This and that

I was listening to Michael Savage the other week, and he has a new book out "Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama's Attack on our Borders, Economy, and Security"

Ted Nugent did a review of it, said everyone should read it. I just read part of it on Amazon.com, via the "look inside" feature (so handy!) and in the Author's Note, this really struck me:

"America has gone from EISENHOWER to OBAMA in two generations...From JOHN WAYNE to LADY GAGA in two generations...From I LOVE LUCY to I LOVE LOOSELY in two generations...From STARLETS to HARLOTS in two generations..."

And he has other from - to statements in there. How far America has fallen. It's like the amoral-ness of today is so fashionable. And if you object, you are a prude, 'Victorian', et&. How is it prudish to say that such and such is WRONG and not right?

I think it started with the failure of the Depression generation, the WW2 generation, in not making their children work for what they got - i.e., they wanted their children to not have to go through want, deprivation, any hardship - way better than they had growing up in the Depression. Gave them looser boundaries, gave them things without requiring anything in return. And in turn, THAT generation that is known as the Baby-Boomers, only continued in excess, what had been given to them. They were so concerned with *self* that they really did not pay attention to what their children were doing/learning, etc. "Let it all hang out" and "If it feels good, do it" ruled the boomer generation, and they passed these values on down to their children. It takes up a snowball effect, rolling down a hill - you may start off with a small 3-inch diameter snowball, but by the time it hits the middle of the hill on the mountain, it is much larger, and by the time it hits the bottom it is HUGE. Are we only half-way down that mountain with the snowball? Can it be stopped somehow, and possibly reversed?

This subject I've thought on for years. I took an English Comp. class at the Junior College up in the next county when my youngest was small - and my essay was on 'Reaping the Whirlwind'. I was supposed to start off with a few ideas, and an outline. However, it *appears* that I cannot do an outline, I've tried and it always ends up NOT being what I ramble on about, so I just skipped the outline, and wrote out my essay in less than an hour. Kind of the way I rant oh here at times.. although it's been few and far between lately.

I am seriously wondering *why* these parents raised their children as they did. My parents grew up in the Depression (they were born in 25 & 28); and I know my mother worked at her mom's bakery, and they ate alot of french toast - old bread that did not sell, with eggs and milk from her grandmother's small farm. My dad's mother had a job, but as his father died when he was three, she had to take care of 2 small boys by herself. My dad told me that he remembered going to a church to get 'new shoes' one day with his brother and his mom - he said there were huge piles of shoes, and you tried on shoes until you found a pair that fit.

My parents I guess weren't of the type that gave you everything...but under our Christmas tree there were always lots of presents, even though they included such gifts as underwear, socks, pajamas etc. Items that were actually *useful* although I think my favorite was the giant (6 foot tall) dinosaur bone set made of styrofoam that you assembled.

It seems many of my generation were given alot - because our parents wanted us to not have to go through what they had, but it seems also that many of my generation also were not taught to raise kids properly, and it just went on from there, to that parents of today, that have small children, are clueless as to what to do with their kids. I am at the tail end of the boomer generation, the last year of it - so I'm not exactly sure which generation I identify more with. Actually I think the great-grandparents - parents of the Depression generation - as my mom dealt with us the way her mother did, and I raised my kids the same way.

Back to morals and the lack of them today. America is turning degenerate - and I feel like I'm swimming upstream, with the flow going against me. Is it just me, or am I loopy?

A Paragraph Or Two

Ok, so I took the plunge, and bought a Kindle. I'm going through the ebooks classics - THE FREE BOOKS - and snagging the ones that look interesting. I found one this morning that I loaded, I don't remember if I paid 99c for it or not - or if it was free - anyway, if it was, it's definitely worth the 99c. Its an anti-slavery pamphlet, from Britain, written in 1812.

Here is the title: "American Slave Trade; or, An Account off the Manner in which the Slave Dealers take Free People from some of the United States of America, and carry them away, and sell them as Slaves in other of the States; and of the horrible Cruelties practised in the carrying on of this most infamous Traffic: WITH Reflections on the Project for forming a Colony of American Blacks in Africa, and certain Documents respecting that Project" by Jesse Torrey, Jun. Physician

From part of it, where it describes the locations of each state, and then it goes on to talk about the states in their governance:

This territory is divided into States, each of which is independent of all the rest. Each has its Chief Magistrate, its Legislature, its Judiciary, and its own Code of Laws. It raises its own internal taxes; has its own Militia; and is, in fact, an independent State, with the following exceptions; namely, that it has nothing to do, and can have no particular connextion, with any Foreign Nation; can make no laws with regard to external commerce; can make neither peace nor war; and is bound to join the other States in case of war or peace,, These matters are all left to the Congress, which is composed of a President, a Senate, and a House of Representatives. This body manages the affairs of the whole Country as far as relates to peace and war, and as far as relates to external Commerce, and to all connextions with Foreign Nations.

So that the Congress can make no Law touching the internal economy and jurisdiction of any of the States, each of which, may pass what laws it pleases, so that those laws do not contravene the common compact, contained in the document, or, act of Congress, usually denominated the Constitution of the United States.


Look how different it is from 1812 till now. It was something that I had to email to friends, and put on here for you guys to read. How far this country has fallen from its ideals, and a Constitutional government. The Constitution is specific on what Congress can do - and if it's not in there, it's LEFT TO THE INDIVIDUAL STATES. Hence the 10th Amendment. Later on today, or tomorrow (as there is a football game tonight to attend) I'll put some quotations from The Law, by Frederic Bastiat.

HMMM

It appears I am not the only one who gave their kids a lemon when they were babies.



I got a Kindle, and have been busy reading older, out of copyright books on it. I actually went & bought 2 books at 99c each - the main one I REALLY like is The Law, by Frederick Bastiat. It is VERY good.

I was also re-reading Lost Rights, by James Bovard. And thinking that much of what the government does today, is completely unconstitutional. In '37, they came out with the idea of "the living Constitution", which is basically "the constitution can mean anything we want to make it say". Its crap. Its living, in that the ideals, the principles, the PLAIN MEANING is still alive today - it has been co-opted by those who wish to foist their ideals and socialism upon us.

I found this quote that I really like:

"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." - James Madison criticizing an attempt to grant public monies for charitable means, 1794

I agree. Go check out The Law by Bastiat. I couldn't put it down.

Vandals get what's coming to them

An older lady whose property has been vandalized by some "youths" finally had enough. They've set her garbage can on fire, her BBQ, and broken her windows before. She was coming home from the grocery store, and all her windows were broken. 2 boys were running away from the scene.

So later, they come back, start throwing bricks at her and shouting obscenities. What does the old lady do? BAM! pulls out a gun & shoots one (good shooting!).

The thugs were 12 and 13. The 12 year old was treated then they were both charged with aggravated assault. The old lady is NOT going to be charged - and she should not be anyway. Police had not responded to her other calls, and so, what do you do when police do nothing? You do what you have to.

Up in Houston, evidently porn killed the guy - "Police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found locked in a video booth at an adult book store on U.S. 59 in northeast Houston the day after he was seen entering the business."

Heh. I won't make comments about *that* one!

Here's stupid - a parking meter maid tickets a hearse - where? Why, because it was parked in the 'no parking' zone right outside a banquet hall. There was supposed to be the man's daughter's 25th anniversary party there, but with the death in the family, that was called off, and they had the funeral service there instead. The idiot parking maid was told quite a few times it was a funeral, including the hearse driver, a retired sheriff's deputy. Good thing they got it cleared up! Did I mention it was Sunday, and the streets were deserted, so it's not like they parked there because the parking spots were filled.

Back to a weapon keeping the criminals at bay: An 83 year old man makes would-be robber flee. He has a concealed carry permit for his .25, and he *will* not let someone take advantage of him, merely because he has a cane and a limp. A transient (since when are they transients? I call them BUMS) tried to rob him, knocked him down & tried to take his wallet. So the old man pulls out his gun and tells the BUM to get away from him. The dood ran away, but was later caught and charged with attempted strong-arm robbery.

I seem to be getting less & less tolerant of crime, criminals, etc. And the death penalty. What about having ONE (1) appeal, and then BAM, they're done for. None of this sitting around for 30 years like some murderer did. Why are we keeping them around? Let's clear out death row within 30 days, and then new ones can take their place - I think that would send a strong message to not step over that line. Also the death penalty for more cases - murder? 1 appeal, then off to the gurney. Or the gas chamber, whatever your state uses. Child molesters - death penalty. You get the idea. And what is prison for? nowadays it's used as "teaching them a new way" however, the idea of prison is *punishment*. Cruel and unusual? no.

been a bit

since I posted. For some reason I've been getting up *early* like 4 am... of course it could be due to going to sleep around 9 pm!

This really pisses me off: Judge orders lesbian Air Force nurse reinstated.

Of course the ACLU is pushing this one. Sorry, you go into the military you cannot do as you like. They own you. You don't have the rights you did as a civlian. And this is against the UCMJ. You can't just pick and choose which laws out of it you will follow. This judge way overstepped his bounds. Judge Ronald Leighton of Tacoma, Washington, made his ruling Friday.
This guy is another Bush appointee. Think he was truly a conservative still? The judged ruled that it violated her due process rights and 5th amendment rights. This woman joined the Air Force in 97 and when her relationship with a woman was discovered, she was suspended in 04. This idiot judge ignores military law & says "there was no good reason for her dismissal". BAH. there are rules against this in the military. I guess next some bunko judge is going to rule for an officer fraternizing with an enlisted person.

They might be "exemplary officers/enlisted" however you cannot do whatever the heck you want and remain in the military. Hmm...5th amendment rights.. perhaps someone on a urinalysis could claim their 5th amendment rights were violated as their urine testified against themselves (i.e. they're druggies). BAH!

Speaking of druggies, there was news from Fox 2 up in Detroit about a gaggle of GM employees boozing it up and smoking pot during their lunch break:



We are having an enchilada dinner fundraiser for AWANA tomorrow at church so I have to make 2 or 3 pots of beans today - and tomorrow is Round-up Sunday...where we 'round up' those who haven't been to church in a while or those who show up faithfully - twice a year, Christmas and Easter.

Oh just remembered - I was reading a Thomas Sowell series of posts over at Human Events - titled "The Money of Fools". Here is the first part, Part II, Part III, Part IV.

I found this part most enlightening:

Among the many other catchwords that shut down thinking are "the rich" and "the poor." When is somebody rich? When they have a lot of wealth. But, when politicians talk about taxing "the rich," they are not even talking about people's wealth, and what they are planning to tax are people's incomes, not their wealth.

If we stop and think, instead of going with the flow of catchwords, it is clear than income and wealth are different things. A billionaire can have zero income. Bill Gates lost $18 billion dollars in 2008 and Warren Buffett lost $25 billion. Their income might have been negative, for all I know. But, no matter how low their income was, they were not poor.

By the same token, people who have worked their way up, to the point where they have a substantial income in their later years, are not rich. In most cases, they never earned high incomes in their younger years and they will not be earning high incomes when they retire. A middle-aged or elderly couple making $125,000 each are not rich, even though politicians will tax away what they have earned at the end of decades of working their way up.

Similarly, most of the people who are called "the poor" are not poor. Their low incomes are as transient as the higher incomes of "the rich." Most of the people in the bottom 20 percent in income end up in the top half of the income distribution in later years. Far more of them reach the top 20 percent than remain in the bottom 20 percent over the years.

The grand fallacy in most discussions of income statistics is the assumption that the various income brackets represent enduring classes of people, rather than transients who start at the bottom in entry-level jobs and move up as they acquire more experience and skills.

How true this is! If you've never enjoyed one of Thomas Sowell's books before, trot on over to Amazon, and get crackin! Have a great Saturday!

Omitted

What is wrong with this quote? Can you figure it out? He did not 'accidentally' forget part of it, as it looks during that silence like he's sucking on a lemon. And we're supposed to believe that he's a Christian and not something else, like a scumbucket?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Wow!

It's been a while since I posted! Fun stuff has started up now that skool is in for the kiddies. We started AWANA again this year, and we actually might get more helpers for Sparks Club. We have a lady now that is doing our paperwork/bookwork for us (yay! usually I left it for the following Sunday between services and do it then); one of the teenagers is no longer in Youth, she is in the College & Career Sunday School, so she is helping us this year. For a couple years, it was only me and my oldest daughter...then one of the ladies that was helping with the older girls came to work with Sparks (k-2nd grade) and my youngest worked with us - we have another girl that is no longer in the Youth, and she helps too. The kids get hard to work with when there's 20 of them, 3 of you, and you have to try to teach the non-readers their Bible verses, plus listen to others say their verses to get the sections in their handbook completed.

New this year! I am NO LONGER PAYING FOR EVERYONE ELSES KIDS. Hah! It feels so good to type that. I've sent home a letter saying that buying the child their handbook (if they don't already have one that they did not complete from last year) AND their uniform vest, plus dues for Sparks Club is NOT optional. Took a few hours of working on it, with the help of two online friends that tempered my bluntness and stuff. That was last week. This past Wednesdau night, I sent home another letter, and had help again this time - THANK YOU Sean & Savage!

This week's letter is what we do during our time at Sparks (I keep using Sparks Club so they will GET IT THRU THEIR HEADS *parents*) that it is indeed a club, with dues, uniform and a handbook and not just church like on Sunday. Two of the children (brother and sister) did come with their dues, 2 others have dues, and most just look at me blankly. I did talk to a mother later that evening and found out her child was given money for dues.. but she thinks he spent it at the store being he didn't have it later for Club. She was not too happy about that.

I spent 15 minutes last night just trying to get the children to stop screaming and yelling at each other in the van - the older kids are the ones that are so ...dare I say it? Out of control. If this is how these kids act in skools, its no wonder that teachers are sick of it. I find the behavior reprehensible, and when some babymama gets cheesed off that I happened to yell SHUT UP after 15 minutes of yelling sit down, be quiet, stop hitting him, stop screaming at her... I tell ya, if I heard of my kids acting that way for an adult that is in charge of them for a bit, I'd be MAD. Not at the adult...the ones doing the bad behavior. Last night I got back up out of bed, because my brain was just going and going...I now have a letter to parents for each of the kids that ride the van. I can't play cop AND drive the van at the same time.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT VAN RULES

1. Keep your hands and feet to yourself. No hitting, kicking, etc.

2. Use an indoor voice. Do not yell and scream at each other.

3. No swearing or threatening each other.

4. No fighting.

Not following the above rules will result in your suspension for two weeks from riding the van on Wednesday night. Repeat offenses will be permanent suspension from the van on Wednesday night.

I know that a few will get mad about this (kids) when they get ejected from the van, or drop the other kids off at the church except them, turn the van around and bring them right back home. Plus it will be a pain for whoever has to drive the van to their apartment - as I have to get stuff ready for Sparks and don't have the time to mess around when the kids are not behaving.

Is this too much to ask - for people to pay for their own kids' stuff for Club, dues, and for their kids to behave on the van? It really isn't fair to the parents that pay for their kids when the others feel they don't have to - I notice the kids will play football, soccer, baseball, softball, tball... plus money for beer & smokes.. but not have it for this. *facepalm*

Anyway...back to your regularly scheduled program...

There is a pretty big hurricane in the Caribbean, Igor (pronounced eye-gor hah!).. was watching the news - they said it was over 1000 miles across, and tropical storm winds were as far out as 300 miles from the eye. Channel 13 weather said on the news last night that we may get some rain out of it. Makes me wonder how big across Ike was, when it filled the Gulf of Mexico. Check out the tropical stuff (and your local weather & radar) at Wunderground.