This will be the last blog I write for about 10 days. For the next 10 days I’ll be spending time with my mother, step-father, daughter and four of my grandchildren, so I don’t know how much time I’ll have to blog. Don’t give up on me. I’ll be back.
I love my family. All them! I can’t imagine anyone not loving their family as much as I do mine. As a mother, I look at my mother and have greater respect for her every day. I’m not sure I could have done as well as she has done dealing with the same situations she has dealt with. Each generation has its own hardships.
We learn to appreciate our mothers when we become mothers. We learn to love without condition when we hold our babies in our arms and watch them struggle into adulthood. No loving mother wants their child to suffer or to live in hopeless conditions. That is why it is so important that we defend our democracy and that we don’t let it go so far to the left or to the right.
It would be dangerous for our children if we allowed our country to develop into a full Socialist state. While we have some socialist programs, it would be dangerous for our children if we allowed the government to take over too many areas of our lives. I want my children and grandchildren to have opportunities to advance in life that are not dependent on the government making the decisions for them. I want them to be as self-sufficient as possible.
It is equally important that we don’t go too far to the right. We must take care of the members of society who are vulnerable and can’t take care of themselves. We must also insist that the government protect us when we can’t protect ourselves and we are not always able to protect ourselves. The more complex the society, the harder it is. I can’t protect myself from contaminated waters sources when industries dump pollutants that can make their way into the water supply.
None of us can protect ourselves from the damage caused by the oil spill. We really need government to effectively regulate that industry. However, government should not focus on taking over business as they did with General Motors. That is not the role of government.
As a loving mother, I want my children to have the opportunities that capitalism offers, but I also want them to be protected from exploitation, environmental contamination, and unethical practices. We need a government that is large enough to do the job, but not so large that it takes over everything for us. Long live democracy.
Well I’ll be back on line in about ten days with some new stories.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Stick to the facts
I have been sitting in meetings for the past month with adults who cannot speak with civility when discussing issues. It is wearing on the nerves. How do people get to be adults and believe they can speak in any tone of voice they wish? Lack of civility simply escalates the problems, it doesn’t address solve any of the issues that are being discussed.
These same adults preened themselves and made sure that everyone in the room knew that their mothers’ had raised them correctly and taught them well. They called on their religious backgrounds to give evidence that it was okay for them to speak disrespectfully and block out any point of view that was not their own.
It seems to be human nature to take a position and to justify it even when it is not the opinion of the majority. Each generation of people have their own definition of acceptable behavior. For my generation, you didn’t take ugly in public. If you had to have a “discussion” with someone, it was done in private, resolved, and the parties emerged with an “understanding.” It was considered vulgar to shout at people, insult their ideas and insult them.
I insulted a teacher when I was in elementary school and my father took me home to explain it to me. Then he took me back to school and stood in the doorway while I apologized. The apology had to be as public as the insult.
Okay, maybe everyone didn’t have the same rearing that I had, but my rear was definitely held accountable for the tone of voice that I used as well as the words that came out of my mouth.
The mid-term election is approaching in November and the candidates, while not as ugly as during a presidential election year, have already started pointing out each others’ faults, insulting, and justifying their past behaviors. Enough is enough. Give the voters a break and just talk about the issues. Stick to the facts. What will you do if you are elected? How do we know we can believe you?
These same adults preened themselves and made sure that everyone in the room knew that their mothers’ had raised them correctly and taught them well. They called on their religious backgrounds to give evidence that it was okay for them to speak disrespectfully and block out any point of view that was not their own.
It seems to be human nature to take a position and to justify it even when it is not the opinion of the majority. Each generation of people have their own definition of acceptable behavior. For my generation, you didn’t take ugly in public. If you had to have a “discussion” with someone, it was done in private, resolved, and the parties emerged with an “understanding.” It was considered vulgar to shout at people, insult their ideas and insult them.
I insulted a teacher when I was in elementary school and my father took me home to explain it to me. Then he took me back to school and stood in the doorway while I apologized. The apology had to be as public as the insult.
Okay, maybe everyone didn’t have the same rearing that I had, but my rear was definitely held accountable for the tone of voice that I used as well as the words that came out of my mouth.
The mid-term election is approaching in November and the candidates, while not as ugly as during a presidential election year, have already started pointing out each others’ faults, insulting, and justifying their past behaviors. Enough is enough. Give the voters a break and just talk about the issues. Stick to the facts. What will you do if you are elected? How do we know we can believe you?
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Road Sign
While driving into Atlanta today, I saw a road sign that said “God is not a Socialist.” I have been thinking about it for a couple of hours and I would like to comment on this road sign.
God certainly isn’t a capitalist either. He would never condone the use of child labor in factories that Nike was guilty of at one time. He would never condone taking short cuts in drilling for oil to save money. He wouldn’t take advantage of his mortgage clients to make additional profits. He wouldn’t packages junk and sell it as “gold.”
The only time that Jesus became angry was with the money changers in the temple. They were taking advantage of the people who needed to buy sacrificial animals. He taught compassion, caring for the sick, caring for the children and caring for the elderly.
Since the New Deal the United States has been moving toward socialism. The United States practices socialist policies. We provide social security, unemployment, Medicare, Medicaid, aid to farmers through agricultural supplements. Title I in education is a means to level the playing field educationally for poor children. The federal school lunch program is a socialist program.
Try to eliminate social security benefits and every American who has paid into the program becomes a socialist except for those who can afford to retire because they made enough money and had enough knowledge to make wise investments. Most people I know who had their retirement in stocks, lost their large portion of their portfolios because of the loss of stock values in Enron, Worldcom and other similarly sleazy dealings on Wall Street. Even the government banking bailout only helped those on Wall Street and not those on Main Street.
While I believe we should have a free market, I believe that free market taken to its extreme hurts the average worker and there should be some government oversight. The whole nation is hurting because of bad business practice from a relatively small percentage of people.
How many people are now working but can’t afford to invest, can’t afford to visit a doctor, can’t afford to fix the air conditioner in a broken down car…. They keep on working and rely on the belief that they will be able to collect social security when they reach a certain age. While the socialism practiced in fascist countries is certainly not good and takes the role of the government to an extreme, we can practice something that provides protection and still allows capitalism to flourish.
Capitalism and socialism both have problems. Neither one is free from fault. Don’t let labels fool you. We need to watch and make sure extreme beliefs don’t take root but we also need to address issues of taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves.
God certainly isn’t a capitalist either. He would never condone the use of child labor in factories that Nike was guilty of at one time. He would never condone taking short cuts in drilling for oil to save money. He wouldn’t take advantage of his mortgage clients to make additional profits. He wouldn’t packages junk and sell it as “gold.”
The only time that Jesus became angry was with the money changers in the temple. They were taking advantage of the people who needed to buy sacrificial animals. He taught compassion, caring for the sick, caring for the children and caring for the elderly.
Since the New Deal the United States has been moving toward socialism. The United States practices socialist policies. We provide social security, unemployment, Medicare, Medicaid, aid to farmers through agricultural supplements. Title I in education is a means to level the playing field educationally for poor children. The federal school lunch program is a socialist program.
Try to eliminate social security benefits and every American who has paid into the program becomes a socialist except for those who can afford to retire because they made enough money and had enough knowledge to make wise investments. Most people I know who had their retirement in stocks, lost their large portion of their portfolios because of the loss of stock values in Enron, Worldcom and other similarly sleazy dealings on Wall Street. Even the government banking bailout only helped those on Wall Street and not those on Main Street.
While I believe we should have a free market, I believe that free market taken to its extreme hurts the average worker and there should be some government oversight. The whole nation is hurting because of bad business practice from a relatively small percentage of people.
How many people are now working but can’t afford to invest, can’t afford to visit a doctor, can’t afford to fix the air conditioner in a broken down car…. They keep on working and rely on the belief that they will be able to collect social security when they reach a certain age. While the socialism practiced in fascist countries is certainly not good and takes the role of the government to an extreme, we can practice something that provides protection and still allows capitalism to flourish.
Capitalism and socialism both have problems. Neither one is free from fault. Don’t let labels fool you. We need to watch and make sure extreme beliefs don’t take root but we also need to address issues of taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Cost of College Education
My husband and I cleaned some stuff out of our storage room today. It belongs to one of my children. This particular child came to visit with 15 large suitcases filled with “stuff” and only left with four of them. I’ve decided that it is time that I reunited the owner with the “stuff.”
Another one of my children is going to move “stuff” out of the rented storage shed and move it into my Condo “temporarily” so that storage rental won’t have to be paid. By Wednesday of this week, I will have moved one child’s stuff out and another child’s stuff in. Just what every mother wants to do.
The revolving door between parents and children is happening more often with this generation than with mine. When I moved out, I moved out. In my circle of close friends almost all of us have adult children living at home or we are taking a heavy responsibility for helping them support themselves. As a young woman, it was expected that I would grow up to be self-sufficient. Jobs were plentiful, if not high paying. The possibility of advancement was there, and so was hope that things would get better.
Those hopes are gone. I read an article today that the purpose of a college degree was to create so much debt that a person would have it paid off by the time they retired. It took ten years for me to pay off my college loans when I earned my bachelors degree. Banks didn’t give credit cards out so freely then, so except for my college loans, I left college with no debt.
Students leaving college today frequently have $10,000-$20,000 in credit card debt and $80,000-$100,000 in college loans. The job market isn’t what it used to be. The college graduates are taking jobs that pay $10.00 per hour or minimum wage and commissions. To survive, our children are moving back in with us. My son’s college loans are $400.00 per month.
The tuition and fees for a college education has become such a financial burden that many students are dropping out.
If we want to keep a strong middle class, we must have an educated population. To have an educated population, we must have a strong university system. To have a strong university system, we must have government funding to maintain affordability.
Shame on a government that creates a university system for the privileged rich, scholarship entitlement for the poor, and a university education that the middle class cannot afford.
Another one of my children is going to move “stuff” out of the rented storage shed and move it into my Condo “temporarily” so that storage rental won’t have to be paid. By Wednesday of this week, I will have moved one child’s stuff out and another child’s stuff in. Just what every mother wants to do.
The revolving door between parents and children is happening more often with this generation than with mine. When I moved out, I moved out. In my circle of close friends almost all of us have adult children living at home or we are taking a heavy responsibility for helping them support themselves. As a young woman, it was expected that I would grow up to be self-sufficient. Jobs were plentiful, if not high paying. The possibility of advancement was there, and so was hope that things would get better.
Those hopes are gone. I read an article today that the purpose of a college degree was to create so much debt that a person would have it paid off by the time they retired. It took ten years for me to pay off my college loans when I earned my bachelors degree. Banks didn’t give credit cards out so freely then, so except for my college loans, I left college with no debt.
Students leaving college today frequently have $10,000-$20,000 in credit card debt and $80,000-$100,000 in college loans. The job market isn’t what it used to be. The college graduates are taking jobs that pay $10.00 per hour or minimum wage and commissions. To survive, our children are moving back in with us. My son’s college loans are $400.00 per month.
The tuition and fees for a college education has become such a financial burden that many students are dropping out.
If we want to keep a strong middle class, we must have an educated population. To have an educated population, we must have a strong university system. To have a strong university system, we must have government funding to maintain affordability.
Shame on a government that creates a university system for the privileged rich, scholarship entitlement for the poor, and a university education that the middle class cannot afford.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Don't come home, Mama
I was on my home from work one day when I received a call on my cell phone telling me that I needed to go somewhere else. “Don’t come home, Mama. I’ll call you when it’s okay.”
My daughter and two granddaughters were living with me at the time. It seems that my granddaughter had spilled chocolate syrup on the floor and had used some lipstick on the wall. It doesn’t take long for a small child to get into trouble. It only takes a few minutes without supervision. Small children have a great need to do things themselves and to experiment.
When my daughter discovered the mess, she knew I was on my way home from work and that my stress levels would go up when I saw the mess. So she called me and told me to go get a cup of coffee or margarita, go shopping or do something and give her time to clean up the mess.
I went shopping and about an hour later I received a call that I could come home. By the time I arrived back at the condo, the mess was cleaned up.
There is no doubt that President Obama has a mess to deal with also. In fact, he has several situations that are messy. One is the economy. He has placed his confidence in an advisory team that doesn’t seem to know what to do to fix things. Unemployment is still high, people who are employed are making less money, mortgage foreclosures are still high and people have quit spending on anything that is not an absolute necessity.
The minimum wage increase that was voted on before Mr. Obama became president, the uncertainty of health care costs and an unwillingness to invest capital have contributed to the recession.
President Obama has an economic team in place that is not able to clean up the mess. Economic models do not support the policies that have been placed in effect since he became president. His stimulus program has been called “schlock economics,” and “his Chicago colleague John Cochrane says they’re based on discredited fairy tales.” They sound good to people who are not aware of how the economy works, but they do not work.
Mr. Obama hasn’t received a call to come home yet. It might be a while before it happens unless he changes his cleaning crew or at least seeks suggestions from new sources that might lead to economic growth.
My daughter and two granddaughters were living with me at the time. It seems that my granddaughter had spilled chocolate syrup on the floor and had used some lipstick on the wall. It doesn’t take long for a small child to get into trouble. It only takes a few minutes without supervision. Small children have a great need to do things themselves and to experiment.
When my daughter discovered the mess, she knew I was on my way home from work and that my stress levels would go up when I saw the mess. So she called me and told me to go get a cup of coffee or margarita, go shopping or do something and give her time to clean up the mess.
I went shopping and about an hour later I received a call that I could come home. By the time I arrived back at the condo, the mess was cleaned up.
There is no doubt that President Obama has a mess to deal with also. In fact, he has several situations that are messy. One is the economy. He has placed his confidence in an advisory team that doesn’t seem to know what to do to fix things. Unemployment is still high, people who are employed are making less money, mortgage foreclosures are still high and people have quit spending on anything that is not an absolute necessity.
The minimum wage increase that was voted on before Mr. Obama became president, the uncertainty of health care costs and an unwillingness to invest capital have contributed to the recession.
President Obama has an economic team in place that is not able to clean up the mess. Economic models do not support the policies that have been placed in effect since he became president. His stimulus program has been called “schlock economics,” and “his Chicago colleague John Cochrane says they’re based on discredited fairy tales.” They sound good to people who are not aware of how the economy works, but they do not work.
Mr. Obama hasn’t received a call to come home yet. It might be a while before it happens unless he changes his cleaning crew or at least seeks suggestions from new sources that might lead to economic growth.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Stem cell research
Imagine what it would be like to have a family member cured of a degenerative disease. What it would be like to have a deaf baby hear or a cancer patient cured.
What scares me more than death is a long, painful illness or watching one of my children die from an illness. I have spent a great deal of time in doctor’s waiting rooms and in hospitals with my children and I know that people who appear healthy can have severe health problems.
Currently, there is a lot of research being done with stem cells and genetic engineering. Tonight, ABC news had a spotlight on a stem cell procedure that was used to cure blindness in people who had experienced burns on the cornea. As I think about the possibilities for this new medical technology, I don’t the United States doesn’t fund research. To ease suffering, to provide a higher quality of life for people with injuries or illnesses, and to create new technological innovations are all beneficial to the citizens of our country.
To ban stem cell research is the equivalent of starving people refusing to eat food because it is from genetically engineered seeds or a person refusing an organ transplant from a dead person. The person takes a moral stand, but the cost in human suffering is very high.
The Catholic Church placed a ban on scientific discovery during the Middle Ages. We also call that time period the “Dark Ages.” When scientific inquiry is banned, it will simply go underground, as it did during the Middle Ages, or to other countries. The scientific inquiry will still occur. The problem with the inquiry going underground is that it will not be regulated. The problem with the inquiry going to other countries is that the United States will lose its technological edge in the world economy. This is what happened when President Bush banned certain types of stem cell research in the United States. It went overseas.
I was happy when President Obama removed some of the barriers to what he called “responsible stem cell research” however, I believe that the government should increase funding of stem cell research or alternatively it should enhance the research incentives. This could save the lives of our children or grandchildren and it could make our own old age easier.
What scares me more than death is a long, painful illness or watching one of my children die from an illness. I have spent a great deal of time in doctor’s waiting rooms and in hospitals with my children and I know that people who appear healthy can have severe health problems.
Currently, there is a lot of research being done with stem cells and genetic engineering. Tonight, ABC news had a spotlight on a stem cell procedure that was used to cure blindness in people who had experienced burns on the cornea. As I think about the possibilities for this new medical technology, I don’t the United States doesn’t fund research. To ease suffering, to provide a higher quality of life for people with injuries or illnesses, and to create new technological innovations are all beneficial to the citizens of our country.
To ban stem cell research is the equivalent of starving people refusing to eat food because it is from genetically engineered seeds or a person refusing an organ transplant from a dead person. The person takes a moral stand, but the cost in human suffering is very high.
The Catholic Church placed a ban on scientific discovery during the Middle Ages. We also call that time period the “Dark Ages.” When scientific inquiry is banned, it will simply go underground, as it did during the Middle Ages, or to other countries. The scientific inquiry will still occur. The problem with the inquiry going underground is that it will not be regulated. The problem with the inquiry going to other countries is that the United States will lose its technological edge in the world economy. This is what happened when President Bush banned certain types of stem cell research in the United States. It went overseas.
I was happy when President Obama removed some of the barriers to what he called “responsible stem cell research” however, I believe that the government should increase funding of stem cell research or alternatively it should enhance the research incentives. This could save the lives of our children or grandchildren and it could make our own old age easier.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
In the beginning
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. After that, humans have managed to mess up almost everything. We are always struggling to have things that we don’t have. We want more of everything. This leads to war, crime and personal irresponsibility.
Currently, the U.S. has troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan so that the United States can have “more.” President Obama has committed to a surge of U.S. troops this summer to Afghanistan so that we can “stabilize” the area. Look at the history of the area and see if you can find a time in history that it has been “stable.” I understand that we can’t just pull out until the infrastructure is more stable than it is currently but we are still in South Korea after sixty years. How long can we sustain being the world’s police force when we are struggling with our own internal problems?
Are we safer with troops in Afghanistan and Iraq than we would be if we brought them home? This is a question that I struggle with.
We can’t control the gun violence in our own country, adequately respond to the disasters that routinely occur here, and protect our borders from illegal aliens. Look at what has happened inside our own borders since January 1st. We have had flooding in Tennessee, Georgia, Massachusetts and southern California, wildfires near Flagstaff, Arizona, multiple outbreaks of tornadoes and the oil spill in the Gulf. We haven’t had a hurricane yet. Everyone is waiting to see what will happen then. We are also waiting to see if other terrorist attacks occur since the Time’s Square bomber has said that other attacks have been planned.
We moved quicker with the Haiti disaster than we have done with the oil spill, but then it was primarily private efforts and not those of the government.
The larger the animal, the slower it moves. Our government is no exception. It has become so large that it moves slowly, and stumbles over its own feet. It intrudes in other countries and leaves our homeland vulnerable in order to do so. There needs to be a greater balance between what we do overseas and what we do inside our own country.
Currently, the U.S. has troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan so that the United States can have “more.” President Obama has committed to a surge of U.S. troops this summer to Afghanistan so that we can “stabilize” the area. Look at the history of the area and see if you can find a time in history that it has been “stable.” I understand that we can’t just pull out until the infrastructure is more stable than it is currently but we are still in South Korea after sixty years. How long can we sustain being the world’s police force when we are struggling with our own internal problems?
Are we safer with troops in Afghanistan and Iraq than we would be if we brought them home? This is a question that I struggle with.
We can’t control the gun violence in our own country, adequately respond to the disasters that routinely occur here, and protect our borders from illegal aliens. Look at what has happened inside our own borders since January 1st. We have had flooding in Tennessee, Georgia, Massachusetts and southern California, wildfires near Flagstaff, Arizona, multiple outbreaks of tornadoes and the oil spill in the Gulf. We haven’t had a hurricane yet. Everyone is waiting to see what will happen then. We are also waiting to see if other terrorist attacks occur since the Time’s Square bomber has said that other attacks have been planned.
We moved quicker with the Haiti disaster than we have done with the oil spill, but then it was primarily private efforts and not those of the government.
The larger the animal, the slower it moves. Our government is no exception. It has become so large that it moves slowly, and stumbles over its own feet. It intrudes in other countries and leaves our homeland vulnerable in order to do so. There needs to be a greater balance between what we do overseas and what we do inside our own country.
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