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Home Archives for General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Passion Week: Thursday

Today we remember the Last Supper and Christ's betrayal. Though there are many passages to choose from, in particular I am reminded of the Savior's ultimate example of service and his incomparably fervent prayer (both from the New American Standard Bible): John 13:3-5 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God, rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Luke 22:41-44 And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, Commemorative, General Tagged With: Passion Week

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

The Reports of Common Sense’s Death May Not be Exaggerated After All

Eminent UCLA law professor and blogger extraordinaire Eugene Volokh exposes a case of political correctness run amok, to the point of absurdity. "Harassment by reading"? Oh, it's worse than that. University administrators in Indiana came down hard on an employee reading during breaktime a scholarly book that included "Ku Klux Klan" in the title. (You can learn more about the incident, and the book's clearly anti-Klan theme here.) Here's the key excerpt from a university Affirmative Action Office letter, reprinted on Volokh's site:Upon review of this matter, we conclude that your conduct constitutes racial harassment in that you demonstrated disdain and insensitivity to your co-workers who repeatedly requested that you refrain from … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cultural Conservatism, Education, General, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: death of common sense, Eugene Volokh, Free Speech, I am not a victim, Ku Klux Klan book

2/7/2026 By Ben 3 Comments

Wow, Those Are Some Bad Teachers

Remember the cash-prize contest to get rid of America's 10 worst teachers unveiled a few days ago? A publicity stunt, to be sure, but it looks like Center for Union Facts already has received some worthy nominations:We’ve received more than three hundred nominations since our “Ten Worst Union-Protected Teachers” contest launched at TeachersUnionExposed.com on Tuesday. Just to give you a hint of what’s been coming our way, here are a few of the entries we’ve received so far (edited for privacy and clarity, of course): * Music teacher. Takes personal cell phone calls and answers e-mail while kids are in the room waiting to be taught. She yells at them if they start to talk because she can’t hear. Doesn’t really teach … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, General, Labor Tagged With: bad teachers, Center for Union Facts, teachers unions

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Bracketology

When it comes to March Madness, the truth is I never learn. No matter whether I follow the season closely or guess at random, my picks are always mediocre at best. Yet each year I come back to the NCAA Tournament Brackets like a sheep to the slaughter. This year is no different. I filled out two different brackets on ESPN, made picks on Facebook's CBS and Sports Illustrated applications, and even decided to accept the McCain Basketball Brackets challenge. We're only a couple hours away from the first game tipping off. How long before my brackets implode in failure? It's just one more piece of the fun and entertainment of March Madness. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous, Sports and Leisure Tagged With: Bracketology, ESPN, Facebook, John McCain, March Madness

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Steyn on Left’s Creeping Concessions to Islamic Sharia

Over at the Corner, Mark Steyn highlights the Left's illogical "Sharia creep" in its latest manifestations in the United States:Forty years ago, advocating separate drinking fountains made you a racist. Today, advocating separate taxi cabs or separate swimming sessions makes you a multiculturalist. No one has a keener eye for this stuff than Mark Steyn. If you're not reading him regularly, you should be. After all, he has been fighting the good fight for free speech against Canada's Human Rights Commission. (More on this story from Michelle Malkin.) A little solidarity today from south of the 48th parallel. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, Cultural Conservatism, General, World Events Tagged With: Canada's Human Rights Commission, Free Speech, Islamic Sharia, Mark Steyn, The Corner

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Obama Exposed: Saturday Roundup

Could there be more to the agent of "change" and "hope" than what the media had led us to believe? The story of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's America-hating longtime spiritual adviser Jeremiah Wright has started to sink into the public psyche. Meanwhile, the center-right blogosphere keeps digging deeper. Since there's very little new I can add to this story from my remote observation post, here's a quick roundup of some of the latest developments and keenest analysis out there: Over at Powerline, Scott Johnson breaks down "The Audacity of Hype," while Paul Mirengoff speculates about Obama's attempts to distance himself from the Leftward fringes of liberation theology Jim Geraghty says Wright could be this campaign … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics Tagged With: American Thinker, Barack Obama, Democrat primary, Jeremiah Wright, National Review, Newsbusters

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Liberal Activist Judge Threatens to Criminalize Homeschool Parents

Update: Richie D at exvigilare has more Out in California, an activist judge has all but put the kibosh on educational freedom - apparently generating law from whole cloth that says parents who school at home have to be credentialed by the state. At least a higher court will have something to say about it:A "breathtaking" ruling from a California appeals court that could subject the parents of 166,000 students in the state to criminal sanctions will be taken to the state Supreme Court. The announcement comes today from the Pacific Justice Institute, whose president, Brad Dacus, described the impact of the decision as "stunning." "The scope of this decision by the appellate court is breathtaking," he said. "It not only attacks … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, General Tagged With: California, homeschooling, Liberal activist judiciary, Pacific Justice Institute

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Blue Elephants

If you feel like your life has been devoid of elephant sightings - in particular blue elephant sightings - you might want to drop by and visit my house. In the past week, we've had somewhat frequent visits from various "big" and "heavy" pachyderms. Or so my 2-year-old daughter tells us. Sometimes the elephants are "babies," but lately they've all been "blue." Hey, if you've got half an imagination, it'll beat most anything you see on The Discovery Channel. Seriously, though, I'm taking this fascination with elephants as a sign of some innate Republican sensibility. And when I say Republican, I interpret it in the sense of the traditional Reagan conservative coalition. The blue part? Beats me. Any theories out there? Personally, I just … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: Blue elephants, Family, Republican Party

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Why Democrats Are Saying TGIF

If you're a Democrat, Friday has to be feeling really good right about now. Maybe for the weekend, at least, you can take your thoughts off what seems increasingly likely to lie ahead:So it will come down in Denver to the Party's super delegates, a mechanism reeking of rule by elites, adopted by the party which proclaims its devotion to the common man and woman, and which has made huge amounts of noise about making every vote count. Thanks to its convoluted primary process, with proportional arrangements frustrating the desire to have a decisive winner to allow the party to get on with hammering the GOP nominee, the edge in pledged delegates that belongs to Barack Obama will be difficult to overcome among the super delegates, who have been … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics Tagged With: American Thinker, Democratic National Convention, tragedy

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

“Who Writes This Blog?”

FYI: Last night I added a permanent page titled "Who Writes This Blog?" as a means of providing greater clarity and transparency. A link will remain in the top, right-hand portion of the main page. In addition to basic information about myself and the things I like to write about (for those who don't read Mount Virtus regularly or have yet to figre it out), the page includes my general policies for comments. Writing the page was a good exercise. It really helped me to focus on defining a bit better what it is I do here exactly. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life Tagged With: Who Writes This Blog?

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About Me

Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

Recent Posts

  • AI-Enhanced Cyberbullying: The Dark Side of Teen Innovation
  • My Baker’s Dozen of Top 2023 Reads
  • Common Learning Disabilities in Children
  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition

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Completing the Blogroll

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To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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