I’ve had several open tabs in my browser window for the past week or so, of things that I wanted to link to on the blog. Now that I have enough tabs I can’t figure out which one I am working from, I thought it might be time to post them.
First, an article from the San Jose Mercury News on a new species of mushroom discovered. It looks, surprisingly, exciting excited.
Here’s an article I found really interesting about White House press conferences. As a former journalist, it drives me insane to see the traditional media fight against new forms of journalism. This is not a Good Ol’ Boys Club, people. Adapt or die. Were you upset that it was an online news source, or just the Huffington Post? Or upset because you weren’t consulted before they let “those people” in here? Get over it.
The news world was atwitter yesterday due to federal advisory panel recommendations to limit the daily allowable dosage of acetaminophen products. They are also recommending a ban on Percocet and Vicodin, due to effects on the liver. Now, I have a friend who nearly died this year from liver failure. And she’s 30. So I get it. OK. But I’m also on Vicodin. What am I supposed to take for pain? Am I going to have to choose between possible liver failure or living with wearing-down-my-teeth-from-gritting pain? Surely there are other options, but what’s with all the pain relievers having issues? If it’s not liver failure, it’s heart complications or stomach problems.
Speaking of health-related items, health insurance in this country is a total scam. I’m not even going to comment.
In education news, congratulations on teaching your kid how to get ahead in life. This is either, “if you don’t like your place in life, just do something illegal,” or “if you don’t like your place in life, have your mom bail you out.” I can’t decide.
Also, it’s a good thing that this didn’t happen to my kid, or I might have done something illegal! I’m glad to see justice was served here. Well. Kind of.
I also found this yesterday about the homeschool situation in the UK. I don’t know much about the blog, but some of the things that were written here make so much sense. This is the quote that resonated the most with me:
That’s the biggest problem—government officials who use their power to regulate and control people who have done nothing wrong, and who are simply being singled out because of prejudice. And then, they make it look like what they are doing is for the “good” of the children, when it fact they are stripping rights away from everyone, even the children they are claiming to protect.
Any call to monitor homeschoolers because of possible abuse or lack of sufficient education, without any evidence to the contrary, is a form of discrimination. Just substitute any other group - African-Americans, Muslims - into that and tell me it’s not. Saying people homeschool their kids so they don’t have to educate them, or so they can abuse them, or to insert-the-pejorative-of-the-day, is like saying that people who send their kids off to public or private school only do so so they don’t have to actually parent their kids. Painting an entire (and incredibly diverse) movement with accusations that just aren’t true and don’t hold an ounce of water is no way to enact policy.
Sure, there are people who use “homeschooling” as a cover to abuse or neglect their kids. The problem here is that they are not “homeschoolers,” but that they are child-abusers. Monitoring homeschoolers, or demanding that all children go to “traditional” schools is not the answer. We already have laws in place to deal with people who mistreat their children. And let’s be honest, the public school and foster systems in this country aren’t exactly doing the best job there.
Anything in the news strike you this week?