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.