Monday, May 31, 2010

Oh No Canadian Healthcare!

We were assured there would not be rationing of care. No "lifeboat" scenarios with medical services. We were told to look to Canada for an example of how wonderful government healthcare would be. We were told a fairytale and our politicians believed it.

Now Canada is looking to curtail cost because an aging population is putting pressure on their healthcare services. This is just the beginning. (Watch this DVD to see why.) Here's the article on the Canadian healthcare problem.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Parent Fog - Addendum

My hubby sent me this article after my last blog post. It fits nicely into the discussion of what influences surround young people today. This one is from their music. Here's the article.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Parent Fog - Some Thoughts

Bobby and I always wanted kids, however when it became clear this wasn't the Lord's will for us, we decided to invest in the kids of other people who were brought into our lives. This has provided us with some advantages in relating to young people.

One advantage is we lack "parent fog." This is the hazy mist that surrounds otherwise savvy, intelligent men and women rendering them deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to their children. It's the "my child would never..." syndrome or the "I know some kids his/her age do [fill in the blank], but my son/daughter would NEVER..." attitude, regardless of whether the topic is drugs, sex, rock-n-roll or cheating in class.

Parental love often expresses I Corinthians 13 in that it hopes, believes and expects the best. My hubby tells the story of a lady he worked with who came home early and heard her son cuss at his sister. When confronted, the son swore to his mom that that was the first time he had used that language and (of course) it would never happen again. When the mom related this story to Bobby and another coworker, she was met with laughter. "Let me understand this - the FIRST and only time your son cussed just happened to be within ear shot of his mom? C'mon!!!" The mom reflected on the scenario and Bobby's skepticism and realized she'd been played by her son. The son had been able to sell that improbable lie because he knew his mom would desperately want to believe the best about him.

So many Christian parents don't realize that today's young Johnny & Susie know so much more about sex, drugs, rock-n-roll and the world in general than our generation did at the same age. Mental innocence is a rare commodity and extremely difficult to hold on to in our 24/7 instant information age.

This may explain the Generation Gap more completely than the difference in ages. It is quite possibly a gap created by a lack of cultural awareness, a lack of remembrance of the thinking process and behavior tendencies of teenagers (processes and tendencies that don't change that much from generation to generation), and a lack of realistically assessing the world in which their children live as it is and not as they wish it to be or perhaps romantically remember it to be from their youth.

To be successful with today's young people, those in my peer group who came of age in the 80s must constantly remind themselves the world these kids are growing up in is far different from the world we experienced. You may not like it, but listen to their music, watch the TV shows of their generation and read the books they read - this will give you a context for those discussions on values and faith.

Monday, May 03, 2010

Rand Paul for U. S. Senate


Rand Paul has been endorsed by Sarah Palin, Jim Bunning, Steve Forbes and now Dr. James Dobson. Dr. Dobson originally endorsed Paul's opponent, but soon discovered he had been misled by senior GOP officials and, thankfully, had the integrity to publicly call them out on the deception and change his endorsement to Dr. Paul.

I have been infuriated by the Grayson campaign. The deceptive, misleading attack ads against Rand Paul are based on the assumption that the Kentucky electorate is ill-informed on the issues. One ad in particular uses a snippet of Paul saying the Social Security age will have to be raised to 70 - and then presents this as an attack on imminent retirees. Sorry, Trey, Kentuckians do follow the news and we know Social Security is bankrupt. Raising the retirement age is just ONE of the steps that will be necessary to keep this Ponzi scheme afloat.

More infuriating is Grayson's, a former Democrat, assertion that Paul is not pro-life. Dr. Paul is adamantly, ardently Pro-Life. Grayson knows this and his approval of ads stating otherwise speaks to his willingness to do and say anything to get elected.

Kentuckians have had enough of politicians - we need statesmen. A vote for Grayson is a vote for a politician. A vote for Paul is a vote for a statesman. The choice couldn't be clearer.