The Reason for the Season?

Thinking Parents want to know how the recent votes to ban gay marriage fit with our holiday traditions and ideas of family.

Quite simply, they don't. The end-of-the-year holidays are a time to celebrate thankfulness and love. For friends, for family, for the blessings we have, for those who make sacrifices on our behalf. Hate just doesn't fit in there. Penalizing someone for their choice of a loved one and actively setting out to deny them the same rights as any other is mean-spirited, uncharitable, hypocritical, certainly not in keeping with the message of Christianity's eponymous Reason for the Season.

John 13:34
John 13:35
John 15:12
John 15:17

Love one another. Everyone. Not just the ones in your churches. Not just the ones you like. Not just the ones whose behavior you approve of.

Matthew 5:44
Luke 6:27
Luke 6:35

Love your enemies.

Our dining room table easily seats ten. There are only five of us. We've always got room for more.

This week the Australian Parliament made changes to nearly 100 Commonwealth laws to remove discrimination against same-sex couples. The changes cover areas like retirement benefits, health, employment entitlements, and aged care. The Marriage Act of 1961, redefined in 2004 to explicitly define marriage as being between a man and a woman, still holds, however, de facto couples, couples living together without being married, have the same legal rights as married couples. All states and territories now recognize cohabitating same-sex couples as having all the rights of opposite-sex de factos. It's a nice little work-around. And something else to be thankful for.

Great Ideas

And now for something completely different: A homeschooling post.

Sarabelle's reluctance to leave and her adamantly expressed desire to return to Australia and her friends and finish her schooling as quickly as possible has been intensified by the appearance of a boyfriend (one with no space between the boy and the friend.) While there has been no actual dating involved, there have been many deep conversations on MSN Messenger: The Meaning of Life, Future Plans, etc.

What has come out of these talks is that Sarabelle has decided she wants none of the greedy-corporate stooge-consumer lifestyle and would rather enjoy her life living simply and traveling, globetrotting and supporting herself with part-time work while still young, as opposed to squeezing in a cruise and a tour bus trip between retirement and death. While we agree college is not for everybody and that most higher education is nothing more than overpriced vocational training or a necessary step up the corporate ladder; that a self-sufficient uncomplicated lifestyle is an admirable goal; that travel is a great teacher and a much more pleasant alternative to being a wage-slave; we are not yet in agreement on the value of formal continuing education. She wants to learn as she goes, a noble effort, but I argued if you are to travel the world you would make more of your effort with a solid, basic knowledge of the humanities behind you. A good liberal arts, or old-fashioned classical education, the kind that comes from either rigorous self-education or a real university would be a tremendous benefit as a precursor to travel.

She countered that four years is a long time and reminded me that I didn't go to college. But I have been educating myself ever since, and especially prior to traveling in order to avoid that inevitable head-slapping moment when I'd get home and finally realize the significance of what I had seen and wish I could go back to see it again armed with my new understanding. So I guess that means we had better get busy catching her up before her big adventure seeing as how she has just over one and a half years left of high school (by Florida standards) and they won't be covering any of that material in her present educational environs.

Because she still thinks she's coming straight back to Australia after her grandmother's health crisis passes, though no offers to board her for even half the school year have panned out yet, I must tread lightly. Without pushing, I'm hoping to reignite the love of learning that lies smoldering under the wet blanket of institutional education. After an adequate time de-schooling, bare minimum I would like her to study one logic text and one comprehensive world history from among our heaps of books and Teaching Company DVDs. Ideally, in addition I would have her choose either a subject that interests her from the Great Books Syntopicon and dig into the associated readings or work her way through the Great Ideas Program, a series of thematic guided readings and questions used in conjunction with the Great Books, and study an SAT prep course.

Spare time?

QWOP

Assembler

Thank you, Dale McGowan...

...for putting together a handy dandy list of secular parenting blogs.

I've spent the last couple hours checking them out, as well as the ones mentioned in the comments, and my blogroll just got a little longer.

For you obsessive book list makers...

...take a look at PZ Myers's post, What science books ought a bookstore stock? and enjoy the recommendations from the hundreds of comments.

Have your Amazon.com Wish List handy.

Yes we can.

That’s the true genius of America, that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

I voted early. After my absentee ballot went off in the post I had weeks to second guess my third-part candidate decision, weeks to worry whether my vote would be tossed out for any number of unethical reasons, weeks to wring my hands as it appeared the dreaded McCain might be closing in on Obama, and weeks to plead Obama's case, refuting family and friends' weak arguments, appealing for an anti-McCain vote to any one of the other presidential hopefuls:

Pro-life? Why support a man who intends to occupy Iraq until all threats are gone? One hundred years is a long time. How could you vote for the candidate that jokes about bombing Iran? Personally, I don't like the idea of abortion, but I believe that in America, a free country, a woman should have the right to decide what to do with her own body. Freedom of religion means freedom from religion as well. That's what our country was truly founded on.

Upset that Obama won't wear a flag pin on his lapel? Or won't place his hand on his heart during the pledge? Since when did that become a requirement? Doesn't living in a free country give you the right not to? I don't pledge my allegiance to a 100% 2-ply, spun woven polyester piece of fabric. Or a 200 Denier Nylon weave. Or even a 100% heavyweight cotton bunting, for that matter. Nor the republic, a governmental entity, for which it stands. I do pledge allegiance to the idea of liberty and justice for all, it just doesn't require my chest-thumping avowal.

Against redistributing the wealth? What about compassion and love for the least of our brothers? Afraid of socialism? You should be more afraid of theocracy.

Not going to vote for a black guy? At least you're honest. There are other candidates.

On numerous occasions I've bitched about the lack of freedoms and abuses of power here in Australia, a constitutional democracy with socialist tendencies, but I admit to enjoying the benefits as well. It's a fairly good blend of ideologies here, but America has the added benefit of a Bill of Rights -- as watered down as those rights have become lately -- that will continue to protect our essential freedoms. It's not all black and white, people. I believe America can find a happy shade of gray between the absolutes of democracy and communism. Like Obama stated in his first speech as president-elect, America re-invents itself constantly. That's what makes it a great country.

It's time to start perfecting that union.

I got nothin'

I'm too busy holding my breath, crossing my fingers, wishing on stars, and waiting for a certain someone and his vapid veep to make their concession speech. In the meantime, I will distract myself from the countdown with this time-wasting meme. Have at it and let me know if you play along...

Highlight the things you’ve done and will admit to.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London - not the full-blown changing, but the off-day summer schedule
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book - been in a book that was published
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - watched the butcher shoot and prepare the carcass, helped pack the meat
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Via Get In Hang On.