Class Clowns

People are still acting the fool in Wisconsin. Check out the protester in this video heckling a staff person at a school for being party to educating the school's students. Shameful.

What exactly is it that you are fighting for when you show up at a school where 85% of the students who graduate go on to attend college to protest your governor reading to said students?



Via Wizbang.

Smoke and Mirrors

I'm a bit late to the discussion about the scary evangelicals trying to take over the government. Honestly it seems like the usual boogie man created to scare people who want all of their worst stereotypes about evangelical Christians confirmed. Same old same old. This comment caught my eye the other day though.

Bill Keller, Fiscal Conservatives and fear of a past that never existed
“Unemployment is 9.1%, the economy is in the tank and you’re worried about a candidate’s position on how old the planet is?”

After all to a guy who has just finished his 99 weeks of unemployment and is on food stamps no issue is more vital than if the world is 6000 or 600,000,000,000 billion years old!

Well when you put it that way... Here's hoping that people recognize all of the fuss for the smoke and mirrors show that it is.

History Lesson

This was one of those songs from my youth that sparked my interest in world history and politics. It also served to facilitate bonding with my parents. They had lived through so many of the events mentioned in the song. They shared their own impressions of world events with me. Take some time to look back at where we've been and think about where we are going.

Tales From The Crib

Things head in my house of late.

"Give me my money back," wailed the ten year old boy and six year old girl who have been bickering over some spare change they had collected.
"No. You just made a deposit at the Bank of Mom." Like every other bank out there these days I'm not lending any money.

The three year old trying to comfort her ten year old brother who is not pleased about getting his hair washed, "It's okay honey. I'm right here."

"Want hot dog. Stand up!" Said the nine year old. As far as he's concerned if he puts the effort into actually speaking to you you had better be ready to act.

"It's proven remove stains and whiten teeth? Wow! I didn't know that!" So says the six yeard old girl upon reading the text on the package of gum.

"I'm big and I can get up!" Said the three year old jumping up on her birthday to prove her point.

"No no no no no no no!" So said the old year old as I put a daiper back on him thereby thwarting his plans.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

1. One more year of life for my big haired, big attitude littlest girl.
2. Vacation.

What are you thankful for?

Stuff That Makes You Go Hmmmmm

So here's what I've been reading online and mulling over so far this week.

Texas unemployment is not quite what it seems on first glance.

Remember when California said to Amazon, give us all your moneies and Amazon said, Uh no? Well that's not working out so well for California.

Tea Party Activist Confronts the President

Tea partier heckles Obama: Why are you talking about civility when Biden’s calling us terrorists?

What Obama’s Brush with the Tea Party Reveals About Him

How Feminism Became a Joke

The Nefarious Kansas Preacher provides 'Some observations and thoughts on my experience at the Madison 'Sing-a-long.'"

Neurodiversity, Quality Of Life, And Autistic Adults: Shifting Research And Professional Focuses Onto Real-Life Challenges

Autism Risk Rates

This to be one of the big news items of the day. While it is interesting information to know I'm unclear as to how this is helpful to all of the autistic people we have with us now.

Autism Risk 'High' For Kids With Older Sibling With The Disorder
Autism specialists have long thought the disorder has a strong genetic component -–maybe stronger than any other neurodevelopmental condition.

Now a new study — the largest so far to look at autism in younger brothers and sisters of an affected child — finds their risk of also having autism is higher than previously thought, especially if the younger sibling is a boy.

The overall risk that a younger sibling of an autistic child will have the disorder is 19 percent, the researchers found. Earlier, smaller studies had pegged the risk at 3 to 14 percent.
But if the younger sibling is male, the risk shoots up to more than one in four, according to the study, which appears online in the journal Pediatrics. "That's a really high rate compared to the risk of autism in the general population, which is 1 in 110," saysSally Ozonoff of the University of California, Davis, who led the research.

By contrast, if the younger sibling is a girl, her risk of autism is 9 percent.

And if a family has two or more children with autism, the risk among younger siblings goes up even more — to 1 in 3.

Tales From The Crib

Things heard in my home of late.

At the beginning of Shark Week the almost three year old girl and the six year old girl insist, "When I grow up I want to be a shark diver!" By the end of Shark Week, "Ahhhhhh! I would definitely not go shark diving. I don't want to go shark diving." So says the almost three year old.

"I'll let you watch some grown up TV if you let me use the computer." My ten year old tries to bargain for computer time and doesn't quite get it right.

"I've got an angry face and I'm prepared to use it! Prepare to meet Mr. Angry Eyes!" Another gem from the ten year old.

"Mommy I've got 10 seconds of patience left." He was on a roll this week.

"I'm going to need a little bit of privacy in my room while I work on the rest [of your present]," says the six year old girl to the almost three year old girl.
"Okay. Can I come with you?" asks the almost three year old.
"Sure." They then proceed up the stairs to their room negotiating how the almost three year old will avoid seeing the present that the six year old is making for her.

Oh how could I forget this one!

"I need to go potty!" wailed the six year old in her most annoying little girl whine voice.
Here slightly irate ten year old big brother declared succinctly, "Go find a tree."

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

1. Opportunity.
2. The assurance of salvation.
3. Grace.
4. Peace of spirit in the face of strife and adversity.

What are you thankful for?

The Existence of Adam and Eve

Evangelicals Question The Existence Of Adam And Eve

...some conservative scholars are saying publicly that they can no longer believe the Genesis account. Asked how likely it is that we all descended from Adam and Eve, Dennis Venema, a biologist at Trinity Western University, replies: "That would be against all the genomic evidence that we've assembled over the last 20 years, so not likely at all."

"Evolution makes it pretty clear that in nature, and in the moral experience of human beings, there never was any such paradise to be lost," Schneider says. "So Christians, I think, have a challenge, have a job on their hands to reformulate some of their tradition about human beginnings."

To many evangelicals, this is heresy.

"From my viewpoint, a historical Adam and Eve is absolutely central to the truth claims of the Christian faith," says Fazale Rana, vice president of Reasons To Believe, an evangelical think tank that questions evolution. Rana, who has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Ohio University, readily admits that small details of Scripture could be wrong.

Rana and others believe in a literal, historical Adam and Eve for many reasons. One is that the Genesis account makes man unique, created in the image of God — not a descendant of lower primates. Second, it tells a story of how evil came into the world, and it's not a story in which God introduced evil through the process of evolution, but one in which Adam and Eve decided to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit.

I've been pondering this story all day and I'm not really sure what to make of it. My first thoughts were, this is what happens when you take your eyes off of the prize. The central pillar of Christianity is the healing of the relationship between man and God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the son of God. Arguing about the literal interpretation of the Genesis account takes our eyes off of that world and life changing fact.

My second thoughts were, Genesis isn't about the nitty gritty of how God created everything we know. That's what science is for, to the best of the abilities of limited human understanding. Genesis is about the fact that God did create us and why he created us.

My third thoughts were, why does this insistence on a literal interpretation of the creation story in Genesis exist? Where did it come from? Whose bright idea was it to use this as a litmus test for whether one has genuine belief in God and a proper respect for God's authority? What's the real prevalence of this belief in the Christian community?

Then I came back around to my first thoughts again. This is a distraction from the gospel of salvation. What do I think about evolution with respect to the Christian faith? I don't care about evolution with respect to faith. As a science geek I know it's the best theory that science can come up with. I'm not going to begrudge them that. As a Christian I know that it doesn't even begin to tell the whole story and it really can't because of the nature of what science is and because of what faith is. The drive to hold up the literal interpretation of the Genesis account as a fundamental tenet of Christian faith is, I think, purely a reaction to what some see as an incursion of science and evolution into their sphere of influence. For my part evolutionary theory holds no power over me as a Christian and it holds no real power over any other Christian either. I don't understand why people keep acting like it does.

First tell me who you think Jesus Christ is and then maybe we can argue about how to interpret Genesis. Maybe.

Class Warfare Comes to London and the UK

Britain Burns: Riots Spread Through U.K. Cities
"This is the uprising of the working class. We're redistributing the wealth," said Bryn Phillips, a 28-year-old self-described anarchist, as young people emerged from the store with chocolate bars and ice cream cones.

Phillips claimed rioters were motivated by distrust of the police, and drew a link between the rage on London's street and insurgent right-wing politics in the United States. "In America you have the tea party, in England you've got this," he said.

Please note that the Tea Party has yet to burn down anything and have earned a reputation for leaving their rally sites cleaner than when they got there. And they aren't big fans of redistribution of wealth either, whether by some idiot rioting the streets or some politician in Washington DC. What this fellow, and the other rioters, is doing is not redistributing wealth. They are destroying it.

Many Tottenham residents claimed that the looting was the work of greedy youths — rather than fueled by anti-police sentiments.

"It's nothing to do with the man who was shot, is it?" said 37-year-old Marcia Simmons, who has lived in the diverse and gritty north London neighborhood all her life. "A lot of youths ... heard there was a protest and joined in. Others used it as an opportunity to kit themselves out, didn't they, with shoes and T-shirts and everything."

The past year has seen mass protests against the tripling of student tuition fees and cuts to public sector pensions. In November, December and March, small groups broke away from large marches in London to loot. In the most notorious episode, rioters attacked a Rolls-Royce carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla to a charity concert.

However, the full impact of spending cuts has yet to be felt and the unemployment rate is stable although it remains highest among youth, especially in areas like Tottenham, Hackney and Croydon.

Some residents insisted that joblessness was not to blame. "It's just an excuse for the young ones to come and rob shops," said Brixton resident Marilyn Moseley, 49.

The following audio link contains a Tottenham resident claiming that the economy in the UK and changes to the welfare state there are a justification for the riots going on there.
London Faces 3 Straight Nights Of Arson, Looting

The Telegraph has live coverage of the riots at their website and Instapundit has a round up of links and comments.

Why is London Burning?

London riots: Violence erupts for third day
Community activist Sharon Grant: "Stay off the streets... enough is enough"

Riot police have again been deployed to the streets of London as violence broke out for a third day.

There have been skirmishes between police and rioters in Hackney, Peckham and Lewisham.

It follows two nights of violence over the weekend following the police shooting of a man in Tottenham.

London's mayor Boris Johnson is cutting short his holiday to return to the capital as more than 200 people have been arrested and 35 officers injured.

Home Secretary Theresa May also returned early from holiday to meet Acting Metropolitan Police (Met) Commissioner Tim Godwin and other senior officers.

Tottenham riots: police let gangs run riot and loot
Britain’s biggest police force is facing criticism after it let looters run riot in north London for almost 12 hours, in some of the worst scenes of street disturbances seen in recent years.

10:00PM BST 07 Aug 2011 The Metropolitan Police said it was focused on containing violent disorder in Tottenham on Saturday night, which left dozens of officers injured and saw squad cars, shops and flats burned to the ground.
But its tactics meant gangs of youths were free to break into stores at nearby Tottenham Hale retail park and in Wood Green, with looters forming an orderly queue in broad daylight to steal from a sports shop.
Riot police did not intervene to stop the looting in some areas until 7.30am the following morning, almost 12 hours after the riots began, and last night there were fresh disturbances in Enfield.

When Politicians Pray

Funny how political opportunists have such a hard time believing someone would do something because they think it's the right thing to do rather than the politically expedient thing to do.

Gov. Perry Tries To Keep Focus On God, Not Politics
In the weeks leading up to it, the gathering had been widely criticized as a cynical creation of the governor to get an early lock on the religious right. Critics took note of the involvement of religious/political activists — men like David Lane and David Barton, well known in the Lone Star State for their talents at mobilizing Christian voters.

Perry shrugged off such talk.

"He's a wise God and he's wise enough to not be affiliated with any political party," he said to applause.

Outside, protesters lined the sidewalk, holding signs that read slogans like, "Pastor Perry Must Resign." Some of the demonstrators belonged to an atheist organization that sued unsuccessfully to stop the event, called The Response. Overhead, a small plane pulled a banner reading: "God keep state, church separated."

Meanwhile the people prayed.

"Take this time, Lord God, and allow it to infiltrate our lives. Not just this Saturday at Reliant Stadium, but father God everyday — in streets, home, cities, counties, Lord God," he said, "across our nation light a fire."

More than choosing a candidate for president, this is the hope that most people at the revival seemed to want to take home.

The comments on this article at the NPR website are pretty typical. They are chock full of stereotypes, Stereotypical liberals/atheists/skeptics criticizing the stereotypical caricatures they cling so firmly to of Christians, Republicans, and conservatives. I can't decide if it's sad or funny.

By the way, what was President Obama doing this weekend?

Small Businesswoman On The Economy

I saw this on Saturday and hoped it would end up on the internet somewhere so I could share it here.



Seeing as how I'm working on becoming a small business woman myself I have to say that I agree with her.

Check out the conversation going here about this clip.

Via Instapundit.

Lest We Forget

Just some stuff to remember as we all discuss the downgrading to the US's credit rating by S&P.

After beginning with a Clinton-era surplus in 2001, the Bush administration ran up deficits of $158 billion in 2002; $378 billion in 2003; and $413 billion in 2004. Then, with revenues pouring in, the deficits began to fall: $318 billion in 2005; $248 billion in 2006; and $161 billion in 2007. That 2007 deficit, with the tax cuts in effect, was one-tenth of today’s $1.6 trillion deficit.

Deficits went up in 2008 with the beginning of the economic downturn — and, not coincidentally, with the first full year of a Democratic House and Senate.

Read the whole thing.

Via Instapundit who notes, "People complained about Bush’s spending, but if we could get back to the Bush-era spending and deficits now it would look like a triumph of fiscal responsibility — and Democrats would complain of 'austerity.'"

US Debt Downgrade

My credit score is better than the US government's. That's what happens when you don't spend more money than you have and you pay your bills on time. I'm just sayin'.

S&P downgrades U.S. credit rating from AAA

WASHINGTON — Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's on Friday downgraded the United States' credit rating first time in the history of the ratings.

The credit rating agency said that it is cutting the country's top AAA rating by one notch to AA-plus. The credit agency said that it is making the move because the deficit reduction plan passed by Congress on Tuesday did not go far enough to stabilize the country's debt situation.

A source familiar with the discussions said that the Obama administration feels the S&P's analysis contained "deep and fundamental flaws."

S&P said that in addition to the downgrade, it is issuing a negative outlook, meaning that there was a chance it will lower the rating further within the next two years. It said such a downgrade to AA would occur if the agency sees less reductions in spending than Congress and the administration have agreed to make, higher interest rates or new fiscal pressures during this period.

Just how tight are our belts going to have to get before this is over?

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

1. Gannons Ice cream.
2. Friends.
3. Inspiration.
4. Family.
5. Being able to help others.

What are you thankful for?

Tales From The Crib

Things heard in my home of late.

"Oh no I can't find it! I have short term memory loss!" Wailed the distraught ten year old boy.

"Bath!" Proudly declared the one year old boy upon being discovered playing in the toilet.

"Are you stinky," I asked
"Yes," the two year old willingly admitted with an excited grin.
"Are you telling the truth?" I asked
"Yes." She was, of course, not telling the truth.

"Ha ha ha!" said the ten year old.
"That's not funny," came the six year old's indignant retort.
"That wasn't a funny laugh. That was an evil laugh," the ten year old informed her.

"You can't wash someone's hair with Sprite!" Said the indignant six year old to the nonplussed two year old.

"Put it down," was the emphatic and decisive instruction of the eight year old when he saw me coming with the comb.
"Good bye," was his distraught response to my not putting down the comb.

Tar Baby

Here we go again, Rep. Lamborn likens Obama to a "tar baby". Here's the allegedly offensive yet appropriate use of the term,

LAMBORN: Even if some people say "well, the Republicans should have done this, or should have done that," they will hold the President responsible. Now, I don't even want to be associated with him, it's like touching a, a tar baby and you get it...you know you're stuck and you're part of the problem and you can't get away.

Use of the term "tar baby" is apparently, for certain folk of a certain persuasion, a tar baby. Just lettin' y'all know before some other poor unsuspecting soul goes and gets themselves tangled up with that particular tar baby.

I wonder which is more problematic here. Using the term "tar baby" to describe a sticky situation (for those who don't know tar is notoriously sticky) or assuming that the term "tar baby" is a reference to color and is therefore racist?

More discussion of the Congressman's race faux pas at the following:
Is Colorado Representative Doug Lamborn a racist? (UPDATED)
“Tar Baby” Nonsense

Read the Debt Deal

Here it is. Read it if you like. You can comment on it here. Oh, and some questions about the White House Fact Sheet.