Run a Marathon, Give Birth, Who Cares?

I posted this somewhat controversial piece on my main blog, if you'd like to check it out.

What Were We Thinking?: Run a Marathon, Give Birth, Who Cares?: Evidently, a lot of people do. photo credit I wasn't one of them until, Liz , a twitter friend & blogger at a belle, a bean, & a chic...

Breastfeeding Equals Titty-flashing in Georgia

I need to start this off by getting this out in the open:

WTF???

Forest Park (a suburb of Atlanta) just enacted a law that makes breastfeeding your 2 year old in public a criminal offense.  I posted my little rant on my personal facebook page and it drew over 120 comments. They were either migraine inducing or comedy gold.  I can't do justice to this "discussion" without screenshots, so I'm posting some of the best/worst for your enjoyment.  There was an overwhelming majority of thoughtful and accurate posts concerning breastfeeding, far too many for me to include here.

One of my best friends suggested this law may, in fact, protect nursing moms. Forest Park is not exactly the safest city in Georgia.

I appreciated that a couple of people mentioned early on that they were not exposed to breastfeeding for most of their lives and may have felt differently about this law (and breastfeeding in general) before they had kids.

 

  

I also know a few comedians.

 

The following post struck a nerve:

It struck such a deep nerve that several of my friends are STILL bringing it up.

Hey, this is me:

I wish I had a master's degree so I could make better arguments. ;-)

I hope the following commenter (who I love dearly, like my own little sister) is not one day blessed with a child who didn't read the book on age appropriate milestones.  I know I've had to learn the hard way that Klaw will do things on his own time...wobbling or not.  I just don't tell our pediatrician that he won't hold his bottle. (To be fair, she does think the law is stupid)

I feel sorry for all of the moms with early walkers:

Head, meet desk:

Please, keep it from the innocent children:

Gotta love a little touch of the rational:

Probably my favorite (definitely the most colorful) comment & response from the entire thread:

Or maybe this was it (remember those comedians I mentioned?):

 

Point of fact: I will probably not take my shirt off when bailing someone out of jail.

I do have a list of people to randomly flash the next time I see them...

assuming they are still speaking to me.

Pawns in a Political Pissing Match

Great job, elected officials!  GREAT FRICKIN' JOB!!!  I know preschoolers who work together better than y'all do.  This is ridiculous and you should ALL be ashamed of yourselves.  ALL OF YOU!!!

Although, I am not a big fan of Mother Jones (I have my reasons), they hit the nail on the head with this article about the asshats using military pay as a bargaining chip:

The very same GOP congressmen crying "save the troops" are the ones who've been playing politics with the livelihoods of our (largely underpaid) serving men and women: For more than a week, they've had a bill, proposed by one of their own, that would keep soldiers' paychecks flowing in a shutdown. And they've sat on it.

Yes, you read that correctly.  THE GOP SAT ON A BILL ENSURING MILITARY PAY!!! 

To appropriate such funds as may be necessary to ensure that members of the Armed Forces, including reserve components thereof, continue to receive pay and allowances for active service performed when a funding gap caused by the failure to enact interim or full-year appropriations for the Armed Forces occurs, which results in the furlough of non-emergency personnel and the curtailment of Government activities and services.

If Mother Jones is not your cup of tea either, this Associated Press article concerning the possible goverment shutdown is more palatable.  There are some good quotes but the crux of the matter is that the GOP wants to defund Planned Parenthood so federal money can't be used to fund abortions.  GUESS WHAT??!!??  It's already against the law to use federal money to fund abortions. Throwing military pay into the fray was just a dickbag move to push Democrats into a corner & force them to choose between women's health or military pay. Nice, GOP.  Good move.  Any way you look at it, someone is pissed on.  Would you rather be a misogynist or anti-American?  How does one choose between the two...

I digress, instead of doing the right thing, they chose to keep military families, many who live paycheck to paycheck, many who are separated from their families, on edge as to whether or not they would be able to pay their bills this month.  Way to support the troops, you frickin' hypocrites.  No, the yellow ribbon on your car & the American flag on your lapel doesn't mean crap when you choose to put our soldiers, sailors & airmen on the line.

This makes me sick.  SICK!!!  I don't care how you feel about Planned Parenthood, abortion, birth control, modern medicine, the wars that we are currently involved in - people's livelihoods should not be used as bargaining chips.  The men & women who risk their very lives for this country should never be used as pawns in a political pissing match under any circumstances.

You woke up some sleeping lions &, more importantly, many lionesses.  We protect our families and you'd do well to remember that because we surely will when the next election seasons rolls around.

I can't even get my thoughts together enough to rant about how women, in general, are being used through this political posturing bullshit.  I'll have to save that for another post.

Democrat chastized for saying 'uterus' on House floor

Democrat chastized for saying 'uterus' on House floor | Florida politics blog: The Buzz | tampabay.com & St. Petersburg Times

"I think it's a sad commentary about what we think about sex education in the state"- Scott Randolph

I agree, Mr. Randolph. We are approaching 1984 when the appropriate terminology for parts of the body (we aren't even talking about the penis or the vagina) become inappropriate language to use in public. Would you like us to use some newspeak, Florida Republicans? I'm sure there are already a few approved words in the GOP Newspeak, like "you betcha" "real Americans" "Reagan."

What GOP approved words & phrases would you add to the Newspeak lexicon?  This could be fun...

Abbie Dorn's Fate as a Mother

At what point as a parent or guardian do you lose the right to have a relationship with your children?  It's easy to draw a line in the sand when the parent or guardian commits a crime against their own children or even other children.  What about when the parent/guardian has done nothing wrong?  Nothing illegal?

Abbie Dorn's fate as a mother will be decided soon, perhaps even by tonight.

 (CNN)

Abbie Dorn suffered traumatic brain injury due to excessive bleeding and cardiac arrest during the cesarean birth of her triplets in June of 2006.  According to family, she is able to communicate through eye-blinks and is aware of her surroundings. Her former husband, Daniel Dorn, doesn't agree.  He divorced Abbie exactly one year later, believing she would never recover.  Abbie is cared for by her parents.

Do children have a right to know their parents if they are severely disabled?  I happen to think they do.  Daniel Dorn doesn't agree.

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

According to the Los Angeles Times, Daniel did nothing to prepare the three children for their first visit with their mother this past December.  He didn't tell the children about their mother until they were 4 years old, he never showed them pictures or talked about the accident, and he didn't read the evaluation of the children and extended family that was done by a court-ordered psychologist.

"You told the children that their mother would not know if they were present or not?" Meyer asked in court.
"That's correct," he responded.
"What did you do besides telling them she's basically not there?" Meyer asked.
"I told them she loved them very much, that a doctor made a mistake and, because of that, she can't move and she can't talk, and there's not any interaction you can have with her," Dan recounted. "I'm pretty sure I also said she's blind."

In addition to the lack of preparation for the visit, Daniel Dorn also lied about Abbie Dorn being blind. Abbie's mother says that the visit went well.  Daniel disagrees, although he admitted that the children expressed a desire to see their mother again.  Daniel expressed concern that the children's behavior deteriorated upon returning to LA but he admitted to not seeking help from a child psychologist or pediatrician.  He also didn't mention this to his lawyer and school officials did not notice any issues with the children.

Personally, I think Daniel Dorn is behaving like a douchecockasaurus.  Not only is he denying his children the ability to know the woman who birthed them, it seems as if he would have been content to live as though she never existed in the first place.  Do I think they need shared custody?  Absolutely not.  She is in no position to be a primary or secondary caregiver to the children.  However, she and the children deserve regular visitation and I don't believe Daniel will be willing to oblige without a court order.

Should Abbie Dorn's disability revoke her rights as a mother?  What does this say about our society?

UPDATE: Abbie Dorn has been temporarily granted visitation.

Nuclear Power's Death Knell?

Is Fukushima the death knell of nuclear energy?

(credit: CBS, March 2011)

Fukushima has been compared the likes of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island.  Of the two, I think Three Mile Island is the closest in comparison.

1 - The measurable scope of the radiation fallout was/will be fairly limited.
2 - The incident took place in a wealthy, capitalist society.
3 - There was/will be a large backlash from the populace regarding the expansion of nuclear energy.

In addition to the tragedy, there are now allegations that information regarding a damaged portion of the reactor were brought to the Trade Ministry of Japan by an engineer, Mitsuhiko Tanaka. He claims that "he helped conceal a manufacturing defect in the $250 million steel vessel installed at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 4 reactor while working for a unit of Hitachi Ltd. (6501) in 1974." Does this change the story?  the outcome?

Are we overreacting?  Is nuclear energy still a "green" source of energy or is the risk too great?  Is there a better solution?  What else must be considered?

The Lessons of Three Mile Island

The 80s called & they want their crazy dictator back...

I can't see how this is going to end well...

NATO leaders were are today trying to resolve a fractious debate on who should command the military campaign in Libya once the United States steps back from leading the operation.

President Barack Obama, seeking to avoid getting bogged down in a war in another Muslim country, said on Monday Washington would cede control of operations against Muammar Gaddafi's forces within days and NATO would have a coordinating role.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368693/Libya-Obamas-coalition-unwilling-asks-does-West-right-kill-Gaddafi.html#ixzz1HLIdQYr1

I have some questions worth discussing, I think...

1- Why did we get involved in the first place?
2- What is France's ulterior motive?  Is there one?
3- Why wasn't there a back up plan for when the US stepped back?  Did everyone just assume we wouldn't step back?
4- Wasn't Gaddafi's name spelled with a "Q" back in the 80s?

I seriously was caught off guard by our participation in this attack - Operation Odyssey Dawn. I was hoping that Obama was going to make some changes.  Participating in an attack against Lybia doesn't seem very Hopey McChangepants to me.  Gaddafi is a crazy SOB and I seriously doubt he's going to just step down from power.  He's already trying to stoke the fires of ill-feeling towards Obama by referring to him as a native "son" of Lybia - you know the tea-baggers are loving this.

A cage match between Kim Jong-il & Gaddafi might be worth pursuing if Operation Odyssey Dawn fails.