Headlines of the Week (Or Whatever)

In Defense Of Ms. Hill: It’s finally time to stop letting folks from outside of our community tell us how to feel about Lauryn Hill

What I Learned After Taking a Homeless Mother Grocery Shopping

My boyfriend lives in a dumpster: When Jeff began his year-long social experiment, students wanted to know how it could possibly work. So did I.

Finally, the flying car may have landed: Slovakian company AeroMobil to unveil prototype of ‘world’s most advanced flying car’ in at Vienna’s Pioneers Festival

Order =/ Action

An Executive Order has the full force of law. It is, essentially, a law. An executive action is something the President does. Like go poo. Or release his To Do List regarding guns. Obama totes did one of those things today. Guess which one? Wait. He probably also went poo. So, two things. ;)

So anyway, if you read his To Do List, it's mostly innocuous stuff and some pretty decent items that folks on all sides of the 2nd Amendment are down with. All in all, it seems as though the release of this list was designed to quell the masses.

His action list is essentially made up of multiple components:

1. Make government agencies gather and share information.
2. Train law enforcement to better handle shooter situations.
3. Educate the public on background checks and gun safety.
4. Work on mental health care in our country.

Honors Econ Research Proposal

Unemployment & the Labor Force; Definitions Thereof

We currently define the unemployment rate as the percentage of workers without jobs in our labor force. We currently define our labor force as workers who are actively looking for jobs. However, those definitions are both simplistic and problematic, excluding complicated factors and variables that keep us from arriving at a more precise unemployment rate.

On Abortion

So here's the deal. Thousands of children die each year because they can't find organ donors. You can donate lobes of your liver with almost no problems. Kidneys are a little more problematic, but neither even comes close to having a child, much less raising one. So, if you haven't signed up to donate one, the other or both, then you have no business voting for a law that would force someone else to donate their organs to a child without consent. This seems like simple logic to me. Again, to recap:

If you think that unborn children have a right to my organs, then actual, live children surely have a right to your organs. So put up or shut up.

A Horrible Irony.

A fellow Oklahoman gamer posted a video on Google+ today. I'm not going to link to it here, because I'm not going to send any traffic that way. Anyway, he commented that:

"If you want some good ideas on how to tackle the problem of harassment in online gaming, this is a great place to start. We need to change things as a group if we want it to stop. We need help from game developers and platform developers as well."

This is, in general, a sentiment with which I heartily agree. However...

On Welfare Queens

What!? No. That's asinine.

I keep seeing all of these hate graphics about poor people. They usually invoke the fantasy world wherein welfare queens receive free rent, free food, and can afford luxury items with the cash that they receive from the jobs that they don't have. It's pretty illogical, but the myth persists.

Personally, I'm really curious as to how people can tell when people are using food stamps, since it's a plastic card that looks and works exactly like the average debit card. How can you tell the difference between my brown CNB bankcard and someone else's brown SNAP card? How close are you folks getting to the people in front of you? Usually, I'm still unloading my cart while the person in front of me is checking out, and I can't really see what their card looks like, so all I can see is if they're using a check, a card, or cash.

So the next time you see a graphic like that, you should ask the poster, "Exactly how close are y'all getting, and why?".

Photo of the Day

Pioneer children!

So we spent most of Sunday at the Museum of the Great Plains. We're working on early America, so they had alot of good information and exhibits related to our current unit and then I let them loose in the science area. (The space set aside for the traveling, interactive area.)

My Letter to the Editor

Mike hides his face, but not his
fish. Angel does the opposite.

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to bring attention to a community program in which our family was able to part. In case you’re not immediately familiar with the biyearly Children’s Art Studio, it consists of a series of art classes about art vocabulary and techniques and usually covers a variety of art media, followed by an art showcase and reception. This program is organized by Ms. Sharon Cheatwood, the Arts Coordinator for the City of Lawton's Arts and Humanities Division, and is taught by local certified teachers.

My older two children, Angel and Micheal, participated in the 2012 Spring Children’s Art Studio, and had a wonderful and memorable experience. These types of classes are very important to my children, especially my son, who has special needs. They were able to participate because of grants that help fund the program as a whole, and that help fund a limited number of scholarships for lower-income families. This program was funded by the City of Lawton, the Lawton Arts & Humanities Council, the McMahon Auditorium Authority, the Oklahoma Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Angel stands by her gold-and-silver fish.

As you may know, art education is closely linked to academic achievement, social development, and civic engagement. Involvement in the arts is also associated with gains in education, critical thinking, confidence, and teamwork. Their contributions to this program helped to extend these benefits to a large number of children in our community, and are to be commended.

Photo of the Day

Arts + Crafts = Margaritas! We spent the evening at an Arts & Crafts Night at the YMCA. This necessitated dinner someplace we didn't have to cook, that served alcohol. Luckily, El Chico's was having a special on margaritas...

From left: Chris, Melissa, Abigail, Liana, Angel, Micheal, Isaiah, Jody.

A timely reminder...

A timely reminder about the importance of separating your religion from your government:

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

Random Thoughts.

I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really want to convene a Civics 101 & Source Vetting course on my Facebook feed. Really. The President is not magic and a jpeg with some text and Obama's face is not a reliable source. Really. I promise.

Banned Book Week

Remember, folks, read a banned book for Banned Book Week! We picked up And Tango Makes Three, with no problems. Also, here's a funny article about a few banned books.

Random Thoughts

"The Fukushima situation has exposed a grave danger to our world. But the danger isn't radiation, it's the poor state of science education."

and

An Austrian atheist will be allowed to wear a colander on his head in his driver's license photo after successfully arguing that it counts as "religious headgear" for Pastafarians.

As a contrast, more people are upset about the Austrian atheist than the sad state of American education.