Grading papers over the next two days...

So far, I have ten papers out of a class of twenty-three students, and have granted two extensions.  Final due date is midnight tonight.  We'll see how many more papers I actually get. 

I should be done by Friday, but posting will be light until then.

"Street light off?"

Last night, we had a heck of a storm.  Couple of days early--we're supposed to start March with these things, not have 'em before the end of February. 

In any case, this part of town lost power for a couple of hours, and the imp got woke up by wind gusts, rain hitting his window hard, and basically outdoor noise that was no longer masked by the fan of his small space heater. 

That wasn't what bothered him, though.  He grinned and giggled and said "Wind blow.  Trees blow, trees dance.  Rain up in air."  Then, he noticed that the street light wasn't on.  That scared him.  And he wouldn't go back to sleep, not even after I took him back to snuggle in bed between Mommy and Daddy.  After he found out the street light was off, he started asking if there would be a tornado.  And he would not settle and go to sleep.  I wound up reading Kipling's "The Elephant's Child" from his Just So Stories out loud to the imp,while we listened for weather alerts on the battery-powered shower radio that the imp got for his daddy two years ago for Father's Day. 

After the power came back on, and after I showed the imp that the street light was back on, we finally got him back to sleep.  However, after the two hours or so awake, last night, he was really sluggish this morning about getting ready to go to his paternal grandparents' to spend today and tonight.  We had to call and push back the pick up by half an hour.

Ironically enough, the pixie slept through the whole thing.  Usually, she's the one that wakes at the slightest change in background noise. 

Poor baby imp.  So scared by such a small thing as an expected light not being on.  And he was so sweet and snuggly.

Let's start the "after birth abortions" with those who have no FUCKING SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG!!!

Warning: strong opinions and stronger language ahead.

I found this story while I was nursing the pixie to sleep this evening, and had to stop reading it, because it almost made me throw up on her.  I cannot fathom the twisted mental processes behind the theory advanced by Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva, that newborns are not "persons," and killing them should not be considered more than just a very late-term abortion.

I will admit it: I am emotionally charged by this story.  I have two children, both of whom had pretty definite personalities long before they were born.  I am not able to address this idea rationally.  So, I will address it, probably with a lot of foul language, with as much reasoning as the idea deserves: none.

Okay, first point: the two disgusting extrusions from the diseased, apparently mentally deficient individuals who were obviously incapable of teaching their spawn the difference between right and wrong apparently have a vague understanding that the rest of the world do grasp the simple concepts, because they prefer the term "after-birth abortion" over "infanticide."

Of course they do!  I doubt they're uncomfortable with the concept embodied by the term "infanticide" since that's what they're advocating--but I'm pretty sure they're uncomfortable with the idea of what those of us who can tell right from wrong would like to do to them.  I wouldn't suggest hanging was too good for most people, but for these two?  Too easy.

From the article:

The authors also do not agree with the term euthanasia for this practice as the best interest of the person who would be killed is not necessarily the primary reason his or her life is being terminated. In other words, it may be in the parents’ best interest to terminate the life, not the newborn's.

 Ah, honesty.  It's never the baby's best interest that matters.  The baby isn't a person, you see.

Then again, I'd argue that the newborn that hasn't fully emerged and taken its first lungful of air is more a person than these two extrusions of diseased whores.

The circumstances, the authors state, where after-birth abortion should be considered acceptable include instances where the newborn would be putting the well-being of the family at risk, even if it had the potential for an “acceptable” life. The authors cite Downs Syndrome as an example, stating that while the quality of life of individuals with Downs is often reported as happy, “such children might be an unbearable burden on the family and on society as a whole, when the state economically provides for their care.”

So...cases of mental retardation are circumstances where infanticide are okay...how about committing "after birth abortion" on a retarded adult?  Is that also acceptable?  Who defines it?  Can I?  Please?  'Cause these two cuntfarts would be top of the lists.

In the authors' own words:

Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person’ in the sense of ‘subject of a moral right to life’. We take ‘person’ to mean an individual who is capable of attributing to her own existence some (at least) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her.

[...]

Merely being human is not in itself a reason for ascribing someone a right to life.

Well, I wouldn't necessarily call the two twatfungi "human," but let's give them the benefit of the doubt.  They're still advocating murder.  Not just any murder, but murder of individuals who literally have not done anything wrong.  That, right there, revokes their "right to life," should they attempt to act on their theories, just as it does any individual who plans and carries out a murder of another individual in cold blood.

These two perverted mucus clots also say

...as for the mother putting the child up for adoption, her emotional state should be considered as a trumping right. For instance, if she were to “suffer psychological distress” from giving up her child to someone else — they state that natural mothers can dream their child will return to them — then after-birth abortion should be considered an allowable alternative.

Right...like causing the murder of the baby she just gave birth to is going to leave a woman less psychologically traumatized than imagining the child growing up loved an happy.  

So...how old does a baby have to be before these cuntstains consider them "people"?  How long after the baby takes its first breath can its family take it somewhere to have it murdered?  Well...they're not sure, but that's not the point.

Again, I say, fine: we can go with their theory.  How do we define "personhood"?  If we let these two...fine individuals...define it, no child under the age of about six months is a person.  If the Catholic church is allowed to define it, the baby is a person before sperm and egg are joined.

How 'bout we just let me define it?  Anyone who thinks murdering a helpless, innocent baby--especially one that's already breathing, eating, excreting, smiling, growing, and learning to love its family--is morally acceptable isn't a person.  If that's the case, I'm all for the "abortion" of these creeps, starting with the two that advanced the theory.

After all, it's pretty obvious to me that the best part of their daddies' gift to their mommies ran down the cracks of their asses and landed on the bed.  Assuming the morally deficient, mentally diseased, canyon-cunted, mattress-backed, dock-side whores that birthed them didn't actually take the injection in the wrong hole to begin with.

Actually, come to think of it, that would explain a lot.

Umm...what?

By what twisted thought process can a day school consider itself a "co-parent" to a child?  My children have two "co-parents:" their mother and father.  Schools aren't even legal to act in loco parentis unless they're a boarding school--which isn't common in North America, much less Canada. 

It's one thing to act when there is clear evidence of abuse, and there is a clear and present danger to the child's life.  It's another thing entirely to have the father of the child arrested after the child draws a picture of her daddy with the gun he shoots monsters with. 

Successful businesses both create new customers and track the habits of existing ones.

And Planned Parenthood seems to have both down pat. (On that second story...isn't that kind of intrusive, voyeuristic, and kind of TMI?)

Kind of sick to see small girls as "future customers."  And when I say small girls, the article cites as young as five.  And what do you want to bet that with the "if you're going to do it anyway, might as well do it right" mindset sets most of these girls up for the abortion side of the trade, without the girls' or their parents' knowledge? 

I plan to be the main instructor for my daughter's introduction to reproduction.  No, I won't likely preach abstinence only on a moral standpoint, but I will emphasize it as the best way to emotional and physical health.  Same for my son, but the biggest part of it will be Odysseus's responsibility.

'Bout time someone did this.

A Christian church in Nigeria got car bombed by Islamotards.  One seems to have gotten away, and the other was killed when he didn't jump free in time. 

Only, he wasn't killed by his bomb.  Nope, the Nigerian Christians turned out to not be the "turn the other cheek" type, and beat the fucker to death. 

The uncivilized barbarians that worship the pedophile that started their religion are incapable of understanding civilized responses.  They think civilized responses demonstrate weakness on the part of the individual responding to their barbaric provocations.  The only thing that Islamotards are capable of understanding is reprisal: for every one of ours killed, ten of theirs need to die. 

Or, at the very least, let the survivors of attacks beat the perpetrators to death a bit more often. 

Need more reasons to home school?

Try this.  I don't have a problem with a school handing out Tylenol and band-aids; however the HPV vaccine has not proved as safe as other vaccines, and any school that goes behind a parent's back to make sure a child gets a vaccine that the parent didn't approve obviously has another agenda in mind. 

Or this.  Granted, it happened in Canada, but I could easily see this happening in, oh, say, Detroit or St. Louis, or Kansas City, or pretty much any city run by estrogen-excreting, hyperventilating, anti-gun pussies in this country.

Or this.  Sorry, but the little shits involved either as active or passive participants need to be arrested and charged as adults (manslaughter, at least), not interviewed. 

Or this.  Seriously, I'm not sure teaches would be able to bring themselves to shoot one of their students; however the option should be there to protect other students.  GUN-FREE ZONES = TARGET RICH ENVIRONMENTS for criminals (and sadly, a goodly number of public school students in the high school age bracket are criminals).

These stories reinforce my decision to home school the imp and the pixie.  At the very least, we will be looking into our local Catholic private school--out of the three K-12 private schools in our town, it has the highest academics with the least amount of political brainwashing BS (the non-religious private school in town turns out students really strong in academics, but really weak in critical thinking skills--and costs more than our regional state universities in tuition).

Jeesh. Think maybe someone's political stance might be formed by something from real life outside of politics?

[P]MSNBC's  Lawrence O'Donnell doesn't seem to take that idea into any kind of consideration before throwing an estrogen-laden hissy-fit.

"'They don’t seem to notice that fake libertarian Ron Paul takes the most anti-libertarian position on women’s reproductive rights. The fake libertarian does not dare say a word that violates the Republican Party line on abortion. Not one word,' [O'Donnell] added, putting special emphasis on his last sentence, as though speaking to a child."

Of course he's anti-abortion, you bleeding idiot!  He's a freakin' medical doctor, one who has done prenatal care and delivered babies!   He isn't taken in by the propaganda that a baby is just a clump of parasitic cells preying on the life of the woman who happens to carry the blight.  He knows the heart starts beating at about 5 weeks, and babies start moving sometime between 8 and 10 weeks (both of mine were wiggling in their first sonograms at about 8-9 weeks, even if I didn't feel it until about 13 weeks, and only if I focused).  And babies can survive, with help, as early as 23.5 weeks (out of 40). 

Ron Paul isn't looking at abortion from a political perspective.  He's looking at it from the perspective of a member of the medical community, and as someone who hasn't let ideology blind his heart.

Even though I don't like a lot of his politics, I can't help but respect him for this stance.  Because I used to be pro-choice--until I got pregnant with my imp, and saw him on the sonogram monitor for the first time with his heart beating and little arms and legs waving wildly. 

I cannot imagine how anyone who knows how babies develop could possibly be willing to kill them for their own convenience. 

And I thank God every day, for the sake of those who made that mistake, that mercy and forgiveness aren't earned, but given as a gift.

Another good idea whose time has come.

This world sucks, and if someone can't face it, they just can't face it.  It's up to the individual how they interact and react with the world.  A lot of people dive into celebrity gossip.  Others dive into music to the exclusion of all else.  Still others dive into the extremely narrow realm of academic research (myself included, to a point--I enjoy researching and learning new things, but don't care about publishing my ideas and gaining acclaim and publication accreditation from it.  I'd far rather teach.)  Others turn to alcohol, and still others turn to drugs, legal psychotropics and otherwise. 

So, this bill, up for discussion and votes in several states, makes me smile.  I don't have a problem with aid being temporary, and directed at families with children--so long as Mom and/or Dad is not on "illegal" drugs or alcohol. 

Personally, I don't care if an individual wants to use drugs.  I think this whole "war on drugs" b.s. harks back to the 18th amendment--and anyone who passed history in high school should know how that worked out.   I do, however, deeply resent being forced to pay for the habits of an addict of either drugs or alcohol through taxes applied and income redistributed through the welfare system.
 
So yeah: set up everyone on the public dole with random drug tests.  Sounds like a good start to me.  Especially if that includes the welfare recipients who hold public office (i.e., politicians).

Paging Nehemiah Scudder...

Not that I disagree with what Santorum is saying, but hearing a nanny-state, big government "conservative" say that there is no separation of church and state gives me the willies.

"Ye shall know them by their fruits."  Everyone is shaped by the beliefs at the bottom of their souls.  You cannot separate religion from politics--the founding fathers wanted to keep politics from forcing certain doctrines and dogmas on all.  Remember: first lines of the first amendment are "Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

What scares the bejesus out of me is I could see sanctimonius Santorum breaking that part of it--specifically, the establishment clause--without pausing to consider the betrayal of the office, because it's in the people's best interest.

The only commodity any politician has to offer is jawbone. His personal integrity--meaning, if he gives his word, can you rely on it? A successful business politician knows this and guards his reputation for sticking by his commitments--because he wants to stay in business--go on stealing, that is--not only this week but next year and years after that. so if he's smart enough to be successful at this very exacting trade, he can have the morals of a snapping turtle, but he performs in such a way as not to jeopardize the only thing he has to sell, his reputation for keeping promises.

"But a reform politician has no such lodestone. His devotion is to the welfare of all the people--an abstraction of very high order and therefore capable of endless definition...In consequence your utterly sincere and incorruptible reform politician is capable of breaking his word three times before breakfast--not from personal dishonesty, as he sincerely regrets the necessity and will tell you so--but from unswerving devotion to his ideal.

All it takes to get him to break his word is for someone to get his ear and convince him that it is necessary for the greater good of all the peepul.

--Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

And Santorum strikes me as a big-government reform politician.  Frankly, so do they all.  That's why I plan to write in a candidate who dropped out of the race early (see on the right, second section down).

Seriously--can we make it a new rule that, before people are permitted to run for national office that they must read Heinlein's Future History, most of Orwell's work, and maybe a few of the old sci-fi greats warning about messing with sentient computers and/or extinct animal and/or the human genome?  And that they must write for widespread publication, their thoughts on what they've read?  Or is it too much to ask that we expect our politicians to think critically, and apply if/then possibly reasoning to their ideas?

Sanity FAIL!!

Those of y'all that have kids...how do you handle a three year old imp that grates a Cheese-It (or three) through the back of his bedroom's space heater?  And puts dry cereal (Cheerios, et. al.) down the floor vents of the central heating/air?  And paints the walls with chocolate milk and spit?  And throws food into the drawers of clean dishrags/towels that have to be stored next to his high chair/booster seat when Mom and Dad aren't looking?



Or a fifteen month old pixie that refuses to take more than one nap (of less than an hour's duration) throughout the day, wakes up several times at night, wants to get up at before the ass-crack of dawn (after I've managed to finish work for the day and crashed on the far side of midnight), and spends most of the rest of her day at my knee chanting "up! up! Mama, up!" while I'm trying to work?



I've tried everything I can think of.  I'm out of patience, ideas, and sanity. 

And, thankfully, grading...until the next batch comes in Monday morning.  And then Wednesday.

I think it's time for a drink.  I wish I had the time and/or a reliable, trusted babysitter for some loud meditation with some lead-based therapy.  I could use some time behind a rifle.

At least they're cute.  Or, Odysseus and I think they are.

Oh, crap.

As y'all know, I was sick yesterday, so I fell behind on my housework and my grading.  With as much grading as I have, that was a really bad idea--I have the teaching assistant-type grading I do for a colleague's literature class, a set of discussion board threads on my Comp I class site, a class full of Comp I blogs, and one of Comp II blogs. 

I may be caught up enough by the time the kids go to bed to get caught back up on housework.  Maybe.

Pray for my sanity. 

FFOT: Uggh...

Vague maladies with no symptoms other than whole body aches, headaches, and low fever can FTFO. 

I don't feel up to posting much more than this, so the floor is yours.  What's getting on your tits today?

Hello and welcome

To Chance.  It doesn't look like you've got a blog, judging by your profile, but if you do, alert me in the comments so I can link you.  Let me know what you want to drink--standard offer applies.

Update: Chance does have a blog, here.  He has some tasty-looking recipes.

Really...

A tactical arm of Planned Parenthood?  The Girl Scouts?  They who sell too-small boxes of overpriced cookies?  I'd want to see documented proof of that, but I have relatives with daughters in Girl Scouts that are severely disappointed with the social engineering lessons that have taken the place of the practical lessons.  Not to mention the second-wave feminist brainwashing going on.

I'd already planned on steering the pixie away from them, but my relatives' issues with them, and now this dubious bit of info (which may or may not be true, I don't know) just reinforces that decision.

If this is anything like the "Arab spring" in the Middle East...

...does this mean we're going to have occupidiots trying to #Occupy the Cockpit of whatever airline like this?

Hallelujah!!

Congress has banned using EBT (i.e., food stamp debit cards) at casinos, strip clubs, and liquor stores!

Rep Gwen Moore asked, “What stops people from going to Whole Foods and using their EBT card there and then going to the casino?” during debate.  I would assume she was arguing on the "they're going to do it anyway, so why not make it easy for them?" mode of thought that floods our schools with free condoms and rides to abortion clinics without notifying parents first.

I have an easy but painful truth to answer her with: most people (not all by far, but most) that are on welfare do not have the ability to plan their actions ahead.  Nor are they interested in cultivating that ability.  They also do not like to be inconvenienced, so likely will just get angry that they can't gamble/get lap dances/buy booze, scream at management, then go home. 

Can I nominate this guy for badass of the century?

A 90-year old man concocted and carried out a plan under the pressure of being held at gunpoint by a home-invasion robber.  And, not only did he succeed in freeing himself, but shot the goblin after he'd been shot.

So yeah--I think this little old man has earned the title of "badass of the century."  'Cause of his quote of the decade, uttered after having been shot in the face: "F**k you, you son of a bitch, now it's my turn."

And I hope to God that the public defender that filed the motion for the goblin to dismiss the charges for her client being denied access to legal advice while he was in the hospital gets a similar visit, from a similar goblin.  Same for the judge scheduled to hear the motion, should he not dismiss it out of hand. 

Wow! Another new follower!

I swear, I haven't put anything in the cookies besides real butter and cocoa! 

Welcome, Cafe45.  Thanks for hitting that follower button.  You got some really good ideas--keep up the excellent commentary.  Let me know what you want to drink--I've got tea (hot or iced), coffee, bourbon, scotch, cocoa, and I think some fruit punch in the fridge. 

Speaking as a woman...

...this is why I hate so many other women.

Pieces like this get written, then guys react like this, and feminist scholars, women who couldn't attract (and keep) a man if her life depended on it, and Democrat women (but I repeat myself) get all butt-hurt and scream "sexist!"

When I was in grad school (back in early '04), I wound up forgetting the lunch I'd packed on the counter at our apartment, about a ten minute walk from my office.  It was winter, in northern Kansas, and cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.  And, because of the cold and damp (18" of snow and ice that kept accumulating because it kept snowing and didn't get out of the tweens for highs for a fraggin' month), an old sports injury had me hobbling around on a cane like an eighty-five year old woman. 

And I knew I had forgotten my lunch.  And I was resigned to going hungry until Odysseus came to pick me up for the day, around 5:30, after my class on how to teach class which didn't teach me anything about teaching--just about the theory of teaching. 

Then, he called me after my class let out, told me to meet him at the door.  I made it up the hall and up the elevator about the same time he ran in the building's back door.  He kissed me, told me to have a great day, and handed me my lunch.

One of my classmates/colleagues was standing nearby.  She'd just gone through a nasty divorce, and her eyes were watering with her mouth hanging open.  "Why can't I find a guy like that?" she asked.

I don't recall what I said, but I remember thinking, "because you have to let them keep their damn balls if you want them to act like a man, you dumb lefty bint." 

Another instance had me heading back to the department, enjoying one of the first days my knee wasn't killing me in six months--no armload of books and papers, just a single folder tucked under my arm.  Another of my female colleagues was juggling a double armload that she was trying to keep tucked between her forearms and her chin, and trying to open a pair of double doors at the same time.  Two sets of them--kind of like an airlock for cold weather.

Two of my male colleagues/classmates were standing nearby, watching and smoking.  Then I waved at one of them--a pretty good friend, at that point--and he nudged the other one.  The two of them dropped their cigarettes and jumped to open both sets of doors.

My female colleague was just inside the second set.  She'd not managed to not lose everything she was carrying, so she was sitting in the middle of a snowstorm of freshman composition papers.  "Why didn't they open the door for me?" she asked, staring pointedly at my single folder.

Since she was also directly in charge of the graduate teaching assistants, I just shrugged helplessly, and didn't say anything.  But, not two days earlier, I'd seen her snap both young men's heads off for doing for her what they'd just done for me.  

Horowitz wrote a screed about angry, immature boy-men, then was shocked that the gender she spent an entire book dissing struck back.  Of course, she brushed it off as just an example of exactly what she was talking about, but I don't think she realizes that a real adult holds a real job (not as a research academic in the sheltered workshops that major research universities have become--much to the detriment of the rest of higher education's reputation), and tend to vote with their wallet. 

Real adults understand that talking smack against half the population might well endear you to some of the other half, but will more than likely offend anyone with a brain in their head and an ounce of maturity.

Horowitz needs to put on her big-girl panties and deal with the fact that it's the fault of academics like her that most of a generation of men have been turned into either metrosexuals with bigger pussies than women, or woman-hating misogynists that would rather pay a woman to go away after he's done with her than get into a relationship. 

My last advice to women who read feminist theory like it's the truth handed down from God on high: Get off the drama-llama before you break its back.  If you can't find a man that meets your unrealistic standards, it's your own damn fault.

Been sick and tired (literally*) and busy...

Here's a bit of a tab-clearing post of stores I found interesting enough to want to snark about:

• I fully acknowledge that the surveillance drone was over public property when it was shot down, but really.  The animal rights douchenozzles were filming private property as a way to intimidate people out of shooting feathered rats.  So what if someone "mistook" a drone for just another pest to be shot at? 

• It's all about the money, bitches.  Nobody cares that home-packed lunches of salami sandwiches on wheat buns with apple juice is healthier than chicken nuggets--that lunch box brings no money into the cafeteria.  So, shut up and let Big Brother feed your child junk food under the self-righteous cover of making sure all the food groups are covered, okay?

• Yet another religious fanatic trying to suicide bomb the Capitol.  What will those fundie Baptists think of next?  Oh...wait.  Sorry.  My bad.  Wrong religion.

*Before any of my regular readers ask, no, I'm not pregnant again.  

Yeah, right.

Here's proof that parents should never sign a property title over to a child any sooner than in their will:  a man served his 98 year old mother with an eviction notice.  On her birthday.

The creep claimed that he was just concerned about her, that she'd fallen a few times.  Then he admitted that he hadn't been to visit her in eight months, and that he hadn't had a nursing home picked out when he served her with the eviction notice, then put the house up for sale.

I think somebody ought to look into the asshole's finances, and find out how close to bankruptcy he is. 

Welcome

Thanks, Rue, for clicking that follower button.  Let me know what you'd like to drink, and I shall provide (provided I actually have it). 

Thanks, and Welcome

Thank you, 45er of Barrel Smoke, for hitting the follower button.  Sit down, put your feet up, and let me know what you want to drink.  I got 10 year old bourbon, 15 year old single malt scotch, honey whiskey, hot cocoa, coffee, tea (hot or iced), and I think some orange juice.  Oh, and chocolate cookies, if you're hungry. 

I wanna play, too!

Stephen got tagged with a meme.  He didn't wanna tag anyone else, but it looked like fun, so here goes:

1. If you could pick a super power, what would it be?

On a Japanese cartoon (Naruto, for those who are curious), one character has the ability to clone himself several times to get tasks done/outnumber enemies in a fight, then dispel the clones when he's done.  As a work from home mother and housewife, I would give several years' worth of paychecks for an ability like that--I could usually use about four or five more of me to get everything done.

2.  If you could spend the day with someone (famous or not, still alive or not) who would it be?

My granddad (Mom's dad).  He died when I was six months old.  I'd love to get to know him, so that I could say I knew a grandparent that wasn't abusive in any way.

3. Have you ever won a contest, award, or prize?

A couple for writing--one for fiction, one for a scholarly essay.  Other than that?  Not really. 

4. Tell us something about yourself that we don't already know.

I knit.  I make a lot of my own sweaters, and made my daughter's christening gown.  I hate knitting cables, though.  

5. Take a picture of your desk where you keep your computer and post it without cleaning the desk first.


How am I supposed to do that?  I don't have a desk.  Work from home mom, remember?  My work is all done on a laptop, and I don't really have much of a workspace beyond my lap and an end table that I use as an "off-limits" place to put stuff I don't want the kids touching.  Someday, I hope to have an office/library with a desk, but right now, I don't.


As for tagging others...nobody has to play, but if you do, leave a comment telling me who is.  I'd like to get to know my readers better.

FFOT: Nanny-state, cradle-to-grave, pseudo-parental government

Government that thinks they know better than we do what's best for us, in everything from what we're allowed to eat, to what our children learn, to what we feed our children, to how we discipline our children, to whether or not we have to have a Cadillac health care plan, when we'd rather have a bare-bones Honda Civic plan and pay for the method of contraception of our choice (or not) and choose what's covered (or not), to what treatment we're allowed to have, can fuck off so hard that every other government in the fucking world can feel it.  I am so sick of the puritanical "we think that's bad for you, so we're going to legislate against it (or otherwise socially engineer against it)" attitude that I could spit.  Especially when "bad" is morally bad, when the fuckers don't have any fucking morals to begin with.

And I hope my glob of spit drowns some endangered bug, just to piss off some enviroweenie PETArd.  Because the EPA thinking they can get off telling American citizens what they can and can't do with their own private property--without even the courtesy of purchasing said property from the individual--can also fuck off.

I'm a little sick of the government, right now.  Especially after learning a bit more about Santorum earlier in the evening.  I am most definitely writing in Herman Cain in the general election.  Fuck this distinction without a difference that the lamebrain mainstream media has foisted upon us.

"...prohibiting free exercise thereof..."

It isn't the birth control issue, stupid.  I don't know of anyone who wants to control anybody else's sex life (other than the Democrats that want to force us all to accept all sexual practices as legitimate and normal).

I, personally, am pro-life.  I have carried two babies, and started feeling them move at about twelve or thirteen weeks after they were conceived.  I know they were alive.  I believe that abortion should not be legal after about the eight week mark when the heart starts beating on its own, unless something about the pregnancy is killing the baby.

Abortion is not contraception.  Contraception is the prevention of sperm and egg meeting, and/or the prevention of the implantation of the results of such.  Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy.  And, since most women don't know they're pregnant until they're about six or so weeks at the earliest, and most doctors won't see them until 9-12 weeks, abortion is murder.

I do not, however, foist my beliefs off on others.  If someone wants to get an abortion, let them pay for it themselves.  And may God have mercy on them. 

I deeply and powerfully resent the government telling me that I have to pay for abortions for stupid sluts that don't understand how to use contraception.

I also deeply resent the government telling a religious organization--any religious organization--that they must act against their beliefs to be in compliance with a law.  The text of the first amendment to the Constitution reads "Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

The Catholic Church doesn't require non-Catholics to abide by their beliefs.  They don't require non-Catholics to work for them, nor do they require non-Catholics that do work for them to abstain from using the birth control method of their choice, or from seeking to murder a baby in the womb.  The Church simply doesn't pay for such, because of a belief (right or wrong) that doing such is acting to take the timing out of God's hands.

Again, to make it clear: it's not the birth control, stupid--it's that we don't want to pay for someone else's consequence-free fornication.

Thank God so many are raising their voice against this law.  I wouldn't put it past the... individual... currently in office to pull a Henry II if it were just one bishop/archbishop/cardinal opposing him.

Why we're home schooling, part II

I will not have my children's lunches tampered with.  The imp adores peanut butter sandwiches (no jelly, just Peter Pan Honey Peanut Butter), and they'd likely be sent home without letting him eat them.  The pixie loves chicken nuggets and crackers.  Maybe veggie straws would count with the food police, but I doubt it, since fruit and juice didn't, in this little girl's case.

I will not let teachers pimp my children to pedophiles. 

I will not let schools turn sex education over to those who will use the program to gin up business.  My son (3 years old) is already looking down waitress' blouses, when he can get away with it.  I doubt he's going to need any help with that attitude when he's older.

I will not let someone heap verbal abuse on my kids in the name of "coaching."  Yelling is one thing.  Calling girls--some of whom will likely develop eating disorders after this--"heifers,*" that's something else entirely.

If allusions to and practices of Christianity are barred in public schools, I'm not going to let my kids be brainwashed in a public school into following a different religion, or into thinking their religion is bad or wrong, or that they're bad or wrong for not following someone else's god.

And anyone who thinks they know better than someone who sees the end result of public education what my children need from an education has their head firmly planted somewhere dark, damp, and...fragrant.

*I assume all who read this blog know what a heifer is, but I'll define it for the occupidiot that's been trolling lately: a heifer is a young female cow that hasn't calved, yet--when applied to young girls, it implies that they're fat and clumsy.

Interesting, but not really unexpected

Last week, a YouTube video of a father shooting his daughter's laptop after a Facebook post made the rounds.  Many of my students in both classes commented on the video in their weekly blog assignments.  Reactions tended to be one of three: "way to go!" "I understand, but that was too far," and "how dare he!"

The unsurprising part was the way the reactions were divided: parents of teenagers; older adults that either weren't parents, or whose kids hadn't reached teenage years; and young adults, respectively.

I'm betting many of the young adults that Ricki and I have would have benefited greatly from a parent that handed out consequences for bad behavior like the guy that shot his daughter's computer did.

thanks

TinCan Assassin, thanks for hitting that follower button.  Help yourself to coffee, cookies, and/or my liquor cabinet. 

Welcome

Robert, thanks for hitting that follower button.  There's a fresh pot of coffee brewing, or there's tea, and I think Coke.  Pick your caffeinated beverage, and grab a couple of chocolate cookies (fresh as of last night), sit back, and relax.

Easy baked potato soup

1 ½ c c Country Style peppered gravy mix (Morrison’s)

7 c water

1 lb frozen hash browns

4-8 slices bacon, fried & crumbled*

½ c green onions, sautéed*

1 ½ c cheddar cheese



1. Combine gravy mix with 1 c slightly warm water, mix with a whisk until thoroughly blended

2. In a large pan, combine 6 c water with hash browns, bring to full boil for 5 minutes before adding gravy.

3. Add gravy, stirring vigorously. Continue stirring until mixture thickens, approx. 1 minute.

4. Reduce heat and stir in sautéed onions, crumbled bacon, and shredded cheese.



My 14 month old daughter loves this. Odysseus, who had never before liked potato soup, likes this. It takes about fifteen minutes to make, so I love this.


*You can substitute a half a bag to a full bag of real bacon bacon bits for the fresh stuff--5-10 Tbsp.  And if you don't have green onions on hand, you can substitute dried minced or chopped onions.  Just put them in the water with the hash browns.

SNAP

When I first wrote about the trend toward de-stigmatizing food stamps, I was a little shocked.  I hadn't been paying attention to the various forms government aid took since...well, since I managed to get off of government aid.  Not long after that first post, I wrote a second, about the swelling numbers on food stamps--at that time, there were a bit over 40 million people dependent upon the government for their daily bread (or daily arugula, as the case may be).  After An Ordinary American wrote about his run-in with a couple of pigs wallowing in the slop, I got curious and looked up a current number.

In a year and a half, we have added over six million to that roll.*  The Huffington Post doesn't speculate about why, but says "The past three fiscal years have show a tremendous growth of SNAP usage. In 2008, about 28.2 million people used food stamps compared to about 33.5 million in 2009 and 40.3 million in 2010."

I can tell you why: Barack Obama and his merry band of morons have been systematically destroying industry (and, by extension, jobs) since they took office from Bush.  Add to that how much SNAP covers that it didn't when my family was dependent on it in my childhood, and it's just so easy, so comfortable, and doncha know, we're all entitled to sit back and let Big Brother take care of us!  If pizza places, convenience stores, and some McDonalds will take SNAP EBT cards, why not? 

How do we fix this?

Easy: get rid of the EBT cards.  Bring back the thick envelopes with stapled packets of Monopoly money--ones, fives, tens, and a few twenties.  Reduce the amount of crap that food stamp "cash" can buy, and how much "change" you can get from overpaying for something like a pack of gum.

No processed foods (except for canned fruit, veggies, and juice).  No hot meals, not even from the deli at Wal-Mart.  No take-and-bake pizzas from Papa Murphy's.  No ice cream, no soda, no candy, no chips, no snack-cakes, no bakery goods.

Better yet, take food stamps, and turn it into a WIC-style rationing system--staples only: beans, rice, hamburger, whole chickens, flour, sugar, salt, etc.--complete with a free cook book, and/or cooking lessons for those too stupid to read a cookbook and figure out instructions.  Don't laugh--they're out there, in college (Ricki has had a few in her labs, and I always have several every semester), and they vote.

Which brings me to the last, but most of all: remove the ability to vote from those who are satisfied to sit back and let the rest of us haul their weight. 

If and when they pull their head out of their @$$es, get off their @$$es, and start paying their own way, then, and only then, should they be allowed to vote.

*Last year's total spending on this was 71.8 billion dollars.  So far this fiscal year--October and November of last year is all they had figures for, for this, Big Brother has spent 12.4 billion.  That projects out to, at minimum 74.4 billion dollars.  Where do they think this is going to come from, with so many people taking from this program, and more losing their jobs every day? 

Okay, who are we supposed to feel sorry for?

A bottom feeder nearly got ran over by a pedophile's wife.  I'm having a little bit of a hard time figuring out which is the supposedly sympathetic character in this particular news story. 

That's racist! How dare you!

Wait...Samuel L. Jackson can't be racist.  He's black, and blacks can't be racist, by the Left's definition.  Only white folks can be racist.

But this sure sounds like it to me: “I voted for Barack because he was black. ...[Obama’s] message didn’t mean sh-t to me." 

Also in the article was this:

"Jackson previously made political headlines in October, when he agreed with fellow actor Morgan Freeman’s assessment that the Tea Party was 'racist.'

'It’s pretty obvious what they are,' Jackson said in an interview with New York Magazine.  'The division of the country is not about the government having too much power. I think everything right now is geared toward getting that guy out of office, whatever that means.'

Jackson continued, 'It’s not politics. It is not economics. It all boils down to pretty much to race. It is a shame.'"

Okay, first thing: it is politics and economics.  Most in the Tea Party doesn't give a flying shart what color Obamoron's skin happens to be.  Note that most of us would jump at the chance to put Alan West in office, and many of would have voted for Herman Cain if the left-backed media hadn't done such a superb job of character assassination.  

Second...didn't he just admit that he is the racist?  That he voted for Obamoron because he was black?  And I'd be willing to bet that he aren't listening to the Tea Party's grievances because they're white.  Sounds like the only racist here is Samuel L. Jackson.

Grading done. Again.

Blogs, this time.  At least, it's done for now.  I've got a whole 'nother batch of papers coming in Monday.  Hiss.  Spit.  Cuss.

There goes my plans for Valentine's Day.  Do you know how long it's been since I've been able to go shooting with Odysseus, instead of trading off who's watching the kids while the other one gets trigger time?

Papers graded...

Twenty of them.  In two days.  At about five (for an A paper) to twenty-five (for a significantly worse paper) minutes per draft.  With a migraine. 

I could not have done it without Odysseus's help.  I owe him another afternoon at the range on another non-Monday, warm day off. 

I sincerely hope I wake up tomorrow without the migraine that's been kicking my ass for the past three days.  I've got blogs to grade tomorrow, then I've got Comp I papers coming in on Monday (Odysseus's next day off). 

If you want a quiet welcome, you'll have to wait an hour for the kids' bedtime.

Still. Thanks to DaddyBear of DaddyBear's Den for hitting that follower button.  You're welcome to have a seat and put your feet up, anyway.  I can find a couple of free seconds to pour you your drink of choice of what I got--bourbon, scotch, Irish cream (including an interesting pumpkin spice that tastes like pumpkin cheesecake), coffee, tea (hot or cold), hot cocoa, or a juice box.  Fruit punch.

FFOT: A list, this week.

I have several, this week:

• Migraines.
• Grading
• Migraines when I have grading to do.
• Special snowflakes that squawk about how they don't understand an assignment, so they didn't do it.  
• Special snowflakes that don't read the textbook before squawking about not understanding an assignment, so they didn't do it. 
• Special snowflakes that wonder why they got a zero on that assignment that they didn't read the chapter over, didn't understand, and didn't do (see a theme here, people?  There's more than one of them.  There's more than two.  I've got seven out of forty-six enrolled.)
• The idiot judge that set Jerry Sandusky's bail at anything less than half a billion dollars.  
• Teachers, babysitters, and daycare workers that molest their charges.  If anyone wonders why I don't put my kids in daycare, or leave them with a babysitter...explain to me exactly how you can.
• The current totalitarian regime in Washington, D.C., and their discriminatory actions against the majority of U.S. citizens in their trampling of the first, second, fourth, and fifth amendments.

I think that's it for me.  Go ahead and have at it.  What's bugging you?

Patterns

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions.—Karl Marx

Most people have heard at least part of this quote—“the opium of the people,” or, alternatively, “opiate of the masses.”  Out of context, it’s enough of a signifier of the thought processes of the socialist transnational progressivist. 

 In context, it’s downright alarming, especially when we take a look at what the government is doing as we sit back and say “I’m not Jewish, so the ghetto means nothing to me.” 

The story that’s the most likely to pass under the average person’s radar is this: the government is denying student loan forgiveness to any who are called to the ministry, or any who choose to work for an evangelical church.  We go on through the current brouhaha over Mandatory Medicaid (also known as Obamacare) forcing Catholic institutions to provide health insurance that covers contraceptives and abortion* to employees, and Catholic hospitals and health providers to provide the same, despite both being horribly contrary to what the Catholic church teaches.   

(I’m sorry, Ms. Dahlkemper, you should have insisted on knowing what was in the bill before voting to pass it.  By your own beliefs, your soul will be judged according to your dereliction of duty to yourself, your constituents, and your God.)

The whole forcing religious employers and health care providers to sin against their own understanding of God’s word isn’t all we’re facing, though.  We’re also facing further infringement upon our Constitutionally-protected right of worship in other ways, such as this.  I will be the first in line to dispense justice to pedophiles, no matter their station in society—in fact, the higher they are on the social ladder (*cough* Sandusky *cough*), the less inclined I am to allow any leniency, because you know they used their position to find more and better victims, as well as hush it up afterwards.  However, that said, I do not think that the government has any right to force the Church to violate the sanctity and confidentiality of the confessional, any more than they have the right to force a psychological-care professional to turn over notes on a patient.   That’s somewhat like forcing someone to testify against themselves (not that our current black-robed tyrants have any problem with that, either).

I think that the ones that think they’re in charge are assuming that most Americans buy into their whole “living document” argument with regards to whether the Constitution is still relevant, or whether it says what it says, or what they think it should mean.  Most of us don’t agree.  I’ll grant it’s not as large of a majority as I’d feel comfortable with, but still.  Our founders meant the Constitution to be written in stone, to be a fetter on government’s desire to control those it should serve. 

What the current totalitarian-leaning regime forgets is that we are not subjects.  We are full citizens, descended from those who left England for unimagined hardships, because they would not go against their religious conscience.  We, the people, will fight not only this mandate, but any trampling of our God-given, Constitutionally-protected rights.

*For some odd reason, abortions and abortion-inducing drugs are considered “contraceptives.”  They’re not.  A contraceptive prevents conception.  An abortion terminates the product of conception.  Two different things, even if the Catholic church holds both a sin.  Personally, I think abortion is murder, but it’s not my job to force my view on others.  That is fully between the individual and God, but don’t expect me to have any sympathy when they realize that they stopped a beating heart, and feel remorse and depression.  Also, don’t expect me to do any less than call a pro-abortion but anti-capital punishment stance hypocritical. 

Not fun.

I woke up with a migraine, yesterday.  Still have it, today.  I also have about nineteen papers that came in last night, and I have 72 hours, by contract, to grade them.

If I weren't contractually required to have that kind of turn-around, I'd likely wait to grade them until the migraine had gone away (or at least, eased), because I have a really hard time being a fair and objective grader when I'm in pain. 

Here's hoping I don't get myself in trouble by telling students that obviously didn't bother to read the textbook chapter covering the assignment that they're too dumb to be in college and they should just drop out now.

I am not a subject of the United Nations.

I don't have any idea how they think they could levy this tax.  I don't know how they think they can collect it.  Or how they can enforce collection of it from individuals who refuse to pay their tax to support the corrupt, sex-slave-selling kleptocrats that will be the main beneficiaries, despite what they say. 

Especially when those who refuse to pay are better armed and have more testicular fortitude than any of the troops they can field, despite being civilian citizens of a (unfortunately still) member nation.

Hello, and welcome...

...to Keads over at Another Day.....Another......  Thanks for hitting that follower button.  Pull up a seat, standard drinks offer applies...unless you want to clean guns with us in the kitchen, where there's nowhere to put your feet up.  I'm fresh out of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but I'll be making either cocoa drop cookies (recipe in My Recipes tab, for those who are curious), or modified vanishing oatmeal raisin cookies tomorrow.  Any preferences?

Welcome

Hobo of hillbilly hobo's blog clicked my follower button sometime between last night and when I checked in a few minutes ago.  Since it's so late, I don't have any coffee made, but there's always hot tea and hot cocoa--both quite nice on a night where we've got rain/mist at 38 degrees (and falling fast).  Put your feet up and grab a book--you're always welcome, here.

If anyone wants to know why we're home schooling our kids...

This.  This.  This.  Oh, and this.  Not to mention this.

First of all, I'm not sending my kids to public school.  Period.  I won't send them to a left-leaning private institution that costs more than the university I teach at, either.

I won't send them to school before I've taught them what can and cannot be done with and to them, by either their peer group or their teachers, and how to recognize a predator's BS.  Probably not before they've had enough martial arts classes to be able to get away from someone trying to force the issue.

I won't send them to a school that will not hold itself accountable for what's taught in the classroom.  I am not a socialist, despite my upbringing.  I will not let a teacher, and the school protecting the teacher, to brainwash my kids into it.

I absolutely will not trust anyone to teach my kids the basics of reading and writing, math, geography, history, and civics.  I am a college teacher, and I've seen the products of public "education."

Not for my kids.  I'm raising future adults, not future idiot special snowflakes.

Just because I respect the office...

I won't use the title when I call Eric Holder names.  I think he may possibly be the worst pube ever stuck in the chair--and that's counting Janet Reno, who muffed Waco and seized a six year old at gunpoint to be sent back to communist Cuba.

Judging by Holder's records in testimony, the Know-Nothings have reversed who they discriminate against.  And he apparently doesn't appreciate being shown for the ignorant, racist, twatwaffle with apparent symptoms of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome that he is.  Nor is he above making fun of someone for being a hick from a non-seaboard state, so he's an insecure, whiny, school-yard-caliber bully, as well.

Again, this has nothing to do with the office of Attorney General.  I have deep respect for that, and all Constitutional offices. 

Dumb prick should never have set up American law enforcement officers to be murdered just so he could try to disarm us for his favorite piece of cheap, tasteless, milk chocolate.

A good look into a Bug-Out Bag

Bill has a nice, long post dedicated to one here.  He's got a good look at the first few hours' survival here.  Useful stuff.

First paper coming up

I try, try really hard, to make my two writing classes relevant and useful to my students, especially outside college.  Neither of my classes write personal essays for my class--that's usually all they've done to this point, and most of them haven't really had much life experience to write about yet.  Honestly, I think the whole focus on the self in writing is a symptom of the more irritating effects the whole self-esteem movement has had in education.  Same as Special Snowflake syndrome, which the whole "personal narrative" assignment feeds.

My composition classes either focus on analysis (comp I) or persuasive writing (comp II).  If I'm supposed to teach "critical thinking skills,"* I'm gonna teach them.  Personal narrative in any form doesn't teach--it's therapy, which I'm not qualified for nor interested in giving.

My comp II class has their first paper coming due next week--an evaluation argument.  They're allowed to choose their own topic and paper style (movie review, product comparison, etc.), so I think they're getting an idea about how the skills they're learning transfer to other situations.  I have had several students tell me in the past that the paper has helped them make a decision in a major purchase (which is what they've written about), or that it's helped them convince a spouse or parent that what they wanted in the first place better suited their needs than the other person's preferences. 

The papers are due Wednesday.  I need to have them back no later than Monday morning.

My comp I class's first paper is a little different, and is one I taught in my master's program: they have to go sit somewhere for five minutes, recording their sensory input, and then write two descriptions--one offering a happy, positive view of their surroundings and state of mind; and the other one doing exactly the opposite.  And the two paragraphs have to be describing the same place at the same time.  Then, they have to analyze how they did it, using five tools that were described in their chapter.  Much of the time, I have students telling me that the paper makes them more aware of how words are used by media sources and politicians, and that it's made them a far more wary audience, once they've learned how easy it is to "spin" something. 

Those papers are due Monday.  I need to have those back no later than Thursday morning. 

Yeah, you read my timetable right: I have, by contract, 72 hours from the time my students hand their papers in to get them graded and back to them, all with substantive feedback.  It's really gonna suck when I have two sections of the same class, because with the way the class website is set up, I basically have one big class.  The distance learning program has both sections of a class loaded into one site, so I won't be able to stagger due dates.  It's hard enough grading twenty to twenty-five 1000-word (or so) essays--I'm not sure I'd be able to manage to grade forty to fifty.

I do understand putting a contractual deadline on us--I have colleagues that might, might, get their students' work graded and handed back a month after they'd initially turned it in--however, I don't think three days is sufficient for writing classes.  I always tried really hard to get it all done in a week, and I think I gave better, more substantive feedback (and I know I gave more feedback to the better students) before I was limited to three days for my grading. 

I'm trying not to complain, but my paying job really interferes in my most important job, sometimes.  With this new contractual grading timetable, I have a lot less time during paper grading for my kids, and a lot less energy and patience for them.  I really wish the individuals that imposed the deadline on us actually taught classes and had grading that couldn't be done by computer--and the three day deadline to get their grading (complete with feedback analysis on the assignment/test for the students' benefit required).  As it is, I don't think they teach, much less teach anything as grading intensive as a writing class.

*Critical thinking?  I teach writing--a skill-based, not philosophy-based class.  I don't teach thinking patterns so much as I teach a specific skill-set.  I suppose it's better to try to teach them how to think, than think I need to teach them what to think, like so many of my colleagues do.

Welcome

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to M Sgt B over at My Muse shanked me who hit my follower button sometime before I got up this morning.  I'm going to have to go get the baby up, but then I'll be going into the kitchen and grinding the coffee beans for a fresh pot.  It's too early to offer much else, but you're welcome to that. 

Just be warned: I make my coffee strong.

The victim plantation

A number of years ago, I was diagnosed by a psychologist (only one that ever did me any good) with depression caused by learned helplessness. He explained that such was caused by...well...to put it delicately, an individual who wanted me to stay at home and safe, if unhappy.  It wasn't just a wake-up call, but an obnoxious, blaring alarm that threw cold water on me and yanked my blankets off, all at once.  I knew he was right, no matter how little I wanted to admit it.

Basically, I'd spent my whole life up to that point being told that, no matter what I tried to do, nothing would ever get any better for me. 

He told me that if I ever wanted to recover from it, I needed to get up and do something about it.  Then he explained, in no uncertain terms, that if I didn't, I'd never be able to get over being a victim of my abuse.
 
I can see how right he is by comparing my life (productive member of society, happily married to my best friend, two wonderful children, lots of friends and friendly acquaintances...) and my sister's. 

She's almost thirty, and doesn't have a GED, much less a diploma.  She has no friends.  She's on SSI for her emotional disability--not a physical one.  She still lives at home.  Most of her time is spent in her room, often in the dark.  Most of her contact with the outside world is through her computer and internet.  And, year by year, she's more and more afraid to come out of her safe little cocoon.  And she doesn't try, because she doesn't believe that anything she can possibly do can improve even the least little thing about her life.  She never quit listening to the individual that won't let her fly, but might let her sing.

She's got so many gifts: she's great with children and animals, and is seriously one of the best cooks I've ever encountered.  She's a gifted, if untaught, musician--playing the piano and the violin. 

There are so many individuals out there like that.  My claimed-kin who went shooting with me works in a battered women's shelter, and has met several. 

I've considered taking classes and becoming an NRA-certified instructor, and volunteering my time helping abused women learn to protect themselves.  God knows that close-in hand-to-hand self-defense isn't going to work--many, if not most, of these women are abused by a man: bigger, stronger, and easily able to physically overpower their victim of choice.  Our best choice, as a physically smaller, weaker sex is to use an equalizer: a gun. 

I spoke to my claimed-kin about it, and she said that the shelter would never accept it.  Guns are evil, doncha know.  Worse than some creep that'll beat his wife to death.  Sure, she'll be dead, but she at least didn't bring lead and gunpowder into the equation, so she's somehow morally better than I am.

I'm real sure her kids agree.

I'm beginning to think that shelters are trying to keep victims victims, instead of helping them learn to be survivors. 

Hello, and welcome...

...to SoCal Blogger.  Put your feet up and relax, and let me pour you something.  I note here that you're a recovering alcoholic, so I'm amending the usual offer: I got cocoa, coffee, hot tea, and iced tea--your pick. 

FFOT: for Stephen (nearly no language)

Overly-pessimistic medical staff can FTFO.  When my imp was born, eight weeks early, doctors told me I wouldn't be able to take him home until his due date.  The nurses told me more honestly that he'd have to meet certain standards of growth, and there'd be advances and setbacks, but that it was entirely possible he'd be able to come home sooner than the beginning of December. 

Stephen, of Standing Outside Looking In, has been in the hospital for a while, now--untreated puncture wound getting infected, then getting gangrene (treatable, but painful), so he can use prayers from anyone who prays, and good, healing thoughts from the rest of us--and has a way to go.  A doctor recently told him he's got three months before he'll be totally better. 

That can FTFO.  Yes, it's going to be a long and painful road, but that long?  I doubt it, not with all of the loving family he's got, and all of the friends he's got both in real life and online, praying for him.

I understand that the docs are trying not to get our hopes up, but I think that's as damaging to recovery as expecting too much of ourselves while we're sick.  I think doctors need to remember that most of us don't have the same kind of expertise that lets them tell when another doctor is feeding them a line of bull while they're sick, and give us a more realistic timetable, as well as the worst case scenario.

I wonder if it's also partially motivated by a fear of lawsuits?

The other FO I had for his sake will be resolved tonight: they hadn't let his beautiful and angelic five year old granddaughter do more than poke her head in for a couple of minutes.  Tonight they get a good visit that includes a good, long hug.