Commission recommends rolling back pensions for current state, local workers – Sacramento Politics – California Politics | Sacramento Bee

Commission recommends rolling back pensions for current state, local workers – Sacramento Politics – California Politics | Sacramento Bee.

10 years ago, pundits would have laughed at the possibility of any public sector employee forced to give up the idea of a pension. It was written in stone: People joined the public sector, not for high wages but for job security and retirement benefits.

In 2003, United Airlines decided to roll over their pensions into 401(k) annuities and the Supreme Court ruled they could legally do it. Since then, almost every major company in America has done the same. The last bastion of pension security was the public sector worker.

We have to conclude two things. First, retirement as we used to know it will come to an end soon. There are no nest eggs for anyone except the very wealthy that can support us at a decent living wage. Second, people are going to struggle giving up what their hearts yearned for: a season of life where they didn’t have to work.

It would be good to mentally relinquish that now and do the things you were saving for retirement now.

Protecting Kids from Lies – Part 3

My father struggled all his life to believe he could finish anything. As a boy, he took on the idea that he was destined to be a great starter and a lousy finisher. My grandmother saw this and determined she would do a better job the next time.

Next time? She had already raised four kids, so when was this “next time” going to happen? When my Mom and Dad moved my brother and I with them into our grandparents’ basement, Grandma saw her opportunity. She was going to do it right with us.

Dave and I heard two constant themes from Grandma. She always told us we could do anything we put our minds to. Not only did we hear it like a daily mantra, she would celebrate everything we did accomplish as if it deserved a major award. If I was drying the dishes,

Protecting Children From Lies – Part 2

Emotions often hold power over our beliefs; especially pain, anger and grief. This explains why children don’t voice their most deeply held lies – they do not want to reveal what they’re feeling.

Let me give an example. Margaret was eight years old when she experienced something a child should never go through. I won’t reveal the details of the molestation, but it was heinous and involved a man known to the family. He was a good friend of her father’s. She felt unclean, unloved and abandoned throughout the period of that ordeal. Her mother was not stupid;

Protecting a Child From Lies – Part 1

Jen began training with us with the goal of being a people-helper. During the training, she confronted a half dozen beliefs that were hurting and defeating her life. As she let go of each belief, she felt more freedom to live as an adult. I use the words ‘live as an adult’ because these beliefs were all childish. One belief in particular had affected almost every relationship in her life. It all started so simply. When Jen was three and a half, her mother made her a beautiful white Easter dress with a large pink bow around the waist. She had never worn anything so lovely or expensive (her family was dirt-poor, and this was a major step up in clothing value). At that time, she was the only child in her family, so she had no one to show her pretty dress to. She went outside that Sunday morning looking to display her finery. The only thing walking around was the neighbor’s dog. She followed him into his yard, all the while telling the dog how much she loved her new dress.

The dog was unimpressed, as Jen remembers. He kept walking away from her and went into the next neighbor’s yard. Jen quickly climbed the small picket fence so she could follow the dog. When she got on top of the fence-line

A Christian Business in the Left’s Crosshairs – Michelle Malkin – National Review Online

A number of American companies have espoused openly Christian values. There are many non-theists who are troubled by this. But no one really minds when In-N-Out puts “John 3:16″ on the bottom of their cups, do they?

But, the stakes get higher when political and social agendas meet Christianity. Recently, Chick-fil-A got in trouble with the New York Times and Washington Post. Let Michelle Malkin explain from her column:

Over the past month, several progressive-activist blogs have waged an ugly war against Chick-fil-A. The company’s alleged atrocity: One of its independent outlets in Pennsylvania donated some sandwiches and brownies to a marriage seminar run by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, which happens to oppose same-sex marriage.

In the name of tolerance, the anti-Chick-fil-A hawks sneered at the company’s main product as “Jesus Chicken,” derided its no-Sunday-work policy, and attacked its operators as “anti-gay.” Michael Jones, who describes himself as having “worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School,” launched an online petition drive at http://www.change.org “demanding” that the company disavow “extreme anti-gay groups.” Facebook users dutifully organized witch hunts against the company on college campuses.

via A Christian Business in the Left’s Crosshairs – Michelle Malkin – National Review Online.

Do you feel this attack has any social, legal or ethical merit?