Why We Did What We Did Chapter 4

Getting back to the subject of what we did in choosing an RV, my last posting on that subject was the test drive of the Tiffin Phaeton model 40 QTH. During that period of time of mid to later 2008, we had looked at that model and the Phaeton 42-foot model 42 QRH. On our first test drive, we discovered that Jo would be comfortable with driving the motorhome.

Time went on and we then went on vacation to Colorado with our Ford F250 and Rockwood fifth wheel. Right at the moment, I think it was in 2009 when we went to the Pagosa Springs area for two weeks. Normally, on that long of a trip (over 700 miles one way), I would plan to stop for the night about midway home. As we were about Dalhart, Texas, I decided that I wasn’t suffering from any fatigue, so I asked Jo if she wanted to go on in that evening and perhaps test drive the 42-foot Phaeton on the next day. She felt she was up to it.

When we got into range of a cell phone tower, we made two calls. One to our salesman at McClain’s in Oklahoma City to arrange the test drive and the second to our youngest son in Oklahoma City. He had wanted to be with us on our first test drive, but timing wasn’t right for that one. He was eager to join us on Saturday. So, we drove on into home that evening and got home about 2:00 am.

Our first test drive with the 40-foot Phaeton was roughly 70 miles round trip. We had discussed it with the salesman when we called for the appointment that we wanted to drive to the Arbuckle Mountains in Oklahoma to get a good feel of a longer grade that was fairly steep. They had originally recommended we do that some time, so we chose to do so with the 42 QRH. That test drive ended up being just less than 200 miles round trip.

Our salesman first drove the 42-foot Phaeton through most of the heavier traffic before turning it over to Jo to drive for the first part. She drove it a number of miles south until we came to a roadside rest area. There we stopped to change drivers. I asked the salesman to show us how the Phaeton worked at leveling itself. The parking lot was sloping, so the front and right side of the motorhome was lower than the rear. After saying that he didn’t know how well it would level with that much of a slope, he pushed the button that automatically leveled the Phaeton.

To my great surprise (and I think to the salesman as well), it leveled just fine, although the front passenger side tire was off the ground in getting level. After a pit stop into the restrooms, I took over driving on down to the Arbuckle’s. We went up over the summit with ease and down the other side. At the next interchange, we turned around and headed back north to Oklahoma City.

I was impressed with both the handling of the motorhome and the feeling of stability. Jo had even mentioned that she thought the 42-footer with a tag axle felt more stable than the 40-footer with just the single rear axle. In driving the diesel pushers, I was both pleased with the quietness in the coach and displeased that I couldn’t actually hear the engine. As an old 18-wheeler operator, I really liked to be able to hear any oddities in the sounds of the engines, which can be an early warning of an impending problem with the engine. I think I even asked whether there was a way to put a microphone in the engine compartment at the rear and be able to hear the engine through speakers in the front.

We returned to the same point south of Oklahoma where we had first started testing ourselves and turned it back over to the salesman. Neither Jo nor I felt comfortable enough to drive it through the city traffic, even on the interstates. The salesman then drove back to the RV dealership and put that 42-foot beast through that gate again. (See the pictures below for a perspective of that parking lot and gate. These photos show an RV right inside the “yard” right at the entrance through that gate which prevented the salesman from having a little extra space for maneuvering.

Now, a little closer.

Overall, Jo and I were very impressed with the motorhomes, especially the 42-footer. If we had elected to go with a motorhome instead of a fifth wheel, the 42 QRH would have been our first choice. We were pleased with the amenities, the ease of driving, the storage inside the coach as well as in the basement, and with many other things like side cameras and the diesel generator.

While I was concerned with not being able to hear the engine, I was pleased with the engine braking system. I knew that with a unit as big as this on a mountain pass, I wanted every option of slowing down as I could get. That aspect of driving an RV was to prove to be somewhat frustrating as our researching of RV’s continued.

A Reminder from Bible Study Class

Today, we arrived into our Bible study classroom and found a lot of notations on the whiteboard related to the lesson for that day. We have been studying the book of Acts, and our studies generally take a considerable number of Sundays within which to complete the studies. We have been studying Acts now for a little over a month and we are just getting into the third chapter.

Anyway, a notation at the bottom of the list was based on Acts 3: 12, which reads:

“But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, "Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?”

The notation written on the board was this one:

“Why do you marvel at what God has done? You should marvel at what he has not done, as you are still alive after what you have done.”

The thought comes to mind of an early minister, one John Edwards (not a politician, I should add), who in one of his sermons described that we live in a precarious position. Allow me to paraphrase his sermon.

“We hang above the “lake of fire” by a single thread as small as a single strand of a spider’s web. Below us, we can see the roiling turmoil of the surface of fire, we can smell the sulfurous odor, we can hear the voices below crying out in their torment, and we can feel the heat rising from that world of eternal torment. It is one which promises much enduring suffering because our bodies won’t be the same as our earthly ones in that they won’t be destroyed by that fiery lake.”

What is there that prevents God from simply taking away that single strand that prevents our eternal damnation? Have we not deserved such a bleak outcome because of our past deeds? What is there that we may have done to warrant hope that our future is brighter than the one pictured in words above? (By the way, can you understand why that early John Edwards was fired?)

God’s grace is our salvation. As the Bible teaches, “He knew us before we were born.” Perhaps it is likely that He knew us before His creation was even begun. Yet, knowing that we would sin, that we would sometimes deny Him, that we would harden our hearts in our selfishness, He still granted us life on this earth and hope for life in another place with Him. From 2 Peter 3: 8-9:

^“8But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
⁹The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

The key part is that last phrase that is underlined. He has certainly seen to it that some would die, but almost all of those occasions have been so that the glory of God could be revealed. One thing in this day that still amazes me that he hasn’t revealed his wrath to this world is that we have done such atrocities to our fellow man. Many like to point to Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and others to show the absolute number of those murdered for no good reason but the leader’s own desires.

It amazes me that we still exist as a nation. In Genesis, after Cain killed Abel, God said to Cain that the blood of his brother cries out to Him from the ground. If the blood of one man cried out to God in such a manner, think of the sound that he hears from roughly 50 million aborted babies. (Incidentally, those numbers come from the Centers for Disease Control and the Guttmacher Institute.)

After a nap today, I sat down to watch another lesson from The Truth Project from Focus on the Family. While there is much in the preceding paragraphs to make me somewhat melancholy, the wonderful lessons from that series always encourages me. It is ALMOST as good as standing in a mountain meadow or at a beautiful waterfall.

Silver Falls near Pagosa Springs Colorado; August 2009

Variances on Religions

An individual with a blog that I am following (and that is a follower here) wrote a piece recently regarding some of the experiences she had seen in a couple of Islamic countries. She witnessed both the good and bad of what I’ll call the “Islamic attitude.” In fairness, she and I have both been in Islamic countries, although 30 years apart and perhaps a couple thousand miles.

Her blog, very well written I might add:

http://spendingmytyme.blogspot.com/2011/03/religion-is-not-always-extreme.html

Her experiences were during Desert Storm during 1990-1991. Mine was in Pakistan back in 1967-1968 for almost a year and a half. While I’m not sure specifically she was stationed, I was stationed just south of the NW city of Peshawar. According to the map below, Peshawar is located in what is referred to as part of the Taliban Contested Area and right next to the Taliban Controlled Area in red.

Unfortunately, my experiences with Islam at that time were quite different from hers. Her time was spent in areas that would be considered by many as “moderate” Muslim countries. Pakistan was not at all moderate. During the time that I was stationed there with the U.S. Army, the area was referred to as the “Northwest Frontier” and even the Pakistani Army considered the area as a “hardship tour.”

That area is now called the “Federally Administered Tribal Area” and is the area where many believe that Osama bin Laden is being sheltered.  I say “sheltered” because the tribes are very much sympathetic to al Qaeda and bin Laden.

My first “shocking” discovery about Islam came from a young man that was one of our houseboys. While talking with him one day, he quietly told me that he feared for his life every day because he had converted to Christianity. Even his family would have killed him had they known and if he refused to convert back to Islam.

So, I’d like to discourse just a bit on religion and a few perspectives of the differences between Islam and Christianity. Many have said that when studying the Quran, the Islamic holy book, the later parts supersede the parts that were first written. In a sense, the Christian’s Holy Bible is similar in that the Old Testament, speaking of “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth” is superseded by “turn the other cheek” from the New Testament.

The differences are in the philosophies and the authors. The Bible was written by numerous authors over centuries but the Quran was written by one man within his lifetime. In the case of Muhammad, his verses became more violent after he had left Mecca and moved to Medina. When people today speak of Islam being a religion of peace, their references are usually from the beginnings of the Quran. Unfortunately, devout Muslims will follow the later, more violent passage written after 622 A.D. As a Muslim becomes more devout, they are prone to become more extreme in their beliefs.

By contrast, the Bible’s Old Testament is full of battles, atrocities, and harsh punishments that were far different from what the New Testament teaches. So, a devout Christian, following the New Testament, will be much more peaceful than the early children of Israel of the Old Testament. When a Christian becomes more “Christ-like” their actions and philosophies will actually “mellow” and become more peaceful.

I do not profess to be an expert on Islam any more than an expert on any other religion, including Christianity, my own religion. Any true believer of any religion will speak of being “a work in progress,” meaning they are still “growing” in their beliefs. While I have been a student of religions and different “faiths or denominations,” there is much that I still have to learn. One of my favorite sources for information on Islam is a website called Jihad Watch, which can be found here:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/

In addition to the Quran, Muslims also live by the Hadith, which is second only to the Quran in importance and authority. It is a collection of Islamic traditions and laws. They include traditional sayings of Muhammad and later important and learned Muslims. By the ninth century, over 600,000 Hadith had been recorded, but those have been pared down to roughly 25,000.  It would be interesting to know what Hadith were removed and why.  Would it be sinister reasons?

While the Bible is pretty much the same since it was put together as a collection of books, it has been revised a little due to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Different Christian faiths and denominations have over the centuries created their own creeds and traditions, such as the Catholic’s Canon. In fact, I was told that the Catholics follow their Canon more than the Bible itself.

Even though the Bible is pretty much the same since its inception, many tend to offer different “interpretations” of what a passage means, many times taking them out of context.  And, with the Catholics, the Canon is followed more than the Bible.  Just this week, the Pope declared or released a book stating that the Jews would no longer be held responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  Interesting thought, especially since the Bible’s own teachings and even the words of Peter (the first Pope, I guess) have stated so.  Oh, and did you know that in spite of the Pope, Cardinals and Priests being unmarried, Peter was married?

But, let me not start down that path just yet.  I have too many friends of every faith and religion.

While we can all point out people we know or know of by reputation that are good Muslims, Christians, or Jews, there will always be some who are extreme. In fact, a lot of wars have been started and feuds continued based on religion alone. Many point to the Crusades as a being a horrendous act against Islam. In fact, the original intent of the early crusades was to wrest control back from the Muslims who had occupied the “holy lands.”

In fairness, not all of the Crusades were against Muslims. The Fourth Crusade was partially conducted against Christians in Constantinople. While most of the crusades were sanctioned by the Popes, not all were. They were also conducted against pagan Slavs, Balts, Jews and Russian and Greek Christians among others. So, Christianity has certainly demonstrated that some variations have been extreme.

Over the years, I have known a number of people of most faiths and religions, excluding the Eastern religions such as Buddhism. I guess the discussions I have had with them has led me to be interested in variations of religions from the differences between Muslim Sunnis, Shias, and Sufis to the different denominations of Christianity.

With all the variations, I am so glad that I can base my beliefs primarily on the Bible and not have to deal with creeds, canons, and other “prophetic” writings. Those writings can certainly lead to trouble in Christianity, just as perhaps the Hadith is in relationship with the Quran.

Do I wish we could all get along? Certainly, but with the history of wars and rumors of wars being conducted, many with religious overtones, it is doubtful that we ever will. I’m sure that there are Muslims that believe that the Iraqi and Afghanistan “wars” are just another form of a Crusade. In reality, they were more to free people from autocratic or theocratic rule such as Saddam and the Taliban.

And, just to create a small bit of controversy here, since I mentioned Iraq, considering the prices of fuel today, whatever happened to all that Iraqi oil we were supposed to be warring over?

(Sorry, couldn’t resist that.)

Our Last World War I Veteran Is Gone

Frank Buckles, Last World War I Doughboy, Is Dead at 110

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

February 28, 2011

New York Times

The World War I veteran Frank Buckles, during a Veteran’s Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia, 2007, left, and in his U.S. Army enlistment photo, 1917.

Frank Buckles, who drove an Army ambulance in France in 1918 and came to symbolize a generation of embattled young Americans as the last of the World War I doughboys, died on Sunday at his home in Charles Town, W.Va. He was 110.

His death was announced on his Web site.

He was only a corporal and he never got closer than 30 or so miles to the Western Front trenches, but Mr. Buckles became something of a national treasure as the last living link to the two million men who served in the American Expeditionary Forces in France in “the war to end all wars.”

President Obama said in a statement that Mr. Buckles lived “a remarkable life that reminds us of the true meaning of patriotism and our obligations to each other as Americans.”

Frail, stooped and hard of hearing but sharp of mind, Mr. Buckles was named grand marshal of the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington in 2007. He was a guest at Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day 2007 for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns. He was honored by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates at the Pentagon and met with President George W. Bush at the White House in March 2008.

United States senators played host to him at the Capitol in June 2008 for the impending 90th anniversary of the World War I armistice. And he appeared before a Senate subcommittee in December 2009 to support legislation named in his honor to bestow federal status on a World War I memorial on the Washington Mall built in the 1930s.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said he would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

Sought out for interviews in his final years, Mr. Buckles told of witnessing a ceremony involving British veterans of the Crimean War, fought in the 1850s, when he was stationed in England before heading to France. He remembered chatting with Gen. John J. Pershing, the commander of American troops in World War I, at an event in Oklahoma City soon after the war’s end.

And he proudly held a sepia-toned photograph of himself in his doughboy uniform when he was interviewed by USA Today in 2007. “I was a snappy soldier,” he said. “All gung-ho.”

Frank Woodruff Buckles was born Feb. 1, 1901, on a farm near Bethany, Mo. He was living in Oakwood, Okla., when the United States entered World War I, and he tried to enlist in the Marine Corps at age 16, having been inspired by recruiting posters.

The Marines turned him down as under-age and under the required weight. The Navy did not want him either, saying he had flat feet. But the Army took him in August 1917 after he lied about his age, and he volunteered to be an ambulance driver, hearing that was the quickest path to service in France.

He sailed for England in December 1917 on the Carpathia, the ship that helped save survivors of the Titanic’s sinking in 1912. He later served in various locations in France, including Bordeaux, and drove military autos and ambulances. He was moved by the war’s impact on the French people.

“The little French children were hungry,” Mr. Buckles recalled in a 2001 interview for the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress. “We’d feed the children. To me, that was a pretty sad sight.”

Mr. Buckles escorted German prisoners of war back to their homeland after the Armistice, then returned to the United States and later worked in the Toronto office of the White Star shipping line.

He traveled widely over the years, working for steamship companies, and he was on business in Manila when the Japanese occupied it after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. He was imprisoned by the Japanese and lost more than 50 pounds before being liberated by an American airborne unit in February 1945.

After retiring from steamship work in the mid-1950s, Mr. Buckles ran a cattle ranch in Charles Town, and he was still riding a tractor there at age 106.

In April 2007, Mr. Buckles was identified by the Department of Veterans Affairs as one of the four known survivors among the more than 4.7 million Americans who had served in the armed forces of the Allied nations from April 6, 1917, when the United States entered World War I, to Nov. 11, 1918, the date of the armistice.

Two of the four — J. Russell Coffey and Harry Landis — had served stateside in the American Army. Mr. Coffey died in December 2007 at 109; Mr. Landis, in February 2008 at 108. John Babcock, who was born in Canada, served in the Canadian Army in Britain in World War I and held dual American and Canadian citizenship, died in Spokane, Wash., in February 2010 at 109.

The last known veterans of the French and German armies in World War I, Lazare Ponticelli and Erich Kästner, respectively, died a few months apart in 2008; Harry Patch, the last British soldier, died in 2009. Claude Choules, who served in Britain’s Royal Navy and now lives in Australia, and Florence Green, a member of Britain’s Women’s Royal Air Force and who lives in England, are thought to be the only two people still living who served in any capacity in the war.

Mr. Buckles is survived by his daughter, Susannah Flanagan. His wife, Audrey, died in 1999.

More than eight decades after World War I ended, Mr. Buckles retained images of his French comrades. And he thought back to the fate that awaited them.

“What I have a vivid memory of is the French soldiers — being in a small village and going in to a local wine shop in the evening,” he told a Library of Congress interviewer. “They had very, very little money. But they were having wine and singing the ‘Marseillaise’ with enthusiasm. And I inquired, ‘What is the occasion?’ They were going back to the front. Can you imagine that?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/us/01buckles.html?_r=1&src=mv

A Day for Piddlin’

Today was a day of doing very little in particular and several things just sort of willy-nilly. We never went anywhere, nor entertained anyone, nor did much of anything. Jo has discovered that she can download books from Amazon.com onto her phone. So, she has gone back to doing some reading. I would say “serious” reading because she has been reading ALL day long, but I don’t know what she is reading, so, I’ll suspend with calling it serious reading.

I have goofed around on the computer. I finally took the time to explore a little with the blog, in particular, I went to the icons for my followers and attempted to get onto their blogs. I say “attempted” because there is at least one where one has to be an “invited” reader. Not just anyone can read that one.

I would be more of a “follower” on the blogs of others, but I really don’t have a lot of time to read through a lot of blogs in my days. A lot of them have definitely piqued my curiosity, but I can only get to them on occasion and usually just for a cursory read. I do appreciate all who follow mine.

I also need to make a clarification regarding yesterday’s post about the Media Matters story. Actually, it is more about my comments at the end. Please don’t get the idea that I am “down” on union members. My issue isn’t with the members unless they are died-in-the-wool, adamant supporters of unions now and forever. My issue is mostly with the leadership and the fact that unions spend an exorbitant amount of their member’s money for political campaigns. I’m surprised that the membership isn’t asking why their money isn’t being used to benefit the members instead of Congress critters.

I also got outdoors for a little bit and began cutting up the barn stall mat into sections to be used for leveling blocks for the RV. That took a little time because I was doing all the cutting with a utility knife. You know, the kind using razor blades for cutting. And, I used up a couple of those blades. I certainly needed to get it done while I still had the use of the two picnic table halves.

Perhaps I should explain that one. Years ago, we bought some plastic legs to which one attaches several 2X4 boards to form a seat and a back. Then, when you raise the back and latch in two locking mechanisms, the seat back then becomes a picnic table top. See the photos below, and I provided a link should anyone be interested in purchasing some. In order to have a full table, one needs to have 4 legs to make two sides.

http://www.kotulas.com/deals/ProductDisplay?url=ProductDisplay%3FcatalogId%3D10602%26storeId%3D10152%26productId%3D20715%26langId%3D-1&cm_ite=convertible_picnic_table&catalogId=10602&productId=20715&langId=-1&cm_pla=NONBRAND&cm_ven=PPC&cm_cat=GOOGLE&storeId=10152&affiliateId=rkg&affiliateId=rkg&ddkey=http:OrderItemAdd

Anyway, I needed to use the picnic tables since I don’t have any kind of workbench on which to lay the mat and cut it.

Since this is a “Piddlin’” sort of day, I’ll also introduce you to the other members of our “family.” Of course, that would be our two Miniature Pinschers. The smaller brown dog is TJ, our male dog and the larger black dog is Lady. (Actually her full registered name is TJ’s Lady since we bought her to be company for TJ.) Both have been neutered, and, like many others’, they are our “kids.” They are getting pretty much up on age now. The following pictures are from about 8 or 9 years ago.

It is almost as if they were saying, “Oh, crud. He has that “flashy” thing again.”

TJ was originally purchased when Jo was having some depression issues. We had just recently had to put her mother into a nursing home and Jo didn’t like doing it. But, we both had to work and there was no way that we could take care of her mother. So, TJ was bought and he has long been a source of joy. This picture gives you a good image of the “Pinscher” look.

He has this thing for a tennis ball. The grungier it is, the better he likes it. We also have a smaller one, but he always wants the big one.

The look conveys this message: “Dad, if you don’t want more leaves torn up on the carpet, you WILL play ball with me.”

Lady has always liked the outdoors and this was her first experience with snow. She still likes running in the snow. As old as she is, she was having a grand time during the last two snow storms. But, both the pictures from below are from several years ago.

For a long time, Lady was aloof, even with Jo and I. She seldom wanted us to hold her or pet her. If we needed to catch her, we had to get out the leashes and harnesses. She would then come to us so she could go for a walk. When we bought Lady, the lady at the pet shop told us that she had been sold once before to a couple who lived in an apartment. But, Lady’s hyper ways was too much for them. Since the pet shop didn’t give refunds, the couple traded Lady in for a bird. I don’t know about anyone else, but to us that seemed sad. We did have to get her past some kind of sickness at the time, but even with her being aloof she has still been a delight to us. Now, she loves to be with one of us.

Miniature Pinschers tend to gravitate to one member of the family and merely tolerate the rest. Jo is favored by both of them and when Jo goes to sit down both of them want to be lying beside her. Lady prefers to be under a blanket. If Jo isn’t sitting somewhere, then they will get with me in the chair.

The Liberals Prove My Point

I just love it when those on the opposite side of the political spectrum manage to prove a point that I’ve given numerous times, although not that often yet on this blog. The funny part is that they were still fighting against conservative beliefs when they did it.

There is a liberal group out there called Media Matters that is constantly listening to conservative commentators on the radio and TV as well as what they can find in print in magazines, newspapers, and online news sources. Once they have their chosen stories, they then attempt to put a spin on what has been said or written.

It begins with a story in CNS News, an online news source, and the story was in regards to the situation up in Wisconsin with the Republican governor and the majority Republican Senate against the minority Democrat Senate members leaving town. Of course, who can’t know about all the public service employees, including teachers, who have been in the state capitol building in protest of the actions of the Republicans?

Some of the teachers had even taken school children from school to take with them to the protest. CNS News then wrote the story about the educational side of the story, saying that only 32% of Wisconsin’s eighth grade school children could proficiently read. Here is an excerpt from that story, with a link under it to the story online.

“Two-Thirds of Wisconsin Public School 8th Graders Can’t Read Proficiently—Despite Highest Per Pupil Spending in Midwest

Tuesday, February 22, 2011
By Terence P. Jeffrey

(CNSNews.com) - Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.

In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a “proficient” rating while another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below “proficient,” including 44 percent who earned a rating of “basic” and 22 percent who earned a rating of “below basic.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/two-thirds-wisconsin-public-school-8th-g#

 

Remember that number of 32%.

So then Media Matters publishes an article online, trying to counter CNS News’ story with this following information, which is their story in its entirety.

 

“BREAKING: 8th Grade Reading Scores in WI Higher Than National Average

February 22, 2011 3:03 pm ET by Eric Boehlert

This gotcha headline has made the rounds on the right-wing blogosphere and Drudge today, as conservatives point to it as proof that Wisconsin teachers are not only causing union trouble in that state, but they’re awful at their jobs:

Two-Thirds of Wisconsin Public-School 8th Graders Can’t Read Proficiently—Despite Highest Per Pupil Spending in Midwest

Oh my!

From the far-right CNSnews.com [emphasis added]:

In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a “proficient” rating while another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below “proficient,” including 44 percent who earned a rating of “basic” and 22 percent who earned a rating of “below basic.”

Right. And here’s where the hit piece promptly falls apart:

Nationwide, only 30 percent of public school eighth graders earned a rating of “proficient” or better in reading, and the average reading score on the NAEP test was 262 out of 500.

That’s right, the reading proficiency rate for Wisconsin eighth graders is slightly higher than the national average. But other than that the article is hugely embarrassing to teachers in that state. Or something.

UPDATED: More CNSnews.com brilliance:

Only 39 Percent of Wisconsin Public-School Eighth Graders Proficient in Math, Says Department of Education

The national average for eighth grade math students? It's 25 percent. “

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201102220030

 

Now, here is where Media Matters proves my point. They correctly pointed out that Wisconsin’s rating was 2% higher than the national average in reading and 14% higher than the national average in math.

Can anyone remember taking a test in school where you passed any test with a score of 30% or 25%? National reading scores average 30% and national math scores average 25%. I would say that those numbers certainly support my claim that our education system, including teachers and administrators, has absolutely failed our students over the last several decades.

Thus, I still contend that the gross negligence needs to be completely eliminated, starting with the federal Education department then striking hard at the teacher’s unions and getting rid of tenure. At a later date, and further into this blog, I’ll post comments from some educators at both secondary school and college levels calling for an end of tenure.

Update on “And Perhaps Then Some”

In the previous posting, the heading includes the above words in the title, and those words were based on the information in the last paragraph or so of the Colton Burpo Part 2 news article. So, let me explain the “update” aspect.

I came home yesterday and spent quite a bit of time trying to find the story or something about the young lady who is an artist and had done an image of Jesus that Colton claimed was closest to what his “Jesus” looked like. Of course, I couldn’t find anything in the archives of Lori Henshey on the Examiner website.

However, her e-mail address was on the Examiner website, so I sent her an e-mail saying something to the effect that I couldn’t find the story and was assuming that perhaps the family of the young girl declined to participate with the story.

Lori Henshey responded this morning that the story needed more research than she thought and that she was still working on the article. She said that she should have it posted in roughly a week to 10 days or so.

She offered to send me a link to the story once it was posted online and I replied saying that I would really appreciate the courtesy. I also jokingly hinted that it would be nice if a copy of the Jesus image could be a part of the story.

I then got another message from her with a link to a gallery of the young lady’s paintings. So, allow me to share it with you as well. But, first, a little information might be in order. The young lady’s name is Akiane and in addition to her painting, she also writes poetry. She began drawing when she was four-years-old and painting at six.

I will give you the homepage of her website so that once you enter, you can learn more about her. From the homepage click on “Enter” and then once in further in the website, there is a link to her Gallery.

Once you are into the gallery, scroll down to the line where it is labeled “Age 8” and the Jesus painting is the second one from the left. Once you arrive at the image, be sure and read the poem to the right of the image. It, too, is a beautiful thing.

Enjoy. I certainly am. Also, once Lori Henshey’s story on Akiane is finished and I receive the link from her, I’ll share that as well.

http://www.artakiane.com/

After further thought, I’ll also put in a link directly to the gallery.

http://www.artakiane.com/gallery