Leo is taking kenpo karate, and the Supreme Court

My husband David signed our son Leo up for a four lesson trial of kenpo karate earlier this month. Leo had expressed an interest in karate for a while, and he had attended two karate birthday parties at a local karate studio (is that the right term?). This type of karate came recommended to us by a close friend and by a therapist. So Leo had his four lessons, and after the third the teacher, Mr. Hobbs, met with David and me. He told us what David had already noticed, that Leo seemed to enjoy it and was able to focus and remember the moves - which is important with Leo's ADHD. The individual lesson format helps. So we signed him up for six months of weekly lessons, and he can attend as many group lessons as he wants, but it will likely be only one weekly. He got his gi, and is proud of it. It's black instead of white, but Mr. Hobbs explained that that is the traditional color in kenpo, since kenpo originates from a time of war in Japan. Mr. Hobbs spent time from the very first lesson going over when NOT to use karate. He also saw Leo slouching on the sofa in the studio while awaiting his lesson and asked "Is that how you sit on the sofa at home?" and told him how he should sit. David was there and didn't answer then but wanted to say "He doesn't sit on the sofa, he jumps on it or stands on it or runs across the room and takes a flying leap onto it."


The US Supreme Court handed down a surprising decision yesterday, and it wasn't the one ruling a law on handgun bans unconstitutional (guns seem to always be OK to Republicans). It was a decision about a Christian law student group at a California law school wanting student activity money without agreeing to the rules to get funding. The law school said that to be an officially recognized student group and get funding, all groups had to agree not to discriminate and accept all members who wanted to join. But the Christian law student group wanted the recognition and money but wanted to be able to exclude gays and lesbians. The law school said no, so the Christian law student group sued. The school won at trial and on appeal, but I really expected the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the student group. But the four liberal (or liberal for the US, which would be conservative in Canada and most of Europe) justices were joined by Anthony Kennedy, the swing judge, to rule that the school could make rules for student groups to get funding. Almost every decision on the court comes down to how Kennedy votes, including the handgun decision.


I wanted to welcome an new follower, Lightning Baltimore. I enjoyed your first post. I like to extend an invitation to introduce yourself and tell us about you, if you want.