The root of the problem

post Elwood Guy! You are so correct in saying that education starts with the parents. I feel that alot of the problem today with our children is that you cannot punish them and they know it. It is drilled in their heads that if your parents spank you(and I do mean spank on the bottom) that they can get into trouble. When I was in school if you did wrong you would face the principal and his paddle and then came Mom at home. UH OH!

While I do believe in helping people that are down on their luck is good it should only be temporary. No women should be allowed to continue having children if they are on any type of welfare. Some situations the proof is there that the money is not going to help the children. I see and know so many people that sell their food stamps for half of the value. See them in the grocery story doing it all the time. If they sell the food stamps how do their children eat. Its illegal and wish there was something that could be done about it.

My parents were both displaced workers that at one time made 32.00 per hour between the 2. Now my mother is working 1 part time and 1 fulltime job and my father works a full time job. Now between the 2 they make barely 19.00 per hour. Insurance is not affordable to them, they have lost their home and everything that they worked so hard to have. They were told that they didn't and could not get help. My opinion those are the kind of people that should get help when needed and have paid far much more into the system than many people getting the help will even consider. There is something very screwed up about it thats for sure.

Sorry I think I really got off the subject of your original post, but it was something that I wanted to add.

I agree with most of what you say. I will add that there are some parents that are just plain abusive and that's why we now have laws to deal with them. Having said that, a parent may still spank a child. The law will not do anything about that. If you are bruising the kid then that could wind up being an issue but, outside of that, you can still discipline a child with a hand on the butt or other reasonable means.

Yes, your parents are the type who should get help. They paid plenty into the system and now get the cold shoulder when they need it. This is an example of an otherwise worthy program that is not being properly administered.

with the spanking issue is that sure you can spank them, but when they go to school and tell the teacher they were punished for wrong doing. CPS is called and then there is a drawn out investigation of it. I think its good in a way, but our children need to know that they can and will be spanked for wrong doing. I have 3 children and can count one 1 hand the number of times that I have had to punish them. Each and everytime that they did get a spanking they knew I meant business.

Today I look at my oldest 2 children and know for certain that I must have done something right. I could not ask for better kids they are wonderful young adults. My youngest well is a different story still a lot of growing up to do.

Sure wish that there was something that could be done. Maybe a little more education for the parents would be a place to start....

I kinda agree with both of you i am disable and on ssd ssi my hubby works we do struggle to keep our stuff done.. i am one of those parents who want better for my child and we do are best we instill how important school is with her she is only in first grade..we work with her here at home as well...but i can't afford to pay all my bills and not get food to feed her so i had to apply for foodstamps and medical for my daughter how ever...i am sorry to offend any one but i believe some people just keep having kids so they dont have to do anything...i was told the maxium a person can receive now for more than 3 people are 288.00 in cash but there food stamps are close to 371.00...and they still cant feed their kids on that why cant some one teach them how to shop for food instead of always teaching them how to cook or do both..i take our income tax check every year and get my daughters clothes and what nots..i freecycle what she cant wear to others cause i know people do have problems i have been there..but i know a person who gets their monthly check from ssd ssi and instead of paying their bills they blow it all and then go here in town and ask for help in paying the bills then when real people need the help they cant help them....i know other people who spend their stamps on nothing but junk and in 2 weeks they are hitting all the pantries they can just to make it...i feel guilty for getting what i get but i make sure my daughter has what she needs...my hubby has severe medical problems but i see him get up everyday and work when he shouldnt be..i myself worked until i could no longer.. but i do believe some people dont want to help them selves...wildthang1971

I have spanked mine very few times and I don't have to spank very hard because he knows I mean business when I do it. It's been so long that I don't remember when I last did it. He's a great child and makes good grades and treats all others with respect. Some kids are more difficult but love and attention go a long way.

Maybe parents need to get a license to have kids!

You are another example of people who are worthy of help and strive to do the right thing. This is good use of public assistance. This is also a reason that I support Obama because McCain will slice these programs to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy. Obama will tax the rich at Clinton rates to pay for lowering taxes on the rest of us. He also advocates some form of universal healthcare and, although my family is well insured, many folks cannot afford medical care any longer at all. If they are not going to fix that problem then it needs nationalized. We're about the last industrialized nation in the world who has not yet done that. It also makes it harder for our companies to compete with foreign companies who pay very little, if anything, for employee healthcare.

you need the help. I have not one problem with someone who needs it and gets it. you seem to make sure your daughter is taken care of and that she is your first priority. Its unfortunate that the system is not really designed to help those who need it. It seems as if the sponges of society get the most help which makes it tough for those in need to get it. God Bless and I wish you all the happiness in the world!

that many good people are worthy of the help.  Now, it's time for another plug.  If you are not registered to vote then maybe you should.  The McCain plan is to gut federal assistance programs to pay for tax cuts.  The responsible side of that argument is that he wants to cut spending in one area to compensate for tax breaks.  The unfortunate side is that, given the amount he wants to give in tax breaks, he'll have to all but eliminate a lot of stuff.  Obama will simply raise taxes on those earning more than $250K/ yr to pay for tax breaks to the middle class.  You know, I'm sitting here watching the news and the talk is about Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.  These companies are asking for tax payer bail-outs for their own lack of responsibility.  These are also the same people who will have their taxes raised under Obama in order to give the middle class a tax break.  What these fat cats apparently do not understand is that this housing crises didn't start with rich people defaulting on their loans, it started with the middle class slipping and losing the ability to keep up.  Some say that is THEIR problem exclusively.  Their is plenty of blame to go around but let me remind you that the banking industry was permitted to rewrite the banking laws in 2003.  As a result of that they were allowed to make loans they should not have been making.  They also were pushing adjustable rate mortgages onto people who were not clear what it meant when the rate adjusted.  The laws on the books pertaining to full disclosure were watered down by those very banks who are now in trouble.  Had those banks been forced to have federal oversight in the form of regulation then they would not be in nearly as bad a shape as they are.   They got loose with the laws, loose with the cash and now they can't figure out why the sky is falling.

Now, at last we have John McCain and his connection with all this.   The great reformer was part of one of the biggest banking failures in recent years. 

The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB).

The core allegation of the Keating Five affair is that Keating had made contributions of about $1.3 million to various U.S. Senators, and he called on those Senators to help him resist regulators. The regulators backed off, to later disastrous consequences.  That cost the tax payers $126,000,000,000!

This just goes to show that he can call himself a reformer all day long but he's as much on the take as any of the rest of the jerks in Washington.  Here is a list of McCain's top 20 contributors for his run for President.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00006424

Obama has many of the same.  The biggest difference is that McCain has demonstrated that he will bend over for these industries when they get in a pinch.  He SAYS he won't but the Keating scandal proves otherwise.

All this winds up affecting everyday people in a very negative way.  We get prayed upon by these industries and are held responsible for our debts but THEY don't want that same responsibility.  THEY are the ones who helped rewrite the bankruptcy laws a few years ago to make it even harder for people to file bankruptcy.  They don't want the same treatment or standards forced on them.

I recently read an article in the Herald about how Elwood got a face lift on Anderson Street. Wasn't Mayor Metzger in office when all this took place...anyway it did improve Elwoods looks. I am thrilled that we are getting a furniture store in downtown Elwood. I don't understand why we have to tear down CVS just to have a drive-thru. Is this gonna cost taxpayers of Elwood more money?? It just seems to me that even tho downtown looks better, flowers and new lites don't necessarily bring in business. I too remember the good ol' days when you could go downtown and shop for anything you wanted....anything. We didn't have to go out of town...those were the days!! Our economy has taken the worst tumble since the great depression and it may get worse. Get out there and vote...we can change for the better or have 4 more years of Bush with McCain in office. Our kids of Elwood deserve the life I did as a child and it was a good one, we weren't wealthy by no means but we made it. And on a last note, it doesn't hurt to spank just don't beat!! That's whats wrong today, kids don't get disiplined. If ya don't feel right spanking take cell phones or sonys away from them.. or something else.

In the form of higher prices at CVS. Why would taxes be used to build CVS a drive-thru? The hwy 13 thru town was paid for by the state and was in planing 8 to 10 years before it was ever started. Mayor Metzger liked to advertise all the money being invested in Elwood at the time but most of it was state and the Hospitols money with some Federal grants thrown in. Elwood had no money thats why we rent the city bldg. I allways wondeed why we didn't use a pre-existing bldg for police, gas co. or old library. Instead of the schoolsystem dumping all its money in the two grade schools and old kindergarden, Keep one of the grade schools (Edgewood) and build a new one by the High School. Then sell oakland to the city then we use it as offices courts city services office, plenty of room to use the gym as as community meeting space etc. We did need a new fire station. At least we would own them instead of renting.The old water office could of been put to better use also. Animal shelter maybe?

WE did get a fountain out of the deal.