Rating: 
Summary: Investing in our future?
Review: Democrat, Republican, or Independent, it doesn't matter - "It Takes A Village" has a good message and touches upon a variety of issues regarding our society and children today. Though she does offer some Pollyanna anecdotes about her husband Bill and daughter Chelsea, the book is an enjoyable read and offers some great insights to how our country can rally together for our children.Mrs. Clinton uses the analogy of the village as a place where the common good of all members, especially the children were taken into consideration and given priority as an investment to the village's future....she compares other nations and uses examples of how their social programs are focusing on children and how successful they appear to be. Mrs. Clinton also incorporates stories of her childhood and the era she was raised in; she does not boast but rather helps us to see how our society has changed and how desperately we need to make provisions to ensure some basics are again instituted in our culture. Mrs. Clinton stresses the importance of adults as role models, how neighborhoods have come together to push crime out of and reclaim their community, how important it is to have safe places to play and stresses the need for bipartisan support in government regarding our children and their education. The need for governmental supported programs for after school, etc. is also mentioned, and that the majority of the changes should start in the home. Mrs. Clinton makes us acutely aware of the media assault that are children are subject to, and that violence, sex and rape have become commonplace via television, music lyrics, and video games. Mrs. Clinton also touches upon other timely subjects such as gun control, health care, and enhancing public policies to support parents and caregivers. It is evident in reading "It Takes A Village" that Mrs. Clinton has a message: that we need to come together as a society and raise our children collectively and with prudence as an investment in our future.
Rating: 
Summary: Utter Poppycock!
Review: Fiddle faddle, I say, to this socialized notion of communal raising of children. The only child a village raises is the village idiot! Reduced to expecting handouts and spare change, the idiot becomes predestined for failure. My father, God rest his soul, taught me with a firm leather bullwhip that success goes to those who work hard for it. With his merciless beatings and occasional encouragement, I became self-reliant, hard working, and quite indifferent to what the village thinks. Not to mention, my fleshy buttocks are now coarser than month-old steel wool. I have never been wont for food or shelter, and have never taken a dime from the elitists. If only all of America had my father!
Rating:
Summary: Call the village. We found its idiot
Review: Hillary is a miserable failure as a senator from NY and as a writer.
Rating:
Summary: It takes a child to raze a village.
Review: I'd agree with the reviewer who pointed out Clinton's emphasis on the word "invest." Hillary and her ilk don't really want the village to *raise* children...they want it to *subsidize* child-raising. Don't believe me? Next time you see a poorly disciplined child in a supermarket doing something remarkably obnoxious, hoist it over your knee and give it a well-deserved spanking. Or even say a sharp word to it. Think its breeder ("parent" isn't the appropriate word in most of these situations) will appreciate your trying to do its job for it, perhaps imposing the only discipline the kid has ever received? Think again. 'Round these parts last year, an upscale 'burb rejected a property tax increase designed to give the schools more money. Those who voted yea were overwhelmingly wealthy yuppies who'd moved into that 'burb in the last few decades, making it upscale. Those who voted nay were overwhelmingly middle-class and working-class folks who could barely afford to hang onto their houses anymore. After the tax increase was slapped down, some woman actually wrote to the local paper, "The village has failed my children!" The street address she gave was in what is possibly *the* nicest neighborhood of that town. And when I drove down her street a few months later, I noticed that her house was nearly 200 years old, with a historical marker on the front, no less! Obviously someone who could have afforded to provide her three kids with tutors to make up for anything they were no longer getting in school. But I guess the new SUV was more important, so "the village" was obligated to pick up the tab for, you know, the trivial stuff. As a person who's childfree by choice, I'm heartily sick of the emphasis on "OUR children." You'd think they were all destined from birth to grow up to be the future Mozarts, Albert Schweitzers, and Winston Churchills, rather than the next generation's Anna Nicole Smiths, Scott Petersons, or Slobodan Milosevics. And as a libertarian, I'm equally tired of the communitarian delusion that we're all one big happy family, obligated to share our money -- and, worse, our time -- with one another, regardless of whether we actually like or approve of each other. This book will go down in history for introducing a particularly noxious, and potent, distillation of those attitudes into American political discourse.
Rating:
Summary: "It Takes an Elitest to Raise Chickens"
Review: Is there anyone who truly believes that Hillary really cares about children, or that she has the slightest idea of what it takes to raise a family? From her lofty perch, she sees people as chickens who need to be managed, feed, medicated, and controlled in order to maximize production and to make things run smoothly for the benefit of those in charge of the coop. Like so many of the professional "do-gooders" of our day, she gets her ideas from a warped top-down view of life. The most dispicable element of our society are those who prey upon children and use them for their own gratification. A close second to this are those who hide behind children to further their own careers and political agendas.
Rating: 
Summary: Try reading the book
Review: My leanings are more right than left but I would take issue with anyone who actually read this book (not just decided to berate the title because you don't like the author) and didn't conclude that Hillary Clinton is every bit a proponent of "family values" as the most right-wing republican. Mrs. Clinton gives the reader a compelling portrait of her vision for America's Children. To all the rocket scientists who'se reviews made the bold statement "It takes a Mother and Father to raise a Child" you are completely missing the point and obviously didn't read paragraph one of the book. In no way does Clinton devalue parental roles she simply acknowledges that at other people have effects on a child's well being. Children rely on safe neighborhoods, good teachers, readily available health-care and many other facets of "The Village" to be raised properly. Within the book Ms. Clinton introduces a whole litany of social programs some of which I agree with (better health education and diets in school's to combat obesity, required marital counseling, ) and some of which I don't (socialist medicine and Charter Schools--the former will never fly in this country and the latter are proving to be a flop). Reasonable people can disagree, and while I don't see eye to eye with Clinton on some issues her objective is noble and her writing is enjoyable. FOr the record if Chelsea is any indication--Hillary Clinton is an excellent Mom. There's little middle ground in this country when it comes to Hillary---I've heard the most vile and disgusting things uttered about her and I've seen her almost worshipped. I like to think I can be part of that middle ground--a right-winger who appreciates the intelligent passionate argument that she brings to the table.
Rating:
Summary: More books like this needed
Review: Sociologist find it most frustrating for the fact they have empirical evidence on how to eliminate our most prominent social problems, yet our government does not consult them or value their research. Sociology reveals the factors that create social problems often based within the social institutions that the powerful control. This undermines their dominant ideology, and creates questions of what they have deemed normal and accepted. To point this out is often seen as un-American. The best hope for sociologist is to educate the public on their findings, and do so by publishing articles and books on the social issues. Even if it makes people uncomfortable reading about it, at least it gets them thinking about the issues, and hopefully demythologize peoples' beliefs of social life.
"It takes a village to raise a child." We should adopt social programs like that of Canada, Europe, and Scandinavia who support their countries as a whole with paid maternity leave, health care, retirement, and education. The trade offs far exceed the costs. It costs us increased rates in HMO costs, because 60% of hospitals earnings are written off in collections from the poor accessing emergency rooms. It costs us taxpayers $6000 a year to educate a poor child, but $60K to incarcerate them when their hopelessness leads to crime. But with our individualistic ideology we can not accept other ideas on how to effecitivly raise our children. It might not be your own child, but if you help raise them, you decrease the chances that child will vandalize your property, steal your car, or shoot you in a drive by shooting. The children are our future. It takes a village to support those single parents, working poor, dual earner low class families to raise their childen. Make children a priority and crime rates will decrease. Close the income gap between the rich (& government - those syphoning your taxes for war) and poor, , and give our American families a fighting chance.
Rating:
Summary: The Serpent Speaks With a Forked Tongue
Review: The author pines for the families of yesteryear, not understanding the poison that damaged and destroyed so many are government programs. What does she offer to repair the damage? More poison--more regulation, more taxes (which she calls "investment"). The woman is either willfully or unconsciously
deluded. Either way, she says one things but means another. Cheer up, folks--she'll never be President. And thank God for that.
Rating:
Summary: Socialism is alive and well in Clintonville
Review: The title of this book comes from an African proverb. It is based on the theory that a child is best raised by a caring community. Within its pages are many well-intentioned statements that advocate the beauty of a world in which children are provided all that they need - education, health care, love and caring. To discredit it requires generalizing, which is never a good idea (but sometimes impossible to avoid), and to "put down" the idea that providing for kids is a good thing. Of course it is a good thing. The problem starts with Hillary Clinton, who speaks often about "the children." An overall assessment of Hillary - her background, her marriage and partnership with Bill Clinton, Hillarycare, the accusations against her and the inside stories of those who knew her best in Little Rock and D.C., are that her real desire is not to further the betterment of kids, but of her hold on power in America. She uses kids as a smokescreen in this effort. There is no arguing some of the things she advocates are good ideas, and so judging her and this book requires a Kabuki dance between truth and politics. This is what obfuscators are good at creating. There is a conservative opposition to Hillary's book, some of whom call it "It Takes A Village Idiot", which is based on the idea that raising kids is the job of parents, not the state. This is of course correct, but again requires generalizing. To advocate it blindly discredits the role of teachers, Foster parents, neighbors and social workers. Sometimes there are no biological parents around. The health care issue is a big one, and is easy to jump on. It sounds good, of course, to say that all kids should have health care. We live in a country in which they all do not. However, the Canadian-style Hillarycare that was so roundly defeated a decade ago is not the answer. It was explored inside and out at the time and found to be totally lacking as practical application. What we are left after Hillarycare is just Hillary. She is smart and knows how to pull our heartstrings. Watch out for her.(...)
Rating:
Summary: Family is Foundation of Society
Review: This book is absolutely scary. It's a look into the mind of a devout Socialist. For thousands (millions) of years, the family has been the foundation of society. In just a few decades, our government (village) has nearly destroyed the family through heavy taxation and social-engineering. The only salvation Clinton sees is that same government (village).
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