Change, Part Two (But not really it is just my thoughts on issues)

I don't know where I left off.  But, I do know that we, as a country,  need to go back to work.  To me, and most Americans, at least I assume that most believe, that this is one of the most important issues facing us today.  To be strong, we must work.  Both candidates are addressing that issue.  I don't know how we got into this high unemployment mess we are in.  It was a long process that did NOT start with the Obama administration.  I do know that the president did not keep his promises to put Americans back to work.  But, how much of it was under his control?  I will let you do that research because frankly, it is exhausting.  I do feel that Romney has a good plan to put us back to work.

I have a friend who is concerned with women's rights.  She does not like Romney's or Republican's stand on abortion issues.  If Romney is elected will Roe v Wade be reversed?  I truly do not believe it will but......Here is my thought on abortion.

Since this is my blog, I can give my opinion.  And yes, I am a Christian woman with deep feelings for the sacredness of human life and the miracle of it.  I really think one has to decide on when life begins to make a decision on abortion.

 Do women have the right to choose what happens to their bodies?  Sure!  That right is prior to including another human being.  Before one gets pregnant, they have the right to STOP that pregnancy.  Even the catholic church has loosened up on that issue.  I vaguely remember the talks when Roe v Wade was initiated.  I remember the biggest argument was safe abortion practices.  Put a stop to unsafe illegal abortions.  But, what has happened?  Anyone can have an abortion for any reason.  While I was in North Carolina (many many years ago) I befriended a woman who was in a mess.  She was single and made some very wrong choices in her life.  Those choices resulted in an unwanted pregnancy.  She painfully chose to terminate the pregnancy.  I went to the clinic with her.  While I was there, I met two woman.  I was surprised and shocked to find those women laughing and joking about being there again.  One woman was on her third abortion, the other her second.  Abortion as a birth control method just seems wrong to me on so many levels!

Even the Romney camp has given exceptions to the abortion issue by including the rape, incest, and health of the mother.  I don't even know how I feel about that.  I worked with a young man while in the Army.  He was such a good example of what a man and father should be.  I became great friends with his wife and I adored their three children.  I was even there for the birth of their fourth.  During the course of our friendship, I found out that their oldest son, who was 7 at the time, was the result of a rape.  Her aunt's husband forced himself on her until she became pregnant and was finally able to escape from his abuse.  She had very strong religious beliefs and never once considered abortion to be an option.  She told me that she never regretted having her son.  She always felt that he was a great blessing to her.  Her husband accepted the baby as his own.  In fact, it was the love of her baby, that first attracted him to her.  Now was that couple the exception to the rule?  I don't know, but I know that meeting them and knowing them changed my life for the better.

Next  -  Debt!  For or against?  Definitely against!!!!  I will make a political point, but bear with me.

Personally, I am in debt up to my eyebrows.  I know that I am not really as bad as a lot of people but I do feel that I have gone against the advice of my church leaders and have a pile of debt that feels like a stone around my neck.  One day I looked at it and said to myself, "Self, this is ENOUGH!"  What did I do about it?  Well, first off, I read a book by Dave Ramsey. actually I probably read the book before I said that.  After reading his book, I got online and read everything I could that was written by him.  (I often go to extremes, I will admit, but I did not spend money on his programs.)   I do recommend him to anyone who has money issues or concerns of any kind.

Anyway, the first thing I did was to cut up my credit cards.  If I was ever going to get out of the debt bondage, I had to prevent getting in deeper.  Second thing, I called my creditors and made agreements that would help me actually pay them off.  My arrangements have probably put my credit standings in jeopardy, which could actually be to my advantage in the long run.  I am not at all tempted to borrow, because I don't want to fill out another credit application.  *shiver*  Third, I quit spending more money than I brought in.  Do I hate living so tight and going without some of the finer things in life? Sure.  But, it is only temporary.  True, I spend every single dime, but not more!  Fourth, I learned ways to get a bigger bang for my buck. Did you know that buying shoes in the kids section costs less than in the women's?  I have big feet (8 1/2 wide) but found brand name running shoes for half the cost of in that section.  And fifth, I started working more to pay down the debts sooner.  I get tired, but see an end in sight.

Our country is in debt.  We spend way more money than we make.  Somehow that has to stop!!  I have a strong feeling that if you really want to improve in financial matters, looking for a president that has absolute success in those matters would be an obvious choice!

  Is Mitt Romney totally out of touch with the middle class?  Don't think so, but I am pretty sure he has never eaten beans because that was what he could afford. Is that a bad thing?  Nope.  One does not have to sink to my level to care about me!  I read once that if you really wanted to be successful you should study what other successful people do and try to emulate them.  Made sense to me.  (I KNOW a lot more things than I put into practice, it is true.)  Governor Romney is a successful business man and I think it would behoove us to listen to what he has to say.  He wants to stop spending money.  That will be hard.  Some people are going to lose programs that they have come to rely on.  Do I like that?  No!  I wish everyone could have everything!  It just doesn't work that way!  Cuts have to come about and that is a fact!

Some people seemed to make the whole Big Bird  comment from the first debate an issue.  I honestly thing that became an issue because of biased media reporting.   For pete's sake. He wants to stop government spending.  Cutting $446 million dollars for PBS from the spending budget does not seem wrong to me.  I have seen reports that because he wants to stop this expense he doesn't love children or care about quality and educational television.  That is totally absurd.  The reality is that cutting $446 million dollars barely puts a dent into what we need to do and it won't really have a strong impact on PBS television, but we have to start somewhere.

People are worried about the food stamp program.  Oh my, it is going to be cut and people will go hungry.  Good grief.    I am not against giving a hand up.  Once again a personal note.  I have had a rough time in my life.  My daughter was 15 and died in her sleep.  That changed my life!!! I will always claim temporary insanity brought on by grief.  I did some strange things during that time.  First crazy thing I did was to actually throw her bed down the stairs!  I insisted it leave my house!!!  Why?  I have no idea.  I was crazy.  Next thing, I left my husband!  My husband had nothing to do with the tragedy that our family had to face, but I was crazy!  I packed up seven children and moved them into a beat up two bedroom house.  I didn't know at the time that I would be basically paralyzed for a year, unable to work or function in a normal fashion.  But all of a sudden I was faced with the fact that I had NO money, NO job, and NO desire to help myself.  I sought the help of my church and was given it in so many ways.  I also got food stamps for my kids.  I personally didn't care what I ate, but I knew that they needed me to provide for them in some way.

Our system is so messed up.  Jose had to go through it in order to pay child support.  He never hedged on that, but it literally took MONTHS for his money to reach us!  I got on a short term disability (craziness qualifies for that and I will always be grateful to the people who helped me know that).  Once again even though it was approved, it took months to see any money.  Finally when all was said and done, I was able to see some financial relief.  I did return back to the workforce.  Funny thing.  Once I got a job and regular child support, I went to the food stamp office to get off the program.  The woman there was really annoyed with me because I still qualified but didn't feel it was the right thing to do.  I hate to think I am the exception in this, but I didn't want to take advantage of the system.

I qualified for $735 per month.  Wow, I had never spent that kind of money in groceries alone in my life.  That was almost 8 years ago when food wasn't as costly.  I was surprised to find out that a person can buy any type of food on food stamps.  Did you all know that you could buy pop and candy?  I didn't do a lot of that, but I could have!  A friend of mine is a manager at a store.  He gets very passionate about this subject.  When he was working a woman bought 97 chocolate bunnies and put it on her food card.  UGH!  I have another friend that was in the grocery store buying hamburger and hotdogs.  The woman in front of her purchased t-bone steaks and chips.  Yep, on her EBT card.  What about that is right?

There has to be a better way!!!! 


 I personally feel that the program should be run more like the WIC program.  WIC foods are particular.  There is a list of things that can be purchased and those things are healthy and not conveniently packaged (which raises the cost of everything as you well know.)  Going through all of the checking can be a hassle at the grocery store if you are behind someone using WIC, but we should all slow down a bit anyway.

What about  nutritional education and perhaps cooking lessons for people who receive benefits?  Years ago I worked for the county as a daycare provider and received money for food for my daycare.  Because of that program, I was able to keep costs down for working women.   I was required to plan and prepare nutritional foods.  At any given time a woman could come into my home and check out my menus.  If I wasn't prepared with them, I would lose money.  Why couldn't something like that be implemented in our food stamp program?  Let's all talk to our congressmen or women!!!!

Romney doesn't want to stop people who need them from getting food stamps.  He wants to fix a broken system!  Wonder if he would listen to my ideas.

Well, if you are still reading this, I want to apologize for the lengthy ramble.  I will stop now to give you a break.  Tune in again for another segment!  I will be speaking on education, family values, and military issues.