Maggie's Farm

I have to disagree somewhat with the idea that it is wrong to sing kids up for sports. Given a choice kids wouldn't want to sign up for school or church or read books or do any of the things they must do to succeed in life. It is absolutely the responsibility of the parents to see that their children have a multitude of activities and experiences in their youth and not to simply let them do whatever they want to. Also sports give children a physical outlet for their energies, builds strength and healthy bodies and keeps them busy and not dangerously idle. IMHO parents have two problems keeping their children busy; one is the time, effort and expense to make sure their kids have these opportunities and the second is to fend off and ignore the bullies who would tell them how THEY would raise children if they had children. Ignore the nattering nabobs of negativism and put the time and energy into raising your children.

Well of course what you say is true for some percentage of children, perhaps 10%-15%. But the larger percentage of children will find their own thing be it drugs, sex or rock and roll. Believe it or not there are children/young adults who have never been to the library and even some who have never read a book. Enrolling your children in extra curricular activities is NOT helicopter parenting. When I was a kid (I'm 76 so it was a long time ago) It was not uncommon to allow your dog to run loose and if they figured out the street and automobile thingy and lived good and if they didn't, well dogs were cheap. THAT is unfortunately how many parents raise their children today. I can't imagine sending my kids to first grade or kindergarten without them already being able to read. I cannot imagine the kids going home after school while the parents are still at work and doing god knows what until I get home. I cannot imagine NOT taking my kids to the library and getting them interested and comfortable using that resource. I cannot imagine letting my children just do whatever and hoping they choose well. My kids were in the scouts, played soccer, baseball, basketball and track. I knew where they were all the time and who they were with. I coached some of their teams, not all, I went on every scouting trip they did, I took them to the library and I checked out books too, I taught them to cook, to fish and to hunt. We have hiked and camped on mountain tops and canyons. I could go on and on but I have made my point. If I were to have children again I would do even more to make their lives interesting and a learning environment, not less.

The recent Virginia shooting is of course being used to gin up the effort for more gun control. No surprise there. But I was a little surprised that when the story broke and they knew who the shooter was and that he was a 15 year employee but they were not ready to identify him. Hmmmm! Well that actually happens a lot in the news. It is a running joke that on local TV when they have a crime and they don't give you a description of the perp but want you to call if you have any information then the perp is most likely black and they are trying not to identify his race. Or if the victim is known and it takes 2-3 days to find out who they are then most likely they are an illegal alien and again the MSM and government is trying to hide that.

So I guessed (just a wild ass guess and could have been totally wrong) that this latest perp was either black or Hispanic and the government/police/MSM wanted to hide that from us, at least for awhile. But, why? Why is that so PC to hide either a perp's identity or a victims identity based on their race or legal residence? What else do they hide/censor all the time? I am reminded of the MSM labeling Zimmerman as a "white Hispanic". OMG I had never heard that phrase before. Did they mean assimilated Hispanic? Or part Hispanic? Or what, exactly?

I would guess (another wild ass guess) that when we learn more this latest shooter had mental health issues and a grudge of some kind with his work justified or bogus and that is why he did what he did. It wasn't the gun. It wasn't his race or lack of a race. It wasn't because he grew up poor or rich. It was because he was a little bit crazy and after the fact people who knew him will either say "I don't understand he was a really nice guy" OR "he was a loner who seemed different and I never did really trust him".


But I still wonder what else they hide from us all the time for our own good of course.