Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there including my husband and my father! I hope you enjoy your day and at least the effort that was put into getting you something. You know it’s hard to shopping for you, right?
Here’s a reminder of the importance of your job:
It is now common to meet young people in our big city schools, foster-care homes and juvenile centers who do not know their dads. Most of those children have come face-to-face with their father at some point; but most have little regular contact with the man, or have any faith that he loves or cares about them.
When fatherless young people are encouraged to write about their lives, they tell heartbreaking stories about feeling like “throwaway people.” In the privacy of the written page, their hard, emotional shells crack open to reveal the uncertainty that comes from not knowing if their father has any interest in them. The stories are like letters to unknown dads – some filled with imaginary scenes about what it might be like to have a dad who comes home and puts his arm around you or plays with you.
[...]
The extent of the problem is clear. The nation’s out-of-wedlock birth rate is 38%. Among white children, 28% are now born to a single mother; among Hispanic children it is 50% and reaches a chilling, disorienting peak of 71% for black children. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly a quarter of America’s white children (22%) do not have any male in their homes; nearly a third (31%) of Hispanic children and over half of black children (56%) are fatherless.
[...]
“If you are concerned about reducing child poverty then you have to focus on missing fathers,” says Roland Warren, president of the National Fatherhood Initiative, based in Gaithersburg, Md. This organization works to encourage more men to be involved fathers.
Just a political aside: how does the federal government do that?
posted June 15, 2008 at 7:08 pm
We elect Obama.
posted June 15, 2008 at 7:22 pm
The National Fatherhood Initiative is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization. It it is not government — federal, state, or local. They have various educational and outreach and support programs, place public service ads, etc. They have done some contract work for a couple of state governments as well as private organizations. Just because something has “National” in the name does not mean it is a federal government program.
If you take a second to do a Google search before assuming and criticizing in “a political aside,” you could avoid spreading misinformation and make your posts more reliable.
posted June 16, 2008 at 8:25 am
“If you take a second to do a Google search before assuming and criticizing in “a political aside,” you could avoid spreading misinformation and make your posts more reliable”
You misread my comment. I’m not stupid enough to believe that it’s a political group at all and I wasn’t referring to them when I made the political aside. I was referring to the spokesman’s comment. The left believe that they can use the federal government to end poverty, I do not. The comment was: how does the federal government throw enough money as this issue to make it go away?
You would find my posts more “reliable” if you didn’t assume I was an idiot.
posted June 16, 2008 at 8:27 am
“We elect Obama.”
Yes, because the messiah can heal the family and bring people together. He is going to usher in the kingdom on earth, isn’t he?
posted June 16, 2008 at 9:14 am
I don’t assume you are an idiot and I treat your posts with much more respect than you treat the people who comment on them. It seems to me it is you who are very quick to assume the worst of everyone.
I think you’re an intelligent woman with a superficial understanding of a lot of the things you “blab” about (you don’t seem to know much about economics or political theory and don’t seem to feel the need to) and you have a smug and smart-alecky tone that probably comes across less harshly in person. I would find your posts more reliable if they showed any depth of research or understanding or any willingness to engage in a substantive and thoughtful manner with the posters instead of trading barbs and crowing over gotchas and gaffes. The quote says the opposite of what you characterize. He is speaking on behalf of a private organization about their priorities and efforts to work on areas that are beyond government’s reach and ability. So he’s on your side, right?
posted June 16, 2008 at 11:11 pm
“So he’s on your side, right?”
And what would that be?
“He is speaking on behalf of a private organization”
Yeah, I know. I said that in the comment. The comment will make more sense when I blog about Obama’s bribery of fathers.
posted June 16, 2008 at 11:34 pm
BTW, I don’t think that I need to be a economist or know political theory to comment on the stories that I post here. Any stay-at-home mom with half a brain can see that because the Democrats refuse to allow the oil companies to drill offshore (even though the Chinese are going it) or allow us to drill in ANWR, they have caused us to be dependent on foreign oil. Any stay-at-home mom with half a brain can see that will drive up the price of those items that are transported via trucks thus causing inflation (and yeah, I know there are other factors involved like the value of the dollar).
Any stay-at-home mom with half a brain understands the agenda of both the Democrats and the Republicans, it doesn’t take a political theorist to get that.