Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program. (Quatro)

It took some doing to get old Grizzly Mama back up off the floor after that brush with ugly reality - let me tell ya. We did it though and here I am - and feeling more resolute as a result. I am ready to continue with Cubed's excellent series on education. I apologize for so rudely interrupting - you can see that it was a must though!

Education and Jihad - Part IV.

Another fascinating read chock full of information that we as parents need. Cubed starts with explaining the periods during brain developement when intellectual tasks are learned almost effortlessly. These “biological windows” or “sensitive periods” occur at genetically pre-programmed times. This brain development starts at birth and continues until the early twenties.

From the article:

"Each neuro-developmental task, or intellectual skill, has its own timetable. Every child, no matter where in the world he was born, or into what ethnic, cultural, or racial group, learns the same intellectual tasks in the same sequence, at about the same age."

We need to know this information so that we as parents can make use of these exceedingly important 'windows'. A few examples of biological windows:

The “window” for the introduction of a second language opens at about six months (this is not a typo). It peaks at about four years, and then fades steadily until puberty.

The “music window” opens at about three, and fades steadily until puberty.

The “math window” opens at around a year, peaks almost immediately, and fades at around four years.

The “art window” opens at about two and a half and fades by about ten or twelve.

The “physical window” exists from birth, peaks shortly before puberty, and fades steadily until young adulthood, around the mid-twenties.

Cubed describes the importance of music and art, and the way those disciplines help the brain make connections. Steve of 'Madam' has noted in the past that learning a musical instrument is a beneficial pursuit. Cubed notes (and I've heard it before) that "Art is such an important part of our lives that it is often tightly controlled in totalitarian societies to be sure that the “wrong ideas” won’t sneak into people’s minds."

We are then whisked off to take a look at the fact that kids who are taught or tutored one-on-one just do fantastically well. Cubed gives a brief history of some interesting tutorial approaches and what happened to them. Homeschoolers know from experience how great it is to have that one-on-one time. We also know how great it is to have different age children interacting with each other - helping and being helped. One of the tricks I use is to pretend that I am confused about a particular concept and ask my oldest to explain it to me. Afterward I wink at her - she knows what I'm up to by NOW. Oh well - there is still the 5 y/old to use that old trick on. Cubed notes that 'students as tutors' has had a positive effect not only on the 'tutees' but also on the tutors themselves.

You have GOT to go read about the DISTAR system. I had never heard of it before reading cubeds article. It seems the teachers unions don't like DISTAR. I wonder why?! ;-)

Cubed ends her article with this:

"We are getting ever closer to explaining how it is that Islam rapes the minds of its children and creates world-wide conflict."


I will only do one of the articles today. Thank you again Cubed and as always if I missed anything please let me know. Well - - - you really HAVE to read her article because there is SO much there that can't be easily summed up.

God bless America and Homeschool Your Children!!

CAIR Reports the Meeting a 'Success'

Email sent to me:

Subject: CAIR-PHILLY IN THE NEWS: First Town Hall Meeting on Cartoon a Success!

The first Town Hall Meeting held in University City (Feb. 18) on the Cartoon Controversy: "Conversations on the Cartoon Controversy" was a success!

Over 60 people, and multiple media professionals were in attendance.

For pictures, print and television coverage of the event, please visit our website's blog:http://www.cairphilly.org/index.php?Page=blog&Side=blog

We thank our co-sponsors, the University of Pennsylvania Muslim Students Association (Penn MSA), the Philadelphia Chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA-Philly), the Philadelphia Chapter of the Muslim American Society (MAS-Philly) and WHY-Islam.

If you would like to host a meeting or a screening, please contact us at the numbers below. Stay tuned for upcoming "Explore the Life of Muhammad" events...
Thank you, CAIR-Philly
-- Adeeba Al-Zaman Director of Communications
CAIR Philadelphia
1218 Chestnut Street;
Suite 510
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.592.0509

At their weblog - link above - we are treated to several observations about the meeting. Such as this: (and don't ask me what those strange characters are - they appear on their blog as well)

“What kind of sense was it for the Euro press to insult the religion of over a billion people to stir up a religious war,” said panelist, Dr. Kalid Blankenship.

œOf course in reality it can not be completely free speech because you can not, for example, allow people to incite murder,” said Blankenship.

An argument at one point erupted between a woman in the crowd and a panelist when she told the panel to stop playing the victims.


I bolded that last one on purpose - because that was such a small part of what our Jen said. If you recall I related that one of the questions asked by Jen was addressing their expectation that we embrace Islam - when there is so much violence being perpetrated by Moslems? Oh dear, d-d-d-d-d-dear. Gloss right over THAT question.

Anyhoo - here are a couple of pics they have up, too.



<===== The illustrious panel.
<===Question Time!



On their blog there is a link to channel 3 that shows a video clip but I can't for the life of me get it to work.

On a Lighter Note - Happy Blogaversary Troll!

The_City_Troll: Anniversary Post


Let's celebrate! I'm tired of these crazy Islamists.

Go give him a happy, happy. (I'm the sane one in the family! LOL!)

Grizzly Report: We Are At War.

It pains me to say it. There was a sliver of me that wanted to believe my President when he told me that Islam is the 'Religion of Peace.'

We attended the meeting sponsored by Cair-Philly at U.Penn. The panelists included Sofia Memon and Adeeba Al Zaman from CairPhilly, Dr. Khalid A.Y. Blankinship, Dr. Mazhar Rishi (scroll to near end of article and see Dr. Rishi's statement, Imam Isa Abdul Mateen, and Rachel Lawton.

Rachel Lawton was there to say that pestering someone in the workplace about their religion after they have communicated that they do not want to discuss religion is harassment and will be pursued.

Ms. Memon and Ms. Al Zaman seemed to be reasonable at first - especially Ms. Sofia Memon who hesitantly stated that if the violence by muslims worldwide has not been condemned than it should be. That's the closest we could get to a condemnation. She was almost apologetic when saying it - but God bless her she did try. She tried hard when she responded that non-violent dialogue is much preferred when a hooded and scarved mother of 6 came to the microphone with her most recent addition to the brood and advocated violence. (Atleast I think it was a 'she' - who could tell? She was hiding inside those robes.) Ms. Memon also stated, though, that we must accept their free speech and that we are 'oppressing' it. They were terribly nervous about any possible dissent and I can't say that I blame them. I'm sure the radicals don't approve of their western wear or the fact that their hair is showing. Better watch those necks, ladies!

Which brings us to Blankinship. What a kook. The most he had to add to the discussion was that the Danes are Nazis and the 'Bush lied-People died' type of claptrap that we are used to seeing the leftists spout. Oh yes. He also said that the Pentagon won't hire Arabic speakers or even persons who express an interest in learning Arabic and in fact will break down their doors in the middle of the night and seize their computers. He liked to stab his finger at the audience and look angry and nasty. Not surprising that he's the head of a department in Academia, is it? You're a KOOK, Blankinship! That's my opinion and I am proud to state it.

Dr. Mazhar Rishi - maybe he is one of the 'moderates' that we so often hear about? He started his 5 minutes with a quote from the Koran about how Christians and Jews along with Muslims are eligible to get to heaven. A nice man who I would dearly love to sit and have a cup of coffee with - he atleast seemed open to having a discussion. One thing that bothered me is that he attempted to sell dhimmitude as a wonderful thing. Wrongo Fu$....well - I'll behave. Don't try to sell me a lie Dr. Rishi. I will not subject my daughters to Islam nor will I allow dhimmitude. I think you will find millions of Americans like me who adhere to what Patton once said. We'll do our part in making sure that the enemy is the one dying for the glory of Islam. I'm not sure that Dr. Rishi is behind the push for an Islamic States of America but he sure did try to convince me that Muslims in the past have been very fair and loving with their subjugation of the dhimmis.

Saving the best for last I present Imam Isa Abdul Mateen. What an angry man - and a man very concerned about OPPRESSION - so concerned that he shouted about it atleast twice - possibly three times. According to our vaunted Imam - all terror is justified because they are OPPRESSED! He compared beheading innocents, torching everything in sight, threatening more 9/11's, and knifing bicyclists to death to --- the Boston Tea Party. Swear to God - he did. I believe it was the Imam who quoted a Bible verse to justify blasphemers being put to death. The Imam appeared to have been followed by several bearded lackeys who stood at the back of the room and would shout out now and then in support of his position. One of them went to the microphone to challenge Dr. Rishi on his contention that Christians and Jews would make it to heaven. Dr. Rishi explained that this was not the time for theological discussions and the ladies from CAIR became very nervous with waving arms and anxious twitchings and explained that we would have to go to the next question.

The first person from the audience who stood up to the microphone - I just have to comment on him. I have never, EVER in my life seen such a display of bootlicking, ass-kissing and groveling admiration. I almost vomited. I almost laughed out loud at him. What a yo-yo. Honey -- a piece of advice. It doesn't matter how much you kiss their asses, they will still kill you. Witness Europe - the countries who kissed the most Islamic ass are having the biggest problems with their Muslim populations.

On to our woman, Jen. Jen - you sounded good at the microphone and it's a shame that the Muslims did not want to hear a word that you said. You asked valid questions - one of which was 'How do you expect us to embrace Islam when all we see is the violence perpetrated by Muslims? The violence does not serve your cause well.' No answer. Nope. In fact - they hated the question SO much that our esteemed Professor Blankinship was stabbing that finger of his in the air toward you and started yelling about the Danes being Nazis. You asked about Muslims who contend that they cannot take a Christian or a Jew as a friend. The great Imam stated that he encourages the Muslim communities to set up their own services and governments within the wider American community. Enter Ms. Memon to soften the blow. She used the examples of Christians and Jews setting up support systems. She also said that there are different interpretations of the text about Christian and Jewish friends in the Koran and that when read one way - it means one thing, another way it means another. You tried to make your point and ask your questions but you were shouted down. The ladies from CAIR once again started with the arm waving and beseeching everyone to be calm - and insisting that it was time to go to the next question.

They did not want to 'dialogue'.

Another one of ours was at the end of the line with some literature. The ladies from CAIR decided that the question time would have to be cut off before he could get to the microphone. The told him to sit down.

Did you know that minorities have no voice in Western Societies? Well - our panel believes that.

Did you know that peaceful protests do not work and that is why violence MUST be resorted to? Hmm. Our prolifically breeding robed one believes this.

Did you know that there is a conspiracy by the Rand Corporation and the Media against Muslims? Talk to the Professor about that one.

Did you know that we are 'insensitive, insulting AND blasphemous'? Mr. Imam? Sir? Islam is not my religion so do not try to apply your interpretation of blasphemy to me.

Did you know that free speech does not give us the right to 'defame' their Prophet? You must think that you are in another country.

Did you know that Massachusetts has a blasphemy law? It is being held up by these Muslims to justify killing anyone who says anything bad about Islam.

Did you know about all of those thousands of Iraqi children that died because of the sanctions? It was quite a moment to see the looks on their faces when several in our group and I said quite loudly that it was Saddam Hussein who killed those children. They were shocked to hear it. Have they never heard ANYONE speak back to them? I am feeling like they are provoking me. They are!

This is going to get very ugly. I have seen the face of the enemy and they are right here amongst us.

God Bless America - God Save the Republic.

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program.

We heard about this through the United American Committee. Apparently CAIR is sponsoring the meeting - and we've all read up on CAIR, haven't we? If not - please see my link to Daniel Pipes over on the sidebar and get reading.

Muslim Town Hall Meeting on Cartoon Controversy:
Please join a panel of diverse Muslim opinion leaders and Rachel Lawton,
Executive Director of the Philadlephia Commission on Human Relations in:

Conversations on the Cartoon Controversy

WHAT: Muslim Town Hall Meeting

WHEN: Saturday, February 18, 2006. 3:00PM

WHERE: Houston Hall, Ben Franklin Roomo(U. Penn Campus)
3417 Spruce Street; Philadelphia, PA 19104

Troll and I are planning on going depending on the child care arrangements. Anyone else local care to join us? It is open to the public and should be interesting.

Education in America - Part Duo ac Tria.

Education and Jihad, Part II

Good heavens Cubed - where do you get the time and energy to knit these exceedingly complicated thoughts together in what turns out to be perfectly understandable and logical to an old public school alumnus such as myself? That was a hell of a sentence but part TWO combines a fascinating history of education - not only in modern America, but in early America...and..and..Germany for goodness sakes - with an analysis of what we deal with today. Good God - to think that our education system emanated from the fragging GERMANS. Well. Anyhoo - I got lost on that for awhile but was quickly brought to (what I saw as) the four main points.

The philosophy of continuing childhood indefinitely to avoid the 'pain' of growing up is doing the wee ones no good at all.

Separating children from the adults in their lives does a harmful disservice to their ability to learn how to be moral, productive, healthy adults.

Separating children into strict groups determined by age rather than ability levels results in only the average kids on the curve actually getting something from their time in class in our 'factory schools'.

Dumbed down subject matter is not the only problem. Subject matter has also been separated completely with how the subject applies to the real world.

"Between the practice of separating children from adult role models, and the deliberate policy of infantilizing them, there is little opportunity for children to acquire the goals, ambitions, social skills, and values that most parents would like them to have, and that would benefit them the most as they become adults. This is unimaginably unfortunate, since the attitudes and views of most people are crystallized during adolescence, and undergo little change after that. While they often continue to acquire more facts, their philosophies are not very easily changed."

Another HUGE point that was made was the matter of the teaching of Philosophy. In this world now - where the Islamofascist maniacs are well schooled in THEIR philosophy - our children haven't been formally taught Philosophy. Sure - we all possess a philosophy whether formally taught or not, but as cubed points out philosophy is not self evident. It has to be studied in order to understand it or benefit from it. "Philosophy is far too important to leave to chance, or to the diffuse or even overtly leftist views that permeate our schools."

(May I just share that I am very impressed with my girls and the way the interact with each other in our little homeschool? The older one is helpful to the little one and she enjoys sharing her knowledge. The little one looks up to the older one and is amazed by her in every way and wants to emulate her - and is proud when she accomplishes a task that gets her nearer to that goal of being a big girl. This is a good thing.)

On to Education and Jihad, Part III

Major point: "Folks, the reward for learning is self-esteem. The motivation for learning is pleasure. The source of pleasure is growing competence and independence."

It's all about motivation, HOW children learn, and the fact that children WANT to be grown-up and independent. That is their goal and boredom kills.

"The biologically mandated developmental goal of the child is to become a competent, independent adult. That is what drives the child. The achievement of a competent, independent adulthood is a highly worthy pursuit, since if he fails, he will not survive, unless cared for by others who do have those skills. Survival is a value to all living creatures, and our children are no exception. Evolution is a stern teacher; it has selected for survival those children who take PLEASURE in observing and imitating the survival skills of adults."

"The fundamental source of self-esteem comes from the knowledge that one is competent, not from knowing that one is liked by the teachers or classmates. With competence, the child becomes self-confident--in other words, he has self-esteem."

*Sigh* What a wonderful read that was. You REALLY need to go check those links out. You will be happy that you did.

More on Education in America

Well! I have to say that I knew this would be an involved post. It hails from a commenter named Cubed. Thank you so much Cubed! You have done so much work - you're amazing. The title is a link to the site contents.

Education and Jihad, Part I is chock full of all of the things that we all know about education in America. The way it is compiled and the items that the piece highlights make it an especially horrifying read. We know education in America sucks - but did we know it sucked THIS BAD?! Read it - it'll frighten the knickers off of you. Not only does it talk about what a crap education our kids are getting, but also how badly they stand when compared internationally (yes - even the AP students..), AND a bonus on the type of students attracted to education (bottom of the barrel academically). Did you know that this problem of education in America is bad for the future of our country? Not only is it bad, but it is putting our Republic in danger. Here is a quote from Cubed's article:

"We have a significantly flawed system in this country, and it has been in operation for over 150 years--about 7-8 "reproductive generations," or about 13 "school generations." The system has been relentless in its efforts to turn out a product which is inimical to our ability to see and counter the current danger we face in the form of Islam. The "product" is citizens who are ignorant of both facts and the philosophy needed to hang the facts together in a manner that enables them to evaluate, judge, and act appropriately. This profound and important ignorance has the effect of opening the doors to the enemy and issuing an invitation to come through."

This is only the tip of the iceberg in her analysis and I will continue to post on the remainder in the coming days. In addition I am adding Cubed's site AND blog to my sidebar. I will also be adding the Pennsylvania Minutemen - who the exceedingly ignorant Philly.com journalist Gaiutra Bahadur called a 'vigilante group' today. (Where ya from, Gaiutra? Are you legally in this country?! Has your work visa expired?? Ya yo-yo.)

God Bless America - and God Save the Republic. Homeschool your children!!

What's on my mind.

This is like having a 'pensieve'. I have to dump it here because there is too much clattering around in my skull and I can't make head nor tail of it all. It's too much for Grizzly Mama - too much I tell you! I am nearly catatonic because of it. Maybe if I dump it then I will be able to think.

Solutes and solvents. I don't recall being taught the word 'solute' in Science while enrolled in our failing public school system. The 4th grader and the Kindergartner know it now. So does Grizzly Mama!! We also know the proper way to label a solution with solute coming first and solvent coming second. Fascinating.

Snow is coming - possibly 8 inches or more. Where did I put the sleds? I LOVE to go sledding.

Patrick has a new job. We will remain in Philly.

The house is going up for sale. That last little incident involving a chase from another neighborhood, a dozen police cars, a channel 10 newstruck, a helicopter with spotlight hovering over the the block, and gunshots all happening around midnight or so is a sign. A sign that the neighborhood is turning - and not for the better.

Painting. The kitchen cabinets need to be primed and painted with high gloss white paint. Have to fix that drawer that I duct taped together 3 years ago. The living room needs to be painted, the woodwork in the dining room and the bathroom needs it's finishing touches.

This time of year we go into high gear with school. If we are going to finish everything (or most of it) we are going to have to kick butt. Normally I rely on the winter being cold and miserable which gives us plenty of indoor time to do school. This winter has been warm and so we like to get outside. We have a lot of work to do.

Suitcase bombs. (always a worry)

The porous borders - totally upset about that.

Get the baby-shower gifts today and don't forget Tom-Tom's birthday presents.

The encroachment of Islamofascist ideology into our public school system, our prison system and our society in general. We can thank the lying Saudi Royal Family B@$tards for that.

The Committees of Correspondence. Yet another detail left out in my History education.

Linking to several new blogs that I have found.

Thank you so much for helping me to sort it all out. I'm hoping that in no time at all I will be able to post something coherent!

Report Card on Global Response to Mohammed Cartoons

From Public Figures...Beware. Click on the title to see WHY we are graded the way we are.

Danish government: A+
Danish people: A+

French government: A-
French people: C+

Norwegian government: F
Norwegian people: B+

German government: A
German people: A

Dutch, Icelandic and Hungarian governments: B
Dutch, Icelandic and Hungarian people: B

Italian government: B
Italian people: B+

Swiss government: B
Swiss people: A

Spanish government: B
Spanish people: B-

British Labour Party: F
British Tories: A
British people: C-

Belgian government: B
Belgian people: B+

Finnish government: D
Finnish people: C-

Bulgarian government: B
Bulgarian people: B

Swedish government: B
Swedish people: D

American government: D
American people: C-

Indonesian government: D-
Indonesian people; D-

Jordanian government: F
Jordanian people: D

Canadian government: B
Canadian people: C+

New Zealand government: B
New Zealand people: B-

Can I say that I'm not at all happy with my own government's response to this? I said that already? I spoke with a couple of people down at the neighborhood store last night and neither one of them was even aware of the cartoons or the protest in London. Yikes.

H/T Release the Hounds.

Grizzly Report: National Rally Against Islamofascism Day

The Troll and I participated in the rally in Pennsylvania on February 1, 2006. The United American Committee (UAC) held a rally nationwide protesting Islamofascism. Well - of COURSE we had to be there. We don't like Islamofascism - not one tiny little bit!

It was a small band of patriots there. We might have been small in number but we were strong and vocal. Troll and I had to leave before it was over but we were replaced by others who couldn't be there at the start. Dave and Barbara were there the entire time - thank you Dave and Barbara. It was a pleasure meeting you and spending time with you. We got a lot of attention up there at the train station in Lansdale. Lots of people honking their horns at us as they drove by with thumbs-up and smiles. Not everyone can stand on a corner in the middle of the day in the middle of the week now can they?! We can certainly support the ones who do - and the people driving by in their cars did just that. God bless them.

I was pleased to meet John from the Pennsylvania Minutemen, who was also there for the entire rally. Oh honey! You KNOW I support the Minuteman Project! To have a Minuteman organization in Pennsylvania is beyond even Grizzly Mama's wildest dream! Citizens. It is the citizen patriots of America who will save this country. God bless us, too!

Do you want to hear AND see something scary?! At the New York rally by Ground Zero there were protesters to the rally against islamofascism. They were nasty - here's a picture of them courtesy the UAC website:

Another HUMONGOUS thans to Always On Watch, who gave me the heads up about the rally and the organization that sponsored it. In regard to the rally protesters in NYC she has this up by a person who was there:You must see the protesters which met us at Ground Zero in New York City. They were chanting the name of Osama Bin Laden and yelling that Islamic law will replace democracy in America, keep in mind this was at Ground Zero and just shows why the UAC must exist.

OBL in the USofA?! I don't THINK so, Mohammed.

***UPDATE***

See The City Troll link below for some real eye-popping pics of muslims in London:

The_City_Troll: Muslim opinion in London About Cartoons#links

***UPDATE TWO***

My message sent to the White House in response to Kurtis Cooper's (of the State Department) statement of support for the rioting muslims:

Why is the Administration allowing the State Department to issue statements in support of Muslims who are rioting in the streets, against freedom of speech, and calling for beheading and a new holocaust? The statement of support from the Department of State is supportive of terrorist actions and I, a citizen of the United States of America, object!

I attempted to contact the Department of State directly but their server must have crashed as I was leaving my message.