The Guilty until Proven Innocent Act

I’d like to propose a new bill for the New Jersey state legislature. Titled the “Guilty until Proven Innocent Act,” my bill would require all public employees (people who receive all or part of their income from tax-payers in the form of a state, county, or municipal salary) to submit an annual audit of their finances to the local media, as well as publish the results of the audit online. Any politician who maintains a campaign fund separate from their private finances must annually submit an audit for their campaign, too. These public employees will also be required to submit an annual letter of intent to continue receiving tax-payer funded salary and benefits, as well as a portfolio of financial records and materials including, but not limited to, an itemized list of financial expenditures, and samples of purchases, investments, stocks and bonds, or other financial transactions.

Maybe Loretta Weinberg will sponsor it.

State Senator Weinberg is the legislator who sponsored S-3105, the bill that would require New Jersey homeschoolers to submit to the local school district an annual letter of intent to homeschool, an extensive portfolio, and proof of an annual physical by a medical doctor for each homeschooled child. The local school district is the eyes of the state, able to peer into the family in ways the US Constitution prohibits police and prosecutors. S-3105 is Senator Weinberg’s second attempt at passing such legislation. The first was eight years ago. Both came in response to horrible situations where parents claiming that they were homeschooling their children were, in fact, physically abusing them. In both cases, children died. The logical conclusion to such situations is that all homeschoolers are potential abusers, and so must prove to the state that they are not if they wish to continue homeschooling. The Guilty until Proven Innocent Act applies that same logic to public employees.

If you Google the terms “New Jersey,” “politics,” “Governor,” and “corruption,” you will find enough reading to fill your time until the second coming. From former Governor Bob Corzine (refused to release his income tax returns during his 2000 election campaign for the US Senate; head of now bankrupt MF Global holdings; gave $441,600 in personal money to convicted Democratic machine Boss Joseph Ferriero) to Assemblymen Daniel Van Pelt (convicted, along with 19 others, in an FBI sting for money laundering and racketeering), and many in between, New Jersey gives both Chicago and Washington, D.C., a genuine challenge for the title of Dirtiest in Politics. It is not my intent to trivialize the tragic deaths of children, but if a couple of abuse cases amongst the thousands of New Jersey homeschooling families justifies the intrusion of the state into all homeschooling families, then the criminal actions of some state employees and politicians, which affects far more lives and occurs far more frequently, justifies the same level of scrutiny. In politics, money is everything.

Guilty until proven innocent.

Scotch, Pain Meds, and the Happy Husky

Now that the leftovers have been put away and the guests have departed; the house is clean and the remainder of the weekend is open for rest and relaxation; it is a good time to sit and reflect on all for which I should be thankful. 

I am thankful that George, aka The Big Fuzzy Rock, once again chose Thanksgiving week to have a near death experience.   Last year on the day before Thanksgiving, The Boss awoke to find that our living room looked like a scene from a Quentin Tarantino movie.  She found George sitting next to the kitchen door, wagging his tail. His head had exploded.  A week ago Friday, the Husky decided that the arthritis in his hips was too much to live with, so he stopped eating and drinking.  Of course, every vet in the two state area was double booked and couldn’t squeeze him into their schedule.

I am thankful that Major Havoc’s den leader chose the weekend before Thanksgiving to host a campout.  It’s not like we needed that weekend to clean the house or shop for groceries or anything. He also failed to heed my advice to bring a chainsaw, preferring two bow saws to carve up our fire wood.   As the temperature dropped he discovered that his saws were very good at scoring wood.  I had to fight hard to convince both him and my oldest son (their Life Scout Den Chief) that if his scouts wished to remain warm, we would need a pile of wood the size of a water buffalo.  They were content with a pile of wood the size of a chipmunk.

I am grateful for the two old ladies with the chainsaw who agreed to cut wood for us in exchange for our loading their pick-up with their cut wood.  Nothing teaches manliness to young boys on the cusp of manhood more than asking a couple of women to cut fire wood for them.   The only thing missing to prepare them for marriage was a can of Schlitz for each boy and a NASCAR race on TV.  They would have learned how to yell, “Can you turn down the chainsaw?  I can’t hear the race. And bring me a sandwich!”

I am grateful for the roofing nail that lodged itself in the right rear tire of my van last Sunday.  I needed a flat tire that afternoon. 

I am also grateful that my garbage disposal chose last Sunday to quit working.  Right after the warranty expired.

I am grateful that the employees at Walmart were able to fix my flat.  For free.   This came after a near smack-down between three employees as they argued over a tread gauge in an attempt to determine whether or not there was enough remaining tread on the tire to legally repair the flat.   As I waited their decision, Captain Chaos turned pirouettes next to me and repeatedly asked, “Can we go see the video games now?”   Once the thumbs-up was given to the repair and a team of computer technicians recovered my maintenance records, we were good to go. 

I am grateful that our vet treated George last Monday.  She gave us pain meds for his arthritis.  By Thursday he was wobbling, eating (after I poured turkey gravy on his food), and drinking, although I’m not certain Scotch is the best thing to wash down pain killers.  If he can live on narcotics for his remaining time on earth he’ll do alright.  

I am grateful that God has brought me to a place in life were these events were something to take in stride with humor rather than get upset or experience stress.  And we were able to maintain our homeschooling schedule through it all.

Blessings to you all.

Have a good weekend.

Proclamation of Thanksgiving

Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863

 

This is the proclamation which set the precedent for America's national day of Thanksgiving. During his administration, President Lincoln issued many orders similar to this. For example, on November 28, 1861, he ordered government departments closed for a local day of thanksgiving.

Sarah Josepha Hale, a 74-year-old magazine editor, wrote a letter to Lincoln on September 28, 1863, urging him to have the "day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival." She explained, "You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritive fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution."

Prior to this, each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times, mainly in New England and other Northern states. President Lincoln responded to Mrs. Hale's request immediately, unlike several of his predecessors, who ignored her petitions altogether. In her letter to Lincoln she mentioned that she had been advocating a national thanksgiving date for 15 years as the editor of Godey's Lady's Book.

The document below sets apart the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." According to an April 1, 1864, letter from John Nicolay, one of President Lincoln's secretaries, this document was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. On October 3, 1863, fellow Cabinet member Gideon Welles recorded in his diary how he complimented Seward on his work. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. 

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. 

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. 

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

Are We Losing our Rights as Parents?

How Much Do Grades Cost In Your Homeschool?

I don’t know about you, fellow homeschoolers, but when my children fail a math test, I review the concepts they do not understand, make them complete additional exercises covering those concepts, and make them retake the test. That is, of course, if the test doesn’t reveal that the incorrect answers were the result of simple math errors that could have been corrected by double-checking their work before handing in the test. One thing I do NOT do is ask my children to empty their piggy banks in order to purchase a higher score. It’s too bad The Charlotte County School District cannot say the same thing.

Charlotte High School math teacher Jeff Spires allowed students to purchase higher grades on tests and quizzes by stapling cash to the back of the paper in question and returning it to him. This must be another example of new math. For amounts ranging from $10 to $70, this math teacher raised student grades. One student offered him $200 to raise her grade for the quarter, but Mr. Spires turned her down. Far from experiencing Sudden Onset Conscience Syndrome, the reason for denying the young lady the opportunity to buy her math grade was that the grades for the quarter had already been submitted to the administration. It is safe to assume that if the student had made the offer earlier, Mr. Spires would have accepted. You can read news reports for this story here, here, or here.

Now, the National Education Association firmly believes that “home schooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience.” For once, I must agree with them. My children will NEVER learn how to buy grades for cash in my homeschool. I believe in a comprehensive education, but I have my limits. So, I cannot provide my children with the comprehensive education on how to cheat in school that is being taught to the math students at Charlotte High School.

Occupy Math Work Sheet - The Homeschooling Protest

My children are an active, energetic, and imaginative lot. Frequently, our days are filled with the adventures of super heroes, kings, and queens, questing against the villain du jour. In order to prevent these adventures from consuming our entire day, I find that I must be a bit of a task master. Keeping this lot focused on their school work is a challenge. If I allowed them to have their way, we would have too much home and not enough school. Let’s face it (and this is not a criticism of my homeschooling brethren), we aren’t unschoolers.

So, after we completed our third page of math this morning, Captain Chaos decided that she needed a break. She didn’t ask for a break. She gave herself a break. She jumped out of her chair and ran to her bedroom.  The girl reappeared a few moments later wearing her super hero cape and mask and carrying two Twister Hoopla rings.

“I’m off to slay the dragon!” she exclaimed, running through the kitchen to the basement steps. As shedescended the steps she cried, “Not a real dragon. The plastic dragon!”

This came right after her OMWS math protest.

The Occupy Math Work Sheet movement is a daily affair that begins with the Captain deciding which problems she will and will not agree to complete, as well as deciding whether or not she will write her answers in the spaces provided by the evil, greedy, corporate math teachers from Saxon. When she doesn’t want to complete her math work, the Captain will write the largest, sloppiest numbers she can possibly create, frequently obliterating the equations below and to the sides of the problem she is answering. Since I have stock in erasers (there’s a lot of money to be made in BIG ERASER), there’s always a large square block eraser on hand to obliterate her protest numbers. At some point during each worksheet, she will look at an upcoming question, draw a squiggly line through the problem, and write “Bah!” (her version of “Blah!”), in vain hope that I will allow her to skip that exercise.

Today was no different. The Captain began her math day writing humungous numbers. After the obligatory erasing she settled into a more cooperative mood, completing three pages of math exercises. She abandoned all efforts at cooperating when she saw a row of addition problems at the bottom of the third page. While I was refilling my coffee cup, she drew her squiggly line through the equations and wrote “blah.” Returning to the table, I once again deployed BIG ERASER. After much complaining, she started the problems. As she wrote her final answers I heard her mutter, “I’m writing the biggest numbers that I can write.” And she did. Across the bottom of the page. Because this girl is going to make her feelings known no matter what.

I’m just happy she doesn’t have any drums.

They Make It Far Too Easy

Some days I read the news and think, “They just make it far too easy.” Take the case of the first grade teacher in Lexington County School District Three in Lexington, South Carolina, who was accused of making her students rub her bare feet in class. The school district claims they took appropriate action when they disciplined the teacher, but the parents are furious that the teacher hasn’t been fired. I’m curious about how bad her corns were.  The answer to that question might be the difference between poor judgment on her part or cruel and unusual punishment.
 
Then I discovered that a teacher in a suburban Chicago Christian school has been charged with masturbating behind a podium while teaching his math class. I tried to write a couple of math jokes about poles for this story but the obscenity is simply too great for humor. Police believe that he may have been doing this on and off for the past ten years. Ten years!

While I was reading through these stories I discovered a story about a teacher who was arrested for having sex with one her 14 year old students. I lost the link when I went shut down the computer to make dinner. Later, when I searched for the story, I typed the words “teacher” and “sex” and “14-year-old” into a Google search engine. I received 32,800,000 results in 0.24 seconds. I decided at that point that I didn’t want to read anymore. 32,800,000 hits about teachers having sex with 14-year-olds is 32,800,000 hits too many.
 
Homeschooling critics may believe that we are harming our children by keeping them out of the halls of public academia, but I am 100% certain that as long as my children are homeschooled their teacher will never ask them to rub his feet. He will never practice self-gratification during math class, or conduct himself in a manner that will garner 32.8 million hits on Google. While I still believe that the perpetrators of these incidents are in the vast minority of professional teachers, that’s little consolation for the students involved. Quite frankly, I’m not willing to gamble my children’s health and safety on the hope that their public or private school teacher is one of the good ones. They are far too valuable to me.