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Grizzly Mama

There's a Grizzly who has escaped the City of Brotherly Love..(and she's going back to homeschooling!!)

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Location: Out of Philly, Pennsylvania, United States

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth." Aristotle - Greek Philosopher.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Aesop's Fable Friday

The Hound and the Hare.

A Hound chased a Hare for a long time. Then he came up to her and started first to bite and then lick her.

The poor Hare, not knowing what to make of his actions said, 'If you are a friend, why do you bite me? If an enemy, why caress me?'

Moral of the Story: Better a certain enemy than a doubtful friend.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Death From Above.




This is what the Islamofascists are up against and they are too stupid to understand that they attacked the WRONG people. Al Qaeda are WUSSES.




God Bless America and God Bless our men and women in uniform!

Link

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Illegal Immigration and Arlen Specter.

Here it is - in all it's glory. The email from Arlen Specter and I have bolded the statements that really sent me over the edge. My email in response to this beaut. is below.

Date: Mon Apr 24 15:20:47 2006
From: Senator_Specter@Specter.Senate.gov
To: xxxxxxxxx@iwon.com
Subject: Re: Illegal immigration

Dear Mrs. XXXXXXX :

Thank you for contacting my office regarding immigration reform. I appreciate your concern regarding this important matter. (So far so good, right?)

Reforming our current immigration laws has become increasingly necessary in light of the growing number of illegal immigrants entering the country. On a daily basis, there are a number of press reports highlighting the problem that our borders are largely unprotected. However, we also have a great need for labor in this country, both skilled and unskilled, which adds to the complexity of the situation. (Starting to piss me off...) We also see a certain apathy and resentment toward immigrants; notwithstanding the fact that this country was built by immigrants and that we need immigrants in order to sustain our economic vitality. (That's it. I really can't stand him now.) At present, there are several bills pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee aimed at correcting various aspects of the problem. As Chairman, I circulated a Chairman's Mark to address the complex issues (Is he implying that this issue is too 'complex' for me to understand?) that we will face as we begin to reform immigration laws. My proposal is a discussion draft intended to move the debate forward with the anticipation that the Senate will address the issue early this year.

I sincerely appreciate your taking the time to bring your views on this important matter to my attention. As your United States Senator, it is essential that I be kept fully informed on the issues of concern to my constituents. Be assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind on this issue (ya damn well better start listening...) and related issues during the 109th Congress. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office or visit my website at www.specter.senate.gov .

Sincerely,

Arlen Specter

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My Response:

Subject: Re: Illegal immigration

Dear Senator Specter,

Let me re-word this. Although I am pro-LEGAL immigration I am exceedingly anti-ILLEGAL immigration.

It is your sworn duty to protect and secure this country. If you are unable to do so - my vote will go against you AND your party (this from a life-long Republican voter) in coming elections.

I didn't want to vote for you in the last election but I did so because I felt the need to support the Republican party. This issue is large enough that I WILL vote against Republicans if this issue is not given top priority.

Secure the borders. Eject ILLEGAL immigrants. Penalize employers who ILLEGALY utilize ILLEGAL immigrants for labor.

Do you understand me now?

I don't appreciate your attitude toward your electorate. Shame on you.

Sincerely,

Monica XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXX, PA 19XXX

Monday, April 24, 2006

Grizzly Mama has been tagged.

Courtesy my expat. friend in the UK, Alicenot. Yes, Alicenot, ya got me. I deserve it for having tagged you last year. Don't get mad, get even - that's my motto, too!

Okay, let's see, these are the rules:

1. Go write 6 weird facts/things/etc. about yourself on your blog, then tag six more people!

2. Then leave a comment that says 'You are tagged' in their comments telling them to read your blog.

(1.) I have a tattoo.
(2.) I hitch-hiked quite a bit when I was ages 14-16. I am lucky to be alive!
(3.) It takes my feet over an hour to get warm (when left to their own devices) after I crawl into bed.
(4.) I am looking for a used Gemeinhardt flute. After 27 years I got a sudden urge to play the flute again. I'm still wondering what has happened to me. That's the brand of flute and piccolo that I played starting in 4th grade, so I want a Gemeinhardt.
(5.) I've noticed that 'the Universe' provides us with the things we need out of the blue in very strange ways ALL OF THE TIME! It happens enough that I will tell the girls, 'Look! '"The Universe" has provided such and such and we were JUST thinking that we needed that!'
(6.) I love to break some rules. It makes me feel giddy and happy inside. So - I am breaking the rule to tag someone else. Although I would love to hear 6 strange/weird facts/things about you if you would like.


There. Cleansed. Now - I have to go read about those explosions in Egypt. Damn the terrorists straight to hell.

Oh and P.S. Senator Specter finally responded to me about my blasting him on the immigration issue. I responded with the dire threat to vote any party but Republican over the next few elections if he and his cronies don't take the illegal immigrant/border security issue seriously.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Aesop's Fable Friday.

The Goatherd and the Goat.

A Goatherd was one day gathering his flock to return to the fold, when one of his Goats strayed and refused to join the rest.

He tried for a long time to get her to return by calling and whistling to her, but the Goat took no notice of him at all; so at last he threw a stone at her and broke one of her horns.

In dismay, he begged her not to tell his master: but she replied, "You silly fellow, my horn would cry aloud even if I held my tongue."

Moral of the story: It's no use trying to hide what can't be hidden.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

I support the Minuteman Project.

"MINUTEMEN TO BUILD ARIZONA-MEXICO BORDER FENCE"


This is the statement issued by Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.

“President Bush once said he would not wait on events to act to protect our country. He has been president for over five years, and still he has not acted to secure our territorial frontier, even as his administration admits the United States government does not have operational control of our borders.

“On Memorial Day weekend, the American people will exercise their God-given rights to protect their lives and property by initiating construction of fencing along the border on private land unless President Bush immediately deploys National Guard and/or reserve troops along the breadth of the Southwestern border line with Mexico, thereby retaking the region from the international criminal cartels who presently are in operational control of the border. Additional support is available from military units presently training to guard the borders in other countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan and they should immediately relocate their training to the Southwestern border.

“The existing border crisis is a dereliction of duty by those entrusted with American security and sovereignty, leaving America vulnerable to terrorist infiltration and an unprecedented crime wave caused by drug smugglers, rapists, thieves, human traffickers and murderers who currently cross our border at will.

“President Bush and Congress have taxed the wages of the American people to pay for the protection of our country, and expended those dollars to subsidize millions of low-wage illegal workers with housing, education, medical care, and welfare benefits. Yet even the most basic level of national territorial integrity requires that our elected representatives secure the border. Should they continue to refuse to do their Constitutional duty, the Minutemen will again step into the breach and commence building the required border barriers on private land and with private donations.

“Should President Bush and Congress fail to fulfill their oaths of office, and meet their Constitutional obligation to protect these United States from invasion, we, the sovereign people of the United States, having suffered a long train of abuses at the hand of a willfully insolent government, do hereby declare that these States ought, should and will be protected by American Minutemen.”



Click on the title and look for the 'donate' button.


God bless America. God save the Republic.



Link

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Fire Up the Synapses - Cubed is On.

Grizzly Mama KNOWS it's scary - but we must look at the thing full in the face. Come along - we'll do it together.

Education and Jihad, Part VI.

This essay itemizes what has been done over the last century and a half to soften up our children for World Citizenship. The only problem is - it leaves them vulnerable to the philosophy of Islam. Moslems the world over are striving to create a world Caliphate. The fact that American children are getting such a crappy education leaves them unable to curb this threat. Heck - they don't even know right from wrong, good from bad anymore. Face it, Grizzly Mama is getting old and so are you. Soon we will have to leave the running of this country to the next generation. We must prepare now because they are not ready. They'll have to pry MY baton from my cold, dead hands rather than pass it off to what we are looking at right now.

In 1993, Howard Gardner, author of Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences said: “…the educational plans…help the society to achieve its larger goals…individuals with gifts in certain directions must nonetheless be guided along other, less favored paths, simply because the needs of the culture are particularly urgent in that realm at that time.”

Start with Martin Luther and his desire to establish government supported schools which spread through Europe and then across the Atlantic. Horace Mann continued this in America until the Catholics reared their ugly heads to establish a school system of their own. Many young American men left home in the mid 1800's and went to Germany for higher education where their thinking was influenced by Kant, Hegel and Marx - this they brought back to America. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was founded - a promoter of socialism. Enter John Dewey, the 'father of progressive education'. By 1934, the NEA was actively promoting an “equitable distribution of income” as well as the view that the “major” function of education was to seek to give the student “understanding of the transition to a new social order”. Grizzly Mama says the NEA has been terribly busy putting out brochures and advocating for 'single world' this and 'single world' that. Damn the NEA to hell. The NEA doesn't seem to like separate, sovereign states - it's...what the heck was that...a system of international anarchy. Just go read - there's more about the NEA in there and it'll make you sick!

Here are a few of the major points:
  • The dumbing down of our children is a matter of deliberate public policy.

  • Revisionist history is being taught - lies of commission and omission are used.

  • Facts are not important. Feelings are.

  • The methods used, and the goal, is couched in terms that obscure their objective.

  • An initiative is underway to implement the use of the same textbooks worldwide. Informatick, a Moscow-based educational organization, and - you guessed it - the Carnegie Foundation are all over this one trying to make it happen.

  • The dumbing down not only blinds the kids to a socialist threat, it is blinding them to the Islamist threat as well.


  • "The tools developed by the Left to implement their globalist vision: Political Correctness, multiculturalism, and diversity, have prepared the path for Islam to gain foot in the door to our children’s minds. Islam is actively using all the methods that have traditionally been the weapons of the Left. It is one of the “diverse” cultures which must not be “discriminated against.”

    We mustn't offend them either, isn't that right? Otherwise they'll chop our heads off. No cartoons allowed!!!

    Cubed believes, as I do, that there is no hope for the government education system. Parents MUST remain actively involved and fully engaged in the education of their children. There are many options including homeschooling. At the very least check what their textbooks are saying, communicate your values and ideals, discuss when these values clash with what is being taught in school. (Nothin' for nothin' - just take them out of public school - it's easier than trying to constantly undo what is being done to them there.)

    "It is no more or no less than brainwashing that our children are being subjected to in today’s schools. Further, it is not different in principle from the method used by Islam to produce "killbots," illiteracy, poverty, failure to thrive economically, and diminish creativity, happiness and hope for the future."

    Required reading:
    The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, by Charlotte Thomsan Iserbyt.
    Brave New Schools, by Berit Kjos.
    Market Education, by Andrew J. Coulson.

    God Save the Republic! Homeschool your children.

    Link

    Friday, April 14, 2006

    Aesop's Fable Friday.

    I will be sharing two Aesop's Fables this Friday. Each of the two girlies wanted to pick their own and of COURSE they're different.

    Courtesy the 5 year old:

    The Fisherman Piping.

    A Fisherman who could play the flute went down one day to the seashore with his nets and his flute; and, taking his stand on a projecting rock, began to play a tune, thinking that the music would bring the fish jumping out of the sea.

    He went on playing for some time, but not a fish appeared: so at last he threw down his flute and cast his net into the sea, and made a great haul of fish.

    When they were landed and he saw them leaping about on the shore, he cried, "You rascals! You wouldn't dance when I piped: but now I've stopped, you can do nothing else!"

    Moral of the story: The whole world doesn't dance to our own tune.

    Courtesy the 9 year old:

    The Walnut Tree.

    A Walnut Tree, which grew by the roadside, bore every year a plentiful crop of nuts. Everyone who passed by pelted its branches with sticks and stones, in order to bring down the nuts, and the tree suffered severely.

    "It is hard," it cried, "that the very persons who enjoy my crop should thus reward me with insults and blows."

    Moral of the story: Be most kind to those who are most giving.

    I asked the 5 year old why that fisherman thought that just because he played his flute the fish should dance? She rolled her eyes and shrugged in a very dramatic way. "He shouldn't,' said she. "You're right," said I. End of discussion.

    The 9 year old and I looked at the picture that accompanies the fable that she chose. It's of a walnut tree with a most saddened and shocked face drawn on the trunk and tears coming out of it's sad, tree-eyes. A little boy in a tunic has struck it with a stout stick and walnuts are coming lose from the branches. "Poor tree," said she. "Yes," said I. End of that discussion.

    Normally these fables prompt interesting discussions. It must be because of my neurotic reactions to them at times.

    Wednesday, April 12, 2006

    Crunch Time.

    It's here. The last, desperate days of the school year. Yes - you're right - I still have until June 20th to get those hours in. The 4th grader has 250 more hours to log before we reach our mandated goal of 900 hours of instruction time for a year. Phys. Ed. will eat up 20 more allowed hours for that. So - we're looking at 230 hours of instruction time. The music lessons count, too - AND the practice time. There's 4 hours plus practice time.

    This winter has been so mild that we didn't experience the usual winter crunch - as I call it. Usually in January and February it's freezing out - so aside from sledding time (hardly any this year) they are stuck inside and we get LOTS of schoolwork done. Not this year. It was so nice - they need their fresh air! The kids on the block are knocking up by 3:00 p.m.

    We're doing better this year, actually, than we have in past years. I forced us to do schoolwork during the month of December. In past years we've taken pretty much the entire month off. This week was Easter Spring break for the publics and we did school Monday, Tuesday and today. They will have Thursday and Friday off. Now don't give me any guff, they played outside for hours and hours all three days that we were doing school.

    No days off for the Grizzly Mama though. Oh no! Tomorrow we color eggs and then I go to get the taxes done - wooo-hooooo. The up side to the tax appointment is that we'll probably get tons of money back because we hardly made ANYTHING last year. I have no idea how we survived - but we did - - and we seem to every year no matter how hard times are. Then Friday the girlies go to lunch and get their nails done with Auntie. I get to clean - wooooooo-hoooooo. Saturday it's preparations for our big Easter day out in our pretty dresses and flowery hats. I can hardly wait!!

    The girls have picked the Aesop's Fable for this Friday - and I will be perusing Cubed's next essay for presentation on Monday night.

    Everyone (who is so inclined) have a lovely Easter! We will be eating ham. I just love to eat pig products. Any part of that pig is just fine with me except for those feet. LOL!

    Friday, April 07, 2006

    Aesop's Fable Friday.

    The Farmer and the Viper

    One winter a Farmer found a Viper frozen and numb with cold, and out of pity picked it up and placed it in his bosom.

    The Viper was no sooner revived by the warmth than it turned upon its benefactor and inflicted a fatal bite upon him; and as the poor man lay dying, he cried, "I have only got what I deserved, for taking compassion on so villainous a creature."

    Moral of the story: Kindness is thrown away upon the evil.


    Well - this one sent me all over the place! It is so true but then that little voice inside me says (the Catholic one), "By showing someone evil some love - perhaps they will change their ways." Maybe it's NOT the Catholic voice, maybe it's the addiction enabler voice...

    D'ya see what I'm doing to myself? So. I've decided that I will not show compassion for someone who is trying to behead me. (I know, Catholic voice, I know - I should pray for them....Alright. While I'm shooting them I'll send up a little prayer.) As for the addicted trying to take advantage - I'll send up a little prayer for them, too but direct them to the nearest addiction treatment center. My enabler voice can live with that. Anyone else - - if you try to hurt me or my family I will not allow it. Whatever it takes I will do. I WILL say a little prayer for you though.

    Oh what a tangled mess Aesop's Fables can be when one is a recovering Catholic. LOL!

    Tuesday, April 04, 2006

    Carnival of Homeschooling #14.

    The 14th Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Why Homeschool. Janine has done a lovely job of sprinkling fascinating bits of history throughout! One of Grizzly Mama's entries is there along with many fascinating entries from a diverse group of homeschooling families, not only in the U.S., but other countries as well. You're going to LOVE it!

    Thank you Janine!

    Next week the carnival will be held at Tami's Blog.

    Information on how to submit an entry is here.

    Link

    Monday, April 03, 2006

    Do I look like I can afford to lose an hour?

    I can't stand this time change. I am so messed up. The kids' sleep schedules are messed up. MY sleep schedule is messed up. My normal bedtime is about 2:30 a.m. Now it's 3:30 a.m. That's too late and I can't deal with it. I've been slogging around all day in slow motion.

    I'm going tomorrow night to get a pedicure. Troll gave it to me as a Christmas gift. I can't have my feet looking like this in my new little Easter slings, now can I? No! They need to be pretty and pink for their first airing of the season!