Barbara Curtis's Blog, page 183

BET founder to Obama: Stop attack on wealthy

BET's Robert Johnson To Obama: Stop Attacking The Wealthy

I really see a lot of black support for Obama peeling off as he treats them all like they are second class citizens - have-nots pitted against the haves - who need the government to survive.

There are plenty of blacks like Robert Johnson who have worked hard and realize this isn't a black/white issue. In fact, as I've been saying for 10 years, leftist politicians are like plantation owners who think they can manage and take care of the slaves (their voting slaves) - and actually feel morally righteous about it.

Republicans were responsible for the freeing of the slaves. And as soon as we roust the Establishment Republicans and replace them with conservatives, they will be responsible for the freeing of this liberal-created welfare slave class, whose votes have been bought by destroying their families and character through the welfare system and the politics of class warfare.

I think that as black business leaders - like Herman Cain and Robert Johnson - start speaking out, we will hear more and more voices.

See all my entries on Black Conservatives

Obama Tax Plan - at a glance

Figures reputed to be from the Wall Street Journal:

The strange thing is how his devotees believe him when he says he is "fighting" (because he's always fighting, isn't he?) for he middle class . . . .

World magazine - discount for MommyLife readers

My last entry referred to Marvin Olasky's article in World, which reminds me that I need to remember to exhort my readers to subscribe to this invaluable resource.

We began reading World magazine in 1989. As the newsweeklies Time and Newsweak have been in steady decline, I've often thanked God for a source we can count on for the truth about current events rather than puff pieces on liberals and hit pieces on conservatives.

World covers current events - national and international - from a Christian perspective, including culture and the arts. They have some fantastic columnists, including Gene Veith and Marvin Olasky and great reporting from Mindy Belz and others. Last year when postal rates went up, they made a decision to go to a biweekly format with more pages and more in-depth coverage - and while I thought they already had a product which couldn't be improved on, the new World has been even better than it was before.

I read each issue cover-to-cover - but have a hard time keeping it to myself for any length of time as World is pretty popular with all the readers in the house. And when my kids have gotten married and started families of their own, they've gotten their own subscriptions, so now my grandchildren are reading it too.

A subscription to World is a solid investment - one which I wanted my readers to share. I approached World about offering a special deal for MommyLife readers and they have - $10 less than Amazon's price. Just click below:

World also produces newsweeklies for kids - similar to Junior Scholastic, but free of liberal hype and spin. You can subscribe yourself - or better yet, pool with others (maybe your homeschooling group?) as the price goes down when subscribing for multiple copies (just like in the classroom).

This is a great way to begin building discernment in your children so they will be able as adults to see for themselves the truth behind the news.

See God's World News for more information.

"I, Pencil": American enterprise and job creation

Playing the envy card

If 'creating jobs' is Job No. 1, lay off the rhetoric | Marvin Olasky

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Illustration by Krieg Barrie

President Barack Obama's rhetoric shows that politically liberal
Christians differ from politically conservative ones not only in policy
proposals but in the understanding of human nature that leads to those
proposals.

Let's think the best of our president. Let's suggest that his frequent
vilification of corporate presidents flying around on private jets--he
attacked them six times in a June 29 press conference--is more than a
political appeal to class envy.

Let's say he thinks private jet tax breaks are unfair because he is
philosophically committed to equality. Since President Obama has
emphasized that "creating jobs" is Job No. 1 for him, let's think the
best of him and assume he believes that taking away special treatment
for corporate presidents will help the unemployed get back to work.

If those assumptions are correct, we should treat the White House
occupant not with paranoia but with pity. He's showing a lack of both
business experience and biblical understanding. He and other liberals
are showing that they don't understand original sin.

People without business experience might think entrepreneurship is
easy. President Obama should at least scan "I, Pencil: My Family Tree,"
an essay written by Leonard Read in 1958. Read explains what it takes to
make even a simple writing tool: Its components include cedar, lacquer,
graphite, ferrule, pumice, wax, and glue--and huge numbers of people
must be at work before the final product emerges.

Read more at World Magazine

Then read the original I, Pencil - and have your children read it too to see why capitalism brings out the best in individuals:

I, Pencil


By Leonard E. Read



I am a lead pencil--the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.



Writing is both my vocation and my avocation; that's all I do.



You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with, my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery --more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious attitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, the wise G. K. Chesterton observed, "We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders."



I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me--no, that's too much to ask of anyone--if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because--well, because I am seemingly so simple.



Simple? Yet, not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Especially when it is realized that there are about one and one-half billion of my kind produced in the U.S.A. each year.



Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye--there's some wood, lacquer, the printed labeling, graphite lead, a bit of metal, and an eraser.


Innumerable Antecedents


Just as you cannot trace your family tree back very far, so is it impossible for me to name and explain all my antecedents. But I would like to suggest enough of them to impress upon you the richness and complexity of my background.



My family tree begins with what in fact is a tree, a cedar of straight grain that grows in Northern California and Oregon. Now contemplate all the saws and trucks and rope and the countless other gear used in harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the railroad siding. Think of all the persons and the numberless skills that went into their fabrication: the mining of ore, the making of steel and its refinement into saws, axes, motors; the growing of hemp and bringing it through all the stages to heavy and strong rope; the logging camps with their beds and mess halls, the cookery and the raising of all the foods. Why, untold thousands of persons had a hand in every cup of coffee the loggers drink!



The logs are shipped to a mill in San Leandro, California. Can you imagine the individuals who make flat cars and rails and railroad engines and who construct and install the communication systems incidental thereto? These legions are among my antecedents.



Consider the millwork in San Leandro. The cedar logs are cut into small, pencil-length slats less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness. These are kiln dried and then tinted for the same reason women put rouge on their faces. People prefer that I look pretty, not a pallid white. The slats are waxed and kiln dried again. How many skills went into the making of the tint and the kilns, into supplying the heat, the light and power, the belts, motors, and all the other things a mill requires? Sweepers in the mill among my ancestors? Yes, and included are the men who poured the concrete for the dam of a Pacific Gas & Electric Company hydroplant which supplies the mill's power!



Read more - including Introduction and printable PDF - at Foundation for Economic Education

Whether you are homeschooling or delegating your children's education to public or private school, you need to take charge of this area of their education, as free enterprise has been shrouded in doubt and blame by Marxist elites and others who would undo our American heritage.



Teaching our children to think for themselves means exposing them to those values, ideas, and intellectual constructs which the Left has been trying to bury for decades. Many thanks to Marvin Olasky for highlighting this classic. Please read his article and the original "I, Pencil." And keep spreading the good news of American exceptionalism. Vote only for those who believe in it and do not apologize for who we are.

Facebook funnies

My Facebook newsfeed has been streaming like a river filled with clever bits and pieces. Thought I'd round up some for you:

Enlarge Obama Crisis Management

For Michael Moore with love

Maddy American Idol update

Since Maddy appeared on American Idol in January 2010, many people have asked if she was going to try out again. Maddy's answer was always "no," though she was very grateful for the exposure being on the show gave her, bringing her many jobs at concerts and other public and private events - which also helped her grow in confidence and poise. Today she is very much the same girl - authentic, sweet and comfortable in her own skin. But she has even more presence than she did before.

It's amazing what five minutes on TV can do. Strangers still stop her and ask if she was on American Idol. Little girls ask for her autograph. Maddy feels somewhat uncomfortable with this, and really never volunteers her history to anyone. When she went to Catholic U this fall, she never mentioned AI to anyone, but people gradually started to ask her about it, asking her if she would try out again.

Well, the fact is that Maddy did try out again. In July she surprised me by asking if I would take her to Pittsburgh for the auditions. It's a 5-6 hour drive from us (half the distance of Boston, where she auditioned for Season Nine).

Many people audition for AI more than once after making it to Hollywood and I don't know if they write the producers for a streamlined audition process, but Maddy didn't want to try that route. So we registered on Thursday and lined up on Friday morning at 5 AM along with 13,999 other hopefuls.

Here's Maddy going into the stadium:

Since we had registered the night before and contestants had been registering for two days, Maddy was at the tail end . We sat in the stands until 7:30 PM when contestants in our section were herded up to the tents for the first round:

for the first round of auditions, contestants line up in groups of four before a table of producers seated under the gazebos. They have 20-30 seconds to sing. The producers might ask one to sing again. Then, if they keep anyone they give them their first "golden ticket," and that lucky person goes off to the right to begin filling out paperwork while all those rejected stream out to the left and out of the stadium. Out of 14,000 that day I'd say no more than 300 made it through - and of course, those included not just the best, but in AI fashion, the worst.

People ask how the producers can make a decision so quickly - especially when there are MANY people there with outstanding voices who do not make it. The producers say that they can tell when they're in the presence of someone with star quality.

Maddy was nervous. She was under no illusions that just because she made it once she would make it again. She was two years older and had but her hair. I know she was worried about how it would feel to be rejected. (And by the way, don't you love the way she goes to these auditions looking normal? There were SO MANY hot tamales and Beyonce and Taylor Swift wanna-bes. I was really glad I had a daughter who has been referred to as crunchy granola.)

Maddy was going to sing Janis Joplin's Turtle Blues. But when her group came forward, one of the producers behind the table looked up and said, "Maddy? Maddy Curtis? You're back! We were so hoping you would come back last year!" and took her out of line to say hi to all the producers who knew her from before. They were so affirming and excited to see her. I know she felt really blessed.

But all I knew, watching with all the other family and friends across the stadium was that she came out with her ticket and went to the right. In Boston, when she got through this point, an AI official came and got me from the stands because since she was under 18 I had to accompany her at all times. But now she was 18 and on her own. I waited and waited, along with all the other loved ones of those who'd made it. She came out at 8:30 and said she had to be back at 7 AM Sunday morning for the next round of auditions - where other family members were expected to accompany her.

So we drove home to Virginia to regroup and repack. It was another of countless nights that I have driven Maddy while she sleeps like a baby to and from appearances, gigs and wherever else her adventure has taken us. Mostly I remember dark nights and double-yellow-line 2-lane country roads with Maddy's Zune playing random selections from Verdi to Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney to the Avett Brothers. I know there won't be many of those nights left, and I've always treasured them. You never know which one will be the last because your little girl has grown up.

So we went back Saturday afternoon with Jonny and Justin, stayed at a hotel and were up bright and early the next morning to get in line. Since we'd been through this before, we knew what the day would be like - an advantage we didn't have the first time around. There would be at least two more rounds of producer/judges and lots of filming to narrow the finalists who would eventually see the TV judges - now Randy, Jennifer Lopez and Steve Tyler (in Boston, Maddy had seen Simon, Karen, Randy and Victoria Beckham, who was a temporary judge while AI negotiated unsuccessfully with Paula Abdul.)

In the meantime, Jonny, Justin and I sat in a holding room with other family members, waiting for word and watching the camera crews set up shots with contestants. Finally. about 12:30 they called us to go downstairs, Maddy had made it through the first round and was about to go before the highest level of producers. It was set up the same way it is when you see the show on TV with the TV judges - with the closed door and the family gathered outside with cameras going full bore. We watched several contestants make/not make the cut and their families react with joy or sadness. The it was our turn to wait outside the door. Maddy burst out with the golden ticket (the same way we see people burst out from the TV judges) and they asked her some questions.

Later Maddy told me that Nigel Lithgoe was on the final panel (he's one of the producers of American Idol as well as So You Think You Can Dance) and that he remembered her and said, "They never should have taken you off. That was a mistake."

So we came home to wait for the final call to come back to Pittsburgh in the fall to see the TV judges.

All of this was a little crazy because Maddy had decided last year that she wants to pursue a career in opera and that is what she was entering Catholic U to study this fall. I wasn't sure what was going on as Maddy is really good at hearing from the Holy Spirit - in fact, the whole American Idol thing the first time around was clearly Spirit-driven. I just wanted to support her in whatever she felt led to do.

That was when I decided to let my political writing go for a while and even took some of my blog history offline. Last time Maddy was on AI word had gotten out that her mother was a homophobe (because of course if you aren't 100% pro-gay marriage you are a homophobe) and Maddy had experienced a blot of vicious backlash. Since Ellen Degeneris was a judge that year, we always wondered if that had led to her unexpectedly early elimination.

Maddy got the word last week that the auditions for the TV judges would be in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, 9/28. And while she could have gotten away with taking a day off school, she was worried about Hollywood week and whether the filming for that might take place before the end of the semester (AI keeps that secret until the last minute.)

But the greatest conflict for Maddy was the feeling that she needed to put all her energy into one path. She's been very successful at school, the only freshman to be cast in the fall opera, and already distinguishing herself as someone who is not only gifted, but self-disciplined and teachable.

So she wrote back and thanked them for all they'd done for her, but explained that this wasn't the right time, that she wanted to concentrate on college.

Our family had mixed emotions. A couple of her siblings were disappointed. I was disappointed a little myself, but in the end it's her life and I trust that God is speaking to her more about it now that she's older than He is to me.

Even when they called her personally to encourage her to come, Maddy said no, that even if it was a good thing, it was the wrong time for her.

So that is that. Which is why I can share this story - because Maddy won't be on American Idol this year.

And now I will go back to writing what I want to write about and my old material will be back online as soon as my BlogGuru gets it there.

I am still trying to talk Maddy into recording some MP3s. For one thing, Catholic University is very expensive and while she has a great scholarship package, there's a lot left to cover. Thank God Tripp has his new job as it's enabled us to make up the shortfall, but still. . . .

Today's $$$ plea from Joe Biden

Wow.  Sign up for BarackObama.com and you too can have an Inbox filled with please from all the big deal Dems - including the Big Guy himself, our Target-shopping First Lady, and today, Joe Who?

  Barbara --



I need to ask you one last thing before tonight's midnight deadline:



If you know you're going to donate to this campaign eventually, what's stopping you from doing it right now?



If you're going to be a part of history in 2012, it's time to get off the sidelines.



So, before midnight, will you chip in what you can and say you're in?



This has never been about Barack and me.



We're just two guys. It's folks like you out there who will decide this election.



And what you're capable of is incredible -- if you decide to do it.

https://donate.barackobama.com/Friday-Deadline



Thank you,



Joe



P.S. -- That deadline also applies to the dinner Barack is having with four supporters. Donate today and you'll be automatically entered for the chance to be there.

My life update - hard times but a happy ending

[pictures at the end]

I really need to do a recap of the last six weeks, because there's been a lot going on that I haven't written about.

Tripp has been traveling a lot - which had some major repercussions I want to share - and also we were on vacation for a week. I never mention things like this until after the fact for security reasons. We have a security system in our house, plus dogs, plus my loaded revolver - all of which give me a certain peace of mind, but still, I prefer not to advertise these things.

Also, I haven't been able to catch up because the day after we came home I got very sick. Went to the doctor Monday because I had a speaking engagement scheduled for today and really needed to get better. But the nurse practitioner said I just had the flu, go home and drink water, take Zyrtec and Sudafed, etc. By yesterday I was a wreck, so had to go back to see my usual nurse practitioner and she gave me steroids and antibiotics. I am feeling so much better already - well enough to give you a thorough rundown about the challenges I've been dealing with and how things are looking better today.

So wait a minute. I'm going to go make myself a cup of coffee. Maybe you want to too? I mean if you really want all the details. . .

First, August: we had barely gotten everything moved to our new house then Tripp was called away for a trip to Nantucket, where he stayed for over a week. Sophia returned to Liberty University. Tripp took Maddy to Catholic University for orientation and to say goodbye so she could start her new life. I couldn't go because we were having major problems with Daniel - our 15-year-old adopted son with Down syndrome and autism - and I didn't have a babysitter who could handle the challenge,.

Two days after the kids started school, Tripp left to drive a luxury bus cross country to Simi Valley. One of the perks of his job is that he gets to see some exciting events, and this time he saw the GOP Debates at the Reagan Library. Also the 9/11 Memorial there.

But by the time he came home, he'd been away 14 days and I was a mess.

Ordinarily, it would have been no problem - I mean other than missing him. But what happened was that Daniel's problems had escalated beyond anything I ever dreamed possible. I won't go into all the terrible details, but it was really, really bad, often leaving me crying and shaking and in despair. Just for instance, if we needed to go somewhere - the four boys and I - if Daniel refused to go, there was nothing I could do, because he is stronger than I.

I made many calls trying to find some professional help, but really had no success. I asked everyone to pray. But mostly, I just felt like I was losing my mind.

Poor kid. He really had been through so much:

moving our home
siblings going off to college
dad's travel
starting high school

And since he's autistic, he can't verbalize his feelings - even to himself. So he acts out. I kept trying to curb my reactions and accommodate him (putting him in pullups rather than getting upset when he wet his pants, often on purpose). When I said it was time to go to bed and he wouldn't budge, I'd simply turn off the lights and go upstairs to put the other boys to bed and he would finally follow. It seemed to be very important to him that he be in control of his own actions. I can see why since so many things seemed to be spinning out of his control.

One night, for a change of pace, I took the boys to a movie (Captain America) but Daniel spent the entire time fixated on staring malevolently at Jesse. He just couldn't break out of it. Fortunately, Jesse wasn't aware.

Even though I could understand it rationally, though, I really was having a hard time not sinking into self-pity. No, I'll be honest, I was wallowing in self-pity, and feeling guilty because I know so many people who have far greater problems than mine. And my back and shoulders - where I tend to gather my tension - were completely hard like a brick. Ask Tripp, who finally came home on Thursday the 15th (his birthday) and tried to hug the most unhuggable wife ever.

Maddy came home Friday night and Saturday we left for Nags Head, North Carolina. I was almost too depressed to go. I still felt hopeless and desperate and near tears all the time. Vacation would be nice, but I would be coming home to the same problems I left behind. Would I be able to relax? I, i, I, I, I - self pity is like quicksand. Pretty soon it becomes hard to let other people pull you out. I kept trying though. By nature I'm an optimist and I could only remember two other times feeling so terrible - once before I was a Christian and once when Jonny was 15 months old and hospitalized for the tenth or twelfth time.

So we got to the beach and for two days all 10 of the Curtis kids were there (my two oldest daughters - Samantha and Jasmine - were raised by Tripp but have a different father. Samantha has six kids of her own who have school and activities, so they couldn't all make it. Jasmine has chosen to estrange herself from our family) - plus two of my grandsons, Tim and Jeffrey.

Ben and Anna flew down from Rutherford, New York where he is going to grad school at Eastman for vocal performance. Sophia and her sweetheart Josh Head came down from Lynchburg.

Matt's sweetheart Emma, who lives in London, had flown in for a couple weeks, so they drove down with Zach.

And Josh and Hattie were able to make it - a real blessing since Hattie is still dealing with some major health issues, like wounds from surgeries and skin grafts which haven't yet healed and need special care. Her nurse had trained Josh in how to cleanse and dress them so she would be free to go.

And of course there were Jonny, Jesse, Daniel and Justin - our remaining children at home, our four sons with Down syndrome.

So 18 in all. There were just two days we were all together because kids had to get back to college. On Monday, Ben and Anna, Sophia and Josh left. I drove Maddy to Richmond (3 hours - but I've traveled so much in the car with Maddy that it always brings happy memories) to catch a train to DC.

Tim and Pat left Tuesday.

So then we were 11.

I love the beach, love the fresh ocean air. I don't care if it's cloudy or misty. Within a couple days I was feeling pretty normal. For years we've stayed in a 150-year-old house, one of the original Nags Head properties. We just have to walk a few steps to the beach. You can open the windows and go to sleep with the roar of the ocean.

The weather was up and down. We had a few wonderful weather days, a few off-and-on rain. One day of solid rain which was fun staying inside and watching movies. (scroll down for pictures)

I don't know how we started thinking about it, but Tripp and I began to focus on Daniel's medication. For three years, Daniel has taken a very small dose of Abilify at bedtime (2 ml = 2/5 tsp). One thing I had during the behavior siege, was weaning him off his medication in case it was making him worse. I found that for a few days his behavior was better, but then it got worse, so I put him back on.

Right before we came home, Tripp and I decided to try spreading out the dose into even smaller increments through the day. We played around with timing and sizes and by Wednesday came up with what has been a winning schedule. A dose in the morning, when he comes home from school, and at bedtime - still totaling 2 ml.

And now we have a loving, cheerful, eager-to-please and most importantly - happy - son back. I can't believe that such a simple change could have such an enormous effect. And I can't believe that I was almost ready to give up.

At times like these, I can only think that God breathes the solution into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, because I have no idea where the idea came from. And who would think that's such a micro-dose would matter that much. After all, we'd been doing it three years under the doctor's direction.

The problem was I was still not out of feeling depressed because I came home sick. As it turned out Matt, Zach, and Josh were all sick too. I'm definitely rethinking the 150-year-old house for next year as I'm starting to worry about the mold.

By the way, I really want to recommend that you tuck money away for a vacation every year. There have been years we couldn't afford a vacation, but when we do go it is always so refreshing and transformational. The children have such good memories and it really keeps our family bonded and helps bond new spouses too.

I think the best way to go is to rent a house wherever you're going. It will be less expensive and you can do your own cooking and have a washer and dryer there to keep up with laundry. If that makes it not sound like a vacation, believe me, it still is.

You have to book in advance. I will be looking this week to make our reservations for next year. I know I've said this before and actually had readers write to tell me they took my advice and were very grateful. Coming from a broken family that didn't take vacations, this was something I had to decide to do. I'm glad I did.

Here's just a little of what it looks like - to encourage you to try to take a vacation next year too:

I don't know why it always strikes me when our family gets together - all the cars. I guess it's like the trikes and bikes and green machines in the driveway when they were little:

Daniel after Tripp and I adjusted his meds - like an angel:

Justin with Emma, Matt's British girlfriend, who all my little guys love because she talks like Mary Poppins:

Quiverfull survey - participants needed

Dear Barbara Curtis:

Hello, my name is Juliana Denson. I am a graduate student in the School of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. I am writing my Master's thesis on the benefits that women experience as a result of their Quiverfull beliefs. As a woman, I understand how faith can act as a powerful source of encouragement, support, and even empowerment. The Quiverfull way of life seems to provide the women who practice it with feelings of joy and empowerment, and I would like to understand why.

As part of this inquiry, I am conducting an online survey to help me identify the benefits of the Quiverfull way of life for its female practitioners. You are being asked to participate in my survey because you have indicated your participation in the Quiverfull way of life. Please take just a few minutes to fill out this brief survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/quiverfull.

You have the right to refuse to answer any questions or to terminate the survey at any time. Your individual privacy will be maintained in all publications or presentations resulting from this study. All participants will remain anonymous; your real name will not be used in the final research document. In order to preserve the confidentiality of your responses, I will not share your names and contact information with anyone. Thank you very much for your participation.

If you have any questions or would like additional information about my research or this survey, please contact me by email at juliana.denson@cgu.edu or by phone at 909-575-7949. Additional contact information for me and my faculty advisor are available on the survey website.

Please forward this email to anyone you know who may be interested in participating in my survey.

Thank you,

Juliana Denson