Happy Father's Day

Here's a picture of my father, the late Donald Gene Patterson, and my daughter, The Aggie. 
My father was the greatest man I've ever known.  The End.  Full Stop. 

There was a time during the "Men's Movement" scare of the late 1980's early 1990's, where men would go out into the woods and sit in drum circles and take turns slamming their fathers. 

I have no idea, no background, or no experiences to help me fathom what those guys were talking about.  Lucky me. 

If you visit this site regularly, what you're reading is merely an expansion of what I learned riding around our farm in his pickup truck.  While he would've never supported, say, the right to use marijuana or gay marriage, I believe he was doing the best he could with the light that he had to see by. 

I miss him so very much. 

BTW, for Father's Day, The Aggie gave me an original drawing of Peyton Manning, our football hero.  Pretty dang cool. 

LeAnn Rimes, Macaulay Culkin, Gary Coleman, Shirley Temple, Jackie Coogan, and other unfortunate children of irresponsible parents

I recently drove past  the theatre where they put on Johnny High's Country Music Revue.  It's a traditional country music show, very old school, and would probably fit better in Branson, Missouri, than Arlington, Texas.

Seeing the place reminded me of LeAnn Rimes.  (This is a stream-of-consciousness post.  Sorry.)  LeAnn Rimes got started at a very young age, singing in the Johnny High Revue and anywhere else she could find a microphone.  Then she had a mega-hit with Blue, a song written by WBAP disc jockey Bill Mack.  She earned a fortune.   

Unfortunately, her father spent most of it, and she had to sue him. 

You might be more familiar with Macaulay Culkin, the child star of the Home Alone franchise. Culkin earned a fortune as a child star, but had to sue his parents to get control of his earnings.

Gary Coleman, of Diff'rent Strokes fame?  Same song, different verse.  His parents and manager were on the losing end of a 1.3 million dollar lawsuit.  They were found guilty of ripping off the child star. 

Shirley Temple didn't sue her parents, but they spent most of her money. 

Jackie Coogan, a child star whose career began back in the silent film era, eventually sued his mother and stepfather for spending most of his earnings on jewelry, furs, and cars.  (Here's Coogan with Charlie Chapin in The Kid.) 

The Coogan incident became a media sensation and California eventually passed something called The Coogan Act to protect childrens' earnings from their parents. 

Most people don't have a problem with the actions of the Rimes, Culkin, Coleman, Temple, or Coogan parents.  They do something worse every day, and the kids have absolutely no voice in the matter.    

 

Most people continue to vote for Republican and Democrat politicians who, through cooperative, bi-partisan efforts, have managed to get every American child chin-deep in debt. 

If you look at the current debt, the children born tomorrow have a $50,000.00 hole to dig themselves out of.  If you add the unfunded liabilities, and believe me, these liabilities are unfunded, the children born tomorrow already owe $330,000.00 because of their parents' spending. 

It's as if Papa Culkin had signed Macaulay to an iron-clad contract for Home Alone, Part 4, plus Home Alone, Part 5, all the way through Nursing Home Alone, Part 37 to pay off the family gambling debts. 

Which is really the only way to look at it.   

The celebrity pics in this post came from the links by their names.  The pic of the little girl protesting her debt level came from here and is, of course, out of date, since it was taken 6 months ago.  Oh well.  All numbers in this post will be off by 20% in another 6 months. 

Congratulations, Mary ! ! !

I'm working in Canada this week, but got a very excited phone call from my daughter back home in Texas.
She got an acceptance letter in the mail today from Texas A&M, where she plans to go to veterinary school. Looks like we'll have an Aggie in the house.
Go Mary ! ! !
Later on, I'll do a post about where to mail the college fund donations.