Benefit House

Sometimes you watch a programme on tv and it surprises you and changes your perspective.  This show did not do that. At all! It confirmed what I already knew, that there are lazy scroungers in the world who don't want to work for anything.
Who can blame them though when they can bring in £80000 a year by just having children left, right and centre?! Every family featured in the show was demanding larger council houses for their big families not even considering spending a little extra and private renting to allow the children to live more comfortably.  Not one of the parents mentioned trying to look for work either so clearly have no intention of coming off benefits. 

Mark and I work around 70 hours a week between us for a mere fraction of what these people bring in. We receive no help from the government whatsoever.  To me this is a slap in the face. Having been on income support myself for a while I do understand that benefits are important but the families on this show are blatantly abusing the system.  Why are they constantly having children when they aren't supporting those that they have?

One man has 26 children with different women and claimed he is better than most Dads because he threw one of the kids a party and was there videoing it. Not being funny but Mark has been there for Emma every birthday and every Christmas since she was born.  That's not even mentioning all the rest of the time he spends with her.  Unlike the parents on this programme,  we raise and support our daughter and set her the example that you should work for whatever you want. I would hate for her to grow up thinking that living on benefits your whole life is the way to go.

We're on the right track with her though because she was outraged by the fact that tax is taken from us to support these people.  Personally,  I find it incredibly demoralising thinking about how hard we work and what a struggle it is to make ends meet when you have these families exploiting the country and taking the mick out of us, basically. 

There is no way that I would choose to be like them. What infuriates me the most with them is that they still believe they deserve more. They want bigger homes and more money and see no reason why they are not entitled to those things.

Nothing will ever change, however,  because the government will continue to enable them whilst punishing the rest of us who actually contribute to the country and the economy. 

And people wonder why I believe our politicians are a complete waste of space! Let's reward laziness shall we?! Plus it's rubbish that they don't have the children for money. Contraception costs nothing.  Don't keep procreating when you can't look after the children you already have!

The Remote Is Mine!

And so it begins.

The daily war over who gets to watch what they want on tv! Mornings go fairly smoothly. Noone wants to deal with my moodiness at the start of the day so I win. Since I am the only person home during the day, I retain dominance over daytime tv. However, the evenings become a constant battle of wills between the three of us.

To be honest, the babe normally gets to watch her Disney Channel shows or some other tripe after school. This is simply due to the fact that I am usually organizing dinner and sorting her school bag etc.

It is when you add the man of the house to the mix that the situation is complicated. Viewing then depends on what mood the littlun is in and how badly we want to keep the peace. Us adults prefer programs such as Eggheads whereas our darling daughter likes The Simpsons. Personally I cannot stand it but 9 times out of 10 she wins. If she chooses to dispute the decision it involves her talking constantly so we can't even hear the tv anyway! You see the problem here?

Moving on to bedtime it should be easy for us to agree. It is not. If there is live sport on then I lean in that direction. Obviously. If there is a show on that we watch regularly then I am happy to work around that and to flick in the adverts. My partner is always difficult though. He insists on putting on some random episode of CSI, or another such show. I fail to see the point as we have watched most of them a multitude of times. Plus I have very little interest in any of the home makeover rubbish he likes. Why do I need to know how to do these things? I have him or Dad to deal with that side of life.

Last night was typical for us. I was enjoying the Man City match and he was on the pc. As it comes up to half time his hand begins to hover near the remote. Of course I attempt to perform the old 'cuddle and swipe' maneuver but he was on to me. Much frustration on my part!

Thereby ensues a war of sorts. I grumble. Mark tells me to shut up. Followed by various psychological little digs that still ends with him possessing the controls and me empty handed.
The physical altercations only begin once all avenues have been explored. His pure size means that wrestling and fighting would only leave one winner. My tactics are childish, I admit, but it allows me to level the playing field.

So I licked my finger and stuck it in his ear. No luck. I poked him in the arm. Didn't work. He shoved the remote in his pants. No way I was going in there! I made spit balls. He sat on me and broke wind. Now I never agreed to chemical warfare! It's last resort time. I smother him with one of his own rank, stinky socks.

Aha, victory!
Too late though because the football had finished. :(

Profit From Tragedy?!

Lately i always seem to be moaning about something! Hopefully this is q reflection of the world at large rather than me personally. Maybe i qm simply becoming more opinionated as i get older.

Wednesday mornings are always brutal, having to get the littlun to school at 8am for gymnastics, but first thing this morning, i turned on Daybreak and was bombarded with footage of Amanda Knox. I kid you not, it was enough to put me off my breakfast!

My opinion has never changed on this case. I honestly believe that she was involved in the murder. Her behaviour at the time and the fact that she named someone initially, do not look good. Any normal person, even if they didn't get on with their room-mate, would be traumatized to find them brutally murdered in the home they shared. The last thing on my mind would be getting passionate with my boyfriend! Also, why accuse someone else of the murder if, as she claims, she was never there?!

People are acting like she has been proven innocent now, because she is free, but technically this is incorrect. She was 'acquitted' because her lawyer argued that the DNA evidence was handled badly. Obviously it's too complicated to go through in detail but, basically, this evidence proved her guilt to the Italian authorities. It was then used to get the conviction.

Unfortunately, the majority of it was not catalogued correctly for 48 hours and a bra clip, that didn't match any of the victim's underwear, was allowed to rust. Using a chain of custody argument, among other things, the evidence was deemed inadmissible. So, for all intents and purposes, it doesn't exist and, since the rest was circumstantial, they had no choice but to free her.

It should be mentioned that the man still in prison for this crime maintains that she was involved.

What annoys me most is the publicity. The Italian ex-boyfriend is hardly being mentioned despite also being freed. Maybe because he isn't American. His father made a brief statement apparently and spared thoughts for the Kercher family, whereas Amanda Knox had a press conference! It was all 'thanks for supporting ME and MY family' which didn't sit well with me. She sounded like she was crying but there were no tears. It made me feel uncomfortable.

Yes, she lost 4 years of her life, which just about covers the slander, but the Kerchers have lost their daughter forever!! If she truly is innocent she must feel something for them and want the actual murderer(s) brought to justice.

There are reports that she will be offered movie and book deals etc and is set to make millions. This is disgusting. Why should she become rich and famous for being convicted of murder? Do we really want to know about Italian prison life? She can't possibly say anything about the murder since she says she wasn't there!

She may become a millionaire but if it was me i would just want to forget the whole thing. Should she ever get married and have children/grandchildren how will it affect them to have films etc out there? If she just gets quietly on with her life the next generation probably won't even remember her.

Does she really need to tell everyone her story? I'm hoping not but, sadly, i think she will cash in.
American culture seems to thrive on this stuff. In all honesty, i have nothing against the country or it's residents but i do dislike their desire to televise everything.

Look at the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor. Realistically, is it being done because the public need to know or for ratings? My point is, you have the tabloids and news stations to keep the world informed. There is no need to see and hear every detail from the courtroom. Listening to that phone call he made before he died makes me cringe!
I'm fairly sure that alot of it is morbid curiosity and that's just plain creepy. Just tell us the verdict and let Michael Jackson retain some semblance of dignity. Even in death he has no peace.

I suppose it is much like the documentary about the death of Princess Diana. I am so glad it wasn't shown here. There is no way i would have watched it as all these things achieve are to make people feel bad all over again. It isn't as if you learn anything new.

The program on recently about the Wests had the same effect. It may have been well made, and i suppose that's a plus, but why?! We all know what happened as it wasn't that long ago so is still raw for those involved. Speaking to people from the area on Twitter was very enlightening as they just wanted to move on from it. They felt that all this program was doing was reminding everyone of where it happened. They didn't want where they live to be remembered that way.

So a documentary or film gets millions of viewers for an hour or so. Whoopy doo!! The after-effects of these events and the various media linger on for years if not for ever. Just in case the hurt wasn't enough first time around! 

We've also had the mother of Madeleine McCann writing a book on her experience. I will not read it.

As a Mom myself, i can concur that having a child taken from you is, absolutely, your worst nightmare. We are all hyper-aware of child abuse and the threat of pedophiles in this day and age. Parents lecture their children on not talking to strangers and safe use of the internet etc but bad things still do happen.

Our area is very safe but i still feel i have to watch my daughter when she plays outside. I will admit to being paranoid but i would rather be this way and know she is safe than live with the regret the McCann's must have.

Whenever i think about Madeleine i get a sick feeling in my stomach. Whoever took her is utter scum. However, i find it hard not to blame her parents too.

They didn't deserve this but they did leave 3 small children alone in an apartment! They may have been in view of the door but none of us have x-ray vision. You would never consider abduction but any number of things could have happened inside that they would know nothing about.

I would never leave my daughter alone like that. Other parents i know have left their kids and nipped out. It's craziness! We chose to have children so should be prepared to make sacrifices for them. For example, you wait until they can go out with you or if on holiday and they go to sleep just stay in. You get plenty of freedom when they are older after all. If the McCann's hadn't 'gone out, for a meal they would still have Madeleine.
Other parents should focus on this.

I don't want to come across as self-righteous and judgemental but i don't think writing books, making films and popping up on tv every 5 minutes is the best way to react to a tragic event.
In the end all you do is forget about the victims and the important issues that should be addressed.

We spend far too much time being encouraged to be voyeurs of the worst in humanity.