The playhouse post is just a few posts down. Here’s a link to go directly there. Be sure to click the link to Edward’s SafeBuilding article.

Edward, a friend who builds Kidsafe Playhouses for Children, had this to say about his playhouses (scroll down for pictures):

Children need a place for imaginative play. It develops creativity, socialization and encourages exploration of ideas. If that place is unsafe and a child gets hurt they will not want to use it (and thus money wasted). Furthermore, play is most developmental if it is interactive with other children. A safe playhouse means a child can invite friends over and all parents can rest easy. Developing friendships and interaction involved is a major stepping stone in the development of the child. My playhouses also encourage parents and grandparents to participate in the play since all are built with an adult door. It is hard to come for “tea” if the only entrance is 4ft tall and only 18 inches wide.

Properly constructed playhouses can be used for many, many years. With the adult door it can be used for winter storage. As the child grows it can be a quiet place for a teen to study. When the child finally out grows it, as a young adult, it can become a potting shed, a sewing room or even just a place to display a collection. In fact the dressing up of the playhouse can occur though out its use by children. Imagine a spooky haunted house, or place to hold a child’s thanksgiving feast suitably decorated with corn stalks, Indian Corn, Squash and anything else the parent and child can think of. Maybe Santa’s workshop for a Christmas theme, at 8 x 10 feet (and low to the ground) two strings of holiday lights will do all of the roof edges, windows doors and maybe more. Valentines Day, St Patties and Easter are also possible with in the attention span of child given the small size of the playhouse.

However none of this means anything if the playhouse is not designed for children or worse yet not safe for them.

Click here for an article Edward wrote for the July 24, 2004 issue of Construction Guide (reprinted here with the Author’s permission).

If you are interested in the KidSafe Playhouses, leave an email address in the comments and Edward will get back to you.

Welcome G as in Good H as in Happy Readers. Belated welcome Anchoress readers.

Playhouse

Safe Corner Detail

Loft Detail

8/18/05 – new pictures here

Via Real Clear Politics:
From Opinion Journal
Iwo Jima: The famous battle offers lessons for us 60 years later. BY ARTHUR HERMAN

Conservative in Texas had some thoughts about grassroots support for SS reform after hearing the results of a poll on the radio that indicated popular support is declining. He emailed David Limbaugh with his idea and David has some thoughts on this as well.

David says:

It seems to me that bloggers, by definition, are a grassroots phenomenon. But they are like grassroots on stilts because their work is immediately published and potentially explosive in terms of its ability to reverberate to the corners of the earth instantly and efficiently. Some might argue that the very notion of a concerted blogging effort is counterintuitive, since one of the best attributes of bloggers is their independence. But they don’t have to sacrifice their independence to become part of an organized effort with whose goals they happen to agree.

Link to the White House’s page on SS Reform here.

Link to the WSJ article here. (Subscription required. I don’t have one so I don’t know exactly what it says).

Update: link to USANext , Building a Legacy of Freedom for Families

In the first bill signing of 2005, President Bush signed Class-Action Fairness into law.

Full text of the remarks are here.

Overall, junk lawsuits have driven the total cost of America’s tort system to more than $240 billion a year, greater than any other major industrialized nation. It creates a needless disadvantage for America’s workers and businesses in a global economy, imposes unfair costs on job creators, and raises prices to consumers.

We have a responsibility to confront frivolous litigation head on. I will continue working with Congress to pass meaningful legal reforms, starting with reform in our asbestos and medical liability systems.

Via Fox News: The Iowa Supreme Court decided today that Illegal Aliens do not have the right to get driver’s licenses in the State of Iowa.

Mark Hunacek, an assistant attorney general, said federal courts have concluded there is no constitutional right for illegal aliens to have a driver’s license.

“We conclude the state’s licensing scheme is rationally related to the legitimate state interest of ‘not allowing its governmental machinery to be a facilitator for the concealment of illegal aliens,’ ” the court said.

Since Jeff has joined me, this isn’t just Kim’s Thoughts and Observations anymore… Now it’s Musing Minds. URL is the same…

Hybird cars are a bad thing … at least for state gas tax revenues. Apparently those cars that use less gas and are better for the environment are not so good for revenue… Now they want to install GPS in your car to track how many miles you’ve driven and tax you some more…

GOP Bloggers brings our attention to a story on CBS News from Monday regarding a per mile driven tax that is being tested in Oregon and considered in California.

States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile
“Drivers will get charged for how many miles they use the roads, and it’s as simple as that,” says engineer David Kim.

Kim and fellow researcher David Porter at Oregon State University equipped a test car with a global positioning device to keep track of its mileage. Eventually, every car would need one.

Having the state government know where I am at any time? Uploading that information through the gas pump every time I fill up? Getting penalized for travelling during rush hour?? Perhaps this would slide down the slippery slope to penalize me for driving on city roads, for short trips (such as taking my child to pre-school – 2 miles one way)?

Sneaking Suspicions has a story on the two Baltimore Sun journalists who were frozen out by Maryland Governor Erlich. They have sued because Governor Erlich issued a memo telling staffers not to speak to them.

Under the First Amendment they do have the right to ask me questions.

Under the First Amendment I do have the right to not answer their questions.

It seems to me that many journalists feel that the First Amendment means that I have to answer their questions…

These two found out otherwise…

Go read it.

Hat tip: Instapundit

Beldar has a most excellent analysis of the DC Circuit’s decision in the Judith Miller contempt case. Beldar’s scorecard on the DC Circuit’s Plame decision today: Prosecution 34, Journalists 0: Go read it all.

Beldar also mentions Orin Kerr’s post on The Volokh Conspiracy:
DC Circuit on Blogging and the Reporter’s Privilege.

Judge Sentelle pointed out some of the difficulties of applying such a privilege in light of the blogosphere:

Perhaps more to the point today, does the privilege also protect the proprietor of a web log: the stereotypical “blogger” sitting in his pajamas at his personal computer posting on the World Wide Web his best product to inform whoever happens to browse his way? If not, why not? How could one draw a distinction consistent with the court’s vision of a broadly granted personal right? If so, then would it not be possible for a government official wishing to engage in the sort of unlawful leaking under investigation in the present controversy to call a trusted friend or a political ally, advise him to set up a web log (which I understand takes about three minutes) and then leak to him under a promise of confidentiality the information which the law forbids the official to disclose?

Go read the rest.