THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume I, Issue XVII

Our Fear in Pictures

The 'other' weekly news magazine is already running 'the year in pictures,' which I suppose is what good 'popular and professional'[1.] journalists do. The problem for us amateurs is that too much is still going on for us to simply begin the post-mortem on 2009.

Healthcare 'reform' looms large in the Senate and for that reason it is imperative that we bring out our pictorial explaination of the legislation again. Here is some background on this graphic you may not be aware of. In 1939 Time magazine chose a most despicable person as their 'man of the year.' The cover of the issue depicts Adolph Hitler [y"msh] seated at a diabolical organ console that is more of a machine depiction of the Third Reich's dehumanizing functions than a musical instrument. It sort of reminded me of the President's healthcare legislation so THYME recast it as the embodiment of 'Obamacare.' It's really pretty scary.

With all of its rationing, cost cutting and 'death panels' laid out in some 2000 pages of legalese, the bill is no less than the remaking ofour medical system into a European socialist model. The problem is that the system in Europe is already broken. Emulating such a failed system is folly in the worst way. The legislation also goes out of its way to protect trial lawyers, big Democrat supporters who actually drive up the cost of care by making malpractice insurance prohibitively expensive.

The bill does nothing to address making insurance more competitive and affordable through market reforms. It relies instead on the spectre of a 'public option' and taxes and penalties to push down free market insurance and eventually pave the way for a single payer system.

Stupak Skullduggery

The legislation was pushed through the House of Representatives after a debate over whether or not the new plan would cover abortion. Here's the problem: You make the bill "acceptable" by removing abortion and vote it through. The whole thing is so anti-life that abortion is all to easy to reinstall when the thing is implimented later. You've already created a new system that makes it all to easy for a few bureaucrats to steer it in the desired direction.

Tomorrow's rally in Washington is probably your last chance to make a public stand against this foul legislative monstrosity.

What: Senate Emergency Rally
When: Tuesday, December 15th, at 1:30pm ET
Where: Upper Senate Park, on Constitution Ave. between New Jersey and Delaware Ave. NE

Mapquest Map of Upper Senate Park [click to read].
Station Masters Metro Guide [click to read].
Union Station Metro Stop [click to read].

Is Herman van Rompuy the Antichrist?

Here is an interesting Piece by Mark Steyn [click to read]. Herman van Rompuy is the little known 'President of Europe.' Mark Steyn is making the point that Fearless Leader Obama is becoming more and more banal and more like Rompuy, generally considered sort of a non-entity by design. That's why Rompuy scares me more than rock star Mubarack Hussein Obama.

The dismantling of free societies is most likely to take place in back rooms and unread legislation.

Steve Forbes on Free Markets

How Capitalism Will Save Us [click to read].

1. 'Popular and Professional' Educators

Phil Found This Report [click to read] about his old high school. The janitor apparently discovered two 'naked teachers' in an unused classroom. Watch the news report and you hear the teachers described more than once as 'popular and professional.'

When did you ever use such terms to describe your teachers in high school? Sound's like 'talking points' to me.

Of course, my next question is: "Were the naked teachers simply preparing a lesson plan from Kevin Jennings?" Jennings, of course is our 'popular and professional' "safe schools czar." He promotes explicit instruction of sexual practices so it follows that teacher planning periods might take on new dimensions.

When all is said and done though, the most instructive aspect of the 'naked teachers' is this: whether we acknowledge it or not, we expect role models to be role models. The school system is investigating the matter and has reassigned the two teachers pending their decision on any disciplinary actions. If moral relativism were true we'd be simply saying: "Cool!" I don't think we'd be putting out talking points if such behaviour was truely considered 'popular and professional.'

You Can Draw on the Tables Too...


The Depot Grill, favorite of SWAC Bloggers. They provide brown paper 'tablecloths' and crayons. Patron art is displayed near the hostess station too. One lunch I had there yielded a really nice concept for a friend's family room addition. The Depot is the perfect lunch for overcoming 'designer's block.'

Parents' Rights in Germany

Opt Out of Sex Ed and Go to Jail

German Fathers Get Jail Time [click to read] for opting their kids out of explicit sex ed programs. Does Kevin Jennings scare you yet?



He Should [click to read].

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume I, Issue VII

Dumbing Down Your Dissenters

In Amerika Rush Limbaugh has to be 'evil.' Chairman Mao is 'Good' [click to read]. Mark Steyn points out how those who wish to discredit Limbaugh have resorted to 'inventive quotations,' that is sort of like 'inventive spelling' in that you make what you THINK the man said in order to make your point that Rush is a bigoted firebrand. As Stein points out the quote attributed to Limbaugh is totally undocumented and looks like it comes fresh from the Al Sharpton Race-industry production line. In fact, if you look closer at Mr.Limbaugh's real life you find his long-time friendship and professional association with Mr. Snerdly totally debunks the 'racism' charge.What you DO find in Rush Limbaugh's resume is a long tradition of humorous analysis of the whole race issue. To parody an L.A. Times editorial on the subject he has Paul Shanklin impersonate Sharpton [complete with megaphone] mimicking an old Peter Paul and Mary song. It's hilarious. But it can also be taken out of context if one wants to 'prove' that Rush Limbaugh has no business investing in the St. Louis Rams franchise. The fact that Limbaugh is one of the NFL's strongest advocates is an 'inconvenient truth' for these people.

Amerika

In 1987 ABC [yes, ABC]!, aired a miniseries called 'Amerika.' The Sovietization of the spelling is on purpose and the show depicts the aftermath of a bloodless takeover of America by the Soviet Socialists.The show was criticized by the Left and the United Nations for obvious reasons, [in the show the UN 'administers' the defeated U.S. territories]. Conservatives complained that the show did not show the true terror of the Soviet system. Actually, in retrospect, the show is more terrifying in its sublimity. It's too close to the reality unfolding before our very eyes.

All the President's Czars

So in this light we finally address the host of presidential appointees that dwell in the shadowlands of the administration. One thinks of the admonition of the Wizard of Oz: "Pay no attentoin to that man in the corner..." but in the movie, it was the little man who made Oz move. So, one must suspect, do the Czars.Glenn Beck Provides this List of Czars [click to read]. It is from Summer and is somewhat dated but the reason I reference it is Beck's own research and analysis of the Czars, which is valuable.

Apparently, we are supposed to see the appointment of such high-profile people as Francis Collins and cluck approvingly of our President's wisdom while ignoring the little man in the corner. At least that is the media's take on it. It's embarassing when Glenn Beck actually points out the philosophies and worldviews of the army of Czars who have been quietly assembled around the President.

Your Mother Was Right About This

You can tell a lot about a person by who he [or she] associates with. The facts coming out about these appointees is disturbing for that reason. They represent our President's vision for 'Amerika.'

That is why Kevin Jennings [click to read] is disturbing. He IS the man our President wants in the corner creating policy for our children.

The Left and Right Do Not Want the Same America [click to read]. Since it is the left that contols all houses of the government we would do well to understand this. But we would do well to study their strategy for implementing their vision as well. That is why the Czars need to be under the microscope. Henceforth THYME will use the term 'Amerika' to refer to the left's vision and 'America' to refer to the one that Patriots have bled for down through history.

Take note, as in the case of Jennings, when there is an attempt to discredit America's G-d fearing heritage. This is by design in the tradition of Roger Baldwin and other socialist thinkers. 'Amerika' requires the elimination of Judeo-Christian worldview constraints. Government must emerge as the source of all blessing. Wouldn't that explain the need to promote a lifestyle message to children that promoted not only immediate gratification, but a severe departure from the values taught by G-d fearing people for centuries? Baldwin, a socialist and the founder of the ACLU stated that Judeo-Christian principles were an impediment to the transformation of America into a socialist utopia.

***

War on Small Business

If small business creates the lion's share of jobs and innovation why do some want to burden it to death. City Journal [click to read] examines this disturbing trend. Could it have something to do with the vision for 'Amerika?'

Special Bonus Pull-Out Section:


Volume I, Issue VIIA

No, She Wasn't Always Happy...

But When Momma Wasn't Happy, Things Got Taken Care of!

A while ago I was talking with one of the staff at the Frontier Culture Museum. She was researching the plight of frontier women and how many of them fought lonliness and depression... but they built a mighty nation. Prior to the 'modern' era women worked alongside men in an agricultural economy. Read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books to get a picture of this as Ma and the girls resourcefully ran the farm.



This Blog began with the story of Dr. June McCarroll [click to read], the inventor of pavement markings. She is featured on our 'second' cover here. Her story is one of overcoming opposition and skepticism... and her amazing perserverance in doing so.

Then there is the story of Ruby Beck [cick to read]. She was an African-American woman who concieved the idea of owning her own restaurant. OK, there was a problem. She was living in the mid-Twentieth Century and Massive Resistance was in full force. No banks would loan her the money but she persisted until she found lenders at Burke and herbert willing to take a risk.

She built her Boxwood House Restaurant around family recipies and her sister Lizzie Harrison joined her in the business as chef. Lizzie's cooking was famous. She cared for my Aunt Molly in her later years as a live-in caregiver. When Aunt Molly threw a family dinner it was an experience! Homemade bread! Homemade Preserves! Cornbread! You get the picture. Lizzie took these fine recipes to the Boxwood House and, with her sister, made history! In 1971 Ruby Beck won the “Virginia Small Businessman of the Year Award.” Ruby was the first woman in Virginia, the 2nd woman nationally and the first minority business owner in the South to receive the prestigious award. Pretty impressive!

Lizzie was pretty impressive in her own right. She was a lady who found joy in taking us down to the little pond to catch tadpoles. She was kind and tough -- one of the best marksmen we ever knew. Once she shot a snake out of a tree and became the family's own version of Alvin York.

We never feared for the safety of Aunt Molly and Lizzie, though they lived along busy U.S. 29. Lizzie's rifle skills were such legend that no locals would have messed with her. Our standing family joke was that out of town troublemakers would have been met by the following sound: "BLAM!!!, Who WAS that?"

Here's an Article on Mrs. Beck [click to read] from the Culpeper Star Exponent.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume I, Issue VIA, Special Edition.

Is Kevin Jennings Good for America?

In a word, no. And Glenn Beck is one of a few people willing to point this out.

Yet another controversial Obama-administration appointee, Kevin Jennings, is in the national spotlight. Much has been made about Jennings' troubling actions and statements in the past. However, parents don't need to look that far back to understand the radical policies that Jennings would like to enact today in our nation's public schools.

They need only examine his 17-year track record [click to read]. as the founder and leader of the nation's largest advocacy group devoted to promoting homosexuality to school children—GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. Under Jennings' leadership, GLSEN created a list of books that it recommends for use in public schools [click to read].

Also under Jennings' direction, GLSEN has used the "safe school" mantra to push a one-sided agenda into schools [click to read] that has no 'tolerance' for socially conservative and Christian viewpoints—and that promotes gender confusion [click to read]. GLSEN has promoted lesson plans and student activities [click to read] that also reflect this bias. In an article for the Huffington Post titled "Recruit, Recruit, Recruit" Jennings had no 'tolerance' for the activities of Young Life, a Christian organization with a strong emphasis on outreach to high school students.

Most of us would support a policy of teaching mutual respect for people with different viewpoints without an underlying message that "your viewpoint is wrong" being inferred. I do not think schools need to promote 'alternative' ideas about sexuality at all, but Mr. Jennings, if this were his mindset, would not be bashing Young Life and writing lesson plans that seek to override parental influences.

READ MORE ABOUT SAFE SCHOOLS CZAR, KEVIN JENNINGS

Lawmakers Hold Hearing on Czars [click to read].
Firestorm Erupts over Obama's Education Appointee [click to read].

TAKE ACTION

Protect children and prevent Jennings from using a taxpayer-funded government office to push homosexual advocacy into public schools. [click to read].

ht/Citizenlink and Glenn Beck. This is a Special Edition, the regular issue will publish on Monday.

Here is the 'companion' TIME Issue [click to read]. I was told that since many Conservatives don't bother to look at the 'Professional' weekly news magazine anymore, someone might miss the full impact of my 'cover commentary.' Here is Rush's Cover Idea [click to read] for TIME.

A Different America...

...Kevin Jennings is Part of the Left's Vision

The Left and Right Do Not Want the Same America

"There are now two Americas. Not a rich one and a poor one; economic status plays little role in this division. There is a red one and a blue one." --Dennis Prager

Politicians of all persuasions express a desire to bring Americans together bound by a common vision for the common good. Dennis Prager Points Out the Fallicy of this Reasoning [click to read] in Jewish World Review. Really, it's time to admit that there are two different ideologies out there and they are in fierce competition for the heart and soul of the Nation. Without this basic understanding of the conflict it is impossible to understand why it must be debated. Indeed the political manifestation of this conflict is merely the tip of a cultural rift caused by very different world views.

Our founders looked to the order of Judeo-Christian principles as they framed a government based on a balance of tensions that would reign in human tendencies in order to create an orderly society. Individual liberties and individual responsibilities played a large part and government was purposely limited to avoid tyranny. Certain Truths were held to be self-evident. Man was seen as a special creation who bore the mark of his Creator, yet was fallen in nature--often acting along the lines of these baser inclinations. Thus government sought at once to reign the base and give liberty and expression to the higher aspirations of mankind.The secular humanism that has come to replace a sense of Divine order has given rise to a new paradigm where government, individual liberties and individual responsibilities are re-prioritized. Thus we no longer see the Divine stamp, Imagio Deo, on humanity. On one hand we have created arguments that if man is all there is [no G-d], then man's self-actualization is the main thing. A sense of greater purpose such as that that drove the American Revolution is impossible but we can grab for the highest experiences to justify ourselves. On the other hand, if man is the end of things, then what's so special. The extinction of some rare snail can be elevated above the plight of starving children in Africa. Indeed some radical environmental groups are making that exact argument.

The American left is actually a coalition of many of these often contradictory conclusions and yet they are strongly united in the desire to cast off the "old" constricting beliefs of our forefathers. That is why you will see those who promote the value of free speech in most areas suddenly veer into an irrational supression of religious speech in the public square. The state is now asked to take an even greater role in promoting the well-being of its citizens. The answer must for them be secular, not spiritual. If there is no higher authority it is left to us to pragmatically define and enforce 'virtue.' How else can you explain the fact that after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed from reasons stemming from corruption in government oversight, the answer can only be more government oversight

The Left and Right See 'Freedoms' Differently

The ACLU was founded ninety years ago by Roger Baldwin. He was a socialist thinker who said things like: "America must follow the example of Stalin's Soviet Union where greater freedoms exist than anywhere else in the world". Wow, I never would have known from the history I read! Knowing America would never follow the path to 'social u[dys]topia because of her Judeo-Christian foundations, Baldwin set out to diminish the influence of Christianity in America.

For 80 years the ACLU has twisted the Constitution to exclude Christianity from the public square and the public discourse. That sense of mission is what drives the endless stream of lawsuits against prayer and Christian expression. That is why your kid's 'religious' message is excluded from the poster contest. That's why the school 'Winter Holiday' assembly is devoid of sacred traditional music. Thankfully there is the Alliance Defense Fund [click to read] which was founded to counter this destructive movement.

The Left and Right See Different Americas Altogether

First you have President Obama saying: "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. … And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Or consider this quote from Senator Mark Warner: "One of the things you are going to see is a coalition that is just about completely taken over the Republican Party in this state and if they have their way it’s going to take over state government. It is made up of the Christian Coalition, but not just them. It is made up of the right-to-lifers, but not just them. It’s made up of the NRA, but not just them. It is made up of the home-schoolers, but not just them. It’s made up of a whole coalition of people that have all sorts of differing views that I think most of us in this room would find threatening to what it means to be an American."

What does it mean to be an American to these people?

Here's a couple of quotes from 'safe schools' Czar, Kevin Jennings: "G-d . . . had done nothing but cause me pain and anguish through His inaction and malevolence throughout my childhood. . . . What had he done for me, other than make me feel shame and guilt? Squat. [Scr*w]you, buddy—I don’t need you around anymore, I decided."

"We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit — … I'm trying to find a way to say this. I'm trying not to say, "[F---] 'em!" which is what I want to say, because I don't care what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!

Jennings had a difficult childhood and rejected the values of his minister Father, who died when he was young. Yet his experience ignores that of so many young people who have tasted the steadying influence of G-d in their lives and have thrived because of it.

Jennings advocacy of sexual experiences for young people would be troubling enough in considering him for the position of 'safe schools' Czar, but then there is his attitude toward drugs: "I got stoned more often and went out to the beach at Bellows, overlooking Honolulu Harbor and the lights of the city, to drink with my buddies on Friday and Saturday nights, spending hours watching the planes take off and land at the airport, which is actually quite fascinating when you are drunk and stoned." He is clearly in tune with a different America than most of us grew up with. Make no mistake here, the President knew who he was when he appointed him.

David Limbaugh Has This Observation [click to read]. This is the man president Obama wants writing policy for our schools.

The Problems with Kevin Jennings [click to read] by Peter Sprigg of Family Research Council. [Detailed Analysis of the Controversial Czar].

What You Can Do NOW to Take Action [click to read].

A Blessing for the Czar...

"May the Lord Bless... and Keep the Czar...
Far Away from Us!" -- Fiddler on the Roof


South Florida Tea Party's "Czars."

Your Czars Are a Reflection of Who You Are

No kidding. OK, I might believe ONE appointee with views that are... um... out of the mainstream, but a whole string of them tells me that they DO represent your views.

You can claim "you didn't know" one or two times, but it soon becomes clear that these Czars DID pass muster for your vision for America. Obviously Kevin Jenning's "values" are important for the next generation according to the Obama Administration.

David Limbaugh Has This Observation [click to read].

The Problems with Kevin Jennings [click to read] by Peter Sprigg of Family Research Council.

What You Can Do NOW to Take Action [click to read].

Dumbed Down Critical Thinking

Thomas Sowell Has This Observation [click to read] of how the Left is abusing the sacred trust of educating children on another level. Home Schooling, "dangerous"[1.] as it may be, is looking pretty good right now.