News and Politics

By Chris

Strange as it may seem, Ben and Nick are into news and politics. Ben, especially, likes to watch the debates and any news about McCain vs. Obama. Nick scans the news pretty regularly, and he seems to be into the economic news coverage. He keeps score with me on the stock market's ups and downs. It's confusing to him . . . these are the kind of questions he's asked lately: "if the government prints money, how can they be in financial trouble?" "Did they pass the bailout? What does it mean?" Wow. The birds and the bees talk is easier than this stuff with a 13-year-old! Ben, meanwhile, asks questions like "I heard Obama will add an hour to every school day?" What!? There's false propaganda, even in elementrary school? That's tamer than what adults spread about both candidates, but still . . . it's sort of revealing. Ben's going to vote in his school's election, and he's been trying to make up his mind; and we've been letting him. It's not easy to tell him where to get information. There are not really many places a kid, or adult, can find real, factual reporting today. We've discovered there's more news and less information. One station is spewing talking points A. The other, talking points B. And so on. He told me during last night's debate, that he had decided. Hint: His candidate is a Senator ;))