Their livelihood was being threatened, and they were tired of waiting for government help, so business owners and residents on Hawaii's Kauai island pulled together and completed a $4 million repair job to a state park — for free.

via Island DIY: Kauai residents don’t wait for state to repair road – CNN.com.

I hope that more people do likewise! We can do it ourselves as individuals and communities, more often than not. If we can, we should. Waiting for someone else to fix the problem doesn’t make the problem go away sooner, nor does it come without a price.

Yes, I’m moving to Texas. I’ve accepted a job in Austin and I will be there on the 29th.

Perhaps I’ll blog more once I’ve done this. We’ll have to see. Things are likely to be busy in the meanwhile.

At any rate, my family and I are moving to Texas. I’ll be going first in order that I might get situated. My wife will be joining me to help in hunting for a home while my mother-in-law keeps an eye on our children. My wife will be with me for a week or so.

We barely listed our home on Monday and a realtor is coming to show the house tonight. We could only be so fortunate as to have someone want to buy our house so soon.

That’s all the update I have time for right now. I will have to keep this updated more regularly after I move.

I found this to be very informative.  I wonder if old Al Gore has paid close attention to this?  Carbon-neutral doesn’t make sense if mankind is only producing approximately 0.28% of the so-called “Greenhouse Effect.”

Global Warming: A closer look at the numbers
Just how much of the “Greenhouse Effect” is caused by human activity?

It is about 0.28%, if water vapor is taken into account– about 5.53%, if not.

This point is so crucial to the debate over global warming that how water vapor is or isn’t factored into an analysis of Earth’s greenhouse gases makes the difference between describing a significant human contribution to the greenhouse effect, or a negligible one.

If these data are accurate and the representation is factual, then we really have nothing to worry about and all of the hype is junk science coming from people who profit in some fashion by alarming the public at large.

The recent tragedy in Colorado has had me thinking.  I can’t say that this wouldn’t have happened if the children were homeschooled.  First and foremost because I would feel like I was exploiting someone else to boost my agenda.  And second, because I couldn’t feel like I was factually correct in even suggesting such a thing.  Forced-entry into homes happens all over the world on a daily basis and subsequent tragedy, be it sexual assault, murder or theft of property, is all too common in such cases. The bottom line here is that even though the school had some kind of protections in place, this came out of the blue and there was nothing they could have done to prevent it.
I pondered how I might have felt if something like that had happened to one of my daughters, or the daughter of a close friend.  I even tried to place myself in the shoes of the parents whose daughter was killed by this creep.  I can’t truly imagine what they must be going through, but I extend my deepest condolences to them.  I extend my condolences not just to them, but to all of the victims and their families.  It is truly unfortunate that we in our society must confront this manner of evil.

I also extend my condolences to the family of the perpetrator.  Having a brother/son/uncle go off the deep end and do something so surprising must be agonizing.   I have often wondered how difficult it would be in such a situation and my heart goes out to you as well.
Please remember that the victims in this scenario are still our brothers and sisters — part of the human family —  and they need our love, support and prayers just as much as anyone else.

I’m sorry, but you’re not allowed in my country any longer.

“Death to Yankees” senator loses US visa
A Bolivian senator, a close ally of President Evo Morales known for her raucous chanting of “Long live coca, Death to the Yankees!,” said on Wednesday the United States had canceled her entry visa.

Seriously, if you are a senator-level politician in your country can you honestly believe we’ll just blithely allow you to proclaim “death to Yankees,” not to mention advocating a crop which is illegal here, and still expect us to grant you a US visa?

Stupid.  But then again, perhaps she’s been drinking a bit too much of her vaunted coca tea.

You just can’t make this stuff up!

Orem Man Reports Marijuana Stolen

According to police reports, 18-year-old Kory C. Tippetts returned home Monday evening to discover that someone had broken into his house. Tippetts reported that a quarter-pound of marijuana was the only thing missing.

Tippetts told police he had an idea who might have stolen it. Tippetts explained to police that he had received a call earlier that day from 23-year-old Richard W. Hight. Hight wanted to buy some marijuana, but Tippetts couldn’t meet him to make the sale.

Officers checked Hight’s house, where they recovered six ounces of marijuana and arrested him for burglary, theft, and possession of marijuana in a drug-free-zone with the intent to distribute. He was booked into the Utah County jail.

With the stolen marijuana now in hand, the officers called Tippetts to come to the police station to identify the drugs. Tippetts came to the station, identified the drugs, and was then arrested and booked on drug related charges.

Emphasis added

Stupid is as stupid does.

If you’re a regular reader of this weblog, you know that I predicted that Hugo Chavez will not go quietly when his term as “president” of Venezuela comes to an end. I predicted that he’d set himself up as another Socialist Dictator, like Castro, since the two seem to be buddies. It appears that I underestimated Chavez. He’s aiming to be much more like another famous dictator. Let’s see if you can figure out who I mean:

A Perilous Hanukkah with Hugo

Celebrating on December 24, Chavez said “Christmas is a rebellious, revolutionary, socialist Christ…the descendants of those who crucified Christ have taken ownership of the riches of the world, and they have concentrated it in a small number of hands.” Chavez said he was “decided” to change history, and he said that every day, he is joined by a “greater quantity of Chiefs of State and leaders in that struggle.” Among those are Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with whom Chavez recently met. On December 14, Ahmadinejad described the Holocaust as “a myth,” months after he suggested that Israel should be “wiped off the map.”

Amazing, isn’t it? The association with Holocaust deniers may be coincidental, but in light of his statements can you honestly believe that he wishes Jews well?

This is a disturbing development in the Chavez Watch chronicles. I hope that no violence against anyone on the basis of their ethnicity or political leanings results from Mr. Chavez’s apparent quest to become a tin-pot dictator.

I was too busy to post this yesterday, but rest assured that I remember Pearl Harbor. My grandfather was there. He survived.

Remember Pearl Harbor? WWII vets worry that it is just a history lesson: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Remember Pearl Harbor?

The battle cry that once stirred troops to action has become a question that now stirs anguish in vets.

These days, few cast their minds back to Pearl Harbor, and some people under 30 are hard pressed to recite what happened on that “Day of Infamy” exactly 64 years ago.

“I have no idea whatsoever,” said Kristina Krakehl, 23, of Boca Raton.

“It’s not really that significant,” Brinsley Elliott, 20, of Fort Lauderdale, said after being told why Dec. 7, 1941, is notable in U.S. history.

I was utterly appalled and thoroughly dismayed to learn that some young people believe Pearl Harbor is “not really that significant.” I’ll bite my tongue and won’t say what I would like to say. Instead I will say this: It is extremely significant. The country as we now know it is a product of the events of the past, good and ill. Even if you disagree with policy decisions made by the various administrations the country has seen, the entire world economy is vastly different from what it might otherwise have been because of two nations, primarily the USA and Japan. Own any products made by Sony? Or perhaps you drive a Toyota? Post WWII, the USA helped to rebuild Japan. Japan went on to become a world financial power. If you have no care for the lives lost or the war fought as a result of Pearl Harbor, you can’t deny that Japan has affected the world in a major way.

To say that Pearl Harbor is “not really that significant” is to deny the blood shed on that day, or to call the sacrifices made in defense of home, family and country a wash. I don’t believe that for a moment, and I salute those brave men and women who served their country nobly.

If you know someone who was in Pearl Harbor that day, tell them that you will not forget what happened that day. Pass on the memories to your children or grandchildren. Don’t let the “day which will live in infamy” die in infamy because some of the youth of today don’t think it significant enough to mention.

This is interesting, but I can’t say I’m really surprised.

Love hurts? So does a wounded marriage

“Couples who demonstrated consistently higher levels of hostile behaviors … healed at 60 percent of the rate of low-hostile couples,” said the report published in the December issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Who can say what it is? Who cares? If singing can ward off brain-wasting diseases or even reverse some symptoms, I think I’ll sing some every day and encourage that as a habit in my family.

Oh, wait…we already do!

How singing unlocks the brain

Bill, from west Berkshire, has been in hospital recently after having a stroke, but Jean kept up the singing and said it has given them both a focus, even helping his slurred speech recover following the stroke.

“I don’t know what it is that changes in the brain when people with Alzheimer’s sing, but obviously something does change and there is something very beneficial about it. It seems to kick-start something in the brain and has made such a difference to Bill.”

Seriously, though, if this is all it takes to reach people (and I’ve heard other anecdotal accounts that preceded this and confirm it) why aren’t we hearing more about this? This should be trumpeted from the rooftops! Music programs should become more common in schools, not less! This is big news, people!

Will we have a leader bold enough to do what this one did?

Herald Sun: Don’t ban Christmas, schools told

Mr Bracks told the Herald Sun the Government would send a message to every primary and secondary school reminding them not to ban Christmas.

“All schools and kindergartens should be able to have nativity plays and Christian celebrations,” Mr Bracks said.

“Those who don’t wish to participate don’t have to, and those who wish to celebrate in their own way can do so.

“But even those from other faiths, of course, accept Christian celebrations and the Government is keen to ensure there are no bans on any of these sorts of activities.”

Mr Bracks said he wanted to encourage tolerance of all faiths.

Thank you, Mr. Bracks, for promoting tolerance of all faiths, including the Christian ones. The boneheads in our country haven’t figured out that when you preach “tolerance” of differing religions but insist upon quashing one, you’re not really preaching tolerance at all, are you?

School children know boring…or do they?

Telegraph | News | Marriage is just too boring, say children

Children do not want to get married because they think it will lead to a life of boredom, according to a survey conducted by the BBC.

Boring? Let’s read what John Taylor Gatto has to say about boring:

I taught for thirty years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan, and in some of the best, and during that time I became an expert in boredom. Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids, as I often did, why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around. They said teachers didn’t seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren’t interested in learning more. And the kids were right: their teachers were every bit as bored as they were.

Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time in a teachers’ lounge can vouch for the low energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to be found there. When asked why they feel bored, the teachers tend to blame the kids, as you might expect. Who wouldn’t get bored teaching students who are rude and interested only in grades? If even that. Of course, teachers are themselves products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students, and as school personnel they are trapped inside structures even more rigid than those imposed upon the children. Who, then, is to blame?

We all are. My grandfather taught me that. One afternoon when I was seven I complained to him of boredom, and he batted me hard on the head. He told me that I was never to use that term in his presence again, that if I was bored it was my fault and no one else’s. The obligation to amuse and instruct myself was entirely my own, and people who didn’t know that were childish people, to be avoided if possible. Certainty not to be trusted. That episode cured me of boredom forever, and here and there over the years I was able to pass on the lesson to some remarkable student. For the most part, however, I found it futile to challenge the official notion that boredom and childishness were the natural state of affairs in the classroom.

Can boredom in the classroom translate into boredom in the home? Can children be taught that “the obligation to amuse and instruct” themselves is their own responsibility and that those who fail to do so are “childish people, to be avoided if possible”?

It seems to me that many homes are glorified boarding houses where children are merely tenants. All of their primary activities are outside the home (school, sports, friends) and all they do at home is homework, eating and sleeping with a bit of media, interactive or not. Naturally, such an existence will seem second rate. It is a good thing that children grow up and think better of parenthood as they mature.

Read the whole Gatto article. Boredom is a symptom of a severe societal malady. Until reading the Telegraph article I had never considered that relationships could be construed as boring, leave alone marriage. It saddened me that a full 27% of 2,000 7- to 11-year-olds thought of marriage as a “‘pointless’ union.” It’s downright discouraging to hear a 38-year-old mother of three answer the question, “What is the best thing about being married?”

The best thing about being married is having someone who puts the rubbish out on Wednesday night. It’s the only thing I can think of … it’s very handy and if you weren’t married you’d have to do it yourself.

How are the children supposed to have a bright view of marriage if parent’s views are as inglorious as that?

Hat tip: Daryl Cobranchi.

This OpEd deals with two things of no small importance to me: Home education and Blogging.

Washington Examiner: Opinion

The success of Lowe’s and Home Depot aren’t the only reflection of the do-it-yourself movement’s popularity. An increasing number of Americans are discovering that they can handle the work of two other traditionally outsourced services all by themselves: education and the media.

Definitely read the whole article. It’s worthy.

Ok, so maybe that’s a bit morbid, but you can’t deny there’s something about a story like this that makes you want to see what exactly the described scenario looks like:

FOXNews.com – U.S. & World – Python Tries to Eat Alligator, Explodes

Alligators have clashed with nonnative pythons before in Everglades National Park. But when a 6-foot gator tangled with a 13-foot python recently, the result wasn’t pretty.

Yes, the snake exploded. Reminds me of that bit in Galaxy Quest when the pig-lizard didn’t survive re-integration:

Taggart: The pig-lizard turned inside out?!

Thermian: And it exploded.

Is there a future for this sort of thing? When cock fighting is banned, will they turn to snake vs. gator fights?