Consider the Humble Blog

Consider the humble blog. In itself, it is nothing (Witness the fact that Adam asked a group of us to step in while he left town, recognizing only too well how blank a canvas is without a painter to add life to empty space).

But add an idea, or two, or three and suddenly the blog takes life. Sometimes it lives for a specific purpose (Pro-Life Blogs comes to mind) and sometimes it seems to live for no purpose (gotta point homeward on that one – I’ve seen random and I’ve seen random, but I’ve seen no one quite so random as the Yaks). And that’s the beauty of blogs.

Blogs are simultaneously long-form, short-form, no-form and any form in between. They’re the only media that has this characteristic, and (despite attempts by the MSM and others to discredit or prevent it) they’re growing in size and influence.

No surprises there. If you’re here, you understand blogs or else you happened here by accident of Google search and you’re wondering what on earth you’ve bungled into. If you’re the latter, stick around and find out.

Tonight I sat down at the keys to thank the LORD for His blessings in my life. In doing so, I realized two things: First, the blog shares His blessings with literally hundreds of people I will probably never know. And second, (courtesy of my friend and blogging partner the Random Maniyak) only in the blogosphere could you simultaneously praise God, consider the ways women recognize a man’s testosterone level in a photograph and discuss feline mental disorders without anyone blinking an eye or saying boo.

Adam’s gone and we’ve run rampant over his category list. In the past 48 hours, this blog alone has gone from God to public education, from politics to abortion, from root canals to soldiers defending our nation.

There are those in the blogosphere who wish to silence the Voices that Blog because our freedom threatens their controlling, delusional worldview. Our freedom. Our voices. The freedom and voices of people they will (probably) never see. And yet, we reach them. Around the world, through controlling regimes and firewalls intended to prevent access, the humble blog has penetrated where other forms of speech don’t dare to tread. Our voices have penetrated, and the enemy is afraid.

A hefty responsibity for a few quiet voices pointing toward truth. But just as the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (James 5.16), so can the honesty of a humble blog.

Larry Lader goes to meet his Maker

HT: Jivin J

A key player in the drive to make abortion ubiquitous has bitten the dust. Lawrence Lader died Sunday at 86. Jivin J quotes Bernard Nathanson, who once worked hand-in-glove with Lader:

Larry brought out his favourite whipping-boy.
“…and the other thing we’ve got to do is bring the Catholic hierarchy out where we can fight them. That’s the real enemy. The biggest single obstacle to peace and decency throughout all of history.”

….

“Well, Larry, what do you think? Is the Catholic hierarchy identical with the anti-abortion forces? Aren’t there any others opposed to abortion?” As I nosed the car into the Lincoln Tunnel traffic, he set the intellectual tone for the next eight years with a single word.

“No.”

Some day, when we come to our senses, Lader will take his place in history alongside Pol Pot, Stalin, and other engineers of mass murder. I wish I could bring myself to pray for his immortal soul.

Like sport to a fool.*

A group of California high school students and their parents recently sued the state, claiming the new mandatory high school exit exam (which students are required to pass in order to graduate from high school in California) unlawfully discriminates against the poor.

Reports state that approximately 11% of California seniors have yet to pass the test – which doesn’t sound all that bad, especially considering that data from previous years suggests that on average 13% of California seniors fail to graduate.

But that’s not the real problem. And the problem isn’t the state requiring ESL or other special-needs students to perform beyond their capacities (certain classes of special needs students are exempt from the test until 2007, by which time the state will have created a special test for students with special needs) and it’s not the difficulty of the proposed exam (the article doesn’t even mention the content or nature of the test).

The problem is that these students don’t want to take the exam because they claim it’s “not fair” to expect all students to take the same proficiency test when they don’t all have the same level of access to education. As a result, they’re fighting to overturn the test itself.

Anyone else catch the problem? Here’s a hint: it involves babies and bathwater.

The state created to the test in order to make sure the people who want a diploma (generally defined as “the piece of paper indicating you achieved the equivalent of a high school education”) is actually granted to students who … achieve the equivalent of a high school education. In the Real World, this makes perfect sense. The diploma is a sign to potential employers, colleges and others that the holder has achieved a certain level of proficiency.

If you can’t read and do basic math, you don’t deserve a diploma.

Are there bad teachers in the public schools? Yes. Are there bad schools? Yes. Are all schools equal in quality, resources and staff? No – but they never have been, and yet somehow generations of children have learned how to read, write and add well enough to earn their diplomas. The system is failing, and needs an overhaul. But make no mistake – this lawsuit isn’t about quality of education.

This lawsuit is about entitlement.

These students aren’t asking for additional classes or special help to pass the exam. They’re not asking for extra resources or for the state to grant them more time to study in a higher quality environment. They’re asking a court to block the test altogether and grant them their diplomas anyway.

Why? Because they’ve done their twelve years in the system and now they want the paper that “says” they’ve achieved something – without having to work for it. They want evidence that they’re entitled to pursue a better job or higher education without having to prove that they’ve earned the right to either.

News flash – The exit exam became necessary precisely because our high schools have been graduating seniors who did not deserve their diplomas, and something had to be done. Talking about it didn’t help. Testing the students along the way didn’t help. “Encouraging” teachers and administrators to stop social promotion of children who couldn’t do the work didn’t help. Which left the state with no other way to separate the ones who worked and deserve their diplomas from the ones who didn’t and don’t.

Only now even that litmus test may be taken away, leaving California once more in the grip of social promotion and “feel-good” educators more dedicated to teaching children self-esteem than teaching them basic reading and math skills. The presiding judge will probably issue the injunction the students (and parents) seek, forcing the state to find a new method to evaluate who should pass and who should fail.

How much you want to bet they block the next one too?

A question for the parents: can you really look your kids in the eye and tell them they deserve evidence of something they didn’t earn? That the state owes it to them because they’re poor? Where I come from, that’s called welfare – and the welfare mentality always fails.

The state can cancel the tests, hand out the diplomas and teach these kids that it feels great to get your way even when you don’t deserve to win or it can hold the line, force them to earn their diplomas and teach them that it feels even better to make something of yourself and understand that you hold that diploma because you earned it.

I know which one I’d do.

Unfortunately, I can also guess which one California’s going to choose.

And that choice is ultimately going to hurt many of the very students the court (and by extension, the state) thinks it’s helping by eliminating the test. Removal of the state-sponsored watermark which separates the qualified from the unqualified shifts the burden to employers (colleges and universities have their watermark in the AP and SAT exams, which aren’t going anywhere – for the moment) who will have to stop hiring high school graduates merely on the basis of their diplomas and institute “tests” of their own. Tests these “graduates” probably won’t be able to pass, which essentially render their “hard won” degrees – and those of all their classmates – worthless in the eyes of the real world.

These students and their parents doubtless believe they are doing a great service to themselves and the other poor, underprivileged students of the state by taking the time to bring this lawsuit and eliminate “artificial barriers” to graduation.

Heaven forbid knowledge should become a prerequisite for a diploma.

*Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool, and so is wisdom to a man of understanding. (Proverbs 10.23)

Cross-posted from The Random Yak

Illegal immigrants in colleges

National Review writes about illegal immigrants taking up valuble space in universities and colleges:

Should it be cheaper for illegal immigrants to attend U.S. colleges than for U.S. citizens? Yes, according to lawmakers in California, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Washington.

Illegal immigrants residing in these states are eligible for in-state tuition rates at state colleges and universities. These rates afford a significant cost savings compared to the tuition rates charged to out-of-state students. On average, an out-of-state student pays three times as much in tuition costs as an in-state student to attend the same school. In some states this means an out-of-state student pays as much as $40,000 more over four years.

In-state tuition for illegals is an increasingly popular concept among lawmakers. At least 20 additional states are considering legislation that would grant in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants. Some U.S. senators are even considering extending in-state tuition for illegals to all fifty states. They’re doing so in clear defiance of congressional intent to make such preferential treatment unlawful.

And what leads to this kind of disrepect for law? Political corruption, and greed.

It’s time to put a stop to this disrespect for law and order. To do so, we need to find good politicians whom we can support for local elections, who can then in turn do what they can to appoint honest lawmakers. Otherwise, our tax dollars are going to end up being misused for a considerable amount of lawbreaking.

Cross-posted to Tel-Chai Nation.

The Lord Giveth, and the Lord Taketh Away

My Knights of Columbus Council here in Knoxville called an interesting yet hastily arranged urgent meeting of its Corps of Officers and Trustees (of which I am a part) last night. The reason was to discuss the possible purchase of a piece of property for a new hall. Our organization has not had a hall of its own for a number of years, and initially our Grand Knight was against ever getting a hall for our Council again.

Many members have been in favor of the idea, however, and have slowly pushed for it. When the meeting was called last night, I thought “wow, miracles happen, what a sudden change of heart.” Obviously, I was and am encouraged by the prospect of getting a new Council home, but when I found out the human and spiritual cost, there is another side to the story.

The property comes to us at a bargain basement price, which is the reason the GK was willing to consider it. The reason the price is so right is because the building and its on-property hall are over a hundred years old. It needs some work so we can get it at a drastically lower cost. The catch is that the potential sellers are a Baptist congregation about to fold. The buildings are a hundred year-old church and a nearby fellowship hall.

As we understand it, there are only ten families left in this congregation, and they don’t even have the money to pay a minister anymore. Whoever they sell the building to, all of the families are saying they want out from under the church building, and they intend to find new churches. Knowing this raised some interesting thoughts in my mind: What happened to the spiritual lives of these people that this church became so stagnant? Why would a people who are supposed to be taking a spiritual journey together be so eager to part ways?

The story of these folks is really the story of many churches in America. Somehow, somewhere along the way they failed to be good stewards of the collective spiritual and physical gifts God gave them, and they lost those gifts, whether by choice or by fiat. This story is also analagous to what could happen to America if we to not preserve and protect the gifts God gave us.

We don’t know yet whether we will get the property, but we are praying for it and pushing hard.