Nimitz Statue Installed at Pearl Harbor

The Admiral Chester W. Nimitz bronze statue unveiled at Troutdale on July 31st was installed September 2 at its final home in front of the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor. KATU posted this photo of sculptor Rip Caswell and his son Chad by the statue:

KATU quoted Caswell on the ceremony.

"It was so powerful to see him (Nimitz) there looking across at the Arizona memorial," said Rip. "The symbolism of it - this is where the war started and this is where it ended. And Nimitz was responsible for it. It was powerful imagery, I think, for everybody that was there."

I have not been able to find any video coverage online of either the Troutdale or Pearl Harbor ceremonies except the video I posted of the Troutdale unveiling ceremony. There was a professional video set up at Troutdale, but no indication of what has been done with the footage.

Thomas Anthony Casoria--9/11 Hero

Thomas Anthony Casoria

It's too easy to think of the almost 3,000 killed on 9/11 as just numbers. But, they were vibrant people who loved and were loved. And some, like Thomas Anthony Casoria, were heroes. I first posted this in 2006, and I post it again today because it's right to remember and honor men and women like Tommy Casoria.

Thomas Anthony Casoria was killed by Al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001. Tommy was only 29. He was a firefighter with the New York Fire Department, Engine Company 22. He lived his life in direct opposition to the values of the terrorists. He died trying to save lives. Tommy responded to the call for help in Tower One of the World Trade Center. Here's what one of his cousins, Jo-Ann Casoria, wrote:

Tommy absolutely loved his job and he loved sharing stories of his workdays with his older brother, Carlo, also a firefighter. (snip) Tommy radioed in his location twice after Tower Two fell. He and two of his "brothers," Vinny Kane and Mike Elferis, were carrying a paraplegic down the stairwell, when a call came in that another firefighter needed aid. Tommy answered that call, as did many others.

Tommy was engaged to be married. Though he never got the chance to spend those happy honeymoon years with his fiancee, Terri, or raise a family, he left a legacy of love and friendship along with his heroism. One of Tommy's friends, Richard Vitale, wrote:

Let me tell you about Tommy. This man was the funniest guy I ever worked with. It was always a blast. Tommy could simulate anyone's voice with great detail. I never worked with anyone like him. What a great guy! Tommy knew what was right and what was wrong. He never crackled under peer pressure. Even when he tried to work for me for Thanksgiving. He stood strong. That was some reaction we got from the Truck, wasnt it, Tom. Maguire got red as a tomato. I remember when he told me he was going to get married. He was so happy and in Love. What a big smile he had on his face. I teased him about "dont do it", however, I thought what a lucky man to be in love this much. Tommy was respected and loved by everyone.

29 Hour Work Week Gives Higher Disposable Income than 40 Hour Work Week?

Apparently with healthcare subsidies and a lower tax bracket, working 29 hours a week instead of 40 hours a week may be more profitable.

From Ira Stoll of the New York Sun:

[Professor Casey B. Mulligan] offers the example of a person comparing a 29-hour-a-week job without employer-sponsored health insurance with a 40-hour-a-week job that includes employer-sponsored health insurance. Given the subsidies that the federal government provides for health insurance under ObamaCare, the person ends up with more money, and the same amount of health insurance, by taking the part-time job.

“Moving from-full-time employment to part-time employment can trigger generous assistance with health insurance and out-of-pocket expenses that can offset much of the income lost to reduced work hours,” he writes. “Under the ACA, it will not be extraordinary for people to be able to have more disposable income from a part-time position than from a full-time one.”

As Professor Mulligan’s paper puts it, ObamaCare’s provisions combined “raise marginal tax rates in 2015 by 10 percentage points of total compensation, on average, for about half of the nonelderly adult population and zero percentage points for the rest.” Professor Mulligan describes the results as “startling,” which may be understating it.
[emphasis added]

You can purchase and read Professor Mulligan's paper here.

Sunday, September 2, 1945 - VJ-Day

Lt. Williams and Cpl. List in Tokyo

From the diary of Lt. C. M. Williams on September 2, 1945, as he was waiting on board ship with other servicemen ready to occupy Japan after the official surrender:

2 September 1945 Sunday

Got up at 0715. We were anchored in Leyte Gulf. We moved out at 0815. I took some things down in the hold and got a different pair of shoes. Cpl. List was with me. Cpl. List and I read magazines on the fantail until about 1500. I got me a rubber life preserver. I got some ice cream and hersheys from the ship’s store. The waves are rocking the ship now, but not too bad. We['re] going straight to Japan. I wrote a letter to Harold E., and Ruthie. I went to church.

Ready for a Bus Ride to Heaven?

Climb on board as some of [C. S.] Lewis' most provocative and fiercely funny characters take a day trip from Hell to Paradise. Heaven awaits them . . . but will they like it?

Next month Max McLean and the Fellowship for the Performing Arts (FPA) open a stage production of C. S. Lewis' intriguing novel The Great Divorce in New York City. Tickets are now on sale.

The FPA is known for high quality imaginative theatrical productions. Their stage version of The Screwtape Letters played in Portland this June.

Here's a bit from the FPA on their production of The Great Divorce:

Ready for a bus ride to Heaven?

Fellowship For the Performing Arts—producers of the nationwide smash hit play THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS—invites you to take a celestial journey in the highly anticipated theatrical adaptation of C.S. Lewis' THE GREAT DIVORCE.

Climb on board as some of Lewis' most provocative and fiercely funny characters take a day trip from Hell to Paradise. Heaven awaits them . . . but will they like it?

"This is Lewis at his imaginative best," said Max McLean, FPA artistic director. "In THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS, Lewis gives a 'demon's eye view' of the world below. But with THE GREAT DIVORCE, he explores a heavenly landscape of angels and spirits."

On the bus ride are characters drawn with Lewis' trademark wit and piercing understanding of human nature. This collection of self-satisfied day trippers includes a belligerent bully who only wants his rights, an old woman who can't stop grumbling long enough to question whether she has anything to grumble about, a bishop too "wise" to actually believe, and a famous artist more focused on his reputation than his art.

As celestial spirits welcome each of these ghosts—often someone they knew on Earth—THE GREAT DIVORCE brings to vivid clarity the gulf fixed between Heaven and Hell—the "divorce" of the title.

"There are only two kinds of people in the end," Lewis writes, "those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'"

Will the ghosts stay? Or will they go back?

Get on board and take the journey—a trip that leaves no one unchanged.

Brazil Seeing Extreme Cold Weather

Max has noted that the Farmer's Almanac is predicting a "bitterly cold" winter for the U.S. this year.

Well, Brazil has already received a taste of it. Every so often Rio Grande do Sul the southern most state in Brazil has a light snow fall. But, today residents of Caxias do Sul woke up to find an extreme weather condition for them--the ground was covered with snow. The soccer club there had a great time playing in it and even having snowball fights.

Brazil's winter is during our summer. So, we've been doubly warned.

NPR: Obamacare Will Force Millions to Change Health Insurance Coverage or Give It Up

NPR reports that Obamacare will force millions of people to change their health care insurance contrary to President Obama's promise that "if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan".

NPR focuses on the need for millions of Americans to upgrade their current health insurance coverage and pay considerably more per month. But the end of NPR's report hints that millions of people who cannot afford significantly higher health care costs may be forced to completely drop insurance coverage and pay the minimal penalty instead.

In California (which has about 12% of the nation's population), 2 million people buy their own insurance. Of those, 1.3 million will not meet the standards to get a tax subsidy and will have to choose whether to pay lots more per month for health care or give up health care insurance entirely and pay a small fine.

Add the millions of people buying their own insurance in the rest of the nation to California's 1.3 million, and you have the specter of millions of Americans actually losing health care coverage under Obamacare.

H/T Byron York