Why You Should Eat Oatmeal

Oatmeal has minimal amounts of vitamins, minerals and the other healthful nutrients that have been the subject matter of this book. However, one cup of oatmeal provides 16% of our daily requirement for fiber. Here is what the Mayo Clinic says about the importance of fiber in our diets. Normalizes bowel movements Dietary fiber increases the size of our stools and softens them; thus, reducing the chances of constipation. For those suffering from loose, watery stools fiber absorbs water and adds bulk to the stool. A high fiber diet also lowers the risk of developing hemorrhoids and diverticular disease. Lowers cholesterol The soluble fiber found in oatmeal lowers the low-density or “bad” cholesterol levels in our blood. Diets high in fiber also have other heart related health benefits, including the reduction of blood pressure and levels of cardiovascular inflammation. Stabilization of blood pressure People who suffer from diabetes or pre-diabetes can slow the absorption of sugar from their intestines and stabilize their blood sugar levels by eating a diet high in fiber. Diets high in fiber also reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Aids in weight control High-fiber foods are more filling than low-fiber foods like meat; thus, by eating more fiber you are likely to eat less and stay satisfied longer. High-fiber foods also take longer to eat and are less “energy dense” which means they have fewer calories per serving than other foods. Prevention of colorectal cancer Although the evidence is mixed, several studies have shown that high fiber diets reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer. I hate oatmeal! From a personal perspective, I can’t stand the taste of QuakerOats oatmeal. A little over a year ago, I was diagnosed with aortic stenosis and needed to lose about 20 pounds of weight. I knew oatmeal was the answer, but couldn’t stand the taste of the stuff. Purely by luck, I tumbled to the Organic Multigrain Hot Cereal sold at Trader Joes. The taste of this cereal, while not all that great, is tolerable. I have been eating about ¾ of a cup of this oatmeal for breakfast each morning for the past year and during this period have lost 22 pounds in weight. A few other dietary changes have contributed to my weight loss, but I attribute most of it to the daily consumption of Trader Joe’s Multigrain Oatmeal.

The nutritional value of collard greens

Although very popular in the south, collard greens are less likely to be found on the dinner plates in other regions of the country. WHFoods recommends that we eat 1-1/2 cups of cruciferous vegetables a day. Collard greens are a mainstay of this dietary plan because they are literally packed with healthful nutrients. One cup of collard greens contains 858% of our daily requirement for vitamin K, 80% of our daily requirement of vitamin A, 30% of our daily requirement of vitamin B, and 46% of our daily need for vitamin C. One serving of collard greens also contains substantial amounts of fiber (30%), calcium (27%), magnesium (10%) and substantial amounts of other essential vitamins and minerals. Here are some of the specific health benefits of the incredible collard green. Cancer prevention Cancer prevention, is by far, the most important health benefit that can be derived from eating collard greens. This is so because collard greens support three body systems that are closely associated with the development of cancer and cancer prevention. These three systems are the bodies “detox” system, its antioxidant system and its anti-inflammatory system. Imbalances in any of these systems increase the risk of developing cancer. In this respect, consumption of collard greens is most closely associated with the prevention of bladder cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and ovarian cancer. Antioxidant benefits of collard greens Collard greens provide us with four core antioxidants, vitamins C, A and E and manganese. In addition, collard greens provide key antioxidant phytonutrients (caffeic acid, ferulic acid, quercetin and kaempherol) which also lower the risk of oxidative stress of the body’s cells and, thus, reduce the risk that they become cancerous. By providing us with such a wide array of antioxidant nutrients, collard greens greatly reduces the chances that we will develop cancer. Anti-inflammatory benefits Collard greens provide two hallmark ant-inflammatory nutrients, vitamin K and omega fatty acids. In addition, one of the glucosinolates found in collard greens can be converted to an anti-inflammatory compound that can operate at the genetic level and prevent inflammatory responses at the earlest stage of cancer formation. Cardiovascular support Central to the understanding of cardiovascular disease is the role inflammation plays in the development of hypertension and heart disease. Of particular interest, has been the role that the sulforaphane found in collard greens can play by triggering the anti-inflammatory activity in our bodies that can prevent and possibly even reverse blood vessel damage. Of equal importance is collard greens ability to lower the bad cholesterol in our bodies. Our livers use cholesterol to produce bile acids which facilitate the absorption of fat in the intestines. The fibers in collard greens bind together with the bile acid in the intestine so that these harmful substances are simply passed out of our bodies in a bowel movement rather than being absorbed into the body where they can cause cardiovascular damage. When this happens, our livers replace the lost bile acids by drawing on the bodies supply of cholesterol this, of course, lowers the cholesterol levels in our bodies. One study showed that one serving of collard greens bound 46% as many bile acids as a standard dose of the cholesterol-lowering drug cholestyramine. At a fraction of the cost, I might add. Digestion One cup of collard greens contains over 7 grams or 30% of our daily requirement for fiber. Researchers also have found that sulforaphane protects the stomach lining from bacterial overgrowth. This attribute of collard greens may be beneficial in the prevention and treatment of stomach ulcers. Additional health benefits of collard greens The ant-inflammatory nutrients in collard greens are being studied in in the treatment of several inflammatory-related conditions including Crohn’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, and ulcerative colitis. Propagation Collard greens are a cool weather vegetable ideally suited for a winter crop in California. They are easy to grow from seeds. In summary While they will never rival superfoods like the magical Goji berry in either nutritional value or taste, collard greens have a lot going for them. They are extremely nutritious, far cheaper than most superfoods and much easier to grow. If you can’t grow them, they are readily available at your local farmer’s market or supermarket. I can’t think of a single reason not to eat this cheap, readily available nutritious vegetable.

Oakland's "Ghost Ship" warehouse fire- who's to blame?

Thirty six people died in the blazing inferno that engulfed a rundown warehouse not fit for humans, probably not even for rats. It could only have happen in a hell-hole like Oakland California, a symbol of everything that is wrong in the crumbling civilization we call America. Damned near everyone in sight is to blame for this disaster, here are a few of the main culprits. The ultra liberal brain-dead morons who run the city of Oakland, starting with mayor Libby Schaaf, who claims she needs more time to figure out what happened (what an idiot), and every single administrator who works for this wretched city. Including especially, the police chief, the fire marshal, the building inspectors, every member of the health department, all of these incompetent fools draw fat salaries but are so stupid that they could not find their way out of a paper box if the lid were open. Every single one of them is responsible for this disaster! My guess is that even the Oakland city dog catchers knew that this dilapidated warehouse was unfit for humans, or even animals. Next on the list of malfeasance's is the owner of the building and anyone associated with the management of the building. They should spend the rest of their lives in prison. Most likely they will be given some type of award for "compassion". We next come to the people who resided is this fire trap and those who chose to party there. These folks are not the brightest stars in the sky and if they had a single brain cell firing would not have been anywhere near this wretched building. The so called artists who lived there, because they could not make enough money to afford a safer environment, are not blameless either. But, in their defense, they were raised to believe that the tax payers owed they a living, even if they chose not to work. When this didn't pan out they decided to live in the warehouse rather than their car, it's really as simple as that. Finally, we come to the parents who raised the misfits who attended the party in the crumbling warehouse. The fact is that they failed miserably in their role as parents, every single one of them! In this respect, I don't believe ether my daughters would have come within ten miles of a place like this. So, when all is said and done, who will be held responsible for this disaster. The parents of the dead, of course, have already paid a huge price for their incompetent parenting. But what about the mayor, the building inspectors, the fire marshals, the health inspectors, the social workers and all the other incompetent city, county and state employees who work in this wretched city? Will any of these bureaucrats lose a single days pay because they failed to do lift a finger to prevent this catastrophe? Of course not, after all this is Oakland, what else would you expect?

The Magical Goji Berry

Goji berries are at the top of the super foods list. The Chinese have associated these delicious berries with good health, vitality and longevity for thousands of years and modern medicine has substantiated many of their health benefits. Here are some facts that you should know about goji berries and their leaves. Protein: Goji berries are one of a handful of plant based foods that provide all of the building blocks for the essential proteins that the body cannot make for itself. Meats contain all of these essential amino acids but the vast majority of vegetables do not. Eye health: Goji berries are rich in zeaxanthin, the pigment that gives the berry its reddish color. People who consume goji berries have a lower incidence of age related macular degeneration. Interestingly, the leaves of goji berries, from which goji berry green leaf tea is made, have all of the healthful ingredients present in the berry itself, except for Zeaxanthin. That's why I add dried goji berries to the tea I market when they are available. Longevity and anti-aging properties: The Chinese have long associated the goji berry with longevity. Modern research has revealed that certain oils in the goji berry, called sesquiterpinoids, increase the production of human growth hormone, the only compound that has been proven to produce an ant-aging effect in humans. As we age our production of growth hormone decreases, by consuming goji berries you can compensate, at least in part, for this natural age induced decrease in this important ant-aging hormone. Heart disease: The consumption of goji berries increases the level of the superoxide dismutase in the body. This enzyme prevents the oxidation of cholesterol. In its oxidized form. Cholesterol contributes to heart disease; thus, by eating goji berries, or by drinking goji berry green leaf tea, you can lower your risk of heart disease. Immune system: Goji berries contain three compounds that will boost your immune system. Beta carotene stimulates the thymus gland; germanium protects against certain types of cancer; and the polysaccharides in the berries improve the overall function of the immune system. Antioxidants: Antioxidants neutralize the free radicals in our bodies which cause mutations in our DNA. The DNA mutations cause cell damage, aging and even cancer. Goji berries contain ant-oxidants, including vitamin c, zinc and copper, which protect our DNA from the harmful effects of these free-radicals. In fact, Goji berries contain more antioxidants than any other fruit or vegetable, including red grapes, strawberries and broccoli. This is the primary reason the goji berry is called a super fruit. Auto immune disorders: One in five of us suffer from an auto immune disorder in which the immune system attacks our own healthy cells rather than the bacteria and viruses that invade our bodies. The polysaccharides contained in goji berries provide specialized sugars that help our immune system distinguish between normal and abnormal invading cells. Finally, goji berries are rich in minerals. Some, called trace elements (copper, zinc, magnesium, phosphorous, germanium and selenium) are needed only in tiny amounts; others like iron and calcium are needed in larger amounts. The goji berry and their leaves supplies all of them. So why do you have to buy dried goji berries, which are mostly produced in China under very questionable agricultural conditions. The answer is quite simple, goji berries are extremely perishable and begin to deteriorate the minute they are removed from the vine. Basically, they turn to mush a few hours after they are picked. I am presently experimenting with ways to preserve goji berries so that they can be marketed fresh. Fortunately, except for zeaxanthin, the compound that gives the goji berry its reddish color, all of the beneficial compounds found in the goji berry also are present in their dried leaves from which I produce our goji berry green leaf tea. When available, I also add dried goji berries to the tea so that you can receive all of the beneficial effects of this magical berry when consuming our delicious green leaf tea. People on blood thinners like warfarin should not eat goji berries, otherwise they are safe for anyone to consume.

A manager's guide to employee selection

A manager's guide to employee selection Whether board members of a large corporation are charged with selecting a new fortune 500 CEO or the manager of a small restaurant is in the process of hiring a new busboy the challenges involved in the selection process are similar, if not identical. Yes, from a financial standpoint, there is much more at stake when the board member's select a new corporate leader whose decisions can make or break the company. But a poor decision by the owner of the small restaurant in hiring a busboy can also wreak havoc with his operation and possibly put him out of business. In either case, regardless of the situation, good managers have the same goal- to hire the best person possible for the position they are attempting to fill. Some of the superficial qualities of a prospective hire will be obvious. A door man should be friendly, polite and not have bad-breath but how does one chose, as is most often the case, between two candidates who seem to be friendly, polite and both seemingly brush their teeth. Similarly, most candidates for the position of executive secretary will be comely, well dressed middle aged people with years of secretarial experience. How exactly do you choose the best candidate? In the selection of an executive secretary, and to a lesser extent the busboy, references, first impressions and projected compatibility with the boss undoubtedly will play a factor in the decision to hire or to reject the candidate. It is my contention that, by far and away, the most important qualification a prospective employee can bring to the table is intelligence or, if you will, IQ. All prospective CEOs vary in IQ and the board's job is to chose the smartest candidate from the list of applicants. Similarly, the IQ's of busboys vary greatly and, all other things being relatively equal, it behooves the restaurant manager to pick the smartest one available to work in his establishment. Why, because a smart busboy will outperform a less intelligent one every minute of the hour; every hour of the day; and every day of the week. It’s really as simple as that!

Why Clinton lost the election

Hillary Clinton did not lose the election because she was a congenital liar and "crookeder" than a dog's hind leg. No, this scum bag lost the election because she was a member of the Obama administration, it's as simple as that! Most people living in flyover country detest Obama and almost everything he stands for. They concluded that eight years of his liberal incompetence was enough and took it out on Clinton at the poles. This thrashing was unforeseen by almost all of us, but not surprising considering the Obama's record of executive failures. This also, by the way, is the end of the "pay for play" Clinton foundation. Here are a few of administrative blunders that resulted in Clinton going down in flames. Leading the list of fiascoes, of course, was Obama's infamous "affordable care act" which did not provide affordable care to anyone who worked for a living. The average guy on the street has not forgotten Obama's claim that his health care plan would allow us to keep our present insurance plan and keep our doctor is we chose to do so. The average Joe also has not forgotten that this disastrous health care initiative was passed without a single republican vote in the senate, not a single one! Clinton paid a high price for supporting this ruinous piece of legislation. Close behind his deplorable "affordable care act" was Obama's endless list of executive orders, none of which had the support of a majority in congress or the average guy on the street. Basically Obama became our first imperial president and acted as if he was a dictator in some third world country like Cuba or Venezuela. The result was an economy that hasn't grown more than one or two percent a year for the past eight years. The numb sculls in the white house incessantly rave about the low unemployment rate. The average guy on the street, who voted for Trump, knows that this is a fictitiously low number which ignores the 93,000,000 people who have given up looking for work and includes those who are working part time but would rather have full time employment. In truth, for most of the working class, the economy is a disaster which has provided stagnant wages, fewer job opportunities and little hope for improvement in the future. Most people also resent greatly what has happened to America on the world stage. They begrudge Obama's tendency to bow to the kings of third world dictatorships and the fact that most of the world's leaders now have little or no respect for America or its bumbling president. In truth, Obama is a laughing stock on the world stage and everyone knows it. Do you really think Putin gives a damn what Obama thinks? More importantly, Putin knows what he will do, which is nothing! The average guy on the street knows that Obama's foreign policies have been an abject failure and, if it were not for the fact that he is a black man, he would have been tarred and feathered and rode out of town on a rail long ago. Most of us know that we must have a strong military for us, and the rest of the free world, to survive in today's world. Obama doesn't! Our military is now is worse shape than it has been since the start of the second world war. Because of our military weakness and the general impression that our feckless president does not have the balls to use military force of any kind we now pay multi-million dollar bribes to countries like Iran to free innocent civilians who they have taken hostage. A fearless leader Obama is not, a coward he is and everyone knows it, including, most importantly, our enemies in the Islamic world. Finally, most people cringe at the fact Obama throws a baseball like a girl and spends more time on the golf course than he does in the oval office. You will note that he never is filmed swinging a golf club, that must be quite a sight, don't you think? So, crooked Hillary did not lose the election. No, the liberal idiots in the demoratic party, lead by the most incompetent president in American history, are primarily responsible for her defeat and nothing could have saved her from the drubbing she received in the 2016 presidential election.

I never thought I would live to see this day, never!

When I went to bed last night I thought all was lost. I could not contemplate waking up this morning to find that, not only did conservatives and anti-Clinton democrats win the presidency, but also both houses of congress. Unbelievable! More importantly, this also means that at least one constitutionalist will be appointed to the supreme court, with any luck, two or three. This will change the way the court rules, and the country is governed, for three or four generation! How did this happen? It's really quite simple. The blacks did not suddenly wake up to the fact that they were they have been getting screwed by the demorats for the past 150 years. No, the vast majority of blacks voted, as they always do, for the lying crooked Hillary Clinton and the rest on the liberal self serving simpletons running for public office. Similarly, Americans and illegal's of Mexicans heritage did not suddenly wake up to the fact that they were getting the shaft by the constant flow of South American illegal's who cross the borders by the thousands each and every day to take their jobs and lower their standard of living. No, the Mexican population continued to vote for the demorats as they always do. What happened was more basic and deep rooted. The average American, especially those living in flyover country, was sick and tired of way things worked in Washington. They were fed up with the corruption of the politicos on both sides of the isle and they decided to elect a president with no political ties to either political party, in the hopes that he might actually build the damned wall, strengthen our military and, most importantly, bring jobs back to America and put our citizens back to work. It's just as simple as that. Whether Trump will fulfill these promises remains to be seen, but he has the opportunity to do so and, by so doing, become the most significant president in the past 150 years, maybe the most significant political leader since George Washington.

The upcoming presidential election. This decision is not as difficult as it may seem at first glance.

Yes. on the surface it may appear to be the decision from hell, a choice between two of the most despicable individuals ever to walk the face of the earth. On the one hand we have the congenital liar Hillary Clinton who is as crooked as a dog's hind leg and one of the most corrupt individuals ever to seek public office. On the other, we have the crud, boorish, ego-maniac Donald Trump. In a world that was not upside down, this clown could not be elected dog catcher. But, I would argue. we do live in an upside down world, and I believe we must look beyond the distasteful characters running for president and consider what will happen if one of them is actually elected president. Here, the options are clear, straight forward and indisputable. With Clinton, we will get at least four more years of the same feckless leadership of the Obama administration including a further weakening of our already porous borders; a continuation of our flagging economy; and further down-sizing of our military. There is a chance, although slim, that our country could whether this part of the impending storm. Unfortunately, these considerations will be small potatoes if crooked Hillary is elected president. The upcoming appointments to the Supreme Court are of far greater significance and, by far and away, the most important reason a liberal demorat like Hillary Clinton should not be elected president at this particular time in American history. As we all know, the present court is now divided four to four along liberal and conservative (constitutional) lines. The first priority of the next president will be to nominate a replacement for the recently deceased conservative jurist Anthony Scalia. This will be the most important appointment to the Supreme Court in the past 100 years, maybe ever! But it gets worse after that, a lot worse! The average age of the members now sitting on the court is now 140 years (only a slight exaggeration). Thus, over the next four years, it is likely that two or three additional members of the court will succumb to old age or totter off to retirement. Thus, a liberal president will have the opportunity to stack the court with like minded ant-constitutional, anti-gun, anti-military socialists that will bastardize the highest court in the land for at least the next 30 to 40 years. But this is just the beginning of the horrendous possibilities of a liberal presidency at this crucial point of time in American history. The next president will be in a position to nominate, and have confirmed, hundreds of federal court judges who will bring their liberal philosophy into every nook and cranny of American life. These liberal weasels will undermine and destroy every vestige of American life as we and our forefathers knew it. At a minimum, this would mean sticker gun laws, and possibly the confiscation of all privately owned firearms; the complete elimination of our borders; and a floundering socialist state unrecognizable by those of us who were born in the first half of the last century. Yes, the stacking of the Supreme Court and the federal courts with liberal minded jurists who believe the constitution is antiquated and no longer meaningful will be the end of the United States of America. Period! And, when all is said and done, that is why we should do everything possible to make sure Donald Trump is our next president, nothing else is of the slightest importance, especially since the alternative is crooked Hillary Clinton. One last thought on this critically important issue. If Trump becomes president Mike Pence will be our vice president. Now, God forbid, if something should happen to Trump, Mike Pence will be our president. That, should bring a smile to your face! Stranger things have happened.

What the California 2016 Assessment of Student Performance and Progress Shows.

Academics are crowing about the small gains that have been made, overall, in the most recent tests of proficiency in English and Math in California high school students. However, they bemoan the fact that only 49 percent of California students are proficient in English and only 37 percent are proficient in math. More troubling to them are the marked racial differences in the test scores. The wide gap in performance between the Asian and white students on one hand and black and Latino students on the other, despite years of focused efforts and the infusion enormous amounts of state and federal funds to close this gap, is particularly perplexing to our educational leaders. State Superintendent of Education Tom Torlakson called the racial differences :"pernicious and persistent." It is not clear if Superintendent Torlakson understands the reason for the marked racial disparity we are seeing on our California schools, most likely he does not. "We'd like to see more of a state of urgency and more progress for English language learners and low income and African-American students in particular," said Carrie Hahnel of the Oakland advocacy Educational Trust-West. As I've said many times, they people do not have the slightest clue as to why racial differences in educational achievement persist despite over 50 years of effort and billions of dollars of funding to close the racial educational gap for the blacks and Latinos in our country. The statistics provided by Noguchi and Tsai in the August 25th edition of the East Bay Times provides the answer. Despite differences in the economic background of the students tested, the statistics never changed. In this respect, Asian students on average always outperformed all other racial groups, irrespective of their environmental background, and whites were only a few points behind them. On the other hand, blacks, irrespective of the economic circumstances of their parents and the environmental status of their childhood, always placed dead last in the English and math proficiency tests. Latinos, with one exception in Santa Clara County, always, marginally, outperformed blacks. Filipinos, the only other race included in the statistics, had mean scores that were only slightly lower than the whites tested. Anyone who has read Herrnstein and Murray's Bell Curve knows exactly what this latest group of educational statistics tell us. Asians, on average, do better in school, not because their superior study habits, but because their mean IQs are 3 to 9 points higher than that of the white population. Blacks and Latinos will always fair less well, on average, than their white and Asian counterparts in their educational endeavors because their mean IQs are 15 and 13 points, respectively, lower than that of the white population. Nothing the politicians can do will change the basic fact that there are marked disparities in inherited racial IQ. We should be spending more time and money dealing with the consequences of these differences and less of our limited resources trying to change the unchangeable (more jobs for the uneducated, reducing the birth rates of low-IQ single mothers, reestablishing the black family and reducing the numbers of low IQ Mexicans who are crossing our boarders illegally by hundreds with each passing day. In summary, the latest educational statistics for California High School students are, for the most part, simply a reflection of the racial disparity in the IQs of the students tested. Until we understand this fact, nothing will change and we will continue to waste monies, that we do not have and must borrow, on misguided social programs like school busing and head-Start. Finally, we should stop blaming the teachers for their inability to educate the uneducable in classrooms teeming with rowdy misfits who should be in reform schools, not the class room.

Yes, black lives matter, but not in way most people think.

Blacks make up less than 15 percent of the population. Yet 150 years after their emaciation, and after numerous attempts to make them normal functioning members of society, as a group, they remain one of societies biggest problems. All of our attempts to right the supposed wrongs of the past, including school bussing, numerous affirmative action and head start programs have failed to make the slightest difference in the lives of the average Black American. In fact, you can make the case that blacks who are not born with exceptional athletic ability are worse off now than they were in the days before Lyndon Johnson set in motion the federal welfare policies that broke up the black family. With 72 percent of young black males either in prison or on parole and over 70 percent of black babies being born to single mothers, one wonders how things could get much worse for blacks or the society in which they live. But, if things stay the same, it will. You can bet your last dollar on that! One thing we have learned from our futile attempts to stamp out all vestiges of racism and to make things better for the black community is this. With rare exception, black single mothers, aided by their mothers and grandmothers are incapable of raising black children so that they will become functioning members of society. This is especially true for black boys who, if they are fortunate enough not to have been gunned down by members of their own race, most often end up in prison. Of course, there are exceptions to this sad state of affairs. A few blacks, those with exceptionally high IQs, do become educated and make something of their lives. Invariably, these black men and women move out of the black communities in which they were born and settle in white suburbs where, for all practical purposes, they become white. These exceptional individuals flee the black ghettoes where they were born, leaving them unchanged in the slightest. In this respect, the slums of Oakland, Detroit, Chicago and Flint Michigan are, by any standard, in worse condition now than they were 50 years ago. When all is said and done, America is paying a heavy price for Blacks who, for whatever reason, have not been able to assimilate into the American way of life. Undoubtedly, the destructive social policies of Johnson's great society, and the many liberal boondoggles that followed have played a role in the Blacks failure to integrate into American culture. However, programs like Head Start do not fail because of lack of effort or lack of recourses. No, these programs fail, in large part, because the mean IQ of the average Black is 15 IQ points lower than that of the average white and there is little or nothing that can be done to change this disturbing fact after a child is born. Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray pointed out the problems facing those who are born with below average IQs, both black and white, in their masterpiece The Bell Curve. The data presented in this 871 page tour de force is a must read for anyone interested in tackling the social problems we face in twenty-first century America. The refusal of liberal politicians and educators to recognize the basic differences in inherited intellect between the races is largely responsible for the inner city decay we are experiencing in most of our large cities today. But you may be asking, how would recognition of the fact that there are racial differences in inherited intellect change anything for the better? There are several ways this might happen. First, we should stop paying low IQ women, both black and white, to have children. In fact we should be paying them not to have children. This can be accomplished by a state or federal program that would pay inner city single women a stipend, $5000 seems about right, to have a Norplant injection that would prevent them becoming pregnant for five years. The monies saved by not having to pay for prisons that would house the males that they otherwise give birth to during the five year period of volunteered sterility would, in the long run, more than pay for such a program. More significantly, over a period of 10 to 15 years it would greatly decrease the crime rate. Along these same lines, there should be financial, and other incentives, that would encourage educated females, again both black and white, to have larger numbers of children. In short, we must encourage smart women of all races to have more children, otherwise in a few generations we will become a land of dullards. At present the medical profession and the Silicone Valley are becoming more dependent with each passing day on foreigners who were trained in India, China and elsewhere to fill the jobs available because there are not enough educated Americans to meet the need. This problem would be alleviated, at least in part, if professional, well educated intelligent women of all races were having more babies. We should be doing more to make this happen! Finally, we should begin making things again in America so that there will be well paying jobs for those who want to work, but do not have the mental capacity to become educated. In this respect, there is no reason that tennis shoes that sell for over $150 cannot be made in America by American workers rather than by someone living in a third world nation where humans work for a few dollars a day and live in abject poverty. This will require stiffer tariffs on imports and tax incentives for manufactures who are willing to make the products they sell in the good old USA. Along these same lines, once the jobs are available, people who now depend on welfare should be forced to take them, or be directed to the nearest soup kitchen. This would go a long way towards decreasing America's staggering rate of obesity. So yes, black lives do matter but in a very negative way. Our inner city ghettos are teaming with blacks who can neither read or write and have no chance of making anything of themselves in today's high-tech world. Our political leaders should recognize the intellectual limitations of those living in black America and do whatever is necessary to rectify the problem. More government freebies, single mother families and earlier and earlier head-start programs are not the answer!

Two very bad choices, what to do?

Faced with the Clinton-Trump debacle, what is a conservative voter to do? On the one hand you have a congenital lying demorat who has spent most of her adult life feeding at the public trough and made hundreds of millions while doing so. This women is crookeder than a dogs hind leg and belongs in prison, not in the White House. There also is a real question of whether or not this women is healthy enough to serve. On the other hand you have the Donald, a egomaniac loose cannon who will say and do anything at the drop of a hat, irrespective of the consequences. If we have learned anything about this buffoon in the past year or so, it is that he is incapable of learning from his past mistakes and verbal blunders, continuing to step into it with both feet at every opportunity. If this guy has an IQ over 100 I would be greatly surprised. By the way, the reason Trump refuses to reveal his tax returns results from the fact that he is nowhere near as wealthy as he would have us believe. So what are we to do? The answer is not as complex as you might think. The key to the upcoming election is the status of the Supreme Court and the other federal benches in the decades to come. At least three, and possibly four, of the liberals on the present Supreme Court will either die or retire during the next president's term. If Hillary is elected they will be replaced with similar herd of liberal activists, of that you can be sure. In that case, our country, now teetering on financial and societal ruin, will go under, of that I have no question whatsoever. If Trump somehow prevails in the upcoming election it will be a crap shoot because no one, probably not even Trump, has the slightest idea what he will do when faced with proposing nominees for the federal courts. Some believe, as I do, that this guy is a wolf in sheep's clothing who will appoint a series of liberal jurists to the various federal courts. If this is the case, it makes no difference if the congenital liar or the buffoon is elected, we are doomed either way. But if Trump prevails, there is at least a chance that doomsayers like me are wrong and that Trump will actually build the damned wall, cut bureaucratic red tape and appoint conservatives to the federal courts. Thus, when all is said and done, we are left with no choice, holding my nose and crossing my fingers, legs and toes, I will begrudgingly vote for Trump and hope for the best. I suggest that you do the same.

The Orlando Massacre- A Couple of What Ifs

What if even one of the federal authorities who interviewed the mass murderer prior to the Orlando massacre had a brain in their heads? What if someone in that nightclub had a concealed weapon which could have been used to defend themselves when the rag-head went berserk? These are important questions that should be answered by the authorities and politicians who run this country. First the brain issue. Less we forget, a relatively low level female working for the FAA in Minneapolis concluded that something was a little fishy when she observed that the 9/11 rag-heads who were attending aviation classes there had no interest in learning how to land an airplane, they were only interested in learning how to fly them. When she brought this concern to the attention of her superiors they simply ignored her and, as a result, over 3000 people died. Just a smidgen of common sense by these mid-level bureaucrats might have avoided this disaster. Similarly, the feds had interviewed the most recent lunatic rag-head three times since 2013 and did nothing. During this time they also ignored numerous complaints from the ISIS murderer's associates who told them, in no uncertain terms, that this guy was as nutty as a fruit cake and a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off. Again the authorities did nothing but sit back and suck their collective thumbs! You have to ask yourself, when will these overpaid incompetent federal employees be held accountable for their negligence and lack of good sense? When will they start employing some kind of reasonable judgment, including racial profiling, to assure public safety? Let me assure you, the simple minded, time consuming screening of white grandmas and grandpas at airports is not the answer! Rather, it is an example of the stupidity of ruling class! Now, to the second and more important issue. How do we minimize the carnage at these increasingly more frequent ISIS terrorist attacks? Forty nine dead and a similar number wounded and scared for life, certainly we can do better. At this point in time, given the present liberal administration, eliminating the radical Muslim element from society is not feasible, so we must concentrate on reducing the damage caused by their irrational attacks on innocent civilians. For the same reason we have fire exits in large buildings and stairs in place to allow exit if the elevators malfunction during a disaster, we need to arm those working in the public sector, not disarm them as is the goal of most of the witless wonders running our country. There should be armed guards or, better yet, armed teachers, in every school, no exceptions. The pilots on all commercial airline should be armed as well as a significant number of their cabin attendants. All large establishments such as restaurants, nightclubs, grocery outlets and sporting events should have armed employees at the ready as well. They should be trained to shoot to kill and ask questions later! Finally, an of equal importance, we should encourage liberal gun carry laws in every state. Anyone who does not have a criminal record should be encouraged to learn how to shoot a gun safely and to carry a concealed weapon. There is a reason crime rates are down significantly in towns and cities that allow their citizens to carry a concealed weapon. Along these same lines, requirements for gun safes, trigger locks and all other gun safety devices should be declared unconstitutional. There is little use for a gun with a complicated trigger lock, or worse yet, a gun locked away in a gun safe, when the bad guy comes crawling through your bedroom window at three AM on a moonless night. You should be able to shoot the bastard to protect your family, it's as simple as that! Of these suggestions, the most important is the liberalization of our gun carry laws, especially for those working in the public sector such as school teachers and people employed in the transportation sector. In this respect, how many innocents, do you think, would have been killed in the most recent Jihadi Orlando massacre if even one or two of the people in that nightclub had been carrying a concealed weapon? Yes, I know drunks should not be allowed to carry firearms in public places but what is the alternative, 49 dead and an equal number badly wounded? When all is said and done, our government will not, or cannot protect us, from those who are intent on killing every last one of us! More guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens is the only feasible answer to the situation in which we now find ourselves. Strict gun laws that disarm the citizenry have not worked in France, Belgium or England and they will not work here either!

Was Muhammad Ali Really The Greatest Boxing Champion Ever?

Who knows. In the first place, it's difficult, or impossible, to compare athletes who lived in different eras. For instance, in Joe Louis's day the average weight of a heavy weight boxer was around 195 pounds, today it's closer to 235. Thus, any comparison between Muhammad Ali and any previous champion is meaningless. Pound for pound though, I believe Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest price fighter to ever set foot in a boxing ring. In any case, I want to address this issue from a slightly different angle and ask the question, "who was the most significant boxer ever?" Certainly it was not an earlier version of Donald Trump, the braggadocios Muhammad Ali who was behind another door when the humility genes were being passed out. No, the award for most significant boxer ever would have to go to the legionary Joe Louis. The stage was set for Louis by Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics. Owens, a black man, ran away with the 1936 Olympics winning four gold medals and he did it on German soil. More significantly, Owens's feat was the first nail in Adolph Hitler's coffin since it brought into question Hitler's claim of Aryan superiority in all things, big and small. Joe Luis drove the second, and final, nail in Hitler's intellectually deficient coffin when he knocked out the German heavyweight champion Max Schmeling in 124 seconds of the first round at Yankee Stadium on June 22, 1938. Because of its political implications this, arguably, was the most important sporting event of all time.It took a few more years for the west to eliminate Hitler and his axis partners but the bloom was definitely off the Aryan rose when Joe Louis made mincemeat out Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium on that summer evening in 1938. As for Muhammad Ali, great men do not wave their hands and gloat over their fallen opponents, only real low lives behave in this fashion.

Veteran Administration Hospitals- What To Do With Them

I worked in a VA Hospital for 22 years and never understood the need for a separate hospital system for veterans. Today, with administrative incompetence from top to bottom, there seems to be even less justification for VA hospitals than when I retired in 2000. I expect there are several reasons why, despite their deficiencies, these reflections of the distant past persist in 2016. First, the Veteran's Administration and their hospitals represent a giant corrupt political organization, much the same as the IRS, which is almost impossible to change despite, its obvious faults and multiple short comings. Second, VA hospitals exist because many, if not most, veterans cannot afford private medical care and do not have health insurance. In this respect, I rarely encountered a veteran who came to our VA hospital because they liked the care they would receive at out institution; rather, they came to us because they had no other choice. So, why don't they have another choice? As veterans who served our country, and put their lives on the line while doing so, they should have a choice, don't you agree? The solution to this problem is simple, straight forward and most importantly cost effective. All veterans should be given Medicare A and B and the VA medical care system should be phased out over a 5 to 10 year period. This would allow time for VA employees to relocate in the private sector. There is absolutely no reason for us to continue a two tiered medical system when there is a reasonable doable alternative. At least I can't think of one. Now, most doctors, worth their salt, will not accept Medicare patients who do not have supplemental health insurance because Medicare reinvestment for their services is inadequate to cover the costs inherent in running their practices, let alone allow them to make a reasonable profit. Thus, we will have to provide veterans with a supplemental insurance plan such as Federal Blue Cross and Blue Shield. This coverage will be expensive, but not nearly as costly as funding the 152 VA medical centers and 1400 VA outpatient clinics that now exist. The cost for running this bloated bureaucracy in 2014 was a whopping $152.7 billion. More to the point, it will provide veterans with the finest medical care possible, in a timely fashion, and eliminate a giant incompetent government institution whose sole purpose seems to be to provide jobs for incompetent administrators who can't cut it in the private sector.

Where We Are In The 2016 Presidential Election?

I can't think of two worst choices, can you? On the one hand we have a pathological liar who spent the first half of her political life covering up for her philandering husband Bill the womanizer and the second half bungling almost everything she touched the state department. Even crazy Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist, has been giving her a run for her money on the demoratic side of the ticket. On the other hand, we have we have one of the loosest of all loose cannons running for a job that requires diplomatic experience and a level-headed approach to the problems he will inherit from the bumbling Obama administration. Never has there been a more childish uncouth man running for the highest office in the land, never! Almost every word that comes out of this man's mouth is an embarrassment. Has he no handlers or is to just too stupid to take their advice? It's difficult or impossible to believe a single word that come out of Trump's mouth. Reminds you of Hillary, doesn't it? Will he really build the wall? I, for one, do not believe a word he says in this respect. Will he deport a single illegal? Again, I doubt it. In fact, I believe he will make it easier for low IQ South American illiterates to cross our boarder. After all the Donald is a business man and business men want an endless supply of cheap labor, the American worker be damned! No, we are left with two extremely unacceptable choices, a woman who has failed at everything she has tried from her first job at the State department (fired for lying and incompetence) to the Benghazi fiasco where she was responsible for sitting on her hands doing nothing while our ambassador and three others were murdered. She should be in prison, not in the White House. In Trump we have a blustering school boy bully who attempts to sell himself a successful business man but has filed for more bankruptcies than most dogs have fleas on their backs. How does this record of business failures qualify one to be president? After all, when you are dealing with China or Russia there is no bankruptcy court to bail your sorry ass out if Putin or some other foreign leader calls one of your unreasoned bluffs. The republican establishment ultimately will swallow hard and support the Donald. What other choice do they have if they want to maintain their Washington power base and their handsome life styles? They will do everything possible to make Trump look reasonable. More importantly, they will move heaven and earth to make us conservatives believe this 59 year old juvenile delinquent is the second coming of Christ. Well, I'm not buying it! As my mother used to say, "You can put all the lipstick you want on a pig, but it's still a pig!" So what is one to do? Voting for the lying incompetent Hillary Clinton is not an option. Voting for the Trump the foul mouthed school yard bully is an unacceptable alternative. At this point in time, we can only hope that something unexpected will occur at the Republican convention and a more reasonable candidate will immerge that we conservatives can support. The chances of this happening are, admittedly, slim to none. So, I'll write in Ted Cruz's name and be done with it. America is in her last days as a prosperous viable national leader. I may not live to see the end but I bet my grandson will.

Gardening Tips- Growing Tomatoes.

It's time to plant tomatoes, actually it's a little past the ideal time in Northern California. I start my tomatoes from seed, usually in December of the previous year in a green house and transplant the seedling in April when they are 8 to 12 inches tall (the taller the better). First prepare the ground before planting tomato seedlings. I mix in earthworm castings, alfalfa pellets and a handful of ground oyster shells to each hole before inserting the tomato plants. The calcium in the oyster shells prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes and other vegetables. Ground up oyster shells only come in 50 pound bags; thus, oyster shells may not be a practical way to add calcium to the soil if you are only going to raise a few tomato plants. Egg shells also are a wonderful way to add calcium to the soil, but they take several months to break down and release the mineral into the soil. Other sources of calcium are bat guano, soft rock phosphate and Dolomite lime. Plant the tallest plants available for the best end result. To plant relatively tall plants, you have two choices. Either dig an appropriately deep hole or, better yet, dig a 4 to 6 inch trench and lay the plants on their sides. Pull off the lower leaves. Roots will form where the leaves were attached to the plants resulting in healthy strong plants. Make sure that only the top cluster of leaves are above the ground after the seedlings are planted. I plant only "indifferent" tomato plants which should be grown upward on a cage or trellis ("different" tomato plants are grown as bushes with their branches and leaves close to the ground). To encourage upward growth, and help prevent tomato viral diseases, after the plants have reached a height of about eight inches start removing the lower leaves from the plants. The lower leaves of a tomato plant should not be allowed to touch the ground to discourage viruses in the ground from reaching the upper branches of the tomato plant. At this stage of growth you also should begin removing the suckers from your tomato plants. Suckers form at the junction of a tomato plant's main stock, or stocks, and a leaf. If the suckers are not removed the plants will tend to grow sideways rather than upwards. When the plants are 1.5 to 2 feet tall selected suckers may be retained and attached to the wire cage or trellis in which you are growing them to achieve the desired form of your adult plants. If you are unsure about the appearance of a tomato sucker, go to the internet and watch a video on tomato suckers. I should also mention that the removed suckers may be placed in the ground to produce additional tomato plants. One final tip on growing delicious tomatoes. The tomato flower contains both female and male sex organs. To encourage tomato plants to produce fruit, shake the tomato blossom with your hand or the brush of a battery driven electric tooth brush, around noon each day. Earlier in the morning or later in the day this method of fertilization does not work as well. Shaking the blossoms not only increases the yield of a tomato plant but also increases the number of seeds in the tomato, which enhances its flavor. Happy gardening!

The Best Bread Recipe Ever!

How to make a good loaf of bread? That is a problem I had struggled with for many years. My mother could do this in her sleep. Unfortunately, she took all of her recipes, which were in her head, to the grave with her, so she was of no help to me in this endeavor. A few years ago I tumbled to this simple recipe for making a great loaf of bread and thought I would share it with you. Actually, it makes two loaves of fantastic bread, but who's counting. I can assure you that this recipe will work the first time you try it and every time thereafter. To make this wonderful bread you will need two large cast iron kettles with lids in which to bake the bread, other lighter weight baking dishes will not achieve the same results, so don't waste your time trying them. The ingredients for the recipe are simple and readily available. Six cups or bread or all purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon of dried yeast ( this is not a typing error, that's all you need); three teaspoons of salt; 3 and 1/4 cups of water. Simply mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir in the water. This will produce very, very wet bread dough. Spray the dough with Pam or olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for 18 hours. Do not manipulate the dough in any way (you couldn't even if you tried because it is so wet to work with). At this point, line two medium sized bowls with parchment paper: divide the dough in two roughly equal parts: punch down the dough and place each of them in a bowl. Now spray again with Pam, cover with a dish towel and let them sit for another two to three hours. Note, the recipe is very time consuming but requires very little effort on your part. Now, preheat the oven, kettles and lids to 500 degrees F. After the kettles and lids are oven temperature remove them from the oven. Remove the lids and lift the parchment paper by its corners to place the dough in the preheated kettles. The original recipe did not employ parchment paper in the transfer process; however, if you do not use this trick the bread dough will fall during the transfer process. Replace the lids and bake at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove the lids and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes at 450 degree F, or until each loaf is golden brown. Remove the loaves from the baking kettles and let them cool on a rack. Anyone can make delicious bread using this simple foolproof recipe. One cautionary note, however, this bread is not for weight watchers.

Cinnamon and the Gardener

I use a lot of cinnamon, not on my food, but on my house plants and organic garden. Literally, I sprinkle it on everything! Let's begin by discussing its use to control the gardener's nightmare the, dreaded "dampening off" syndrome. Anyone who has attempted to get an early jump on spring by establishing plants from seeds in a green house, or in seed trays on an indoor window sill, is all too familiar with the dreaded "damping off." This term refers to an array of fungal diseases that attach your sprouting seeds and lead to their early demise. Starting plants from cuttings poses a similar problem. Cinnamon is a proven fungus exterminator, better yet its 100 percent organic and relatively cheap. Simply sprinkle a little cinnamon powder over the bedding in which you have plated your seeds at weekly intervals to decrease the chances that they will be killed by the offending fungi. Cinnamon also is a very powerful rooting hormone. When planting cuttings, dip the cuttings in cinnamon powder before inserting them into the starting soil. This simple maneuver greatly enhances your chances of growing plants from cuttings. After inserting the cuttings in the starting soil do not forget to sprinkle cinnamon powder over the cuttings and soil to inhibit the "damping off" fungi. In any case, you can save a lot of money by using cinnamon rather than more expensive, and often less effective, commercial rooting hormones to stimulate root growth. There are several other non-culinary uses for cinnamon powder. Ants do not like cinnamon powder and you can sprinkle it around the garden, or entrances into the house, to deter infestations of ants in either location. Cinnamon powder also can be sprinkled around house plants to rid your plants of various molds and mildew. Finally, cinnamon powder can be used to rid your plants of gnats and other similar pests. In summary, cinnamon powder is a natural and affordable way to keep your indoor and outdoor plants healthy and flourishing. Why not give it a try?

Changing Times

I am now in my 79th year, and during the time I have lived on this wondrous planet, America has changed from Ronald Regan's "Shining city on the hill " to a debt ridden, amoral country where sodomy and full-term abortion are OK; illegitimacy in the black community is the norm; and one third of the country's population is on food stamps.

I was aware that this transformation was occurring but, for a number of serf-serving reasons, did little or nothing to curtail the amorality and political corruption that was destroying my profession and the country of my birth. I hope in writing this book to atone, in part, for my indifference. In this respect, if ever a soul needed forgiveness and redemption, it is I! In writing this book, I relied heavily on the statistical evidence Richard J. Herrington and Charles Murray presented in their remarkable book, The Bell Curve, to support my contention that many, if not most of America's financial and moral problems are a direct result of the falling IQ of our citizens. Our intellectual decline results from the fact that the birthrate of smart white women has fallen sharply over the last 50 years while the birthrates of low IQ women, of all races, has steadily increasing during the same period. The illegal immigration of intellectually challenged Mexican women also has contributed greatly to our country's intellectual decline. The remedies I suggest in America In Decline, such as the introduction of a National Identification Card, without which a person cannot work or vote, and limiting voting rights to those who pay taxes, are simple straight forward measures that, if implemented, would go a long way towards righting our floundering ship of state. However, unlike Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, I do not believe significant political change can be achieved at the voting booth. No, I fear it will take a second American revolution to get our train back on the track to financial solvency and morality. Hopefully, our second revolution will not be as bloody as was the first!

Can Trump Be Stopped? Trump has been an enigma from the first day of his campaign. For many of us, this ego-maniac represents the least desirable aspects of our society, an unapologetic blow-hard who is intent on bringing out the worst aspects of humanity and, I might add, does so on a daily basis with no end in sight. Then, right before our eyes, he morphs into the most formable candidate in the republican field, the endorsement of Chris Christie almost makes him seem, somehow, normal. Well, when all is said and done, this guy is a lose canon of unparalleled equal and, in a normal sane world, wouldn't have a chance of ascending to the presidency. However, we live in an upside-down world where anything is possible. Who would have thought, fifty years ago, that Obama, who obviously hates everything American except for the life style we have given him, could be elected to the presidency not once, but twice? No reasonable conservative has the slightest idea what Trump would do as president. My guess is that Trump doesn't know either. Most likely, he is playing this game as another of his sit-coms throwing his chips in the air and letting them fall where they may, completely oblivious of the outcome. The question is, can Trump be stopped? I believe the endorsement of Christie makes this very unlikely. Christie didn't have "a snow ball's chance in hell" of becoming the republican presidential candidate," but his endorsement of Trump increases trumps conservative credentials tremendously. Meanwhile, Rubio continues to embarrass himself, at every opportunity, and Ted Cruz, the only true conservative in the race, can't get out from under Trump's shadow no matter how hard he tries. Supper Tuesday will tell the story, but it seems extremely unlikely that the New York dandy can be derailed from his real goal which is to destroy the republican party, which he will do come 2017, whether he wins or loses the general election. This is the way it most likely will play out. If trump wins both Florida and Texas the game is over. More likely, Trump will take Florida and lose to Cruz in Texas. If this is the case. both Cruz and Rubio will hang on to the bitter end and no one will have a majority of the votes at the convention. This is where the establishment takes over and Rubio, proud member of the gang of eight, is given the nomination. Cruz will crawl away and sulk in a corner crying foul all the way. Trump, on the other hand, will go ballistic and run as an independent carrying 30 to 40 percent of the conservative republican base, and a few independents and pissed-off democrats, over the cliff with him. One way or the other it is going to be a very interesting year.

Planting Tomatoes

Spring is in the air, well most days, and it's time to start thinking about the summer garden. Even when cramped for space, most of us will want to have a pot or two of tomatoes on the deck or patio. There are few "musts" about growing those delicious home grown tomatoes, here's one of them.

Blossom-end rot (BED) is a deformity that occurs at the blossom end of all fruiting vegetables and is particularly common in tomatoes. BED begins as a watery looking area adjacent to the blossom. In short order, the lesions enlarge, become brown or black in color and take on a leathery appearance which covers the bottom half of the fruit. While edible, the unaffected upper half of the fruit is small and not worth keeping. BED is not caused by a pest or parasite; rather, it is the result of a calcium deficiency in the plant. All plants require sufficient quantities of calcium to develop correctly and BED is a sure sign that your tomatoes are not absorbing enough calcium to develop correctly. As most often is the case, a pound or two of prevention is worth many pounds of cure. This is particularly true of BED because, once the plant is mature, it is difficult or impossible to reverse the situation. So, before planting your tomatoes make sure that the soil you plant them in is not deficient in calcium. I assume that the soil will be deficient in calcium and simply add a little calcium to each of the prepared beds in which the tomatoes will be planted. One can add lime, gypsum or egg shells to increase the calcium content in the soil. Egg shells take a long time to break down. Lime and gypsum must be used with caution because both materials may make the soil to alkaline for ideal plant growth. In any case, I add a small handful of ground-up oyster shells to each hole in which I plant a tomato seedling, mixing it in well with the other materials used to enrich the soil (worm castings, aged manure, coffee grounds and rotted oak leaves). One also can add four to six pounds of powdered oyster shells per one hundred square feet of soil to accomplish the same goal. By the way, it's not too early to plant those tomatoes if you live in the coastal regions of central California. If in doubt, cover the plants at night with something like a five gallon plastic bucket if there is a chance of frost. Happy gardening!

The Scalia Debate

Antonin Scalia was the most brilliant Supreme Court jurist in my lifetime, no one even came close to emulating this gifted man. Having said that, what do we do now that he is gone? We now have a divided government. The liberals rant and rave that they have every right to nominate a jurist to replace Scalia and, of course, they do. Is anyone arguing that fact? However, the republican majority in the senate has every right, and obligation, to reject any far right ideologue that Obama might nominate. In fact, they have a moral obligation to do so. The consent part of this constitutional arrangement seems to have been lost on the drive-by media. Donald Trump is now leading in the poles for the republican nomination. Trump is leading because a sizable number of republicans are sick to death of the "go along to get along" policies proposed by the liberal minority in the congress and ultimately supported by the cry-baby republicans in both bodies. Yes, these fools actually cry in public. We simply cave at every turn in the road, have been doing so for decades. This foolishness must stop if we are to have any chance of saving our country. A sizable segment of the population understands this and will support Trump "come hell or high water" irrespective of his childish demeanor and crude remarks. Now back to Scalia's replacement. The republican majority in the senate must resist any attempt of Obama to stack the court with yet another liberal anti-constitutional witless-wonder. The simplest way to accomplish this goal is for Mitch McConnell simply to refuse to bring any or all of Obama's nominees to the floor. This is certainly his right as leader of the chamber. Let liberal buffoons like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reed and and Chuck Schumer scream and holler like stuck pigs. If we do not win the presidency in November, well, that's a whole different kettle of fish, a pretty smelly one at that.

The Magical Goji Berry

If there ever was a perfect food, it would be the ancient goji berry from the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet and Mongolia. This exotic plant, also known as the wolf berry, has been a nutritional stable and medicinal remedy in China and Tibet for over 2000 years. The goji berry has slowly made its way west and in now available in the United States and elsewhere in the western world. What's so special about this incredible fruit? Well, the short answer is, just about everything. Gojies are unique first, because they contain all of the essential amino acids, every single one, and second, because they have the highest content of protein and carotenoids (antioxidants which fight chronic disease)) of any food source. Goji berries also are loaded with vitamin C and have 15 times more iron than spinach. Just think of that, they should have called Popeye the sailor man, Popeye the Goji man and probably would have if they had known about these amazing berries in Popeye's day. Goji berries also have high concentrations of calcium, zinc, selenium and many other important trace elements. Without doubt, the Goji is a nutritional powerhouse without equal in the plant and vegetable world.

This amassing super fruit contains numerous recognized, and probably several as yet unrecognized, medicinal ingredients. These natural remedies include ant-bacterial, ant-fungal and anti-inflammatory compounds which, along with their powerful antioxidant properties, boost the immune system and help prevent a host of medical problems. Last, but now least, Goji berries contain human growth hormone (HGH), the only substance that has been scientifically proven to reverse aging. Unfortunately, synthetic HGH is extremely expensive (around $30,000 a year) which prohibits its widespread use as an anti-aging agent. Similar effects can be obtained from goji berries at a fraction of the cost simply by eating 20 goji berries or 20 goji leaves a day. In traditional Chinese medicine Goji berries were used to treat many common ailments including low back pain, dizziness and poor eye sight. Today, Goji berry extracts are used to treat kidney and liver problems, to lower cholesterol and blood pressure and to treat skin rashes, psoriasis, diabetes, depression and various allergies. Possibly of more importance to us living in the western world, with acsess to modern medicine, for centuries the people of Tibet have consumed goji berries to increase longevity. They did this long before anyone had discovered the ant-aging properties of HGH. The people living in Tibet, and elsewhere, who routinely consume goji berries, commonly live to be over 100 years old and are not plagued with the medical and mental afflictions common in the western world. In this respect, Professor Li Qing Yuen of China is said to have lived longer than any person in recorded history. Yuen was born in 1678 and died in 1930 at the age of 252 years. Professor Yuen attributed his longevity to having eaten goji berries every day of his life. The reader may be a little skeptical, as am I, when asked to believe that any human being lived to be 252 years of age. It also seems likely that many factors, other than the consumption of goji berries, play a role in the longevity and good health of Tibetans, including genetic, nutritional and environmental factors not yet studied in great depth. But, when all is said and done, there is no disputing the fact that Goji berries are among the most nutritious foods on the face of the earth and we should be including them in our diets. One word of caution though, most of the goji berries sold in the United States are produced by large commercial enterprises in the orient. These agricultural conglomerates employ chemical fertilizers and pesticides extensively on their farms. As we all know, synthetic chemical fertilizers are laced with potentially toxic compounds. Even some of the brands that claim to be organic may not be. So, be sure to purchase your goji berries from a reliable source, better yet grow them yourself. They are easy to grow from cuttings or seeds. There are many ways to consume goji berries and their leaves, which are equally nutritious. The easiest is to just eat the delicious berries raw of dried. The taste of dried goji berries is difficult to describe, so I won't try. However, I guarantee that you will love them! You will find that dried goji berries are not as sweet as most other dried fruits; thus, you will not tire of them as readily. Of course, the fact that they are less sweet also means that they contain less calories per serving than most dried fruits. Goji leaves are primarily dried and used to make goji tea, although they also can be used to make salads and soups. Just Google the internet to fine a recipe that appeals to you. Get started on your goji berry diet today, we seniors have little time to lose so let's get cracking!

Why Can't We Eliminate The Gangs?

This is one of the great mysteries of my life time. Just think of it, our generation won two world worlds; found cures for innumerable diseases; and wiped out the mafia, yet we can't control the low IQ street thugs who make up the countless gangs in America. This is especially puzzling since, with their tattoos, pony tails, ear and nose rings, they are easily identifiable to anyone with eyes to see.

Yet they roam the streets with impunity raping, murdering and stealing everything in sight as they go. How can this be? Well, here's how! Gangs are primarily made up of people of color: black, green, red, yellow, brown and purple, with a few whites thrown in just to make it fair and balanced. And, guess what, it's not politically correct, in this day and age, to go after people of color before they commit some despicable act, no matter how likely they are to do so. Rather, we make excuses for their outlandish behavior while sitting around wringing our hands just waiting until the cretins gang rape another nine year old or shoot yet another grandmother while walking her grand children in the local park. Well, guess what, street gangs should be illegal and their members should be rounded up and sent one of Joe Arpaio's dessert prisons to spend the rest of their miserable lives eating baloney sandwiches and drinking contaminated tap water. Yes, we would have to trample on a few of our sacred constitution rights to rid our inner city streets of these cretins but, guess what, our political leaders and the Supreme Court jurists do it all the time and, I might add, for less reason. It's high time we took our city streets back by whatever means possible, including a reasonable period of martial law, if that is what is necessary to accomplish the job.

The Trump Phenomena

What to make of Donald Trump, that's the sixty four thousand dollar question! I am not sure anyone knows the answer, not even the Donald himself. There are, however, a few things we do know about this republican front runner. First, Trump has been a liberal his entire life. Basically, there isn't a handful of left wing politicians that he hasn't supported financially over the years. Can you imagine wanting the congenital liar Hillary Clinton and her philandering husband Bill anywhere near your wedding? I can't! My mother used to say that you can tell everything you needed to know about a person by the company they keep. Trump has been in bed with liberals for as long as anyone can remember. We conservatives should be mindful of that fact when we consider voting for this guy. A dog cannot change his spots and neither can Donald Trump!

We also know that Mr. Trump is one of the crudest creatures to enter the political scene in many moons, maybe forever. Is this a reflection of his showmanship, if so it seems to be working, or is it a evidence of his true nature. Either way it is offensive and unbecoming of a future president. I think we all should be able to agree on that. Donald Trump is an ego maniac of the highest order, the slightest criticism sets him off like a rocket to outer space. Anyone who has watched, even a few minutes of the debates, knows this. His responses to disapproval are immature and childish to the nth degree. You have to ask yourself, is this guy really presidential material? One could go on for a hundred pages describing Trump's many short coming, so why is he so far ahead in the republican primaries? Well, in the first place, The Donald isn't all that far ahead of the pack! It just seems so because there are so many Republican candidates this year. He has never surpassed 50 percent of the vote in any pole. His supporters believe, hope, that his numbers will rise as less popular candidates drop out of the race. Maybe so, but I doubt it. The real question at this point is, why has a buffoon like this gained so much support among the Republican base? Rush Limbaugh, and many other political pundits, have nailed this one squarely on the head. The conservative Republican base is "pissed-off," to put it mildly, at the republican establishment in Washington DC. The country has given them control of the house and, for the past 18 months, the senate and our Republican leadership does nothing but wring their hands and cry in their towels, all the while claiming that they are helpless captives of that spineless black mouse residing in the Pink House. You remember, the one who pontificated for 42 days before reluctantly deciding to take out Osama bin Laden. The one who went to bed early rather than face the fact that Americans were being slaughtered in our embassy in Benghazi; and the same one who claimed, the next day, that the massacre was the result of a video no one had ever seen, or even heard of. Yes, our fearless republican leadership does not have the balls to even take on a hapless witless wonder like Obama. That's what has the republican base so up set and ready to climb on the Trump band wagon, come hell or high water. Well, many but not all of us. But, I predict that reason will ultimately prevail. We conservatives have a number of, well at least two, rock-hard conservative candidates who will not compromise with liberal establishment in Washington DC. Let's hope we wake up and pick one of them. One that will not be afraid (yes afraid is the right word) to shut down the damned government, for as long as it takes, to change the direction of our floundering ship of state. Hopefully before we become Greece light.

Salvaging What Is Left Of America Step 5- Limiting Judicial Power.

Arguably, the most powerful man in the world is Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. With the other members of the court divided equally between four liberal and four, more or less, conservative justices, the important decisions rendered by the court usually are decided five to four with Kennedy invariably providing the swing vote. I have no problem with this situation since it reflects the fact that our nation is divided along similar conservative and liberal lines.

I do have a problem with the fact that un-elected Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life. It is also troublesome that, in recent years, the decisions of the court have the effect of making law rather than determining the constitutionality of the laws passed by the other two branches of government, which is their primary purpose under the constitution. First, let's address the issue of longevity. Every time Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg falls asleep at a court function you know there is something amiss with a system, any system, that appoints members of important governmental bodies for life. Can we at least agree on that? One of the best attributes of our system of governance is the fact that "if you don't like them, for any reason, you can throw the bums out at the next election," or at least attempt to do so. With the Supreme Court, and the federal courts for that matter, you are stuck with justices who were appointed by political operatives who, as often is the case, are long gone if not forgotten, while their appointees on the Court continue indefinitely to wreak havoc on our rights and freedoms as a nation. And, guess what, there is nothing we can do about it. Ginsburg will be sitting on the court until she dies of old age, or succumbs to alcoholism. Times change but the Court does not necessarily change with the times, that's a good thing! But it is a bad thing when human values that have not changed (for example, the countries view on late term abortion, gun laws, immigration policy and gay marriage), are altered by five to four decisions of a court that does not, as a whole, represent American values. Too often, today's courts decisions conform to the values of a political minority who march to the drum beat of political correctness and equal outcome. This was the case when Justice john Roberts, writing for the majority, determined that the provision in Obama Care which specifically limits subsidies to exchanges that were "established by a state" actually allowed subsidies in exchanges established by a state or the federal government. Robert's opinion, which is now law, basically rewrote Obama Care into something that the legislative body did not intend and, more importantly, could not have been passed in the House of Representatives. I have concentrated on Supreme Court Justices because these nine men and women ultimately determine what is lawful in our country and what is not. However, I object, with equal vigor, to the fact that all federal judges are appointed for life. This allowed Judge Alcee Hastings to literally get away with murder for years prior to his impeachment. The founders believed that life appointments for members of the federal judiciary would make them less likely to be influenced by outside factors. I would argue that the cons outweigh the pros on this important issue. Certainly, judges who have become senile while in office and those that are overtly corrupt, should not be allowed to serve until the grim-reaper decides that, enough is enough. As with most political problems I write about, the solution to our judicial problems are simple and straight forward. All federal judges should be appointed for a term of 12 years. When their term expires the sitting president would have the option to reappoint them for an additional 12 years and, with the approval of the House of Representatives (not the Senate) they could serve for a second 12 year term. After a second term they should be sent out to pasture where they can do no further harm.

Salvaging What Is Left Of America Step 4- Fixing our Schools

If you were to ask the average person on the street, he would say our schools are a mess. This is only partially true and reflects the fact that the press concentrates, for the most part, on statistics gathered from large inner city schools that attempt, unsuccessfully, to educate the intellectually challenged masses. For the most part, students attending schools in the suburbs are doing quite well, thank you. If your child is lucky enough to attend a private or a catholic school all the better. So, our problem is how do we educate the children of low IQ mothers who think education is a "white man's thing" and many of whom do not speak English. The first question to address, is just how much can they be educated? Anyone who has listened to an interview of a football star who graduated from some prestigious college knows that many black football players are illiterate, even after years of education. We also know that programs designed to level the playing field, such as school busing, affirmative action and head start, have been abject failures. The first thing to understand, then, is that all students cannot become college professors, doctors or lawyers. However, most, I believe, can be taught to read, write and do simple math. How do we improve the chances of this happening? The goal should be to remove the stumbling blocks that make it difficult for those who want to learn, to learn. We already feed and clothe them and most have a roof over their heads. However, when they reach the inner city classroom things begin to fall apart. The impediments to learning include rowdy students who disrespect the teachers and continually disrupt the classroom. These hoodlums should be removed from the classroom and kicked out of school. Today, in our insane upside down world, the school administrators are forced to do whatever is necessary to keep these miscreants in school. This nonsense must stop. Education should be considered a privilege not simply a way to keep low-life off the streets while padding the school's coffers. Another major hindrance to education are the non-English speaking students who are flooding our classrooms. Obviously, having children who do not speak English in our schools greatly impedes learning for the English speaking majority, especially if they are not all that bright to begin with. I do not believe we have any obligation to educate the children of illegal's (actually they should be deported) but if we are going to make an attempt to do so, it should be in separate classrooms. Under no circumstances should non-English speakers be allowed to interfere with the education of the English speaking population. Throwing out the hoodlums and providing separate facilities for the non-English speaking students are steps in the right direction, but we also must break up the monopoly that is public education, especially in the inner cities. The states, or the federal government for that matter, should not be financing K through 12 directly. Rather, the parents, or parent, should receive a stipend for each of their children which they can use finance their education in a school of their choice, whether it be the local public school down the street or a charter school across town. Schools which elect to participate in this system would be required to accept the stipend as full payment for the service they render. Private and charter schools would prosper under this system, while public schools would either shape up or go under. That's the way it should be. Now, what to do with the teachers unions? Public employee unions, of all types, are inherently evil and should be abolished. The Bart Union in the bay area is a prime example. Bart trains run themselves automatically, yet we pay Bart engineers $120,000 a year to do literally nothing. Bart janitors, on average, are paid $80,000 a year for pushing a broom. By the state of Bart's restrooms, not too often. Anyone who has attended a public school knows that many teachers are inept, yet if tenured they cannot be fired. As long as the teachers' unions, and other public employer unions, are allowed to provide financial support for the campaigns of the politicians who control the public work place, nothing will change. In this respect, the Supreme Court ruling that determined that financial contributions to political campaigns were a form of "free speech," was one of the worst decisions ever!

Nikki Haley Shoots Herself In Both Feet.

Nikki Haley Shoots Herself In Both Feet. Until her response to the Presidents latest State Of The Union Address, I knew very little about Nikki Haley. Her few appearances on the various news programs and talk shows lead me to conclude that she was a shining light in the Republican bullpen. I was looking forward to her response to the presidents self aggrandizing bull-shit last evening. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening!

Sitting there before the TV, with a glass of wine close at hand, I watched with increasing chagrin as a beautiful, seemingly intelligent, young republican women morphed into one of the ugliest rhinos on the face of the earth. It was a sickening sight to behold, let me tell you! If I closed my eyes I could almost imagine that shallow foreheaded Elizabeth Warren were giving the address. In any case, this simple minded soul was trying to tell us that we all, conservatives, independents and conservatives alike, were responsible for the ungodly mess that is Washington DC. She seems to have forgotten that not a single republican in the house or senate voted to dismantle our health care system, the greatest system of medical care the world has ever known! This mental midget seems not to know that no conservative republican wants to close Gitmo or return its occupants back to the Middle East where they can live to fight us another day. Along these lines, no republican on the face of the earth would have traded the traitorous deserter Bergdahl for five of the most dangerous war criminals in recent memory. Does this simple minded women really think that the conservative republican base wants to elect congressmen and senators, much less a president, who will go to Washington DC to get along with the demo-rats who are hell-bent on destroying what little is left of our once great American society? I think not! No, Nikki Haley represents everything we hate about the rhino Republican class of politicians who go to Washington to get along with the liberal ruling class and become very wealthy while doing so. A pox on both their houses! By the way, have you noticed the elation of the liberals in the drive-by media to Haley's speech? They were literally jumping with joy and beside themselves with political bliss. That should tell you everything you need to know about Nikki Haley!

Salvaging What Is Left Of America Step 3- Limiting The Right To Vote

Most , if not all, of the problems in America today may be traced back to the concept of voting rights, mainly the democratic principle that every citizen has the right to vote. Today, some go so far as to insist that everyone has the right to vote, whether they are citizens or not.

However, history tells us that all democracies are doomed to failure, always have been and always will be! Why, because, sooner or later, political leaders invariably figure out that they can stay in power indefinitely by buying the votes of the underclass. They accomplish this goal by giving the unemployed "things" they have not earned. It's really as simple as that. Where do these "things" come from. Throughout history the story has always been the same. The crafty politicians in a democracy always begin by redistributing the wealth of the nation. They tax the so-called rich and give their hard earned to the less fortunate. Sooner or later this system of redistribution fails because the rich simply do not have enough money to support the desires of the unproductive masses. At this point, the politicos, most of whom have become extremely wealthy while exercising their political might, switch gears and begin to borrow money to continue their vote buying shenanigans. Ultimately, the nation's debt exceeds any reasonable expectation that it ever could be paid off and the interest on the debt chews up a larger and larger percentage of the gross national product. The size of the national debt is one of the reasons that the Feds have kept the interest rates so low. In any case, at some point, the nation's credit reaches junk bond status; its money becomes worthless; and the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. That's the history of democracies in a nut shell! What, if anything, can be done to save a country like ours that is on the brink of financial collapse? As with most of my suggestions, this one is simple and straight forward, but will be nearly impossible to achieve. If we are to survive as a viable nation we must eradicate the evil that is democracy. This, of course, will take a constitutional convention to change the one man one vote rule on which the nation was founded, not easy to do, in fact, I think impossible. Most likely, it will take a revolution to make the changes I envision. Thank God for all those guns out there! The premise is simple, not everyone should have the right to vote. To the contrary, only those who contribute to society should have this sacred privilege. The new rules would be relatively simple. If a person pays federal income taxes or is married to someone who pays federal taxes he, or she, would be allowed to vote in federal elections. Note, receiving an income tax credit does not qualify one to vote in presidential, senate or congressional elections. Only those who own property or pay state income taxes would be allowed to vote in state or local elections. I will leave it to the economists to determine just how much property one has to own to qualify under this standard. That's it! Pretty simple, don't you think? Discriminatory? You bet they are! It's about time we stop freeloaders from breaking the bank. This is the only way to accomplish this important goal and still remain a free nation. What about retired people who have worked hard their entire lives but now live on a fixed income; do not own property; and do not pay taxes, other than sales taxes which do not count. At the present time, retired people (I am one of them) make up one of the largest voting blocks in the country. The same rules should apply to them (us) as it does to everyone else. Unless they contribute something by paying taxes (income or property) they should not have a right to vote for politicians who will feather their nests at the expense of the workers whose labor keeps the country afloat. I think it is important to realize that once we start making exceptions to these straight forward simple voting requirements the jig is up. Everyone can think of reasons to exempt certain groups from the rules that limit the right to vote. If we go down this road, before long, we will be right back to the place we started from, a corrupt system of politicians who cater to the have-nots at the expense of the workers who finance the machinery of government. Making the changes in voting rights suggested will not solve all of our problems. Large unions, especially the teachers unions, which wheel inordinate political power, also are a threat to the nation's stability. A change in voting rights will have little or n effect on their monopoly of our all important educational system. I will address this important issue at another time.