Its only 6:44 am and we're already getting a lot done today. My daughter (age 14) was asking questions this morning about my voter's information booklets and sample ballot for the primary election. That led to questions about the voting process and our government. I explained how I decided what and who to vote for. I also read her some of the pro and con arguments for California's "Balanced Budget Amendment" which is on this year's primary ballot.

Then we decided to read and discuss the speech former Vice President Al Gore gave on November 9, 2003 - about the Patriot Act and our loss of civil liberties. It can be found on the moveon.org website and there's a video link on C-Span. A neighbor of mine sent me the speech in email a few days ago - that's what made me aware of it - I'd printed it out and it was waiting here on my desk for me to finish reading.

We were both fascinated by the information given by Al Gore - and it brought about a lot of good questions and discussion. My daughter learned more about President Bush's cabinet, the bipartisan political system, other political parties and why we have them, and international politics. She'd chosen current events as her main social studies subject this year - we've got it on her transcript as 'American Studies, General' - and she's demonstrated a real interest in learning about what's going on in our country.
  ¶ 6:50 AM