We lived in separate states but eventually I met one of them in real life. And here is why you reminded me of him. This kid wanted more than anything to be a car mechanic. He loved cars, but he was not able to learn how to work on cars at school. There was no mechanic shop.  Their was a private school but he didn't have the money.  He worked at a pretzel place in the mall, and turned most of his money over to his parents who had run into financial trouble and were about to lose their home.  For three years I played with these guys, and in all that time this kid kept wanting to move away from home and start his own life, but felt obligated to assist the family.  He had one of the strongest work ethics I have ever seen in a person of any age, and it was heartbreaking to see him unable to follow his dream. He would not abandon his parents to lose their home, but he was sacrificing his future.

In his case, besides the whole mortgage fiasco that got his parents into that pickle, the entire problem was that high school is focused on college prep. We have been lied to now for generations, that everyone can be a doctor or lawyer and we need to force all children through 12 years of school with those professional goals in mind, and we have gotten away from respecting other career choices - the blue collar choices. I don't know how or when carpentry and welding and mechanics got out of the public school curriculum, but it was not available to him and resulted in him feeling trapped and blocked from moving on in life. That and his parents; his father had been taken ill - it was not that they were slackers either.  The bottom line is this family was badly hurt by this country's economic and educational situation.

But the kid on the inside was no different from any of us at that age. He had the same dream - he wanted to find a nice girl and raise a family, and he wanted to have a solid career doing the thing he knew he was good at.

That's an interesting story.  I hope he was eventually able to follow his dream.  There are good kids out there, and they are facing challenges we could never imagine.  Technology, the economy, the poor direction society is going, and "real" job growth are all big issues.  I fear that lack of good jobs, that pay well are not as available today.  I think a lot of younger people are "settling" for less.     

Does anyone know any Canadians that use, and like their healthcare system?  I hear reports that Canadians sometimes come to the U.S. to buy their healthcare, but I don't know if that is true or not. 

Interesting that the same people who don't want to keep score at little league baseball (can't have winners/losers in a game) are themselves poor losers.

Amazing isn't it?  It is the same do as I say not as I do crowd that gave us Man Made Climate Change.  I don't watch network TV, but my wife does, so I occasionally get a piece of their far left bias, even on comedy shows.  They are always anti (legal) gun, always pushing the gay agenda, and every other far left crap they can think up.  It is 24/7 indoctrination.  Rush (our Rush, not Limbaugh) has said this very eloquently in the past.  So the kids get it when they go to school, and then when they come home, and turn on the TV.  All liberal/progressive talking points, all the time.   

I have very little contact with younger people today, so most of my thoughts about them come from others who do have contact with them.  Occasionally, when I do interact with them, I am often surprised when they are NOT the self absorbed, I Phone, entitled people that I hear about.  I have a neighbor kid that helps me with some yard work when I am away on business, or just can't handle something around the house.  He is polite, respectful, hard working, and just an all around good kid.  His older brother used to help me out, and he is exactly the same.  I called their Mother, and told them she had raised two really good sons.  Here are two boys, who are industrious, and want to EARN their money.  They do not think the world owes them something, and I am sure their parents are the same. 

But here's the real question:  All of this took place under Obama, Holder, Lynch, Clinton and Kerry.  Why didn't they try to do anything about it?

We all know why.  When Democrats are in office the media hardly questions anything they do, or don't do.

Voter ID does nothing for this.

Well when the "faux" voter shows up with the "faux" registration to vote, wouldn't a real I.D. stop that?

The UK is nuts.  They let themselves be disarmed after WWI because the government was afraid ex-soldiers would come after them due to the extreme and needless loss of life in the trench warfare.  Now they promote the wholesale transformation of their country and culture by bringing in countless Muslim refugees.  On top of that they are damaging their economy with extreme energy surcharges often doubling the cost to combat Man Made Climate Change.  Their nationalized healthcare system sucks.  I could go on, but it depresses me.      

Trump Empowers States with Massive Permitting Reform in ‘First Step’ to ‘Renewing America’s Roads, Rails, Runways and Rivers’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump wrapped up infrastructure week at the Department of Transportation on Friday, highlighting his moves to reform what the White House called a “burdensome regulatory system that has left American infrastructure crumbling.”
Trump began his visit with a roundtable where state DOT heads described the hindrances that the current permitting process impose on their infrastructure projects. The heads of state Departments of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation leaders, and White House senior officials participated in the discussion along with hosts Transportation Sec. Elaine Chao and Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke.

From the DOT atrium, Trump spoke to members of Congress, representatives of the transportation community, heads of state Departments of Transportation, and U.S. Department of Transportation staff.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/09/trump-empowers-states-with-massive-permitting-reform-in-first-step-to-renewing-americas-roads-rails-runways-and-rivers/

Trump also said the Keystone Pipeline was approved.  My, my think of it.  More power back to the states, and less burdensome regulation on infrastructure projects.

Hey, whatever happened to those "shovel ready jobs" Obama promised for infrastructure projects from the $1 Trillion "stimulus" (union payoff)?  I remember him laughing at a press conference when asked about it saying with a smirk, "maybe they weren't so shovel ready after all".  The media never mentioned it again.  Another lie like you can keep your doctor, and your health plan.