3 Ring Binder

An MSNBC poll asks, Is it OK for home-school textbooks to dismiss the theory of evolution? Is it asking: Is it OK to not teach homeschool children about evolution?   Is there an even more fundamental implication than the right to homeschool within this question?   While I wince at the thought of the generations of children being indoctrinated in this Christian version of “science,” given the religious philosophy in which these children are being raised, isn't it highly doubtful that they would properly value the importance of evolution even without the existence of these textbooks or being homeschooled for that matter? I'm not certain, but I don't think a case could be made that anyone's rights are being violated by this educational gap.  What I do know is that rights would be violated if the government intervenes determining that the publishing, sale, and purchasing of Christian books is not okay (i.e. is illegal). This ...

As a homeschooling parent, I could be referring to reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic, but I’m not – only one of those actually begins with an “R”. I am instead referring to the three types of cardiovascular activity I prefer: running, rolling, and riding. Sure, interesting aerobic classes like cardio kick-boxing and boot camp style can really be quite fun but require me to be in a room with other sweaty people and pay a membership fee for the privilege OR to squirrel myself away in the bowels of my house and growl if anyone approaches my lair as I need extreme concentration to follow the dyslexic chicky-do moves on the video. (Have you ever wondered why all The FIRM video aerobic instructors have southern accents? I’m convinced it’s to add to my confusion about the moves – “ What did she say?”) So, while the weather holds out, I will continue to keep up some level of outdoor aerobic activity. Typically when I run, like today, I run 3 miles. When I rollerblade, as I did on Wednesday, I...

I have been pointed to this video (below in three parts) enough times that I thought I'd post it here. The fellas follow an all too familiar case in which some God-fearing townsfolk demand creationism be taught along side of evolution. Warning: there are some cuss words, but remarkably few given the outrageous drive to kill science and fertilize religion in the minds of the young government school students . What I find the most curious is that under the guise of teaching science, where evolution is just a "theory", the creationists claim that both evolution and creationism be taught and then let the children decide which is a better fit in their lives. What a good idea! Why didn't those pedagogues think of that earlier: Johnny, here is a book. There are many words in here that must be learned through a consistent systematic approach starting with the letters of the alphabet, the sounds those letters make, alone and when blended with other letters before those word...

I'm not posting this to froth anyone up - god knows, we atheists need no frothing, but rather to present the hero curator, Kirk Johnson . Johnson, who grew up with a similar religious background to the children in the video, was able to make empirical observations on his own and come to devote his life to science. He further alludes to the fact that the despite the tour guides being wrong about the science, presenting a diametrically opposed opinion is a pretty American thing to do. Secure with his background and knowledge, he is one cool customer. There is a particularly disturbing bit within the first 2 minutes (1 min 45 sec) where one of the tour guides sees that a young girl cannot follow his leading logic regarding the likelihood of a dinosaur praying and fasting for Eve to fall from grace so that he can eat meat (did you follow that?), he says, “Everybody say it with me now”, nodding his head up and down, “No.” If that don’t beat all hell.