Free Download for Memorial Day/Election Week

The blessings -- and responsibilities -- of liberty are on my mind this week.






American Dreamers is one of our newest songs - you can listen to it and download it for free by clicking here.

American Dreamers

words and music by Erin and Craig Friedman
© 2009

She remembers the view from the back of the bus
She remembers the words to We Shall Overcome
She remembers that long march on Washington
She’s an American Dreamer
And she loves dreaming again

American Dreamers believe
The American dream lives and breathes
Hear freedom ring throughout the land
When American Dreamers join hands

He served in Iraq, a proud US Marine
When came back, his factory job was overseas
But this hard-working man will roll up his sleeves
He’s an American Dreamer
And he loves dreaming again

American Dreamers believe
The American dream lives and breathes
Hear freedom ring throughout the land
When American Dreamers join hands

Banners wave – change is blowin’ in the wind
American grace keeps her promises
The best we can be is where it begins
It begins with American Dreamers
We love dreaming again

American Dreamers believe
The American dream lives and breathes
Hear freedom ring throughout the land
When American Dreamers join hands

Redding - Where it's a crime to be a kid

School officials are dealing with rising truancy rates. The local police department wants to help. But all of the good intentions behind the Daytime Curfew Ordinance (passed by Redding City Council, 4-1) do not justify violating the civil liberties of our young people.

Chief Moty assured Council Members that his officers will ONLY be looking for “habitual truants” and getting them back into school.

Why, then, offer up an ordinance that criminalizes ALL young people?

You can drag a teenager to school, you can handcuff him to a desk. But you can’t call it education. And while the ordinance may net local school districts a few more ADA dollars, the kids who value their education will now share their classrooms with hostile teens who would rather be elsewhere. Teachers will be stuck dealing with discipline issues.

Can we look forward to escalating school violence, now that police will be rounding up habitual truants and dragging their butts to school?

The schools have failed to engage their at-risk students. Instead of creating innovative programs that encourage and motivate their students to stay in school, they throw up their hands and call in the Big Guns.

It’s heartbreaking to me that more citizens – government watchdogs, constitutional experts, etc… -- did not come forward to speak up for our city’s young people.

The City Council has promised to revisit the issue in six months. I will be there.