Another Rick Woldenberg Video

Posted by Valerie on March 25, 2009

This was apparently recorded on March 5, 2009.
I STRONGLY URGE YOU TO WATCH THIS. IN FACT, YOU MIGHT WANT TO WATCH IT TWICE.
Carol supplied me with a link to Rick’s PowerPoint presentation.

Ed Driscoll Video

Posted by Valerie on

An excellent video!

Links and favorite quotes….

The New Book Banning by Walter Olson

“This bill takes something remarkable precious away from [children]–their culture and their history.”

“The book banning that’s going on does help to reduce the number of books that are in circulation, written before political correctness first began appearing on our radar screens in the mid to late 1980s, but most likely that’s a coincidence.”

Nora O’Neill’s “1984″ bookstore sign can be downloaded from a link at bookshopblog.com

I do agree that the loss of our children’s literary heritage was a coincidence, or an accident, but it’s an accident over which very few in Congress are concerned.

I guess if it’s “for the children,” it doesn’t next matter whether it helps them or hurts them.

Pseudo-science Partially Exposed

Posted by Valerie on

See The Empire Strikes Back.

This is well worth reading. We have “experts” who think that if a chemical affects rat health when force-fed by the bucketload, then the same product will be dangerous to humans in even the most minute quantity.

This thinking is shameful and shouldn’t be seen outside Weekly World News.

The lifetime risk of death in a motor vehicle accident is 1 in 100 and yet we buy good car seats, hurl our babies through space at 65 mph and consider our kids relatively safe.

But phthalates? Eek! Known and proven risk! When mother rats are force-fed 100 mg/kg of liquid phthalate every day of their pregnancies, then their male babies have a greater tendency to moderate reproductive abnormalities. (100 mg/kg in a average human female over the course of a pregnancy would be 4.3 pounds of liquid phthalate, vastly more than any incidental ingestion of solid phthalate could possibly entail in an entire average lifetime.)

When you go to the doctor, you might get the following prescription: “Take one tablet four times a day for ten days.” If you think like a pseudo-scientist, you will assume that taking 1/1000 tablet once every ten days will work just as well at all.

Don’t think like a pseudo-scientist, okay? Too many carrots will kill you, but that’s no reason to fear a reasonable portion.

Another issue missed by the pseudo-scientists is that humans do not have rat physiologies. There you go; it’s true.

Consider “Hypospadias Rates in New York State are Not Increasing” from Journal of Urology, 2009 Mar 18–

The testicular dysgenesis syndrome describes urogenital abnormalities associated with exposure to environmental endocrine disruptors such as phthalates, specifically decreased semen quality, and increased rates of testis cancer and hypospadias…. Hypospadias rates have not changed in New York State from 1992 to 2005. Additionally advanced maternal age continues to be a risk factor for hypospadias. Combined with previous studies that demonstrate sperm counts are not declining, these data suggest that the testicular dysgenesis syndrome described in animal models may not be evident in humans.

We have no evidence that phthalates have harmed even one child, but who needs proof of harm before damaging thousands of good businesses? Who needs proof before consigning 1.7 million pieces of top quality baby clothing to landfills? Who needs proof before scaring thrift stores into throwing tons of good children’s clothing into dumpsters?

In a democracy without firm ties to a Constitution and no widespread understanding of the benefits of limited government, proof isn’t necessary. All you really need are votes.

In the interests of exposing my own bias, I don’t have white flour or white sugar in my home, we eat no processed food here, and my children are usually dressed in 100% natural fiber clothing. We love wood toys, we homeschool our kids, and nine of our eleven children were born at home. We reduce, reuse, and recycle and one of my goals is to increase the percentage of native plants on our property.

In other words, the all-natural approach is my preference. But reality is what it is; there’s just no evidence that tiny amounts of phthalate are harmful to anyone.

Health Care News

Posted by Valerie on March 24, 2009

Insurers Offer to Stop Charging Higher Premiums to the Sick

They will start charging higher premiums to the healthy to make up the difference, obviously.

A Teacher’s Dilemma

Posted by Valerie on

I helped a teacher today. Don’t tell on me, okay?

My new customer has been teaching junior high for thirty-five years in a northern Illinois school district and was looking for good, colorful, well-written children’s books on medieval times.

I let her know that none of my books have been scanned or tested and that I have no way of knowing which of my older children’s books might be over 600 ppm in some component. I also told her that the CPSC says that their limited evidence has pre-1985 books hovering right around the 300 ppm mark, and that any books that are over 300 ppm in any component will be illegal to distribute in her classroom as of August 10, 2009.

Deciding to put the educational interests of her students ahead of such foolishness, she purchased the following:

• Heraldry: The Story of Armorial Bearings by Walter Buehr, 1964
  She has her students make shields and likes the pictures of armorial elements in this book, which is the most intelligent description of this topic that we’ve seen for children. (This teacher told me that making shields is okay, but that students in her school are forbidden to construct even cardboard swords.)
• The Roman Empire and the Dark Ages by Giovanni Caselli, 1981
  “These illustrations are wonderful!” (And they really are: loads of pictures of clothing, housewares, weapons, tools and more.)
• A Florentine Merchant (Everyday Life Series) also by Giovanni Caselli, 1986
  Whew! We just made it on dating with this short, well-illustrated book which follows a medieval merchant through a typical day.
• Living in a Castle by R. J. Unstead, 1971
  R. J. Unstead understood the kinds of things kids want to know. We like his books especially when, as here, they are colorfully illustrated by Victor Ambrus.
• The Search for King Arthur (A Horizon-Caravel Book) by Christopher Hibbert, 1969
  Sale of this outstanding book, which is illustrated from primary sources, has no legal implications since it was written for ages 12 and up. Whew!
• Made in the Middle Ages by Christine Price, 1961
  A visual feast of art and artifacts from medieval times, well and colorfully illustrated for children.

This teacher said that if she brought her own classroom into compliance, she would lose most of her carefully collected library and many more educational supplies that she finds very helpful. She said, “I guess our whole shelf of microscopes would have to go, too.”

This teacher is working to give her students a rich, well-rounded education and she finds older books very useful in her classroom. Meanwhile, her experience confirms my own: children just don’t eat books.

Has Henry Waxman talked to any experienced teachers? Would it change his mind if he did?

In other news, I had an interview with the Beloit Daily News today.