Friday, October 30, 2009

New Taxes in the New Obamacare Bill

I am glad that there are people out there that are willing to read the "Affordable Health Care for America Act". One of them is Yid with a Lid. He has written a post that enumerates the new taxes that are in "Affordable Health Care for America Act". I am starting to find the name ironic.

His list includes 13 new taxes. I encourage you to go there and read about all of them. Then write, e-mail, call, and politely bother your Senator and Representative about not voting for this bill.

I am sure more smart, patient people will read this bill and post more nutterness from it. I plan to stay tuned.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

My Great Story Campaign

The National Down Syndrome Society has launched a campaign that I find heart-warming. It is called My Great Story. It honors the achievements of those with Down syndrome. The man in the picture above is Sujeet Desai. He plays 6 musical instruments and has traveled all over the world giving performances.

All of the people that I have met with Down syndrome have been such kind and loving people. It is such a sad waste that about 90% of babies suspected of having Down syndrome are aborted. One father has taken a stand to inform others about the beauty of people with Down syndrome and the sadness of aborting them.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Homeschool Happenings v. 5 (2nd six weeks)

We are in vacation mode having finished our second six weeks of the year a week and a half ago. I guess a better way to say it is that is my kids are in vacation mode. I, on the other hand, am working to get things done that I don't do during "school" like dental appointments, car maintenance, vacation planning, etc.

We made good progress the last six weeks, but did have to take a week out do to all of us being a bit under the weather. My son finished his first grade Bible Reader. I am hoping to get him up to grade level (he is in 2nd grade) by the end of the year. He wanted to continue doing Bible reading for the main part of his reading. I had to search far and wide to find one on his reading level that wasn't too inane. I decided on the Day-By-Day Begin to Read Bible. I am still not completely satisfied with it, but it seems to be pretty good. We have also made progress (slowly) on the quilt. The kids pin the strips in the order that they want and I sew them. These in the picture were the first four that we finished.

During this off time, the kids finished the last of the 12 Keeper of the Faith badges that they needed to get the honor badge. They were pretty proud of that, and we went out to eat to celebrate. Here is a list of the badges they completed over the last year. My son- birds, baseball, coloring, hand tools, pets, loving others, prayer warrior, art, puzzles, swimming, Bible reading, and photo albums. My daughter-birds, baseball, prayer warrior, pets, loving others, painting, puzzles, cooking, table setting, swimming, Bible reading, and singing.

We are still having a great time. Maybe next post I will tell about some of our adventures during this 2 weeks off.

And BTW, there is a good article at Caffeinated Thoughts about education and how far we have fall in that respect since the founding of this country. You should really check it out. This cartoon was part of the post.

Monday, October 26, 2009

If Republicans Can Still Hear. . .

This recent Rasmussen poll should be a giant wake-up call. The poll claims that 73% of the GOP base thinks that the Republicans have lost touch with the base. That looks about right where I am sitting. Only 15% of those Republicans planning on voting in the primaries said that the Republicans in Congress have stood for the base.

I think the problem for the Republican party is not only their performance but our confidence even if they promise real conservatism that they will actually follow through.