I’m all for multi-tasking, but this woman is a boob
Feb 28, 2009 What's Going On
I’m a big multi-tasker. I can make lunches while drying the uniform pants I fogot to wash last night while checking my email while talking on the phone. And there have been plenty of times when I had to feed my kids in the car. Microwaved bagels with butter are a big one for us. Or dry cereal in a baggie. Or a Happy Meal (but no ketchup – I draw the line at letting the kids open ketchup packets in the car). And, I’ve breastfed my kids in the car. Parked. With the car completely off. And even that made me nervous. I called Saturn once trying to find out if the airbag would go off if I was parked and somebody hit me (I was never able to get a clear answer on that, so I did it in the back seat when possible).
But never, ever, in my wildest dreams, on my most harried, late, crazy day, did it ever occur to me even once for a split second to breastfeed my baby while driving. But apparently Genine Compton of Ohio thought that this was an OK thing to do. With her other children in the minivan, and her baby on the steering wheel having breakfast, she drove to her kids’ school. Oh, and as if that weren’t enough, she was also talking on her cell phone.
Luckily for her kids, another driver saw her, and called the police: “I’m following right behind her right now on Far Hills Avenue,” the caller said as he spoke to a Kettering dispatcher in a recording of his non-emergency call that was released by police on Friday, Feb. 27.
“I tried to say something to her. She literally has the little girl on the steering wheel and I said, ‘I can’t believe you have that kid in your lap’ and she said, ‘You want to pop your titty out and breastfeed this kid?’ That’s what she said to me. I’m like, ‘You can feed your kid when you stop.’ It’s like wet out here. It’s full of traffic. It’s ridiculous. She’s got like three other kids in the car.”
Wow.
The cops were very quick to point out that the fact that she was breastfeeding had nothing to do with the fact that she has been charged with child endangerment and unlawfully restraining a child. They said that even if the child had just been on her lap, the charges would have been the same. I’m sure they’re trying to avoid protests from moms who think they can breastfeed their kids anywhere, anytime, no matter what the situation, no exceptions. But clearly this was not about breastfeeding, it’s about safety.
You have to take a test to get the license to drive the mini-van, so I have to assume there’s no question on that test asking whether or not it’s OK to breastfeed your baby while driving. I guess whoever made the test assumed that that was the kind of thing a person would just know, just like you know not to stick your hand in a pot of boiling water. I mean, when I took the test to get my learners permit, there were no questions like these: “True or False: You should not put cruise control on and climb into the backseat and take a nap while driving.” Or “True or False: If you are low on gas, you can fill your tank with chocolate milk.” There are just some things that should be assumed.
But no, apparently it is no longer safe to assume that drivers will instinctively know not to whip out their boobs and prop their kids up on their steering wheels and grab their cell phones and put it in drive. And if this woman is making such a huge, horrible, dangerous mistake on this issue, what are the odds that all of her other decisions are OK? She faces jail or a fine or both. I’m not sure her kids will be better off if she’s in jail, but maybe a big fine will make her think twice before doing something like that again.
Dumbass.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Breastfeeding while driving gets woman a ticket [Dayton Daily News]
Tags: breastfeeding, breastfeeding while driving, Genine Compton, Ohio
Just down the hill from the unabomber…
Feb 28, 2009 Amy in the Morning
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: video
Alec Baldwin elevates Buffalo…above Utica
Feb 28, 2009 What's Going On
I found this via On Location Vacations: Alec Baldwin will be performing in my hometown of Buffalo tonight, reading the Mamet play “Speed the Plow” at Rockwell Hall to help raise money for a local theater company. Mr. Baldwin, who is, by many many accounts, an asshole, handed Buffalo a huge back-handed compliment while trying to say that it deserved an off-Broadway theater. “I mean, Buffalo’s a big town. It’s not, you know, Utica.” Which naturally caused Utica to get defensive and brag about its newly-renovated theater.
I once stood next to Alec Baldwin for a few minutes, patiently waiting to hand him a business card, while he was chatting with fans. He managed not to be an asshole for those few minutes, although he was extremely smarmy. He was cooing over a baby, and was just being a little too, I don’t know, intense and deliberate about it. Public image rehab, perhaps, for the message he left his daughter?
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Alec Baldwin in Buffalo This Weekend, Bashes Utica in Statement [Filming In Utica]
Tags: Alec Baldwin, Buffalo, David Mamet, Kim Basinger, Rockwell Hall, Speed the Plow, Utica
Bush’s regulation didn’t go far enough
Feb 28, 2009 What's Going On
On the day that Barack Obama became president, a rule quietly went into affect that basically gave all health care workers the right to refuse to give a patient information or care if it involved anything the provider had a moral objection against. If your pediatrician were anti-vaccine, he could refuse to vaccinate your child, or even tell you about vaccines. Want to fill your birth control prescription at your local drugstore but the pharmacist is Catholic? He wouldn’t have to fill your prescription.
President Obama is moving to reverse the rule, but I think that’s a mistake. I think it should go the other way. Things are headed in that direction anyway, so we’ll get there quicker with federal help. There are Muslim cabbies refusing to take fares who are carrying alcohol. Hell, if that’s OK, then why do some racist white cabbies in NYC have to pick up black fares? Does it work for bus drivers too? Can they refuse to let ugly people on the bus?
If it goes against a health-conscious waitress’ morals to serve french fries, her job should be protected. Same for the frugal bank teller who refuses to give money to the customer wearing Prada. Movie theater employees shouldn’t have to sell tickets for movies that offend them. And if your black child goes swimming at a public pool with a white supremacist for a lifeguard, you’d better hope your baby can swim, because that lifeguard won’t have to save anybody who offends his morals. He won’t even be required to yell for another lifeguard.
Oh Bush, you had so many good ideas. I’m sorry you couldn’t achieve all you wanted in eight short years. Damn term limits.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
White House set to reverse health care conscious clause [CNN]
Tags: President Bush, President Obama, Provider Refusal Rule
No love from the Quaker Man :-(
Feb 28, 2009 Contest/Giveaway
So I found out that I didn’t win the Quaker Contest. I lost by 12 uploaded pictures. And while I’m tempted to throw some guilt at the dozen or so people who told me they wanted to do it but didn’t/couldn’t/forgot, the winner had her Quaker day after me, so she probably did the same thing I did: tried to figure out who was in the lead and made sure to beat them (me). If I had gotten a dozen more, maybe she would have gotten even more. So, whatever. I’m not bitter.
I am a little annoyed, though, that I found out I lost from checking Quaker’s Facebook page, and not from getting some kind of acknowledgment from Quaker, thanking me for being in the contest and letting me know who won. I think that somewhere in there was a good idea for a contest, but if Quaker ever decides to do something like this again, I have a few suggestions:
- Have all of the bloggers participate on the same day, so that it’s a true competition, and not just each blogger trying to do better than the last person.
- Don’t make it all-or-nothing. At least have a few top prizes.
- Let the bloggers have a little fun with it – the rules were annoying and hard to understand.
- Show the bloggers some love. I’m a nice person, but I also thought that there would be something in this for me – some kind of well-publicized post or press release, maybe, thanking the bloggers for participating and giving their blogs a little promotion.
If I had really understood how the competition was going to work beforehand, I probably wouldn’t have participated. A bunch of other bloggers I know were approached and they all turned it down. I, on the other hand, ran with it and gave up more than a day just for the contest, annoyed all of my friends, and in the end got nothing for it, not even an email telling me whether or not I had won.
But, like I’ve been saying all along, at least some charity somewhere will get the $5K, and that’s a good thing. Quaker was also going to give up to one million bowls of oatmeal to charity – one bowl for each person who went to Quaker’s Facebook page and entered a Quaker UPC code. Tomorrow’s the last day, and there are less than 6,000 bowls filled so far. That’s too bad, but I’m not all that surprised. I hope that in the interest of charity and good will, Quaker decides to give the million bowls anyway.
So, thanks to every one of you who tried to help me win the contest. Thanks also to my friend Melanie for Tweeting the contest. If anybody else promoted it, please let me know and I’ll link to you.
Do the right thing, Quaker, and give that million bowls!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: Contest, Quaker Oats
Balloons aren’t just for parties
Feb 27, 2009 What's Going On
From the “now I’ve seen everything” department, somebody has filed a patent for a balloon that helps you practice for labor. Seriously. Read about it here, and then when you’re done laughing, come back.
As someone who pushed one of my two babies out, I can tell you that it’s not a feeling I would want to have unnecessarily before I needed to. And since things like contractions and dilation wouldn’t be happening, what’s the point? But what do I know, I didn’t file for a patent.
Thanks to MomLogic for twittering this.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
HaveAGreatTimeMissYouBye!
Feb 27, 2009 Amy in the Morning
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: video
This post not sponsored by Diet Dr. Pepper…
Feb 26, 2009 What's Going On
…because I ran out and YouTube hates me again and now I have a massive headache!
Here’s the Saudi Arabia article (I found it on Fark.com)
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: Diet Dr. Pepper, hotel porn, lingerie, Saudi Arabia
