Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

For those of you who are interested here is a link the the $700 Billion dollar bailout plan as proposed and defeated in the House of Representatives yesterday.

http://www.rules.house.gov/110/text/110_hr3997_amnd_samnd.pdf

This is a 110 page document crafted over a weekend as the governments answer to a problem that has been brewing for over 10 years.  With a problem so complex and so large I am glad they took a few minutes out of there weekend to fix it for us (sarcasm)

Pro Life & Pro Choice?

How can you be Pro Life and Pro Choice? I believe that life begins at conception.  This is the real sticking point in the Roe vs Wade legislation.  Until the Supreme Court decides when life begins Roe vs Wade will never be overturned.  Of course they are not willing to make this call.  That is why it is so important who is President of the United States.  One man can change very little in 4-8 years on such topics as the economy, taxes, welfare, etc but the one thing that he/she can do is appoint judges to the Supreme Court.  We the people can not do this.  They are not elected but appointed by the people we elect.  That is why it is important who is elected POTUS.  So if you could care less about Obama and McCain remember they could appoint the next judge to the Supreme court!  You still have time to register and vote! 

Pro Choice is about the woman's right to choose what happens with her body.  I believe this as well but I think they have it all wrong.  Women (and men) chose to have sex (Not in all cases. I will cover that in a minute) therefore they had a choice in the creation of this life.  It is really no mystery how babies are created so the choice to have sex is really the choice to have a baby or not. Of course most people do not think of it that way or at least in the heat of passion they don't.  Every time you have sex you are playing the odds with or without birth control you are still risking pregnancy.  The only sure method of birth control is abstinence.  This method works every time.  My grandmother used to call this the penny between your knees method.  After the woman made that choice she is done choosing what happens to her body.  Some say that the baby is a part of the woman's body until birth and the umbilical cord is cut making it a separate entity.  I do not agree with this logic, an apple is attached to the apple tree in much the same way an infant is attached to the mother.  The apple is attached with a stem by which it gets its nutrients.  We do not look at the apple and call it an apple tree, they are not considered one and the same.  Why do we consider mother and child the same?  In my opinion they simply are not.  So I agree when they say the woman has the right to do with her body as she wishes we just disagree on what is her body.  If she breaks her arm and decides not to go to the hospital and get a cast for it then that is her right to choose.  If she decides to get that crooked nose fixed then have at it not my place to tell you that you may not fix your nose.  That is your body and you have every right to choose what happens to it.  I just disagree with the premise that a baby is your body.

When the woman does not choose to have sex such as the case of rape and incest then most Pro Lifers will give you that and say it is ok to terminate the life at that point.  I do not agree with this, I think the only valid reason to terminate that life is if the mother and baby's life is in danger.

An acquaintance of mine who is an avid Republican asked if my wife was raped would I allow her to have the baby.  I said absolutely!  It is not the babies fault in which manor he/she were conceived why would I terminate his/her life just because of the method of conception.  He flipped out and could not understand this.  His point was that he would be reminded of the criminal act every time he looked at that child to which I replied "then that is a fault in you not in the child". I don't think he liked that comment either :) Ultimately it is not my right to choose death for another human being however that opinion comes from my belief in a higher power, in a supreme power.  Without that in your life I suppose this argument does not hold much power.  That is another discussion for another day however.

This is not a post about the right and wrong necessarily only that I think the two sides are arguing the wrong points.  I don't condemn anyone who made this choice that is not my place and it would be arrogant of me to make that criticism.  Which ever side you are on always reserve the right to change your mind!  I have about some issues recently but that is another post as well. 

Sometimes Sorry is not enough

What does sorry really mean?  Sorry that I ____.  You can fill in the blank.  Do we have to accept sorry and does it make everything better?

That is the problem, often we think that apologizing and saying we are sorry fixes everything but it doesn't sometimes there are wounds created that are not patched with I'm sorry.  Just because you accept the apology does not make things instantly better.  I learned this years ago in my marriage.  Sometimes you have to get away and let things heal.  If you are in it everyday then things will never get better because you can not get over the past to start the future.  Once trust is broken it is not automatically returned on an "I'm sorry" or "I have changed".  This takes two very mature people to get past.  It takes the offender knowing that I'm sorry is not forgiveness and it will take a long time to get to where you want to be.  You can say you have changed but it takes time to prove you have changed by your actions.  You are judged at each decision, at each comment.  You are compared to the old you until you regain that trust.

We talked about this yesterday in our life group.  There is a couple who is going through hard times and are separated at the moment.  I have no idea what went on between them but now the husband is wanting to start all over fresh and new because he feels he has changed in their time apart.  She is not ready for that because she is still deeply hurt and is not going to blindly give trust back over a few words.  It is a process of healing and he is going to have to prove he has changed which is going to get old with someone who is not committed.  He has to realize that he has deeply hurt people and it is not as easy as I am sorry, that when he speaks the first reaction is going to be you are lying to get what you want. His intentions are going to be questioned constantly.  For a guy who is trying to change it will be hard to overcome.  It will take a commitment and a wisdom to repair what has been done.  I hope that they can make it through this tough time and that in the end they can have a stronger better marriage for this experience. 

The joke is not as funny if you have to explain it!

For those of you who are Star Wars illiterate.

For all the Star Wars fans out there :)

Nine Months equals 1 hour

She is late for that time of the month but not just a day or two but weeks!  She is never late!  Time to go get the test from the drug store and find out for sure.  The anticipation builds, your mind races, come on, hurry up, and there it is... We are pregnant!   You are overwhelmed and overjoyed at the same time.  You start thinking about your life and how different it will be.  You ask yourself are you really ready to take care of something so helpless, something that relies on you for its survival.  What qualifies you to take on such a huge task?  You think of all that has to be done, we need to get the babies room ready, we need to buy a car seat, we need to figure out how to put the car seat in, we need to buy diapers, clothes, bottles, bibs, high chairs, toys, and a whole myriad of devices and tools.  What is it going to be a boy a girl, what will we name them, who will they look like? 

You get the first ultrasound and there it is your baby.  You can tell the sex of the baby so now you can narrow your plans.  You tell your family and friends and they are all excited and are planning the baby shower.  Grandma and Grandpa are preparing to be grandparents.  Planning the many ways to spoil your precious child.  There is no baby bump as of yet so it is not really real yet. 

At about 3months or so the baby bump arrives.  Now its time to panic!  This is real this is happening we are going to have a baby.  You can not think of a single way this does not change your life forever!  Are we ready, can we do this?

You watch in amazement as the baby bump grows and grows thinking surely it is going to pop now!  Finally the waiting is over, the water has broke, the contractions have started, the epidural has been administered, the doctors are prepared, the video is rolling, THIS IS IT!  Out comes baby! You meet face to face with your creation, every much a part of you as your hand is, so beautiful so wonderful.

Contrast:

Phone rings:  Hello? A boy 20 mths old? You will be here in a hour?  Click

No time to think, no time to prepare, no information, just buckle up and get ready.  This is the life of a foster parent.  It is taking some time to get used to 3 babies instead of just one.  They are just now getting used to each other as well.  The kept getting scared by one another.  One would cry and it would scare the others and they would cry.  It was kind of funny actually but not when it is two in the morning and they are waking each other up because now they have roommates that snore.  

Observation No. 2: Most likely to...

Now that I have been out of school as long as I was in school I look back and see if high school was any predictor of the future. If you knew me in high school you would probably say I was most likely to scare young children! I was not conforming all the while conforming to the group that was not conforming. Seems silly now, you don't fit in with the jocks or the preps so you form your own group of kids that are into punk music and skateboards and feel like you are not conforming, but everyone in your group looks the same so you are belonging to a click and conforming to their uniform of choice.

I was never officially voted as most likely to anything because I dropped out and got my diploma from the community college. Now that I have almost teen kids I think back and wonder what my parents were thinking about me during those teen years. Did they shake their head and wonder where they went wrong? I asked the question last year of my mother and father. Did I turn out like you expected me to? The answer was not as profound and deep as I had hoped. Maybe I caught them on a bad day or they did not have time to think about the question properly.

I think high school in no predictor at all of how you will turn out in life. You are so inexperienced at life, you have no clue who you are, and you are struggling to find where you fit in. Then right after high school you are asked to make one of the most profound decisions of your life, where do you want to go to college and what do you want to study. This decision affects the rest of your life and you are in no way prepared to make that decision. I think the system is flawed. Look at all the people that totally waste college finding themselves and partying. As a result they end up with a squandered education and a degree in something that they will never hold a job in. Wasted money, wasted time, wasted education. So what is the alternative? Take time off from school work a couple jobs figure out who you are and what you like then go to school and pursue that with all you have.

Did the star Quarterback at your high school go on to be an NFL star? Did the homecoming queen go on to be a model or movie star? Did the nerd go on to host Star Trek conventions? Did the skater go on to be Tony Hawk? Likely none of these people stayed on their respective paths. I deviated off my punk rock/rebellion path soon after high school and went on to be what most would consider a normal human being. How can you decided what you want to be when you grow up if you don't know yourself well enough to decide?

I want to encourage my children to explore who they are, what their talents are, and what they really enjoy and then decided what they want to do for the rest of their lives.

What were you voted most likely to be and how far from that are you now?

Observation No. 1: Not it

Good news! It turns out I am at least 50% less likely to have coronary diseases, at least that is what researchers determined. I was at a large gathering the other day full of men sweating in the hot sun jarring their bodies in a way in which they have not been jarred in many years to jockey for position as top Type A male. I would venture to say there were a couple fouls in the in pickup game of basketball and a more than eager willingness to spike the ball on a 7 year old girl to obtain the bragging rights associated with a win in the volley ball game. The trash talking came out early and you could see the competitiveness in the TypeA'ers just below the surface. They did their best to mask it as there were children playing and it was a church event but every once in a while you could see the cat ate the canary smile on their face as they scored on the others.

I am decidedly a TypeB personality. I know there is still debate on the validity of these classifications but I do see some value in their general classification. Me and a fellow TypeB'er were sitting in the lawn chairs, in the shade, talking about nothing of importance. We are just as comfortable talking to a group of woman as a group of men. Sweat does not appear on our brow when our wives ask us to hold their purse for a couple of minutes. We don't have to brag about our accomplishments, how much money we make, how much sex we have, or how big our biceps are (ha you thought I was going somewhere else with that didn't you). We can genuinely be happy for the others successes.

I am not pointing out the differences to say one is better than the other. All throughout my life I have chosen the TypeA personalities to be my best friends. I am naturally shy but once in the conversation can hold my own and enjoy talking with others. Over the years the TypeA's have broken the ice and got me into those crowds and I have met some extraordinary people that way. As I get older I rely less and less on that personality and just go it own my own. Perhaps I am less shy or less insecure of just have bigger things to worry about than if anyone likes me or not. Both of these roles are necessary in society and it is interesting to watch people as they interact. But watch out when there is a pickup game of basketball with a group of TypeA'ers you may catch a stray elbow all the way in the shade.