Fixing Society Through Good Parenting

       

       I am not bragging, but we eat two meals together during the week and three on the weekends.  We pray together and almost never miss church unless sick.  Chas read the complete bible this last summer and he is only 10.  The boys help me out with chores and Maya and Julia frequently do things together as well.  We try to do at least a couple of family activities a week like going on hikes, etc. as the weather permits.  The reason I am telling you all this is because I think the LEADING cause of problems in this nation is not politics in D.C., the recession, or the state of our education system. 

       The major problem facing our country is the disconnect in families.  Dr. Laura Schelessinger wrote at length about "Parenting by Proxy."  That is just the tip of the iceberg when you consider the number of parents who are in prison, drug dependent, or just out of the picture altogether.  The Johnson Administration decimated the traditional family when he gave preference to single mothers over intact families regarding entitlements. 

       Lax drug enforcement laws and a poor education system in many inner city schools lead the way to further poverty and a growing underclass.   Chronic unemployment and government programs that encourage dependence destroy initiative and ego.  Targeted advertising and promotion of high powered alcohol and high nicotine cigarettes along with urban carryout stores with a paucity of fresh vegetables and fruits leads to chronic obesity, poor mental health and long term disease such as diabetes and heart problems and COPD.  People feel like they have no self worth. Simple Work confers dignity.   But all these problems at the core go hand in glove with poor parenting and it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. 

       The solution is for parents to spend quality child centered time with their kids and do it every day.  Julia does homework with the kids every day.  She plays with the kids.  I do lots of fun things with them on the weekends and we do chores together around the house.  Chores develop both good work habits and interaction.  Finally, parents need to pray with their children and conduct their own lives as a model for how they want their children to behave.  If you want your children to be just, be fair with them.  If you want them to be honest, don't lie yourself.  If you objectify the opposite sex, do not expect your child to grow up treasuring their spouse.  Live by example.  Pray to G-d every day for guidance and thank G-d every day for the opportunity to be a parent because it is the single most rewarding and important job in the world. 

Miracles are where you see them. Here is one I thought I would share with you.

To my fellow believing friends:

You know, every time I am at my depths of it, G-d seems to come through.  Friday, Maya was sick.  She had to skip school due to a sore throat.  Saturday, she still had a sore throat and was running a fever.  I knew we had to go to the Doctor and that they had Saturday morning hours.  We were flat broke.  I mean FLAT broke.  I did not even know how we were going to come up with the $15 dollar deductible for the office visit.  I get into the car that Julia usually drives back and forth to work, and see she is down to a quarter tank of gas.  I am thinking, "Julia does not get paid until Friday, how the heck is she going to make it back and forth this week and now we have to somehow come up with money for gas and doctor visit and whatever medication the doctor would prescribe?."   I am literally driving to the bank with one hand on the wheel and one hand holding up my head and holding back tears of stress and angst in front of the kids.

I am praying and asking G-d for help all the way to the bank.  I am telling him I am desperate and do not know what to do.  I am beside myself with angst and worry. 

I had a check from a legal job and a couple of checks that my sister signed to the kids for the magazine drive.  She did not want the magazines, but wanted to make a donation to the school and she told me that she wrote the checks to the kids and that I should just deposit them and when they cleared donate the money to the school   The total amount was enough to cover the visit, the meds, and the gas and get a few needed groceries. I had called my sister and asked her if I could use the checks as "float" until next Friday.  She of course said yes.  These checks were two party checks. Now, the other check was from a job I had from a lawyer in the Philippines and the check did not look at all like the typical American Check.  We had less than two bucks in our checking account as reserve to cover the checks until they cleared. 

The bank NEVER would cash these checks under typical circumstances.  The teller asked me what I would like to do with them, and I said, "Well, I would like to cash them, but I know you won't do that, so I guess I will have to deposit them and wait until they clear."   She said, "Well I will cash them, otherwise you would be waiting until at least Tuesday before you had access to the money."  I said, "I thought you never did that."  She said, "Well we consider a lot of factors."   (They have never considered these, "factors" before and I do not know what they are but I hope she does not get in any trouble.)

So. I take Maya to the Doctor.  Of course she has Strep Throat and we need to get antibiotics.  So we go to the pharmacy and we get them.  I had two prescriptions that I absolutely had to fill for myself.  So, I get all three filled.  The pharmacist assistant says, "The antibiotic is free.  You also get a $25 dollar coupon for transferring a prescription here that you had filled a a previous pharmacy.  You can use that discount for groceries."   So all the needed groceries we really had to buy while we were waiting for the prescriptions to get filled cost us all of three dollars.  I was even able to buy a small treat for Julia, and the kids.  I still had enough money to get gas in Julia's car.  I go to the gas station there at Kroger and got a forty cent per gallon discount since I fill prescriptions at Kroger and was able to fill the tank.  

At the end of the day, I still had enough money to pay for my own doctor appointment on Monday.  So I will be able to go to that. 

Now,I know all this can be explained rationally, but I also am firmly convinced miracles are where we see them and find them through faith.  I started off the morning with a sick kid, no money and barely enough gas to get to the bank.  I ended the day with enough gas to get Julia back and forth to work for the week, groceries, and enough money to pay the doctors and meds.  G-d is good, all the time.  I relayed this story to Julia and the kids.  Julia was just as shocked that the bank would cash the checks and was even more shocked that we got the $25 dollar coupon unexpectedly from Kroger.  The kids did not realize how stressed out I was, but they certainly got a lesson in the power of prayer. 

Just thought I would share this with you.  You know, I told G-d if I made it through Law School and got a job before we went bankrupt that I would put a large Sacred Heart of Jesus Statue in our front yard out of witness to our faith and thanksgiving.  (This was not a bribe, I know you cannot ever bribe G-d, but I wanted him to know how grateful I would be when this happened.)    Thanks to the shifting political winds we have lost our entire stock portfolio, and despite my not having been able to find a job yet, and despite being on the verge of bankruptcy due to massive student loan debt, we have never missed a house payment, and the kids have been able to stay at Holy Trinity School and they have never wanted for clothing or food.  We have never been unable to get enough gas to get Julia to work and while our transportation has a combined age of most college graduates, and even with a car getting totaled a year ago, we have always had transportation for our family.  I fully expect and believe that I will be putting up that Statute by this Summer and I am inviting you now to come to the house for its blessing. 

Take care.  As a fellow Christian I hope you enjoyed this anecdote.      

The People Spoke, and it was Blather.

Well, I got up yesterday and stood out on my feet for 13 hours in 20-28 degree weather and wind  handing out Election Slate Cards and talking to voters.  I was so tired last night when I got home that I could not even stay up to watch the rest of the election results and went to bed not knowing who won. 

For those who read Ayn Rand, it is time to shrug.  Save up, invest over seas, and leave.  The have nots stole the election last night just like they steal everything else  The minions of Satan will continue down the road of death.    Evil whisperers spoke into uninformed ears and the willfully ignorant listened.   You simply cannot remove the scales of the blind if they insist on covering their eyes with their hands.   

The entitlement class won last night.  The producers and the tax payers lost.    We need a leader to stand up and call for secession and the Conservative States of America.  We need a leader to stand up and say, "If you want hand outs move to locations who voted for them and leave the producers alone to enjoy the fruits of their labor."   The entitlement class is prepared at gunpoint under the guise of the IRS to steal directly from your pocket. 

Everyone is dissecting the race and hoping to find out what the tea leaves all mean.  It is simple- 1) You cannot run a campaign based on jobs when people don't want to work. 2) You cannot run a campaign of substance in a country that would rather watch the View and Letterman for their news source than pick up a newspaper, book or actually investigate a record. 3) You cannot run a campaign based on values when you have a country that cares more about being non-judgmental and morally relative than it does about having conviction of heart.  4) You cannot run a campaign based upon self-reliance in a country where Americans believe the government is responsible for your welfare.  These are the lessons of the campaign and they are that simple and that pathetic. 

As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord. 

Without a doubt, collectively America is on the path to Greece, default, and bankruptcy at the hands of spendthrifts and Chinese Creditors.  The only way for individual Americans to avoid the path to Greece now is to start investing in accounts untouchable by the feds and start looking at property which is unreachable by the socialists in charge of the Checkbook in Washington. 

This country is finished.  In a democratic process where the right to vote is extended equally to felons, the dependent and the slothful as it is to those producing for the economy and common good, the process itself is doomed to fail.   Stock Futures are down, and rightfully so.  We are on a fiscal cliff and every Obama Voter just helped pushed the country over the edge.  I hope you are happy. 

Don't complain to me when you are living in the streets.  Don't complain to me when you cannot afford to get to work or fill your tank.  Don't complain to me when you are denied medical care.  Don't complain because you cannot pray in the public square or your church is forced to stop services because of its convictions of conscience.   Don't complain to me when the government tries to tax your guns and bullets out of existence.  Don't complain to me when your boss lays you off because of increased government regulations.  Don't complain to me when your agency gets cut because the chickens come home to roost and there simply is no more tax dollars to steal to fund it. 

I hope the President FAILS.  I hopes his Policies FAIL.  I hope we have gridlock in Congress the next four years in Washington.  I hope that we have Benghazi-gate, that we appoint special counsel to investigate the green company investments and operation fast and furious.  I hope that Obama is so bogged down with every battle over the decisions he made the last four years that he prays to his god for deliverance from his office.  I do not unite with Romney in hoping the best for our President.  His values, his policies and his morals and his positions are a total anathema.  

I pray for G-d to forgive us for our failings.  He cannot, however, spare us from the decisions we make of our own free will.  That is on us, and now it is on the heads of our children.  Collectively, last night this country took one more step down the path of good intentions that ultimately leads to the gates of hell.  

Democrats vs. Republicans, Obama vs. Romney

What are the Differences 

Oakland's Occupy Movement

                    

      Republicans might throw mud in campaigns, just like the liberals, but they do not react the same way as Democrats when they lose or when they get the short end of the stick. All you have to do is compare the Washington Mall after the Tea Party Rally, which had over a Million people and either any Occupy Movement Site, (professed environmentalists by the way) who defecated or masturbated publically.  

 

 

The Teachers trashing the Wisconsin Capital.

                                                  

Notice the cleanliness of a miilion tea partiers?

All the TEA Party members before the rally.

      Furthermore, Republicans, in deference to law enforcement despite violation of their Second Amendment rights, turned over their guns in New Orleans after Katrina hit.  This was at the same time when Armed National Guard had to go into the Ninth Ward to stop the random gunfire.  Those are just two examples hat come to mind, Hopefully, you understand.  Precincts controlled by Democrats have a MUCH higher crime rate.  That is a statistical fact. 

 

Thomas Sowell speaks out about expected Race Riots if Obama Loses the Election.

     

       Please, if you care at all about this Country I am begging you to vote for Romney this election.  

Doubled Debt, Triple Gas Prices, Printing Money to buy our own bonds with interest.

A rally of unemployed workers.

       

          We have a doubled National Debt in the last four years, and if you include those no longer able to report their unemployment due to them exhausting their benefits, the Unemployment Rate is actually around 17%. 

Nuclear Bomb Schematic

      Furthermore, our foreign relations and status in the World Political stage has so weakened during the last four years that Al-Qaeda has rebuilt five training camps in Western Iraq. Iran has the bomb. North Korea has Missiles capable of hitting the US. Obama has done NOTHING to stop China's sales of weapons to North Korea. 

  

This is a Chinese Missile Launcher in North Korea. 

      Finally, we are looking at three SCOTUS appointments in the next four years.  Obama, as a state legislator opposed a bill that would protect babies born alive after failed abortions.  HE WANTED DOCTORS TO JUST LET THE BABIES DIE.  If he puts three more justices on the Supreme Court, you can bet that Obamacare with its death panel and its forced taxpayer funded abortions and abortifacients will stay on the books.  Obama's SCOTUS will severely cut or constrict our Second Amendment rights and Obama will have nothing holding him back since he is ineligible for a third term. 

                                                                               

A Baby.  Not a Clump of Cells.

      I am only devoting this much time explaining my positions on these matters because I know there are reasonable and smart people who may, for whatever reason, still be considering voting for Obama.  There are folks out there who are entirely capable of making a decision based on the facts.

      If you agree, and want to share this, please do because we need to reach as many people as possible before this watershed election.  If you have any questions or wish to disagree with any of the points I have raised here, I encourage you to contact me at charlesmsaunders@hotmail.com and I will be more than happy to provide citations for every fact I asserted.

      If you have gotten this far and read to the end of my rant, I thank you for your time.  If you did not get this far because you refused to look at the truth, then you will never know that you are willfully ignorant to your very core. 

CITATIONS and SOURCES

"But already, there have been questions about the National Guard being heavily deployed in Iraq when there's looting and gunfire in New Orleans, " Page 2 of 3, Page 2: Katrina's Aftermath Could Bring Political Storms - ABC News, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/HurricaneKatrina/katrinas-aftermath-bring-political-storms/story?id=1087910&page=2#.UHuBWlHYwkU (last visited Oct. 14, 2012).

"The historic jazz city became a playground for armed looters, and sporadic gunfire hampered chaotic and widely criticized rescue efforts." Bodies, gunfire and chaos in New Orleans' streets - General News - redOrbit, http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/227788/bodies_gunfire_and_chaos_in_new_orleans_streets/ (last visited Oct. 14, 2012).

"'New Orleans is the bluest area of the red state,' Maginnis said. 'If you had an election tomorrow, you wouldn't have many people even able to vote in New Orleans.' " Page 3 of 3, Page 3: Katrina's Aftermath Could Bring Political Storms - ABC News, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/HurricaneKatrina/katrinas-aftermath-bring-political-storms/story?id=1087910&page=3#.UHuCFVHYwkU (last visited Oct. 14, 2012).

"The Chosunilbo of South Korea is also reporting that a Chinese company that specializes in this type of mobile launcher exported eight of them between 2010 and 2011. South Korean government sources speculated that the vehicle spotted on Sunday “was probably imported from China.”" Shanghaiist in News on April 17, 2012 2:30 PM, China-exported missile launcher spotted in Pyongyang: Shanghaiist, http://shanghaiist.com/2012/04/17/china-exported_missile_launcher_spo.php (last visited Oct. 14, 2012).

"'If Romney wins I'm Starting a Riot (sic),' wrote 'Facey,' who asked, 'Who's WIT ME? (sic)' 'I Hope The USA Is Well Aware That If In The Event This Character Romney Wins The Election, The People Will Start A Country Wide Riot (sic),' tweeted 'John Kramer.' 'I Heard Mitt Romney , Tryna Take Away Food Stamps , If He Do .IMA START A RIOT , IMA START A RIOT (sic),' added 'Tommy Pickles.' 'If Romney wins ima start a riot ima start a riot (sic),' said 'Scorpio King.'" Obama supporters on Twitter threaten to riot if Romney wins election - Spokane Conservative | Examiner.com, http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-supporters-on-twitter-threaten-to-riot-if-romney-wins-election (last visited Oct. 14, 2012).

"At a two-hour meeting Thursday night, some neighbors said protesters urinated in the streets and beat drums in the middle of the night. 'They're defecating on our doorsteps,' said Catherine Hughes, a member of the area's community board, a representative panel that helps funnel local concerns to city officials." Protesters urinating in the streets and defecating on our doorsteps, http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2837357-Protesters-urinating-in-the-streets-and-defecating-on-our-doorsteps (last visited Oct. 15, 2012).

"At a two-hour meeting Thursday night, some neighbors said protesters urinated in the streets and beat drums in the middle of the night. 'They're defecating on our doorsteps,' said Catherine Hughes, a member of the area's community board, a representative panel that helps funnel local concerns to city officials." Protesters urinating in the streets and defecating on our doorsteps, http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2837357-Protesters-urinating-in-the-streets-and-defecating-on-our-doorsteps (last visited Oct. 15, 2012).

" Is there no bottom to the moral pit at #occupy events? An LA Occupier sets a new low bar." Left-Wing Institute For Civil Discourse, http://moonbattracker.com/wordpress/?p=3611 (last visited Oct. 15, 2012).

"A Chinese firm that intelligence agencies believe provided North Korea with the body of an off-road transport vehicle used to carry missiles appears to have a press release on its website that boasts about the sale, U.N. diplomats told Reuters" Louis Charbonneau, Exclusive: China firm boasts about missile-linked North Korea sale: envoys | Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/24/us-korea-north-china-idUSBRE83N05S20120424 (last visited Oct. 15, 2012).

"Iranian military writings describe making a catastrophic nuclear EMP attack to eliminate the United States as an actor on the world stage. Iran has practiced launching missiles to simulate an EMP attack, including from a vessel at sea." Peter Vincent Pry-The Washington Times, PRY: If Iran already has the bomb, what then? - Washington Times, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/15/if-iran-already-has-the-bomb-what-then/?page=all (last visited Oct. 15, 2012).

"During his time in the Illinois Senate, Obama voted against the Born Alive Act, a bill that requires doctors to give care to babies who survive abortions. " Listen: Barack Obama Calls Newborn Baby a "Fetus Outside of the Womb" - Katie Pavlich, http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2012/08/24/listen_barack_obama_calls_newborn_baby_a_fetus_outside_of_the_womb (last visited Oct. 15, 2012).

Fixing Our Education System Using Common Sense and the Market

Fixing Education in the United States: A Five Step Approach.

   

Step one: Evaluate all children using an unbiased third party and assign them a combined score based upon teach-ability, behavior, and intelligence.  This score will enable parents with more difficult students due to disability to receive a larger voucher, and if a student shows promise in a given area such as mathematics or science, the parent can receive a larger voucher for this as well.  Of course, some kind of due process will have to be included in this assessment so parents can either ask for retesting or appeal their child's score based upon other equally accurate criteria. 

            Step two: Give every child a waiver that approximates as closely as possible the total expenditures of the state per pupil.  The amount paid will reflect the total amount that the taxpayers shell out for their yearly education currently.   

            Step three: We independently license teachers to be service providers similar to engineers, lawyers, and doctors.  States set up the education requirements for a teaching license so that anyone who can pass the licensing exam and has a degree in the appropriate area can teach.  That way, chemists can teach chemistry part time, engineers can teach math, etc. and many professionals can give back to the community. 

            Step four: Establish a tier based quota on the total number of students a teacher can accept based on the criteria reached in # 1 and require teaching assistants if that number is exceeded.  That way an excellent teacher who works with very difficult students with autism will earn as much as a teacher of 25 students who have typical learning capacity.  If students are behaviorally challenging due to disability, then their vouchers conceivably can be large enough to pay for an aide for the teacher so long as the student's teach-ability sub-score is equally high.  Teachers who specialize in difficult subject areas will get more money as well because the students doing well in more challenging fields will receive a larger voucher.  

           Step five: Award an annual grade to each teacher based upon objective test criteria or measurable metrics met, as well as parent satisfaction and publish this number.  This will be analogous to scores given to restaurants for following health regulations.  Teachers will have the opportunity to use a due process step at their own expense to either appeal their score or introduce independent objective criteria justifying a higher grade.

            Teachers will be true independent professionals.  In this scenario, teachers can rent church basements, use old storefronts or anything else for space.  They can buy all their own equipment or share it as doctor's associations do.  If Teachers directly received the $9,000.00 plus dollars, the average state expends educating a student then they will easily be able to earn $100-200K per year.  The only real restraint on this will be their individual performance.  The market will rule.       

                 Parents can also contain costs or earn money.  If parents wanted their kids in extracurricular activities, they can ether join leagues similar to Pop Warner or other clubs and pay for it out of their own pocket.  If a parent becomes licensed, and teaches their own kids, then they can get the reimbursement /waiver directly.  Parents can still home school, but they will have to be licensed educators to receive reimbursement.

          This is a win-win plan.  Imagine a world without capital expenditures for huge schools, teacher's unions, and administration heavy budgets.  Teachers will earn wages similar to other professionals and if they are good, they will earn both parent and student respect.  (Many have that now, but it will inherently increase due to the close relationship the teachers will form with their students.)  The best part is that Students will be the real winners, because teachers will share equal interest in their success.  Students will have the status of clients and teachers will treat them as such.  Teachers will have the status of real professionals.  Parents and students will fight to get the best ones.