Who REALLY Benefits From "Sexual Liberation"?

Ace of Spades has a provocative post about the REAL outcomes of the Let's "Free" Women to Have Promiscuous Sex, Anytime, Any Place, Without Any Commitment" movements of the 1970s.

I gotta agree - I think we women were HAD.  In every sense of the word.

Share

Why Are Gas Prices Rising?

Hint:  It's NOT the uprisings in Egypt and other Mideast countries.

It's a direct result of the policies that Obama has inflicted on the US business community.

It's NOT about "saving the environment" - the alternative energy industry is land-hungry (wind farms take up a LOT of room), inefficient (they can't exist without subsidies), and pretending that their use of electricity derived from fossils fuels is somehow more virtuous than the production of the fuels themselves.

Click the link to get a comprehensive list of the reasons for the price hikes.

Share

Only 101 Posts to Go...

...until I hit 2,000 posts on this blog.  To me, that's amazing.  I never thought my blogging would last that long.  I started on November 13, 2003 - that was this post.

Since then, the poor girl has crashed and burned, and apparently had a Phoenix-like second act to her career.  I wish her luck - she had a bad break, having to work so hard at an early age, and missing so much of her childhood.

What am I doing right now?  Reading an interesting post on Eternity Road about paganism and Christianity - it's quite thought-provoking.

Speaking of Eternity Road, there's a post on the Egyptian and other African uprisings, and the possible role that the Muslim Brotherhood played in them - I'm quite convinced that the back-story on that would be newsworthy.

On the lighter side (are you reading, Danny?), here's a link to a GREAT! new diet - Beer-Me.  Guaranteed to work.  I fully expect that our weight problem in America will completely disappear - are you listening, Ms. Obama?  You can take your hands off our junk food now.

Share

It's Been Some Time...

since I wrote a post.

Life intervened.  I had a huge backlog at work.  I was working in my business, in what remained of my spare time.  I actually took a couple of evenings off, to just chill.

So, why is everyone else not jumping on the posting wagon?  Maybe it's the Outrage Fatigue this author talks about.

t's becoming clear to me that we're in a state of "outrage fatigue". That's my term for the malaise of passivity that has settled over us. Ten years after 9/11, and people act as if it never happened. Meanwhile, the same people who danced in the street and passed out candy to celebrate the wholesale annihilation of innocents propose to build a monument to themselves on the site, and our outrage seems to fade in a year or so.

Sad, isn't it, that he seems to have a point.

Share

I Realize That He's From Hawaii...

...but, surely, he's been on the mainland long enough to know what FREEZING is, hasn't he?  I mean, Chicago isn't exactly balmy this time of year.

From ABC News:

ABC News' Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report: In an interview with ABC News’ Cincinnati affiliate WCPO-TV WednesdayIn an , President Obama said that his “budget freezes spending for five years, and what that does is it solves the short-term problem by saying, we’re not going to spend any more money than we’re taking in.”

That is factually incorrect. Even after the president’s proposed budget – with its optimistic prediction of 3.9% growth – achieves a point, in 2017, when spending is roughly equivalent to taxes coming into the government, the U.S. government will continue to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars a year to pay for interest on the national debt accrued until that point – including debt racked up during the Obama presidency.

"Factually incorrect".  That's the words you use when someone tells a BIG FAT LIE! - but when you're trying to point it out politely.

So, how does he mince words to manage to state otherwise?  He ignores the interest on the debt.

Well, hell, any of us could make our budget look better by not including the credit card and mortgage interest in the monthly budget.

Unfortunately, our creditors won't let us not pay it.  Neither will the Chinese.

Share

It's Usually the Students Who Play Truant, But...

...this time, it's the teachers who are pretending to be sick, so they can protest against the proposed legislation to take away their collective bargaining rights.

I'm torn.  On one hand, I have to admit that unions do a better job of getting their membership a decent wage than trying to go it alone.

On the other hand, the unions have gotten their guys a MUCH better wage than almost all of the community they work in.  Should they be getting THAT much more money than the parents of the children they teach?

Only if, like doctors, their numbers are so limited that they can charge whatever the market will bear.

Which is NOT the case - too many teachers are unemployed.  If these teachers don't want to work for the money that's offered, there are many who would gladly do so.

In a related note, the Democratic legislators are ALSO playing hooky.  They've left the capital to avoid voting on the proposed legislation.  Without their presence, no quorum.  No quorum, no vote.  Nice way to avoid facing the consequences of democracy, guys.

Shouldn't they just hold their breath until they turn blue?  It's about the same level of maturity.

Share

I Read This With A Chill Running Down My Back

It could happen again.  It could happen here.

If people don't wake out of their stupor.

We could lose our essential selves, without meaning to, and not be capable of getting that self back.

Share

I Bin Tellin' Them That for Some Time

When you lose the most rabid, love-Obama-through-anything Democrat, you're on the ropes, Baby.

Which, Obama is.

Andrew looks at the budget, and says, the young people are getting SCREWED.

On behalf of old people everywhere, Thank You.

(Not really - I'm just young enough that I'm also getting the shaft.)

Share

Sharing - The NEW Mandate

President Obama's talk with the Chamber of Commerce last week (well, I call it a talk, but it really was a lecture - can't take the college professor away from his roots) included some disingenuous (that's a fancy word for BS) language:

President Obama urged American businesses on Monday to “get in the game” by letting loose trillions of dollars being held in reserves, saying that they can help create a “virtuous cycle” of more sales, higher demand and greater profits that will put people back to work and turn around the sluggish economy.

“If there is a reason you don’t believe that this is the time to get off the sidelines — to hire and invest — I want to know about it. I want to fix it,” Mr. Obama said in a speech to business leaders at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Why, whatever reason could they have for not wanting to risk all the cash they have?  Fear of having it confiscated?  Fear of losing it to new regulations?  Fear of another wild swing of the economy taking them back OUT of the gam?

/end sarc

I know this ia a foreign concept for Obama, but the American business world ISN'T in the field of making everyone in government happy - they want to make money for their investors - who, after all, lent them the money to do just that.

Here's an example of how Obama and the business world differ:

help lay the foundation for you to grow and innovate,” by eliminating “barriers that make it harder for you to compete - from the tax code to the regulatory system,” and by completing more trade deals.

In return, the President said he wants businesses to hire more Americans. “Many of your own economists and salespeople are now forecasting a healthy increase in demand. So I want to encourage you to get in the game,” he said. “And as you hire, you know that more Americans working means more sales, greater demand and higher profits for your companies. We can create a virtuous cycle.”

Virtuous cycle? American businesses are doing quite nicely as it is. Their profits are soaring. And one reason they’re doing so well is they’re holding down costs, especially payrolls. So why would they ever agree to add more workers now?

From the standpoint of the nation as a whole more Americans working may mean even higher profits overall. But publicly-traded companies aren’t in the business of spending money to help other companies. To the contrary, they’re competing with one another to show high quarterly earnings in order to boost their share prices. They’ll “get in the game” and begin to hire large numbers of Americans only when it helps their own bottom lines.

What else might the Chamber and its members be worried about - how about MANDATORY profit-sharing?  Link found at American Thinker.

BTW, here's information about a Dept of Labor program that refers workers whose complaints about their employer haven't been resolved (hint:  maybe because they have no case?) to an American Bar Association number.  The cases, we are told, will be handled not out of the goodness of the lawyer's heart (HEE!  HEE!), but on a contingency basis.

Huh?

The federal government is setting itself up to not only chase the ambulance, but pluck out the body and turn it over to the lawyers - for free.

Don't fret, it's not just for workers - it's the same type of program that already exists for homeowners in foreclosure, veterans, and part-time construction workers (i.e., those whose citizenship status is "NO").

You can't make up this stuff.

Share

The Tyranny of the "Open-Minded"

It's amazing, when you think of it.

From serious publication to sleazy tabloid, and everything in between, Women's Right To Choose (ALL CAPS!) is paramount.  Think about it.

When was the last time you read any serious anti-abortion commentary in the mainstream media?  You would think it was ILLEGAL to be pro-life (I mean, of course, ANTI-CHOICE). [Typo corrected]

Read this post, about an anti-abortion atheist who has been pilloried for his views.

Share

Why is Suffering a Good Thing?

It's kind of a Catholic question.

We Catholics do seem to do "suffering" with a completely un-Modern approach.  We offer up the suffering.  We accept the suffering, rather than try to eliminate it entirely from our lives.

Why?

I confess (the non-Catholic kind) that I would have been stumped to give an answer.  I mean, I do it, because it was ingrained in me at a young age.

But, why suffer?

Here's why.

Why does hatred of suffering lead to decreased respect for human life? Because refusing to suffer is refusing the totality of living. It is a rejection of life itself.

If anything is certain in this life it is that we all will, at some point, experience suffering. Accidents will happen; people will let us down; our bodies will deteriorate; our loved ones will fade. Suffering is part of human existence and we should reduce or ease it where we can, but eliminating it completely is not within our power. In fact, very often the more we reject and try to avoid suffering, the more we encounter it; as our ability to forebear any difficulty becomes decreased, the smaller and more insignificant trials begin to seem huge and intolerable.

Go read the whole thing. 

Share

Just the Gift for My Granddaughter

...who absolutely ADORES The Wizard of Oz.

It's a doorstop.

Too bad my daughter is always telling the kids to close the door (a smart idea when you live in the Snow Belt).

Share

Get That Budget Under Control

I've often heard people talking about the Clinton years as though all we need to do is loosen the belt on spending, haul in more booty - I mean money (it's never a good idea to mention the word "booty" and Clinton in the same sentence), and - ala-kazam!  We're havin' GOOD times, baby!

Yeah.  That'll happen.

Instead, read this post about an analysis of what REALLY did happen during the Clinton years.  It turns out that tightening your belt really does work.

Who ever could have thought that would work?  Except me, and everyone who has tried it in their personal budget.  Believe me, I know.  I've had raises that evaporated in the sun, because I made no changes to my spending - in fact, since I now had extra money, I spent more - a lot more.

My DH and I are living in tightened circumstances right now.  His work this year has been sporadic, and we've made some changes.  It's called living within your means - I HIGHLY recommend it to governments everywhere.

UPDATE:  I found this piece on the Wall Street Journal by Arthur B. Laffer - the man who popularized the term "Laffer Curve" on the effect of lowering taxes.

It turns out that now only does the government collect more money, but it leads to economic upturns.

Who knew?

Share

The Lull Before the Storm

We have to be alert to avoid our own country's slide into the anarchic political actions that Egypt is currently enmeshed in. Remember the last election season? Thugs surrounded the homes of people they disagreed with, and terrorized their families:

...the antics of a group called “National People’s Action” (NPA) — whom syndicated pundit Michelle Malkin describes as a taxpayer-funded “left-wing goon squad.”

NPA provides muscle for Democrat dirty work. In exchange, it receives public funding from a host of government agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Of this multiracial, Chicago-based “neighborhood advocacy” network,Malkin writes:

“The group engages in what it calls `direct action‘ — publicizing the home addresses of business and government leaders it wants to shake down and then busing in protesters and schoolchildren (using public school buses) to invade the private property of their victims and intimidate their families.” (5)

In March, about 800 NPA thugs surrounded the Washington home of Bush strategist Karl Rove, demanding rights for illegal aliens. They knocked on Rove’s door, pounded on his windows and chanted angrily in Spanish and English, driving Rove’s children to tears. The mob dispersed only after Rove agreed to parley with its leaders. (6)

Contrary to the notion that the Tea Parties are filled with knuckle-dragging thugs, the violence seems to be on the other side.  They need to agree to put their followers under some sort of control, or I'm afraid that the next election will be a bloody one.

Share

On The Road Again

I'm finding using the Droid to have relatively small learning curve.

Today, I learned about the voice search. You just speak the site you want, and it pops up in Google.

I was impressed with the speed of the response.
Share

This Is Chilling - What Your Coming "Health" Future May Be

I found this article in the Wall Street Journal about "Health Care" for the not-so-young.

It's chilling.

Basically, they want to put almost all the money available in the young to middle-age (less than 50) crowd.

The elderly - eh, you've lived a long enough life.

"You can't avoid these questions," Dr. Emanuel said in an Aug. 16 Washington Post interview. "We had a big controversy in the United States when there was a limited number of dialysis machines. In Seattle, they appointed what they called a 'God committee' to choose who should get it, and that committee was eventually abandoned. Society ended up paying the whole bill for dialysis instead of having people make those decisions."

Dr. Emanuel argues that to make such decisions, the focus cannot be only on the worth of the individual. He proposes adding the communitarian perspective to ensure that medical resources will be allocated in a way that keeps society going: "Substantively, it suggests services that promote the continuation of the polity—those that ensure healthy future generations, ensure development of practical reasoning skills, and ensure full and active participation by citizens in public deliberations—are to be socially guaranteed as basic. Covering services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic, and should not be guaranteed. An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia." (Hastings Center Report, November-December, 1996)

The very young - less than 1 year - eh, your parents haven't had time to get to know you that well - you probably won't be missed all that much.

The youngest are also put at the back of the line: "Adolescents have received substantial education and parental care, investments that will be wasted without a complete life. Infants, by contrast, have not yet received these investments. . . . As the legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin argues, 'It is terrible when an infant dies, but worse, most people think, when a three-year-old dies and worse still when an adolescent does,' this argument is supported by empirical surveys." (thelancet.com, Jan. 31, 2009).

This is Obama's health advisor.

Are you worried yet?

I am.

Share

Why I'm A Skeptic of Media

Right now, there's a tremendous amount of mis-information floating around about Egypt, and the meaning of the riots.  I'm highly suspicious that they have been "gotten up" by taking a legitimate grievance of the Egyptian people (high prices for food, lack of money to buy it), and using it as a wedge to bring down a government that, while by American standards, repressive, at least functions.  It keeps the peace with Israel, it manages to keep a relatively free society going (relatively free by the standards of the Mideast), and it manages to keep the Islamicists from imposing a theocracy of Sharia, which would have horrible repercussions for the Christians in Egypt.

Why am I so suspicious of media reports?  Because they can be go easily gulled, especially when they want to be.  Some examples:

• Bush lost explosives in Iraq - or DID he?  The man responsible for this LIE is Mohamed El Baradei, who, with the Muslim Brotherhood, is trying to take over Egypt right now.
• The Muhammed Al Durrah incident - which was a complete fake.  It is still referenced on Wikipedia (which should give you pause about using it as a source in school).  In recent time, Wikipedia has finally acknowledged that " several commentators questioned the accuracy of France 2's report. An IDF investigation in October 2000 concluded the IDF had probably not shot the al-Durrahs.^[4] Three senior French journalists who saw the raw footage in 2004 said it was not clear from the footage alone that the boy had died, and that France 2 cut a final few seconds in which he appeared to lift his hand from his face. France 2's news editor said in 2005 that no one could say for sure who fired the shots, but other commentators, including the director of the Israeli government press office, went further, saying the scene had been staged by Palestinian protesters. Philippe Karsenty, a French media commentator, was sued for libel by France 2 for suggesting this; a ruling against him was overturned by the Paris Court of Appeal in May 2008, a decision France 2 has appealed."  Some of the many who have proven that the incident was a FRAUD are here, here (Front Page Magazine, a well-respected online news source),  and here (which references the French court that looked into the incident).
• For the definitive word on media lies, click here.
• A site that fact-checks the Associated Press (AP).
• Lying to influence elections - caught on tape.

Folks, I'm all for picking a side, and promoting it.  What I'm against is journalists pretending that they're "on the fence" and "objective", but secretly working for one side.

Share

Bloggi From My Droid

Share

I'm traveling down the road with DH & writing this on the Droid phone.

Not without misspellings, but managing.

I did find the Blackberry keyboard easier, but there are shortcuts.

For example, when you start typing, the Droid interface pops up suggestions.

I'm a Science and Tech Geek, But...

There is something solid in what this post says about education - that, without values, all the material things in the world are nothing.

Yes, our kids need to know more science and math before they leave school.  However, what they need even more desperately is some solid values.  No, they don't HAVE to be Christian, but we should stop teaching them that Christian values are just like every other value, and no more important.

It's a sad fact, but a true one, that Christianity is the only religion (OK, Judaism, too) that can't be taught in schools.  Kids can "witness" about their Native American spirits, and what they bring to their life, kids can talk about the practices of Islam, and, in some schools, even get release time during the day to pray.  Time and again, kids are exposed to religions - EXCEPT Christianity.  That's the BIG no-no.

All of this is predicated on the idea that American children are exposed to Christianity through their families - but, that simply isn't true.

Many children are raised with NO exposure to religion.  Mums and Daddums (or Mums and Mums, or Daddums 1 and 2) have conflicts with some aspects of religion, and have chosen to "let the children choose for themselves when they are grown".

Others get a little dose of religion at the holiday time, when Gramps and Nana take them to church.  Sometimes, the parents follow along, rolling their eyes behind the old folks back at how "boring" and "mindless" this superstitious nonsense is.  The kids catch on, and learn to disdain religion, and those who practice it.

Many of these children, when grown, are adrift in a world that, without religion, has lost its meaning.  Some, searching, find a safe haven - they are the ones that "were lost, but now am found".  They will NOT make the same mistake with their own children.

Others may drift into one of the religious substitutes - EST, Transcendental Meditation, Scientology, Goddess worship, etc.

Some, sadly, find Islam - often, one of its more violent forms.

We really do, all of us who are followers of Christ, do more to witness - even, I should say, especially, the Catholics among us.  Catholics are probably the worst at evangelizing - we've been persuaded that it's somehow "not ecumenical".

If you have an interest in Catholic Apologetics (no, we are NOT apologizing for being Catholics, that's the technical term for the methods of defending our faith), try some of these links.

Catholic Apologetics - this site focuses on the Biblical foundations of the Catholic Church - quite comprehensive.

Catholic Apologetics Information - searchable database of topics.

Scripture Catholic - run by John Salza, a layperson who has become an authority on Biblical support for Catholicism.  He also sells his books on site.  He's been on EWTN.  If you scroll down to the bottom of that page, you'll find a lot of resources for the budding apologeticist.  (I think that's a word).

Bellarmine Theological Forum - seems to be rather traditional Catholicism, although not TRAD, if you know what I mean.  Just in line with what the Church teaches.  Check out the video cartoons about 1/3 down the page - they're a HOOT!

Catholic Apologetics Network - I've visited this site often - lots of resources, simple, relatively low-tech (although they have mp3s), easy to navigate.

American Catholic Truth Society - they bill themselves as Your Catholic Apologetics Portal.  And it's true - they have LOADS of links to other sites.

Share

Consider a Porn Fast This Lent

I was reading NY Magazine today, and found an article that I found disturbing.

Now, remember, it's NYMag, which means that its research may be questionable.  However, FWIW, the writer says that men are losing interest in sex, due to spending that physical and emotional energy on porn.

It does make some sense.  Whether or not users realize it, people are meant to bond over sex.  So, when he's JUST "releasing some excess energy" while viewing, he may also be developing an emotional bond, as well.  But, being virtual, it's not a fully satisfying, in the emotional sense, so, the user keeps going back, again, and again, trying to get that emotional need satisfied.

It might be a good thing for guys (and women, if that is their habit) to take an extended vacation from online "sex".

Consider it a Lenten Fast.

Share