Pursuing Holiness

It’s not just the ridiculous way we teach - or don’t teach - math these days that causes concerned parents to teach long division to their children on the sly. People clearly don’t comprehend history either.

Althouse: 22% of Americans “believe any state or region has the right to peaceably secede and become an independent republic.”
22% of Americans “believe any state or region has the right to peaceably secede and become an independent republic.”
According to a new Middlebury Institute/Zogby International poll.

And it’s 40% among those aged 18 to 24, 43% among Hispanics, and 40% among African-Americans.

The Civil War was about slavery, wasn’t it? Just like World War II was to save the Jews from being slaughtered.   Look, a bright shiny object!! … I’m sorry, you were saying?

Yet another reason why over a million children in this country, including my daughter, are homeschooled.

written by Laura

A real life cold case/NCIS type mystery has been solved by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology - the remains of Maria and Aleksey Romanov - children of the last Tsar of Russia - have been discovered.

More from Brittanica -

When anti-Bolshevik “White” Russian forces approached the area, the local authorities were ordered to prevent a rescue, and on the night of July 16/17 the prisoners were all slaughtered in the cellar of the house where they had been confined. The bodies were burned, cast into an abandoned mine shaft, and then hastily buried elsewhere. A team of Russian scientists located the remains in 1976 but kept the discovery secret until after the collapse of the Soviet Union. By 1994 genetic analyses had positively identified the remains as those of Nicholas, Alexandra, three of their daughters (Anastasia, Tatiana, and Olga), and four servants. The remains were given a state funeral on July 17, 1998, and reburied in St. Petersburg in the crypt of the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. The remains of Alexis and of another daughter (Maria) were not found until 2007, and the following year DNA testing confirmed their identity. On August 20, 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized the emperor and his family, designating them “passion bearers” (the lowest rank of sainthood) because of the piety they had shown during their final days.

written by Laura

Years ago, someone explained life insurance to me as a bet. You bet that you’ll die, and the insurer bets you won’t. A can’t lose proposition, right? So why doesn’t everyone have it? My first husband and I didn’t because in our twenties we didn’t worry about death. When I found myself alone and pregnant, relying on welfare and eventually Social Security Survivor’s Insurance, I figured out that life insurance for young adults is a pretty nifty idea. And obviously when you’re older you want to make sure your obligations are covered - it’s something my husband and I have spent a fair amount of time on because we’re closer to winning the bet than we used to be. But what about life insurance for kids?

I was offered affordable policies when my daughter was young. I never bought one because I couldn’t bear to contemplate cashing it in. It was a completely irrational decision - by that I mean I never even sought advice to see whether it was a good investment; I never gave it any serious thought at all. Just - NO. Now I’m a little older and I see it differently. Aside from funeral costs, the comfort gained from setting up a scholarship in a child’s name seems tremendous. It’s something I never considered until someone I knew went through it themselves.

There’s a disturbing line of thought in some Christian circles that we needn’t have contingency plans because it indicates a lack of faith and trust in God. On the other hand -

Sensible people will see trouble coming and avoid it, but an unthinking person will walk right into it and regret it later.
(Proverbs 27:12)

We plan ahead for all sorts of things that may never happen, but somehow, for the one sure thing - death - planning seems like a much lower priority.

written by Laura

Rock Ridge St. Helena Parish just got its first black sheriff.

Nathaniel “Nat” Williams was the chief criminal deputy under former Sheriff Ronald “Gun” Ficklin before becoming sheriff. He was sworn-in during ceremonies on Friday.

… Williams, who started his law enforcement career as a dispatcher, was elected with 51.6 percent of the vote in the October primary against four other candidates.

No word on whether any candygrams have been ordered.

written by Laura

Power Line: Our robed masters strike again

Whence comes the Court’s authority to render the judgment in cases such as Kennedy? It is entirely self-created, based on the Court’s ipse dixit. This is not the way it’s supposed to work. As Justice Alito writes in dissent, quoting from Justice Kennedy’s opinion: “The Court is willing to block the potential emergence of a national consensus in favor of permitting the death penalty for child rape because, in the end, what matters is the Court’s ‘own judgment’ regarding ‘the acceptability of the death penalty.’”

On the other hand, at least they’re keeping their hands off our guns.

written by Laura

So here’s my obligatory Worst Customer Service Ever: Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Refuses Bathroom Access to 5-Year-Old, Who Then Has Diarrhea In Front Of Them post.   The short version of the story is that the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory heartlessly denied assistance to a sick child, laughed at the mother when she complained to the manager later, and apparently are in violation of the Uniform Plumbing Code in CA.  So while the customer was certainly not served, justice may be.

I don’t despise some minimum wage slave who simply adheres to a policy she’s been taught - although some mercy and common sense were certainly called for.  But the manager is guilty of some seriously bad judgement, if nothing else.  She was slow to return the phone call, arrogant with the customer, clueless about PR and the viral nature of the web.

written by Laura