Archive for the ‘Newsworthy’ Category:
All Work and No Play and WTH?
All work and no play makes Izzy a very dull girl, as well as a terrible blogger and blog reader but I just read this story on Google and as an animal lover I simply cannot wrap my brain around it.
Did you hear about the 17 yr old girl who’s missing dog’s head turned up on her doorstep? In a box? Gift-wrapped?
WHAT. THE. HELL?
Police are treating it as a potential terrorist threat which I also don’t get. To me, the twisted cruelness of wrapping a box like it’s a present, enclosing Valentine’s candy along with the dog’s head and then addressing it personally, by name, to a young girl who had been searching for her dog is just plain psychotic and sociopathic.
The poor girl and the poor dog.
I hope they catch the waste of oxygen that did this and send him to prison for so long that he needs anal reconstructive surgery when he finally gets out.
And it’s back to work for me. You can read the whole story here.
Remember My Ball Gag? Ann Coulter Needs to Borrow It.
I’ve never cared for this woman. I find her to be incredibly obnoxious and once again, she totally justifies my opinion. She’s like the Howard Stern of the political world, saying anything to get a rise out of people and generate some press for herself.
If you haven’t seen this video of her calling presidential hopeful John Edwards a faggot, take a look. She’s so smug and full of herself. And it’s really unbelieveable to hear the audience tittering at her remarks and clapping. Who ARE these people?
MySpace Says Baby on Boob Must Go (Edited - Now with MORE INSANITY!)
It never fails…. You’re sitting at your computer wondering what you’re going to blog about today and just when you’re about to give up and go eat something junky and yummy instead, you come across yet another absurd story that makes you wonder how the United States ever became such a “superpower” because we’re so goddamned backwards in this country.
Behold the instant blog fodder provided courtesy of MySpace and brought to my attention by Linda Thomas over at the Seattle-Post Intelligencer.
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You’d think a major player like MySpace would have learned from those who came before them (like the Pork Board, Delta Airlines and Fred Meyers stores) that bullying breastfeeders and those who support breastfeeding is just plain bad business. But noooo…
It appears that MySpace’s attitude can be summed up in two lines:
Boobs for fun and profit = VERY, VERY GOOD!!!
Boobs for breastfeeding = PORNOGRAPHIC and OBSCENE!!!
In a nutshell, there is a mom over on MySpace who is a breastfeeding advocate. On her page, she has the above photo of her baby breastfeeding and you’ll note that you can hardly even see her breast but MySpace has already deleted it three times because it “violates MySpace policies against nudity and sexually suggestive images” and has threatened to boot her off MySpace.
WTF? Do the people at MySpace EVER look at their own site??? There is nudity and “sexually suggestive” imagery all over that beyotch. And they want to pick on a breastfeeding photo? It’s so ludicrous that it’s almost funny.
According to Linda Thomas, the mom put the image back up on her MySpace page and is ready to take on this challenge. YGG!
EDITED TO ADD: This other story was just sent to me by a reader/friend about a woman in her hometown being told to leave a mall because she was breastfeeding. That’s not as insane as some of the comments, particularly ones left on the follow-up story here. What kind of lunatic-ridden country are we living in???
ALSO EDITED TO ADD BECAUSE TWO TALES OF MADNESS ARE JUST NOT ENOUGH!!!!: This story is from Jennifer over at The Lactivist — There’s a mom in Central Ohio whose day care center was charging her an extra $10 a day for “handling” breast milk. She eventually pulled her child from the center and she’s now prepared to take this story national. Apparently, the center may be putting a new policy in place to refuse to even accept breastfed children. You can read more about it here.
AND (Yes, there’s MORE!!!): Today I received multiple “Death to IzzyMom” and “Die IzzyMom Die” comments on this post about breastfeeder harassment (all from the same person). I deleted all but one. Unbelievable…
If you’re writing about these stories, let me know so I can link you here:
Rock ON, Sistahs!
A Mom, a Blog and a Life In-Between
Each Person Should Have Their Own Beer
The title of this post is a direct quote from Stefanie Wilder-Taylor of the Cocktail Playdate saga that made me want to stand up and cheer for her and her humorous but unwavering stance that parents are adults and should have the right to partake responsibly in an alcoholic beverage of their choosing without guilt or judgment.
Wilder-Taylor was just on the Today Show again this morning in a rebuttal-type segment that was obviously devised to help Vieira and the Today Show save face after insulting women the previous week with the suggestion that mothers and babysitters are interchangeable, which was wrong on SO many levels. The blogosphere was set afire with indignation from women who found the comparison insulting and unforgiveable and they didn’t hold back criticizing the Today Show and Vieira, in particular, for trying to pass that piece of tripe off as good journalism.
Today Vieira and her guest expert had toned back the judgmental rhetoric considerably, as well they should have after blindsiding mother and blogger Melissa Summers last week with the babysitter nonsense as well as the not-very-subtle suggestion that all women who drink are problem drinkers and thus are a danger to their children. It should be noted that today Vieira and her expert still had difficulty grasping the “it’s ONE freaking drink” concept.
Furthermore, having your expert state the obvious over and over (that mothers need to be constantly evaluating themselves and make sure they aren’t self-medicating. No, really? DUH.) tells me that while Vieira and her expert may be a teeny bit embarrassed for acting like asses in the first interview, their stance remains much the same and appears to encompass the following:
• Mothers lose their ability to think critically the second they give birth
• Mothers need to be told how to be a good parent because they’re too stupid to figure it out for themselves
• Mothers should harbor considerable anxiety about their status as a “good parent” at all times
Christ…it’s no wonder we’re NOT all self-medicating after dealing with such nonsense for two weeks in a row.
And the Hits Just Keep Coming…
Boy…this has been a great week for setting women back half a century, hasn’t it? Well, the following will either have you seething or perhaps cheering, depending on where you stand.
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Last weekend, in Tampa, while walking home from the popular pirate-themed Gasparilla Festival parade, a 21 yr old University of South Florida student was grabbed off the sidewalk, dragged behind a building and raped.
When the young woman contacted authorities, officers took her to a rape crisis center where she was given the first of two doses of the morning-after pill. The second dose is supposed to be taken within 24 hours. (to clarify… these are essentially double doses of birth control pills that are used to prevent egg implantation in the uterus, not the controversial RU486 abortion pill)
Later the police asked her to show them where the rape occurred. While driving in the police cruiser, police were notified that the victim had an outstanding warrant involving failure to pay restitution for a crime she committed as a juvenile (the victim’s mother has stated that the warrant was due to a clerical error). Right then and there, the rape investigation was completely stopped and the victim was taken to jail.
As if being raped and then jailed were not bad enough, while in police custody, she was also denied a second necessary dose of emergency contraception by a nurse who allegedly stated it was against her religious beliefs. The police refused to release the victim and she remained jailed until her attorney contacted the media.
After her story was broadcast across the country, the Tampa Police department helped her get before a judge so she could be released on bail. My, how very generous of them. The Tampa Police Dept. is in the process of revising it’s protocol for dealing with crime victims with outstanding warrants. Too little, too late, assholes.
I’m disgusted. This young woman was victimized not once but twice and then to add insult to injury, now she stands a chance of being pregnant by her attacker because someone insisted that their personal religious views should supersede their job description. You know what I have to say to that nurse?
When YOU get raped, YOU don’t have to take the emergency contraception! Keep your personal beliefs off of other people’s bodies and do your job!
Naturally, the police and the nurse are disputing the victim’s claim but she stands by her allegation. Of course they’re disputing it. They’re facing a potential lawsuit. Personally, I’ve heard enough horror stories about the TPD that I believe her. I hope the nurse gets fired and I hope the girl sues the pants off of all of them.
Read the news story here.
PS: If you use Internet Explorer and can’t see my right sidebar, would you please let me know either in the comments or via email? They don’t make any version of IE that will run on my computer so I can’t see it for myself. Thanks in advance.
PPS: If you can see my sidebar then you may have noticed the button for the “Share the Love” blog awards. My blog was nominated in the “Woman Power - Best Representative of Women” category for which I am thrilled. Since I frequently write in support of women and girls, I don’t feel tacky asking you to consider casting a vote for IzzyMom. If you want to. And you think I’m worthy. And if you do, just go here and find that category to cast your vote. Thank you :)
Oops, They Did it Again
Okay, maybe they didn’t insult a frillion mothers by equating them with drunken babysitters this time but don’t worry, the Today Show still managed to insult females in general.
Did anyone happen to catch the Today Show on Monday 1/29? While the hosts were doing that lame stand-in-the-street and chit chat routine, I believe it was Ann Curry who remarked (in a voice over) on an upcoming segment about the merits of learning to build this one particular type of model airplane.
And I quote:
“That’s a great thing to have your little boys learn how to do…because what a great study in physics and mechanics. I mean that’s a pretty fun thing.”
Yeah, anything related to physics and mechanics is definitely a boys activity because you know, math and science are, like, hard. Boys are just better at all that smart stuff anyway…
Thanks a lot, Ann.
(If you’re looking for the cocktail playdates post, click here)
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It’s Perfect Post Time!
I awarded today’s Perfect Post to Wordgirl for her post “One Thing“. I loved Wordgirl’s account of her husband’s happy, carefree way of experiencing day-to-day life. For me it’s a reminder that each day is special, no matter how mundane it may feel.
Check out all the other Perfect Post’s over at Suburban Turmoil and Petroville.
I Call Bullsh!t
By now you may have seen or heard about the Today Show segment about moms who have a cocktail or other alcoholic libation (as in ONE) while attending or hosting a playgroup. Featured was author and mother Stefanie Wilder-Taylor in the first part where she states, and I paraphrase, that making an issue of the aforementioned partaking of an alcoholic beverage at a playdate is just another way for women to judge women. I agree. Mothers are held to a totally different standard than anyone else.
The second part of the segment involved Meredith Vieira interviewing Melissa Summers of Suburban Bliss and Janet Taylor, a guest “expert” on something or other. My honest, trying-to- be-objective opinion is that Vieira and the “expert” pretty much ganged up on Summers and more or less demonized her with hardly an opportunity for her to clarify her points.
I totally got what Summers was saying and I thought Viera was rather unprofessional with her leading trick questions and obvious bias and when Vieira ask Melissa if she would be okay with her babysitter drinking while watching her kids, I was floored. That was clearly designed to make Melissa squirm while attempting to answer a question that falls squarely into the “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” category.
I played the segment for my husband and we were both snickering at the “expert” and her premise that imbibing in front of the kids will set a bad example because we both recalled numerous occasions here in our home when we had alcohol in the presence of our children because hello? Do you really think we would host a small party for 6-7 adults and an assload of our collective children without some alcoholic beverages?
Additionally, Husband and I both recalled our childhoods in the seventies where alcohol was pretty much a staple. My husband’s parents even had a cocktail hour every evening where the whole family would hang outside at a large table with the neighbors and all the adults had a drink. And let me tell you, there is not a more normal, well-adjusted, loving, stable, non-dysfunctional family on the planet than my husband’s.
I remember that beer was consumed by my father, IN MY PRESENCE, at the watching of most football games and certainly while BS-ing with the neighbors after a hot afternoon of yard-working, car-washing or garage-cleaning. And bearing in mind that this was the seventies, beer was always consumed while we were out on the boat and cocktails started at about 3pm when we went to my grandma’s house. Both of my parents drank freely in the presence of myself and my older sister and I would never classify either of them as having been alcoholics or problem drinkers.
What really chafed my ass the most, however, was the subtext that mothers are *and should be* held to a higher, stricter standard. The responsibility of being tee-totaling paragons of virtue instead of actual human beings is on OUR shoulders while our husbands can, as my pop used to say, “crack a cool one” while watching the game at home OR purchase alcohol and drink it without any stigma at a sporting event, and have a drink after work or basically any damn time they want to, regardless of the presence of children.
I call BULLSHIT! on all of it and I applaud Stefanie for being so direct with her opinion and I applaud Melissa for holding her own while being attacked, however politely, by both Vieira and the guest “expert.”
Oh, and in case you assume that my husband and I must be big lushes because of our views on this hot-button issue, I can assure you, unequivocally, that we’re not. We drink very infrequently, mostly because we’ll fall asleep after one of anything unless we’re entertaining or at someone else’s house (and that’s only because it’s kind of impolite to be snoring and drooling when you have company or snoring and drooling on other people’s sofas.)
You can watch the Today Show segment here. Click the button that says “Launch”
And I’m sorry to say I will probably never, ever get to be a ClubMom blogger now because if my memory serves me, Meredith Vieira is part owner of that fine internet presence. Well, at least I’m in damn good company…
The One Where I High Five the Pope…
Given my stance on organized religion, I never imagined I would write a post wherein I praise the Pope but in this case, I have to agree with Pope Benedict XVI in his recent condemnation of violent or sexually explicit video games and animated films aimed at young people.
Yes, my inner Puritan-Mennonite-Amish mom is making an appearance and high-fiving the Pope for addressing this topic. Additionally, I find the whole thing very interesting because how often does the Pope speak out on such a modern issue? Like almost never.
He makes this most excellent point:
“How could one explain this ‘entertainment’ to the countless innocent young people who actually suffer violence, exploitation and abuse?” he asked.
There are a plethora of reasons to oppose the marketing of the aforementioned “entertainment” to young people but the quote above, in particular, speaks volumes to me because it’s a point of view I am ashamed to admit I’ve never even considered.
