Again, Obama is not proposing mandatory service. He's suggested a voluntary program of service (including but not limited to military) in exchange for college tuition.

http://www.bravewriter.com/thearrow.htm thoughts? I'm thinking of using it for my 7 year old (who's an excellent reader) to add a bit more of a formal literature component to our language arts stuff (which currently consists of WWE and FLL and 30 minutes of independent reading (his choice, with my input) a day).

And I know that you don't like either of them, Peek-a-boo. You've been very open about that ;).

I don't disagree with that, and I'm not speaking up for mandatory registration. I'm just pointing out that that's a separate issue from whether women and men should BOTH register if anyone has to register. That's the only point of difference between Obama and McCain on this issue.

and according to the article linked to, neither candidate is proposing that. Obama said specifically in his response that he was against the draft. McCain has said the same thing (or, at least, he's said that he has no plans to bring the draft back). I don't think either of them has proposed getting rid of draft registration, though.

I'm not sure why this column was written today. It's quoting an answer Obama gave in a Democratic primary debate well over a year ago. Here's the quote: (emphasis mine) I checked the transcript and every other debate participant answered pretty much the same way. Obama has always made a point of emphasizing finding ways to encourage young people to serve their country; I think this goes along with that.

I know how you feel. You're doing the right thing! I think in my case people just start taking me off their e-mail lists instead of actually taking 10 seconds to check whether something's true before sending it out. I suppose this is nice for me, but not so much for my larger cause ;)

:lurk5:

I re-read books either because they're some of my very favorites and ones that I feel like you get something new out of every time (Delta Wedding, Absalom, Absalom) or because I just enjoyed them a lot the first go round and am in the mood to read a sure thing (I've read several Anne Tyler books more than once in this category).

I'm with Jugglin'5 in my views on salvation as necessarily being a single moment one can point to, but even if I weren't I would find the push for getting children saved younger and younger disturbing. The sense I get from listening to older people who grew up in the evangelical tradition is that it's a pretty recent phenomenon, and 50 years ago it would have been unheard of for a 3 year old to get saved.

yeah, the leghorn (Super--named by my then 4 year old) has kind of a split personality. Sometimes she's incredibly sweet (she likes to fly up and roost on my shoulder); other times she turns around to peck me when I touch her. And she's gone broody twice already. She is not your stereotypical leghorn, I don't think. She's also at the bottom of the pecking order of our current flock, so I think she's hoping to put these new ones in their place and have somebody to boss around :D. The new girls (whom my boys have now named Sidekick and Violet) are New Hampshire Reds. The others are a Buff Orpington, a Barred Rock, and a Silver Laced Wyandotte. They're all out in the yard together right now, with supervision. They're all ignoring each other at the moment...if the littles get near Super, she gives them a couple of pecks and chases them off, and then leaves them alone. So so far, so good. I think if things keep going okay, I'll start letting them loose together as long as we're home, so I'll hear any big fights, and keep them separated when we're not around until they get a little bigger. Thanks for the input everyone!

We have 4 10 month old chickens, and we just picked up 2 chicks this morning to add to our little flock. The woman said they're "about 3 months old" but they look smaller than that to me. Right now we have a them in a separate enclosure and can keep them that way for as long as we need to (alternating which set of chickens gets to come out and have the run of the yard), but eventually I'd like to have them all together. Anyone BTDT and want to share their secrets? One of the little ones got out tonight and ran around for a little bit with the older ones. Mostly they just sort of lunged at her threateningly and then left her alone, but my leghorn got in a few good pecks (no blood or anything!) before I chased her off. The leghorn is a little moody. Also, whenever I do put them together, how much fighting is too much? I know with dogs, some people recommend not jumping in to break up fights immediately because the dogs need to work out the pack order and all that. Is it like that with chickens....or, umm, not? TIA!

I buy them from Breadbeckers because I live about 15 minutes from them :) ...I haven't compared prices to see if they would still be the best deal if I were paying shipping.

Reporting with the results of my first experiment: I put some of the flour in my bread tonight (I am not so good about measuring--it was maybe 3/4 cup of the garbanzo flour for 2 loaves). DH likes it but says it tastes a little "spicy." Kids haven't noticed a difference.

For my homeschooling book group (that's reading "the classics" starting with young adult stuff and moving up): Anne of Green Gables. I've read it at least a couple of times before, but not for a long time. And then, because I like to feel overwhelmed by obligations, I started a politics/political history book club on another board I post on, and we're reading The American Political Tradition & The Men Who Made It by Richard Hofstadter.

You know, I was starting to feel that way until last night when my mother interrupted our agreed upon political cease-fire with an e-mail forward. This set off a brief and incredibly frustrating back and forth that made me once again thankful for the level of discourse this board (very often) produces.

I think you're correct that that number is zero. Number of presidents who have died in office, however, is 8. Nearly 1 in 5.

I would humbly suggest that if Joe Biden were found guilty of ethics violations by a legislative body dominated by his own party in an investigation that began before he was nominated for VP, it might be an uphill battle to try to claim he was the victim of a politically-motivated witchhunt.

My understanding is that findings of the report are twofold: 1. In the firing of Monhegan, her actions were found to be "proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads." 2. In heractions regarding Wooten (who, as far as I know, is still on the job, incidentally) she was found to have acted in violation of state ethics laws and abused her power. So she did nothing illegal in firing Monhegan, but did act illegally on the larger issue of her handling of the Wooten case. there are the statute numbers that she was found to have violated.

Thanks so much everyone! I knew I couldn't just make bread out of the flour, but I was thinking I could sub some in for some of the whole wheat in certain recipes to boost the protein content. I have a friend whose daughter has a wheat allergy and she was telling me it works better for a lot of gluten free recipes than stuff like rice flour. The Bob's Red Mill list looks great! Must bookmark this thread and actually get some beans out.

I make bread by hand. I knead it the old fashioned way and everything. I actually have both a bread machine and a stand mixer, but I never use either for bread. I feel like I get the most consistent results when I do the whole thing by hand, especially working with all whole wheat. The bread machine spits out bricks half the time, and my mixer can't handle mixing more than one good sized loaf at a time.

I've got some relatives who would probably vote for anyone Jimmy Buffet told them to :D (I have an uncle who actually has a "Jimmy Buffet room" in his house)

I bought a 40 pound bucket of garbanzo beans months ago and haven't really gotten around to doing anything much with them. A lot of my plan involves using them in baking and the like as a flour substitute to boost the protein in stuff (I'm especially interested in doing more non-meat meals that don't rely overmuch on cheese). I have a grain mill--wondermill--I can put them in there to make flour, right? Then what? What proportion of wheat flour can I sub the chickpea flour in for? Or does it work that way? Are there some things it will work in and other things that it won't? Any recipes to share? Thanks!

This is interesting...I actually heard more than one Hillary Clinton supporter compare Obama to Carter during the primaries--an idealist who can't get things done. I don't think so, but I do understand that perception and see why people think that way. I agree (with Mom to Aly) that Carter is a brilliant and always well-intentioned guy, but I don't think he was a great president. I don't think his personality was suited to the kind of constant compromise and give and take the presidency calls for. He has a great mind, but I don't know that he has a great political mind. Quote from conservative columnist David Brooks the other day: The second paragraph is, I think, the evidence that Obama is not likely to be another Carter. He has a political mind. Carter's the "pure intellectual" --he couldn't have been president in another time--he was a product of a post-Watergate election. Obama, I think, is one of a handful of politicians not dependent on circumstances that way.