Spy vs. Spy

I decided to look through my weblogs again and my LinkedIn profile page views. I noticed that the hall monitor and his flunky continue to look at my postings as if that has anything to do with their organization or job description. Please leave me alone, your harassment is unwelcome. It's tough to put pieces of your past behind you when certain pieces feel the need to follow you and run their mouths about you. Fortunately, I keep excellent records and will be presenting those to someone who may be able to help shortly.

People are Stupid

Don't believe me? Let's keep legalizing abnormal things and see how long it takes before these idiots get what they want:

http://www.nambla.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Man/Boy_Love_Association

It's absolutely disgusting that a society like that can even exist.

Hate Crimes, Cyber Bullies, Unicorns, and other mythical creatures

Let me start by saying I don't condone what is currently classified as a hate crime or cyber bullying. I guess what I have to ask is is murder, theft, or assault any worse because of how you classify it. I mean really is it better if two straight white guys fight or two gay dudes? We are focusing on the wrong problems trying to label these things. We are also acting like teen suicide is something new this past week because there have been" a rash of gay teen suicides." Look up some statistics on suicide, according to the CDC, a teen attempts suicide every 78 seconds and every 90 seconds one is successful. That's insane!

Cyber bullying, are you kidding me? You had to make up a new term and act like it's worse than any other bullying? At least with cyber crap you are on an even playing field where no one has a physical advantage and your ability to "fight" back is only limited by your imagination. I remember getting beat up a couple of times in my youth at school or walking to and from school, those certainly weren't the worst things that have ever happened to me and they taught me to deal with people who were just plain idiots.

If you are a parent, know your children and what they do. If you are choosing to send them off into some other environment for most of their day you will need to invest extra time understanding what goes on there. Please don't blindly assume your kid is different and independent enough to handle all life throws at them on their own. If you are the parent of a bully, you suck. Please stop sucking and discipline your child the world doesn't need this crap.

Our Deck Project

WE decided to rebuild our deck earlier this year and have now started the demolition and re-construction. Saturday was a long day, but we made great progress. You can keep track of the progress here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/griffse/DeckProject#

TV sucks

My TV is now only for watching some sports, a reality show or two, and family movie nights. The quality of television has gotten terrible and even the show that I want to watch have commercials, even in the middle of the day, that I can't let my children see. It was great that WalMart had "The Jensen Project" in July that was both decent and entertaining.

I have watched a few of the new shows that have come out and here's my take:

The Ev3nt: Great commercial build up but poor execution and delivery. I quit watching Lost when it got too weird and difficult to follow, this show is starting off that way.(watched 2 episodes)

Anything with Vampires and WereWolves: (stoopid)

The Apprentice: I believe this has been effectively killed by the "fun" version Celebrity Apprentice.

Chase: I can't watch a tiny little actress beat up giant people, boring.

Hawaii Five-O: I liked this one, wish it was on at 8 or 9 instead of 10. Scott Caan is a riot.

Outsourced: Had high hopes for this one, great commercials. Unfortunately the products sold by the company are foul and I lost interest pretty quick. This could've been a good one.

No Ordinary Family: I only saw a small part of this and it was just alright. Looks like they might actually take a look at bad parenting but we will see.

Lone Star: Jon Voight is a great actor, the stories were not real interesting. This show has already been canned after two episodes.

Undercovers: I watched the first ten minutes of the premiere. The computer stuff and shootout were horrible and I turned it off before I ever saw the main actors.

S#^! My Dad Says: Not watching it because the title sucks.

I haven't watched anything else and none of the other new shows have piqued my interest at all. Good thing I have my deck to rebuild this fall and football.

Homeschooling "battles"

The battles you fight as a homeschooler aren't what you might think. Most of the time your battles revolve around an outsider's perception of why you do what you do and them immediately telling you why they don't do it. Let's clear something up right away; I do not think everyone should homeschool. I do think there should be public schools and I happily pay my taxes so that those schools can exist. I do not believe that the issues I have with public education are the fault of the teachers in the classrooms.
We chose to homeschool for several reasons. First, I want my children to have a biblical world view. That definitely isn't going to happen in public school and maybe not even in some private schools. Second, we enjoy time with our children and want to give them as much time with us as possible. The local public school is from 0830 to 1530, that's seven hours not including prep and travel time. If I got home at 1710 and my kids went to bed at 2100, we would see them for a total of maybe 20 hours on weekdays. Conversely, they would be immersed with their peers well more than double that amount. That would be an unhealthy ration for our family.
My greatest concern for my children is not athletics, or grades, or getting into a college. I want multi-generational faithfulness in my family. I did a little research and found some scary statistics regarding what happens when Christian kids leave home and set out on their own. One study showed that "94% of homeschoolers keep the faith and 93% continue to attend church after the high school years. But a shocking 75% to 85% of Christian children sent to public school drop out of church, and do not hold a Christian worldview after high school graduation." That's shocking and scary, but even worse is this study showing that less than 19% of self-professing born-again adults possess a biblical worldview. Why is this we might ask? This article shows that today's adults weren't sufficiently challenged as children. I know I wasn't challenged even though I was raised in church. I have learned the hard way that my own spiritual walk wasn't what it should be until earlier this year.

Another battle you may end up fighting as a homeschooler is how your parents feel about your decision. My wife and I are both licensed educators and come from families where multiple generations have been educators. An unintended consequence of our choice to homeschool was making our parents feel like our decision reflected on their career choice and/or their decision to send us to public school. While some of our decision is based on what we experienced, we do not "blame" our parents and grandparents for anything and we are not criticizing their lifestyles or choices. My wife recently said that to her mother and it seemed to relieve a lot of tension. You may also ask yourself "what about honoring your mother and father" if they disagree with your decision? This goes beyond my ability to discuss so I leaned on this blog entry from Voddie Bauchum. He's a great resource for homeschoolers and also for any man that wants to be challenged to be the spiritual leader he is supposed be.

At the end of the day your decisions should be made by asking yourself "am I doing this for me or am I doing it to bring glory and honor to God's kingdom?" That answer will NOT be the same for everyone. As long as you are dying to yourself and picking up your cross everyday then you will make the right decisions for your family. For the men out there, I pray that you can avoid the trap that I fell into which was my own self-centeredness and pride. I spent a lot of time wanting to be comfortable in the world and wanting glory for myself. If you are interested in homeschooling I can tell you it's very rewarding and your kids will enjoy it. The issues concerning social skills and quality of education are really not issues at all if you do a little bit of research and preparation. I have heard people say to me "your kids are great but most homeschoolers....". They can stop there, no one knows "most" homeschoolers just like no one knows "most" public school kids. You may have been exposed to some that were not what you want for your kids but that isn't necessarily representative of "most."

I hope you will make the right decisions for your family, whatever that might be.

Colin Powell on Immigration

The general stated that the United States needs illegal immigrants for the following reasons:

1. they "are doing things we need done in this country."

2. "They're all over my house, doing things whenever I call for repairs.."

3. Immigration, he said, offers the U.S. a chance to maintain a youthful population in contrast with the aging of Europe and Japan.

4. He also said "I'm sure you've seen them at your house."

These are unfortunate reasons. I do not understand what number three means at all unless he means U.S. citizens aren't having enough babies. I also know that no illegals work on my home because I know who I hire.

Washington "Acid Attack"

Largely I ignore everything in the "news" over the past year because nothing is actually news.This one confuses me so I thought I would seek some clarification. IF this story had not been a hoax, why is it national news? Now that it is a hoax, why is it national news? The woman said her attacker was black and now some people are saying that means she is a racist. If she had said her attacker was white does that mean she hates white people? Maybe she is a racist but I don't think saying that makes her one, she's just a moron. In the "comments" on CNN and Fox and other sites, liberals say she is a wacko conservative and conservatives say she is a wacko liberal. Who cares? What does this have to do with political party affiliation and why must everything be polarized along those lines? Really, aren't there idiots in both parties and what does this whole thing have to do with politics anyway?

Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning

Last night I heard an "expert panel" say that because Tom Brady got a new huge contract that Peyton Manning will deserve more. That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard, Tom Brady has produced more than Manning and has been a better investment. I guess all those super bowl rings just aren't a measure of success. A look at their stats shows who pays off when it counts, don't take my word for it, look it up.

Movie Review (Green Zone)

I saw this Saturday and even though I wasn't tempted to turn it off, it was kind of boring. The actors played their parts well, and I think that things were represented alright but it just wasn't engaging. It may have been the veiled political messages or maybe just the subject matter. One reviewer called it "Jason Bourne goes to Baghdad." It's nothing like the Bourne series, and the character is completely different too. Overall it was entertaining but I wouldn't rush out to see it. The other option was Hot Tub Time Machine, but plugged in online said it was pretty foul so we chose to skip it.

Movie Review (The Book of Eli)

Amazing! This was a great story even if a bit violent. The violence and language seemed contextually accurate so I can handle that, nothing gratuitous. IF you haven't seen it, run don't walk. The only knock I have was that the movie was incredibly dark. When I say that I mean I couldn't see things on the screen sometimes. I also could have done without the sepia filter used to shoot most of the scenes. Even with that, I almost cried at the end which surprised me.

Home Depot

I find it odd that you can wear LGBT paraphernalia but you cannot wear the words from our pledge of allegiance. This is a perfect example of discrimination and is very unfortunate. If Home Depot wants to actually be fair, don't allow either one. You also shouldn't allow your employees to wear their uniform aprons in non-company events or off property. If you really want equality, then be equal. If you just want to pick a side then say you're choosing sides and be prepared for the consequences.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2009/10/28/florida-man-says-home-depot-fired-wearing-nation-god-pin/

You have got to be kidding me

Absolutely amazing that anyone thinks this is alright. Another reason my kids won't ever see a public school if I can help it. I hate this stuff for the teachers out there that oppose this type of crap.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/09/montana-school-proposes-controversial-sex-education-program/

Too funny

This is dang funny, I worked for some morons like this once.

"Classic" Movies

Mrs. Dude and I have been watching a couple of "classics." First we watched Breakfast at Tiffany's; I always wondered what this flick was about so I decided to watch it with her. After seeing it I still wonder what it's about. It was somewhat funny and I never wanted to turn it off, even though it's about 2 people who prostitute themselves, but I never really cared about it either. What I mean is that if the power would have gone out it would have been fine by me. It was cool to see a young George Peppard rocking the screen but he was way cooler as Hannibal on the A-Team. So anyway, the movie was weird and I hear it's being re-made. Speaking of being recycled, is there a movie out there that isn't currently being recycled for the second or third time? I guess no one has tried to do E.T. again yet.

This past weekend we watched Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. I saw this movie as a younger person but can honestly say I only remembered two scenes. This movie also seemed weird and I think a re-make of this could definitely be better. It would have been cool to do it while both main actors were still alive but that opportunity has passed. I also wouldn't have cared if we didn't finish this movie, it really was odd.

Up next is African Queen, I will let you know what happens.

Gay Clergy

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ordained a bunch of gay folks, amazing. I know this "debate" can go on and on over a host of issues, but it still amazes me. I mean first "we" start ordaining women which is crazy enough and now this. I guess this sums it all up:

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:20

Censorship Inconsistencies

So I am watching TV on Saturday, during the day, and on one movie a guy freely uses the word "prick" more than once. He isn't talking about a needle in your finger either and that is quite clear. Then later on the same channel, during a comedy, the word "nigger" is edited out. That doesn't seem consistent.

More AT&T Awesomeness

I decided to post some SpeedTest.net results. Here are the results to my Nexus One when I have three bars of 3G goodness:
Ping: 109ms
Upload: 0.18Mbps
Download: 0.89Mbps

So that's NOT fast, but compare it to AT&T's crap DSL:
Ping: 139ms
Upload: 0.06Mbps
Download: 0.66Mbps

I have got to get back on cable.

Wow

I found some interesting articles today, these don't seem to get much attention:

http://www.ldlad.com/articles-of-impeachment-of-barack-hussein-obama

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/10/experts-say-obama-misrepresented-views-justify-offshore-drilling-ban/

http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/10/acorn-employees-tell-fbi-of-deliberate-election-fraud-according-to-new-documents/#ixzz0qYSJEDRl

Presidential Approval Tracker

Check this out:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/presidential-approval-tracker.htm