For Alaskans who have a very friendly, cooperative relationship with the state when it comes to homeschooling this sounds impossible. Personally, I had a hard time believing this actually happened but it is California and it is true. And one always has to consider the bellwether potential of California trends.

Here’s a brief summary of what has happened:

• The original case was one of child abuse and thus was confidential. In effect, Justice H. Walter Croskey, took the facts of one family’s case and applied his ruling to every family in California. Here is the judge’s ruling.

Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children.

• Homeschool legal organizations and parents are mobilized to form a strategy to take on this decision and the state of California. For now their goal is to depublish the ruling, which means it would be made applicable to just the family in the original case and not everyone in the state. Anyone in any state may sign the HSLDA petition here.
• Dr. James Dobson spent an entire Focus on the Family radio program addressing this matter. You can listen to it here. Glenn Beck interviewed Debbie Schwarzer, co-chair Homeschool Association of California on his CNN show. Transcript here.
• Governor Schwarzenegger denounced the ruling:

Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children’s education. This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts, and if the courts don’t protect parents’ rights then, as elected officials, we will.

• Yesterday, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell issued a statement saying the state’s policies toward homeschooling will not change.

Looks like the diligence and watchfulness of California homeschool families and their associations is paying off. Those who are elected to political office are better listeners to 200,000 voters than an imperious judge.

So, how does this affect Alaskans? It doesn’t. It is a state issue in California where their legislature has not addressed homeschools and thus there is no statute for homeschoolers to stand on. Homeschool families are treated as private schools. Alaska’s legislature has addressed homeschooling and the legislative intent is very clear.

If you want to keep up with this case I recommend Crimson Wife, a California homeschool mom and blogger.

UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt devoted the third hour of his show to the CA homeschool issue with guests Michael Farris, Erwin Chemerinsky, John Eastman and Brad Dacus. You can find the podcast here.

The LA Times has weighed in opposing the ruling though they do insist that homeschool families must have government oversight so

that children aren’t home all day watching reruns of “The Andy Griffith Show.”

Oh brother, maybe parents also need oversight to ensure they aren’t starving their kids, too. At least they are on the correct side of the ruling.

Huffington Post has sifted through the presidential campaign finance forms and created this useful graphic tool, FUNDRACE2008, to see who donors are, how much they give, where they live and their occupation.

Some observations:

• Actors and CEO’s give overwhelmingly and generously to Democrat candidates. So much for the stereotype of the fat cat Republican donor.
• In my own Anchorage zip code GOP candidates receive much more than Democrats. Not surprising.
• Engineers, my own profession, are split with a slight edge to Republicans.
• Bill Gates has given to both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton. In 2004, he gave to President Bush.
• Google employees send their money to Democrats. Could have guessed that.
• Exxon Mobil employees support Republicans but BP employees are split pretty evenly. Shell employees are most likely to give to a Democrat. Interesting.

There’s lots more information to mine. Have fun!

Among the items agitating the Obama campaign was the initial headline: "Obama support soft among Catholics.”

Mahtesian ordered it changed to "Obama slow to gain among Catholics.”

No, the difference between those would not be obvious to me at first glance, either.

But the two headlines give a flavor of Saturday’s tussle.

It’s the evolution of a news story in the era of New Media and how a high-powered political campaign affects it and thanks to John Harris for pulling "back the curtain a bit."

Gov. Romney lines up most closely with my conservative values and I’m impressed with his executive experience and success in business and as governor of Massachusetts, where he governed to the Right in America’s most liberal state. That takes tremendous political skill.

Here’s why it’s important for Alaskans to nominate Romney delegates rather than McCain. Alaskans raising a family here need a thriving resource economy to provide well-paying jobs so their children can live here, too. Let’s take a close look at what Sen. McCain says about Alaska’s resources, specifically ANWR, on January 16, 2008:

As far as ANWR is concerned, I don’t want to drill in the Grand Canyon, and I don’t want to drill in the Everglades. This is one of the most pristine and beautiful parts of the world.

One has to wonder if he’s ever actually been there. Barron’s opined Stalin would see it as “a great place for a gulag.”

Sen. McCain has a lot of strikes against him, McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform, McCain-Kennedy Immigration Act, The Gang of 14, and now McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act which would cap and trade greenhouse gas emissions. He voted against the Bush tax cuts. I have a hard time getting past this record. Yes, he’s a true hero and great in military policy but there’s so much more to being president.

So for conservative voters, in my opinion, Romney’s the guy. Gov. Huckabee has no chance of winning the nomination. At this point in the race, a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain since it splits the conservative vote to make it easier for McCain to win.

Locally, my perception is that Ron Paul is spending the most money. He has been advertising on the radio and there is one home in our neighborhood with his signs, the only home I’ve seen with any presidential signs. Gov. Huckabee’s supporters were waving signs at a busy intersection last weekend. That’s been it for the outward evidence of organization that I’ve seen. Of course, that will all change over the weekend.

Alaska voters wanting to know more about how to participate in the Presidential Preference Vote can get details about their district’s vote from the Alaska GOP website. Voters may register to vote on Super Tuesday. Info about the Democrat caucuses is here.