Family History

My dad is away on a business trip, so my mom and I had dinner by ourselves tonight. All through dinner and for two hours after, my mom told me stories of when she went to graduate school, the men who liked her, her first husband, her divorce, and a little bit about my dad’s family. Back when my mom was in graduate school (1967), twenty apples and oranges (mix and match) were one dollar, and a hamburger was 25 cents!

Here is one of the more romantic stories. There was a guy who had a girlfriend in Taiwan and was simultaneously trying to pursue my mom when they both were in graduate school in Missouri. When a friend of his girlfriend found out he liked my mom, word got around and he was pressured into marrying his girlfriend so that she wouldn’t lose him. Before he flew back to Taiwan, he sent a letter to my mom saying how reluctant he was to fly home. This guy didn’t even date my mom, he just liked her!

Despite the previous paragraph, my mom has been through some really rough times. The mental and physical abuse she went through during her first marriage (mostly caused by her first husband’s manipulative father) would have broken many women. My mom said that if she didn’t have the support of her friends at that time, she might have commit suicide.

I’m glad she didn’t.

Checks And Balances Doesn’t Work

Last week, the Senate voted 67-29 to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance program to add 4 million children from low-income families to the existing program. The money would come from raising the tax on cigarettes. Earlier in the week, the House voted in favor, 265-159. Even with such strong bipartisan support, President Bush has promised to veto the bill. Unfortunately, the House vote isn’t quite strong enough to overrule the veto.

Just three years ago, Bush was in favor of expanding children’s health insurance. Now he says that it’s too expensive. He thinks adding 7 billion dollars each year for the next five years is too expensive for American children. Meanwhile, Bush is pushing for 42 billion dollars to be added to the war budget for next year alone, making the 2008 budget a total of 190 billion dollars! You’ve got to be kidding me! The vast majority of Americans are opposed to the war!

I really wish the US government was set up so that the President didn’t have so much power. Wasn’t escaping a monarchy one of the major reasons why the US was created in the first place? It certainly feels like whatever Bush says goes, and anything the people actually wants he vetoes.

All I can say is, I’m really glad that we have a two-term limit for presidents. And people say Warren Harding is the worst president? I beg to differ.