Episode 208: Shout-outs, RIP Sparky Anderson, Pet Stories, Fuck Offs and You Rules, RIP Oktoberfest, Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, the Olbermann Situation, Bet’s Tevas, Similac free samples, GWB’s Lowlight of the Presidency, Bet’s kitchen sink.
Music: “The Hucklebuck,” performed by Sierra Rein, Lee Rocker, and Frank Sinatra.
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Forgive me, it’s been a few days since I listened, but I wanted to comment.
Re: Olbermann. Right move by MSNBC, and a slap on the wrist. Does Fox News have such a policy?
Similac: Thanks but no thanks. They lost us over beetle parts and crappy customer service. Also, changing an infant’s diet is hard enough, but little Ringo might be lactose-intolerant, so we’ve got him on a soy version of Enfamil now.
Also, long story short: Not all kids take to breastfeeding naturally, but how would you know. We thought it would be easy as pie too. ‘Nuf said.
Other has-beens I’d watch:
*Mel Gibson – social worker
*Geena Davis – Olympic archer (Google it)
*Steve Guttenberg – school bus driver
*Sinead O’Connor – weather reporter
*Brett Favre – cellphone salesman
*Donald Trump – unemployed
New documentary for you: INSIDE JOB, by the same guy that did NO END IN SIGHT. Wanna get angry? How about finding out how many financial mavens made millions betting against American prosperity? Grrr.
Olbermann — there are journalists and there are talking heads. He’s a talking head. What difference does it make if he or those like him give actual dollars to candidates or just shill for one side or the other for hours on national TV? If MSNBC is looking to make sure their programs have “journalistic integrity and demonstrate impartiality”, they shouldn’t support Olbermann, Maddow, etc. and give them shows. But they’ve decided that they are going to pay for shows that are clearly slanted, why are they getting their panties in a twist about $7200? How many minutes of commercial time is that on Olbermann’s show? The same applies to Fox, but they don’t hide it and as Stennie notes, it doesn’t matter.
Similac is providing that booklet to appease the breast-feeding-Nazis, who have mandated that formula companies must tell the world that breast feeding is best. They’re trying to keep formula samples out of the hospital, because in their mind it is as simple as “just point the baby at the breast and they just know what to do” and if it doesn’t work it’s because you’re an evil moron child abuser. If for whatever reason you are using formula, that stuff is EXPENSIVE, so samples are always welcome. [If you are a parent using formula, try to hook up with another parent using the other competing brand. The supermarkets will always spit out coupons for the other kind because the manufacturer wants to get you to switch, so you need to find a swap buddy] If you still have the formula samples, is there a women’s shelter nearby or some other place you can donate them? Rescue women’s shelters always need that kind of thing. And no, babies do not naturally know how to latch on. NTCNTC would have none of it. You should see the torture devices they put me through in the hospital to try to get it to work. And I wasn’t about to keep that up indefinitely. So he got some, but never directly from the tap, and when the tap dried up, I did a big old happy dance. (Not criticizing you guys, BTW, because as you point out, why would you know or care?) There’s lots of topics to be found in the Mommy Wars genre, but I have a feeling that doesn’t help you guys out.
However, if you are in the mood for some of the BS about childrearing, check out the following and some of the related episodes.
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7148143/
I laughed so hard the first time I saw this it hurt.
Lily: Great link. “I think a baby seal just died.” Very funny and true.
Again, long story short, we bottle-feed after not being able to breast-feed. And I made the mistake of using exactly that term “breast-feeding Nazis” and deeply offended some friends of ours who are parents who swear by breastfeeding, co-sleeping, cloth diapers, etc. Didn’t come to blows or an argument, but I learned a valuable lesson of keeping my opinions about parental techniques to myself.
Dealing with other parents is a bit like international relations: you do what works for you and your kids, and you don’t offer criticism of others. Otherwise, you end up in a ground war in Southeast Asia, and no one wins.
Now, how ’bout that Charlie Sheen? Nutty as squirrel sh*t, right?
Not that any other listeners care at this point…
All people who breast feed are not breast-feeding Nazis. But anyone who gets all offended at the term breast-feeding-Nazi, probably fits the definition. You can breast feed, tell others about it, offer tips and tricks to those who are interested but at a certain point you have to get that your way may not be everyone’s way. It may be because they couldn’t, or it could be because they didn’t want to. And if you’re not taking the hint to be quiet about it and want to start regulating the activities of hospitals and formula companies to make sure that everyone who chooses not to breast feed for whatever reason feels like a piece of crap and a weak person who just didn’t try hard enough, you’re a BFN.
I have noticed that several of my late comments have missed the deadline for the shoutouts. So, from here on out I will try and be prompt with my comments. In the comment section last week, I explained the origin of the coke up squirrel monkey. I hope that you will go back to look at this nugget of entertainment.
BTW: What is the official Hucklebug deadline for shoutouts? Sounds like it is a hard and fast one….
Loved Rosanne Cash’s tweet calling John Boehner an asshat over Boehner’s joke below:
Remember when Ronald Reagan was president? We had Bob Hope. We had Johnny Cash. Think about where we are today. We have got President Obama. But we have no hope and we have no cash.
Rosanne tweet was ‘John Boehner: Stop Using My Dad’s Name as a Punchline, You Asshat.’
Love it!
Wow, you two sure stirred the comments with your free box of formula. As a 56 year old man without kids, I have no opinion at all how they are fed other than until recently formula didn’t exist. It was the old-fashioned way or nothing. Parents should do what works best without nazis on either side jumping in.
I was raised on formula and I turned out great! *twitch, twitch*
Since no one apparently needs the box of formula you should add a scoop of ice cream and blend them into milkshakes.
Olberman is a turd, although he stinks less than some other turds out there.
I wonder how many people join facebook so they can play farmville? Seems like almost everyone. Is that the most stupid game ever?
I hope you give us an update on Buster.
Certainly no offense taken, Bet. My response was intended more to inform than to admonish. The “backwards” comment was made when setting up the Celine Dion twins/Nelson Eddy WUWT story, at approximately 22:29.07359 or so. 😉
It’s kind of funny (interesting, not ha-ha) how the mysterious (miraculous?) arrival of a case of formula created a serendipitous segue from my comment about home-births to the thread about child-rearing and the various schools of thought thereon. Patrick and Lily have it right: you love your kids and do what you think is best for them, and reserve comment about what other parents do with theirs (provided it’s not patently abusive or negligent). The trouble arises when people act as if any deviation from their point of view constitutes some kind of parental unfitness (see, e.g., the blond mom in Lily’s link or the Maggie Gyllenhaal character in “Away We Go”).
I do think if formula makers want to hawk their wares in the ready-made market of a birth center/delivery ward, it’s perfectly reasonable that they adopt the stance that formula is a viable alternative to breast milk, rather than the default starting point. At the same time, the lactation consultants / La Leche Leaguers shouldn’t be telling new mothers that formula is poison or that they’re failures if they can’t make breastfeeding work.
I’m catchin’ up!
I stopped using Facebook actively ages ago when they kept moving stuff. To this day, I generally stay away but have my content feed to Facebook using twitterfeed.com (it serves Twitter and FB). This way folks who can’t be bothered–I MEAN–can’t find the time to stop by my blog, or don’t follow me on Twitter or Tumblr, can still follow my adventures. 🙂
Regarding home-birther folks–Bet, I highly recommend seeing the documentary “The Business of Being Born” before broad-stroking folks who want to avoid the hospital system for giving birth at home. One of my best buddies saw it and then hired the midwife in the movie for his own wife’s baby (who is alive, well, and a beautiful baby boy). The documentary is definitely slanted toward the home-birther crowd, but does manage to balance it out a bit. So much so that I think the best thing to do is to have a baby at home, so long as you’re within a short cab ride to a hospital. 🙂
OK, I won’t bother going on more since I know I’ve already missed the cut off for shoutouts this week. Just been hard at work on NaNoWriMo. It takes up a lot of my time, but I’m having a blast doing it. Already halfway done! In fact, I’ll have to stop listening to this ep of the HB to get back to work!
Sten, I hope Buster’s OK!!
Still working my way through this ep and wanted to throw in my ¥2 on the “gay is a choice” argument. I would like to ask “so what if it is?”
Don’t people choose to believe in God? How is that choice any different from choosing to love a member of your own gender? Why do Christians get to take donations to build and maintain a church that they don’t have to pay taxes on and gays don’t even get to be left alone because they’re gay?
I hate it when I see arguments used that sound good until you think about them for 5 seconds. If it’s a free country, every choice you make should be respected by other people even if it’s not agreed with. So, the idea that choice makes a difference is just crap.
Sorry to be so late to the game with this comment!