Nobody talks about common laws anymore. We should because the true balance of power in a Democracy is the distinction between common law and statutory law. Does that balance still exist? No, because with each passing day the principles and values upon which the United States was founded are being eroded. Federal and judicial manipulation has made the Constitution/Bill of Rights nearly irrelevant. As Americans, we are the most powerful citizens in the world. We can choose our own representatives. We can choose to acquire as much knowledge as we desire. We can choose to worship God in our own way. We can choose to turn our ideas into reality. We have opportunities tha went undreamt of before 1776 and unrealized in much of the world today. We have the power to choose an environment that encourages respect and integrity. For 200 years people had the protection of the Constitution/Bill of Rights. We educated our children, we exercised our religion, we had the freedom to speak our minds, we had property rights, we could not be subjected to double jeopardy, and the states had authority. We had common laws. For 200 years we were a people. Times have changed. We have lost that power. States must educate our children in a costly federally mandated manner, our property rights are controlled by tax laws and use constraints, and when and where we choose to exercise our beliefs is governed. We may not voice objections openly or express our opinion unless it is "politically correct." We are tried on the state and federal levels for the same crime, and the states' Constitutional power has been suspended by overreaching federal power. Our common laws and choices are now bound by federal dictate that is enlarged upon by lawyers, courts, bureaucrats, politicians and special interests with every passing day. We have lost our "democratic" privileges and rights. What has this to do with our children? Everything. If we continue to let the government usurp the power of the people, our children will never enjoy the freedoms the Founding Fathers won for us.

Inspired by all the wonderful professional teachers who worked tirelessly in creating inspirational learning environments in our schools for the thousands of Copycats, Stickybeaks and Scallywags who enjoyed learning with them so much. I enjoyed learning with them too. As so often was said, “It was more fun than the pictures.” and we all agreed.

"The bestselling author of Bowling Alone offers [an] ... examination of the American Dream in crisis--how and why opportunities for upward mobility are diminishing, jeopardizing the prospects of an ever larger segment of Americans"--

Give Our Kids A Real Head Start written by Samantha Davis, has just the kind of practical advice that parents everywhere need to help them give their children a real head start in school. It will also inspire, encourage, motivate, and cheer parents on as they work with their children at home. This book also includes 100 websites to keep your child smart and part of the proceeds collected from the sale of this book will go to Literacy, Inc. at www.literacyinc.com/donate.html

I remember one of the first times our younger daughter Amber vented her anger at me for something I did. In reality, it was something I didn't do that made her mad. She had asked me to help her with a paper she was writing for a middle school class. The paper required a lot of research, and Amber didn't know how to go about doing the research."There's nothing to it," I assured her flippantly. Then instead of showing her what she needed to do, I simply told her to get started, explaining that she would figure out how to do the research as she went along.She let out an exasperated sigh. "But Dad, I don't know how to--""Amber, just get started," I insisted with authority, "and you'll figure it out." Then I left the room.(from the introduction)When the author understood his mistake, he was able to go and talk with his daughter. As she vented, he began to understand what a capacity parents have to make their kids angry, and how he could change his approach to communicating with his children to improve their relationship. In the years since Roger Cross has been studying the things parents do that make kids angry, such as:playing favoriteshaving loose or confusing boundariesexpecting kids to fill adult roles and moreDrawing on his ministry of Youth for Christ along with a survey of one hundred students of varied ages and backgrounds, Roger Cross has created a practical, helpful book for parents who want to understand why their kids are so angry and what they need to do to change.

Exploring the links between GM foods, glyphosate, and gut health With chronic disorders among American children reaching epidemic levels, hundreds of thousands of parents are desperately seeking solutions to their children’s declining health, often with little medical guidance from the experts. What’s Making Our Children Sick? convincingly explains how agrochemical industrial production and genetic modification of foods is a culprit in this epidemic. Is it the only culprit? No. Most chronic health disorders have multiple causes and require careful disentanglement and complex treatments. But what if toxicants in our foods are a major culprit, one that, if corrected, could lead to tangible results and increased health? Using patient accounts of their clinical experiences and new medical insights about pathogenesis of chronic pediatric disorders—taking us into gut dysfunction and the microbiome, as well as the politics of food science—this book connects the dots to explain our kids’ ailing health. What’s Making Our Children Sick? explores the frightening links between our efforts to create higher-yield, cost-efficient foods and an explosion of childhood morbidity, but it also offers hope and a path to effecting change. The predicament we now face is simple. Agroindustrial “innovation” in a previous era hoped to prevent the ecosystem disaster of DDT predicted in Rachel Carson’s seminal book in 1962, Silent Spring. However, this industrial agriculture movement has created a worse disaster: a toxic environment and, consequently, a toxic food supply. Pesticide use is at an all-time high, despite the fact that biotechnologies aimed to reduce the need for them in the first place. Today these chemicals find their way into our livestock and food crop industries and ultimately onto our plates. Many of these pesticides are the modern day equivalent of DDT. However, scant research exists on the chemical soup of poisons that our children consume on a daily basis. As our food supply environment reels under the pressures of industrialization via agrochemicals, our kids have become the walking evidence of this failed experiment. What’s Making Our Children Sick? exposes our current predicament and offers insight on the medical responses that are available, both to heal our kids and to reverse the compromised health of our food supply.

Art Greer-Assistant to the General Presbyter, The Presbytery of New Covenant Presbyterian Church (U.S. A.) When parents came to me, having discovered their child was involved in drugs, and asked, "What in the word do I do now?", my answer was simple: "See John Cates!" It still is. Barring that, this book, Recovering Our Children, is the next best thing! Phil Lineberger-Pastor of William Trace Baptist Church of Houston, Texas and Past President of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Recovering Our Children is a winner. John Cates and Jennifer Cummings draw upon their education and experience to help parents recognize the evidence of a young person's abuse of chemicals, to help the parents and young person reach out to those who can help, and to help the parents and young person reclaim control of their own lives. This book will serve as a valuable and encouraging tool for those who have reached the end of their rope. I highly recommend Recovering Our Children Patricia Creer-Past President of the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals Recovering Our Children, derived from experience with thousands of children and their families is reflective of the hard earned lessons of professionals who have intervened in a personal way for a number of years. I hope that this book will reach many in need, for it will help them. But I also hope that those who compose the community that will nurture Alternative Peer Groups will read it and pay attention.