Is Thompson Really Late?

Much has been made about Fred Thompson finally throwing his hat into the presidential race. Most of that has been about how late his entry is.

We're over a year away from the election. How could this be late? States went nuts this year rescheduling their primaries because they wanted to feel like they mattered. I've long said that Iowa and New Hampshire should not be first, because they don't really represent a cross section of our population. But this year's scheduling is ridiculous.

Maybe the federal government should step in and schedule all primaries for federal offices, on a rotating basis. And maybe Fred Thompson isn't late, he's just fashionable.

What Is Back To School Really Teaching?

Over the past few weeks children around the country have returned to school. Their bright shining faces are all in their places and ready to learn. But while they learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, there are some truly frightening lessons that we seem to be teaching them, quite inadvertently.

On my way to work, I routinely get stuck behind school buses picking up children. I was horrified, however, when I got stuck behind a bus for ten minutes. It wasn't the amount of time that shocked me, it was how often the bus stopped. Within 70 yards or so, the bus had made three different stops. Then, 20 yards after the last stop, the bus turned into the school. There were three bus stops within 100 yards of the school.

People complain that kids today are too fat. Maybe its because we're teaching them 100 yards is too far to walk.

Recently, I saw in the news that a school district banned the game of tag because kids were complaining they were being chased. Again, maybe if kids got off their rear ends once and while and ran around, they wouldn't be so fat. But more than that, what happened to teaching kids personal responsibility. If two kids are chasing people who aren't playing the game, punish those two children. Kids need to be taught there are consequences to their actions. By taking the game away from everyone, it teaches kids who played by the rules that there really isn't any point to, since they'll be punished anyway.

Educating children doesn't start and stop with the classroom. We have to pay attention to what we're teaching along the way.

Clinton Supports Censorship

"The Road To 9/11" is a dramatization of events that lead to the attacks on September 11, 2001. The movie aired on ABC, despite a massive campaign by members of the Clinton administration to keep it off the air. Even so, edits were made to satisfy Clinton's followers.

Now, the movie has been scheduled and unscheduled for release on DVD several times. Why hasn't it been released? Because the movie is critical of the Clinton administration.

Cyrus Nowrasteh, the writer and one of the miniseries' many producers, said he was told by a top executive at ABC Studios that "if Hillary weren't running for president, this wouldn't be a problem."

Has the United States sunk so low that we are now allowing politicians to decide what we can watch? This is not a security matter. There is no justification for not allowing the movie to be released. Michael Moore has caused controversy, but every one of his films has been released, to be judged on their own merits.

We have the freedom of speech in this country. We have the right to express our views. No one has the right to stand in the way of that, especially someone running for the highest office in this country.