Socialism

I was offline for a while, an old cable running from our antenna down rotted away and had to be replaced. I wrote this while I was without internet. Funny how you end up with (seemingly) more hours in the day when your net is down!

"True sociopaths, whether they murder their brother or rape their sister, have no remorse. They wish to push the order of things out of shape." This was a bit out of a book that was mentioned in the book I am reading by Michael Savage - the original book is "The Italian-American: Troubled Roots" by Andrew Rolle. Mr. Savage goes on to ask if the RDDB lawyers (red diaper doper babies) are trying to push society out of shape.

Socialism will not come rushing in with the face of Hitler, nor will Fascism come in with the face of Mussolini. Or the Communism of Stalin or Mao.

As Jonah Goldberg puts it - it will come in the guise of "smiley face fascism".

"think of the children!" is one thing that I think has been a large downfall of much of our liberty in this country. I have been watching more TV this past few weeks, and I noticed a commercial for an ADD/ADHD drug - basically turn your kid into a zombie, and everyone's happy. There ARE a few that are add/adhd, but not to the extent that its being diagnosed. Why is there such an upswing? Because kids today are planted on their butts on the couch, playing video games, instead of running around and playing outside with real games. Have them go outside and play a few hours of football, basketball, etc. They will be too pooped to act up. I remember growing up, if I wasn't doing my homework after school, I was outside. Mom limited TV to a bit of Saturday morning cartoons, and Sunday evening Carol Burnett & HeeHaw. And football. LOTS of football.

I was about 8 or 9 when Pong came out, on the Atari. My friend down the street, her parents bought one. It was good for about 30 minutes, but it was WAY more fun outside on the tire hanging on the tree, jumping off that into the lake, or just running around "discovering" things. All summer I was outside, and down at the lake every day. Fishing, swimming, taking out the paddleboat to the middle of the lake, turning it upside down & jumping off into the water. also, filling a canoe with kids, and then someone would get up on the sides & stand, and try to dump us all into the water. During the winter, it was hockey on the lake, skating, sledding, snowmobiling. (yes, you can fit 6 kids on a single snowmobile!) Drinking hot chocolate, laughing when swallowing, hot chocolate coming out your nose. (it hurts). if it was summer, I was outside doing something. Not sitting indoors.

I don't think my mom would have let me stay indoors. She thought getting out & doing things was important, even if it was having me go outside and weed the garden & see if there were any ripe vegetables. Or to go sit outside and decimate her rhubarb plants. (i love rhubarb, just pick it, and eat the stalk!)

I didnt have my girls hang out inside. On a really hot day, we'd stay in part of the day when it was bad, but we'd be outside, they'd be playing in the mud in the ditch, floating boats there, climbing trees, shooting BB guns (and shooting out our shed windows), throwing the hard pears off the tree in the backyard at an old doghouse to make holes in it.

When we had chickens, we'd get 2 to 3 eggs a day - 4 people cannot use all those eggs! I tried. One day, hubby had the girls outside, teaching them how to egg a house. They also learned how to wash egg off a house.

I ran across a blog recently, Free Range Parenting", and from reading it, it was how I was raised, and how I raised my girls. Some interesting stuff over there.

Yet another peeve of mine -

people complaining about "the crap pay" of 7.25 an hour, and how they would NOT take a minimum wage job, but prefer to just take the government's money. It's a JOB. There is no shame in taking a job, but there IS in taking money from the government. It seems to me that the shame in taking welfare has been done away with. People did not starve to death before we had the great welfare state. Churches, civic organizations, and private organizations did the job - and far better than a centralized beurocracy (I can't spell it, but I know how to pronounce it!)

Who is better able to judge what a locality needs, someone 3,000 miles away, pushing papers in an office, or someone who lives in the community?

Back to my peeve - I don't get why people who don't have a job, turn their nose up at a job? I get told that "being that you dont' work, you have nothing to say". The thing is, I don't *have* to work. My husband makes enough to provide for our family, without my working. And they liken that to welfare. I don't THINK so. When we need to pay a bill, we don't go to someone else and say "give us money so we can pay xyz".

To date, no one has been able to answer 'what entitles you to someone else's money?"

It seems to upset the seniors, as "we paid into social security all those years so it's there for us". Um, no, you paid in all those years, so that those who were retired during the time you worked could take your money. Now, its the people working now who are paying for your check.

Medicare is another thing that gets my goat. Talking to a lady at church...she had headaches. After 2 MRIs, a CAT scan, and several other tests, she said she'd just go see about an eye exam to see if her glasses were causing eyestrain. And it doesn't matter how much it costs for an MRI, as she isn't paying the tab.

THAT is the mentality that is causing medical costs to skyrocket, as the cost of insurance also. We have major medical - we pay for prescriptions, etc., with a high deductible. When I needed an MRI, we called around - it ranged from $380 to over $2,000. We went with the $380 one. I think that if there were HSAs instead of just covering everything, people would be more cost-conscious, and prices would come down, as the businesses would have to really compete for you. And get the government out of the healthcare/medical field. They have no business in it anyway.