Komen and Planned Parenthood

Why are all the so called womens' groups up in arms because the breast cancer charity doesn't want to give more money to an organization that doesn't do mammograms? Komen's mission is to defeat breast cancer. If you aren't providing services that contribute to that cause, why would they give you a grant? Any rational person can see that makes sense.

This is not about abortion. Planned Parenthood and their supporters should stop seeing anti-abortion advocates behind every issue.

I'm pro-life, so I support defunding Planned Parenthood for any reason, but this controversy about the Komen Foundation is ridiculous. If PP wants Komen's money, they better add breast cancer screening (i.e., mammograms) to their services. I don't understand why they were getting Komen grants to begin with.

What is Family?

A friend of mine sat through a video presentation at her church from a well known Christian organization. It was a series of people telling what "family" is to them. I put family in quotes because they described family differently than the dictionary. Family was described as is politically correct ... people who love each other, but not necessarily related to one another. Most of us hear the word family and understand that it means our mother, father, sisters, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. According to dictionary.com, a family is "parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not." You have to get to the seventh definition before you get to one describing a family as anything beyond mom, dad and the kids. The seventh definition is: "a group of persons who form a household under one head, including parents, children, and servants." That's obviously a historical definition.

So what I want to know is - what have they been teaching kids in school since I got out? I don't remember learning that family was just any group of people who love each other and choose to be a family. Family is something you are stuck with. I didn't get to pick my parents or my brother. I DID get to pick my husband and in-laws (by extension). For better or for worse, I'm stuck with them now ... my kids are stuck with them ... their kids are stuck with them, etc.....

If we get to choose who is in our family, I have a bunch of people I want to kick out and replace with friends. Do I have to make any kind of commitment to these members of my "family" or can I change my list on a day-to-day basis? Should people in my family have to check the roster to see if they are in or out? I guess I could publish a list on the Internet so that everyone can make sure.

Love does not make a family, God does. Or, for the Darwinian evolutionists among us, biology makes a family. Love strengthens a family. Love also binds each of us emotionally to many people who are not family. You can avoid your family and move in with your friends and call them family, but that doesn't make it so. I can call myself a monkey, but whether I like it or not, I'm human.

You can define family any way you want, but I'm holding the line with the tried and true, God-given - mom, dad, kids, etc.

The F Bomb

Remember the good old days when adults could be trusted to set a good example in front of kids? Remember when men treated women like women? I think wistfully for those days more and more.

We took the kids bowling recently on "family night." Since it was family night, you would think that everyone knew there were kids and ladies there. So, what happens? There are several young men waiting in the food line dropping the f-bomb like it was a proper adjective. Everything was f*cking this and f-ing that. When my husband confronted the main perpetrater, his response was "I didn't know there were kids around." He didn't know there were kids around ... what about the women and older people? All of us are embarrassed by that kind of talk.

Since then, I have noticed that the young adults of today do indeed think that f*cking is a perfectly acceptable adjective to use anytime and anyplace - in front of anyone. I taught my kids that it is not an adjective at all and that it is used by people whose vocabularies are incredibly small. By definition, an adjective describes a noun. The f-word describes no noun that I know of.

What has happened to the education of these people? Do their parents use this kind of language? When I was a teen and in my early twenties, I used this word, but it was always a kind of daring thing. OOOH - I'm getting away with saying a naughty word - among my friends only. I didn't use that kind of language in front of "real" grown-ups. I wouldn't have said it in front of my employer, my teachers, my parents' friends or in a public place where those people may be.

This trend to replace the real f-word with "flipping," "freaking," "frigging," etc., is not really an improvement either, is it? It still shows that young people can't express themselves with real adjectives. None of these f-word substitutes helps communication. Yes, my kids do it and I call them on it. While it might be better than the profane alternative, it's still vulgar.

I just don't get it. Are my kids and those of my homeschooling/consertive/Catholic (pick one) peers going to be the only adults who don't think the f-bomb should be dropped in polite company? Will the next generation produce politicians, teachers, lawyers and doctors who can't describe a noun without it? Maybe I'm just an old fuddy-duddy, but I don't think so.....

Do we all have to dress like hookers?

What's the deal with women's and girl's clothes these days? Why can't I, at 5'4" find a t-shirt to cover my belly? Low-cut jeans just make it WORSE! I wonder what the world is coming to when clothes for 4 year old girls look like Britney Spears picked them out. Why would I want to dress my little girl like a streetwalker? Some moms even go out of their way to make their little girls look years older - by putting makeup on them and high heels! I find myself looking for little girls at the park who are dressed to play. How are you supposed to hang upside down from the monkey bars with a mini-skirt and halter top on? Is a 4-year-old supposed to put on thong underwear to show off when she flips upside down??

Oh, and let's talk about those moms. You know the ones ..... wearing super tight lowrise jeans, push-up bra, low-cut top and 5-inch spike heels to pick their kids up at pre-school. What's that all about? Who are they trying to impress? Dress like a mom for pity's sake!! Now, pre-schoolers might not notice how these women dress, but I can guarantee you that the older kids do. My pre-teen son had a friend who refused to go to the pool with his mother because she wore a string bikini.

C'mon ladies - let's dress our parts and teach our daughters that being a toy for men/boys is not our purpose.

MOM OUT