Elementary School Students are taught that Gender is a Spectrum

Children and teachers in all grades at Redwood Heights Elementary School in Oakland, California received instruction in anti-bullying from a group called Gender Spectrum. Fox News, reports that Joel Baum, director of education and training for Gender Spectrum, taught that "Gender identity is a spectrum where people can be girls, feel like girls, they feel like boys, they feel like both, or they can feel like neither."

To read the Fox News report, click here.
To read the Advocate.com report of the story, click here.

For the First Time Ever, Less than Half of U.S. Households are Married Couples

News sources are reporting that Census figures show that only 48% of U.S. households are made up of married couples. Further, only a fifth of households were married couples with children, down form 43% in 1950. The New York Times states that the "iconic image of the American family continues to break apart."

CNN reports that the percent of married households tends to increase in border states "where large Hispanic households represent a growing portion of the population."

Utah has the highest number of married households with 61%. New York has the lowest with approximately 44%.

To read the New York Times story, click here.

To read the CNN story, click here.

Five Steps to Kill Innovation

TechRepublic writer Jason Hiner enumerates five ways to kill innovations in his article How to kill innovation, in five easy steps.

His five steps are:

1. Don't give ownership of projects,
2. Create too many layers of management,
3. Ignore brainstorming rules (which he enumerates),
   
4. Rely too heavily on data and dashboards, and
5. Under-resource your hidden opportunities.

TwoMinuteBriefing recommends his article, which can be accessed here.

New Date for the End of the World

Fox News reports that the minister who predicted that the world would end on May 21, 2011, has announced a new date for apocalypse. Minister Harold Camping apologized for an error in his calculations, but not states that the world will end on October 21, 2011.

Camping also asserts that rather than a day of Rapture, May 21 was instead a "spiritual" Judgement day in which the world was placed under Christ's judgment.

Read the Fox News story here.

For the First Time, Most Americans Support Same-Sex Marriages

A new Gallup survey reports that 53% of respondents felt that same-sex marriages should be legally valid. This is a major shift from previous surveys.

...............Should be valid ...............Should not be valid

2011 ..................53%....................................45%
2010 .................44%....................................53%
2009..................40%....................................57%

The shift in opinion appears to be driven by a shift in opinion among those who identify themselves politically as Democrats or Independents.

Read the Gallup report by clicking here.

Romney Raises $10.25 Million in a Single Day

CBS News reports that although he has not yet declared himself a presidential candidate, Mitt Romney raised $10.25 Million in a single day fundraising effort in Las Vegas. The article reports that Romney is tapping into Wall Street and Mormon donors. The question has been raised that if these individuals are essentially investing their money in Romney, where are they not investing their money? What other causes or business efforts if any are going unfunded?

Heaven is a "Fairy Story" says Stephen Hawking

CBS News reports that Physicist Stephen Hawking does not believe in an afterlife. According to their report, Hawking describes Heaven as a "fairy story" for people who are afraid of death.

To read the complete story, click here.

The Sovereign Citizen Movement

The Sovereign Citizen Movement is a group of Americans who feel that government is acting beyond its legitimate authority, and therefore they refuse to hold a Social Security card, pay taxes, or use a driver's license. They have reacted violently when confronted by police, and are therefore listed among the FBI's top domestic terror threats.

Click here to access the CBS News story on the Sovereign Citizen movement.