Why the Ministry of Truth Would Love the E-book

(I do have ideas floating around in my head for another food-type post for tomorrow and a yummy GAPS recipe for Wednesday's post. However, today I just don't feel like writing them out, so I'm pleased to present another guest post from my dear husband. - Janice)

How many of us, during high school or college, read the book “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell? If not, or if your memory has faded over the years, here is a quick review:

The novel, written in 1949, predicted what life could be like by the year 1984. Every aspect of life was dominated by Big Brother, an all powerful dictator who literally watches your every move via surveillance systems. Mind control and propaganda were administered by the Ministry of Truth, who revised history, altered documents and photos and insured every aspect of society was molded to support the agenda of Big Brother. The book basically expressed a fear of totalitarianism by an all powerful government with the ability to control not only people’s actions, but their thoughts as well.

Now, keep the theme of that book in mind as I describe a recent discussion of college instructors on the value of e-books. During a discussion concerning rental verses purchased text books for students, the option of e-books came up. Immediately, many instructors began praising this new technology, sparking a brief conversation on the subject. As I listened to the comments and descriptions, I heard some predicting the end of physical paper books in the future and how “green and environmentally friendly” that would be. Some spoke of how wonderful e-books are in relation to the immediate ability to edit the books, correcting mistakes and adding updates as needed. No one would even know the mistake or update was made, as the corrected version immediately replaces the old version online.

As usual, I found myself to be the lone wolf, the only person in the room who did not seem to view this latest technological advancement as anything other than manna from Heaven. I could not help but think how much easier censorship will be once all books are electronic. You don’t have to physically go door to door and collect the books like the Nazis did, all the government would have to do is hit the DELETE button on some master system and poof, no more book. How soon until the latest version of the Ministry of Truth searches e-book by e-book deciding what we should or should not read? “This book is offensive to ….” and “That book promotes anti-government views.” and so on. What isn’t deleted would be modified. I would predict the Holy Bible would be a prime target of selective editing. Within a few generations, no one would even know the original version anymore.

You may call me paranoid, but I can see this becoming reality. Even George Orwell didn’t predict the ease to which the e-book could make his nightmare come true. Take some time and read “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, and get the e-book version, you have to love irony.

Life Around the Homestead

I admit it, I've been slacking lately. I'm now 7 weeks pregnant and the yucky feelings are starting to show up. I have very low energy and waves of nausea come and go throughout the day. I find myself craving some foods and being revolted by others. So, blogging has taken a backseat for a bit. I'm grateful that Shawn was able to put his guest post up for me and will probably have him fill in the gaps a little more until I start feeling 100% again.

We did have a good time outside with the kids earlier this week. It's times like this when I think the children really resemble country kids as opposed to the more city-fied children that we moved out here in December. The video is of Sam driving his police car around the property with Andrew's Tonka truck tied to the back. Then Andrew sat in the back part of the Tonka dump truck and was having a great time as Sam towed him around the property.



Then of course, Sarah had to have a ride too! (This video starts off sideways, but quickly goes vertical.)


Finally, here are a few more fall pictures that I've taken around the homestead.

Who Does Obama Trust?

Another guest post from my dear husband...Enjoy!

Please take a moment to consider the following decisions recently made by the Obama Administration:

This year, Obama made the decision to cancel all further orders by the U.S. Air Force of the Lockheed-Martin F-22 fighter jet. This is the world’s most advanced fighter jet, considered untouchable by other fighters. In other words, if your air force is flying F-22s, you control the sky. About the same time Obama decided to deny our military this advanced fighter, he decided to approve the sale of F-22 fighters to Saudi Arabia. (I believe this decision was made after he bowed down to the Saudi king.) In addition to the F-22, Obama also approved selling 84 F-15 fighters, weapon system upgrades for 70 current F-15s, 70 Apache fighter helicopters and 72 Black Hawk helicopters. No nation (including the U.S. or Israel) will be able to effectively stop the Saudi Air Force.

While this decision was being made, the Obama Administration decided to prohibit the sale of World War II era rifles to U.S. citizens. During the Korean War, thousands of surplus M-1 Garand and M-1 Carbine rifles were transferred to South Korea. Now that these rifles are very outdated, the South Korean military has no use for them. The South Korean government announced plans to sell 87,310 M-1 Garand rifles and 770,160 M-1 Carbine rifles to American licensed gun dealers. Gun collectors were thrilled to learn these highly desired, historic rifles would be made available.

The Obama Administration blocked the transfer of these rifles, citing a “threat to public safety in the U.S.” if the public was allowed to own these rifles. Keep in mind, we are talking about 70-year-old semi-auto rifles. The M-1 Garand holds 8 rounds, the M-1 Carbine holds 15 rounds, and function like any other semi-auto rifle. Despite the ordinary, common design of these rifles, Obama and his cronies call them “assault weapons.”

So, let’s put this in perspective….Saudi Arabia (home of 18 of the 19 9/11 hijackers) is trusted with the world’s most advanced fighter jets, but American citizens are not trusted with 70-year-old rifles. Even more disturbing, the Obama Administration has changed the U.S. position, previously taken by the Bush Administration, on the United Nations global gun ban. The U.N. treaty to ban private possession of small arms is set to go into effect in 2012, with the U.S. now fully on-board. Assuming everything does not go the hell in a hand basket before then, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

It is interesting to consider who Obama considers his trusted friends and who he considers his enemies. As gun owners, it is clear how he feels about us. No matter how the elections turn out in November, gun ownership will continue to be threatened over the next 2 years. Obama doesn’t trust citizens who own guns, and for gun owners, the feeling is mutual.

And Yet ANOTHER Addition

Well, since we were finally able to share this with family over the weekend, I guess it's now ok to put the news here. If everything goes well, Baby #4 will be arriving in early June. The books tell me that the date will be June 3rd, but given that I tend to go over with my babies, mid-June is probably more likely. I'm still very early in my pregnancy, but I'm not one to keep babies a secret. So far I'm feeling great, a bit more tired than usual, but overall I'm feeling very good. This will be the first baby to come since our family changed its eating habits, so I'm curious to see how our new diet affects my weight gain and energy level this time around. Anyhow, just wanted to pass along the exciting news!

I'll end the post with some pretty Fall pictures that Shawn took around the homestead this weekend.

Another Addition

Apparently last week was "dump your animals on our property" week. We didn't get the memo, but seeing that we acquired two cats and a dog last week, an announcement must've gone out that we just missed. This young dog showed up with his hip bones protuding and every single rib showing. He obviously hadn't been fed in a while, but he was such a sweet thing, that we decided to put him on probation to see if he was suitable to stay here. So we watched him and avoided naming him just in case he turned out to be unfit. He's done well with the chickens and the cats and the kids. He isn't a "barker," which is good. The only time we've heard him bark is when some other stray dogs started snooping around our fence's perimeter.

So last night we decided that we should go ahead and give him a name. I had gotten in the habit of calling him Buddy. Sam and Sarah are adamant that his name is Doggie. Andrew just calls him Woof-Woof. Shawn and I thought it over and I think we're naming him Striker, after a very heroic dog. It's our hope that our Striker will turn out to be just as loyal and courageous as his namesake.

And no, I'm not going to tell you the story behind the heroism of the famous Striker. His real-life story is well-known. I'm anxious to see if anyone reading this knows why Striker the dog is a canine that no freedom-loving American should forget. If you know, leave a comment and tell us!

The Joys of Homeschooling

We went to Wal-Mart today. We were standing in the checkout line when the cashier looks at Sam and says, "Why aren't you in school today?" Sam doesn't answer, so I reply, "We homeschool." She looks back at Sam and says, "Oh. Well then what are you going to do today when you get home?" I reply, "Well, today is Town Day. We've come into town to run errands and do Storytime at the Library." She says, "Oh, well that's nice...At least he's dressed nice like he's going to school."

I grit my teeth while I smile, take my receipt and leave. Today is one of those days that I tell Shawn to weld the gate shut when he gets home.

Our Family Vacation

This weekend we went on an impromptu trip to Branson. Family vacations are rare for us, but it happened to be Shawn's birthday as well as Homeschoolers' Weekend at Silver Dollar City so we decided to have a getaway.

I am so grateful that Shawn stumbled across a website while searching for lodging. He found condos for rent at http://www.bransonweekend.com/
The owners own several condos and they rent them out to families. I cannot recommend these condos enough. They were perfect for our family. Each of the condos is decorated with individual themes. We stayed in The Ranch House and the kids just absolutely loved that they got to stay in a house that cowboys lived in! The condo was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit with a full kitchen, dining/living room, covered deck, and laundry. I thought that getting all this for $100 a night was a great deal. Anyone that has ever tried to put three small children in a small motel room will understand how GREAT a blessing this was for us! The kids were actually able to MOVE here! We had space! Also, with our food issues, having the kitchen was a must. I was surprised to see that the condo included everything that we could possibly need: laundry detergent, flyswatter, Ziploc bags, books, movies, magazines, light bulbs, a stepstool for the kids' bathroom..you name it, it was there. It didn't feel like we were staying in a rented room. It really felt like we were invited into someone's home. It was nice and cozy..nothing was lacking.

First thing the kids did was discover the toys that were in the condo. Yes, the owners even have toys there for the kids! They loved that big stuffed horse, which also means they fought over it..constantly.


By having the kitchen there, we were able to spend absolutely nothing on food during our entire trip.



The kids had their own cowboy bedroom. Boy, did we have trouble getting them to go to sleep Friday night. They were SO excited!


We spent Saturday at Silver Dollar City. The kids were fearless and inexhaustible.










Needless to say, we may have had trouble getting the kids to bed Friday night, but Saturday night we didn't hear a peep out of them. We left the park and went back to the condo. I had put a chicken and some vegetables in the crockpot before we left that morning. So we got back and ate a quick supper of crockpot chicken and salad.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the inside of the condo. It was decorated so nicely on the inside and the view from the deck was beautiful. If you go to their website you can see more of the condo that I didn't get around to photographing. I can't wait to go back. We've now found a favorite place to stay. I foresee us getting the season pass for Silver Dollar City in the next couple years. Going there is a great getaway for our family.