If the real identifying mark of a man is his ability to forego his own desires for the good of others, then the sacrifice of one’s life for another surely qualifies as the highest measure of manhood.
Aquinas and More Catholic Goods is featuring their Homeschool category this month. They have items and links to many great homeschooling materials. And remember, at Aquinas and More you can be assured that they are faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
Now is a great time to check out their homeschooling resources.
Here is a great article on chosing the right curricula for your home school.
A former Wal-Mart executive was sentenced to 27 months of home confinement. He was also ordered to serve five years probation, pay a $50,000 fine and about $411,000 in restitution to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and the Internal Revenue Service.
Coughlin had faced a maximum of 28 years in prison on five counts of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return and fines up to $1.35 million.
U.S. District Judge Robert Dawson agreed with a doctor who testified that Coughlin’s health was too poor for him to enter prison.
A $411K fine sounds like a lot of money…but to a man who made made over $4 million his last year on the job, it is not much. As late as 2005, he held over $20 million in Wal-Mart stock.
I don’t think that the wealthy should be punished any more than average folks but 27 months house arrest seems like nothing. Especially to Mr. Coughlin who lives with his wife, Cynthia on a 2,000-acre ranch about 10 minutes outside Bentonville.
According to uscourts.gov, the home confinement program in the federal courts has three components, or levels of restriction.
1. Curfew requires the program participant to remain at home every day at certain times.
2. With home detention, the participant remains at home at all times except for pre-approved and scheduled absences, such as for work, school, treatment, church, attorney appointments, court appearances, and other court-ordered obligations.
3. Home incarceration calls for 24-hour-a-day “lock-down” at home, except for medical appointments, court appearances, and other activities that the court specifically approves.
Home confinement benefits the courts in that it costs much less than incarceration. Moreover, courts may order persons placed under home confinement to pay all or part of electronic monitoring costs. Home confinement also enables defendants and offenders to continue to contribute to the support of their families and pay taxes.
It is nice to know that Mr. Coughlin will be able to continue to support his family and pay taxes.
By the way, if I ever get house arrest, do I get to pick who’s house I have to stay at?
With regard to spanking in schools, Judge Dawson stated in a 2001 legal opinion that “The amount of punishment, two or three licks, is not unreasonable in view of the need to maintain discipline in the classroom,”. Maybe the judge should have considered this punishment for Mr. Coughlin.
BP announced today that they have found corrosion in the Alaskan pipelines. 16 miles of the pipeline are going to be replaced which could keep the oil field closed for months. This is the countries largest source of domestic oil and could cause gasoline prices to go even higher.
This comes just a couple of weeks after the company posted record profits as crude prices soared.
Maybe BP should have used more of their profits for preventive maintenance rather than waiting for the pipeline to deteriorate to a point where it has to be shut down.
According to KEYE in Austin, Texas, a school district in Arlington has decided to ban cleavage in the coming school year.
Here is an excerpt from the dress code…“The display of cleavage is unacceptable. Low cut blouses, tops, sweaters, etc. with plunging necklines are not allowed.”
“It’s gotten bad enough that, unfortunately, our young males are looking at more than their English book, their speech book, their science book,” says school board president Sherri Wade.“And it’s kind of nice to have something left to the imagination.”
I am not sure that this is going to get the young males to look at their school books instead of the young ladies but I guess you have to start somewhere.
