Today, registration opened for the Sears Heroes At Home gift cards. Now, every customer of Sears will be asked to donate money at the register throughout the holiday season, and those donations will be pooled, and distributed equally between the 20,000 Active Duty servicemembers (or really, their wives using their information to sign up, in most cases) who were quick enough at getting the application through the totally bogged down server for the entire couple minutes it stays open.
As you can probably tell, I'm not a huge fan of this. I'm not saying there don't exist military families who need money. There do. I have a friend right now who just left her husband, who is Active Duty, for extremely justified reasons, and needs this sort of thing. I hope she gets it. Hell, I hope everyone who is in a difficult situation, not brought on by their own stupidity, gets it. Even so, I find the mad dash for money absolutely disgusting. You would not believe the way people are flipping out about this thing if they can't get their application in, or if they are denied, or if the gift cards aren't as much as they were expecting. For every person who's actually thankful for it and actually needed it, there are about a hundred of the other kind.
More than any of that, though, I see a couple significant flaws with this program. First of all, they're soliciting donations, mostly from civilians, to go into this thing. The average civilian household income in 2011 was $48,000. The average military household income, when factoring in cash value of benefits, was close to $100,000. Granted, the pay chart doesn't show that, but outside of base pay, there is housing allowance, food allowance, free medical, and ten thousand safety nets straight out of any socialist country's playbook. (Yeah, I went there.) That stuff isn't free, and while about 1/2 of that "income" never hits the soldier's bank account, it's received in other ways, ways that people on the outside don't have. That $48,000 that the average household pulled in? Yeah, that's all they get. So basically, what we have here is people donating money to a class of society that is far better off than they probably are. It's kind of like the tax code, except that people mostly don't even realize what's going on.
The other thing I see as incredibly flawed about this program is that National Guard and Reserve families are excluded. All that stuff Active Duty families have, Guard and Reserve families do not. When we fell on hard times, do you think the Army Reserve could do much to help us? No, they couldn't. We pretty much lost everything, and they didn't have to care about any of that as long as Thak turns up to drill on the first weekend of every month, and does his instructor workshop in the summer. It's not that they're wrong for that. I mean, it's really not their lane to worry about their soldiers' day to day lives outside the unit. The fact is, though, there are thousands of Guard and Reserve families who are struggling hard in the civilian economy, unable to go Active Duty and get the benefits of full time status, and still subject to deployment, Army regulation, and all the other stuff that comes with wearing a uniform, however infrequently. I know Reserve families who have been homeless for part of this year. I know countless ones who have lost their homes when their civilian jobs had downsizing. Yet, things like this support only Active Duty, who are actually guaranteed a steady income, which is actually higher than that of most Americans.
So you still want to support the troops, and you're not sure how since the Heroes at Home thing is a crock? Here are a few ideas for you:
-Talk to a local National Guard unit about donating toys or food for their unit Christmas party, or even giving some gift cards for the commander or chaplain to pass out to needy families for Christmas. I specifically mentioned Guard here because these are the people who help you when there's a natural disaster or something, so if you really want to give back to someone who has done a lot for you, the National Guard should be your first priority.
-A Reserve unit would also be a great place to do the things I already mentioned above. Reserve soldiers do basically the same thing as National Guard soldiers except that they're not at the Governor's discretion, so they aren't the ones being called up for local things. They still deploy and do homeland security missions, and that sort of thing, though, like Active Duty troops.
-Get with a program like Soldiers' Angels and send a care package to a single soldier who will be deployed for the holidays.
-Donate to Fisher House. This is invaluable. Fisher House residences allow families of wounded soldiers to stay with them while they're receiving treatment at military hospitals. I know that if Thak got hurt overseas, I'd do anything in the world to be with him, as would any wife for her husband, but having a Fisher House to stay at really makes a difference financially and logistically. I know how much of a difference Fisher House has made for so many of my friends over the years.
There are infinite ways to support our troops and veterans for the holidays. I think I speak for most Americans when I say it's important to donate our hard earned dollars (or our even more precious time and effort) where it will truly be appreciated and make the most difference. Hopefully, I have given a few good ideas as a jumping off point for wiser holiday giving.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The Warring Generation
It seems like ours is the warring generation. Not terribly long after we were legally allowed to call ourselves adults, we ended up with an actual war, and then the old bastards who ignored the intelligence that lead us to be attacked on 9/11/01, resulting in that war, picked us another fight not even two years later, and without the first fight done yet.
Some of us are old enough to run for public office now, and a few have even been elected, but these wars are still going on, mostly because the same old bastards who sent us there in the first place can't seem to find it within themselves to admit defeat, call it good, and let the dying stop. Some of them would even like to pick us more fights. Apparently, it wasn't enough to spend our 20's and 30's dealing with some old guys' war. We also need to hand this thing down to our kids. I have a kid just nine years from military age (eight with my signature, which I'd give her if she asked). If we let these people give us another war, judging by how these things have gone recently, our kids, most of whom who weren't even born when all this began, will be fighting it.
Think about how weird that must be for them, to have never lived in a world that was at peace, to have never watched the news and not seen reports of US troops dying. Boy, we 80's kids sure had it good. I remember Desert Storm. I was in third grade, and a guy in my class had a brother in the Navy. We sent him care packages and letters, and he came to see us when he got home a few months later. He didn't have to go back to the Persian Gulf ever again after he came home. By and large, Desert Storm was a blip on the radar screen of the American public, and it was over as quickly as it began. As a kid growing up in the US, with the exception of Desert Storm, I never had to think about war. War was that thing that happened when my parents were in college, that thing that people yelled about in the streets, and that the big black wall I saw on my 4th grade field trip to Washington DC was in commemoration of. War was not a part of my life until I was a Private in the Army, and the 9/11 attacks happened.
Our kids don't have that luxury. Erin, at the age of 9, knows what it's like for her dad to go into a combat zone for 12-15 months at a time, and to do it over and over again, with absolutely no end in sight. She knows that some kids' daddies don't make it home, and that there are bad guys who would like nothing more than to see her daddy, and all the others, dead. (Thanks, kid in Erin's class for telling her that during Thak's third tour. There's one downside to DoD schools for you.) She knows what it's like for every bad thing on the news to directly affect our family, and for the longest time, thought that every time the president gave a speech, it meant her dad would be getting orders to leave again. She knows what the casualty notification car looks like, and what Taps means, and why MRAPS are sloped on the bottom (to deflect shrapnel, because the bad guys like to plant bombs in the dirt). This is stuff that kids should never know, but it's stuff that our kids inevitably do know, because they have never known a world without war.
We have to do something about this. Really, is this what a privileged upbringing in peacetime gives? People who vote overwhelmingly conservative, because they had it so good that they don't think they have to help anybody, and who grew up in peace, so they take wars lightly? Is this what we have come to? That's crazy. We can't do this. Our country is falling apart, and honestly, it's getting to the point where we can't just blame the old guys anymore. They're dying off, retiring, moving on. More and more, the responsibility is shifting to our own, and people, most of us are really blowing it.
Now, in addition to the wars we have off shore, we have wars with each other. Most of my Army buddies are Republican. Most of my Army buddies are also male. When I talk about how detrimental the GOP platform on healthcare and women's issues really is to every American woman, I can see that they do not care. To them, the GOP is who gave them better pay raises as soldiers, and who they trust to give them better benefits from the VA now. Understandably, they trust them to take care of our brothers and sisters who are still fighting, and us who are done fighting.
Unfortunately, that's pitting them, and those like them, against the interests of like half the population, which is playing right into the GOP's hands. The problem is that any perceived benefit that the GOP gives to veterans (which really isn't greater than what the Democrats give us) is handily outweighed by the fact that their policies on women's issues could literally kill people, our very own American people, and that it would be totally preventable, but illegal to prevent. That's scary. These people have proposed policies that could literally cause my death, or that of any other woman, under certain circumstances. While I once wrote the metaphorical check to the US for any amount, up to and including my life, and regret nothing about that, I refuse to die of something stupid (like an ectopic pregnancy) because some asshole Republican said that a fertilized egg deserves more rights to life than me, a full fledged citizen of the nation. I cannot be the only one who sees the ridiculousness of that line of thought. The war on women is very real, and if these Republicans have their way about it, there will be casualties, and not just in the way of rights.
Add to that, there is a major struggle going on between classes. The GOP has become basically the strong arm of the richest people in our nation. The Democrats and the smaller parties more closely represent the interests of us common folks who don't have millions of dollars to our names. The problem is that not everyone sees that. Some people are lured by the GOP's values platform, or supposed support of the military, and really, by voting that way, they've signed themselves up to be pawns of the rich, just as much as everybody who enlisted after the invasion of Iraq. Class warfare is real, and just like the insurgent warfare we all know so well, there is no front line and no rear echelon. We're all in it just as much as the next guy.
You know, I remember this one cadence we used to sing in Airborne School at Ft. Benning, as we'd run to our training areas each day. It started out "One, two, three, four, hey. Somebody, anybody start a war, hey." I thought it was a catchy tune. We all did. Most of us thought it sounded cool to go to war. We thought it would be noble, valorous, and exciting. Now, a decade later, all of us, whether we went to those wars or not, know that literal wars are anything but exciting, and that while some of the people involved may be noble or valorous, the situation itself couldn't be farther from it. The problem is that too many of these same people don't recognize that our wars, and any causes that people may believe are associated with them, are not more justified by waging more wars, and that the wars on our own soil are just as important and just as costly as the ones overseas.
It also bears mentioning that the people who have consciously avoided the literal wars that our country has waged have every bit of responsibility to get in on the right side of these cultural wars here at home. Even though you may not be female, even though you may be somewhat well off, you can surely see how wrong it is for the elite to simply wield power over facets of people's lives where they don't belong, and to act on the belief that corporations are people, and to do all the other heinous things they would love to do. Surely, any rational person can see how harmful this can be to society at large, and to a majority of individuals.
I hope that our generation will find peace. I hope that one day, we'll move past this chapter in our history, and that for once, we'll learn from it. For now, to move us closer to that point, it is everybody's responsibility to see our current political situation for what it is, and to think not only of yourself, but of what kind of world you want your children to remember growing up in. They have seen too much war already. Can't we bring the peace now?
Some of us are old enough to run for public office now, and a few have even been elected, but these wars are still going on, mostly because the same old bastards who sent us there in the first place can't seem to find it within themselves to admit defeat, call it good, and let the dying stop. Some of them would even like to pick us more fights. Apparently, it wasn't enough to spend our 20's and 30's dealing with some old guys' war. We also need to hand this thing down to our kids. I have a kid just nine years from military age (eight with my signature, which I'd give her if she asked). If we let these people give us another war, judging by how these things have gone recently, our kids, most of whom who weren't even born when all this began, will be fighting it.
Think about how weird that must be for them, to have never lived in a world that was at peace, to have never watched the news and not seen reports of US troops dying. Boy, we 80's kids sure had it good. I remember Desert Storm. I was in third grade, and a guy in my class had a brother in the Navy. We sent him care packages and letters, and he came to see us when he got home a few months later. He didn't have to go back to the Persian Gulf ever again after he came home. By and large, Desert Storm was a blip on the radar screen of the American public, and it was over as quickly as it began. As a kid growing up in the US, with the exception of Desert Storm, I never had to think about war. War was that thing that happened when my parents were in college, that thing that people yelled about in the streets, and that the big black wall I saw on my 4th grade field trip to Washington DC was in commemoration of. War was not a part of my life until I was a Private in the Army, and the 9/11 attacks happened.
Our kids don't have that luxury. Erin, at the age of 9, knows what it's like for her dad to go into a combat zone for 12-15 months at a time, and to do it over and over again, with absolutely no end in sight. She knows that some kids' daddies don't make it home, and that there are bad guys who would like nothing more than to see her daddy, and all the others, dead. (Thanks, kid in Erin's class for telling her that during Thak's third tour. There's one downside to DoD schools for you.) She knows what it's like for every bad thing on the news to directly affect our family, and for the longest time, thought that every time the president gave a speech, it meant her dad would be getting orders to leave again. She knows what the casualty notification car looks like, and what Taps means, and why MRAPS are sloped on the bottom (to deflect shrapnel, because the bad guys like to plant bombs in the dirt). This is stuff that kids should never know, but it's stuff that our kids inevitably do know, because they have never known a world without war.
We have to do something about this. Really, is this what a privileged upbringing in peacetime gives? People who vote overwhelmingly conservative, because they had it so good that they don't think they have to help anybody, and who grew up in peace, so they take wars lightly? Is this what we have come to? That's crazy. We can't do this. Our country is falling apart, and honestly, it's getting to the point where we can't just blame the old guys anymore. They're dying off, retiring, moving on. More and more, the responsibility is shifting to our own, and people, most of us are really blowing it.
Now, in addition to the wars we have off shore, we have wars with each other. Most of my Army buddies are Republican. Most of my Army buddies are also male. When I talk about how detrimental the GOP platform on healthcare and women's issues really is to every American woman, I can see that they do not care. To them, the GOP is who gave them better pay raises as soldiers, and who they trust to give them better benefits from the VA now. Understandably, they trust them to take care of our brothers and sisters who are still fighting, and us who are done fighting.
Unfortunately, that's pitting them, and those like them, against the interests of like half the population, which is playing right into the GOP's hands. The problem is that any perceived benefit that the GOP gives to veterans (which really isn't greater than what the Democrats give us) is handily outweighed by the fact that their policies on women's issues could literally kill people, our very own American people, and that it would be totally preventable, but illegal to prevent. That's scary. These people have proposed policies that could literally cause my death, or that of any other woman, under certain circumstances. While I once wrote the metaphorical check to the US for any amount, up to and including my life, and regret nothing about that, I refuse to die of something stupid (like an ectopic pregnancy) because some asshole Republican said that a fertilized egg deserves more rights to life than me, a full fledged citizen of the nation. I cannot be the only one who sees the ridiculousness of that line of thought. The war on women is very real, and if these Republicans have their way about it, there will be casualties, and not just in the way of rights.
Add to that, there is a major struggle going on between classes. The GOP has become basically the strong arm of the richest people in our nation. The Democrats and the smaller parties more closely represent the interests of us common folks who don't have millions of dollars to our names. The problem is that not everyone sees that. Some people are lured by the GOP's values platform, or supposed support of the military, and really, by voting that way, they've signed themselves up to be pawns of the rich, just as much as everybody who enlisted after the invasion of Iraq. Class warfare is real, and just like the insurgent warfare we all know so well, there is no front line and no rear echelon. We're all in it just as much as the next guy.
You know, I remember this one cadence we used to sing in Airborne School at Ft. Benning, as we'd run to our training areas each day. It started out "One, two, three, four, hey. Somebody, anybody start a war, hey." I thought it was a catchy tune. We all did. Most of us thought it sounded cool to go to war. We thought it would be noble, valorous, and exciting. Now, a decade later, all of us, whether we went to those wars or not, know that literal wars are anything but exciting, and that while some of the people involved may be noble or valorous, the situation itself couldn't be farther from it. The problem is that too many of these same people don't recognize that our wars, and any causes that people may believe are associated with them, are not more justified by waging more wars, and that the wars on our own soil are just as important and just as costly as the ones overseas.
It also bears mentioning that the people who have consciously avoided the literal wars that our country has waged have every bit of responsibility to get in on the right side of these cultural wars here at home. Even though you may not be female, even though you may be somewhat well off, you can surely see how wrong it is for the elite to simply wield power over facets of people's lives where they don't belong, and to act on the belief that corporations are people, and to do all the other heinous things they would love to do. Surely, any rational person can see how harmful this can be to society at large, and to a majority of individuals.
I hope that our generation will find peace. I hope that one day, we'll move past this chapter in our history, and that for once, we'll learn from it. For now, to move us closer to that point, it is everybody's responsibility to see our current political situation for what it is, and to think not only of yourself, but of what kind of world you want your children to remember growing up in. They have seen too much war already. Can't we bring the peace now?
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
My 9-year-old has a cell phone.
I never thought I'd say those words. I honestly thought she would be of whatever age she might be when she could get a job and pay for the thing, before she had a phone. Then she got accepted to the school she's going to this year, and it's in a different state. We want her to be able to call anytime she wants, without having to borrow a phone, wait until she gets home, or anything like that. It just made sense, under the circumstances, that she have a phone.
I know for a fact that a lot of my friends who know about this think it's absolutely ridiculous. Responses have included, "Oh hell no!" and "You did NOT!". Some don't think it's bad at all. My thing is, every circumstance is different. Your 9-year-old may not need a phone. Actually, chances are, they don't. I totally understand why most people don't get kids this age phones. I never thought I would either. Then it was decided that Erin would be going to school out of state this year, and everything changed.
It's also not the extravagant thing it may seem like. We gave her my old flip phone, which is in great condition, and an adorable shade of purple, and put it as an extra line on our existing plan, for $9.99 a month. She doesn't have a data plan. She doesn't have an iPhone. She just has the ability to call whenever she wants, and she really likes her phone.
I'll admit, I like the idea of her having it. That way, when she comes home, if Thak isn't around, like after he deploys, I won't have to go around looking for her to come in for dinner, or because we want to go somewhere. This could make my life easier, too, in the long run.
I know for a fact that a lot of my friends who know about this think it's absolutely ridiculous. Responses have included, "Oh hell no!" and "You did NOT!". Some don't think it's bad at all. My thing is, every circumstance is different. Your 9-year-old may not need a phone. Actually, chances are, they don't. I totally understand why most people don't get kids this age phones. I never thought I would either. Then it was decided that Erin would be going to school out of state this year, and everything changed.
It's also not the extravagant thing it may seem like. We gave her my old flip phone, which is in great condition, and an adorable shade of purple, and put it as an extra line on our existing plan, for $9.99 a month. She doesn't have a data plan. She doesn't have an iPhone. She just has the ability to call whenever she wants, and she really likes her phone.
I'll admit, I like the idea of her having it. That way, when she comes home, if Thak isn't around, like after he deploys, I won't have to go around looking for her to come in for dinner, or because we want to go somewhere. This could make my life easier, too, in the long run.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Here's proof that doing great things takes many paths.
I've always thought of those who end up in high profile positions, with the really cool jobs, as sort of nerd royalty. In most cases, they are. These are the guys who didn't have to work in high school, and who actually chose to focus on school, and taking high level classes, and doing relevant extracurriculars. (So basically, I'm in no way denying that nerd royalty hasn't worked hard for it. They do work hard, from a young age.) They're the ones who could confidently apply to places like MIT or Cal Tech, and know that they'd be able to afford to go even if they didn't get a full scholarship, and that they wouldn't have to work two jobs just to put a roof over their heads while they were there. They graduate when they're 22 years old, and move seamlessly to grad school, and through a delicate combination of hard work, ingenuity, money, and internships, they find their way to NASA.
In today's science and engineering community, money is a huge driving factor. It always has been, but today, with the cost of tuition increasing 500% in the past couple decades (a disproportionate increase compared to cost of living in general, and especially compared to income), it is more of a driving factor than it's ever been. The ones who get to the places all of us dream about, are the ones who have money to throw at it. That's something most of us have accepted. It also seems that there is a certain archetype, and it's the ones who are able to do it the conventional way, who really get where they're going.
Today, I read something that really made me happy. One of the guys on the Curiosity team, the one who was in charge of the actual landing of the rover on the surface of Mars, is a rather non-traditional fellow. You might have noticed Adam Steltzner on the footage of the mission control room, as the one with the cool Elvis-like hair. I know I thought that was pretty awesome anyway! Well, the part that's even more awesome is the fact that this guy is not even close to the archetype of nerd royalty that most of us have come to accept. He actually dropped out of high school once upon a time (because he didn't do well in high school, nor enjoy it), and traveled around playing in a rock band. He became interested in the stars after noticing how different they looked at different times, and enrolled at a community college, then went from there. Who could have ever guessed he'd end up landing a rover on the surface of Mars?
Let me tell you why this gives me hope. I am not the nerd royalty archetype. I struggled financially in college, and joined the Army. Then I went back to school, and ended up leaving again with two semesters left, in order to save my marriage. Now I am going back, and I feel like I'm on the brink of something very important. Even so, the nagging thing in the back of my mind is always reminding me of the people I went to school with before, who had the luxury of doing things the way you're really supposed to do them, and are already working in awesome firms, doing amazing things, moving up. Am I destined to always be just a low level engineer, who never moves much past the point of designing drainage ditches and parking lots? (Not that there's anything wrong with that work, and I'll more than gladly do it. I just hope to do other things as well.) I had some wonderful opportunities years ago, and walked away, because it was that or my marriage. I just hope that my ship hasn't sailed, that I'm not stuck with what I have, because I didn't push through, and get where I was going, even though I'd have gotten there alone. Seeing that someone else did it in a non-traditional way, and he's not locked into a life of low level work (anything but!) is very nice.
I am not, and will not be, in aerospace engineering. It is not my calling, and it never was. I enjoy this stuff, though, from a spectator's (er... physics junkie's) point of view, and having some ties to that community, I'm very proud of these guys. My equivalent would be to get on with a good firm or the Army Corps of Engineers, and live out my days designing wonderful things that will outlive me by a long shot, even if they are the kind of things that most people don't even notice when they see them. If a former high school dropout can land a rover on Mars, I can get where I'm going, too.
In today's science and engineering community, money is a huge driving factor. It always has been, but today, with the cost of tuition increasing 500% in the past couple decades (a disproportionate increase compared to cost of living in general, and especially compared to income), it is more of a driving factor than it's ever been. The ones who get to the places all of us dream about, are the ones who have money to throw at it. That's something most of us have accepted. It also seems that there is a certain archetype, and it's the ones who are able to do it the conventional way, who really get where they're going.
Today, I read something that really made me happy. One of the guys on the Curiosity team, the one who was in charge of the actual landing of the rover on the surface of Mars, is a rather non-traditional fellow. You might have noticed Adam Steltzner on the footage of the mission control room, as the one with the cool Elvis-like hair. I know I thought that was pretty awesome anyway! Well, the part that's even more awesome is the fact that this guy is not even close to the archetype of nerd royalty that most of us have come to accept. He actually dropped out of high school once upon a time (because he didn't do well in high school, nor enjoy it), and traveled around playing in a rock band. He became interested in the stars after noticing how different they looked at different times, and enrolled at a community college, then went from there. Who could have ever guessed he'd end up landing a rover on the surface of Mars?
Let me tell you why this gives me hope. I am not the nerd royalty archetype. I struggled financially in college, and joined the Army. Then I went back to school, and ended up leaving again with two semesters left, in order to save my marriage. Now I am going back, and I feel like I'm on the brink of something very important. Even so, the nagging thing in the back of my mind is always reminding me of the people I went to school with before, who had the luxury of doing things the way you're really supposed to do them, and are already working in awesome firms, doing amazing things, moving up. Am I destined to always be just a low level engineer, who never moves much past the point of designing drainage ditches and parking lots? (Not that there's anything wrong with that work, and I'll more than gladly do it. I just hope to do other things as well.) I had some wonderful opportunities years ago, and walked away, because it was that or my marriage. I just hope that my ship hasn't sailed, that I'm not stuck with what I have, because I didn't push through, and get where I was going, even though I'd have gotten there alone. Seeing that someone else did it in a non-traditional way, and he's not locked into a life of low level work (anything but!) is very nice.
I am not, and will not be, in aerospace engineering. It is not my calling, and it never was. I enjoy this stuff, though, from a spectator's (er... physics junkie's) point of view, and having some ties to that community, I'm very proud of these guys. My equivalent would be to get on with a good firm or the Army Corps of Engineers, and live out my days designing wonderful things that will outlive me by a long shot, even if they are the kind of things that most people don't even notice when they see them. If a former high school dropout can land a rover on Mars, I can get where I'm going, too.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Just when I thought Romney couldn't get stupider, he did.
Unless you live under a rock, you know by now that Mitt Romney has tagged Paul Ryan as his running mate. In the unlikely event that you do live under a rock, please consider taking me on as a roommate. I'm sick of the crap out here, and would relish the opportunity to get away from it all for a while. Anyway, the addition of this, um, interesting person, to his ticket, a lot of things have become more apparent.
First of all, people are crazy. I know several people who actually like this. How on earth can anybody like someone with Paul Ryan's voting record? He's even worse than Mitt Romney, which I thought was pretty close to impossible. He actually supported a bill to make the Patriot Act permanent, supports a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, would relish the opportunity to eliminate Medicare, and make drastic cuts to Social Security and unemployment, and given the opportunity, would overturn Roe vs Wade, and ban certain types of contraception. Oh, and he's a Packers fan (You know I couldn't let that slide). Add all that to Romney's assertion that "corporations are people, too", and his general hypocrisy and shady nature, and you've got pretty much the biggest recipe for disaster in the history of our nation. At this point, the only thing that could make this ticket any less desirable is if they had plans to appoint actual brain eating zombies to the Supreme Court.
There is one thing that totally kills me about all this. Every person I know who supports the Romney/Ryan presidential ticket, is low income. They have no idea that these people do not work for them. They're going to screw them so hard. You can barely pay your bills even though you're working as many hours as humanly possible? You can't afford insurance for yourself and your wife, and your kid is on Medicaid? If you have to call in sick, you won't have enough money to pay your bills this month? Guess what, friend. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan don't give a shit. You and people like you, are nothing to them. They will help their buddies in corporations, push their religious agenda, and cut every program that has ever been of benefit to you. You want to see your cost of living go through the roof and times get even harder? Elect these guys.
Only in America do people line up to vote for their own downfall, and do it with a smile. There is some serious class warfare going on, and most of the people who are the worst off for it don't even know, or won't acknowledge it for what it is. People like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan represent the richest 1% of the nation, and that's really about it. They will do for the rich, make them richer, and as a consequence, the poor will become poorer. Look at how much the middle class has eroded. Many families have seen a drastic decrease in their standard of living as the economy has fallen. My family has, and we are not considered low income. We don't even qualify for reduced price school lunch. Even so, we have fallen pretty far. Imagine what it's like for the people who started out where we are now. Where do they fall to? They fall straight out of the middle class, that's where. My friends, that's called class warfare. These rich guys are doing for other rich guys, with our tax dollars no less, and the rest of us are left out in the cold. The poorer you started out, the more you suffer.
Before you vote, honestly think about what the person you are voting for represents. I don't mean values. Values voting is probably the worst thing going. Who honestly cares if this person is pro-life? If you don't agree with abortions, don't get one. Same-sex marriage the is the same idea. If you don't want to marry someone of the same sex, then don't. Why on earth would you vote for someone who will totally screw up your daily life, or at least not improve it at all, just because they share your stance on values type of issues, which, by the way, have absolutely no impact on your daily life. Really, what is it going to affect in your day to day existence if people get abortions and gays get married? Oh yeah, that's right. Nothing. Now, what will it affect if some jerk who will do away with every program that ever was of any benefit to you is elected? Well, that could deal quite a blow to your daily life. But hey, they're pro-life and hate the gays! It's all good, right?
I would say one good thing comes of this. Romney did not make a move toward the center with his choice of running mate. He will not pick up many swing voters with this guy. I think, if anything, he has insured Obama's second term. Our nation loves two term presidents anyway. In my lifetime, there's only been one who wasn't. Even though it is pretty much a given that these guys don't stand a chance, please, don't feed these trolls your vote.
First of all, people are crazy. I know several people who actually like this. How on earth can anybody like someone with Paul Ryan's voting record? He's even worse than Mitt Romney, which I thought was pretty close to impossible. He actually supported a bill to make the Patriot Act permanent, supports a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, would relish the opportunity to eliminate Medicare, and make drastic cuts to Social Security and unemployment, and given the opportunity, would overturn Roe vs Wade, and ban certain types of contraception. Oh, and he's a Packers fan (You know I couldn't let that slide). Add all that to Romney's assertion that "corporations are people, too", and his general hypocrisy and shady nature, and you've got pretty much the biggest recipe for disaster in the history of our nation. At this point, the only thing that could make this ticket any less desirable is if they had plans to appoint actual brain eating zombies to the Supreme Court.
There is one thing that totally kills me about all this. Every person I know who supports the Romney/Ryan presidential ticket, is low income. They have no idea that these people do not work for them. They're going to screw them so hard. You can barely pay your bills even though you're working as many hours as humanly possible? You can't afford insurance for yourself and your wife, and your kid is on Medicaid? If you have to call in sick, you won't have enough money to pay your bills this month? Guess what, friend. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan don't give a shit. You and people like you, are nothing to them. They will help their buddies in corporations, push their religious agenda, and cut every program that has ever been of benefit to you. You want to see your cost of living go through the roof and times get even harder? Elect these guys.
Only in America do people line up to vote for their own downfall, and do it with a smile. There is some serious class warfare going on, and most of the people who are the worst off for it don't even know, or won't acknowledge it for what it is. People like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan represent the richest 1% of the nation, and that's really about it. They will do for the rich, make them richer, and as a consequence, the poor will become poorer. Look at how much the middle class has eroded. Many families have seen a drastic decrease in their standard of living as the economy has fallen. My family has, and we are not considered low income. We don't even qualify for reduced price school lunch. Even so, we have fallen pretty far. Imagine what it's like for the people who started out where we are now. Where do they fall to? They fall straight out of the middle class, that's where. My friends, that's called class warfare. These rich guys are doing for other rich guys, with our tax dollars no less, and the rest of us are left out in the cold. The poorer you started out, the more you suffer.
Before you vote, honestly think about what the person you are voting for represents. I don't mean values. Values voting is probably the worst thing going. Who honestly cares if this person is pro-life? If you don't agree with abortions, don't get one. Same-sex marriage the is the same idea. If you don't want to marry someone of the same sex, then don't. Why on earth would you vote for someone who will totally screw up your daily life, or at least not improve it at all, just because they share your stance on values type of issues, which, by the way, have absolutely no impact on your daily life. Really, what is it going to affect in your day to day existence if people get abortions and gays get married? Oh yeah, that's right. Nothing. Now, what will it affect if some jerk who will do away with every program that ever was of any benefit to you is elected? Well, that could deal quite a blow to your daily life. But hey, they're pro-life and hate the gays! It's all good, right?
I would say one good thing comes of this. Romney did not make a move toward the center with his choice of running mate. He will not pick up many swing voters with this guy. I think, if anything, he has insured Obama's second term. Our nation loves two term presidents anyway. In my lifetime, there's only been one who wasn't. Even though it is pretty much a given that these guys don't stand a chance, please, don't feed these trolls your vote.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
When there is no cause, it is simpler.
Thak did three tours in Iraq. What a lot of people wouldn't guess, given that, is that we never, for one single day, believed that war should have happened. It was wrong the day he convoyed over the border from Kuwait as part of the invasion. It was wrong when they sent him to the Syrian border to do something that ultimately made the news. It was wrong when they sent him as part of a massive surge of troops, to reclaim Baghdad. That war was wrong from beginning to end, illegal even, and we always knew it. Every day we lived with the reality of fighting that war, it was conflicting and difficult, because on one hand, he was there, or training to go there, and we had to live with that reality every day of our lives for about five years. It is hard to live a life where one big part of it is being a part of something you know is wrong.
After all that, we wanted nothing to do with deployments ever again, but that's not what the economy had for us. Pretty much the only thing Thak can do that brings in enough money for us to live on, is work for a defense contracting firm in a job that deploys. Luckily, it's in a field he enjoys very much, and he actually likes his job, minus the fact that he has to deploy. He's going to Afghanistan next year with an Army unit that he works with as a contractor.
Oddly, this sits way better with both of us than any of his previous deployments did. It all comes down to one thing, really. There is no cause this time. The only reason he's doing this is for money. Sure, giving up 9 months of our life for money sounds like a ridiculous thing to do, but there's really nothing else that's going to give us the boost this will give us, and we need it, so it's the right answer this time. The only cause for us this time, is us. It's selfish, and completely egocentric, and a hell of a lot easier to live with than George Dubya's war ever was.
Funny how that works.
After all that, we wanted nothing to do with deployments ever again, but that's not what the economy had for us. Pretty much the only thing Thak can do that brings in enough money for us to live on, is work for a defense contracting firm in a job that deploys. Luckily, it's in a field he enjoys very much, and he actually likes his job, minus the fact that he has to deploy. He's going to Afghanistan next year with an Army unit that he works with as a contractor.
Oddly, this sits way better with both of us than any of his previous deployments did. It all comes down to one thing, really. There is no cause this time. The only reason he's doing this is for money. Sure, giving up 9 months of our life for money sounds like a ridiculous thing to do, but there's really nothing else that's going to give us the boost this will give us, and we need it, so it's the right answer this time. The only cause for us this time, is us. It's selfish, and completely egocentric, and a hell of a lot easier to live with than George Dubya's war ever was.
Funny how that works.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Daycare! AAAHHH!!
After getting back into some of my old subject matter, and seeing that I've still got what it takes to do this stuff, thus being reasonably sure of not falling flat on my face when I go back to school, there is only one thing left that gives me that horrible ball of anxiety in the pit of my stomach. The boys will have to go to daycare. I'm not worried about Orren, really. He'll be 4 years old by then, and a kid that age should be doing some form of preschool type of thing. It's perfect timing for him. The thought of sending Chai to daycare is not sitting very well at all, though. He'll only be 2. I know he will be fine. He's a sweet and outgoing little guy, and he'll love his new friends, and his teachers, and all the fun toys and new activities he gets to do. It's only me who has a problem with this. I'm glad I have a while to get past it before I actually have to drop him off and walk away for the first time. Ugh... I can't even think about it.
Anyway, I asked on a local group for recommendations for daycares and babysitters in Statesboro. I was clear that price is no concern. I want the best. The on campus daycare at Georgia Southern was recommended highest, and one other center, plus a couple of churches were also recommended (all this by a girl who graduated from Georgia Southern with a degree in child development, and worked at the GSU campus daycare after she graduated).
GSU would obviously be my first choice. It would ease my mind quite a bit to have the boys right there on campus with me so that I could get to them super fast if they needed me for any reason. One of the hardest things about Erin being in daycare when I was in school before was that if she needed me, I was an hour away, and that's if I made every light and didn't get stuck in traffic. More realistically, it would take me an hour and a half to get to her. I cannot imagine doing that again. On campus daycare? Yes please. Knowing it's the best in town? Done. That's where they're going.
They do have a waiting list, so I have to find out how long it is so I can know when to get on it. I will probably call them next week to set up a time to come visit, ask a billion ridiculous questions, and maybe go ahead and get on the list if now's the time to do that. I really hope that this works out for us. I have a good feeling about it. I still can't stand the thought of leaving my Chai Guy, but luckily, I have time to get used to that idea.
Anyway, I asked on a local group for recommendations for daycares and babysitters in Statesboro. I was clear that price is no concern. I want the best. The on campus daycare at Georgia Southern was recommended highest, and one other center, plus a couple of churches were also recommended (all this by a girl who graduated from Georgia Southern with a degree in child development, and worked at the GSU campus daycare after she graduated).
GSU would obviously be my first choice. It would ease my mind quite a bit to have the boys right there on campus with me so that I could get to them super fast if they needed me for any reason. One of the hardest things about Erin being in daycare when I was in school before was that if she needed me, I was an hour away, and that's if I made every light and didn't get stuck in traffic. More realistically, it would take me an hour and a half to get to her. I cannot imagine doing that again. On campus daycare? Yes please. Knowing it's the best in town? Done. That's where they're going.
They do have a waiting list, so I have to find out how long it is so I can know when to get on it. I will probably call them next week to set up a time to come visit, ask a billion ridiculous questions, and maybe go ahead and get on the list if now's the time to do that. I really hope that this works out for us. I have a good feeling about it. I still can't stand the thought of leaving my Chai Guy, but luckily, I have time to get used to that idea.
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