the stench of a giant carbon footprint

I often run with my jogging stroller, and I like to run to the store or the park, but I am self conscious about this practice because I smell sweaty when I arrive. I look around at the other Moms, usually wearing matching clothes and fun looking shoes, and I feel conspicuous.

I like to think of myself as morally superior because I am exercising, however I am about 20lbs overweight so the sweatiness would be the only clue that I am physically fit. My own smugness is only so effective.

To get my courage up to, I say to myself that I have a sweaty smell, but those who drive cars have the stench of a giant carbon footprint. And if we all had to drag around a record of our environmental impact, more people would be inclined to bike, run, take the bus, recycle, etc. Perhaps instead of me feeling silly for wearing sweaty spandex at the park, nicely dressed, recently showered people would make excuses like "oh yeah, well I am feeling sick to day, and I had to drive the carpool, hence the gasoline guzzling car."

If this model could be expanded, perhaps we could acknowledge our actions in other areas of our lives. Perhaps clothing made in countries with fair labor practices (like Laos) could become a huge fashion trend and have a special label. People who wore anything else might be publicly shamed by their non-progressive shopping choices.

I am not sure exactly how to bring about a fashion revolution, but this sort of thing has been done before. Public pressure against the cruelty of the fur industry has pretty much shut it down. People who wear fur have to make an excuse for their choices. Perhaps it is ironic that our culture is so anti-fur while we eat chicken nuggets and sit on leather couches, but it is a step in the right direction.

When the consuming public has a compelling reason to be environmentally conscious, real change can take place, and it could take place quickly.

fall is great!!

I love the fall because....
Football
I love college football, I could watch it all day.
Running
My kids are back in school, so I can run during the day. Also, it is cooler so I need less water to run long distances. I can get some major miles in. This year I am desperately trying to 'build my base' or get in lots of miles so I can do marathons in the spring.
Canning
Canning is pretty fun, and jam makes great gifts.
Fewer Mosquitoes
I hate mosquitoes because they bite me and bite my kids so they do not like to play outside. In the fall they decrease, and we can play outside a lot more.
Leaves
I like raking and playing with my kids in giant piles of leaves.
Halloween
I love costumes, and dressing up. Halloween is my favorite holiday by a long shot. Also, no presents or cards are expected. Mandatory presents ruin the fun of other holidays.

So I love the fall! Yeah!

Parents' rights ammendment

I have a friend who really believes that the Parents' Rights Amendment is an important thing. She has a T-shirt and everything. So I decided to check it out.

The United Nations is trying to get the United states to pass the Convention of the Rights of the Child, which is widely available online, and is basically a child's Bill of Rights. It includes things like the right to a good education, access to information, and a right to recreation. I really like the idea of a right to play.
The Parents' Rights amendment is a group that wants a new amendment added to our constitution. This amendment would guarantee the right of parents to control and direct their children, and would specifically prohibit the United states from making any treaties that would interfere with Parents' rights.
Because of the structure of United States Law, if the United states were to approve this convention, then we would have to abide by it as well. The Parents' Rights group believes that this would be a bad thing.

I read through Parentalrights.org, the site for this group and I was very disappointed. The site mentions several cases o Parental rights being taken away, but further investigation reveals that these examples are all exaggerations or outright lies. If this is a major issue, than they shoudl choose better examples for their website.

This Amendment has no chance of passing, or even being put out for a vote. It is redundant and supercillious. The 'threats' to parental rights seem to involve medical records, sex education, removing children from their parents because of religious differences, and of course homeschooling.

Why is someone putting together this mass campaign for a lost cause? Why pretend that parenting is under attack with exaggerated and inaccurate legal cases?

btw..there are legitimate parenting laws out there. I was hoping for a discussion of Pennsylvania vs. Yoder which established the precedent for allowing Amish families to remove their children form school at 14 . There is also the California law that allows 13yr old children to get birth control servcices including abortions without their parents' knowledge.

This movement is not about actually passing an amendment or opposing a UN treaty. It is meant to scare people so they will become more politically active. This is a cheap right wing trick to stir people up and make them angry so they will show up at a TEA rally. It is shameless political pandering and it is disgusting. I am not that smart, and I saw right through it.

Is this just a Left-Right Issue? a democrat/republican deal? Oh no, plenty of people on the right "fringe" oppose it as well. Including Home Ed Magazine.

We are on the same side of this issue, and probably not any other, as Home Ed Magazine is sort of crazy, as is evidenced by this "parenting tip" from their website;
under the heading "avoid preschool, mental health and other screenings whenever possible"
we find this gem of paranoia;
"Testers, school staff, public schools, schools of education, social workers, testing companies, drug companies, family and juvenile court systems, psychologists and psychiatrists, police, and prison systems benefit when children are screened, labeled, and then treated for an alleged disability, often with drugs such as Ritalin. "

That's right people. Bring your kids in for a hearing check, and the Prison officials will give them Ritalin.
And we wonder why the children of homeschooling parents have trouble blending into society.

Blooming Butterflies

we recently visited Olbrich Garden's

Blooming Butterflies exhibit. They let a bunch of butterflies loose inside the Bolz conservatory. There are butterfly identification cards, that show each of the species. Caleb was able to identify this lovely tigerwing butterfly. He was very excited to match the butterfly with the picture. Hee told everyone around us the name of the butterfly.
Everyone enjoyed the butterflies. We will come back next year!

hannah szene

I listen to the stuff you missed in history podcast, and I recently learned about Hannah Szene, Hungarian Jew who successfully emigrated to Palestine, then volunteered to parachute back into Hungary just days before the Nazis invaded and began their brutal systematic murder.

I had always thought of stories like this as a double tragedy, the needless murder of the Innocent people and the needless death of those trying in vain to rescue them. Because of this poem, I think that I better understand how a person could do such a thing. I love this poem and it is my next memorization project.

Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.

Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.

Blessed is the heart with strength to stop its beating for honor's sake.

Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.

I don't eat crow- I'm a vegetarian

I am long loathed the idea that 'danger is everywhere! Everything is bad for you and will kill you give you cancer/diabetes/alzheimers/arthritis/badbreath and is probably the only cause of said disease therefore we ought to ban it to make the world a safer place and only eat special food grown by happy elves and sold at Whole foods for 10X the normal price...........Oh what do you say? all can not afford that? poor people all over the world are hungry? Americans are greedy to begin with? carbon foot-what? Never mind all that the marginal health benefits and made-up nutritional advantages are worth all that.
...Because deep down you know that you are actually better than people who have less money....

Along with this mindset is the infamous" food dye debate". Some claim that the food dyes can cause behavioral and allergy reactions in children and adults. Allergies are not nearly as widespread as is widely believed. 5% of the population has an allergy, 20% believe that they have an allergy. I am in the 20%, perhaps the 5%, as I am allergic to something in Dark colored gatorade and store-bought cupcake frosting. I suspect a preservative not listed on the label, or perhaps it is dependant on quantity, and I allergic to some dark purple dye.

SO I am off to whole foods where I will sefl righteously buy natural food coloring. and I will sneer y at the cars full of little people parked at the Nearby Copps.

Sorry for not believeing all of you people. You may still be crazy, just not about this.

denialism and the Gospel

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627606.100-living-in-denial-why-sensible-people-reject-the-truth.html?full=true#bx276061B1

so, what can I do about this??? how can I act? By denouncing false beliefs, and proclaiming the truth.
I wonder how this sort of thing relates to the gospel. I believe that all knowledge comes from Christ, that truth does not deny Christ but testifies that he lives. Truth adds to the gospel, and that God is pleased when we learn and grow and discover things.
I believe that part of our eternal progression is to learn how to learn, to achieve and study and expand our thinking. We cannot be saved in our ignorance as to spiritual or temporal matters. Though we do not all need to get PHd's to live good lives, we ought to be engaged in good causes and learning and study. The issue is to learn how to discipline our minds and enjoy learning.

The antithesis to livelong learning is willful ignorance, Cherry picking information to support a self-serving and self congratulating belief system that consists of false beliefs and has at its center a jealous prideful rage against anything that contradicts. This is where I see the creationist movement. It is false, and it cherry picks information. It is not scientific. When presented with new contradictory information, it does not change. That is why I believe that any such belief is of the devil. If we believe information that is not true, and think that it is part of the gospel, we are wrong, and any testimony we lend to such beliefs is misplaced. We are worshipping a false god of our own making.

I just need to be able to say this is a nice way so I don' get kicked out of playgroup everytime vaccinations are discussed. Here is an excerpt from a potential future conversation;

random Mom" I read on Facebook that autism and the MMR vaccine are linked. So we are opting out. its our right."
ME "actually the anti-vaccination movement is of the devil. You are worshipping a false god, a coddling beguiling self serving false god that will lead you to hell with a flaxen cord of anti-science propaganda. The Old Testament has a lot to say about people like you....Whoring after other gods..... pretty much just like Jezebel; you might as well perform some fertility rites in that grove of trees over there. You better repent quickly."

I guess my approach need some work.