Borders Home Educator Card

If you are a teacher or a homeschooler, you can get a card which gives you a 20% discount on items purchased for educational purposes. I brought the advertisement Borders had placed in The Old Schoolhouse magazine, but no one asked to see it or asked for any proof that I am a homeschooler.

Education Savings Days: April 2-8, Borders will be offering educators 25% off most items. personal or professional.

However, I must note that after I left Borders, I went to Costco where I found the same book I just bought for $11.99 (including discount) for $8.49. I snapped it up again at the lower price and will exchange the Borders' copy for something else.

My First Push Poll

Thanks to caller ID, I don't answer the phone very much, but finally, out of curiosity, I picked up for a call-bot that had left several messages indicating it was conducting a poll. And thus I was able to experience that venerable American political tradition: the push poll. Of course, I'd heard of them, but couldn't quite imagine how they worked.

First, the call-bot asks you several questions of a general nature, such as "Do you consider yourself a Democrat?" and "Are you voting in the Feburary 9th caucus?"

Then it begins to narrow it down: "Would an endorsement from the Machinists Union influence your vote?" No. "Is illegal immigration an important issue to you?" Yes.

Ah ha! Yes, well, then: "John McCain led the charge on amnesty and Mitt Romney signed sanctuary laws. Does this information make you more likely to support Mike Huckabee who's tough on immigration?"

"Do you consider yourself pro-life?" Yes. "Mitt Romney is a shifty SOB and John McCain eats live babies? Does this information make you more likely to support God's representitive on earth, Mike Huckabee?"

Well, there was something about McCain and live babies.

Update: Besides the push poll, Huckabee called, John and Cindy McCain have called and someone just called asking if I'm voting in the Kansas caucus tomorrow. But (true confessions) I'm not a registered Republican. I'm not eligible to vote in the caucus. Why are they calling me?

Here She Is

...the reason I have abandoned my blog for so long:

I really respect those ladies who blog through pregnancies and newborns. And this one is a good baby, already sleeping through the night at 2 months.

One Month of Homeschooling: What's Working, What's Not

Working:

My Body: This is a huge hit. We traced Mia's body on butcher paper. The book provides organs to copy, color, cut out and place on the body. We do one organ each day, which provides great motivation to get to the school room and get started. I don't know what I'll do when we're finished (which will be tomorrow). The book contains blurbs about each organ, but we're using different library books, such as Usborne First Encyclopedia of the Human Body, to add more depth. Since the book is reproducible, I'm sure we will revisit this project in a year or two.

Horizons Math: So far, we both like this even though it's largely been review to this point. We're 24 lessons in and haven't run up against much that is new. But they are beginning to introduce money, time, and addition, so we'll see how that goes.

Graded readers: Mia can read about any word you put in front of her, but needs lots of practice with reading fluency. After wasting $18 on the sweetest little set of hard cover phonics readers that she absolutely refused to read, I discovered that the Step Into Reading and All Aboard Readers that we already had (or that the library has by the hundreds) were the way to go. All that repetition in the phonics readers is just coma-inducing boring. Apparently lots of kids like it, but not mine.

Not Working:

History for Little Pilgrims: I was looking for a simple overview of history, since Mia has no interest in the various historical periods like pioneers or ancient Egyptians that seem to interest so many other kids. This book seemed to fit the bill, but it is way too religious for us. Mia's been traumatized by the continual mention of "your history, which will end when your time on earth ends..." Seriously, do we need to dwell on death with a kindergartner? It's a strange combination of too old for her (heavy theological concepts), and too young (not enough detail). Written for the four-year-old future divinity student.

Update: Body project complete:

I Should Be So Lucky

From the BBC: Woman Has Baby In 8 Minutes.

Well, maybe I don't want to be quite that lucky. I think my poor hubby would stroke out if he actually had to deliver the baby. But I'd settle for 8 minutes after I got to the maternity ward.

High School Bans America Flag

Not to turn this into the 1001 reasons to homeschool blog, but...

On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, students at one high school were not allowed to wear clothes with an American flag.

And from the moral midget who runs this school district:

The superintendent of schools in Sampson County calls the situation unfortunate, but says educators didn’t want to be forced to pick and choose which flags should be permissible.

Gee, how about the flag of the country whose citizens pay your salary.

Via Weasel Zippers

The Two America's of John Edwards

Apparently, there are two Americas: The America that would give John Edwards a standing ovation and the America that would laugh him out of the room. I belong to the latter.

Here's what happened after Edwards said he would tell Americans to give up their SUV's:

Edwards was asked during his appearance how he explained the contradiction of asking Americans to sacrifice while he’s living in a 28,000-square-foot mansion.

He said he came from nothing, worked hard all his life, has always supported workers and fought big corporations as a lawyer.

“I have no apologies whatsoever for what I’ve done with my life,” he said to loud cheers.

Well, la de da. Edwards always pulls out this "I worked hard and can do whatever I like with the fruits of my labor" argument. Great. I agree. But apparently he is the only American who came from nothing and gets to do whatever he wants with no apologies. It's the rest of us that owe him an apology for only being successful enough to buy one or two cars, not successful enough to have a car for every occasion, or, as I'm sure Edwards does, hire out all hauling and landscaping and moving that needs to be done.

We use our truck all the time and have a hard time seeing how people get by without one. I have my tiny, fuel efficient Jetta, but once the new baby arrives, it will no longer qualify as a family car since, with the rear-facing car seat, there will not be enough room for an adult in the front passenger seat. But when you let the servants deal with the children, I guess you don't have to take such things into consideration.

Update: Allah's got more, including this lovely quote:

Campaign spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said the Edwardses, who have two small
children, use the Pacifica when they need more than two seat belts in the back, and the truck when they need to move furniture or haul something.

Edwards has good reasons. You? All you've got are lame excuses.

First Day of School

Technically, today was the first day of school for us. Actually, we started yesterday, because Mia demanded to "do school. Right now". Who am I to object? But today we did all the subjects I had planned, including this: The Body Project.
This is a tracing of Mia's body. Each day, we will read about another organ and she will color and cut it out and glue it to the body. This was a big hit. We also did penmenship, math and reading. Then we read and acted out The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Mia's idea). All that took less than 1.5 hours. I want to add in some grammar and history on alternate days once we settle in.

I've Been Fired

My midwives let me go. :( Seems this latest complication is more than they can handle. Now I have to see the doctors. There's pretty much no chance of meeting them all before the big day. I can't tell you how excited I am about some random (knife-wielding) stranger delivering my baby. Also, my chances of getting a C-section just doubled and my chances of being induced... well, pretty much 100%. I was sort of looking forward to actually going into labor with this one.

School Started Last Week

and Mia didn't go. I've decided to homeschool her indefinitely. That went over big with the in-laws. My own fault, I guess. I knew the decision wouldn't be popular, so I never said a word about it until they asked. Of course, I obsessed over the decision and spent crazy amounts of time planning everything, but they don't know that. I think I left the impression that I just forgot to enroll her.

Anyway, we've had our first happy result and we haven't even started school yet. Last week we drove to Chicago for a family reunion. Mia met a bunch of cousins I didn't even know she had. I saw family I haven't seen in 10 years. Since school started here last week, if she'd been enrolled, we wouldn't have been able to go. Ah, sweet freedom.

Life's not fair, part 234

When I was a kid on a family road trip, my parents made me listen to Country Gold on the AM radio. Not much else was available. On our latest road trip, did Mia have to listen to my choice of radio stations? No. I had to listen to hours of Rock and Learn DVDs. It almost made me wish for the good old days of AM radio.

Criminals Are Many

Cops are few.
Criminals have guns,
Why can't you?

--Sign in a cornfield in central Illinois

Baby Pics

Here she is: the little person who has put a complete stop to my blogging. The top one is a profile, the bottom one, a little leg. I have a low lying placenta, so I should get at least one more round of pics, maybe more. I planned my life around having the same complications I had with Mia. Turns out I'm experiencing a whole new set of complications with this one. Who knew?

Special Edition Barbie: KC Area

I just got an e-mail pictures of Barbie's representing various areas around Kansas City. Here's mine:

The caption reads:

Overland Park Barbie: Yuppie Barbie comes with your choice of BMW convertible or Hummer H2. Included are her own Starbucks cup, American Express card and country club membership. Also available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper. You won't be able to afford any of them.

I wish.

I my neighborhood, it's more like this:

Leawood Barbie: Modern Day Homemaker Barbie is available with Ford WindStar Minivan and matching gym outfit. Gets lost easily and has no full-time occupation. Traffic jamming cell phone sold separately.

Oddly enough, we tried to move to Leawood, but couldn't quite afford it. Now I find out I'm supposed to have a Hummer. Well, I must admit, when I drive around in my wee Jetta here in OP, I'm in danger of becoming road kill beneath the wheels of a full-size something or other.

What I Love About The Health Food Store

Besides the Back To Nature Mint Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, the best thing about the Wild Oats is that when you roll out of bed in the morning and decide to throw on some sweats, a headband and no makeup to run out for some milk, all the other women there look like they did the same thing.

That Christian Jihad Thing

Bryan Preston really stirred the pot yesterday with his post taking Glenn Reynolds to task for suggesting that fundamentalist Christians will eventually follow the Muslim example of using violence and intimidation as a way to get their demands met. The thread currently has 277 comments.

I had some instinctive feeling that Bryan was right to be annoyed, but couldn't quite put my finger on why until I read Glenn Reynolds' rebuttal:

Bryan Preston says I'm wrong, and that Christians won't do such things. I tend to think that conduct that's rewarded gets engaged in more. We'll find out which one of us is right, soon enough.

I'm surprised Glenn is trying this lame excuse. Palestinians get rewarded every time they take out a pizza parlor or a busload of old people and children. "Oh, look how aggrieved they are. Let's give the poor things more money and concessions." But have the Israelis started imitating them? Of course not, and for the same reasons that Christians will not.

This behavior will never be widespread in the Christian community precisely because Christians know they will not be rewarded for it in the manner that Muslims are. Of course self-detonating Christians wouldn't get sympathy from the media since they aren't an approved minority with an approved grievance. But it is so much more than that.

Terrorist Christians would not get sympathy from other Christians. Unlike Muslim terrorists, Christian terrorists would not benefit from world-wide excuse making, fund raising, and network forming. Can Christians produce one-off nut jobs who do terrible things? Of course. But that's all it will ever be. To paraphrase Mao, there's no sea for the Christian terrorist fish to swim in.

Timothy McVeigh, far from proving Reynold's point, is the perfect example of what I'm taking about. McVeigh pretty much single-handedly destroyed the militia movement. After Oklahoma City, moderates (normal people who liked target shooting and playing paint ball in the woods) were so horrified that they left in droves, leaving behind only the compound-dwelling freaks. Outside of those (famously anti-Christian) compounds, no one defended McVeigh. No one said "Well, the ATF blah blah blah." The most I saw was, "Well, I hate the ATF as much as the next guy, BUT NO WAY is murder acceptable." The rejection was unequivocal.

I'm sure Glenn was just making a joke and doesn't want to get into an existential debate, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or a law professor) to see that there's just no pay-off for terrorism among Christians.

So I Did Learn Something in Jr. High

All these years, I thought it was a total loss:

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

Via Bookworm.

Rorschach Test

Actually, this is a picture of the little person that's been trying to kill me for the past two months. Apparently, it doesn't understand that if I go, it goes too. I wasn't half this sick with Mia, and it's really thrown me for a loop. Let's just say that my blogging isn't the only thing I've let slide. I just hope this inauspicious start doesn't foreshadow the next 18 years.

To KS Gov: Less Whining, More Leading

As a new transplant to Kansas last year, I voted for Sebelius on the grounds that she's very popular with the locals, who knew more about it than I did. Doubt I'll make that mistake again.

I was annoyed when I heard her, 3 days after the devestating tornado, whining on about how the national guard didn't have this or that. I felt that at such an early stage of the disaster, she shouldn't be carping to the press and pointing fingers. She should be on the phone getting done what needs to be done.

To find out that her accusations weren't even true, really put me over the top. Turns out Senator Brownback, being the sort of leader that picks up the phone to get results, not to call a press conference, rang up the national guard to find out just what they needed with the intention of getting it from the local military and air force bases. They turned him down, telling him they had everything they needed.

I'm very disappointed in Sebelius. That sort of conduct from someone who claims to be a leader is just outrageous.

Much more over at Hot Air and Confederate Yankee.

You Know You've Been Out Of Touch...

When you read about a major local event at Ace of Spades. There's been another random shooting spree at a local mall. I go to this mall 4-5 times a year and from the description in the paper, it appears the shooter walked from one end of the mall to the other, firing randomly, yet "only" managed to kill the first two people he shot while still in the parking lot. Bad as it was, this could have been a lot worse.

V Tech Shooting

Oh God. My niece goes to Virginia Tech. I know there are 25,000 students on that campus, but I'd still like to know she's OK.

Update: My mom just called. My niece was on her way to class in that very building when the police stopped her from going on. Now she's got one of those "If I hadn't stopped for a cup of coffee..." stories.

Update: I just talked to my sister. She's just back from a funeral that could have been her daughter's. My niece actually had a 10:00 Spanish class in the same room as the French class that was attacked. She usually got there early and sat in the hall. Sometimes she even sat in on the French class. But since her 9:00 class got out early, she decided she had time to get a cup of coffee. I had been thinking she was stopped by some sort of cordon, but the shooting was in progress when she arrived and the police yelled at her to get back.

Here's a photo of the now famous coffee cup with her message to the victims. It reads:

If it had not been for this coffee cup, I would have been in Norris 251. I can't thank God enough for saving my life, but I will also never understand why yours had to be lost.

You know what's so scary about these random shootings? He could have decided to shoot up the coffee shop and then she would have been in the wrong place. There's nothing you can do and not much you can learn from these things.

Incomprehensible Truthers

There's something I'll never understand about the Truthers' fascination with WTC7. Rosie, in addition to her groundbreaking scientific discovery about steel being impervious to fire, also stated that while planes did fly into WTC1 and 2, WTC7 was brought down by explosives. What are we supposed to believe about this? That the government somehow managed to have planes flown into the Twin Towers, but figured their evil plan just wouldn't be complete if they couldn't bring down that much smaller building that no one outside of the New York area even knew existed? I guess this is why Truthers flood the zone with details of little relevance. Their big picture just makes no sense.

Can't Hollywood Even Make A Decent Action Flick Anymore?

My long suffering husband will sit through the occasional chick-flick with me, but, lest I abuse his good nature, I'm always on the lookout for action/adventure movies that we can both enjoy. I was hoping that Mark Wahlberg's new film Shooter would work for us. Alas, according to Libertas, this film goes deep into moonbat territory and never finds its way out. The movie sounds like a nightmare, but, at least the review was entertaining.

Another Thing I'll Never Live Down

Yikes. My twin nieces' 3rd birthday party was today. Alas, I thought it was next week. Since we were already late when they called to see where we were, I just sent Brian and Mia rushing out the door. I wish I could say this was the first time I've done something like this, but....

At least it gave me the opportunity to watch this fascinating video that Bookworm posted about the nihilism inherent on the left today. Good stuff. I suppose it's a little narcissistic, but I always enjoy hearing conversion (to conservativism) stories that mirror mine and Evan Sayet tells one at the beginning of this video.

Suburban Redneck In Training?

Is it possible to raise a red neck in the middle of suburbia? Because I think I'm doing it. When Mia hears Hillbilly Deluxe (Brooks and Dunn), she comes running to dance. At first I wasn't concerned. It is an easy song to dance to. But then she said she likes it because there are monster trucks in the video. Monster Trucks? Excuse me? What? My 5 year old girl likes monster trucks? I blame her father. Their special thing to do every Friday is watch "Trick My Truck."

The Core Program

In my perpetual quest to get my act together, I discovered a book called The Core Program by Peggy Brill. She's a physical therapist and has designed this program to cure women of their various aches and pains.

I'd been walking on the treadmill 3 times a week for a few months and I hadn't lost an ounce. I stopped gaining so I guess that's something. But I also had debilitating headaches, felt achy and couldn't sleep.

I've been doing these Core Program exercises for about a month with great results. I feel much less achy, sleep better and have only gotten one mild headache instead of my weekly bout of violent pain.

The exercises are pretty easy to learn and pretty easy to do. You can increase the intensity as you go along. I've always had a hard time finding an exercise program that wouldn't injure one of my weak spots. So far so good with this one.

And an additional benefit: I've lost 5 lbs, 2 inches from my hips and I am fitting back into a smaller clothing size. Not a small size, mind you, but a smaller size at least.

Just thought I'd throw this out there for anyone with back or neck problems.

Is My Give A Damn Busted?

Remember that song from a year or two back about the girl whose man had treated her so badly that he broke her ability to give a damn about him? Cute song, but is it becoming a lifestyle for me?

The drummer I blogged about a few weeks back took a three week break from drumming. I thought his parents had finally decided to show a little courtesy towards their neighbors. More likely he just sprained a wrist because he started drumming again on Monday. The next day he drummed for about 30-45 minutes after school. Well, about 5:15 he started up again. I declared to myself that I had shared my last evening with that little s**t and called the cops on him without a second thought. My give a damn is definitely busted in regards to these neighbors. In January, it took three months of 2-3 daily drumming sessions, 6-7 days a week to drive me to calling the cops. In February, it took three sessions over two days.

Then today at school I had another shockingly (for me) assertive moment. Normally, the parents just wait in line and pull forward as the teachers get the kids out of the cars, but today I had to run inside to take care of a few things. There are two parking spaces near the door for this eventuality. There is a narrow spot in the parking lot where the line snakes through, but two cars can just pass. At least they can pass if some moron in a giant SUV isn't parked smack dab in the middle of the road. So in the few seconds it took me to drive up, I had to decide if I would 1) wait 5 minutes for the teachers to start the drop off procedure so the moron would move forward and I could finally get around, or 2) somehow convince genius girl to get out of my way.

I can guarantee that last year (maybe even last month), I would have waited. But today, I stopped about 4 car lengths behind her, rolled down my window and gave a little honk. When she rolled down her window I asked her (politely, I swear) to scoot over as I needed to get through.

She: I'm in line.
Me: I know, but I need to get through.
She: blah blah there's a line.
Me: I'm not waiting for the drop off. I need. to get. through.
She: Well, I don't know what you want me to do.
Me: (slightly less polite) Well, back up and scoot over so I can get through .

She eventually did this and I went about my business.

I know these aren't earth shaking incidents for normal people. But for a stereotypical doormat like myself? Deciding that a peaceful evening for myself is more important than anything some little punk could have going on? Calling on the police to do my bidding? Confronting someone with a request (a demand really) that they do something for my convenience?

Completely foreign territory.

Idiocracy: Much Funnier Than .5HNH

Okay, maybe that's not a ringing endorsement, but we did laugh and laugh through this silly little movie. Our protagonists, chosen for their utter averageness, have been frozen in a cryogenic experiment. Forgotten for 500 years, they awake to discover that, due to rampant breeding of low IQ types, they are the smartest people on earth.

Warning: much naughty language and crude humor. But at least it's integral to the story. It demonstrates how degraded language and culture has become. A positive review here.

Misc. Thoughts on Global Warming

Coincidentally, I finished listening to State of Fear by Michael Crichton just in time for the release of IPCC report and the resulting media coverage, so my level of skepticism is high.

Regarding the book: I liked it, but I think a large part of its appeal was it's iconoclastic approach to environmentalism. Crichton mercilessly mocks "limousine liberals," which was great fun, but I was sometimes given to wonder why the secret agent guy was dragging civilians all over the back of beyond with him and how said civilians managed to nearly die of exposure, be struck by lightening, be swept away in rushing rivers and be poisoned by (I don't want to spoil the surprise) and then jump up then next day to attempt more daring deeds. And some of the exposition might be deathly dull if you aren't interested in global warming. But on the flip side, the novel is a fun way to slog through potentially dull statistics. If you do read it, don't skip the appendices. Good stuff on previous occurrences of "science" induced hysteria.

Favorite quote (from memory): "Ted, you think civilization separates us from nature. But, in fact, civilization protects us from nature." Amen, brother.

Glenn Reynolds has a post on GW that makes a lot of sense, especially this part:

One thing that I think is important: Energy conservation needs to be something positive. Nothing sells on a "suffer for the future" model very well. Too many environmental activists are hair-shirt types (at least when the hair-shirt is for other people) and that stuff is poor salesmanship. Martin Eberhard, of Tesla Roadster fame, is right when he says that many early electric cars were "punishment cars," predicated on the notion that driving was inherently suspect. Make electric cars fun, and useful, and people will want them.

Absolutely. Often environmentalists give the impression that people are a scourge on the earth and unicorns would rule the planet if only there were a whole lot less of us. I can't help but question their motives when they are practically drooling over the thought of world-wide famine and the drastic population reduction that would follow.

As if to underline Glenn's point about going after the low-hanging fruit, the first High Efficency Wal-Mart just opened in Kansas City area. It uses 20% less energy than the typical Wal-Mart. It took all of one year to achieve that level of reduction.

Ted Koppel Almost Makes Sense

So the clock radio goes off this morning and I find myself listening to something I cannot believe: Ted Koppel sound like a war blogger and making sense. And then, just when I begin to wonder if I'm still dreaming, he turns it around. He's still too liberal to get his own point

Check it out:

The administration is right. The consequences of a premature U.S. withdrawal would have disastrous implications for the region. And the region, in case anyone has forgotten or is too polite to mention it, is the oil-rich Persian Gulf.

So setting benchmarks for Iraqi achievements and behavior is nonsense. What are we saying? It's too dangerous to leave because of possible consequences to the region; but if the Iraqis show that they're incapable of preventing anarchy and chaos by not meeting our benchmarks, then we're going to leave?

I think what we ought to be saying is that U.S. troops will start withdrawing as Iraqis do meet the benchmarks.

Right on, Ted. He's getting more liberal here but watch him give Nancy Pelosi and company the back of his hand:

We've been given so many bad reasons for why we went to war in Iraq — those weapons of mass destruction, Hussein and his neighbors, Hussein and al-Qaida, establishing democracy — that we've actually convinced ourselves that we did it for them… for the Iraqis; not because it served the U.S. national interest.

That makes it easy to depict the Iraqis as a bunch of underperforming, ungrateful retches; and if they don't start shaping up, we're pulling out.

Yeah Ted. It is about U.S national interest. And treating the Iraqis like a bunch of teenage slackers is stupid. Too bad the Democratic leadership keeps doing it. But wait. It gets a little vague after that so I'm not wedded to this interpretation, but in going on to say the democrats are equally dishonest he seems to imply that the "tough love" approach he finds so silly is Bush's doing. He thinks he's back handing Bush.

He's so sure that Bush can't say anything worthwhile that it has completely escaped him that he has offered the exact same policy. Can anyone tell me the difference between these two lines:

-- "I think what we ought to be saying is that U.S. troops will start withdrawing as Iraqis do meet the benchmarks" --Ted Koppel

--"When the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down." --George W Bush

It's almost as if he attributes every stupid idea, no matter how many times the Democratic leadership utters it, to Bush. Fascinating

Meme Propagated

We have a fabulous public affairs radio show here in KC called Up To Date. I really like the host. He asks intelligent questions and actually lets he guests get a word in edgewise. But I guess they were short on guests this week because they did a program where they invited four of the areas "most interesting and diverse personalities" to basically BS about whatever.

They very first question was to one Nicholas Segura who runs a marketing/design firm. What's the best movie he's seen recently. Loose Change. Seriously, that's what the guy brings up. I'm sure he thinks it's all edgy and hip. Just like him.

As if this hasn't been debunked numerous times.

Of course, he goes on to mention the fascinating Noam Chomsky book he downloaded from the internet, so Loose Change is par for his course.

Behold: The Power of Fries

Mia developed some sort of mental block about reading for her teacher. She'd never done it and when her teacher would bring it up, she would cry. Now she will read to strangers on the street, so I don't know what the problem was. But after months of waiting patiently and weeks of cajoling, I brought out the big guns. Yesterday, I told her that if she read for the teacher, I would take her to McDonald's for a happy meal. Today, she read for the teacher.

John Kerry Defined

Why does Mark Steyn have so many devoted fans? Well, here's how he describes Kerry:

If Karl’s Rovebot laboratory had spent years constructing the perfect candidate to run against, it would have looked pretty much like John F Kerry – a vain thin-skinned self-regarding tone-deaf francophile insecure not-quite-blue-blood incoherent anti-war war-hero from a Swiss finishing school with nothing to show for 20 years in the Senate other than getting wrong every foreign policy question of the day and so alien to the habits of his electorate he’s unable to engage in as routine a photo op as eating a hot dog without looking like a Grand Duchess dropping in on the village idiot’s hovel.

Alas, as is typical with Steyn, it's a good thing he's making you laugh or his larger point would make you cry:

And yet the media came within a whisker of pulling him across the finish line. If it’s a 50-50 nation with John Kerry dragging down one half of the seesaw, what would it have been with someone marginally less unlikeable on the ticket? A blowout?

I wondered that myself at the time. And I just pray that the Dems don't nominate another empty suit (John Edwards, for example), because I have a feeling that at least 51% of Americans are ready for a change.

Oil As Strategic Weapon

So, the Saudi's are increasing oil production, causing a drop in price, presumably to squeeze their current enemy #1, the Iranians. Says Allah:

Someday that mullah mushroom cloud’s going to spout over Manhattan, but I promise you this, my friends: by the time it does, gas will be at 35 cents a gallon.

Ha, ha. But I've always wondered why we can't do this. Oil prices would drop if we just started looking for oil off our coasts. We wouldn't even have to actually drill. Of course, neither environmentalists nor oil companies want to see low prices. But couldn't they just suck it up so we stop pumping our money directly into the pockets of our enemy?

Is This Nifong's First Trip Off the Reservation?

Seriously, do you go this far over the line on your first try? How many people without great legal teams and tons of press interest has this guy railroaded?

So, I finally did it.

I finally called the cops on my neighbor, the drummer. He's been drumming on average for 30-50 minutes, 2 times a day, every day for the past month and half. Yes, that includes Christmas day. Occasionally he only drums once a day, which doesn't bother me. Hey, a kid has to drum. But often, we get three sessions which I just cannot tolerate.

But I have been tolerating it, because I'm loathe to make any waves. But tonight, he had a 20 minute drum session during our dinner (as always. How does he know?) He later commenced with a session that has been going on for an 1.5 hours. I called the cops after 65 minutes.

Doesn't this kid have parents? Do they have no consideration for their neighbors? Or do I just have too much consideration? I would strongly discourage Mia from taking up drums, would make her practice in our windowless room, and would never let her drum on and off all day. But maybe I'm just to into what everyone thinks of me.

Ohhh, silence. Maybe the police have arrived. But I'm way to into what everyone thinks to risk looking out the window and giving away that it was me who called.

Nerd in Training?

At one of the many after Christmas sales, I found a great price on Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek, a program to teach beginning Greek to little kids. Even though Mia's not quite ready to use the full program, I think she can easily learn to say the Greek alphabet and the price was unbeatable.

Well, Mia saw me ordering it and is absolutely beside herself waiting for it to get here. Why? Does she even know what Greek is? Brian got a package today and when she saw it wasn't her Greek, she cried. She's going to hound me about it every day until it gets here. But who knows when that will be? With the weekend and the holiday and the day off in honor of President Ford, the package probably didn't even ship until today. And it's probably coming by donkey cart, since the shipping was free.

I had hoped she would like it. She likes to learn German phrases to say to her opa. But I never dreamed she'd be this excited about it. Now I'm worried. She's either going to be disappointed when she sees what it's all about, or she's a nerd. If her parents are any guide, it's the latter.

Cleaning Up Our Act

New Year's Day Impulse Buy = Hoover Steam Vac:
I could never figure out a convenient time for the carpet cleaners to come, so when I saw that I could buy one of these for less than the cost of 2 visits from the pro's (not including stairs and upholstery), I said "what the heck."

To be sure it worked, I cleaned a small room. That's all I really planned to do today, but Brian is really into it. He's done part of our bed room, the dining room, the stairs and is starting in on our hand-me-down recliners. I should bring home cool cleaning toys more often.

Review: Sleeper Cell

We just finished watching the first season of Sleeper Cell last night. I thought it was excellent. I was concerned that most of the terrorists being white would stretch credibility to the breaking point, but it didn't. For me, it just added to the scariness. In fact, that is my problem with movies like Sum Of All Fears, where the screen writers replace scary Islamists with boring neo-Nazi's or even more boring Haliburton executives. They take away the scary for the sake of political correctness.

Also, the acting was great. The accents were amazing. Or maybe my standards were lowered by having just seen Lantana. Anthony LaPaglia's on again, off again Australian accent was just a distraction in an otherwise good movie.

My only complaint is that I cannot recommend this to my mother because of the graphic sex that shows up in almost every episode. It's actually more graphic than the violence, which, considering the topic, is strange.

The Most Patient Man on Earth

Did you see this clip of Tony Snow dealing with the White House press corps' bizarre fascination with Laura Bush's skin? I guess it's their job to wildly shake the tree and hope that something falls out. But I wonder if they take themselves as seriously as they appear to. How could they? Do they really that annoying the press secretary enough will cause him to admit the whole ChimpyMcHitlerBushHaliburtonImperialWarForOil Conspiracy. Which apparently now revolves around Laura's skin condition. Whatever they're paying him, it's not enough.

Anti-Jihadi Rap

Hot Air has a rap video that is making me alternately hopeful and nervous. The lyrics are here for those of us that don't speak rap. First verse:

I speak peace when peace is spoken, But I speak war when your hate is provoking, The season is open 24-7-365, Man up yo time to ride, No need to hide behind slogans of deceit, Claiming that you're a religion of peace, We just don't believe you, We can clearly see through, The madness that you're feeding your people, Jihad the cry of your unholy war, Using the willing, the weak and poor, From birth drowning in propaganda, rhetoric and slander, All we can say is damn ya

That's the part that makes me hopeful. If Joe Rap Artist on the street can see the problem, maybe all hope is not lost for Joe Politician in Congress. Now the part that makes me nervous:

I'm wild with mine, Bring that style with mine, F**k with my family I'll end your line, Just the way it is, Just the way it be, Do you understand? No matter if you're woman or man, or child, My profile is crazy, That s**t you do doesn't amaze me, I'm ready to blaze thee

I certainly understand the sentiment. But I hope Joe Politician gets clue before the situation spins out of control. I don't think we terribly close to pogroms or even vigilante justice. We're relatively safe from that here in America because we perceive that our government is strong enough to take care of us. But what if that perception is shattered? Consider the performance of all levels of government during Katrina and then consider how long it would take faith in government to falter after a major and/or sustained terrorist assault on our country. No one knows what the tipping point is, but I'm sure there is one.

The Cinnamon Bear

Living Books For The Ears is devoted to making available online old radio show from the 40's. I listened to a dramatization of the Time Machine tonight while I was making dinner. Pretty entertaining, only 1/2 hour time commitment.

They have also made available The Cinnamon Bear, a 26 episode fantasy story for kids. Each episode is only 15 minutes long. The idea is to listen to one episode each night until Christmas. I played the first episode for Mia tonight, but I think it will take a few more days to see if she's following along. Anyway, if your kids aren't too media savvy (it's very Leave It To Beaver-esque), they might enjoy it. It has to be more edifying than A Very Minty Christmas.

(Via Praiseworthy Things)

Update: I told my mom about The Cinnamon Bear and she remembers listening to it as a little girl. Cool.

Interrogation

Mia's really grilling me about Santa Claus. She doesn't want him coming down the chimney. What if there's a fire going? Way to dangerous. If he does come down the chimney, how does he get back up? If he's magic, why doesn't he just come through the door? She's very concerned about the sleigh landing on the roof. She doesn't think that's practical, but we have a lot of landscaping in our yard. No room for a sleigh. I don't think she's suspicious (yet). She just really wants to know how it works. But at this rate, this may be the last year of Santa :(

A Montessori Thanksgiving

Mia's school had a really great Thanksgiving feast on Tuesday. The kids broke up into groups and helped prepare all the food. Mia mashed sweet potatoes. Other kids made green bean casserole, cornbread, cookies, fruit salad and even butter from cream. Now she's devoted to the idea of helping me in the kitchen. Yes, it is more work for me in the short run, but here's hoping it pays off with Mia doing some solo cooking in a few years.

They also made their own Pilgrim and Indian costumes. Mia's not in this picture, but this is the only one I got with both Pilgrims and Indians.
The kids were also instructed carefully in saying "Yes, please" or "No, thank you" when they were offered something. Alas, Mia said "No, thank you" to everything but the corn bread and cookies. At least I won't suffer the trauma later today of hearing "Ewwwww, Yuck" over some delicacy grandma has slaved over.

Well, It Beats Rammstein

My husband is playing Peter Schilling's Fehler Im System for Mia and they are dancing around the living room like robots. That European electronic stuff lends itself to robot dancing. I'm not sure this will help her fit in with the other kids, but I'm sure it's more edifying that the Rammstein he plays for her on the way to school. On his agenda for tomorrow: Kraftwerk.

Getting A Jump On Christmas

Not me, of course, but all my new neighbors. Brian called me out onto the back porch last weekend to show me a Christmas tree in a neighbor's window. Since then, two houses have their outside lights on and two more Christmas trees have been added to front windows. That's just what I can see from my yard.

I always thought I started freakishly early by putting up the tree over Thanksgiving weekend.

Here Come The ABC's

If you have a preschooler, I highly recommend the DVD Here Come The ABC's by They Might Be Giants. I have a low tolerance for children's music, but this one is just the right amount of quirky. The more we listen to it, the more we like it.

Also popular with mom and dad: John Lithgow's Singin' in the Bathtub. Alas, we don't care for his new one.

I Feel Left Out

There are no big national races in Kansas. And since I moved out of Missouri a few months ago, I can't indulge in my election day ritual of going to the polls to cancel out my sister-in-law's vote.

Well, at least we have the hotly contested and very ugly Kline v. Morrison attorney general's race to get us motivated.

One Cool Thing About Touch Screen Voting

My five year old can help me vote. I point to the candidate and she presses the screen 'till it beeps. Pretty fun.

Waterboarding 101

I just got around to watching Steve Harrigan get waterboarded. My first thought was that teenage boys all over America are asking their mom's where the saran wrap is. Seriously, I was tempted myself.

One of Allah's commenters wonders if Amnesty International has done controlled experiments on waterboarding given how emphatically they insist that torture never gets good information. Now that would be one sweet science fair project. Subject A (my best friend Joe) and Subject B (my little brother)...

Happy Halloween

Mia already has an insane amount of candy from trick-or-treating at school (on a university campus where the kids visit various offices) and then the mall where I took her because I thought it would be to cold to go out tonight. But she still wanted daddy to take her around the neighborhood. I could get away with not buying any candy at all. I could regift from Mia's massive stash.

French Bus Burnings

When I read about the bus burnings in France last week, I figured it was only a matter of time before "the youths" stopped emptying the busses of passengers before setting them alight:

A group of teenagers set one bus on fire Saturday in the southern French port city of Marseille, seriously wounding a passenger. Three others suffered from smoke inhalation, police said.

No Pasaran says the wounded passenger was severely burned and is clinging to life. But never fear:

Six police were injured and 47 people were arrested, ministry officials said. Still the Interior Ministry described the night as “relative calm,” noting that up to 100 cars are torched by youths in troubled neighborhoods on an average night.

They're are on the verge of a busload of French citizens being burned alive and they call it "relative calm." Perhaps they're waiting for a "real" atrocity to do something about this problem. Or perhaps, there is nothing they can do. I'm afraid we're about to find out.

Islam -- Controversial Literature

While searching my local library's catalog for The Truth About Muhammad, I discovered a new (to me) subject heading. Islam -- Controversial Literature. They might as well have called it Robert Spencer -- Books By since he authored half of the books returned by that search.

There Are Always Two Sides To My Side Of The Story

Heard a good one today on NPR. North Carolina has a program to send elected officials to Mexico to help them understand the plight of illegal immigrants. They interviewed the program's director and program graduate that saw the light and changed his position from trying to get rid of illegals to trying to assimilate them. Next they covered the various assimilation efforts. Then they covered the "other side" of the story. "Yet, not everyone is impressed...."

As I'm sure you've already surmised, the "other side" was someone who felt North Carolina wasn't doing enough to cater to illegals. Apparently there is no one in North Carolina who wonders why poverty and corruption in Mexico should dictate local policy in the U.S. No one wonders why their elected officials are putting the interests of foreigners over the interests of the people who elected them.

Leave it to NPR to cover the range of opinion on illegal immigration, from those sympathetic to illegal immigrants all the way to open border advocates.

A Crunchy Con Thing To Do

A few weeks ago, my sister-in-law and I ordered a pasture-raised, organic hog from a local farm. We picked it up yesterday. 97 pounds of pork. I think, at $3 a pound, it was competitively priced with regular pork, but I know it was vastly less expensive that organic pork from Wild Oats. Of course, you have to buy parts of the hog you might otherwise pass up. Pickled pigs feet anyone?

I recently read Real Food: What To Eat and Why which convinced me of the benefits of pasture raised (not necessarily organic) meat. These animals really are what they eat. But the price of organic meat in the store? Ouch.

Foley-induced Flashback

This Foley incident reminded me of something I hadn't thought about in over 20 years. When I was a young teenager, my grandmother had a boyfriend who was active in Democratic party politics. At some family gathering, he mentioned the page program, then looked at me and said "Hey, maybe you could be a page." Something like the following conversation ensued:

Me: Cool!

All my male relatives: No way!

Me: Why?

All my male relatives: {embarrassed silence}

My mother: Well, you can't trust those old men around young ladies.

A bunch of Midwestern small-fry knew this was standard congressional conduct 20+ years ago, but, by all means, let's pretend to be shocked! shocked! about Foley.

You Might Be a Nerd....

if you watch Dancing With the Stars and the only "celebrity" you recognize is Tucker Carlson.

Obsession

I attended a screening of Obsession:Radical Islam's War Against the West last night. I saw a brief note about it in the local paper, so I headed over. I was lucky to get in. The auditorium, which seats about 300, was packed. I was by myself, so I got to slip into the last empty seat. The paper made it sound like some local poly/sci professor was screening it for his class, but in fact, the event was sponsored by the Unity Coalition for Israel. Hence the large turn out.

Frank Gaffney also spoke. He mentioned that the producers were still trying to get a distribution deal which is why the movie hasn't been released on video and is still being screened in auditoriums and passed around Samizdat style. He thought they were close to a deal. I hope so. This movie deserves at least as large an audience as Fahrenheit 9/11 had. Hmmm. Think ABC will be willing to take on the Dems again?

The movie was excellent, although much of the information won't be news to LGF readers. It dealt effectively with separating Islamofascists from the general Muslim population both by having a disclaimer of the "most Muslims are peaceful" variety and including the comments of three anti-Islamist Muslims in the film.

There was plenty of discussion from Western analysts, such as Caroline Glick and Daniel Pipes, but by far the most compelling commentary came from the Islamists themselves. There were suicide-bomber inductions, goose stepping troops and music videos (?!) from Iranian TV featuring George W. Bush on screen while the singers chanted "Satan, Satan." But the really bone-chilling clips were the ones that didn't need translation. A British imam in London explains why it's fine to kill the unbeliever. British jihadis in Pakistan explaining, in perfect English, why they would be happy to kill British soldiers.

As a matter of fact, after the film, Gaffney took two separate questions on why we haven't nuked Iran yet. To paraphrase, he said "How much would it help to nuke Iran? The enemy is among us."

Hard to Believe

On 9/11/01, I slept late due to a colicky three-month old. I flipped on the radio and caught the tail-end of the action. A reporter was telling the radio host that she could no longer see the building. It was gone. The host tried to clarify. "You can't see it because of all the smoke?" "No," the reporter replied, "it collapsed. It's gone." I made haste to the TV to see what was gone.

Today, I was reminded of how incomprehensible the events of that day seemed. Since I missed it the first time around, I watched a little of CNN's replay of their coverage. I tuned in just before the second plane hit. It was odd listening to the anchors try to digest the second strike. Anyone watching the video could see clearly what had just happened. Yet the anchors, probably not watching the feed, thought that the first plane inside the North tower had exploded. They couldn't accept what their producer was telling them until they ran back the video and saw it for themselves. They they went on about a possible glitch in the navigation system leading the planes into the towers.

What had just happened was simply unbelievable.

Frank Gaffney at JCCC

On Sept. 11, Johnson County Community College (Kansas), is showing the film Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West. In addition, Frank Gaffney, author of War Footing: Ten Steps America Must Take to Prevail in the War for the Free World will be speaking and taking questions.

I wanted to see that film since I first heard about it, but thought I would have to wait for the video. Apparently, they're having trouble getting a distributor (surprise). I also happened to grab Gaffney's book off the "New Book" shelf at the library a few weeks ago and am finding it quite interesting. If I go into skim mode, I think I can finish it by Monday night.

Mortgage Moms?

Are went meant to take seriously these media characterizations of each election cycle's most important group of swing voters. "Soccer Moms" seemed possible, "Security Moms" seemed obvious (to me, as I was one), but "Mortgage Moms":

In a year when politics is being roiled by angry debates over the Iraq war and immigration, it might seem odd to imagine the midterm elections being waged over
square footage and closet space. But these are parts of a lifestyle that Sharon Condit, a deputy clerk of court, describes as dogged by a sense of limits: "We have dreams of this future, but we can't get it right now."

Mortgage rates hit a four-year high of 6.80 % in July and are now back down to 6.44%. That high is about .1 percent higher that we paid 8 years ago on our first house, and the current low is about .1 percent higher than we paid for our most recent house. Sure, lower is always better than higher, but is .1% really crushing people's dreams?

But wait. More from the article:

A less obvious but powerful variable is the interest paid by people carrying credit card debt or mortgages whose monthly payments vary with interest rates. People buffeted by these trends have given rise to a new and volatile voting block.

Okay, so this isn't really about mortgage rates. It's about people who used low interest rates to buy a lot of stuff or leverage themselves into houses they couldn't otherwise afford. But I guess "Adjustable Rate Mortgage Mom" just isn't catchy enough.

Intolerance of Intolerance

Mia recently discovered on-line computer games. She loves to play them, although she often misses the point. Yesterday, she was playing one based on Arthur, a show for elementary school kids. Arthur's friends have demanded that he settle a debate. One likes Mozart and the other likes Binky (a pop band). You have three choices, side with one of the friends or choose the more enlightened path of telling the friends that neither was better, musical preference is just a matter of taste.

Well, Mia is five. She picked Binky because she thought the name sounded funny. Her punishment, well Arthur's punishment, for being a proto-fascist and deigning to designate one form of music superior to another was to stay home from the Yo-Yo Ma concert while the rest of the characters went, even the Binky fan.

This is not an anti-PBS rant. The topic of that post would be the snotty little sayings Mia has picked up from watching some of those shows. I just found it amusing that an exercise transparently designed to teach children respect for the choices of other, would display so little respect for her choice. Don't worry, Mia. You have 13 years of education ahead of you to ensure you learn the proper responses to these questions.

First Day of School

Mia started at her new Montessori preschool today. I was worried about the fit she might pitch on the first day. For the last two years, while she happily took the bus to the public school, she would cry and cry if I dropped her off. This year, there's no bus and I have to drop her off every day. Luckily, they had a new student open house yesterday, and she had so much fun she didn't want to leave and couldn't wait to go back. So this morning, when I left her in the hall, she was like "Yeah, bye. Whatever." I couldn't believe it. Not a single tear. Well, I might have teared up a little.

The Other Iraq

I see that the Iraqi Kurds' are running an ad campaign on TV. Interesting. I suppose they're worried we're going to leave them undefended. I suppose they're right to be worried. None of the "pull out now" folks ever mention Kurdistan.

Interesting fact gleaned from their website: Not a single coalition soldier has lost his/her life or a single foreigner kidnapped in the Region administered by the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Lieberman's Loss

Looks like I'm not the only former Lieberman Democrat mourning Joe's loss. Brendan Loy has put up quite the missive, divorcing himself from the new Democrats:

So I’ve continued to cling to the label of Democrat, and to the hope that the party could somehow save itself from the tired orthodoxies of its interest groups and the execrable excesses of its far-left wing. I’ve shaken my head at the irrational policies and irresponsible rhetoric coming from so many corners of the party, comforting myself with the thought that while Dennis Kucinich may be a nutjob and Al Sharpton may be a charlatan and Howard Dean may be an idiot and Dick Durbin may be, well, a dick, at least there’s still Joe Lieberman.
...

Well, if there’s no room in the Democratic Party for Joe Lieberman, then there’s no room in it for me.

That's a message I received before the 2004 election, but I admit to feeling, not sad, but perhaps a little wistful. I imagine this is what it feels like to hear that your childhood home has burned down. Sure, you haven't lived there in 20 years and you never intended to go back... but still. It's another tie to the the past permanently cut.

And, of course, I feel bad for Lieberman. If Brendan in this distraught, imagine how Joe must feel.

Perhaps We Watch Too Much TV

Mia often asks me to write words on a sheet of paper so that she can type them on the computer. Today she started off with the usual: Flower, Winnie the Pooh, Thomas. But pretty soon she was requesting Tool Belt Diva, Barkitecture and (I swear I'm not making this up) Fox News Live.

She loves to watch HGTV. She may be the only kid in America that says "Mamma, can we watch a home impwovement show?" But I may have to cut her off. Last week I heard her saying "I feel so sexy." After a moment of horror, I realized she was parroting one of those god-forsaken diet commercials they run all day.

$74 A Barrel

My mom owns a small patch of land in western Kansas, the remains of the her grandparents family farm. An oil company has bought the drilling rights for the farm. If they strike oil, she gets a small percentage. I guess that's the up side of $74 a barrel. I hope the down side isn't having to camp out on the farm when Kansas City gets nuked.

Timing Is Everything

The History Channel is running Countdown To Armageddon tonight.

War, Pestilence, Famine and Death. In that order.

Pleasant dreams.

Did WWIII Start While I Was At Target?

I just got home from shopping, checked the news and saw that Hezbollah rockets have hit Haifa for the first time ever. A "sharp escalation." One Israel is bound to take very seriously.

Remember The Day After, that 80's nuclear war? The scene I remember most was students registering for class while a TV in the background reported the escalating crisis. They had no idea they would be dead before the start of the next semester. But, of course, you keep living your life right up to the point where you can't. What else are you going to do?

"Disproportionate act of war"

Check out this nuanced comment from France:

France criticized Israel’s campaign in Lebanon, including the attack on the airport, as “a disproportionate act of war.”

If states fought wars proportionally, wars would never be won. Every war escalates beyond the original act of violence. If it didn't, it wouldn't be a war. But it wouldn't be peace, as the French presume. It would be a Hatfield and McCoyesque eternal feud. Much like we've seen in Israel for the last fifty years, except Israel doesn't pick off random Arabs in response to random violence against its citizens.

Tell It To Lieberman

Must be seen to be believed. John Dean interviewed by Keith Olberman. Dean has a new book out claiming that nearly all "authoritarian personalities" are found among conservatives. There is so much wrong in this interview I don't even know where to start.

Conservatives need to gin up an enemy to inspire unity. Conservatives march in lock step with the leader. Conservatives are very aggressive in helping out their "authority figure". Nope, none of that would ring a bell with Lieberman (or more significantly, the citizens of North Korea, Cuba, China, Cambodia or the Soviet Union).

Also, I'm not sure how conservatives can be blindly following their leader and yet there be so many factions within conservativism that the movement can only be held together by hatred of an enemy.

And, by the way, Bush is intentionally provoking terrorism to supply the bogeyman he needs to do his dastardly deeds (didn't quite catch what those were supposed to be).

Wow. Just Wow.

Via The Real Ugly American.

Uh-Oh

This can't be good news if you're Lebanese: IDF issuing callup orders for reservists. Also from the article:

A very high ranking military officer said that if the soldiers were not returned in good condition, Israel would turn Lebanon back 20 years by striking its vital infrastructure.

Defense officials said that Defense Minister Amir Peretz has instructed the IDF to take all the necessary steps to retrieve the kidnapped soldiers.

After IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz concluded his security briefings in the Kirya in Tel Aviv on Wednesday afternoon, a senior IDF officer said the military was preparing for a large operation against Lebanon. Communities along the northern border had been instructed to prepare accordingly.

Lots more at the Jerusalem Post and Hot Air.

Lieberman Derangement Syndrome

I suspect a new strain of BDS is a work. Apparently, anyone kissed by Bush also evokes the deranged fury of the far-left. You know they're peeved when they break out the giant paper mache puppets:


This obsession with a kiss on the cheek has to be diagnosable. Granted, I wasn't thrilled to see Bush walking hand-in-hand with Saudi Prince Abdullah, but I got over it without pharmaceutical assistance.

(Via this HuffPo post where you can check out a fine example of LDS, complete with commenter accusations of "dual loyalty")

Update: Lieberman is a JFK Democrat:

In addition to being a standard-bearer for the party's tradition of equal opportunity and upward mobility, Kennedy was a muscular internationalist who understood that force was sometimes necessary in order to protect the nation's freedom and security. [snip]

... if Lieberman is defeated, a disastrous message would be sent to the nation that centrist hawks are unwelcome in the Democratic Party.

"Message sent and received," said the former Democrat. (Via the Influence Peddler)

It Was Bound To Happen

I took Mia to the Toy and Miniature Museum over the weekend. At one point the docent, a 300+ pound gentlemen, approached us. Mia, with her usual bluntness asked "Who are YOU?" He replied "I'm a guy who walks around in here." Now Mia has some speech difficulties, but what she said next was clear as a bell: "Why are you so fat like that?"

While I was, quite literally, paralyzed with horror, the docent replied "I was just made like that." Mia got back in his good graces by promptly responding "I'm little, I was made like that." I'm glad she had a reply, because I was speechless.

Small Tent

I talked to my favorite liberal Dem yesterday. We were chatting amiably about politics when I mentioned that I had always considered myself a Joe Lieberman Democrat but had started voting Republican since it became apparent that Joe Lieberman is the only member of the Joe Lieberman wing of the Democratic Party. She replied, with no trace of irony, "We're trying to get rid of Lieberman."

So she desperately wants the Dems to win elections because she is sincerely committed to liberal ideals. But she sees no problem with purging all those conservative Dems who haven't already voluntarily deported themselves to the Republicans.

Update: Lots more on the move to oust Lieberman at The Influence Peddler. (Via Ace)

Garden Trains

With no moving to do this weekend, we were free to check out Kansas City's Garden Railroad Tour. Since last year's tour, we've acquired a G-scale train and about 10 feet of track that we run on the deck, but we aspire to something like this:




It's a time consuming and potentially expensive hobby. Most of the practitioners seem to be retired. It may be 30 years before we can really get rolling with it ourselves, but it sure is fun to check out other people's layouts.

The Eternal Move Draws To A Close

The buyers closed on the old place over the weekend and all our worldly possessions are piled up in the corners of our new place. So I think we're done. Now for the unpacking, the furniture rearranging, the decorating and, of course, the weeding.

Welcome To My Weed Farm

I may have to give up blogging for my new compulsory hobby: Weeding. Boy, those flower beds surrounding the house and covering the back yard sure looked nice in January, when we bought the house. And, from a distance, they still look OK.


But when you get up close... All those tall green spikes... Yep. Weeds:

Since I had no idea what was planted out there, I didn't know they were weeds when they first came up. I waited to see if they were intentional. Eventually, I had to acknowlegde two simple facts. They're weeds and they're everywhere.

Here's another mystery plant. Is that thing attacking my tea rose a weed? I should probably kill it, just to be on the safe side.


My mother tells me I should kill it all and replace it with landscaping fabric and a few bushes. Either that or rethink my position on illegal immigration because no one was ever in greater need of cheap gardeners.

Immigration Compromise

John McIntyre suggests this compromise in immigration:

Republicans need to craft a compromise that puts in place a program to shut down the illegal flow, which upon the proven success of dramatically halting illegal immigration will trigger a process that provides a pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegals who have been here for years. This is the type of broad-based compromise that the majority of the American people can support and it will put the onus on the Democrats to put up or shut up about whether they are serious about halting illegal immigration.

This has a lot of potential. If we could establish that the border was, for the most part, secure, Americans could stop worrying about criminals and terrorists and a flood of uneducated, poverty-stricken, non-English speaking immigrants. Then we could address the illegals who are already here. I suspect that a secure border would drain support from the "no amnesty" position.

I know there are a number of right-wing bloggers who would oppose this because they feel every last illegal should be deported. Those bloggers make a strong case about how unfair it is to legal immigrants to allow illegals to stay, but I have always felt that they just aren't being practical.

Here in Kansas City, we have two cases that illustrate the impracticality of their stance. Myrna Dick is accused of falsely claiming American citizenship at the Mexican border to enter the US. She has since married a citizen with whom she has an adorable citizen toddler. She is being deported, so every time there is a development in her case, we see this lovely middle-class family on the news. I'm sure we'll see the tearful departure when she leaves her baby and gets on the plane. I'm sure I'll be crying too.

We also periodically hear from a woman and two young boys whose husband/father was deported back to Jamaica, also for claiming citizenship at the border. They sold their house to pay an immigration lawyer to tell them there was nothing that could be done. Evil lawyer = bonus tears.

Perhaps Americans should be strong and boot all these law-breakers out of the country. It is our right. But I wouldn't bet the farm on our ability to withstand a few million tearful goodbyes.

(via Instapundit)

California's Prop. 82

I'm sure that after 2 weeks of neglecting my blog due to moving and continuous visitors, I have no readers from California (or anywhere else). But just in case, I'm linking to Bookworm's plea for Californians to vote "NO" on Proposition 82.

The Dubious Guest Worker Program

I have been meaning to work up a post on this, but my procrastination has paid off. Someone did the work for me. Here's Derb:

I'm baffled as to why anyone would want to hire these temporary workers. The entire point of illegal immigrant labor is that it's cheap B*E*C*A*U*S*E***I*T*S***I*L*L*E*G*A*L*. If you legalize it, it ain't cheap any more. You've got minimum wage laws, workmen's comp, benefits regulations, etc., etc. to comply with, and all sorts of litigation possibilities (harassment, discrimination, etc.) to hedge against. You might as well hire Americans.

Unless you think that Americans are crappy workers—lazy, shiftless, ignorant, ill-motivated, and unreliable. If our politicians actually do think this, will one of them please say it out loud?

This is why I'm so into border security and internal enforcement. If all the guest worker slots are filled, who would wait for one to open up when you can just cross the border, under bid the guest workers and get a job. Bush mentioned border security and cracking down on employers in his speech, but... I'll believe it when I see it. And I'd like to see it before we go passing out all kinds of new entitlements to illegals.

The Border Is Secure...

Well, secure from pesky American citizens, at least. I'm sure you've read all about it at Malkin's, but note our government's response to the latest border security lapse:

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed the notification process, describing it as a standard procedure meant to reassure the Mexican government that migrants' rights are being observed.

"It's not a secret where the Minuteman volunteers are going to be," Mario Martinez said Monday.

"This ... simply makes two basic statements -- that we will not allow any lawlessness of any type, and that if an alien is encountered by a Minuteman or arrested by the Minuteman, then we will allow that government to interview the person."

"We will not allow any lawlessness of any type." Well, except illegal entry into the U.S. That type of lawlessness is heartily encouraged.

Update: Looks like the border is also secure from mad scientists. Derb informs us:

To plumb the depths of our current administration's stupidity, folly, and dereliction of responsibility in the matter of border security is probably beyond the ability of mere mortals. You can get a glimpse of them, though, by reading this editorial in Science magazine ...

Offer on the House

Well, we've had the house on the market for one day, we've had one showing, and we have an offer. I don't know what the offer is yet. It could be for $1.95 and a stick of gum. But here's hoping. I've had to keep the house spotless for one entire day now, and I'm exhausted.

Update: SOLD! Well, the deal could fall apart in the inspection period. It is an old house. But it's a start.

The Worst Thing About Moving

OK, all the parts of moving are the worst part. But the thing that is annoying me today... we're about to put the old house on the market and it looks GREAT. All those broken things I lived with for years -- the screen door, the door bell, the picture window, the spigot, the attic fan -- they all work now. And it's cleaner than it's ever been. And now I have to move to my new house, which is a total disaster. :(

Jobs Americans Won't Do

Having put myself through college by (among other things) cleaning houses, and having a sister who, although she's a teacher, makes ends meet by cleaning houses, and having spent most of the weekend doing yard work at our two houses, and having just changed a diaper, I was rather annoyed to turn on the NewsHour to hear Nativo Lopez tell me to clean my own toilet, cut my own grass, and take care of my own kid. What the heck does he think I do all day?

Food For Thought

Forbes lists 5 reasons not to go to college. (via Phi Beta Cons)

I'm not sure about discouraging college, but I would definitely like to see Mia graduate from high school early, or do some AP/college course work while in high school to make college a 3 year (instead of a 4+ year) experience. It would also help if she had some direction, a reason for going to college besides it being a socially acceptable way to avoid getting a job.

Couple charged for not using lawyers

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

The Cleveland Bar Association is threatening to fine the parents of an autistic boy $10,000 for not hiring a lawyer when they brought, and largely won, a court case on their son's behalf four years ago.

After a long court battle, Brian and Susan Woods settled their case with the Akron school district in 2002 when the district agreed to send Daniel, now 11, to a private school.

But in February, the Cleveland Bar Association took issue with the Woodses' handling parts of that case themselves and not through a lawyer.

The bar charged them with unauthorized practice of law and threatened a $10,000 fine, saying that although the Woodses were allowed to represent themselves, they could not act as lawyers for their son. The charge is normally filed against nonlawyers who provide legal services for pay, but is rare against parents.

So rare, in fact, that no one the reporter asked, including the American Bar Association and the Ohio bar's Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law, could recall a single case.

Read on and discover that the Cleveland Bar Association is already involved in a legal battle with Mr. Woods on the separate matter of allegedly advising another family at their son's school in their lawsuit. But I'm sure the unheard of charge being leveled against Mr. Woods has nothing to do with getting some leverage in their other case, and absolutely nothing to do with the lucrative fees generated by winning suits against school districts. No, I'm sure they're all about the good of the children.

The Perpetual Move

Moving is always a trial, but Brian and I have managed to turn it into a never-ending ordeal. Living in both houses to keep Mia in school is like constantly packing for vacation. Plus, with spring here, the yard work for two houses is sapping my will to blog. Hopefully, we'll be rid of the old house soon and I'll be able to keep up again.

The Church Of Whatever

I heard the strangest add for a local church on the radio yesterday. They had a bunch of young people saying why they go to this church: It's fun, It's cool etc. Then a young lady said "I go for the hot guys." I thought they were going to make some kind of joke, though I couldn't imagine what it would be. Then the next girl said "Yeah, the hot guys." That, apparently, was the real reason they went to this church. They followed this up with a promise that you would be "out in an hour" and never miss a Chiefs game. Why, you can go to church with almost no inconvenience to yourself at all.

Do you know what would be even more convenient? Not going at all. Maybe it's an introvert thing, but if all you've got for me is hot guys and a quickie, platitudinous service, I think I'll just sleep in.

Update: Flashback to Ace's post on the Top Ten Mandated Changes to Make Christianity More Politically Correct and "Inclusive":

6. The requirement that an actual belief in Christ is required to be a Christian ruled discriminatory; churches must offer alternative methods of qualification, such as "celebrating the magical joy of a baby's smile" or "just sitting in the park, thinking about Nature and shit"

(via Demure Thoughts)

Protest Against Illegal Immigration In KC

About 400 people demonstrated in support of tougher immigration laws in Kansas City today. Not a big turn out, but at least our politicians can be sure that, unlike the pro-illegal marchers, all 400 are eligible to vote. The rally was held on tax day to point out the high cost of caring for illegals who may or may not be paying taxes.

Tales from the Cul-de-sac

Because Mia is still in school in the old district, we're still living in the old house, but we will be spending the weekends at the new house. This was our first weekend there and my poor, brave, long-suffering husband spent half of it toting around a dead 'possum.

My mom was visiting, so on Friday, we invited Brian's parents out to dinner and then back to the new house to try out the deck. Alas, just before they arrived, we discovered an expired 'possum and a large compliment of flies under the deck. Flies and dead 'possum smell not being conducive to engaging conversation, I convinced Brian to "get rid of it." I asked no questions about how he got rid of it, but the next day, our neighbors over the back fence saw me outside and waved me over to introduce themselves. Our conversation:

Them: "Hi, I'm Jim. This is Susan and, dear God, what is that smell?"
Me: (feigning surprise)"Where on earth could that have come from?"

So the bulk of my first conversation with the new neighbors involved discussion of small animal disposal.

They gave us two fifty gallon trash bags and suggested we put him out with the trash on Monday. Perhaps that would have worked, had it not been for the unseasonably warm weather we've been having recently.

After Brian had dutifully hauled our late friend to the curb, I began to worry. After he'd spent 24 hours in a plastic bag in the hot sun, I was concerned that the garbage men wouldn't take him. I'm not sure, but I suspect you aren't allowed to dispose of dead animals in the trash. The stench was unbearable and unmistakable. So Brian suggested that we toss him in the bed of the truck and deposit him in one of those remote woody areas where people dump their old couches. So, two more dead 'possum tosses and we'd finally smelled the last of him.

After long, hot showers, we're back at the old house, hoping this isn't a bad omen.

Builders vs. Destroyers

According to The Skeptical Optimist, an optimist is "one who believes that humans, on net balance, are builders rather than destroyers." In support of that theory, he has produced The Best Debt Clock in the USA. Everyone knows that the the national debt is rising so fast the number has to be updated several times a second. But did you know (I didn't) that the GDP is rising at pretty much the same rate. Thus the debt-to-GDP ratio remains the same. Yes, we're spending fast, but we're creating fast, too.

That happy factoid was found via the Gates of Vienna. However, if your more inclined to the pessimistic view that humanity's periodic bouts of destructiveness eventually overwhelm what it has built, Gates of Vienna also has a post for you. Read all about how Islamists take the inventions of others and use them to destroy.

He Who Blocks The Traffic Wins

That's just not a good philosophy of government. It was unfortunate for our demonstrators that their marching happened to coincide with the French government caving in to the petty demands of French demonstrators. Now we're watching our politicians to see how they react to the implicit threat of hundreds of thousands of people in the streets.

From the NY Sun:

That trial of strength was no longer mainly about the hiring and firing of young employees, which the government wanted to make easier and the unions opposed. The conflict was about a much more fundamental question: Who has the right to exercise authority in a democratic society? That question leads directly to another: Who has a monopoly on violence? The French state has now given its answer to both: "Not us."

I doubt that most Americans want to turn over authority to the type of people who have the time and inclination to form mobs and run around in the streets. That, is after all, why we have elected officials. If, on May 1, illegals demonstrate themselves to be a credible threat to our economy, my guess is that the American people will begin to wonder, not how we can give into their demands, but how we can become less dependent on them.

"No Weapons"

Is this a nation-wide phenomena? Ever since Missouri passed a concealed carry law, public places (restaurants, etc.) have been putting little paper signs in their window the say "No Weapons." It is their right under the new law to ban weapons from their establishments, yet the signs always make me smile. Surely, no one with criminal intent would dare to walk past that little sign.

But now I have a reason to be annoyed by them. My 4-year-old read the sign at the public library and asked what it meant. I stupidly told her that it meant no one could bring a gun into the library. Well, apparently all she heard was "gun", because now she's afraid to go into the library.

I don't know where she developed a fear of guns. Finding Nemo was too scary for her, so you know she never watches anything violent on TV. I finally coaxed her in, but we had to stop for a long philosophical discussion at each sign (they have two). Sigh.

New Blog Alert

I just discovered (via a commenter at Samizdata) that Bruce Bawer, author of While Europe Slept, has a blog. Good stuff.

If Texas Were In Mexico

The post I've been meaning to write, only better:

Maybe you have to be Hispanic to figure out this kind of logic: You've broken the law and risked your life to get the hell out of the land of your birth, but when the country you've sneaked into considers sending you back home, you rush into the streets in protest -- GET THIS! -- proudly carrying the flag of the country you'd rather die than live in. Some of you even carry signs suggesting that the poor failed country you've escaped from should possess the land you've fled to.

Really. I don't mean to be rude, but let's face it. Most Mexicans aren't coming here to reclaim their birthright. They're coming for jobs. If Texas was in Mexico, Mexicans would be escaping to Oklahoma. If Oklahoma was in Mexico, they'd be escaping to Kansas. If Kansas were in Mexico....

Reminds me of the refugees from Islamic theocracies who say America would be the perfect country...if only it were an Islamic theocracy. Ay carramba.