Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Odds And Ends From The Heartland

Have you seen the price of meat lately? We generally shop for meat twice a year; we buy the big family packs, and repackage them for our freezer. Monday we went to our favorite meat department and left with almost nothing...we paid $4.20/lb for 80/20 ground beef, and almost that much for pork cube steaks. The quality of the meat selections was poor, and the sticker price was outrageous to the point that we simply didn't buy much. Being the people-watcher that I am, I observed other shoppers slowly walking up and down the meat counters, staring, and shaking their heads, their baskets empty or nearly empty. I worry for young families; prices are soaring, work is scarce, and paychecks are stagnant. Even a bar of soap costs more, and toilet paper is so precious that I've wondered if Charmin is felling agarwood for their paper mills.

I see that Tim Tebow, the unrepentant Christian quarterback of the Denver Broncos, is still winning games by the skin of his teeth. It tickles me to see him take a knee on the sideline, because it throws the atheists and Muslim appeasers into a frothy meltdown. The oh-so-politically-correct staff at ESPN have been shrieking like banshees on crack, and the louder they squall, the firmer my stance is in support of Tebow. Christianity has taken quite a brutal bashing in the last few decades, and I'd like to see more Christians express their faith with the courage displayed by Mr. Tebow.

Noah and I were chatting with a retired couple last week. They shared with us that they have pulled all of their retirement monies from the stock market, and will invest in land. They said their tax hit was horrendous, but they're weary of worrying if/when the system will implode. They said they were happy with their decision and now have peace of mind. I found it incredibly sad...and chilling.

The rise of that old scalawag Newt Gingrich in the polls doesn't surprise me. Is he REALLY a conservative? Probably not. Is he a *spit* progressive? I guess that depends on how "progressive" is defined, and whether a person is analyzing Newt's recent positions or his past positions. I think I know why so many TPers are cheering him on anyway...it's not his politics as much as it is the certainty that he could kick Obama's ass in a debate. We may pay dearly for our fervent desire to see such an event. Time will tell.

Our family has scaled back the commercial aspect of Christmas this year. For the first time, we are drawing names for gifts, with a $10 limit if the gift is store-bought rather than handmade (children excluded from the $ limit). For the children, the adults are buying one gift per child, per couple. Instead of the insane glut of material "stuff", we are concentrating on things like baking and singing songs around the tree. We'll have our traditional Christmas Eve feast, and share stories of Christmas past. In a crazy world, we are attempting to instill a bit of sanity and peace.

Whether you are celebrating the Birth of the Christ Child, the Festival of Lights, or both...Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah my friends!


9 comments:

  1. I find it hilarious, umm, or really sad that Tim Tebow has more hatred directed toward him than a dog killer. Really, is that where were at?

    ReplyDelete
  2. RWC, it wouldn't surprise me if Holder has Tebow on a watch list, alongside other dangerous right-wing radicals...like veterans and bitter clingers. And grandma. And Aunt Gertie's cat named Teabag.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Holder was sent an email about.....oh, wait, Holder doesn't read emails sent to him. What a f'ing disgrace of an AG. I really think, no matter who is in office, the AG should be in the opposite party. Sure it might bring about some witch hunts. But I'll take a witch hunt over totally ignoring the law any day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lady Red, what a wonderful post.

    But to sum it all up, it's all Bush's fault. (You would think that any leader worth his salt would 1) not blame a past leader for a current problem, 2) IF he HAD blamed a past leader for a current problem, the new leader certainly would have stopped long before the almost-three-year mark of that past leader being out of office 3) the new leader would try rallying all people towards a common goal, not try to divide them.)

    I look at the situation with Tebow in the same light: Why are people so afraid of Christianity? Are they afraid Christians will start slaughtering members of other religions? Are they afraid Christians are going to fly airplanes into buildings? Are they afraid Christians are going to try and silence anyone criticizing Christianity? Maybe Christians will decree that women cannot go into public without having their face covered or something. OK, maybe Christians did do things like that -- five hundred years ago.

    Strange days, indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Matt, Obama is the most divisive president in my lifetime. It just makes people more uneasy and afraid. If we had a strong leader that could bring us together during these dark times, I know that folks wouldn't be so worried, because we would be relying on each other instead of throwing rocks across the fence.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Obama is not interesting in bringing us together.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AMEN, RWC! That's exactly what blows my mind! All this talk about forgiving a "man" who countenanced the savage deaths of dogs, but how DARE someone love Jesus.

    Lady red - love this post. I really do. I usually buy meat on markdown day at Sam's, and I've noticed the HUGE uptick in price. HUGE.

    Wegman's instituted a policy where they didn't raise the price on several items for the entire year (hamburger and ground beef were among the items), but I'm not sure if that will last past the end of this month...

    ReplyDelete
  8. We do most ouf our meat shopping at Costco. It is the cheapest and is generally better than what the grocery stores have.

    ReplyDelete
  9. lady red - awesome post. Awesome comments, too.

    I'm kinda on the run right now and I have more to say (always do) but I figured I'd share this link on the job market in the US, which I thought was informative.

    Nice sidebar note in it - a story about an auto worker who went back to school to become a nurse.

    ReplyDelete