Just where is all this bailout and stimulus money coming from? We, the taxpayers, I know. I am just having a hard time wrapping my mind around this much money being thrown about. Are they just printing more currency? Will our "dollar" eventually be just worthless paper with nothing to back it, paper that no one will honor? Money is given for mortgages, and the renters feel they deserve a handout, as well. The banks are bailed out, and the car companies want some of the action. And wasn't it the insurance companies who were handed bailout money, who then kept the same bad managers who got them into the fanancial jam, and proceeded to give said managers hefty bonuses?
In addition to a mega-mega $$ handou...I mean stimulus package, we've got a president allotting money for abortions. Yes, I'm aware it's a woman's body, and she has a choice. Perhaps the choice should have started with ways to not get pregnant if she (and he!!) aren't ready for a child, and one of those choices clearly is abstinence! Judgmental, am I? Maybe, but taxpayers' money shouldn't pay for any child's demise. It's just a fetus? Not according to God, who created mankind.
So, if the government is "giving" all this money (which looks amazingly like our own...tax...money), does it come back to us with a price? I mean, will the government have more control over us as individuals? Will they, in essence, "own" us?
With all these various hands out, opened and expecting, in this age of "I'm-owed-something-whether-I-work-for-it-or-not," we've got parents who won't even meet with their children's teachers (upon the teacher's request) about said children's education. Caught a story on a TV news network earlier this week. The head of the NAACP was a guest, and he told the teacher who called with this personal observation that people were too busy working two and three jobs to bother with meeting with teachers. Say WHAT?
How many people do you personally know who are working two and three jobs, and how does that number compare with those who have some kind of goverment assistance (food stamps, WIC, Medicare....and the like)? One most likely greatly outweigh the other, no matter where you live.
When will it end? I hope it's not the same time our personal freedom ends.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Choices
A teenaged black boy flagged me down in the middle of the road on the outskirts of a rough neighborhood. I was leaving a park not far away from the university, and I was on my way back to work. He was in the middle of the road, and he didn't give me much choice but to stop. It was a narrow road with a ditch on my side.
I cracked my window a little bit to see what he needed, and he told me his car was broken down and he was trying to get to work. I didn't see any car. He asked me if I could give him a lift to a place that was much further than where I was actually going...but that notwithstanding...I really felt uneasy about letting him in my car.
He asked to use my phone, and I let him. He called someone, then asked me if I would speak to the man he called. I was a little uncomfortable, but I took the phone. The man introduced himself as the boy's father, and asked if I would give the boy a ride to work. I told him that I was sorry, but I really couldn't do that. I handed the phone back to the boy, they spoke a few more minutes, and he handed me back my phone. I told him I hoped he understood why I couldn't give him a ride, and he said he did. He then asked me for some money to buy a drink. (It really was a hot day, last summer.) I gave him a couple of bucks and went on back to work.
I was feeling guilty because I'd left him there. What if he was just a nice young man trying to get to work, willing to start out walking in the hot summer sun to get there? I consoled myself by thinking that really, in this day and age, I couldn't just give a complete stranger a ride somewhere, and that I really had more than just myself to think about.
That next morning, I got a phone call from the boys father. The boy hadn't been seen since he started out walking, and his few minutes with me were the last contact his family had had with him. I got one more phone call from the dad, and then one from his grandmother later that evening.
I never did find out what happened to the boy. I was just thinking about him this morning.
I cracked my window a little bit to see what he needed, and he told me his car was broken down and he was trying to get to work. I didn't see any car. He asked me if I could give him a lift to a place that was much further than where I was actually going...but that notwithstanding...I really felt uneasy about letting him in my car.
He asked to use my phone, and I let him. He called someone, then asked me if I would speak to the man he called. I was a little uncomfortable, but I took the phone. The man introduced himself as the boy's father, and asked if I would give the boy a ride to work. I told him that I was sorry, but I really couldn't do that. I handed the phone back to the boy, they spoke a few more minutes, and he handed me back my phone. I told him I hoped he understood why I couldn't give him a ride, and he said he did. He then asked me for some money to buy a drink. (It really was a hot day, last summer.) I gave him a couple of bucks and went on back to work.
I was feeling guilty because I'd left him there. What if he was just a nice young man trying to get to work, willing to start out walking in the hot summer sun to get there? I consoled myself by thinking that really, in this day and age, I couldn't just give a complete stranger a ride somewhere, and that I really had more than just myself to think about.
That next morning, I got a phone call from the boys father. The boy hadn't been seen since he started out walking, and his few minutes with me were the last contact his family had had with him. I got one more phone call from the dad, and then one from his grandmother later that evening.
I never did find out what happened to the boy. I was just thinking about him this morning.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Valentine's Day
It’s hard to believe it’s already mid-February. It must really be true that the older I get, the faster time flies! We’ve had such a mild February so far. I’m sure we’ll see more cold weather, but it’s been very nice. Today, it’s just a beautiful day in Alabama.
I’m sitting out this semester of school out because I was working on things for my compensation ladder at work, which I just finished up yesterday, complete with three certificates and a plaque. By the time my job gets finished with me, I just may know a thing or two. Maybe.
I love my job.
Ole Boy has a new grandson! His name is Sebastian Cale. His mom plans to call him Cale, but I think I’ll call him Sebastian. He’s a cute little thing, don’t you think??
It’s Girl Scout Cookie time. Don’t forget to support them. I did my part, trust me! lol
Next weekend is my birthday (21st), and Ole Boy and I are heading up to Nashville for the weekend. It just worked out perfectly that it’s winter break at work, and I have a three day weekend on my birthday. How good is that?
A couple of weeks ago, all the birds out front disappeared. Then we notice this guy in the tree. I grabbed my camera and kept inching closer and closer to him…he finally flew away. And the next thing I knew, all the birds (and there were many) that had been hiding from the hawk in the bushes flew out. I think I startled them. They acted glad I scared off the hawk…
It’s about time to go for a Valentine’s late lunch. I’m just too old and grumpy to fight the night crowd tonight.
Happy
Valentine's
Day!!
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