We Surround Them

I grew up in a “traditional” home. God-fearing parents who sent us off to church on Sunday. Raised strictly by parents who may have had occasional marital problems, but worked through them out of love for each other, for my sister and I, and because they simply knew no other way than to stay married.

Though they had my sister when they were just out of high school, they strove to raise my sister and I with certain values. Honesty, humility, sincerity, courage.

Hard work and personal responsibility were driven into us. A requirement.

Thrift was a necessity as we did not have much money growing up. Gratitude for what we did have was taught over each meal, each gift we received.

Charity was never discussed. We didn’t volunteer or donate money. Charity was in our hearts. If someone needed a place to stay, they stayed over. If someone needed something, we shared what we had.

Now that I am older, about to marry and am thinking about children, I have come to believe in certain principles.

1. America is good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

I don’t believe many people can disagree with the values and principles recited above. The government, over the last 50 years has encroached on these values and principles. It has pushed against our freedoms and have sanctioned actions that I simply find deplorable.

This is not a fight against Obama, or the Democrats, or the Republicans. This is a fight against the government as a whole encroaching on our lives.

It is time America started standing up for itself. We have cowered too long in silence as our renegade government has enslaved us more and more each day. We have to take action, and this may very well be the first step.

I encourage you to take action, and go to one of the many meet-ups that are being organized to view this program. Take that first step, and acquaint yourselves with your fellow citizens who still give a damn about this country and what’s right.

There is strength in numbers and in the unification of people with a common cause.




http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/21018/
http://wesurroundthemmap.com

Fred Thompson on the Economy

If Only All The Pundits Paid Their Two Cents

I rarely talk about money on here. If you keep an eye on the various links I post off to the side (which I have not updated in forever – but, Whatever), you will see financial things pop up quite frequently.

This bailout/credit crisis/end of the world gloom and doom being splayed all over the news problem affects us all. It affects our jobs, our homes, our credit lines, hell, it affects what I will be giving for Christmas.

I was completely against the bailout as it was presented in the House. I believe I will be against the Senate’s version as well.

I am against it, knowing full well that several of my family members and friends will probably lose their jobs and homes as a result of it not passing. I am against it in spite of that because if it doesn’t pass, they will still lose their jobs and then their homes. If they are in a difficult position now, that position is not going away due to a quick bailout.

We are in a recession. It is not going away. One article I read stated it simply, we are only in the second, maybe third inning of this ballgame. So if it is all going to hell way before the seventh inning stretch, why spend $700 zillion dollars. It will only delay the inevitable breakdown for a very short time. Injecting cash the nation does not have into a broken economy built on people living beyond their means is not going to fix anything.

The only thing that is going to get us out of this mess is what we should have been doing all along. Save money. Don’t buy things you can’t afford. Spend less than you earn. Don’t use credit. Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, David Bach and countless other financial hacks had it right all along. Hope you aren’t sick of them already, they will be everywhere for the next few years. Because they have it right! Although personally, let’s get rid of them, because I would rather hear from Trent at The Simple Dollar.

During Friday’s debate, McCain suggested a spending freeze. To which I shouted, "Amen!" The government needs to do exactly what I do when I run out of money. Quit spending. No dinners out, no dry cleaning, no movies, no quick runs to the grocery store. I make do with what I already have. Why? Because that is what you do when you are broke. I don’t go and charge things in order to make it to my next paycheck. I stop spending money until I have more money. What a novel concept.

The government has to freeze their spending. Cut it down to the very bare basics. There is no other way. Spending more and more money will not get you or me out of this mess. It won’t get the government out of it. It won’t get the country out of it.

By the time this is posted, it may be too late to contact your congressmen regarding this bailout. However, keep in mind that this problem is not going away even if the bill passes, so keep their contact info handy. You need to vocalize your opinion. Tell your elected officials what you think. Don’t hesitate to let them know that you will vote them out of office for ignoring your desires.

Click here to find out how to contact your Senators.

Click here to find out how to contact your Rep.

On a more personal scale, everyone should be working on their own spending freeze. Save your nickels and dimes. They will turn into many dollars over time. Be prepared for the recession.

I loved these links:

http://www.bripblap.com/2008/how-the-bailout-failure-affects-us/

http://www.thewisdomjournal.com/Blog/back-to-the-basics/

http://www.wisebread.com/whats-the-big-deal-about-banks-refusing-to-lend

However, there are so many more resources to figure out ways to cut your spending, save money, do the right thing with the money you have. You can find a ton of blog posts on all possible personal finance related issues at pfblogs.org.

And that is my two cents.

Spent

No matter how many emails you read about capitalizing on today, about living life to its fullest, to appreciating every last bit of life, no matter how many, you won’t do it. Laundry, headaches, bad days will get in the way.

And then, It will happen.

The day that those emails allude to. The Thing You Would Rather Not Think About.

So listen to those cheesy emails that your Great-Aunt from Poughkeepsie sends you. Read them, take them to heart.

Because when It happens, you shouldn’t regret the day that never came.

Fianna will be gone for a little while because It happened to a dear friend of hers. Hug your closest loved one, remember those dear to you, cherish today and tomorrow and 2 weeks from last Wednesday.

Because you won’t have it again. No matter how much laundry has piled up, no matter how many times he left the toilet seat up, no matter what. When it is over, you won’t have another chance.

After This, I Will Step Away From the Soapbox.

I have spent the last week writing about a girl’s best friend – diamonds. You can find the posts here:Preview, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

Maybe I just don’t read the right things or watch the right news shows. It just doesn’t seem that this issue is really discussed in mainstream news. It seems to me that mass genocide to provide a market for sparkly finger decorations might be a bit larger on people’s minds. But perhaps not. I do what I can to be a responsible Earth dweller. I recycle, I conserve, I turn off my lights when I leave a room, turn off the water when I brush my teeth. Is this not another responsible Earth dweller concept?

My poor man. One weekend morning, I was up, ready to leave the house and run some errands. He was sleeping in. I mentioned that I was reading this book. He asked how it was going. I went on a diatribe. I don’t want diamonds, but what other stones are acceptable for an engagement ring. And why do I have to have an engagement ring anyway, although I would like one. Sapphire? Ruby? Onyx? Or if instead, a cubic zirconium, isn’t that just further perpetuating the view that women need diamonds. I wear cubic zirconium in my ears and they are pretty. I want them. But that isn’t good. How do I find the proper balance? How do I find an acceptable alternative? What is an acceptable alternative? What stone is completely conflict free? Why do I need a stone? Could I have just a silver band? Where does silver come from? Is silver ok?

Whew…poor man… point is…where does it stop? What becomes acceptable? When do you just give up being absolutely positively correct, and just live in your not so perfect world. I wear clothing made in Bangladesh, Tibet, and Mexico. These can’t be constructed in positive working environments. But I can’t go naked. Cows, pigs and chickens are on my dinner table at night. If I go vegetarian, I am killing plants. Where do you stop worrying about the negative impact you are having on the world and just do your best day to day.

For me, I will do what I feel is right. I may kill animals, force Bolivian children to make my t-shirts and exploit grape vines for my nightly glass of wine, but I will not buy a diamond, or have one bought for me, or otherwise encourage the furtherance of a horrific legacy created by our (Americans) lust for shiny accoutrements. It is a start. Maybe tomorrow, I will compost. Or get my t-shirts strictly from China.

Finally, in a time where the economy is falling down around us, a particular quote on p. 247 of this awesome book struck me. Financial analysts believe a certain internet based diamond store will enjoy strong growth for at least the next 5 years despite how the economy may proceed as a whole. The spokesman for the internet based diamond store explained the reason, “If you think about it, it’s the only luxury product that everybody has to buy.”

If I thought about it, which I did, at length, and wrote a bazillion words about it, it is the one luxury product that I never want. And I hope someone out there who reads this agrees. If I haven’t changed your mind yet, try reading this. And this. And this. And this.

Or watching this:

Kimberley is Better Than Making My 6 Year Old Paint the House: Continuing Series

This is Part 5 of an ongoing series. Other posts in this series - Preview, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

I haven’t touched on the blood diamond issue much. So far, I have let a video speak on that issue. It is important though to know a bit about a system that the diamond industry has put into place in order to address the matter.

In 2001, through international pressure, the Kimberley Process was created. Kimberley harkening back to the company that DeBeers ran out of business in 1880, which took its name from kimberlite, the material which points to the existence of a diamond deposit. The Kimberley Process is a feel good program, even better for the soul than recycling to save a couple baby seals from being exploited in a Girls Gone Wild video.

Any nation that exports diamonds is required to seal the stones inside a tamperproof container along with a document certifying that they were not mined in the midst of a war. A method to end the sale of blood diamonds, a campaign to make buyers feel all warm inside and able to sleep at night.

“Today’s diamonds from Angola are even more suspect, in some ways, because they carry a veneer of purity while they continue to be mined in a virtual war zone.” (p. 170).

In a conversation with Mark H.G. Van Bockstael, the director if international affairs and trade for the High Diamond Council, the typical face for the Kimberley Process, Mr. Van Bockstael admitted, “In terms of the social atmosphere where diamonds are produced – the Kimberley Process is not at all concerned with that. It is only concerned with a formal definition of war”. (p. 190)

Despite the fact that the diamonds may have been mined at gunpoint, resulting in the deaths of some suspected “smugglers” or “thief’s”, the only way a diamond would be excluded as a blood diamond would be if it came from an actual war zone, a fact that creates much criticism for the Kimberley Process.

Please check out this link for further details on the failures surrounding the Kimberley Process.

How about child labor? Poor Kathie Lee Gifford was strung up for her clothing line. Practically overnight, she became the face of child labor.

Have you ever heard how your diamond goes from being a boring pebble to a gorgeous diamond?

Once a diamond is removed from the ground, it is most likely sent to a Surat, India for polishing and cutting. Surat, near Bombay (Mumbai) is one of the central cities for diamond polishing, holding 92% of the market. As Surat grew more popular among the diamond industry, its population swelled. In 1994, Surat was hit with the bubonic plague.

Child labor was frequent in these mills, but in recent years, this has receded in larger operations. Although it is estimated that 20% of the workforce in Surat is underage, that number amounts to 100,000 children polishing our little trinkets. Further, the dust created from the polishing process has been shown to be related to asthma and lung fibrosis, sometimes fatal.

Don’t worry, I have another link to prove I am not making this stuff up.

Tomorrow, I will be wrapping all this up. Maybe. If you ask nicely.

DeBeers? Cuddly as a Teddy Bear? Or Not.

This is Part 4 of an ongoing series. Other posts in this series - Preview, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Ten times each year, approximately 80 men in the world meet in London. Each one is led to a room. An attendant gives them a box containing diamonds of varying types and sizes. They are expected to pay the price offered. There are no negotiations. The diamonds released at these sessions, represent just under half of the total carats released every month. Only 80 men are invited to these sessions, the companies they represent have been deemed worthy by DeBeers to distribute the stones. “To be a “sightholder” also means you have convinced De Beers you will not make waves by selling too much of the box at wholesale, or by protesting the quality of your allotment. In exchange for docility, you are virtually guaranteed to make a healthy profit from your box.” A former high-ranking De Beers official told Tom Zoellner, the author of an incredible book I am highlighting, that every box was calculated to release exactly the right amount of stones into the market. Enough to meet consumer demand, but not enough to cause the price to fall. (p. 118). Three floors below this exchange, is the world’s largest stockpile of unpolished diamonds, which are doled out at a controlled rate, but to De Beers, they remain much more valuable right where they are. “The continued stability of the diamond industry depends on an artificial scarcity created by De Beers. . . . De Beers has managed the remarkable feat of operating a 17^th century economic model in a 21^st century world, thus ensuring that a mineral not so rare in nature fetches a price far beyond what its value would be in a truly free market.” (p. 119).

DeBeers started out as a crooked company. In 1880, Cecil Rhodes created the DeBeers Mining Company. Barney Barnato was the chairman of the Kimberley Central. These 2 companies fought each other in their attempts to buy up more claims to the South African diamond mines that had been found to date. Rhodes, cunningly, offered Barnato a deal where Rhodes would buy the company owned by Barnato, in order to avoid a bidding war, selling it back to Barnato for 300,000 pounds. Rhodes asked only for a fifth of the outstanding stock in Kimberley Central. Barnato, unable to see any detriment, agreed. Rhodes then instructed his brokers to buy up all outstanding shares in Kimberley Central at any cost. As a result, Barnato conceded defeat. DeBeers became the sole cartel. In 1888, Rhodes told his shareholders, that DeBeers aimed for nothing less than to become, “The richest, the greatest, and the most powerful company the world has ever seen.” (p. 127). De Beers then created 2 defining policies, 1- mining production was cut by half, creating an artificial scarcity, and 2 - a single channel for distribution of the stones was created, the forerunner of the sightholder system outlined above that continues today in London.

DeBeers claims it is not a monopoly, of course. “If this is a monopoly, it is a monopoly based on the popular support of its consumers” said an internal memo. “De Beers has no actual power to coerce these producers to sell their diamonds through De Beers.” In 1981, this “freedom” was extremely evident in Zaire. Zaire, one of the most poverty stricken countries in the world, it became unhappy with its relationship with De Beers. It sought an agreement with independent European countries to distance itself from De Beers. De Beers, kindly struck back, releasing a flood of diamonds, driving down prices and forcing Zaire’s industry into near collapse. When in business with the cartel, Zaire received about $3 per carat. PER CARAT! When it struck away from De Beers, it received less than half that. Two years after its attempt at striking away from the cartel, Zaire went back under its wing. One executive was reported to say, “Anyone want to follow Zaire?” (p. 155) Sure doesn’t sound like a monopoly to me. But then again, maybe I am deaf, dumb and incredibly stupid.

One of my great skills, despite my deafness, dumbness and stupidity, is Google-ing. This site shows that in order to get a 1 carat diamond, I would have to pay $7,500-$10,000. The same 1 carat that the finder was paid $3.00 for.

Let’s go back to World War II. Diamond tipped tools became crucial for cutting parts for tank engines and airplanes. As the war progressed, the German invasion of North Africa caused fears that the U.S. was in danger of losing its source of industrial diamonds in the Congo. De Beers, of course, had control over these diamonds. Through the Depression, DeBeers hoarded surplus diamonds in order to keep prices high. It entered the war era with direct control of 95% of the world’s diamond supply. Those gems were now critical to the Allied forces in fighting the Nazis, but the cartel refused to sell them to American arms factories. Its “logic”? If the U.S. was allowed to build up a reserve of these industrial diamonds and the war suddenly ended, all the diamonds could be sold off and would crash the market. Let that settle in a bit. I can wait. This is the company that right now, is holding the diamond you want on your finger.

The ads DeBeers used at this time? “To the chagrin of our enemy, our side controls almost the entire supply of another kind of diamond to do the countless jobs of speed and skill in pouring out armaments… Your lovely gemstone has helped put them to work!” Let me put this together for you. DeBeers refused to release diamonds for the U.S. to use in creation of weapons to fight the Nazis, yet they advertised that by putting a diamond on your pretty little finger, you are helping to bring down Hitler himself. (p. 137-140)

I personally call that talking out of both sides of your mouth. Or being a dickwad. Whatever.

Video Friday - Blood Diamonds Edition

This video can also be found here.

Other posts in this series - Preview, Part 1, and Part 2.

Do You Feel Duped? The Heartless Stone, Fianna's Report - Part 2

This is Part 2 of an ongoing series.

The preview can be found here.

Part 1 is here.

Diamond engagement rings are a relatively new trend. The giving of a ring to mark a union leads back to the Roman Empire. It was first documented among soldiers of the Roman Empire who marked their chosen woman with straps of leather tied around their fingers. The practice lived on symbolically through metal bands and has long been a part of Christian wedding ceremonies. However, in the 1930’s, it was not common to link a diamond with the arrangement. (p. 68) Diamonds were more likely associated with Bugsy Siegel or Al Capone than a young bride.

It was not until the 1930’s that the metal band was replaced in our minds (American minds, this is not a worldwide practice as I will mention with respect to Japan later on) with a diamond utilizing a clever marketing scheme that supplanted all previous traditions. Diamonds were “interesting to look at, but hardly practical, and certainly nothing that a young working family would want to buy.” (p.68). Beginning in the ‘30’s, a strong marketing campaign of DeBeers created a mind shift.

The phrase “A Diamond Is Forever” was created at 4 A.M. by a tired female copywriter, tasked with creating a tagline. As stated by an executive of DeBeers, “In these four words are concentrated all the emotional and physical properties of a diamond.” Oh really? Hmmm... The emotional properties of a diamond? My grandparents, married as teenagers, whose marriage lasted until my grandfather passed away, didn’t need a diamond to signify their marriage was forever. My great-grandparents, nope. Now, with a burgeoning divorce rate, we must have diamonds to symbolize that we will be together forever?

Consider this, I know I am guilty of it. When I hear a friend has become engaged, I grab their left hand. What would you think if a couple did not have an engagement ring? My first thought, even now, would be, why are they engaged if they can’t afford an engagement ring? I hope my thoughts will soon shift to the point that when a friend does not have a sparkly left hand, my first inclination will be, “Excellent, now they can afford a down payment on a house.”

Ladies, get this figure. A 1990 marketing survey suggested that a stunning 59% of men would choose to put key investments, like a mortgage, in jeopardy, to buy you a ring. The years of marketing have changed our culture so greatly, to place it in men’s mind that in order to prove himself worthy, he must provide a dowry, a sacred ring, that wasn’t so sacred just a half-century earlier.

In 1960, DeBeers attention focused on Japan, a country, at the time, with less than 100,000 carats in imports annually. Just 30 years later, following a marketing campaign that, like the one used in the U.S., changed a cultural tradition, imports had increased to 4.1 million carats. “What happened there was still held up – wisely or not – as a signature example of how a well-marketed product could ingratiate itself into the culture, even more completely than it had in America” (p.81).

So, what is the proper amount to spend on an engagement ring? Two months, right?

Ever consider where that came from? Did you know that in Great Britain, the standard amount is one month salary.

How about in Japan?

Three months salary.

When asked about the difference by Tom Zoellner, the author of the book I quote so extensively from, a DeBeers representative said, “We were, quite frankly, trying to bid them up”. (p. 81)

Does this nauseate you as much as it does me? Does this statement resonate greatly with you? A standard, what has become a cultural standard that us women, as the recipients of these items, as the ooohhhers and awwwerrrrs of such items, we are being played with by these DeBeers execs.

Aren’t we lucky to be in the middle price range of their marketing scheme? Americans, while not as fortunate as the 1 month Brits, we are better off than those poor Japanese, who were strung into the DeBeers marketing net at a later time, when DeBeers realized they could milk the poor gents for 3 months income.

Japan, at the peak of the diamond engagement ring craze, 9 out of 10 marrying couples had a diamond ring. Interestingly, in 2006, it had declined to 5 out of ten. Japan is wising up to the DeBeers marketing scheme. When will we?

The idea that if a man is willing to spend 1-3 months salary, (depending on where he is fortunate enough to live), he must be committed, he must be worthy, to marry. If he is willing to lay down months of income to buy a trinket, is that proof of love?

I would rather my spouse save that money for a house, a car, retirement accounts, hell, a honeymoon, than for a trinket that I am bound to drop into the bathroom sink, snag on my pantyhose, or otherwise quit wearing because I will lose it or cut myself with it somehow.

The Heartless Stone - Fianna's Report, Part 1

A few weeks back at church, Dikembe Mutombo was mentioned. He is from the Congo, a country on a continent that continues to experience war, a militia ruled way of life. Mutombo originally came to the U.S. to become a doctor. Being 7+ feet tall, he was recruited into basketball, where he has spent the last 17 years. He now plays with the Houston Rockets.

A person I work with on a regular basis, adopted a girl from the Congo a couple years back. At the time of the adoption, there were discussions about the treatment of women in the Congo at the time and the need for intervention, and absent that intervention, a need for the adoption of the orphans of the war that has drug on through the country. It has been wonderful to follow this lucky girl’s story since she came to the States, where she is quickly becoming a typical U.S. teenager.

When I sat down to write this initially, I pulled up a few things on the Congo. I include the following quote, not to frighten or shock or disgust anyone (although it will). I include it because I don’t think I can do justice with words of my own on how this is going to haunt me. By including it, I hope it haunts you and makes you understand why I have turned a book into a multi-part blog series.

On July 30, 2007, a report by Yakin Erturk, special rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Council on violence against women, found extreme sexual violence against women is pervasive in the DRC and local authorities do little to stop it or prosecute those responsible. Her report also found 'women are gang raped, often in front of their families and communities. In numerous cases, male relatives are forced at gun point to rape their own daughters, mothers or sisters.' Survivors told Ertuck that after rape, many women are held as slaves by the gangs and forced to eat excrement or the flesh of their murdered relatives. (Link)

My interest in the region of the world where this is occurring started because of the adoption of that girl. Some time after that, I saw Blood Diamond. Currently, I am reading a book right at the heart of this, which is why this is so large on my radar. The Heartless Stone by Tom Zoellner. I have done some web research in order to supplement what is going to end up being quite a long book report. Otherwise, all facts, all quotes, come from this book. I have referenced page numbers on many portions I have quoted or otherwise plagiarized. This book is phenomenal. I devoured it, I cried, I was moved enough that it has 30+ dog-eared pages and the library has refused to allow me to renew it for a 3^rd time. Therefore, I am going to be paying a hefty fine for the privilege of holding onto this book for much longer than I should have. I recommend that you read it on your own. I have highlighted things about the diamond trade that struck me. I have left out many, many things.

Over the next few days, I will be posting about diamonds. I hesitate to call them blood diamonds, because people will say, there is a certification process to ensure that blood diamonds cease to exist. The issue is much larger than blood diamonds. It is a culture. A culture created by some clever marketing over the past 60-70 years.

Sit down, buckle up.

A Preview

I drafted a post today and have decided to hold onto it for now. This is rare for me. Typically, I throw up words in a rush and post them immediately. I am posting this just to get something out so I don't literally throw up.

I am delaying the post for two reasons. Firstly, it isn’t a complete thought on a topic. It rambles a bit and is really just a preview of something I expect to discuss in greater detail later. Secondly, I am a bit nervous about discussing this subject here.

I am quite irreverent on this blog.

The topic at hand is a big one. I can’t imagine it being a controversial topic. There isn’t a sole alive that could be in support of it.

My fear is in being too serious here and offending some with the topic that will startle and since it is primarily women that read my blibbity blabberings, it may be offensive to raise such a topic and provide my thoughts on it.

The ugly side of a tradition we have all grown up with. A token that surely we all have spent time thinking about. Something some of us are probably quite in love with.

Let’s just broach it oh so carefully.

I am reading this book from Fianna’s Reading List.

This is a Sad Post

I am currently contemplating a pretty heavy topic.

My Dad, who I am just like, said something today that he meant to tell my sister and I at a later date, not at all in the middle of grief.

My uncle passed away today. For the past year or so, my cousin has lived in his house and cared for him on a daily basis. She has given up her own life to care for her ailing father. She has sacrificed work, time with her kids and husband, her softball coaching, for her Dad. And I would bet all I have that if you asked her yesterday, tomorrow or a year from now, she would say it was completely worth it. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

My Dad today, when he called to tell me about Uncle L, in his sadness, let it slip that he had something he wanted to discuss, but at a later time. I said some flippant remark like I usually do and he said, well, if I or your mom am in a situation like my brother, put us in a home. Don’t stop your life to care for us when we are in a bad way.

It is difficult to respond, first off to the overwhelming grief that had already hit me and then to a statement like that.

I said that I bet my cousin found it very rewarding and wouldn’t have had it any other way. But….it may have been safer for all involved if my uncle would have been cared for at a facility. This is of course, in hindsight, after a couple scary incidents, involving lack of meds and my uncle being a large man. And another involving an oxygen mask and an overwhelming desire for a cigarette.

These situations could have been both avoided if he had been cared for outside of his home and more easily handled if they had occurred elsewhere.

My first response was, I appreciate his concern that I shouldn’t sacrifice my lifestyle to care for my ailing parent. But that I would do it anyway, if there was a way.

Each circumstance varies. Each of us leaves this world in a different fashion. Old age is kind to some and absolutely cruel to others.

If a person has Alzheimer’s, a nursing home is probably best. If a person is just getting older with various parts slowly dying like they do on my Corolla, why can’t they be cared for by their loving children?

There are financial concerns, of course. Lack of retirement and long-term care savings hamper choices for some seniors and create more dependency on their children. From what I know of nursing home expenses, unless a person is in a well-paid profession, they might be better off leaving their work for a while to care for their elderly parent.

More important, however, are the physical limitations. I find it hard to imagine me caring for my father at his current size. He is at least 2.5x my weight. I would be unable to adequately care for him in certain ways when it came to physically demanding tasks. Further, if his mental capacity had diminished, his larger size could be a danger to us both if he got upset like my uncle had done.

How about the emotional toll? Is it better to watch a parent deteriorate before your eyes, or on a weekly … monthly basis locked away from you with someone else taking care of their last needs? Is the guilt lessened if you sacrifice your life to care for them in the last months or years of their lives as opposed to paying someone else to do so? What about the time you take away from your kids? Your spouse? How about the toll that your kids bear watching grandma or grandpa slowly decline in health before them? Is this outweighed by their continued presence in their lives?

What are your thoughts?

I am not sure where I lie right now. I would like to respect my dad’s wishes. However, I was never very good at doing as he asked. And I can't imagine letting someone else be with him in his last moments.

Glenn Beck - End of Days

We just finished watching Glenn Beck's show on Headline News. The topic was "End of Days", the end of time as prophesied in the Bible. First off, my dear grew up in an extremely religious family. His father is also extremely brilliant. One night on the phone they were discussing the origins of the Pythagorean theorem or why Pi is 3.143213254213 or why the pull of gravity on Jupiter is stronger than the jet stream. Something so far over my head it was about as far over it as Jupiter is away from my head. Point being, he grew up with these types of discussions. He is also very keen on politics. He reads Drudge constantly, chats on message boards, he is fanatical.

So while watching the Beck program he was able to further elaborate on all the topics to help his formerly agnostic girlfriend understand half of what was being discussed. He even pulled up wiki on Gog and Magog....man, this guy is brilliant!

Here is the transcript of the show. It is quite interesting with the rising (truly continuing) distress in the Middle East. As he is called around here, Crazy Joe. Israel and oh boy, what is up with Hamas and Fatah? The Israelis took their toys and went home, so the Palestinians had to start fighting each other.

There really isn't a point to this post. I just wanted to document this whole discussion because I want to read the Left Behind series and the Epicenter book by the other gent. Because I don't think I can finish Coulter's book. I have really tried to......