Left And Right Politics

Operation Gratitude is a terrific organization that was started by one woman who wanted to help the troops after September 11, 2001. To date, they have sent hundreds of thousands of care packages to U.S. troops overseas. They collect items at certain times of the year, but letters are welcomed year round.

My husband, myself and two of our children (my two daughters) decided to get involved and we wrote five letters. Here my two daughters (ages 10 & 13) writing their letters. If you have a few minutes to spare, check out their website for more details and write a letter today.

Yes, I know….you’re thinking “What does unschooling have to do with politics?”.
Or you might even be asking “um…..what is unschooling?”.

Second question first…..
In it’s simplest terms, unschooling is a form of homeschooling. There’s lot of different ways to homeschool (which is the beauty of it) and unschooling is one way. It’s the way that works for us (and a lot of others also).

In unschooling we don’t break activities up into ‘educational’ and ‘not educational’. We know that we can learn from everything. We learn from Nintendo, we learn from books, we learn by going shopping….in essence, we learn through living interesting, full lives. We also don’t break things up into separate subjects. For unschoolers, math is science is reading is history…it’s all connected.

Now on to the first question….what does unschooling (or homeschooling in general) have to do with this a political blog like this?

One of the reasons I adore homeschooling (unschooling) is that the government can’t get their hands on my kids. As a Libertarian, I believe in each of us should have every opportunity to pursue our dreams and to realize our full potential. Libertarians believe that each person owns their own life and property, and has the right to make their own choices as to how they live their life and they want the same rights for others.

And children should have those rights also.

I am raising my children with Libertarian values and to be free thinking individuals. And I want that for them right now, not only when they become adults. As a Libertarian parent I believe that children should be empowered to set their own agenda for learning.

For me, unschooling and Libertarianism go hand in hand and I may spout off on the topic again here. For now, you can read about our unschooling life at my blog. It’s in the process of being moved and I’ll update this link when we do. An Unschooling Life

From cnet.com.
Also, if you have a digg account, digg it here.

With newspapers cutting back and predictions of even worse times ahead, Rupert Murdoch said the profession may still have a bright future if it can shake free of reporters and editors who he said have forfeited the trust and loyalty of their readers.

“My summary of the way some of the established media has responded to the internet is this: it’s not newspapers that might become obsolete. It’s some of the editors, reporters, and proprietors who are forgetting a newspaper’s most precious asset: the bond with its readers,” said Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp. He made his remarks as part of a lecture series sponsored by the Australian Broadcast Corporation.

Murdoch, whose company’s holdings also include MySpace and the Wall Street Journal, criticized what he described as a culture of “complacency and condescension” in some newsrooms.

“The complacency stems from having enjoyed a monopoly–and now finding they have to compete for an audience they once took for granted. The condescension that many show their readers is an even bigger problem. It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product. Newspapers are no exception.”

“It used to be that a handful of editors could decide what was news-and what was not. They acted as sort of demigods. If they ran a story, it became news. If they ignored an event, it never happened. Today editors are losing this power. The Internet, for example, provides access to thousands of new sources that cover things an editor might ignore. And if you aren’t satisfied with that, you can start up your own blog and cover and comment on the news yourself. Journalists like to think of themselves as watchdogs, but they haven’t always responded well when the public calls them to account.”

To make his point, Murdoch criticized the media reaction after bloggers debunked a “60 Minutes” report by former CBS anchor, Dan Rather, that President Bush had evaded service during his days in the National Guard.

“Far from celebrating this citizen journalism, the establishment media reacted defensively. During an appearance on Fox News, a CBS executive attacked the bloggers in a statement that will go down in the annals of arrogance. ’60 Minutes,’ he said, was a professional organization with ‘multiple layers of checks and balances.’ By contrast, he dismissed the blogger as ‘a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing.’ But eventually it was the guys sitting in their pajamas who forced Mr. Rather and his producer to resign.

“Mr. Rather and his defenders are not alone,” he continued. “A recent American study reported that many editors and reporters simply do not trust their readers to make good decisions. Let’s be clear about what this means. This is a polite way of saying that these editors and reporters think their readers are too stupid to think for themselves.”

Murdoch’s comments come at a time when the media landscape looks increasingly bleak both for print-based and online news organizations.

Hey you! Yeah, I’m talking to you Obama supporters.

King Barack knows you paid for his Greek columns, trip to Europe and infomercial and I’m sure you’ve pleased him.

But he needs more.

Didn’t you get the email he had his campaign manager David Plouffe sent you? Stop whining about having to put gas in your tank and pay your mortgage…you’re annoying the king. Didn’t you read what David Plouffe said. What? You forgot because you were to busy figuring out how you were going to pay your bills? You ungrateful bastards. Let me refresh your memory:

We’ll get to work transforming this country. But first, we need to take care of the DNC. Before we do anything else, we need to pay for this winning strategy.””

That’s right-you heard him. Take care of the Democratic National Committee FIRST! Then….they’ll put on their superhero costume and transform the country. But only after you give them some more money.

What’s that? You heard King Barack ended his campaign with extra cash? Well, yes as a matter of fact he did.

But that’s his money now. You gave it to him. And he decided to give it to his staff. You have a problem with that?

So open up those wallets and show him the money! Yes, he knows Christmas is coming but you weren’t silly enough to think hope and change came without a price, were you?

Cross posted at No Quarter