The Illustrated Star

My husband and I have been married for 32 years. We've been together nearly 40 years. Neither of our families was wealthy. HIs family had so many kids and my family just never seemed to accumulate wealth. I went to college on a Pell Grant. My husband went to college for one year because his Dad was a self made man and believed if people wanted college they would pay for it themselves. Nobody gave us anything because nobody was in the position to give us anything. We never asked.

Our first Christmas two months after we married was bittersweet. We lived in a small, bug infested suburban apartment and we were so strapped for cash we couldn't afford a tree. I guess Christmas was on a Friday or Saturday because two days before Christmas we found a medium sized tree in the dumpster. We took it home, put it in water. I borrowed old (and probably hazardous) lights from my parents, bought pressed glass ornaments from the dollar bin at Pier One and our tree was set-except for the star. My Christmas trees have always had stars. The star signaled the shepherds and wise men. The star signaled hope and gave direction. I went and dug out my colored pencils and drew a star. The star was flat, made from thick scrap illustration board from my class. But I drew it so that it looked three dimensional. It has been on our tree for 32 years.

Our Christmases came and went. I started each child on a collection of ornaments. Mike had cars. Bobby had puppies. Christi had cute little animals. As they grew, the collections grew. And then the kids moved out, married and now have their own Christmas trees with their own pieces of our Christmases on them. I will never have a designer tree. Oh yes, they're beautiful and make wonderful backdrops for the holiday photos, but my trees and my ornaments are little pieces of my memory. Memories don't always conform to fashion. And they shouldn't.

When I look at my kids, none of whom are wealthy or in prestigious careers, but who are good people who work hard and pay their bills, it makes me fear for them. It seems that virtues like honesty and honor, trust and faith, love and respect are no longer part of the fabric of the American Dream. Fame, notoriety, provocative behavior and greed seem to trump the sweetness of what used to be goals. I'm not sure who speaks for my children anymore. They have no champions in their corner. All I can cling to is that time changes everything and life is more a roller coaster ride than a road. Let's hope this pendulum swings back before we lose more than just Christmas, but our souls.

Recreating the 1960's

It seems to me that lately we have a generation-the grandchildren of those who marched in Selma and who fought for civil rights for all people-intent on reliving and recreating those years. While I understand the legacy of slavery 150 years ago resonated in the dissolution of families and culture, there's nobody alive now who was a slave or a slave owner. Most of the victims of Jim Crow laws are quite elderly and unless I'm unaware of it, the openly racist tactics of pushing people of color into second class status have been over for quite awhile.

We have programs designed to help minority students acquire a high school diploma and even to advance to college and professional schools. So why are so many students failing to take advantage of the system set in place to help them achieve? We've culturally simplified the tests-we even offer a safety net of tutoring, retests and mentoring programs to help the historic underachievers. Here's a little secret some people may not know-Anglo kids fail too. And they have far fewer safety nets in place. The idea that being white somehow protects you is a joke and half to these kids.

So we move the most recent unpleasantness. Like the Trayvon Martin case, the Michael Brown case was tried in the court of public opinion by those who have social and political agendas. In both cases, evidence was misrepresented by reporters who should have known better. In a similar way, agents and provocateurs used both of these cases as leverage to get the locals to open their wallets. Be careful when someone claims to be here to help-ask who they are helping beyond themselves. As the result of this false "evidence" rioting was promoted and occurred. The end result of this has yet to be seen, but there's no doubt that some businesses and their associated jobs will go away. This means that as the result of rioting Ferguson will have fewer job opportunities and is almost guaranteed to drop in terms of the ability to sustain itself.

The complaints of the 1960's were discrimination in housing, in education and in jobs. With fewer businesses, there's less tax revenue meaning the schools get less money. Few businesses also means fewer jobs and more people on welfare. It's almost as if this was the endgame for the entire situation was to create more poor, minority people. When you look at the protests, they are based on complaints that are legally flimsy. While nobody wants someone killed, neither do citizens want petty thieves and bullies wandering the streets. For all the public complaints about Michael Brown's death there have to be those who know the real background. Brown was kicked out by his parents and by his grandmother-that's not what happens to "gentle giants". Brown had to make up high school credits after graduation. That's not what kids with a bright future do. That is what kids who have a history of disrupting classes, bullying peers and skipping school do. So why are so many so willing to protest? I'm not saying all cops are golden, but it seems like certain cases have been hand picked by DOJ and the media for some purposes beyond the peaceful promotion of racial equality.

Who is pulling the strings on this and why?

Subjective Judgement: A Comparison

When we look at the instance of Darren Wilson shooting Michael Brown, judgement seems to line up largely according to political lines. Of course those who had seen the shooting, who had no dog in the hunt and who gave anonymous testimony were probably the most accurate in terms of what happened and when. But the rest of the "witnesses" seem to cling to what they want the story to be even when it is refuted by evidence. They would never tolerate that kind of treatment of one of their own. So it breaks down into a game of "Who's The Hypocrite?"

Twitter also plays these games. I like twitter-probably a little too much. It's a good way to get information quickly and allows for a free flow of back and forth if you choose. Twitter is not the only site that has this kind of dubious ambiance, but it's the best known. My biggest problem with twitter is the nagging tattle tail enforcement of their "rules". Twitter's "rules" seem to change at will. And enforcement of those rules is based on whichever little meathead is in charge of the site at the time. For example: The New York Times published the address of Darren Wilson opening up not just him, but all of his neighbors, to attack. The two writers who did this hid behind a cloak of arrogant journalistic hubris. A few hours later two other websites posted the writers' addresses-one in Chicago and the other in New Orleans. I copied them and posted them AS DID MANY OTHER PEOPLE. My account was suspended. 

Keep in mind that tax rolls are public records. While I didn't do the heavy lifting of sifting through tax rolls, I don't think suspending my account makes sense when other subsequent people posted them as well and seemingly were not banned. Furthermore, if it is wrong for me-a private citizen who COPIED addresses from two other blogs then why is it not wrong for these self-important trumped up reporters to post Wilson's address exposing him and his neighbors to violence? What kind of game is twitter playing here? If they want to be the arbiters of what is right and wrong, fine. But by God do not get on a high horse over distant reporters' addresses when you allow them to point out a man who's life is in danger by publicly issue threats from the New Black Panthers. If it is wrong for one, it is wrong for all. I am willing to abide by that, but are the New York Times or Twitter?

Today

Today is better.
I am not going to subscribe to the notion that the wave election of last week is the cause but it certainly helped. It's nice to know you aren't alone in your angst. That we now have some government paid clown telling us what Tea Party types always assumed-that ACA is not sustainable and that the data given to the CBO was all lies-finding out the Ivy League "expert" quoted by one and all on the DNC thinks we are a bunch of inbred boobs pretty much dooms him to a limited income and future.

I started painting little four inch canvases for the holidays. I play to put a loop of ribbon on them and sell them as the school bazaar for money for competition. Maybe then some of my students will compete....maybe. Anyway, painting has altered my mindset for the better. I got a big canvas and I have my drawing ready. It's time to paint.

Tired

Perhaps it is the world we are living in.
Perhaps it is my age.
I am tired.
So tired that if I could I would quit.
It isn't that my job is any more difficult than it was before. Nor is it that I am incapable of doing my job well. But I am losing my grip. I notice that I miss having a walk on a cool October morning. I don't have time to bake, to sew, to draw. I don't have time to clean. My house is a disaster area because between my "full time" job that lasts days on in and my husband's pieced together quilt of part time work, nobody is at home in any amount of time. Dustbunnies are flourishing under my bed. What laundry I wash and dry seldom gets folded and put away. The cursory cleaning I do of the kitchen and bath keeps the Health Dept at bay, but in reality it creates a lonely world because I am too embarrassed to have anyone come over.
I am so tired.
I am so sad.
Sometimes I am scared. The world has become a scary place. It's safer and more secure when you are the World's Cop than when you are the World's Piggybank. I love how nations that revile us are so quick to stick out their hands. In the meantime, here at home we have a president who seems disinterested in the heavy lifting of governing. He leads an alphabet soup of  Federal agencies and offices that seem to be nothing more than organized theft and spy rings intent on stealing from and spying on people like me. I see my kids struggle. They put off buying homes. They put off having kids. And these are the very people who should be parents. In the meantime ignorant inbred folks breed like bunnies assured a Federal handout will come with every new kiddo.

What has happened to us? When did we allow small groups to dictate to the large ones? When did we replace rule of law with the rule of who is loudest? I watch the news and the protesters in Ferguson are little different than those mobs that call themselves ISIS in Syria and Iraq. They only want their views expressed and they're willing to kill and main anyone who dares to have a different view. This is not the way it used to be. And it's not the way it should be. What has happened to us?

Welcome to Ebola Central

I live in the Dallas area. My son and daughter in law live mere blocks from the first Ebola patient, less than a quarter of a mile from the other. They are all of the same age, hang out at the same restaurants, bars and theaters. There's hookah bars, open air fruit stands, dog parks, and more all within the same area both nurses lived. And my son and his wife are there.

The head of the CDC says they can't catch Ebola from casual contact. But then they make all workers wear hazmat suits. We have a county judge, who is incidentally up for reelection, literally tramping through the contaminated apartment without any protective gear. He says he does it because "that's the way I would want my family treated. " Bullshit. He did it because there's a camera there. And since then, this local weasel who got his positions through Democrat party manipulations in the county, Clay Jenkins has sought publicity at every turn. In the meantime, after his little show for the press, he goes home to his family including a nine year old daughter that attends public schools in Highland Park. Imagine the fear of other parents not knowing if their child will be the one who picks up the virus thanks to this man's selfish behavior.

But it's more than that. I am genuinely sorry Mr. Duncan died. Nobody should have to suffer that fate. But since he KNEW he had been exposed and LIED to come here, I think we can pretty much write off any of his fiancee's claims to anger at his treatment. There is now a story floating that Duncan didn't tell the nurse the first time that he had been in WEST Africa, just that he came from Africa. Dallas is in the middle of the nation. It's simply not unreasonable to think that such a disease would show up in New York or Miami or Atlanta before Dallas. There are also reports that in the early stages the mild fever before the full onset can be controlled with Tylenol. So even the CDC's touchless temporal scans would not suffice to find the sick person. It's like a particularly gruesome version of Where's Waldo.

I went to the State Fair-a large gathering. I've been feeling queasy all day. Perhaps it's simply psychosomatic. Perhaps it was the heat. I refuse to  limit my life because of something brought here through carelessness and selfishness. But having said that, I find myself using hand sanitizer frequently. I send kids to the nurse for the least thing. I call my kids daily to the point that I can hear their eyes rolling. I know the weakest-the elderly and the very young-are often the targets of this disease. I worry about my Mom who at 85 is already battling enough chronic disease. I worry about my grandson who has just started preschool and could be exposed through sheer ignorance to this disease. I ache with worry.

And in the meantime, the market has had its fourth down day, rumors are that Soros is selling short, we have a government more interested in circling the wagons than solving the problem. Between the CDC, IRS, NSA, EPA I'm truly not sure what will be left after Obama leaves office. Let us pray.

What's Wrong....

I've posted so many blogs about these issues. Many of them interlock which makes them so much more difficult to fix. But I personally need to outline what has happened so that I can deal with the scope of what this administration has accomplished in regards to altering our way of life.

1. Bribes: Before the heat of the election had even cooled, people were being offered "easy money". The most obvious form of this was "Cash for Clunkers." This poorly designed program was said to be created to get older, less environmentally sound vehicles off the road. The funded amount was supposed to last at least two months. I don't think it even lasted two weeks. The problem is that people traded in older PAID FOR and ended up taking new cars, using the bonus as downpayment and ended up with more car payments. The last thing low income people need is MORE DEBT, but that's exactly what Obama created. What is more, those older cars were very often good enough to drive to work, but rather than recycling them for parts or using parts from these cars to replaced damaged cars, all they did was crush the cars making them essentially useless except as scrap.

Other bribes include bonuses for hybrid cars, bonuses for buying homes in certain key areas, bonuses for teaching in Title IX schools and so on. It sounds like free money, but they all come with strings attached and a cost.

2. Obamacare: I refuse to call this the "Affordable Care Act" because nothing about it is affordable. It was pushed by DEMOCRATS onto Americans under the mistaken cause of providing insurance for the uninsured. If you care to look at recent stats there are almost exactly the same number of uninsured people in this country now as there were five years and several billion dollars ago. ACA was designed as a method of surreptitiously taxing the middle class via insurance so that the money could be used as a kind of slush fund for the Obama administration's agenda. Agreements were made to deny tort reforms, which are proven to lower costs of medical care, in order to get the Trial Lawyers' Association's support. Agreements were made behind closed doors with Big Pharma by the DEMOCRATS to prevent any competition from overseas pharmaceutical manufacturers driving up the cost of medicine. And then to make sure all bases were covered, they added a tax on all medical devices which also drives up bills. Most of us who have insurance are seeing much higher premiums and deductibles that make the concept of insurance almost laughable because most people can't afford to pay the deductible. Add to this mess the sneaky way the increases in premiums and cancellations are being held mere days after the midterm elections and you have a hot mess.

3. Corruption: Oh let me count the ways.
-Fast and Furious-Now former AG Holder is still in contempt of Congress, still hasn't testified and still holds the record for being the most obnoxious recent resident of the hot seat.
-Benghazi-We don't know who called the stand down. We don't know why. We haven't heard from any of the survivors (although I think a book is coming out soon). We have a White House obviously stonewalling. I seriously don't think it's Hilary. I think Valerie Jarrett is Soros' agent in place and she's doing a great deal of the heavy lifting. This probably explains why Obama never reads his security briefings anymore.
-IRS-Really....seriously....a building full of accountants and lawyers-people who love paper more than life itself-and they lose documents? Nobody believes this. Nobody. Not even the people claiming to believe it.
-NSA-Ongoing and hi-did you find those letters I lost last month?
-Snooping on journalists-you'd think this would piss off the media. After all, Obama has developed a reputation for aloofness only equaled by Richard Nixon. He refused them access to public events, he has them locked in closets, beaten by security guards, chased by Secret Service and yet still the mainstream media loves him like an abused puppy. Please media-get help.

Pray for the Children

As a teacher I have a tender spot for children, small animals and babies of all breeds. When I was young, I was hopeful. I thought there was a future where I could have a home and children and a job I loved. It wasn't unrealistic because most people were capable of achieving those modest goals. I am not sure what happened along the way, but I feel a great deal of sadness when I look at my own children. What kind of world have we given them?

My kids are the ones you don't read about in the newspaper. We are not rich so they couldn't be spoiled. They participated in school activities, cared about their grades, sought college or at least some training. As young adults they worked at jobs. Some of them were not the deluxe careers sought by some young adults, but it paid the rent and the bills. My kids have struggled. Despite college degrees, the jobs are few and far between. This group more than any other has borne the brunt of economic savagery wrought by this administration. While the president claims to love the middle class, he dines and golfs with the one percent he claims to hate.

I just got off the phone with my daughter. Married two years, she works two jobs to the tune of 12 hours a day. Her husband works with autistic children and has just finished his Masters. They can barely afford their bills and money woes are taking a toll. She has already told me that she sees no way they can ever afford children, much less a house or any of the other rites of passage. Their problems started when her paid off car was hit by an uninsured driver. She was forced to buy a used car which right now are where new cars were just a couple of years back. There is no other way for her to get to work. She is very sad.

My oldest son, newly married, just moved into a small older duplex. He and his wife are trying hard to save money to buy their own home, but just yesterday a driver ran a red light and hit my daughter in law's paid off Toyota because as the other driver said " I didn't think I had to stop at this intersection" (There's a light there.) This comes on the heels of my son being hit by a guy in a Chrysler who was too busy fiddling with his phone to stop at the light. So they too are stuck with two car payments and no way to avoid the additional expense.

My youngest son, 25, has only recently been able to afford to move out. The rents in this area are ridiculous unless you want to live in a war zone. As it is his expenses are claimed to the penny with insurance, gas, food and child care rising every month.

This is what happens when you have people in power more concerned about agenda over efficiency. I look at the young faces in my class and I wonder what the future holds. Our borders are insecure-rumors persist that ISIS is gathering in Juarez, the cost of everything is rising and it seems that the administration is more concerned in starting a civil war than in running the country. All I can do is pray. I raised my kids to be good people and they are good people. They deserve better than this.

Using Children for Extortion

The story unfolding along the southern border of the United States is not new to those of us who live there. For years there has been a steady stream of undocumented workers who are here illegally. The popular chant is that they only come to work. That should explain the erosion of wages that are occurring under the Obama regime. Oh sure, they talk a good game about "living wages" that are unsustainable for most small businesses, but continue to ignore journeymen plumbers, electricians, machinists and carpenters that are simply priced out of the market by a surge of unchecked workers who may or may not be qualified to build your home. (As an aside, in the chichi upper class environs of McKinney TX a few years back, a custom builder was found to have used uncertified workers -most likely illegals-to wire houses. Only later when houses started having fires were the houses discovered to have been not up to code. This was hushed up with out of court settlements)

So those problems along with identity theft, spikes in uncompensated claims for emergency,fire, police, water, energy and housing have added to the economic burden of the region.

Even the most liberal among us were beginning to say enough is enough.

Then they sent children.

Americans are decent people. Unlike many other cultures we don't demand our children quit school and start working at an early age.  Most people seek to help children as witnessed by campaigns like Feed the Children, Toys for Tots and other independent programs that do not exist anywhere else in the world. Our tenderness is our Achilles heel. Cartels-which incidentally indulge in many other crimes beyond drugs such as human trafficking, smuggling, brand encroachment as well as bringing people here illegally. So someone (I'm still reserving judgement as to whether this was precipitated  to stampede Congress to make a snap decision on immigration) started and effectively spread a rumor regarding amnesty-something that our president was slow to refute. We have facilities full. If a hurricane, tornado or other disaster hits the region, Texas, Oklahoma and surrounding states will have few options for housing the survivors.

My final thoughts are these: What loving parent places their toddler in the arms of a coyote? It makes no sense. It's just too pat a story. What other criminals and even terrorists have managed to elude our grasp because the Border Patrol was changing diapers? Our softness is setting us up for failure.

Shameful

Of all the things I have seen, the extortion of the elderly and their families has to be among the worst. Insurance companies terrify them into purchasing policies that are essentially worthless. Doctors ignore their complaints rather than investigating concerns. But among the worst of the worst is the housing and care industry for the very oldest among us.

My mother was hospitalized last week. She is scheduled for skilled nursing (rehab) for three weeks. Right now she can walk with a walker, but we have no idea what other things she can do for herself. She lives on social security from my Dad-just enough that she doesn't qualify for Medicaid. She has no savings-Merrill Lynch purged her accounts of that when they bought out BofA. She has no investments, no cache of jewels, no hidden wealth. And yet the cost of finding her safe living accommodations is over $3500 a month. That's more than my takehome pay after taxes. While my Dad was stationed in Sasebo and Nagasaki immediately after WWII, because it wasn't "wartime"

She can't live with us-our one working bathroom isn't accessible. The other one is a mess of leaky pipes that we can't afford to fix. We have no money. She has no money. There's no programs to help her or us. Oh...and on top of the $10,000 taken out of our checks we had to pay $600 more in taxes this week.

The Hits Just Keep On Coming

So we begin the year with my son's catastrophic ankle break. Two plates and 16 titanium screws later, he' still hobbled. My other son was hit when a guy in a big car ran a red light. My son had two witnessses and the police officer say it wasn't his fault but we had to lawyer up because the other guy's denying it. Last week my husband came down with pneumonia and then Friday I came down with acute brochitis. Later Friday my 84 year old mother calls 911 rather than me and ends up in a hospital half way across town because they're the only one that honors Humana. Seriously...could  I please have a break?

Ft. Hood-Deja Vu

I guess being a big military base and in Texas makes Ft. Hood a giant target. I have to wonder if things would have been different today, and back in 2009, if the Clintons had not actively campaigned to remove working weapons from all on base military except MP's. The Navy Yard shooting also could have been mitigated if the shooter KNEW there would be ten guns pointed back at him for every one he pulled out. 
The bottom line is this-we are training young men and women to shoot weapons and do so responsibly. Shouldn't we at least trust them to have them on their own base? Frankly from this perspective it looks like the Clintons were early adopters for hamstringing our military and making them ineffective. 

BTW, if ANYONE dares to say this guy was mad about congressional lack of action on immigration, I will go nuts. This is just the kind of drama ridden prop the Left needs to create to shove through another inane and costly bill like the poorly titled "Affordable" Care Act.

Our prayers go out to the men and women of Ft. Hood and to those who find themselves safer overseas than at home.

Why Administration Micromanagement is Driving Teachers Nuts

I have taught for a long time. I know what I am doing. I am open to new methods, new technology, new ideas, but I do not need an administrator repeatedly and without warning, throwing new things at me. We have a chief administrator that would change the color of the sky if he could do so. Change for improvement is great. Change for the sake of change (and the sake of career grandstanding) is not.

In the past year we have changed:
-The online gradebook
-Online attendance
-Method of purchasing supplies
-Vendors
-Attendance policies
-Grade policies
-Computer hardware (PC to Mac based)

When looking at a list of stressors, too much change in anyone's life is bad. Is it any wonder that we are seeing a Conga line out the door of retirees. What is more, younger teachers are actively seeking employment in other districts and other professions. You would think after seeing the Gallup polling data from teachers (God knows this administration love them some data) they would see the almost palpable frustration over how we have to deal with things on a daily basis. Just in feelgood actions of placing severely disabled kids into regular classrooms with no aid, no resources, no support at all, leaves teachers wondering about the validity of what we do. What good is it to create a curriculum when nobody is held to those standards. You can walk into any high school in my district and find different procedures in play. It makes no sense that we hold our kids in school A accountable for work that school B ignores.

I guess at some level my school administrative staff sees there's a problem. But their solution is to offer just more of the same. Now and for the rest of the year, we will be giving up one planning period a week to essentially vent. Knowing the people in charge and how they can sometimes not take criticism well, how much of a psychological relief will this be?

Spring Break

I remember Spring Break as being the time my brother and I would spend clamoring to be allowed to swim although the temperatures were barely above 70 degrees. There was something inextricably wound in my soul with vacation and swimming. Now I don't venture into anything cooler than a hot bath, but that's age for you.

I've spent the majority of my Spring Break cleaning up. When I was a stay at home Mom, I was able to clean and my house was reasonably neat. Now my house is a disaster that I'm just too tired to care about most of the time. That's sad. I watch ads on TV and wonder whatever happened to that woman that couldn't get the ring off the collar of her husband's shirts. Now most cleaning seems to center for whatever reason around cleaning bathrooms. It's as if women have become so disengaged from the drudgery of what B.F. Skinner called "huzzifry" that we don't give a flip if our kitchens, living rooms or dens look like the scene of an episode of Hoarders as long as our toilet bowls sparkle. It's like the bathroom being clean is our last hold on civilization.

I've also spent the Spring Break organizing a luncheon for my daughter in law to be-a wisp of a girl who looks like a Disney princess but can shoot like Annie Oakley-and a rehearsal dinner. The combination of the two will cost as much as the reception, but then maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. She's a lovely girl and I want her to have nice things.  The down side is looking for an appropriate dress for me. At my current size that's not easy and it's clear that despite my attempt to lose weight, that's just not going to happen before the wedding.

With all this excitement it has also become clear that I don't want to work anymore. I am not anticipating the rest of the year with glee. There's just too much uncertainty and instability going on in my district. We have a superintendent who seems to have a need for attention. As a result, we are indulging in a variety of questionable cutting edge techniques that are costly and of varying levels of value. I need five years to retire with full pension. In five years I don't know what this school will look like. Color me fearful.

Funny Old World

The world works in funny ways. My son broke his ankle (three bones) and dislocated it. It was just short of a compound fracture.I posted about how the hospital called less than 24 hours before the schedule surgery to demand in full the deductible from my 24 year old son. He works retail. I remember when he was so proud to have his own insurance-to help out, to be independent. The brutal comment of the hospital business manager was "we can POSTPONE your surgery until you come up with the money." I still feel fury at that comment. Would they say the same thing to a woman dialated to ten cm in the ER or a gunshot wound victim? Or would it be that because my son like so many others innocently got insurance which amounts to a license to pick pockets in order to make up for what so many others do not pay? Is that the intent of Obamacare??

Sorry, blood pressure up, I have to take a moment.

Anyway, as I said before, the world works in funny ways. After three weeks off the job, but still on crutches and in a cast, my son went to work. He was talking to customers as he does (which is why he's the top salesman)and a man asked about his leg. The whole story came out while the customer listened. The man asked "What hospital was this at?" and my son gave the name. As it turns out, the man was the head of public relations for the entire hospital system. He was appalled at how my son was treated and he gave my son his card and told him "I'm sorry you were treated like that. That's unforgiveable. If you have ANY  problems with the billing or the other issues with the hospital, call me." It's nice to know some people still care about their jobs.

In the meantime, I live in what amounts to a thrift store masquerading as a house. My husband is so afraid of losing any money that he thinks everything has a value, even a 30 year old refrigerator. The only place I have to do anything is a TV table that holds my laptop. I can't paint. I can't sew. I can't really cook. All I can do is exist. I have to hope that this same funny old world holds some lucky twist for me.

Lockdown

Today my school had a lockdown. No, it wasn't a drill. Some idiot called the school claiming to have put a device in a rehearsal hall. They also claimed there were armed shooters waiting for evacuation and that he had the detonator in hand. I don't know who it was or why they did it, but I am sick and tired of these weak minded droolers pulling this kind of stuff. Needless to say it's exam week. In addition the director of the organization targeted in the phone call had canceled a spring trip because the students had not practiced, were distracted on their phones and tablets in rehearsal and generally seemed disinterested in the performance part of the trip althought anxious to miss four days of school to attend. Allegedly, students were mad at this director, but I say more power to her. We have kids who are born into such a huge sense of entitlement that they believe the "deserve"  trips, banquets, awards, scholarships, what have you, simply because they exist.

After an hour cowering in the dark corner of a locked computer lab, I am NOT in a happy mood. After a year in which teachers seem to have no back up while administrators cower at the demands of parents, I'm really at my wit's end. This is not why I signed up for the job.

My Letter to The White House OR Why Obamacare Doesn't Work

This is a copy of the letter I wrote to the White House and President Obama. Of course I doubt he will read it. But I am hoping others do read it as a cautionary tale.

"Let me tell you what ACA has done for us. My son, who is 24 and works full time and has had insurance from his work for nearly a year, broke his ankle. It is a complex break and dislocation. He went to the ER and they demanded $250, which I didn't question. But then the surgeon we called demanded $1400 up front. Last but not least, the hospital said that if my son couldn't come up with $1500 up front, that they would "postpone the surgery until he had the money." He works retail, he has to be able to walk or at least move. It would take him months, maybe years to save that much. This is what is happening. This is your fault. You and the Democrat have lied to us. And kids like my son are suffering and will suffer. The only people who benefit are those who are uninsured who will skip their bills. I am so disappointed."

The last six days have been stressful to say the least. ER visits usually are. My youngest son has worked so hard to get out of debt and to be responsible in paying for child care and such. He was finally looking at moving out. Then this. An accident. But he has insurance so that makes it alright.....right? No. Think again.
I didn't really think much when the ER wanted $250 up front. That's a normal think with ER visits, then you get billed later. But when after visiting with the orthopedist (and after having to hear the absolute agony of my son as they struggled to reduce the fracture which was not done properly at the ER) we got a phone call demanding $1400 up front and then the call from Baylor Hospital demanding the full amount of the deductible up front, this poor kid broke down. How are people ever supposed to get out from under debt when the costs of insurance along with the cost of deductibles rising? The irony is that if he was indigent or irresponsible, he would end up at Parkland or John Peter Smith and get the same services for a billing payment or even free.

Buying insurance is for saps. Why do we do it? It seems to offer few benefits and more liabilities. And the mumbo jumbo gibberish of the insurance jargon is enough to drive Ben Franklin insane. My blood pressure was already high. Luckily I am able to help out-but I know others that are not. What of those poor kids with $10,000 deductibles on their insurance? How will they pay? This isn't even the first week of January and it's already ugly. It's going to get uglier still.

People, I've been saying this since 2009, Obamacare is a trap. It is not about less expensive care or even more accessible care-it is a surreptitious tax on those that work to subsidize those demographic populations the ruling party find to be more deserving of services.