Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Last Days of Vacation

We'll be running around, madly, in an effort to get all essential business done before government and business offices close for the holidays.

I'll be making some changes to the blog next year; most will revolve around unifying posts into themes, keeping a more regular schedule, and monetizing it better (that's a fancy-dancy way of saying making more money with it - sounds more elegant, doesn't it?).

For those who also follow the family blog, be assured that I will be updating later this week, and working out a way that OTHERS can contribute their news and thoughts.

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Saturday, December 26, 2009

In a Financial Crisis, Is This the Best Way to Spend Money?

I realize that the Obama administration is top-heavy with unnecessary flunkies, but it's rather pathetic that they don't have something better to do than this.

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Now, THAT'S a Fighter!

I read (Via Cynthia Yockey, A Conservative Lesbian) this post that made me sit up, and resolve to stop letting myself quit. I think next year is going to be different - a lot different.

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Friday, December 25, 2009

Finally! Someone in the Conservative Universe Gets the Message on Marijuana

Mary Grabar has a post on Pajamas Media, in which she takes on the libertarians who want to legalize marijuana. She, like me, is a teacher; our take on the legalization is naturally filtered by our experiences with students who use/abuse the drug. Were the drug legal, we both agree that they would increase their use (because, after all, "it's legal" - which they think of as "it's a good thing").

The question I have is:
If you make use of marijuana legal, how do we then keep stoned students/possessing students out of schools? Is there anyone so stupid as to think that this won't become a HUGE problem for schools?
My students, on occasion, act dumb enough without impairment [NOTE: ALL teens, even my own precious children, act dumb at times - it's part of that inexperience thing].

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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Created or Saved

I should be a whole lot slimmer today, based on The Obama Diet. Here's how it works:
  • You plan out what you INTEND to eat.   For example,  PLANNED to eat the over-the-top "heart-attack" special - a 1/3 pound hamburger from Hardee's, with fries, shake, and, of course, a desert.  I calculated it at around  2700 calories, more or less. 
  • Then, you substitute a more normal fast food meal - about 750 calories.
  • Voila! This should have you losing weight FAST - after all, you saved about 1950 calories - that's about 1/3 of a pound - for just lunch. If you do the same at breakfast and dinner, you should be reed-slim in no time.
So, why am I still overweight?
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Inside the Abortion Reality

Are you a "pro-choice" advocate? So, once, was I.

Hear the words of some people, formerly inside the abortion industry, about the reality of the abortion business.

Warning - NOT for the faint of heart, nor the weak of conscience. Likely to challenge your thinking about abortion.

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Monday, December 21, 2009

More Alliance of Anti-Semitism with Islamicist Goals

More nonsense from the Leftists that blindly support Islamicist Fascists as "freedom fighters", while condemning Israelis as "racist thugs". Do they actually realize that in most Islamic countries, slavery is LEGAL?

Further, that anti-woman, anti-feminist attitudes are rife throughout the Islamic world? Read a harrowing story about an Turkish-German woman who experienced the horror of seeing an abused Turkish girl she was counseling shot before her eyes, in an attack that nearly killed her. She recently wrote a book, Islam Needs a Sexual Revolution, that has brought death threats to her (and when you receive Islamicist death threats, take them seriously!).

She also makes an important point about the difficulty that girls face in leaving their abusive families:
Social workers will help her start a new life. She cannot risk any contact with her family. But, we come from tribal culture. We have not learned how to be or live alone. Individualism is not valued. You are nothing without your family. But some very high-profile honor murders in Germany were due to re-establishing contact with a dangerous family. Often, the mothers would give their daughters a sob story to lure the girls home. The girls returned and were murdered. But your question is important. Some shelters offer only a nice place to stay, and that’s not enough, not even if you have the best furniture.
I think that's an important point that is not well understood by Western women - the belief that you can't make it on your own - that's a cultural foundation that is hard to overcome.

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Victory Marker?

Read this article about an "Islamic Cultural Center" being built at Ground Zero.

For the culturally ignorant, let me explain why that is a bad idea. Symbolism is important in most of the world, especially in the Mideast. For their populations, it's important to not just BE victorious, but also to SEEM victorious. For the Islamic population, they mark their victories over "the infidel" with an ostentatious display of mosques. Sometimes, they build those mosques on the site of a battle; other times, they capture a church, and turn it into a mosque (as they did with the Hagia Sophia, Iraq, and many other places over the years. Phyllis Chesler, a noted feminist in the early days of the movement, writes about the issue of the Swiss ban on more minarets. Her post reflects her early experience as a wife to a Muslim in Afghanistan.

The "ownership" issue is addressed by Henrik R. Clausen, who writes:
Some Islamic leaders, like the current Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, take the idea of connecting Islam with conquest quite a bit further. Erdogan stated in 1997:

The minarets are our bayonets; the domes are our helmets
Mosques are our barracks, the believers are soldiers
This holy army guards my religion
Almighty Our journey is our destiny, the end is martyrdom.

Given the often hostile nature of the mosques, I think it is inappropriate and potentially dangerous to allow a mosque so close to the site of an Islamic battlefield. Surely the city can manage to come up with a reason to deny use of the mosque, whether real or specious. It is insensitive to allow it; it will lead to further trouble with Islamic fanatics. What sort of people would WANT to have their mosque there?

Conquerors, who wish to display their victory symbols.
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Saturday, December 19, 2009

Vacation, Oh! Vacation!

Aside from the fact that Christmas is rapidly approaching, and the excitement is building for us Christian-types, this is the happiest season because:
  • No school for 2 weeks
    • Happy Dance!  Happy Dance!
  • We get to see our children and grandchildren
  • No more waking up at ungodly hours, and working without coffee (to limit bathroom breaks)
  • Time to blog
    • My husband may be more kindly disposed toward my hobby right now, as I recently got a check from an advertiser - money does talk
  • My URI (upper respiratory infection) is nearly gone

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Saturday, December 12, 2009

What Your Tattoo Location Says About You

From the Cracked site.

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If Tattoos Told the Truth

Funny Photoshops.

My personal favorite? Love the chemistry reference!



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Re-Posting of Asthma Advice

Asthma Explained - How it works, what NOT to do.

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Yeah, Northern Cold is Just Like That

I read this post from American Digest, and almost spewed my coffee:
In New England in December the cold does not come in on little cat feet. Instead some mountain god of the great north woods throws open the door to Canada late one night. When you step out the next morning your scrotum promptly goes into hibernation somewhere around your arm pit. The cold gets hammered down tight. And it stays that way. Until, oh, somewhere in the middle of March.
I have to say, Walmart DOES have very inexpensive stuff. Of course, you get what you pay for; the long-sleeved turtleneck shirts were thin, shrunk up about 3 inches (I really need the length, particularly in the arms), and, well, lost a little color. But, for $3 - yes, that was three dollars - they served me well if they only lasted 1 season. Sometimes, you just need something for the short term - like clothing for when you're gaining or losing weight, or pregnant, or for kids. Who needs the quality for a few months or less?

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Sunday, December 06, 2009

Feeling Better

My cold is getting better, and I've started to order my Christmas gifts. I'm doing more of my shopping online - it's easier, and saves on gas.

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Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Home Again

I'm still off work - nasty cold - and am enjoying catching up on reading. Several posts have caught my eye:
  • This post, by Jeanette Pryor, addresses my concerns about the Obama speech at West Point.
  • Download the pdf of this report - I'm still plowing my way through it, but it's been worthwhile.
  • Sometimes wonder why Afghanistan is a mess?  Wonder no longer.
  • Why is the pastor surprised?
    in Muslim states the law of Islam can be enforced not only by the state, but by groups or by Muslim individuals. In Pakistan, Christians fear prosecution on trumped-up charges for blasphemy, but they also fear the punishment that is often meted out to them informally, by Muslims in a fury. And in the lawless or government-less conditions of wartorn Afghanistan and Somalia, the Taliban, and the Shebabe, mete out their own punishments, according to the Shari'a, confirming that the hudud is, for those Muslims who are most deeply and fanatically Muslim, still the law - the law of Islam if not the law of the land.
I'll keep reading, and post more lists of what catches my eye later; I may just mark them to be posted later in the week.

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Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Read BEFORE You Decide That USA Has to "Go Green'

This makes the most sense of anything I've seen lately. It is a powerful argument AGAINST Cap & Trade - please, read it.

Then, call your people in Washington, DC.

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There'll Always Be an England...

Well, maybe not.
As of today, the Lisbon Treaty comes into force in Europe and Britain becomes just a province of that supranational authority

Can't say it will matter much to many in this country, my own family included. The closest connections I have to the Mother Country are a childhood friend, whose parents were British subjects, and my great-grandfather, who was born in England.

I grew up hearing stories about Churchill and the England of WWII. I own a set of the WWII histories that Churchill wrote, starting with "The Gathering Storm" - it's pure vintage Churchill. He wrote just like he spoke - you can hear his voice on every page. Not like today's politicians, who, if their autobiography sounds like them, have hired a good ghostwriter.

I'm old enough to have learned English history in school, and to have learned about the Magna Carta, and its significance in history.

No more will the English direct their own destiny - it's all in the fussy bureaucratic hands of Brussels.

Churchill must be whirling frenziedly today.

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Lies of the Left

This COULD be a lengthy post. But, I'll try to winnow it down to a reasonable length. The CA Parent Bribery 'Scandal' - the 1...