Black and White thinking and more.
February 8, 2010 | 28 Comments
I recently posted a blog called The Ten Signs You Are A Bad Parent. Some overly sensitive folks, perhaps those with a bit of a guilty conscience, attacked my ideas with a vengeance! Some of you pointed out how you let your kid have a television in their bedroom and the kid still got straight A’s at school. Good for you! Some argued you often don’t know where your kid is and don’t need to because you have a great kid you can completely trust. Good for you again! Some of you even argued that it wasn’t necessary to be the kind of person you wanted your child to become. Seriously? Okay then, good for you one more time!
Do what you want to do and let your kid do exactly as they please. Go ahead and roll the dice with your child’s future. If that is your stance on responsible parenting, then get after it. Let’s see how that works out for you when your 25 year old wants to move back into their old bedroom because they can’t make it in the real world. When your kid can’t get through your front door because they are wider than the doorframe. When your little princess can’t pay her bills because she never learned how to be responsible enough to even show up to work on time. When your teen is charged as a sex offender for sexting, or shows up pregnant or with an STD. Or when they excitedly call and brag that they are about to be on a reality television show! Won’t you be proud then? When those or any number of other things happen, maybe then you will look at my list and think again about good parenting and bad parenting.
Before any of you blow a gasket, all of those things can still happen regardless of what you’ve done. I get it. I covered that whole concept in Your Kids Are Your Own Fault: A Guide For Raising Responsible, Productive Adults. I know that sometimes, you can do everything right and it all still goes wrong. Not often, but sometimes. So don’t write me and say, “yeah but . . . “ I get it. Move along. And for those of you who have written me saying I wish I had taken a stance with my kid earlier because now they are teenagers and I can’t get back in control. I get that too. I wish you had as well. But it’s not too late. You can still re-establish communications and make things better. Maybe not perfect again, but better. And for all who have told me how my ideas have helped them with their kids, thank you especially!
Now on to my real point!
It’s a Damn Shame!
October 12, 2009 | 64 Comments
I have been remiss in writing a good rant for a few weeks especially when so much has happened for me to rant about! I guess it is because that I have just been so overwhelmed with the disrespect, lack of civility and stupidity that is running rampant that I couldn’t focus on just one or two issues. And I still can’t! So I‘ve decided that you folks might be willing to put up with a series of short rants on all of the things that I am finding especially irritating in the news and in life these days. I hope you enjoy, if you want to share any of these, feel free but give credit and send folks over to the blog and to my fanpage on facebook. This little rant is obviously called, “It’s a damn shame……………….”
It’s a damn shame when someone writes on my Facebook page defending irresponsible behavior with the words “Personal responsibility is such a cliché. It’s a condescending over-used phrase that has become the stock answer to everything.” Yes! It is the answer to everything! And it’s a damn shame that people would rather do anything in this world than take responsibility for their actions, including dismissing the notion as cliché and condescending.
It’s a damn shame when all of us can’t be happy when one of us has something good happen. Obama gets the Nobel Peace Prize and it suddenly becomes a battle cry of the right wing about how he doesn’t deserve it. If your name isn’t Nobel or you aren’t on the committee then you don’t really have a say in his deservingness. Don’t say he didn’t earn it – it’s not up to you to decide that. The Nobel Peace Prize committee decided he was deserving so you don’t really get a say in who wins the award since you don’t sit on the committee. This is not about politics or whether you like Obama’s stance on … well, anything! It’s about the President of the United States gets recognized on the world stage for something good and our divisive political system can’t say “congratulations” and then move on to better things. Which means it’s a damn shame when important things like healthcare, the recession, Medicare, Social Security and other major issues are taking a backseat to this inane non-issue.
The Lazy Man’s Theory of Relativity
August 30, 2009 | 21 Comments
The Lazy Man’s Theory Of Relativity.
I want to make it clear from the start that this rant was inspired by Troy Sammons. He wrote me on Facebook with his comments that I have included below. It was so good that I suggested to him that he write more and put it out there somewhere but he said for me to run with it if I wanted to. So I am going to add a bit to what was already a great email he sent me, but I want to say thanks to Troy upfront for his inspiration.
From Troy: “It is my observation that there is a growing epidemic of excuses that I call the “Lazy Man’s Theory of Relativity.” Americans seem to continually measure their position or situation in relative terms that makes their lazy lifestyles appear more successful. Let me give a few examples: I am relatively thin compared to that fat guy; I’m relatively rich compared to that broke ass over there; I work relatively hard compared to the narcoleptic janitor; I’m a relatively great parent compared to that woman wearing the muumuu feeding her kid Twinkies for lunch; or the worst one—we are relatively free compared to people in other countries.
What has happened that has enabled us to give up on our ideals and settle for relative success or perfection? Why are we always on the search for that loser whose life sucks more than ours so we can remind ourselves how good we are doing. I can’t stand it when someone makes relative comparisons to make the current situation appear less painful or pathetic.”
Healthcare, Hyper-Partisanship & What Larry Winget Believes About Nearly Everything
August 1, 2009 | 68 Comments
Healthcare, Hyper-Partisanship & What Larry Winget Believes About Nearly Everything
Healthcare.
I believe that basic healthcare is the right of every citizen. I think we have a moral obligation to help people who are sick regardless of what made them that way or whether they have any money or not. If we have the medical ability and expertise to do it, we should do it. It is the right thing to do. That said, I don’t want my tax dollars to pay for people who knowingly ruined their health by eating themselves into diabetes or other obesity related conditions. I also don’t want to support folks who smoked their 3 packs a day and got emphysema or lung cancer or other smoking related condition. They knew what there were doing was stupid and we shouldn’t have to support them. But you can’t exclude them either. I am a mean SOB in many ways but I can’t let people who are sick just die because they were stupid. I just can’t. If you can look sick people in the eye and tell them “no healthcare for you!” I don’t understand you. I can let stupid people who bought more house than they could afford be foreclosed on but I can’t let sick people die. Especially over politics or money. It’s not right.
I don’t believe we can afford to tax ourselves any more in order to pay for the proposed healthcare plan. That will only put a burden on small businesses that will contribute even more to our economic problems. We should be doing whatever it takes to help small businesses, not hinder them. Taxing people and businesses more is not the way to fix this problem. I don’t want more taxes period right now. You can’t tax or spend your way out of an economic mess.
Fan or Fanatic? Which are you?
July 12, 2009 | 53 Comments
Fan or fanatic? Do you know the difference? I am continually astonished that many people don’t. It seems that for many, they are unable to draw a line between being a fan and being a fanatic.
A fan is someone who likes football. They watch it, follow it, go to some games, and talk about it with their friends. A fanatic is a person who rounds up six of his buddies, paints their big ol’ beer bellies with the letters C-O-W-B-O-Y-S (or any other team) and then takes their shirts off at the game even when the temperature is freezing. They somehow think that their fat, hairy, letter-painted bellies are going to cause their team to win. No one really likes these guys and we all think they are pitiful jokes, however, they are the ones who get their painted bellies on TV. Just like many of the fanatics on some of the evening cable news programs: I know Glenn Beck and Keith Olberman have painted bellies under their suits!
Pro-life/pro-choice. A fan of pro-life votes their conscience on that issue or go to a church that supports their belief or may send money to support politicians who believe the way they do. A fanatic kills an abortion doctor. See how the difference betweens a fan and a fanatic can turn ugly?
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