Utterly Meaningless » 2009 » July
  • BEST IN THE SOUTHEAST

    Filed on July 31, 2009 at 5:28 am under by dcobranchi

    One of the schools on Anthony’s short list made Princeton Review’s “Best Colleges” list. But I really have to question some of the criteria they use to rate the schools:

    Colleges were rated on academics, admissions selectivity, financial aid, quality of life, fire safety and a green rating.

    OY!

    Filed on July 27, 2009 at 5:43 am under by dcobranchi

    10,000 posts will give you such a crick in the neck!

    REALLY?

    Filed on at 5:38 am under by dcobranchi

    Tucked into another article on HEKs and g-school sports was this tidbit:

    Many home schoolers say they aren’t willing to trade their freedom for sports. Home school students in Georgia must submit monthly attendance reports to the local public school superintendent…

    Do GA homeschoolers really have to submit monthly reports? Why? Talk about a waste of time and money!

    LOTD: HOMESCHOOL EDITION

    Filed on at 5:21 am under by dcobranchi

    I’m guessing that John Eberhart rides the bench:

    Home school, no play
    I am writing this in response to your July 15 article (Neighbors section) about home schoolers being allowed to play high school or junior high sports.

    It would be so unfair to allow a student taking just one course to play. How can you monitor academic eligibility? Suppose they take “cooking” or “wood shop,” an easy “A,” while other full-time students struggle to balance six to seven courses.

    Also, if I were a coach, I would never allow a part-time home schooler playing time and sit one of my players who is a full-time student. I don’t care how well they practice or how good they are, if they are part-time and home-schooled, they never see one second of playing time. Suppose all athletes withdraw full-time and become part-time? What a mess!

    If you decide to be home-schooled, then you voluntarily give up extra-curricular activities.

    If you want to play, go full time to school. The OHSAA I feel will stop part-time students from playing full-time sports.

    JOHN EBERHART

    Toledo

    If the State allows HEKs to play g-school sports, coaches would have to be idiots to sit them solely because of their homeschooled status. Coaches are fired for losing, after all.

    HOW TO UNDERMINE YOUR ARGUMENT

    Filed on July 26, 2009 at 4:45 am under by dcobranchi

    Make sure you read all the way to the bottom of this LOTD to get the punchline:

    Fading freedoms jeopardize survival

    To take from a long-ago advertising campaign, “Where’s the stimulus beef?” When we were told by the Obama administration that 3 million to 4 million jobs would be saved or created by these stimulus plans, a free pass was issued without so much as a debate in Congress! Most congressmen didn’t even read the bill they were signing.

    Summer is half over and the economic/employment numbers are less than encouraging. Department stores are already running Christmas specials hoping they can meet their financial forecasts. The private sector is losing more and more jobs while, in contrast, only the federal government has gained in employment prominence.

    Our Founding Fathers created this republic; but a republic can only survive if its populace wishes to maintain its economic freedoms. We’ve put unions and government in control of automakers. Our banking system is nearly solely owned by the Fed and we print money as if plucking it from a money tree in the backyard.

    Don’t do yourself the disservice of trying to convince me that “We the People” own these institutions. To date, I’ve yet received my dividend check or interest payments on monies loaned to these “government/taxpayer”- owned businesses. You’re witnessing government takeover at its finest.

    Wake up and smell what your government is shoveling down your throats, people. Without getting educated and understanding the course our country is on, there’ll be no end in sight. Our Founding Fathers’ legacy is quickly turning into a dilapidated mess. FairTax!

    John N. Horton
    Fayetteville

    Not that the rest of it was persuasive in the least, but adding the “FairTax!” [sic] tag was just icing on the idiocy.

    NONE OF THE ABOVE

    Filed on July 24, 2009 at 5:13 pm under by dcobranchi

    I find this ONN poll just a bit slanted.

    BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

    Filed on July 20, 2009 at 4:07 pm under by dcobranchi

    And here are my photos from the trip. Chris did an excellent job documenting it, so I’ll just refer you there for the write up. I’d only add that my camera appears to have been somewhat damaged by the trip in the Tardit. It seems to have gotten stuck a couple years in the future.

    QOTD

    Filed on July 15, 2009 at 4:20 pm under by dcobranchi

    From my favorite fundy/wing-nut site:

    “Most individuals, particularly [poor] families with children…, are poor because in good times or bad, the parents don’t work very much — they work on average only about 16 hours a week — and also because 34 percent of all American children are born out of wedlock without a father in the home,” he notes. “Those are the two principle causes of poverty in the U.S. today. And if we had a normal work rate among these families, and if we didn’t have this very high rate of out-of-wedlock childbearing, virtually all the child poverty in the U.S. would disappear.”

    And if frogs had wings they wouldn’t bump their asses on the ground. The “Christians” at ONN are worried that Obama is going to provide more money for the poor. Oh noes! It seems to me that I recall Jesus saying something about feeding the poor. Why do the “Christians” at ONN hate Jesus?

    LOTD: BUT, OF COURSE

    Filed on at 3:16 am under by dcobranchi

    Haven’t done one of these in a while. The blithe “of course” at the end is a bit jarring. I disagree, of course. 🙂 Socialism, communism, capitalism are economic systems. Neither evil nor virtuous. And to just assume, without presenting a single bit of evidence, that any system but laissez-faire capitalism is “evil” is just facile. But this is what passes for discourse around here.

    Where you get help defines socialism

    “Maybe we should all take care of each other . does that make me a socialist?” The political cartoon in the July 7 Observer depicts an anti-socialist, anti-health plan person. When he hits hard times, he begins to change his mind about President Obama’s health plan and about socialism in general. I think the cartoonist agrees.

    But all of us taking care of each other is not socialism. Having the government do it for us is socialism. And, of course, socialism is evil.

    Kenneth N. Haynes
    Vass

    BOO HOO

    Filed on July 14, 2009 at 5:57 pm under by dcobranchi

    The Tax Foundation just sent out this breathless announcement:

    Democrats’ Health Care Plan Pushes Top Tax Rates Over 50% in 39 States

    Couples Earning More than $1 Million Hit with 5.4% Surtax

    Washington, DC- A third updated Tax Foundation report shows that 39 states would see top tax rates exceed 50% under a health care funding plan announced today by House Democrats.

    The latest proposal – one of several floated on Capitol Hill in the past few days and the third analyzed by the Tax Foundation since Friday – would impose a surtax of 1 percent on married couples with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) between $350,000and $500,000 (singles between $280,000 and $400,000); 1.5 percent on couples with incomes between $500,000 and $1 million (singles earning between $400,000 and $800,000); and 5.4 percent on couples earning more than $1 million (singles beyond $800,000).

    Are we really supposed to feel pity for folks who earn $1M+/year?

    WOW!

    Filed on at 4:56 pm under by dcobranchi

    This is one of the coolest APODs ever.

    GUT WRENCHING

    Filed on at 5:11 am under by dcobranchi

    I helped make the mat’l that makes this possible.

    Sorry ’bout that, Chief.

    IT IS FINISHED!

    Filed on July 12, 2009 at 4:54 pm under by dcobranchi

    The floor, that is.

    All of the transition pieces are in. The quarter round molding was cut and glued (yes, glued) to the baseboard this a.m. The new area rug (which covers most of the floor I just laid!) went down a little bit ago.

    And I’m beat.

    NEW SITE

    Filed on July 11, 2009 at 7:28 am under by dcobranchi

    SecularHomeschool.com is just getting started. I like the domain name.

    I AM NOT ALONE

    Filed on July 9, 2009 at 7:00 pm under by dcobranchi

    It seems the GOP has won their War on Science:

    According to a recent Pew survey, 55% of scientists are Democrats and only 6% are Republicans.

    The same survey reports that a majority of scientists self-identify as liberal and only 9% as conservative.

    HELP NEEDED

    Filed on July 7, 2009 at 7:12 pm under by dcobranchi

    A reader is looking for recommendations for a good secular high-school level biology curriculum. Any suggestions?

    WHAT DO YOU THINK?

    Filed on July 6, 2009 at 2:57 pm under by dcobranchi

    Do Muslims and Christians worship the same god?

    The latest ONN poll. I was somewhat surprised by their results.

    IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS

    Filed on July 4, 2009 at 4:37 pm under by dcobranchi

    A sell out crowd, a big win against the first place rival, and fireworks.

    Jonathan was excited to see this photo on the Fay Observer website. That’s Jonathan in the black hat and black tee shirt.

    A BIENNIAL EVENT

    Filed on at 3:49 pm under by dcobranchi

    Two years ago I spent my entire 4-day 4th of July weekend laying laminate flooring in the LR/DR. It was so much fun that I went back for a second helping. The Master BR was finished a couple weeks ago. This weekend’s project is the den. Thursday morning there was carpet in the room. The photo below is as of around 10 a.m. today. I’ll be completely done (other than the quarter round which will have to wait for some transportation) by tomorrow afternoon.

    p1070791

    NEWS FLASH!

    Filed on July 3, 2009 at 3:15 pm under by dcobranchi

    The majority of Americans are idiots.

    We now return to our regularly scheduled program.

    ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

    Filed on July 2, 2009 at 4:00 pm under by dcobranchi

    An interesting CNN piece on performing CPR.

    JUST TO BE CLEAR

    Filed on at 10:47 am under by dcobranchi

    Don’t let the big logo and the direct link fool you. The National Guard does not endorse HSLDA. [H/T Mary]