Yesterday was another soccer game (and another win! Go Kalkaska!!). We also had the youth group meet at the church right after school to do some spring clean-up. And I had to take my truck to the garage to switch back to my summer tires. And, of course, youth group. In all, a pretty hectic day.

Today will likely be just as chaotic. A lot of stuff going on that I can't go into details about, but stressful. Plus a half-day for Nestina at school and parent-teacher conferences.

Tomorrow looks to be much the same. And I am supposed to go to soccer practice with Nestina Friday night for "parents night" at the coach's house. This is one week I will be glad to see gone.

A lot of articles on the sorry state of our schools today. None of this should surprise anyone as it was predictable and indeed predicted 150 years ago when compulsory government education was first instituted. Having more direct contact with the schools through Nestina has made me even more cynical of any chance we have as a constitutional republic. In any case read this, this, and this, then plan accordingly.

Jerry Pournelle reports on the death of our republic. When I was in school, I heard a lot of talk about courage. Americans had the courage to face down the Soviets, the courage to send men to the moon, etc. Today, a sizable percentage of high school students don't believe we ever went to the moon. Given that our government is cowering behind concrete barriers, I can see their point. When everyone around you acts like a complete coward, it becomes difficult to believe anyone is capable of having the courage to do anything as bold as send men over a quarter of a million miles through hard vacuum to walk on another world.

I think this is supposed to be funny, but I have to wonder. Working in the medical field, I can tell you that our part of this is completely doable right now. We can deliver your complete medical history to anyone, anywhere via the internet.

And that should do nicely to start the day. I've managed to depress myself and it isn't even 8am. Enjoy!