Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Moral Mob Mauled Blind by Janet's Areola Borealis: "Published on Tuesday, February 10, 2004 by the Daytona Beach News-Journal
by Pierre Tristam
"At Halifax Memorial Hospital three months ago I found myself locked, without a valid avenue of escape, in a four-hour seminar on breastfeeding. Expectant mothers outnumbered extraneous fathers by a ratio of six to one, though there I was, one of those ones duly seated next to my wife and the future terror she was carrying. I wasn't playing sensitive husband. I have no illusions that men could be much more than third wheels when it comes to such things as birth and breastfeeding. The sensitivity cartel finds things for men to do, of course. But if make-work of the foot-massage and shoulder-to-cry-on variety generally makes men feel less useless, it doesn't begin to diminish post-partum agonies on the other side (nor make up for only vicariously experiencing the elation of life-giving). The reason I was attending the seminar was mostly anthropological. I wanted to take stock of the breast in third-millennium America. If the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons, as Dostoevsky may or may not have said, the degree of imbecility in a society can be judged by the way it handles its breasts. Come to find that I could have skipped the four-hour epic at Halifax for the flash of Janet Jackson's areola borealis at the Superbowl halftime show. The cultural uprising let loose by that split-second flop says more about the nation's arrested development than a year's worth of Ph.D. theses from every sociology department in the hemisphere. "
ic NorthernIreland - How A Grieving Mother's Faith Saved A Baby's Life
Feb 10 2004
icnorthernireland.com
"Reporter ANNE PALMER talks to the brave mother who, through her Christian beliefs, donated her breast milk to help another newborn live, after the death of her own child. THE true spirit and generosity shown by a grieving Ulster mum who lost her new-born baby has touched the hearts of staff coordinating the Human Milk Bank in Co Fermanagh...."
Wal-Mart right to say no - Opinion - coloradoan.com
By Linda Magloughlin
Coloradoen
Letter to the Editor
"I would like to say a big thank you to Wal-Mart for asking a mother to stop breast-feeding in public. I am a breast-feeding mother and would never think of doing such a thing. The typical response of those who feel this should be allowed is, 'It's perfectly natural!' Indeed, but so are defecating and intercourse, and how many of us would expect to do such things in public without being arrested? How many of us would want to watch others doing such things? The sad thing is that Wal-Mart felt pressured to apologize to the woman, stating that they were sorry for her being inconvenienced. Is it an unacceptable inconvenience to have to find a restroom rather than urinate in public? While some would say yes, I believe and hope that most of us would say no. Again, thank you, Wal-Mart. I hope the attempt to make public breast-feeding legal fails dismally. What's next, public masturbation? -- Linda Magloughlin, Fort Collins " [I like the analogy about lips - they are erotic, but we don't expect them to be covered... - JC]