Weekly Joke

A rabbi and a priest get into a car accident and it's a bad one. Both cars are totally demolished, but amazingly, neither are hurt. They crawl out of their cars and the rabbi sees the priest's collar and says, "So you're a priest. I'm a rabbi. Just look at our cars. There's nothing left but we are unhurt. This must be a sign from God. God must have meant that we should meet and be friends and live together in peace the rest of our days."

And the priest said, "I agree with you completely. This must be a sign from God. And the rabbi said, "and look at this. Here's another miracle. My car is completely demolished but this bottle of Mogen David wine didn't break, surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune.

And so he handed the bottle to the priest. The priest said he agreed, took a few big swigs, and handed the bottle back to the rabbi. The rabbi took the bottle, didn't drink at all, put the cap on, and handed it back to the priest. The priest asked, "aren't you going to have any?"And the rabbi replied, "No....I think I'll just wait for the police."

Dawn in Christchurch

Looking down at his worn-out work-boots, and viewing the world through what academics refer to as peripheral vision, but what he prefered to call "looking at everything but nothing", the man made his way rapidly down the sidewalk. Lining the path on either side was a rough and yet strangely beautiful scattering of decomposing leaves - of a wide spectrum of golden and red hues. The grass verge was damp, vibrant and dark green with the drops of frosty dew still on each blade, but trodden on and muddy as he passed the bus-stop. The 7-foot brick wall to his left brought back memories, as he strode briskly past. Standing on one leg - and then the other, leaning with his back against the solid wall, waiting for the school bus... Playing with his shadow, pulling leaves off the long-suffering tree, or huddling under the shelter of the wall as the rain drove down, making him wish he had brought his rain-coat.

But that was long ago. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, straightening his shoulders, raising his head and then nodding to the man who passed him, walking his dog, in the early, freezing morning. The almost indiscernable nod, coupled with the set-jaw and an almost equally indiscernable wink and the beginnings of a tired smile. Protocol.

The moon in front of him was fading to grey as the dark navy sky began to lighten into pale blue. It was a particularly good song playing on his MP3 player, and he felt gay as he looked up at the sky. The World went into slow-motion, and with a growing sense of elation and awe, his head back as far as possible without falling over, he stood still and spun slowly round and round a couple of times. The stars were still visible and the sun was rising on the horizon, sending rays of warmth and blinding light in all directions.

Turning his shoulder to the wind and continuing on his way, he was glad for his balaclava. Rolled up so as to appear more like a beanie, it kept his head warm - and with the collar of his heavy-duty Rod & Gunn jacket turned up, it kept most of the searing, biting cold out. Adding to his style were lightly faded jeans which scuffed along the ground as he walked. Leaves lay across the path now, and he kicked them as he walked, watching interestedly as they fluttered up and fell down again...

Apathy

Update (1 June): Rick responds. Click here to read his article.

China Bends as Parents Are Broken

This just in from the Family Research Council (US)...

"While it is of little comfort to the tens of thousands of grieving parents, China is making exemptions to the one-child policy in light of the May 12 earthquake. Officials of the Family Planning Committee have announced that "qualified parents" can petition the government to have another child if their son or daughter died in the quake. Parents who had more than one child "illegally" can receive permission to register the remaining sibling(s) as the "legal replacement." This glimmer of human feeling provides some hope that Communists leaders would further relax the policy; however, it cannot relieve the suffering of the many Chinese parents who have undergone forced abortion or sterilization at the hands of the totalitarian regime. We continue to pray that this catastrophe opens the hearts of China's leaders and awakens hope that a culture of life can take root even in an atheist state that rejects the Author of Life."

This state-run "family-planning" is tragic, worse than the Chengdu earthquake itself.  People in your country - even in places of power are in favour of this sort of regime.

The Dreamer

I watched The Astronaut Farmer the other night. I can't say that I had expected it would be much good. I haven't seen Billy Bob Thorton in many other films - but he certainly shone in this performance. A driven man, Charles Farmer dreams of one day orbiting the earth in the rocket he is building in his barn - his life's work. The US Government is opposed to Farmer's project - "space-flight is only for us". But as Bruce Willis says in a surprise cameo role "16.2 billion dollars in this year's budget alone", "for what?" returns Farmer, to which Willis responds "for what, who cares for what - for whatever they want..." An excellent point I thought.

Early in the film, Charles Farmer withdraws his children from the local school, and starts up the Farmer Space Program. With lessons in the morning, and work on the rocket in the afternoons and evenings, this is project that the whole family is able to work together in. Needless to say, Farmer's wife is not all that happy when she finds out, however the family sticks together through thick and thin - respectful children and a trusting, long-suffering wife make for a change from the usual "Hollywood-family" drivel.

Definitely worth a watch, though you may find yourself rolling your eyes at times, as scientific or rational limits are ignored - for the sake of the story. The comparitive lack of swearing and the wonderful family relationship make this film a good choice for a Saturday evening with the whole family. I have to say, it was the home-educating and personal-responsibility themes that got me.

Allez Elite

I've got my eye on this bike. It's the 2008 model of the Specialized Allez Elite, running Shimano 105 and Tiagra components (bike-speak for gears & derailleur). Alloy frame with carbon seat-stays and front forks make for an entry-level road bike not to be sneezed at.

My mate offered to send me down his old cycle computer (tells you how fast you're going, how many kilometres you've done). And I thought, what can I do with a cycle-computer if I don't have a bike? So I headed down to John Bull Cycles on Saturday, and had a good look around. Took the Allez for a spin down an alley at the back of the shop. We'll see...

Dolls

nice dolls.

I do not give too much of my time to thinking about dolls. However the subject came up in a conversation - specifically, Barbie dolls. Mum taught me from a young age that Barbie dolls were not good. Not that I wanted to play with them as a young boy, but we saw them in other people's homes, and on shelves down at the mall. My sister never had a Barbie doll - save one given her by her aunty - and hastily dispatched of soon after Aunty's visit.

The Barbie Dolls range was one of the first to introduce to little girls, the concept of playing with, and dressing up grown-up women. Without getting too specific, it is obvious at a first glance that certain features, or dare I say it, dimensions of these Barbie dolls are provocative and unrealistic. I find it hard to believe that parents allow their children to play with these coquettish dolls. Isn't society bad enough as it is without handing our young girls little "supermodel-dolls" to play with?

Then you've got Ken of course, and a whole wardrobe of clothes for your little girls to dress the well-toned body of a grown-up male doll. It's really not a very pretty picture. Just as bad, in my mind, is the all too frequent occasions that one sees an abandoned Barbie doll, lying on the lounge-room floor - all it's clothes gone, and toussled, matted hair.

A blog post written by Doug Philips of Vision Forum in September 2007 comes to mind. I will include a couple of excerpts from his well-written article, below...

"One of the most iconic symbols of childhood play is the doll. Dolls have always served an important role in culture, primarily in preparing daughters to be mothers. At the heart of doll play are two important concepts: identification and imagination. For example, the baby doll in the hands of a girl is a tool that helps her to identify with motherhood. The dress-up doll at her bedroom tea party allows her to imagine her own future role building a culture of hospitality for her family. With the historical doll a young lady both imagines and identifies with the adventures of girlhood past. The point is this: dolls have traditionally played an important role in the social and intellectual development of young ladies.

Dolls as a Tool of Cultural Revolution

Humanists, including feminists of various stripes, recognize the power of play in shaping cultural identity and gender norms. Because doll play has historically been so closely associated with a distinctively Christian understanding of the roles of men and women, the feminist tactic usually takes one of two forms: The first approach is based on the notion that sex-specific play, education, and role modeling are inherently oppressive. This approach seeks to discourage role distinctions by encouraging both parents and manufacturers to accept more of an androgynous and gender-bending approach to the toys. Under this model, parents should not assume that dolls are for girls, or that toy soldiers are for boys—and neither should manufacturers or their advertising agencies.

If I am fortunate to have any children, there's no way they'll be allowed Barbie dolls, or anything even remotely like them.

"cheap and nasty"

Timeless Cinematic Moments 2

"Be not Thou far from me oh Lord"

From Saving Private Ryan (1998), winner of 5 Academy Awards. Private Daniel Jackson - one of the men sent out to find private Ryan, played by Barry Pepper.

5-12 Memorial

I was walking through Cathedral Square today, at around 5:30pm. Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis was playing through a powerful set of speakers in the back of a van parked near the Cathedral. I was drawn to the group of people who were now gathering around ...something, I couldn't see so I went up closer. Candles in clear plastic glasses were being laid out on the tiles of Cathedral Square. A memorial service for those who lost their lives in the terrible earthquake of Sichuan, China on 12 May this year. And an opportunity for us to show our support for those who survived, to stand beside them as they attempt to rebuild their lives.

"The death toll from the China earthquake has reached 60,560 and could rise to 80,000 or more, the Chinese government said today." - Guardian

I was handed a candle of my own. A sober-faced young chinese man pulled out his gas-lighter and lit it for me.

Two young Chinese people stood by the microphones. The man addressed the crowd in Chinese, followed by a translation from the woman. The stilted English made this even more moving than it would otherwise have been - the heartfelt message coming through strongly, despite the many grammatical mistakes. After being given an overview of the situation, another lady was invited to take a microphone on the steps at the base of the cathedral, and deliver her "mourning speech". This was a heart-rending speech - and if I knew Mandarin I'm sure I would have let a tear or two escape. The volume was up very loud and the pained voice of the speaker echoed from the surrounding buildings.

The size of the group grew, and I looked around me at my Chinese brothers and sisters. I was one of the few "white people" present. It must be so hard for them, they're here, and there's not much they can do to help, they're so far away from home.

When Minister of Commerce, Lianne Dalziel took the microphone I decided it was time to head home. I handed my candle to a man standing at the back of the crowd who hadn't managed to get one, and deep in thought, made my way to the bus exchange.

Weekly Joke

A man is walking down a beach, and accidentally kicks a bottle out of the sand. He opens the bottle, and a genie appears. The genie said, "I am so grateful to get out of that bottle that I will grant you one wish. I can only grant one." The man thought for a while and finally said, "I have always wanted to go to Hawaii. I've never been able to go because airplanes are much too frightening for me and boats make me seasick. So I wish for a road to be built from here to Hawaii." The genie thought for a few minutes and said, "No, I can't do it. Imagine all the work involved. All the piling to hold up the highway needed and all the pavement. Ask for something else." "Well," the man said. "I would like to be able to understand women. What makes them laugh and cry, why are they temperamental, why are they so difficult to get along with. Basically, what makes them tick." The genie considered this for a couple of minutes and said, "So, do you want that road two lanes or four?"

Family Party Takes a Gamble

An intriguing promotional video from the Family Party. Top marks for ingenuity and a really well-put-together viral video. Geoff sums it up well, my thoughts exactly...

"The Family Party has just released what is possibly a new benchmark for online political advertising in New Zealand. This is, if may say so myself, one VERY well made video." - frankobservations.wordpress.com

I'm going to look into the Family Party a bit more.

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This is my 200th post. When I started this blog (16 March 2006), the web address was aphm.blogspot.com, and I had called it TBC (to be confirmed). Following a fascination with John's (then) wonderfully (but mystifyingly) modified blog, and a lot of playing round with HTML, the blog is as you see it today. Thanks for reading!

Hmmmmmm...

Ok, I wasn't going to comment... I recieved this chart in a "pass-it-on" email. My initial reaction was ;) However, after reading over the list a couple more times, I thought hang on, I agree with this. I'm not too sure on Demerit 3 and 9 or Merit 12. Though sleeping in on Sundays and holidays might be nice, the family should come first.

To heck with political correctness. What has the world come to, that we should look at a marital rating scale drafted up in 1939, and see it as fit only for a joke. There was less divorce, adultery and family-breakdown in 1939 when such things as marital rating scales were in use, than we see in 2008, I'll warrant.

(my friend and I have reason to believe that the guy that forwarded this email to me may be a werewolf.)

Timeless Cinematic Moments 1

I'm going to begin a (probably) weekly feature on movie moments that make my heart stop. Scenes so momentous that they cry out to be shot several times from different angles and added into the special-features part of the DVD release.

"As the dying reverend-warrior falls to his knees, he throws up his rifle to Gabriel (played by the late - and sorely missed Heath Ledger). Insenced by the brutal murder of his lovely fiance, Gabriel takes the rifle, and with expert determination, raises it to his shoulder..." - scene from The Patriot.

Alien

"Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space." - BBC. I agree with Father Gabriel here; we should not rule out the possibility of the existence of aliens.

I do not want to sit in a dimly lit basement, one of a circle of socially-inept, un-shaven and un-showered men, discussing every imaginable topic relating to aliens. Hours spent speculating upon the liklehood of extra-terrestrial life has no attraction to me. Disputes over various species of aliens, and what they would do if they came here are meaningless, because virtually nothing is known about the subject. However I do want to point out that we should not quickly deny the existence of something we are so unsure about.

To categorically state that aliens do not and cannot exist is to limit God's power (which is limitless).

It was in 330BC that Aristotle provided observational evidence for the spherical Earth. Until then, most of the world lived in blissful ignorance of just how spherical their planet Earth was. And it was not until 1543 that Copernicus's book, "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" was published that the concept that the Earth was not the center of the Universe began to be accepted.

At various stages throughout history, people have stood back and said "we've arrived". It is claimed that in 1899, Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office Charles H. Duell said "everything that can be invented has been invented".

Let me finish by saying that I do not care whether aliens exist or not. I would dissuade people, especially children from too many hours spent, huddled under the duvet holding the Alien Mysteries book with cold, shivering and sweaty hands, pondering the *irrefutable* cases set before them with set jaw.

"We should not even discuss the possibility of aliens", some have said. Well, if this argument was used on Captain James Cook, it certainly didn't stop him from sailing half-way round the World, sailing un-chartered seas in a search for "The Great Southern Continent", and finding New Zealand (and Australia).

I see nothing inherently wrong in probing the depths of Space in search of alien creatures with whom we can communicate and trade with. The billions of tax-payer's dollars being used to fund such enterprises, however, is an entirely different issue! It is a pre-occupation with the idea of aliens and UFOs that we need to avoid.

Kiwi band Goldenhorse has a nice song called Alien.

Update (17 May): Jono responds with a strong argument against the possibility of the existence of Aliens. Click here to read his article.

Home-Education Under Attack

Melissa Busekros (left), 15 years old, detained in a psychiatric hospital for being home-educated.

"Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defence Association (HSLDA) has said he believes the German treatment of Christian homeschoolers is the "edge of the night that's coming" for believers.

"Germany is the only Western democracy taking this incredibly hard-line approach, but there are growing clouds on a number of national horizons," Farris told WND.

"The philosophy that the government knows best how to raise children is really becoming a worldwide phenomenon," Farris said. "I think Germany represents the edge of the night that's coming."

from World Net Daily, 17 May 2007

More recently, 12 May 2008, Bob Unruh at World Net Daily looks into the situation in Germany, where the Government is blurring child-abuse and home-education into one. Below are a couple of powerful excerpts - click here to read the entire article.

..."The German Jugendamt system is under increasing scrutiny by the European Union as well as other international organizations because of the sheer numbers of custody cases in proportion to actual substantiated abuse and in relation to the overall population," he said. "For homeschoolers, the Jugendamt represents the tip of the spear in the government's persecution of parents who simply wish to educate their children privately at home – a freedom protected by governments of virtually all free societies."...

...Practical Homeschool Magazine has noted one of the first acts by Hitler when he moved into power was to create the governmental Ministry of Education and give it control of all schools, and school-related issues.

In 1937, the dictator said, "The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."...

...the education authority is in conversation with the affected family in order to look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line with the unalterable school attendance requirement."

We in New Zealand need to wake up and realise that everything is not ok. The Government has just passed the Anti-Smacking Law - against the will of 83% of New Zealanders. How much easier will it be for them to outlaw the fundamental and inherent right of parents to educate their own children at home?

Why is the German government scared of home-education? Home-education allows for freedom of thought, and freedom from the indoctrination of the State. The German government is investing a great deal in indoctrinating all young Germans with it's worldview. So, understandably, home-education is a huge spanner in the works for the government, as there is a small but growing group of free-thinkers who believe that it is not the State's job or jurisdiction to indoctrinate educate the country's citizens.

Chengdu Earthquake, an Inside Look

I received another email from my friend in China, offering a chilling insight into the devestating earthquake which has just taken place in Chengdu, China.

"...form the day before yesterday to today we nearly sleept a couple of hours , because our dorm was damaged a little and we fear others dangerous

unknown countless earthquake will happen soon, , so we spent the endless night in our playground and badmiton hall (siince the rain became extreamly heavy ) . we dare not to sleep , each possible tiny shake of the earth made us run out of form the buliding we hiding , some people get a little hurt from them including me..

my hometown was badly damaged ,many people died even including our vice mayor ,since any supply had been cut down in our hometown,,I cant contact with my dad , and i m worride about him.

I know I shoulnt complaint too much,comparing with many other people , im lucky enough , my best friend's friend 's all of her family (9 people)died .she is the only one alive.

during the time we spending , we can do nothing but waiting , darkness, sleepless , hopeless and hlepless. i still remember the suddenly strong shake of the building where we had a class in at that moment , our teacher shouted to us "RUN !JUST RUN!"we dashed outside and we began to lose banlence......."

And an excerpt from an article at www.globeandmail.com -

The 7.8 magnitude quake, centred in Sichuan province, struck in the middle of the school day yesterday and toppled at least eight schools. Chemical-laden factories and at least one hospital collapsed, trapping hundreds more, state news media said.

The death toll appeared likely to climb in China's worst earthquake in more than three decades as troops struggled on foot to reach the worst-hit area of Wenchuan, some 100 kilometres from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province...

..."Not one minute can be wasted," Mr. Wen said. "One minute, one second, could mean a child's life."

The rescue team (picture)

Life

Head resting on my hand, I sit with my back to the night-store heater and attempt to navigate through the clunky interface of Windows Media Player 10. I've just found the playlist from my 21st party on Mum's laptop, and am trying to set it to shuffle... Blue ink from a poor-quality Parker pen is on my K finger. Aerosmith comes on with "I don't wanna miss a thing", and the heater is getting really hot, searing through my jersey that Thomas gave me. The tea must be good now...

Brewed for a good five minutes, the tea releases an incredible aroma. Dripping off the teabag and then deftly pouring just the right amount of green milk, the milk blends with the tea and she's all good to go. Admittedly a bit cold - but I don't think I'll microwave it - Brent at work reckons that microwaving drinks waters them down - even water, he maintains. Ahhh, work. Today I enjoyed driving the cherry-picker around the warehouse for a bit, as high up as it would go. It definitely feels different navigating with your wheels so far under you, and on a wobbly platform. Lunch at work was great today. Yesterday's buns with slices of processed cheese, a good cup of coffee in one hand, and a bag of mandarins down on the concrete by my feet as I sat outside the roller-door of the warehouse, facing the quiet street, my feet up on another plastic chair.

Sigh, it's 12:03am, I should really head off to bed - planning on heading out tomorrow with some others to collect signatures for the Anti-Smacking Law petition. Hmmm, that's nice, Bridge over Troubled Water is playing, Simon and Garfunkel almost at their best. Heheh, work's funny, the day I started (replacing an old guy who threw in the towel), Brent asked me which radio station I would prefer. "Anything but Radio Rhema", he said as he gestured towards the decrepit looking alarm-clock/radio. Later I learned that for the last two years, the radio had been tuned to play More FM. After five days of Classic Hits, and having heard the same, few - tired old "hits of the 80's, 90's and today" for five days in a row, I gently hinted that we could change radio stations. The subtle suggestion was lost on my workmate - changing the radio station was a big deal, carrying an almost religious gravity with it.

Mad World by Gary Jules just played, such a nice song. My music video for it is here. Day-dreaming while supposedly critiquing a mate's speech earlier today, I had entertained myself with making a ring for my little finger out of the wrapper from a pack of chewing-gum. It is a good ring, and has withstood two hand-washings. The barcode features as the gem-stone, if you will - and I had an interesting but not unexpected comment about it - won't get into that now though.

;) I'm kind of apologetic about this little rave about nothing much in particular, but I was feeling mixed up and needed to write some things down... Have a good one!

Mc Homo

The Family Research Council sheds some light on an organisation which McDonalds is funding...

Apparently, serving McFlurries and Big Macs to the public is no longer enough to satisfy the hunger of McDonald’s to make a cultural impact on the United States. Sadly, McDonald’s is now financing attacks on marriage and the family as a new Corporate Partner of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).

The NGLCC promotes businesses owned by homosexuals, but it also pushes the homosexual political agenda in statehouses, courthouses, and the halls of Congress. Thought crime (”hate crime”) laws, homosexual and transgender “civil rights” preferences, and domestic partner benefits are top-priority issues of the NGLCC.

Richard Ellis, Vice President of Communications for McDonald’s, was recently named to the Board of Directors of the NGLCC. In a press release, the NGLCC praised Ellis for his “vast Board experience with LGBT and advocacy related organizations.” It’s alarming that the overseer of McDonald’s advertising campaigns directly geared toward families will now be a leader in the NGLCC’s campaign to weaken traditional values.

from www.alliancealert.org

Click here to download a PDF Flyer outlining the issues.

Click here to sign the petition.

From now on, I will boycott McDonalds. Not that it will be all that difficult, Burger King and Wendy's are so much better.

The Day of Silence Walkout

My sincere commendation to the thousands of brave students who took a stand against a pro-homosexual campaign in the USA.

On April 25, adult homosexual activists with the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network held their annual "Day of Silence," or DOS, propaganda push. During DOS, teachers and students in roughly 3,000 middle schools, high schools and colleges across the country are cynically used as culture-war pawns in an effort to legitimize conventionally immoral, objectively deviant and demonstrably high-risk sexual behaviors.

Kids and teachers are encouraged on DOS to disrupt the school day by refusing to speak in class as a show of support to students who self-identify as "GLBT." (No, GLBT has nothing to do with bacon, lettuce and tomato; it's liberalese for "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender.")

DOS purports to confront the alleged systematic harassment and bullying of sexually confused students who consider themselves "GLBT." Naturally, where there is actual bullying, anywhere, anytime, for any reason, those responsible should be firmly disciplined. However, the reality is that DOS has very little to do with "bullying" and has everything to do with pro-homosexual, anti-Christian indoctrination.

Consider that during DOS, many kids who hold time-honored traditional values relative to sexual morality (i.e., that human sexuality is a gift from God to be shared between husband and wife within the bonds of marriage) are frequently and ironically tagged as "hateful," "bigoted" and "homophobic." (Who's doing the bullying?)

But this year, something extraordinary happened on the way to the brainwashing. Kids at schools all over the country stood tall and said, "Enough is enough!" Untold thousands of students participated in a peaceful, pro-family counter effort called the "Day of Silence Walkout."...

from WorldNetDaily.com 2 May 2008

Click here to read the entire article.

Look at the Stars, see how they Shine for you

...and everything that you do, and they were all yellow - Yellow by Coldplay. What a song, watch the music video here.

I had a shot at adding a blog post rating system to my blog a while ago, but was shot down in flames - just met too many complications. I hit Google again tonight, and came across this beauty at...

Not only is it a single copy & paste of a simple bit of javascript, but you don't even have to register! Coupled with this, the stars look really pretty. It also appears to be a highly intuitive piece of code,

The widget works with a personalization algorithm, which tries to compute a unique Personalized Relevancy Score for each reader, and for every item that is viewed. If the widget has enough data, the reader will see a message indicating how relevant this post may be. The algorithm is mostly based on a reader's rating history so... the more ratings that are cast, the more content can be personalized for each reader... more info here.

Just as cool, they go on to say "We don't stick our logo or any 'powered by outbrain' stuff through the widget." This is extremely unusual for free web applets, but also extremely cool. Get it. If you need a hand, drop a comment :D

The Harsh Truth About Public Schools

Bruce Shortt has written a book entitled "The Harsh Truth About Public Schools," presents myriad reasons why government institutions are failing America's children and thumbing their noses at parents with a religious worldview. In this, he writes from a biblical perspective, presenting rigorous research about the agenda and effect of government schooling on the nation's young people. I am keen to get my hands on a copy of this book, which was published three years ago. Below are a few excerpts from WorldNetDaily's article on the book.

"Contrary to what many Christians have been led to believe, there is no such thing as a 'neutral' education," Shortt writes. "All education is religious and conveys a worldview, and there is no more important decision that we make as parents than how we educate our children."...

...In the book, Shortt documents the pitfalls of public schools, saying the anti-Christian thrust of the governmental school system produces inevitable results: "moral relativism (no fixed standards), academic dumbing down, far-left programs, near absence of discipline and the persistent but pitiable rationalizations offered by government education professionals."...

...Shortt makes his argument by citing a school district in Texas. "There is no public school district in the country that has more Christians in the community or in the schools than that of Plano, Texas," he said. "In fact, the largest and most powerful church in the state of Texas, Prestonwood Baptist, is located in Plano. Yet, it took a court order to force the Plano schools to allow Christian school children to privately give classmates Christmas gifts that had a Christian message. Moreover, the school district had even prohibited schoolchildren from bringing red and green napkins to the school 'holiday' parties for fear the colors might remind someone of Christmas.

I completely agree with Bruce. It never ceases to amaze me at how desperate parents are to surrender the minds of their children to the State. "They've got to face it at some time in their lives", they tell me. Absolutely, at some stage we all need to let go of the apron-strings. But handing your children to State institutions from the age of three is just wrong. And let's just not talk about the fact that these institutions are entirely tax-payer funded. Brrrrrrr! Amazon.com has got a copy for $11.

Folly of "Gun-Free Zones"

Criminologist Don B. Kates questions gun-ownership policies in the United States, one year on from the horrific Virginia Tech massacre.
Excerpts from the following article, Good Citizens and Guns, 17 April 2008.  Emphasies my own.

Wednesday marked one year since the massacre at Virginia Tech by mentally-disturbed student Seung-Hui Cho. Last week the university offered anguished parents a settlement of $100,000 per murdered child.

There are three things wrong with this: First, even in financial terms, it is hopelessly inadequate to redress the deaths of these talented young people.

Second, it does nothing to correct the useless, symbolic policy which facilitated their deaths.

Third, if you don't think that the policy is wrong, Virginia Tech has no liability for the deaths it facilitated.

That policy is the "gun-free zone." Even if the victims had possessed permits to carry a gun, Virginia Tech forbade them to have that means of self-defense while on campus. This ensured that only the killer (who, of course, violated the "gun-free zone" policy just as he violated the laws against murder) and uniformed police would have guns. Obviously the university could not afford to station officers in every lecture hall.

Yet nothing less would substitute for the victims themselves having had the power to stop the massacre.

Israel has a better alternative. Decades ago, Palestinian terrorism was being directed at schools. Yasser Arafat calculated that small children can't shoot back, and that killing them was the best way to terrify parents into fleeing Israel.

Israel's response?

They armed schoolteachers and school bus drivers. Now, even suicide terrorists don't attack schools -- lest they be shot down before they can reach their helpless victims.

Dan continues, listing situations where Israeli citizens have pulled a gun and stopped Palestinian terrorists dead in their tracks, preventing greater bloodshed.  Click here to read the rest of the article.

"Gun-Free Zones" are not gun-free at all.  All it means is that if anyone's got a gun, it will be the bad guy.