Saturday, March 15, 2008

Around the Blogosphere This Week

Ed Morrissey and Jim Geraghty write that Senator Obama earmarked $1 million for the hospital employing his wife, who then received a salary increase of nearly $200,000 a year. Where's the mainstream media on this one?

Other bits of interesting reading I've come across this week:

Petition Seeks Rehearing in Homeschooling Case: This article at World Net Daily points out something I mentioned last week, that the recent anti-homeschooling court opinion causing such controversy is at odds with California laws. A petition for rehearing has been filed on that basis, as well as citing the court's reliance on outdated precedents.

No Small Plan: Public Boarding Schools for Chicago: Just...wow. They sound like orphanages...maybe there is a need for this for children from terrible circumstances, but what a commentary on the collapse of the family. And this raises some of the same issues as the California homeschooling controversy: do children belong to their families or the state?

ABC Finally IDs Spitzer as a Democrat: ABC finally identified disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer as a Democrat Wednesday, but it took NBC until Thursday. You've got to love the way the networks have played Hide the Democratic Label.

Neighbors Have a Beef With In-N-Out: Long, snaking lines at In-N-Out Burger are really news? :)

Forbidden Hollywood, Volume 2: Glenn Erickson reviews the new set at DVD Savant. He tags all the movies as "Very Good" or "Excellent."

Gloria Shayne Baker, 84; Helped Write "Do You Hear What I Hear?": The Christmas carol Baker wrote with her husband, Noel Regney, first became a hit for Bing Crosby in 1963. It was one of the carols I most enjoyed performing back when I was in junior high and high school chorus.

St. Patrick's Day, Catholic Church March to Different Drummers: This is the first time St. Patrick's Day has fallen during Holy Week since 1940. It won't occur again until 2160. A fascinating bit of trivia.

A Polygamist State of Mind: Lisa Schiffren writes at National Review that New York welfare officials regularly turn a blind eye toward Muslim polygamy.

In Rural England, the Mail's Bad News: Hundreds of small village post offices are being closed down in England.

Full Stream Ahead for Lower Owens: A more cheerful story is the restoration of the Lower Owens River near Lone Pine, along California's Highway 395.

Our Daily Bread? It's Costing More: I've sure noticed the higher bills at the grocery store. I blame a lot of it on the ethanol folly diverting corn from food production. According to this article, there's also a wheat shortage.

'John Adams,' Second to None: The latest HBO miniseries produced by Tom Hanks is already sitting in my Netflix queue, awaiting the day it has a DVD release. It's based on David McCullough's great book.

3 Comments:

Blogger Dana said...

Lovely roundup, Laura. Thanks.

I found the article on Chicago schools particularly interesting. It so clearly illustrates how public schools are no longer institutions of education but rather social institutions. Let us feed, clothe, parent, discipline, and then perhaps educate your children. This is a damning comment on the further deterioration of the American family and a government more than willing to step in and take over.

It appears to be a massive problem in Chicago, yet one wonders what can be done other than something drastic like what is being proposed? If these families are is such abyssmal disarray, what should happen to these children who are victims lost in the mess of the very adults charged with taking care of them? And will taxpayers who rise to their responsibilities be footing the bill -again- for those who don't?

I dont' see any easy solution however I don't believe in any way, shape or form, should this situation and lack of parenting be used as the standard in regard to homeschooling parents - which is what I'm afraid at some level the thinking is. And that is a fearful thing.

What do you think?

11:46 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

So glad you enjoyed, Dana.

You're right, there's sure no easy answers for problems such as those facing Chicago -- the absentee fathers, drugs, crime, etc.

I'm sure there are some government types who would like to correlate homeschooling parents as being neglectful too, but there is so much evidence to the contrary, and homeschoolers are generally so involved and vocal, I don't think that idea would get very far...

Laura

4:10 PM  
Blogger Tom said...

From article by Lisa Schiffren: "Those convicted of bigamy in New York can be sentenced to four years in prison." Why do I get the feeling that this won't be the case in several years' time?

8:24 PM  

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