An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Morning Coffee 04/06/08
A teen parent — and a graduate
Students at North Shore Senior High School spill through the halls, texting friends and making plans for the weekend.
Not Veronica Valdes, who has little time for such frivolity.
“People think it’s all fun and games,” she says, unsmiling as she describes her life as a teenage mother. “That pretty much is over when the baby is born.”
She no longer sees her baby’s father — “He couldn’t handle the pressure,” she says — and Valdes and her daughter live with her parents.
Still, she expects to graduate from high school next month, the first step in escaping the fate of many teenage mothers — dropping out of school and into a series of dead-end jobs, only to see their children repeat the cycle.
Now, while I’m all for kids getting an education, the first education they should have gotten was “WAIT”! Why has it become so acceptable for kids to have kids?
Nursing homes want to limit lawsuits
Crouch, along with her six brothers and sisters, sued the nursing home, claiming negligence caused their mother’s sore and hastened her death. While the nursing home battles the lawsuit in court, the nursing home industry as a whole is fighting to impose new limits on such lawsuits.
Opponents and supporters have engaged powerful allies, and the battle is playing out against a broader backdrop of long-term care reform. Gov. Phil Bredesen has made it an administration priority to find ways to keep more Tennesseans at home and out of nursing homes.
I hate nursing homes. I hate the way they smell. There are some really good ones out there, but cost more than most people can afford. State run nursing homes seem to be the worst of the worst. Has anyone figured out why? Well, one reason could be, the people they hire are just there for the paycheck. Perhaps if they shut down those hell holes, others could take them over, and actually run them like they care? I don’t know. Honestly, I just don’t know. I know there is a need for them, but I wish there wasn’t.
S.F. fire house arsonist cuts pricey plea deal
Lance Farber, the fire-starting, tomato-tossing boyfriend of new San Francisco Planning Director John Rahaim, is out of jail – but only after the city took him to the cleaners.
Farber, who had been sitting in jail for almost six weeks on $1 million bail, pleaded guilty last week to one count of unlawfully and recklessly starting a fire and one count of vandalism with over $400 in damage.
The 47-year-old New Age chiropractor was accused of setting a bed on fire and tossing an open can of tomatoes through the city’s historic fire chief’s house – staining the walls – after an alcohol-fueled lovers’ spat with Rahaim back in February. The newly arrived couple had been staying at the vacant residence at Mayor Gavin Newsom’s invitation.
Maybe Johnny boy should have given his honey a psychological exam? Maybe San Fran should have given Newsom one too, before electing him. Perhaps, they should check the water. And what the heck is a “New Age” chiropractor? Does he shake feathers towards the areas that are afflicted? Does he sit in the nude, with his legs folded up, and think it all better?
Wis. house fire kills 3 college students
A smoky house fire near a University of Wisconsin campus killed three students who never made it out of the rooms where they were sleeping early Saturday, even though neighbors said they heard alarms.
Rescuers found two women and a man on the floors of three second-floor bedrooms near the University of Wisconsin-Stout. All three were pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said.
Prayers with the families.
‘Some progress’ in Russia-US ties
US President George W Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin have signed a framework agreement but said they had made no breakthrough on differences.
Mr Putin said Russia remained opposed to US missile defence plans in Europe, but there were “positive developments”.
I think the only way a serious breakthrough will come is if Putin stops backing up Iran, and come to grips with the reality of the dangers. Ahmabooboo, or whoever will be his replacement isn’t going to care that Russia helped them out. Russia isn’t Muslim, therefore, they are “infidels” and will be treated as such!
Harold Sr., Jr. speak out against family members
In remarks published Friday in The Commercial Appeal, Jake Ford blasted Cohen, who is white, and said Tennessee deserves to have at least one black congressman.
(…)
“My brother and I were not saying we have to have a black representative in this district. We said in the state of Tennessee, the western district was created as a predominantly black district so we would have black representation in Congress,” Jake Ford said.“Everyone makes it seem like I’m creating the race issue.”
Something about a shoe and fitting comes to mind.
Tenn. public schools can offer Bible courses
Tennessee’s attorney general says the state’s public schools can offer classes on the Bible as long as the lessons don’t endorse a particular religion.
The opinion released Tuesday also says a pending legislative bill that would allow the state to create a nonsectarian Bible elective curriculum is constitutional.
Four Tennessee counties currently offer such classes as a special course that counts as an elective. Such courses are designed to look at the Bible’s impact on literature, art, and politics.
Excellent idea! The Bible has had a large impact of society, and not just in the religious world. Ok, where’s the ACLU? No doubt they will coming marching in stating there should be no choice in the matter. Funny, for a bunch that pushes a freedom of choice, when it comes to murdering babies and child molestation, they sure have been rabid against anything to do with the Word. Odd.
Why has it become so acceptable for kids to have kids?
I ‘m not sure when teenage motherhood became such a horrible thing in the first place. 60+ years ago, 17- and 18-year-old mothers weren’t a big deal. My mother had her first baby at 27, an age considered “young mothers” these days, and everyone told her she was geriatric. Maybe it’s because back in the day girls used to marry the babies’ fathers before or after conception, and now no one gets married unless they’re old or rich.
As far as the unwed teenage mothers, I’m of two minds: the abortion rate is down for teenagers, partly because having a baby is no longer carries the life-ending shame it did 30 years ago. Silver lining of sorts.
The difference though….girls were married at 17 and 18, and odds are, they actually stayed married. It wasn’t a fly by night thing. Hit and run…baby results, no daddy.
It’s not fair for the girls to handle this on their own, it’s not fair for the grandparents to have to start all over again with young’uns, and it sure isn’t fair for the babies to grow up with an absent father.
I tell my granddaughter “Aspirin is the best way to prevent pregnancy….you put the aspirin between your knees, and never drop it!”
Me being pro life and all, I have to disagree. I’m also 100% pro adoption! Many couples can’t have children. Teen girls having babies. Perfect match!