Family Matters

Today, my niece CJ Mitchell became a grandmother. Little Connor Sage and mama Amy Jo are doing great. I think that makes me a great great aunt to Connor – whatever! Let’s just say I’m great. :)

My cousin Ethelyn’s husband (Elwyn) is doing well after his surgery. He’s hoping to get a drainage tube out tomorrow.

My cousin George just had heart surgery.

Tomorrow, my cousin Richard has an angioplasty.

My sister-in-law Esther is back from her travels to Maryland for her sister-in-law Barb’s memorial service. Barb struggled for a long time with brain cancer.

Please keep all of these folks in your thoughts and prayers.

Harry Potter – for the Third Time

Today, I saw the latest HP move for the third time and my friend Karen saw it for the second. The theater was packed. I wonder how many had already seen it before.

We had a huge thunderstorm this afternoon. The temp went from 88 to 77 in just about an hour.

From Derek Hunter via Townhall.com:

Here are some staggering numbers that are important to know.

1) The government spends $10 billion a day, $4 billion of which is borrowed.

2) The interest on our national debt is $29 billion per month. AGAIN: The interest on our national debt is $29 billion per month.

3) In Fiscal Year 2001 the federal budget was $1.86 trillion. In 2011 the federal budget is $3.82 trillion. That’s more than double in 10 years and STILL not enough for some liberals.

Finally, all this talk of cuts aren’t cuts at all. While they won’t mention it, everything these politicians are talking about are not only theoretical, since no Congress can bind any future Congress when it comes to spending, they aren’t cuts at all. They’re talking about spending more, just slightly less. While normal human beings hear someone is cutting spending and thinks they’re actually going to be less than before, language is like clay in Washington and can be made into anything you want it to mean.

Here’s how to think of it. Say you went on a date and spent $100 on dinner. The next week you’re going on another date and think you’ll spend $150 on dinner. Then you go on the date and actually end up spending $125 on dinner. Would you say your dinner budget was cut by $25, or would you say it was increased by $25? Keep in mind that you’re broke and this is all on credit cards. You’ve added $125 to your debt, but $25 less than you expected you might.

In reality you should probably be eating at less expensive places, but in Washington-speak you just saved $25.

Further, what you end up being is dependent upon your date, who is future Congresses in this analogy. You can plan and hope to spend whatever you want on the date, but if your date wants the most expensive thing on the menu and orders a bunch of drinks, there’s nothing you can do about it. Just like this Congress can’t bind a future Congress on spending, you aren’t going to tell your date, “Hey, how about you just get the soup and a glass of water?” So if you end up spending $175 on the date, that’s what you spend, even in if you only planned on spending $150.

The only difference between this “date” and what’s happening in Congress is you may only have hope on the date, with Congress we’re guaranteed to get screwed.

Until next time…