Time for Some Campaignin´

I found this video amusing and wanted to share. Thanks Christina!

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Rain of Biblical Proportions

Maybe if the rain doesn´t work they can switch to voodoo dolls. Meanwhile we still have States that would rather have our teachers not teach evolution.

At least there was a reply on Television to this sillyness and I post it below:




I know I seem to be all over the place with this, but really people. There is something wrong when we have to argue about the validity of teaching Evolution in our schools and having a segment of the population praying to their God for a political prank. Believe me, voodoo dolls are not that far a stretch from this.

I am currently living in one of the most religious countries on this continent and I don´t see nearly the same level of idiocies as I see coming from the religious right of the United States. Grant it, this group has it´s baggage ( a lot of bad history here and plenty to criticize), but that is a whole other ball of wax that I can´t tackle here.

Well if you must and you know Spanish you can go to Alerta Religion for that. If you want to read from the same author, but in English then you can click -here- and get a whole slew of material.

Meanwhile one of the most trusted names in the news industry is a comedian (Jon Stewart). He held a breakfast with the news media and my favorite quote from that event was "Why do I take this more seriously than you?".

Way to go Jon!

Maybe we do need rain of biblical proportions, but I would like this rain to wash away this idea that the church and the State have anything to do with each other and that it gets some reporters wet. I am a "Glass half full" kind of guy so I will take this as a good start.

The Robert Downey Jr. of Cookies

There have been rumors (old ones by now) flying around that Cookie Monster was either going to be replaced or dropped from Sesame Street altogether. There even was an online petition sent to PBS against this measure. He was also interviewed on NPR, and you can see the short 5 minute video where he reveals his favorite dirty word among other things as well, on a show titled In Character.

Here in Argentina not too many people know about Cookie Monster; however, this last video below was sent to me by a local Argentine who happens to love cookies. I am sure that if Cookie Monster ever got a hold of her home made cookies he would love them too. Hope you enjoy Cookie Monster's appearance on the Colbert Report as much as I did.

Thanks Marce.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Cookie Monster
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Fundacion Leer Reading Marathon 2008

I have written about Fundacion Leer before. Last year they ran their Reading Marathon 2007 and now they have started their subscriptions for 2008. Things are looking great for them in Argentina, while things are not so great for Reading is Fundamental in the United States. Click -here- to find out what is happening to them.

The event will take place on the 3rd of October. What exactly is this event? This is a nation wide effort that culminates on the 3rd of October in reading groups throughout the country. The idea is to dedicate a few hours of the day to reading. The groups are made up of children, teachers, parents and volunteers. Whole comunities come together to read to children, listen to stories and poems, and to help foster a love for books and reading in children.

Last year, Fundacion Leer reached 2.3 million kids and 159,447 adults in Argentina. This year they want to reach even more.

I have been involved with Fundacion Leer since I arrived in 1999. At first I donated my time and now my company supports them financially through donations. This I have done because I have been moved by what I have seen.

Now I invite you to see for yourselves a little about what Fundacion Leer does. I have never been able to actually witness these events and not be moved.

The first video takes place in the province of Misiones




The second video was put together by EMpower, another company that supports Fundación Leer. When the end credits roll you can stop viewing even though the counter will indicate that there is more, it just starts over.




Fundacion Leer´s blog Post on this year´s event
Fundacion Leer´s award winning web-site

I hope you you feel strongly enough to want to do something, as I did when I watched these kids receive their very first books for the first time. Please get involved. Making kids hungry for reading will only help empower them. Education is only a cost if it is not given out, it is an investment towards the future.

Mom is Santa

This is a public service announcement. I have learned firsthand how quickly kids find "things" that are new to their world in their parent´s nightstand. This video captures that perfectly.

I Like Elephants

I saw a couple of videos on 99's blog that I had to share with my kids. They liked them so much that I thought I would put it on my site as well and share it with my friends and family. One of them was an orchestra played with vegetables and another was a dancing and singing cow.

Thank you 99!

Eric Herman makes music for kids. He has a blog called Cool Tunes for Kids. And now he has four more new fans. Check out his blog and his music. This is our favorite new song: