Yet More Navel Gazing

Dear Simon,

In response to your email expressing your bewilderment at the pointlessness of the recent Florida primary, I thought I'd compose a more public answer to your question.

Florida delegates are not going to be seated by the decree of the Democratic National Committee. Against the wishes of the Democratic Party leadership, the duly-elected Florida legislature moved up the date of the Florida primary so as to actually have a voice in the choosing of a candidate.

Why would the DNC get their liberal knickers in a twist about this? The most reasonable answer is that having over half of the states vote between January and February would make campaigning very intense for the candidates. Of course, candidates start YEARS before Iowa and New Hampshire so let's all admit that reason was bull.

I think the real reason is that it makes it harder for Iowa and New Hampshire to crown the party nominees. If there are a whole host of primaries around the corner, those two small states become even less important then they already are. And...then LOTS of money is going to get spent in the primary race leaving less for the general election in November.

So, I cast my non-vote for Obama, revelling in the pointlessness of it. Most importantly I got a nifty sticker that said, "I voted" and it got me a free soda at the sub place :)

I wanted the DNC to know what my wishes are even if they don't act on them.

Now Billary are trying to get the delegates for Michigan and Florida reinstated. And I think that is a totally dishonorable crap position for them to take (Let's be honest, she's the one running on paper only) Billary was the only candidate on the ballot in Michigan because the other candidates respected the DNC position...and in Florida they didn't campaign...would Hillary have won if there had been campaigning? She certainly wouldn't have had the lead she ended up with if there had been active campaigning.

It makes me think less of the Clintons. I don't want my Commander in Chief to have "By Any Means Necessary" as a personal motto.

Well into our third year of homeschooling and we've become very comfortable with it.
The first year I homeschooled, I met a woman who shall remain nameless, who I wanted to be like.
She wasn't defensive or angry about her homeschooling (most of the people I met were in some way) She was different. Things didn't seem to work her up, she was comfortable with who she was and wasn't too perturbed by the crazys that were disrupting our group. That isn't to say that she didn't stand up to them...but they didn't bother her.

I'm like that now. Don't like that I homeschool? Eh...too bad. Oh my, there's a crazy in the group!! Be upfront and avoid unnecessary conflict. Run into another homeschooler that doesn't like how I homeschool? Handle said person like one of the nutjobs :)

We're enjoying Florida and just spent a weekend at Disney for homeschool days. Disney has an education program available to groups during the school year and sometimes they open it up to homeschoolers (so you don't have to go with a group). It was really fun.

Unpacking has moved further than anyone of our last two moves. I've found stuff that I haven't seen since 2002 when we moved to California! And we've been getting rid of stuff....since I haven't seen it in almost 6 years, odds are I don't NEED it.

We've sold the LaSalle house and we got an offer on NYE for our Chicago house. We're still negotiating with the buyers. It's been over 3 weeks. I think they've been watching/reading too much about this real estate crash and assumed that they could get the house for 30% below asking. See...prices aren't dropping all that fast anywhere...they're stagnant more often. Even in the areas where the market has really stalled, price drops have been in the 4% range. Why? Because the seller still has what the buyer wants, a house. And, for most people houses aren't commodities (meaning interchangable like pork bellies or a ton of steel). People fall in love with something like a location or layout...and the buyers have fallen in love with our house. The buyers also have their own website that we managed to find.

I remember the days when I fell in love with a house. It was like being a trembling love soaked teenager...wondering if we were going to live in the new house. Now, after 7 houses...eh..its four walls and a roof. I wonder if people who have been married 5+ times get that way about a new spouse?

"I believe in the separation of church and state, but I also believe there is important information available on both sides of [evolution]," he said. "To present it in just one way is wrong."
- David Owens, Clay County School Superintendent


“The theory of evolution has many "holes" in it and is certainly contrary to the beliefs of many people, including myself."
- Nassau County Superintendent John Ruis

These quotes come from a recent local newspaper article quoting several local educators. I knew this area was pretty South Georgia but.....DAMN!

Denying evolution is just scary dumb.

It’s like arguing that gravity doesn’t point down.

It’s like saying lasers can’t exist because nothing in the Bible says that light is a particle or a wave.

Evolution is a fundamental way of understanding the biological sciences. Every anti-evolution person I’ve met is ignorant of basic science and the science of evolution. The men quoted above are educators who guide the education of thousands of children and they choose mythology over scientific fact. And in many cases, they don’t understand their own mythology enough to build a consistent case.

What part of evolution are they denying? I’ve heard anti-science people deny the existence of dinosaurs, the speed of light, and geologic wonders like the Grand Canyon took more than 5000 years to happen. You want holes? Let’s talk Biblical Creationism.

- Why are there TWO accounts of creation, back to back, in the Bible?
- Science shows the earth is far older than the 5000+ years counted in the Bible. Why is that?
- What about other creation myths? What makes the Judeo Christian myth better?

These men are crippling their students. The idea that science is a ‘belief’ is mind boggling to me and the idea that a man who says this publically is an influential educator scares me to no end.

Stuff like this is a big reason the rest of the world calls us ‘dumb Americans’ We should make fun of these anti-science morons too and not give them positions of influence in our educational system.

In closing I'd like to address Mr. Owen's claim that schools should teach more than one theory about earth's creation. Since he wants ALL sides represented, I propose that we limit the creation myths taught to those with over a million followers OR those that have been around for more than 3000 years. That should cut the number down to around a dozen.

Notice I didn't say homeschoolerS?


Much has been made about the media deciding, perhaps with help from the Evil Empire (HSLDA), that all homeschoolers are for the Southern Baptist minister. I hate even typing his name.

The thinking is that homeschoolers = right wing religious nutjob. Given that 20-30% of homeschoolers are now considered “non-religious” I find that to be an incredible act of ignorance on the part of the media.

Anyway, I’m fully behind the candidacy of Barak Obama. It is my belief, that of the current democratic candidates, he is the only one that will pursue a progressive agenda AND can get elected.

His plans for health care, education (funding No Child Left Behind) and Iraq (get the troops out in less than two years) are spelled out on his website www.barakobama.com While I may be a homeschoolers who is partly homeschooling because I think NCLB is a load of poor pedagogy, it WAS an unfunded program and well funded universal education is a boon for our entire country.

Post-Iowa, I think the answer has to be YES!

I’m not sure that nonAmericans get how big Iowa was.

I’ve been reading online newspapers since I helped one get off the ground 12 years ago.

One of my faves is the Daily Telegraph. I especially love the obituaries! Anyway, its always interesting to me to see what they report on. International coverage is different (obviously!) and how they report on the U.S. is interesting to me too. Sometimes the Telegraph has news about the US that I didn’t read in any U.S. paper even!

The Daily Telegraph has an article titled, “Is America Ready for a Black President?” asking the same questions that the U.S. papers covered a while ago. The whole black thing seems to be largely a non-American interest. The Telegraph also has an article comparing Obama’s success to Jesse Jackson’s lack of it 20 + years ago.

Many of the British people responding keep saying things like:

People will vote differently than they Poll
The Iowa caucus wasn’t a poll, it was a very public vote.

White people won’t vote for Obama
Iowa is something like 98% white. It doesn’t get more white than that. A bunch of WHITE democrats voted for him.

Clinton is still leading 20% nationally
1) When was that poll taken? I bet there’d be a post-Iowa bump for Obama
2) Overall numbers matter less than what states Obama can take (vs. Clinton). Obama has great crossover support from moderates, including moderate republicans who would rather bite off their arms than vote for Clinton. Swing states like Ohio (which has a significant African American population) and Florida (same thing again) would benefit from having moderate republicans voting.


Hillary Clinton is unelectable. I don’t care if she has more experience (and that’s debatable) I don’t care if she has more support from the DNC…She doesn’t have enough cross support to be elected.

Now the important question:

Will the Republicans choose someone who thinks gay marriage is a bigger threat to our society than rampant global warming?

I never do resolutions...they all seemed so cliched but I thought this would be a good year to do it since 2007 was such a horrible year and I'm really excited about starting over.

So...here they are....

1) Blog/write more. I’ve really enjoyed writing lately and with the 2008 elections coming up there’s lots of stuff to write about.

2) Less time on the computer. Might seem in conflict from number one but I’d like to focus more on unpacking and homeschooling

3) Schedule working on my business more Again, seems in conflict with another resolution doesn’t it? Maybe the resolution should be

4) Make my time on the computer more productive. Less forum/blog reading…more WORK

5) Call a friend once a week. 2007 I just lost touch with everyone. Once a week I’m going to call a friend.

6) Get politically active with the 2008 elections. I’m really concerned about the religious right and the state of America.

Any other suggestions?