When I first heard the news that there had been a massive shooting at Fort Hood, my first response was horror, a prayer for the victims, and a gnawing concern that this was going to turn out to be another terrorist attack. Mentally, I squashed that last thought, even after I heard the shooter’s obviously [...]
Archive for the ‘history’ Category
The War on Terror, or on Islam?
Posted in Religion, history, tagged fort hood, islam, terrorism, war on terror on November 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A bit of Founding Father wisdom
Posted in Tea Parties and the Constitution, history, tagged bills, james madison, laws on October 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.”
- James Madison (1751-1836), American statesman and fourth President of the United States of America.
This was the [...]
Our Lady of Victory
Posted in Catholicism, history, tagged don john of austria, g.k. chesterton, lepanto, ottoman empire, our lady of the rosary, our lady of victory on October 8, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Ok, well, the official title for the feast day is “Our Lady of the Rosary”, but it was Our Lady of Victory first.
On Oct. 7, 1571, an outnumbered Catholic fleet faced off against the Ottoman Navy. The forces of Christendom were plagued by infighting, including the fact that many monarchs refused to send any help [...]
Remembering 9-11
Posted in history, tagged islam, 9-11, dvorak, firemen, pentagon, remembering on September 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
While teaching 9th grade CCD, I made a comment about Islam, prejudice, and planes hitting buildings, and the students all looked at me blankly. “Do you not know what happened on 9-11?” Not really. Not exactly. “I realize you were young, but haven’t you seen the footage since then?!?” No; what footage?
Wow.
I remember 9-11.
I was [...]
What are we doing?
Posted in More politics, history, tagged de Tocqueville, glenn beck, government, obama, politics, tea parties on August 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I saw this site on the Glenn Beck program tonight: the U.S. National Debt Clock. (Do not view this while drinking; I am warning you, so I am not responsible if you spray your computer screen!) As he pointed out, and we have frequently commented in our house while yelling at the TV, a) we [...]
The more things change…
Posted in Housewyf stuff, history, homeschooling, tagged egypt, homeschooling, household advice, husbands, scribes on August 14, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Being a homeschooler is fascinating. All that history we never talked about? Well, now I get to explore it in depth and with a lot more lessons in “history is interesting because it is made by real people” and a lot less of “memorize these disconnected dates and names until you hate history and everyone [...]
Why homeschoolers make better citizens…
Posted in More politics, history, homeschooling, tagged citizen, history, homeschoolers, homeschooling, politics, tea party on August 10, 2009 | 2 Comments »
In spite of everyone from my daughter’s psychologist to the religious education secretary at church lamenting homeschoolers’ lack of “socialization” compared to “normal” school kids, studies show that homeschooled students turn out to be more involved, more informed citizens.
Why homeschoolers make better citizens…
1. We’re used to reading. A lot. We actually read the news, the [...]
Reading de Tocqueville (part 1)
Posted in Tea Parties and the Constitution, history, tagged 10th Amendment, America, centralization, de Tocqueville, democracy, government, history, liberty, politics on July 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As I mentioned at my What I’m Reading page (under the Library tab up there at the top of the blog header), one of the books I am working on is Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Time after time, I have heard people rave about how wonderful de Tocqueville’s commentary is, how prophetic, how [...]
The Founding Fathers: Where did we come from?
Posted in Tea Parties and the Constitution, history, tagged benjamin franklin, george washington, independence day, john adams, july 4th, quotes, samuel adams, thomas jefferson on July 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
On July 4th, as a nation, we have an opportunity to review where we have come from. The Founding Fathers left a plethora of writings and quotes that give us a window on some of their thoughts. This is where they saw the United States of America coming from and going to… and leaves us [...]
On Iran, Tiananmen Square, and History
Posted in More politics, history, tagged basij, democracy, iran, neda, obama, protests, tiananmen square on June 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
After so many botched attempts, you’d think that somebody (or, preferrably, a lot of somebodies) in foreign affairs would notice that nascent democracy movements in dictatorships will fail without external support.
We cheered the democracy movements that tore down the former system of satelite states behind the Iron Curtain… and then failed to do anything about Tiananmen [...]



