Posted by nathan on Mar 30, 2006 in
Father
Everytime I go in the bathroom to brush my teeth, I look at the toothbrushes there and marvel that I have daughter. There is a little toothbrush just for her that really brings it home for me in a way that nothing else does. It seems that the toothbrush collection is really how the household is represented. It is what makes it all concrete at least for me. So there it is, and I’m brushing my teeth and pondering how that little tiny toothbrush got here and I realize, that I have a daughter. Did I say that already? Well, it still astonishes me.
Incidentally, EJ is getting another tooth on the bottom, it just broke skin today.
Posted by nathan on Mar 29, 2006 in
Father
I dropped all the clothes off at the laundromat this past weekend and got them all washed and folded. Then today when there was nothing else on my calendar, I went through all my clothes and determined whether or not they
- fit me
- made me happy
- were the style I wanted to present
- or were in good condition
IF any of my clothes ( with the exception of my athletic gear) did not meet these criteria, they were gone -this means all the single socks and even that ratty old UNC tee shirt that has been clinging to me for decades are all gone. GONE GONE!!!
EJ helped by sorting out all the discarded clothes into a jumbled pile instead of just a pile. She was going to do the same for the clothes I keep but I’d rather they all stay folded.
Posted by nathan on Mar 28, 2006 in
Father
We, Squeaky and I, rolled out of bed at ten thirty this morning, and almost imediately set out to getting ready for the trip across the park to yoga. We got to the gym about five minutes into the class, but it was ok, I was not the only person walking into it late. EJ was up in the nursery and she was ready for action!
The instructor was a new one to me, apparently she had been away for amonth which is why the tuesday instructors where all different. She was very calm and pleasant, but there was a section where we were going through the poses very rapidly. My legs are rather sore right now, as she concentrated us on poses that require the hamstrings stretch; I still can not touch my toes without my knees automatically popping up.
Posted by nathan on Mar 28, 2006 in
Father
but I just can not remember what it was right now. So I’ll have to just make something up as I go along. Eliza-Jane is in the midst of a serious growth spurt that started a month ago when the doctor said we need to feed her more. Immediately, she began to demand food all the time and is developing at an astonishing pace.
She is cruising around the coffee table with little concern at all for anyone who might be in her way. She is chasing the cat all over the place and she is socializing very well with other kids. The last couple of hours, she has been very clingy and wants to be close while we sleep. We are struggling with how to get her to sleep in her crib, when she does not have her own room. SHe is in a corner of the living room, which is where I am working on the computer until late at night. Hmm…
We’ll work it all out. RIght now, we do not feel that it will have an adverse affect on her life, the biggest component of our concern is to be able to give Stephanie enough rest to be able to work.
Posted by nathan on Mar 26, 2006 in
Father
Tonight after we got home from a really moving service at church, I cooked dinner. Pork Chops and mashed potatos, and I got the pork chops just right – not too much breading, cooked to the right temperature, the flavor was subtle, and teh mashed potatos were nice and creamy texture, with a little bit of cheese thrown in. We set the plates down on the table and the first thing that Eliza-Jane did was saddle up to her mother and reach out a grabbed a nice piece of okra and popped it into her mouth.
Boy! We could hardly eat for having to feed that little creature. Slicing up morsels of pork chops, slapping some fried okra on her plate; oh yes, she has to have her own plate now days otherwise we don’t have a plate for ourselves. She was eating the food faster than we could serve her – she is such a good eater. And this makes us much better at eating because we have to make an effort to feed ourselves and to feed ourselves good food so that she can share with us.
Posted by nathan on Mar 26, 2006 in
Father
I busted my hump all day today and got Steph to proof read it, and now I have turned in my big paper. It’s here if you really want to read it, (PDF)
Posted by nathan on Mar 24, 2006 in Uncategorized
Molly Ivans is a nationally syndicated columnist.
AUSTIN, Texas (Creators Syndicate) — South Dakota is so rarely found on the leading edge of the far out, the wiggy, the California-esque. But it has now staked its claim. First to Outlaw Abortion This Century. The state legislature of South Dakota, in all its wisdom and majesty, a legislature comprised of sons and daughters of the soil from Aberdeen to Zell, have usurped the right of the women of that state to decide whether or not to bear the child of an unwanted pregnancy. THEY will decide. Women will do what they decide.
These towering solons, representing citizens from the great cosmopolitan centers of Rapid City and Sioux Falls to the bosky dells near Yankton, are noted for their sagacity and understanding. When you think “enlightenment,” the first thing that comes to your mind is “the South Dakota Legislature,” right?
As well it might. The purpose of the law is to force a decision from the United States Supreme Court, where the appointments of John Roberts and Sam Alito have now shored up the anti-choice forces.
The South Dakota Legislature has made it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion under any circumstances except to save the life of the mother. There are no exceptions for rape, incest or to preserve the health of the mother. Should this strike you as hard cheese, State Sen. Bill Napoli, R-Rapid City, explains how rape and incest could be exceptions under the “life” clause. Napoli believes most abortions are performed for “convenience,” but he told “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” about how he thinks a “real-life example” of the exception could be invoked:
“A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl, could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.”
Please stop and reread the paragraph above. See? Clearly Napoli’s exception would not apply to the South Dakota woman also interviewed by the NewsHour. “Michelle” is in her 20s, has a low-paying job and two children. And says she simply cannot afford a third. She drove five hours to the state’s only abortion clinic.
“It was difficult when I found out I was pregnant. I was saddened because I knew that I’d probably have to make this decision. Like I said, I have two children, so I look into their eyes and I love them. It’s been difficult, you know, it’s not easy. And I don’t think it’s, you know, ever easy on a woman, but we need that choice.”
But who is she to make that choice when Bill Napoli can make it for her? He explains: “When I was growing up here in the wild west, if a young man got a girl pregnant out of wedlock, they got married, and the whole darned neighborhood was involved in that wedding. I mean, you just didn’t allow that sort of thing to happen, you know? I mean, they wanted that child to be brought up in a home with two parents, you know, that whole story. And so I happen to believe that can happen again. … I don’t think we’re so far beyond that, that we can’t go back to that.”
I find this so profound I am considering putting Sen. Napoli in charge of all moral, ethical and medical decisions made by women. Certainly lucky for the women of South Dakota that he’s there, and perhaps that’s what we all need — a man to make decisions for us in case we should decide to do something serious just for our own convenience.
Look at some of the incompetent women we have running around in this country — Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright, now there are a couple of girls in need of guidance from the South Dakota legislature. Female doctors, lawyers, airplane pilots, engineers and, for that matter, female members of the South Dakota Legislature — who could ever trust them with an important decision?
In South Dakota, pharmacists can refuse to fill a prescription for contraceptives should it trouble their conscience, and some groups who worked on the anti-abortion bill believe contraception also needs to be outlawed. Good plan. After that, we’ll reconsider women’s property rights, civil right and voting rights.
For years, the women’s movement has been going around asking, “Who decides?” as though that were the issue. Well, here’s the answer. Bill Napoli decides, and if you’re not happy with that arrangement, well, you’d better be prepared to do something about it.
Posted by nathan on Mar 24, 2006 in Uncategorized
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Already, South Dakota is perhaps the most difficult place in the country to get an abortion. There’s a 24-hour waiting period and mandatory counseling to discourage the procedure. The law requires parental notification in cases where the patient is a minor. Only one clinic, Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls, offers the procedure.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Napoli says most abortions are performed for what he calls “convenience.” He insists that exceptions can be made for rape or incest under the provision that protects the mother’s life. I asked him for a scenario in which an exception may be invoked.
BILL NAPOLI: A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.
Posted by nathan on Mar 24, 2006 in Uncategorized
Senator William M. Napoli
Home Office
6170 South Highway 79
Rapid City, SD 57702
Phone: (605) 341-2370
sen.napoli@state.sd.us
Posted by nathan on Mar 24, 2006 in
Father
I bought a manual from Barnes & Noble today that is about php and MySQL. Maybe I’ll be able to grok it much better than trying to read it off the computer screen – or mybe not who knows, we’ll try this out and see how it works.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Already, South Dakota is perhaps the most difficult place in the country to get an abortion. There’s a 24-hour waiting period and mandatory counseling to discourage the procedure. The law requires parental notification in cases where the patient is a minor. Only one clinic, Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls, offers the procedure.
