Saturday, May 30, 2009
Update on the Home Bible Study case
REsolved, apparently. The couple do not have to have a religious assembly permit to continue to hold a home Bible study.
Interesting how the county's story has morphed with television coverage. David and Mary Jones have a weekly home Bible study at their house (as do we). He has a lot next door where visitors park. Usually, he says, they get from 15-20 people, but once there was double that number. A neighbor's car was dinged, and Jones paid for the damage himself. Nevertheless, somebody in the neighborhood complained.
After all the publicity, the county said that it was a parking issue, that the neighbor filing the complaint said that 40 cars were in the cul-de-sac for the Bible study every week. Jones says it's closer to about six cars.
Chandra Wallar, the county's general manager of land use and environment,says the county is investigating to see if this is what happened, but the code enforcement officer would have had to ask questions to determine the land use. Which makes no sense, if it was merely a parking issue, it should not have mattered whether they said 'amen' or "prise the Lord." The cars would be just as obtrusive whether their drivers were there for Bible study or a strip poker game.
Speculation in the comments as to the real reason the home Bible study was targeted includes backlash from Prop. 8, that the Jones may be annoying neighbors for other reasons (which wouldn't explain the county worker's questions as to religion), or simply overbearing bureaucrats. That would be my guess.
Interesting how the county's story has morphed with television coverage. David and Mary Jones have a weekly home Bible study at their house (as do we). He has a lot next door where visitors park. Usually, he says, they get from 15-20 people, but once there was double that number. A neighbor's car was dinged, and Jones paid for the damage himself. Nevertheless, somebody in the neighborhood complained.
A code enforcement officer warned the couple in April for holding a “religious assembly” without a permit.
After all the publicity, the county said that it was a parking issue, that the neighbor filing the complaint said that 40 cars were in the cul-de-sac for the Bible study every week. Jones says it's closer to about six cars.
Dean Broyles, president of the Western Center for Law & Policy, a nonprofit organization in Escondido that supports religious liberty, is representing the Joneses. He said traffic issues were not raised when the code enforcement officer first visited the Joneses in response to the complaint. The warning itself does not mention traffic or parking problems.
“Even though the county is saying it's about traffic and parking, it's a fake issue. It's a fabricated issue,” Broyles said.
According to Broyles, the code enforcement officer asked a series of pointed questions during her visit with the Joneses – questions such as, “Do you sing?” “Do you say 'amen?' ” “Do you say 'praise the Lord?' ”
Chandra Wallar, the county's general manager of land use and environment,says the county is investigating to see if this is what happened, but the code enforcement officer would have had to ask questions to determine the land use. Which makes no sense, if it was merely a parking issue, it should not have mattered whether they said 'amen' or "prise the Lord." The cars would be just as obtrusive whether their drivers were there for Bible study or a strip poker game.
Speculation in the comments as to the real reason the home Bible study was targeted includes backlash from Prop. 8, that the Jones may be annoying neighbors for other reasons (which wouldn't explain the county worker's questions as to religion), or simply overbearing bureaucrats. That would be my guess.
The Cure Was More Toxic Than the Disease
I believe the risk posed by this debt is systemic and could do more damage to the economy than the recent financial crisis. To understand the size of the risk, take a look at the numbers that Standard and Poor’s considers. The deficit in 2019 is expected by the CBO to be $1,200bn (€859bn, £754bn). Income tax revenues are expected to be about $2,000bn that year, so a permanent 60 per cent across-the-board tax increase would be required to balance the budget. Clearly this will not and should not happen.
More here.
From The New Editor
More About Hymns
Sherry at Semi-colon is continuing her hymnic research. She has several websites useful for those looking up hymns online. It's nice to have them all in one place. Here's another nice one- The Center for Church Music Songs and Hymns has the scores, audio files, lyrics, a short devotional, and background info all together.
There's also:
Acapella Radio (from Southern Gospel to operatic arrangements)
Let God Be True (links to acapella hymns on mp3, as well as instrumental)
a short list of links to some acapella hymns and praise songs here
links to Sacred Harp singings across the country here*
samples from a wide selection of hymns sung by Mennonites here
Kleinwood church of Christ has an annual singing where hundreds of people gather to sing. Links to several years of those singings are here. (it's hard to find a specific song without checking the list for each year, which is tedious)
There's also:
Acapella Radio (from Southern Gospel to operatic arrangements)
Let God Be True (links to acapella hymns on mp3, as well as instrumental)
a short list of links to some acapella hymns and praise songs here
links to Sacred Harp singings across the country here*
samples from a wide selection of hymns sung by Mennonites here
Kleinwood church of Christ has an annual singing where hundreds of people gather to sing. Links to several years of those singings are here. (it's hard to find a specific song without checking the list for each year, which is tedious)
News and views
Today a home Bible study, tomorrow a book discussion group, next week, a group of guys playing poker or watching the game on T.V. Outrageous.
Alger Hiss, we now know, really was a spy, and an iconic moment in German history also turns out to have been rather other than it was believed to be for the last forty years. Fascinating.
Government has mastered the art of strong-arming us into tax increases. When you and I find we don't have enough money for our planned expenditures, we start by trimming back on non-essentials- eating out, movies, convenience foods, extra coffee. Then we decide that we'll make the current pair of shoes last another season, do without that new coat, and put off a haircut a little longer.
If we did things like the government does, we'd start by announcing that we could no longer buy food.
In this story about a club specifically for men (Men in Power, “anyone with an interest in...learning from men in powerful positions, as well as issues involved with reverse sexism") comes this sad statistic:
According to statistics cited by the Tribune, the current unemployment rates for males is at 10 percent, while women is a comparatively modest 7.6 percent.
The gender-gap has also increased between males and females who earn a bachelor’s or master’s degree these days. Mark Perry, who is an economist at the University of Michigan-Flint campus told the Tribune that, according to his research, women are out-graduating their male counterparts at a ratio of 135 to 100.
Additionally, Perry claims that women advance their education to master’s level at a ratio 150 to 100, which in turn leaves a remarkable margin for future employment as well.
Symbolism over Substance- closing Gitmo is window dressing (and it's not at all for certain it will be closed. Suggesting indefinite detention without trial as policy is the ugly reality behind the curtain:
Once it becomes policy - once it is enshrined in law (and I’m not, at this point, at all sure how the SCOTUS would rule on such a law although I’m certainly sure on how I think they should rule) it is open to use and abuse by government. So while we may or may not agree with what the previous administration did, in this regard, they never tried to make it policy and an legally blessed (but morally wrong) method of handling those we capture and incarcerate in this war against Islamic extremism.
Anyone monitoring what Barack Obama has been saying since taking the oath of office who doesn’t see a rather large authoritarian streak in the man hasn’t been paying attention. What he is suggesting is blatantly worse than what the Bush administration did. Unfortunately, it is mostly being lost in the ground clutter of the financial crisis. But it is certainly there for those who take the time to look.
Possible breakthrough in stem cell research- ordinary skin cells could be turned into stem cells, which would have a number of benefits.
The question is: who deserves our empathy? Is it the victim in court before us or those unseen victims who will suffer the consequences of a bad judgment?
Friday, May 29, 2009
North Korea and the Bomb
Kim's Hiroshima-type Bomb is big enough to wipe out Tokyo, and in a few years, San Francisco. For decades the West has begged and pleaded with Kim, bribing him with vast gifts of oil and food. Kim always suckered the West and just kept starving his own people for better nukes and missiles. Today, he's got his Bomb and the means to deliver it to Japan, South Korea, and China.
Iran is next.
This is the Second Age of Nuclear Terror. The first one started when Stalin used stolen secrets from the Manhattan Project to build a Soviet Bomb. Even Stalin's closest associates were terrified that he would start a suicidal nuclear war. According to one history Lavrenty Beria and Nikita Khruschev assassinated Stalin to stop that from happening.
After Stalin's death the Soviet Union and the West were able to establish a balance of terror. Both sides thought the other was rational, and no rational actor would ever use nuclear weapons.
Today's Second Age of Nuclear Terror is different, because Kim and Ahmadinejad don't act like rational leaders. Ahmadinejad is a Twelver, a fanatical member of an Armageddon cult that believes the Twelfth Imam will return to earth after the destruction of the enemies of Islam -- which means everybody on earth who isn't one of them. That's why the Arabs next door are running scared of A'jad's nukes and missiles. They are Muslims, but the wrong kind, according to Ayatollah Khomeini, who founded the modern mullah state in Tehran.
More here.
Coherence in Family Life
The result was a coherence in family life which allowed all manner of speculations on the purpose of the universe without threatening the fabric of existence.
That's a quote from Unfinished Journey, Twenty Years Later, by world-famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin and which Mental Multivitamin is reading.
I couldn't possibly measure up to Yehudi's parents, but it reminded me of something that happened here a few months ago. I'd been asked to lead a small group discussion at a lady's retreat, and my topic was raising children in the faith (it was assigned to me). In preparation, I asked all my older girls what I had done that they found most valuable to them. Their answers varied, of course, but one thing every single one of them said, and it took me by surprise, was something along the lines that I taught them at fairly young ages that not everybody believed what we believed, that good and intelligent and wonderful people believed things that were antithetical to our cherished beliefs, and that I allowed them to investigate, question, and explore other ideas.
I know that now some of you are going to ask how I did that, and the truth is, I cannot tell you. I didn't even remember that I did.
Lila-Rose and Planned Parenthood
U.S. News and World Report blogger Bonnie Erbe wants to know why the pro-life crusader hasn’t been arrested for trespassing or fraud, and - get this - Planned Parenthood has posted Lila Rose’s picture so its disgraceful workers will be on the alert.
I know a better way that Planned Parenthood can stop getting caught facilitating rape, incest, and the abuse of minors. They could follow the law and not counsel girls they believe to be minors on how to protect their abusers.
Meandering down Memory Lane after Midnight
Well. The two little boys we keep from time to time (I really need a better name for them, any suggestions?) ended up coming over last night instead of tonight, and they are here until Sunday night (last time they were here until Sunday night that ended up being until Monday late afternoon), which put me in speed mode, as there were still cookies to bake, laundry to fold, toilets to scrub, and clutter to put away before the singing tonight, and all my biggest helpers were gone- some to help Strider clean up and pack his apartment, some to work, and Pip is being obsessive compulsive about schoolwork.
So, naturally, with so much cleaning and straightening up to do before tonight, it makes perfect sense that at midnight, after the boys finally went to sleep and everybody else was in bed, I settled down to clean out a filing cabinet drawer that wasn't doing anybody any harm at all, and which I apparently haven't looked in since four years ago when Granny Tea cleaned our her house and handed me a huge box of letters and pictures I wrote and sent them when we lived in Okinawa back in the second half of the 80's.
And I couldn't sort without reading, could I?
I read about the HG biting the EC hard while we were driving somewhere in the car- a totally unprovoked bite, and when asked why she did it, she answered very matter-of-factly, "I suddenly wondered if it would hurt her if I bit her. And I found out it did."
I read about the Equuschick tenderly caring for our sick dog after his heartworm treatments, bringing him pillows, dolls, and solicitously covering him up with a blanket and 'reading' him stories. She was three.
I read about the Equuschick going out to my garden and picking every last stinking tomato on my first plant- when they were all green, and how I cleverly punished her for that by making her eat one of the green tomatoes. Oh, so clever. Because she did quit picking my tomatoes. After that, she coerced the little neighbor boy to pick them for her.
I read about the HG and the EC getting in a loud fight, with the HG roaring at the EC not to tattle on her. And when the EC came into the room where her father and I were, all thoughts of tattling were completely erased from her mind as she was utterly distracted by the oranges we were eating. She was always easily distracted by food. This state of absent-mindedness was clearly a great relief to the HG, and the EC could not remember what it was she was going to tell us, so interested was she in her food. Her relief was short-lived, however, as we insisted that she (the HG) tell us what the EC had been coming to tell us. After hemming and hawing and insisting there wasn't anything at all to tell, a crafty expression swept over her face, and enunciating carefully, the HG told us, "She was coming in here to tell you that I did NOT hit her."
I will stop there, not because there isn't more to tell, but because Pip will be back shortly from her walk with the boys and the D-man dog, and I will have no more computer time to speak of. But one of the many things I found interesting about those letters is how many of the funniest incidents I had completely forgotten. Another was how well the letters illustrated a phenomenon I have already seen with my own mother.
My mother has often said to me that she doesn't understand why my children (when they were smaller) were so destructive of their toys, so careless, so prone to breaking them. "You children," she would say, speaking of my two little brothers and I, "Were much more careful with your toys. I don't remember you being so destructive."
And yet, if there is one constant thing I remember from my own childhood, it is my mother saying to us, "I don't understand why you three are so destructive. YOu just do not take care of your things. When I was a child, we appreciated our toys and took good care of them. We didn't destroy them like you do."*
Your memory apparently grows rosier as the children grow, because I do not remember the HG and the EC fighting much, and yet the letters I perused last night were full of accounts of sibling squabbles. There were sweet tales of sibling affection, too, but far more squabbling than I recall. I remember only sweetness and light, with one or two spectacular incidents of sibling tussling (one ended with one child with a fistful of hair, and the other child with her hand caught tightly in a drawer, which her sibling was holding firmly shut so she couldn't yank out more hair). And that's not quite the way it happened. Before too long, I suppose, I shall be telling the grandchildren, "I don't understand why children argue with each other so much. Your mothers never fought when they were little." And their mothers will be rolling their eyes at each other behind my back, and saying, "That is not what you told us when we were little!"
*Incidentally, I found out this rosy memory of her own childhood was not altogether true when I inherited the Rattery and contents, which included a goodly number of their toys- toys which were broken, colored on, books that were scribbled in, illustrations defiled with mustaches, and toys which had clearly been put to usages other than that envisioned by their designers. I also realized that toys back then were much sturdier than the gimcrack junk that is made today, so it was harder to break them, giving the illusion that one was more careful with one's toys than the children of today.
So, naturally, with so much cleaning and straightening up to do before tonight, it makes perfect sense that at midnight, after the boys finally went to sleep and everybody else was in bed, I settled down to clean out a filing cabinet drawer that wasn't doing anybody any harm at all, and which I apparently haven't looked in since four years ago when Granny Tea cleaned our her house and handed me a huge box of letters and pictures I wrote and sent them when we lived in Okinawa back in the second half of the 80's.
And I couldn't sort without reading, could I?
I read about the HG biting the EC hard while we were driving somewhere in the car- a totally unprovoked bite, and when asked why she did it, she answered very matter-of-factly, "I suddenly wondered if it would hurt her if I bit her. And I found out it did."
I read about the Equuschick tenderly caring for our sick dog after his heartworm treatments, bringing him pillows, dolls, and solicitously covering him up with a blanket and 'reading' him stories. She was three.
I read about the Equuschick going out to my garden and picking every last stinking tomato on my first plant- when they were all green, and how I cleverly punished her for that by making her eat one of the green tomatoes. Oh, so clever. Because she did quit picking my tomatoes. After that, she coerced the little neighbor boy to pick them for her.
I read about the HG and the EC getting in a loud fight, with the HG roaring at the EC not to tattle on her. And when the EC came into the room where her father and I were, all thoughts of tattling were completely erased from her mind as she was utterly distracted by the oranges we were eating. She was always easily distracted by food. This state of absent-mindedness was clearly a great relief to the HG, and the EC could not remember what it was she was going to tell us, so interested was she in her food. Her relief was short-lived, however, as we insisted that she (the HG) tell us what the EC had been coming to tell us. After hemming and hawing and insisting there wasn't anything at all to tell, a crafty expression swept over her face, and enunciating carefully, the HG told us, "She was coming in here to tell you that I did NOT hit her."
I will stop there, not because there isn't more to tell, but because Pip will be back shortly from her walk with the boys and the D-man dog, and I will have no more computer time to speak of. But one of the many things I found interesting about those letters is how many of the funniest incidents I had completely forgotten. Another was how well the letters illustrated a phenomenon I have already seen with my own mother.
My mother has often said to me that she doesn't understand why my children (when they were smaller) were so destructive of their toys, so careless, so prone to breaking them. "You children," she would say, speaking of my two little brothers and I, "Were much more careful with your toys. I don't remember you being so destructive."
And yet, if there is one constant thing I remember from my own childhood, it is my mother saying to us, "I don't understand why you three are so destructive. YOu just do not take care of your things. When I was a child, we appreciated our toys and took good care of them. We didn't destroy them like you do."*
Your memory apparently grows rosier as the children grow, because I do not remember the HG and the EC fighting much, and yet the letters I perused last night were full of accounts of sibling squabbles. There were sweet tales of sibling affection, too, but far more squabbling than I recall. I remember only sweetness and light, with one or two spectacular incidents of sibling tussling (one ended with one child with a fistful of hair, and the other child with her hand caught tightly in a drawer, which her sibling was holding firmly shut so she couldn't yank out more hair). And that's not quite the way it happened. Before too long, I suppose, I shall be telling the grandchildren, "I don't understand why children argue with each other so much. Your mothers never fought when they were little." And their mothers will be rolling their eyes at each other behind my back, and saying, "That is not what you told us when we were little!"
*Incidentally, I found out this rosy memory of her own childhood was not altogether true when I inherited the Rattery and contents, which included a goodly number of their toys- toys which were broken, colored on, books that were scribbled in, illustrations defiled with mustaches, and toys which had clearly been put to usages other than that envisioned by their designers. I also realized that toys back then were much sturdier than the gimcrack junk that is made today, so it was harder to break them, giving the illusion that one was more careful with one's toys than the children of today.
Waterboarding....
This guy volunteered to be waterboarded, and says it's not torture. This was a month ago, and one wonders why it hasn't been in the news...
This guy volunteered to be waterboarded and says it is torture.
And Gawker suggests that his waterboarding was faked, which is interesting. I am also a little curious about why the video footage doesn't match the still photo or account given in the NBC story linked above.
Thinking out loud:
Even if it's faked, that says nothing, of course, about whether or not it is or is not torture, but I do wonder how many other forms of torture are subject to so much debate about whether or not they actually are torture, and how many forms of torture people volunteer to experience. Which last also doesn't prove anything about whether or not it actually should be called torture rather than 'enhanced interrogation technique.'
One thing that does incline me to call it torture is the need for such mangled verbage to describe it, btw. I am pretty sure such a term would only be dreamed up by those who actually think it is torture.
This guy volunteered to be waterboarded and says it is torture.
And Gawker suggests that his waterboarding was faked, which is interesting. I am also a little curious about why the video footage doesn't match the still photo or account given in the NBC story linked above.
Thinking out loud:
Even if it's faked, that says nothing, of course, about whether or not it is or is not torture, but I do wonder how many other forms of torture are subject to so much debate about whether or not they actually are torture, and how many forms of torture people volunteer to experience. Which last also doesn't prove anything about whether or not it actually should be called torture rather than 'enhanced interrogation technique.'
One thing that does incline me to call it torture is the need for such mangled verbage to describe it, btw. I am pretty sure such a term would only be dreamed up by those who actually think it is torture.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Good Question
How many politicians can you identify that are not trying to legislate some aspect of your life, your money, your property, your freedom? Do not rely on what is said during a speech, a debate, or a campaign pledge or promise; rather, go to the voting records and see how your politician of choice has actually voted. Can you identify a politician who is trying to pass legislation that will take control from government and return it to the individual?From Ancient Rome, a Bluestocking Guide by Jane Williams
This is a guide to accompany Ancient Rome, How it Affects You Today by Richard Maybury
More ACORN Fraud
Nevada, this time, and so serious that the Democrat Secretary of State is looking into it. And yet, the Congressional funds just keep coming.
Mandatory 'Public spirit'
This is pretty funny, except the part where you realize it's not really that funny because it's painfully close to the truth:
Recently we were uplifted when the president informed Chrysler’s secured creditors that they had agreed to donate their ownership stake in the company to the United Auto Workers. Just last week, we were enthralled to see a group of auto executives beaming with pride as the president announced that in order to reduce gas consumption, they would henceforth be scaling back on all those car lines that consumers actually want to buy.
These events have heralded a new era of partnership between the White House and private companies, one that calls to mind the wonderful partnership Germany formed with France and the Low Countries at the start of World War II.
Lemming-like Political Beliefs
All right-thinking people think, well, left...:
In the business of opinions, where I earn my money, there is practically nothing but leftists, and anyone who is not is well-advised to keep it to himself. One reason for the cultural dominance of the left may be that the other side has nothing to say or leftist ideas are so convincing that everything else pales by comparison. But I would hazard to guess that many are to the left because others are.
Man's tendency to assimilate, though well-documented in experimental psychology, is a trait routinely underestimated in everyday life. What we call conviction is often nothing but adaptation in an environment of opinions. Opportunism is an ugly word that doesn't apply here, because it assumes that we adopt opinions for purely calculated reasons. Let's call it social instinct instead. No one wants to be the only person in an office who isn't asked to join the group for lunch.
The liberal family has many clans competing sharply with one another, but in the end it remains a family, and it sees itself as a family. The left, with which I have dealt throughout my life, is a milieu that could be described as the leftist bourgeoisie. In English-speaking countries, terms like "chattering class" or "creative class" have taken hold. Middle-class socialism or leftist chic are other attempts at description, but they all mean the same thing. This milieu is inhabited by a type of person easily recognized by his consumption and cultural habits (even if he prides himself on his nonconformity), and who is characterized by a pronounced elite awareness, even though the word elite is much as a taboo for leftists as words like nation, homeland or ethnic group.
Private Vs Government Sector
The gap between the public sector and private business in wages and benefits continues to grow. Last month, USA Today reported federal figures showing that public employees earned benefits worth $13.38 per hour in December 2008, compared to $7.98 for private sector workers.
A full-time government worker receives benefits worth an average of $28,830 per year. A private worker's benefits are worth an average of $16,598. Yet in this time of recession/depression, the shrinking private sector foots the bill for massive bailouts of public employees. In the nongovernment world, jobs are being lost by the hundreds of thousands each month. Government workers are secure in theirs. As the ordinary American becomes more aware of the disparity and unfairness of the current system, anger builds.
It's an increasingly top-heavy and bloated system, and I'm not sure how it's sustainable.
Via Instapundi
Post-Script
to this post
Last night at midweek Bible study one of the college friends who has been going through a rough patch ended up coming over to spend the night at our house, and a family who live in the next town over asked if I could watch their baby here while they pack up to move. He'll be here around lunch time, and he's a charming bundle of laughter, so I 'll have fun, but I'll be busy, because tomorrow is our music lesson/library volunteering day, and the HG and TC (see the side-bar for TC's place in our lives) will be packing up stuff at Strider's apartment, so it will mostly be Baby, The Boy, The Cherub, and me. The FYG was funny about this, btw. Being the sixth child she doesn't remember the days when I had three in diapers, three in car-seats, or two in cloth diapers. She's worried that I won't be able to handle the baby without her.
If you had dropped by last night for a visit you would have found me at midnight or so in the kitchen making skillet granola and packing the HM's lunch. Today before the baby arrives, I hope to have some bread started, but we'll see.
Last night at midweek Bible study one of the college friends who has been going through a rough patch ended up coming over to spend the night at our house, and a family who live in the next town over asked if I could watch their baby here while they pack up to move. He'll be here around lunch time, and he's a charming bundle of laughter, so I 'll have fun, but I'll be busy, because tomorrow is our music lesson/library volunteering day, and the HG and TC (see the side-bar for TC's place in our lives) will be packing up stuff at Strider's apartment, so it will mostly be Baby, The Boy, The Cherub, and me. The FYG was funny about this, btw. Being the sixth child she doesn't remember the days when I had three in diapers, three in car-seats, or two in cloth diapers. She's worried that I won't be able to handle the baby without her.
If you had dropped by last night for a visit you would have found me at midnight or so in the kitchen making skillet granola and packing the HM's lunch. Today before the baby arrives, I hope to have some bread started, but we'll see.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Bird picture from a couple weeks ago...
I love it when animals stay perfectly still for a photograph. :)Who Chose the Chrysler Businesses to Close?
And why? What do they have in common? Surely not. I mean, really. This is highly unlikely, isn't it?
Isn't it?
Isn't it?
Fascist Do-Gooders
Elisheva looks at the CPSIA and places it in the larger context of fascist do-gooding. She notes how this brouhaha is causing some cognitive dissonance among more than a few good crunchy souls who thought the Democrats were their special friends and allies:
It's a start, recognizing that the Democrats are really not the friend to the little guy that their public relations campaign managers (that would be the media, yes?) have portrayed. But there's more to learn.
This is a good time to read the Declaration of Independence and notice how much the British government being rebuked resembles our current reality. We're in a Brave New World, and that is not a good thing.
"“What it looks like is that our needs are largely being responded to by Republicans. Most of the people in the Homemade Toy Alliance are probably more aligned with the Democratic side. And people in the Homemade Toy Alliance kind of like the things that these consumer groups are touting, like safer products and natural things.” But now she finds herself in this “weird alliance.” " (ibid).
Leibovitz is still seeing this as a partisan issue, and it's hard for her not to, because Congress has very few members who are not allied with the major parties. But this is really an issue about the power of government, and like many of us before her, her awakening is beginning as she understands that the Congress is more concerned about the big lobby groups and multinational corporations that they represent, than they are about her freedom and prosperity.
It's a start, recognizing that the Democrats are really not the friend to the little guy that their public relations campaign managers (that would be the media, yes?) have portrayed. But there's more to learn.
Their sense of betrayal towards their government, and their awakening understanding that their concerns are being cast as a "nefarious political agenda" is well understood by many of us who have trod the same road in years past, awakened by other issues. I was a more than slightly crunchy mom, and my awakening and return to my libertarian roots (second generation and proud of it!) was catalized by 9-11 and home education. As I began to realize that Annointed statists and do-gooders wanted to control what I teach my children, and how I raise them, I understood that all that stands between me and absolute tyranny is the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And unless I am willing to trust my fellow citizens of all beliefs and walks of life to manage their own lives, I will not have the freedom to manage mine.
The rhetoric of the Obamaniacs is wearing thin. The tea parties, the 9-12 movement, and patriot groups springing up everywhere understand that this is not about partisan politics, and take no regard of what the vaunted Fourth Estate is saying to itself. (No wonder they aren't making any money). As the toymakers will find out, the Republican party is as morally bankrupt as are the Democrats.
This is a good time to read the Declaration of Independence and notice how much the British government being rebuked resembles our current reality. We're in a Brave New World, and that is not a good thing.
Tax Cheat
Michael Williams, didn't like that Geithner blew off paying over thirty thousand dollars in taxes and still gets to be the Treasury Secretary without facing the repercussions the rest of us would suffer for such an 'oversight.' So he put together a quick business- he produces and sells self-inking rubber stamps that say 'TAX CHEAT' and suggests that one possible use for those stamps would be stamping them over Geithner's name on our currency.
One month later, he's being audited by the IRS. Could just be a coincidence. It's possible that the first time in his life that he's come to the attention of the IRS is one month after launching a very public criticism of Secretary of Treasury Geithner. It really is. But just in case, it would be well to keep an eye on the situation.
One month later, he's being audited by the IRS. Could just be a coincidence. It's possible that the first time in his life that he's come to the attention of the IRS is one month after launching a very public criticism of Secretary of Treasury Geithner. It really is. But just in case, it would be well to keep an eye on the situation.
Freedom in Trivialities
Sometimes I wonder whether "getting the government out of our bedrooms" (supposedly accomplished by Lawrence v. Texas) wasn't just a ruse so people could imagine they were more free.
That's pretty much what
You can do anything, as long as it's nothing.
All-day Singings, Janice Holt Giles
If you read and liked Jayber Crow, I think you'll like an author from my grandmother's generation. Janice Holt Giles was one of her favorite authors, and I have several of my grandmother's copies of her books. My favorites are those set in the Kentucky Hill country. She describes a life much like that depicted in Cynthia Rylant's picture book "When I Was Young in the Mountains, which my Arkansas-bred and born father gave us years ago, saying, "this is how I grew up." It's not how I grew up, but I have been to singings like these, singings where, by the time it's over, you can hardly talk because you've sung your voice right out of your body:
We've recorded many of them, and they don't really sound very pretty second hand like that. But from within, when you are singing your heart out, too- ah... it is very heaven.
And we're having another singing this weekend.=)
The Enduring Hills, by Janice Holt Giles
On a Sunday in midsummer Hod went to an all-day singing over on the next ridge. He felt listless about the walk over there, but he liked to sing, and maybe he'd feel better if he went.The men take turns leading at our singings- whichever of them knows the song best volunteers to take it. Some of them will have a pitch-pipe and they'll blow the right pictch when asked, but won't push it on another song leader who feels comfortable just starting without it. After a while they tire and it's no longer whoever knows it best, but who can make a tolerable effort. Mostly at our house we go around the circle picking out songs from the book, other places you just have to shout out the number you want in between songs. You have to time this just right, because you want to be sure to get your number out there quick, before we're off and on to another song, but to call it out too soon, before the last note has died out. You dont' want to be too abrupt, stepping on the last note of the previous song- that looks pushing, and shows your heart wasn't in the singing.
The singing began about ten o'clock, the leader starting with some of the familiar songs. Everyone sang. The volume of sound that rose to the rafters of the little whitewashed chapel would have amazed a city preacher, accustomed only to the halfhearted efforts of his congregation. This was a noisy, joyous, hearty, lifting of voices.
On and on the singing went, alternating between the old and the familiar and the new and untried. When one leader grew tired, another took his place.... The people seemed never to tire. An all-day singing on the ridge was really an all-day singing!
We've recorded many of them, and they don't really sound very pretty second hand like that. But from within, when you are singing your heart out, too- ah... it is very heaven.
And we're having another singing this weekend.=)
The Enduring Hills, by Janice Holt Giles
One Ring To Bind Them
The latest plan for the troubled automaker, which is expected to file for bankruptcy by Monday, calls for the Treasury Department to receive about 70 percent of a restructured G.M.
So... why are those won consider Wal-mart an Evil Empire generally okay with this naked power grab and the hegemony of government?
Looking the Wrong Way 'Round
This week I was feeling a little unworthy, blue, and inferior about not getting out and doing enough to really have an influence in my community, because I don't get out and do much of anything. I am very much a home-body, the sort of person who, as some of you may recall, can say 'I'm nearly agoraphobic,' and her children respond in chorus, "ALMOST?!" It's time for the local cult to really kick into gear (4-H) and we're not participating again. I'm just not a joiner, not a go-getter, not a doer.
And then four people dropped in one day at different times, and I remembered we have somebody else living with us again (for the summer), and the mama of the two sweet little boys we keep from time to time called to ask if we could take them for the weekend again, and we're having another singing this weekend, we have company at least once a week, usually twice, and I heard from a long lost friend I first met when she was a new bride come to her husband's duty station in fear and trepidation and we welcomed her into the weekly get togethers. It was like walking into a family reunion in progress, she said, and she was already part of the family.
It's a slightly insane week, again. Strider is moving out of his apartment this week, but he has to work as well. So tomorrow the HG, a sibling, and a friend are heading over to his apartment to pack for him, and if need be I'll help pack some more tomorrow night. There's a perfect veil to discover and buy, shoes to match and find, grooms' shirts to find, our own house to clean, baking to do, company to come (loads of people for the week-end), things to bake, and schooling to do. A contractor is coming to look at the Rattery to see if it can be repaired, and I need to get some plants planted in the vegetable garden at the Equuschick and Shasta's house.
And in the midst of it all, I did something strictly out of a sense of duty, something I expected to find only tedium and tiresomeness, and instead I found I have been blessed and benefitted more than the person I thought I was doing a gracious favor for.
I love it when that happens.
And then four people dropped in one day at different times, and I remembered we have somebody else living with us again (for the summer), and the mama of the two sweet little boys we keep from time to time called to ask if we could take them for the weekend again, and we're having another singing this weekend, we have company at least once a week, usually twice, and I heard from a long lost friend I first met when she was a new bride come to her husband's duty station in fear and trepidation and we welcomed her into the weekly get togethers. It was like walking into a family reunion in progress, she said, and she was already part of the family.
It's a slightly insane week, again. Strider is moving out of his apartment this week, but he has to work as well. So tomorrow the HG, a sibling, and a friend are heading over to his apartment to pack for him, and if need be I'll help pack some more tomorrow night. There's a perfect veil to discover and buy, shoes to match and find, grooms' shirts to find, our own house to clean, baking to do, company to come (loads of people for the week-end), things to bake, and schooling to do. A contractor is coming to look at the Rattery to see if it can be repaired, and I need to get some plants planted in the vegetable garden at the Equuschick and Shasta's house.
And in the midst of it all, I did something strictly out of a sense of duty, something I expected to find only tedium and tiresomeness, and instead I found I have been blessed and benefitted more than the person I thought I was doing a gracious favor for.
I love it when that happens.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Interesting yard art...
Saw both of these a few weeks back while walking through a small town with a friend.
Quirky but cool. :)Lemon, Salt, and an Empty Chair
Scrolling through a friend's facebook pictures, I came across this one, and swallowed hard. I recognize this place setting. I know what's on it and why, and I know who isn't sitting at this table:
Read more here.
Here's what was said at one recent ceremony.
America's White Table tells about the custom in picture book form.
Remembering, honoring those who answered a call to serve- a military tradition.
The table is set with a white tablecloth, a
black napkin and white candle, and a plate with only a slice of lemon
and salt. An empty chair leans against the table.
The tradition, little known to the general public, of setting an empty
table with a white tablecloth in remembrance of prisoners of war and
those missing in action had its beginnings with a group of fighter pilots
who flew in Vietnam.
But what was started by the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots
Association — the so-called River Rats of Vietnam — has, during the
intervening years, spread to other branches of the military where
remembrance tables, or so-called missing man tables, are set when
units or commands gather for dinners or reunions.
Read more here.
Here's what was said at one recent ceremony.
America's White Table tells about the custom in picture book form.
Remembering, honoring those who answered a call to serve- a military tradition.
Congress, Increasing Business Costs by 18 Times...
Remember when we were told the CPSC wasn't interested in the 'little guy' and this was not supposed to be about thrift shops and yard sales and quit worrying your pretty but teeny little heads, nobody is after you? The government already investigated thrift shops:
Still, right now, you're probably fine if all you do is hold a yard sale. But the government isn't going to bother about thrift shops? It's a myth:
See Over-lawyered for two more cases of CPSIA killing perfectly safe businesses- in one case, the cost of the required testing is eighteen times more than the gross income of the business last year. I don't know how PIRG representatives dare face themselves in the morning after testifying before Congress that the cost of testing was an affordable fifty dollars or so.
And yet:
Remember Waxman? "Are you asking me what's in my bill? I dunno. I don't have the details. I leave it up to the scientists." That attitude is how we get trainworks like the CPSIA. Our representatives are too busy to do the work of governing, tedious stuff like READING and WRITING their own bills before they vote on them. It's beneath them. They leave that up to the 'experts,' whom we didn't elect and don't know anything about and can't fire.
For more about the CPSIA see here.
To stop train wrecks like this one, work to get the Read the Bills act passed.
It would also be nice if we didn't have representatives who made a mockery of their office by hiring speed readers to read the bill so that nobody actually has to understand what's in it. Oh, shock. That was Waxman again.
He's a poster child for why we need term limits.
The commission studied thrift stores nationwide in 1999 and found that 69 percent were selling products that had been recalled, banned or failed to meet safety standards, according to the handbook.
Still, right now, you're probably fine if all you do is hold a yard sale. But the government isn't going to bother about thrift shops? It's a myth:
The safety commission will not patrol garage sales, commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said. But store proprietors who knowingly or repeatedly violate the law may be fined.My guess is it is only a matter of time until garage sales are simply banned at the local level. That time may be a decade or two, because you'll need to be boiled slowly enough that you won't notice the temperature increasing and your liberties evaporating in the steam. So you'll be as complacent then as we have been in the past about lost freedoms.
See Over-lawyered for two more cases of CPSIA killing perfectly safe businesses- in one case, the cost of the required testing is eighteen times more than the gross income of the business last year. I don't know how PIRG representatives dare face themselves in the morning after testifying before Congress that the cost of testing was an affordable fifty dollars or so.
And yet:
Last month the office of Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), a co-sponsor of the measure, “said the bill is doing exactly what it is meant to do“.
Remember Waxman? "Are you asking me what's in my bill? I dunno. I don't have the details. I leave it up to the scientists." That attitude is how we get trainworks like the CPSIA. Our representatives are too busy to do the work of governing, tedious stuff like READING and WRITING their own bills before they vote on them. It's beneath them. They leave that up to the 'experts,' whom we didn't elect and don't know anything about and can't fire.
For more about the CPSIA see here.
To stop train wrecks like this one, work to get the Read the Bills act passed.
RTBA requires that . . .
* Each bill, and every amendment, must be read in its entirety before a quorum in both the House and Senate.
* Every member of the House and Senate must sign a sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that he or she has attentively either personally read, or heard read, the complete bill to be voted on.
* Every old law coming up for renewal under the sunset provisions must also be read according to the same rules that apply to new bills.
* Every bill to be voted on must be published on the Internet at least 7 days before a vote, and Congress must give public notice of the date when a vote will be held on that bill.
* Passage of a bill that does not abide by these provisions will render the measure null and void, and establish grounds for the law to be challenged in court.
* Congress cannot waive these requirements.
It would also be nice if we didn't have representatives who made a mockery of their office by hiring speed readers to read the bill so that nobody actually has to understand what's in it. Oh, shock. That was Waxman again.
He's a poster child for why we need term limits.
Homeschooling Carnival
Thanks for joining us for this carnival of homeschooling!
Nature Study: ChristineMM presents My Kids Love Experiential Learning posted at The Thinking Mother.
I loved this post. It goes along with some things I've been thinking about lately as I read Romancing Your Child's Heart, and in the first few chapters he talks about how his time spent exploring the great outdoors and taking risks as enchanting and valuable experiences for a child growing up. It also goes along with some of the ideas in another book I'm working on- Last Child in the Woods (although our summer houseguest tells me she had to read this for a university course and found it tiresomely longwinded, as though the author had tried to turn an essay into a book and could only manage it by tedious repetition)
Arts and Crafts
Mama Squirrel presents Dewey's Treehouse: Crayons' Grade Two: Gingham Embroidery posted at Dewey's Treehouse.
Field Trips: Katherine at No fighting, no biting! shares about a field trip her family took to the National Postal Museum when she said helped her family learn about stamps and how the mail gets to their mailbox.
In a retrospective post looking over this past year, the blogger at Two Kids Schoolhouse calls this past year the year of therapy, and looks forward to more field trips next year, some pretty special looking ones, too. She concludes that:
Testing:
Want to know a surprisingly easy and inexpensive way of elping your children improve their SAT scores? Check out the very intriguing finding Dan presents in Things that Make your Kids Smarter…and Things that Don’t posted at My Dad Blog.
Math: Barry Garelick presents One Step Ahead of the Train Wreck posted at EdNews.org. The Train Wreck is the Every Day Math program used at his daughter's school. The way he stayed one step ahead is by using Singapore Math and tutoring her and a friend after school at home. This is a long and meaty post, but it's a thought-provoking read with several applications beyond math and after-school tutoring. I've blogged about it elsewhere.
Norfolk Homeschooling Examiner presents The FlashMaster computerizes math flash cards with great success! I finally discovered a great tool that helps my children drill their math facts without any tears or dragging of feet on their part. Best of all, little, to no input from mom is required so I can work on other activities while the children do their math fact drill
Controversies:
Alasandra presents Homeschool Injustice, Homeschool Discrimination or Just Angry Women Getting A Divorce? posted at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog. She says "If homeschooling is on an equal footing with public schooling then homeschoolers aren't being discriminated against and there is no injustice involved. As they should the courts will look at the cases on an individual basis and make the decision they feel is best for the children. The children may not be thrilled with the decision (especially if the parent who loses bleats on and on about how awful the decision is), the parent who loses won't be happy but there is no injustice or discrimination involved."
The GIVE Act will mandate forced community service for teens, and it could apply to homeschoolers as well. Susan Ryan tells us about it in Forced Community Service posted at Corn and Oil.
Britannica Blog presents Studying Success in Education: Jay Mathews? Work Hard, Be Nice posted at Britannica Blog, a post about special programs in public schools for the poor and underprivileged. Those of you who follow the work of The Washington Post’s Jay Mathews, often called the “dean of education reporters,” know that for the past few years he’s been obsessed with two subjects—high school college-preparatory programs (Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate) and the Knowledge is Power Program charter schools, otherwise known as KIPP.
Things You Can Buy:
Shanna shares some photographs of local wildflowers as well as her review of a new homeschooling resource, Wonderful Wildflowers- Shining Dawn Books posted at Integritas Academy.
Gifted Children:
Living By Learning presents link-rich story of her journey to find suitable resources for her gifted child in How does "Gifted" figure into our homeschool? posted at On Living By Learning.
Encouragement in your Homeschooling:
How homeschooling is like landing in the Hudson:
~Kris~ presents "We're Gonna Be in the Hudson" posted at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
Lara DeHaven presents Regaining My Focus posted at Texas Homesteader.
That S word: Dana presents Homeschooling, socialization and my daughter posted at Principled Discovery.
Jenafer presents a delightful photo essay of her Homeschooling Co-op Day posted at Cage Free Monkeys.
Shannon presents Conquering Lapbooking posted at Mountaineer Country.
Katie Glennon presents Other Uses of Narration ? End of Semester Exams, High School Essays, and Timelines posted at Katie's Homeschool Cottage.
Homeschool Graduating Class of 2009 Photo Gallery
Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog (About.com)
The first few pictures are up. Submit your graduating senior's photo and profile to be included in the Homeschool Graduating Class of 2009 Photo Gallery. I appreciate your help in building a Class of 2009 Photo Gallery that we can be proud of.
Homeschoolers and College Barbara Frank Online warns: Homeschooling parents beware: colleges sometimes lie to parents, knowingly prepare students for careers in dying fields, and often believe drinking and drugs are students' problems, not theirs.
Henry has a list of some other Homeschooling Carnivals and here's that post.
Thank-you for reading, thank-you for participating, and thanks for your interest in Homeschooling!
Click here for instructions for submitting entries to next week's homeschooling carnival.
Nature Study: ChristineMM presents My Kids Love Experiential Learning posted at The Thinking Mother.
I loved this post. It goes along with some things I've been thinking about lately as I read Romancing Your Child's Heart, and in the first few chapters he talks about how his time spent exploring the great outdoors and taking risks as enchanting and valuable experiences for a child growing up. It also goes along with some of the ideas in another book I'm working on- Last Child in the Woods (although our summer houseguest tells me she had to read this for a university course and found it tiresomely longwinded, as though the author had tried to turn an essay into a book and could only manage it by tedious repetition)
Arts and Crafts
Mama Squirrel presents Dewey's Treehouse: Crayons' Grade Two: Gingham Embroidery posted at Dewey's Treehouse.
Field Trips: Katherine at No fighting, no biting! shares about a field trip her family took to the National Postal Museum when she said helped her family learn about stamps and how the mail gets to their mailbox.
In a retrospective post looking over this past year, the blogger at Two Kids Schoolhouse calls this past year the year of therapy, and looks forward to more field trips next year, some pretty special looking ones, too. She concludes that:
It's good to remember that seasons come and go, and that every year will be different.
Testing:
Want to know a surprisingly easy and inexpensive way of elping your children improve their SAT scores? Check out the very intriguing finding Dan presents in Things that Make your Kids Smarter…and Things that Don’t posted at My Dad Blog.
Math: Barry Garelick presents One Step Ahead of the Train Wreck posted at EdNews.org. The Train Wreck is the Every Day Math program used at his daughter's school. The way he stayed one step ahead is by using Singapore Math and tutoring her and a friend after school at home. This is a long and meaty post, but it's a thought-provoking read with several applications beyond math and after-school tutoring. I've blogged about it elsewhere.
Norfolk Homeschooling Examiner presents The FlashMaster computerizes math flash cards with great success! I finally discovered a great tool that helps my children drill their math facts without any tears or dragging of feet on their part. Best of all, little, to no input from mom is required so I can work on other activities while the children do their math fact drill
Controversies:
Alasandra presents Homeschool Injustice, Homeschool Discrimination or Just Angry Women Getting A Divorce? posted at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog. She says "If homeschooling is on an equal footing with public schooling then homeschoolers aren't being discriminated against and there is no injustice involved. As they should the courts will look at the cases on an individual basis and make the decision they feel is best for the children. The children may not be thrilled with the decision (especially if the parent who loses bleats on and on about how awful the decision is), the parent who loses won't be happy but there is no injustice or discrimination involved."
The GIVE Act will mandate forced community service for teens, and it could apply to homeschoolers as well. Susan Ryan tells us about it in Forced Community Service posted at Corn and Oil.
Britannica Blog presents Studying Success in Education: Jay Mathews? Work Hard, Be Nice posted at Britannica Blog, a post about special programs in public schools for the poor and underprivileged. Those of you who follow the work of The Washington Post’s Jay Mathews, often called the “dean of education reporters,” know that for the past few years he’s been obsessed with two subjects—high school college-preparatory programs (Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate) and the Knowledge is Power Program charter schools, otherwise known as KIPP.
Things You Can Buy:
Shanna shares some photographs of local wildflowers as well as her review of a new homeschooling resource, Wonderful Wildflowers- Shining Dawn Books posted at Integritas Academy.
Gifted Children:
Living By Learning presents link-rich story of her journey to find suitable resources for her gifted child in How does "Gifted" figure into our homeschool? posted at On Living By Learning.
Encouragement in your Homeschooling:
How homeschooling is like landing in the Hudson:
~Kris~ presents "We're Gonna Be in the Hudson" posted at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
Lara DeHaven presents Regaining My Focus posted at Texas Homesteader.
That S word: Dana presents Homeschooling, socialization and my daughter posted at Principled Discovery.
Jenafer presents a delightful photo essay of her Homeschooling Co-op Day posted at Cage Free Monkeys.
Shannon presents Conquering Lapbooking posted at Mountaineer Country.
Katie Glennon presents Other Uses of Narration ? End of Semester Exams, High School Essays, and Timelines posted at Katie's Homeschool Cottage.
Homeschool Graduating Class of 2009 Photo Gallery
Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog (About.com)
The first few pictures are up. Submit your graduating senior's photo and profile to be included in the Homeschool Graduating Class of 2009 Photo Gallery. I appreciate your help in building a Class of 2009 Photo Gallery that we can be proud of.
Homeschoolers and College Barbara Frank Online warns: Homeschooling parents beware: colleges sometimes lie to parents, knowingly prepare students for careers in dying fields, and often believe drinking and drugs are students' problems, not theirs.
Henry has a list of some other Homeschooling Carnivals and here's that post.
Thank-you for reading, thank-you for participating, and thanks for your interest in Homeschooling!
Click here for instructions for submitting entries to next week's homeschooling carnival.
Monday, May 25, 2009
This Memorial Day Weekend, Let's Look at a Violation of the Geneva Convention
The German U-Boats very nearly succeeded in winning WW2 for Germany, and the reason they didn't is a fascinating little story of an exciting sea battle, a fluke, and a fairly substantial violation of the Geneva Convention.
In the build-up before the War, the Germans worked on building up a fleet of submarines, subverting the Versailles treaty by building them and training their crews in Turkey, Spain, and Holland. German Admiral Karl Dönitz devised a highly successful attack strategy (and at the Nuremberg Trials was sentenced to 20 years). Within the first three months of launching their U-boat campaign, the Germans had successfully sunk 114 of Allied merchant ships, losing only 9 of their own.
The Brits were close to losing when the U.S. entered the war.
U-boat sailors had a life expectancy of about 3 months at sea, as the German command had every expectation that the captain of the submarine would scuttle it rather than permit it to be captured, and often the submarines were scuttled with the men still on board.
In June of 1944 the American Navy succeeded in capturing a U-Boat for the first time. In fact, U-505 was the first warship captured at sea by the US Navy since 1815, when USS Peacock seized HMS Nautilus during the War of 1812. (wikipedia)
On board that u-boat were two enigma machines, which changed the course of the war:
In order to protect this important secret, that a U-boat had been captured enabling us to break the codes and read most messages, the prisoners captured from the u-boat (around 55, as I recall, and only one German sailor died) in June of 1944 spent the remainder of the war in a prison camp in Louisiana. They were isolated from other prisoners, denied access to Red Cross visits, and all mail was confiscated, and their families presumed them dead. Indeed, by the late summer of 1944 the German Navy told the families they should presume their sailors dead. Their families were not told they were alive until 1945. They were not released until well past the end of the war. They were sent to England to do some work putting up housing for returning British veterans. the last returning home in 1947.
Back in 2007 The Volokh Conspiracy wrote about this in connection with the ethical and legal questions.
He linked to this post, where the discussion in the comments as to what is and is not a war crime is very interesting as well.
You can visit the only German submarine in American if you ever go to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. It's a fascinating exhibit, and you can read more about it here.
General information about the submarines here.
While in prison camp in Louisiana, the German sailors were guarded by the Navy baseball team, a fascinating story of its own, and the team taught the Germans to play baseball in an attempt to maintain their chances to play professionally after the war. There's supposed to be a movie about it some time this year, Playing With the Enemy. You can read the book, too.
Incidentally, while searching for some of the above information, I earned three swagbucks, and I wasn't doing anything anything I wasn't going to do regardless of swagbucks:
In the build-up before the War, the Germans worked on building up a fleet of submarines, subverting the Versailles treaty by building them and training their crews in Turkey, Spain, and Holland. German Admiral Karl Dönitz devised a highly successful attack strategy (and at the Nuremberg Trials was sentenced to 20 years). Within the first three months of launching their U-boat campaign, the Germans had successfully sunk 114 of Allied merchant ships, losing only 9 of their own.
The Brits were close to losing when the U.S. entered the war.
Allied success in breaking the German Enigma code was an important help early in the war, but changes to the naval Enigma code at the beginning of 1942 stopped the flow of intelligence, bringing an increase in the loss of Allied ships. Furthermore, the U.S. entered the war unprepared and did not initially effectively protect its ships. As a result, a small number of U-boats in the North American and Caribbean coastal waters sank nearly 500 Allied ships in the first half of 1942. (January-July 1942 was the second "Glückliche Zeit" for U-boat crews ). By July 1942, Dönitz had 300 U-boats, with 140 operational at once, hunting in wolf packs and sinking shipping at an annual rate of seven million tons, five times the rate of British replacement capacity. U-boats operated almost unopposed in the "Mid-Atlantic Gap" -- the area that could not be reached by aircraft from Canada or Britain -- supplied by special vessels known as "milch cow"' carrying additional torpedoes and food. German naval intelligence broke British codes and directed submarines to intercept convoys.
U-boat sailors had a life expectancy of about 3 months at sea, as the German command had every expectation that the captain of the submarine would scuttle it rather than permit it to be captured, and often the submarines were scuttled with the men still on board.
In June of 1944 the American Navy succeeded in capturing a U-Boat for the first time. In fact, U-505 was the first warship captured at sea by the US Navy since 1815, when USS Peacock seized HMS Nautilus during the War of 1812. (wikipedia)
On board that u-boat were two enigma machines, which changed the course of the war:
After the capture, the Enigma machines and the 900 pounds of codebooks and publications removed from the sub were rushed to U.S. Naval Intelligence in Washington, D.C. to help the Allied code breaking effort. The ingenuity of Allied code breakers, combined with German blunders, made it possible for the Allies to read most messages to and from U-boats from November 1943 until the end of the war.
In order to protect this important secret, that a U-boat had been captured enabling us to break the codes and read most messages, the prisoners captured from the u-boat (around 55, as I recall, and only one German sailor died) in June of 1944 spent the remainder of the war in a prison camp in Louisiana. They were isolated from other prisoners, denied access to Red Cross visits, and all mail was confiscated, and their families presumed them dead. Indeed, by the late summer of 1944 the German Navy told the families they should presume their sailors dead. Their families were not told they were alive until 1945. They were not released until well past the end of the war. They were sent to England to do some work putting up housing for returning British veterans. the last returning home in 1947.
Back in 2007 The Volokh Conspiracy wrote about this in connection with the ethical and legal questions.
He linked to this post, where the discussion in the comments as to what is and is not a war crime is very interesting as well.
You can visit the only German submarine in American if you ever go to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. It's a fascinating exhibit, and you can read more about it here.
General information about the submarines here.
While in prison camp in Louisiana, the German sailors were guarded by the Navy baseball team, a fascinating story of its own, and the team taught the Germans to play baseball in an attempt to maintain their chances to play professionally after the war. There's supposed to be a movie about it some time this year, Playing With the Enemy. You can read the book, too.
Incidentally, while searching for some of the above information, I earned three swagbucks, and I wasn't doing anything anything I wasn't going to do regardless of swagbucks:
Junk DNA Not So Junky After All
In fact, it may just be indispensable:
More here.
via Instapundit
Now researchers from Princeton University and Indiana University who have been studying the genome of a pond organism have found that junk DNA may not be so junky after all. They have discovered that DNA sequences from regions of what had been viewed as the "dispensable genome" are actually performing functions that are central for the organism. They have concluded that the genes spur an almost acrobatic rearrangement of the entire genome that is necessary for the organism to grow.
More here.
via Instapundit
Emerging Stories
The Equuschick had the opportunity yesterday to sit and visit with a lovely couple yesterday afternoon, the gentleman being the kind of gruff Vietnam vet who is inclined to feed his Yorkshire Terriers cereal in the morning if they want it and to swing on a child's swing with his granddaughter.
He is also apt to talk and to wax reminiscent, and gradually stories of caring for his mother in her last years of dementia began to emerge from his conversation.
They emerged as honestly and naturally as if he was talking about some character of fiction, and with no indication that he knew or cared that the picture of his character that was emerging with the stories was one that was at all worthy of note.
He spoke of her days at the nursing home when it was too late for the family to keep her with them, and of bringing her supper on his way home from work every evening. He spoke of the time he took her to get her hair done at a local stylist and he spoke of the last time she spoke his name.
He spoke of the time he told her "Momma, I'm going to take you out to dinner and then bring you home to sit on the porch swing and listen to music" and another elderly resident heard him and insisted on coming along. "I'm going too," said this other elderly woman stubbornly.
"I don't think I can sign you out", he told me he had said with a laugh, but he had asked anyway and was given permission.
So he spoke with a laugh in his voice and a twinkle in his eye of walking into the diner with his elderly mother with dementia and another elderly woman with a large bag full of aluminum cans. He sat at the table with them both and attempted to dissuade the one woman from stuffing silverware into her bag while watching in horror as his mother took all the crackers from the table, crushed them in her hands, and flung them all over the floor.
"But I stayed there and ate with them," he said, "and then I took them home and set them on the porch swings and played music for them all afternoon. They didn't want to leave."
He spoke of the times his mother was mean and of the times when she was confused and of the time when she looked at him and said "Kenny, Johnny's gone."
"I know Momma," he said. "Papa's been gone a while."
And that was the last time she remembered his name.
"It was hard," he said, "but we got real close to her in those times."
He sat leaning forward with his coffee cup in his hands, gazing into the past the way one would stare into flames.
"Yeah," he concluded, "it was just something you had to do."
Where did we lose that? That sense of doing something, without expectation of praise or applause, doing something hard "just because you had it to do?"
There are few enough indeed left today who will do what conscience knows to be their duty, and even those few feel somehow that they have gone above and beyond and are entitled to special praise and accommodation.
Where do we lose that sense of duty coupled with humility? How do we get it back?
He is also apt to talk and to wax reminiscent, and gradually stories of caring for his mother in her last years of dementia began to emerge from his conversation.
They emerged as honestly and naturally as if he was talking about some character of fiction, and with no indication that he knew or cared that the picture of his character that was emerging with the stories was one that was at all worthy of note.
He spoke of her days at the nursing home when it was too late for the family to keep her with them, and of bringing her supper on his way home from work every evening. He spoke of the time he took her to get her hair done at a local stylist and he spoke of the last time she spoke his name.
He spoke of the time he told her "Momma, I'm going to take you out to dinner and then bring you home to sit on the porch swing and listen to music" and another elderly resident heard him and insisted on coming along. "I'm going too," said this other elderly woman stubbornly.
"I don't think I can sign you out", he told me he had said with a laugh, but he had asked anyway and was given permission.
So he spoke with a laugh in his voice and a twinkle in his eye of walking into the diner with his elderly mother with dementia and another elderly woman with a large bag full of aluminum cans. He sat at the table with them both and attempted to dissuade the one woman from stuffing silverware into her bag while watching in horror as his mother took all the crackers from the table, crushed them in her hands, and flung them all over the floor.
"But I stayed there and ate with them," he said, "and then I took them home and set them on the porch swings and played music for them all afternoon. They didn't want to leave."
He spoke of the times his mother was mean and of the times when she was confused and of the time when she looked at him and said "Kenny, Johnny's gone."
"I know Momma," he said. "Papa's been gone a while."
And that was the last time she remembered his name.
"It was hard," he said, "but we got real close to her in those times."
He sat leaning forward with his coffee cup in his hands, gazing into the past the way one would stare into flames.
"Yeah," he concluded, "it was just something you had to do."
Where did we lose that? That sense of doing something, without expectation of praise or applause, doing something hard "just because you had it to do?"
There are few enough indeed left today who will do what conscience knows to be their duty, and even those few feel somehow that they have gone above and beyond and are entitled to special praise and accommodation.
Where do we lose that sense of duty coupled with humility? How do we get it back?
Top 100 Hymns Survey
Over at Semi-Colon
But I am really late getting this out- I started it a few days ago, got distracted, and it got buried. Oops.
Basic rules:
There's a great list of hymns on the Amblesideonline website and I pretty much think all of them deserve to be on any list of good hymns.
Of course, many of our favorites are posted here, one each Sunday (in general, if you're interested in these look for the 'Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual phrases' tab).
But I am really late getting this out- I started it a few days ago, got distracted, and it got buried. Oops.
Basic rules:
1. Make a list of your top ten hymns of all time.More at the link. Here's my list:
Hymn (according to Webster): a song of praise to God
a metrical composition adapted for singing in a religious service.
For the purposes of this poll, I’m limiting the choices to Christian hymns, but the form of the song doesn’t matter. In other words, the songs on your list should be suitable for congregational singing and should be Christian. Handel’s Messiah is Christian but probably not suitable for congregational hymn singing. Anything you sing in worship service, even what are normally called choruses or gospel songs or spirituals or CCM, is fine. (Oh, English, please, or at least translated into English. Sorry, but it’s all I really speak.)
- Come thou fount
- Can You Count the Stars- this is a lovely song I sang to my children as a lullabye
- I Am Thine Oh, Lord
- Be Thou My Vision
- Be Still My Soul
- This is My Father's World
- Amazing Grace- obviously
- Trust and Obey-
- Jesus Loves Me- The basics of theology
- Holy, Holy, Holy- A companion to the basics, and a favorite of my children
There's a great list of hymns on the Amblesideonline website and I pretty much think all of them deserve to be on any list of good hymns.
Of course, many of our favorites are posted here, one each Sunday (in general, if you're interested in these look for the 'Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual phrases' tab).
Memorial Day, '09
Blackadder is a British sitcom that took two recurring characters through various time periods in history. These two characters, Blackadder and Baldrick, were played by Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson (if you've only seen Atkinson play silly people like Mr. Bean, you're missing an amazing dimension to this gifted actor). Hugh Laurie was a recurring character in the last two series (Prince George and Lt. George), and Stephen Fry plays a steretypical Modern Major General in Blackadder Goes Forth (the fourth and final series). It was typical British humour, which means it was a mix of brilliant, delicious, dlightful, quick, witty, clever, erudite, and literate humour liberally mixed with jokes about poo, sex, and body parts.
The final time period covered was WWI, in Blackadder Goes Forth. In this series, Blackadder is an Army Captain in the trenches of France who spends most of his time scheming to avoid participating in the mass suicide of trench warfare. He is moderately successful- until the final episode, which left all of the Common Room Family in tears, and some of the Common Room Daughters rather indignant at the DeputyHeadmistress for not warning them. We watched it first some ten years ago, and I just watched it again Friday night by myself and sobbed as much as the first time. So of course I have to share those last five minutes with my internet friends.
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The poppies are in full bloom where we live.
Read more about the television series here.
More about the connection between poppies and Memorial Day (as well as Veteran's Day) here.
The final time period covered was WWI, in Blackadder Goes Forth. In this series, Blackadder is an Army Captain in the trenches of France who spends most of his time scheming to avoid participating in the mass suicide of trench warfare. He is moderately successful- until the final episode, which left all of the Common Room Family in tears, and some of the Common Room Daughters rather indignant at the DeputyHeadmistress for not warning them. We watched it first some ten years ago, and I just watched it again Friday night by myself and sobbed as much as the first time. So of course I have to share those last five minutes with my internet friends.
In Flanders FieldsBy: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The poppies are in full bloom where we live.
Read more about the television series here.
More about the connection between poppies and Memorial Day (as well as Veteran's Day) here.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Sunday Hymn Post
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.
Refrain
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!
For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.
Refrain
In pity angels beheld Him,
And came from the world of light
To comfort Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night.
Refrain
He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.
Refrain
When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.
Refrain
Cyberhymnal
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.
Refrain
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!
For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.
Refrain
In pity angels beheld Him,
And came from the world of light
To comfort Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night.
Refrain
He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.
Refrain
When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.
Refrain
Cyberhymnal
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Hugh Laurie Can Play
He's really an amazingly talented person, and we're pleased with our own perspicacity since we recognized and appreciated his genius ten years ago.
From Gumball Machine To Fish Bowl
This looks like fun.
And for more clever ideas, see these before and after pics of other projects by the same artist (she shows what she did with the gumball stand in photograph 6). These are really amazing.
And for more clever ideas, see these before and after pics of other projects by the same artist (she shows what she did with the gumball stand in photograph 6). These are really amazing.
Obama Aid: "It is NOT Our Goal To Reduce the Number of Abortions"
Via The Brothers Judd, who aptly title this piece, "And Then The Shadow of Moloch Darkened The Room," comes this link to an article by somebody who attended one of the 'common ground' meetings the President spoke of.
Most people believe the President wishes to reduce the number of abortions- I am not sure why. A man who voted several times against a bill to stop the brutal murder of infants who survive abortions and are born alive is hardly a man who has an issue with abortion. And this is also:
This is about semantics and public relations for this administration, not about women, babies, or pregnancies. After all:
There is no common ground. It's murder.
Most people believe the President wishes to reduce the number of abortions- I am not sure why. A man who voted several times against a bill to stop the brutal murder of infants who survive abortions and are born alive is hardly a man who has an issue with abortion. And this is also:
...not what his top official in charge of finding “common ground” says.
Melody Barnes, the Director of Domestic Policy Council and a former board member of Emily’s List, led the meeting. As the dialogue wound down, she asked for my input.
I noted that there are three main ways the administration can reach its goals: by what it funds, its messages from the bully pulpit, and by what it restricts. It is universally agreed that the role of parents is crucial, so government should not deny parents the ability to be involved in vital decisions. The goals need to be clear; the amount of funding spent to reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions is not a goal. The U.S. spends nearly $2 billion each year on contraception programs -- programs which began in the 1970s -- and they’ve clearly failed. We need to take an honest look at why they are not working.
Melody testily interrupted to state that she had to correct me. “It is not our goal to reduce the number of abortions.”
The room was silent.
The goal, she insisted, is to “reduce the need for abortions.”
This is about semantics and public relations for this administration, not about women, babies, or pregnancies. After all:
If you reduce the need, doesn’t it follow that the number would be reduced? How do you quantify if you’ve reduced the “need”? Does Obama want to reduce the “need” but not the number of abortions? In that case, is he okay with “unneeded” abortions?
Note what Obama said in his speech at Notre Dame:
“So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions. …”
Abortion advocates object to the phrase “reducing abortions.” It connotes that there is something bad or immoral about abortion. Melody’s background as a board member of one of the most hard-core abortion groups in the country (Emily’s List even opposes bans on partial-birth abortion) sheds light on why she was irritated when that was stated as her boss’ goal.
The Los Angeles Times reported in 2004 that Democrats, after losing the presidential election, began rethinking their harsh, no compromise stance on abortion. Their solution?
Change their language but not their position.
There is no common ground. It's murder.
News, Views, and The Coming Economic Trainwreck
What the government bailout of the press might look like (does look like in one case)
And what happens when the government takes over a car company:
The safety nannies seem to have overlooked an extremely hazardous work place:
Hmm. I wonder why.
Michigan's unemployment rate reaches over 12 percent- except for one sector, the only one to actually add jobs last month. Guess.
And what happens when the government takes over a car company:
On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to them. My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009. Without the Dodge franchise we can no longer sell a new Dodge as "new," nor will we be able to do any warranty service work. Additionally, my Dodge parts inventory, (approximately $300,000.) is virtually worthless without the ability to perform warranty service. There is no offer from Chrysler to buy back the vehicles or parts inventory.Truly disturbing.
The safety nannies seem to have overlooked an extremely hazardous work place:
Though no one keeps comprehensive national statistics on laboratory safety incidents, James Kaufman, president of the Laboratory Safety Institute in Natick, Mass., estimates that accidents and injuries occur hundreds of times more frequently in academic labs than in industrial ones.
Hmm. I wonder why.
Michigan's unemployment rate reaches over 12 percent- except for one sector, the only one to actually add jobs last month. Guess.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Jeeves and the Monogrammed Handkerchieves
This is probably one of my all time favorite segments of Jeeves and Wooster, showing Stephen Fry, as Jeeves, in one of his best nose in the air moments. And it's hard to believe this Hugh Laurie is the same man who plays House, isn't it?
Principles of Productivity
And here we are, acknowledging that diligence and prudence are character traits that we're all to nurture and that sometimes there are just things to do to get along in this short life. Here are a few thoughts The Equuschick has been thinking.
*Acknowledge who you are and what the over-arching purpose of the job is.
You need to do this because it will help you prioritize. There will always be things to be done but never enough time to do all of them, and since this is simply a reality of life it is best to know what you can do, what you can't do, and to have a specific purpose in mind for the job you choose to do.
Take house-cleaning, for instance. Why are you cleaning it? For you? For company?
Do you work away from home? What's the stated mission of your workplace?
The priorities will probably need to be different for each situation. If you're cleaning for company than a clean toilet is probably a higher priority than a silverware drawer that's neatly organized, and if the stated mission of your workplace is to rehome homeless animals, concentrate the first of your energies there and leave the cleaning of the windows later.
Come to terms with who you are and what you're capable of. This is not to be taken as complacency or to be used as such, we all should constantly be growing and learning to do new and hard things.
But when the conversation leaves character and turns towards other issues, don't say to yourself "So-and-so does this and this and this, so I should be able to do that myself."
You aren't So-and-so. You're you. Come to terms with that. It doesn't make you a lesser mother, wife, employee, whatever. It just means you should focus your energies on areas where you'll be more likely to succeed. You will not succeed in every area everyone else does. To be blunt, you'll just have to get over that.
*Prioritize
You can do this better now that you have more information on the purpose of your task and your own personal strengths and weaknesses.
We're often told to "Look for a job that needs to be done, and then do it." This is a good principle, but far too vague. It leads to crazy things like cleaning out junk drawers after midnight before you clean the guest bathroom on the night before guests arrive because "it needed to be done."
That sort of thing makes The Equuschick's brain bleed, to use a favorite phrase of Shasta's.
Here's a few hard-core rules, friends.
Look for the job that-
1. Needs to be Done
2. Needs to be Done Sooner and Can't Wait till Later
3. You Can Do Now with the Time Allotted to You*
4. You Have the Tools For*
5. You have the Skills For*
*Be realistic.
Do that job first. Not all those other half dozen crazy jobs that are teasing you for your attention. Be strict and ignore them. Your sanity will thank-you for it and so will your families, your bosses, whoever. You will get more done in the end.
Those other half-dozen jobs may indeed need to be done at some point and it is important not to ignore them permanently. That's why people make lists and plan work days. You know the drill. Make a list and prioritize it from A to Z and stop doing the Z's on the A days.
*Plan Ahead
As noted, there will be jobs you need to do that you may be unable to do on any given day. Plan for those tasks. Make a list of all the tools you'll need, if you need a list, and gather all those tools before you begin in on the job.
Don't start something you won't have the time to finish unless you're ok with leaving it undone for a day or two, and do be realistic about how much time it will take.
Everything you do will almost always take longer than you thought it would. Such is life.
And this leads us, in fact, to the end of the few rules that The Equuschick has yet figured out about over-all productivity.
You've made your plans. You've gathered your materials. You've checked for time. Fabulous!
*Come to terms with the fact that nothing is actually going to go as you planned, so learn to be fluid instead of indignant.
This one is kind of funny to The Equuschick, because really considering that we live in an imperfect world this is the one that you'd think most of humanity would have come to grips with by now. But humanity hasn't, The Equuschick included.
We make our lists, gather our material, make our plan, and begin our day only to find ourselves crying out in indignation, "It didn't work! Again, it didn't work! Just ONCE, for ONE day, I would like to have EVERYTHING GO JUST THE WAY I PLANNED!"
And then, (because we're all of us essentially professional comedians performing for the entertainment of the Fates) we seal our ridiculousness with the clincher. "Just one day where everything goes perfectly as I planned! Is that such an unreasonable request?"
As a matter of fact, unless you're under the misapprehension that we inhabit Utopia, expecting one full day where everything goes just as we planned might just be the most irrational and unreasonable thing we can demand of the world we live in.
Your plans won't always work. That's ok. You tried. Have a Plan B, C, or D in place. Just in case. Or take the hint and start wondering if there's something else you're supposed to get from your unplanned experiences.
There's a reason we have a phrase about the School of Life. Life is not a performance review. Life is a little more about essay questions. If you're looking for the lesson, then at the end of the day you'll always have something to take to bed with you. Some days we'll have a review and we'll feel stupid, but we'll get over it. Better to learn from the review to never to learn at all.
The only wasted day is the day where you never learned your lesson.
*Acknowledge who you are and what the over-arching purpose of the job is.
You need to do this because it will help you prioritize. There will always be things to be done but never enough time to do all of them, and since this is simply a reality of life it is best to know what you can do, what you can't do, and to have a specific purpose in mind for the job you choose to do.
Take house-cleaning, for instance. Why are you cleaning it? For you? For company?
Do you work away from home? What's the stated mission of your workplace?
The priorities will probably need to be different for each situation. If you're cleaning for company than a clean toilet is probably a higher priority than a silverware drawer that's neatly organized, and if the stated mission of your workplace is to rehome homeless animals, concentrate the first of your energies there and leave the cleaning of the windows later.
Come to terms with who you are and what you're capable of. This is not to be taken as complacency or to be used as such, we all should constantly be growing and learning to do new and hard things.
But when the conversation leaves character and turns towards other issues, don't say to yourself "So-and-so does this and this and this, so I should be able to do that myself."
You aren't So-and-so. You're you. Come to terms with that. It doesn't make you a lesser mother, wife, employee, whatever. It just means you should focus your energies on areas where you'll be more likely to succeed. You will not succeed in every area everyone else does. To be blunt, you'll just have to get over that.
*Prioritize
You can do this better now that you have more information on the purpose of your task and your own personal strengths and weaknesses.
We're often told to "Look for a job that needs to be done, and then do it." This is a good principle, but far too vague. It leads to crazy things like cleaning out junk drawers after midnight before you clean the guest bathroom on the night before guests arrive because "it needed to be done."
That sort of thing makes The Equuschick's brain bleed, to use a favorite phrase of Shasta's.
Here's a few hard-core rules, friends.
Look for the job that-
1. Needs to be Done
2. Needs to be Done Sooner and Can't Wait till Later
3. You Can Do Now with the Time Allotted to You*
4. You Have the Tools For*
5. You have the Skills For*
*Be realistic.
Do that job first. Not all those other half dozen crazy jobs that are teasing you for your attention. Be strict and ignore them. Your sanity will thank-you for it and so will your families, your bosses, whoever. You will get more done in the end.
Those other half-dozen jobs may indeed need to be done at some point and it is important not to ignore them permanently. That's why people make lists and plan work days. You know the drill. Make a list and prioritize it from A to Z and stop doing the Z's on the A days.
*Plan Ahead
As noted, there will be jobs you need to do that you may be unable to do on any given day. Plan for those tasks. Make a list of all the tools you'll need, if you need a list, and gather all those tools before you begin in on the job.
Don't start something you won't have the time to finish unless you're ok with leaving it undone for a day or two, and do be realistic about how much time it will take.
Everything you do will almost always take longer than you thought it would. Such is life.
And this leads us, in fact, to the end of the few rules that The Equuschick has yet figured out about over-all productivity.
You've made your plans. You've gathered your materials. You've checked for time. Fabulous!
*Come to terms with the fact that nothing is actually going to go as you planned, so learn to be fluid instead of indignant.
This one is kind of funny to The Equuschick, because really considering that we live in an imperfect world this is the one that you'd think most of humanity would have come to grips with by now. But humanity hasn't, The Equuschick included.
We make our lists, gather our material, make our plan, and begin our day only to find ourselves crying out in indignation, "It didn't work! Again, it didn't work! Just ONCE, for ONE day, I would like to have EVERYTHING GO JUST THE WAY I PLANNED!"
And then, (because we're all of us essentially professional comedians performing for the entertainment of the Fates) we seal our ridiculousness with the clincher. "Just one day where everything goes perfectly as I planned! Is that such an unreasonable request?"
As a matter of fact, unless you're under the misapprehension that we inhabit Utopia, expecting one full day where everything goes just as we planned might just be the most irrational and unreasonable thing we can demand of the world we live in.
Your plans won't always work. That's ok. You tried. Have a Plan B, C, or D in place. Just in case. Or take the hint and start wondering if there's something else you're supposed to get from your unplanned experiences.
There's a reason we have a phrase about the School of Life. Life is not a performance review. Life is a little more about essay questions. If you're looking for the lesson, then at the end of the day you'll always have something to take to bed with you. Some days we'll have a review and we'll feel stupid, but we'll get over it. Better to learn from the review to never to learn at all.
The only wasted day is the day where you never learned your lesson.
Waxman Can't Believe HE's Expected to Know the Contents of His Bill
A member has a right to request that a bill be read aloud before a vote is taken, and word had it that Barton was going to request a 900 page bill to be read aloud, which would cause the vote Waxman wanted to miss a deadline. However, it's apparently just a joke to our reps that they vote on unread bills. Waxman hired a speed reader nobody could understand. Barton didn't bother to have the bill read aloud, but he was interested in the speed reader Waxman hired (and guess who pays for that?), and all the pols listening, dems and reps alike, yukked it up at taxpayer expense. It's disgustingly apparent how lightly they take their responsibilities to taxpayers.
And then, in another meeting, we have some incredible video footage showing Waxman is stunned that somebody actually asked him if he knew something was in a bill, and he says, as though it's laudable, that of course he doesn't know the details of the bill, he's relying on the scientists. He seems indignant that he's expected to know these details when he's relying on the scientists for the details in the bill.
Question: Were those scientists elected to represent us and write the laws we have to follow?
Who are these 'scientists' and how are they chosen?
Term. Limits.
And then, in another meeting, we have some incredible video footage showing Waxman is stunned that somebody actually asked him if he knew something was in a bill, and he says, as though it's laudable, that of course he doesn't know the details of the bill, he's relying on the scientists. He seems indignant that he's expected to know these details when he's relying on the scientists for the details in the bill.
Question: Were those scientists elected to represent us and write the laws we have to follow?
Who are these 'scientists' and how are they chosen?
Term. Limits.
Our Broken Camera and Frugalities
If you haven't already signed up for swagbucks, you might click through and sign up for us. I think we'll use the swagbucks either for giftcards towards a new camera or for other wedding stuff, and YOU can get free stuff, too! Thanks!
And if you're interested in my latest frugal post over at Frugal Hacks click through the link (I talk more about wedding stuff, but most of it could be used for other celebrations).
And if you're interested in my latest frugal post over at Frugal Hacks click through the link (I talk more about wedding stuff, but most of it could be used for other celebrations).
Thursday, May 21, 2009
FLDS, another 'Escape' story
Caroline Jessop, author of the book Escape, claims she was the first FLDS wife to gain full custody of her children. She may or may not have been awarded custody at one time, but Toes points out that it doesn't appear the custody disputes between Caroline and Merrill are settled yet.
And, at any rate, she certainly wasn't the first to gain full custody. Mary Mackert did it quite a few years ago, and there's an interesting tale. She also wrote a book, although it's not as sensationally popular as Carolyn's. She certainly wasn't happy in the FLDS, but there are some interesting things to be gleaned from this review of her book. Here are a few things I picked up:
Would any woman 'choose' this lifestyle? Her father didn't grow up FLDS, but was Dutch Reformed. His wife wanted the FLDS religion and lifestyle, and threatened to divorce him if he didn't follow her into it. So he did. He must have grown accustomed to it, as he had four wives. The fourth wife seems to have caused problems, but he chose the fourth wife for reasons that are incompatible with FLDS doctrine and practices, so they might argue that problems arise when people choose one part of the religion for carnal reasons but ignore spiritual discipline.
A young Mary fell in love with one of her step-brothers, the son of the fourth wife. He wasn't kicked out, but he was sent away on a mission. She promised to wait for him, but then decided she'd rather be 'somebody' in the FLDS:
And, as often seems to be the case with the apostate narratives from the FLDS, the stories are internally inconsistent. Mary first says she submitted to the leadership and married Bill Draper, but then it turns out, leadership ASKED her who she wished to marry and she chose:
She says that she couldn't leave the house when pregnant, because she would have stood out and brought unwelcome attention to the family from the neighbors.
Her biggest problem with the marriage seems to have been that her husband didn't love her as she wanted to be loved or spend enough time with her, or at least, not as much as she desired. I, and most monogamists, would see this as a flaw inherent in the system, and I would guess that most FLDS would view this as a character failing on the part of one party or the other and possibly (probably?) both- he was perhaps not considerate enough of the feelings of his young bride, she was perhaps too self-centered and greedy or needy, ( I would say she was probably too immature to marry, not just because she was 17, but because her reasons for choosing him were so shallow).
She finally left, with all their sons, and
It sounds more like a desperate man's attempt to, at least in his eyes, talk some sense into his wife and convince her to stay. If she found a threat of blood atonement convincingly believable, would she have left with her boys? She says she pressed charges against him, but it sounds like all she had was the polygamy charge, for which he was fined fifty dollars. So it also seems the public threat of exposure wasn't quite as dire as feared, nor does she see this threat of blood atonement a credible threat to murder her.
And it doesn't even make sense if we're talking about families living within the polygamous communities. Like other apostate stories, hers has 'developed' a little over time. In this post-YFZ account, she says she was horrified to be wed to this man so much older than her, terrified of her wedding day, and kept praying that a tree would fall and kill them all. In fact, according to the Amazon review, she asked her father to speed up the wedding because she wanted the deed done before the young man she promised to wait for returned home so she didn't have to face him.
According to the Amazon reviews, she was held prisoner for a day and a half, her husband threatened to kill her, she was threatened with hell by the FLDS, and she 'finally broke free.' - quite a contrast to the account in her book, where she said her husband set her free.
From every review of the book, it appears that her biggest issue was simply that her husband didn't love her as she wanted to be loved- a failing, indeed, and it could be argued that this was a failure of polygamy itself since it would be hard for a man to give all his attention to 35 children and seven wives (although I am sure that polygamists would argue it was a personal failing of her husband, or, as I mentioned above, a weakness or selfishness in Mary).
And here we have another, slightly different acount of her 'escape,' and we learn, that like Caroline, her oldest child- a boy- returned to the FLDS. But wait- they don't want boys, right? They want to get rid of them so they have more girls for the old guys. Hmmmmmmmm.
Her explanation of blood atonement is interesting, too:
She has since become a Baptist, and lives amongst the FLDS hoping to convert them, which would indicate to me (as do other things in the various accounts) that she does not expect anybody to try to kill her). She is supported by contributions from other churches who wish her success in her proseletyzing.
For those interested, Alan Holm has posted an explanation of Blood Atonement on his blog as well. I'll be brutally honest and say it sounds, as do many LDS and FLDS doctrinal teachings*, like a pernicious doctrine to me, but it also does not sound like one encouraging outright murder. As I understand it (and I could be wrong!), the doctrine is that if you are a priesthood holder or are in a 'sealed' marriage and have murdered somebody or committed adultery, you are encouraged to submit yourself to destruction- sort of like assisted suicide. Alan ALSO says isn't actually practiced now, and Mary Mackert's husband believed it would be useless if his wife wasn't totally willing anyway. He wasn't threatening her- he was pleading with her, begging her to come back or submit willingly to physical destruction to save her soul. As I said, pernicious heresy, but, and this is an important but, Mackert simply refused, and that was the end of the matter. She was free to go, her sons were wanted in the community (or there'd have been no custody battle) and her oldest returned to his faith, by her own account. Keeping her locked in her room for a day and a half isn't terribly admirable, either, but that is a very short amount of time, and it seems obvious to me his goal was not to trap her, but to entreat her- which is why they went to the prophet as well.
Although I find myself somewhat in this role at times, I have no wish to be an apologist for a faith I cannot share, but I do like accuracy. I do not admire this doctrine, but I can see the huge difference between this and the claim by other FLDS apostates and attackers that they have some sort of secret assassination club going on. The LeBaron group does, but the FLDS don't, and the two groups are extremely antipathetic to one another.
The most interesting thing to me about this story was how uninterested the general public and press seem to be her story, which is not any more dramatic than any other garden variety divorce story compared to Caroline or Flora's, and how it has changed a bit over time, from her husband 'setting her free' after a day and a half of jawing at her, to her dramatically 'escaping.'
It's like a template for the escape stories.
Postscript- in another FLDS tale we've briefly touched on, see this post from Brooke Adams-it's an update on the Brent Jeffs story. Brent's older brother remembered, via hypnosis and 'lost memory' therapy, that he had been abused by his uncle Warren Jeffs as a boy. He committed suicide, and then his brother Brent came forward and said he remembered that, too, and could he have some money. Law Enforcement investigated but found no basis for a criminal complaint, so Brent and his attorneys filed a civil case. They won by default when Warren simply refused to acknowledge the existence of the case (this is how the FLDS lost their financial trust). Brent also accuses two other uncles and he has just published a book of his claims. However, one of the uncles says that he wasn't even a member of the FLDS at the time and he wasn't living anywhere near where the events are alleged to have taken place. Furthermore, he says he not only can prove it, he did prove it, and that's why LE never filed criminal charges. He's not on speaking terms with his brother Warren, but he does say Brents claims could not have taken place how and where he says they did (in the middle of church services) because Warren was sitting on the platform, and another accused uncle was responsible for the sound system, and their absences would have been noted.
*I should clarify that blood atonement may never have been practiced, although Brigham Young certainly taught it, and it has not been an LDS teaching since sometime after the time of Brigham Young.
And, at any rate, she certainly wasn't the first to gain full custody. Mary Mackert did it quite a few years ago, and there's an interesting tale. She also wrote a book, although it's not as sensationally popular as Carolyn's. She certainly wasn't happy in the FLDS, but there are some interesting things to be gleaned from this review of her book. Here are a few things I picked up:
Would any woman 'choose' this lifestyle? Her father didn't grow up FLDS, but was Dutch Reformed. His wife wanted the FLDS religion and lifestyle, and threatened to divorce him if he didn't follow her into it. So he did. He must have grown accustomed to it, as he had four wives. The fourth wife seems to have caused problems, but he chose the fourth wife for reasons that are incompatible with FLDS doctrine and practices, so they might argue that problems arise when people choose one part of the religion for carnal reasons but ignore spiritual discipline.
A young Mary fell in love with one of her step-brothers, the son of the fourth wife. He wasn't kicked out, but he was sent away on a mission. She promised to wait for him, but then decided she'd rather be 'somebody' in the FLDS:
Mary also wanted to be held in high esteem by the group. So, at the age of seventeen, just a few months before she would be considered an “old maid”, Mary submitted to the leadership of the prophet, married Bill Draper and became a “poofer”. None of her brothers and sisters knew whom she had married; she simply dropped out of sight. And she would not have to face Johnny when he returned from his mission and explain to him why she had broken her promise to wait for him.A "Poofer," according to Mary, is a plural wife who remains out of sight so that the family doesn't get in trouble. She stays inside or on the familiy property so others don't see her. This, frankly, sounds kind of unlikely to me, but if it's true, then it is also true that the FLDS are not 'all one household' as CPS charged, and they don't always know when an underaged girl has married somebody else.
And, as often seems to be the case with the apostate narratives from the FLDS, the stories are internally inconsistent. Mary first says she submitted to the leadership and married Bill Draper, but then it turns out, leadership ASKED her who she wished to marry and she chose:
Mary was told to select the man she would marry. This confused her. She thought the “revelation” was supposed to be given to the prophet, not to her. But, since she was told to do so, Mary selected Bill Draper because of his position in the church, and also because he was apparently still producing children. Above all, Mary wanted children.The book also indicates, as others have pointed out, that it is simply NOT uncommon for FLDS marriages to remain marriages in name only for some time. Draper had married another bride just two months before, and, according to this book, neither relationship was consummated for months. In fact, this seems to be an issue of some resentment for the author since she wanted children. In the end it was consummated, but that was only because, she says, she 'seduced' her husband. She regretted it by the next day and blamed her husband, saying that he had 'taken' from her and she felt 'robbed.' But by her own account, he hadn't taken at all. She chose to be married to him, he didn't ask for her. She chose the time and place for the marriage to be consummated, and if she regretted her impatience, it's not clear to me why this is her husband's fault.
She says that she couldn't leave the house when pregnant, because she would have stood out and brought unwelcome attention to the family from the neighbors.
Her biggest problem with the marriage seems to have been that her husband didn't love her as she wanted to be loved or spend enough time with her, or at least, not as much as she desired. I, and most monogamists, would see this as a flaw inherent in the system, and I would guess that most FLDS would view this as a character failing on the part of one party or the other and possibly (probably?) both- he was perhaps not considerate enough of the feelings of his young bride, she was perhaps too self-centered and greedy or needy, ( I would say she was probably too immature to marry, not just because she was 17, but because her reasons for choosing him were so shallow).
She finally left, with all their sons, and
she was caught and brought back. While she was being held prisoner in her own room, Bill came in and threatened her with the doctrine of blood atonement. Then, after forcing her to have a meeting with Rulon Jeffs, who had taken the role of prophet when Leroy Johnston died, Bill Draper set Mary free.That sounds both pretty grim, and rather strange. She was brought back and 'threatened,' but doesn't seem to have been harmed, she's 'forced to have a meeting?' That sounds weak. Then she's released. With her children?
It sounds more like a desperate man's attempt to, at least in his eyes, talk some sense into his wife and convince her to stay. If she found a threat of blood atonement convincingly believable, would she have left with her boys? She says she pressed charges against him, but it sounds like all she had was the polygamy charge, for which he was fined fifty dollars. So it also seems the public threat of exposure wasn't quite as dire as feared, nor does she see this threat of blood atonement a credible threat to murder her.
And it doesn't even make sense if we're talking about families living within the polygamous communities. Like other apostate stories, hers has 'developed' a little over time. In this post-YFZ account, she says she was horrified to be wed to this man so much older than her, terrified of her wedding day, and kept praying that a tree would fall and kill them all. In fact, according to the Amazon review, she asked her father to speed up the wedding because she wanted the deed done before the young man she promised to wait for returned home so she didn't have to face him.
According to the Amazon reviews, she was held prisoner for a day and a half, her husband threatened to kill her, she was threatened with hell by the FLDS, and she 'finally broke free.' - quite a contrast to the account in her book, where she said her husband set her free.
From every review of the book, it appears that her biggest issue was simply that her husband didn't love her as she wanted to be loved- a failing, indeed, and it could be argued that this was a failure of polygamy itself since it would be hard for a man to give all his attention to 35 children and seven wives (although I am sure that polygamists would argue it was a personal failing of her husband, or, as I mentioned above, a weakness or selfishness in Mary).
And here we have another, slightly different acount of her 'escape,' and we learn, that like Caroline, her oldest child- a boy- returned to the FLDS. But wait- they don't want boys, right? They want to get rid of them so they have more girls for the old guys. Hmmmmmmmm.
Her explanation of blood atonement is interesting, too:
WHY, if this is a horribly repressive, abusive, harsh regimen, does she go to him to ask about getting her own home? Doesn't it sound like she wants her husband to either come with her or finance her? Would she do that if all the other things we've been told about the FLDS were true?By 1984, Mackert said, she’d had enough.
"I went to him and told him that I wanted a home of my own, that I didn’t want to live with the rest of the family anymore."
When her husband rejected the idea, citing religious grounds, Mackert responded: "You don’t understand. I’m not talking about a ’want.’ This is what I need to survive."
After he again refused, Mackert said she walked out the door "to go get a home of my own for me and my children."
But her husband followed and abducted her, she said. "He locked me in my room for a day and threatened a blood atonement" after falsely accusing her of infidelity.
Blood atonement centers on the fundamentalist Mormon belief that "some sins are so great that even the blood of Jesus Christ cannot cover your sin debt," she said. "The only way to be redeemed is to submit to your own demise. ... It’s considered a loving act."
Such sinners, according to FLDS doctrine, are supposed to willingly submit to blood-atonement carried out by their "priestly head" — their father, husband or brother.
"They slit your throat from ear-to-ear and disembowel you," Mackert said, "and that’s the only way you’re redeemed." Because she wouldn’t admit to infidelity and submit to blood atonement, her husband believed the act would be futile, so he turned to FLDS prophet Rulon Jeffs for guidance.
She has since become a Baptist, and lives amongst the FLDS hoping to convert them, which would indicate to me (as do other things in the various accounts) that she does not expect anybody to try to kill her). She is supported by contributions from other churches who wish her success in her proseletyzing.
For those interested, Alan Holm has posted an explanation of Blood Atonement on his blog as well. I'll be brutally honest and say it sounds, as do many LDS and FLDS doctrinal teachings*, like a pernicious doctrine to me, but it also does not sound like one encouraging outright murder. As I understand it (and I could be wrong!), the doctrine is that if you are a priesthood holder or are in a 'sealed' marriage and have murdered somebody or committed adultery, you are encouraged to submit yourself to destruction- sort of like assisted suicide. Alan ALSO says isn't actually practiced now, and Mary Mackert's husband believed it would be useless if his wife wasn't totally willing anyway. He wasn't threatening her- he was pleading with her, begging her to come back or submit willingly to physical destruction to save her soul. As I said, pernicious heresy, but, and this is an important but, Mackert simply refused, and that was the end of the matter. She was free to go, her sons were wanted in the community (or there'd have been no custody battle) and her oldest returned to his faith, by her own account. Keeping her locked in her room for a day and a half isn't terribly admirable, either, but that is a very short amount of time, and it seems obvious to me his goal was not to trap her, but to entreat her- which is why they went to the prophet as well.
Although I find myself somewhat in this role at times, I have no wish to be an apologist for a faith I cannot share, but I do like accuracy. I do not admire this doctrine, but I can see the huge difference between this and the claim by other FLDS apostates and attackers that they have some sort of secret assassination club going on. The LeBaron group does, but the FLDS don't, and the two groups are extremely antipathetic to one another.
The most interesting thing to me about this story was how uninterested the general public and press seem to be her story, which is not any more dramatic than any other garden variety divorce story compared to Caroline or Flora's, and how it has changed a bit over time, from her husband 'setting her free' after a day and a half of jawing at her, to her dramatically 'escaping.'
It's like a template for the escape stories.
Postscript- in another FLDS tale we've briefly touched on, see this post from Brooke Adams-it's an update on the Brent Jeffs story. Brent's older brother remembered, via hypnosis and 'lost memory' therapy, that he had been abused by his uncle Warren Jeffs as a boy. He committed suicide, and then his brother Brent came forward and said he remembered that, too, and could he have some money. Law Enforcement investigated but found no basis for a criminal complaint, so Brent and his attorneys filed a civil case. They won by default when Warren simply refused to acknowledge the existence of the case (this is how the FLDS lost their financial trust). Brent also accuses two other uncles and he has just published a book of his claims. However, one of the uncles says that he wasn't even a member of the FLDS at the time and he wasn't living anywhere near where the events are alleged to have taken place. Furthermore, he says he not only can prove it, he did prove it, and that's why LE never filed criminal charges. He's not on speaking terms with his brother Warren, but he does say Brents claims could not have taken place how and where he says they did (in the middle of church services) because Warren was sitting on the platform, and another accused uncle was responsible for the sound system, and their absences would have been noted.
*I should clarify that blood atonement may never have been practiced, although Brigham Young certainly taught it, and it has not been an LDS teaching since sometime after the time of Brigham Young.
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