RAH! RAH! RAH! IT'S OVER

High School Graduations are at hand. For some students, high school is a breeze of wonderful friendships and activities. They’ve been in school practically all of their young lives. And now stands before me, this grandson, Alec Dane Pedersen.

We adults send them out into the world with great expectations of success, of preparation for a new and independent life. We hang a lot on them during  this poignant ceremony. Hope is big here for them and us, their parents, grandparents, and friends who know them. And, there is worry, as well. Will they make it?  Will they see the job that puts dollars in their pocket from the local Fish And Grill, or MacDonalds,  will they see it? Will they know that down the line this is forever?  Forever, unless they prepare now for a better life? It’s easy to get caught in the now instead of once again, taking up  more years at the helm of teachers and books.
What I found unique about this ceremony for Alec and his peers was the reading, by the teachers, of a statement each student wrote about what they expected of themselves in the coming years. They chose a quote that from a great scientist, philosopher, artist, inventor, explorer or statesman, and related that advice to their own lives.
Alec is a bright, intelligent young man who is enrolled at Irvine Junior College and expects to get his AA degree and then decide what direction he will take.
Like his father, Alec has personality, charm and wit, and no matter where life takes him, his adventure will be interesting and wonderful.
As a family, we are oh, so proud of you, lad!  And, your young brother Austin adores you and expects to be just like you.  All of our dreams can come true if we but have the courage to pursue them.

LETS TAX THE KIDS COLLEGE EDUCATION

I have two grandson's graduating high school this year. I had established for each of my grand kids when they were young, an educational account in mutual funds that can be drawn upon when the kids reach college age. Something manageable, putting a little bit of money aside as they were growing up. They can draw on them only for college or vocational or other accredited schools. It can be used to pay for tuition, books and a defined number of other college related expenses without having to pay taxes on the earnings. A sound idea. If they had graduated in 2010, everything would have been fine. But, its 2011.  Our wonderful congress has slipped in a little grabber. The funds wrote me a letter informing me they will no longer be accepting new educational accounts. Van Guard suggested I should change them to another type of account, a 526, whatever that is. It seems congress has decided taxes must now be paid on the earnings these accounts made when they are withdrawn.

Gee, our wonderful congress has to balance the budget and reduce the deficit. Did you notice when the government investigation report of the banking and mortgage failure came out, it concluded there are guilty parties and the whole melt down was preventable and that laws were broken? Did you notice not one congress person decided we should go after the guilty parties and hold them accountable? No one was fined for slurping up billions of illegally gained dollars at taxpayers expense?  But, shucks, lets to go after those juicy educational accounts that are benefiting our students now that the economy of the world was affected negatively by these bozos and we are buried in debt,and trying to crawl out of it.

It makes me so angry I want to reiterate that old saw- THROW THE BUMS OUT.
House rules should dictate that every congress person should have to publically declare who gave them or their campaign committee money, or any promises, or deals made concerning the passing of a bill, while connected to a lie detector, before they are allowed to vote. This is not the type of ugliness any of us imagined could happen in America. Its so sad.

Preventable, that's what gets me. This mess was preventable.