Is Barack Obama secretly using modern parenting books for government leadership hints? Politico thinks so. The evidence? For one, Senator Claire McCaskill's comment that the Senate democrats decision not to strip Joe Lieberman of his chairmanship was a
“direct result of the tone [Obama] set...The old school was that you reward your friends and punish your enemies...But it’s a new day, and there is no reward and punishment going on.”
Politico likens this "tone" Alfie Kohn's parenting advice:
Alfie Kohn, whose book “Unconditional Parenting” is subtitled “Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason” approves.
Kohn says a “working with” approach in the political realm is “essentially more democratic” — particularly if it offers real choices, and not just the illusion of them."
Maybe the Catholic Church needs to consider its own "fathering" style. For want of local recruits, the Church in the United States has a growing stable of priests from abroad:
"One of six diocesan priests now serving in the United States came from abroad, according to “International Priests in America,” a large study published in 2006. About 300 international priests arrive to work here each year. Even in American seminaries, about a third of those studying for the priesthood are foreign-born."
Most of the places these priests end up working are, ironically, some of the most rural and isolated and the least exposed to outsiders. Having international priests, the New York Times suggests, has allowed some parochial parishoners to discover the world a bit:
"Kentucky Catholics who once did not know Nigeria from Uganda opened their eyes to the conditions in the countries their foreign priests came from — even raising $6,000 to install wells in the home village of a Nigerian priest serving in Owensboro."
The organization, Families of Flight 93 have asked still-president Bush to seize the land on which their loved ones died on 9-11, as the landowner has refused to sell it for a memorial. it's a tricky question for Bush, who, along with most republicans finds government seizure of private land abhorrent. But for this cause, how can he say no?
Finally, it's not breaking news, but it's worth reading: A mom who tries to stop using or buying plastic for a week. Here's an excerpt:
"Day 1:
I use the shampoo bar, put my son in a paper diaper and talk up the new Hello Kitty stainless steel sippy cup that has replaced my daughter's mystery-plastic princess one. Smugness sets in as my girl swigs milk from Hello Kitty and my boy sucks on his rubber pacifier, content.
Then my 3-year-old wants breakfast. Everything we eat is wrapped in plastic except for bananas, oatmeal and salt. She wants none of these things. I feed her cereal out of a plastic bag with milk from a plastic jug."
