Filed on July 10, 2006 at 9:58 pm under by dcobranchi
The LotD (from a g-school grad, I presume):
Put losing candidate in line to become next president
Attorney Richard Albert feels that there is a need to change the manner in which we choose our vice presidents. Here is another idea, a completely different one:
Our present (for all practical purposes) two-party system has demonstrated that the party in power usually is more interested in what is good for the party than what’s good for the country.
The most important thing, even from before the inauguration, seems to be ensuring that the next election be won. Suppose that we were not to elect a vice president. Suppose that the losing presidential candidate with the most votes were to become our new vice president.
I certainly have not thought out all the ramifications, and there are probably at least a dozen reasons why this would not work at all, but it seems to me that it might just force the president and the vice president to work together for the good of the nation, and that the role of the party would be diminished, at least until the next election.
One obvious snag would be the succession of power in the event that the president dies or is forced from office. In spite of all the faults of the present system, this has not been a problem in recent times. In England, for example, the leader of the opposition does not assume power if the prime minister should die in office — the ruling party elects a new one, and that system also works well.
Benjamin K. Raphael, Newark
Filed on at 3:22 pm under by Scott Somerville
Filed on at 3:18 am under by dcobranchi
NCHE has evidently been co-opted. From one of the leaders of the North Carolinians for Home Education:
I read Miss Dawns email and opinion/experiences in MD in regards to following the law to the letter. As a member of the NCHE board of directors, I thought I may shed a little different light on the matter. Ultimately, I believe it could be a catch22.
1. NCHE, unlike HSLDA, has a long standing, good relationship with not only the DNPE but MANY legislators in the NC Senate and House. It was due to these relationships that we get early warnings on any potential changes to homeschool requirements in NC and then NCHE “nips them in the bud”, so to speak. This occurred just a year ago when NCHE got word from our friends in the House and Senate that the Governors Budget was going to put DNPE under the Public School umbrella. NCHE mobilized homeschoolers throughout the state, who responded by flooding the legislators emails and phones with calls. Just as important, according to the legislators, was that when they asked us to stop because they got the message, NC homeschoolers stopped in days, vs. weeks. This impressed the legislators the most and they told NCHE how impressed they were with the homeschool movement in NC. I believe this is different from the environment that was in MD and prevent a similar fate.
NCHE should not be relying on friendly legislators to “tip them off.” It should be developing its own resources to monitor legislation. Yes, having allies is nice. Betting the farm on them, particularly if you have to roll over in order to do so, is just plain stupid.
2. Although, you mention you have nothing to hide (most of us don’t), the legislators who don’t like homeschoolers would be even more suspicious of us if DNPE did not have the voluntary test results and attendance records at hand. NCHE has been told by inside sources that because a majority of NC homeschoolers do submit voluntarily, it gives ammo for the pro-homeschool legislators to fight for us and “prove” that homeschoolers have nothing to hide and they are educating their children (usually better than any public or private school). HSLDA is right on what the law states, but in order to avoid the scenario you presented, we believe this voluntary submission keeps DNPE in a friendly vs. adversary role when legislators call that office.
So, our allies like us to be good little homeschoolers because it makes their jobs so much easier.
3. DNPE has hired several new staffers whose job will be to visit homeschools who do not submit voluntarily. I agree there are too many for them to visit all those who request it. However, being they are a government agency, if they observe anything contrary to government reg on school conditions, children’s health, etc…there is a good chance they would report such info to social services and then all the hassles that go with such involvement would occur. Of course HSLDA would be there to support us….but why risk this?
I apologize to Scott Somerville and HSLDA for all of my previous “sheeple” comments. I can’t imagine HSLDA going this far. This is scaremongering at its absolute worst. And from a home education advocate. An official in the group that purports to represent all home educators in the state. Bah!
4. NC has one of the easiest homeschool laws on the books
Utter bullshit! NC’s laws are middle of the road, at best.
and thanks to our relationships, NCHE legal staff and lobbyist, we have the “option” to be inspected by mail or by personal visit. The personal visit costs DNPE money and they would prefer not to do them.
Yes, I’m sure that it is inconvenient for the state educrats to drive all over the state checking to make sure that we’ve been good little homeschoolers. Perhaps if NCHE wasn’t encouraging people to over-comply, DNPE might throw up its hands and we could get the law changed. More freedom! Nah! We wouldn’t want that.
However, there is a trend for people not to”work with DNPE” on voluntary submission
Let’s hope so.
so people who are following the law to the letter, may cause what they fear….new laws and requirements, something we at NCHE are actively trying to avoid at all costs…as noted above.
And if the State tries to impose new regs, go to war! Jeez, what a bunch of complascent “leaders.”
Anyway, we probably have to agree to disagree on this matter but I thought you would be interested in another viewpoint and some background. Please email or call me if you want to discuss further.
Scott Anderson, Reg 10 Director, Greenville, NC
Filed on July 9, 2006 at 10:10 am under by dcobranchi
now might be a good time to ask for forgiveness for what we’ve wrought.
Filed on at 6:41 am under by dcobranchi
Keep an eye on this candidate for governor. He has some dangerous ideas:
The candidate talked about the “renaissance” that is coming to public education in Kansas.
Thirty-eight thousand home school children are studying in Kansas, Canfield says.
“I think that’s a very lively and healthy group,” he said.
Now the state needs to find ways to partner with those students, and with private schools, he says.
Sure. Those are the same kind of partnerships the mafia offers– offers we can’t refuse.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on at 5:52 am under by dcobranchi
Friend of yours, Scott?
Press discussion of terrorism surveillance is treason
I grew up during the 1960s and ’70s. America was the decisive force against totalitarianism in World War II, and gave us great satisfaction. All of that changed during the Vietnam War. Leftist activists, defeatist politicians and their allies in the media seized upon the unpopularity of the war to attack everything America stood for.
Today, these same forces reveal national security secrets to our enemies because they despise the current administration. This is probably the most discouraging and disgusting development in this country in the last half-century.
The 1980s and ’90s were a time of resurgence for America. Ronald Reagan’s patriotism and core values buoyed the country. Bill Clinton’s presidency spanned a period of unprecedented economic growth.
Unfortunately, the divisive 2000 presidential election and the 9/11 attacks changed everything. Left-wing hatred of the Bush administration runs so deep now that it supersedes the good of the country.
Liberals’ criticism of domestic surveillance was based on the fact that the program could have been sanctioned by courts with relative ease. The decision to expose the program compromised national security when the whole affair could have been handled secretly to preserve a valuable tool in the fight against terrorists. Hatred of Bush and selling newspapers superseded national security.
This is treason.
Hate Bush if you must, but when decisions put the lives of millions of fellow citizens at risk, it’s time to prosecute. Congress needs to pass laws to protect the secrecy of anti-terror operations. This insane fixation on privacy has gone far enough. No one’s right to privacy should trump the right of fellow citizens to live without fear of extermination by terrorists.
Brian Squire, Newark
That last sentence is a killer, ain’t it. We’re supposed to give up our freedom so that he won’t pee his pants any longer.
Filed on July 8, 2006 at 5:44 pm under by dcobranchi
George Clooney directs a take on Edward R. Murrow’s battle with Sen. Joseph McCarthy. It’s a good film. Clooney obviously isn’t happy with the state of the press or the government these days. Interestingly, Murrow’s words in the film are genuine. I guess not a whole lot has changed in the last 52 years.
Filed on at 3:04 pm under by dcobranchi
“Wee, wee, wee, wee” all the way to the auction.
Thislittlepiggystayshome.com seems to be a new favorite auction place for buying and selling home ed materials. Unlike, ebay, TLPSH allows you to sell teachers editions.
Filed on at 11:19 am under by dcobranchi
A quick piece on the registration deadline set for Aug. 1. Perhaps Kay Brooks can clear up any additional inconsistencies, but I know that this statement is wrong:
Special education regulations require public schools to discuss special services for private school students on a routine basis.
They mean ChildFind. And, yes, the schools cannot discriminate against private school students. But that’s a long way from saying that the schools are “required to discuss special services” with parents. Parents have every right to refuse any kind of testing under ChildFind.
BTW– Use the standard passwords (all caps).
Filed on at 10:25 am under by dcobranchi
Just another tiny step towards theocracy. (via Mainstream Baptist)
Filed on July 7, 2006 at 8:14 pm under by dcobranchi
Gonna boycott these advertisers too, Scott?
Filed on at 5:59 pm under by dcobranchi
Glenn Greenwald nicely ties together several seemingly disparate threads here at HE&OS– charges of treason and the case of the Jewish Delawareans. I agree with Greenwald 100%. I have a strong libertarian (small “L”) streak (see the top of this page, for instance), yet I could not imagine voting for a Republican at this stage. The current makeup of the GOP is antithetical to the small, leave-me-the-hell-alone government I’ve voted for in the past. As the Libertarian Party is utterly hopeless, I believe the Dems are the only hope for getting government out of our bedrooms and private decisions.
Yeah, as of this minute I’m a Democrat.
Filed on at 1:45 pm under by Scott Somerville
Daryl asked a question in a previous comment. I’m going to rephrase it a bit: would I admit that the New York Times did the right thing if the SWIFT program ultimately turns out to violate US law?
I could go either way on this, but I’ll take the more principled stand and say, yes, I would admit the Times did the right thing if the US Supreme Court ultimately rules that the SWIFT program violated US law. My premise, from the beginning, is that the New York Times behaved irresponsibly by publishing the details of a legal, effective program. If the program was not effective or turns out to have been illegal, then I take my hat off to the Times.
Daryl, where do you stand on this issue? Does your argument depend upon the assumption that the program was either ineffective or illegal, or would you defend the Times for exposing a legal, effective program? Would you defend the Times even if it turns out that their publication was what we lawyers call the “proximate cause” of the termination of the effectiveness of a legal program?
Filed on at 11:27 am under by dcobranchi
So we don’t have to deal with idiots like these. (Via Mainstream Baptist)
Filed on at 6:15 am under by dcobranchi
Another cool pic today. It makes for a very nice desktop.
Filed on July 6, 2006 at 5:38 pm under by dcobranchi
The NEA has passed yet another toothless anti-home education resolution. Valerie has all the details.
Filed on July 5, 2006 at 4:27 pm under by dcobranchi
The authoritarians were in charge of the Wilmington (DE) News-Journal editorial page today:
Curfews rein in kids and make living easier in town in summer
Elsmere’s stricter youth curfew is a commendable effort to ensure that enjoying a summer breeze doesn’t have to compete with loud music or a noisy ball game in the street.
Before temperatures and humidity hit the 90s, the Elsmere Town Council extended its curfew earlier this year. It is a crime for anyone younger than 18 to be in a public place after 10 p.m. on any night, with certain exceptions. Previous curfews were at midnight and 11 p.m.
Wilmington and Philadelphia allow adolescents to be on the streets until midnight on weekends.
Advertisement.
Unlike Wilmington and elsewhere in New Castle County and Wilmington, high-stakes crime is not the issue in Elsmere. But quality of life is.
Town police recorded a increase in problems with teenagers on Fridays and Saturdays. Late-night fights involving youth provoked dozens of noise complaints last year.
Curfews have become necessary to keep young people out of trouble, and make a community comfortable for other residents, regardless of age.
I guess the dating scene in Elsmere must REALLY suck.
Filed on at 3:43 pm under by dcobranchi
but I never realized they were Satanic.
Many adults know that kids are having a hard time, but they don’t fully realize what the enemy is doing to destroy kids. Think of this; of all the nations in the world which nation would Satan most likely select to win over? America. To change this nation, which group would Satan most likely target? It would be the impressionable, little children, right? So all the powers of hell – from across the universe – are attacking America in its most vulnerable spot – where children are learning – America’s public schools. Yet Christians don’t see this spiritual war is right in their local public schools! This is the target of the enemy but this is where 90% of Christian children go all week as the churches sit empty.
That would explain a lot, I guess. And now a bonus, retch-inducing quote:
What a person believes at age 13 is for the most part, what they will believe for the rest of their lives. Parents! How can you protect your child’s beliefs? Research shows 94% of home schooled children keep the faith of their parents. But 80-90% of public schooled Christians lose their faith. Have you considered home schooling? The man most responsible for making home schooling legal is attorney Chris Klicka of the Home School Legal Defense Association and author of Home Schooling – The Right Choice.
Filed on at 11:38 am under by Scott Somerville
I just read Daryl’s comment that says I lost this debate before it even started. I’m not sure what he’s debating, but the reason I’m here is to argue that the New York Times behaved irresponsibly and owes America an apology. As far as I can tell, all the evidence still points to that conclusion.
I haven’t heard Darly argue that the SWIFT program was ineffective. (He may have said that it was and I may have missed it. If so, I’d appreciate a recap here.) My argument is that, if it was effective, that effectiveness was substantially limited when the NYT decided to run the story over the objections of the Bush Administration.
Here’s the evidence for this claim, from the NYT itself:
The Belgian prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, has asked the Justice Ministry to investigate whether Swift violated Belgian law by allowing the United States government access to its data.
The American Civil Liberties Union has condemned the program, and a Chicago lawyer, Steven E. Schwarz, filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Swift on Friday alleging that it had violated United States financial privacy statutes.
Now, I recognize that Daryl may cheer these developments. From his point of view, the NYT, the Belgians, and the ACLU may be the last walls of defense between us and tyranny. I’m not arguing that he has to agree that it’s a bad thing for the ACLU (or the Belgians) to shut this program down. He’s welcome to make that argument, so long as he concedes that the publication of the Times story has substantially changed the status quo.
Tags: NYT, New York Times, SWIFT, ACLU, Belgium
Filed on July 4, 2006 at 9:51 pm under by dcobranchi
I can’t explain this piece, but it makes for interesting reading, especially the penultimate graf.
Filed on at 8:16 am under by dcobranchi
Jeana at Days to Come has a pretty good response to a comment on her site.
Filed on July 3, 2006 at 5:42 am under by dcobranchi
Floor-blogging.
Filed on July 2, 2006 at 5:31 pm under by dcobranchi
I’ve been busy.
I’m about 2/3 of the way through laying the floor in the LR/DR. My first experience with laminate flooring.
Filed on July 1, 2006 at 6:29 am under by dcobranchi
The dress/pants story is far beyond its “sell by” date, but I include this letter as a fine example of statist thinking:
Principal Warner created order out of chaos
Jackie Smith Warner, principal of Douglas Byrd Senior High School, followed the rules, orders and recommendations of the Board of Education and enforced them.
The board is elected by the people of Cumberland County. The board selects the superintendent who in turn selects all superintendents to serve with him and employs all principals, teachers, aides etc.
Bobbie Spanbauer violated the rules and paid the price: not walking across the stage to receive her diploma, nor being allowed to watch the ceremony. So, she received her diploma in absentia.
Warner has created order out of chaos since her arrival at Byrd, and she possibly avoided another authority challenge. The lady does her job far and beyond what’s called for. Ride by Byrd at 4:30 a.m. or late evenings while she prepares for the children’s day or the teachers’ day.
She is the principal and educator responsible for every child. Teachers and special program educators fall under her authority also. A child’s success at Douglas Byrd depends on Warner and her great faculty. How can parents have a problem adjusting to what is best for their child?
Parents are at the mercy of all school personnel when their child arrives for the school day, and they fully expect safety and protection, best education, care and interest.
Warner doesn’t sit on a mountain and pass judgment, and dispense knowledge and wisdom. She is a teacher, first and foremost.
Amazing things happen when you follow the rules and learn. You are shortchanging yourself if you don’t. It’s un-American.
James Stone
Fayetteville
That’s right, parents. The educrats know best. Deal with it!
Filed on at 5:54 am under by dcobranchi
Folks on the right are completely unhinged. At least she’s intellectually (if such a word can even be said to apply) honest enough to include the WSJ.
Filed on June 30, 2006 at 8:12 pm under by dcobranchi
From 10 to 11 tonight (local time?) CompUSA has an eMachine box with 512 MB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, and DVD +/- RW. XP Home, keyboard, and mouse included but no monitor. $249.
Filed on at 12:43 pm under by dcobranchi
So Scott has come from debating whether Keller should face a firing squad to positing that perhaps maybe someday in the future if the bankers in Belgium decide that they can no longer provide data to the Adiminstration the Times would owe America an apology.
Do y’all think I should call an end to this debate and put Scott out of his misery?
Filed on at 7:51 am under by dcobranchi
My homeschool news scrape found an interesting, if OT, read. A 14-year-old writes of her daily struggles going to school and dealing with life in the city. Pretty sobering.
Filed on at 7:06 am under by Scott Somerville
Did the New York Times act irresponsibly when it published a report of a classified, legal, effective program?
Daryl argues that it didn’t do any real damage, since Al Qaeda was too smart to engage in financial transactions that could be tracked. I would assume the Times relied on this reasoning to make the call to publish. The Bush Administration urged the Times not to publish, citing the damage that publication would do to national security. The Times calculated that the public’s right to know outweighed the potential threat to national security.
If our only enemies were well-trained Al Qaeda operatives who are to clever to move money in a way that could be tracked, and if the SWIFT program continues to operate just as it did before the publication, then I would agree that the public’s right to know outweighs the harm to national security. But both these “ifs” are demonstrably not the case.
FIrst, there are terrorist wannabes in Miami who aren’t at all clever–but they dream of mass murder. Daryl says there’s no harm done: such amateurs are too stupid to read the New York Times. I’m having trouble taking that argument seriously, but if Daryl really thinks our enemies are hopelessly inept morons, it would explain a lot that is a mystery to me at present.
Second, there is good reason to believe the SWIFT program is now dead. As Scott Shane reported in the New York Times yesterday,
“I would be surprised if terrorists didn’t know that we were doing everything we can to track their financial transactions, since the administration has been very vocal about that fact,” said William F. Wechsler, a former Treasury and National Security Council official who specialized in tracking terrorism financing.
But Mr. Wechsler said the disclosure might nonetheless hamper intelligence collection by making financial institutions resistant to requests for access to records.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if these recent articles have made it more difficult to get cooperation from our friends in Europe, since it may make their cooperation with the U.S. less politically palatable,” Mr. Wechsler said.
The Times says “the Swift consortium has defended its cooperation with the counterterrorism program and has not indicated any intention to stop cooperating with the broad administrative subpoenas issued to obtain its data.” Others, however, note that the SWIFT consortium is based in Belgium, and that Belgian officials are already calling for investigations into the program.
From my preliminary reading, the SWIFT program seems to have been a delicate house of diplomatic cards. The Times has shouted “privacy!” in a crowded theater, and I don’t expect the SWIFT program will survive the exposure.
Daryl: if the SWIFT program is terminated because of diplomatic fallout, would you agree that the Times report has done any real damage?
Tags: New York Times, SWIFT, Belgium
Filed on June 29, 2006 at 4:53 pm under by Scott Somerville
We’ll be digging into the evidence as to whether the New York Times has provided material aid and comfort to America’s enemies soon, but I think we can resolve one issue here and now. If Daryl came to believe that the Times has actually helped the terrorists, I think he would be all for a demand for a public apology, backed up by a boycott of advertisers.
Why do I think so? Because of this:
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has just as much right to the freedom of the press as the New York Times does. When Daryl discovered that TOS had published articles and printed ads endorsing Michael and Debbie Pearl, he demanded a change in their policy. When they refused to do so, he urged other homeschoolers to boycott TOS and break off contact with Homeschoolblogger blogs.
The question at hand, therefore, is not whether the Times should be tried for treason (I’m not for that) or whether an abusive press should be boycotted (Daryl isn’t against that). The question is whether the article in the Times has materially benefited Al Qaeda and similar groups. I think it has, Daryl thinks it hasn’t. We’ll see if we can dig up enough facts and logic to decide that issue.
Tags: New York Times, debate, boycott, SWIFT
Filed on at 1:42 pm under by Scott Somerville
Daryl has graciously allowed me to make my case against the New York Times on his site. Daryl has the courage of his convictions—I admire his courage even though I deplore his convictions. With that, let the debate begin!
The Times argues that they haven’t done any real harm to national security, and that the information they published was available elsewhere anyway. If that turns out to be true, then I would agree they have not provided material aid and comfort to America’s enemies. In that case, this whole case would be perfectly parallel to the “outing†of Valerie Plame.
I don’t believe this is a parallel case, however. On the contrary, I think the Times has provided material aid and comfort to America’s sworn enemies.
The Times argues that this information was already available, so it makes no difference. I would agree that it should have little to no impact on the handful of highly-trained experts who are left at the top of the Al Qaeda network, but it makes a huge difference to the ragtag mob of terrorist wannabes like the seven that were recently apprehended in Miami or the seventeen in Toronto. In this war, a lucky amateur can kill you just as dead as trained professionals like Al-Zarqawi.
Our adversaries in today’s asymmetric warfare are not the uniformed soldiers of a nation-state, but a radically decentralized set of suicidal murderers. The good news is that they lack any reliable means of acquiring arms, training, funds, or information. At one stroke, the Times has provided the information that teaches our enemies how to not transfer the funds they need to get the weapons they use to kill us.
I would not say that the Times has “adhered to†America’s enemies, so they aren’t guilty of “treason†(as that term is defined by statute), but they have demonstrably provided material aid and comfort to America’s sworn enemies. I think the Times owes America a public apology.
Filed on at 4:58 am under by dcobranchi
Check out the racetrack in Wilmington, DE.
Filed on at 3:56 am under by dcobranchi
Izzy found a really bad (“barf” worthy) anti home education piece. The premise is that we should all put our kids in the g-schools eventually.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on at 3:23 am under by dcobranchi
A study is underway to learn more about homeschooling parents¡¦ practice of parenting styles as well as their parental strengths and concerns.
You are invited to participate in an online survey if you
* are currently home schooling a child between the ages of 10 to 14, and
* have been home schooling this child for at least 1 year.
Please go to http://spaces.msn.com/HomeSchoolParenting and find out more about this study.
Best regards,
Wen-Hsing Cheng, M.S., CFLE
wenhsingc@hotmail.com
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on June 28, 2006 at 9:27 pm under by dcobranchi
I’m not sure there’s any difference between Joe Turtel’s Googleschool and what we do every day.
[W]ith Google and Yahoo, Jenny learns at her own pace. If she doesn’t understand something she reads about, she can ask her Mom or search Google and Yahoo to find the answer. She can spend as much time as she wants with a problem that intrigues her. Because she can learn at her own pace, she feels safe and comfortable learning with Google and Yahoo.
In her public-school class, however, Jenny has to learn all the material the teacher gives her in the specific time the teacher allows. Then (in later grades) the teachers will test her. If Jenny didn’t like to study the subjects the teacher told her to learn and did bad on her tests, she can feel hurt and humiliated. She then associates learning with pain and humiliation. This in turn can extinguish Jenny’s joy in learning.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on at 4:49 pm under by dcobranchi
The Panda’s Thumb reports that it looks like the lawsuit against the University of California system for discriminating against biology literature and English textbooks from BJU Press and other Christian publishers is going to trial.
Many of these texts, of course, are popular with home educators.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on at 4:43 pm under by dcobranchi
The Carnival of Education is up at Melissa Wiley’s. HINT: Turn your speakers off before you click over.
Filed on at 4:14 pm under by dcobranchi
I’ve evidently been kicked out of CRESTNC. I guess the shepherd has to protect her flock from the FODers.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on at 3:46 pm under by dcobranchi
with James Dobson:
I ask my fellow Americans to note the senators who did and did not defend marriage in its hour of need, and then to “vote their consciences” in 2006 and 2008. If large numbers of them do so, there could be some new faces in the Congress soon.
Yes, let’s hope that voters remember that Frist and the rest of the GOP decided that gay marriage and flag-burning were the most important problems facing our country. If we’re really lucky, they’ll be lots of new Democratic faces in Congress in January.
That would be “sweet, indeed.”
Filed on at 8:27 am under by dcobranchi
Scott Somerville needs a loooong vacation. Or, maybe, he’s just been reading the RightWingTalkingPoints too much.
A free press is the most important right guaranteed by the Constitution; all others hang by that thin thread. Bush et al. love to work in secret. But our government is not designed to work that way. The press is SUPPOSED to work to expose whatever nefarious/immoral/illegal/questionable schemes the Administration cooks up.
Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.– Thomas Jefferson
Yeah, Scott, I’m annoying. But I’m right, too.
UPDATE: A lawyer who knows his stuff.
Filed on at 6:51 am under by dcobranchi
Nothing like a bit of fascistic ramblings to start the day. Another LotD from the fine readers of the Wilmington (DE) News-Journal:
Members of Congress should stop press from questioning government
I find it hard to believe that our elected officials in Washington can condone reports by the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Wall Street Journal about efforts to curb terrorism by tracking the flow of money to such organizations.
When do these individual say enough is enough? Would this story have been published in 1941 while fighting World War II? Sen. Joseph Biden was head of the Senate Judiciary Committee once. When does he start to use some of his legal education to investigate this abuse of the First Amendment?
Is Sen. Thomas Carper going to stand up and stop reporting that undermines our national security and is a slap in the face to our troops abroad?
When will Rep. Mike Castle display his party’s long history of support to our common defense?
Talk is cheap, gentlemen. It is time that you all do your duty.
Dan Brown Jr., Claymont
Filed on at 6:40 am under by dcobranchi
Not “Taking Children Seriously,” but “Tech Central Station”
Sean Gabb has a very interesting essay on the state of education in the UK. It’s not a pretty picture. Home education makes a cameo appearance way down at the end:
Left to themselves, it is hard to see how parents could do worse than those presently in charge of state education. How they might do better is for them to decide. Some would pay for a conventional independent education. Some would send their children to schools run by their ministers of religion, or by charitable bodies. Some would educate their children at home.
Many do this last already, by the way; and Paula Rothermel of Durham University caused a stir in 2002, when she looked at a sample of children educated at home and found they performed consistently better in standard tests than schoolchildren. Indeed, she found that the children of people like bus drivers and shop assistants were receiving a better education than those committed to the care of state-certified teachers. Home education may not always be that good. State education generally is that bad.
I’m sure Carlotta would find nothing new there, but it makes for interesting reading for us on the other side of the Atlantic.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on at 6:25 am under by dcobranchi
Our namesake band has a new name.
The band Allette (pronounced “ah-letâ€) has been creating music together for three-and-a-half years. The La Crosse-based band has traveled around the state, doing shows and spreading a message. They’ll do just that at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Christian Family Funfest in Chippewa Falls… “After about a year of cutting our musical teeth we decided to start writing our own music and playing concerts,†Travis said. “We recorded our first album a year later under the name ‘The Homeschoolers’ n a name that was given to us by our peers in response to the fact that four of the five band members were home-schooled grades K-12.â€
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on June 27, 2006 at 7:22 pm under by dcobranchi
Flag-burning (and the Constitution) appear to be safe (until the next time the GOP decides it’s time to demagogue the issue).
Filed on at 5:22 pm under by dcobranchi
Natalie has posted the CoH.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on at 5:53 am under by dcobranchi
I had seen this 16-year-old’s anti-war videos a while back, but I just learned that she’s an HEK. I’m not surprised.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on June 26, 2006 at 11:12 pm under by dcobranchi
or the State will come get you.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on at 11:08 pm under by dcobranchi
A moderate Baptist speaks.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
Filed on at 10:57 pm under by dcobranchi
I don’t care that he’s gay. I care that he’s a 28-year-old man having sex with a 17-year-old student.
A former chorus teacher in Dover, accused earlier this month of making advances to one of his high school students, has been arrested on new charges of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student.
Dion L. Savage, 28, of the 500 block of Schooner Road, was charged with 13 counts of fourth-degree rape, after investigators were told that Savage was involved with the student for 10 months, Dover police said.
Filed on at 6:13 am under by dcobranchi
What’s with the scare quotes?
N.C. Wyeth was born in 1882 and became the inspiration for the family for the last three generations.
He had five highly-talented children. All except one of them became painters like him. Andrew, one of his children, is now in his early 80s. He never attended formal school. He has been “home schooled” and allowed to exercise his extraordinary painting skills at his father’s feet.
Andrew Wyeth has to be the oldest HEK in history. BTW, the author is an English prof.
Related Tags: homeschooling, home education
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