Trains and Memories

Those who know me a bit know that I am a trains guy. I love to see a narrow-gauge, 2-8-2 Mikado with 36,000 pounds of tractive effort working a 4% grade and I start twitching visibly when I see double-headed action with a photo freight or a rotary. If you need me to translate that last sentence, it shows that there is an entirely separate sub-culture I have been a part of as a child and now as an adult. I was ingesting--"reading" doesn't adequately describe it--the most recent issue of Trains Magazine when a letter to the editor caught my attention. It was from two sisters in Montana who had written Trains to thank them and the many people who had consoled them after losing their dad, a well-loved trains guy. They wrote, "Our dad will never be forgotten. We will remember him every time we see a train or a trolley, hear a pipe organ, or see the moon."

Isn't that a wonderful line? It occurred to me that that's how I would likely be remembered someday among my children. That's not a terrible way to be remembered, either.

Desperate

Take a few minutes. This is worth your time to watch and understand.


Watching it, I wanted to root for her, "Go! Don't give up! Go! GO!"

Polaroid Closes Its Chemical Plants

It is the end of an era. Polaroid has stopped making film.

When I was 12, I was mesmerized by the magic of watching a small square blank slowly but clearly develop into a picture. Now there is a camera in a phone, a camera in a laptop, a camera that records you buying gasoline and a camera that records you walking into work or past a school. There are not enough eyes for the cameras we own, and they all work much faster and better than a Polaroid.

Because of the capitalist model, this glut of cameras probably says more about our culture than we'd like to admit. We are obsessed with image. We judge by appearances because there's no time to examine what is really going on before we move on to the next frame, the next image. One photo can ruin a career or make one, and it makes no regard for the humanity of the subject matter.

I Will Not Vote For McCain

The only man whom I felt was capable of leading this country without stepping in a hole deeper than the Grand Canyon has just quit the 2008 Presidential race. I will not support McCain, nor will I vote for him. I will write in a candidate I decide on later.

I am a Christian. I am a right wing nut job and I wear it proudly because I have reasoned my position out to where I'm confident of it's logic and consistency with my world view. I believe abortion is murder. I am a strict constructionist in interpreting the Constitution. I know that our military is still second to none thanks to Ronald Reagan. I do not support candidates because they say the right things. I support them because they possess a track record of doing the right things. I will break my silence on most political issues with this post and say, unequivocally,

McCain is wrong for the G.O.P. if they want to win the election.

He will not win me over based on his track record. He will not win over enough conservatives to overcome whatever steam the Donkey party manages to muster, even with what looks to be, at this point, a brokered convention. I join James Dobson. I will not vote for McCain.

I wonder if any Republicans are paying attention. Probably not, based on this survey.

From the WCF Courier, here's a good synopsis of why I won't vote for McCain:

Conservatives have a problem with McCain's track record
Latest in an occasional series examining candidates seeking the Republican and Democrat nominations for president and happenings along the campaign trail.

John McCain may become the Republican nominee for president. His chances, at least at this point in the campaign, are as good or better than his chief rivals.

If he does succeed, however, don't expect many who view themselves as true conservatives to be particularly happy.

"I believe I am qualified," McCain repeats on the campaign trail. "I need no on-the-job training."

But the track record the senator from Arizona touts as valuable experience also contains facts conservatives find very unappealing. And in fact, they view McCain as one Republican in Washington, D.C., they can count on to vote with Democrats on issues that matter most to conservatives.

For starters, McCain voted against President Bush's proposed tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. Recent statements added fuel to conservatives' fire: In December, McCain affirmed his votes were not mistakes. He was also one of only two Republicans to vote against permanent repeal of the so-called death tax in 2002.

Other measures McCain promoted and courses of action he pursued also generate animosity among those on the right.

--- The McCain-Feingold bill on campaign finance reform became law, including restrictions on what and how topics can be addressed in the political process during the two months prior to an election. Critics on both ends of the political spectrum view the law as a serious infringement of 1st Amendment rights to free speech.

--- The McCain-Kennedy bill on immigration failed, torpedoed by those who argued the measure offered amnesty to illegal aliens.

--- As a member of the so-called Gang of 14, McCain helped negotiate a compromise on President Bush's judicial nominees. The knock here is McCain sold out his side.

--- McCain was one of six Republicans to vote against a procedural issue related to the Federal Marriage Amendment, which defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

--- The McCain-Lieberman bill is pending. Proponents defend it as a method for combating global warming. Critics, however, say the measure represents a massive tax increase on carbon-based fuels, including gasoline, home heating oil and coal. On a related topic, McCain has voted on multiple occasions against drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Conservatives acknowledge McCain's stance backing President Bush and the war on terrorism. Under his "strategy for victory in Iraq," McCain advocates "greater military commitment" and calls for more troops.

"Success is essential to creating peace in the region, and failure would expose the United States to national security threats for generations," McCain says.

But while he takes a hard line on Iraq, McCain goes easier on enemy combatants, according to conservatives. He opposes using military tribunals to prosecute suspected terrorists, for instance, and believes the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba should be shut down.

The ultimate significance of conservatives' displeasure with McCain may lie in which Democrat he faces in the general election. Hillary Clinton will energize her opponents like few others in history and may turn off some in her own party. If Barack Obama or John Edwards get their party's nomination, conservatives may not feel the same urgency to vote --- on either side of the ballot.

I don't believe in McCain, and this "true" conservative will not vote for him in 2008.

So Much Good To Do, So Little Time

Henry Cate of Why Homeschool writes about Cindy and the beautiful evil Pandora.

Like my pastor once told me, "Good is often the enemy of the best." I can do a lot of good in a day, yet due to my disability, God isn't letting me do a whole lot of good right now, so I'm focusing on the best: his will for me each day. If that seems simple, it's not. You see something that could use some work or you find that someone wrote something that inspires you to write something else. I am constantly challenged to do what's in excess of my capacity. It's so hard to rest when I see work to be done! I have to do only what God wants me to do, and somehow, God makes life work out. My family and I have lacked nothing. That may change tomorrow, but today... I rest in His grace to take me to the next moment.

You Know You're A Homeschooling Parent When

You know you're a homeschooling parent when...

Your child's idea of defacing a book is correcting all the errors.

Berkeley Council Tells Marines They're Not Welcome

Update 2/8/08: I was actually right.
--------------------------

This is pathetic. The mayor and city council of Berkeley, California are astoundingly unprofessional. If a private citizen were to do this to another individual, it would be called harassment. Why is it acceptable if it's two public entities? Maybe the military needs a "don't invite, don't defend" policy.

In the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, governments are instituted to "provide for the common defense" and to "ensure domestic tranquility." Now, if the Constitution applies to city government, the Berkeley city council is effectively abandoning such a charge and betraying their citizens. The plight of the neighbors around this recruiting station is unbelievable. Instead of getting relief from protesters by the appealing to their city council, the tenants are effectively without help.

Why not pass a law banning the recruiting station outright? I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with Federal money supporting the City of Berkeley, California.

Frozen In New York

I think this would be fun to do with a bunch of homeschooling teens somewhere on a school day so that they would be already out of place.



HT: Melissa Wiley

Reasons To Homeschool #5

Reason To Homeschool #5
Socialization

"What about socialization?" This is one of the dreaded questions homeschooling parents get asked by friends and family. My response is, "Absolutely! That's one of the best reasons to homeschool."

I love to challenge assumptions with people and one of those is that children should learn to socialize with other children their own age. I ask them why and they usually sputter about the child in question being a social reject and unable to work in groups. I tell them that they have a point if the child will grow up to be a peer of 5 to 18 year-olds.

Why on earth would any child want that as a career choice?

Instead, I argue that the aim of an education, at least socially, is to produce a balanced, versatile adult. Our children should be taught manners, the art of conversation, and the rudimentary basics of articulating and defending a point of view without resorting to name-calling, attacks or intimidation. I then ask them which of the two environments--home schooling and public education--is more likely to produce a positive result? It certainly isn't a public school system!

In a public school, if there are manners taught, it is the manners reinforced by immature peers that don't speak to adults unless it's absolutely necessary. A candidate hoping to be accepted among the elite of their peers would dread the thought of being seen in an active, mutually affirming conversation with a teacher. Additionally, independent thought and defending a point of view outside of structures like debate class (usually an elective) are actively discouraged by the current social structure within public schools. This is a point that John Taylor Gatto, former New York state School Teacher Of The Year, makes repeatedly in his books.

Homeschooling, by contrast, offers greater opportunities for interaction between a student and the people with whom that child will eventually be a peer. Most home school students that I know are well socialized and ready for continuing interaction with adults in the real world.

Eggs

I enjoy eggs as much as the next person--perhaps a bit more, but I am honestly at a loss to explain the first person to look at something that came from the south end of a chicken and say, "Mmm, that looks tasty!"