Like there was ever any other kind. Nothing new under the sun. (‘day funnies)
Day one. Of many to come. Hopefully. After eight long weary years. We only got one week end off. Alabama checked out last Friday and Russia, I mean Putin, I mean Dijon takes over this morning. In between ……. freedom!!! I still say they should hold the peaceful change on a leap year and have it on Feb. 29 and make that day on a weekend so we get three days off and …….
March On Washington if we don’t get our wayyyyyyy. Light a trash can on fire and watch six to ten cameras surround it documenting America’s Color Revolution. Looking for something real.
Content Now Needed!?!
CNN
Certainly Not News – Because it’s propaganda!
BBC
Basic Bull Crap – Because it is!
PBS
Pile ‘o’ Bull Shi(r)t – Because this site is (fairly) family friendly.
ABC
All Bull Crap – Because. (Watch)
CBS
Crock (of) Bull Shi(r)t – Because ……. see Shi(r)t above.
NBC
Nothing But Crap – Because, like above, it all is.
PUT
Any Three Letters (together) – Because any more than one IS a cluster fuck.
And therein lies the rub. It’s us individuals against them in the pack. The risks one takes. Well worth taking. I’m forever for the lone wolf – Because that dog don’t hunt …… in a pack. I’ll still have a chance. Otherwise I’ll need an equalizer. That is how the weapon was born. To bring back equilibrium. Temporarily.
I woke up 20 years ago or so. I had a son who was suffering from the world’s war on males. He had already awaken and pleaded with me to join the fray in his defense.
He was in the fourth grade and now I realize wise beyond his years. We had spent a year and about five thousand dollars getting him outside help to catch him up to his grade level just one year before only to see him slipping back behind in his public school. A public school we had open enrolled him in because it was supposedly not milking the title whatever federal funding program for students like the district we were unfortunate enough to reside in.
For one year in the evenings twice a week after his normal classes we would drive him to the city 45 minutes away and for one hour they tutored him in a smaller sized classroom. More importantly this institution tested regularly to track his rather rapid improvement. The six hours it consumed each week was draining for both him and us, his parents. At the end of the school year his regular school and his remedial school both told us he was up to speed and no further summer schooling would be needed.
The next fall after only a few weeks we were called in to a conference where the boy’s teacher and the elementary principle tried to get us to put him in special ed, another federal funding program the schools like to tap into. When I asked these two ladies if it was his reading skills the principle said that with the advent of the (relatively new) internet, reading wasn’t going to be as important anymore. They were concerned about his restlessness.
They gave us the name of a doctor that they recommended we go to see with him to get him some help. According to my son the doctor visit (where incidentally the parents weren’t allowed into the session) was a series of questions about whether his dad used corporal punishment and did Dad have any guns. We left with a prescription for Ritalin. My father told me to throw that damned pill pushers script away, drugs were not the answer.
Then I found out my son was spending most days with his desk in the hallway to keep him from distracting all the boys who’d been obediently taking their medications. (During a class trip I was amazed to talk to the many fathers who caved in to the peer pressure) I pleaded and cajoled my son to sit still and try to pay attention. He said they were teaching the same old thing he was learning the year before. He was completely bored.
Inquiring at the school if this was so I was informed that up to half of the new year and sometimes more was review of what had been taught the year before. Some times only the last quarter was available to introduce new material. I was astounded but during retrospection I realized things were that way when I was a boy often with the same consequences. But I had been taught to sit still in church so I flew by the wring wraiths under radar. Not so for many of my friends.
After the parent/teacher conferences I was at my wits end and told my son if he didn’t start to sit still I was going to home school him. He was delighted to learn that such an option was available. When I inquired at the school how I was to go about achieving this home schooling all I got back was crickets chirping. So I called the Area Education Agency to see if the could help me. More crickets. So I called the Iowa State Education Agency. More crickets.
An acquaintance of my wife told her of a local man who had been home schooling his children. We found his phone number and made contact. He directed us to a group of angels that were organized under the acronym of NICHE. The Network of Iowa’s Christian Home Educators. They schooled us on all the hoops we would have to jump through to get our child educated.
More importantly they had local groups that met up twice a month for fellowship and any additional instruction that we may have been unfamiliar with. The children would retreat into their groups after a brief gathering of all as would us parents. They held book fairs and helped the members find curricula that would be acceptable to the state of Iowa if followed. We picked a Cristian based complete curricula from a Florida based company called A Becca. He and we were off to the races.
And we never looked back. I often wondered if the kid was borderline genius. Maybe it was the system. Just add (fresh) water and watch him grow. As his teacher I learned more during the whole experience than I had learned during my education years. It was truly win win. I’m not saying it was easy. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It took commitment. It took discernment. I had to learn how to read him.
You know it’s funny, I had set out to do a diatribe on fake news. I ended up doing a diatribe on fake education. What the hell does America expect when we drop the ball on teaching our kids properly. I don’t care if they are in the public school system or not, parental involvement is key to education. Maybe the most important thing we can teach our children is that no one is going to give them the care that their own parents will. Our grandchildren deserve that. Our country deserves that. We deserve that.
Thanks for the time. My next post I promise to give you my opinions on the never ending fake news. Until then may good fortune find you.
No snow, no problem. How are we so fortunate? There’s nothing better for no till farming than a good deep fracturing frost in the soil. Frack that seedbed! With no insulating snow the ground freezes deeper than it otherwise would. We have had some rain that helps crack the compaction up. Freezing water expands. That tends to mitigate the machinery traveling across the soil to plant, fertilize/spray and harvest. Hauling off the harvest being the heaviest trek. Think spring and mellow soils.
I hope your new year is going as well. The highest consumer confidence in 15 years seems to say it is. Getting rid of the war mongers may have something to do with it. Acknowledging the death of the mainstream media and their fake news can’t hurt. Unless you’re unlucky enough to be among the 30% of the population that supposedly still believes the propaganda. I can’t find evidence that the 30% exist. Fake news? More than likely, they have jobs to protect. It’s probably closer to the 6% that still approve of Congress.
That’s my new year’s rant. As far as a new year’s resolution? I don’t believe in any of that foolishness. I may try to post a little more often but that started a month ago. However, there’s a difference between trying and doing.
Cocreator's New Blog 