Beware the Ides of March!
That said, this has nothing to do with Julius Caesar or Roman history. Just plain ol' American history, and it's fun, too. What's for fun than a fiddling Thomas Jefferson?
Showing posts with label waving the flag. Show all posts
Showing posts with label waving the flag. Show all posts
14.3.11
NaVidPoMo: Day Fourteen
Because I'm tired. Tired of the looks of disgust, the chortles, the rolling of eyes. Yes, I'm a liberal, and yes, I homeschool. And yes, I wear my politics on my car just as much as many of the conservative homeschoolers. I don't laugh at them, or roll my eyes where they can see, or give their vehicles dirty looks as they sit inside them.
"I know you like to use that word 'liberal' as a crime."
"Because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor."
"I know you like to use that word 'liberal' as a crime."
"Because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor."
9.3.11
I'm Just One Person
I find myself having this thought often, lately. "I'm just ONE person. What can I do? I can't change people's minds." I find myself despairing over common and prevailing attitudes.
If you are, like me, despairing over the events in Wisconsin, I have something you can do. On this post, a commenter left a list of Koch Industries products to boycott.
HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS:
Quilted Northern®,
Angel Soft®,
Brawny®,
Sparkle® ,
Soft ‘n Gentle®,
Mardi Gras®,
Dixie® Products
CLOTHING CONTAINING:
LYCRA® fiber
COOLMAX®
GEORGIA PACIFIC PRODUCTS:
Copy, print and other office paper products
Lumber, wallboard, other building products
CARPET & FABRICS:
STAINMASTER® carpet,
ANTRON® carpet fiber,
CORDURA® fabric,
COMFOREL® fiberfill
ITEMS CONTAINING:
POLYSHIELD® resin,
POLYCLEAR® resin,
OXYCLEAR™ resin,
PERFORMA® film and sheet, and
POLARGUARD®
RESORTS:
Beaverhead near Yellowstone National Park in Montana,
Spring Creek in the scenic Flint Hills of Kansas,
Matador Ranch in Texas
Matador Pro Shop’s online store
We vote only periodically at the polls. We can vote daily with our wallets.
If you are, like me, despairing over the events in Wisconsin, I have something you can do. On this post, a commenter left a list of Koch Industries products to boycott.
HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS:
Quilted Northern®,
Angel Soft®,
Brawny®,
Sparkle® ,
Soft ‘n Gentle®,
Mardi Gras®,
Dixie® Products
CLOTHING CONTAINING:
LYCRA® fiber
COOLMAX®
GEORGIA PACIFIC PRODUCTS:
Copy, print and other office paper products
Lumber, wallboard, other building products
CARPET & FABRICS:
STAINMASTER® carpet,
ANTRON® carpet fiber,
CORDURA® fabric,
COMFOREL® fiberfill
ITEMS CONTAINING:
POLYSHIELD® resin,
POLYCLEAR® resin,
OXYCLEAR™ resin,
PERFORMA® film and sheet, and
POLARGUARD®
RESORTS:
Beaverhead near Yellowstone National Park in Montana,
Spring Creek in the scenic Flint Hills of Kansas,
Matador Ranch in Texas
Matador Pro Shop’s online store
We vote only periodically at the polls. We can vote daily with our wallets.
21.2.11
However, I Don't Care For Cherries
Happy Presidents' Day!
I still vaguely remember when it was called Washington's Birthday, and people remarked on Lincoln's Birthday as well. Does this make me old?
EG & FB don't have Master's Academy today, because of Presidents' Day, but we're still having school here at home. I did manage to plan some Presidents' Day themed reading, though.
FB and PC are going to listen to Anne Rockwell's Presidents' Day, which, to be honest, was something of a late addition; PC spotted it at the library and decided we had to bring it home with us.
FB has two readers for today, George Washington--Soldier, Hero, President and Abraham Lincoln: Lawyer, Leader, Legend. I had hoped to find a reader about Thomas Jefferson, but I didn't have any luck with that at the store I tried, and I didn't have a chance to look at any others.
FB & EG will both listen to Yes, We Can! and (over the course of the week ) Don't Know Much About the Presidents.
Finally, EG will read The Complete Idiot's Guide to the American Presidency.
If we were looking to spend lots of money, or our library carried them, we would watch the Mike Venezia-produced videos on Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. Since neither of those are true, we won't, but I do wish our library had them. Three of the courses offered by The Great Courses (formerly The Teaching Company) look interesting for the future: Mr. Lincoln: The Life of Abraham Lincoln (12 lectures); Abraham Lincoln: In His Own Words (24 lectures); and Great Presidents (48 lectures).
What are you doing to mark Presidents' Day? Do you celebrate it at all? Perhaps you're more the type to bake a cherry pie or make a pretzel-log cabin? Inquiring minds (well, okay, one mind–mine) want to know!
I still vaguely remember when it was called Washington's Birthday, and people remarked on Lincoln's Birthday as well. Does this make me old?
EG & FB don't have Master's Academy today, because of Presidents' Day, but we're still having school here at home. I did manage to plan some Presidents' Day themed reading, though.
FB and PC are going to listen to Anne Rockwell's Presidents' Day, which, to be honest, was something of a late addition; PC spotted it at the library and decided we had to bring it home with us.
FB has two readers for today, George Washington--Soldier, Hero, President and Abraham Lincoln: Lawyer, Leader, Legend. I had hoped to find a reader about Thomas Jefferson, but I didn't have any luck with that at the store I tried, and I didn't have a chance to look at any others.
FB & EG will both listen to Yes, We Can! and (over the course of the week ) Don't Know Much About the Presidents.
Finally, EG will read The Complete Idiot's Guide to the American Presidency.
If we were looking to spend lots of money, or our library carried them, we would watch the Mike Venezia-produced videos on Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. Since neither of those are true, we won't, but I do wish our library had them. Three of the courses offered by The Great Courses (formerly The Teaching Company) look interesting for the future: Mr. Lincoln: The Life of Abraham Lincoln (12 lectures); Abraham Lincoln: In His Own Words (24 lectures); and Great Presidents (48 lectures).
What are you doing to mark Presidents' Day? Do you celebrate it at all? Perhaps you're more the type to bake a cherry pie or make a pretzel-log cabin? Inquiring minds (well, okay, one mind–mine) want to know!
25.3.10
"Secular" Thursday: Patriotism & Taxes
We're going to rename Secular Thursday for today, to Patriotic Thursday. Okay, I am renaming it, anyway. I wrote this as a refutation of the idea that the only patriots are conservative or libertarian. I wrote this as a refutation of the idea that only certain types of people read and love the Constitution, or love this country. I've always been a big old bleeding heart liberal, but I've also always been a flag-waving, country-loving patriot. They aren't mutually exclusive.
This is also based on emotion, not debating specific facts. This is my perspective, MY gut reaction, just as your gut reaction may be against taxes, or against new legislation. I'm not out to say that you are wrong and I am right, and I'm not particularly interested in a debate. Just putting that out there - if you leave a contentious comment, I likely will not respond.
I'm a strange soul.
I get a patriotic thrill when I pay my taxes.
My life is full of points where a stranger took a chance on me. At five years old, at eleven, at nineteen - my story could be so different than what it is today. I can't be that stranger for every five, eleven, nineteen, or twenty-nine year old, but I can pay my taxes.
I can make sure that I pay for the roads on which I drive, and a million other services of which I and my family partake without even noticing. Yes, I happily pay for public education, too. It is of no benefit to my family for public education to decline. I don't believe that public education is a bad thing. Do I think that in many areas it is badly broken? Yes. Do I think it has no value? No.
I can make sure that I pay a equitable tax on my vehicles, my property, my income. Notice I didn't say on the things I buy; I'm one of those strange individuals who opposes most sales taxes out of principle. Our state has eliminated sales tax on groceries, and I think this is an excellent thing.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."
We'll give them (and, yes, I'd definitely prefer legal immigration!) a chance, an education, health care. We'll do what was done for our ancestors, and then make it bigger and better. That's what this country has long been about. To paraphrase Queen, bad mistakes? We've made a few - but we've come through.
We're meant to be a city on a hill, some say. An example to the world. For too long of late, we've not been the best example that we might otherwise be. We took another step towards bigger and better. This week, I paid my income taxes, and yes, I did it with a light heart. I want to keep America's lamp burning bright.
"Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
This is also based on emotion, not debating specific facts. This is my perspective, MY gut reaction, just as your gut reaction may be against taxes, or against new legislation. I'm not out to say that you are wrong and I am right, and I'm not particularly interested in a debate. Just putting that out there - if you leave a contentious comment, I likely will not respond.
I'm a strange soul.
I get a patriotic thrill when I pay my taxes.
My life is full of points where a stranger took a chance on me. At five years old, at eleven, at nineteen - my story could be so different than what it is today. I can't be that stranger for every five, eleven, nineteen, or twenty-nine year old, but I can pay my taxes.
I can make sure that I pay for the roads on which I drive, and a million other services of which I and my family partake without even noticing. Yes, I happily pay for public education, too. It is of no benefit to my family for public education to decline. I don't believe that public education is a bad thing. Do I think that in many areas it is badly broken? Yes. Do I think it has no value? No.
I can make sure that I pay a equitable tax on my vehicles, my property, my income. Notice I didn't say on the things I buy; I'm one of those strange individuals who opposes most sales taxes out of principle. Our state has eliminated sales tax on groceries, and I think this is an excellent thing.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."
We'll give them (and, yes, I'd definitely prefer legal immigration!) a chance, an education, health care. We'll do what was done for our ancestors, and then make it bigger and better. That's what this country has long been about. To paraphrase Queen, bad mistakes? We've made a few - but we've come through.
We're meant to be a city on a hill, some say. An example to the world. For too long of late, we've not been the best example that we might otherwise be. We took another step towards bigger and better. This week, I paid my income taxes, and yes, I did it with a light heart. I want to keep America's lamp burning bright.
"Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
