CDC Believes Coronavirus Endemic In West Coast Public Schools, May Quarantine Kids AT Schools

                                                   

Seattle / King county Public Health does not want to close Public Schools because they and the CDC believe Coronavirus is already Endemic in the Public School System, and are concerned that sending kids home will result in their Grandparents becoming infected with COVID-19. 

Oregon has also taken the position to not close schools until the last resort


Below is the direct quote from Patty Hayes, Director of Public Health Seattle and King County
(full video clip of the Governor's press conference is in the Sources and Data section below):

"We know that when children are,when we close the school, children have to go somewhere, so if you think about families, where often are the care givers? It might be grandma, grandpa, an elderly member of the family; the exact people that we're concerned about. So sometimes keeping  children in the classroom and under the supervision of the school is the best advice. And then if they are symptomatic we certainly work immediately with that school and its structure that they have for the school nurse and healthcare identification."

Analysis:

1) Obviously the ONLY way sending kids home could be problematic is if the COVID-19 Genie is already out of the bottle with Coronavirus endemic in the school system.

2) Its also clear that unless there is overwhelming evidence of an outbreak at school, parents will not easily tolerate their children being locked down in school quarantine.

3) So given items (1) and (2) the only "strategy" King county Public Health can have is to keep schools open as long as possible thereby minimizing the kid's Grandparents day time exposure, while simultaneously allowing cases to fester in school until harsher action become publicly palpable.

Discussion:

While Seattle's Public Health position may make sense at the HERD level; at my individual level it's not sensible. As such, if I lived in Washington State; I would immediately file a letter of intent to have my children home schooled. I would not let my children return on Monday morning!

Unfortunately Washington state does not trust people to home school their children; Its also likely why they want to keep infected kids under their charge at in school quarantine, instead giving them back to their parents.

For help with getting kids legally home schooled, here is a link to the Homeschool Laws in Your State.

Risk Mitigation:

Telemedicine risk mitigation devices we are using (in order of importance):

Oximeters (can indicate the difference between shortness of breath vs pneumonia)
https://amzn.to/2IADrPn (We tested it on adults and children down to 3 years old)

https://amzn.to/38tpdu3 (smaller sized for kids, but also worked on adult fingers)

Thermometers:
https://amzn.to/2Twilb3 ( Hospital grade no touch thermometer)

https://amzn.to/2Txiivw (Best ear thermometer)

Blood pressure:
https://amzn.to/2vMbQYx (wide cuff range)





General Risk Mitigation Items:


(1) For emergency and portable decontamination we are using PDI Prevantics skin wipes containing 3.15% chlorhexidine gluconate and 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (or similar products)
PDI Prevantics is both rapid and persistent for hours in its viricide capability

Skin Wipes 3% Chlorhexidine 70% Alcohol
https://amzn.to/38kbPsQ



(2) We are actively using Hibiclens 4% Chlorhexidine surgical scrub as a full strength lotion applied to the hands as a persistent long duration viricide. The Hibiclens Gallon Jug Refill is more cost effective, but we may also substitute the significantly less expensive and slightly weaker 2% veterinarian chlorhexidine soaps as conditions and shortages unfold. 2% is the minimum strength we would use.


Hibiclens Foaming Hand Pump 4oz
https://amzn.to/37bRnsJ
Hibiclens Foaming Hand Pump 16oz
https://amzn.to/39n3Tah
Hibiclens Gallon Jug
https://amzn.to/39pbw06
Chlorhexidine 2%
https://amzn.to/2Sht60d




(3) We are using Germ-X Advanced 70% Ethanol hand sanitizer, as an inexpensive but very effective quick acting yet unfortunately short lived viricide.

GERM- X Advanced Hand Sanitizer 70% Alcohol
https://amzn.to/378qXYY



(4) We are also using Lysol-to-go 1 oz spray cans to disinfect shopping carts handles, public restrooms, etc.

Lysol-to-go 1oz Disinfectant Spray
https://amzn.to/2vhCo3p




5) Garbage bags:

Don't expect the garbage trucks to roll regularly during a quarantine. Don't be caught short of garbage bags

Amazon Garbage Bag Link
https://amzn.to/2S4rKFQ

6) Toilet Paper

Toilet Paper will run out, and you don't want to be out in public looking and fighting for it.

Amazon Toilet Paper Link
https://amzn.to/387NJBr


7) Small Gas Cans

Unlike China, most Americans have to drive to get supplies. Don't expect gas stations to be open, and expect the ones that are open to be crowded. That last thing you want to do is increase your coronavirus exposure chances by making unnecessary gasoline stops.

Unfortunately, most modern American gas cans are now dangerous as all heck thanks to California and their friends in the Federal Government. Metal cans are preferable over plastic, and if it doesn't have a long nozzle (preferably flexible) you wont be able to use it to fill your cars gas tank.

NOTE: Several States require gasoline cans to be red and to say gasoline on them. Where possible the use of 100% gasoline is preferable to 10% Ethanol formulations for storage purposes.

Red Metal 10L
https://amzn.to/2H29ruY

Red Metal 20L
https://amzn.to/38h01aZ

Red Plastic 2 Gallon
https://amzn.to/2vYFp95

Red Plastic Flexible Nozzle 5 Gallon
  https://amzn.to/2veYNxW

Green Explosafe Gas Can 5L (there is no safer way to transport or store fuel)
https://amzn.to/2vtpLC4






Outside of America, we prefer Valpro / Wavian  Explo-Safe gas cans.
https://pissinontheroses.blogspot.com/2020/02/quarantine-supplies-you-wont-realize.html


Fuel Stabilizer:

Gas does not have a long shelf life, especially in plastic gas cans.

STA-BIL MARINE FORMULA ETHANOL TREATMENT 8 OZ
https://amzn.to/2H3ecUY




 8) Car Parts and More

Almost all car parts and maintenance items are made in China, those factories are already closed. With an outbreak in the USA expect car dealerships and local garages to be shutdown for lack of parts and for fear of being infected.

We bought everything we thought we might need through FALL of 2020
https://amzn.to/3biqqqM

Many of these items may yet still be available at your local stores.

If you buy through any of the Amazon links, we will get a commission. We did NOT include links to purchase cough medicine based on reports that China was tracking who purchased cough medicine and such tracking might be expected in the USA.

Our Amazon Link
https://amzn.to/3biqqqM

Source Links And Data:

Patty Hayes Director, Public Health — Seattle & King County

Oregon health officials warn against closing schools

Based On NIH's Ebola Immunology Work Shop: Ebola Vaccines Are An Expensive and Near Worthless Joke

After watching the full 8 hours of the "Immunology of Protection from Ebola Virus Infection" workshop (sponsored by the NIAID/NIH, FDA, BARDA, DoD, and CDC) it is abundantly clear that the Ebola vaccine efforts are sadly an expensive and near worthless joke. We say this because at best, if the vaccine designs are perfect, they will only protect those who have been exposed to the most minuscule amounts of Ebola.

The vaccine developers are clear that the proposed vaccines will be utterly overwhelmed if the person is exposed to anything more than a needle prick's worth of virus. And even at that tiny amount, the vaccine researchers are complaining that its too much virus; they want 1/100 of a needle prick's worth of virus, at maximum, to be the challenge standard for the vaccine.

As such, the vaccines in development are not to protect the public; at best, they are designed to offer a modicum of protection to Ebola researchers who may develop small holes in their spacesuits as they are working in the their Bio Safety Level 4 Laboratories. These vaccines would likely NOT have protected either of the Dallas nurses who were infected with Ebola in the course of treating Thomas Duncan.

The researchers at the conference are aware of the fact that these vaccines will offer no real individual protection. In fact it was indicated at the conference that if all goes well and the vaccine is given to a large enough segment of the public, that maybe the vaccines might slightly reduce the virus reproduction number, ie every infected person only makes 2 other people sick instead of 3.

Frankly thats a very large safety gamble to force an experimental vaccine on the population for the outside possibility that it might ever so slightly reduce the reproduction number of the virus. Its pretty clear now why the Government has declared that no one working on the vaccines ,or forcing those vaccines on the public can be held civilly or criminally liable for their work.

At this point, its becoming very clear that the greatest return on research dollar investment is on post exposure treatment with Antibodies and Antivirals; the vaccine work is a joke.

Sources:

Immunology of Protection from Ebola Virus Infection A workshop sponsored by the NIAID/NIH, FDA, BARDA, DoD, and CDC


ACTION: Notice of Declaration under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act

Aerosolizing ONE DROP of Ebola Infected Blood Can Kill 500,000 People

NIH: Airborne Ebola Infectious Down To Extinction Levels

MAX ALERT Joplin Missouri: Nursing Student From Congo Dies Showing Respiratory Symptoms

Big hat tip to  @StudioInCabot  for alerting us to this news out of Joplin Missouri.

 Over the weekend in Joplin, Missouri, a nursing student from the Congo died after he was spotted having respiratory symptoms while out on a walk. The local coroner attributes the death to cardiac arrest. The coroner is quoted as saying he "understood the victim had been in the U.S. long enough to have passed the incubation period for the disease"

Unfortunately the Coroner's statement has an aire of uncertainty about it. Moreover we also find Coroner's public Linkedin profile to be concerning as the is seems to indicate zero medical training, and that his prior employment was as county Sheriff.

We believe it would be wise for Public Health officials to start contact tracing on the victim to determine what the true exposure risk.

Did he have contact with other International students from Ebola infected areas? 

As a nursing student was he in any way involved in medical care in Ebola infected areas?


Hopefully the Coroner is correct in his diagnosis, but given the alignment of risk factors and the dangerous impact of a positive Ebola case,  further DETAILED investigation is needed to rule out Ebola and potentially even Enterovirus 68.

Sources:

http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/article_6e3a8d0c-484e-11e4-bebb-fb3f783dbd69.html


Mark Bridges coroner at newton county,mo

Inside Missouri's Enterovirus Outbreak: 6 Year Old Girl Wakes Up To Find Her Legs Didn't Want To Work

There's a lot more going on with the current Enterovirus Outbreak than the public knows; we'll pull back the curtains a little bit on what the local Pediatricians here in the Saint Louis area are dealing with.

Likely the most important thing to know is that the local Pediatricians believe that multiple different strains of Enterovirus are surging locally. This belief seems to be based on the wide variety of symptoms being displayed by pediatric patients, it may or may not be the case.

And that brings us to the 6 year old girl who woke up one morning to find that her legs did not want to work. Her first symptoms started a week prior and they came in the following approximate order.

Day 1:  Burping, acid reflux
Day 2:  Stomach discomfort, minor nausea, burping acid reflux
Day 3:  Lethargy after moderate physical activity
Day 4:  Lethargy, Fever ~102F, Headache, slight back ache, & previous symptoms
Day 5:  Improvement after OTC medicine given, Fever remains ~100F
Day 6:  Continued improvement, minor scratchy Throat, leg complaints, Fever@ 99F, & previous symptoms
Day 7:  Profound calf pain in both legs upon awakening, significant difficulty walking, other symptoms improved

Diagnosis: Enterovirus, But D68 not suspected; throat is red but Strep test is negative; deemed not contagious while fever is under 100F

Treatment: Symptomatic using OTC medicine,

Day 8: All symptoms greatly improved
Day 9: Some stomach discomfort remains


Conclusion:

Strange things are afoot in Missouri, the enterovirus outbreak seems to be very wide spread and victims may not necessarily show coughing, sneezing or other respiratory aspects.

The Best High Throughput "No Touch" Ebola Fever Thermometer

The latest and greatest "no touch" fever thermometer with the potential highest victim through-put rate is the the VisioFocus made by Tecnimed in Italy. The thermometer directly displays a person's temperature on their forehead as the temperature is being taken.

The beauty of this display feature is that medical personnel do not have to touch or take their eyes off the person being measured. This lack of handling and fumbling with the thermometer means that any group of people being scanned can be more rapidly moved through the queue.

The draw backs to these types of no touch thermometers is that they measure skin temperature and an offset is automatically applied to determine core body temperature (oral, anal, or axial). Environmental conditions can alter heat transfer rates off of the skin, thereby making measurements less accurate.

The thermometer is also able to measure the temperature of household objects, such as baby milk bottles. This capability also allows the device to be rapidly calibrated if the thermometer has undergone a rapid temperature swing, such as from a cold winter day to a warm inside room. The unit displays in both degrees Fahrenheit and Celsius.

Another obvious drawback to the unit is that one can not take one's own temperature without the aide of a mirror to make sure the thermometer is at the right focal distance away from the forehead or eyelid.

For greater insight watch the video.

SURVEILLANCE ALERT! CDC Immigration Unit Using Wisconsin School System As a Petri Dish For Pandemic Early Warning

There something unethical about using a school system as vertebral Petri dish to run infectious disease epidemiological experiments.

CDC and HHS are dumping  illegal immigrants (and legitimate refugees) into Wisconsin's school system with seemingly little to no effective  preventative medical care, and as such the CDC sees this as an opportunity to use an undisclosed school system in Wisconsin  as a Pandemic Canary in a Coal Mine for advanced warning of a Pandemic outbreak.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
(NCEZID), Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ),
requests approval of a new information collection to better
understand the triggers, timing and duration of the use of
school related measures for preventing and controlling the
spread of influenza during the next pandemic. 

The information collection for which approval is sought is
in accordance with DGMQ/CDC’s mission to reduce morbidity and mortality in mobile populations, and to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases within the United States. Insights gained from this information collection will assist in the planning and implementation of CDC
Pre-Pandemic Guidance on the use of school related measures,
including school closures, to slow transmission during an
influenza pandemic."

Odds are that the same thing is happening in other states, but CDC apparently thinks Wisconsin has the most suitable "mobile" population. In that regard, news media has been reporting that thousands of children of Central America are being sent to Wisconsin. The CDC plans to monitor approximately 1500 of these kids.

"Milwaukee, WI (WTAQ) - Wisconsin might end up housing some of the thousands of children who are now flooding into the country from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked the Catholic Charities organization to look for places that can handle the unaccompanied children. Father David Bergner of Catholic Charities in Milwaukee says he's been asked to find potential sites that could hold 100-to-300 kids."

In short,  what this public health debacle means is that you really really don't won't your kids in that school system; the CDC is eying it for a reason. A reason that might not exist if CDC and HHS took better preventative action before dumping these kids into a school system like they were swabbing bacteria into a petri dish. Even in the 1900's they at least knew enough to run new comers through a quarantine-able Ellis ISLAND before sending them on their merry way.

Heck, maybe its possible the CDC is just nostalgic for all those diseases public health wiped out of the United States in the 1900's. Maybe its all just part of some sort of EPA mandate to reintroduce endangered bacterial and viral fauna back into their old stomping ground. After all, whats the worse that could happen except increased job security for the CDC.

Sources:

http://www.ofr.gov/(S(ceta5szhejoorj53ewpyzdhu))/OFRUpload/OFRData/2014-17051_PI.pdf

Central American immigrants could be coming to Wisconsin

Baby Mugshots, When the Hot Mugshots Make Baby Thugs

To capitalize on the recent "hot mugshot" phenomena, decided to use a COTW morphing program to  see what the baby thugs of the mug shot baby daddies and baby mommies might produce.

Here's the results:

2015's American Girl Doll Of They Year Will Be A Presidential Daughter

Based on unconnected and unplaced sources, Mrs X has divined that the American Girl Doll "Doll of the Year" for 2015 will be a presidential daughter. Hint: it won't be Amy Carter.

Feminism's Monstrous Fairytale

In 1992 feminist Anna Quindlen won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.  A year later, she followed up the award with a speech to the Twin cities Chapter of the Betsy-Tacy Society where she announced to the world (or at least to a room full of young girls and their mothers, because boys rarely read the stories of  Besty, Tacy and Tib) that Elizabeth Warrington Ray was a feminist icon. 

I found out a week ago.

Not being of the feminist persuasion, I rarely run across them in my studies of the Bible, non-fiction literature and the rare piece of classic fiction.  (Taylor Caldwell is an admitted weakness.)  So I had no idea who Anna Quindlen was when I purchased a copy of the recently republished Betsy and the Great World / Betsy’s Wedding (HarperCollins) with Ms. Quindlens’ speech in the foreword.  I know now.

Feminism is about choices, Ms. Quindlen takes great care to tell us early into her speech.  A point, she claims, that has been grossly distorted over the years, lied about, twisted and generally just misrepresented.  She may be right.  Every time I see someone proclaim they are a feminist (even Christians), they always say feminism is about equal rights.  The right of a woman to do anything a man can do.  That’s all, they say.  But I think Ms. Quindlen is more precise.  Feminism is about choices.

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Betsy is the feminist icon, readers are told, not because she made choices, but because she never had to pay for her choices.  In other words, she lived the feminist fairy tale.  She had the “organized and conditioned” life such as described by feminisms' founders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, regarding the development of the Declaration of Sentiments, and no one ever told Betsy “no”.  No hardships entered her life; she married the handsome, successful guy.

The icon of girlhood, Anne (with an "e") Shirley, was excluded from the running because she was an orphan.  And Jo,  Jo March.  Stalwart, sensible Jo with her heart of gold who cared for orphans (see Little Men and Jo’s Boys,) was deemed unworthy because she didn’t marry the prince.  

Fairy tales do matter in feminism, and if you make the wrong choices (like choosing the wonderful Professor instead of the flighty Laurie) you’re out of the club.  That’s the place in the foreword where I stopped reading, fetched my Exacto knife and did irreparable harm to.a.BOOK.

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of  the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Perhaps the most important choice in feminism is to be or not to be a mother.  In 2006, Ms. Quindlen, a self professed patient,  told a Planned Parenthood fundraisingaudience “I’ve discovered that motherhood is so challenging and so critical to society that to force it on a woman is immoral”.  Roe v. Wade, the legalized killing of preborn infants, was probably the highlight of the second wave of feminism.  Or so they say.  It doesn’t take much observation of the history of feminism to see that even these most abhorrent post modern ideologies have really been present since the beginning.

In 1896 Martha Cannon became the highest female government office holder when she won election to the Utah state senate.  She was a suffragette (feminist): “Women are better than men.  Slaves are always better than their masters”; a Mormon: “A plural wife isn’t half as much a slave as a single wife”; and of course pro choice: “Someday there will be a law compelling people to have no more than a certain amount of children, and the mothers of the land can live as they ought to live”.

The appeal of sacrificing children on the altar of better things, whether it is rain for the crops, defeat of the enemy, or promotion up the corporate ladder, has been a feature of nations down through history.

 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

“If you become the first generation of Americans to accord women full equality instead of grudging acceptance, will you not have done better than we did?” Ms. Quindlen asked the graduating class of Wesleyan University in 2009.  Equal rights, such as women's suffrage, characterized the first wave of feminism following the Civil War. But it was not, and is not the foundation of “choice” Ms. Quindlen and her predecessors want.  Egalitarianism is what they are after. 

Beyonce, mainstream artist and Presidentially approved role model, has set the tone of the third wave of feminism.   While she acts out the intimacy of her marriage onstage, in song and on national television, feminists applaud “the Boss’s”  courage to say women should express themselves sexually just as freely as men.  Like all aspects of feminism, it is not a new ideal.  The sexual equality appeal rose to prominence in the Free Love movement fostered by Frances Wright early in the 19th century.

No, the right to vote was never the main act.  It was just foreplay.   Is this third wave, choosing to sink (perhaps naked, on a wrecking ball) unreprimanded, to the lowest rung of male crudeness, where true egalitarianism will be found? Is this where the happily ever after for women begins?  

The defining moment of the third wave has not yet happened.  I, for one, do not look forward to its climax.

 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Narcoleptic H7N9 Vaccine: Your Children Are In Danger From School Forced Vaccination

The CDC today has admitted they are planning massive national vaccinations with adjuvant laced H7N9 Hemorrhagic birdflu vaccines.

Your children will be forced to take multiple Narcolepsy inducing experimental H7N9 Hemorrhagic Bird Flu vaccinations this fall as a condition of attending school.  This will happen despite the fact that the median age of those affected by H7N9 in China was 61 years old.

The Government is in the process of ordering 512 Million syringes, enough for every person in the USA to get two shots. The Government has also just switched a near BILLION dollar emergency experimental H7N9 vaccine study to a Cost Plus status; and they are also massively over funding the Vaccine Injury trust fund.

It is massively clear that there is an unstoppable economic momentum for a forced nationwide H7N9 flu vaccination program. In light of the known issues with European adjuvant laced flu vaccines causing Narcolepsy in children and adults, the CDC has just issued a European solicitation for what we believe is ADVOCATE analytical study to disprove or muddy the connection to Narcolepsy and other side effects.

The CDC has NEVER allowed the use of adjuvants in FLU vaccines, but seeks to do so in this case because of a supposed weak human immune response to the H7N9 vaccine. The amount of money behind this effort, and the likely fact that large numbers of middle age and elderly adults may die from the urban feral pigeon spread of the H7N9 hemorrhagic bird flu (if it returns) will make these vaccinations a done deal.

At this stage we suspect that the evidence supports the fact that for children the risk of permanent injury / death is greater from the experimental H7N9 vaccine than it is from the flu itself. This situation may change if human to human transmission does occur. But as it stands now, we believe the greatest threat is to older adults who live in urban environments with large feral pigeon populations.

If you would like to have a good understanding of how the CDC imagines the best case scenario for such a situation to pan out, and what they will and won't tell you; we suggest watching the movie CONTAGION. That movie was basically written and directed by the CDC for the CDC to get public support for budget allocations



We believe the best preventative course of action is to avoid feral pigeon areas/droppings and to use Chlorhexidine Gluconate (Hibiclens) wash to provide long lasting germ killing action.

Chlorhexidine Gluconate is a surgical scrub which forms an invisible barrier on the skin and kills the influenza virus and corona (SARS) virus for multiple HOURS after washing with it.


Medical Chlorhexidine Gluconate




Veterinary Chlorhexidine Gluconate

The Horror- Chick-fil-A Executes Carrot & Raisin Salad Death Sentence on April 29, 2013

The Horror-
 "Carrot & Raisin Salad will be removed from the Chick-fil-A menu on April 29, 2013"

Little Lord Fauntleroy is back in the pink!

Dr. Keith Ablow has written an amazing article over at Fox News, about gender boundaries.  He wrote in response to a J Crew ad showing a mother painting her little boy's toenails pink.

To the surprise of no one, (n=1)^1000 crowd hit their typewriters full force in the comments sections, to decry any attempt to establish and celebrate differences in the sexes.   While most agreed that forces of nature could not be denied, they were perfectly willing to try denial until nature became insurmountable.

So much for celebrating diversity.

The hundreds of commenters who wrote their n=1 hypotheses followed an identical template.  'My mother / sister / aunt / grandmother put makeup / nail polish / dresses / long curls on me and I turned out okay, so what's the big deal?'

Who's right?  The army of Fauntleroy enthusiasts, or the creepy looking friend of Glenn Beck?

"Who" you ask, "is Fauntleroy?"  Before I answer that, I just want to say in fairness (since I liked his article), that the good doctor looks less creepy in other photos.  Just the Fox one is odd.

So.  Little Lord Fauntleroy is a fictional character created by Frances Hodges Burnett of Secret Garden fame.  Fauntleroy was the anti-child, ridiculed, mocked and despised by real children; beloved, uplifted and extolled by parents.

A lad of 5 or 6, he lived with his beloved mother whom he called "Dearest"; waiting lovingly on her with hand and foot.  But most importantly, Fauntleroy was always immaculately garbed in suits and skirts, white kilts and black velvets, all crowned with 'shiny golden love locks that curled about his shoulders'.  As boys go, Faunt was an effeminate fop, who all mothers yearned after.  He was gender neutralized - old school.

In that day and age, foppishness and effeminacy was called "dressing your boy up as a young lord", and as it always has been throughout history, aspiring to wealth and aristocracy meant the adoption of effeminate softness.

Smooth slippery fabrics, powdered wigs, makeup.  Louis XIV's standards of opulent decay are historically cured only when lopped off at the neck.

That, is the point Dr. Ablow is trying to make.

The Faunts' mom didn't promote effeminacy by saying "it doesn't matter to me if he wants to like girls or boys or sheep when he grows up, or has certain body parts amputated like the pet dog.  I'm big enough to love whatever he turns into".  Loudly expansive toleration of the ostentatious  is a modern point of Munchhausen pride.

But pride of the ostentatious, whatever the trappings, has been a constant theme throughout history.   Ostentatiousness promises money, power and influence and attracts all who love those things.

Idle hands, ill gotten gains and the love of money prescribe national failure.

Though Fauntleroy single-handedly popularized the lace cravat in size 5T for a time, America was still young and industrious and in theory at least, opposed to rank and aristocracy.  Trends soon drifted toward a hard bitten masculine fashon, but without the communist abhorrence for wealth.

So is the J Crew mama just a silly woman putting her daughter-yearnings on a good natured, tolerant son?  Or is she consciously promoting the effeminacy that represents class and aristocracy, afforded by wealth and idleness?

I suggest it is in fact irrelevant what Jenna Lyons personal motives were.  What is relevant is that the photo and caption were published by a company trying to sell things.  And that company, which depends on the patronage of the wealthy for survival, is appealing through abject effeminacy. 

That answers the question, don't you think?

Heed Dr. Ablow.  If we are lucky, the worse that will happen is our wealth bubble will pop.  If we are not, well, I hope this time we get some chain mail woven into those lace cravats.

Mrs. O to the Hula Hoops

You've all doubtless heard the story about Michelle Obama hula hooping on the White House lawn, to promote "childrens' health". In case you haven't, here's the picture:

(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

And the story: Michelle Obama Hula Hoops to Promote Kids' Health

But did you see the recipes selected to represent Healthy Eating?
No? Take a look.

We have Baked Sliced Apples and Baked Eggs for breakfast. Zucchini Quesadilla for lunch and Sweet and Zesty Popcorn and Creamy Salsa Dip for snacks.

Just for fun, I put a couple into FitDay to see what came up.

By my assumptions (on serving sizes etc.) and Fitdays' calculations, the Baked Sliced Apples came in about 30 grams of carbs per serving, the popcorn snack at 81.8 grams of carbs per serving and the Zucchini Quesadilla at approximately 44 grams of carbs per serving.

Now granted these numbers will vary according to the assumptions made about ingredients and serving sizes.

However, it is no assumption that most of the recipes are low fat, calling for low fat cheddar cheese and popcorn, and only a token amount of butter in the Baked Eggs (and Potatoes) for much needed taste. I'm a little surprised they let the butter in at all, but perhaps they felt the turkey sausage was adequate compensation.

Healthy kids?

Not grown by government.

Margarine is worse than spanking.

First, we were told that spanking a kid will lower it's IQ by a whopping 2.8 points.

Then we found out that simply having a second child will force a 2 point IQ drop.

Now, we learn that reputable scientists have removed spanking from the top of the LIST OF DANGERS TO CHILDRENS IQ and replaced it with...margarine.

Margarine merits a full 3 point drop.

Of course, I'm sure the "scientists" didn't control for the fact that parents who would feed a kid margarine are probably a few IQ points short of a Mensa membership themselves.

More on the Spanking Debate

Did you know that in 1998 Murray Straus also published a study perporting to show that kids that were spanked had lower IQ's? That one was based on work done in 1986 and 1990.

So what's the deal, has he done another completely new study? Or did he recycle old data?

Whichever, I want to see the answer to the following - 1986 was 25 (gasp, choke) years ago (REALLY). So let's see the follow up! Track down those kids from 1986 and see if the IQ disparity still remains, and more importantly, lets see what criminal status, academic achievement, net worth etc. are like. In other words, lets see how they turned out as adults.

Because there is something you should know. Murray Straus claims spanking is related to IQs a full 2.8 points lower than non-spanked children. And that, is sufficient evidence to ban spanking.

BUT.

(there's always a but, isn't there)

You know something else that will result in a 2 point IQ delta? Having more than one kid.

That's right. Your first born will be nice and smart, but every sibling you create will be 2 points dumber.

How cruel can parents be.

To spank, or not to spank

It's an ongoing question, and constantly generates much heated discussion.

And I have no doubt, much more "heated discussion" (flame wars, really) will follow the latest round of news articles about a study by noted anti-spanker Murray Straus, such as this one from Yahoo! Children Who Get Spanked Have Lower IQs.

The title is the first obvious flaw. The study of course, shows nothing of the sort. The study is a typical correlative study that PROVES NOTHING. Dr. Eades has done tremendous work educating the public about the danger of mining "facts" from observational studies. Interestingly enough, in this article the journalist and the study author himself, readily admit the limitations of this type of study.

But while the results only show an association between spanking and intelligence, Straus says his methodology and the fact that he took into account other factors that could be at play (such as parents' socioeconomic status) make a good case for a causal link.

Still, it didn't keep statements of assumption and fact from headlining the story.

The study, involving hundreds of U.S. children, showed the more a child was spanked the lower his or her IQ compared with others.

What the study actually showed was a correlation between spanking and relative IQ.

The researchers tested the kids' IQs initially and then four years later.
Both groups of kids got smarter after four years. But the 2- to 4-year-olds who were spanked scored 5 points lower on the IQ test than those not spanked. For children ages 5 to 9, the spanked ones scored on average 2.8 points lower than their unspanked counterparts.

Note that is just a relative difference, it says nothing about comparison to baseline intelligence levels.

As Dr. Eades put it "It all seems so reasonable and so scientific, but the truth is that these studies don’t mean squat."

To most reasoning people, that is.

Whether or not spanking equates with dumber kids is not known, and may never be known. That's because the only way to truly show cause and effect would be to follow over time two groups of kids, one randomly assigned to get spanked and another who would not get spanked. Barring that method, which is unfeasible, Straus considers his study the next best thing, as he looked back at a nationally representative set of kids who were followed over time.

The author of the study knows it doesn't mean squat, but is bound and determined to sell his study and push his agenda (yes, Murray Strauss has an agenda)

Next best thing? Sorry, that is not how science works. If you can't do a scientific study, then you do not have any scientific evidence, no matter how much correlation you have done. Period.

According to Dr. Eades, studies like this do have the value of generating hypothesis.

The observational study demonstrates a correlation. In our example above, the correlation is that higher vitamin C levels correlate (in this particular study) with lower rates of colds. So, from this data, we could hypothesize that vitamin C prevents the common cold. But at this stage that would be just an hypothesis – not a fact.

Once we have the hypothesis, we can then do a randomize, placebo-controlled trial.

Except, when it comes to behavior, they can't. That's not to say there are never any "gold standard" behavioral studies, there have been some, mostly on animals, and mostly on benign stuff like pigeons pecking at a bar. But studying discipline, in a "gold standard" way? Very difficult to do ethically.

So while a lot of people with degrees after their names spend a lot of time telling you how to raise your kids, just look for the real science behind their ideas.

That's what a smart kid would do.

Adult-Child Affectual Preferences

Or "The Creepy Case of Eno Commons"

I am sure by now everyone is familiar with the horrid story of Frank Lombard, Duke University Professor, accused of pimping his own adopted son.

So far the news media is giving us these details:

Frank is gay, and lived with his gay partner.
Frank had two adopted children, both black.
Frank lived in a cohousing community, Eno Commons Cohousing.
Frank attended an Episcopal church.

I want to just look at Eno Commons, as a cohousing community, and some of its attitudes toward children.

Then you can decide for yourself if this environment facilitated Mr. Lombard.

Paradise for Children

Children learn what they live. Our children are learning about independence, inter-dependence, diversity, ecology, consensus, and how to be good neighbors in a supportive community through their every day experiences. From the time they decide to participate at the age of two or three, children can help make some of the community rules. They clear their places at community meals, leave their shoes on all of our porches, run through the meadow (or more likely around Sam and Margaret's yard) with their friends, get homework help from all of us, follow animal tracks through the woods, or choose to be alone. (The neighborhood is good for parents too - we spend a lot less time in our cars by pooling rides and not having to takes kids to as many play dates.)

There is nothing wrong with neighbors that trust each other, and children visiting their friends houses and leaving their shoes all over the neighborhood. Under normal circumstances though, this happens after the adults get to know their neighbors and trust them. Moving into a community that promises this to strangers breaks down any natural defenses the adults might bring. Intentional or not, it grooms the parents to not be suspicious of any wrong doing.

There's more.

VALUING CHILDREN

- We provide our children with opportunities to develop their full potential in a safe, caring neighborhood.

- We treat our children with love and respect and expect them to be active, positive
contributors to our community.

- We listen to our children’s ideas and recognize their need for good friends and
playmates, friendly neighbors, fun places to play, and appropriate community and
family activities.

Well, we know how these lofty ideals turned out. (Does this remind anyone else of some of the unparenting rhetoric?) This is a small community of a mere 22 houses on 11 acres. The community has a Common House, where residents meet at least once a week to dine together. The whole point of this community is to create openness, interconnectedness and trust. To let the village raise the child. "They stand as innovative answers to today's environmental and social problems."

Then it gets downright creepy.

'Secret Pal' brings neighbors together. (Click on "cached")
(This link only exists in Yahoo cache now, though just this afternoon it was still active on Eno Commons servers. Go figure.)

Seven years ago Suzanne started the Secret Pal week tradition to celebrate Valentine's Day at Eno Commons.

The goal of Secret Pal week is to promote interaction between adults and kids. Adults are asked to volunteer to be a secret pal and are matched with a child. During the week leading up to Valentine's Day, the adults give their secret pal children little gifts and clues, but the adults keep their identity a secret. At the end of the week, the kids prepare the brunch.

It is fun watching the kids huddling together trying to guess who their secret pal is. Can you think of a better way to connect kids with adults?

Well? Can you? Can you think of any better way to connect KIDS with ADULTS than to have secret pal exchanges . . . on VALENTINE'S Day?

Valentine's Day? Are you kidding?

Wait, isn't Valentine's Day for LOVERS? Maybe.

Our Vision For Eno Commons

EMBRACING DIVERSITY
• We welcome residents of all ages, races, religious beliefs, and affectional
preferences.

"Affectional Preferences" is quite a different thing from "Sexual Orientation".

Valentine's Day, however, celebrated with Adult-Child Secret Pal celebrations is a yearly event (click on the "Cached" link on the first search return) at Eno Commons.

Now, you might ask, where did this, um, tradition come from?

It seems to be a favored practice of the Unitarian Universalists.

They celebrate it in Midland Texas, Gainesville Florida, and California. The position of the Unitarian Universalist Church is well known with regards to those of minority sexual orientation.

Did interconnectedness go to far?

UnParenting v. Liberty

Notice: I do not intend to equate the entire concept of attachment parenting with unparenting, or critique every participant. I do want to offer some observations about ideas that are regaining popularity in some circles, and those ideas are generally lumped under the philosophies of attachment parenting.

Let’s start with Ryan W. McMaken’s recent post on The LRC Blog.

Mr. McMaken wrote:

“My wife, an expert in early childhood education, is some kind of libertarian genius. Although she has read very little in the way of libertarian theory, she has come to thoroughly libertarian conclusions simply by studying how the brains of small children work. It turns out that children are rational beings who should not be coerced and hounded every second of their waking lives. Indeed, children have an innate sense of the importance of learning and the importance of justice. Unfortunately, most adults beat these impulses out of children as soon as they can.”

For support of this, he references Naomi Aldort and Maria Montessori. Yikes.

Stephan Kinsella weighed in in support of the Montessori “pro-peace” training method.
Now since I’m all in favor of peace, and teaching children (especially preschoolers) to peacefully resolve disputes (without buckets of tears and hating and ‘writing bad notes’ to each other) I eagerly read the Montessori peace philosophy.

“Dr. Montessori noted that scientific advances had so linked world cultures that our universal social connections were made clear, and she set forth strategies for a "universal, collective effort to build the foundation for peace."”

That sounds good. Now how is she going to accomplish that?

“Dr. Montessori's method respected the intelligence and gifts of the small child, serving her with a prepared environment and materials that engaged the senses in the learning process. Self-confidence, control of environment, joy of learning, and an understanding of connectedness with society resulted, leading, Dr. Montessori believed, to a new social order capable of directing man's technological advances to constructive uses. This would replace accepted educational practices that rewarded competition, discouraged cooperation and independent thinking, and ignored the creativity and deeply moral qualities of the child, a status quo that she believed led to a warring society, one incapable of utilizing its own scientific and technological advances.”

Just a moment. Doesn’t Competition foster independent thinking? Doesn’t competition foster advances? And I have yet to see evidence that children have deeply moral qualities. My kids learned early how to say “it’s not fair”, but what they really meant was “my selfishness is not being fulfilled”.

I’m all for peace, but my eyebrows are starting to go up. Perhaps my problem was I didn’t teach the kids enough about Martin Luther King Jr’s life.

“The peace curriculum at the Elizabeth Ann Clune Montessori School, developed and coordinated by Educational Director Scott Daigler, is enacted through a range of academic studies as well as the development of peacemaking skills, beginning with the youngest preschool group and culminating in the two-year adolescent program. It permits the student to study the history and science of the natural world, the beliefs and traditions of diverse world cultures, and to learn about and finally place herself within society as an active, contributing individual.“

Now that will make the eyebrows of my Christian readers go up. I’m sure many will tell you that faith in Jesus was all they needed to find their place in society.

“Conflicts are resolved verbally, using the peace pole outside the school, or the peace table in the classroom, where peace treaties are crafted by the children in conflict and kept in a binder as a record of disputes resolved and compromises reached. A ringing bell signals the agreement, bringing classroom work to a momentary standstill as students pause to applaud an act of peace. Community circle utilizes a "talking stick" to structure group discussion of conflicts or concerns involving the entire class.”

What happens when the pretty imagery, the peace pole, the peace table, the peace bell, the talking stick, all disappear? What if the “peace” behaviors become respondent to the props? In the real world, there isn’t a peace bell. We have a Liberty Bell, but no one is allowed to ring it.

Scrolling past the peace chants and the United Nation Advocacy days, we get to Martin Luther King Jr. week.

“A week of classroom focus on Dr. King's life and mission culminates in an all-school assembly with presentations by each class.“

“Acknowledged as a model for his commitment to peace and justice, Dr. King is also recognized as a person, and the assembly ends with a singing of "Happy Birthday to You, Dr. King."”

It takes a week to study Martin Luther King Jr., because the training of peaceful children requires not only an examination of his words, but his very life. If teaching peace to young girls means teaching them it’s ok for a husband to run out on his wife, frequently, then perhaps a little more training in competition is in order. Reality, of course, is that the lessons on Dr. King probably skip or at worst gloss over those night-chapters in his life.

I’m all for peace. Dr. King spoke wonderful words. But history is fast doing a “Lincoln” on him.

Purporting to study someone’s life, while looking only at specific aspects that complete the intended picture, may foster ideologies of peace, but it does little to foster independent or critical thinking.

You see, I hold the belief that what fosters libertarian philosophy, freedom and independence of the human spirit, is the ability to think independently and critically. And I question if these attachment parenting philosophies and ‘peace at any expense’ training, fulfill that.

I’m searching for the link between the tenant that “children are rational beings” and how this is a libertarian conclusion, as Mr. McMecken thinks. Maria Montessori didn’t get us to the development of individualism or rational thinking. I would settle for evidence that the innate “rational being” of children leads to rationale, critical thinking adults.

Let’s see if Naomi Aldort can do any better.

Naomi Aldort, a prolific attachment parenting proponent, writes:

“Representation of childhood in modern western culture is based on seeing children as flawed and needing to be shaped into adults. The child is seen as failing to be an adult and therefore represented as inferior and cannot be trusted to unfold correctly on her own.”

Déjà vu.

In 1983, Miss Manners Guide to Excrutiatingly Correct Behavior was published. Early in the book Miss Manners wrote: “There used to be parents who believed that a child should be allowed to develop naturally, with no artificial standards of behavior imposed on his or her innocent instincts, but we have all had a gander at the results of that.” Conclusion: they weren’t pretty, or mannerly, leading Miss Manners to publish the 711 page instruction set to restore respect for the individual.

Many practitioners of attachment parenting also decry formal schooling, even formal home schooling setups, for the same reason they decry formal parenting. They call themselves ‘unschoolers’. I call the practice of the naturally developing child ‘unparenting’.

Ms. Aldorts techniques have already born some fruit, in the form of her own children. Her longest running experiment was recounted thusly at the 22 year mark:

“Yonatan is deeply interested in social justice work and finds inspiration in writers like Richard Wright who used literature as a tool to raise awareness about injustice. Some of his recent activities towards social change include attending anti-war protests, raising money for disadvantaged youth like the Jena 6, and educating people by writing in his school’s student newspaper.”

So critical thinking of the natural, undisciplined child, leads to conclusions such as if the Jena 6 had gotten more freebies, they would have been more peaceful?

The experiment in free love has resulted in an admirer of the Communist Richard Wright, enrolled in a ‘Decolonizing the Mind’ program at a liberal university.

Not your typical libertarian success story. What went wrong? Perhaps nothing went wrong, except that somehow, all of the “hands off” parenting wasn’t as much of an educational vacuum as the parents perceived. Is it possible that some of their ideology influenced the kids despite their best efforts not to influence?
Or is it possible that children, left to their own devices, are communists (at best) at heart? Or maybe, just maybe, if we all experienced free love and unconditional living, we all would embrace the ideologies of egalitarian collectivism. Is it libertarianism that is wrong? Is our cold hearted individualism merely the symptom of our artificially constrained and forcibly respectful upbringings?

I almost think the un-parents might tell you experiments in communism are the normal, healthy result of an unfettered, “free” childhood. But will the baby commies eventually grow up?

Let’s consider another example. Many many years ago, in a case that doubtless sends shudders down the spine of every “un-parent”, a little girl of all of 4 or 5, slapped her bigger sister in the face in a fit of pique. This little girl’s father was an old school parent. He believed children should *learn* to respect their elders, be kind to their siblings etc. He did not believe in waiting around until the kid figured it out for herself. So this little girl was punished. Those expected adult behaviours were beat into her. With a belt. By her father.

What happens next is amazing. The little girl, surely now a complete train wreck of a child with no ability to think for herself, develop real compassion or act in a peaceful manner, spent the greater part of her adolescence earning money to help send that same older sister to college. Shudder.

Okay, by now you have surely guessed that this little girl was none other than Laura Ingalls Wilder, of the classic ‘Little House on the Prairie’ books.

But what about the adolescent foray into communism, that signifies the great job the ‘un-parent’ has done promoting empathy and love for your fellow man?
That, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story.

This abused, suppressed little girl grew up to mother a child that did take the commie plunge during young adulthood. That child plunged in, swam through and emerged clear thinking and rational. Brilliant thinking in fact. Rose Wilder Lane, the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, became America’s foremost female libertarian.

Years after the communist experiment, Ms. Lane wrote

“No one who dreams of the ideal social order, the economy planned to eliminate waste and injustice, considers how much energy, how much human life, is wasted in administering and in obeying the best of regulations. No one considers how rigid such regulations become, nor that they must become rigid and resist change because their underlying purpose is to preserve men from the risks of chance and change in flowing time. Americans have had in our country no experience of the discipline of a social order.“

I would propose that the minimal discipline of a formal parenting home just might provide enough ‘discipline of a social order’, on a miniscule scale, to enable resistance to its application by any but a proper authority. And that proper authority? Parents.

Keep your peace bell. I’ll ring the Liberty Bell, thanks.