My Daily Domestic Clips 08/01/2011 (a.m.)

• Ten Signs The Double-Dip Recession Has Begun - 24/7 Wall St.

  tags: curerentevents obama areyousorryyet? finance

• Ten Signs The Double-Dip Recession Has Begun - 24/7 Wall St.

  • The US has entered a second recession. It may not be as bad as the first.  Economists say that the Great Recession began in December 2007 and lasted until  July 2009. That may be the way that the economy was seen through the eyes of  experts, but many Americans do not believe that the 2008-2009 downturn ever  ended. A Gallup poll released in April found that 29% of those queried thought  the economy was in a “depression” and 26% said that the original recession had  persisted into 2011.

• http://beta.statcounter.com/p1626974/visitor_map/

  • 

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Redistributing my Wealth

I had a little chuckle today listening to the news. It appears that the August 2 deadline for raising the debt ceiling is "soft." That means that the crap won't necessarily hit the fan that day - in fact it might not hit until August 10th! The reason for that is that some new taxes have been collected - and some of them were from me!

It turns out that despite my best efforts to be accurate in doing my tax returns the year my mom passed away, I missed a few of the guidelines and Turbo Tax didn't alert me! So I was short by a few thousand dollars! That was a painful discovery but luckily I had saved a lot of that money. Back then I decided I needed some money management guidance so I consulted a professional who was mortified that we didn't have any money saved for retirement! So Mr. Pete and I (being older, wiser and a bit more seasoned) started retirement accounts! The money is in there to take care of us when we are old and gray and not wanting to burden our children or society - and now it will be going to Washington DC.

That got me thinking more and more about taxes and redistrubution and the economy on a more personal, micro level if you will.

My money will now be disappearing into the dark hole that is the federal government. I will never see it again unless it comes back to me in a few years as an entitlement.

But if I got to keep it - oh the things it could have done!
Grow interest in a retirement account - which would make it available for my bank to use for things like loans.
Pay for piano lessons- employing one piano teacher!
Pay for other music lessons- employing several music teachers.
Buy a good used car for Calvin.
Buy new tires for other vehicles.
Be used for a vacation get away for me and Mr. Pete - and as we usually vacation not far from home in the Great Lakes area - helping those local economies!
Pay for home improvements - like painters or carpenters.
Replace old computers.
Be given to charities and ministries of our choice.
Pay for medical tests and exams not covered by my insurance.
Help Sam and Calvin with higher education costs.

Gosh the possibilities were endless! But the powers-that-be think they know better. So I will have to write a big check and send it off.

This is Obamanomics- and a great example of why our economy remains stagnant and how taxing actually hurts the economy.

Please browse my eBay items! Visit my new Amazon Store!

Analyzing political analysis -Politifact and Bill O'Reilly

A word of warning - this blog has a bias. I am a pro-life, conservative, pro-family, pro-marriage wife and mother. I do not pretend otherwise.

Now wouldn't it be nice if every political analysis group came out and admitted that up front? Some do, but once in a while you have one that sort of wants to pretend neutrality while it leans, well, mostly left.

Politifact tends to do that, although a recent study found the following:

A February 2011 study published by the University of Minnesota’s Smart Politics news site, a part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, finds a significant bias on the part of PolitiFact in favor of statements made by Democrats: “That means a supermajority of falsehoods documented by PolitiFact over the last year – 76 percent – were attributed to Republicans, with just 22 percent of such statements coming from Democrats.”

A glance at the most recent PolitiFact ratings by the Oregonian would definitely support findings of a pro-Democrat bias.

This recent article on Politifact about the Poverty Rate is a good example of its liberal bias.  First of all, they are taking apart a comment made by Bill O'Reilly made on the Fox News Channel.  Both O'Reilly and Fox are clearly conservative  and don't pretend to be otherwise.  Last week, O'Reilly said:

"What the debt situation is really, really all about is your right to pursue happiness," O’Reilly said. "America is the greatest country on earth because it gives the most people the most opportunity to prosper. It does that by using the free marketplace whereby people can work hard, make money and provide for themselves and their families.

"But since the mid-1960s, America has practiced social engineering. Spending tax money directly, trying to improve the lives of those who don't have very much. Those payments are called entitlements. And they are now so high they threaten to bankrupt the entire nation. Liberal Americans tend to support the entitlement society while conservatives are more inclined to promote individualism and smaller entitlement spending.

"President (Barack) Obama, of course, is a liberal. And the Democratic Party is now dominated by the left. That's why in the past two and a half years federal spending has broken the bank. ...

"The essential mistake that Barack Obama is making is that he believes Lyndon Johnson's Great Society entitlements can elevate the poor to prosperity. They can't. In 1965, the poverty rate in this country stood at 14 percent. Now, after untold trillions have been spent fighting poverty, the poverty rate is 14.3 percent. Amazing, is it not? The conclusion, America is bankrupting itself with an entitlement philosophy that does little."

Politifact says that this assertion that the poverty rate has stayed about the same is false.  But on reading the Politifact article I wonder if they didn't actually prove O'Reilly's point:

Politifact says: • He uses the wrong numbers. The poverty rate -- the percentage of Americans whose income is lower than the federally determined poverty line -- was 17.3 percent in 1965, not 14 percent. For 2009, O’Reilly is correct -- the rate was 14.3 percent.

So if you compare the poverty rate in those two years, it has fallen by 3 percentage points, or by about one-sixth its original level. It didn’t stay roughly constant, as O’Reilly claimed.

Well, he really didn't say it was constant.  Still if it was 17.3 in 1965 and it is now 14 or so, that's not very good progress to have in over 46 years! 

But I got a good chuckle over this:

 The poverty rate has fallen even further if you start counting a few years before the Great Society began. Between 1959 and 1962, the poverty rate ranged between 20 and 22 percent. If you compare that level to 2009, poverty declined by an even steeper rate -- by more than one-third.

So if we say the poverty rate was 22 in 1962 and fell to 17 in 1965, that's a drop of 5 points in three years - so couldn't we surmise that the poverty rate was dropping faster and further before the government programs started to interfere?

I found this troubling as well:

Gary Burtless, an economist with the centrist-to-liberal Brookings Institution, cautions that O’Reilly’s comment overlooks the actual purpose of the Great Society programs, which wasn’t to boost incomes directly, in a way that would be detectable in poverty statistics, but rather to "improve the health care, nutrition and educational attainment or performance of Americans."

If the programs were successful, Burtless said, "it was because they improved the health care received by the old and poor, they improved the schooling received by disadvantaged youngsters and they improved the nutritional quality of the diets of the poor. These programs may eventually have reduced ‘money poverty,’ but only if improving medical care, educational attainment and nutritional intake has an indirect effect that reduces money poverty."

This is an admission that the goal wasn't to really raise people out of poverty to but to make them dependent on the government for health care, education and food. 

Politifact ends their article with:

O’Reilly said the Great Society programs did nothing to reduce poverty, but we rule that claim False.

This is a false premise fallacy because O'Reilly didn't say the programs did "nothing to reduce poverty."  Clearly they did a lot- it was their effectiveness that he was calling into question. 

The did get this part right:

This is not to say that O’Reilly is entirely wrong. Present levels of entitlements may not be sustainable, as he suggests. O’Reilly might be right that relatively few of the poor have been lifted into "prosperity," as opposed to somewhere slightly above the poverty line. And the final 14 percent of Americans may be the most difficult to lift out of poverty, suggesting that at some point the cost-benefit ratio for anti-poverty expenditures may become harder to defend.

Please browse my eBay items! Visit my new Amazon Store!

7-Quick Takes - the midsummer edition!

  Join Jen and the other Quicktakers over at the Conversion Diary.

1. One of my friends at church had the great idea last year to start a cutting garden for the church. So she put in a great big flower garden of perennials and voila! they are providing us with lovely seasonal flowers for our side altars at church.







2. So last year I asked my friend if there was any way that Izzy could help with the garden. I thought this might be a good niche for Izzy to fill because she loves flowers and she is also very artistic. My friend called about a month ago and gave Izzy the job of making sure the vases in on the side altars have fresh flowers in them every week. Izzy LOVES this job. It makes her feel responsible and she has a lot of fun doing it too. We have talked about having our own cutting garden at home next year and I think we're going to go for it!





3. Calvin and Noah ran a 5K this morning for the Right to Life Group in our area. They were awesome.









4. Noah beat Calvin by two minutes or so. There was a hill and Noah got the lead. I have been having Noah run a course that is actually one big hill in preparation for this race - consequently it was a piece of cake for him!










5. My sister has a phobia about her mail box. I do too. When I was a kid I loved getting letters and cards in the mail. But now bills come in the mail, bad news comes in the mail, junk that I have to sort through and throw away comes in the mail. But I have been trying to face my mail phobia and pick it up every day and sort through it. A few weeks ago I got a certified letter that was a little scary, but that turned out to not be so bad, and lately I haven't notice my heart rate pick up when I see the mailman. But I am afaid I have had a big setback in my mailbox phobia - a certain letter from the IRS. More on that tomorrow!

6. Sometimes I miss Gabe's hair. One more video to show how long it was! He really whips it around starting at about 2:33!



7. If mom were alive, she would have gotten a big laugh out of this!




Please browse my eBay items! Visit my new Amazon Store!

Feast of St. Martha

Luke 10:38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha R498 welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, R502 Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

This comment in my comment box spurred my interest:

"Surely if Jesus -- who has perfect knowledge -- reprimanded Martha, but not Mary, then I need to learn something from that, and not assume..."

I'm reminded that the scriptures are full of many layers and levels. Imagine that great scholars have poured over these passages for centuries, and yet they still hold meaning and interest for bible students. Many times there are different angles to the same story.

The story of the prodigal son comes to mind. I once heard Josh Harris speak and he reminded us that while the prodigal had the money - he was having a good time!! Very true and it's an angle that doesn't get much play in Sunday School.

I also remember the first time I heard Professor Scott Hahn speak of Abraham and his attempt to sacrifice Isaac. This occurred somewhere in Salem, which later became part of JeruSALEM. Indeed God sacrifices his son in a place where Abraham does not need to sacrifice his. The symbolism and meaning in that revelation is rich!


So I took a fresh look at Martha and Mary. I noted, perhaps for the first time, that Martha is the one who invites Jesus in. She welcomes him. She opens her home and her heart to him. Wow... been there. Many times. Part of having a Domestic Church is trying to make sure that Jesus is welcome there as well as in the hearts of each family member. And maybe that's where Martha didn't follow through. Jesus does become a deep part of Mary's heart, and certainly her mind. I'm sure that's what Martha wanted for her sister. But at the same time, maybe she was jealous that she hadn't allowed Jesus into her own heart and mind as she had intended. She let the daily things take her away instead of moving her closer. I've done that too.

The other part that strikes me is the part where she asks the Lord to "make my sister" do something. How many times I have asked God that my will be done instead of His?" Probably too numerous to count. God's not a puppet master. I'm sure prayers like that just make him shake his head.


Mr. Pete had an intersting thought of his own on Martha and Mary. He thinks Jesus probably let the ladies work it out in sisterly love while he sought out the company of Lazarus! Maybe the Lord lets us heal ourselves that way too.






Please browse my eBay items! Visit my new Amazon Store!

My Daily Domestic Clips 07/29/2011 (p.m.)

• We've Been Played for Saps, Folks: Boehner Bill Will Become Reid Bill

  tags: curerentevents

  • There's no Obama bill.  There's nothing set down on  paper.  So the Reid bill will become the Obama bill.  The Boehner plan  will become the Obama plan.  I think that's the trap.  And, of course,  the establishment, Republicans are all gung ho.  "Gotta get this  done.  It's the best we can get."  Because they're telling themselves  there aren't any tax increases in it, and there aren't.  There aren't any  tax increases in the Boehner bill.  And there are spending cuts and there  are caps, but what happens when that goes over to the Senate and Reid says, "You  know what, I like some of this and I don't like that. Let's take some of this  out and put some of this in," and gets his votes for it and the Boehner bill  becomes something unrecognizable, then goes back to the House, what are they  going to do?  They've already passed the Boehner bill under the guise that  we can't wait any longer, that AAA credit rating is in jeopardy, all this rotgut  BS.  
    
    So that, essentially, is where things stand. Now, back to this  Daily Caller story. The one thing in the Boehner bill, and Democrats don't like  this, is that the debt ceiling doesn't get raised enough to get us through the  2012 election. In other words, the Boehner bill is not a full-fledged Obama  Re-election Lifeline Bill. But that's what Reid wants to turn it into. Now  they're attacking that aspect of the Boehner bill by saying that the Republicans  want to destroy Christmas. "House Speaker and national grinch John Boehner is  planing [sic] to spoil Christmas, White House officials are claiming, as they  try to head off passage of Boehner's two-stage debt ceiling bill.
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Clearing off my Camcorder

The tribute I gave at Sam's graduation mass - lesson learned- don't let the dummer hold the cam corder!!

Piano recital 2011 -
Izzy


Noah


Sam



The battle of the bands 2011 winners!





Please browse my eBay items! Visit my new Amazon Store!

Politics in the church bulletin

One of my favorite parts of belonging to a parish is reading the bulletin.We have been in this parish for over 20 years, it is very nice that we know a lot of the people and have a history here so I recognize the names and pictures in each edition. I like being kept up to date on what's going on in the parish, I peruse who is sick and who is getting married, and I read the pastor's corner and make note of what the youth group is up to. I love having our bulletin online too so that I can refer to it later.  But one part of the bulletin I tend to avoid is the Social Justice section - partly because I don't understand it, but also because even though it is presented as if it is an article of the faith,  I'm not sure every column written is authentic and complete Catholic teaching.

Last week was a good example. We were asked to call our Senators to tell them to "create a circle of protection around vital programs for the hungry and poor people in the United States and abroad."

Well, I'm all for helping the less fortunate in this country and abroad. I'm just not sure that it is responsibility of the United States government to do that. I'm not even sure if having the government involved is the best or most effective way to do it. And what defines a "vital program?"  With our country in such poor economic straits shouldn't we be trying to get our own house in order first?  and why don't the other countries have an obligation to their own citizens first?

Moving on the column said: "Our budget is a moral document that tells the world who we are as a people and what our national priorities are."

A budget is a financial document. Calling it anything else is manipulative. I think if you want to look at the morals of the country it is best to look at our constitution and founding documents as well as our laws.

It continues: "Congress must oppose caps on overall federal spending." Now I'm wondering if the authors of the country understand the dire financial times that we are currently under! A "cap" isn't a "cut."  Holding the line on spending seems a reasonable first step in balancing the budget.  After all isn't that what a household would do in the same situation?  To not at least cap our spending seems a tad out of touch with the reality of the situation.

Interestingly, last night I saw that back when the Great Society started under President Johnson in the 1960s, poverty was at 14%. Now decades later and billions of dollars of investment - the poverty rate is at 14.3%. I think it's pretty clear that government is not the answer to eliminating poverty - if you can eliminate it at all. Didn't Jesus say we would have poor always?

It seems to me that the Social Justice Committee is sort of a political action group that gets to write unopposed opinions in the parish bulletin - not that I want to read political debate in my church bulletin! But other than guiding us to events and ways we can help in the community I kind of wish they would keep the political stuff out of the bulletin.





Please browse my eBay items! Visit my new Amazon Store!

My Dearest Daughter

lIn 1958 my mother got married and moved across the country. These are the letters written to her, mainly by her mother, between 1958 and 1960, as well as other artifacts from my family's past. Others in the series are in my del.icio.us file.

One of the reasons I continue to blog, is to have a place to keep family history, stories, events etc. documented for my children and possible grandchildren.

Yesterday would have been my parents' 53rd wedding anniversary. They were married on Saturday, July 26, 1958 in Saint Johns The Evangelist Catholic Church during a morning wedding mass. Attending my mother was her first cousin Janet Sue  (daughter of the infamous Aunt Opal!) and a woman mom met in college named Kay Langworthy.

I heard a lot of stories about Kay Langworthy over the years. She and mom were fast friends. I guess Kay and her husband came over to the farm once to visit with Mama and my grandmother was scandalized by their overly affectionate smooching on the couch in her living room. It bothered her enough that she told me about it when I was a teenager! Nonetheless, Mama must have liked her a great deal because my sister is named for her. Years later, the Langworthys divorced and Kay and her children visited my Dad on the ranch. She wrote my mom to talk about her love for my father and that she wished they would get a divorce. It was quite upsetting at the time- I'm not sure why, because my parents separated in 1960, but I do remember Mama crying about it. Nothing came of it though. I guess if Daddy wasn't going to his own wife and family life with him, he certainly wasn't about to take someone else's. I did try to find Kay Langworthy after mama died to let her know, but I couldn't find any address or envelope with her name on it; I guess that's just as well.

I'm not sure who the man standing beside my dad is, but next to him is Mama's brother, Calvin Leckrone Jr. I grew up calling him just "Uncle" all of my life. Next to him is Jim Moore. He and his wife Peggy were the godparents for my sister who was born in 1960. The little ring bearer is his son. The little flower girl was Mama's goddaughter, Denise. She gave her piano lessons for years and she always kept Denise's baby picture on her night stand - all through her life. When Mama died, I sent that picture to Denise.

Their wedding breakfast was catered by Whitey's Restaurant. I think it was Fish and Chips, but I do know that the meals came in white boxes tied with ribbon and every guest got one. I can't imagine giving your wedding guests a boxed meal at a wedding today, but it seems kind of quaint and practical for a wedding breakfast in 1958.

I still have mama's wedding dress. It really screams 1958! But I have it and maybe someday Izzy or Rosie can do something with it a la Pretty in Pink.  

I have a picture of myself in Janet's bridesmaid dress that she let me wear for a dance recital.  I'll try to dig that picture up later.




It's noteworthy that at the time of the wedding, my grandmother was not speaking to my mother.  She wrote later that it was because she was so heartbroken that Mama had married and moved across the country. I know that there was a lot of concern from a number of people about this marriage, but a week or so before the wedding, my Mom consulted Father Luke M. Powers about whether or not she should proceed with the wedding and he counseled her to go for it!  and so she did. 

In retrospect, I have a lot of doubts about Father Powers' gifts as a pre-marital counselor, but he was loved and respected enough that years later when they closed all of the Catholic High Schools in the county and consolidated them into one big Catholic High School, they named the new school for him!Years later, my sister and I attended the new Catholic High School  - Luke M. Powers Catholic High School. This is where I met my husband, Mr. Pete - so coming full circle I guess it all worked itself out.







Please browse my eBay items! Visit my new Amazon Store!

Wordless Wednesday

Please browse my eBay items! Visit my new Amazon Store!

For Catholics from the last 50 years asking - "What the heck happened"

Like him or loathe him, I don't think many could deny that Michael Voris does his homework! In his most recent RealCatholic Video, Mr. Voris goes step by step to show how the acceptance of contraception has destroyed the family and torn apart the church.

I have taken the anti-contraception stance many times in Catholic forums and have had the "birth control commission" thrown at me more times than I can count. This video finally reveals why Pope Paul VI allowed so many dissenters on the comission and and gives us a vew to what he was truly trying to accomplish.

But if you are a child of poor catechesis from the last 50 years, I would also recommend reading the late Ralph McInerney's book, What Went Wrong with Vatican II.  That book, along with Mr. Voris's video did a lot to put some of the pieces together in my mind of how three generations could be lost to the faith.






Please browse my eBay items! Visit my new Amazon Store!

My Daily Domestic Clips 07/27/2011 (a.m.)

• Under Her Starry Mantle: Let's celebrate St Anne right up to her feast!

  tags: catholic feast st.anne

• Under Her Starry Mantle: St Anne

  tags: catholic feast st.anne

• Association of Catholic Women Bloggers: St Joachim and St Anne

  tags: catholic feast st.anne

• In the Heart of my Home: Before the Feast of St. Anne

  tags: catholic feast st.anne novena prayer

• Da Mihi Animas: Saints of the day: Joachim and Anne

  tags: catholic feast st.anne

• Praying to Saints and Folk Magic: Sant’ Anna

  tags: Catholic feast st.anne

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sts. Joachim and St. Anne

Remember your grandparents on the Feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne! The REAL Grandparents DAY!

From Mary Reed Newland's "The Year and Our Children"

St. Anne is the patroness of old clothes dealers, seamstresses, laceworkes, housekeepers, carpenters, turners, cabinetmakers, stablemen, and broommakers, and she is invoked against poverty and to find lost objects. Although the martyrology doesn't say so, she must be the patronness of Grandmothers, and we love her for that because she we could never get along without our grandmothers. The children love to recall that if she was still there when the Christ Child learned to talk, He called her Grandmother. The nicest of her symbols we think is a cradle with the infant Virgin Mary in it.

From the Saint of the Day!
This is the “feast of grandparents.” It reminds grandparents of their responsibility to establish a tone for generations to come: They must make the traditions live and offer them as a promise to little children. But the feast has a message for the younger generation as well. It reminds the young that older people’s greater perspective, depth of experience and appreciation of life’s profound rhythms are all part of a wisdom not to be taken lightly or ignored.


We think the best way to honor the feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne is to do something lovely for grandparents. Little girls might dress their best dolls as the tiny Mary this day and lay them in flower bedecked cradles.

My mom was awesome at passing on the faith to us. A Christian all of her life, but a convert to Catholicism in her late teens, she was made sure to pass these things to us. And even though the Catholic High School she sacrificed to send us to did little to nurture or grow that faith (and in some ways was really an occasion for sin) both my sister and I found our way back to the faith as adults.

When mom passed on, one of the first purchases I made with some of the money mom left me was this statue of St. Anne and her daughter Mary.




I love it for a number of reasons - it is a good reminder that even Mary needed some loving guidance from her mother, it reminds me to provide loving guidance to my own children especially my daughters, and it is a nice reminder of what my mother did all her life for me and my sister and then later as a grandmother to all of her grandchildren.








St. Anne Links on Diigo.


Digg It









Please browse my eBay items! Visit my new Amazon Store!