'Charter Communications' wants to know what Mom's think -

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

As the mother of seven and grandmother of two, I have strong opinions about what's okay and what's not okay to watch on TV.  Television has changed a lot in the years since I was a child, and as far as I am concerned, it hasn't been for the better.  What we have now is a corporate system that thinks it has the right to expose our children to what ever it wishes as long as it increases their profit.  Sex and foul language permeate most network and cable TV; in their programs as well as commercials.   I found that in trying raise my children to respect abstinence and teach them right living, I have been fighting a losing battle against what Hollywood and other media have chosen to teach my kids. 

Simply turn the TV off?  We've done that.  In fact, I did not change to digital when we were told to a couple years ago.  I have no need to as we have not been watching TV stations in my household for several years.  Instead we watch select videos.  We look for interesting movies - comedy, drama, and action - that don't contain objectionable material. Sometimes that means the movies are primarily older; sometimes by decades. But there is still a rare good one produced today.  We do appreciate the effort being made by some Christian entities to produce quality videos. We aren't alone. We know of many that have turned the TV off and many more are moving in that direction. Commercial advertisers, in choosing to support raunchy material, are chasing potential customers off the TV.

Still, even having done that, we've been fighting a losing battle.  First, as we remove ourselves from their demographic of viewers, we become unseen to them. Surveying what people watch rather than whether they tune in at all, Hollywood's perception of what people like is skewed.  Secondly, it's impossible to shield our children from the propaganda of raunchy media.  This is because

#1) Other parents aren't always careful.  You can't keep your kids under lock and key, and when your children visit other homes there is no guarantee they won't be shown garbage on TV or video.  I have been sadly disappointed to discover some of the things my kids were allowed to watch in homes that I had assumed knew better.

#2) Sometimes your kids are curious about what other kids talk about and will seek it out.

#3) Schools have begun showing videos in classes - entertainment videos - under the pretense that it relates somehow to their class, or because they think the kids need some kind of reward for doing something they should have been doing for no reward in the first place.  These teachers sometimes choose movies with no regard for the varying standards of parents.

#4) Even some of the most innocent appearing movies fool you. Many supposed children's films now contain bad language and sexual suggestion.  It's assumed that adolescent sexual innuendo and slapstick is funny to everyone. 

#5) And now, with Facebook and cell phones, it's even harder to protect children that in was ten years ago.

It's out of control - and those of us trying to raise our children with a sense of morals are fighting an uphill battle.

 It's nice to know that Charter Communications is taking an interest and has created a Facebook page for moms to open up and talk about what they want from TV programming.

They say they are interested in hearing what Mom's really think and have promised Moms connected with the "Charter Moms" Facebook page that they will be "First to know" about positive changes in programming. They state,

We're always looking for new and better ways to connect with you and naturally, to entertain you and your families. You'll be the first to know about new services and programming and we hope you'll help to guide us as we look to make Charter stronger than ever.

That's good to know. I hope other communication companies wake up and follow their lead.

 

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WikiLeaks Cables Confirm Climate Skeptics' Fears -

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http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/wikileaks-cables-confirm-the-worst-fears-of-climate-skeptics/?singlepage=true

Just a year ago, the Climategate files — a collection of emails, data, and computer source code — were somehow purloined from the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit and made public. Pajamas Media was one of the first news organizations to cover them, with the first breaking news story out within hours of their first discovery (“Hacker Releases Data Implicating CRU in Global Warming Fraud“).

The full consequences are not yet clear, but the files’ release probably led to the collapse of the Copenhagen climate conference — to which the Obama administration had committed no little amount of political capital — and certainly contributed to the public’s increasing skepticism about the supposed consensus of climate science.

In some ways, the most surprising part of the Climategate files was how well they confirmed the dark suspicions of climate skeptics: there really were problems with replicating some of the most quoted results, there really had been some questionable manipulations made so the data would present the “right” picture, and there really was a somewhat covert group, composed of scientists on the “human agency” side of the argument and certain “reliable” environmental journalists, who were working together to suppress counter-evidence and assassinate the reputations of the skeptics.

Almost exactly a year later, Julius Assange and the WikiLeaks website revealed another collection of similarly purloined data. This time, the data was a collection of diplomatic cable traffic among American diplomats all over the world, some of it considered very sensitive — classified SECRET. Again, the purloined messages proved very embarrassing to the authors, although in this case the damage wasn’t just to egos and reputations; the cables did damage to American interests, even to national security.

On December 3rd, the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom published one of a series of stories based on the cables, this one titled “WikiLeaks cables reveal how U.S. manipulated climate accord.” The United States really was applying considerable political and diplomatic pressure on other players; the scientific “consensus” had long since been subsumed by the pressure to score a political win. As the Guardian put it:

Hidden behind the save-the-world rhetoric of the global climate change negotiations lies the mucky realpolitik: money and threats buy political support; spying and cyberwarfare are used to seek out leverage.

The bribes — sorry, I mean promised aid — was no mean amount of money. The Guardian reports amounts in the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars. The government of the Maldives set their price at $30 million. With a population of roughly 300,000, that is $100 per person in a country where the average household gets by on $450 a year.

This pressure, however, wasn’t limited to financial transactions: the United States was developing intelligence on the other participants in the conferences.

Seeking negotiating chips, the U.S. State Department sent a secret cable on July 31, 2009, seeking human intelligence from UN diplomats across a range of issues, including climate change. The request originated with the CIA. As well as countries’ negotiating positions for Copenhagen, diplomats were asked to provide evidence of UN environmental “treaty circumvention” and deals between nations.

At the same time, foreign powers — most probably at least including the People’s Republic of China — used sophisticated social engineering and cyberwar methods to get leverage in the upcoming negotiations.

On June 19, 2009, the State Department sent a cable detailing a “spear phishing” attack on the office of the U.S. climate change envoy … while talks with China on emissions took place in Beijing.

“Spear phishing” is an attack in which a carefully customized email message to a particular person, including personal information and promising something sure to be of interest to the recipient, is used to introduce a “Trojan horse” program, and while the cables don’t actually identify the suspects, it’s the same style of attack, and exactly the same exploit, that the Chinese used on Google.

The Guardian article is an amusing exercise in cognitive dissonance. The CIA wanted to collect intelligence on the other participants: CIA, ooh, bad! But it was to push through the global warming treaty. Wait. Global warming treaty, oooh, good! The Guardian writers clearly had some trouble deciding what they really thought.

By the time the Copenhagen conference came around, domestic political considerations inside the Obama administration had far outweighed whatever scientific basis originally drove the negotiations. On the other side of the table, pious public mouthing of global-warming dogma was replaced by straight-out monetary transactions: if you want our agreement, come up with the most cash. And China, South Africa, Brazil, and India were working the process with both politics and less savory means, to make sure they had the leverage to get what they wanted.

The lesson of the WikiLeaks climate cables turns out to be very much like the lesson of the Climategate files last year. The most surprising aspect of this story is how thoroughly the cables confirm the dark suspicions of climate skeptics.

Charlie Martin writes on science and technology for Pajamas Media.

I love colorful, fun, affordable Christmas gifts -

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pier 1 Imports. All opinions are 100% mine.

I found a neat site with beautiful ideas for Christmas.  I've seen this store for years - ever since i was teenager, but this was the first time I've explored it, and I was able to explore it for holiday gifts without going out into the cold and fighting for parking space.

What's really neat about Pier 1's website is that it's not just an online catalogue for Home accents and attractive furniture; they also have lots of helpful material on the site.

One way they help you out is with an 'Idea Room' that gives guidance on how to create and attractive and useful living space.  The Seasonal page even includes a Holiday Planner in their Idea Room, as well as a Spring Preview and the "Legend of Li Bien.".

One item I love in their Idea Room was the  "gift closet." I've actually been doing that, in a sense, for years; ever since my kindergartner was invited to five birthday parties within a two week period.  As our family grew and my children came more frequently to me at bedtime with all types of 'next-day' events they "forgot" to tell me about; the need to keep last minute gifts on hand became vital.  Pier 1's ideas for keeping a gift closet are really helpful.

In their holiday gifts section, they have a Penguin theme going on with some things this season, and that's intriguing to me because I have a sister that's really into penguins. I also  would love to dress my dining room table with Pier 1's  colorful tableware - including festive napkin holders.  Even though we won't be inviting anyone other than immediate family this year, I've been learning as a grandmother how important it is to celebrate family and go the extra mile to let your kids and grandkids know how very important they are.

Along with their colorful home decorating treasures, they have a clearance and special savings corner, and a Daily Deal with a mind blowing bargain on a different super-neat item every day. You can access the printable coupon for the Daily Deal directly at Pier1.com or by joining them on Facebook.  Remember - they're good for only one day, so you have to hurry.

Further - You can spread the Christmas Cheer through Pier 1.  During the months of November and December you can support 'Toys for Tots' through Pier 1 by dropping off an unwrapped gift, donating at the check-out counter, or by joining them on Facebook.  For every new fan, Pier 1 will donate $1 to Toys for Tots.

Just looking at their pages gets me excited with ideas.  Have a great Holiday!