Amen to that!

Do you need a reasonably priced small gift for Christmas, a book maybe?  For someone who is a word nerd, and just a little bit religious?  I’m suggesting “Amen to that! The amazing way the Bible influences our everyday language,” by Ferdie Addis, Reader’s Digest, 2014. 165 pp. (5 x 7 inches, hard cover) $14.99.

I just received it today for review, and am having such fun browsing. Each familiar saying (that perhaps you didn't know came from the King James Bible) includes the appropriate verse reference and several paragraphs of explanation, history and how it is used today. There is also a nice bibliography and index, which are the heart's desire for most librarians (Romans 10:1), even those who are 3 score and 10 (Psalm 90:10).

So for that special someone who is “the apple of your eye,” or “the salt of the earth” for whom there’s “nothing new under the sun,” try this one.

Before and after the tornado

Washington, Illinois.  Between 250 and 500 buildings were damaged or destroyed and about 120 people were injured in Washington, where winds reached an estimated 170 to 190 miles per hour on Sunday, November 17.

Ten things I miss about being a kid—Monday Memories

I’m not one of those people who looks back in nostalgia about childhood—I always wanted to be an adult, as long as I can remember.  Obviously, children are naïve about adulthood—believe they’ll have more freedom and control.  And that’s the truth—it’s just not as they imagine.  Here’s a few things I do miss as I age.

1.  I miss being able to run up and down stairs, taking them two at a time. As a child, I don’t think I ever walked when I used stairs, and I’ve always lived in a house that had stairs. I could also put my leg over my head and around my neck—not a particularly useful talent, but no one else could do it.

2.  I miss horses—the smell, touch and feel.  As a child that was my obsession.  I would hang out at the Ranz barn sitting on them and grooming them, I would ride friends’ horses, I would draw pictures of horses, I collected little horse statues, and I pretended my bicycle was a horse named “Red.” The bicycle was blue.

3.  I miss being the best artist in my age group and among my friends. My mother made sure I had plenty of paper, and 65 years later I still have some of the art supplies she gave me (dried up, but I don’t throw them away).

4.  I miss being able to eat all I wanted.  My mother really didn’t keep a lot of extra food in the house, and snacking was so sensible it would make a 21st century child weep—sliced raw potatoes, raw cabbage, or a slice of bread sprinkled with sugar.  But I never worried about putting on weight, which after age 18 was always on my mind. 

5.  I miss the sound of my mother’s voice as she read to my brother and me—Little House series (some published in the 1930s),  My Book House, or other quality books—even the Little Engine that Could, and Chicken Little.  Mother was great with accents and dialog, and always made the stories vivid. I already knew how to read, but it was more fun when she did it.

6.  I miss Christmas excitement—lying on the floor shaking packages to see if I could guess what was in them.  Hoping for new doll clothes made by my mother from left over fabric of my clothes.  Knowing some things would be practical clothing items didn’t dull the thrill. Traveling to relatives for a big dinner and seeing cousins was part of it, and I’ve forgotten all the squabbles about who would sit where and how long we had to wait. Looking forward to Grandma’s check each year (all year) and planning how to spend it came after she stopped buying us individual gifts like art supplies and magazine subscriptions.

7.  I miss winning the races.  Although I was never athletic and didn’t like to sweat, there was a time, around age 8 when I could outrun everyone in my class, even the boys.  Then I learned it’s not a good idea to outrun the boys, but OK to be ahead of the girls.

8.  To this day, I’m not competitive and don’t care much for games, because someone always loses, but I miss playing cards, jacks, racing around outside at night with the neighborhood kids playing King of the Hill, Mother may I, and Hide and Seek. We had a big yard, and other the kids came to our house—I don’t think I ever went elsewhere at night.

9.  I miss riding my bicycle to the next town in the summer for a five cent ice cream cone because they were ten cents in our town, and riding into the country to collect tadpoles in the creek with my brother.  Not sure what we did with them or how long they lived.

10.  I miss bringing dogs home or finding puppies and bringing them home, “Can I keep him, Mom?” There was Lassie 1 and 2, Jerry, Pretty, Curly, and Lady.

Colorado Obamacare ads

Advertisements for the ACA commissioned by Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and ProgressNow Colorado Education target the younger generation to join the Affordable Care Act's healthcare exchanges by depicting women as sex hungry floozies and men as beer drinking, partying idiots.  But it was the President and all the Democrats who didn’t read the bill who misinformed and lied; perhaps the ads were closer to the truth?

Amy Runyon-Harms, executive director of ProgressNow Colorado, defended the advertisements.

“The whole intention of these ads is to raise awareness, and that’s what we’re doing. It’s great that more and more people are talking about it,” said Runyon-Harms, who notes the ads only appear on social media and will not, for example, be displayed on billboards or buses. http://www.news-herald.com/general-news/20131113/aca-ad-lets-hope-hes-as-easy-to-get-as-this-birth-control

Bashir on Palin

Paula Priesse comments on the ugly outburst allowed on MSNBC by a liberal that would get a conservative fired if the tables were turned.

“. . . imagine if Sean Hannity said someone should defecate or urinate in Nancy Pelosi’s mouth? Martin Bashir suggested on MSNBC Friday that this be done to Sarah Palin. And yet again total silence from NOW. This is our world today, Paula Deen gets crucified and loses her cooking show for saying the N word years ago, but filth like Bashir still has a job. Palin’s crime? Depicting the massive federal debt as a form of slavery. Bashir also called Sarah “America’s resident dunce” and a “world-class idiot,” as compared to Mensa members Pelosi, Boxer, Jackson Lee & Wasserman Schultz. What drives lib bottom feeders like Bashir berserk is that far more often than not “America’s resident dunce” has been proven correct. Obamacare anyone? So let little Marty throw his tantrums, conservatives like Palin & Cruz will continue living rent-free in his head by being right on the issues. P”

I just can’t imagine why some liberals are so ignorant that the word “slavery” to them means what happened to Africans in the United States, instead of what happened to Indians in Brazil, or English sailors in North Africa, or Europeans that the Romans conquered, or people who are in debt to China, or to their credit cards, or their emotions,  or even the millions of sex slaves and labor slaves included in the trafficking in persons laws in the United States, a figure that outnumbers anything that happened in the 18th century.

If it weren’t for inflammatory, evil, ugly and uninformed statements, Bashir wouldn’t have any reputation at all—I’d never heard of him until he proposed someone defecate in Palin’s mouth so she would understand the world slavery.  Has he ever heard of a dictionary?  It doesn’t have to be about what just happened in this country. I had to Google him to even find out who he was.  Rush Limbaugh called a loose woman a slut, and the left tried to get him fired.  But they love Bashir who has made disgusting remarks about many Conservative women.

Our State Department defines bondage  due to debt as a form of slavery.  This is from the 2013 report published under John Kerry’s signature .  Perhaps Bashir has a treat for him, too?

“One form of coercion is the use of a bond or debt. U.S. law prohibits the use of a debt or other threats of financial harm as a form of coercion and the Palermo Protocol requires its criminalization as a form of trafficking in persons. Some workers inherit debt; for example, in South Asia it is estimated that there are millions of trafficking victims working to pay off their ancestors’ debts. Others fall victim to traffickers or recruiters who unlawfully exploit an initial debt assumed as a term of employment.

Debt bondage of migrant laborers in their countries of origin, often with the support of labor agencies and employers in the destination country, can also contribute to a situation of debt bondage. Such circumstances may occur in the context of employment-based temporary work programs when a worker’s legal status in the country is tied to the employer and workers fear seeking redress.”

Bad weather November 17

Also the 49th anniversary of the birth and death of Patrick Howard Bruce, Urbana, Illinois, November 17, 1964.

Comparing lies and their results

If abortion doctors understand and admit it, why don’t you?

“Abortionists admit they’re killing babies, that older babies are still alive when drawn-and-quartered, and that late-term abortions are dangerous to mothers, etc., etc., etc. Why do pro-choicers ignore, deny, or minimize what their very own medical professionals say about abortion?”

Link, but look out, it’s gruesome.

The T word vs. the B word

"On Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013, the United States Department of State announced the designation of Boko Haram and Ansaru as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Boko Haram first carried out terrorist attacks in 2009, and Ansaru splintered from Boko Haram in 2012. The Department of State’s announcement of the official designation notes several highly lethal recent attacks carried out by Boko Haram and Ansaru against both domestic and international targets in Nigeria."  (START)

So it's OK to use the T word again. As far as I know, the Ft. Hood shootings by Major Nidal Hasan are still workplace violence, denying the victims important benefits. Because we all, rightly so, assumed the government would be taking care of them and their families, there wasn't even special fund raising on their behalf. It's the B word. Betrayal.

Muslims doing good

In Your Fatwa Does Not Belong Here (2013), the Algerian law professor Karima Bennoune of UC Davis collects the untold stories of Muslims who are speaking out against the violence and terror propagated in the name of Islam.

People often ask, "Why don't Muslims speak out against the violence perpetrated by their religion?" After all, the overwhelming majority of victims of Muslim violence are Muslims. Bennoune's oral history collects the stories of Muslims who are repudiating violence, almost always at great risk to their personal safety. Her book is based upon interviews with 286 Muslims from 26 countries.

"Finding a principled position in this political universe," Bennoune admits, "is not easy." Some people work within Islam to reinvigorate its history as a life-affirming religion. Others appeal to universal human rights that transcend all religions. They often find themselves stuck between two bad alternatives — secular autocracy with dictator-thugs like Mubarak, and political theocracy with violent extremists like the Taliban.

These brave Muslims have resisted the temptation to give up. They have not stopped doing and speaking good.

From the blog Journey with Jesus

Available at Amazon

Who’s the wacko bird now, John?*

“(Reuters) - UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) dropped thousands of doctors from its networks in recent weeks, leaving many elderly patients unsure whether they need to switch plans to continue seeing their doctors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The insurer said in October that underfunding of Medicare Advantage plans for the elderly could not be fully offset by the company's other healthcare business. The company also reported spending more healthcare premiums on medical claims in the third quarter, due mainly to government cuts to payments for Medicare Advantage services.

The Journal report said that doctors in at least 10 states were notified of being laid off the plans, some citing "significant changes and pressures in the healthcare environment." According to the notices, the terminations can be appealed within 30 days.”

* John McCain referred to Senator Rand Paul, Senator Ted Cruz and Rep. Justin Amash (all Republicans) as “wacko birds” back in March 2013.

Some colleges also dropping student health coverage

Obamacare's new regulations would force the cost of the insurance at Bowie State in Maryland to rise from $50 to $900 a semester. Officials at one one of the nation's oldest and most elite historically black colleges are citing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as the reason they have cancelled a school-wide affordable health care plan they had offered students. International students will also lose their insurance, and they are not eligible for the exchanges.

http://www.bowiestate.edu/campus-life/henry-wise-wellness-center/student-health-insurance-plan-/

The faux fix

Allowing people to "keep" plans that no longer exist in a state where the insurance company no longer offers the product whether for a year or 10 years sounds pretty foolish to me whether Obama is offering the fix or the House Republicans are. The way our politicians flip flop, who would trust them when they say it is OK on Thursday to buy something already illegal on Wednesday?

Who’s smarter now?

"So, if I follow correctly, the smartest president ever is not smart enough to ensure that his website works; he’s not smart enough to inquire of others as to whether his website works; he’s not smart enough to check that his website works before he goes out and tells people what a great website experience they’re in for. But he is smart enough to know that he’s not stupid enough to go around bragging about how well it works if he’d already been informed that it doesn’t work. So he’s smart enough to know that if he’d known what he didn’t know he’d know enough not to let it be known that he knew nothing. The country’s in the very best of hands." Mark Steyn http://www.nationalreview.com/article/364093/thus-spake-obama-mark-steyn

Where does that uninsured figure come from?

In the last 5 years I've seen the "uninsured" figure ranging from 35 to 45 million.  First, for my foreign FaceBook and blogger friends (and my Democrat trolls), all Americans have access to health care, and a small percentage to not have insurance or private funds to pay for that care.  Second, the high figure of uninsured is based on our U.S. Census, which counts people, not citizens, so about 10 million of whatever figure you chose, are not Americans. Third, that figure is a snapshot of a point in time and includes people between jobs, students leaving college coverage, or workers moving into their own business who haven't yet purchased what is appropriate for their needs. Fourth, it includes people (about 14 million) who are eligible for one of our many government plans for special groups, but they just haven't signed on. They find it easier to just go to the ER or a free clinic. And then there are those with higher incomes who pay out of pocket, and like it that way (about 17 million). Fifth, about 18 million are under 34, the healthiest age group who are willing to gamble (because that's how youth are) nothing can happen to them and they'd rather spend the money at the mall or the bar. Some of these groups overlap and are counted twice--young, leaving college, changing jobs, and/or well off due to family circumstances.

The two worst features of our BO (before Obamacare) health insurance system (not health care, which is very good) is that it is tied to employment (big tax breaks for employers and workers—which our current administration sees as a loop hole) and not portable, and that it is so highly regulated by state governments that only the really big players have a say in it.  For instance, the problem of not being able to sell across state lines so the citizen can freely select the best policy.

It shouldn't have been difficult to correct those faults and insure the people who were showing up at the ER, skipping vaccinations, and too ill or deranged to work, but that would not have given the federal government any additional power, nor have satisfied the desire of many Americans to be relieved of all guilt and demand to look out for the little guy by letting the government do it all.

http://spectator.org/articles/41931/myth-46-million

The underpinning lie—the 40 million

"On Tuesday, about 40 million more Americans will be able to finally buy quality, affordable health care, just like anybody else. Those marketplaces will be open for business on Tuesday no matter what -- even if there’s a government shutdown. That’s a done deal." Barack Obama, Sept. 27, 2013

The lie here isn't what we all know followed, a massive meltdown and confusion of unbelievable proportions, but the "40 million will finally be able to buy affordable health care."  Many of those 40 million (that figure is rather squishy, since it seemed to get larger each time I saw a reference) were already able to buy insurance--certainly not the plan the government has decided we all need--but it was out there. Many were illegal aliens since the Census on which this figure is based includes people, not citizens.   Many chose not to participate in an employer's plan, or to not sign on for Medicaid, or to not work.  Some wanted just catastrophic and chose to pay out of pocket for their day to day care. Now with subsidies provided by the responsible ones who did buy insurance, their insurance is "affordable?"  Is $99 a month affordable if the man pays no taxes, has no skills, is homeless or mentally ill? What is he supposed to do?  Sell his EBT card?  Is if affordable if he's passed on to Medicaid in states that aren't allowed to run a deficit, and Obama's word can't be trusted not to change at the next press conference?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/09/27/obama_to_congress_do_not_shut_down_the_government.html

In his press conference on Thursday when he announced the same delay for which Tea Party were demonized just a month earlier, he also lied.  And pretended to have been unaware of the problems of 5 million losing their insurance and doctors.  Some media sources, all friendly, called this a mea culpa and an apology, but I never heard one word where he accepted the blame.  As on everything else in these last 5 years, he just says he didn’t know, or found out late, or heard it on the grapevine.

One of the few people who actually got to see and talk to the president during the run up to the Oct. 1 rollout was Valerie Jarrett, his right hand, who wrote on the WH blog July 2. "We are on target to open the health insurance marketplace on Oct. 1 where small businesses and ordinary Americans will be able to go to one place to learn about their coverage options and make side-by-side comparisons of each plan’s price and benefits before they make their decision.” Also, in July it was decided to delay the employer mandate until after the mid-terms so Democrats wouldn't be hurt. Now he's decided (and it's probably not any more lawful than his other decrees to change the law) to postpone the individual mandate until after the elections, again because Democrats have to run for reelection among some very unhappy people who have lost their insurance.

Will insurance companies comply with disobeying the law?

The "original" Obamacare (even with 36,000 pages of regulations) had something for the insurance companies--profit from millions of new customers (young, healthy, etc.). Obama meets with them today to offer all they can eat at a crap sandwich buffet.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/11/15/obama-insurance-ceos-obamacare/3574161/

Stomach flu—Norovirus

Use soap and water, not hand sanitizer to protect from the flu virus.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers may stop bacterial infections and even cold and some flu strains in their tracks. But when it comes to norovirus, they don’t do much good. That’s because alcohol in the sanitizer can rupture the "envelopes" around viruses like the flu, according to the New York Times. Norovirus doesn’t have such an envelope, so the alcohol doesn't destroy it.

A CDC study of long-term care facilities published in 2011 found that those where the staff primarily used hand sanitizer to disinfect were six times more likely to have a norovirus outbreak than those where staffers lathered up with soap and water.

http://www.rd.com/slideshows/stomach-flu-prevention/#ixzz2keSzMDzF

50 shades of grey porn--yuk

Two Belgian university professors recently decided to submit the 10 most borrowed books at the Antwerp library to bacteriology and toxicology tests.

Traces of cocaine were found on all 10 books. The traces were small enough that readers would not feel the effects, but significant enough that they could test positive for cocaine.

But the real case of life imitating art was revealed when the scientists discovered traces of the herpes virus in the pages of the erotic tale Fifty Shades of Grey.

Brietbart.com

How we got Common Core, spoken by a high school student

Good information.  Did you know the Common Core background?  Untested.  Not even from the Department of Education. Few educators.  Why should Bill and Melinda Gates have more to say about the education of your children than your teachers, your local school board, your state board of education and the Department of Education? It’s right here: “develop next-generation instructional tools and assessments.” 

“. . . the Gates Foundation underwrote the organizations writing the Common Core standards: the National Governors Association, Student Achievement Partners (David Coleman), the Council of Chief State School Officers, and Achieve. She sums up what she found: "In total, the four organizations primarily responsible for CCSS -- NGA, CCSSO, Achieve, and Student Achievement Partners -- have taken $147.9 million from Bill Gates." Huffington Post, 10/10/13

“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation intends to continue investing in the assessments and tools that will make the standards real and productive—primarily those targeted for classroom use. This commitment is crucial to our goal of substantially increasing student achievement. One way we hope to further this important work is by investing $250 million over eight years to develop next-generation instructional tools and assessments that will help states and school districts implement the standards. We will also fund research that uses hard evidence to identify ways that states can adjust standards and assessments to better help students succeed.”

http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicEducationDaily/DetailsPage/tabid/102/ArticleID/2678/BREAKING-National-Catholic-Educational-Association-Responds-to-Common-Core-Concerns-and-Gates-Foundation-Grant.aspx