You're a what?

After the breast feeding doll, and ensuing comments, I've come to realize something new about myself. Don't you hate when that happens, by the way? When you realize something so major about the basic makeup of your character that you didn't already know.

Did I tell you I'm 25, it feels late to have such major realizations...I take that back, the reason I'm 25 and just realizing these things is mostly because I'm just as new to them as they are to me. It's funny that they say people don't change, but I am here to tell you, I have.

I'm like a 150 degree turn around from the me I was 10 years ago, and sometimes I wonder where that came from. As it turns out, I'm pretty liberal. I was not at 15. I was uber-conservative. It's funny what a bit of college at a *liberal* arts school will do for that. It's even funny, though not a bit humorous at some of the things I cared about then. I truly cared about some really touch subjects that I won't mention here; and by cared, I mean as though it affected me in anyway what other people put in their bodies, had done to their bodies, etc. Now, not only do I not care, (I don't care so much I'm almost apathetic to the rest of the human race, that doesn't directly affect my life in some way.) but I don't just don't think it matters.

My super conservative self would have said, but what about the long-term effects it may have down the road? Your child has to grow up in this world. Yeah, well, that's fine. I will raise my child with the values system I have, instill his brain with a moral code that's fairly strict, and then reinforce that learning with my own behaviors. However, I'm not going to teach my child the very sheltered point of views that I learned growing up in a Baptist church. No, I'm not slamming the Baptists, I think we have come a long way in this much more modern world. Christians in general for that matter. But my point is, I want my child to be able to witness, be an upstanding Christian boy (man, husband, father, etc) without feeling the need to judge, condescend, or treat others not of his faith differently. Coexisting is necessary in this day and age; and the more friends you have at the bottom, the more you can reach out to.

Back on topic. I'm not so conservative anymore to think that breast feeding has anything to do with Disney Princesses dressing like hookers or not being able to learn that beauty is on the outside. I'm not so naieve to think that if I or a friend is breast feeding in my home or their own that my child doesn't need to know what that is. I would much rather invite questions than not. I would much rather my child, and any of his friends know what breast feeding is, why we do it, etc so that they can support their wives, girlfriends, etc when they reach that point in their lives because that is so important. It's not taboo, it's feeding a baby for heaven's sake. It's not a grown up activity, it's not something to be ashamed of, or teach our children to be ashamed of.

Neither is sex, by the way. That doesn't mean I'll be comfortable doing it, but it's still important to me that my child understand the basics, the whys and (ick) hows, and most importantly how to do it safely once he is ready to learn about it. I'm pretty sure I would hate for him to be the last kid on the playground to know what he'll be doing with his penis in (hopefully) 15 years. Because, let me assure you, it's not a comfortable thing to be the only kid who doesn't know. And it's most definitely not comfortable to be the kid who has to ask the other kids stupid questions because you don't know what happens and you don't want to talk to your parents because they might accuse you of having sex. I remember this girl in HS asking just mortifying questions, and I had to fight to keep from 1)giggling at her and 2) telling everyone of my friends who didn't hear the questions in the first place, because this girl did not need to be asking the things she asked. (To answer you wonderings, No, human penises don't look slimy like dog ones, ok.)

I guess my point is, there are still things that it's ok to be conservative about, but there are times when it's necessary to learn, talk about, educate, and be open to something that you really didn't think you ever would be.

Look, it's 3 days later, and I'm still hung up on those hideous facebook comments. I got so totally off track that I'm not even sure how I ended up where I did, and I definitely don't know how I got here. Don't you hate when you're driving down the road, and you're where you were supposed to be. Somehow, your brain drove you there with you basically being on co-pilot the whole time. It's kind of like that today for me.

Hmm, let's try politics today?

Yesterday was a landmark day in history. Possibly more historically important than electing a minority president. Last night, the United States government passed a bill to create a "free" healthcare system for all.

I wasn't 100% sure about the ups and downs of this issue (I know, my civic duty, right.) but living in a red state, I haven't heard a single good thing about it.

My biggest possible issue with this bill is that the federal government has NO way to pay for it, and has left many parts of it unfunded then just handed it off to the states to come up with a way to pay for their mess. Here in Oklahoma, we are already having massive budget shortfalls as a backlash from the near depression we were in last year. My school district alone must cut millions of dollars by the end of the year.

That translates to not hiring teachers when others retire and/or get laid off. That hasn't happened here yet, thankfully, but there have been many retire or quit; and they weren't replaced. When asked why this was, the answer was simple. It's cheaper to overfill a classroom and pay a small fine to the department of ed than pay a teacher salary. As an employment of the school system that frightens me. They are blatantly breaking rules because they CAN'T afford to hire someone new. As a parent that ENRAGES me. The federal government, and the state government, have quality markers in place to ensure that our children, the future of our nation receive the best possible education they can. And they aren't. Obviously.

We are slipping yearly in our nation's education ranking. That's ridiculous. We have so much over abundance of money that we can spend an entire legislative session fighting over public healthcare that, upon last checking my news stations website, 88% of people polled were against. Let's funnel some of that money into our schools. Let's, instead of spending BILLIONS and TRILLIONS of dollars of tax money on public "free" healthcare, spend money on educating and training our future. Please. Let's even funnel a little money into our teacher prep programs so that we are learning how to teach effectively. I'm ok with that. I'm even OK with teachers whose students aren't improving having to go back at their own expense and learning some new things, so that in 50 years, maybe my son won't be living in a poor nation because it's leaders are undereducated.

Back to healthcare. A friend from Canada said that their public, free healthcare system costs them 44% of their income. That's not free folks. That's not even close. And really, I love everyone out there in blog world, but not enough to pay that much of my taxes in for free healthcare.

I don't think that people who are uninsured are lazy, are spending their money on the wrong thing, or are mismanaging their money. I think it's expensive, and the answer is not to force us to submit to their plans. We elect them, they make the rules, we get no say? Really, this is still America right?

My husband makes $19 an hour (it's rude to talk about money, I know, but let's just get it over with). He drives a 10 year old vehicle that will be paid off in 5 months on a 12 month note. We have no mortgage. We have nice cell phones with internet and not just cable, but satellite TV. But, those are things we enjoy, and yet, he doesn't have health insurance? Why, because he rarely gets sick. He refuses to pay a ton of money in, never go to the doctor, and never see a return.

I have an insurance option at work that I don't take. Why? Because. No really, because I have tribal healthcare and I get paid back for not opting in on my work insurance. The tribal care is no cost (for now), but it's a pain to get treated. Each time I go, I wait at least 2 hours. My dad went last week for an ear infection. He arrived at nine in the morning and was sent away during their lunch hour, and was seen after it. It's federally ran.

Archer is also covered on this type of health care. I looked into private health insurance for him, but didn't care to pay $180 and a $5k deductable. For my private insurance, FYI the co-pay just went up to $50. My doctor charges $65. I just can't see not getting that $200 back a month to only pay $15 to see our PCP.

If an emergency comes up, that would really suck, and I'm thinking about looking into accident protection for Chance. But honestly, like I said, I would basically have to do it behind his back because he HATES insurance.

This new bill mandates everyone must have a healthcare plan. Again I say, isn't this America? Since when do our elected representatives get to TELL us what we must do. I'm down with things that are our social responsibilities, I'm ok with them telling me things I shouldn't and can't do, but I'm just not so down with being told I must pay a larger tax percentage every year, plus pay for insurance, PLUS not get the money back I'm getting right now. It's nuts.

I do realize that there are some goods to this. There are people who need healthcare coverage, but that's not my problem. Is that horribly selfish of me? I hope not, because socially, it's not my responsibility to pay more taxes to cover some one else's insurance cost. It's just not. And not just that, but this will lower quality across the board. This bill will affect everyone.

If I'm wrong please tell me. Like I said, I'm not as informed as I should be, for that I am responsible.

President in School?

There is a big uproar right now about the President speaking in schools via Satellite and internet.

The local news station does a "2 cents" segment where the reporter talks about an issue, shares his opinion and viewers call, text or email in a response.

I was shocked at the amount of people who felt that this was brainwashing or abuse of power. One person even called the President Hitler for doing this.

I will say, I did not vote for Obama. I don't agree with everything he is doing, but I fully believe that as the president of the United States, he does deserve some respect. For anyone to suggest he's Hitler for wanting to speak with America's children is insane to me.

I can only imagine as a child how cool it would have been to be able to listen to the president talk, in an address targeted toward me and my friends. After first hearing about this I even told Chance that (if) when I get a teaching job, it would be so cool to talk to a representative or the governor and have them do something similar to this.

I also think it would be super cool for the president to make his address a weekly thing and do shout-outs to specific schools and have specific things to say to them. (ie, go Mustangs or whatever) The memories that would create would be kept forever, whether the childs parents like the president or not. My great uncles remembered FDR's fireside radio chats, and still talked about them up until the time they died. I would love for my child to have something similar to this.

Now, I say all of this information with the perspective that the information shared by the president is extremely generic. I wouldn't want him pushing universal health care on my third grader, but I would love for him to talk about some of his school days and experiences, as well as a few words of encouragement.

ETA: According to the White House this address will be strictly educational and not policy.