Am I being a scrooge for not wanting to be taken for a sucker?

A few years ago when I worked for Boeing, each department would adopt a family to buy Christmas presents for.  The “worthy” families were selected by state Social Services and we were told they were screened to make sure the families were truly needy.  I was surprised when a co-worker told me that he doesn’t participate in this annual charity event.  That he would not participate seemed out of character so I asked him why.  He told me that he had been burned too many times like one Christmas when they collected old bikes throughout the year and, on their own time, stripped down the bikes in the factory’s shops, repainted them and reassembled them with many new parts.  He delivered the bikes that year.  He said the kids didn’t seem grateful.  One kid noticed that his bike was not new and threw it down and said he didn’t want a used bike.  I commented that one bad experience shouldn’t ruin his Christmas spirit.  He responded, “It wasn’t just one year; it was like that every year.”

So our department adopted a single mother with three young children.  I noticed the three children had three different last names.  So the mother had been making bad decisions but that was no reason the children shouldn’t have presents for Christmas.  I was part of the group that delivered the presents.  I was surprised at how young she was; she couldn’t have been more than 20.  As we entered her apartment, she had MTV’s “Yo! MTV Raps” on the TV and all three children were watching and she didn’t bother to even turn it off when we arrived.  She simply motioned where she wanted us to put the presents.  Needless to say, we never got a thank you card.  That family had plenty of electronic babysitters but apparently very little parenting.  I hope she stopped at three children and was able to become a good mother.  But the odds are not in her favor. 

The next year we adopted a family that lived in the country.  When we called the family, we were told that we could only come when the children were not home.  Which was fine, I could understand the parents not wanting their children to know that others had bought the presents.  When we arrived, there was an expensive ski boat in the drive-way with an equally expensive 4X4 truck.  As the five of us carried the 20 plus presents into the house, we were met by a huge mound of presents in the floor.  In my life I had never seen as many presents.  It looked like a mall Christmas tree made up of presents.  It must have been 5 feet tall and 10 feet round.  They certainly were not poor.  And they were probably hitting numerous adopt-a-family programs.  I then understood why Ricky didn’t participate anymore. 

The next year I suggested to the community outreach committee that we do something else instead of adopting a family which had been picked by Social Services.  I suggested we buy presents for the Serenity House which is a shelter for abused women with children.   My suggestion was accepted and that is what we did.  I am all for giving, but I am against giving just to make me feel good.  I prefer to give to my church or other Christian charity organizations.  But that is just me, there are plenty of good charities out there but you really do need to do some due diligence. 

As someone who tries to be a good steward of my money, I hate being taken for a sucker and these people thought we were suckers.   

Remember when they laughed at him?

I remember when Ron Paul was belittled and laughed at during the GOP debates. Republican voters were told by the establishment and the media (especially Fox News) that Ron Paul was a crackpot. Looks like he was right all along.

This video is worth watching. If you hear someone ask, "Why didn't anyone warn us?" I suggest you direct them to this video:

Are your instincts telling you that it is wrong?

I think for most Americans the answer is "yes." We know what the government is doing is wrong.

And it is true that we don't always do the right thing in our personal lives even when we know what the right thing is. This is true for people that have a well defined moral code as well as for those that fly by the seat of their pants ethically, but we sometimes get it right whereas it seems the government rarely gets it right even though it has a well defined code called the Constitution. But of course, most elected officials ignore the Constitution when it is convenient. They prefer to interpret the Constitution like a Unitarian interprets the Bible - for maximum convenience and with no regard to the actual text.

In Ilana Mercer's WND column, "Your Godless Government At Work," she states,

Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, your instincts tell you that such promiscuous spending is criminal.

Your gut tells you that your government is not only economically bankrupt, but morally bankrupt too – detached from any ethical moorings.

Alas, "figures don't lie, but liars can figure."

The experts say the complete opposite: The values and virtues ordinary mortals hold themselves to don't apply to government. The macroeconomic and microeconomic solitudes are governed by separate codes of morality. Never the twain shall meet – or so the money mavens claim.

Whereas you'll pay dearly for your profligacy; the government's recklessness will be rewarded. Whereas your debt will wipe you out; government debt will lift us all up. The latter is "stimulating"; the former sapping.

Hopefully you won't buy this – nor should you. Reason and decency dictate that your government is up to no good.

Give a Hoot, be Climate Change Astute!

When I was in elementary school, there was a national anti-pollution campaign called "Give a Hoot - Don't Pollute!" and in Tennessee there was an anti-litter campaign called "Tennessee Trash" which ran a very funny PSA on TV showing a guy in an old convertible throwing out trash. The tag line for the Tennessee Trash PSA was "There ain't no lower class than Tennessee Trash." I think both were effective. But there is a difference between these anti-litter campaigns and today's anti-global warming campaigns. Give a Hoot and Tennessee Trash were aimed at encouraging people to act responsibly, not to encourage political activism.

Scholastic, the world's largest publisher of children's books, publishes a book that is used in many elementary schools today called Down to Earth Guide to Global Warming. According to this book, the first thing kids can do to help prevent global warming is to "Write a letter urging your mayor to sign the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to reduce carbon emissions in your town."

If you are concerned that your child is getting only one side in school, there is a book out that claims (I have not read the book) to present an alternative to the current global warming orthodoxy, it is called The Sky's Not Falling!. The book is written by natural resources management expert Holly Fretwell and is for children 8 and up.

You may also want to visit the demand Debate website for a few other resources.

Just in time for Christmas

From Business Week

The Ten Cannots

Presbyterian minister William J. H. Boetcker's talks on hard work and character were summarized in his 1916 pamphlet The Ten Cannots:

• You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
• You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
• You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
• You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
• You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
• You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
• You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
• You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
• You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
• And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

Amen, Rev. Boetcker. Why is it that the simple is so hard to understand? Or is it that the simple is so hard to live by?

HT: Citizen Outreach

Civics Quiz

An online civics quiz is being discussed a lot on blogs and talk radio. You guessed it - yet another study showing just how ignorant Americans are of basic (okay, maybe not basic as some of the questions are much tougher than the typical Jaywalking question) American history, government and economics.

According to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute,

More than 2,500 randomly selected Americans took ISI’s basic 33question test on civic literacy and more than 1,700 people failed, with the average score 49 percent, or an “F.” Elected officials scored even lower than the general public with an average score of 44 percent and only 0.8 percent of all surveyed earned an “A.”

So I decided to let my eleven year old daughter take the quiz. She answered correctly 18 out of 33 (55%) with absolutely no help from me. Not bad.

Here is a screen shot of my score:




Addendum: Here is what Walter Williams said about the consequences of such lack of understanding of Constitutional principles as displayed by this quiz.

"With limited thinking abilities and knowledge of our heritage, we Americans set ourselves up as easy prey for charlatans, hustlers and quacks. If we don't know the constitutional limits placed on Congress and the White House, politicians can do just about anything they wish to control our lives, from deciding what kind of light bulbs we can use to whether the government can take over our health care system or bailout failing businesses. We just think Congress can do anything upon which they can get a majority vote."