"Beavis & Butthead" Realy Did Make it to Capitial Hill.

[[AK]Gunny Highway]

YEAH! Gunny reserves those rights for himself!

Thats right at least as far as video games go but that would be true for all of us. I do not stick my kids in a room turn on the tv and or video games and leave them to be babysat electronically. We did buy the v-smile game system for our kids and all the games are educational and they never play them alone. My wife or myself sit and watch and help them when needed, but we usually just say thats wrong and make them figure it out or at least try 3 or 4 times first.

[[AK]Squidly]

There are times when you need a break. To make dinner or whatever, and the TV is good for that. It keeps your kid occupied and off your leg for an hour or 45 minutes.

But too many parents abuse it, and it's part of the reason our society sucks today. It's an epidemic.

[[AK]Nuts]

My niece.. at three years of age has more videos than me. She has a TV and VCR in her room. ARG

Too many parents don't know how to deal with their children. They've been in day care since birth, pre-school, afterschool care, etc. Then when the kid finally sees Mommy and Daddy he/she is so desperate for attention and affection that the parents think, "Wow, this child is just out of control. I'm trying to watch Law & Order and he keeps bugging me to watch him hop on one foot. I better get him on Ritilan!"

Throw in the fact that for decades liberals have been telling women things like:
"You don't need a husband"
"Your child will be more socially adept if he's in daycare from the age of two months"
"Your child will build up a better immunity if he's in daycare 17 hours a day"
"Your career is just as or more important than your child"

And you end up with a ruined generation.

[[AK]Squidly]

I don't think the day care experience is bad. Our daughter goes 3 days a week out of necessity, and I think the exposure to other kids and stimuli is a good thing on the whole.

Besides, a little bit of me goes a long way. She needs a break.

[[AK]Abaddon]

I know daycare will be a fact of life for my wife and I if we have a kid. I don't think it's a bad thing, as long as you pick the right place.

[[AK]Hylander]

Besides, a little bit of me goes a long way. She needs a break.

We definitely need an [AK]Daycare then.

[[AK]Nuts]

Just read this article:

Anne Hendershott, a professor of sociology at the University of San Diego, boldly uses in the title of her latest book, The Politics of Deviance (Encounter, 2004), a word that many dare no longer speak.

WORLD: Is anything deviant anymore?

Hendershott: We have become reluctant to label behaviors "deviant." Drug abuse, promiscuity, abortion, and even homosexual acts are all behaviors that in the past were viewed as quite deviant. Today, in many cases, these behaviors have been normalized—or, as the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, we have "defined deviancy down."

I was curious how that happened and decided to look closely at some of these behaviors to understand the process of redefinition. I found that in the current politics of deviance, the power to label—and remove labels from—deviant behavior has moved away from the religious realm and been seized by influential interest or advocacy groups. Women's groups and gay-rights organizations, for instance, now have the ability to silence speech by those with whom they disagree. Health-care professionals and advocates have succeeded in medicalizing drug abuse and other behaviors.

WORLD: What's wrong with viewing drug addiction as a disease?

Hendershott: On the surface, medicalizing drug abuse is viewed as compassionate. In some "treatment" programs, such as methadone maintenance or harm-reduction programs in which hypodermic needles are supplied to IV drug users, the addict is enabled to "live safely" with his or her addiction. Yet, the reality is that drug abuse is a moral problem and needs to be addressed morally—not medically. This is why faith-based drug treatment programs are often much more successful than the medicalized programs.

WORLD: And meanwhile, we are medicalizing many behaviors.

Hendershott: Yes, many that in the past were viewed as disruptive, eccentric, or simply "bad." The new mental illness designation given to unruly children and adolescents has now progressed from Attention Deficit Disorder to Oppositional Defiance Disorder—replete with medication protocols. Adults, too, are increasingly being labeled. In San Diego, we had a case in which a surfer claimed "surf rage" when he was arrested for nearly beating a fellow surfer to death for invading his "surf space."

Behaviors like "shopping addiction" have been identified. A woman in San Francisco successfully sued her company for its unwillingness to make reasonable accommodations for her compulsion to wash, brush, and then rewash her hair for up to three hours each morning if it did not feel right. The 9th Circuit Court ruled that when her employer eventually fired her for being late, it was without cause—because of her mental illness.

WORLD: And some also want accommodation for what you call the "sexually adventurous adolescent"?

Hendershott: I chose that chapter title after reading about the social science response to a major syphilis outbreak among suburban teenagers in Conyers, Ga. In Conyers, a large number of very young teenagers were engaging in promiscuous sexual behaviors—some with more than 100 partners. The behavior led to a syphilis epidemic in the upscale suburb. While shocking, the response from some women's groups and sociologists was even more shocking. Deborah Tolman, a research scientist and director of the Adolescent Sexuality Project at Wellesley College, suggested that girls are entitled to their own sexual desire or sexual pleasure and that "good" girls or "nice" girls are depriving themselves of a full life. Ms. Tolman's article, "How Being a Good Girl Can Be Bad for Girls," is a classic redefinition of deviance in which what has been regarded as "good" is recast as "deviant" and what was seen as bad becomes "normal."

WORLD: Can Christians do anything to remoralize public discourse?

Hendershott: Some religious leaders have become reluctant to speak publicly of morals at all—and in their place, a powerful advocacy community stands ready, willing, and able to redefine deviance for us.

[Toolert]

[[AK]Nuts]

You'll have to excuse me for it's a bit hard to follow your train of thought during your last post. Perhaps you are friends with 'Government Cheese'?

First off you mentioned Dioxen Poisoning (sic.) in the same paragraph where you discuss your family history and your father. Is it my understanding that you are associating your father's service in the Marines to your illness? Perhaps a by-product of the defoliant, 'Agent Orange'? You never seem to make any connections to his service, your thought structure seems fragmented and the point undefined.

You ask me for "insight on this matter". Clearly you can not expect me to explain why a toxic, man-made organic compound that can be found in industrial and construction sites would be found in your, a retired carpenter's, body. Is there a government conspiracy? Is big-business to blame? Do you want the August Knights to help you in some way? In what regards does any of this have to do with the raising of our children with our without government aid... the very topic you initiated.

Also, it would be interesting to know how a 36 year old carpenter is a member of the "Vietnam Associates of America", I group that I can find no information about anywhere on the web let alone the fact that you would have been an infant during the war.

Other point: Your, "What if you could become God" and your, "Beavis & Butthead" post was also made by you on the Far Frontiers Forums. Do you just post randomly on the web looking for responses? If so, I don't think we are really interested.

[Toolert]