Right As Usual

WHY YOU NEED TO QUIT I found this grim warning about why even young people should not be smoking. WARNING - not for the weak of stomach!

Weapon of Mass Destruction, It's Not, But... I was avoiding work industriously updating my knowledge base when I happened upon these pictures . Go there to see the effort Saddam exerted to hide a mere Russian MIG. Is it any wonder that the WMD haven't been found yet?

THE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE CONTROVERSY Go to this site for a refreshingly clear argument for restricting marriage to a single man and a single woman. Power Line also has an interesting take on the subject. Here's the musical theme for this subject.

THE CURE THAT KILLS I've long said that excessive attention to sexual harassment is responsible for limiting women's progress on the job. Like it or not, one of the ways that men indicate that they consider you "one of the boys" is to include you in their off-color humor. If you can respond without going ballastic about the sexual kidding, you're OK in their eyes. Critical Mass has a post that addresses that issue rather well.

TRIAL VERDICT Like most of the country, I followed the Washington Sniper Case with some degree of detachment. I could understand the panic, but was personally unaffected by it. Nonetheless, I was happy when the snipers were found, and looked forward to their trial. I don't know that I expected a guilty verdict; a good attorney can often do wonders. I know that I didn't expect a jury to use their common sense. Imagine my surprise when I found this link on the Viking Pundit

Daily Motivation I have received daily motivational emails for somewhere around a decade. I cannot overestimate how uplifting is has been to have at least some quality email each working day. A sample is reproduced below: YOUR DAILY MOTIVATION Wednesday, November 19, 2003 BEING SUCCESSFUL IS A CHOICE YOU MAKE. ----------------------------------------------- You alone have the responsibility to shape your life. Once you understand this, nothing and no one can deny you success. There's no one to stop you but yourself. More powerful than all the success slogans ever written is the realization that everyone has but one boss. That boss is you. Your life will always be to a large extent what you make of it. No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but you. Success or failure? It's always your choice. ---------------------------------------------- Your Daily Motivation is sent compliments of: M.D.B. ASSOCIATES Travel Center Travel A...

HOME SCHOOLING SUCCESS One of the continuing puzzles of the education world is how, without academic credentials, parents can possibly help their children learn. News Flash! Parents teach their children many of life's important lessons in the years before they attend school. They obviously know SOMETHING about teaching. DUH! Now, this is obviously not true of ALL parents. Some perfect chuckleheads bollox up that job so massively that their offspring arrive at the door of their first class as veritable savages, devoid of manners, morality, and common sense. Like father, like son. But the overwhelming mass of parents have done at least a reasonable job. So why would they suddenly screw up when they continue that work beyond school age. Answer: they generally don't. Furthermore, parents are focused. They don't have to teach with the assumption that children were raised by wolves; they can skip the "Now, Johny, how would you feel about someone hi...

QUESTIONING THE UNQUESTIONABLE I was talking last Monday to some fellow educators, and we were pondering the questioning of why "ethnic racial minority students" failed in school. (That phrase, BTW, is not mine - it was part of the written question set). The first answer, as you have probably already figured out, was, according to my fellow grad students, was poverty. I questioned that assumption, and found myself on the receiving end of an intense re-education session. I think, from their arguments, they thought of me as the sort who's had no brush with poverty, and has risen from comfortable surroundings, unable to understand the truly heartbreaking plight of the poor. Nothing could be further from the truth. True, I was privileged to have both my parents present (and married) at my birth. I was privileged by seeing the example of two people working together to raise their children, instilling morality by insisting on a religious education, as well as ...

GW's Hesitant Speech We admire a smooth glibness in our politicians and celebrities. Bill Clinton epitomized that characteristic, with his easy manner, his ability to make sentences flow smoothly, and his on-camera poise. But are those the characteristics we want in a leader? I found this link via Right Thinking from the Left Coast.

NOBODY SAYS IT BETTER... Nobody says it better

NEW NAME, NEW PLACE I've been blerking for some time, and I decided that it was time to get serious about my addiction hobby. I'm in the early stages of setting this up (just started an hour ago), so don't get bent out of shape by the sparse nature of the Blogroll. I'll be adding links in my spare time. SHE DOESN'T GET IT I was on the phone yesterday, and clicked a link that took me to a site trashing Britney Spears. I'm no fan; sure, she's the living epitome of the white trash that my West Virginia father always warned me about associating with. But, what I don't quite understand is the intensity of the venom spewed at her. To tell the truth, I feel kinda sorry for her. She started out just another teen singer. As time went on, she went further and further over the edge, pantomiming sex for her videos. She finally admits that she had sex with her first serious boyfriend. So, does she get the adulation that Madonna got fo...