GA_Freeman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i1mWSREtQQ Please check out my analysis and research on the DAPL issue. It is ongoing and very interesting. Please review and even use the research for you own purposes. https://wordpress.com/post/gafreeman.wordpress.com/93 This is my Blog of the same video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoLCTJtHrdA I made a video of Imams talking about homosexuality and punishment. These are all in America, these are not foreign. Islam is a religion, moral system and legal system in their own words. Is this compatible with the west? What do you think?

http://www.gafreeman.net/

Here is the original as requested below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KK0K7tAYIc

To me the word indoctrination is implies that no consent exists in the relationship and in this case, yes, it is wrong. I am a secular home educator based on voluntarism, freedom and love. However, I just went to a Georgia Homeschooling convention and I found some really good things and some scary shit. Here is some of the scary stuff: https://homeschoolersanonymous.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/why-i-cannot-support-frontline-family-ministries-abuse-prevention-week-part-seven-conclusion/ There is a class of religious homeschoolers that are hell bent on indoctrinating their children and they spout discipline, demonology, and many other frightening and abusive tenets. If this is the indoctrination you are talking about, then yes, it is wrong. So, I just don't like the word indoctrination. My experience as a parent is that you cannot help but present your own bias but you can try and point that out to your children and let them decide. if you have strong arguments, why would you need indoctrination?

This was a good article that presents a very human picture. I am clean over 9 years and the last 3 or 4 years, since finding Steph and School sucks, who led me to Nathaniel Brandon and Gabe Mator as well as others has helped me accept myself as i am. This article is true for me. Philosophy helped me past just sobriety to truly living. It helped me find connection. I took drugs to forgot how much i hated myself, to feel normal for just a little while. Now, I don't need that.

http://www.dawnstefanowicz.org/dawntest.htm Here is another woman affected by gay parents. I don't care about the the individual choices people make. I have always had gay friends and I don't judge someone based on their sexual preference. I lived with a lesbian and she dated many women and tended to prefer lipstick lesbians who liked to flirt with me. I found it titillating and confusing but it did not give me the impression that they were strictly gay. What does this prove? Nothing, but I did not get the impression they were strictly gay. I have no proof but they acted like they wanted me to sleep with them. I did not try as I did not want to lose my roomate as we got along well and I did not want to end my rooming over cheating with her girlfriend. This is neither here nor their but I have known a lot of gay men and I have never seen a long term gay relationship except for clean/sober gay men. Why do i state this, well, I only care about the protection of children, really my children, but all children. According to http://www.naasca.org/2012-Resources/010812-StaisticsOfChildAbuse.htm90% of child sexual victims are victimized by someone they know or trust. What proof do we have that children are safe with "gay families"? Why do they want children? Is it like religion, get to them young? I don't know, I don't have answers but I don't like any political agenda or activism to try and force anything on me, especially opinions. I don't know what to say, I really feel angry about the abuse that these survivors of child abuse endured.

I will say that from my point of view, as a male, I get along with most everyone well enough to have sex with them. To me, getting along with them does not indicate that it is worthwhile or a wise decision to have sex with someone. I am an older gentleman now and so I say this with all openness and suggest you take it with a grain of salt. In my experience, sex always changes the relationship. For me, if I had a high level of energy and interest around someone and then I had sex with them, I would ultimately lose interest in them. Therefore, for me, casual sex or easy sex meant that someone would never be more than a friend whom I've had sex with. So is this unhealthy or in some way bad? Having casual sex or sex with friends. I don't think it is healthy but I cannot find a moral issue as long as everyone is in honest and voluntarily engaged. I do find that when friends begin to engage in sexual activity that it is hard to understand how another person is going to internalize or perceive that sexual encounter. In other words, I find it's very hard for two friends to be completely honest with each other about their intentions around sex. For two people to be completely honest about sex, both people must have good self-knowledge and understand their own driving factors for there to be real honesty about the ability of an individual to accept casual sex as it is. The thread above has indicated how difficult it is to find quality individuals. I don't think that having casual sex or casual sex with friends is necessarily unhealthy. However, I don't see how it teaches you to find something more in a relationship in the future. My personal experience is that I am one of the people that even if I want to have a “friends with benefits” relationship, my partners have tended to escalate it and become problematic. My longtime best friend has slept with hundreds of women, most of them friends, and when he finally got married, he was not able to pick a woman based on real values. He picked, in my opinion, someone who he thought would be fun and meet his sexual needs for a long time. This has not turned out to be true. This is my opinion and anecdotal evidence that it is difficult to pull off “friends with benefits”. But I have no moral argument or direct evidence that it is unhealthy. My experience is that most people are generally not self-aware and are generally unhealthy and so these types of relationships can be difficult or dangerous (crazy pussy).

I want to offer reassurance as much as possible. I have two boys and they both have had fascination with death in different ways. My experience is that fear comes from the fact of realizing death is final. The thing that helped my 12 year old the most was when our dog died because he was able to see death, explore the feelings, mourn and ultimately continue life. The best thing in my experience is handling it the way you are, by allowing him to express and acknowledge his feelings. Here is an interesting take on the feelings: https://www.hospicenet.org/html/talking.html Developmental Stages Studies show that children go through a series of stages in their understanding of death. For example, preschool children usually see death as reversible, temporary, and impersonal. Watching cartoon characters on television miraculously rise up whole again after having been crushed or blown apart tends to reinforce this notion. Between the ages of five and nine, most children are beginning to realize that death is final and that all living things die, but still they do not see death as personal. They harbor the idea that somehow they can escape through their own ingenuity and efforts. During this stage, children also tend to personify death. They may associate death with a skeleton or the angel of death, and some children have nightmares about them. From nine or ten through adolescence, children begin to comprehend fully that death is irreversible, that all living things die, and that they too will die some day. Some begin to work on developing philosophical views of life and death. Teenagers, especially, often become intrigued with seeking the meaning of life. Some youngsters react to their fear of death by taking unnecessary chances with their lives. In confronting death, they are trying to overcome their fears by confirming their “control” over mortality. The Individual Experience While it can be helpful to know that children go through a series of stages in the way they perceive death, it is important to remember that, as in all growth processes, children develop at individual rates. It is equally important to keep in mind that all children experience life uniquely and have their own personal ways of expressing and handling feelings. Some children ask questions about death as early as three years of age. Others may outwardly appear to be unconcerned about the death of a grandparent, but may react strongly to the death of a pet. Some may never mention death, but act out their fantasies in their play; they may pretend that a toy or pet is dying and express their feelings and thoughts in their make-believe game, or they may play “death games” with their friends, taking turns dying or developing elaborate funeral rituals. No matter how children cope with death or express their feelings, they need sympathetic and nonjudgmental responses from adults. Careful listening and watching are important ways to learn how to respond appropriately to a child’s needs.

http://schoolsucksproject.com/ http://www.tragedyandhope.com/ http://www.gnosticmedia.com/ Those three are all very thoughtful and meaty. They introduced me to the idea of the trivium method. For fun I like the the Art of Charm.

We have had an excellent experience with peaceful parenting. I had no experience with peaceful parenting. I come from a family of a single mother. My mother and father divorced before I was born. I never met my actual father until I was 19. So, he was only a father and name. My mother was everything that has been discussed on the show. She was violent, religious (Baptist), uneducated, brutal, neglectful and she used me to be the male figure in house when she wanted to. Meaning that I was supposed step up and act as the man a certain times and certain decisions (that I did not want). However, I never actually had a voice. The violence stopped when I was 16 and she came after me with a tennis racket and I took away from her. I now have two boys of my own, nine and 12. Here is the reality of spanking; I have hit my nine-year-old a total of two times that I remember. However, my nine-year-old reports three times. I trust him on this because he has displayed an excellent memory and I think that I am wrong and he is right. I heard of Stefan about three years ago and started listing. The discussion and argument about parenting struck me immediately and as soon as I realized how wrong violence was and how badly it has affected me I immediately knew it had to stop. Now the beautiful thing about this is that after stopping and adopting the principle that violence was not going to be involved in parenting, eventually, my nine-year-old who was younger at the time, was able to state that he was afraid that I was going to hit him. I was out of town traveling on business and he told this to my wife. She called me and told me and first I didn't believe it because we had had two years of very peaceful parenting. However, I think this just gave him the confidence to be able to bring this up. Because I was on a business trip and not at home I spoke to him over the phone. He explained to me his specific memories of the spankings. He was very specific and for as young as he was, somewhere between three and five when it happened, he had an excellent memory. I remembered two of the stories where I had smacked him hard on the butt as he was running up stairs because I was mad. The fact is that I remember these because I know it hurt him and left a giant red mark on his bottom. I remember those two because when I came to FDR I realized how awful and wrong those actions were. This understanding was reinforced when my nine-year-old told me he remembered those and added one more that I did not remember. He told me that he was afraid that I would hit him in the face. I have never felt smaller or more ashamed than when my nine-year-old told me about how he felt when his dad hit him hard. I knew he did not understand why he was hit and there was no explanation for it, all that had happened was he had done something other than what I had wanted. I did my best to apologize multiple times and to express that this would never happen again and make sure that he understood that I understood how horrible this was and that I was there to protect him. I told him that that was nothing he ever had to be afraid of for me again and since then, I have worked hard to prove it. For me, the first thing that I had to do was simply to commit to no acts of violence and no threat of force. Then I have read several books including parent effectiveness training and the six pillars of self-esteem. I am still working through the self-work in those. I can tell you now that I work hard to help my children and let them express and teach them open and honest expression of anger, frustration, fear and pain. We always encourage joy but most important is that they understand that they can express where they are right now. The big change that happened over the last three years is the decrease in anger and frustration in my nine-year-old. He responded to anger with violence. He would attack his older brother, scream at him, slam doors, go into rages over different things. I truly believe that this was a response from what he saw as an appropriate response to anger because of the way that I had treated him. His mother had a role, by the way that she yells and threatens and communicates. However, the threat of violence is off the table and I work hard to bring about negotiation. His tendency for angry violence has mostly left, no more slamming the doors, much less yelling and he and I are very honest with one another. I work hard at having a good relationship, meaning, expressing my own needs and being open to my child's needs, we are able to treat each other with love and trust.

We (me and my family) are secular home educators and we don't use a curriculum. I don't know what the norm is but for us, we take the unschooling and self directed study approach. I have a 12 and 9 year old and I found that any curriculum I push, is generally rejected. In a voluntary household, ideas have to be sold. So how do i propose these are valid or interesting courses? How do i propose they add value to my children? If we promote how to think rather than what do think, where do these fit in? Is this for an older child looking to go deeper? Are you sure this is homeschooling and not just open education for the generally interested?

I propose we start with a definition of health. I will define health as the ability of the body to properly absorb nutrients and minerals that are needed to supply the body with raw materials to function and a minimal amount of inflammation present in that body. The two primary causes of all of the modern diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity are all in my opinion directly related to those two issues. By all measures modern diseases are now chronic and out-of-control. There are higher rates of cancer, obesity, diabetes and heart disease than at any other time in modern history. By all standard measures, this indicates a blatant failure of what is considered the current, modern, medical opinion. All evidence seems to point to the fact that the only thing that matters with the diet is the recognition and consciousness that food is the primary cause of most, if not all of the diseases listed above. It either supplies or does not supply the necessary nutrients and causes or can minimize inflammation. Anything consumed and repeated over a long period of time that causes the defficiency of necessary or so-called “essential”(because it cannot be produced by the body and must be consumed) nutrient will result in significant loss of nutrition and ultimately disease. One well-known example is scurvy, a simple deficiency of vitamin C. So I assert that an individual's diet simply must provide the essential nutrients the body needs to function and maintain health while causing the least amount of information. Vegetables for the most part can support this but there is a lot of evidence that vegetables alone cannot provide the necessary nutrients. That is a high density, high quality food that provides necessary cholesterol when properly cooked. Cholesterol is necessary for brain function and hormone production, myelin sheath production and in my opinion should be up primary focus of any food strategy. Autism has been shown to be relieved by any diet that reduces inflammation. Here are some references: http://thebigfatsurprise.com/blog/ http://www.foodforthebrain.org/ http://www.foundmyfitness.com/ http://blog.cholesterol-and-health.com/ These are all well referenced with plenty of reading if you are interested.

Matt, welcome to the boards. I am in Georgia. Please tell us about your self and give us a sense of what brings you and who you are.

Thank you all for really great thread. First off I'd like to say that I find nutritionfacts.org not credible and simply asserting correlation based on general studies. I am very suspicious of the green brain versus meathead assertions. I think his science and conclusions are based on correlation and not on any kind of actual research. I'm not personally going to invest the time to debunk it because I don't actually care that much. My only statement on the presentation is that the same correlation would go for the implementation of a westernized medicine and the increasing use of statins which is a cholesterol limiting feature and this could result in Alzheimer's like diseases. From my personal experience, I have a father-in-law whom both me and my wife tried for years to get change his diet from a high grain, high oxidative damage, high carb, alcohol, smoking based diet until he had a heart attack. Then, he recovered and he lowered his fat, went on a high grain diet, and statins and now he's been diagnosed with diabetes, lost weight and is exhibiting signs of dementia. Dementia is not full on but his personality is different. I am not making any assertions but I will point out that his doctor is very adamant that his nutrition be low-fat, high carb with injections of insulin. Conversely, I am a traveler that travels in a plane every week. Two years ago I committed myself to a high-fat diet and getting the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals and since then I have had less injuries, less gas, less pain and lost 15 pounds without any type of aerobic exercise and no more than 30 min. of light Pilates style exercise a day. I have not been sick in over two years, my skin feels great, my hair and nails grow ridiculously and while I never get enough sleep, I also always have great energy. I can only speak from an n=1 perspective, and I have intermittently gone off the high-fat diet and this is the only time that I have felt bad. So in my definition, I define health now as; a body with the least amount of inflammation possible and the greatest ability to absorb vitamins and nutrients efficiently. With this definition mind, I know that grains are not good for health. There is significant evidence to show that for a large majority they do to increase inflammation and we know for a fact that phytate's block mineral absorption. I personally eat 70% fat and generally 20% protein and 10% carbs and a total abstinence from gluten. I avoid all oils except coconut oil and I stick simply with animal fats, butter and a little bit of coconut oil. I.e. primarily gently cooked red meat in small amounts generally 5 to 8 ounces a day and as much egg yolk and plant-based fats as I can get. I also eat salmon a couple times a week and has much vegetables as I can. Even when I decide to eat carbs, I avoid gluten. If I want sugar, then so be it, I eat sugar like ice cream or a piece of chocolate but I avoid gluten. I have found that after two years of not eating gluten, any time that I eat gluten or I get something with MSG in it, I get a very specific pain in an area my colon and I feel a lot of brain fog. So, health is obviously very personal but I can guarantee to you that no one has a statin deficiency. Also our brain is consists of about 50% cholesterol by weight and with all the extra structure surrounding it about 70% in total. Also, all sex hormones are based on cholesterol. Cholesterol is the building block of our cell walls, hormones, myelin sheath for our nerves, and our brains. Cholesterol is simply a vital element required for life. https://www.bulletproofexec.com/ http://thebigfatsurprise.com/blog/ http://drglidden.com/