need to do that at the ballot box.


I doubt that the USSR could have fallen without Pope John Paul II and his inspiration for the Polish people to fight for their freedom. Looks like the limp, spineless evangelicals need to get behind the Catholics in their battle against the HHS Mandate. It's the only power we've got who can stand up to Big Brother Barack.


"It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it." --Thomas Sowell

NORMA BRUCE

Week One at Lakeside 2012

Week 1 at Lakeside, Dr. Paul Beck of OSU was a featured speaker talking about the 2012 elections. Excellent speaker, and very informative. I had 2 take-aways after 4 sessions. This year will be a record for money spent on campaigning--$4-5 billion. But McDonald's will spend $20 billion advertising its products. Most of that goes to convince the "undecided, non-party" voter, and only a low percentage of them vote. The rest of us know who we are voting for so the ads don't affect us. Also, Columbus, OH will have more money spent on it than any other market because Ohio is a swing state. And I think Cleveland is #2. Most of you won't see what we see.

Sunday evening we went down to the park to hear a fiddle player, Krista Solars. But the weather report looked like rain, so it was moved to Hoover Auditorium  She was excellent, but lost some of her audience in the shift--the people carrying lawn chairs, food and leading dogs. On Tuesday evening at Hoover a group called Blue Lunch from Cleveland played.  Very interesting mix of R & B, soul, jazz, gospel and good old rock n roll.  Saturday night was Mike Albert and his Big E Band (Elvis impersonator), in his 14th appearance.  I think we've probably seen at least 10 of those.  He always puts on a great show.  Elvis and a classic car show go well together--lots of visitors of a certain age in town!

On Tuesday I also made a quick trip to Sandusky for a new pair of athletic shoes.  My legs were starting to hurt, and I know that's a sign I've gone too long. I don't want to miss out on the morning walks along the lake.  I noticed this morning the sun popped up at 6:01 which means the days are getting shorter!

Monday Memories--June 23 at Lakeside

Is there anything prettier than the Fords of 1954-1956?  Or maybe it's just the memories.  First program of the season was vintage and classic cars on Saturday, June 23.

Yes, we're here at Lakeside with extremely slow connections. 1 mbps. Not much blogging and the template won't create a title.

ACORN’S Joe McGaven gets $445 million in Illinois

“ACORN, the supposedly defunct organization defunded by Congress in the aftermath of James O’Keefe’s video exposing ACORN employees’ willingness to help out pimps and prostitutes attain government benefits, is back. As Judicial Watch has uncovered, the Obama administration offered $445 million to a former ACORN official as part of a $7.6 billion government program designed to help “unemployed or substantially underemployed” Americans make their mortgage payments.

The ACORN official, Joe McGavin, is director of Hardest Hit, an Illinois program that received that massive Treasury infusion. Prior to his time at Hardest Hit, McGaven was director of counseling for ACORN Housing in Chicago, and the operations manager for Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA), an ACORN affiliate.”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/06/08/ACORN-official-gets-payoff

“Until two years ago AHCOA was called ACORN Housing. The nonprofit corporation renamed itself Affordable Housing Centers for America after undercover activists caught ACORN employees offering helpful advice about starting a brothel for pedophiles and committing other crimes on video in 2009. Soon after, popular revulsion prompted Congress to ban funding of ACORN and groups related to it.

ACORN Housing, which had been the largest affiliate in ACORN’s corrupt, taxpayer-subsidized empire of activism, grew out of crime: squatting. It emerged from a 1982 action in which ACORN built a squatters’ tent city behind the White House.”

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/06/12/obama-gives-446-million-to-acorn-veteran/

Give a wedding gift that will last

I'm still using some of our wedding gifts. We were married in 1960. President Obama wants couples to give that up so he can raise more money for his campaign. No president in history has ever run up a debt like he has or spent more time on the golf course. I don't think I'd trust him with my wedding gift money or my tax money. http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2012/06/22/obama_to_couples_why_dont_you_forgo_wedding_gifts_and_ask_your_guests_to_donate_to_me_instead

                         

Still using my silverplate received as a gift from my husband’s aunts and uncles. 

Conservatives complain too much about welfare—except where it counts

Welfare comes to many, not just the poor. Princeton University is highly invested in the success of capitalism with an endowment of $17 billion, or about $2 million per student. Even so, it received approximately $54,000 per student in 2011 from the federal government--you and me. Richard Vedder, Bloomberg.com, Mar. 18, 2012.

‎"In 2002, Meg Whitman, now the chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co. and a former CEO of EBay Inc., made a $30 million gift for what is essentially a luxury dorm (Whitman College) at Princeton that probably netted her a tax break of $10 million or so. Less opulent residences at the College of New Jersey lack such rich private funding. One could argue that this is the equivalent of building public housing for the rich. "

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-18/princeton-reaps-tax-breaks-as-state-colleges-beg.html

“It's unlikely that more money has ever been lavished on the education of so few. Even as Ivy Plus budgets have spiraled upward, the schools' enrollments have barely budged. From the 1997-98 academic year through 2006-07, graduate enrollment at the 10 institutions inched up by 10%, to 55,708, while the number of undergraduates actually fell by 1.4%, to 68,492.

Meanwhile [2007], the wealth gap between the Ivies and everyone else has never been wider. The $5.7 billion in investment gains generated by Harvard's endowment for the year that ended June 30 exceeded the total endowment assets of all but six U.S. universities, five of which were Ivy Plus: Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, and Columbia. Ivy dominance extends to fund-raising. A mere 10 schools accounted for half the growth in donations to all U.S. colleges and universities last year. All of the top five on the list were Ivies, led by Stanford, which set a record for higher education in 2006, collecting $911 million in gifts.”

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_50/b4062038784589.htm

Why the general public doesn’t trust architects

A glass box addition to a 19th century farm house.

Story here

Even fewer jobs for Mexico in the future

“On April 19, 2012, Mexico’s Senate unanimously passed the Ley General de Cambio Climático, or the General Law on Climate Change. The bill, which previously passed The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, by a vote of 128-10, includes a requirement that Mexico reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent below business-as-usual levels by 2020 and by 50 percent below 2000 levels by 2050.

In addition, the bill mandates that 35 percent of the country’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2024; requires mandatory emissions reporting by the country’s largest polluters; establishes a top-level commission to oversee implementation of the law, lead environmental research, and report on emissions levels; provides for the development of a carbon emissions trading scheme; and establishes a fund to collect resources for climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.”

I guess there will be more Mexicans heading north to support their families. But at least the wealthy, white Mexicans who run their government can breath clean air.

http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/

This is one serious climate change blog.  They are “true believers.”

Pelosi unhinged

It’s not only her boss who grabs power not assigned to his office.

“I could have arrested Karl Rove on any given day,” she [Nancy Pelosi] said. “I’m not kidding. There’s a prison here in the Capitol. If we had spotted him in the Capitol, we could have arrested him.”

However, Rove noted that while a House committee cited him for contempt in the investigation of the firing of U.S. attorneys in 2007, the House never took up the resolution.

“So it's nice to know that Speaker Pelosi wanted to have me arrested,” he said in an appearance on Fox News. “It's nice to know that she thinks she had the power to. But we're still a nation of laws, and she had no authority to do so, and had she attempted to arrest me on any of the number of times that I was in and out of the Capitol, without a resolution passed by the entire House of Representatives, she would have been up the proverbial creek without the proverbial paddle.

“You know, she sounds a little bit like Inspector Clouseau and a little bit about the mad red queen. But you know, Speaker Pelosi was dead wrong in her assertion today. I'm sure she had a good laugh, and it's nice to know that she dreams of slapping me in her own personal jail, but didn't have any authority to do it.”

Read more  Rove: Nancy Pelosi the Inspector Clouseau of House Speakers

Running from economic issues—Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi thinks Holder's contempt charge (he has lied to Congress) is about "voter suppression" (he's trying to stop states from cleaning up their voter registration rolls). Why does she want dead people, illegals and prisoners to vote? Talk about suppression. That denies legal voters a right to be counted. http://washingtonexaminer.com/pelosi-holder-contempt-vote-about-voter-suppression-not-fast-and-furious/article/2500261

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) said "Black unemployment remains at almost 14 percent -- almost double the rate for whites," and destruction of the family can be blamed for that. Look what Obama has done for blacks--just think what he could do for Hispanics. But that's not fair. The government has been destroying the black family for about 70 years. For unborn African-Americans, the abortion rate is about 40%. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/rep-allen-west-family-values-not-government-needed-economic-stability-black-community

“In the 1950s, after at least seventy years of rough parity, African American marriage rates began to fall behind white rates. In 1950, the percentages of white and African American women (aged fifteen and over) who were  currently married were roughly the same, 67 percent and 64 percent, respectively. By 1998, the percentage of currently married white women had dropped by 13 percent to 58 percent. But the drop among African American women was 44 percent to 36 percent—more than three times
larger. The declines for males were parallel, 12 percent for white men, 36 percent for African American men.” http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/0817998721_95.pdf

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/12/14/barely-half-of-u-s-adults-are-married-a-record-low/

Ineptocracy T-shirt

       

Too short to blog

Idioms. "Expecting a baby." It's already a baby. "Going to be a mother." Already a mother. "With child." Now you're catching on.

Sandals.  I have owned many, but they rarely fit well.  My “best” pair is over 12 years (summers) old, and the sole on the right foot separated on Sunday.  I bought some super glue.  On hold for now. Cost is no object (these were $5.00), comfort is.

Kitty.  Is not eating well again (refer you back to August 2011).  So we’re using appetite stimulants, baby food, and lots of variety.  But when you have a cat that doesn’t like fish of any flavor or species, the selection is limited.

Shams. I bought a pillow sham with 2 stylized cats on it for 26 cents at Volunteers of America that had colors matching my couch in my office.  I put a pillow in it—the cat loves it. So I went back and got the other one, also 26 cents.

Glasses. I picked up my new glasses on Tuesday.  Not very different than the 2008 style.  It’s too expensive to get a second pair at the optometrist’s or to even have new lenses for old frames (wanted $228), but I can get a wide selection at Wal-Mart for $79.

Education. About 50 years ago the Supreme Court decided that American children didn't need prayer or Bible reading in public schools. In their place we now have metal detectors, armed guards and classes on using condoms.

Ears. When I was about 35, I thought about getting my ears pierced. Still thinking. . .

Blueberry biscuits.  I made this.  Wasn’t as good as I expected, but ate it anyway.  Do you ever do that?

I have no idea what happened. “The OCLC Board of Trustees has concluded that rather than moving forward with the appointment of Jack B. Blount as its President and CEO, it is in the best interest of OCLC to have Jay Jordan continue serving in these capacities. Mr. Jordan has agreed to postpone his retirement to continue leading OCLC.”

Not very healthy for the baby. . .

“While hundreds of Connecticut residents rallied in New Haven against abortion and federal requirements that religious organizations cover their employees' contraceptives, officials at the State Capitol complex took up a measure on whether the insurance everyone will be required to purchase under the federal health law will cover the procedures.

The panel unanimously decided that abortion is an essential benefit by eliminating the plan that prohibits elective abortion coverage, and that it will be covered in the plan they select.

"This issue is favorably resolved for all women now in Connecticut," said Jennifer Jaff, executive director of the group Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness and a member of an advisory committee of the Insurance Exchange Health Plan. "Stripping women of elective abortions is not a tenable option." “

http://ctmirror.org/story/16602/abortion-be-considered-essential-health-benefit

The Advocacy group appears to only be Jennifer Jaff.

Usually he’s compared to Carter

“In 1999, Christopher Hitchens penned an acid reflection on the presidency of Bill Clinton, titled "No One Left To Lie To." The verdict on the presidency of Barack Obama, at least during this campaign season, might be No One Left to Pander To. In three and a half years, we've gone from the "audacity of hope" to the "shameless palm grease." “

Mona Charen