Brain Wave

Parents should re-think political allegiances: Democrats, Republicans fail families

If you're a parent belonging to either the Democrat or the Republican party, you should reconsider your affiliation with either of these groups:

-Because you don't want to see your child's creative, entrepreneurial flame snuffed by politically motivated favoritism and regulations. Who gets regulated (and in what way), who gets bailout money (and why) -- these are politcized decisions made by players in both major parties, and the decisions exclude some, favor others, and tax everyone.

-Because you know that one size fits no one. Politicians and government bureaucrats do not do a thorough job with equality. Equality ought to mean each person has a chance to grow and excel according to his/her apptitudes and competencies. Instead, political-bureaucratic equality means each person gets the same cookie cutter pressed onto the dough of his/her raw potential. That's a waste: we need Bill Gates to be Bill Gates, and we need Michael Jordan to be Michael Jordan, and we need Barak Obama to be Barak Obama, we need John McCain to be John McCain, and Danica Patrick to be Danica Patrick -- you get the picture.  

-Because the people who want to help usually have an agenda. Of course politicians are trying to increase their political power through patronage. That's what they do. That does not, however, mean we have to play along with their power-grabs. Remember when Mom or Dad gave you allowance? Did that mean you could spend it on anything you wanted? Really? No, there are usually strings attached to politicial "gifts."

What other things have you thought about when it comes to affiliation with a political party? Please comment and please share this post.

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Swine flu is spreading, or is it?

From a Reuters article:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new influenza strain circulating around most of the United States is putting a worrying number of young adults and children into the hospital and hitting more schools than usual, U.S. health officials said on Monday.

The H1N1 swine flu virus killed a vice principal at a New York City school over the weekend and has spread to 48 states. While it appears to be mild, it is affecting a disproportionate number of children, teenagers and young adults.

I know dozens of people is dozens of states, but I haven't heard of anyone who has contracted swine flu. Do you know anyone who has contracted this virus?

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Hershey Co., Hormel Foods Corp. succeeding in recession

From the AP via USA Today: WASHINGTON — It's not all doom and gloom in the U.S. economy. Some products are bucking the recession and flying off store shelves.

Sales of chocolate and running shoes are up.

Wine drinkers haven't stopped sipping; they just seem to be choosing cheaper vintages.

Gold coins are selling like hot cakes. So are gardening seeds....

Strong sales of Spam, Dinty Moore stew and chili helped Hormel Foods Corp. post a 6% increase in first quarter sales in its grocery products unit....

Profits in the first three months of 2009 at Hershey Co., the nation's second-largest candy maker, surged 20% and beat Wall Street's expectations. Kraft Foods Inc. reported double-digit growth in macaroni and cheese dinners — the consummate comfort food.

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Knocking on my door today

Two Hispanic women parked in my driveway and knocked on the side door.

"Oh," they said when they saw me. They weren't expecting a gringo, but I understood. We bought this house back in December, but pieces of mail sent to previous renters often are addressed to Hispanic names.

"We are looking for some Spanish people," said one of the women with a heavy accent. "We are preaching about the Bible," she said, gesturing into her big black pocketbook.

They said thank you and nodded and walked away.

Maybe she assumes gringos don't need the Word.

Pay cuts for Congress, now

Behind all the stated good intentions, there are no good deeds.

Our representatives and senators should demonstrate that they are in touch with the people who elected them and cut their own pay, now.

If they can vote for a bailout, they can vote to cut their own pay. Their perks and benefits far exceed what most Americans experience.

Those perks and benefits come from the pockets of taxpayers.

Representatives and senators should find a way to live on less -- like the rest of us -- and kick the savings back to the taxpayers.

If they can figure out which corporations are worthy of bailouts -- and which aren't worthy -- then they can figure out how to cut their pay and help the taxpayers, now.

If they had done due-diligence on AIG and actually learned something about the company's standing contracts with executives before voting on the bailout, the current outrage never would have happened.

Why can't the American people fine Congress for such a gross oversight?

Make no mistake -- in these tough economic time, your men and women in Washington will look out for themselves.

Their actions speak louder than words, and their actions say, "Screw you!"

Maggie, 8, on sleeping beside her 3-yr-old sister

"I love it. She's like a hot water bottle to me."

Andrew Wyeth: home-schooling success story

The realist painter -- perhaps magical realist painter -- Andrew Wyeth has died.

This afternoon, NPR had an outstanding item on his life, which included the information that Wyeth had been home-schooled.

Wyeth was a sickly child who was home-schooled; he had lots of time to play imaginary games and wander in the countryside. Wyeth biographer Richard Meryman says that childhood sense of wonder never left him.

"I think to understand Wyeth is to understand that in that body is a 10-year-old boy," Meryman says. "And at the same time the body is occupied by an intensely serious artist."

The son of the well known illustrator N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth began his artistic training under his father's tutelage. It was after his father's death in 1945 that Wyeth really came into his own as an artist.

I didn't catch those "imaginary games" or Wyeth's tendency to "wander in the countryside" when I heard the report on the radio, but it stuck out to me when I read the report online. Last February, in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, I asked my wife to take a photo of me standing beside one of my favorite paintings, "Christina's World" by Wyeth. The stark realism of that painting also seems imbued with a sense of fantasy, or an other-worldly gravity.

The Home-Schooling Advantage: A Dad's View

1. When the car breaks down on the side of a highway, it's a moment for expanding the kids' vocabulary.

2. Technological advances have made home-schooling easier. For example, most basic cable plans include access to PBS Kids, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, and The Golf Channel.

3. Courses include Advanced Topics in Popular Culture, which is easy to teach when Dad is driving and really wants to listen to The Flaming Lips on the minivan's sound system.

4. A visit to the grocer’s produce section is an educational field trip, therefore tax-deductible.

5. Home-schooling encourages practical understandings of subjects like agriculture, botany, chemistry, and cultural heritage, especially when Dad breaks out the home-brewing kit.

- Colin Foote Burch
(c) copyright 2009 Colin Foote Burch

Three-year-old on not giving up

Watching Dora the Explora's exhortation to "Never give up," my three-year-old daughter told me:

"I didn't give up in my dance class. I winged it."

Winged it? Where'd she get that?!?!

Disney opts out of 3rd 'Narnia' film

From an article in the Orlando Business Journal:

The Walt Disney Co. won’t help produce and finance the next “The Chronicles of Narnia” movie being made by Denver entrepreneur Phil Anschutz’s Walden Media LLC movie company, Disney said Dec. 24.

Disney blamed “budgetary and logistical reasons” for opting out of a third “Narnia” film, to be called “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The loss of Disney as Walden’s partner puts talent attached to the project “in doubt,” according to the movie-industry trade publication.

“Dawn Trader” has been in preproduction, and was scheduled to start production in spring 2009 with a $200 million budget and English director Michael Apted (“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Gorillas in the Mist”) at the helm. Stars from the second “Narnia” movie, “Prince Caspian,” were signed to reprise their parts, including Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley and William Moseley.

The movie was slated for a 2010 release.

Family-friendly Walden reportedly is looking for a new backer, possibly 20th Century Fox. Walden and Fox already have worked together on movies such as “Because of Winn-Dixie” and “Bridge to Terabithia.”

Walden also has worked with Paramount Pictures, which co-produced its 2004 version of “Around the World in 80 Days” with martial arts star Jackie Chan.

Read the rest of the article here.