Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc by Mark Twain


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have always known of Joan of Arc, but have never really known about her. This book is an amazing tribute to a girl who followed God's promptings, saved her country, and was repaid by treachery and ingratitude. The injustice that falls upon this young child is heart wrenching and just plain wrong. This is a great book to bring history alive and to help see what true character is made of.

"The law is too clumsy an instrument to govern all aspects of personal behavior."

asamom.ning.com

If you are a mommy patriot who has felt alone in your concern about the direction our country is going in and frustrated with other moms who seem more concerned with footwear than freedom then asamom.ning.com might be just the place for you. Check it out.

What is communism?

The word “COMMUNIST” has such a heavy presence in our current national debates. One side is accusing another of being communist while the other side vehemently denies any such notion. It is hard to know what the truth is.

In my quest for answers I turned to the standard of the communist party and compared that to what is going on in our country.

Here are some main points regarding communism:

*Unless otherwise noted all quotes are taken directly from the Manifesto of the Communist Party (also know as The Communist Manifesto) written by Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels and published in 1848.

◆The main goal of Communism is the abolition of private property.

“In short, the Communists everywhere support every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things. … In all these movements they bring to the front, as the leading question in each, the property question, no matter what its degree of development at the time.” Pg 77

“In this sense, the theory of Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.” Pg 52

“In one word, you reproach us with intending to do away with your property. Precisely so; that is just what we intend.” Pg 54

◆Communism is an antagonist of religion.

“All religions which have existed hitherto were expressions of historical stages of development of individual peoples or groups of peoples. But communism is that stage of historical development which makes all existing religions superfluous and supersedes them.” ~Engels, www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/06/09.htm

“The charges against communism made from a religious, a philosophical, and, generally, from an ideological standpoint, are not deserving of serious examination.” Pg 58

◆Communism is anti-family

“Abolition of family! Even the most radical flame up at this infamous proposal of Communists. … Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty.” Pg 56

“All children will be educated in state establishments from the time when they can do without the first maternal care.” Engels, www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/06/09.htm

Compare those words with this quote from Ezra Taft Benson:

“It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters.
“We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence. …
“It is mother's influence during the crucial formative years that forms a child's basic character. 


“Home is the place where a child learns faith, feels love, and thereby learns from mother's loving example to choose righteousness. 


“How vital are mother's influence and teaching in the home—and how apparent when neglected!” ~Ezra Taft Benson, "The Honored Place of Woman," Ensign, Nov. 1981, 104

Marx & Engel’s 10 Planks (pg 60-61)

These points are the stated purposes for communism, and have relevance to socialism and marxism.

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

◆Our property taxes act as “rents of land.” Every year we must pay taxes on property, no matter what, and if we do not the federal government will come and take our homes. So if there is an old grandma that has lived in her house her whole life the bank can be completely paid off but the government will never be. She can loose everything if she cannot pay her property taxes. This provision hurts the poor because no matter how they scrimp and save to buy a home they will always be under the thumb of the government.

2. A heavy progressive or gradual income tax.

◆The more you make the more they take!

◆A graduated, or progressive, income tax is a tax where the percentage you pay in taxes goes up with as incomes go up. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States for income tax bracket information in the United States.

If you make $400,000 you pay 35% ($140,000) in federal income tax, 1.45% (5,800) to Medicare, and 6.2% -the limit is $106,800 so it would be 6.2% of $106,800 ($6,621.60) to Social Security. That makes your take home about $247,578.40 – oh, but wait, these are just the “straight forward” federal taxes. There are property taxes, other federal taxes and state taxes and on, and on, and on. These numbers really begin to add up. It is almost like there is a penalty for making money.

◆Remember the extreme tax imposed on CEO bonuses and the proposed cap on certain salaries? This is all a part of the communist plan.

◆Originally, Social Security benefits were not taxable. However, in 1983, Congress passed amendments to the Social Security Act that would consider 50% of benefits to be taxable income for beneficiaries with a total income that exceeded an established limit. This amount was increased to 85% in 1993.” www.wisegeek.com/what-is-fica.htm

We are even getting to the point where we are being taxed on the money dispensed by the government?! Can that really be good fiscal policy?

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

◆“The Estate Tax is a tax on your right to transfer property at your death.” http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=164871,00.html

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

◆While vacationing in California this summer we stayed on a lake. The rangers were very clear that if we were found fishing without a license the fee would be steep, but they would also take any equipment used, the boat you are found on and the car the pulls that boat. Due process is ignored and you are out of luck.

This is one example of how agencies like the I.R.S., O.S.H.A., E.P.A., B.L.M., and drug enforcement agencies can confiscate property without due process from citizens that are considered rebels.

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

◆We’ve done even better than Marx and Engels could have dreamed. In this country our credit is centralized in the hands of the Federal Reserve Bank, which is not federal. The “Fed” is actually privately owned and they charge the people of the United States for the privilege of printing our own money, something Congress should be doing.

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.

◆The Federal Communication Commission (FCC), The Dept. of Transportation (DOT), The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and don’t forget public television and radio stations.

◆Additionally, have you heard about the bill drafted by Sen. Jay Rockefeller that would give the executive branch “emergency” control over the internet?

7. Extensions of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

◆I think we are all aware of how the government has taken over factories and instruments of production. Are we tired of hearing about GE, GM, and all the others? Sure we are. But this is why we cannot stop listening, because the more the government dips their hands into industry the closer to Communism we slide.

8. Equal liability of all labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

◆There are theories about industrial armies, but I am not even going to go there.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.

◆I got nothing on this one. Any takers? Anyone … alas this is an area I am not informed in.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial productions, etc.

◆Read my previous post taken from the Homeschool Legal Defense Fund about home education in Switzerland specifically and Europe in general. Under the UN Rights of the Child Treaty the right to homeschool is being stripped from parents.

◆Reading John Taylor Gatto’s book Weapons of Mass Instruction I found this wonderful tidbit:

“In the industrial state which emerged rampant in the wake of the Civil War, the entrepreneurial egalitarianism of the original American design was put to death by factories and licensing laws, government interventions and requirements and eventually by forced schooling.”

◆If you want a nice picture of the correlation between industry and education read one of John Dewey’s original works regarding education. No abbreviated textbook answer will do here. It is a complex issue with a complex background that takes time and consideration.




Engels and Marx had a lot to say in addition to the 10 planks. The following correlates to what Benson said about communism quietly taking hold.

◆When asked, “What will be the course of this revolution?” Engels replied;

“It is impossible, of course, to carry out all these measures at once. But one will always bring others in its wake. Once the first radical attack on private property has been launched, the proletariat will find itself forced to go ever further, to concentrate increasingly in the hands of the state all capital, all agriculture, all transport, all trade. All the foregoing measures are directed to this end; and they will become practicable and feasible, capable of producing their centralizing effects to precisely the degree that the proletariat, through its labor, multiplies the country’s productive forces.

Finally, when all capital, all production, all exchange have been brought together in the hands of the nation, private property will disappear of its own accord, money will become superfluous, and production will so expand and man so change that society will be able to slough off whatever of its old economic habits may remain.” ~Engels, www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm

Knowing what communism is and how the programs work is essential in the debates we are having. It is also important to remember that Engels clearly pointed out that one program leads to another before we even realize what direction we are being taken in. This is why it is crucial to question EVERYTHING and not to take any sign of government goodwill for granted. Please note: I am not saying left or right, Democrat or Republican. No party lines should exempt any person from being questioned and held responsible.

So now when a person says that they are not socialist and do not believe in socialist or communist policies you have a litmus test. You can ask where they stand on property ownership. If they truly abhor socialism then they should be for eliminating property taxes, graduated income taxes, and estate taxes. They should be for families and they should be fighting any program that threats the parental rights to raise our children. This is just a beginning.

Many politicians say they are not socialist when in fact they are. (Again, this is both sides of the aisle.) It is up to us to ask the hard questions and get real answers about where these people stand. To get beyond rhetoric it is important to look up voting records to learn what is really going on when our representatives are vacationing in Washington. The most important thing is to start educating ourselves and stop taking anything for granted.

You don't have to take my word for it ...


Quotes from General Conference on communism:

“We again warn our people in America of the constantly increasing threat against our inspired Constitution and our free institutions set up under it. The same political tenets and philosophies that have brought war and terror in other parts of the world are at work amongst us in America. The proponents thereof are seeking to undermine our own form of government and to set up instead one of the forms of dictatorships now flourishing in other lands. These revolutionists are using a technique that is as old as the human race, — a fervid but false solicitude for the unfortunate over whom they thus gain mastery, and then enslave them.
They suit their approaches to the particular group they seek to deceive. Among the Latter-day Saints they speak of their philosophy and their plans under it, as an ushering in of the United Order. Communism and all other similar isms bear no relationship whatever to the United Order. They are merely the clumsy counterfeits which Satan always devises of the gospel plan. Communism debases the individual and makes him the enslaved tool of the state to whom he must look for sustenance and religion; the United Order exalts the individual, leaves him his property, "according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs" ( D&C 51:3), and provides a system by which he helps care for his less fortunate brethren; the United Order leaves every man free to choose his own religion as his conscience directs. Communism destroys man's God-given free agency: the United Order glorifies it. Latter-day Saints cannot be true to their faith and lend aid, encouragement, or sympathy to any of these false philosophies. They will prove snares to their feet ( Jer. 18:22).” Heber J. Grant April 1942

“Communism introduced into the world a substitute for true religion. It is a counterfeit of the gospel plan. The false prophets of Communism predict a utopian society. This, they proclaim, will only be brought about as capitalism and free enterprise are overthrown, private property abolished, the family as a social unit eliminated, all classes abolished, all governments overthrown, and a communal ownership of property in a classless, stateless society established.
Since 1917 this godless counterfeit to the gospel has made tremendous progress toward its objective of world domination.” Ezra Taft Benson October 1979

"I have been preaching against Communism for twenty years," said President Clark, over twenty years ago. "I still warn you against it, and I tell you that we are drifting toward it more rapidly than some of us understand, and I tell you that when Communism comes, the ownership of the things which are necessary to feed your families is going to be taken away from us. I tell you freedom of speech will go, freedom of the press will go, and freedom of religion will go.
"I have warned you against propaganda and hate. We are in the midst of the greatest exhibition of propaganda that the world has ever seen, and all directed toward one end. Just do not believe all you read" (Conf. Rep., October 3, 1941, p. 16 and Ward Teaching Message, July 1961).

How the world sees us.

My grandpa sent me the following e-mail and I thought it was too interesting not to share.


I checked this out on Snopes, and it's true...I wonder when the American people are going to wake up and demand term limits for Congress and other things to reduce the power of special interests...



Subject: Fw: From "PRAVDA" the Russian newspaper


The irony of this article appearing in the English edition of Pravda (Russian on-line newspaper) defies description. Why can a Russian newspaper print the following yet the American media can't/won't see it?


American Capitalism Gone With A Whimper



It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas than the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a Burger King burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Weimar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, losses, and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more than ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties, and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more than a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motors) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self-given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "free man" whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance, and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Frank, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.


The proud American will go down into his slavery without a fight, beating his chest, and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.

Stanislav Mishin© 1999-2009.. «PRAVDA.Ru». When reproducing our materials in whole or in part, hyperlink to PRAVDA.Ru should be made. The opinions and views of the authors do not always coincide with the point of view of PRAV DA.Ru's editors.


27.04.2009

Source:Pravda.Ru

URL: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-american_capitalism-0

Arne Duncan's Goals

Many of you know of my passion for education. I truly believe that the way that our children are educated will decide the course of our country. I also believe that the way our country looks at our children will influence the type of future we are to have.

In a presentation to the Center of American Progress Arne Duncan, the US Secretary of Education, spoke very openly of his goals in education, as supported by the current administration.

Here are a few points that I agree with Duncan on:

*Parents know intuitively what the best learning environment is for their children.
*We have to reach outside or comfort zones to receive a great education.
*We need to dramatically improve the quality of education in this country. (Duncan says “for children” and I say for all.) We can’t wait, we can’t be passive.
*We need choice and competition.

As Duncan states, we have an unprecedented amount of money in education, so let’s investigate what our money is going to be spent on.

*TIME – “Our schools need to be open 12, 13, 14 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, 11-12 months out of the year. … The more schools truly become the centers of the community the more students engage there, the more they are safe, and not on the streets, the better they are going to do.”
-Here is something revolutionary … How about we let families be the center of the communities? How about we stop pulling families apart to serve the insatiable desires of the “community?” Even if the argument is made that kids parents are not stepping up to the plate, what about the teachers and administrators that will have their life sucked out of them by this huge institution of education? What about those kids who have their parents at least for a bit now? Instead of family dinner, which studies have shown to improve grades and lower substance abuse problems among teens, and improve language development for younger children, we are going to have community dinners which will … who knows what they will do? They definitely won’t help support and encourage familial responsibility and relationships!

*Every state should have a comprehensive tracking system that tracks “every single child from the time they enter until the time they graduate,” “every child to their teacher,” and “teachers back to their schools of education.” Every child should have a student identifier that follows the student through school up through college.
-Hello big brother! This type of thing is just asking for trouble. Pair this with the Health Care Reform idea of tracking each patient with identity cards. Tracking systems begged to be used inappropriately and are a set up for corruption. If they are not misused now then they will be in the future.

*Every state should not have their own standards. We should have common college ready, career ready, international benchmarks. We need to raise the standards and then put supports under some of the children. “These aren’t national standards, they aren’t mine to come up with.” Not national, but international standards.
-Um, if the Secretary of Education in this country wants to defer to the international community to set our standards we should get rid of them and find someone who knows how to work in the frame work of our own national identity. WE ARE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, we know about excellence, we have a history saturated with excellence. It is about time we stop bowing to the international community and do what is right within our own borders. We will earn much more respect by standing for what is right than by adjusting our standards to meet the approval of international crowds. And if we don’t earn respect, who cares! Does education system need to be improved in our country? Yes! But we should do it on our own terms using our intuition as parents and guardians of the future of freedom!

*”No Child Left Behind” was too loose on its goals. We need to tighten the goals be give people the chance to be innovative.
-Those are two contradictory agendas. We cannot create a system of innovation through tight regulations it simply will not happen. And the biggest problem with “No Child Left Behind” is the whole thing! Standardized testing is not a good indicator of learning. Testing distracts and takes time from what children really should be doing to learn-Namely; playing, discovering, and exploring their world through hands on activities and personal open-ended analysis. Please spare us from anymore “goals” set by the federal government!

*Reward excellence by putting a lot of money on the table. Pay math and science teachers more.
-John Gatto (a highly decorated and honored teacher with 30 ears of experience), in his book Weapons of Mass Instruction, points out that giving incentive pay to teachers creates resentment among colleagues and drives a rift between those who should be working together to serve our children. New, inexperienced teachers are left with undesirable classrooms and undesirable students because those teachers that are established get to pick and choose where they are located and who they work with.

*”What we lack in this country is the political will, the courage, but we have a great opportunity now.”
-What does politics have to do with education? Unfortunately, way too much! Do we have the courage to make the correct changes DESPITE POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS?

*Mayoral control enables businesses and others in the community to “gather around education.”
-Giving mayors control of education is a great example of how this administration likes to put decisions in the hands of the executive branch.

*Every single child in this country has to have a great education.
-The thing is, we cannot force people to receive a great education. They must want it and they must be willing to put in the work to receive it. There is the Law of the Harvest to take into consideration. No person reaps what they do not sow. It is faulty and unnatural thinking to expect otherwise. We all have the education we have chosen.

I am fully aware that my educational philosophy is radical. It goes something like this:

We are all unique and precious children of our Heavenly Father. We have all come to this earth with specific missions and the tools necessary to complete these missions, or in the very least the power to develop those tools. Some children read early and some read late; some children are physically coordinated at a young age, some are not; as individuals our unique qualities are not a fault they are a blessing! Those things that make us different from all others are those things that will lead us to the important work we have to do in this life.

We come to this life being able to distinguish truth from error. The more we become puffed up with pride and self-importance the further we get from the truth. Brigham Young stated, “A child can tell you the truth, in childlike language, while falsehood requires the lawyer and the priest to tell it to make it at all plausible; it requires a scholastic education to make falsehood pass for truth.” Are we using our educations to justify falsehoods? What about with our children? How does straying from the truth detract us (and our children) from our own special missions and unique goals that Heavenly Father had laid out for us? These are questions we must ask because no one in the local school is going to.

The more simple education is the better it is. The more complicate education becomes the harder it is to feel like a real education is attainable. Take history textbooks as an example. Can we all say BORING?! We are given bits and pieces of things that happened in a way that makes me think that the writers are trying to discourage developing a real passion for history. By reading real literature and real accounts of what has gone on before we enter this world we can find adventures, excitement, despair, anguish, real soul searching people who change our world. This makes history a part of who we are. We become active seekers of knowledge as opposed to passive recipients of what someone else deems it is necessary for us to know. This is just one example of how the world can come alive when we break from the drudgery that is “learning” in our current educational system.

When it comes to teachers John Taylor Gatto’s words are important to remember, "I dropped the idea that I was an expert, whose job it was to fill the little heads with my expertise, and began to explore how I could remove those obstacles that prevented the inherent genius of children from gathering itself." What an outstanding way to celebrate our unique individuality. I am also drawn to the words of Joseph F. Smith who stated, “Any man who will question the divinity of the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, or will deny the so-called miracles of the scriptures is unfit to be a teacher of Latter-day Saint children.” (Improvement Era Vol. 21, p. 104) Are we ready to use this litmus test on the people who spend so many hours in a room with our children? Do you know about the faith of those teaching your children?
Now consider the words of Arne Duncan, “Raise the standard and then put supports under some of the children.” This does not sound like highlighting and exploring our own unique missions and purposes. This is all about conformity and making sure that all children are on the same level. The saddest part is that children are taught that others holding them to certain standards is what is important, as opposed to holding themselves to their own levels of excellence. It has been shown many times that those children who are allowed to direct their own course of study retain more and are more passionate about what they are learning than children who are forced into the culture of sameness that we have in our educational system. We should not be surprised when kids lose what they have crammed into their heads when they are given the freedom of summer vacation. Those things were only learned to pass a test and please the teacher.

We do need a change in our schools but not toward higher regulations and international standards. We need to focus on individual and personal standards, we need to bring God back into our educations, and we need to support and lift families. Until we do these things, there is nothing the institutions of learning can do that will change our national outcomes and the disgrace of our falling literacy levels. Please consider that an "unprecedented amount of money" has been allotted to keep us from these goals.

Our society will not stand if our families continue to fall.

The happiest time of the year!

I love the fall! I love the excitement in the air and the new focus that ending a fun summer of running around can bring. And I have to say that the beginning of this school year, when the neighborhood kids went back to school, I felt nothing. Last year at this time I was nervous and questioning my decision to keep the kids home. This year the things going on around us are interesting to watch but they simply have no bearing on our lives, besides the fact that our friends are more busy now. If anything, watching and listening to the goings on of the public school make me so happy that we are doing our own thing.

That being said; we are officially "in school" again. That basically means that I don't answer the phone during certain times of the day.

Last night Jeff gave us all a beginning of the school year blessing. (Abbi was very confused because the year started back in January and we have just continued to do our thing. So surly there is something wrong with calling this the beginning of the school year!)

Yesterday we put together simple folders that we are using for incentives this year. A little background might be in order; my kids are Core phasers with my oldest beginning the Love of Learning Phase. Last year we were getting off the conveyor belt and I was focused on my own learning. We had school, but the boundaries were really loose. I was afraid of my own tendency to push the kids too hard so I backed off. Fast forward to this year were Lily (my 5 year old) wants to do "homework" and play at doing school and Abbi (my 7 year old) is reading for hours a day. I needed something to help me keep track of progress. I know the kids are fine, but it is fun to see how far we have come. So we have little sticker charts that they get to fill out when they think they have done what is necessary for a day's work. Yesterday, Abbi kept asking me if she had done enough in her math workbook to merit a sticker. I repeatedly assured her that she gets to decide when she has earned her sticker. It is not easy for me to let go of telling them what to do all the time, but I think it will be so rewarding for them to set their own goals and reach them.

I have also stated having a weekly mentor meeting with each of the kids to see where they are and what they want to learn for the week. Lily's included a lot of playing, swimming, park time, etc. :) But she also included cutting activities and some other areas she is working on. Abbi went through and listed very specific things she has in mind. I am excited to see them fulfill their goals and learn the value of presiding over their own education!

Open source learning

The kids and I were hanging out outside yesterday. I took out a blanket and read while the kids played. At one point Abbi (7 years old) was drawing on the blanket next to me with some double sided twistable crayons. The color of the crayon was "Slimy green lizard." Abbi made a comment about how lizards aren't slimy and I said,

"They [the crayon makers] should go back to school to learn about lizards."

Abbi, not skipping a beat, replied,

"Or they could just touch a lizard."

Talk about an innocent exchange showing many truths!

I have been programed to think that we somehow need school to learn. Even though I know better at this point, I still fall back on that programming without even realizing it. Luckily, my kids have no such misconceptions. They are unspotted from the misgivings of public school and have retained the ability to be their own best source of learning. They are the best reminder of why it is that we homeschool-they remind me what is important everyday.

I think these crayons also show an important reminder. There are so may little falsehoods out there in the word that are simple enough. Yet, it is so important to be close to our children so they can engage in a dialogue with us when they have questions as to reality and fiction. Defining those lines are one of the most important things we do for young children.

Health Care Reform Opposition-Not just for the inflamed masses part 2

I’ve been going over the House’s healthcare reform bill because I am not satisfied with merely listening to the rumors flying. In the following post I am going to quote the actual bill and add my commentary. This is going to be a bit overwhelming, but hang in there. If I can make 33 pages of preliminary notes (Don’t worry, I am not going to post them all!) then you can make it through a long post. I pray that there is at least one thing that will touch you and encourage you start to question what is really going on in this country. Don’t take my word for it, search for yourself. Please use the references and look them up for yourself. I am no lawyer, and I do not know every detail of this bill, but there are some very blaringly obvious details that should be questioned.

Let’s start with the Health Benefits Advisory Committee. These are the guys and gals who will be running the show.

•Pg 30 (2)CHAIR.—The Surgeon General shall be a member and the chair of the Health Benefits Advisory Committee.
(3) MEMBERSHIP.—The Health Benefits Advisory Committee shall be composed of the following members, in addition to the Surgeon General: 9 members who are not Federal employees or officers and who are appointed by the President.
(B) 9 members who are not Federal employees or officers and who are appointed by the Comptroller General of the United States in a manner similar to the manner in which the Comptroller General appoints members to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission under section 1805(c) of the Social Security Act.
(C) Such even number of members (not to exceed 8) who are Federal employees and officers, as the President may appoint. Such initial appointments shall be made not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

So these guys come from a variety of sources, right? Well, the Surgeon General is appointed by the President, 9 members are directly appointed by the president, the Comptroller General-who is appointed by the president-appoints 9 members, and the president will appoint another 8 directly.

Another big player that is pointed out latter in the bill is the Secretary of Health and Human Services who happens to be in the Presidential Cabinet.

Hmmm, seems like the president has quite a bit of influence over this committee.

Now let’s address the statement that “you’ll be able to keep your health care”

• Page 42 (1) INGENERAL.—The Commissioner shall undertake activities in accordance with this subtitle to promote accountability of QHBP offering entities in meeting Federal health insurance requirements, regardless of whether such accountability is with respect to qualified health benefits plans offered through the Health Insurance Exchange or outside of such Exchange.

Sure, “you’ll be able to keep your health care” but only if the committee deems it appropriate. They don’t really care if you like it or not.

And if you were thinking that maybe your company still might be able to do their own thing without getting involved in the Exchange, take this into consideration:

•Pg 149-150 An employer that has an annual payroll exceeding $400,000 gets to make a “contribution” of 8% if they choose to not use the Exchange. Smaller companies can make smaller “contributions.”

Companies will be financially punished for trying to keep out of the government’s Exchange!

Well, so the committee can regulate plans even out of the Exchange but at least you will have lots of choices-right? Choices are what the Exchange is all about...right?

• Pg 73 (c) EXCHANGE-PARTICIPATING HEALTH BENEFITS PLAN DEFINED.—
In this division, the term “Exchange-participating health benefits plan” means a qualified health benefits plan that is offered through the Health Insurance Exchange.
• Pg 84 SEC. 203. BENEFITS PACKAGE LEVELS.
(a) INGENERAL.—The Commissioner shall specify the benefits to be made available under Exchange-participating health benefits plans during each plan year, consistent with subtitle C of title I and this section.
•Pg 97 (3) AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT FOR NON-MEDICAID ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner shall provide for a process under which individuals who are Exchange-eligible individuals described in subparagraph (B) are automatically enrolled under an appropriate Exchange-participating health benefits plan. Such process may involve a random assignment or some other form of assignment that takes into account the health care providers used by the individual involved or such other relevant factors as the Commissioner may specify.
•Pg 341 (iv) AUTHORITY TO DISQUALIFY CERTAIN PLANS.—In applying clauses (ii) and (iii), the Secretary may determine not to identify a Medicare Advantage plan if the Secretary has identified deficiencies in the plan’s compliance with rules for such plans under this part

Wait a minute …Where is the choice?

If the government has the say in what we can chose from, that is taking away choice, not expanding it. And is it me, or does “The Secretary” have an awful lot of authority for one, unelected, person?

That is disconcerting, but surely there will be checks and balances. That is a solid principle that has been employed from the time of our founding, that will help curb the power in this one committee over the people.

• Pg 124 (f) LIMITATIONS ON REVIEW.—There shall be no administrative or judicial review of a payment rate or methodology established under this section or under section 224.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." (Lord Acton) If that is true for great men then what will happen with the substandard folks we have in Washington now?

Maybe that tax will similar to this tax described under another section:

• Pg 203 The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.

What the …? That is absolutely absurd! The people writing these types of thing are suppose to be trusted making decisions about our health care?

They will be given power to make decisions about doctors and how much they are paid.

• Pg 241 Service categories ($$$$$) established under this paragraph shall apply without regard to the specialty of the physician furnishing the service.
•Pg 253 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a process to validate relative value units under the fee schedule under subsection (b).
(ii) COMPONENTS AND ELEMENTS OF WORK.—The process described in clause (i) may include validation of work elements (such as time, mental effort and professional judgment, technical skill and physical effort, and stress due to risk) involved with furnishing a service and may include validation of the pre, post, and intra-service components of work.

Under this system there will be no benefit for going through more schooling to become a surgeon or specialist. That would undoubtedly lead to shortages in care providers.

The Commission will also be meddling in medical decisions.

• Pg 298 (C) applying a payment reduction for physicians who treat the patient during the initial admission that results in a readmission

After the Commission is done telling your doctor how much they should make (because we all no doctors are all evil villains out to suck blood and feed off the poor and indigent.) They are going to tell your hospital that there is no room for growth.

•Pg 317 (C) PROHIBITION ON EXPANSION OF FACILITY CAPACITY.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), the number of operating rooms, procedure rooms, or beds of the hospital at any time on or after the date of the enactment of this subsection are no greater than the number of operating rooms, procedure rooms, or beds, respectively, as of such date.
•Pg 321 (i) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish and implement a process under which a hospital may apply for an exception from the requirement under paragraph (1)(C).
(ii) OPPORTUNITY FOR COMMUNITY INPUT.—The process under clause (i) shall provide persons and entities in the community in which the hospital applying for an exception is located with the opportunity to provide input with respect to the application.

Hospitals waiting for this exemption to expand will have to wade through loads of red tape. Let’s say that an area’s population is increased dramatically because gold is found. That new population is going to need expanded medical care but the hospitals will not be able to rapidly expand to suit the needs of the community. Bureaucratic red tape wins again and the people this bill is suppose to help go home without adequate care.

Much has been made of Sarah Pallin’s comments on “death panels” that may decide to limit care for those with special needs. That might come from this section:

•Pg 354 SEC. 1177. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY OF SPECIAL NEEDS PLANS TO RESTRICT ENROLLMENT.

There is a whole section giving authority to restrict enrollment of those with special needs! The section is convoluted and honestly, I’m not sure what is in there but the title sets off red flags.

With all of this authority in the hands of a few, and with no way to fight if you have been wronged, I am ending this post with a few provisions that take away our privacy and our autonomy.

The government should never be allowed to amass the types of information these sections require on its people. Somehow Washington has it in their heads that we are under them, not that they work for us. This sort of thinking is dangerous and it puts the people under the thumb of a few.

• Pg 59 (D) enable the real-time (or near real-time) determination of an individual’s financial responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific facility, which may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card;

If the government is going to make sure everyone gets what ever they need why would there be exclusions to whether a person is eligible for care or not? Anyone who needs the care should automatically be considered eligible if the government were being truthful about its intentions.

• Pg 195 Such return information shall be limited to—
(i) taxpayer identity information with respect to such taxpayer,
(ii) the filing status of such taxpayer,
(iii) the modified adjusted gross in-come of such taxpayer (as defined in section 59B(e)(5)),
(iv) the number of dependents of the taxpayer,
(v) such other information as is prescribed by the Secretary by regulation as might indicate whether the taxpayer is eligible for such affordability credits (and the amount thereof), and
(vi) the taxable year with respect to which the preceding information relates or, if applicable, the fact that such information is not available.

They just get to know everything about your finances and family but hey, that’s all.

• Pg 503 (E) encourage, as appropriate, the development and use of clinical registries and the development of clinical effectiveness research data networks from electronic health records, post marketing drug and medical device surveillance efforts, and other forms of electronic health data.

Our medical records are going to be going every which way. Then, when they get each kid tracked through school (Now I am obligated to post on education and good old Arne Duncan to explain the kid tracking thing.), and each person tracked through health care – where are we?

•Pg 621 (2) QUALITY MEASURE.—The term ‘quality measure’ means a national consensus (So are we all going to vote on the standards?) standard for measuring the performance and improvement of population health, or of institutional providers of services, physicians, and other health care practitioners in the delivery of health care services.

• Pg 623
(c) DEVELOPMENT OF QUALITY MEASURES.—
(1) PATIENT-CENTERED AND POPULATION-BASED MEASURES.—Quality measures developed under agreements under subsection (a) shall be designed—
(A) to assess outcomes and functional status of patients;
(B) to assess the continuity and coordination of care and care transitions for patients across providers and health care settings, including end of life care;
(C) to assess patient experience and patient engagement;
(D) to assess the safety, effectiveness, and timeliness of care;
(E) to assess health disparities including those associated with individual race, ethnicity, age, gender, place of residence or language;
(F) to assess the efficiency and resource use in the provision of care;
(G) to the extent feasible, to be collected as part of health information technologies supporting better delivery of health care services;
(H) to be available free of charge to users for the use of such measures; and
(I) to assess delivery of health care services to individuals regardless

• Pg 518 (A) INGENERAL.—The Commission shall consult with patients, health care providers, health care consumer representatives, and other appropriate stakeholders (who are these guys and why leave it so open?) with an interest in the research through a transparent process (Because “transparency” has worked so well with the TARP money and other government programs.) recommended by the Commission.

Is anyone still with me? If you are you win a prize! I know that this is a lot of information. Trust me, I know.

The important thing is to take one or two points and start researching and questioning like mad why those would be included and what they detract from our freedom.

My biggest question is that if the government is really only trying to help poor people receive insurance why does the scope of the bill reach so much further than that? Why does every single insurance option have to be Ok’ed by one committee? Why can’t we leave at least a few free of all of this regulation?

Friends, there is a strong disservice being given to the American people-you and me. We have a government who is feeding off of the compassion and good nature of the people in this country to line their pockets and give themselves powers that can only become oppressive to the very souls of whom helped them get where they want to be. If we truly want to show our charity and compassion for those around us we will fight to save them from the tyranny that, if left unchecked, will only lead to disaster.

The Man Without a Country

The Man Without a Country and Its History by Edward Everett Hale


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a little book with a huge message. I did not expect to become emotionally involved, but I did.

Originally written in 1863, Dr. Hale formed a tale of patriotism in a unique and clutching way. The hero of the story, Philip Nolan, as a youth stated to a judge while on trial, "I wish I may never hear of the United States again!" and the judge granted him just that as his sentence. Nolan was to be treated with respect and every human kindness aboard sailing vessels, but those around him were held to a strict standard of silence when it came to the U.S.

Originally I doubted the effect this could have on a person, but upon closing the book I second Nolan's dying words. "There cannot be a man who loves the old flag as I do, or prays for it as I do, or hopes for it as I do." Brings home the old adage that "we don't miss something 'till it is gone."

One of the prevailing themes in this book is justice versus mercy and what happens when bureaucrats get involved in decisions about a man's life without knowing him. The men transporting Nolan asked for orders regarding Nolan and of course Washington told them to use their own judgement which Hale points out means merely, "If you succeed, you will sustained; if you fail, you will be disavowed." Things don't change much when it comes to government do they?

This is a quick and powerful read that I highly recommend.