Presidential hopeful Democrat Senator Dodd spoke to a group of high school kids about gay rights.
Seriously, does America really need elected officials going into our schools to talk about gay marriage?
Senator Dodd, you are at meager 5% in the polls for a reason. Most High School kids do not vote and 85% of America is against the gay marriage issue. So I question your strategic thinking.
Do you want to be President? Then act presidential. Unless of course you are running for president of the Gay Coalition. Is Barney Frank going to be your running mate? You two do make a nice couple.
What is happening to my world? No Santa in stores. Easter Egg hunts are now called scramble egg hunts. The 10 Commandments are being erased from society. Every kid gets the same grades in school. And now this. No Chatter in baseball.
An ugly incident led to the banning of chatter in Cincinnati. Kids can no longer say batter, batter, batter swing batter, batter, batter in Cincinnati. Don't you dare say, rally, rally the pitcher's name is Sally in the Queen City. For God's sake, don't call a batter a broken ladder. You can't say, hey shortstop I have seen quicker hands on a clock or you throw like Mayor Mark Mallory. (See video)
Don't yell to the catcher, you couldn't catch the bird flu in a Cambodian chicken coop. We don't want little Johnny to take his ball and bat and go home crying.
Don't get me wrong, I am not for mean spirited unsportsmanlike talk. But chatter is a part of baseball. It is a part of life. You can not protect kids from the ugliness of life. Kids need to develop a thick skin. The world is tough. Rules to artificially protect a kids self esteem drive me nuts because the kids only have a high self esteem in a fantasy world. Learning to cope in both good and bad situations is what growing up is all about.
Conservative Kids learn what not to do from bad situations if their parents help them understand the situations they encounter.
A liberal friend (yes I do have some) introduced me as a conservative to another liberal. We had some good natured banter back and forth. There was one joke this person said that struck me as odd. He said, "Do you idle your car all day so it's nice an warm when you are ready to head home." I guess he assumed that since I am a conservative I must not care about the environment and I needlessly waste resources.
I grew up in the 70's. The well informed teachers of the day were talking about the world running out of oil. That was 30 years ago. Oh yeah, they were also talking about global cooling too. No oil and global cooling the inconvenient half-truth of the day got our attention. So we were taught to conserve energy. There was also a long draught period in New Jersey when I was younger. We had to conserve water - If its yellow let it mellow. But if it is brown, flush it down. So I am familiar with conservation. Well I must admit that I flush every time and wash my hands. I also turn out lights that are on when not needed.
Just because Conservative Kids do not believe that global warming is caused by humans does not mean that we give polluters a free pass and waste costly resources.
The same day that I had this conversation, I got this info in an email (author unknown).
A tale of two houses
House 1:
The four-bedroom single-story house is a paragon of environmental planning. The passive-solar house is built of honey-colored native limestone and positioned to absorb winter sunlight, warming the interior walkways and walls of the 4,000-square-foot residence. Geothermal heat pumps circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground. These waters pass through a heat exchange system that keeps the home warm in winter and cool in summer. A 25,000 gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof urns; wastewater from sinks, toilets, and showers cascades into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is then used to irrigate the landscaping around the four-bedroom home. This house consumes 25% of the energy of an average American home.
House 2:
This 20-room, 8-bathroom house consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year. The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, this house devoured nearly 221,000 kWh, more than 20 times the national average. Last August alone, the house burned through 22,619 kWh, guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of this energy consumption, the average monthly electric bill topped $1,359. Also, natural gas bills for this house and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year. In total, this house had nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for 2006.
House 1 belongs to George and Laura Bush, in Crawford, Texas.
House 2 belongs to Al and Tipper Gore, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the secular progressives, slayer of traditional marriage, eraser of the 10 commandments, the Devil herself, brought her forked tongue to the Holy Land for a photo op. (Story)
Conservative Kids need leaders who believe and trust in a higher power. Perhaps Nancy does but she sold her soul for the pursuit of power and greed.
To bad Newt is the only potential Presidential hopeful who is has strong convictions and is not afraid to voice them.
Newt Gingrich Decries 'Ghetto' Nature of Bilingual Education
Saturday, March 31, 2007
WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equated bilingual education Saturday with "the language of living in a ghetto" and mocked requirements that ballots be printed in multiple languages.
"The government should quit mandating that various documents be printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up" to vote, said Gingrich, who is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He made the comments in a speech to the National Federation of Rebulican Women.
"The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. ... We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto," Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more than 100.
"Citizenship requires passing a test on American history in English. If that's true, then we do not have to create ballots in any language except English," he said. nd="5" style="font-size:85%;">In the past, Gingrich has supported making English the nation's official language. He has also said all American children should learn English and that other languages should be secondary in schools.
In 1995, for example, he said bilingualismposes "long term dangers to the fabric of our nation" and that "allowing bilingualism to continue to grow is very dangerous."
Bilingual programs teach students reading, arithmetic and other basic skills in their native language so they do not fall behind while mastering English.
On voting, federal law requires districts with large populations of non-English speakers to print ballots in multiple languages.
Presidential hopeful Huckabee gave a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this month. Among his rambling speech he told a story that fits the theme of this blog for raising conservative kids.
Since a politician told this story, I am not sure how true it is, but the message is good.
I have a friend who's a schoolteacher at the Robinson High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her name is Martha Cothren. She's a social studies teacher and a coach on the side. Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren did something that I'll never forget. Martha, on the first day of school, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, took all of the desks out of the classroom.
The kids came into first period, they walked in, there were no desks. They obviously looked around and said, "Ms. Cothren, where's our desk?" And she said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them."
They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades."
"No," she said.
"Maybe it's our behavior."
And she told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."
And so they came and went in the first period, still no desks in the classroom. Second period, same thing. Third period. By early afternoon television news crews had gathered in Ms. Cothren's class to find out about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom. The last period of the day, Martha Cothren gathered her class. They were at this time sitting on the floor around the sides of the room. And she says, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily." She said, "Now I'm going to tell you."
Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it, and as she did 27 U.S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. And they placed those school desks in rows, and then they stood along the wall. And by the time they had finished placing those desks, those kids for the first time I think perhaps in their lives understood how they earned those desks.
Martha said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk, and don't ever forget it."
My friend, I think sometimes we forget that the freedoms that we have are freedoms not because of celebrities. The freedoms are because of ordinary people who did extraordinary things, who loved this country more than life itself, and who not only earned a school desk for a kid at the Robinson High School in Little Rock, but who earned a seat for you and me to enjoy this great land we call home, this wonderful nation that we better love enough to protect and preserve with the kind of conservative, solid values and principles that made us a great nation.
Sometimes humorous, sometimes irreverent, sometimes practical and sometimes not.
Raising conservative-minded kids is very difficult in this era. I want to explore the topic. I want to share my thoughts; I want to hear the thoughts of other like minded-individuals and those with opposing views.
I am a conservative dad of three kids.
I am happily married. A loving marriage is the greatest gift you can give your kids.
My oldest is a boy, 14. I also have a boy, 9 and a little girl, 6.
I was born in the 60's.
I went to public schools on the east coast.
I was raised Catholic; I have deep beliefs, but I wouldn't be considered religious.
I went to a Catholic universtiy, where I actually became less religious through knowledge.
I have an Ivy League masters degree from the ultra liberal Columbia University.
I am a Republican; but might be considered a Libertarian.
I revere Ronald Reagan.
A big influence on my life; my hard working Italian immigrant farmer grandparents.
My dad; is a Republican. At one point a Goldwater Republican.
I fly a big American flag proudly in my backyard.
Another big influence on my life; was / is fear. I was afraid to fail; so I work hard not to.
I am a partner in a very successful business.
Presidential hopeful Democrat Senator Dodd spoke to a group of high school kids about gay rights.
want to be President? Then act presidential. Unless of course you are running for president of the Gay Coalition. Is Barney Frank going to be your running mate? You two do make a nice couple.
