The Random Cactus

Little Ones

2006-11-30T12:31:00.000-08:00

Raising a child is difficult. Raising a child in today's society is a daunting task. Raising a child who is raising a child is scary!

My youngest son is a teenage parent-to-be. His life changed drastically; football, his passion, has taken a back seat to work. His school, a private Christian school, kicked him out. (We knew this would happen as it is in the contract). They didn't kick him out as punishment; a pregnant teen is a distraction, and since the school is K-12 it is a distraction the little ones don't need. I understand all this. Likewise, Stephanie was kicked out and had to give up her passion, cheerleading, for obvious reasons. She is a national champion, and to give up the fame and applause has to be a difficult thing to do!

But my son has made a giant leap forward. he has become a man. He didn't bolt and run, he didn't urge her to get an abortion, and didn't blame her for the results of their action. He stood up and told us he was responsible for what happened, even though what they did was mutual. He wants to be by his girl and his baby and will do what it takes to make their lives comfortable.

In today's society this is rare.

But what shocked me the most was how they were initially treated. It seems that Christians eat their own when they sin. Rather than reach out to two young kids who messed up, many have treated them like lepers. It's not contagious! Friends evaporate. Jokes start. Fingers point blame at the parents. Angry emails appear. Kids are no longer allowed to spend the night or go to a movie with them. It's no wonder so many teens rush to abortion as a premanent solution to pregnancy!

Even more surprising is the number of people who support these two, all of them unlikely candidates. These are people I never thought would rally and come to the rescue but would instead wag their tongues and shun us. We have more than enough baby furniture and clothing, and promises of more to come. Family members have overwhelmed us with support and kind words.

What they did was indeed sin. But even in sin there is redemption, forgiveness, and love. God has forgiven them; people take a little longer it seems. They've confessed their sins and asked forgiveness and that's that. They will live with the consequences of their actions from now on. But, remember, it is God who opens and closes the womb, and therefore no baby should be aborted. This baby never asked to be born, and has done no wrong. We'll help them raise it, and they want it, and that settles it.

And by the way it's a girl, the first in our entire family for several generations. I can't wait to see little Madison.

2006-11-20T08:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you for flying with us! Now, fasten your seatbelts. I want to try something I saw in a cartoon!

Gas Pains

2006-11-20T08:19:00.000-08:00

Ignorance is contagious. I saw this when someone at work said that gas prices will go up after the election, and a bunch of other pundits jumped on the bandwagon. Folks, you're right, but for the wrong reasons.
George Bush did not lower the gas prices before the election any more than he raised them afterward. Yes, he was an oil man. Yes, his father was an oil man. Dick Cheney had a hand in the energy business as well. But the main point is this: they had nothing to do with gas prices!
It's called Supply and Demand. When demand goes up, prices go up. When demand declines, so do prices. It's not to make excess profit; prices go up primarily because it will cost more for the companies to make more and source more product. They have to also change gasoline blends with winter coming on (gasoline in the summer resists evaporation, winter blend is formulated to evaporate because the "volatiles" tend not to boil off in the cold, and your car is hard to start if you use sumemr gas in winter).
But there is a sinister element out there: OPEC. If we could just produce our own oil, convert it to gasoline or diesel, add domestically-produced ethanol, and use that in our cars, we'd at least eliminate one variable. Sure, prices would fluctuate with demand, just as they do now. But our domestic market would control it, not countries that hate us!
I'm amazed that Georgia doesn't have even one retail outlet for E85, the gasoline-alcohol mix touted by General Motors. Doesn't sound like Georgia is even interested in alternative fuels. Case in point: I asked the tag office what I had to do to get the Alternative Fuel Vehicle license plates, as I am contemplating a LPG conversion on my truck. No response. I looked on their web site and found scant information. Basically it said I could use propane or CNG, or maybe hydrogen. That's about it. No tax incentives exist. In fact, the tags cost more than regular tags, and no longer allow me to use the HOV lanes if I drive an alternatively-fueled vehicle. Sigh.

I want to do something about the situation, but my options are limited. I guess I'll just have to finish working on my propane-powered lawnmower project this winter and go from there.

What it all means

2006-11-08T16:12:00.000-08:00

Well, the dust is settling on the election grounds and, finally, all those mind-numbing campaign ads will die off. About the time those roadside campaign placards have finally been harvested we will witness Democrats being sworn into office. The truth about this election probably won’t be heralded in the news media, but it is clear: the Republicans didn’t lose, Conservatism won.

The Democrat Party is hardly the first thing that comes to mind when I think of conservatism, but they dressed themselves up as conservatives and won. The Republicans were swept into office in 1994 with a mandate to clean house: eliminate pork, demolish the Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts, promote a balanced budget with an eye toward fixing Social Security, and make the clouds rain soda pop and gumdrops. And wide-eyed freshman Republicans went to Washington, rolled up their sleeves, and... became the very Democrats they ran against!

I am not upset at all that the Republicans got spanked at the polls. They deserved it. They were at the helm when the government swelled like a dead pig in the summer sun. They were the ones elected to fix that back in 1994, and reaffirmed in 2000 when George Bush came into office. It just turned out that once the Republicans got comfortable in D.C. they forgot why they were there.

Democrats are there now, and though they don’t have the numbers to do everything they want, they can do some of it. Expect the following:

Donald Rumsfeld’s head on a pike. He has become the whipping boy for the war in Iraq, and the Republicans will offer his head on a platter to take it off the agenda. Condi is next. She’s a threat to Hillary.
They will make political hay about all the resignations from cabinet positions. Hey, this is normal for any second-term president in the waning years. It happened to Bill Clinton too, remember? It’s just normal. They are making a career/retirement move. Can’t blame them for that.
The minimum wage will increase. Count on it. Will it help or hurt businesses? Who can say. But you can wager your entire life savings that it will be a priority.
Illegal immigration will come up and yield an amnesty program. It won’t be called that of course; most Americans are solidly against it. They are not against immigrants, just the illegal kind, and even more against having terrorists sneak across what is, essentially, a big pasture with a rickety fence. Even George Bush is noncommittal on the issue. Secure borders will just be a smoke-and-mirrors proposition, at best. The Republicans were scared to lose potential hispanic voters, and so were the Democrats, so nothing was—or will be—done about the open borders. Meanwhile, Hamas is sneaking into the country from our southern border unimpeded.
Our nation’s enemies will do something to test the Democrat’s mettle, to feel out what kind of spine they have. It’s coming. Go buy some batteries and duct tape.
Get up and scream if you like, but in reality, not a whole lot will change. You’ll still pay a lot for gas, still press 1 for English, still not have a plan for alternative fuels development (my number one political issue), and will still go to work every day and pay income taxes, not a flat tax. And it’ll be all right. You’ll survive. We’re going to have good days and bad days regardless of the party in power.

Still, I am waiting for the day when something is done about government spending two dollars for every nickel it takes in, and a time when people think the government is not responsible for being their Mommy and Daddy. A time when people accept that life has risks and responsibilities and take responsibility for their own screw ups. I long for the day I see a high-level politician standing up for a real belief and not just making a speech based upon talking points generated by poll numbers. The Republicans couldn’t deliver, and neither will the Democrats. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Any government that suddenly realizes it can vote itself a pay raise is doomed. We need real reform. We need to shrink the government. But it won’t happen any time soon.

P.S. At least Tuesday in Georgia was a Sonny day!

For more news, go visit Matt Drudge.

Election Day

2006-11-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

Many people don't give a thought to voting, but I have always held it in high esteem. I guess it comes from growing up in a house where political opinions flew like daggers around the dinner table; we ate, we debated, we ate some more, and finally we found a common point we could all agree with. People have fought for the right to vote. Not everyone has the privilege. Some people around the world only dream about voting but will either have to vote for the sole dictator on the ballot, or they are not allowed. It saddens me that people in this country don't seem to care.
I told my kids that voting is important; if they didn't vote, they had no right to complain about the condition of the nation. They won't get to vote for every topic, every little decision, or even the color of the paint in the courthouse. But their voice will be heard. It's something I've hammered into their brains since they could talk. It paid off.
I was proud when my sons showed up at the polls this morning, eager to vote, ignoring the rain, with smiles on their faces and knowledge of all the candidates and their positions. We didn't all vote for the same candidates, but that's fine with me. The point is they took part in the process. And that was all I wanted.

I've linked this to The Rooftop Blog.