What’s so freaking great about executive experience?
Current mood: determined
Category: Blogging

George W. Bush had 5 years of executive experience as Govenor of Texas, and more as an oil industry executive. Look where that has got us! This disgraceful mess of a war, and $6 trillion owed to China. Melting ice shelves, and action deferred again on Global Warming. Katrina, Abu Grhaib, Guantanomo, wiretapping citizens!

Abraham Lincoln never had any executive experience and managed to hold our Union together during it's darkest hour. Lincoln had 2 terms in his State Legislature, and one term in the US Senate. JFK was a Congressman for 6 years and then served in the US Senate for 2 terms. These are 2 presidents that one may argue are in the Pantheon of a couple handfuls of great Presidencies in our history. They had no executive experience when the were sworn in to office.

Now think about all the CEO's out there. You know the ones you see reported in the business papers that commit fraud, cooking the books to up their stock value. Taking criminally huge bonus and stock packages at the expense of the employees and their pensions, sometimes even shareholders. Believe me, and this comes from personal experience, CEO's are not your friend. They are looking out for 1 and only 1. Why do we have all this worship for these mercenary greedmongers? Is it because we secretly admire how well they con us out of all our money then stash it tax free in offshore accounts?

I don't know about you, but I'll take good, rational, informed, measured, compassionate judgment anyday over executive experience.  Barack Obama has this in spades!  I'll  take compassionate service representing the people, over the Kings and Priests of greed that executives have shown themselves to be. And I'll certainly vote for rational judgement over idealogically extremist religiosity!

4:48 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

John William McColgan

Born October 24th at 12:03 AM. 6 lbs. 7 oz. 3 weeks early. He was losing weight earlier, but is gaining it back well. Now he breastfeeds without much trouble. I'll get some pictures up when I can be bothered. My life is all feedings and poops, wet diapers and burps. It's worth every minute.

I've developed some sort of postpartum hypertension or pre-eclampsia, and I had insomnia for many days. I went back into the hospital with a blood pressure of 166/110. The Doctor has me on a beta blocker and ambien to sleep, but I think I'm going try and stop taking ambien tonight, so I can pump and keep lactation up. The doctor says my blood pressure will stay high for another 6 weeks or so, and then my body should get back to it's normal 112/60, then I can start to wean off the beta blocker. Apparently many women who get this deliver early, the body's way of protecting the baby.

John is a cutie. He has Charlie's prominent and intelligent forehead, my eyes, Charlie's chin, cute little cupids bow mouth, in a heart shaped face. His eye color will change, but right now they are blue gray, like rain on a cloudy day. I plagerized that phrase from Memiors of a Geisha.

12:05 AM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Baby watch

So... I'm 4 weeks away from my due date, but according to my doctor I should keep my bags packed. I'm only 1cm dilated, but 90% effaced, so my cervix is pretty thin. Which means my water could break at any moment. Then again my friend Kate was like that for 6 weeks, so I may not go into active labor at all. It's all up to my body and the little man in there to know when they are ready. I would love it if I could manage to finish my Childbirth preparation classes. But having him show up a little early may be good. I'd rather 2 weeks early than 2 weeks late.

3:17 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Strange....

How the past can creep up on you when you least expect it. Reading the New York Times Saturday morning I caught site of a tiny blurb on the last page of the front section. " Pastor found guilty of marrying Gay couples." I decided to read on. Turns out it was the very Pastor that ministered to my family when my Father came out, those many years ago. This Pastor had been a Pastor of our Presbyterian Church for as long as we'd been going there, and had come out herself not long before my Father came to terms with who he really was.

I'm just sick to death that after all this time, this is still an issue. That we still, as a society, treat gay people as second class citizens. And that a wonderful woman who ministered to my Father and my family with saint like compassion can be found guilty as if she commited some crime and forced into retirement.

If you don't agree with me, Y'all need to wake up. Gay people wanting to commit themselves into loving relationships, sanctioned by Church and / or State, does not undermine the institution of marriage. Society is to blame for that, but I don't blame the parts of society most do. I don't blame popular music, the media or culture. I don't blame stippers, ponographers, or deviant sexual culture.

I blame society because we have no honor. Deep down most people in society believe there is always a way out of any situation if they don't like it. We are as consumerist about our commitments as we are about the car we drive, or what big screen TV to get.

Sure some people make mistakes, marry for the wrong reason, or too quickly without thought. But that's because we know, there's an easy way out with very little consequence. Understand I do not advocate staying in physically or emotionally abusive marriages. Get out of those as quickly as you can. But people should treat the institution of marriage with sober measured consideration before they enter into that sort of commitment. Most of the time it's not the fairytale they imagined it to be.

My Father never divorced my Mother to live the life that would have made him happy. He remained her husband, in everyway but in the bed. And though the marriage was hard, my Mother bitter, my Father depressed, my brother and I benefitted from their putting marriage and family first.

So everyone stop blaming the decline of the institution of marriage on gays, the media, and loose moral standards. Say what you mean, mean what you say, keep all your promises no matter how trivial. Pratice being honorable and upfront in all things. Understand that in the time before funny plastic money, a man's or a woman's honor, and good name were all the credit they needed. And if they didn't have that, they may as well have been banished.

10:00 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Purchases.... so far!

1 breastpump.... looks a bit like some sort of Dr. Mengella torture device. Scared to use it. Came with a nice bag though.

6 Swaddledesigns Ultimate Swaddling Blankets.... only the ultimate for my little baby boy!

18 bumGenius xs deluxe all in one diapers.... Obsessed with poop!

18 bumGenius sm deluxe all in one diapers..... Going up each size, this is going to cost some $ cha-ching!

30 cloth wipes..... cause if your going to go green don't do it half assed!

1 wipe warmer.... I looked at these with a leary..." is that really necessary?" eye, but it's supposed to keep bacterial growth down in the cloth wipes, but the name... Prince Lionheart wipe warmer? My little buddy's not going to be in velvet short pants and peterpan collar, unless he takes after my dad, and really really want's to. Although, a warm wipe on the bum has gotta feel good!

1 Babybonkie.... just incase Daddy can't get the hang of the swaddle.

1 cashmere pant and cardi set for 3-6 month old. I couldn't help it... it's an illness this love of cashmere.

1 bassinet for our bedroom, with extra bedding.

Today I go get the Orbit infant system, which is the coolest carseat / stroller system out there. It has a spaceage looking docking base, a stainless steel ring that locks down like an astronauts EVA helmet to the suit. The stroller truly folds down one handed. Turn a nob, gravity folds the stroller down. Fuck yeah! And it's made out of aerospace aluminum tubing, so it's super strong but light.

There's still so much to do I'm in a panic. But if he comes early at least we can take him home, feed, diaper, swaddle, and put him down somewhere to sleep.

8:32 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Mother and daughter... an email exchange

2:36 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Obsessed with poop!

One of the most important, and researched decisions I've made in the past few months has to do with one thing.... diapers. And I am completely obsessed about it. Given the state of the enviorment today, I couldn't in good conscience  go with disposables. They take like 400 years to biodegrade, and babies go through like 5 to 12 diapers a day. That's a lot of diapers going to landfill. So I want to do the right thing, and go with cloth.

The only problem is this is not a decision that only has to do with me. I don't want to be the only one changing diapers. Charles needs to change those nappies too. Only, Charles is rather anal retentive. Not in an annoying way, mind you, but he hates to deal with a a stinky mess. So much so, that I've had to find biodegradable compostable bags  to go in the green bin so I can send food scraps and soiled paper food containers, out to get composted. There's been a real push for this in King County. But the first time I tried to do this, there was Charles with sprayer hose and lysol, cleaning out the green bin, and a mandate that until I find a solution and can put the food mess in a bag, no food's allowed in the greenbin.

Charles has a song, the poop goes in the toilet song. It is sung in the tone and style of a 12th century Gregorian monk going to vespers. Weird, I know he was raised catholic, he can't help it. He is anal retentive in a waky, crazy, humorous way, but in all seriousness... Poop must go in the toilet. Not hang around the house for a week waiting for diaper service to come pick it up. And I really can't see him ever dunking dirty diapers in the toilet with his hands. I mean poop, not hands, go in the toilet.

Nor can I imagine him fussing with prefolds, pins, and vinyl diaper covers. So after months of research and obsession I've found the perfect system. Cloth diapering has come a long way in the last 20 years. I'm glad to say I can diaper as easily and conveniently as a disposable, with out the guilt, if I'm willing to spend a bit of cash upfront. Bum Genius makes all in one cloth diapers with velcro tabs that work just like a disposable. Kushies make flushable, biodegradable liners that go in the diapers. So now poop can truely, easily and cleanly go in the toilet.

Phew! My obsession with poop has paid off. Everyone is happy.

1:42 AM - 1 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

The irrational biological imperative to breed
Current mood: Pregnant and paranoid

After the 2000 election when W. stole the highest office in our land from my hero Al Gore, I swore up and down I wouldn't have a child. I knew that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfawitz, Perle, and all those crazy Neocons would screw up our country. It's like I could see into a crystal ball. I knew we would have massive roll backs on enviormental protections at such a critical time when the world was starting to melt. I knew that we would get massive corporate tax breaks, and tax breaks for the wealthiest 1% that would errode our surplus into a deficite. I knew that their policies would make the average people of this nation and the poor suffer while the wealthy got wealthier. I knew that our relations with other countries like China and Russia would become more strained. I knew if a Chief Justice died or retired we would have a Supreme Court less concerned with protecting the Costitution, than with furthering and imposing a right wing agenda.

I cried all night imagining this USA, that I didn't want to live in, this USA where politics could stand in the way of a democratically elected President. My heart was broken, and I couldn't imagine having a child. The great experiment in democracy of Jefferson, Adams and Washington had finally shown itself vunerable. I woke up and told my mother not to expect a grandchild from me, I was never going to have a baby.

No matter how frightening my visions for the country that terrible night and week that followed, I could never have imagined the Orwellian nightmare that we find ourselves in today. The Patriot Act, Guantanamo, lies to go to war with a non- aggressive soverign nation, Wilson-Plame, domestic spying, politicizing the Justice Dept., and now the claim that the rule of law, and the Constitution of the United States does not apply to them if it doesn't suit them. That's the scary shit we know about. Who knows what other skeletons Pinky and the Brain are hiding.

Yet, here I am well into the 2nd trimester of my pregnancy. Eating my words. Proof that the biological imperative to procreate, once one has found the right mate is overwhelming. It defies reason. All I can do is meekly write my Congressional Reps, also the head of the Judiciary comittee Conyers, and Speaker Pelosi, trying to demand that they support RH 333 and begin articles to impeach Cheney.

I guess all parents feel this way, that they've failed their children by leaving the world worse than when they were born. I'm not the type of person who puts up flags on July 4th or spouts out ignorant patriotic spew like "The USA is the greatest country in the world!" But I love our Constitution, and I want my child to live in a country where our Constitution is held up as sacred, even above God. Not used as tiolet paper to wipe Dick Cheney's ass.

9:15 AM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Don't call or write your Rep. in Congress
Current mood: Flame of patriotism snuffed out

I had a blog here that had to do with a certain VP whose been doing bad things. But according to this White house executive order...

 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-3.html

... Anyone in the US found trying to undermine efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq will have their property blocked. Since I have quite a few assets, those assets really being Charles' hard earned and hard sacrificed assets, I really can't in good conscience risk his losing all he's worked for. I thought we were heading to a dictatorship. Seems we're already there.

8:33 AM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Ha haha! I'm a geek!

Apparently all the "cool kids" are bailing out of myspace on to facebook and only the.....

Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, "burnouts," "alternative kids," "art fags," punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm. (sic)

....are still on Myspace.

This is according to some Phd. candidate at UC Berkley, and her silly little essay, that was posted on the internet. But in true uncool fashion I found out about it on MSNBC.com.

I'm so proud after all these years out of highschool, after career, house  in the suburbs, and now pregnancy, to still be lumped in with the artfags, and punks! Here's to being a freak and a geek!

"One of us! One of us!  Gooble Gabble! Gooble Gabble!"

12:26 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment