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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/utility/FeedStylesheets/rss.xsl" media="screen"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"><channel><title>Strollerderby : stupid parents</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx</link><description>Tags: stupid parents</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><generator>CommunityServer 2007.1 (Build: 20910.1126)</generator><item><title>Teen Has Cancer and Lives in a Car</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/12/23/teen-has-cancer-and-lives-in-a-car.aspx</link><pubDate>Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:29:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:158744</guid><dc:creator>JeanneSager</dc:creator><slash:comments>7</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=158744</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/12/23/teen-has-cancer-and-lives-in-a-car.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/12/23-End/DestinyHimmel.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/12/23-End/DestinyHimmel.jpg" alt="" align="right" border="0" width="248" height="165" hspace="4" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Doctors have told Destiny Himmel&amp;#39;s mom the teen needs a safe, clean, germ-free environment as her body rebuilds in its battle with leukemia. Easier said than done when you live in your car.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kerry and Destiny Himmel live in their Ford Explorer, alternating between a parking spot at a California McDonald&amp;#39;s and another at a nearby grocery store. Kerry used to work as a truck driver, but when she went looking for another job, her daughter got sick.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In April, Destiny was diagnosed with high-risk acute leukemia. She has gotten through what is considered the hardest part of her treatments, but she still has at least two years of care before doctors think the cancer can be eradicated. Now Kerry spends her days home-schooling her daughter in the back of their car and shuttling the teen between medical appointments (Destiny&amp;#39;s care is covered by Medi-Cal, the California state insurance system). On cold nights, Destiny stretches out in the back of the car, riddled by the pain that follows chemotherapy, with the family&amp;#39;s two dogs to keep her warm. They get by on $500 in government assistance each month, cutting coupons to stretch their dollars and using the bathroom of the fast food restaurant.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But her mom won&amp;#39;t accept putting her in foster care - to get her out of the car. Nor will the teenager. When a reporter for the &lt;i&gt;Los Angeles Times&lt;/i&gt; suggested it, Destiny broke into sobs. When another member of the &lt;i&gt;Times&amp;#39;&lt;/i&gt; staff uncovered proof that the Himmel&amp;#39;s were offered housing earlier this spring and turned it down, Kerry said her daughter couldn&amp;#39;t handle the stairs at the building in her condition. She said she couldn&amp;#39;t meet with case managers and keep up with her daughter&amp;#39;s medical appointments at the same time. She worried that the transitional residents at the proposed shelter would subject Destiny to unsafe germs.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If this were merely the story of a child suffering through cancer, it would be bad enough. But reading further and &lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-me-lopez21-2008dec21,0,4600277.column" target="_blank"&gt;further into the &lt;i&gt;Times&amp;#39;&lt;/i&gt; story&lt;/a&gt;, I found myself wondering not where the system has failed the Himmels, but how Kerry Himmel thinks she is helping her daughter. To not want her put in foster care because she thought she&amp;#39;d lose her is understandable. To not take an apartment because it has steps? That&amp;#39;s a mix of denial and martyrdom - with a dose of short-sightedness thrown in.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kerry Himmel is trying to be a good parent, that&amp;#39;s clear, but sometimes that means admitting we can&amp;#39;t do it all for our kids.&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Image: The Los Angeles Times&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Related Posts:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h4 class="BlogPostHeader"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/12/08/they-say-poor-kids-rich-kids-think-differently.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;They Say: Poor Kids, Rich Kids Think Differently&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;&lt;h4 class="BlogPostHeader"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/12/15/mom-sells-newborn-twins-to-fund-liposuction.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Mom Sells Newborn Twins to Fund Liposuction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;&lt;h4 class="BlogPostHeader"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/12/04/sperm-donor-s-teen-daughter-finds-him-on-the-web.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Sperm Donor&amp;#39;s Teen Daughter Finds Him on Myspace&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;&lt;h4 class="BlogPostHeader"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/11/27/blogging-moms-find-a-kidney-for-teen-on-dialysis.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Blogging Moms Find a Kidney For Teen on Dialysis&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;&lt;h4 class="BlogPostHeader"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/12/09/teen-girl-s-mom-throws-prostitution-party.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Teen Girl&amp;#39;s Mom Throws Prostitution Party&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=158744" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/health/default.aspx">health</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Cancer/default.aspx">Cancer</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/money/default.aspx">money</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/bad+parents/default.aspx">bad parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/foster+care/default.aspx">foster care</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/sick+kids/default.aspx">sick kids</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/economy/default.aspx">economy</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Jeanne+Sager/default.aspx">Jeanne Sager</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/kids+with+cancer/default.aspx">kids with cancer</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/savings/default.aspx">savings</category></item><item><title>UPDATE: Mom Says She Won't Burn Library Book, Still Wants it Censored</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/11/03/mom-plans-to-burn-book-her-son-s-library-book-really.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:33:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:138856</guid><dc:creator>JeanneSager</dc:creator><slash:comments>16</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=138856</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/11/03/mom-plans-to-burn-book-her-son-s-library-book-really.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/16-22/burningbooks.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH:275px;HEIGHT:180px;" height="282" alt="" hspace="4" src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/16-22/burningbooks.jpg" width="425" align="right" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Portland area mom who prompted&amp;nbsp;an outrage&amp;nbsp;over her plan to burn the book her thirteen-year-old son borrowed from his high school library has relented. She won&amp;#39;t burn it, but she&amp;#39;s still calling for the book to be censored.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Taffey Anderson said she was angry when she made her inflammatory (only teeny weeny little pun intended) comments.&amp;nbsp;She &lt;a class="" href="http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/bunny_suicides_mom_plans_to_re.html" target="_blank"&gt;told a Portland newspaper&lt;/a&gt; she&amp;#39;ll return the book, but she&amp;#39;s still making her case for keeping the&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Book of Bunny Suicides&lt;/em&gt; out of the hands&amp;nbsp;of &amp;quot;less mature&amp;quot; students. She wants it held behind the desk&amp;nbsp;in the library for the librarian to decide who may or may not&amp;nbsp;borrow the book. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#39;t that still censorship?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Original Post below:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Remember all those &lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/banned+books+week/default.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;banned book posts&lt;/a&gt; on Strollerderby a few weeks back? How mediaval all those book burners sounded? Turns out she&amp;#39;s alive and well and living in the Portland area. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yup, an Oregon mom is threatening to burn a book her son checked out of his high school library. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0452285186/?target=babble.com-20" target="_blank"&gt;The Book of Bunny Suicides&lt;/a&gt; is actually the first in a series of three graphic novels by British author/illustrator Andy Riley, a guy who&amp;#39;s been dubbed the British Gary Larson. Subtitled &amp;quot;little fluffy rabbits who just don&amp;#39;t want to live anymore,&amp;quot; the book is black comedy at its best. Each page shows a hand-drawn bunny in a position that could very well end in his death&amp;nbsp; - although that&amp;#39;s never actually seen, and often the means to an end aren&amp;#39;t immediately apparent. Take page&amp;nbsp;ine - a line drawing of a bunny with a rope around its neck, and the other end tied to the minute hand on a giant clock tower. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, no blood and guts. No sex. No drugs. No cursing. And it makes you have to think . . . bad for kids, definitely bad. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Taffey Anderson&amp;#39;s now holding hostage the book her son borrowed from the &lt;a class="" href="http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/10/21/bunny_suicides_ban.html" target="_blank"&gt;Central Linn High School in Halsey, Ore&lt;/a&gt;. She wants the issue reviewed by the school district, but she won&amp;#39;t even hand the copy over for the principal to view. Instead, she says she&amp;#39;s going to burn it. The school principal says that&amp;#39;s too bad - the school will have to buy another copy and fine the family for the cost. If Anderson doesn&amp;#39;t pay, her son will lose the privilege of taking books out of the library.&amp;nbsp;His mother has already warned she&amp;#39;ll&amp;nbsp;burn the school&amp;#39;s second copy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Let&amp;#39;s review the&amp;nbsp;list of things she&amp;#39;s teaching her son:&amp;nbsp;Borrow things and don&amp;#39;t give them back. Destroy that which isn&amp;#39;t yours. Threaten and blackmail when you don&amp;#39;t get your way. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And a book of cranky bunnies is going to warp this kid? &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Image:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Related Posts:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/30/banned-books-week-r-l-stine-s-goosebumps.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Banned Books Week: R.L. Stine&amp;#39;s Goosebumps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/29/banned-books-week-the-giving-tree.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Banned Books Week: Shel Silverstein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/14/hey-sarah-palin-make-your-kids-go-to-school.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Hey Sarah Palin, Make Your Kids Go to School&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/17/do-you-tell-your-kids-to-take-it-outside.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Do You Tell Your Kids to Fight Back?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/16/pit-bulls-and-kids-scared-or-perfectly-comfortable.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Pit bulls and kids: Scared or Perfectly Comfortable?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=138856" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/children_2700_s+books/default.aspx">children's books</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/reading/default.aspx">reading</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/banned+books/default.aspx">banned books</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/censorship/default.aspx">censorship</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stealing/default.aspx">stealing</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Jeanne+Sager/default.aspx">Jeanne Sager</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/blackmail/default.aspx">blackmail</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/The+Book+of+Bunny+Suicides/default.aspx">The Book of Bunny Suicides</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/book+burning/default.aspx">book burning</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/burning+books/default.aspx">burning books</category></item><item><title>What Won't Men Do With a Diaper?</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/15/what-won-t-men-do-with-a-diaper.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:31:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:136519</guid><dc:creator>JeanneSager</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=136519</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/15/what-won-t-men-do-with-a-diaper.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/08-15/diaper.jpg"&gt;&lt;img height="258" alt="" hspace="4" src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/08-15/diaper.jpg" width="340" align="right" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I&amp;#39;m beginning to wonder if some men just have a diaper fetish. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;First it was the guy &lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/11/dirty-diaper-thief-on-the-loose-in-upstate-new-york.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;stealing dirty diapers off porches&lt;/a&gt; in upstate New York. Now a Ukranian boxing champ is &lt;a class="" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE49D6DG20081014" target="_blank"&gt;extolling the use&lt;/a&gt; of his son&amp;#39;s wet diapers to reduce swelling in his fists. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Baby wee is good because it&amp;#39;s pure, doesn&amp;#39;t contain toxins and doesn&amp;#39;t smell,&amp;quot; Vitali Klitschko&amp;nbsp;told a German newspaper this week. &amp;quot;The nappies hold the liquid and the swelling stays down.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Apparently he&amp;#39;s had one knock too many on the noggin.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Let me poke a little at his bubble. I&amp;#39;ll do it carefully; I don&amp;#39;t need to be &amp;quot;wee&amp;#39;d&amp;quot; on.&amp;nbsp;See, babies are little humans. In other words, he&amp;#39;s wrapping his hands in human waste. Doesn&amp;#39;t sound quite as nice as baby wee, but what the hey. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oh, and about those toxins. Apparently he doesn&amp;#39;t keep up with the &amp;#39;Derby. Because Amy &lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/02/05/baby-smell-delicious-but-dangerous.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;gave us the lowdown&lt;/a&gt; months ago on all the toxic nasties that have been popping up in baby piss tests of late - think that unpronouncable hot parenting word, phthalates. Considering he got the idea from his Grandma, I guess we can excuse that part. Granny&amp;nbsp;wasn&amp;#39;t worrying about phthalates or BPA when she plopped her kids in their lead-painted crib. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Remind me not to shake hands with any boxers from the Ukraine. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image: &lt;a class="" href="http://www.diaperreview.com/fitti_review.html" target="_blank"&gt;DiaperReview&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Related Posts:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/11/dirty-diaper-thief-on-the-loose-in-upstate-new-york.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Dirty Diaper Thief on the Loose in Upstate New York&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/03/five-year-old-catches-std-from-dad-s-towel.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Five-Year-Old Catches STD From Dad&amp;#39;s Towel?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/13/part-ii-why-parents-of-boys-have-it-better-and-why-they-don-t.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Part II: Why Parents of Boys Have It Better (And Why They Don&amp;#39;t)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/13/leave-the-mother-in-law-alone-one-day-you-ll-be-one.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Do Your Kids Go to Camp Grandma As Much as You Did?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/10/three-year-old-romanian-girl-youngest-singer-and-she-s-cute-as-all-get-out.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Three-Year-Old Romanian Girl Youngest Singer, and She&amp;#39;s Cute As All Get Out&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/06/mob-mol-who-smuggled-sperm-says-prison-system-hates-her-child-for-being-born.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Mob Mol Who Smuggled Sperm Says Prison System Hates Her Child for Being Born&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=136519" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/sports/default.aspx">sports</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/diaper/default.aspx">diaper</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/phthalates/default.aspx">phthalates</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/urine/default.aspx">urine</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Ukraine/default.aspx">Ukraine</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/gross/default.aspx">gross</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/pee/default.aspx">pee</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/BPA/default.aspx">BPA</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Jeanne+Sager/default.aspx">Jeanne Sager</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/dumb+parents/default.aspx">dumb parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/grandma/default.aspx">grandma</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/swelling/default.aspx">swelling</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/hands/default.aspx">hands</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/wee/default.aspx">wee</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/boxer/default.aspx">boxer</category></item><item><title>School Board Member Uses Gay Slur, Says Student Said it First</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/12/school-board-member-uses-gay-slur-says-student-said-it-first.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:18:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:135700</guid><dc:creator>JeanneSager</dc:creator><slash:comments>2</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=135700</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/12/school-board-member-uses-gay-slur-says-student-said-it-first.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/08-15/school.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH:216px;HEIGHT:221px;" height="300" alt="" hspace="4" src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/08-15/school.jpg" width="250" align="right" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;He&amp;#39;s stepping down from his post as a member of the board of education in Robbinsville, NJ, but maybe Joe Armenti would be better suited back in high school? The board has been facing pressures from an outraged public since Armenti used the word &amp;quot;faggot&amp;quot; in response to a teenager&amp;#39;s presentation to the board on a ban on the use of offensive language. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;His initial excuse? The teen said it first. Excuse me, who&amp;#39;s the&amp;nbsp;teenager here?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Joseph Armenti&amp;#39;s exact words, according to the &lt;a class="" href="http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1223612157130690.xml&amp;amp;coll=1" target="_blank"&gt;Times of Trenton&lt;/a&gt; were, &amp;quot;&amp;quot;If my son wants to call somebody a faggot he should be allowed to; it&amp;#39;s his First Amendment right.&amp;quot; In other words - he&amp;#39;s protecting his son&amp;#39;s right to be a bigot and a homophobe. What a stand-up Dad. It was a response to a presentation by a student who was advocating the school district begin a program to report using offensive language via a &amp;quot;suggestion box.&amp;quot; Students who used inappropriate words would then be approached by a counselor to discuss the situation. The student presenting the idea to the board&amp;nbsp;used the word &amp;quot;faggot&amp;quot; as an example of language that would fall under the program. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What&amp;#39;s disturbing&amp;nbsp;isn&amp;#39;t that Armenti used the word. In fact, as a reporter who depends on the right to&amp;nbsp;freedom of speech in this country to make a living, I wouldn&amp;#39;t step in to tell an adult what he can or can&amp;#39;t say - even if I don&amp;#39;t agree with him.&amp;nbsp;To paraphrase Hamlet,&amp;nbsp;&amp;quot;words, words, words,&amp;quot; are what you make of them. But for a school board member to promote kids&amp;#39; &amp;quot;right&amp;quot; to spew hate toward one another is disturbing.&amp;nbsp;And that&amp;#39;s what Armenti was doing when he chose the word &amp;quot;faggot&amp;quot; rather than &amp;quot;s**t&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;f**k&amp;quot; or&amp;nbsp;any of&amp;nbsp;dozens of&amp;nbsp;words deemed offensive by some but not down-right prejudiced and hate-filled.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That this&amp;nbsp;came from the mouth of someone at the top level in a school system makes this story that much more disturbing. If this is what they&amp;#39;re feeling at the top, what&amp;#39;s trickling down to the kids? When the board meets later in the month to accept his resignation, I&amp;#39;d suggest Armenti spend a day in a classroom, maybe follow around one of the members of the Robbinsville High School&amp;#39;s Gay-Straight Alliance. He could see just who he&amp;#39;s protecting his son to insult. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Image: PinkNews&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Related Posts:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/11/goin-to-connecticut-gonna-get-married.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Goin&amp;#39; to Connecticut, Gonna Get Married&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/10/angelina-buys-her-kid-a-knife-what-s-next-maddox-jolie-tomb-raider.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Angelina Buys Her Kid a Knife. What&amp;#39;s Next, Maddox Jolie, Tomb Raider?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/09/teenager-arrested-for-kiddie-porn-the-pictures-were-of-herself.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Teenager Arrested For Kiddie Porn - The Pictures Were of Herself&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/11/dirty-diaper-thief-on-the-loose-in-upstate-new-york.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Dirty Diaper Thief on the Loose in Upstate New York&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/07/don-t-pay-child-support-bid-the-gun-rack-bye-bye.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Don&amp;#39;t Pay Child Support? Bid the Gun Rack Bye Bye&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/03/five-year-old-catches-std-from-dad-s-towel.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Five-Year-Old Catches STD From Dad&amp;#39;s Towel?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=135700" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/New+Jersey/default.aspx">New Jersey</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/bad+parents/default.aspx">bad parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/homosexual/default.aspx">homosexual</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/prejudice/default.aspx">prejudice</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/hate/default.aspx">hate</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Jeanne+Sager/default.aspx">Jeanne Sager</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/gay+rights/default.aspx">gay rights</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/bigot/default.aspx">bigot</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/gay-straight+alliance/default.aspx">gay-straight alliance</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/board+of+education/default.aspx">board of education</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/homophobe/default.aspx">homophobe</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/parents+acting+like+children/default.aspx">parents acting like children</category></item><item><title>Angelina Buys Her Kid a Knife. What's Next, Maddox Jolie, Tomb Raider?</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/10/angelina-buys-her-kid-a-knife-what-s-next-maddox-jolie-tomb-raider.aspx</link><pubDate>Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:27:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:135550</guid><dc:creator>JeanneSager</dc:creator><slash:comments>4</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=135550</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/10/angelina-buys-her-kid-a-knife-what-s-next-maddox-jolie-tomb-raider.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/08-15/angelina_jolie_knife.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH:188px;HEIGHT:192px;" height="320" alt="" hspace="4" src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/08-15/angelina_jolie_knife.jpg" width="301" align="right" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I had to read it twice myself. Angelina, the super celebrity mommy who even gets away with &lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/07/angelina-and-brintey-when-cheetos-and-comments-attack.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;feeding the kids Cheetos&lt;/a&gt; because, well, she&amp;#39;s the uber mommy, not only breastfeeds on the cover of the upcoming W Magazine but &lt;a class="" href="http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/entertainment/Angelina+Jolie-58232.html" target="_blank"&gt;chats about knife shopping&lt;/a&gt; with her 7-year-old.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yes, 7-year-old Maddox has been such a good big brother, he earned himself his own dagger. WTF?? &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Angelina says she thinks it&amp;#39;s &amp;quot;important he learns about the dangers and benefits of daggers.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;Sure. And I think my daughter should learn about the dangers and benefits of guns. It doesn&amp;#39;t mean I&amp;#39;m going to buy her one!!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Angelina told W she got her first knife at 11. Maybe it was the one she used to use to &lt;a class="" href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-5683462-details/Angelina,+knives+and+lust/article.do" target="_blank"&gt;cut herself with during sex&lt;/a&gt;? This was back when she was the OTHER Angelina, she of the vial of Billy Bob blood and making out &lt;a class="" href="http://intogossip.blogspot.com/2006/12/angelina-jolie-kissing-her-brother.html" target="_blank"&gt;with her brother&lt;/a&gt;. How soon we forget. I&amp;#39;ve been rooting for the growing &lt;strike&gt;Brady&lt;/strike&gt; Jolie-Pitt bunch since Angelina and Brad started to put a little bit of down-home parenting into celebrity, but I confess I&amp;nbsp;never drank the Kool-Aid. I was waiting for something like this to crop up. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Last time I checked, the 7-year-old eldest brother to a whole brood of kids is not the prime candidate for a knife. A. He&amp;#39;s 7. B. He&amp;#39;s 7 and C. He&amp;#39;s . . . wait for it . . . 7. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#39;t care how much time you&amp;#39;ve spent discussing &amp;quot;safe play&amp;quot; and how much you&amp;#39;ve dulled that thing down (which, I will say, she was very clear about doing), knives aren&amp;#39;t toys. And as I don&amp;#39;t see the Jolie-Pitts out hunting for dinner and skinning their kill, I have yet to see how this gift could be construed as anything but by a 7-year-old boy (or girl for that matter). What was the purpose of this? Is she planning on sending him off into the wild on their next trip to Africa? Are they worried about the way the &lt;a class="" href="http://www.coolwebgossip.com/?p=9030" target="_blank"&gt;Germans are taking to the new&lt;/a&gt; kids on the block? &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#39;t care how far she&amp;#39;s climbed up the parenting ladder, Angelina just proved she&amp;#39;s as screwed up as the rest of us. (By the way - to everyone who reports on the Jolie-Pitt clan, can we stop referring to those of her children who are not biological as her &amp;quot;adopted&amp;quot; son Maddox, etc? Once adopted, they&amp;#39;re her kids - enough already.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Image: &lt;a class="" href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&amp;amp;friendid=59931070" target="_blank"&gt;Celeste&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Related Posts:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/07/don-t-pay-child-support-bid-the-gun-rack-bye-bye.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Don&amp;#39;t Pay Child Support? Bid the Gun Rack Bye Bye&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/10/three-year-old-romanian-girl-youngest-singer-and-she-s-cute-as-all-get-out.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Three-Year-Old Romanian Girl Youngest Singer, and She&amp;#39;s Cute As All Get Out&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/09/stuff-parents-dream-about-life-without-play-doh.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Stuff Parents Dream About: Life Without Play-Doh&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/08/ten-year-old-does-90-mph-while-adults-party-in-the-back.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Ten-Year-Old Does 90 MPH While Adults Party In the Back&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/05/linday-lohan-wants-to-adopt-at-least-she-won-t-be-passing-on-the-genes.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Lindsay Lohan Wants to Adopt, At Least She Won&amp;#39;t be Passing on the Genes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=135550" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/adoption/default.aspx">adoption</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/angelina+jolie/default.aspx">angelina jolie</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/brad+pitt/default.aspx">brad pitt</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/celebrity+parents/default.aspx">celebrity parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Brangelina/default.aspx">Brangelina</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/maddox/default.aspx">maddox</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Jeanne+Sager/default.aspx">Jeanne Sager</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/dumb+parents/default.aspx">dumb parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/jolie-pitt/default.aspx">jolie-pitt</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/W+Magazine/default.aspx">W Magazine</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/children+and+weapons/default.aspx">children and weapons</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/angelina/default.aspx">angelina</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/knives/default.aspx">knives</category></item><item><title>Ten-Year-Old Does 90 MPH While Adults Party In the Back</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/08/ten-year-old-does-90-mph-while-adults-party-in-the-back.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:54:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:134523</guid><dc:creator>JeanneSager</dc:creator><slash:comments>1</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=134523</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/08/ten-year-old-does-90-mph-while-adults-party-in-the-back.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/08-15/RandyLewis.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH:139px;HEIGHT:170px;" height="450" alt="" hspace="4" src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/08-15/RandyLewis.jpg" width="350" align="right" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;That&amp;#39;s it. I&amp;#39;m not going out on the road&amp;nbsp;with my kid again until I buy a tank. Maybe I should vote for McCain after all - he&amp;#39;d probably love to see us all driving them. OK, the venom is gone. On to the story. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A 10-year-old, driving 90 MPH down a Tennesee highway, flipped a van over the weekend. Why weren&amp;#39;t any adults watching when a child climbed into the driver&amp;#39;s seat and took the wheel, you might ask? I know I did. The answer didn&amp;#39;t make me feel any better. A man and a woman were in the back of the van when it flipped, along with another 10-year-old and a 6-year-old. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just wait, it gets worse.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The man, Randy Lewis of Bristol, Tenn., told police he&amp;#39;d had 15 beers that night plus some liquor.&amp;nbsp;The woman, Paula Elaine Evans, was reportedly shoveling pills into her mouth as fast as she could when the cops arrived. Police would not tell the media if&amp;nbsp;Lewis and Evans&amp;nbsp;were the boy&amp;#39;s parents. For his sake, I hope not. Lewis has been charged with seven violations, including third offense DUI and felony reckless endangerment while Evans faces charges of either child abuse or child neglect. Both are in jail while the three kids are in state custody.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Really, where do you begin with this one? I&amp;#39;m all for assigning someone as DD when you&amp;#39;ve had a little too much (or you know, two and a half cases too much) to drink. But my vote&amp;#39;s for someone who can see over the steering wheel. Then there&amp;#39;s Lewis&amp;#39; history. This was his third driving while intoxicated charge. And his duds at the arraignment? A shirt that says &amp;quot;By This Dad a Beer.&amp;quot; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;How about we just buy him a vasectomy?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,433833,00.html" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fox News&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9008454" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kingsport Times-News&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/02/the-first-look-at-booster-seats-shows-unlucky-13-fail.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;The First Look at Booster Seats Shows - Unlucky 13 Fail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/01/bessie-goes-to-jail-a-month-before-halloween.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Bessie Goes to Jail - A Month Before Halloween&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/25/texas-judge-orders-woman-to-stop-bearing-children.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Texas Judge Orders Woman to Stop Bearing Children&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=134523" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/alcohol/default.aspx">alcohol</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/beer/default.aspx">beer</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/tennessee/default.aspx">tennessee</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Jeanne+Sager/default.aspx">Jeanne Sager</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/dumb+parents/default.aspx">dumb parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/driver_2700_s+license/default.aspx">driver's license</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/enforced+sterilization/default.aspx">enforced sterilization</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/child+driving/default.aspx">child driving</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/mother+on+drugs/default.aspx">mother on drugs</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/drunk+father/default.aspx">drunk father</category></item><item><title>Government Seizes Newborn from Mentally Disabled Mom 22 Hours After Birth</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/07/government-seizes-newborn-from-mentally-disabled-mom-22-hours-after-birth.aspx</link><pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:29:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:134083</guid><dc:creator>JeanneSager</dc:creator><slash:comments>13</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=134083</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/07/government-seizes-newborn-from-mentally-disabled-mom-22-hours-after-birth.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/01-07/BarbaraGambleandBaby.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH:265px;HEIGHT:255px;" height="375" alt="" hspace="4" src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/01-07/BarbaraGambleandBaby.jpg" width="375" align="right" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I&amp;#39;d like to say it was the unthinkable that happened to &lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/20/can-a-mom-be-too-dumb-to-parent.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Barbara Gamble&lt;/a&gt; this week. Canadian authorities seized her sixth child just 22 hours after the little girl, Savannah Nicole Elizabeth, was born. It was just what Gamble and boyfriend Vince Kinney feared would happen. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the weeks since first sharing their plight with a reporter from the &lt;a class="" href="http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=2c91c226-4de9-417d-8cbd-3972782accbd" target="_blank"&gt;Vancouver Sun&lt;/a&gt;, Gamble and Kinney have been the hot topic in Canada. They&amp;#39;ve become the poster children as much for poverty as for the rights of the disabled. The Canadian government has yet to allow the British Columbia residents to take home one of their children - because Gamble has an IQ that&amp;#39;s classified her as &amp;quot;mentally handicapped.&amp;quot; She&amp;#39;s been quite literally referred to as &amp;quot;too stupid to parent.&amp;quot; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;She may never be able to take&amp;nbsp;proper care of her children, according to some psychiatrists called in&amp;nbsp;to evaluate her, and&amp;nbsp;officials have said it would cost as much as $6,400 (Canadian) to pay for&amp;nbsp;10 hours a week of in-home support for&amp;nbsp;Gamble during the first three months of Savannah&amp;#39;s life.&amp;nbsp;Gamble lives off government assistance herself, although Kinney (who has an IQ in &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; range) works as a security guard. Both regularly rack up bills that far exceed the money coming in, and welfare officials have questioned the couple&amp;#39;s understanding of their limitations. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Although&amp;nbsp;my initial reaction was to let them take their kid home and just keep a close eye on&amp;nbsp;the situation, a&amp;nbsp;look at a &lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/29/too-dumb-to-parent-part-2.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;mother in a similiar situation&lt;/a&gt; who spoke out in support of Gamble last week gave me a greater appreciation for the government&amp;#39;s case. Equating the moms&amp;#39; intelligence to that of a 12-year-old, I realized, leaving a baby with a 12-year-old every day for the rest of his/her life would be grounds for child endangerment or child neglect here in America. A wait-and-see attitude on behalf of the Canadian government in this situation would be tantamount to turning a blind eye to possible child abuse. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Still, I&amp;#39;ve been holding out hope that before Savannah&amp;#39;s birth and subsequent seizure, someone would have pitched in to offer some help for these parents. That someone would step in and work with Gamble to help her understand why having child after child is not the answer. Even a 12-year-old can be taught that in life there are rights and there are privileges. Barbara Gamble has a right to make decisions about her own womb. But parenting is still a privilege.&amp;nbsp;The children she&amp;#39;s already delivered are alive - somewhere - they should be the focus of her efforts to be a parent, a chance to show what she can do. Savannah is here now too, and if Gamble wants a chance to be her mom, she needs to put her first.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/features/usaid/story.html?id=c85bb9af-06ae-4994-bbdc-2cc89e4b0faf" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vancouver Sun&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Related Posts:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/20/can-a-mom-be-too-dumb-to-parent.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Can a Mom be &amp;#39;Too Dumb&amp;#39; to Parent?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/29/too-dumb-to-parent-part-2.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Too Dumb to Parent: Part 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/30/la-legislator-says-let-s-pay-the-poor-to-tie-those-tubes.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;La. Legislator Says: Let&amp;#39;s Pay the Poor to Stop Making Babies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=134083" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Canada/default.aspx">Canada</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/child+endangerment/default.aspx">child endangerment</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/sterilization/default.aspx">sterilization</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/IQ/default.aspx">IQ</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/child+neglect/default.aspx">child neglect</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/intelligence/default.aspx">intelligence</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Jeanne+Sager/default.aspx">Jeanne Sager</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/government+intervention/default.aspx">government intervention</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/too+dumb+to+parent/default.aspx">too dumb to parent</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/newborn+seized/default.aspx">newborn seized</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/multiple+children/default.aspx">multiple children</category></item><item><title>Too Dumb to Parent: Part 2</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/29/too-dumb-to-parent-part-2.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:33:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:131547</guid><dc:creator>JeanneSager</dc:creator><slash:comments>8</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=131547</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/29/too-dumb-to-parent-part-2.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/09/23-End/NikkiROss.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH:271px;HEIGHT:317px;" height="375" alt="" hspace="4" src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/09/23-End/NikkiROss.jpg" width="375" align="right" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;It was supposed to add credence to the claims that the Canadian government shouldn&amp;#39;t be taking a woman&amp;#39;s children just because they&amp;#39;ve labeled her &amp;quot;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/20/can-a-mom-be-too-dumb-to-parent.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;too dumb to parent&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;quot; But the &lt;a class="" href="http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=69a9e684-5971-411a-841d-afe30ed9db9b" target="_blank"&gt;follow-up story&lt;/a&gt; in the Vancouver Sun about a woman with five kids and the mental maturity of a &amp;quot;12 to 14 year old&amp;quot; did just the opposite for me. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The government has seized each one of Barbara Gamble&amp;#39;s children shortly after she&amp;#39;s given birth. Among their reasons?&amp;nbsp;Gamble&amp;#39;s intelligence quotient is somewhere between 63 and 71, officially &amp;quot;mildly mentally handi-capped.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;She told her story to Canadian press earlier this month because she&amp;#39;s soon due to deliver her sixth child, and she worries the government will once again step in to snatch the child. I could certainly feel her pain at never being given a chance. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nikki Ross did. She&amp;#39;s 31 and mother to five. She&amp;#39;s also got an IQ just below 70. She says she&amp;#39;s doing just fine as a mom. I&amp;#39;m not convinced.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A single mom (she&amp;#39;s divorced from the father of her four oldest kids), Ross doesn&amp;#39;t have a job. Short of babysitting as a teenager, she never has. She lives off of government assistance and financial help from her mother. A volunteer agency lends help as well - paying a counselor who helps Nikki with everything from filing income taxes to devising activities for her non-school-aged kids. Her house is filled with sticker charts so she can keep on course with her day - and sometimes she&amp;#39;s gotten off course. She&amp;#39;s lost her children on and off, sometimes to the state and other times her mom has stepped in to take care of a grandchild. Her biggest accomplishment of late? Figuring out a bus route so she could take herself to the doctor. She has yet to master a calendar. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#39;m not arguing the rights to life of the disabled. But what about the rights of their kids? When a mom will forever be 12 years old in her mind, how can she parent a&amp;nbsp;defiant&amp;nbsp;16-year-old, help an 18-year-old go off to college? How can she handle a middle-of-the-night emergency with a sick&amp;nbsp;toddler when she&amp;#39;s only just figured out how to get herself to a doctor&amp;#39;s visit at 31? Ross has her mother to help her, but 27-year-old Barbara Gamble doesn&amp;#39;t have that sort of help. What she has is a boyfriend who racks up bills well beyond his salary and no job of her own. What she has is a mind psychologists call immature, distrusting, egocentric and lacking in insight.&amp;nbsp;What she has is the mental maturity of a 12-year-old and a uterus that has housed baby after baby since she was 20 years old.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Most of us would consider parents supporting their 12-year-old getting pregnant to be bordering on child abuse. Allowing a 12-year-old to move out on their own after giving birth is unheard of. So, no, Nikki Ross&amp;#39; story didn&amp;#39;t make me feel better about Barbara Gamble walking out of the hospital with the latest child she&amp;#39;s given birth to in an attempt to convince the government she can be a parent. It made me wonder who would leave a child alone with a 12-year-old for the rest of his or her life. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Image: Vancouver Sun&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Related Posts:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/20/can-a-mom-be-too-dumb-to-parent.aspx"&gt;Can a Mom be &amp;#39;Too Dumb&amp;#39; to Parent?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/25/texas-judge-orders-woman-to-stop-bearing-children.aspx"&gt;Texas Judge Orders Woman to Stop Bearing Children&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=131547" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/child+endangerment/default.aspx">child endangerment</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/IQ/default.aspx">IQ</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/child+welfare/default.aspx">child welfare</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/intelligence/default.aspx">intelligence</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Jeanne+Sager/default.aspx">Jeanne Sager</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/government+intervention/default.aspx">government intervention</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/enforced+sterilization.+child_2700_s+rights/default.aspx">enforced sterilization. child's rights</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/government+involvement/default.aspx">government involvement</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/too+dumb+to+parent/default.aspx">too dumb to parent</category></item><item><title>Texas Judge Orders Woman to Stop Bearing Children</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/25/texas-judge-orders-woman-to-stop-bearing-children.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:29:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:130506</guid><dc:creator>JeanneSager</dc:creator><slash:comments>12</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=130506</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/25/texas-judge-orders-woman-to-stop-bearing-children.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/09/23-End/DeadEnd.png"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/09/23-End/DeadEnd.png" style="width:194px;height:195px;" alt="" align="right" border="0" height="600" hspace="4" width="600" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;It&amp;#39;s not government enforced sterilization, but it&amp;#39;s pretty darn close. And I&amp;#39;d like to shake the hand of the Austin, Texas judge who told 20-year-old Felicia Salazar to keep her legs shut. At least he&amp;#39;s trying. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Judge Charlie Baird&amp;nbsp;has ordered&amp;nbsp;the end to childbearing as a&amp;nbsp;stipulation of the Texas mother&amp;#39;s&amp;nbsp;10-year&amp;nbsp;probation sentence&amp;nbsp;on charges of injury to a child by omission. Her boyfriend, Roberto Alvarado, 25, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison&amp;nbsp;for beating&amp;nbsp;the couple&amp;#39;s&amp;nbsp;then-19-month-old daughter last year. At the&amp;nbsp;time, Salazar did nothing to protect the litte girl, nor did she seek medical treatment for her daughter&amp;#39;s injuries. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Both parents have severed their rights to their daughter, who has been in foster care since being discharged from the hospital. The Texas legal community, meanwhile has been debating the constitutionality of Baird&amp;#39;s order. If Salazar were sentenced to 10 years in prison, they say, she would naturally be kept from getting pregnant by the nature of confinement. But Baird didn&amp;#39;t sentence her to prison. He&amp;#39;s given her probation - outside with the general public - and added this as a condition. Texas judges are permitted by law to append probationary sentences, although there&amp;#39;s no precedent for this sort of condition. There is, however, a Wisconsin case upheld by that state&amp;#39;s Supreme Court, in which a father of nine was ordered to stop spreading his seed after intentionally failing to pay child support. That too was a condition of his probation. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Salazar&amp;#39;s attorney is still debating the options, but I&amp;#39;d tell him to quit while he&amp;#39;s ahead. Could the case be overturned? Maybe. But his client apparently doesn&amp;#39;t know how to be a parent, why give her a chance to screw up again?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href="http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/09/12/0912salazar.html" class="" target="_blank"&gt;Austin American-Statesman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Related Posts:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/20/can-a-mom-be-too-dumb-to-parent.aspx" class="" target="_blank"&gt;Can a Mom be &amp;#39;Too Dumb&amp;#39; to Parent?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/18/judge-botch-adoption-again-and-go-directly-to-jail.aspx" class="" target="_blank"&gt;Judge: Botch Adoption Again and Go Directly to Jail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/18/what-if-you-could-pick-their-next-parent.aspx" class="" target="_blank"&gt;What if You Could Pick Their Next Parent?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=130506" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/texas/default.aspx">texas</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/child+endangerment/default.aspx">child endangerment</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Jeanne+Sager/default.aspx">Jeanne Sager</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/judge/default.aspx">judge</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/child+beaten+by+father/default.aspx">child beaten by father</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/enforced+sterilization/default.aspx">enforced sterilization</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/judge+says+no+more+children/default.aspx">judge says no more children</category></item><item><title>The Fix is In: Mom and Dad Still Smarter than a Fifth Grader</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/20/the-fix-is-in-mom-and-dad-still-smarter-than-a-fifth-grader.aspx</link><pubDate>Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:05:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:129026</guid><dc:creator>JeanneSager</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=129026</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/09/20/the-fix-is-in-mom-and-dad-still-smarter-than-a-fifth-grader.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman" size="3"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/09/16-22/Repairs.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH:328px;HEIGHT:227px;" height="375" alt="" hspace="4" src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/09/16-22/Repairs.jpg" width="500" align="right" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;You thought the best part of being a mom was the love, right? Nah, that’s the politically correct version. The real perk? Mommy is the smartest person on the planet. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt; 
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman" size="3"&gt;No, really. We’re geniuses in our kids’ eyes at the beginning even if we back the car into the mailbox and put our underwear on inside out. If you’re mom to a little girl, that omniscience starts to wane around three (at least in this household), maybe a little later if you’ve got a boy. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt; 
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman" size="3"&gt;Don’t worry, here at Strollerderby, we’ve got your back. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt; 
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman" size="3"&gt;We’ve discovered &lt;a class="" href="http://www.fixya.com/" target="_blank"&gt;FixYa&lt;/a&gt;, the online version of the kitchen junk drawer full of instruction manuals. It’s made up of 9 million members who’ve tried tinkering, and their electronic or appliance has lived so they can tell you about it.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt; 
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman" size="3"&gt;So before you admit to little Johnny that his &lt;a class="" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QULFQC/?tag=Babble.com-20" target="_blank"&gt;Fisher Price camera&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;will &lt;a class="" href="http://www.fixya.com/support/t897692-lost_manual" target="_blank"&gt;never take another picture&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman" size="3"&gt; or &lt;a class="" href="http://www.fixya.com/support/t886693-safety_1st_pink_corvette" target="_blank"&gt;give up on the radio&lt;/a&gt; of the Safety First Pink Corvette &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman" size="3"&gt;check them out. The site can be confusing, and not every problem is actually solved, but if you want to help a mom or dad save face, you can always share your tips. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt; 
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman" size="3"&gt;At least someone will appreciate your genius. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman" size="3"&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman" size="3"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a class="" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/squeakymarmot/448551048/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Squeaky Marmot&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=129026" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Jeanne+Sager/default.aspx">Jeanne Sager</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/FixYa/default.aspx">FixYa</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/fixing+toys/default.aspx">fixing toys</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/smart+parents/default.aspx">smart parents</category></item><item><title>Hide-And-Seek Turns Deadly</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/01/03/hide-and-seek-turns-deadly.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:32:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:61583</guid><dc:creator>Madeline Holler</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=61583</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/01/03/hide-and-seek-turns-deadly.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/gun.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/gun.jpg" alt="" align="right" border="0" height="131" hspace="4" width="175" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I may lean a little more toward gun-control laws and a little away from the NRA, but mostly I&amp;#39;m into common sense when it comes to using guns. Shouldn&amp;#39;t it go without saying that you don&amp;#39;t just &lt;a href="http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/01/02/boy_shot_while_playing_hide-and-seek/5134/"&gt;fire your automatic weapon&lt;/a&gt; into furniture ever, ever, ever?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;An 11-year-old boy in Florida was killed during a game of hide-and-seek after his neighbor unwittingly fired his semiautomatic weapon into the abandoned sofa the boy was hiding behind. He was shot several times including once in the head. The gunman fled when he realized what had happened, but has since turned himself in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You know, no wonder kids never play outside and their parents don&amp;#39;t let them. What a waste.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=61583" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/guns/default.aspx">guns</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/gun+safety/default.aspx">gun safety</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/hide-n-seek/default.aspx">hide-n-seek</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+people/default.aspx">stupid people</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/safe+neighborhoods/default.aspx">safe neighborhoods</category></item><item><title>ATVS Are Dangerous For Young Kids! Who Knew? </title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/11/30/atvs-are-dangerous-for-young-kids-who-knew.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:04:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:55845</guid><dc:creator>Amy Kuras</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=55845</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/11/30/atvs-are-dangerous-for-young-kids-who-knew.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/ATV%20riding%20kid.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/ATV%20riding%20kid.jpg" alt="" align="right" border="0" height="183" hspace="5" width="244" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I am just shocked, I tell you, &lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;shocked&lt;/span&gt;, by &lt;a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/26/health/webmd/main3541021.shtml"&gt;this CBS News&lt;/a&gt; report that ATV-related deaths and injuries to children under 16 have more than doubled in the last ten years. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hook a lawnmower engine up to a bike, ride it over uneven terrain, and O-M-G! People get hurt! And kids are just so gifted with great judgment and realistic risk assessment skills, it&amp;#39;s a fabulous idea to let them ride their little hearts out, right? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Actually, says University of Arkansas radiology fellow Chetan Shah, not so much.&lt;br /&gt;He was seeing a sharp increase in the number of kids coming in with ATV-related injuries at Arkansas Children&amp;#39;s Hospital, so he and his colleagues decided to study the numbers. They studied 500 kids who were admitted to the hospital with ATV-related injuries between 1995 and 2005. The average age of the kids was 11 and a half. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Six kids died, five from brain injuries; 16 children suffered nonfatal brain injuries and 85 sustained skull fractures. 38 kids had brain hemorrhages.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Five had spinal cord injuries, 21 suffered spinal fractures and 36 suffered lung injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A dozen kids suffered traumatic amputations, usually of the feet, and 208 more fractured an extremity, usually the leg. &lt;br /&gt;According to the CBS story, &amp;quot;Shah says the youngest victim was a 6-month-old infant who was riding with his mother. His thigh bone fractured, leaving him with a permanent limp.&amp;quot; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let&amp;#39;s go over that again. &lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;Six months old&lt;/span&gt;. No word on what exactly possessed the mother to think that was a good idea. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=55845" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/dangerous+toys/default.aspx">dangerous toys</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/ATVs/default.aspx">ATVs</category></item><item><title>No Babies at the Cinema, Please</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/08/08/no-kidding-around-at-the-movies.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:30:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:35913</guid><dc:creator>ChagHolland</dc:creator><slash:comments>16</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=35913</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/08/08/no-kidding-around-at-the-movies.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2007/08/08-15/movie-theater.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2007/08/08-15/movie-theater.jpg" align="right" border="0" hspace="4" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Once you factor in the cost of a babysitter, the tickets, and concessions, you almost need to take out a second mortgage to take in a flick at your local theater. Because it costs so much money, you should be able to expect a quiet and enjoyable experience where everyone keeps their mouths shut and turns off their cellular phones. &lt;a href="http://socialitelife.com/2007/08/06/this_is_an_important_issue.php"&gt;But that wasn&amp;#39;t the case for Michelle Collins who attended an 11 PM showing of &lt;i&gt;The Bourne Ultimatum&lt;/i&gt; and discovered someone had brought their two-month-old baby to the theater&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What kind of moron brings a baby to a movie? If you can&amp;#39;t afford to hire a babysitter, rent a movie from Blockbuster and stay home. The rest of the audience doesn&amp;#39;t want to hear your kid. There are theaters in many cities that show a movie once a week for parents with children under two. Screaming and crying are welcome at these showings. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But what about the idiot who sold these parents their tickets or the putz who took the tickets when the parents entered the lobby? Didn&amp;#39;t one of them notice the baby? My wife and I sneak sodas and snacks in her purse when we&amp;#39;re lucky enough to attend a movie, but she doesn&amp;#39;t own a purse large enough to hold a two-month-old baby. Personally, I think everyone should boycott the theater that allowed this to happen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is just further proof that we need pre-pregnancy IQ tests.&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=35913" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Movies/default.aspx">Movies</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/babies/default.aspx">babies</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Etiquette/default.aspx">Etiquette</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category></item><item><title>School Holds First Integrated Prom; Yes, It's the 21st Century</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/04/26/school-holds-first-integrated-prom-yes-it-s-the-21st-century.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:54:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:16076</guid><dc:creator>Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!)</dc:creator><slash:comments>4</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=16076</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/04/26/school-holds-first-integrated-prom-yes-it-s-the-21st-century.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/photos/apr2007/picture16443.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/photos/apr2007/images/16443/365x471.aspx" align="right" border="0" height="171" hspace="4" width="132"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Growing up in Northern California has made me soft. I think there's even a&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfq_A8nXMsQ"&gt; song&lt;/a&gt; about the condition. Thankfully it didn't make me stupid. Or ignorant. Or downright D-U-M. Like &lt;a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/turner.prom/"&gt;these kids&lt;/a&gt;. And their parents.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And don't even come at me with "It's the South; it's tradition." It's the 21st Century. It's moronic that anyone would let this go on as long as it has. Yes, you read the headline correctly. A high school in Georgia held its first&lt;a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/turner.prom/"&gt; "united" prom&lt;/a&gt;, with white and black kids dancing together and, gasp, &lt;i&gt;holding hands!&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Said one moron about the segregated prom tradition of the way yonder past, meaning 2006: &lt;i&gt;"There was not anybody that I can remember that was black," she said. "The white people have theirs, and the black people have theirs. It's nothing racial at all."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Uh huh. Look, I'm happy to see an integrated prom has finally taken place. Kudos to the kids who finally got their heads out of their ... binders. Still, an all-white prom was held a week before, so I'm not so sure race relations in bumbleweed are as great as they so obviously sound. I'd like to say at least it's a start -- but it's scary to think they're just starting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=16076" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/parents/default.aspx">parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/high+school/default.aspx">high school</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/Race/default.aspx">Race</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/dance+party/default.aspx">dance party</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/students/default.aspx">students</category></item><item><title>Fair Trade?  My Baby for Your Dodge Intrepid</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/03/01/fair-trade-my-baby-for-your-dodge-intrepid.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:19:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:8614</guid><dc:creator>Alisyn</dc:creator><slash:comments>2</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=8614</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/03/01/fair-trade-my-baby-for-your-dodge-intrepid.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/photos/feb2007/images/8612/original.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/photos/feb2007/images/8612/original.aspx" align="right" border="0" hspace="4"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Police arrested three people in Pueblo, Colorado on Tuesday, on suspicion of &lt;a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/02/27/baby.downpayment.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories"&gt;felony child trafficking&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apparently, Nicole Uribe, 23, offered to trade her baby to Jose-Juan Lerma and his wife Irene, in exchange for the down payment for a Dodge Intrepid, and a little cash on the side.&amp;nbsp; After receiving a "tip," the cops busted all three of these idiots, who are being held at the Pueblo jail.&amp;nbsp; The baby has been placed with a foster family.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;A baby for a Dodge Intrepid.&amp;nbsp; Jesus.&amp;nbsp; She should have negotiated for a Honda, at least.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;(I'm kidding!)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=8614" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/child+endangerment/default.aspx">child endangerment</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/child+trafficking/default.aspx">child trafficking</category></item><item><title>Bronze Legs, Blue Lips: Mom Arrested For Leaving Kids In Car To Go Tanning</title><link>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/02/12/bronze-legs-blue-lips-mom-arrested-for-leaving-kids-in-car-to-go-tanning.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:05:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">42a08a39-daf3-4129-8a63-8a27b879cc03:6041</guid><dc:creator>Alisyn</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=6041</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/02/12/bronze-legs-blue-lips-mom-arrested-for-leaving-kids-in-car-to-go-tanning.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/photos/feb2007/images/6040/original.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/photos/feb2007/images/6040/original.aspx" align="right" border="0" hspace="4"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Police in Sheboygan, Wisconsin arrested what must have been &lt;a href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/02/09/national/a143257S65.DTL&amp;amp;type=bondage"&gt;an awfully pale mother&lt;/a&gt; last week, when they found her two children locked in a freezing car while she tended to a "tanning emergency" at her local tanning salon.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The two kids, ages 10 and 23 months, were dressed warmly (the weather outside was 12 degrees) and suffered only "goosebumps."&amp;nbsp; Their mother is expected to be charged with two counts of misdemeanor child endangerment.&amp;nbsp; Police were responding to a phone call from concerned passersby, who noticed the children alone in the car, which was locked, but not running.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to one one of the local officers, the mother was gearing up for a vacation, and felt that tanning "was a priority."&amp;nbsp; &lt;br&gt;For her sake, I hope the tan was a good one, not one of those streaky, orange jobs that would make her look like a fool.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Oops, too late.&lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.babble.com/CS/aggbug.aspx?PostID=6041" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/stupid+parents/default.aspx">stupid parents</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/child+endangerment/default.aspx">child endangerment</category><category domain="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/tanning/default.aspx">tanning</category></item></channel></rss>