America and Politics
Our Country in Distress
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?" -Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia, 1782.
"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical." -Thomas Jefferson
The White House
Here I will have not the amoral stuff that show off the character (or lack thereof) of the President, the man we hold as a role model for all kids (do not kids still dream of becomming President?), but other serious issues.
Immorality: Does it matter?
We believe it does matter. Or let me ask you- if it doesn't matter, then what does matter in life? Money? Comfort? Cars and fancy homes?
Crisis in Schools
The reasons why we homeschool:
Violence
Seen today is a rash of school shootings by teenagers that has horrified parents and led to national 'soul-searching'.
"What kind of despair drives children to this kind of violence?" Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber asked.
Unfortunately, this supposedly educated man doesn't know the answer! What Kind indeed? May I suggest the moral bankrupcy of our nation. "God is Dead," said Time magazine 25 years ago. Today we are paying the price for that attitude and belief.
More on Public School Violence
Interestingly, so far the violence has been limited to public schools, not private schools, despite the fact that 8% of K-12 education is private.
Education Failure
Here are International Achievement test scores for Science and Math in Secondary Schools.
Math Science
Netherlands 560 Sweden 552 Denmark 547 Switzerland 540 Russian Federation 471 United States 461 South Africa 356 Notes: Japan, Korea and other very high scoring Asian countries did not participate in this study, which means we would be even Lower in the ranks!
"America might have been fighting for 39th or 40th place in a 41 nation field" John Leo.
More Money Needed?
Repeatedly we hear the cry for more $ for schools. Here's the Funding story: we spend far more per student (adjusted for dollar value) than any other nation on the planet.
Coming soon: the numbers.
Crisis in Music/Culture
Humans are very sensitive to music. It pervades all cultures on every continent. Scientist don't know how it affects moods and the brain, but it is very powerful, nevertheless.
Here's what the Industry is churning out these days. It isn't Mozart or Disco.
from Sister Ray Enterprises / Metal Machine Music, c. 1967:
"Now go out and buy the real thing on "White Light / White Heat" by The Velvet Underground, but don't blame me if (and most likely, when) you hate the album... -you'll think you have Satan trapped in your head if you listen to it...
Don't say I didn't warn you."
More to come...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House Tuesday blasted Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, saying his "backward" views on homosexuality comparing it to alcoholism showed the Republican party at its most extreme.
Lott made the controversial remarks in an interview Monday with conservative cable talk show host Armstrong Williams on America's Voice television. Asked if he believed homosexuality was a sin, Lott replied, "It is."
"In America right now there's an element that wants to make that alternative lifestyle acceptable and normal," said Lott. "You should still love that person ... You should show them a way to deal with that problem," he said, adding, "Just like my father having a problem with alcohol ... Other people have sex addiction. Other people are kleptomaniacs."
President Clinton's spokesman Mike McCurry told reporters Lott's statement showed how difficult it was to do business in Washington in a variety of areas, "when you're dealing with people who are so backward in their thinking."
"For over 25 years, it's been quite clear that sexual orientation is not an affliction. It's not a disease," McCurry said. [editor: is alcohalism a disease? I think this remains to be proven.]
Lott threw a verbal barb back to the White House, saying through his spokeswoman Susan Irby that McCurry's experience "within this White House" did not qualify him to comment on right and wrong. "What he considers to be backward are the views and values of a great majority of Americans," she said in a written statement.
The biggest gay rights lobby, the Human Rights Campaign, offered to sit down and explain modern scientific views of the biological basis of homosexuality to Lott. The American Psychiatric Association removed sexual orientation from its list of mental disorders a quarter century ago, HRC executive director Elizabeth Birch wrote Lott in a letter asking for a meeting.
But Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group, said Lott had insulted all gay members of his party and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force accused Lott of feeding the intolerance that can fuel hate crimes. Executive director Richard Tafel, "Whether it is ignorance on his part or blatant pandering to James Dobson and the radical right, it's wrong and it will cost the party."
Frank, McCurry and human rights activists attributed Lott's comments to the increasing influence of conservative groups, the Focus on the Family and its president James Dobson, and the Family Research Council's Gary Bauer, on Republican political leaders in the buildup to fall elections.
They blamed this influence for the stalled nomination of James Hormel as U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg. Hormel, a San Francisco businessman and heir to a meat fortune, would be the first openly gay ambassador from the United States. His name cleared the Foreign Relations Committee last November.
His second-in-command, Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles, told reporters that he agreed with Lott, and explained the senator wanted to show compassion to people with "problems."
"I think Sen. Lott was correct in saying we want to have compassion toward individuals that have problems. And we have lots of individuals that have problems in lots of areas -- this happens to be one," Nickles said.
House Majority Leader Richard Armey, a Texas Republican, avoided the word sin but said, "The Bible is very clear on this ... Both myself and Senator Lott believe very strongly in the Bible."