I Know Stuff!

H/T: Mr. Perfect

Encouraging Visionary

Who knew?

Me, that's who!

What's your Personal DNA?

(warning: Not a short and simple quiz.)

Excuses, Excuses

OP-ED by The Uber-Conservative
12 March 2006


"That's loser talk!"










No, I wasn't kidnapped by a wild eyed band of Baptists, nor was I playing Nightingale to anyone I almost killed. This time my absence was due to a frigged up thingymajig (that normally enables an internet connection). I got a new thingymajig now, though, so I'm back.

Yay!

Thanks to all who continue to visit and comment throughout my frequent disappearances. You so schweet! :)

This morning I'm laying out of church to blog, just because I missed y'all so much. Ok, I'm also laying low because some kid decided to tell everyone that I said "That's loser talk!" when the Sunday school teacher told the children that they were all winners of some silly contest. haha Ok honestly, I'm laying out because I just don't want to go this morning. The "loser talk" issue has given me something to blog about, though.

I don't remember saying that but I don't doubt that I did. It was likely during a game of front yard football. Hey, I also threw the uber-teen at a grown man because she wasn't blocking me very well and at some point yelled "Move it Brittany!" (as in Spears) because she looked scared and froze with the ball instead of running after only accidentally catching it while throwing her hands up to block her face. I can't be held responsible for my actions while playing football (read: won't be). It's all in good fun. It must be fun, they keep coming back for s'more even though I can't be taken down. Bwahahaha!

While I wouldn't exactly yell "That's loser talk!" in Sunday school, let's be realistic here. Competitiveness is fun and winning is fun too. The fun of competitiveness (and the urge to win) is the reason adults use contests to get kids to do things in the first place. What is the lesson in claiming that everyone is a winner after one tries and works hardest of all? I think it tells the real winner that they'll not be rewarded any more than someone who didn't work so hard and next time they'll not put forth as much effort. It also encourages those who didn't try as hard or at all to keep up the status quo. They'll be rewarded the same as someone who really did win and next time they won't bother to try at all either.

How about this: If you don't want to turn learning bible scriptures into a competition where there is a winner and multiple losers, then don't have a contest. Healthy competition is what a contest is all about. Is it not?

So, when the child told me that the Sunday school teacher said "Hm, well she's different than most mothers..." (I'm not sure how the "mother" part comes into it) I explained that I am very different than most of the people who attend this particular church (as I'm conservative and they're totally liberal except for the whole 'don't be gay' thing). I went on to say that while I was being facetious at the time the statement was made (the pre game show pretty much consists of my 'we're gonna stomp you' antics), I stand strongly by the theory behind the statement. I also added that "everyone's a winner" stuff is liberal talk as well as loser talk, neither of which is permitted in front yard football. I asked that I not be quoted on that, knowing I probably will be. Whaddyado? *g* I don't want to needlessly offend anyone but it is the truth, imo.

To quote a very wise person, "Equal outcomes are not guaranteed in life -- nor should they be. Individual productivity, innovation and hard work are the keys to success --".

What do you think of contests for children in which everyone is a winner (or is that everyone is a loser)? Do church related contests make it all any different?

Am I really "different" than most? Am I goin' to hell or what?! ;)

Linky Stuff From Around The Web

Is A War Going On In Texas?

By Phyllis Schlafly

If you don't have access to Texas newspapers or the internet, you may not have heard the sensational news about the enormous cache of weapons just seized in Laredo, Texas. U.S. authorities grabbed two completed Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), materials for making 33 more, military-style grenades, 26 grenade triggers, large quantities of AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles, 1,280 rounds of ammunition, silencers, machine gun assembly kits, 300 primers, bullet-proof vests, police scanners, sniper scopes, narcotics, and cash.

That sounds like a war is going on in Texas! If bomb-making factories and firearms assembly plants are ordinary day-to-day business in the drug war along our southern border, the American people need to know more about it.

Top US General Upbeat on Iraq

"I would not put a great big smiley face on it [the situation is not perfect], but I would say they [trends in Iraq] are going very, very well, whether it be on the political side, where they have had three elections, they have written their own constitution, they are forming their own government," said General Pace. "You look at the military side, where, this time last year, there were just a handful of Iraqi battalions in the field. Now, there are over 100 battalions in the field. No matter where you look at their military, their police, their society, things are much better this year than they were last [year]."

Hillary Clinton 'unaware' of Bill's Dubai ties

Hillary Clinton, a leading opponent of DP World's takeover of some US port operations, was this week forced to admit that she did not know her husband had advised Dubai leaders on how to handle the growing dispute.

But former President Bill Clinton's ties to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates should not have come as a surprise to his New York senator wife.

Mrs Clinton's own senatorial financial disclosure forms reveal that her husband earned $450,000 giving speeches in Dubai in 2002.

Officials from the UAE also donated between $500,000 and $1m to fund Mr Clinton's presidential library in Arkansas.


Court Upholds Campus Military Recruiting

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that colleges that accept federal money must allow military recruiters on campus, despite university objections to the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays.
Justices rejected a free-speech challenge from law schools and their professors who claimed they should not be forced to associate with military recruiters or promote their campus appearances.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, said that the campus visits are an effective military recruiting tool.

"A military recruiter's mere presence on campus does not violate a law school's right to associate, regardless of how repugnant the law school considers the recruiter's message," he wrote.


S.D. Governor Signs Abortion Ban Into Law

"In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them," Rounds said in the statement.

Robotic 'pack mule' displays stunning reflexes

A nimble, four-legged robot is so surefooted it can recover its balance even after being given a hefty kick. The machine, which moves like a cross between a goat and a pantomime horse, is being developed as a robotic pack mule for the US military.







Visit America Supports You for all the latest news about how Americans are supporting the men and women of the U.S. military or

Cat Bloggin' Saturday

I was so busy yesterday that I didn't get a chance to blog.

I do have new cat photos to turn those frowns upside down! *g*

Here's the crazy Precious. So busy pretending she's not trying to eat Romeo, the fish, that she forgot to attack the camera.


Precious! What are you up to?!









"Why, I'm just sitting here..um...Yeah, smelling candles. Honest. Mmmm candles!"











I can tell you've been up to something, the plants are all lopsided and sunken. Get away from that fish bowl!!!








Fish bowl? I don't see a fish bowl. Do you see a fish bowl?














10 seconds after I left the room I snuck back to see what she was really up to...



"Bluhbluhbluuuggghhh!"

(Shuddup, why don't you try to figure out what "bwahahaha" sounds like under water!)













Obviously, the maniacal plan is to drink all of the water until she finally gets to the fish.

Evil genius!

Ok, sometimes Precious is pretty cute.

When she's asleep!



All snuggled up with Magellan -




Magellan is the Raymond of cats. Everybody loves Magellan. :)


Hope everyone's weekend is schweet!

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Teacher caught in Bush "rant"

An Overland High School teacher who criticized President Bush, capitalism and U.S. foreign policy during his geography class was placed on administrative leave Wednesday afternoon after a student who recorded the session went public with the tape.

In the 20-minute recording, made on an MP3 player, teacher Jay Bennish described capitalism as a system "at odds with human rights." He also said there were "eerie similarities" between what Bush said during his Jan. 28 State of the Union address and "things that Adolf Hitler used to say."

What is capitalism? Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned. Under capitalism the state is separated from economics (production and trade), just like the state is separated from religion (the only system that allows freedom of religion, including freedom from it). Capitalism is the system of of laissez faire. It is the system of political freedom. Visit Capitalism.org to learn more.

As far as Bush/Hitler comparison goes, I'm really too tired of that illiterate and lazy argument to spend much more time than I already have on it. The only similarity I see is that they're both male (and have penises as well, I assume). Other than that there are no similarities, much less "eerie similarities". Hitler was hell bent on the complete destruction of the Jews while hoping Austria and Germany would unite. George Bush is all about preserving the Jews and eliminating the threat of destruction of the world by terrorists. On the other hand, one name ends the same as the other begins. Look at that H in the Bush name, pretty damning evidence.


The United States was "probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth," Bennish also said on the tape.

This "teacher" must have been living in a bunker below ground without any media access at all in an attempt to hide from a long line of Bushitlers to have missed so much violence that has occurred around the world.

R.J. Rummel Professor Emeritus of Political Science sheds some light, through suitable applications of fact, on this common accusation and says:

The next time a so called "anti-war" activist, self-righteous "peace researcher," or blathering leftist declares that the U.S. is the most violent nation in the world, kindly tell them that their ignorance is only exceeded by their ideological blindness.

The 20-minute recording of only a portion of the class was made by 16-year-old sophomore Sean Allen the day after the president's speech.

Click here to listen.

Sean said in an interview he had been disturbed by the "political rants" he heard in Bennish's class. He added that he wanted to tape the session for his father, who later shared it with the media.

Sean, who described himself as a political independent, said the comments seemed inappropriate for a geography class.

"If he wants to give an opinion in class, I'm perfectly OK with that," he said. "But he has to give both sides of the story."

James McGrath Morris, an author who has written about academic freedom issues, said Bennish's comments are acceptable for an adult audience, but they are hard to defend in a high school classroom.

In a number of legal cases, courts have ruled that "up until the age of majority, children are easily influenced ... in a way that they don't have the faculties to sort out rights from wrongs," Morris said.

Apparently not having the faculties to sort out rights from wrongs doesn't affect all children (the student was clearly aware of Bennish's wrong doing in the classroom) while this lack of faculty follows some (like Bennish) well into adulthood.