New Jersey did it now why can't the Federal Government?

Living in New Jersey and also being a teacher I have recently felt no love from my fellow citizens.  Actually, when I tell people that I am a teacher I almost feel guilty or they look down on me like I'm some sort of criminal.  I truly love being a high school history teacher, but the political environment has painted a target on all our backs.  Now I realize how the Taliban fighters feel hunkered down in their caves when United States Marines are vigorously hunting them down!

The governor has now signed into law ordering the teachers and other public sector workers that they must pay more to their pension and for some public employees 35% of their health care.  I'm not mad that I have to pay more.  I realize that I, along with my fellow teachers, must help shoulder the burden to help our State get out our this financial debacle.

How did we get into this financial mess is an easy question to answer.  Over the last 20 years, both Republican and Democratic governors have refused to pay into the pension system that they promised us thus ignored the immediate deficit problem.  As they negligently refused to pay into the system, our State had been had been in an economic boom.  Think of your lives since the early 90s...we all for the most part "lived high on the hog" (another family quote that I don't understand.)  We went on vacations, bought high priced vehicles, invested our money in the stock market where many of us did very well, and we also bought for ourselves and our children every new electronic device know to man.  We have to keep up with the Jones don't we?  We also kept expanding the square footage of our homes, by rolling over our houses so we can buy a bigger ones.  They even had TV reality shows that demonstrated people doing this called: Roll This House.  On this show a person would buy a house at a low price, fix it up and by the time you did the renovations the house is now worth 40,000 more thus a profit for you and your family.  We all know that the housing market came to a halt, but many of these house buyers are now stuck with a house that is worth less than they paid for it.  It is also possible due to this greed they can't afford their house.

Now while this was happening I did not begrudge them.  I saw my sisters all buy bigger houses then mine and I was happy for them.  When many people were drastically improving their quality of life so was I.  I was getting raises too, but not at the same magnitude.  While some were expanding their wealth by the tens of thousands I regularly received on the average 1,500 to maybe 2,500 dollars a year.  Don't get me wrong I also over spent like most Americans, but not to the same degree.  I have a modest ranch which still needs work and my vacations were usually no frills.  Give me a beach and I'm happy.

Well while the vast majority of people in our State was living fruitful lives they now with this economic downturn are struggling.  Well the government needs a scapegoat so they chose public employees emphasizing teachers.  The governor, as do I, knew that something had to be done...so my family and 500,000 other public employees took the hit.

I actually voted for the governor because I saw the economic difficulty we were in so I assumed he would cut across the board, but he targeted mostly middle class families.  After a few days, I have come to the realization that we will all be okay.  No matter what happened in Trenton, I was still going to teach my butt off to some of the greatest kids in the State!

Okay New Jersey has tried to trim the deficit and I hope they can get the State moving again, but what about the Federal Government?  Almost14.3Trillion dollars in Debt?  Can they pull off a Chris Christie and severely cut the budget and work towards deficit reduction or is it wishful thinking that our electors will do the right thing?

The answer is in the language that is being thrown about.  The President conducted a news conference today and it was the same old rhetoric: Class Warfare

Rich vs. Poor
Us vs. Them

For the record a quote by the President: "If we do not have revenues, that means there are a bunch of kids out there who do not have college scholarships..."[It] might compromise the National Weather Services. It means we might not be funding critical medical research. It means food inspection might be compromised. I've said to Republican leaders, 'You go talk to your constituents and ask them, "Are you willing to compromise your kids' safety so some corporate-jet owner can get a tax break?"

No matter what your politics, this type of rhetoric doesn't solve problems.  They will have to compromise as Governor Christie did....but will both parties put aside their partisan bickering or is it even too late...14.3 Trillion and counting is a hole that maybe this great country won't be able get out of!

My daughter.."you are 15...no way!"

Even though the school year is over and a new one is right around the corner, my days have been quite busy.  Alexandra (we call her Ally because she actually hates her name) my youngest who is 11 years old is attending a basketball camp and I have to get her there by 9:00 A.M.   Samantha (her friends call her Sam, but I love the name Samantha) has been working at a McDonald's and being only 15 years old always needs a ride (of course there and back.)  I will have to temporarily stop typing this entry because Samantha is going to the Point Pleasant boardwalk with her friends.  Its not far since we live in town so it isn't a difficult assignment for me. Envisioning my daughter gallivanting down the boardwalk seems almost surreal to me.  Just a few years ago, I remember her gallivanting through the playground asking me to push her on the "big girl swings." 

Before she gets out of the car tonight, I will tell her to be careful.  What dangers are on the boardwalk?  Well I used to go look for girls on the boardwalk (never being too successful!)  Are there other young people looking to influence my daughter and her friends?  Drugs? Alcohol? Can I even say kissing? Ughhh!

Hold on Sam is screaming that she will be late...

I don't want my daughters to grow up!  I want them to remain elementary school age or younger.  I know what you are saying...I'm a paranoid Dad.  I love my daughters more than life itself and I do worry about them....But should I?

My wife and I raised them with morals and faith and we only hope that our repetitive words are ingrained in their brains.  My Mother would always tell me when I had a dilemma: "Let go and let God."  I hope God is telling those young boys how to act when confronting my daughter.

I have to learn to let go and I think I am doing a decent job of it.  I was thinking about building cages for my daughters, but then DYFS would intervene.  I guess I do have confidence in her since I let her go to places such as the boardwalk and the movies with her friends. I know there are many parents out there that worry like me so if I can indulge you with a few life lessons on raising a teenage daughter.

1. If I don't approve of the way she looks before she goes out, I send her back to her room to start over. 
2. I try not to let her play me and my wife against each other.
3. There will be days where nothing I say to her is right.  That's okay. I tell myself I'm the adult. I say what I feel needs to be said.
4. I have faced it...boys are now indispensable to her!
5. I must understand that it's possible for a girl who has everything to be miserable sometimes.  I realize I can't fix all her problems.

This is just scratching the surface, but I need to stay ahead of them.  The days of holding her hand in mine and rolling on the beds with them are over, but I can't wait til the next stage....Womanhood!

I will survive it and may even win if there is such a thing.  Hey if I can endure Marine Corps Boot Camp, I can outwit two teenagers.  My father had three daughters and he is still comparatively sane.

...I hope she has fun on the boardwalk tonight.

I'm Back!!!

I would like to thank those who missed my blog over the last few months.  I have been busy living life like all of you.  Daughter needs to get to basketball, the boat needed me to pour money into it and I had to endure coaching another lacrosse season where we didn't smell .500.

WAIT!  Maybe that is why there are so many problems in the world.  We are all consumed with our gloomy lives.  Don't get me wrong I love my life, but shouldn't I be worried with the world's problems?  I always tell my students that they need to challenge themselves by helping solve the world's multitude of issues, but instead of writing on my blog trying to ignite a peaceful revolution, I sit on my computer and play Texas Hold em in between picking up my daughters from their friend's houses.  Am I a hypocrite or am I just a good parent who can't involve myself in the world's puzzle?

I'll leave that up to you but since I left you, many major events have occurred that have or could impact our futures.

1. Tsunami (nuclear fallout)
2. Libya and the supposed "Arab Spring"
3. Economy (jobs, debt, deficit)
4. Tornadoes!

I guess as I venture into the world of blogging I will attempt to dissect these events and of course the ones I can't think of right now.  I will also share my life with you and maybe we can also try to make sense of it...want to play psychologist with Lassen's life?

Let me just give an abbreviated view of the above topics to wet your whistle as my father used to say...

Tsunami....sad but the real question is the safety concerns of nuclear energy and do we need to reevaluate United States' nuclear policy or continue to build reactors due to lack of other alternative energies?

Libya...is it our responsibility to confront evil or should we just let them win their own revolutions?  Syria is killing their citizens in the 100s so why don't we intervene there?

Economy...where do I start!  A huge deficit and a budget that can't be balanced!  Jobs?  Where? Where?

Tornadoes...Maybe Al Gore was right with the global warming idea.

I hope this wets your whistle...thanks for the quote Dad even though it doesn't make sense.