They say, “What’s your blog about?” I say, “Nothing.”
You get all the wacky commenters
-- COD
...typically annoyingly good...
--Carlotta, UK home educator
...a rational, prolific, powerful web communicator...
--Tamara K. Fuller, Founders College Education, Inc.
... gives me hope that my wife and I can raise our two cambia to be upstanding citizens through educating them at home.
--Cavalor Epthith, Editor-in-Chief, The Dis Brimstone-Daily Pitchfork
Disclaimer: This is a personal website. The opinions expressed here are the author's own. Comments are not moderated and are published as a public service. All comments are the responsibility of the commenter. HERP&ES assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of said comments.
Published in the State of North Carolina. Copyright 2002-2009.
“It’s something that has been desired for a long time,” said Kurt Wise, who was a consultant for the [creation] museum and currently serves as professor of science and theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. “A lot of Christians who are creationists want an alternative to the fabulous museums that we have — the Field Museum [in Chicago] and the Smithsonian and so on. They like taking their kids to those places, but they want to see the creation model presented, and that’s especially true for homeschool groups.
Mark Otto expresses enigma in “Democrats didn’t deliver on promises” (Jan. 19). He asserts a lie is distinctly seen in Democrat inactions since 2006. Hello? All pols lie. Republicans controlled in 2003, including the president. Again, the pols lied, claiming evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, at the same time also claiming the 9/11 suicidal attack and destruction was al-Qaida-based in Saddam’s Iraq; not so. Most of these 19 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia.
I am an Independent. We watch all this. The puzzlement we express lies in both parties, plus their voting constituents; all are lemmings. They are all lumped together. We hear murmurs, expressions of fear or of the significance of the Independent vote in 2008. Who really runs the White House, Mr. Otto, when, by rule, it takes 60 senators to vote to move to override a president’s veto? Even though Democrats also control the Senate, enough Republicans refuse to go along, thus numerically defeating the majority’s movements and thus preserving “the decider’s” ability to render the majority’s lawmaking plans useless.
Which is worse, the lie told on one side of the aisle or the sucking sound of the ones on the other side of the aisle?
The Independents know a mission: to vote not for, but against. Independents disturb all pols’ prisms, described as a cautious trauma to look through.
On Feb. 10, some churches throughout America will celebrate Evolution Sunday. This day is to pay homage to Charles Darwin’s birthday and his theory of evolution.
That Sunday will also mark Creation Sunday for those churches that believe in the vital and foundational doctrines of creation and creator as taught in the Bible.
I believe that the account of origins in the Bible is a simple, but factual presentation of actual events. I trust that the Bible teaches a recent origin for man and the whole creation. The special creation of Adam and Eve, and their subsequent fall into sin, is an account of real history and the basis for the necessity of salvation for mankind, and thus for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I consider that the theory of evolution, the naturalistic idea that matter changed into mankind by itself over billions of years, is contrary to scripture and to scientific observation. I recognize that variation, mutation, speciation and natural selection are processes confirmed by scientific research, but they do not support the idea of molecules-to-man evolution. I believe that the theory of evolution is inherently a philosophy/belief system. I encourage Christian churches to set aside the second Sunday of February as Creation Sunday to acknowledge, defend, and celebrate the God of the Bible as the creator of the universe.
The Rev. Ken Smith, pastor, Lillington Baptist Church
Lillington
Filed on January 27, 2008 at 2:38 pm under by dcobranchi
Perhaps Americans are growing a little more adventurous in their snacking habits. It seems that in addition to Rotel making several flavors of their chilies and tomatoes, Hunts also makes the same (in a 15 oz. can). And the local Food Lion even has their own store brand (in the proper 10 oz. size).
I followed a link to my man Mike Huckabee’s (Homeschoolers for Huckabee!) official website. Listed in the right sidebar are links to the several states’ headquarters. Notable for its absence is North Carolina’s link. It must be an oversight, I’m sure. But until this oversight is corrected, HE&OS will not only be the Official Homeschoolers for Huckabee site. We will also be the (Un) Official Headquarters of North Carolina for Huckabee.
Let’s go Mike!
UPDATE: For any newbies who happen to wander by– I’m being absolutely truthful when I say I want Mike Huckabee to win the GOP nomination. As a Yellow Dog Democrat, I’m fully convinced he’d be ridiculously easy to beat in the general.
I would like to respond to “Evolution is just a theory” (Dec. 29), and letters about the VA chapel.
First, evolution is a theory, but has become the government’s religion. It is taught in schools and colleges as truth, where the Bible and Creation are not allowed. We are supposed to be a Christian nation yet we have allowed a state religion to throw God and the Bible in the trash can.
Restricting the VA chapel is only a new way of getting rid of God. The writer states this is at present a secular country, and like all other secular empires in history, will fall. We were the greatest empire in all history. Now the fall has started: fires on the West Coast, storms in the Midwest, drought in the Southeast Bible Belt and the fall of the dollar.
If America does not make a turnaround, things in this country will only get worse and we will be a Third World country. America has been weighed in the balance and been found wanting. At present only God can save us, but for God to save us, we must repent and return to Him.
Filed on January 26, 2008 at 7:55 pm under by dcobranchi
No, not 9iu11iani. This column is not particularly well-written (“a conclusion that I have been at”?) but it does blast Farris. It also blasts my man Mike Huckabee. Boo! Hiss! Unfair!
Homeschoolers for Huckabee! Homeschoolers for Huckabee! Homeschoolers for Huckabee! Homeschoolers for Huckabee! Homeschoolers for Huckabee! Homeschoolers for Huckabee! Homeschoolers for Huckabee! Homeschoolers for Huckabee! Homeschoolers for Huckabee!
A really strange local story here. A guy stole the identity of a 9-year-old and apparently opened charge accounts in his name. How is that even possible? Do banks often give charge cards to tweens?
Dana at Principled Discovery is setting up a BlogNetNews page for home education. A quote from the email she sent:
If you are interested, let me know. I posted a little more on my blog, but the majority of my readers are Christian. I would like there to be a bit broader representation.
Filed on January 22, 2008 at 6:01 pm under by dcobranchi
Exodus Mandate wins the award for “Most Over the Top” appeal:
ExodusMandate : Jan 2008 Appeal:
Dear Friends and Supporters of Exodus Mandate,
In this first action letter of the year, I want to alert you to an immediate danger to Christian children in California and ask you to join our 2008 effort to save these children and our nation,and to strengthen Christian families. Please, read this urgent letter carefully.
You may have heard that Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law several new bills that radically changed California ’s public schools starting January 1. The California general public has little awareness of how deadly the new laws are, or of their significance yet,because the mainstream media has imposed a virtual news “blackout ” regarding this legislation.
“That argument is wrong,” says Brian Wesbury, chief economist with First Trust Portfolios, an asset-management firm. “As people spend less to drive to the golf course, they will spend the extra money on golf clubs or other products.
Yes. And it will take fewer dollars to fill the tanks in the yachts. Why, I might just have enough left over to go buy a Caribbean island.
Only 366 days until the “End of an Error.” Hope/Pray/Wish/Keep your fingers crossed that he and his Big Swinging Dick (Cheney) don’t start any more wars in the meantime.
There appears to be socially-based variation in the frequency and manner in which members of reciprocally linked blogs converse. Blog topic conditions frequency of interaction: political blogs contain more conversation than Catholic blogs, which in turn contain more conversation than homeschooling blogs. However, it is also the case that the political bloggers are mostly male, and the homeschooling bloggers are mostly female (the Catholic bloggers include both males and females); thus gender, rather than topic, may condition this variation. Males post more mentions in entries and more comments than do females overall; this is especially evident in two mixed-sex dyads, in which a reciprocal conversation is taking place, but the male blogger makes more mentions of the female blogger than vice versa. For example, in his blog Homeschool and Other Education Stuff (http://www.cobranchi.com), Daryl Cobranchi posts entries referencing Isabel (Izzy) Azuola-Lyman or her blog The Homeschooling Revolution (http://icky.blogspot.com) more than 100 times, while she mentions him or his blog only 10 times. The tone of the messages on both sides is good-natured banter, as when Daryl blogs:
Izzy and Chris [http://www.odonnellweb.com/mtarchives/001018.html] are having a mild disagreement over this [http://www.lewrockwell.com/latulippe/latulippe15.html] article. For the record, I’m with Chris on this one. Sorry, Izzy.
While our evidence suggests that mentioning another blog author tends to lead the other to reciprocate with a mention (indicating, crucially, that these authors are reading each other’s blogs on a regular basis), they do not necessary reciprocate in the same manner. One member of the dyad sometimes mentions the other only in entries, while the other interacts primarily through comments posted to the other’s blog. Such asymmetries may indicate a power dynamic (who goes to whose blog?); exploration of this possibility is left for future research.
I wonder if they ever did any of that “future research.”
An uplifting Sunday morning post to lift up your Sunday morning and get you ready for the work week. Today’s post: The coming depression
I have no idea if The Agonist’s analysis is correct. I fear that it is. I’ve been mostly in cash for the last two months and am now 100% on the sidelines. Of course, with my track record, that might be the perfect “buy” sign.
WE WILL NEVER CONQUER THE DROPOUT RATE — which is probably higher than the reported number because they do not count the “home-schooled students” – until we address two issues: parent responsibility and truancy laws (“Committee finds flaws in plan to cut dropout rate,” Jan. 15).
Many parents do not want the hassle of getting up in the morning and getting their kids off to school or their child is a discipline problem, out of control at home and at school.
So, what do they do? They say they will “home-school” them – I put that in quotes to distinguish it from parents who actually do home-school their children, and more power to them. These children end up on the streets all day and most of the night.
If parents are going to home-school, they should have to be accountable to the school district as to their progress.
When I questioned a former state superintendent, he said this idea would never fly because of the power of the Home-School Association.
School districts need to have an officer who actually rides the streets and visits homes to get kids back to school. They should have the authority to ask parents to show books and materials used by the student and completed work.
Filed on January 16, 2008 at 5:39 pm under by dcobranchi
A couple weeks back J.J. tweaked the media for treating my man Mike Huckabee like he was a hick, just because he “eats squirrel cooked up in his double-wide’s popcorn popper.” I’ll never doubt her psychic abilities again.
Just remember, JJ, with great power comes great responsibility.
The Today Show’s audio is leading the video by a second or so. When they interviewed Romney his lips were closed in a tight smile and his voice emerged from out of nowhere.
I’m not so sure about going through the State, but testing your home is a good idea.
Hello Homeschoolers,
My name is Catherine Rosfjord and I work for the NC Radon Program. My job is to raise awareness about the dangers of indoor radon and to encourage people to test their homes and schools for radon. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US. Because homeschoolers spend a great deal of time in the home, it is particularly important for you to test your home for radon. January is Radon Action Month and we will be giving away free radon test kits. If you are interested in receiving a free radon test kit for your homeschool, please visit our website at www.ncradon.org. When filling out the request form, please note on your address that you are a homeschool. This helps us to track how many schools in NC have been tested for radon, a number we are responsible for reporting to the US Environmental Protection Agency every year.
I am also available to give presentations about radon and radiation if this is something in which your homeschool association is interested.
Thanks for your time and have a great 2008!
Catherine
—
Catherine H. Rosfjord
Radon Specialist
Phone (828) 274-1717
www.ncradon.org
Filed on January 13, 2008 at 6:30 pm under by dcobranchi
This article rightly notes that not all homeschoolers are evangelical supporters of my man Mike Huckabee. Some of us are apparently non-evangelical but conservative supporters of my man Mike Huckabee.
Via techbargains.com, a laser all-in-one printer for $100 (after rebate). We’ve had a 3-in-1 (printer, copier, scanner) for years and have found it invaluable. It finally gave up the ghost this week. We ordered the Canon.
As I expected, this one is gaining some traction in the national press. Today’s NYT picks up the beat and blames the “lack of supervision” of homeschooling families. HSLDA, in particular, is to blame.
It’s definitely worth a read to see what we may be up against.
Filed on January 11, 2008 at 7:26 am under by dcobranchi
An interesting piece on Hillary Clinton’s alma mater. The young ladies at Wellesley are undoubtedly feminists. But they’re debating among themselves whether they should support Hillary simply because of her gender.
It’s an interesting question. As the father of two daughters growing up in the Bible Belt, I’ve been thinking along those same lines, myself. The dominant culture around here is strictly paternalistic. The Southern Baptist Convention will not ordain women nor will it allow women to teach adult males in Sunday School. Telling my girls that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up feels like a bit of a lie. Our society has not been willing to allow women their seat at the table.
Filed on January 10, 2008 at 4:35 pm under by dcobranchi
This tragedy in the nation’s capital may reverberate. The mom pulled them out of school in March and was supposedly home educating.
D.C. Council member Marion Barry, who represents the neighborhood where the bodies were found, said officials needed to consider “tightening up our school attendance laws.”
Taylor County, to be specific. I want to be able to support the school board in their desire to be “fair and balanced” to His Noodliness. That’s right. The school board just resolved to tell the state to shove their new science standards where the sunshine don’t.
And, yes, they really did use the Faux News tagline.
UPDATE: My man Huck pronounces Greenville [SC] like Green’-vul. That’s the correct pronunciation, and I’ve never heard anyone not from there say it that way. Weird.
