February 2006

Odds & Ends

by La Shawn on 02.28.06

in Me, Me, Me

magazineUpdate (3/1): There’s a new Christian ezine on the web. Visit and read Christian Women Online!
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It’s funny, in a way, that I have less time to blog now that I’m working from home than when I was working eight hours, five days a week at the day job. :?

I’m laboring under a couple of deadlines, so I won’t do much blogging today. Tomorrow…we’ll see.

As an aside, my new friend from the endangered species is a fan of Harry Potter. One more thing in common. I love discussing Book 7 theories. (Only die-hard HP fans will understand.) :)

If you’re bored with the posts at LBC, visit Fantasy Fiction for Christians and The Language Artist. If you’re bored with those, peruse my very long blogroll.

Consider this post “open” to anything you want to discuss (within reason). Announcements? Breaking news? A new blog? New job? New toy? An outstanding post?

Prince George’s County: Grade F

by La Shawn on 02.27.06

in Education

FailureThe following is a letter to the editor from Sunday’s Washington Post:

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An F for Effort
Prince George’s County is a symbol of black success, so why are its children failing?

Six years ago I taught in the Prince George’s County public school system. I lasted about six weeks, then quit rather than be a well-paid babysitter. The problem: a lack of serious students and school officials who feared parents.

When I entered the Prince George’s system, I was a 25-year veteran of the New York City schools. I also had taught for five years in the District and had spent three years as a teacher and an administrator in Virginia’s Isle of Wight County Public School District. I was a product of the New York City public schools, Howard University, Harvard University and Nova Southeastern University. I knew why excellent students succeeded: They studied.

Unfortunately, too many children in my Prince George’s classes did not study. They were allowed to complain their way out of working hard, and the system lacked the courage to tell parents that their children were lazy and that is why they weren’t succeeding. We expect student athletes to practice every day as a means to excellence, but that same expectation of practice and commitment to academics was lacking in Prince George’s.

Prince George’s is a wealthy county with beautiful homes. Its hard-working citizens are mainly high achievers, and its politicians are astute and powerful. Yet the county has the second-worst school test scores in Maryland. Why is no one asking why the children are not working as hard as their parents did to succeed?

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‘Ex-gay’ Billboard Defaced

by La Shawn on 02.25.06

in Faith

(Originally posted on Friday morning)

Randy Thomas, a former homosexual washed clean by the blood of Christ (!), reports that one of Exodus International’s billboards was defaced in St. Louis, Missouri. Randy is headed that way to attend a conference on Sunday called, Love Won Out.

Pray for Randy and others attending the conference, especially those still in the lifestyle and seeking answers. “Ex-gay” folks are getting lots of threats.

Related posts:

Addendum: Read Randy’s testimony.

studentUpdate (2:00 p.m.): Visit these homeschool bloggers (and check out their sidebars for more blogs and resources):

Spunky Homeschool
Spunky Jr. (homeschooled kid)
Victoria Carrington
Jones Blog
Biblical Womanhood
HomeSchoolBlogger directory
Agent Tim (Adorable homeschooled kid – I had no idea he was a teenager until he told me. Hadn’t seen the pic.)
The Rebelution (homeschooled twins)
The Homeschooling Revolution
Homeschooling Helper
Why Homeschool
Dr. Helen (I don’t know if Instapundit’s wife is a homeschooler, but she linked to the gifted story, and some of the comments are must-reads.)
Homeschool FAQ (Answers “Why? and “How?,” and includes links to various homeschool methods.)
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Because too few black students are enrolling in magnet school programs for the gifted, “educators” in Montgomery County, Maryland, decided to experiment “with new ways to reach out to students who might have special abilities but may not have been recognized through traditional screening methods.” (Source)

In other words, they’ve decided to dumb down the programs for diversity, which almost always means “black.”

These stories are a dime a dozen, aren’t they? I long to read one where students of all colors are held to the same standards, and black students are pushed to compete at top levels instead of “educators” redefining top levels and dragging down standards for everybody. Who does this actually help?

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Haters

February 23, 2006

Hackers are attacking Michelle Malkin’s servers (site was down for most of the morning) — probably because she posted a lot of Danish-Muhammad cartoons on her site in defiance of haters and their goal to shut down dissent by any means necessary. Defy on, Michelle! (She’s sicced the FBI on the idiots.) Until her site [...]

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Believe!

February 23, 2006

Is it naïve to think that if you believe in yourself great things can happen? Well, I guess I’m naïve. No matter where you are or what you’re going through, you have the power to change your condition. When I was drinking like a fish, I never once blamed anyone. Like everyone else, I had [...]

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WORK!

February 22, 2006

Update II (2/23): Follow the link to BELIEVE! Read Scott Ott’s parody. ——————————————————————————————————————————- Stop the presses! Someone finally said what needed to be said…publicly. During some government meeting in Houston, three New Orleans council members (guests?) said to “evacuees” what was on so many people’s minds: Get off your duffs and work. New Orleans doesn’t [...]

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Blog for Books!

February 22, 2006

Blogger and promoter Stacy Harp is looking for bloggers to review books. Visit the reviewer page and watch her promotional video. Although her niche is Christian books, Stacy needs reviewers for a soon-to-be-released book, I’ve Always Been a Yankees Fan: Hillary Clinton in Her Own Words. You may be wondering, “What’s in it for me?” [...]

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Secure Our Borders Campaign

February 21, 2006

I reviewed a blood pressure-raising book for Townhall.com called Whatever It Takes: Illegal Immigration, Border Security, And the War on Terror. Congressman J.D. Hayworth, a Republican from Arizona who once voted against immigration legislation, decided to write a book that exposes the dangers we face from lax immigration enforcement. Legal, law-abiding citizens are at risk, [...]

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Law Against Holocaust Denial?

February 20, 2006

I was shocked to learn that Austria has a law against, “whoever denies, grossly plays down, approves or tries to excuse the National Socialist genocide or other National Socialist crimes against humanity in a print publication, in broadcast or other media.” (Source) They’re kidding, right? Don’t get me wrong. I understand how angry some are [...]

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Guns, ‘Morning After’ Pills, and Illegal Aliens

February 20, 2006

Wal-Mart stopped selling guns in 40 Gulf Region stores after Hurricane Katrina because too many people were exercising their right to protect themselves from looting thugs. Until last week, Wal-Mart was also not selling the “morning after” pill, probably for liability reasons. On February 14, Valentine’s Day, Wal-Mart was ordered to sell the pill because [...]

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Harold Ford: Break on through to the other side!

February 20, 2006

Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., a Democrat from Tennessee, continues to lean ever rightward. If he keeps it up, he’ll be completely disowned by folks like the Congressional Black Caucus for daring to put victim-game politics where it belongs: in the back of the bus of history. It’s a whole new world over here, my friend. [...]

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A Black Conservative’s Dilemma

February 19, 2006

Michael Lopez-Calderon: One of the many interesting discussions that emerged during last weekend’s CPAC gathering was a debate over what role should Euro-American conservatives play in critiquing the politics of race, particularly the impact not only of liberal policies on Black America but also the harmful effects of certain cultural traits that persist among American [...]

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Bryant Gumbel’s Feckless Fumble

February 18, 2006

Bryant Gumbel, once referred to as an “oreo” by certain people, said: “So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.” (Source) Having slept with white women while still married to his black wife (and [...]

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Blogging: Love or Money?

February 16, 2006

Glenn Reynolds interviewed bloggers at CPAC for his podcast. Check it out. His latest column at Tech Central Station is called Blogging: Love or Money? Why the dichotomy? I blog for both! Making money off a blog requires a lot of traffic, and no matter how much the blogosphere grows, most blogs won’t have a [...]

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