Homeschooling is a Crime?

As regular readers probably know, I homeschool five of our kids. We use an online curriculum that I believe is very strong and comprehensive. You can imagine my horror when I read this at Bizzy Blog.

The teachers unions in Colorado do not like the growing popularity of online schools, and the politicians they control are trying to come up with ways to penalize parents who make the choice to homeschool.

The left is in control in Germany, and it is in Colorado, too. And what about our Congress?

The World Net Daily article from which this photo of a German student was first shown, says there are over forty other families facing court charges in Germany. This girl's parents are allowed to visit her one day a week, while she remains in custody, after being taken from her home by fifteen swat team officers in front of her shocked parents.

The Real Battleground

Wow! What a storm has been created by the reacton to the stupid attempt at humor by Don Imus. The best thing I have read on the subject is by Jason Whitlock, a black sportswriter for the Kansas City Star. What follows is a highlight from that post, but do read it all here.

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

Once again, the best writing in America is often being done on the nation's sports pages.

Human Services, Get Your S... Together!

Today was scheduled to be therapy day for Linebacker Dude. Both his occupational therapist and his speech therapist arrived on time at 9:30. Just then the phone rang. It was the Dude's case aide, wanting to know if I could have him to the Human Services Department for a visit with his birthmother by 10:30. "No!" I shouted.

The department is thirty minutes away. The therapy had been scheduled for weeks. The mother abandoned him six months ago so she could "use," then she was sent to prison on a parole violation. Now she is demanding a visit with no notice to the foster parents or therapists. Dude is severely behind where he should be on all tests given to him by the two therapists. It is going to take a lot of work. The mother is living with her grandmother. The grandmother has a scheduled visit next Wednesday.

I asked if the mother could come in with the grandmother. The case aide said no. I asked if she would mind if I called the caseworker. She asked me if I would call the caseworker! I told her I would be glad to do so. I called the caseworker and left her a message that contained no ambiguities.

We Learn More About Obama

This picture of Obama with Louis Farrakan was taken in 1985, when the two of them paid a visit to someone they greatly admired, Libya's dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Via Seeds and Hammers

Humble, Confident, Vertical

Did you happen to catch any of the interviews with Zach Johnson, the winner of the 2007 Masters Golf Tournament? How refreshing it was to see such a humble, yet confident man give credit to all the people who have helped him and to his Lord Jesus, whose presence he felt throughout the day!

Are We Going Overboard On Protecting Kids?

L.J. Williamson writes an article today in the Denver Post that to me is very thought-provoking. She asks if our protectiveness toward our children is being done at the expense of our children being able to learn what they need to learn in order to become productive adults. Here are some quotes from the article.

Which scenario should provoke more panic: the possibility that your child might become one of the approximately 100 children who are kidnapped by strangers each year, or one of the country's 58 million overweight adults?

In 1972, 87 percent of children who lived within a mile of school walked or biked daily; today, just 13 percent of children get to school under their own power, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a significant parallel, before 1980, only 5 percent of children were obese; today that figure has tripled, says the CDC.

Our hyper-anxiety about the safety of children is creating a society in which any outdoor activity that doesn't take place under the supervision of a coach or a "psychomotor activities" mandate from the state is too risky to attempt.

What do you think?

Easter Festivities Update

Jon put together this lovely centerpiece for our Easter meal. It consists of candy eggs, jelly beans, croussants, pieces of cereal, and strawberries.

Meanwhile, we hear cheerful singing in the upstairs bedroom where Linebacker Dude was laid to rest, er,uh, I mean, put down for an early nap. We check. We see something brown smeared all over the room, and we immediately think poop. That would be discouraging, because we thought we had that problem "licked." Alas, no poop this time, just vomit from eating mouthful after mouthful of Easter candy.

Twas The Night Before Easter...

If it is Easter, then we must have a new dress. Even more importantly, we must place our sunglasses just so on the top of the head. Then, it is time for a little bonding with foster brother. The woman on t.v. is someone named Julie Andrews, and she is singing about climbing every mountain and fording every stream.

Truth-Avoiders

The court appoints a lawyer (Guardian ad Litem) to make recommendations as to what might be in Linebacker Dude's "best interests." She comes to see him at our house today. She is showing him a picture book of animals. He is able to say "orsey" for horsey, but when it comes to the lion, he says something unintelligible. She immediately develops a theory that his birthmother (who is Caucasion) must have taught him Swahili (Get it? A lion, Africa, Swahili)!

We, however, think that his inability to talk might be related to being born to a drug-using prostitute who left him in day care "where I knew he would be safe," when she knew she was going to "use." The combination of being born with drugs in his system, growing up neglected and abandoned, seems to us a more likely explanation than Swahili.

The mom supposedly got out of prison yesterday, so we will soon meet the Swahili teacher. Here's the ideology of those who run the child welfare system: birthmothers good; birthfathers, treatment centers, prisons, foster parents bad. Children are all angels. We must just understand them, and let them direct us! Birthmothers must just be given a chance. Even though they have years of history of abandoning and neglecting children, we must just believe them when they say that they "love" their children. We must provide them with taxpayer-funded drug treatment, housing, subsidized transportation and welfare.

Coming up with theories is easy. It is the perfect job for a lazy person. Parenting takes work. Living with at least one other person takes work. Staying in some degree of good physical shape takes work. Looking problems straight in the eye takes work. If you want to turn your head and avoid seeing truth, you can.

Another Beginning To Another Day In The Life Of Foster Parents

Colleen is off with one of the older children to a very early therapy appointment. I'm upstairs with Linebacker Dude and "Vi-Vi". Dude is done with his early morning bath in the upstairs bathroom, dressed, and ready to go. He darts downstairs to wake up three other kids. Do I chase after him, or pick up Vi-Vi and carry her with me? She does the almost-two-year-old thing and runs away from me, so I make my first mistake of the day: I chase after Linebacker Dude to try to prevent him from waking up the other kids. I catch him, but it is too late; he has awakened the other three. Then I hear crying from upstairs. I run up the stairs, and there is Vi-Vi, sitting in Linebacker Dude's bathwater happily drinking her bottle of milk.

A New Day!

Don't Tell My Wife, But I 'm Getting to Like This Little Dude!

It was a cool, cloudy late afternon walk with my little buddy. I didn't have much luck getting him to respond to "No!" as we walked along a street, but we enjoyed our time together. I love his spunk! Unfortunately, he has never found adults to be worth listening to or obeying. He has made some progress, but still does things that are unusual (sticking his hands in the toilet and tasting the urine if someone forgets to flush it).

His mom is being released from prison today, so we will be entering a new phase, as she comes to live with her grandmother and begins visits with her son. She will have to get a job, take some parenting classes, do well on her visits with him, show proof of being drug free, and eventually get a place of her own. She will be able to hoodwink the caseworker, who has done nothing in the six weeks he has been in our home,but perhaps not the Guardian ad Litem, a lawyer appointed to tell the court what she believes is in the best interests of the child.

The Guardian ad Litem is coming to visit him tomorrow, and he also gets his weekly speech therapy tomorrow. He also gets two sessions of occupational therapy each week. The occupational therapist focuses on his skill levels. She says he is already one full year behind in "receptive language" for example, when an adult tries to protect him by telling him, "No!"

If it does not work out with his mom (she has already had her parental rights terminated on some older children), then he will be available for adoption. If we adopt him, he will be the starting middle linebacker for the Denver Broncos in 2027...guaranteed! He is an absolute natural.

Puppies, Tulips, and Bright Colorado Sunshine

More Fun With Puppies

Look, Dad, If I Twist The Puppy's Head Like This, It Just Pops Right Off!

Dad, Look, I Can Pick Up The Puppy By His Tail!

One Final Image

One final image from the birthday celebration: the exquisite blooms of the phaleonopsis orchid.

Now For The Cake and The Last Present Of the Day

Lesson Over, It's Time to Switch Horses and Go For a Fun Ride With Your Sister

Okay Jon, It's Time for Your Birthday Horseback Riding Lesson

Then, Let Me Check Out This Forsythia!

Time to go!

C'mon Viola, it is time to go watch Jon ride his horse! Okay, Dad, just let me eat these Fruit Loops first.

First-Born-Son

Seven years ago today, at age fifty-nine, I stood next to my wife as she courageously gave birth to my first-born-son, Jon. Today he is ready to celebrate, with his new cowboy boots, new lariat, and new crop for his pony.

Tom Tancredo Enters The Presidential Race

I don't know how the national media reacted to the announcement yesterday by Congressman Tom Tancredo that he is running for president of the United States. The two biggest Colorado newspapers featured their top columnists, Mike Littwin for the Rocky Mountain News, and Diane Carmen for the Denver Post. Even though the two papers are supposedly rivals, their top two columnists wrote nearly identical pieces about Tancredo. They don't like the Congressman mostly because he spent the day talking to talk radio "yakkers," and ignoring newspaper reporters. And they don't like him because he talks mostly about the invasion of America by people illegally coming north across the Mexican border; and by Tancredo entering the race, all of the other candidates may be forced to talk about illegal immigration, too! How absurd; it is only the security and sovereignty of America! What a ridiculous thing to have to talk about!

Yes, I am being sarcastic. Whenever possible, both columnists resorted to sarcasm ("He has a face for radio") and extreme exaggeration, because of their blind hatred of Tancredo, talk radio, and the people who listen to talk radio. Carmen even went so far as to cite statistics as to who listens to talk radio: "Overwhelmingly non-Hispanic white (65 percent) predominantly male (55 percent) over 45 (54 percent) and registered independent (57 percent), only 33 percent of them are college graduates and only 10 percent read local newspapers." I dare say the reason they don't read local newspapers might have something to do with leftist bias?

I do read both local newspapers. I find that they have refused to make the search for Truth the primary reason for their existence, and that is why they have been losing readers year after year. We Americans can and do think for ourselves. We do not need anyone to tell us how or what to think or for whom to vote.

I have listened to Tom Tancredo on talk radio often. Frankly, he sounds like a very nice man, not the kook the newspaper writers make of him. Maybe I am wrong, but one thing is for sure: I will make up my own mind, think my own thoughts, and cast my own vote!

I Guess I'll Step Down Now

Senator Dianne Feinstein has been the chairwoman of the Senate Subcommittee on Military Construction Appropriations. She stepped down from that post last week when watchdog groups began asking how her husband's companies were awarded billions of dollars in federal defense contracts while she was chairwoman!

This is the same Senator Dianne Feinstein who, in September 2002, took a trip to Europe and said she was "embarrassed to wear" her U.S. flag lapel pin!
Via Lucianne and HILLARYNEEDSAVACATION
Photo Via Indonesia Media

With Whom Do We Have More in Common?

According to Associated Press reporter Angela Charlton,

only 36 percent of French people think capitalism is the best economic system for the world, according to a 2005 survey by Globescan, an international pollster. In China, that figure soars to 74 percent.

via HILLARYNEEDSAVACATION

Another Day of Flowers Bursting Through!

If It Is April...

Today our soon-to-be-15-year-old son and his buddy decided that since it is April, it surely must be time to take the canoe on its maiden voyage of 2007. I apologize that I did not think to take a photo of them hooking the canoe up to the double stroller and taking off for Clear Creek.

Clear Creek is the famous "Rocky Mountain Spring Water" that flows directly into the Coors Brewery in Golden. At dusk we got the cell phone call to come get them and load the canoe and the stroller into the SUV. Both boys were freezing cold and climbed into the tub full of hot water together.

"She's In A Good Place"

The Onion reports that Anna Nicole Smith has finally reached her target weight.

He Was (And Is) Not a Wuss!

Today our pastor read from scripture which told us about Jesus coming in to Jerusalem, checking out the temple, finding the moneychangers and the overpriced merchandise, turning over the tables, and chasing everybody out.

What are the temples now to followers of Christ? Our bodies! Let's keep them sacred! If there are any obstacles that keep our bodies from being places of prayer, let's get rid of those obstacles!

I love these stories about Jesus expressing anger, since almost every day something really pisses me off!

April 1, 2007

Whites and yellows seem to be prevailing today, but the grape hyacinths provide a bright blue welcome, too.

Palm Sunday

Since today is Palm Sunday, I'll start the blogging today with some first graders who are ready to wave their palms.

Thieves!

Matt Margolis at GOP Bloggers gives us this information. Average tax increases under the Democrats' budget:

115 million taxpayers: $1,795
83 million women: $2,068
48 million married couples: $2,899
42 million families with children: $2,181
12 million single women with children: $1,082
17 million seniors: $2,270
26 million small business owners: $3,960

It Makes Me Want To Huff and Puff And Blow Down A Wall!

Now we cannot tell our children the story of theThree Little Pigs because it might offend some Muslims?
Via Blonde Sagacity

These Are The People In Charge of Our Congress?

How do you pass or enforce something that you can't even explain? So asks the questioner from CNN.
Via The Belmont Club

Forsythia Brightens My Day

Although it was not a typically bright Colorado day, the forsythia can be counted on to reassure us that brighter days are ahead!