UN: Catholic Moral Teaching Causes AIDS To Spread

[Source] If you think this post's title is funny you have to read Creative Minority Report's take on it. I laughed out loud.

Continue reading "UN: Catholic Moral Teaching Causes AIDS To Spread"

Collapse UN: Catholic Moral Teaching Causes AIDS To Spread

More on Public School Funding

As I wrote about earlier my local school district Anoka-Hennepin (AH) is pushing hard to pass a new levy. While no one is doubting (least of all me) that AH will experience real cuts if the levys all fail, What I do question is how the money is spent and if it is right to force everyone to pay exorbitant prices (over $9,000 per student) for a mediocre education - if not actually Dumbing Us Down

Over at Truth V. The Machine (TvM) in Education Funding and My Levy several key points are mentioned:

...where does the money go? When you buy a box of “education”, what are you buying?

Looking at the same document, for 05-06, the district spent 48.5% on Instruction-Salaries. Add in benefits and “All Other”, (not sure what that is), that number goes to 68.3%.

Add in Instructional and Pupil Support Services, that number goes to 76.9%.

Add in School Level Administration, that number goes to 81.5%.

In other words, let’s be clear. When we go to “support the children”, or “invest in property values”, or buy a box of “education,” we’re talking primarily about increasing teacher salaries and benefits

TvM was able to dig up some interesting facts regarding teacher salaries over the past several years:

The Minnesota School Board Association website does have teacher salary averages for the districts. You can find that here. Here’s a summary of the data there for District 11.

School Year	BAMIN	BAMAX	ST	MAMIN	MAMAX	ST	AVG	TP%
1999-2000	$28,854	$44,223	12	$32,036	$51,457	12	$3,001	5.31%
2000-2001	$30,702	$45,992	11	$34,129	$53,515	11	$3,380	5.68%
2001-2002	$31,316	$46,912	11	$34,812	$54,585	11	$2,603	4.22%
2002-2003	$32,000	$47,875	11	$35,600	$56,225	11	$3,648	5.68%
2003-2004	$32,480	$49,300	12	$36,045	$58,800	12	$3,683	5.60%
2004-2005	$33,942	$49,400	11	$37,744	$58,800	11	$3,071	4.42%
2005-2006	$34,621	$50,759	11	$38,499	$60,711	11	$3,804	5.46%
2006-2007	$35,962	$51,774	10	$40,705	$61,925	10	$3,182	4.33%

I believe (but am not sure) that TP is for total package. But, you can see increases every year. Some of those increases came in years when the state was running a deficit. (From 02 to 05, the basic revenue amount stayed put at $4,601.)

That's some decent salary increases., not a dry year in the bunch. This is again the problem with public education. It does not have to be bothered by market forces, you want 5% salary increases every-single-year, well if you have enough lobbying power, you got it! However, this year the State backed off and, while AH is not actually getting less money from the State, it is getting a smaller increase than it has in the past. It looks to me like this levy simply ensures automatic yearly salary increases

Here is what I propose: Give all children the choice to pick the school they want, then give them the money to go do it. I mean any school, public, private, homeschool. Why are we forced by our tax dollars to pay huge amounts of money for a poor education? Let the money follow the student and you will find an amazing revival in education in the this country. Until that time we will continue to pay more and more for a worse and worse education. If we have freedom of choice for school, there would no longer be a need to be worried about the Teacher's Union. If they can help provide a good education then the students will come, if not they will find the solution that works for them. But, again don't expect the Teacher's Unions pushing anything that would help the children, remember they are The Teachers Union, not the Children's Union, even though they love to hide behind the backs of our children.

Vote No on the levy until we have freedom of choice for our schools.

Continue reading "More on Public School Funding"

Collapse More on Public School Funding

Even More On Global Warming

It's the cause of the Fires in California according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

“One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday [source]

Uh - How many degrees has 'global warming' caused the earth to warm so far? Even the fear-mongers only claim:

[Global Warming] caused earth's average atmospheric temperature to go up about 1. degree F in the 20th century [source]

But don't let that stop you from making all kinds of outrageous statements about the pearils of Global Warming... Don't forget its the root of all evil, so we can blame everything on global warming - and then by proxy President Bush too! Isn't that convenient!

Continue reading "Even More On Global Warming"

Collapse Even More On Global Warming

Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures

I recently finished reading Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures by Pope Benedict XVI. This was actually a talk given while he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. This was a very interesting little book in which our current pontiff shares a fair amount of wisdom. One of the more controversial thoughts (at least it is most likely to be controversial to atheists) was that atheists need to live veluti si Deus daretur as if God does exist.

Why does B16 ask this of atheists? because in short "The attempt, carried to extremes, to shape human affairs to the total exclusion of God leads us more and more to the brink of the abyss, toward the utter annihilation of man". The reasons for this seems to be more and more self-evident as the West expunges God from their everyday lives. Of course B16 touches on abortion and the right-to-live, but he presents it in a way not generally used by the pro-life crowd "every legalization of abortion implies the idea that law is based on power" and therefore threatens democracy itself.

It was a very powerful speech, and I would expect atheism to find it difficult to ignore this new take on Pascal's wager, not for the afterlife, but for the current civilization that is being threatened by a new atheism

I encourage you to Get The Book Now

Continue reading "Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures"

Collapse Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures

As A Father of Five...

...I hole-hardly endorse Catholic Minority Report's post "I'm Counter-Cultural, Who knew?"
Here is a snippet:

Many times I have been introduced by various people in this way.

Introducer: "This is Patrick Archbold, he is the director of blah blah. "
Introducee: "Hello. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Introducer: "Patrick is expecting his fifth child!"
Introducee: "Really?! Wow!"

To the introducer, my family size is a noteworthy piece of trivia requiring immediate full disclosure. Oddly, upon learning of my fecundity, many people are then completely liberated to give me all the gory details about their reproductive lives . "Two was plenty for me, I got the ol' snip snip!" , "After I delivered my last baby, I told the doctor to tie up those tubes while he was in there!","This shop is closed!", or the ubiquitous "I'm done!" Even more remarkably, people often feel strangely comfortable opining on my situation. "Are you Crazy?! Ever hear of birth control?", "Can't you stay away from your wife for a few minutes?" or some such silly thing. I have learned to roll with such comments and try to offer my little witness along the way.

This is exactly how I feel much of the time. I have yet to come up with the ultimate response to some of these questions. So let me know if you have any.

Continue reading "As A Father of Five..."

Collapse As A Father of Five...

Little Britches

I just finished reading Little Britches by Ralph Moody as part of my continuing TJEd. This is a wonderful little story of a young man (Ralph Moody) who moves with his family from the east to Colorado to take up ranching. While Ralph's whole family takes up ranching the story centers on Ralph and his Father. There are great role models in this story for both fathers and sons as Ralph's father seems to have the perfect blend of compassion and discipline when dealing with his son's typical boyish ways.

Ralph grows up quickly in the two or three years covered in Britches, and although he is still a boy of 9 - 11 he learns from his mistakes and the lessons taught to him by his father as they struggle to make ends meet, deal with tragedies and negotiate with difficult neighbors on their new Ranch. Despite it all, the Moodys are in good spirits because they have an understanding of what really brings true happiness. One thing that I will try to take away from Britches as a father was the way Ralph's father allowed Ralph to take ownership of the Ranch. That became the motivating factor to much of Ralph's participation and behavior. I hope to incorporate that into my own parenting.

After I was about 3/4 of the way through Britches I read the first two chapters to my 9 year old son and afterward could not tear the book from his hands. He loved the book and I'm going to have to get him the next few books about Ralph Moody.

In case you were wondering, this book is an auto-biography by Ralph Moody and the first in a series. If Anne of Green Gables was a book that gave insight into the motivation of girls, Britches gave at least as much insight into boys. I reccomend this book to anyone of any age who enjoys horses, cowboys, ranching, father-son relationships, or is just in need of a good uplifting story. Little Britches will make you want to be a better son, daughter, mother or father.

I reccomend you Get The Book Now

Continue reading "Little Britches"

Collapse Little Britches

Niederauer Apologizes

Bishop Niederauer Apologizes for giving communion to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence:

Although I had often seen photographs of members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, I had never encountered them in person until October 7th. I did not recognize who these people were when they approached me. After the event, I realized that they were members of this particular organization and that giving them Holy Communion had been a mistake. I apologize to the Catholics of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and to Catholics at large for doing so.
....
Someone who dresses in a mock religious habit to attend Mass does so to make a point. If people dress in a manner clearly intended to mock what we hold sacred, they place themselves in an objective situation in which it is not appropriate for them to receive Holy Communion, much less for a minister of the Church to give the Sacrament to them.

Therefore I conclude that the presence of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the Mass on October 7th was intended as a provocative gesture. In that moment I failed to recognize it as such, and for that, as I have said, I must apologize [emphasis added]

Kudos to Archbishop Niederauer for stepping up and admitting he made a mistake. It still seems to me to be a grievous misjudgement, but at least he has managed to avoid scandal. I have to give a ton of credit to the catholic blogosphere and especially The American Papist for shedding light on the matter. I am not confident that the Bishop would have apologized so quickly (if at all) had it not been for the outraged produced by my fellow bloggers.

Read the entire apology at the California Catholic Daily

UPDATE: The more I think about this, the more I am disturbed by it. Niederauer's first response when confronted with this issue is to defend himself even after he knew they were members of 'Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence' (SPI). Now that he is forced to apologize he said that he was wrong because they were members of SPI. This does not lend itself well in my mind as to Niederauer's integrity. If he believes this to be true, it would have been true immediately upon being informed that they were members of SPI, but that was not his initial reaction. I try to give the benefit of the doubt, but in this case and in the way it was so poorly handled by Niederauer, I am left with serious misgivings. I still believe that the Vatican needs to take some action here. I will go out on a limb here and declare that Niederauer still needs to be removed despite his apology.

Continue reading "Niederauer Apologizes"

Collapse Niederauer Apologizes

Nothing Sacrilegious Here, Move along

These two men are part of the 'Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence' (SPI) a Homosexual activist group who's motto is "go and sin some more". Cute huh?

This past Sunday these two received communion from the Archbishop of San Francisco George Niederauer. The picture was taken from the the actual Mass in which the event occurred. Niederauer's Response?

At Most Holy Redeemer Church Oct. 7, I noticed no protest, no demonstration, no disruption of the Sunday Eucharist. The congregation was devout and the liturgy was celebrated with reverence. Toward the end of the Communion line two strangely dressed persons came to receive Communion. I did not see any mock religious garb. As I recall, one of them wore a large flowered hat or garland. [emphasis added]

Really? No mock religious garb? These men dressed in full makeup wearing long black veils didn't seem odd? Were you not aware of the controversy of the SPI attending church there? This is simply disgusting. Niederauer continues:

In the past when the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence or other groups have ridiculed the Church I have denounced their actions. Only a week ago, Catholic San Francisco carried my remarks condemning the derisive use of the Last Supper on a poster printed by some other local group.

Niederauer could have used his response to condemn the group's actions, explain he made a mistake and that any attempt to receive communion by the group will be denied until they have made a full confession. In fact, this would have been the only appropriate action to take, but Apparently Niederauer sees no problem giving them communion as long as there are no protests or disruptions. He is one of those who obstinately chooses to violate canon 915

I have been hard on many of the US bishops lately, but apparently not hard enough. This simply cannot stand, I hope the Vatican will be quick to act. Please pray for the Church in America, we desperately need it.

The American Papist has some great commentary including the video of the event

The Curt Jester has a humorist take

Continue reading "Nothing Sacrilegious Here, Move along"

Collapse Nothing Sacrilegious Here, Move along

Paying Twice For Education

My local School District Anoka-Hennepin (AH) is looking to pass another levy this year. I find it very sneaky of them to put this in on an off year election. It virtually guarantees passage of the levy because they have a built in get-out-the-vote effort in their schools and their supporters are the only ones who will actually make it to the polls. The Schools are all pushing their agendas with some scare tactics. According to The Anoka Hennepin Web Site if all 4 levy referendums fail:

... reductions [will] include closing up to six elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school, which would change all attendance area boundaries in the district. Also on the list is elimination of 507 regular education teachers, which would increase class size by six to 12 students, depending on the grade and school. Another 239 positions would be cut including administrators, special education staff, instructional coaches not funded by grants, technology support teachers, counselors, secretaries, paraprofessionals and custodians.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (IES) That amounts to the elimination of approximitely 22% of schools and Teachers but only 10% of the administrative staff while the total cut amounts to only 16% of their funding if the levies fail. Truth v. The Machine puts it this way:

It’s hard for the average joe like me to understand why near apocalyptic results would have to occur if 16% of funding was lost. If my salary was cut by 16%, I’d sure feel it, but I wouldn’t be living under a bridge the next day.

Another question I have is how the increase in property values since 2002 is accounted for, plus the increase in new homes built since then.

These are curious questions, that to my knowledge have not been answered. Also the levy that is expiring is $25-$26 million and the new levy totals $42.3 million.

But having said that I do have to mention that AH is one of the better and fiscally conservative Public School districts in the State. The problem is that it is public and therefore cannot possibly educate children on any semblance of a budget. According to IES it costs AH $9,685 to educate each child in the district per year while Minnesota Public schools average is aprox $14,000. I doubt you could find a private school in the country that costs that much. The school district will say you can't compare Public and Private Schools because the following reasons (my responses in red)

• The public school district provides and subsidizes busing and some education services for private schools. - Then charge the students for busing. If they want to drive their kids to school or they walk then they don't need to pay the fee. AH pays 12% of its resources on Busing, food, counseling, and Health. These services could almost be eliminated tomorrow and the District would no longer have a budget problem. They are not functions of education - especially 'counseling'
• The state labor laws do not require private schools to have unionized employee groups so those employees cannot strike. - This is a problem that does need to be eliminated. There should be no unions in government, And teachers should not be allowed to strike. But don't expect the Teacher's Union to lobby the legislature to eliminate their own union. It's a self perpetuating problem and the Teacher's union loves it.
• Private schools do not need to meet many of the state and federal mandates public schools must meet. - This is another self perpetuating problem. The Teacher's Union lobby the state (they have the largest lobby in Minnesota) and federal government to put all these mandates in place and then complain that they need to raise taxes because they are forced to pay for the mandates.
• Private schools can select the students they take. Students who are disruptive or who have learning or physical disabilities all require more staff and facilities than do a selective group of students. The public schools must take all children who come to them - free public education is a constitutional and civil right determined by federal legislation and upheld by the Supreme Court. Private schools can exclude those students who take more effort or more money to educate. - This is another problem that the Teacher's Union will not help to alleviate. Free Public education should be a privilege, not a right. If that privilege is abused by disruptive behavior then those students should be expelled and not allowed to lower every one's education. But the Teachers Unions do the exact opposite they will always lobby on behalf of any and every policy that will increase the cost of education, and then complain about why they are 'forced' to pay so much for education
  

How much will the new levy cost me? According to their tax estimator if all levies pass I'll pay approx $462 more a year in property taxes on a bill that is already over $3,500. Most of which already goes to the the AH School district. It would be one thing if I actually had children in the School District, which I do not. One could make the argument that everyone benefits from public education and even people without school age children need to help support the education of those who are. It's a little weak argument I would suggest, because those who benefit the most are the people actually receiving the education, but it's an argument you could make.

However, I do have children of school age that are not using the Public Schools. According to what AH pays per student this should save the District over $9,000 per year for each of my children. I have 3 of school age - a savings of over $29,000 a year!. Do I get a cut of that $27,000 to help educate my children? Of course not. I don't get one red cent. Do I get a discount on my property taxes that help to fund the Public Education system that my children are not using? Of course not. Will the Teacher's Union or AH School District lobby the legislature to provide vouchers to students not using the Public Education system? No! They lobby for the exact opposite.

The Bottom line is that I pay for 100% of my own children's education, I have no endowments, no deep pocket religious or private organization contributing funds. I even pay to be a member of the Home School Legal Defence Association to legally protect myself from interference by the State or School District. Now once I have paid for my children's education, and protection from the Schools invading my own education of my children I am now asked to pay for the education of everyone else's education too. This is like being taken out back an mugged. Its appalling that the district comes to me and asks me to pay for my children's education TWICE. And among the myriad of reasons to vote against the levy, making me pay twice guarantees that I will vote no on the Anoka-Hennepin School District Levy this year.

Continue reading "Paying Twice For Education"

Collapse Paying Twice For Education

A Vote For Giuliani Is A Vote For Hillary

Here we go. Earlier I posted 'Be Careful Who You Vote for' in regards to the support of pro-choice, anti-marriage candidate Schwarzenegger for governor of California from 'conservative' talk show hosts because he was a Republican and he was 'electable' and voting for someone else was 'a vote for the Democrat'. What did they get Arnold is now proposing to eliminate marriage from the State of California entirely. Nice.

Did we learn anything? Apparently not because now we have round 2 on a much bigger scale. I listened in horror this weekend as one of my favorite talk shows The Northern Alliance (that's not sarcasm - I really do like their show, just not this week) lamented the fact that many pro-life leaders are protesting the fact that the Republican party seems to be flirting with the idea of nominating a pro-choice candidate for the Presidency.

Captain Ed (one of the Northern Alliance) of Captain's Quarters thinks that we don't know how the primary process works:

Along with the splintering rhetoric from James Dobson and others, it shows an immaturity and a complete rejection of the primary process. It's a form of extortion; select a candidate despite the voters' own preferences, or they walk out of the party. If the party nominates someone who cannot win a majority among their own voters without the threat of extortion, what chance do they have in the general election? None.

It's not extortion to state the facts. If the Republican party thinks that it can nominate a pro-choice president and still have the backing of many of the party faithful, then they have sorely underestimated the pro-life faction. It doesn't show a misunderstanding of primaries. Candidates need support; and Dobson and co. are giving a shot across the bow: Don't support pro-choice candidates. They are not asking the Party's leaders to choose which candidate should be the nominee.
Now if Bill Clinton or Tom Daschle wanted to run for President as a Republican, would they be taken seriously? Neither should Giuliani.

Ed goes on to show his complete misunderstanding of the religious right in this country:

The silliness extends to the general election. On the radio shows I do, I hear the same refrain I heard in 2006 -- "We'll stay home and teach the party a lesson." What lesson -- that its allies are completely unreliable?

No, Ed. The lesson that you cannot support killing babies and expect to get votes from the religious right. This is not a side issue, it is THE issue of our time. Anyone who cannot understand that killing babies is wrong, has a serious judgement problem. I don't care what other issues I agree with him on, the fact is anyone who says they hate abortion but thinks it should be legal, that Row V. Wade is good constitutional law, that has personally donated to Planned Parenthood, that supports partial birth abortion, and that the public should fund abortion [source]; is not capable of making the decisions necessary at a presidential level. So if you want me for an Alli, we can negotiate on taxes, immigration, war funding, border control etc, etc. Fine, let's build a coalition (I did vote for Bush Sr, Dole and Bush Jr twice despite my misgivings) , but if you want to support killing babies, you're right! You cannot count on this Alli, as far as I am concerned you just violated the terms.

[What lesson? -- ] That those who claim to speak for a majority would rather marginalize themselves and the rest of the agenda on the Right rather than accept the conclusion of the party's own voters in the primaries? That's not democracy, it's petulance. All elections are cost-benefit choices, at all levels. If people can't understand that much, they have no business leading any kind of political movement

Which would marginalized the pro life movement more -- Hillary Clinton or a Pro-Choice Republican elected president? Think about that for a moment. What happens to the Republican party when the top Republican leader is Pro-Choice? Do we even have a pro-life party any more? We've just told every republican candidate that life issues are not important. Go ahead and Nominate anyone you want, we're all just mindless robots who'll pull the lever for anyone with an R behind their name.

The spokesmen for Ed's point of view often say that given the choice you have to vote for Giuliani because a vote for anyone else is a vote for Hillary, who is more pro-choice, anti-marriage etc, etc. Well I'm here to tell you that the Pro-Life crowd is not about to hold their nose and then deal with a Republican president who is vehemently pro-choice and anti-marriage. He is in fact unelectable, therefore if you vote for Giuliani in the primaries then you are voting for Hillary for president.

Read More at Thoughts of a Regular guy Why Not Giuliani?

UPDATE: The debate continues on Catholic Dads: Sound Off: Giuliani Vs. Hillary

Continue reading "A Vote For Giuliani Is A Vote For Hillary"

Collapse A Vote For Giuliani Is A Vote For Hillary

It Was Hot!

The Twin Cities 10 mile race is part of the Twin Cities Marathon events which I ran on Sunday. Both races start at the HHH Metrodome in Minneapolis and end at the Capitol in St. Paul, the 10 mile is called 'the shortcut to the capitol' for obvious reasons. The day had record heat with the starting temperature at 72 degrees already at 7:00am. In Chicago they were running their annual Marathon on the same day and they actually cancelled the race 3-1/2 hours into the race due to the heat. It's supposed to be cool in October!

Pre Race: Both my sisters had planned on running with me, but Audrey had to bow out because of an ankle sprain the week before the race. Audrey still accompanied Beth and I to the start and cheered us on there. I have run this 10 miler 3 other times and the Marathon twice and this is the first time I can recall not needing a long sleeve shirt to start. It was warm, but we were so worried about rain that the heat never really crossed my mind until a few miles into the race. As we were lining up for the start I notices how clear the sky was and mentioned to Beth we would not have to worry about rain. The bathrooms were crowed (as was expected) so I skipped it, hoping to make it through the race without having to go.

The Race: The gun went off and we were way in the back so it took a few minutes of walking to get to the start. Once we crossed it was slow going through the crowds. My 'hopeful' goal for the race, despite my lack of training was 1:30 or 8 min per mile. The first mile was 10:16 -- way off pace. We picked it up a bit and hit miles 2,3 and 4 all at 9:00 or better pace despite the huge climb to the Franklin Bridge om mile 3. Mile 5 slower a bit to 9:10, but the climb to St Thomas University on mile 6 was brutal, and it was at that point that I knew I could not make it to the finish without relieving myself. There were a few porta-potties by St Thomas and it took about 2:00 to wait in line and be on my way. Beth waited for me, but the heat and the hills were taking a toll on me. The sun was beating down now with less tree shade than I would hope and I knew I had to walk a bit. Mile 6 had slowed to 10:04 minus the pit stop and I told Beth I needed a break and she walked with me for a bit until I told her to keep going. She didn't want to leave, but I insisted, I didn't want to hold her back.

After a block or two, I started up again and felt much better and managed 11:16 for mile 7. For some reason mile 8 marker was missing, but I chugged along Summit Ave. averaging 10:00/mile pace for miles 8 and 9. At this point I just want to get to the finish. My shirt is drenched with sweat and I am very, very glad I was not doing the Marathon. My 'goal' has changed to get under 1:40 or 10 min per mile pace, but the last mile still seemed a long way to go. I walked for another block somewhere along that last mile and was not sure how much more running I was in for that day, until another runner gave me a word of encouragement, and that was apparently all I needed 'cause I picked it up and brought it in with everything I had left. I managed 9:58 for the final mile. Final Official Chip time -- 1:38:53 which is 9:54 min per mile pace. At this point I'm just glad I got under 10 min/mile. If it has been cooler I'm sure I could have made 9:30's or maybe even hit that 9:00. Beth's final time -- 1:35:38. Good job! If I hadn't held her back she would have been well under 1:35

Lessons Learned:
1) Go to the bathroom ahead of time and don't drink too much coffee. I generally only have 6oz or less of coffee on race days, but this morning I brought my mug with me and drank most of it (16oz) on the way to the dome. This was a mistake.

2) Train more. This goes without saying, but my training was pitiful for this run although I am ashamed to admit it.

Next Race: I have my eye on the St. Paul Winter Carnival 1/2 marathon right now.

Continue reading "It Was Hot!"

Collapse It Was Hot!

Update From Qatar

Here is another update from Jeremy (Our soldier in Qatar. It sounds like he is having a good time. I found it especially interesting how funding is allocated at the end of the year and the rules for land ownership in Qatar. Jeremy's full letter is after the jump...

Hello All!
Well I am sorry it has been awhile since my last update, but truth be told I haven't written because life is kind of dull around here. I get up around 0500 almost every morning, I workout until almost 0800 then I am at work around 0900 and then usually call it a day around 8 or 9 at night.

During the day at work I am busy working on reports, building databases and trying to find ways to improve the program here. Then just when I am ready to leave around 6 at night is when alot of the soldiers start to come in and hang around in our building so I am usually walking around finding out if there are ways I can help soldiers or ideas on how to improve the program. The days all kind of run together around here, it is kind of hard to remember what day it is. Sundays we have a nice church service at the chapel, and that's about the only difference that I see in my week. I technically have Monday's off, but that usually just means I come to work in civilian clothes instead of a uniform and I take off a little early to go get a hair cut. I picked taking Monday's off because I try to use it as a day to recover after staying up all night trying to watch NFL football, but I have reports that are due first thing every Monday morning, so I am usually not too successful at catching up on sleep.

I have had a couple of interesting days here. I have gone to two different Iftars. Right now Muslims are in the holy month of Ramadan and they fast the entire day. Then at night once you can no longer see a white thread they sound a loud horn all around the city and people have an Iftar which is the breaking of the fast. We work with two different companies that operate our off-post trips they are called QIT and QIA, and actually the two managers are cousins. So the first Iftar we went to was at the QIA manager's house and the QIT manager and his wife joined us there. It was wonderful food and it was a fun evening of visiting with the two families and learning more about their culture and religion. The men were not very religious and the wives were fairly devout, but they were also very progressive in their thinking about how women should be viewed in the Muslim culture. It was all quite interesting and fun to experience. The second Iftar we went to was to the manager of QIT and meet the rest of his family. He has VERY ambitious children. As his son enrolled in college in Jordan at the age of 16 and will be a fully licensed commercial pilot just after he turns 18. His daughter is a straight A student who hopes to attend Harvard Law school and is enrolled in sports year round and always enjoys a game of rugby!

Today we had five congress people come to our building. You would have thought the President was coming the way everyone was over-reacting. In the end it was all very anti-climatic. the congress people were here, they got a 15 min. briefing, they walked through our building in about 5-10 min. and they were out the door.

We had our much anticipated bowling alley open up a week or two ago. It has been in the construction phase for a little over a year because they had to keep waiting for parts to get through customs. but it is finally up and running and actually it is very nice!

I am looking forward to the next few weeks as I am expecting boatloads of new equipment and games to start arriving. I was told at about 6 PM one night that I had until 0900 the next morning to buy pretty much whatever I wanted for the R&R program. I ended up staying up until about 1 am that night buying all sorts of stuff for the program. Then a couple of nights later I got a frantic call on my cell phone that said I had to run down to the resource management office because they were having a end of the fiscal year spending spree, but it could only be for furniture. So luckily I happened to be right next door to the RM office, I walked in and the lady set a sheet of paper in front of me and said "write down any type of furniture you want for R&R" so I went ahead and went on another spending spree. A couple of minutes later I had other section heads coming in the door with cookies and treats, but since I am with R&R we always take precedence so we got first dibs on the left over money for the fiscal year. I don't feel bad about buying all this stuff because I know it's not for me and it really wasn't anything too excessive, it's all for the R&R soldiers and anything that I can do to make their few days here more relaxing and fun is just a small token of the appreciation we have for the hard work they are doing up north.

I have actually risked driving into downtown Doha a couple of times now and it actually isn't that bad. They have roundabouts EVERYWHERE but once you know the science behind a roundabout it is pretty easy to navigate through them. Doha itself is "reinventing" itself. They are tearing down many, many buildings and they have alot of skyscrapers that are currently being built. Doha is not only the geographical center of the middle east, it is now considered the "religious" center on all matters related to Muslims. It is quite a progressive city and some people say that it will overtake Dubai as the city to visit in the middle east by 2015. Of course the Qataris have VERY strict rules. The population itself is about 1/5 Qatari and only Qataris can own land. This means that 4/5 of the population lives on rented land - including the land that Camp As Sayliyah is located on - and by law the owner can reclaim the land whenever they want and the renter is out of luck. In fact the US Embassy here is in the same scenario and it is the only US Embassy in the world that is on rented and not owned land. They have made one small exception, they are building a massive island in the Persian Gulf and building a planned community there called "The Pearl" (Qatar is famous for it's pearls). Non-Qataris can purchase a 900 sq foot condo for right around 1 million Qatar Riyals (about $350,000).

Well, I guess that is about all for now. If you have any specific questions feel free to e-mail me. I hope everyone is doing well back home and that you are all still faithfully cheering on the Viking even though they are absolutely horrible and have managed to sign three quarterbacks that are all quite bad.

Jeremy

Continue reading "Update From Qatar"

Collapse Update From Qatar

A Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court

I love to read to my kids. It's one of my favorite things to do with them. Recently we finished reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. Having never read this classic before I expected it to be a little bit more 'kid oriented' than it was. There were many times when my 7 and 9 year-olds struggled to make it through the book.

Yankee had so many facets to it that it is hard to pin down. At times it is laugh out loud funny, or highly ironic and other times the humor is quite dark. At still other times it is down right preachy, especially against Medieval Monarchy and the Catholic church. (be sure to be aware of this, I had to overcome some of Twain's biases against the Catholic Church) Sometimes it goes into great detail about topics that 7 and 9 year olds really would not care less about, There was a whole chapter of our Hero explaining about inflation and the value of money. Several times I had to get out the dictionary myself because I could not explain what the author was saying to my children without it.

Kids will surprise you though. Alexis, my 7 year-old, had about had it with Yankee, and although I wanted to push through the book, I am convinced that reading needs to be something they want to do (especially during this love-of-learning stage of their education - See my post on TJEd for more on that). So I asked her if she wanted to finish the book, or to move on to our next one. I expected her to say "Let's read a different book, dad" and I was fully prepared to do it. However, she instead declared her intent to stick it out and we sat down to read the next chapter which was very engrossing and humorous to her and her brother, I knew we would be able to finish it after that.

I am very glad we did finish it and I know my kids are too. We really enjoyed watching 'The Boss' (i.e. The Yankee) and King Author roam about the country incognito and how the King reacts to being sold into slavery, and their amazing and improbable rescue. The ending has absolutely stunning climax pitting 6th century England against the marvels of the The Boss' nineteenth century inventions. that I would have never guessed and my son loved it.

As we read the book, it was interesting to see how easy a time The Boss had in the 6th Century and I made it a point several times to ask the children why they thought that was. The answer comes dripping out of the pages: the Boss can THINK, no one else there can. This type of sentiment about the people of 6th century England was a constant theme, like this quote in which The Boss refers to the Knights of the Round Table:

There did not seem to be brains enough in the entire nursery, so to speak, to bait a fish-hook with; but you didn't seem to mind that, after a little, because you soon saw that brains were not needed in a society like that, and indeed would have marred it, hindered it, spoiled its symmetry -- perhaps rendered its existence impossible.

I would highly recommend this book for those 9 and up (although you might be safer at 11) who are studying history, government or sociology or just want a good read. There is a wealth of commentary in Yankee on each subject and it would be a fun way to explore ideas about each and about human nature itself.

Get The Book Now

Continue reading "A Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court"

Collapse A Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court

Mom's Day in 3 minutes

This is just great:


H/T un-Muted Mumblings

Continue reading "Mom's Day in 3 minutes"

Collapse Mom's Day in 3 minutes

More on Plan B in Connecticut

I may have been a bit harsh in my rhetoric regarding the Connecticut Bishops decision to allow Plan B pills to be given to Rape victims. As I have looked into the issue a bit more the facts of the case become a bit greyer.

There are, in fact two separate issues going on here. 1) Is plan B an abortifacient? and 2) Is it permissible to use a contraceptive outside of the context of marriage?

Tackling question two first; I would venture to guess that most faithful catholics would answer in the negative, however this may not be the case. Jimmy Akin has put forward an argument (not one he necessarily subscribes to) that Humanae Vite (that is the papal encyclical that condemned contraception) does not address the use of contraception outside of marriage, and thus the issue is still up for some debate:

Of course, intercourse outside of marriage always involves grave sin to begin with, and it seems reasonable to conclude that if contraception in marriage is an evil, contraception outside of marriage only compounds the evil of non-marital sex. One day the pope or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith may clarify that this is indeed the case.

But this goes beyond what can be shown from the language of HV [Humanae Vitae]. The way HV is phrased in the original Latin (and in the literal translation of the passage given in the Catechism), all you can say with certainty is that Paul VI condemned all use of contraception within marriage.

Given this argument I am not prepared to deny contraception to rape victims until and unless the Church comes down with a statement on the issue.

Which leads us to the first question, Is Plan B an abortifacient? Unfortunately there is ambiguity on this question. Here is what the Manufacturer of the product says:

Plan B® is believed to act as an emergency contraceptive principally by preventing ovulation or fertilization This would be OK if contraceptives outside of marriage is OK (by altering tubal transport of sperm and/or ova). In addition, it may inhibit implantation i.e. kills the fetus by preventing implantation (by altering the endometrium). It is not effective once the process of implantation has begun. [emphasis added and comments in red]

in other words, we're not really sure what this stuff does, or we really do know what it does, and aren't going to tell you. Neither case is good. So the bishops of Connecticut have stated that it's OK to administer Plan B without an ovulation test because we don't know what it does.

The argument that we can actively do something that may kill someone as long as we really don't know that it will is specious at best. You can't fire your gun in random directions and then claim that it's OK as long as you have your eyes closed. We must err on the side of life, and this is not what the Shepherds of the Connecticut faithful are doing. So while their argument that "Catholic moral teaching is adamantly opposed to abortion, but not to emergency contraception for victims of rape." may be true, it does not address the the issue of life and it fails to take that life seriously.

Continue reading "More on Plan B in Connecticut"

Collapse More on Plan B in Connecticut