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Summer school teaches tea party values to kids

During the five-day Vacation Liberty School, talks, skits and activities mixed conservative values and early American history, including stories about how colonists' prayers once helped turn back a threatening French fleet and the principle of equal opportunity, but not necessarily equal results.

It marked the latest of a growing number of Vacation Liberty Schools, volunteer-run programs for children mostly ages 10-15 that resemble a mix between vacation Bible school, U.S. history and tea party-style conservative ideas that supporters say aren't taught in public schools.

They're run by members of conservative commentator Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project, a group that holds to a series of nine principles, including "America is good," God is "the center of my life" and "My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government," which "cannot force me to be charitable."

"What we need to do is get this country back on track," said Penny Lister, of Perryville, Ky., who brought her 9-year-old son, Jacob McCowan, to the Danville, Ky., session to "learn about responsibility."

The first Liberty school was held in Georgetown, Ky., in 2010 by 9/12 members including Lisa Abler, who fashioned a curriculum and made it available for free online on the Vacation Liberty School website.

An estimated 1,000 children have attended 40 similar schools across the country this year in states including Florida and Michigan, most using a curriculum developed in Kentucky, according to Eric Wilson , head of the Kentucky 9/12 Project.

The lessons on founding-father history and virtues, peppered with patriotism and faith, have proved a draw for 9/12 members, tea party followers and other conservatives, said Wilson, whose 9/12 group has about 3,000 members in 13 chapters that meet monthly.

"There's a growing liberty movement in the past couple of years," said Wilson, who said demand for the schools is rooted in a desire to teach the "self-governing leadership and personal responsibility" that "this country was founded on."

The schools, held for about three hours a day, are mostly free, though some charge nominal fees. They are funded primarily by volunteers and participants and held in churches. They have garnered media attention in several states, and some criticism.

The News Factor, an online Conservative News Magazine » HUMOR ...

This farmer tells it like it is.

A plane crashed on a farm in the middle of rural Michigan.Panic stricken, the local sheriff mobilized and descended on the farm in force. When they got there, the aircraft was totally destroyed with only a burned hull left smoldering in a tree line that bordered the farm. The sheriff and his men entered the smoking mess but could find no remains of anyone.

They spotted the farmer plowing a field not too far away as if nothing had happened. They hurried over to the man’s tractor.”Hank,” the sheriff yelled, panting and out of breath. “Did you see this terrible accident happen?” “Yep. Sure did,” the farmer mumbled unconcerned, cutting off the tractor’s engine. “Do you realize that is Air Force One, the airplane of the President of the United States ?” “Yep.” “Were there any survivors?” “Nope. They’s all kilt straight out,” the farmer answered. “I done buried them all myself. Took me most of the morning.”

“President Obama is dead?” the sheriff asked. “Well,” the farmer grumbled, restarting his tractor.

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