Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: All

Government



White House Blog: Spring Gardening
This brief blog post from March 2009 announces the White House vegetable garden on the South Lawn, vegetables from which will be “cooked in the White House Kitchen and given to Miriam’s Kitchen, which serves the homeless in Washington, DC.” Features a downloadable diagram of the garden with vegetables and herbs that will be planted for the spring. From the White House.
URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/03/20/Spring-Gardening/
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/28147



Health


Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH)
The mission of this organization is “to serve as the community of professionals who study, practice & promote healthy humor & laughter.” The group promotes “’therapeutic humor’: Any intervention that promotes health and wellness by stimulating a playful discovery, expression or appreciation of the absurdity or incongruity of life’s situations.” Its website features articles and white papers, bibliography of books and articles, newsletter with links to news, and related material.
URL: http://www.aath.org/
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/27956


5,671 posted on 03/27/2009 4:04:26 AM PDT by nw_arizona_granny ( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2181392/posts?page=1 [Survival,food,garden,crafts,and more)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5653 | View Replies ]


To: nw_arizona_granny

Examiner Editorial: Expanded Americorps has stench of authoritarianism

Examiner Editorial 3/26/09
With almost no public attention, both chambers of Congress in the past week advanced an alarming expansion of the Americorps national service plan, with the number of federally funded community-service jobs increasing from 75,000 to 250,000 at a cost of $5.7 billion. Lurking behind the feel-good rhetoric spouted by the measure’s advocates is a bill that upon closer inspection reveals multiple provisions that together create a strong odor of creepy authoritarianism.

The House passed the measure overwhelmingly, while only 14 senators had the sense and courage to vote against it on a key procedural motion. Every legislator who either voted for this bill or didn’t vote at all has some serious explaining to do.

Last summer, then-candidate Barack Obama threw civil liberties to the wind when he proposed “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the regular military. The expanded Americorps is not quite so disturbing, but a number of provisions in the bill raise serious concerns.

To begin with, the legislation threatens the voluntary nature of Americorps by calling for consideration of “a workable, fair and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people.” It anticipates the possibility of requiring “all individuals in the United States” to perform such service, including elementary school students.

The bill also summons up unsettling memories of World War II-era paramilitary groups by saying the new program should “combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service,” while establishing “campuses” that serve as “operational headquarters,” complete with “superintendents” and “uniforms” for all participants. It allows for the elimination of all age restrictions in order to involve Americans at all stages of life. And, it calls for the creation of “a permanent cadre” in a “National Community Civilian Corps.”

But that’s not all. The bill also calls for “youth engagement zones” in which “service learning” is “a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.”

This updated form of voluntary community service is also to be “integrated into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula” at all levels of schooling. Sounds like a government curriculum for government-approved “service learning,” which is nothing less than indoctrination.

Now, ask yourself if Congress members who voted for this monstrosity had a clue what they were voting for. If not, they’re guilty of dereliction of duty. If they did, the implications are truly frightening.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/Expanded-Americorps-has-stench-of-authoritarianism-41869152.html

And this is from the San Francisco Examiner?????

I thought they were solidly in the Øbama camp...


5,679 posted on 03/27/2009 12:37:18 PM PDT by DelaWhere ("Without power over our own food, any notion of democracy is empty." - Frances Moore Lappe)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5671 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson