Mixed Greens Braised in Bacon Drippings

EVERY YEAR WHEN I ARRIVE IN THE ROCKIES, I go through several weeks of altitude adjustment. It's not altitude sickness---which is different---but adjustment which entails going through body changes that build red blood cells to carry more oxygen from the thinner, higher atmosphere. There's no escaping this process, and, for me, it always requires patience.I simply don't have my normal amount of energy the first couple of weeks I'm here. I really try not to push myself too hard, sleeping longer and making myself drink more fluids.

One thing that helps this adjustment along is to eat lots of leafy greens which help to build hemoglobin in your blood.

So tonight I recalled an old recipe from my days of having a garden right outside my kitchen door: fresh greens lightly sauteed in bacon grease. Any excuse to cook bacon, I say! You can use the bacon later for BLT sandwiches, eggs and bacon breakfasts or by itself. But the important thing is to cook several slices, using the drippings for the greens after the bacon is cooling on the paper towel.

Tonight, I sauteed organic greens from Idaho and seasoned them with sea salt. They were spectacular. However, next time I'll squeeze some lemon juice (which I forgot to pick up at the store) over them and perhaps add a little garlic. Either way, I feel a large dose of red blood cells coming on! Then, it's onward to make an 8-hour sheet sandwich....but hold the bacon.

Tamny: Get Over It, The U.S. Has Already Defaulted

THE ANSWER TO THE DEBT-CEILING QUESTION SEEMS OBVIOUS: DO NOTHING

GOVERNMENTS CAN DEFAULT by suspending or delaying payments on debt owed, or by simply devaluing their currency. As evidenced by the dollar's decline over the last 40 years, the U.S. has been a serial defaulter. What's apparent from his hysterical television comments is that Tim Geithner will not allow the traditional kind of default, which means the Republicans are fools for negotiating a boost in the debt ceiling at all....

In short, the U.S. defaulted in 1933, and as evidenced by the dollar's stupendous decline in value from 1/35th of an ounce of gold in 1971 to 1/1550th today, the U.S. has been in default for most of the last 40 years.....

Of course if what Geithner says is true, the answer is very simple. Geithner's Treasury collects far more than enough each month to stay current on Treasury interest obligations, so if default really would be the catastrophe he says, he should make sure to put the U.S.'s creditors first in line for monies available, after which a Congress that's really never cut spending (thanks to Larry Kudlow for clarifying this) in nominal dollar terms would have to find a way to make do with less money to spread around.

The above naturally begs the question why the Republicans are even negotiating at all. They talk an awful lot about the importance of smaller government, they've been handed a legal barrier that will necessarily make it small as interest costs on Treasury debt rises, so if they truly believe their own rhetoric, they ought to hold firm.

A government that borrows less tautologically means more credit will remain in the private economy, and with investment an essential driver of economic progress, the alleged party of growth could achieve a smaller government alongside more investment in the private sector in one fell swoop. The answer to the debt ceiling question seems obvious. Do nothing.


Read Tamny's whole article.

BULB :Freedom of Light Bulb Choice

BUMMER: MEASURE TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF THE INCANDESCENT FAILED TODAY. END IN SIGHT.

WHICH IS HEALTHIER: COUNTRY VS CITY LIVING?
HERMAN CAIN'S LOVELY GOSPEL ALBUM HITS THE WEB

WILL IT? SHOULD IT? COULD IT---THE THOMAS A. EDISON LIGHT BULB---REALLY GO AWAY IN 2012?

Yes it could. But not if any of us nutty conservatives have anything to say about our favorite endangered source of burning-the-midnight-oil. Most of us don't want federal law makers telling us what we should and shouldn't buy to screw into our light fixtures. Especially when it comes to our favorite standby--the 100-watt incandescent light bulb.

Bobbie Petray of the Tennessee Eagle Forum emailed this morning reminding us that saving the incandescent in Congress will come up for a vote early this week:

Liberals in the last Congress enacted "efficiency" standards, scheduled to take effect in 2012, that will diminish Americans’ standard of living and dictate the types of light bulbs we can and can’t buy. These environmental "standards" will start eliminating 276 versions of the Thomas Edison incandescent light bulbs in 2012; the drop-dead date for our favorite 100-watt light bulb is just a few months away.

However, because of the hard work by activists like you last year in electing conservatives to the House of Representatives, the new House majority is working to restore our light bulb freedom.

Congress is expected to vote on the Better Use of Light Blubs (BULB) Act probably today, Tuesday. The bill will protect our access to light bulbs of our choice and will guard against mandates that force Americans to use bulbs that contain dangerous mercury.

The BULB Act will restore consumer choice and competition, and it deserves support from both parties. The bill will ensure that no federal, state, or local lighting requirement can mandate the use of bulbs that contain mercury.

If Congress acts this year, we can make sure the market – not a government mandate – gives consumers their light bulb choices. Members of both parties should support H.R. 2417, so be sure to call your Congressman even if he or she is liberal.

So if 'choice' matters to you when it comes to light bulbs, get on the horn to your congressman asap and let him know you want to keep your 100-watt Thomas Edison!

Sunday

SO GOOD TO BE HERE. High waters, massive runoff, over-average snow pack still to melt, so the grizzlies are still in the low country.

Every bug in north America is on my wind shield plus the dreaded gravel ding. Still, the thrill of being in this high-intensity valley where the summers are short but nuclear-loaded with adventure on every level, never ceases to enthrall and amaze me.

But before anything begins with or without me, I'm diving into the sack for a much-needed full night's sleep. Goodnight moon. Goodnight lupine. Goodnight mountains. Goodnight friends. Goodnight debt-ceiling.

Weekend

TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO: AND WHEN HE IS OLD, HE WILL NOT DEPART FROM IT.--PROVERBS 22:6 COMMENTARY
HAVE LEFT GOOD FRIENDS IN GRAND JUNCTION, returned to Boulder and now heading to Riverton, Wyoming today to visit an old friend before going on to Jackson Hole early Sunday. Will be out of range for a while.

Saw this article, Failure Is Not An Option, at the Gospel Coaltion today and think it hits a central truth of our troubled times. No child can be 'given' self-esteem by parents or anyone else. They can only be lovingly shepherded to learn the eternal Truths of God, take responsibility and repent when they fail which leads to learning from their mistakes and slowly growing up to adulthood. (The process never ends for any of us!) All else stunts growth and creates another generation of self-centered, self-absorbed narcissists.

Failure is an option and more than that, a requirement of living and growing up. We can pray that failure comes in small doses rather than being forestalled in one big, overwhelming tsunami later on. Not only do parents try to shield their children from failure, politically correct teachers, Congressional leaders and the president pitch in at every turn attempting to prevent it. But it only sweeps it under the rug only to return in a bigger and more painful lesson.

Thank you for coming by. God bless.

Welcome! William and Kate Arrive in LA

RIP BETTY FORD
DETAILSLET THE BOWING AND SCRAPING BY HOLLYWOOD ELITES BEGIN! Nevertheless, this couple is beyond attractive. When this is all over, hopefully soon, I hope they'll go into hiding back home in their gym clothes and skives to recover for a while...otherwise they risk over-exposure.

I'd long-since be catatonic, begging for mercy from all the attention and fanfare! It looks glamorous but it's a grind in so many ways.

Yeeee-Ha!

ON THE LAST LEG OF THEIR CANADAN JUNKET, the royal couple gets into the spirit of the Old West and are good sports through it all....but not for long as they put the cowboy hats and shirts away soon and head for Los Angeles and an altogether different kind of rodeo/circus. I shudder to think.

Sow Grizzly With Cubs Kills Man in Yellowstone

AS IT SHOULD BE: NO PLANS TO DISPATCH MAMA BEAR
IT HAPPENS RARELY BUT WHEN IT DOES it gives all us who use these wilderness resources regularly pause for reflection and reevaluation. I've lived and worked in grizzly country for over 25 years and seen many a grizzly bear in the wild. My frequent house guests have too. By the Grace of God only, every encounter has been benign. Most recently I ran into a big male griz in 2009 during an early morning hike in the Bridger-Teton Wilderness in the Buffalo Valley region of Jackson Hole. It was sobering to say the least.

As a result of that encounter----along with the price of gas---I made a decision to spend this entire summer---rather than in my favorite stomping grounds 35 miles from Jackson--- closer to town and the West Bank of the Snake where grizzlies are almost unheard of----yet. My training hikes will be on much more well-trod people trails. Don't want to tempt fate or push my luck too far. Meanwhile, I can only imagine what the wife and family of this man must be going through. What a trauma!

I will say that this area of Yellowstone is known for great brown bear encounters and a threatened sow with cubs is the most dangerous run-in of all. I'll also say again, the bears in Yellowstone National Park are more dangerous and less afraid of people and tourists than the big bears in the Bridger-Teton Wilderness where I hang out because they encounter hunters with high-powered rifles during hunting season each year. That's enough to make most of them act like bears should when they encounter people: they run away rather than towards humans. Still there are no guarantees and one treads this land with caution and respect.

MEANWHILE, whacked out animal extremists aim to radically 'liberate animals' from humans in California.

The more I think about it, the more I think the United States might consider making this left coast state another country.

How To Flabbergast Your Interviewer And Drive Your Point Home

PROMISES THAT CANNOT BE KEPT @ ZH

I'M WITH ALLAHPUNDIT, this may be one of the greatest interviews ever. Seriously.

Ed Miliband, leader of Britain's Labour party was in control, unerring, unflappable, focused, never budging from beginning to end when the interviewer gave way in total flabbergasted defeat. As the reporter continues to hammer Miliband with questions, he looks sillier and sillier, while Miliband comes across like a tennis star who's just won the set 6-0, 6-0.

As a former reporter who did lots of interviews, I can only say, Utterly brilliant!

Obama/Cuomo: 2012's Unbeatable, Unstoppable Presidential Ticket

MJ PERRY: ECONOMIC FREEDOM EXTENDS LIFE EXPECTANCY
I HATE IT, HATE IT, HATE IT, cause nothing makes me sadder than what I see coming down the political pike. Economy or not, dollar or not, President Obama is going to be re-elected to a second term and is smart enough to change his running mate from Joe Biden---who's as good as gone---to Andrew Cuomo, newly elected governor of New York. I'll write more about this later, but adding Cuomo to the ticket will cast a wider net of much needed supporters because the vote will be close.

Was having a 4th of July dinner last night at Kristen and Jeff's with her parents. Over Kristen's delicious key lime pie, My Bad Influence, a staunch Republican and fiscal conservative, ruined the whole evening by waxing on and on about how Obama is a shoo-in in 2012. I told him to cease and desist over dinner, but---Oh No!---on and on he went. All I could say is that I sadly agree with everything he said: President Obama will be re-elected, especially with Cuomo as a running mate.

But here's thing: Republicans need to concentrate their efforts on holding the House and re-gaining the Senate. Remember, it's Congress that controls spending. And that's where all the heavy lifting takes place. Winning both Houses will surely keep the checks and balances in place with this dismal president winning a second term.

I hate to see Gov. Rick Perry waste his efforts in 2012. He best wait till 2016 to run.

One other thing: after the 2012 elections, the economy will slide once again into really dark places making 2008 look like a day at the beach in comparison. Like I say, I hate it, hate it, hate it. And hope, hope, hope My Bad Influence and I are wrong. But I don't think we are. Meanwhile, billions of dollars will be spent duking it out and at the end of the day, Obama will win the day and many a key lime pies will be ruined for us conservatives!

UPDATE: STILL THERE'S GOING TO BE SERIOUS COMPETETION

The Sordid Strauss-Kahn Affair

CHARGES MAY BE DROPPED, but I still care very little for this deranged media circus. Both Strauss-Kahn and his accuser---notice how officials have never given her a name?---are equally unsavory in my book. The media fell for this sham because Strauss-Kahn's prior behavior over the years made the possibility all the more believable. He made himself a sitting duck. Of course, we jumped to conclusions. However he seemed like a willing host for sexual predation. Both victim and accuser should be sent back to their native countries. Let France deal with their future presidential contender. And Guinea deal with her. The sooner the better.

On the 4th, Why Not Hike Liberty Cap?

REFLECTIONS ON INDEPENDENCE DAY
IT'S STEEP, HOT and climbs a nice 1,100', so better start just after the sun rises over the beautiful Grand Junction Valley. While hiking, it might be a good idea to think on the concept of liberty: What it meant to our founding forefathers who were willing to die for it; what it means to us softies today who just want bigger and more. Think about how liberty is lost when personal responsibility is supplanted by government nannism and out-of-control borrowing to support our addiction to that over-sized government boob. The lender is truly the master of the borrower. And our country is teetering on the verge of slavery again.

Will we have to fight Civil War 2 to get rid of this new rendition of slavery? I hope not but am not terribly optimistic. Meanwhile I'm chillin' with friends after that great hike up Liberty Cap.

Gave the right-of-way to the collared lizard with the beautiful aquamarine outfit and golden fascinator!

With Wings Like Eagles

WONDERFUL COMMENTARY ON WAITING ON THE LORDDECLARATION OF DEBT INDEPENDENCE @ ZERO HEDGE
MOHLER IN WSJ: CHRIST FOLLOWERS AND THE GAY CULTURAL REVOLUTION THOSE WHO WAIT UPON THE LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not grow weary; they shall walk, and not faint.

---Isaiah 40:31

We wait for God by resting in Him. We wait by patiently listening to His instructions and corrections in our everyday lives. We wait for His guidance, not the dictates of our culture. We wait by daily prayer and Bible readings allowing these practices to inform our actions, thinking and character.

I love this Bible verse and have committed it to memory for those many times I'm efforted out and exhausted. For when I've done all I can do with a challenge and lay it down at the foot of the Cross of Christ. God's plans for our lives are always in His ways and timing and when I struggle against that Great Truth, then I'm always bound for frustration. On the other hand, when I wait on the Lord in faith and thanksgiving, I can be content in all my circumstances.

God bless you and our country on this 4th of July weekend. In a little while, I'm off to Grand Junction where I'll be visiting my good friend and her hubby, my bad influence for 4-5 days before going on to Jackson Hole next weekend. Posting will be as I can over next few days.

The Amazing Second Coming of Alfalfas In Boulder

UNCHAIN OUR HEARTS

IT ALL STARTED RIGHT HERE IN BOULDER AT THE CORNER OF Arapahoe and Broadway back in the 80s. A little neighborhood, upscale health conscious grocery store came into being. In a very few years it was so successful it changed its name and became the mother lode of Wild Oats Markets which spread over the granola capital of the world, before franchising in selected markets throughout the country.

But then: its biggest, baddest competitor from Austin, Texas---Whole Paycheck---swooped in and gobbled up Wild Oats and other smaller stores and chains, and there was nothing left in the land but the omni-present monolithic fat cat Whole Sachs.

Then a funny thing happened in federal court. WFM verged on violating anti-trust laws and was ordered to divest itself (regurgitate) of some of its myriad holdings. Whole Sachs decided to divest itself of the old Alfalfas store since it had a massive new one about 2 miles away. When they heard about it, the original owners bought Alfalfas back, came in to the old property, jazzed it up,, brought in a little wine shop, and reopened as---you guessed it---Alfalfas, the friendly little neighborhood un-chain grocery store. It even re-opened on Earth Day for good measure.

Today, the world is just a little better, more diverse because there's not just one big bully kid on the block anymore. Now, there's Whole Sachs AND Alfalfas. I myself am so glad it's back . They've done a fabulous job!







BELOW IS a photo of The Med on Walnut, several blocks from Alfalfas, which is truly the most successful restaurant--- as far as I know it's the only one---in the history of the entire world, year in and year out, decade after decade. They simply do an incredible business and the quality hasn't waivered at all. Standing room only most nights starting about 5 pm.

Notes From the Big Highway

ON THE 1,200-MILE FIRST-LEG OF MY DRIVE WEST to Denver/Boulder where I'm resting before going on, I'm always on the lookout for the best---I use the term loosely--gas prices. When I see a good deal, I grab it, sometimes long before the gauge says I need it. Gas prices this week ranged from $3.299-$3.799. I usually got the low end. Above, I snapped the photo when I spotted every kind of vehicle at an off-brand service station on I-70 in Kansas. Where there's a crowd, count on a decent deal on gas.
Driving for long stretches, especially into the western sun in the intensest heat/ light of summer, is challenging to say the least. Thursday as I crossed Kansas into Colorado it was a blistering 111 degrees. So it's mandatory to treat such a drive as an athletic event, getting out at rest stops and exercising early, drinking tons of water and a little strong coffee while foregoing all starchy, carbo-loaded, sugary foods until the end of the driving day. It can be a good idea to fast to keep from falling asleep at the wheel---and taking a short break/nap---when driving into the sun during the blistering heat of day.

Thursday, I exercised vigorously early at my favorite I-70 rest stop in the Flint Hills west of Topeka. There's a hidden trail that climbs about 200' that's great to pump up and down several times to get some elevation gain and the blood circulation. At the top is a windmill sculpture with a spectacular 360-degree view of Kansas in all directions---very green from spring rains. You can even see the curvature of the earth. But even early, it was fry-an-egg hot on the pavement.
The rest stop has a welcome center that's built into the hillside. It's where you want to be if there tornadoes swirling around the area. I've been there in that kind of weather. Thursday, though, was classic frying pan heat and not a cloud in sight.

In the first six hours of driving from Nashville to St. Louis and into Missouri, there are no less than five great rivers to cross: the Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio ,Mighty Mississippi and my favorite---the Missouri which drains all the way out of Montan. This year they were all still swollen, high and muddy but the worst of the flooding has slowly subsided.
Please stay safe while driving this Fourth of July weekend.

CAR PACKED, CLEARED FOR TAKE-OFF! The Great Western Rockies beckon. Blogging will continue lite till I arrive in Wyoming late next week. Meanwhile, honk if you like Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann. I'll be ruminating on whether I'm beginning to like Michelle B better than Sarah P.

Later Alligator!

Photos WSJPhotos (see sidebar)

Ryle: Expecting Trials and Tribulations In Our Lives

TRIALS, we must distinctly understand, are a part of the diet which all true Christians must expect. It is one of the means by which their grace is proved, and by which they find out what there is in themselves. Winter as well as summer–cold as well as heat–clouds as well as sunshine–are all necessary to bring the fruit of the Spirit to ripeness and maturity. We do not naturally like this. We would rather cross the lake with calm weather and favorable winds, with Christ always by our side, and the sun shining down on our faces. But it may not be. It is not in this way that God’s children are made “partakers of His holiness.” (Heb. 12:10). Abraham, and Jacob, and Moses, and David, and Job were all men of many trials. Let us be content to walk in their footsteps, and to drink of their cup. In our darkest hours we may seem to be left–but we are never really alone.

~ J.C. Ryle

Religious Freedom and Inseverability Provision In New York Gay Marriage Law

WITHOUT DOUBT ALLOWING ORGANIZATIONS AND CLERGY to recuse themselves from performing and supporting gay marriage was a key ingredient in the New York bill's passage of the gay marriage act this week. The other vital ingredient is the inseverability of this provision. In other words, if any part of the religious freedom clause is over-turned in court, the entire bill goes down in flames and is null and void. This from the Daily Beast:

Governor Andrew Cuomo and three Republican senators negotiated language changes in the gay marriage bill that pushed it over the hump. Republicans wanted legal protection for religious organizations that refused to allow their buildings to be used for same-sex marriage ceremonies. The provision also prevents those organizations from being penalized by state government and provides protection for clergy or other employees who refuse to participate in such ceremonies. Perhaps most importantly, the final law included an inseverability clause that will prevent these protections from being overturned: if any part is ever found to be invalid, the rest will go down as well.

So whether you're for or against gay marriage---and let me make it clear that I am against it---these provisions are a bright spot in our country's shocking decline from Biblical principles on which it was founded. I believe that God loves all sinners, gay and straight, and I am chief among them. I also believe the practice of any and all sex outside of one-man/one woman marital sex is an abomination to the Creator. Our country will be judged sooner or later for this downward spiral.

It's also interesting to note that several heavy-hitting, wealthy hedge fund managers, especially Paul Singer who has a gay son, helped push, prode and fund this bill into law.

May God help us all.

Ridin' Commotion Toddy

@ THE RENO RODEO. Not for the faint-hearted.

I got western rodeos---moreover The West in general---on my mind.

Can His Fawning Media Save Mr. Obama From Being a One-Termer

IT'S THE BILLION $ QUESTION JOHN TAMNY ANSWERS this week in Forbes.

The short answer is no matter how much the MSM adores President Obama and portrays the economy as improving, people aren't fooled by the hype as our money buys less and less at the gas pump, the grocery store and the bank.

What can defeat the incumbency of Obama is the continual slide of the value of the dollar. Which is to say the slide of our buying power.

Nobody chronicles the fall of the dollar and its effects on presidential politics better than Tamny. It's why Jimmy Carter was a one-term president in spite of an adoring liberal hype. The public wasn't fooled because we felt the low-dollar policies in our shrinking wallets. However, Tamny qualifies his bets by saying the GOP better have a clue of how the falling dollar affects commodity prices across the board, or they don't deserve to be elected either.

It's all about the dollar, all the time. If you'll pardon my French, We need to get it up and keep it up.

Meanwhile, Gallup slumps.

Getting Real In the Whole Foods Parking Lot

Sunday, The Most Important Thing A Father Can Know

GOD CREATED HUSBANDS AND FATHERS to be the moral/spiritual leaders and role models of their families and households in a fallen world. To the extent a man, any man, abdicates his role of spiritual leader and defers it to his wife, or to no one, he will most certainly lose respect with of the women and children he purports to love. Sometimes his leading seems like a lonely uphill climb, but keeping his reservoirs filled for moral excellence, godly living and fortitude is far preferable to the alternatives. A man who submits himself to his Maker in front of his family, grows in stature and respect with his children.

Far too many men, for whatever reasons----peace at any price, cultural correctness, busyness and other priorities, feminism---have shrunk from their fundamental role of spiritual leader in their families: leading blessings at meals, leading prayers and Bible readings,setting standards for what is read and watched at home, family and community worship, praying for children and loved ones. When this abdication happens, it's only a matter of time before cracks in family life begin to manifest and things begin to fall apart. Sooner or later there's a disintegration when a father fails to lead spiritually.

Men are not marginalized by women so much as by their own unwillingness to lead morally and spiritually in their families---whatever the costs. Being a financial provider isn't enough. Being a spiritual/moral provider in loving, firm ways covers a multitude of other wrongs and weaknesses. Even when the rest of the family grumbles, being that kind of spiritual leader brings him growing respect---and every man must earn respect---in the eyes of his loved ones, especially his children. Would that more men would step up to the plate, and live there. God designed it that way. This world and its progeny would be much better for it.

Happy Father's Day!

Leaving Manhattan

WEINER HAS A DEATH WISH, NONETHELESS PLOTS COMEBACK
HOME BUT TIRED.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Monday Update

AM BACK IN MANHATTAN WITH G-BOY AND GIRLY-G. My focus has been solely on them in Rhinebeck and here since I'll be leaving soon for the Rockies for the rest of the summer. In addition, the Internet at my European-style little hotel has mostly gone down so I'm forced off-line. Hope to be back as I can soon. Will link a few things before it crashes and kicks my off again.

Sarah Palin Takes President Obama To Task For Wanting To Give Away Our Missile Defense Secrets to Russia

.....IN THE NAME OF FRIENDSHIP, YOU UNDERSTAND...

GOD LOVE HER. Whether she ever holds elected office again, political celebrity superstar Sarah Palin has a very important role to play in checks and balances, especially by calling out President Obama for wanting to have a smoozefest with the Russians on missile defense. Here's what she wrote on Facebook a>yesterday:

As Governor I fought the Obama Administration’s plans to cut funds for missile defense in Alaska. So imagine how appalled and surprised I was to read this article by former Clinton CIA Director James Woolsey, appropriately titled “Giving Away the Farm,” concerning President Obama’s latest bizarre actions relating to missile defense.

President Obama wants to give Russia our missile defense secrets because he believes that we can buy their friendship and cooperation with this taxpayer-funded gift. But giving military secrets and technologies to a rival or competitor like Russia is just plain dumb. You can’t buy off Russia. And giving them advanced military technology will not create stability. What happens if Russia gives this technology (or sells it!) to other countries like Iran or China? After all, as Woolsey points out, Russia helped Iran with its missile and nuclear programs. Or what happens if an even more hardline leader comes to power in the Kremlin?

Don't know about you, but I think this kind of exposure is very important to our national security and thank her for her timely political blast. Read more on her Facebook page or at Business Insider.

Roaring 2000s, When Discretion, Dignity, Leaving Some Things to the Imagination Came To Die A Thousand Deaths

KRISTIN POWERS: WEINER LIED TO ME, THE COUNTRY AND SHOULD STEP DOWN

TASTELESSNESS UPON TASTELESSNESS

IT'S EARLY MORNING IN WESTERN WASHINGTON on the D.C.-Bethesda border. Pre-dawn songbirds sing through my open window as early light slowly rolls into the our nation's capital. Will be a scorcher of a day here--- as well as up and down the East coast---with temperatures soaring into the high 90s. I'm leaving in an hour for Rhinebeck on the Hudson to join family for a visit outside Manhattan. Within a couple of days temperatures should settle back down into a more comfortable mid-70s range.

As I contemplate being with grandchildren soon, my thoughts turn to the sickening news of the past few weeks (and months and years) involving sexual exposures and scandal that have to boggle even the most jaded minds. As Arnold and Lady Gaga lead the way and set the complete lack of moral tone, can John Edwards, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Anthony Weiner--just to name a very few---be far behind? I shudder to think how some of these people will follow up their latest outrageous behaviors with even more. How much air and media time they consume; how they are setting the tragic role-model tone for our impressionable young people. Sadly, it's not just one political party or group; it's on both sides of the aisle.

Rep. Anthony Weiner's press conference yesterday was a low point for our country. Tearfully admitting his guilt on this and other occasions, that he had lied to save his skin wasn't enough. No, no! he followed up his mea culpa with regret (that he'd been caught) and determination that he won't resign from office. What a pathetic show.

We seem to be stuck on stupid and getting more so all the time.

One thing about social media and Twitter is it gives all of us more rope to hang ourselves even faster with poorer and poorer taste. I hope society will give each of these flagrant men---and women---what they deserve sooner rather than later---not to be re-elected, hired and profit off their depravity.

If we think they've injured themselves and families, think what it does to the law-making process here in D.C. I used to think the greatest threats to our national well-being is the threat of terrorism and financial collapse. I've changed my mind. I think moral decay is unwinding our country and moral fiber at warp speed. We should be extremely concerned. We should be extremely protective of our young people and our lives too. Sometimes, often, we need to walk away from the news and take a rest from the depravity that seems to assault us at every turn. God help us all survive another round of sexual profit-taking and indiscretion.

Sunday, Angel of the Lord Then Incarnation of The Messager

EMMANUEL---GOD WITH US. GOD WITH YOU, WITH ME.

Kate's Fabulous and Adorable Fascinator

ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING THINGS about British fashion, not found in the states, is the high hat couture which is so deeply embeded in their culture. Prince William's beautiful bride Kate, a trend setter down to her little toe, embodies it with this adorable fascinator. Her look here works so well as she continues to make white the fashion color of the year.
Meanwhile, not to be outdone on another occasion, the Prince ups the ante for the hat brigade,

Why Such A Virulent Strain of E. Coli In Europe Now?

DR. MARC SIEGEL WRITES TODAY a perceptive and prescient piece at Fox News addressing why this deadly, extremely toxic strain of E. Coli is spreading throughout Europe at the moment. His answers are right on, in my opinion. If he's correct, we can expect to see much more of this in the future unless some critical 'lifestyle' changes are implemented soon for both cows and humans.....

It's doubtful these much needed changes will happen in our instant gratification culture except on a very small scale. Still it's worth noting what Siegel---and I--- think make ripe the conditions for this scary outbreak:

First, most cattle today are grain fed, rather than grass fed.

A grain diet--- fast food for cattle---is unnatural and changes the pH of cows' intestines. The changed intestinal pH causes E. Coli---the 'unfriendly' bacteria---to proliferate while killing off friendly flora/bacteria that keep cattle healthy. This phenomenam often creates toxic meat products----especially those processed and used in fast food chains----as well as toxic manure that's over-ladened with various evolving strains of E. Coli.

When toxic manure is used to fetilize fruits and vegetable crops, produce becomes contaminated. When eaten contaminated food can make us sick or kill those with weak immune systems.

To review, factor # 1 causing this deadly E. Coli outbreak spreading through Europe is toxic manure over-burdened with E. Coli from grain-fed cattle.

I will continue with Factor 2 later.

Knowing When To Leave: Bearnice King Leaves 'Prosperity Gospel' Eddie Long's Church In Atlanta

ANN COULTER: ANTHONY WEINER'S WEINER ROASTSAYING IT HAS NOTHING TO DO with 'Bishop' Eddie Long's legal machinations involving four young men who've accused him of coercing them into underage sex with him, Rev. Bearnice King--MLK's daughter---has announced she's leaving Long's church in Atlanta where she attended and occasionally preached. Her announcement has come shortly after the news that Long has settled out of court with his four accusers.

(No news as to what that settlement entailed; however, it's rumored the four young men each have new houses, new wardrobes, new cars, new flat-screened TVs and cell phones and 401Ks funded for life from Long's prosperity fund.)

Whew! just in the nick of time, I'd say. She's wise to leave and never look back. Surely there's a more appropriate mission for her in the future than there.

More here.