Say a Little Prayer for Newest Member of the Blogosphere

Just a few short days ago The Left Coast Rebel became a daddy.  His little one came a little early and is presently in the NICU to get a little bigger.  The baby seems healthy, just a tad too small at the moment.  

Say a little prayer for the baby's time in the NICU and for the parents who will be worried sick until the day the little one arrives home.  

They NICU nurses are some of the most professional and best people on the planet and are no better allies when your little one is still finishing up their development.  

Welcome to the wonderful world of parenthood.  

It isn't up to me to say much in the way of details, but both Mommy and Daddy need some prayers for the little one as well as themselves as they go through this agonizing, yet amazing, ordeal.  

Gee, We Wonder Why Life Isn’t Precious Anymore – Mom Leaves Newborn to Die, No Jail Time

We can talk about gun control until the cows come home, but it won't really help what is ailing this society.  I know very few people who are so militant about gun rights that they feel certain restrictions should be placed on who is able to purchase a gun.  I know that some exist, but they are the minority.  Most will agree that the mentally ill and people with criminal histories shouldn't be allowed to have guns.  The disagreements come on what other restrictions should be in place for law-abiding citizens.  We have laws in place that should protect us from criminals and the insane.  Those laws should be followed.  

What we never really discuss after a tragedy as what occurred in Newtown, is where we place the value of human life in the grand scheme of things in our daily lives and our society.  I am not even going to into the abortion discussion, because most people are immovable on this topic, and will remain that way, while there is always room for an epiphany, those are usually very personal episodes.  

What I would like to talk about is the role of life in general.  Recently a young mother was pregnant for the second time.  She says that she had no idea that she was so.  One night while on a family outing at the circus, she grabs her daughter and goes to use the lady's room.  She sent a text to another family member to come get her daughter due to stomach issues.  She then proceeds to give birth in that bathroom stall.  She leaves her newborn son in the toilet, surrounded by his own blood and presumably his placenta, and goes home.  The baby boy was found approximately 90 minutes later up to his neck in water and at a temperature of 85 degrees.  Thank heavens the little boy is doing fine and is said to be developing normally.  

Jessica Blackham, now 26, has given up her parental rights to the baby.  I am sure by now he has been adopted, presumably to a loving family that realizes how precious this little boy really is.  

Jessica has been judged in a court of law and has been sentenced.  One year of house arrest, three years of probation, counseling, and faces random drug tests.  Once she finishes her one year of house arrest, her five-year prison will be forgotten.  So let me get this straight, she left a helpless newborn baby in a toilet full of blood and gets no jail time.  

'Miss Blackham, you are not standard fare up here and I think your attorney's assessment that you will not be back is accurate,'

So said the judge who normally deals with crack and meth heads, reports show it took the judge a full couple of minutes to sentence her.  He thought about her sentence that carefully.  

While it is true that she had no prior criminal record that doesn't mean that absolves her from her crimes.  She left that baby to die.  Her own flesh and blood.  She says that she has no memory of giving birth and denies even knowing she was pregnant.  Now, didn't she gain any weight during this pregnancy?  Most woman gain somewhere between 20 and 30 pounds.  Didn't anyone else in her family notice that?  If she was hiding weight gain, wouldn't that fly in the face of her testimony?  Didn't she feel that baby kick?  Did she not realize that she wasn't getting her periods anymore?  While it is true that some women will have some bleeding during their entire pregnancy, that is pretty rare.  I mean this is a woman who was pregnant once before and was 25 at the time of the birth.  

Is it really so hard to believe that our children are growing up without a moral compass?  Is is really so hard to understand that they don't see life as sacred and precious?  This judge didn't and he is a grown man.  This woman didn't and she is already a mother of another child.  The only people who seemed to understand the importance of the that baby boy's life was the cleaning crew who found him and the doctors who saved his life that early morning.  This baby has been further dehumanized by this sentance.  His mother threw him away like he was trash.  

A baby was left to die in toilet filled with blood, other bodily fluids, his own after birth, and water and the punishment is that she gets to sit in the comfort of her own home for a year.  She can watch whatever television show she wants, she will sleep in her own bed, she can use the internet, she can have guests over.  Heck I guess if she wanted to she could get pregnant again if she is so inclined.  That isn't a punishment.  Especially when you consider that she lives in state that has a law that if you leave your newborn at a hospital, church, or other safe environment, you will not be prosecuted.  She could have picked up this baby and dropped him at any number of places and choose instead to leave him in filth to die.  

You can take away more and more rights on gun ownership in this country all you want, until you change this, it won't accomplish a damn thing.  

Picture of the Day - Rocking It

A Refreshing Change of Pace from HuffPo

Imagine my surprise when I read this on HuffPo.  Conservatives have been saying this for years and we get called names and made fun of.

 Sex is an expression of love. If it's used for anything else -- to try to get approval or love or to try to feel alive -- it won't feel good for either of you in the long run. You may experience a physical sensation of pleasure or an emotional high of feeling wanted or desired, but in the aftermath of sex you're likely to feel empty, lonely, and possibly used.

It is time we start telling tweens and young women (young men as well) the truth.  We have mountains and mountains of cultural lies that we keep passing down to the next generation.  One being that a baby is just a bunch of cells.  If you think about it, we are all just a bunch of cells, granted more developed than a baby (in most cases, anyway) but nonetheless, there is no way around this, we all started that way.

We also tell girls that they can be sexually active and there is no price to pay for that.  Unplanned pregnancy is no longer a big deal, get an abortion.  You can always take the morning after pill, you can go to the doctor and get a shot and that will be the magic thing that keeps you from getting pregnant.  We don't tell this young women what a soul killer abortion can be.  The guilt and the regret that many women live with for the rest of their lives.

Do parents today still have those talks with their daughters about how boys are sometimes only looking for one thing?  I know my mother had that talk with me.  My mother also told me some other things that I would never repeat to another young girl.  But she came from a different generation and I am the youngest child.  But, I will tell you it did work with me.  I have always been very conservative when it comes to certain things.  There was no way on God's green earth I was going to go home and tell my parents I was pregnant.  I behaved accordingly.

But we do need to get back to sending this message.  While sex may feel good on any given night with any given person, long term it isn't good for you.  A truly enjoyable sex life is about connecting with someone, loving someone, wanting to share yourself and your life with that person.  It isn't about scratching an itch.

Most people also don't know the truth about what creates great sex. The popular message says that great sex is a function of technique and frequency, but this is a cultural lie. The truth is that great sex is a function of connection, first with yourself and then with your partner. In other words, when you feel alive inside your own skin and connected to your partner's essence, then you can meet each other sexually in a way that will feel fulfilling for both of you

The article is really about getting engaged, but it has some great lessons.  Read the entire thing here.

Something to be Thankful For - Life from Conception to Birth Visualized