I not sure what happened to April. I don't think I successful read any books. I just finished a book last night so I will share some thoughts on it while it is fresh in my mind.
No They Can't: Why Government Fails but Individuals Succeed by John Stossel
So I have to go on the record and say I have always liked John Stossel. You might even say I have had a crush on him. He was the man going against the flow and speaking his mind amidst typical media people who kind of acted like he is the crazy fellow they should try to hush hush. "Ah yes that's nice, good reporting but we don't really buy it." That is the impression I always got from Barbara Walters and Hugh Downs from their show 20/20.
That could be why I liked him. What he said made sense, and he sounded like my dad.
Having been without a TV or cable for almost 2 years I had no idea Stossel was no longer with 20/20. He now works for Fox News and has his own show there. It sounds as though he is really happy with his environment. No unions to worry about, no co-workers blatantly poo, pooing him, no higher ups saying you can't do this or say that. He has some freedom and that's is what a Libertarian like him really wants.
I have heard the term Libertarian before but I never really delved into what exactly that looks like. Presidential candidate Ron Paul is really a Libertarian running as Republican and during debates much of what he said sounded sensible but some sounded a little unnerving. After reading, No They Can't I definitely understand what Ron Paul is driving at and what Libertarians want. They want freedom. They actually want more freedom than a conservative like myself wants - which surprised me.
Libertarians want bare bones Federal government, they want the government to just do the things the Constitution lays out for them, postal system, defense, coining money and handful of other things. The list does not include providing housing, arts, NPR, subsidies for trains, farm and everything else that can't survive on its own, education, nation building in other countries, or healthcare. Some of this stuff is the state's responsibility and some of it yours or mine - the individual.
He made such good points about why everything the government touches ends up wasted, more expensive, failing and not the best that it could be. But if it were left up to individuals who are more motivated to come up with a better, more efficient and more cost effective way to do it things would be so much better - like our tax bills and our nation's deficit!
He touches on "Green" energy, chemicals in foods, education system, drugs, the cost of wars.
I don't like to hear talk of cutting defense spending because after all that's one of the few things Federal Government is supposed to do, but John cites case after case of flagrant, disgusting waste of our tax dollars that it almost makes me think the government needs a bunch of stay at home moms trying to survive on 1 salary to get a hold of the budget and tackle it like a woman crazy with nesting and due any day.
Case in point: "Uncle Sam" sent over 12 Billion in $100 bills to Iraq - no one can tell you where that money has gone. Vanished. That pisses me off.
Government run Education was a good chapter as well. Not really anything I haven't heard before thanks to Waiting for Superman and having worked in public schools for several years. We dump tax money into public schools and they still fail. No amount of money is going to fix the failing schools or children until administration can fire bad or poor performing teachers and give raises to the exceptional teachers. Blame the teacher's union for that one. Warm bodies who pay dues is all they care about, not providing our kids with the best teachers. Believe me I have seen those teachers who should have been kicked to the curb. Instead they were coddled and moved around so they poor abilities effected less kids. Or they just stayed put and made more kids cry year after year.
Entitlements- The whole Social Security / Medicare thing is just a mess and the unsustainability will crush us.
Here is a quote that really got me, " Few of us realize, though, that most of us get back up to three times what we paid in, (SS&Medi.) and that our selfish sense of entitlement will ruin America much faster than foreign aid, subsidies for NPR, or foreign wars ever will." (p. 283) Did you hear that Baby Boomers!?
As a Libertarian, Stossel believes illegal drugs should be legal. True
freedom gives the adult the opportunity to smoke pot if they want to or
need it to combat chemotherapy side effects. Seeing these things
legalized -as conservative and a Christian- aren't so good in my eyes
and yet he made valid points to support his stance. He is pretty convincing...
Libertarians want freedom, that translates into free trade, capitalism, and letting the market make the necessary changes to protect people, and make them prosperous and keeping Government out. If this country did it with gusto no one could stop us! We will need to do something soon though because the American taxpayer can't keep up with the spending. Bankruptcy - it isn't a matter of if it is a matter of when.
I'll tell you, understanding the mind of a Libertarian will force me to look at the issues with a fresh perspective. How much freedom do I really want?
So get out to the library or your bookstore of choice and check this book out. What's really nice about the lay out is its broken down into bite-size pieces lasting a page or 2 as he looks at "What Intuition Tempts Us to Believe" and "What Reality Taught Me" making it a good book for busy people!
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
Home Economists
I have been home with my son for nearly 2 years now. Some time in August - Lord Willing- we will have a new bundle. With another child comes a potentially tighter budget and I am glad that over the last 2 years, I have learned how to stretch dollars and seek out the good deals. In this ever struggling economy, dollars may need to be stretched even more.
I have learned a lot following the blog Money Saving Mom : Helping You Become a Better Home Economist I like the term "home economist". As moms, specifically stay at home moms we sometimes have our finger on the pulse of the economy better than anyone else. We know the cost of food, electric, kids clothes, and gas. We also know that the prices are all going up or are much too high for many of our one salary budgets. We also know that our work is never done. If our baby wakes up in the middle of night we get up, if we have to cut costs we make another sacrifice or have a yardsale. We work hard and it is often overlooked by just about all walks of life -even Democratic strategists like Hilary Rosen. She said in April, creating a small firestorm, that Ann Romney, (potential 1st Lady) who raised five sons, had "never worked a day in her life."
What a slap in the face of most moms. As if being a mom, in this case a stay at home mom, is not work.. Ann Romney has worked hard anyone who has a son or has seen boys play knows that! Hilary's statement is ignorant and assumptive as well as offensive to the women working at home. She assumes that the Romneys have always had money and never struggled, assumes that being a stay at home mom is not real work, assumes that being a working mom or a woman in the workforce is real work. She assumes that real work is the only way a woman has the credibility to have any kind of say about economics.
Hilary said this because Mitt Romney talks to his wife and she tells him what she is hearing from women these days about the economy. Hilary assumes that a rich stay at home mom has no room to talk on such issues. I wonder if Hilary Rosen would have the nerve to say it to me? What does this stay at home mom know about the economy, probably just as much as Ann Romney! One only has to over hear a conversation in passing, read a blog, talk to a neighbor, watch a youtube video or listen to talk radio and you get a good reading on the state of the economy and how families are struggling.
Sure Hilary apologized to Ann but I still can't help but think that Hilary and people like her think that when you leave the work force to raise your children you leave your brain, background knowledge and opinions behind. Life as a Stay at Home Mom isn't just dishes and singing the Wheels on Bus. No one is living in the trenches more than the home economist. We are the ones clipping coupons, scouring grocery circulars, carrying calculators in our purse/diaper bags, following blogs that highlight the best deals. We go without cable. We buy our kids clothes are resales and yardsales, We drive old cars. We drive less because gas is so high. We make sacrifices because our kids are worth it. I dare say some of us talk to politicians and their wives about how tough things are!
This burgeoning home economist has learned more about the economy, frugality and budgeting in my 2 years working at home than in all my years in the workforce. Besides reading blogs, I've watched youtube videos of Milton Friedman (the economist) with my husband, I listen to talk radio all afternoon, and I read. All very good reasons for me to be offended when a woman like Hilary Rosen implies that stay at home moms aren't really working and that we don't have any credible experience or opinions to speak on economy.
I have learned a lot following the blog Money Saving Mom : Helping You Become a Better Home Economist I like the term "home economist". As moms, specifically stay at home moms we sometimes have our finger on the pulse of the economy better than anyone else. We know the cost of food, electric, kids clothes, and gas. We also know that the prices are all going up or are much too high for many of our one salary budgets. We also know that our work is never done. If our baby wakes up in the middle of night we get up, if we have to cut costs we make another sacrifice or have a yardsale. We work hard and it is often overlooked by just about all walks of life -even Democratic strategists like Hilary Rosen. She said in April, creating a small firestorm, that Ann Romney, (potential 1st Lady) who raised five sons, had "never worked a day in her life."
What a slap in the face of most moms. As if being a mom, in this case a stay at home mom, is not work.. Ann Romney has worked hard anyone who has a son or has seen boys play knows that! Hilary's statement is ignorant and assumptive as well as offensive to the women working at home. She assumes that the Romneys have always had money and never struggled, assumes that being a stay at home mom is not real work, assumes that being a working mom or a woman in the workforce is real work. She assumes that real work is the only way a woman has the credibility to have any kind of say about economics.
Hilary said this because Mitt Romney talks to his wife and she tells him what she is hearing from women these days about the economy. Hilary assumes that a rich stay at home mom has no room to talk on such issues. I wonder if Hilary Rosen would have the nerve to say it to me? What does this stay at home mom know about the economy, probably just as much as Ann Romney! One only has to over hear a conversation in passing, read a blog, talk to a neighbor, watch a youtube video or listen to talk radio and you get a good reading on the state of the economy and how families are struggling.
Sure Hilary apologized to Ann but I still can't help but think that Hilary and people like her think that when you leave the work force to raise your children you leave your brain, background knowledge and opinions behind. Life as a Stay at Home Mom isn't just dishes and singing the Wheels on Bus. No one is living in the trenches more than the home economist. We are the ones clipping coupons, scouring grocery circulars, carrying calculators in our purse/diaper bags, following blogs that highlight the best deals. We go without cable. We buy our kids clothes are resales and yardsales, We drive old cars. We drive less because gas is so high. We make sacrifices because our kids are worth it. I dare say some of us talk to politicians and their wives about how tough things are!
This burgeoning home economist has learned more about the economy, frugality and budgeting in my 2 years working at home than in all my years in the workforce. Besides reading blogs, I've watched youtube videos of Milton Friedman (the economist) with my husband, I listen to talk radio all afternoon, and I read. All very good reasons for me to be offended when a woman like Hilary Rosen implies that stay at home moms aren't really working and that we don't have any credible experience or opinions to speak on economy.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Lost Teachable Moments
When I was teaching, I loved to take advantage of the teachable moment. You know those unplanned moments when you get a chance to explain something or learn something that you hadn't planned. I do endeavor to teach my son as we go about the day, even though it may be something over his head right now. I tell him anyway because you never know what will stick. Someday something might click quicker as he remembers momma saying something about x,y,z.
I really can't imagine people not wanting to be involved in a teachable moment when they have a chance to share their knowledge or passion about a hobby etc.
It does seem to happen a little too often to me. One recent missed teachable moment took place at Longwood Gardens when I had the chance to meet up with Brandy (Hi Brandy :-) It was a beautiful day and all the photographers were out. There was one woman who had an old fashioned camera - the kind you put your head under a drape and I think capture the photo on a glass panel. I don't know for sure because when I asked a question, as we were walking by not only did she not answer my question she said something really rude. Actually something rude directed to my little boy. I was utterly shocked. Shocked by the rudeness but also by someone not wanting to take advantage of the teachable moment to share about something they are passionate about. I can only assume she was passionate about it. I mean how many people do you see walking around with old fashioned cameras unless its something they enjoy. Clearly sharing that enjoyment doesn't bring her joy though. That is the only explanation I could come up with for her rudeness.
Brandy and I walked on looking at each other in utter disbelief at the rudeness and the missed opportunity to learn something new.
I really can't imagine people not wanting to be involved in a teachable moment when they have a chance to share their knowledge or passion about a hobby etc.
It does seem to happen a little too often to me. One recent missed teachable moment took place at Longwood Gardens when I had the chance to meet up with Brandy (Hi Brandy :-) It was a beautiful day and all the photographers were out. There was one woman who had an old fashioned camera - the kind you put your head under a drape and I think capture the photo on a glass panel. I don't know for sure because when I asked a question, as we were walking by not only did she not answer my question she said something really rude. Actually something rude directed to my little boy. I was utterly shocked. Shocked by the rudeness but also by someone not wanting to take advantage of the teachable moment to share about something they are passionate about. I can only assume she was passionate about it. I mean how many people do you see walking around with old fashioned cameras unless its something they enjoy. Clearly sharing that enjoyment doesn't bring her joy though. That is the only explanation I could come up with for her rudeness.
Brandy and I walked on looking at each other in utter disbelief at the rudeness and the missed opportunity to learn something new.
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