I would love one of these.

MADSEN Cargo Bikes

Why are so called feminists attacking breastfeeding?

Why is breastfeeding under attack? Here's a good article that rebuts a recent Atlantic article that has garnered so much unwarranted attention. Even if you are not particularly interested in breastfeeding, it is worth reading this article about the backlash against breastfeeding just for the last three paragraphs which address the failure of American feminism in supporting mothers.

Don't think that American feminism is betraying mothers? Read this quote and tell me why a well known feminist leader like Bonnie Erbe would dare to tell mothers to hide in a dirty bathroom or in their stereotypical mini-vans for the one to two plus years that woman should breastfeed.

"Now, on the other end of the wacko perspective, comes this missive
from the West Coast. Last week, women held a "mass nurse-in" in
(sorry, but where else?) Berkeley, Calif. .... I'm all for breast-feeding. But breast-feeding in public? Call
me a Luddite. It makes me queasy. Please, go for it. But in the
privacy of your home, a public bathroom or perhaps even your van."

Unfortunately the story from which this quote was taken is no longer available online. So you only get this tiny peak into how nasty so-called feminists like Ms. Erbe can be to mothers.

Yuck. That's all I can say. Go read this article. Because American women deserve better.

Dora dumps science and exploration to become yet another bulimic fashionista

Editorial: Dora the Ex-Explorer by Susan Linn

When Nickelodeon launched its hit animated series, Dora the Explorer, ten years ago, women all over the country cheered. Dora was a great model for little girls. She was feisty, smart, devoted to math and science—and a bilingual child of color to boot. Never mind that her image was used to push everything from burgers to backpacks. That she is a strong, positive role model is often cited as proof that, despite its commercialism, Nick is a force for good in modern childhood.

The limits of relying on market forces to produce positive models for little girls were made painfully obvious recently when Nickelodeon and Mattel announced the launch of a new Dora doll and virtual world. The little science loving spitfire will be growing up a bit. She’s forsaking science for shopping. She’s moving to the big city, acquiring loads of new clothes and accessories, and—from the looks of it—an incipient case of anorexia.

Read more and see the new Dora...

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Here we go with the fuzzy math again

Nashville is spending half a million dollars on an election for a referendum that will save us about $500 per year. I'm mathematically challenged, but even I can see stupid math that blatant. Just another reason to vote NO on English Only.

Christianity, breastfeeding and Facebook

Christopher writes from a Christian perspective about the controversy surrounding breastfeeding pictures on Facebook. This has been going on for a year at least if I remember correctly, but it is just now hitting the mainstream media. Maybe I should find or take some breastfeeding pictures to post.

Holy crap!

Cartoon by David Hayward at nakedpastor.

Silent Night? Like hell it was

Away in a manger
No crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus
Lay down his sweet head

Umm, how anachronistic is that? They didn't have cribs back then. They coslept (Luke 11:7). But that doesn't really bother me. How about this:

The cattle are lowing,
the poor Baby wakes,
But little Lord Jesus,
no crying He makes;

Is it going overboard to call this borderline heretical? What is the purpose of the claim that the baby Jesus did not cry when he was rudely awakened by some noisy animals while he was supposedly sleeping by himself in a manger? (I think that's off, as I've said, but that is the premise of the song.) Saying that the baby Jesus did not cry in such a situation either implies that Jesus was not fully human (heretical) or that Jesus didn't cry because crying is "bad" (a dangerous misunderstanding of the communicative purposes of crying in an infant). Either way, this song makes me cringe every time I hear it sung.

Here's a dramatic version of the manger scene that is certainly anachronistic, but at least more true to life:

(Mary is lying down, an exhausted arm flopped over her eyes. Joseph is pacing with the roaring baby, jiggling it. A childish chorus croons “Silent Night” in the background.)

JOSEPH: Maybe he needs changing.

MARY: I just changed him.

JOSEPH: Maybe he needs to nurse.

MARY: I JUST NURSED HIM!!!

(Joseph tries to rock and soothe, to no avail).

MARY: Ei Ei Ei! I need some shepherd's purse and milk thistle to calm my nerves! Can’t you take him outside for a moment so I can at least clean myself up?

JOSEPH: It’s freezing out there!

MARY: Just for 5 minutes? Please? Use the sheepskin!

JOSEPH: Blessed art thou among women? CRANKY art thou among women more like it! (He struggles to wrap the sheepskin around the screaming baby and leaves.)

MARY: Lord, that angel I thought I saw - unless it was just too much falafel – said I was highly favored! I sure don’t feel very favored right now! I’m sore both ends, I’m LEAKING both ends – and if that baby is really your baby then why is he screaming blue bloody murder all the time? Shouldn’t he be meek and mild and QUIET???

[Read it all]

Interesting events

I'd like to start mentioning interesting things that I've come across on the internet from time to time. Because even though I'm not updating much, I'm certainly still reading. Here's my first update.


*Jared was probably a bit nervous when his day came to celebrate Holy Eucharist for the first Sunday after being ordained as a priest. But he never guessed that the President of the United States would show up.

*If you're a Nashvillian and have a brain, get out and vote against this crap. No wonder people think that we're a bunch of yokels around here.

*And if you think that's bad, now those whose birth certificates have been certified by midwives are being treated as second class citizens. As a mom with two children whose births have been properly certified by a midwife according to the law, it is scary to think that 60 years from now someone might call those births into question and discriminate against my children, taking away their rights as U.S. citizens. The precedent that this sets is very scary folks.

Where have all the trick or treaters gone?

I'm totally sad that I've been sitting on my porch dressed like a clown with pumpkins lit and scary soundtrack playing and I've only had two families trick or treat. What's up with this? Here's Halloween, the one holiday left where you aren't expected to spend tons of money. The one holiday left where you actually go meet the neighbors that you've isolated yourself from. The one holiday left where you give to strangers just for the joy of it. And its dying a slow death. (UPDATE: I'm being a little melodramatic here. But hey its Halloween. Things are supposed to die.)

Why? Some people are afraid of the proverbial razor in the apple. But that's just an urban legend. The only documented case of tampered with Halloween treats is a case where a father sadly poisoned his own son. Some folks are worried about the scary death theme of Halloween. But I think that those of us in the church out of everyone should be the most comfortable with such subjects.

Instead churches are throwing out Halloween and hiding in their church ghettos. And by doing that we're missing the most great opportunity. The opportunity to meet our neighbors. The opportunity to share with the people in our community. The opportunity to cross the boundaries of isolation and fear of the other that is being more and more ingrained in our culture. The fear and isolation that is so antithetical to the gospel.

I've had a few more families arrive (one child new that it was my daughter's house even though I didn't know who she was). I hope that when my kids grow up they can sit by their doors awaiting the trick or treaters.

Happy Halloween!

Opressive student loans

I thought this was interesting. Who the hell gives a music major $160,000 in student loans? I remember sitting in the required session when I was 18 and they were explaining that we would have to repay our school loans. I had no idea what I was getting into. And I had no idea that I would marry a man who had even less of an idea of what he was getting into. When else do we give 18-year-olds huge loans with no collateral that the overwhelming majority don't really understand? Something is not right with this system.

Chris (who doesn't want his last name used) graduated with about $160,000 in student loan debt with a master's degree in music.

"At the time I thought I could handle it. I thought the most I'd be paying was $600 a month," he says.

But his payments were $2,400 a month. So Chris started looking for jobs overseas. He thought he'd be able to earn more and pay off his loans. But it didn't turn out that way. His salary was even less than what he was making back home. He realized there was no way he could make his payments, so he changed his address.

"They think I'm living somewhere in Arizona," he says. His last payment was a year and a half ago.

Read it all...

No OB is worth waiting three hours for

Out of three births, one with a family physician and two with a midwife, I only had to wait more than five minutes for an appointment twice. Once when the doctor had an emergency at the hospital and once when my midwife and I had some confusion about where we were supposed to meet (even then it only took her maybe 30 minutes to turn around and come back). That's why it just blows my mind that anyone, especially a pregnant woman, would put up with sitting in an OB's office for up to three hours time and time again. So you can see the doctor for ten minutes tops? Forget about it.

Seriously, I'd have my doubts whether a doctor like that would be able to show up to my birth on time.

Maternity care quiz

Check out this great Q&A about maternity care.