Month: April 2014
News/Politics 4-12-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
Weekend open thread. Have fun.
Our Daily Thread 4-11-14
Good Morning!
It’s Friday!!!
Today’s header photo is from Janice.
On this day in 1814 Napoleon was forced to abdicate his throne. The allied European nations had marched into Paris on March 30, 1814. He was banished to the island of Elba.
In 1941 German bombers blitzed Conventry, England.
In 1951 President Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur as head of United Nations forces in Korea.
And in 1985 scientists in Hawaii measured the distance between the earth and moon within one inch.
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Quote of the Day
“There is no sanctuary of virtue like home.”
Edward Everett
There is no sanctuary of virtue like home.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edward_everett.html#0RA75i7lZiIiA4UB.99
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edward_everett.html#0RA75i7lZiIiA4UB.99
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Today is Jean-Joseph Mouret’s birthday.
It’s Michael Card’s too. And with Phil Keaggy.
And it’s Tammy Trent’s as well.
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Anyone have a QoD?
Prayer Requests 4-11-14
Would anyone like to share a request or praise today?
And it’s Friday, so please remember to pray for Mumsee, Mike, and the nestlings. 🙂
Psalm 79
¹O god, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.
4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
5 How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;
12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.
News/Politics 4-11-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
Open thread, as always.
This morning these first few are links with a brief description.
Sebelius Resigns- NYTimes
House Votes Lerner In Contempt- CNN
Deportations Cut In Half Under Obama- WashingtonExaminer
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Now these I’ll spend a little more time on.
1. Like Bob said yesterday, suckin’ the air right out.
From WashingtonExaminer “How big is ObamaCare in this year’s midterms? More than 80 percent of respondents in a new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for USA Today said that a candidate’s stance on the troubled health law is important to them, with 54 percent saying it is “very important.” The worst news for Democrats is that among the majority of registered voters who said the law was “very important,” there were twice as many opponents as there were supporters. Overall, support for the signature Obama initiative, which pairs expanded welfare and entitlement programs with far-reaching regulations on health insurance, fell to 37 percent. That’s the lowest level since the summer after the law was passed in 2010 when incumbents’ town halls across the country erupted with ObamaCare outrage. The takeaway: The electoral climate this year is defined by ObamaCare and the forecast is getting worse for Democrats.”
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2. The number of believers in China is rising, and the govt. has taken notice.
From TheTelegraph “Communist officials in China have denied waging a “demolition campaign” against churches in the country’s most Christian regions, after reportedly ordering a dozen to be destroyed.
The churches – in the eastern province of Zhejiang – are currently facing demolition or having their crosses removed, activists claim. Other churches are said to have been ordered to make themselves “less conspicuous” by turning their lights off at night.
Local preachers accuse Party officials in Zhejiang, a wealthy coastal province, of “gross interference” in Church affairs and have urged them to abandon what they believe is an orchestrated campaign.”
“However, in a recent speech the provincial official in charge of religious affairs hinted at Communist Party discomfort at how fast congregations were growing in what is already considered China’s most Christian region. More than one million of Wenzhou’s nine million residents are thought to be practicing Protestants, according to some estimates.”
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3. This one makes me smile. 🙂
From ABC33/40 “A statement made on the floor of the state house last month in Montgomery got a loud reply this afternoon from angry parents.
State representative Alvin Holmes (D) Montgomery, said republican lawmakers would support abortion if their daughters became pregnant by black men. Holmes later said he would offer $100,000 cash to anyone who could show “a whole bunch of whites” have adopted black children in Alabama.
Today at the state house, white parents who adopted mixed race or minority children said it’s time for Holmes to ‘pay up.'”
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Our Daily Thread 4+10=14
Good Morning!
Todays header photo is a big, slobbery fella we met at the park yesterday. 🙂
On this day in 1814 Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Toulouse by the British and the Spanish.
In 1849 Walter Hunt patented the safety pin.
In 1912 the Titanic set sail from Southampton, England.
In 1930 the first synthetic rubber was produced.
And in 1963 129 people died when the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher failed to surface off Cape Cod, MA.
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Quote of the Day
“I can never get rid of “The Rifleman,” and I don’t want to. It’s a good image.”
Chuck (Kevin Joseph) Connors
I can never get rid of ‘The Rifleman,’ and I don’t want to. It’s a good image.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/chuck_connors.html#VUBRXOGmpwZRTHQs.99
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Today is Lesley Garrett’s birthday. From, and accompanied by, PeterboroughMVChoir
And it’s Brian Setzer’s too. You know I love that. 🙂
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Anyone have a QoD for us today?
Prayer Requests 4-10-14
Anyone have a request or praise they’d like to share?
And it’s Thursday, so don’t forget PNG and those ministering there.
Psalm 77
¹I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.
2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.
3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.
7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?
9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.
11 I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.
12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.
13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?
14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.
15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.
18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.
19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
News/Politics 4-10-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. As we prepare for the Easter season we should obviously be thinking of the sacrifice Christ made on our behalf. Many will give up things for Lent as a symbolic sacrifice of their own. It’s a great time of year for opportunities to share what Christ has done, why He did it, and how it affects us. I’ve always thought the focus should be entirely on Christ, the cross, and what it means to the world.
Some people though, are using it as an opportunity to push for social justice and climate change issues.
Misguided? In my mind it is. They don’t seem to have Christ as the focus and seem to be wasting a chance to share the true meaning of the season. In their defense they do witness to the public during this, but it doesn’t seem to be their primary focus.
But what do you think?
From FaithAndLeadership “Katharina Wilkins still passes on things like alcohol and Facebook during the season of Lent, but what’s really important to her is giving up needless car rides and investment in fossil fuels. That’s because, for the third year in a row, Wilkins is participating in the annual Ecumenical Lenten Carbon Fast.”
“The Carbon Fast was started in 2011 by New England Regional Environmental Ministries (NEREM), which describes itself as “a loosely affiliated group of Christian environmental activists from throughout New England.” It asks Christians to deepen their commitment to the fight against climate change between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.”
“The goal is to reduce carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas driving human-made climate change. It is created when people burn fossil fuels and clear forests. In 2013, mean atmospheric carbon dioxide reached more than 395 parts per million (ppm), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Many climate scientists believe that the safe upper limit is 350 ppm.
This year, each week of Lent has a different focus. Themes so far have included public witness, simplicity and fossil fuel divestment. One link has an online calculator so participants can figure out the carbon cost of their current lifestyle and develop a goal to reduce it. Other suggestions range from flying less and living more simply to talking to a congregation about divestment and joining with others to protest the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.”
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2. This just get’s more interesting. Cummings is complaining of McCarthyism in the IRS investigation.
From Politico “Rep. Elijah Cummings is pinning the McCarthyism label on Rep. Darrell Issa in the ongoing fight between the two Oversight Committee leaders about the IRS targeting scandal from last year.
The Maryland Democrat who is the ranking member of Oversight has put together a report saying Issa is pulling from the playbook of the late Sen. Joe McCarthy, who waged an infamous witch hunt against alleged communists in the 1950s.
As Issa, a California Republican and the Oversight chairman, pushes for former IRS official Lois Lerner to be held in contempt for invoking her Fifth Amendment rights not to testify before the committee, Cummings’s office is releasing research Wednesday showing the majority of the previous times Congress took such a step were during McCarthy’s investigations.”
That’s what I’d expect a guilty party to say, and yeah, he’s lookin guilty.
From TheWashingtonExaminer “House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has accused the panel’s top Democrat of prompting the Internal Revenue Service in 2012 to target a conservative organization applying for non-profit status.
Issa said records obtained last week from the IRS show communications from the office of ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., about True the Vote, a Texas-based, non-profit conservative group that aims to prevent voter fraud.
The communications at one point involved Lois Lerner, the ex-IRS official whom Issa’s panel is poised to hold in contempt of Congress on Thursday for refusing to provide testimony about her involvement in targeting conservative groups.
“The IRS and the Oversight Minority made numerous requests for virtually identical information from True the Vote, raising concerns that the IRS improperly shared protected taxpayer information with Rep. Cummings’ staff,” a statement from the Oversight panel reads.”
Is this also why he has obstructed this investigation from the start? Talk about a conflict of interests. He’s quite possibly been investigating himself.
But he also had plenty of willing co-conspirators.
From TheWashingtonTimes “In one case the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates federal employees who conduct politics on government time, said it was “commonplace” in a Dallas IRS office for employees to have pro-Obama screensavers on their computers, and to have campaign-style buttons and stickers at their office.”
“In another case, a worker at the tax agency’s customer help line urged taxpayers “to re-elect President Obama in 2012 by repeatedly reciting a chant based on the spelling of his last name,” the Office of Special Counsel said in a statement.
OSC said it is seeking “significant disciplinary action” against that employee.
Another IRS employee in Kentucky has agreed to serve a 14-day suspension for blasting Republicans in a conversation with a taxpayer.”
And we also now know that Lois Lerner was considering a move to OFA, the Obama campaign spinoff. It appears that was to be her reward for targeting conservative groups and helping re-elect Obama. But then the scandal hit, so she got taxpayer funded retirement instead. Nope, no scandal here. 🙄
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3. Another busted meme.
From TheDailyCaller “Americans have recently been hit with some of the largest premium increases in years, according to a Morgan Stanley survey of insurance brokers.
The investment bank’s April survey of 148 brokers found that this quarter, the average premium increase for customers renewing an insurance plan is 12 percent in the small group market and 11 percent in the individual market, according to Forbes’ Scott Gottlieb.
The hikes — the largest in the past three years, according to Morgan Stanley’s quarterly reports — are “largely due to changes under the [Affordable Care Act],” analysts concluded. Rates have been growing increasingly fast throughout all of 2013, after a period of drops in 2012.
While insurers were hiking premiums since 2012 by smaller amounts, the lead-up to the Obamacare’s launch has seen the average rate at which premiums are growing fourfold.”
And some are starting to realize that while they may have health insurance, that doesn’t mean they have health care. But don’t worry, they’re blaming doctors, not Obama and the Democrats that created this mess.
From EbonyMag “As a proud new beneficiary of the Affordable Health Care Act, I’d like to report that I am doctorless. Ninety-six. Ninety-six is the number of soul crushing rejections that greeted me as I attempted to find one. It’s the number of physicians whose secretaries feigned empathy while rehearsing the “I’m so sorry” line before curtly hanging up. You see, when the rush of the formerly uninsured came knocking, doctors in my New Jersey town began closing their doors and promptly telling insurance companies that they had no room for new patients.
My shiny, never used Horizon health card is as effective as a dollar bill during the Great Depression. In fact, an expert tells CNN, “I think of (Obamacare) as giving everyone an ATM card in a town where there are no ATM machines.” According to a study 33% of doctors are NOT accepting Medicaid. Here in Jersey, one has a dismal 40 percent chance of finding a doctor who accepts Medicaid – the lowest in the country.”
The govt. is offering incentives for doctors, but they’re not biting. As one of the story’s comments said, embrace the suck, after all, you voted for it.
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Our Daily Thread 4-9-14
Good Morning!
On this day in 1833 Peterborough, NH, opened the first municipally supported public library in the United States.
In 1865, at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant.
In 1869 the Hudson Bay Company ceded its territory to Canada.
In 1945 in Bari, Italy, the Liberty exploded and killed 360 people.
And in 1963 Winston Churchill became the first honorary U.S. citizen
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Quote of the Day
“Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.” 🙂
Bill Cosby
Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_funny2.html#iTtkqAvmaX9ppZiu.99
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Today is Georg Matthias Monn’s birthday.
And it’s Carl Perkins’ as well. So here’s Carl with some other guys you may have heard of.
And here’s another from Carl and Johnny, with some other friends, paying tribute to Elvis.
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Wandering Views 