Transitions and Precautions

Twelve and a half weeks now, for real.  Next obgyn appointment is on Monday, and I'm going to have to make a case for a new progesterone prescription.  Had the Little Dave debacle not happened, they would be taking me off the hormones now, but I'm not interested in just waiting around for my cervix to crap out on me again.  I think we have a pretty strong case, but I'm prepared to make a scene if I have to.

In the meantime, I'm completely paranoid about birth defects, so I've made an effort to eliminate as many toxins from the environment as possible.  We use all-natural laundry soap, and we've replaced all fabric softeners and dryer sheets with wool yarn balls.  We can't afford to go completely organic, but anything we can do to better the odds seems worthwhile.  Natural dish soap and dishwasher detergent, organic vitamins, filtered water, toxin-free shampoo and shower soap.  My favorite body bar is Zum Bar goat's milk soap; tried my new tangerine citrus bar and it was like showering with a creamsicle.  No unnecessary medication, though it's been difficult to stay off my antihistamines now that the itchy season is upon us.  Mainstream makeup and nail polish are strictly verboten.  We've gotten rid of all our teflon cookware, and we've never owned a microwave.  I think that covers most bases, or is at least a start.

Winter Is Coming . . .

So, last year was the first year we needed a shovel to escape a snowy parking lot on pain of being late for work.  Last year was the first year apartment maintenance failed to use a snow plow.  It was an epic and tedious process using the tools we had on hand.  Our belated attempts to rectify the situation failed due to vast crowds of people with the same idea clearing every hardware store of every proper shovel for miles around.

Rumor has it this year will treat us to yet another punishing winter.

We have changed our snow-schlepping strategy accordingly.

Deliver Us From Evil, the Book

I've finished reading "Beware the Night," by Ralph Sarchie and Lisa Collier Cool, now retitled "Deliver Us From Evil" after the movie.  Despite the major players being generally sedevacantist, sedeprivationist, or sedesomething else, it is a very good read.  If I had any complaint, it was that the main story is constantly derailed by related anecdotes, but these anecdotes are equally interesting, so I'm inclined to just forgive it and move on.  By the time you finish the book, you're less inclined to waste time arguing niggling points about papal authority and would rather just get on with arranging to have your house blessed.

After reading Gabriel Amorth, Malachi Martin, and Matt Baglio, there were still some new and interesting observations to take away from Ralph Sarchie's experiences.  Here are some highlights.

• Halloween is no joke.  The negative spiritual character if late October and early November existed long before the holiday.  That's why it's Halloween.  The tradition of costuming evolved as a means to possibly avoid possession by remaining incognito while the demons were roaming.  Even now, Mr. Sarchie has observed a dramatic surge in new cases during this season.
• Another especially bad time is Christmas.  There seems to be a demonic rampage every year around the birth of Christ.
• Only the most powerful spirits, called the true devils, can manipulate sacred objects.
• Demons often masquerade as ghosts or human spirits.  However, when demonic apparitions attempt to appear human, there is always something wrong.  Limbs or the face may be missing, or there may be some other distortion.  If you encounter an allegedly sympathetic spirit who exists only from the waist up, be very suspicious.
• Incubi and succubi do happen.  Yikes.
• Mr. Sarchie has observed three different varieties of demonic approach.  There are the "intellectuals," who approach a target with what may seem to be deep insights, religious experiences, and secret knowledge.  The "con artists" attempt to pass themselves off as human ghosts with sympathetic stories to engage their victims.  The "brutes" are more bestial and cause clawing, growling, and biting behaviors in possession.
• If anyone needed the advice, don't rent your basement to Satanists. 

Also, we're also actually not supposed to talk about this too much because recognition could draw the demon to you.  However, if we don't talk about it at all, it's not as if they'll all just go home to Hell and leave us alone.  Best to be aware, I say.  We are seriously looking into having a priest over to bless our apartment thoroughly, and while he's here were going to have him bless all the religious articles we've been collecting over the years, and that canister of sea salt from Monterey.  We'll try to always have holy water, oil and salt on hand from now on.  It's really the least we can do.

Deliver Us From Evil

We went to see this movie last week.  It was pretty good.  More interesting to me is the fifteen-minute documentary on YouTube about the man who inspired the movie.  It's not unhealthy to be reminded now and again on the demonic forces all around us.  I think we might all take life more seriously if we were more aware.

There is some language; be ye warned.

Oh, Ralph Sarchie has also written a book, "Beware the Night," which I intend to read just as soon as it drops on our doorstep.

Products Natural AND Domestic

While we're talking about toxic Chinese products, I thought I'd highlight some of my favorite natural consumables I have in the house right now.  I prefer a natural alternative when I can get it, and the great thing about these products is that they're pretty mainstream.  I found most of them in the specialty section of Food Lion.  The other perk is that most natural products don't seem to come from China.  Long live the resistance.

1. Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap 

Yeah, it's the pantheistic soap with the ranting label.  Just ignore that part.  It's a very mild natural soap with no detergents or extra foaming agents.  However, it is very effective.  The short list of ingredients includes coconut oil, olive oil, hemp oil and jojoba oil, all of which are organic.  It is very proud of being certified fair trade and packaged in a 100% recycled plastic bottle.  Even better, it comes in two of my favorite scents of all time, peppermint and almond.  The liquid soap is concentrated, so I keep some diluted by half in a little travel bottle in our shower caddy.  It also comes in bar form.    I had to search the label for a while, but eventually I found the stamp: "Made in U.S.A."

2. Jason Aloe Vera Shampoo and Deodorant

I've been searching for years for the perfect shampoo and conditioner combination for my hair.  I've tried wash-out treatments, leave-in treatments, the vitamin shampoos, the exotic oil shampoos.  I finally gave it up in favor of a shampoo with no carcinogens.  This moisturizing 84% aloe vera shampoo has no parabens, SLS or phthalates, and my hair has never felt better.  Many of the ingredients are organic, and the product has never been tested on animals (for those who are concerned about such things).  It's such a great natural shampoo, though, I've considered testing it on my dog.  Again, "Made
in USA."

I also use a deodorant of the same organic aloe vera line for sensitive skin.  It is a deodorant but not an antiperspirant, so it is aluminum free and paraben free, with no animal by-products or testing.  One of the active ingredients seems to be a derivative of Chamomile.  "Made in USA."

3. Tom's of Maine Toothpaste

I like that Tom's has a fluoride-free option.  I have mixed feelings about fluoride.  When we were kids our teeth were yellow because there was too much fluoride in the water, a fact that was apparently explained on our water bill.  Anyway, fluoride-free, antiplaque and whitening is the trifecta for my toothpaste.  Available in classic peppermint.  No artificial colors, flavors, fragrance, or preservatives.  Packaged in a recycled BPA-free plastic tube.  "Made in U.S.A."

4. Petco Natural Dog Toothpaste

While we're talking about toothpaste, I noticed that the dog's toothpaste was also "Made in USA."  It's a natural enzymatic toothpaste that doesn't require rinsing, thank God.  It's hard enough to just get the brushing done.  Supposed to whiten teeth and freshen breath, also highly desirable.  I never thought I'd actually be brushing a dog's teeth, but at least I know I'm not poisoning her.

5. Anything Burt's Bees

I love Burt's Bees.  If nothing else, I always have some of their lip balm around.  Gotta love the peppermint.  The primary ingredient is, of course, beeswax, but it also contains coconut oil, sunflower seed oil, peppermint oil, rosemary leaf extract, soybean oil, canola oil, and vitamin E.  No animal testing.  35% post-consumer content in the packaging.  No parabens, phthalates, or petrochemicals.  I've just realized that Burt's Bees has an entire line of pet care products.  "Made in USA."

6. Earth Friendly Products Ultra Dishmate Soap

I was initially drawn to this product because they had an almond-scented option.  I love almond.  The very short list of ingredients is water, coconut oil derived surfactants, and almond oil.  Of these coconut oil derived surfactants, it claims they do not contain 1,4-Dioxane or Cocamide DEA.  I'm not even sure what that is, but ok.  It says it's biodegradable and recyclable, the latter of which I assume refers to the bottle. Smells fabulous.  I also remember an orange and a pear variety.  "Made in the USA."

7. Vitafusion PreNatal Gummy Vitamins

I am not a natural pill-swallower, so I finally went looking for some grown-up gummy vitamins.  I found these at Food Lion for the last pregnancy, and I still take them now even though I don't need them for prenatal purposes.  They are the multivitamin and the DHA supplement combined, made with naturally sourced colors and flavors.  These natural colors are apparently purple carrot juice concentrate, black carrot juice concentrate, blueberry and carrot concentrates.  The fish oil used has been tested for mercury and PCBs and comes from sustainable fisheries.  Comes in a BPA-free plastic bottle.  Best of all, they're "Made in the USA" with a proud little picture of an American flag on the label.

The D-word

We've been talking about it for a long time.  We pretend we can actually avoid it indefinitely.  I've been hearing it a lot more often lately.  It's the D-word.  DEFAULT.

Based on everything I've read, the United States of America will inevitably default on it's enormous financial obligations some day.  Forgive us for being human, but Dave and I are really hoping that day isn't Monday.  We have just under $13,000 in personal debt left after cars, student loans, and credit cards, and - all things being equal - I'd rather face the catastrophic economic downturn with no debt at all.  But I guess we're better prepared than most.

All the same, I'd rather eek out another year . . .

I keep posting this trailer, but it is an excellent documentary.  If they raise the debt ceiling again, all that will buy us is time.  Use it wisely.

Creative Precautions

Here's my latest project:

1.  Ugly thrift store mirror.  $4.95

2.  Halfway through makeover!  Classing it up with some Shakespeare clippings.

3.  Add some adhesive chalkboard (who knew?) and some scrapbook paper embellishments, and we now have a place near the door to jot down where we're going and when just in case of mishap.

(Remember, if something happens while you're "running errands," and no one knows exactly what that entails, the police may have nowhere to start the investigation.  Seriously, leave a note.  It takes two seconds.)

I really wanted to try the chalkboard paint, but it doesn't adhere to glass.  We'll just have to save that for another day.

Food Fraud

Ok, this obviously has me mad enough to stop what I'm doing and blog.  I could rant and quote, but I think the video does a good job of summing it up.  (I've been catching up on my Nightline.)

Like stems in your ground black pepper?  How about lawn grass in your tea bags?  Do you think your 100% lemon juice isn't just sugar water?  Is your pure extra virgin olive oil actually what it claims to be?  Soybean oil is a pet peeve of mine, and I've been trying very diligently to avoid it, so it really burns me up that they deliberately put it in my olive oil.  I think I'll go back to buying the expensive obscure option, along with whole lemons and peppercorns.

Oh, and I'm throwing out our generic brand paprika.

No Time Is a Good Time to be Abducted

But at least you can be prepared.  This probably borders on paranoid, but I've been watching several seasons of Investigation Discovery: Disappeared, and I've developed a few new guidelines for way we live our lives.  These aren't self-defense precautions, these are worst-case scenario precautions. People disappear from random places at random times for random reasons every day.  Don't assume it can't happen to you.

• When you leave the house, leave a note stating when you're leaving, where you intend to go, and when you intend to be back.  Loved ones and police often have a hard time knowing where to start when someone disappears while jogging or running errands.  Even if you live alone, this isn't a bad idea.
• Maintain phone contact.  Send the occasional text just to establish a paper trail.  If someone is already suspected missing, keep calling his or her phone as long as it continues to ring.  If the phone is moving (i.e. in a car) the cell towers will help map those movements.  However, it is also important to keep in mind the fact that when the battery runs down, the phone can no longer be located.
• KEEP YOUR PHONE CHARGED.
• Clearly document your tattoos (if applicable).
• Take a snapshot if you don't have any recent pictures lying around, particularly if you've changed your look.  
• If you're the one left behind, make the police file a missing person's report ASAP.  Don't be put off by the "it hasn't been long enough" excuse.  Be the squeaky wheel.  

That should be enough for starters.

Commentary Break

While I'm crazy busy with work and Christmas crafts, please consider this latest offering from Molotov. :)

War on Debt II

Since officially putting this household on a war footing last month, we have successfully reduced our total debt by 11%.  That was a combination of my new paychecks, the sale of some pre-marital assets, and general penny pinching.  Seriously, I'm tearing dryer sheets in half at this point.  I don't think we'll be able to maintain this pace, but it would sure be nice if we could.  I'd at least like to maintain a 3.5% decrease each month, which would represent five months' worth of payments.  Once the debt is gone, we can officially start building the adoption fund.  I'm currently searching the apartment for stuff worth listing on Ebay.

I can't believe I get so excited about paying bills.  It's like buying back our lives a few months at a time.

Practical Tips

File this away under things you never knew you needed to know.  In the unlikely event that you are ever the victim of a spell or hex, there is a protocol governing the discovery and disposal of the malefice responsible.  Several hard-working exorcists have developed these guidelines through some painful trail and error, so it's advice worth taking.

First of all, the three most useful substances to have on hand in any hairy situation are exorcized (or at least blessed) water, exorcised olive oil, and exorcised salt.  All three are efficacious in their symbolic ability to cleanse and heal body and soul.  The water is particularly useful in cleansing objects or spaces, the oil in ridding an afflicted individual of impurities or foreign objects which may need to be coughed up, and the salt in protecting places from evil influences (such as in cases of infestation).  Used in faith, these can apparently be remarkably powerful.

In the (unlikely but not impossible) event that you discover a strange object you believe to be the root of a curse, there are a few key things to remember.  These objects can be braided or knotted cords, colored string, figurines, bones, small animals, rocks, wire, or really anything.  What makes them suspicious is that they can appear where you least expect them, like inside your clothes, mattresses, pillows, or food.

• DO NOT TOUCH these things with your bare hands.  Chronic illness has been known to occur as a result.  
• The objects must first be sprinkled with holy water, then burned in a well-ventilated space (preferably outdoors), and the ashes disposed of in running water.  You may skip the burning if the object isn't flammable.
• Not all running water is created equal.  DO NOT attempt to dispose of anything in your plumbing, at least not unless you want to take advantage of your flood insurance.  A storm drain is a better choice.
• During the whole procedure, it is best that everyone present pray constantly.

Unfortunately, this also applies to that pillow or mattress which might have yielded the object in question.  Your neighbors will think you're crazy, and you might get a public citation, but this is the tried and true method.

Again, read this book. 

New Routine

I finally took a job.  I really couldn't justify not trying given my wide open schedule.  It's one of those thankless and faceless part time retail jobs, but I wanted something disposable.  The real miracle is that they were still willing to hire me after I demanded never to work weekends or any later than 4 PM on weekdays.  That should nicely coincide with the husband's schedule, so there shouldn't be any real disruption of our home life.  That is, when we have a home life.

Deployment is every bit as sterile an existence as I remember.  The only thing to do is to somehow make the time go by without being terribly conscious of it, because if I were I'd be twice as miserable.  On the other hand, not having anyone to spend time with has allowed me to get a remarkable amount of work done on those Christmas stockings commissioned this year.  Despite an earlier bout of despair, I might actually get them all done in time.

But, speaking of deployments and general loneliness, I've been realizing just how vulnerable I am.  Living alone anywhere is still very new to me, and more than a little unsettling, especially with the strange characters we've had knocking on the door lately.  I've started making an effort to brush up on my target practice when I visit the old homestead, but that doesn't do me much good in the meantime.  So, in the interest of taking at least minimal precautions, I swung by Target after work today and picked up an old fashioned, wireless, all-purpose offensive weapon with built in fire escape.

Best of all, it doesn't require a license.  Yet.

Timing Is Everything

My current sewing entertainment is a show called "I (Almost) Got Away With It," a docu-drama about fugitives from justice who were eventually captured.  It's a fairly routine true crime show, but one thing keeps jumping out at me.  It crops up in almost every episode.

"Minutes after the murder, police arrive . . ."

Note the key use of the word "after."  Don't live in the green zone people; your safety is your business. That is all.

Ghosts, Part I

"We're Catholic; we don't believe in ghosts."

We've all heard it.  We might have even said it.  As Catholics, we do focus rather a lot on the minutia of the Four Last Things, insisting on categorizing and defining everything about them we possibly can.  Consequently, while we certainly believe in the existence of disembodied spirits, we like to think they are all neatly organized into their various compartments, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.  But are they?

We know that demons "prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls," in the words of the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.  I remember a question raised in our theology class about the nature of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, namely whether they were physical places with boundaries outside this world or instead simply different states of being -- within the beatific vision, permanently deprived of the beatific vision, and temporarily deprived of the beatific vision.  I'm not qualified to make any conclusion and hope to do more research on the topic.  More on that later.

When someone today says, "My house is haunted," it sounds a little sketchy to those of us who have been conditioned to dismiss ghost stories.  But all he's really saying is that there is a spirit of some description loose in his home, which isn't so far-fetched.  Our friends and neighbors on the secular side of the fence are simply observing things the Church has recognized all along.

If you ask your average ghost hunter or paranormal enthusiast to describe different kinds of hauntings, you'll likely be told they come in two varieties, intelligent and residual.  Those of the intelligent variety are either benign or malignant.  For now we'll just consider the malignant ones, which are certainly the most urgent cases, and also the ones most thoroughly addressed in Catholic tradition.

Demons are most often responsible for malignant "hauntings."  Quite possibly they are always responsible.  There is apparently still a great deal of debate among exorcists and theologians as to whether damned souls can participate in demonic activities such as possessions and infestations.  The evidence would suggest that they can, but that evidence generally comes from the mouth of a victim of possession during exorcism, rendering it essentially useless.  The Devil is a liar, after all.

(I'm assuming, of course, that we all believe in Satan.  Contrary to popular belief, he was not suddenly done to death in the 1960s by the advances of modern science.)

The Devil acts in the world in a number of ways, ordinarily by temptation to sin, experienced on a daily basis by every human being since the dawn of time.  He also engages in a number of extraordinary activities which, like all things Catholic, have sophisticated names.

• "Infestation" refers to demonic activity associated with places or things.  Catholics are more likely to give credence to a haunted house if it is instead called a case of demonic infestation.  The classic symptoms include everything on a ghost hunter's list: footsteps, bangs, voices, growls, cold spots, objects being moved or thrown, the feeling of being watched, strange smells and odors, power outages and surges, moving doors and windows.  Pets often respond negatively to a demonic presence in the home.
• "Oppression" refers to any physical action or harm done by a demon, including beatings, scratches, pushing people out of bed or down stairs.  Many saints have experienced this.  Demonic oppression can also include the sabotage of the victim's work, health, or relationships.  The Book of Job in the Old Testament is a prime example.
• "Obsession" is a kind of super-temptation, a mental attack which takes the form of an unnatural fixation or obsession, hence the name.  Italian exorcist Father Francesco Bamonte, quoted by Matt Baglio, says, "Some are thoughts and impulses that urge people to harm others; some make people think that only a pact with Satan can get them out of their troubles or bring them success; some are thoughts to profane the Eucharist; others are thoughts to drive one to suicide."  Obsession can also cause nightmares.
• "Possession."  This is the one everybody knows about.  It's more common than most people think, but the rarest kind of extraordinary demonic activity.  I'll devote a whole post to this topic later.

With this background, those paranormal reality shows start to make more sense.  Don't laugh; it can be quite telling to see what the uncatechized have to say about the phenomena they witness.  My recent favorite is The Haunted by Animal Planet, a series of biographical sketches of families and their pets and the hauntings they encountered.  Once you get past all the sound effects and the sensational editing, at least half of them seem to be describing textbook cases of demonic infestation, oppression and obsession.  Some episodes include legitimate house blessings and exorcisms performed by Fr. Bob Bailey of St. Maria Goretti Parish in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.  Fr. Bob has apparently become the go-to priest for the mainstream paranormal scene, allegedly with the permission of his bishop.  

A generalized profile of an infested house is as follows.  There is usually an initial cause of the infestation, some involvement in the occult or hardened habitual sin.  This may predate the family currently in residence.  Many people describe an oppressive atmosphere in the home.  Small, inexplicable things happen: instruments play, doors open and close, objects move, pictures fall from the walls.  Pets become skittish, stressed, fearful, aggressive or overly protective.  Dogs fixate and bark at nothing.  Members of the family may see shadows or hear noises at night.  Some may have chronic nightmares.  There may be inexplicable temperature fluctuations.  In extreme cases, people claim to hear voices or see large black shapes, usually with red eyes, in the closet or in corners of the room or at the foot of the bed.  Members of the family may become severely depressed, have obsessive thoughts of suicide, or even attempt suicide.  Their condition may improve, however, when they are removed from the house.  The relationship between family members often becomes strained; disproportionate fights and arguments occur regularly for little or no reason.  This also can improve when the family leaves the house.  In cases in which the infestation predates the family in residence, some research into the history of the home may reveal other suicides.  Any one of these things might be explained away, but taken together they generally spell trouble.

If this sounds like your house, or a friend's house, schedule a house blessing as soon as possible.  Not just the holy water blessing, but the salt-throwing kind.  Father Amorth strongly recommends having blessed and/or exorcised water, olive oil and salt on hand in the home at all times.

Stubborn Realities

"It's not real."

I remember hearing that explanation quite often when I was a kid.  Ghosts aren't real.  Witches aren't real.  Magic isn't real.  Spells aren't real.  Curses aren't real.  Don't worry, it can't hurt you because it doesn't exist.  My mother was very firm and practical about it, and I was satisfied with that.  After all, if we had a choice, most of us would prefer to live in a world in which dark spiritual complications don't exist.  Unfortunately, I've been doing a bit of research over the past few years, and guess what . . .

It's all real.

Growing up in a Catholic home, we never questioned the existence of Satan.  Demons were simply a fact of life, as were angels, heaven, hell, and purgatory.  That, however, was the extent of our awareness of the spiritual world.  To some degree we felt, like the rest of the modern population, that we lived in a rational scientific world in which things like witchcraft were at worst a pathetic waste of time.  Now, as I read the accounts of respected modern exorcists who deal with preternatural phenomena on a regular basis, I'm discovering that some of those things we dismissed in our childhood are actually very real and can be very dangerous.

But, before anybody decides to sleep with the lights on, rest assured the Catholic Church has an answer for all these problems.  Some people would prefer not to know about any of this for their own peace of mind, but ignorance is no protection.  I would rather be informed and have a plan of action before I am ever confronted by something the exterminator can't explain away.  Forewarned is forearmed, after all.

October is here.  That usually means people are picking out their pumpkins and fussing over children's costumes.  With Halloween and All Souls Day just around the corner, there's no time like the present to consider some of these spiritual realities which can be all too easy to ignore or forget.  I'll be posting about them all month.

The End of the Road

It will keep you awake at night, but everybody needs to see this.  It confirmed what I already knew and painted an even bleaker picture than I expected.  In hindsight, I wish I'd been bringing in a second income all this time to pay down these debts faster.  I'm a little frantic now.  Is there a patron saint of bad currency?

Booya!

Mwa-ha-ha!  THE CAR IS OURS.  We made our last (very aggressive) loan payment yesterday, it cleared this morning, and the title will allegedly be in the mail within the month.  Our savings account is severely depleted, but it was worth it.  Debt is a four-letter word around here, and this investment represented more than a third of the family debt in January of this year.  The loan didn't mature until January of 2018, and in the end PNC Bank only took us for less than $400 of interest.  The student loan is another matter, but now it has our undivided attention.  Eating budget food and being an energy nazi has paid off once again.

I'd still rather have kids, but in this political and economic climate, I am glad we're able to pay this off so quickly.  More on that later.

For Rent

A month ago my mother-in-law asked me whether we were thinking of buying a house soon.  Quite honestly, that was the farthest thing from my mind.  She's right about it being a buyer's market right now, but even if we weren't considering a move in a few years I don't think I would want to bite off that kind of financial commitment, particularly in this political climate.

At the moment, I'm much more passionate about paying off our household debt and bracing for the allegedly imminent financial collapse of the country and/or the implosion of this inflated currency we're using.  Also, while still being something of a novice navy wife, my experience of the lifestyle so far has left me reluctant to lock my landing gear in place.  If someday we have to pack up and cut all ties, I want to be free to do that, which is why it makes sense for us to buy a brand new car and not a house.

Speaking of the car and paying off debts, if we scrimp and squeeze the blood out of pennies, we can have everything paid off in three years.  It will be right about that time that David will be considering a career change.  If we can be debt free by the time we have to pack up and start a new life, it will be awesome.  At that point we can reassess our budget and start socking away cash for adoptions.

That's personally why we rent, and apparently we're not alone.  I was getting caught up on my belated news, watching episodes of ABC Nightline on Hulu, and they ran a segment about how more Americans are renting whatever they possibly can.  The website Airbnb advertises short term rentals (much like you would rent a hotel room) directly from private owners "in 27,266 cities and 192 countries."  Some people are apparently using the site to sublet rooms they are themselves renting.  This economy is being dubbed the "share economy."  Have you ever thought about letting someone rent that bridesmaid's dress you never wear anymore?  How about the tools in your garage?  Some choose to rent rather than buy those baby toys the children grow out of so quickly, although in the Catholic tradition of large families we usually get our money's worth out of those.  RelayRides allows car owners to offer their cars for rent to other members of their community.  The renters say it's cheaper than owning a car, and the owners say the renting pays for maintenance.  It's an interesting trend, but I'm sure there are all kinds of insurance violations going on.

There are some of my belongings I wouldn't mind pimping out for some extra cash, but I'm still far too possessive of my car.

Why We Will Homeschool

As a preface, I will say that I've tried several flavors of schooling, public, private parochial, homeschool, and private college.  I did fairly well, and my public school experience (kindergarten, sixth and seventh grades) wasn't terrible.  It also wasn't great.  I have to say I learned the most while I was homeschooled through high school, and I knew I wanted to homeschool my children if I was given the opportunity.  I will be willing to consider a good private school if one is available, but if our only alternative is a public school there will be no two ways about it.

People always ask us why.  I have a host of reasons, many of which are aired in these documentaries.  Because this post could go on forever if I tried to discuss each issue, I'll confine myself to bullet points.


The Cartel - 2009
"an American documentary film by New Jersey-based television producer, reporter and news anchor Bob Bowdon, that covers the failures of public education in the United States by focusing on New Jersey, which has the highest level of per-student education spending in the U.S."

• Despite the fact that the United States allocates more money for schools than any other country in the world, students of our public school system consistently score below average in international tests.
• All this extra money is usually absorbed by an inflated bureaucracy of administrators and rarely reaches the classroom or the teachers.
• When funds do actually reach schools, they are often wasted on superficial building improvements (such as new sports fields) rather than invested in improving the education offered.
• Scores and student performance are often inflated to make the school appear more functional than it is for the sake of the administrators.  Actual learning suffers as a result and is not a priority. 
• The stranglehold of the teachers' union makes it impossible to reward good teachers or to remove bad teachers.  This socialist model of blanket equality gives no one any incentive to excel and the quality of education suffers.  
• The union often wields an unhealthy influence over school boards and superintendents.

Waiting for "Superman" - 2010
"a documentary film from director Davis Guggenheim and producer Lesley Chilcott.  The film analyzes the failures of the American public education system by following several students as they strive to be accepted into a charter school."

• The established system of bureaucracy is too invested in the status quo to accommodate any change or improvement.  Student performance is not a priority. 
• National scores collected for the No Child Left Behind program revealed student proficiency in math and reading is well below 50% across the board.  (We're talking about numbers like 35% and 12%.)
• Research has revealed at least 2000 public schools bad enough to be labeled "drop-out factories."  Kids can somehow reach high school with a 1st-3rd grade reading level.
• A lack of accountability in administration allows children to slip through the cracks while the adults take whatever they can get for themselves.
• Teachers who can't teach, don't teach, or who are actively destructive cannot be fired because of automatic tenure and protection from the teachers' union.  They continue to drain resources which might otherwise be spent on high-performing teachers.
• The teachers' union is such a powerhouse that no one is "allowed" to broach the subject of their detrimental position that no distinction should be made among teachers.  By union contract, bad teachers cannot be let go, and good teachers cannot be rewarded.
• Because they cannot be fired, failing teachers are rotated from school to school within the district.  Some colloquial names for this process include "the dance of the lemons" and "pass the trash." 
• When the administration of the Washington D.C. school district offered to authorize merit pay for good teachers in return for canceling automatic tenure, the union felt so threatened that it would not even allow a vote.  In the words of Michelle Rhee, the superintendent, "There's this unbelievable willingness to turn a blind eye to the injustices that are happening to kids every single day in our schools in the name of harmony amongst adults."
• Global competition has highlighted the shortcomings of our education standards.  Out of 30 developed countries, we rank 25th in math and 21st in science.  Our top 5% students rank 23rd out of 29 developed countries.  However, our students do rank first in blind confidence.
• The falling standards of public education are depriving this country of a skilled domestic work force, leaving technical companies no choice but to outsource. 

The War on Kids - 2009
A documentary directed by Cevin Soling.  "The film takes a look at public school education in America and concludes that schools are not only failing to educate, but are increasingly authoritarian institutions more akin to prisons that are eroding the foundations of American democracy."

• The idea of "zero tolerance" stemming from the drug war led to a clamp down on kids.  Sociologists observed this new fear of children and their apparently unpredictable and violent behavior and coined the term "super-predator."  The "super-predator" generation is increasingly considered a menace to be controlled rather than children to be educated.  "Zero tolerance" was expanded to include all real or perceived "weapons" rather than simply firearms, and then all vague concepts of "violence" of any kind.  Schools are becoming more like containment facilities and prisons.
• Principals have no discretionary power anymore.  Children are expelled not only for having a gun on campus, but for having miniature plastic guns, or for drawing a picture of a gun.  A third grader was suspended for drawing a picture of an armed soldier.
• Minor incidents are more and more often being given over to police for criminal prosecution rather than school discipline.  A shoving match in the hallway may now be considered assault or even felony assault.
• Zero tolerance policies on drugs apparently include mouthwash, Midol, Alka-Seltzer, and Ibuprofen.  Nail files are weapons. 
• "97% of all infractions that resulted in suspension involved no weapons, drugs, or alcohol."
• Due to a supreme court ruling in 1977, students are not entitled to due process.  Principals often extract statements from children only to turn that statement over to police.
• A boy in Virginia tried to prevent the suicide of a classmate by confiscating a knife and hiding it in his locker.  When he reported the incident to school officials, they sent him to retrieve the knife and then suspended him for violating a zero tolerance weapons policy while at the same time commending him for his actions.
• Many schools now have entry points and surveillance systems exactly like minimum security prisons.
• Columbine responded to the shootings by installing more security cameras to make the students feel "safer," despite the fact that there were already cameras installed before the shootings.  Students say the additional cameras make them uncomfortable and discourage social contact because of the risk of being falsely accused of drug deals or other suspicious activity.
• "Being under constant surveillance often results in psychological illness."
• "On November 5, 2003, Principal George McCrackin initiated a SWAT Team raid on Stratford High School in South Carolina based on his suspicion that some students were dealing marijuana.  107 students were forced at gunpoint to lie on the ground.  After an extensive police search, no drugs were found."
• The war on drugs is self-perpetuating.  A study on rats revealed that a rat in a small and restrictive cage will chose drugs over food to the point of death.  Rats in spacious comfortable cages with the means to occupy themselves showed little interest in drugs.  As the schools become more like prisons, the more students turn to drugs to escape them.  The emphasis on young and underage drug abuse masks the fact that the vast majority of drug abusers are over thirty.
• Sub-standard teachers who are unable or unwilling to deal with high-energy or willful children have led to the over-diagnosis of attention deficit problems and the over-medication of otherwise healthy children.  The United States has six times as many children on Ritalin than any other country.  The vast majority of these children are medicated for the benefit of the teacher, not for their own health or learning.
• This over-medication of children is dangerous for a number of reasons.  These drugs often disrupt the chemistry of developing brains and lead to side effects including depression, anxiety, organ damage, obsessive compulsive disorder, stunted growth, nervous ticks which can sometimes become permanent, as well as suicidal and homicidal tendencies.  These drugs are themselves designed only to mask symptoms in the short term, and inevitably lead to long term problems with brain function.
• Many school shootings were perpetrated by students who were dosed with or withdrawing from powerful antidepressants such as Luvox, Paxil, Prozac, Effexor, and Celexa.
• Students are growing up with the experience of a police state in their schools and are desensitized to the erosion of civil liberties as adults.
• The sheer volume of students in public schools does not allow individual student-to-teacher interaction or any personal application of the education process.  It's a mass-produced product, one size which doesn't fit all.
• Homework before high school is a pointless chore unless the homework directly reinforces the lesson of that day.
• There's a new trend of "school phobia."  The observation is made that nobody talks about "prison phobia," or "concentration camp phobia."  "Who wants to go to a place where your thoughts and actions are controlled all day?"
• People talk about the benefits of the socialization that happens in schools, but it really isn't of a particularly valuable kind.  "You learn to talk to a fragment of people your own age, you learn to envy, resent and fear people older than you, and you learn to have contempt for people younger than you."  The oppressive atmosphere of school lends itself to the formation of underground cliques of students which breed an institutionalized intolerance of other cliques and the social harassment of certain unlucky individuals.

Seriously, are there any questions?