WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! * Veritas Vos Liberabit * THE FEDERALIST(r) BRIEF The Conservative e-Journal of Record Date: 13 June 2000 Federalist #00-24.brf To retrieve today's Brief as HTML printer-friendly text, link to: http://www.Federalist.com/current00-2.asp To support or sponsor The Federalist, link to: http://www.Federalist.com/support.asp ______--------********O********--------______ THIS WEEK'S FEATURE The mission of the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the number of children growing up with loving, committed and responsible fathers. NFI conducts public awareness campaigns promoting responsible fatherhood, organizes conferences and community fatherhood forums, provides resource material to organizations seeking to establish support programs for fathers, publishes a quarterly newsletter, and disseminates informational material to men seeking to become more effective fathers. Visit -- http://www.fatherhood.org/ ______--------********O********--------______ INSIGHT "We are not to attribute this prohibition of a national religious establishment [in the First Amendment] to an indifference to religion in general, and especially to Christianity (which none could hold in more reverence than the framers of the Constitution).... Any attempt to level all religions, and to make it a matter of state policy to hold all in utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation." --Joseph Story, appointed by President James Madison in 1811 as Justice to the United States Supreme Court. ______--------********O********--------______ THE GOOD NEWS "Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching." (Proverbs 1:8) ______--------********O********--------______ FAITH & FAMILY "The building of bridges requires architects who understand the laws of physics. If they substitute their own opinions of mass, weight, and gravity, their bridges will fall and people will die. Similarly, the sustaining of democracies requires citizen-governors who understand the 'laws of nature and of nature's God' that underlie human freedom. If we teach our children to substitute their own opinions about men's relationship to God and to each other, our democracy will fall and die." --Larry P. Arnn "Get ready for the fireworks. Brace yourself for the coming war. With the final results of the 73rd annual National Spelling Bee in, the din from the public education establishment will soon be deafening. This year all three top places were won by children who were home-schooled. The big winner, George Abraham Thampy, is only 12-years-old. For public school officials, this is the biggest embarrassment since...well, since the first home-schooler won, scorching the competition in 1997. Perhaps what galls the education orthodoxy is that home-schooling parents didn't need education degrees based on fads and smarmthink to prepare their kids for success. They did it the old-fashioned way: by challenging, instructing, and building on prior knowledge. Unlike the education establishment, these parents instill skills and knowledge in their children. They don't package self-esteem courses under the mantra of 'teaching kids to think' -- which is shorthand for letting kids loose to reinvent mathematics and reading, and then acting surprised when they can't beat students from Third World nations in international competition." --Matthew Robinson "The number of children taught at home has increased from a miniscule 15,000 in 1978 to 1.5 million today. Academic resources are better than ever, with Web pages offering information about good textbooks, teaching aids and supplemental materials. But mostly home schooling forges a special bond between parents and their children. It communicates to children how important they are that parents invest so much time in them. It also earns dividends for parents who are able to shape their own children's intellectual and moral development and not turn that responsibility over to an agent of the state, who, no matter how good a teacher, will always be required to teach the state's values and the state's perspective on subjects from sex to history and biology. Children educated at home are some of the friendliest, most articulate and socially comfortable people I've met. They look you in the eye. They speak in complete sentences, eschewing the verbal crutches such as 'you know' and 'she goes.' They aren't robots, but neither are they freaks. They are, I suspect, the way most parents would like their children to be: smart, kind, courteous, respectful and seeking to live a moral life." --Cal Thomas "You know the National Education Association (teachers union) and all the state affiliates are gnashing their financial teeth over the success of students not subjected to the NEA, et al., dumbing down agenda. I repeat: Get government OUT of education and everything else it has stuck its unwanted tentacles into. The 'helping hand' of government is the one that helps you into the pit of slavery and stupidity." --Jackie Juntti ______--------********O********--------______ WORTH REPEATING Home Schooling Spells Success by George Abraham Thampy (Editor's Note: We are re-printing this item from the Wall Street Journal because some of our readers have asked to know more about the home-schooling alternative to government schools.) Last week I won the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee.... One letter missed or out of place and I would have been out of the competition with no second chances. I know that well because I had lost at the two previous national spelling bees. A lot of people noticed something particular about the bee this year: I am home schooled, as were the two other finalists. A home-schooled girl won in 1997, but this is the first time home-schoolers have had a clean sweep. As a result, a lot of people have been asking questions about home schooling. So I would like to explain a little about what exactly home schooling means for me, and to tell you what I do all day. I study most everything a child would at school -- science, math, English, history, geography and social sciences. I don't study all subjects every day, but concentrate instead on two or three subjects. On most days I would also do in-depth research over the Internet on one of my favorite topics. My parents structure my time. But I study in periods of variable lengths, not exactly like class periods in school. I have six siblings, and five of them are home schooled, so some subjects, such as geography, history and current events, are taught to us as a group. My mom often asks us to finish a task on a certain subject before we get a break for lunch, or before we move on to a different subject. Most of the time, however, we are taught individually, and the instruction is tailored to our specific needs. We all use different textbooks and download material from the Internet. Science supply stores sell kits for chemistry experiments. My dad happens to be a biochemistry professor, so visits to a laboratory are often possible. We go on plenty of field trips, sometimes with other home-schoolers. I've been to farms, banks, fire stations and museums. Also, whenever my dad has to make presentations at work, I go with him and help him with the slides. Occasionally, I fix his software problems too. A lot of people can picture home schooling when it comes to study that's based on books, like English or math. But the other aspects of education are also well-covered -- such as sports, religious activities, personal hygiene, letter writing and public speaking. For sports we go to the gym and to playgrounds. I love to play softball and soccer. I enjoy bike-riding and kite-flying, as well as walking about the neighborhood. My schedule is flexible enough to accommodate specific projects. I have chosen to do household chores as well as help my younger brothers and sisters with their studies and special projects. In the evening we concentrate on outdoor activities. At night, we sit with our dad and go over math and science. Occasionally he brings home some interesting articles on health-related problems and we have a family discussion. One such article was on rabies and its dissemination in certain regions of the country by bats and skunks. Another time we read about food poisoning in the Northwest and how it spread from one source to the entire community. Since most kids who go to school make friends there, people might wonder about the social lives of home-schooled kids. It's not that complicated, really. I have friends at the church youth group -- we belong to the Evangelical Free Church. Also, I have befriended numerous former competitors in the National Geography Bee and the National Spelling Bee, with whom I keep in touch via e-mail. In any case, just because I don't go to a big classroom full of other children my age doesn't mean I'm lonely. I have brothers and sisters and other home schooled friends, not to mention Boy Scout friends, and friends around the neighborhood and church. I have no trouble relating to kids who go to conventional schools. They don't think I'm strange because I'm home schooled, especially since we study the same subjects, only in a different way. Besides, even they usually seem to know other kids who are home-schooled. Home schooling is not so hard to understand. My mom and dad are my teachers, and most of the time my mom is home while my dad is at work. Financially, however, it is rather expensive for my parents to get all the latest and best materials, to update computers and software every six to 12 months, and to keep ahead in this race. It costs them about $7,500 a year for books, supplies and computer needs, as well as another $1,000 for field trips and other outings. But it's not just a question of money. Home schooling all of us takes a lot of time, effort and commitment on their part. As a consequence, my dad and mom do not have much time for themselves. I see them often working late at night in order to keep up with their own work. My mom has not gone to bed before 2 a.m. in a long time. ______--------********O********--------______ POLITICAL FUTURES "Liberalism pretends to speak in the name of the poor and disenfranchised, but a look at the left's membership roster gives the lie to this notion: government bureaucrats, university professors, the media, pop culture celebrities, the arts community, social services professionals and so forth. Hardly the demographics of food stamps recipients." --W. James Antle III ______--------********O********--------______ FOR THE RECORD "More than 90 percent of all uses of guns in self-defense do not involve actually firing the weapon, despite gun control advocates' assumption that we are all such trigger-happy idiots that letting ordinary citizens have guns will lead to bullets flying hither and yon. Like virtually every other liberal crusade, gun control is based on the assumption that other people lack common sense and must be controlled by the superior wisdom and virtue of the anointed." --Thomas Sowell ______--------********O********--------______ POLICY PAGES & POINTS OF INTEREST (NOTE: For our subscribers with WWW access, if the URL line breaks, please select, copy and paste the entire link address into your browser's target address field.) Do Smaller Classes Boost Academic Achievement? HERITAGE http://www.heritage.org/library/cda/cda00-07.html The Facts About "Just the Facts" Homosexual Promotion in Government Schools http://www.frc.org/insight/is99l1hs.html Time to Eliminate the Costly Death Tax HERITAGE http://www.heritage.org/library/execmemo/em679.html ______--------********O********--------______ THE LAST WORD Recognizing dogged perseverance in the mad pursuit of pork, Citizens Against Government Waste has awarded its "Oinkers" of 2000. - The Tracks of My Tears Award to Rep. Jack Kingston, Georgia Republican, for $100,000 for Vidalia onion research. - The Piracy of the Potomac Award to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, for procuring a $375 million amphibious assault ship for his district the Navy doesn't want. - The Bridge Over Troubled Fiscal Waters Award to Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, South Carolina Democrat, for $1 million for the Limehouse Bridge, which is used by patrons of golf resorts on Kiawah and Seabrook Islands. - The Who Wants to Be a Billionaire Award to Sen. Ted Stevens, Alaska Republican, for using the other 49 states as his "porkline" while securing more that $1 billion in earmarks since 1991. - The Jurassic Pork Award to Rep. Julian Dixon, California Democrat, for adding $1 million for a dinosaur exhibit at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History. - The Smell Test Award to Sen. Kit Bond, Missouri Republican, and Rep. Stephen Buyer, Indiana Republican, for $1.75 million for animal waste research at the University of Missouri and Purdue. ______--------********O********--------______ TWO CENTS This Week's "Two Cents" issue: "Rosie O'Donnell bestseller titles" Village celeb Rosie O'Donnell, has made it her life's ambition to serve as a Clintonista mouthpiece. To wit: "I don't care if you want to hunt, I don't care if you think it's your right. I say 'sorry'. It is 1999, we have had enough as a nation. You are not allowed to own a gun and if you do own a gun, I think you should go to prison." To that end, a reader suggested the topic: "Rosie O'Donnell bestseller titles" such as "An Empty Mind Is An Open Mind," "From Behind My Armed Bodyguard: Musings On Gun Control," "I Meant YOU Shouldn't Have A Gun," "With A Mouth This Big, Both Feet'll Fit," "Betwixt And Between My Ears: Or, You Can See Forever," "It's Funnier When You Ignore the Facts," "A Cow Ruminates" and "A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Have." This Week's "Two Cents" Question: What other "Rosie O'Donnell bestseller titles" would attract her ilk to bookstores? Add your "Two Cents" response to this issue at -- http://www.federalist.com/twocents.asp Suggest a future "Two Cents" topic or question at -- http://www.federalist.com/suggesttopic.asp This Week's Clintoons: http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/garner.htm http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/welcome.asp (T- 220 days until eviction and delousing!) -- PUBLIUS -- *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! ****************************************************************************** ******************* A vote for Bush or Gore is a vote to continue Clinton policies! A vote for Buchanan is a vote to continue America! 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