Let's give thanks for our blessings.

For each and every person born or naturalized to this nation have been blessed.

I'm thankful that I'm an American, with a founding document that forbids the government from interfering with my God-given rights to talk about anything I want. I'm thankful that I have a voice in firing a government that I don't think is doing its job right, and hiring its replacement.

I'm thankful that I'm married to my best friend and partner. I'm deeply thankful for that, despite never having had an example of a healthy marriage to base my expectations on.

I'm thankful that I have at least a part-time job that I love doing. I wish I could be in front of a classroom again, but I'm also extremely thankful that I had the option of staying home with my young son and teaching all online.

I'm thankful for my son's spectacularly good health, despite his rough start.

I'm thankful, deeply thankful, that I'm still pregnant with my daughter, despite the discomfort. Each week she stays put makes it more likely that we'll avoid another long hospital stay with her.

I'm thankful for each and every one of my friends, whether they're real life friends or blog friends. OldCatMan, Mousie, Ricki, Ken, and many others--you all mean a lot to me.

I'm thankful that despite my rough childhood, I managed to grow up with remarkably few lasting issues.

The things I'm thankful for are never far from at least part of my mind. I may not express it often in public, but I never forget to Whom the thanks is due.

Lessons forgotten, but not obselete: Rudyard Kipling's take

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

(1919)

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-bourne like the Gods of the Market-Place.
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings.
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Heading said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstone we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbor and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four--
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

* * *

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man --
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began --
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire --
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Illogical.

Recently, a blog I read posted a list of types of blame-the-victim rape apologists. I found it pretty accurate, and kind of funny, honestly. I didn't comment, because at first, I didn't have anything to say.

Then, in the comments, things got ugly. I don't know what it is about women in general and radical (or at least borderline radical) feminists in specific that takes any reasonable point made by a man and twists it to mean (in their mind) that all men are either rapists, or blame-the-victim apologists.

Actually, I think I do understand: women's brains tend to disengage when they perceive that someone is disagreeing with them. That tends to lead to the types of rather hysterical attacks, instead of the realization nobody disagrees with them. The men they're attacking as apologists also don't want women to be raped. However, since women tend to want to vent, and men tend to listen and try to think of ways to fix the problem, the men offer logical suggestions (i.e., don't drink way too much around people you probably don't know).

Women don't want to hear the logical, reasonable suggestions. They counter with "I should be able to drink as much as I want, anywhere I want, wearing whatever I want, and nobody should harass me about it." And then, they attack the man who dared offer constructive suggestions as if he was a rapist.

In a perfect world, they'd be right that they should never have to be careful. However, this world is not perfect. It has not been perfect since the first couple disobeyed their Maker in the one thing he told them not to do. Yes, we have the right to do what we want, when we want, however we want--however, just as it's the responsibility of any individual not to attack another, each of us also has the responsibility to do our utmost to protect ourselves. It is not anyone else's responsibility. It is definitely not the responsibility of a man--not even my husband--to defend me, now that I'm an adult.

However, it seems that just pointing out that this isn't a perfect world, and it is each individual's responsibility to maintain situational awareness and protect themselves is, in certain circles, tantamount to blaming the victim for the attack. And, as such, is as reprehensible as the rapist himself.

It's just another reason I dislike most other women. I prefer to hang around with people who use their brains as much as they do their emotions. Maybe that makes me a misogynist; however, since I am a woman, by certain arguments, I cannot be one.

Sorry I've been out of touch.

We're all doing fine, for the most part--I'm just insanely busy between teaching two classes, assistant-teaching a third, chasing around a two-year-old imp that's decided he wants to play with me a lot more often than he used to, and trying to avoid stress (i.e., political news) that might cause our daughter to come earlier than she otherwise might.

I'll try to write a few things, but make no promises.

My imp turned two, today.

It's been a hell of a ride--born eight weeks early, spent his first five weeks in the NICU, and is still playing catch-up with full term babies, in some respects--but I wouldn't change him for the world.

I'll add pictures, later. It's amazing how much he's grown.

I say again: gun free zones = target rich environments

The University of Texas in Austin has had that demonstrated again. As have a house party in anti-gun New Jersey, and a family in anti-gun Boston.

The only thing gun laws do is disarm the law abiding.

Ironies: the spice of life.

There were, for a change, a couple of news stories I ran across that had me snickering from the irony.

First up: green shopping (i.e., bringing your own bags) is good for the environment, but bad for the shopper. Apparently, no one thinks to wash their bags, and they get full of bacteria that make people sick.

I guess those plastic Wal-Mart bags aren't so evil, after all, huh? If hippies feel guilty about just throwing them away, they could always use them for other things: they make great packing padding for glassware, or great small trashcan liners.

Or, if the hippies are still too down on disposable bags, they can always just get sick. No skin of my nose, and they have been warned, now.

Second: Minnesota is running out of money for their unemployment offices. Guess who's being let go? Here's a hint: it's not the admin staff. No, they're letting the job counselors go.

I guess it's time for the counselors to counsel themselves.

Food nannies

Talk about part of OCM's 90%! Anyone that can take candy (or chocolate milk) from kids really deserves to fuck off.

work, work, work.

I finally got everything set up and going with my classes. Just in time to pick up their first papers--21 for one class, and 16 for the other. I think I might be able to get done with grading this week, if I can keep on schedule of a third of a class per day.

Wish me luck.

WTF?!

Fall doesn't start until Thursday! And it's already snowing in north central Montana!

I guess the warming part of the natural climate cycle is definitely over.

Why people shouldn't store their guns in the "proper" manner.

My husband and I do store our rifles in the proper manner: in a locked closet with the ammo (and some magazines) in a different location.

We do not store our pistols in the same manner.

Yes, each handgun is out of the toddler's reach; however, there is a loaded pistol in almost every room of our house where we spend a significant amount of time (with the exception of the imp's room).

Want to know why? This is a good demonstration of what happens when people follow the "accepted, proper gun safety" advice.

I'm not saying our local law enforcement is as incompetent as those in Cheshire, CT; however, when your door is being kicked in by thugs intent on harming you and yours, you have seconds, at most, to react. You don't have the five to ten minutes, minimum, it will take for your 911 call to fetch a response from a competent law enforcement office (longer for the incompetent ones).

It is not the responsibility of the police to prevent crime. It is the responsibility of the police to investigate, solve, and punish crime. It is up to each and every individual one of us to protect ourselves.

And we can only do that if we're prepared for the worst case scenario, and are armed, even in our own homes.

Arrogant and stupid.

This post doesn't reference politics, for once. Nor does it have anything to do with popular culture. No, this one was sparked by my total contempt for people of faith that claim to know the mind of God.

This family is a very good example of this. They're trying to force a private, Catholic high school to permit their son to enroll, despite their refusal to get the kid the vaccinations to protect the other students. Their justification is that, since we're all made in the image of God, introducing anything into the body (such as immunizations) is a violation of the will of God.

I've got several issues with this. First and foremost, they have no right to force a private high school to allow their son to attend. Were it a public school, I'd question their intelligence in wanting to enroll him so badly, but not their rights. Second, not getting their son vaccinated endangers all of the kids around him. Last, they've decided that they know the mind of God better than almost everyone else in the world, which contains several different problematic issues that caught my attention.

That last issue is the main one that gets me: their claim that the body is perfect as it is, and should have nothing else introduced to mar that perfection of being created in the image of God is a dangerously narrow-minded, too-literal interpretation of one single passage. Yes, we are made in the image of God--but which part of us? God is spirit: spirit does not include body. I believe it was our souls that were made in God's image.

Personally, I believe God pushed the start button on the big bang, and on evolution, and sat back to watch the show unfold until something developed that was complex enough to house the soul: homo sapiens. Like Mousie, I believe Genesis was never meant to be interpreted as literally as some ignorant individuals do: "It is impossible to look at Genesis and believe that its main intent is natural history. It makes a spectacularly bad natural history."

That entire idea that the body is perfect, and that nothing should be introduced is a very dangerous one: what about infections? Does that mean they'll not permit their kid to be treated with antibiotics? What about cancer? Will they sentence their child to a painful death, because of their belief that intervening in the body is a sin? There are verses that mention that the body is a temple to God, but that's in reference to intoxicants and sexual promiscuity, mutilation and self-harm: things that can and often do cause irreparable harm to both body and soul, not to things intended to preserve health and life. Like antibiotics. Like cancer treatments.

Like immunization vaccines.

If those idiot parents truly believe that their bodies are perfect, and that nothing should be introduced, maybe they need to be forced to follow that belief themselves, and starved to death.

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one.

I haven't heard much of Lady Gaga's music. What I have heard gets stuck in my head to the point I want to knock myself unconscious to get rid of it.

Still, that's not what's formed my impression of her. I feel much the same way about The Beatles' music. No, my impression of her is that she's totally fake. Plastic. Not even as real as Barbie, who at least usually sports a happy smile.

What scares me is that most of her fans don't see just how fake she is. Camille Paglia suggests it's because they're so immersed in electronic communication (Facebook, texting, anything but face-to-face, voice to voice communication) that they simply can't see the difference between a put up, faked-up, electric persona and a real person.

I'm not saying that Lady Gaga can't sing--even The Beatles could sing, and I really hate their music with very few exceptions. All I'm saying is that her persona is disturbing on a level that was, and is, difficult to articulate. I wonder if the artist is still in there, or if somehow the manufactured doll put out by the music industry is all that's left.

Happy anniversary.

Nine years. Today. Right now, in fact.

And we're still only marginally safer now than we were then.

I've heard people whining for years, now, that the reason they hate us is because we're belligerent. That we export a culture offensive to Islam, with the nudity, sex, and alcohol routinely portrayed in the media. That we should leave them to rule their world the way they see fit.

I don't recall United States citizens hijacking full passenger planes and ramming them into office buildings full of Muslims in Saudi Arabia, with American citizens celebrating in the streets of American cities as the buildings collapsed and the death tolls rose. Seems to me it happened the other way around.

I don't recall the United States forcing our culture on other nations in the name of religious tolerance. Seems to me that we're the ones bending over backwards to accommodate an enemy ideology, welcoming it into our midst like the idiots we are.

I don't recall any attempts by radical leftists--especially feminists--to force the same standards of behavior onto Muslims that they intimidate the rest of us in the West into, such as treating women, homosexuals, and those of other colors, beliefs, and nationalities as equal members of the human race. Seems to me those same radical leftists are too busy declaring the Muslim culture, which routinely stones rape victims to death because they're unchaste women, the moral equivalent of the culture where the rape victim is seen as a victim instead of punished as a criminal.

Nine years. We've spent nine years coddling a culture that aims suicide bombers at our troops, that buries bombs on roads that as often kill their own people as ours, that wants to force the entire world back into the seventh century, and under their own sandal heels.

People are angry. Politicians seem to have forgotten that the people who elected them have longer memories, don't see the "bigger picture" (if there is one), and only see that political correctness allows terrorists to stalk our armed forces from within their own ranks. Politicians beg us, "Please, oh please, don't provoke them."

What about us? What about the victory center that Islam wants to build on the very grounds that they destroyed nine years ago? What about the bibles, rosaries, Crucifixes, and other symbols of Christianity that are against the law to own in the middle east and are routinely burned in Saudi Arabia? What about the bibles we forced our own troops to burn so that we wouldn't offend those we were sent to subjugate so that they couldn't attack us again? Isn't that provoking us?

Is it any wonder that so many are behind the crazed pastors that want to burn the Koran today?

Nine years. I suspect this is only the first nine years in the next two hundred.

God knows we're not willing to do what's necessary to end it sooner, and prevent their "civilization" from destroying ours in the process.

From an e-mail

"YOU MIGHT BE A Radical MUSLIM IF..."

1. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to liquor.

2. You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.

3. You have more wives than teeth.

4. You wipe your butt with your bare hand, but consider bacon unclean."

5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.

6. You can't think of anyone you haven't declared Jihad against.

7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in your clothing.

8. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.

9. You have nothing against women and think every man should own at least four.

10. Your cousin is president of the United States

What part of "...shall not..." don't they understand?

I swear, we need to add a written test on our Constitution to our requirements for holding public office, especially for congresscritters. There is no way the second amendment can be misunderstood by any rational person (which automatically excludes lawyers, like the ones who wrote the explanation linked to the amendment) who has actually read it.

Regardless, since they couldn't get the EPA to do their dirty work, the administration is trying to restrict our rights to keep and bear arms by restricting and more heavily regulating the manufacturing end of things.

Contrasts

I honestly believe the FBI when they say that Muslims are going to get violent over the Koran burning coming up.

The interesting thing is that, not only was there no violence incited when the Islamofacists burn the Bible, crosses, and other Christian artifacts, but Christian soldiers were ordered to burn Bibles translated into the two most common Afghan languages (and obeyed those orders) rather than permit Islamofacists to believe that we were trying to convert their slaves to Christianity.

And the media is always far more worried about right-wing Christian violence that never materializes. Go figure.

I don't mind part of their idea.

Giving gang members jobs might well work--provided the jobs are behind walls, concertina wire, patrolled by individuals with training and rifles, and involve taking the individuals in question off the streets.

Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. First of all, since it's Chicago, it's far more likely that the individuals saying that they're only violent because their lives suck* will be handed the jobs and privileges taken from the law-abiding. They are, after all, helpless victims of the welfare culture that removed productive role-models (hard-working fathers) from the home in the 60's and 70's.

Second, and most importantly, these are criminals, and government only wants to prevent the law abiding from using violence to defend ourselves from the violent. Only the law-abiding are a threat to the government.

After all, what is our current government but a "legal" gang?

Funny, how they won't take their own medicine.

I recently read a story that I've been kind of thinking about since. A man who worked for a teachers' union (UFT, specifically) decided that the union's non-teacher employees deserved the same benefits as the teachers they represented, and tried to get his coworkers unionized.

The UFT fired him.

It occurred to me that there was something wrong when the union doesn't want to give the same benefits to their employees that they fight for for the ones they represent.

After I thought about it for a while longer, I started to wonder: if the unions (the biggest business of them all) can't afford that kind of salary, benefits, and vacation package, can we, the taxpayers, afford that for all teachers?

I'm not saying that some teachers don't earn it. Many earn it many times over. Jaime Escalante is a very good example of "Whatever they're paying him, it isn't enough."

However, with dropout and fail rates increasing (though being hidden by schools' massaging of the numbers), literacy and numerical literacy rates falling to the point that some kids don't qualify for community college remedial math classes, and students (and employers) holding the opinion that people have to have a degree to be qualified to work, maybe we can't afford to keep giving our teachers so much.

We've proved over the past quarter of a century that throwing more money at the problem hasn't solved it. Teachers' unions stand firmly against merit pay bonuses, so maybe starting teachers and ineffective teachers need to be forced into pay and benefit cuts.

Effectively, yeah: that may be classified as merit pay. But it's really not that hard to determine which teachers deserve it. All we have to do is compare apples to apples: test all students in one school grade, with the same test, at the beginning and end of the year, throw out the highest and lowest scorers in each class, and compare the medians. Students know who the best teachers are; why can't administrations figure it out?

A good example of why holsters are always a good idea.

Seriously, people: do not put loaded guns in your back pocket--or front pocket, or down your pants--without a holster made to go there. You'll shoot your butt (or something more valuable) off.