These are PARENTS??

This video is incredible, not for the fact that the teens are "sexting", but for the reaction from the parents after they were caught. I don't think these are real parents.



The callers have some interesting comments. One caller mentions teaching 'personal responsibility' to teens. This means allowing the kids to live with the consequences of their actions.

Another caller, a high school student, points out something interesting. He discusses how promiscuity was popularized by his parents, and so is carried on by the children. It's the old, "I can't hear what you're saying because of what you're doing," argument. And he's right.

What we need is for parents to be real parents and teach their children real morals. This means living within the laws of the land.

Creativity is Needed Everywhere

TED is AWESOME!! 

What I took away from this talk was that curiousity and creativity are present in both the arts and sciences. Without creativity in the sciences, some of our most important discoveries wouldn't have been made. By the same token, art can benefit from the application of scientific knowledge.

The first video seems to work well in tandem with this presentation. This speaker's arguement is for the need to help foster creativity. This means stop crushing creativity. It's only by taking chances that people can really learn; and creativity is crucial in taking chances.

America, the Republic... Thankfully

Contrary to popular belief, America is not a Democracy. Thank God for that. Instead we have a Republic, based on a body of law that keeps everyone in check, including our political leaders and popular individuals. Because we are in a Republic, Senator Ted Stevens was indicted. Because we are in a Republic, some of Obama's origial cabinet choices were rejected for not following the law. The law works to restrict the power of government and gaurantee our individual rights.

This video offers a great definition about the American form of government.

The scary thing about this video is the details about the Fall of the Roman Republic. It happened when some of the rulers started disobeying the law for their own, and their constituents', benefit. This eventually led to Mob Rule (Democracy) and eventual Oligarchy.

As Benjamin Franklin stated, we have "A Republic... if you can keep it." Let's hope we can do the work necessary to keep it. This includes being informed voters and letting our elected Representatives know we want less government interference and the rule of law. Let's hope that's enough.

Understanding the Other Side

This article in the Hot Air Green Room points out some things conservative-thinking people need to keep in mind as they discuss politics with some of their left leaning friends. Of particular note is the descriptive paragraph close to the end of the essay, where the author lists the different types of Liberals and their particular motivation.

Important in all of this is the assumption the conservative "champions both the moral and practical superiority of liberty and individualism." This is opposition to liberals, who support more government "because they need to believe that someone out there knows what they're doing" (emphasis in original) and they want this person to tell them what to do.

Read the whole article.

The Wall Street Journal's Take on Obama

After reading this article and this article from the Wall Street Journal, it seems our fears about the Obama BS package are justified.

The first article notes that the economy has continued to slip, and even accelerated its slide, with the announcement of the new BS economic plan. Maybe that's because investors read the Congressional Budget Office report stating the stimulus doesn't spend the money fast enough to make a difference and may stunt future growth. It's enough to scare me off from buying anything new, and I live in a 2 income household.

The second article appears to be rather dry, giving statistic after statistic about how the crashing stock market means we have a 20% chance of a depression. However, the last paragraph is very telling. The author reports he believes the economy will recover "despite" the spending past, not because of it.

My big question is, who are the Democrats in Washington listening to? It's certainly not the expert economists and it's not their constituents. I'll say before what I've said in the past, the Democrats used the recession as an excuse to push through a HUGE amount of earmarked spending they know wouldn't have gotten through otherwise.

I'm so mad, I want to cuss.

Accelerated College Entry? Not a Good Idea.

Okay, so according to Time Magazine, kids should be ready to go to college by 16 years old (thanks to the Last Psychiatrist for the link). My answer is, "Are you crazy or just not in touch with reality?"

Let me get this straight, a state that has special requirements on allowing teens under 18 to drive is considering putting them in charge of their lives at an earlier age? This doesn't make sense from a logic stand point. I mean, if you can't trust them on the road to make good decisions, how can you expect them to decide THE REST OF THEIR LIVES at age 16? And make no mistake, choosing to go to a college at age 16 will affect the rest of their life.

In the article, they keep talking about trying to emulate European and Asian countries. This would be fine, except for the fact that many Europeans and Asians want to come to our universities because we have the best universities in the world. Why weaken our universities with an unprepared populace, when instead we should be talking about how to address the concerns that cause students to "slide through high school."

We should be working to make high school challenging for everyone.