Hi and welcome to
Wednesday Wickedness! We are like other memes in that we will ask you ten questions each and every Wednesday. But our little "twist" is that each week we will pick a famous person and pick ten of their quotes. Each of our questions will be based on the quotes. Got it? Great! Let's begin this week's meme!
Today we picked
Ronald Reagan. Here's
Wednesday Wickedness!
My answers to this meme run a week late, so the celebrity quotes are not as timely, but... anyway.
1. A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at?
Are you concerned about mankind's intrusion into forests and jungles?
I am. Trees are a vital part of the planet's lungs. There is plenty of land available without having to butcher down the forests to make more room, or for over manufacturing. The only thing stopping such a change... borders of countries.
2. All great change in America begins at the dinner table.
What is the biggest change that you've seen in your lifetime with the U.S?
I would have to say cell phones. I still remember the day of the pay-phone and needing to keep some change in the pocket in case of emergency. During my time the bulking portable phones that look like huge, heavy show boxes, to systems that you hold in the palm of your hand that can search the internet, stream a movie, listen to whatever music you care to even think about, download navigation tools that can help you drive almost anywhere you care to go, and even make a video phone call if you want to. Oh, i forgot they can take pictures and upload them to share with the world within seconds. Simply amazing.
3. All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.
Do you feel nuclear power is still the fuel of our future?
I think it is a viable short term bridge until more potent reusable technology is viable. A lot of progress has been made in solar/wind/even wave technology. Progress also would need to be made on consumer consumption, which is being made, but unless we can obtain contentment on the consumption, we will always keep pace with improvements in production.
4. But there are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.
How did you do academically in high school?
Um... i plead the 5th. I only passed 3 semesters of English. Towards the end i would actually roll dice on multiple choice questions to answer them. The rattling of the dice was quite loud in the middle of the quiet class. I'd prefer to not go into more detail... there is a remote possibility that my children actually read this blog.
5. Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
How closely have you followed the uprising in Egypt? Thoughts?
To be honest, other than a passing curiosity, not very. It is not that the concerns of those who are protesting their government is not important, it is just that i have enough going on in my own life that i do not have enough 'CPU cycles' to keep track of all of the things going on in the world.
6. Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.
Do you feel a political system is worth dying for?
While i am proud to be an American, i have a deep concern for taking a stance of being willing to die for a political system where those who make the rules all too often exempt themselves from those same rules. Right now, and i am only speaking about my opinion/observations of things here in the U.S., the political system is more of an "us" versus "them" mentality than a system "of the people, by the people, for the people". I honestly feel that there needs to be a minimum of two more major political parties. I see the Tea Party as a viable alternative and compliment to the overall general Republican Party. I think the Democratic Party needs something as well. There is no one politician that i A) completely trust and B) agree with on all of the issues. Just like the the government has taken action to break up industry monopolies, i feel that the current system needs just a little more diversification as well.
7. Don't be afraid to see what you see.
What do you see that scares you?
For me... it would have to be the interactions between parents, doctors, and/or teachers regarding the overarching diagnosis of PDD or Pervasive Development Disorder. Parents are usually the first to know that something is not quite right with their child. They are with them day in, and day out. Usually they monitor every step, every 'check mark' if you will, of every development milestone. Too often when the parent goes to their doctor they are told to be patient, just wait, you'll see. The thing with Autism is that the sooner you begin therapy and treatment, the better overall success the parent will have in preparing their child for success and complete integration into society. Then, after the parent has been worn down from fighting the battles with their doctors, the child enters the school system where the parent then has to fight a new battle on a new front.
Things have improved immensely, and there are doctors and teachers out there who truly care and want to work with you, but often their hands are tied or they are over worked on trying to help every child that they can. My beloved and i have been blessed by God bringing people into our lives who are such doctors and teachers. But not every family is so fortunate.
Now, before i leave the impression that the deficiency is solely with "them" (the doctors and teachers) i have a concern for many of the parents of PDD/ASD children. Very often i hear of parents that are being given resources, given direction for their children (how to get an official diagnosis, good therapy concepts, etc.) sit back and do not take advantage. They expect the school system to do it all. To them is say, the school system is already underfunded for NT children and wide set of needs for them, and to expect them to have all the answers and be able to do all the work is redonkulous. Those of us who are privileged to be the parent of a "special needs" child need to step up and lay aside some of our personal preferences and desires in order to do what is best for the child. You are a member of a TEAM of people in your child's life, and it only works best when it works as one.
8. Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known.
Tell us about an advance that you we will see in out lifetimes that is not in existence.
I think we will have better robotic prosthetics. Already advancements of brainwave control over robotic limbs has been tested. It is amazing the advancements made in that technology just in the last decade.
9. Facts are stubborn things.
What is something that most think of as a fact that does not ring true to you?
I read this on someone else's blog last week and i am inclined to agree. Global warming is what immediately comes to mind. Weather data has only been collected for about 150 years and to make such wide sweeping statements is suspect to me. Evolution also comes to mind. I am not so entrenched that i say it did not happen as the theory states, but i am saying that it is not mathematically possible to have happened without outside intervention.
10. Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
What do you think of politicians that use religion as justification of their beliefs?
It is impossible for a person to not allow their faith influence their beliefs. Whether it is the faith of an Agnostic, an Atheist, a Mormon, a Hindi, a Buddhist, a Muslim or a Christian. Our thoughts and actions are guided by what we believe, just some of them are more vocal about their beliefs than others.
I would arrive exhausted and breathless at one RV (check point) only to be sent to the next RV back on the other side I had just come from. The mountain was too big to contour around, and the lay of the ground was such that I could never anything approximating a direct approach or maintain the hard-earned high ground for any length of time. Never getting anywhere, back and forth across the same mountain. It was a masterful torture. But then I had a revelation. 
