Sorry, man. Oh, and Home Depot has padlocks on sale if you’re interested…
I’ve Become My Parents recently posted..The IBMP Follow Friday recommendations

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I loved your post and want to thank you again so much for coming up to me and introducing yourself after the keynote. It was great to meet the man responsible for so many of my Friday smiles.

And it takes a special guy to go to BlogHer!

Best,
Lynn

Not only was a staggering proportion of this raised via blogging about it, but the majority of the people from all over the world who participated in it were recruited through blogging too. Amazing stuff.
Dan recently posted..RIP Firefly

The flip side of this is we can also narrow our view so tightly that we never see a differing opinion and then comfortably ensconce ourselves in a distorted echo chamber, but that’s not really that different from some mainstream media choices, is it?
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Technology is for our pleasure, convenience and sometimes safety. Not one of those is a bad thing.

We bought my daughter a phone, specifially to have at soccer practice. We laid out all the rules because we figured she’d be talking and texting a ton like all her friends.

She never uses the thing. In fact, we’ve had to make it a rule that she take it with her on sleepovers. This makes me laugh.

You never know. It is all trial and error. As long as our kids are healthy and happy, we are all doing just fine.

Either way, I think you hit on the totally important bit.

None of us has “the answer” do we? There probably isn’t even one ‘answer’ – but as many as there are kids and families. They say the only time you’re a perfect parent is before you have kids – or after they are grown and you are telling them how to raise theirs!

I need to work on my own judgmental tendencies. Thanks for the reminder!
.-= Lucretia Pruitt´s last blog ..The Power of Speech gives way to the Art of Conversation =-.

You know, only kids whose parents *gasp* work need cell phones because they are left alone all the time.

Cue everyone’s favorite line: “if my kids need to call me they just have to yell because I’m in the next room.

Reality says there are times your kid won’t be with you and you need to reach them directly.

That is not the same as leaving them unsupervised while you are off putting money before family like I do all day

Did we survive without them? Sure. But, like I said, a cell phone is only a tool. It’s available, use it or don’t.
.-= Busy Mom´s last blog ..The one where I aided and abetted a criminal =-.

“Thank You for being unselfish enough to try and make something work that you know would not.”

And then, I pretty much lost it — what a beautiful post, my friend!

I don’t know anything about Brooklin, Maine. I cited and quoted what is (in theory) a reputable Maine Newspaper. If they do not have their facts straight, then I apologize for magnifying their mistake. But it Portland Press Herald that reported the “fact” that you are a “lifelong Catholic from Brooklin”

I was also born and raised Catholic. And no, not then, nor now do I believe that a 6th grader should be having sex, nor did I insinuate in any way shape or form that this is or should be considered proper. It most certainly is not. Nor did I refer to YOU as a religious extremist (I saved that, for the Family Research Council, a group well known for their zealot and religiously extreme positions). I brought you up in the same article, because you shared one, I believe critically flawed argument with the Family Research Council… that somehow, having a 6th grader being given a vaccination for a DEADLY DISEASE is somehow the equivalent to “giving the OK to have sex” because the primary way of contracting this disease is through sexual intercourse.

In the post I wrote, if you had read the entirety, stated that there are those that have reservations because of concerns about long term use and side effects are VALID… so to that end I am not disputing your concerns. And to that end, if that is what we disagreed about, I probably would not have written this piece to begin with. However, as soon as you start basing health decisions based on “religious beliefs” that somehow protecting a child against something deadly because you are worried about the message of “giving the OK” to premarital sex if your daughters were inoculated, then yes I have a problem with that.

I have published your comment freely, because you are certainly entitled to your opinion. But if you are concerned with being taken out of context, I suggest that you take it up with the Portland Press Hearald, and if they print a restatement, retraction or correction of the story, I will add those facts to this one as well.

I thank you for taking the timeand effort to explain and clarify your position.

Banana Splits were cool, that is all.

Thanks for sharing your perspective on this. I do think the article was demeaning in ways, but I also agree that we can’t have our cake and eat it too. Frankly, there is a fine line for everyone and we can’t make everyone happy.

Can’t wait to meet IRL!!

[sigh]

I’m looking forward to meeting you (FINALLY!) IRL at BlogHer.

Probably doesn’t help that I’m usually on the wrong side of most of their causes anyway (yes, I’m the unenlightened woman who doesn’t want children in places meant for adults… sue me).

I don’t disagree in looking into any vaccine to ensure its safety and efficacy… my point is more about those that don’t like the vaccine on “moral grounds” and other such nonsense.

One of my valid points about the vaccination (two years ago) was that it hadn’t been around long enough to determine whether or not it was safe. Some are saying it’s not.

http://media.causes.com/510463?p_id=44676352

People need to mind their own @#*&%^% business and worry about their own lives. Even if you really hate gay people, I still don’t understand how it matters if they get married or not. Crazy.

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I’m out of answers. She’s too smart for all that. I’m starting to think that just telling her would be the best thing. I sometimes think she’s just in denial.

Let us know how it goes?

On the other hand, I’m not the typical wife either – a hinge wouldn’t squeak in my house long enough for TPO to think of zapping it with WD-40.

If the idea of a doll is to have something to care for and to interact with in quiet moments, then why not have a doll that looks like mommy and big sister? Not everyone can relate to the saccharine sweetness of the American Girls dolls, with their wholesome accompanying books, or even Barbies with their implicit message of perfection to be attained. A doll, I think what counts is how the girl interacts with it, and not its tattoos or outfits.

Now this is where we will start to disagree. Why is anybody that does not wish to say “Merry Christmas” lacking in culture or personal understanding? Because they… or fine, allow me to say it, I don’t believe the same as “you”? (You know what I mean, about “you” right?) Happy Holidays, Blessed Yule and other sayings has been around as a holiday greeting as long (if not longer) than “Merry Christmas.” And “culture”? How many items associated with Christmas have been taken from other cultures, traditions, festivals.

The only misgiving and divide here is that while Christmas is smack dab in the middle of many cultural and/or religious holidays, it is only the Christians that believe their holiday need to be “protected” and held above others. Your Holiday is Christmas, mine is yule, and the person over there is celebrating Kwanzaa. So, where is culture “lost” by simply saying “Happy Holidays” that includes everybody? Where is that making anything less of Christmas? You are included, not excluded. (Again, not you but “you” just to be clear)

It’s not an obvious case of changing a phrase because people WILL be offended. It’s changing the phrase because they MIGHT be offended. We do or don’t do so many things these days because someone MIGHT be offended, that traditions die, cultural divides widen and misunderstandings grow.

Do you, or anyone else, have any links to blogposts, news articles, webpages, etc – anything from anyone that actually objects personally to any of these sentiments? All I ever see is reactionary sentiments to “those people out there” but rarely from “those people” themselves…

I am not picking on you personally, but imagine somebody walking up to one of these complaining Christians and saying “Happy Hannukah.” I will bet you that the first words out of their mouths would be “But I am not Jewish.”

I completely agree, that whether it is in the North East, or any place else it is quite sad, that somebody can’t appreciate the sincerity behind well wishes. But that is just as true with “Happy Holidays” as it is with “Merry Christmas.”

I can’t help but imagine what a sad, cynical culture it must be in the NE when someone is wished – with sincerity – “Merry Christmas” and its taken as a slight against my religion.

In a few cases it is true that others will just acknowledge that the sentiment is in the right place, and that Christians are just too egotistical to realize that there are other religions than theirs, so they don’t bother to correct them. This may be why you find it “far less widespread than people assume.”

The funny part is, that “Happy Holidays” is encompassing in that it is intended to INCLUDE all, including Christmas, but it seems to those that are crying “war on Christmas” nothing is satisfactory unless their religion gets “top billing.”

In the end, what is funny, is that to the best of my knowledge nobody is “boycotting” Xmas (OK, maybe a couple of fringe nuts), but there is no concerted effort to stop stores from saying Merry Christmas or we won’t shop there, but the opposite is certainly true. How do you have a war with only one side fighting?

While I’m sure there are such people out there, I think it is much less widespread than people assume. Often you hear of an activity being curtailed or eliminated because “someone might be offended” or worse, might sue. Perhaps this happened once or twice in another part of the country, or some time ago. Not because it’s a frequent occurrence, but because someone “might” be offended. All this accomplishes is to elevate the problem way, way beyond its actual seriousness and call attention to it in a way it doesn’t deserve.

If you went out and randomly polled 1000 people and asked them if they like being wished “Merry Christmas”, I would imagine 999 of them would say they liked it, or didn’t mind or have an opinion one way or another. You’d have one crank that might object, but that’s about it.

So why does this make it such an epidemic that it’s being made out to be?

Here in the Northeast, I think people like you and I are glad to say we encounter Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others. That’s why I proudly stick with Happy Holidays. I think it’s the Christian thing to do.

[...] silliness or the historical moving of  Jesus’ birthday to coincide with the holiday, I have documented that previously, and most rational folks already know this.  But apparently he doesn’t see the irony in his [...]

I love the idea you have for buying a gift for a charitable cause. We’ve been donating to the Salvation Army bell ringers when we’ve gone out shopping and I’ve tried to explain to my daughters that not all parents can afford to buy their children gifts. We’re not super religious but I also try to always remind them that the holiday is really about the birth of Jesus.

I’m fairly new to this balancing act so I’m looking forward to reading what others have to say in hopes I don’t screw up too badly.

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Thanks for you “judgmental” comments, it really puts things in perspective for me. I might print out that paragraph just as a reminder before I consider a big purchase.

[...] have covered rGBH/rBST (lots of times) as well as Food Cloning, in the past so I won’t rehash that and other [...]

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[...] wrote about Prop 8 and the hatred and discrimination on my personal blog back before the election. And while I covered some of the same items in this [...]

“Fail Whales?” I have no idea what this means, but I like it.

Here in CA the prop is being funded largely by the Mormon Church which might make Steve Young’s (actual great-great grandson of Brigham Young) 50k donation to the NO movement the most impressive of all.

(wandered over here from Cynical Dad – also doing NaBloPoMo – look forward to reading your posts)