Tom from SSDP gave me a head’s up about an excellent op-ed in the New York Times today written by Anya Kamenetz. She basically makes the Epstein argument that we should create competency tests to grant rights to youth younger and in a more flexible fashion. Specifically she mentions voting, drinking, and credit card ownership,…
According to the most recent issue, it seems ASFAR‘s ‘zine, Youth Truth is ceasing publication. After eight years it is sad to see it go, but truth be told, Youth Truth has been on life support for at least half of that time. It had become a one person endeavor (and it showed) filled mostly…
First, look at this news story. It was early last month when Jane Hambleton of Fort Dodge found the bottle under the front seat of her 19-year-old son’s pride and joy. Her next move was a call to The Des Moines Register’s classified advertising department: OLDS 1999 Intrigue “Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love…
This blog entry is partially a response to the e-mail below, and partially a general comment, so not everything is gonna be directly related to or in response to this quoted bit: Well that is definitely an issue but not the only one. There are many steps it making this country bearable again and that…
From now till February 1 the Facebook Cause that receives donations from the highest number of people will get a $50,000 grant! Even 13th place gets $10,000. All you need to give is $10. More is, of course, welcome. Sign up for the cause here. In addition to the overall prize, the cause that has…
Okay, well, first things first. Alex Koroknay-Palicz, our executive director, got profiled in the Washington Post, for those interested in the article (its quite decent) it can be found here. Now, having been here while the article was written, we were actually expecting something more about the organization and less about him, but hey, it…
There is so much wrong with this story, I hardly know where to begin. I guess I’ll start with a brief synopsis: Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her. Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered…
All the child advocates out there, all the parents’ groups, all the public interest people… they have one supposed goal. They must protect children. They must help children. They must do all they can, even things the children might not like right now, for the children. Sure enough, there are people who may think NYRA…
On October 10, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported on the findings of its investigating into so called “wilderness programs.” Said Greg Kutz, managing director of forensic audits and special investigations, “If you walked in part way through my presentation, you might have assumed that I was talking about human rights violations in a third…
In a surprising move, Mothers Against Drunk Driving formed a new coalition to support the existing 21-year-old drinking age. The new coalition held a press conference on October 9 seeking to go on the offensive against advocates for lowering the drinking age to 18 (i.e. NYRA and Choose Responsibility). The press conference earned NYRA additional…
