Making It In America

Time to rant a little.  It is bad enough that the American people are having to deal with the state of the economy that the people in power have helped to create.  Now we have to listen to them ignore the people and move forward on their next idea, stimulating the economy with the new stimulus package.  Personally, I don’t even pretend to understand all the ins and outs of the economy, but I do understand history and I can see how this can lead to all the troubles (and more) that happened the last time the government tried to fix everything.  It almost feels like it is a government of the leaders, for the leaders and by the leaders as they vote to spend more money that they will get from the people who are saying, “No, we don’t want your stimulus package to go through!”

Now they are just adding flames to the fires.  Are you aware of the  different elements they are trying to pass through in the package?  They tried to pass $200 million for contraceptives.  They have elements that will give more government control of the use of a variety of technologies that are used by health care professionals. They want to give most Americans $600 each.  If someone has lost their home and/or their job because of the economic trouble, how much and how long will $600 help?  Band-aids are nice, but they really don’t fix anything!

It is interesting that, with questionable additions, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants the Senate to pass the $146 billion package that the House passed.  She would like it done quickly and without changes.  When anyone says that, red flags go up in my head.

I am a mid-Western girl and have been all my life (minus two years in New Jersey).  In my heart of hearts, I will be a mid-West girl until the day I die.  In the meantime, the rest of me is in the Southwest and I love it!  Abut eighteen months ago, I took a brave step and moved to Arizona.  It was in July and by the third day I was here, the outdoor temperature was 119 degrees.  You know the kind of hot you could fry eggs on-that was it!

Through July, August and part of September it was very warm.  The first question people ask you when they learn where you live is, “How do you do in the summers?”  This winter I am fully equipped to tell everyone why I love Arizona and how I do with the summers!

I have quite a few relatives still living in the mid-West.   When I talk to them, I hear words like, “freezing”, “icy”, “snowing again”, and “frozen.”  This started about October and it will end sometime in April.  That is seven months of inclement, hard to forecast weather!

Here is Arizona, I suffer through three, maybe four months of hot weather-about half of the mid-West days.  How do I handle it?  The same way I did when the weather was freezing.  I stay indoors on the really hot days.  Big difference between the two is this:  in Arizona I can usually go out after the sun has set and all is well.  In the mid-West, the later the day, the colder it gets.  I always carry water and a hat.  I used to always carry boots, gloves, a coat, a hat, and a snow-scraper.

Is it just me, or have some of the rest of you had your fill of bad news?  The economy is still in turmoil and it is said it will be years before it straightens up IF it ever does.  Fathers and mothers take the lives of their children and themselves.  Bombs and suicide bombers senselessly kill.  Countries are always busy in war or discord.  Heating fuel is withheld for money and an older man freezers because of his inability to pay a bill.  The craziness can discourage the most stout of heart.  Personally, I needed a change.

How refreshing to read about new lives!  A baby was born in the library in Denver, Colorado.  Eight babies (octuplets) were born in California to a couple expecting merely seven babies.  All are still living and five are feeding on bottles with breast milk donated by strangers.  Simple and yet, in the face of today’s news, exciting!

On another note, in a Paris fashion show, designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, show-cased fifty-one year old French model, Ines de la Fressange on his runway.  She hasn’t modeled since she was a young woman but she stole the show.  Call me crazy, but I find it good news that beauty can be recognized after youth is gone.

See, it doesn’t take much to make me happy.  I know that the other news is important, but once in a while, it is wonderful to hear how our youth do the right thing, our parents help their children, and people are there for each other.  Just once in a while!

The economy is in dire straits; the war in Iraq rages on.  Most of the country is covered in ice and snow and there are political problems all over the place.  So what are the states of Ohio, Kentucky and the Army Corps of Engineers doing?  Fighting over an eight ton rock.  You heard me, a rock!

It seems that historian Steve Shaffer decided that he had to find a rock that he had heard about since his childhood.  As a fact, it was first made known in 1847.  The graffiti-covered rock has a name, Indian Head Rock.  Now, this infamous rock hasn’t been seen since the 1920s and has, in fact, been covered by water.  The rock was removed from the water where it could now become the center of a fight.

The rock was given to the city of Portsmouth, Ohio.  The city offered the rock to South Shore, Kentucky but the offer was refused. Now Kentucky wants i; Ohio claims it; the Army Corps of Engineers says it is theirs.  On top of all this, Steve Shaffer has been charged with a felony for removing the rock from the water and trying to place it where the world could enjoy it.  While no one knows what the final fate of Indian Head Rock will be, today it sits in the municipal garage in Portsmouth.

Aren’t there any real issues these states can fight about today?  If the rock was so important, why was it left buried in the river.  I read news like this and just shake my head.  When kind of priorities do these three have anyway?

Before I was born, women were dedicated to being just that, mothers.  They weren’t perfect but they had watched their mothers, had home-ec training, and focused on the family.  Today, every time I read the headlines, I want to scream.  Why don’t we educate our teenagers, before they graduate, on basic child care?  Here are a few reason why I see the need.

I went to a festival on Sunday.  A young 20ish mother was pushing a stroller with a baby that appeared to be about six months old.  It was a warm day and the baby was wearing a tee-shirt and a diaper.  There was no top on the stroller.  The mother walked along talking to her friend.  From the burn on her chest, it was obvious they had been there for a while.  The friend mentioned the baby getting to much sun and the mother responded, “Yeah, but what am I supposed to do about it?”  Can you teach common sense?

Then I went onto the internet.  What headline greeted me?  3 year old filmed smoking, mother arrested.  The child was in front of the mother.  The little boy seemed at ease with lighting and smoking the cigarette.  His mother claims she is shocked.  She hadn’t seen him at the time it was film or ever before.  Childcare 101-pay attention to the child.

I went on to read about a mother that used plastic zip ties to make sure her daughter didn’t get up in the night and ’steal’ food.  The ten year olds body may carry scars, a disfigurement,  from the practice for the rest of her life.

Basic childcare isn’t complex.  How to deal with problems can be learned.  Upon graduation, students can identify a verb, multiply a fraction, and name largest river in the world.  Unfortunately, they have little idea how to budget for a home, avoid credit card debt or take care of a child.

Reporters are known for following every story so closely, they leave no stone unturned.  For those who live their lives by reading about everybody else, they are a blessing.  For the families, friends and co-workers, they can become a nightmare that plunges in a knife and then turns it over and over again.  Such seems to be the plight of George Anthony during the investigation of the disappearance of his granddaughter, Caylee and after the discovery of her body.

As reporters rush to find out how people feel, one must wonder, don’t they already know?  Let’s see, a man’s granddaughter disappears and his own daughter is the main suspect.  Does it take a question to figure out how he feels?  Her innocent little body is found and again, does the body need to fill out a questionnaire for us to know?  I haven’t experienced any of those things and yet, I know.  They are devastated, heartbroken and they just want to be left alone!

Not being able to bury Caylee has added further stress.   Now that George has become so despondent that he has considered suicide, will the reporters feel the need to press further until he completely breaks?  When will our right to know be a little less important than the rights of people like the Anthony’s?

I do not covet the role President Obama has to take in establishing a procedure for terrorists.  Looking at what a terrorist is and why they are called terrorists, it is imperative that they be handled carefully.  Closing the facilities at Gitmo may be just what is needed, but where will they go?  Will they be prosecuted?  Who will handle it?  How will they be secured if they are brought on American soil?

It is so important to remember that, while we work to secure their rights, they want one thing.  Us dead.  They plot, they plan, they proceed.   We need to remember that 9/11 was not their first attempt to blow up the Twin Towers.  It was their second known attempt.  We must remember that the attacks were years apart.  If we rest on our laurels because there is not attack for a few years, we might learn about how patient terrorists can be when we experience their next attack.

Going soft on terrorists sends a message to the world.  It also sends a message to the terrorists.   We like to think that they will respect us and think of us as the good guys.  We would.  If they thought like we do, they wouldn’t be terrorists in the first place!  Remember, they blow up innocent people for a living.  Then they go home and feel good about it; or their families rejoice because the terrorist, in his or her death, get special gifts from the god they serve.  And they think we are powerless because we worry about their rights.

No, I don’t covet President Obama’s job.  It is a fine line between good and bad decisions here.  I hope he thinks it through and, for the sake of America, makes the right choices!

You have got to give me a break!  The Ty company, makers of the beanie baby dolls just happens to have two new dolls coming out.  They just happen to be black.  And they just happen to be named Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia.  But ask a company spokesperson, and you will be reassured that these dolls, released at the same time the girls begin living in the White House, have nothing to do with the Obama girls!  What a fantastic coincidence!

The company spokesperson also said that their dolls are never named after living people so that they don’t interfere with the way the children owning them play with them.  I won’t say they are not being completely upfront with the public.  Maybe the names and the release date are completely coincidental and yet, the company seems to be doing well, getting a lot of hits on their website from people who are interested in the dolls because of their names.  I wonder who, in marketing, thought this one up.  And who, in the midst of all the similarities and timing, decided to deny it!

I have a tendency to be a dove.  I don’t like war and I hate torture.  President Obama has given orders to close Gitmo and let the world know that the United States does not believe in torture and that it abides by the rules, the domestic and international laws governing the treatment of detainees. He took a decisive step.  But, was it a step with a back-up plan?  Does it insist that the countries that have been kidnapping and beheading Americans stop and treat their detainees with the same respect?  Does he have a plan for getting information from detainees that will keep Americans save from further terrorist attacks?

My hope and my prayer is that Obama has been investigating and studying his moves in detail.  When something in the magnitude is done on the second day in office, I admit it, I worry a little about a well-thought out plan.  You see, I don’t like torture, but I also don’t like seeing buildings in American being blown up by foreign terrorists.  I don’t like seeing firemen dying as they try to save people that shouldn’t have needed saving.  I don’t like seeing headlines that show that more of the same was planned and stopped due to intelligence gained by Gitmo tactics.  At the same time, I would hate to see them not stopped and more Americans dying because we just wanted to be perceived as the good guy.

It is always a little unsettling when a new president takes the reins.  The promises were all there; the ideals all explained, but what would our reality be….  As I said, I watched President Obama’s swearing in ceremony and wondered what direction our country would move in.  What kind of leader will he turn out to be?  Is he the great, non-politician type guy, the down-to-earth man that so many take him to be?  Needless to say, I have been full of questions that I thought it would take time to answer.  Today, they were all answered for me!

It seems that the Cuban leader, Raul Castro, feels that Obama seems like a nice guy.  He also received praise from Fidel Castro saying that he doesn’t doubt Obama’s honesty and that he “believes in Obama.”  Whew,  I feel so relieved that men from a country that deny many freedoms to their people, leaders of a country that many have had to escape from, think that our new president is an okay guy.   What else is there to say?

Seriously, President Obama didn’t ask for their support.  With the comments of goodwill, may Obama say thank you and then proceed during what is best for the American nation.  Only time will, indeed, tell.