Happy News of Import including Why can't candidates be younger?

Here's what's going on today/this weekend.

• Why should holding office be for old people only? One of the most important questions today. The two examples the writer gives are the number of elected officials in Parliament in Canada and Britain who just lowered their voting age from 21 to 18. Which is a joke - in the US people can't run for federal office until they're 25, Senate at 30 and President at 35. Whether someone at 18 could get elected is inconsequential.
  

  The U.S. is an outlier -- which means that our younger voting-age citizens, those aged 18 to 34, do not enjoy full civic enfranchisement compared with their generational peers elsewhere. And our general electorate, by the same token, doesn’t enjoy the liberty of hearing from, evaluating and perhaps voting for (or against) younger adults, whose official candidacies might prove compelling were they not preempted from running.

  Read this whole piece. It's an important argument for why young people are second class citizens when the laws that are passed "on behalf of us" has a greater impact.

• Cell phones throw off poll takers. Not to be disparaging to the good reporters of Chicago but... duah! Let's not focus on the fact that you're late to the party but embrace you showed up at all. Polling is a science - those who exclude young people or reject cell phone only house holds is conducting a poll that is a complete waste of time. Like.... CNN.
• Orange County CA might allocate $3.5M for youth jobs - Which is awesome but read the story and you find out this is a cut in half from last year.
  

  "The money is needed to help youths gain job experience, build confidence and learn skills, said Supervisor Don Knabe, who represents Long Beach and nearby communities.
  "The unemployment rate among young people is staggering," said Knabe, who proposed the funding along with Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

  The summer jobs program has been popular and successful in years past, officials said. This year, however, the county will be on the hook for all of its funding due to the end of the federal stimulus program.

  Last year, roughly $6.5 million from the federal stimulus was doled out to county work force investment boards, including the South Bay Workforce Investment Board in Hawthorne, to help thousands of young people find jobs."

• LTE saying Kudos to young lobbyists who are trying to make civics education a grad requirement. Original story on the young people working to bring awareness to American Government is here.
• The Millennial Generation is among the best ever produced says this guy.... Boy this is kinda happy news today!
  

  "As a life-long teacher and school administrator, I can say with confidence that this generation of students is the best I've worked with in my 20-year career. It remains to be seen if their talent and optimism will allow them to guide our country towards a brighter future than what older Americans predict for them, but if the future for today's youth is bleak, you wouldn't know it by talking to them."

• Interesting... To reach millennials - marketing firms are reaching out to moms
• Evangelicals pissed at young people who are at the Wild Goose festival in NC. Damn kids these days with the hair and the music.... Get off my lawn!!
• Study: Montana could do more to encourage young people says these good people. After ranking 4th in the country in the Rock the Vote young voter friendliness scale Montana is asking how they can be even better. It does my heart good to hear they care so much. Where as other states are working to make things worse.
• How to pay off debt while starting a new business- a UK piece but the takeaways are good for anyone with financial troubles and ambition to be a business owner.
• Reduce Soldiers debt load! Sen. Amy Klobuchar has introduced legislation: the "Servicemember Student Loan Interest Relief Act" along with Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma.
  

  According to the Project on Student Debt, nearly three-quarters of Minnesota college students graduate with debt, and the average debt load is over $27,000.

  Many service members, especially National Guard members . . . had already racked up considerable student debt, often through the Federal Direct Student Loan program. . .

  Under current law, when service members are called up for active duty in a hostile area like Iraq or Afghanistan, they receive a deferment on paying back their student loans for that time period. Service members also receive a waiver on the accrual of interest on their student loans for the length of their deployment in a hostile area.

  But there’s a problem. This benefit applies only to Federal Direct Student Loans dispersed on or after Oct. 1, 2008. It does not apply to loans dispersed before that date. The interest on those loans continues to accrue.

  This new law would level the playing field for all soldiers.

• Students seeking job training skills can end up paying thousands more at For-Profit schools, so know what you're getting into before you start.
• Former Governor and candidate for president Jon (not John) Huntsman plans to reach out to young voters and we say good! You should!
  

  "But most of his short speech was devoid of the kind of rip-roaring quips or emotional appeals expected at a campaign kickoff aimed at generating buzz. Huntsman made three points about the campaign: It will squarely focus on jobs and the economy. It will be polite. And it will reach out to young voters."

Have a good Monday! Come back later today for my report on Maine's voter rights legislation.