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You do know that this post is more than 3 years old, right?
In any case, I never claimed to have all the answers. But in a society in which same-sex couples can get married and also have civil unions (which people on both sides of the political spectrum support) then same-sex couples need to be treated with the same respect as couples during other times of transition in this country.
Are you saying that you want to take your time in introducing your children to interracial couples too? Is that something that needs special explanation?
Of course, you can simply change the channel if you don't want to watch the show. Why feel the need to silence it entirely?
As for being pro-choice. I would love for this world to be one in which no woman ever has to go through an abortion. It's tough physically and emotionally. But we don't live in that world, so I prefer they have the choice, just as Governor Palin and her daughter did. As Governor Palin acknowledge in her statement about her daughter, that she made a choice.
Governor Palin also supports abstinence-only education, something that has been shown not to work, including in her own home. Keep in mind, the same conservative talk-show hosts who blasted the Spears family for a teen aged mother want the world to leave the Palins alone.
Governor Palin has said publically that the war in Iraq is a mission from God. Does that mean she is going to follow God's will when it comes to policy decisions? Whose God? Jesus? Jehovah? Buddha? Allah? They are all part of the American fabric, but they are also supposed to be separate from American policy decisions.
Also, considering how you vote, am I correct in assuming that you were not going to vote for McCain because of his pro-choice stance, prior to him choosing Palin as his running mate? Since you have described yourself as a one-issue voter, how can you vote for McCain at all?
Postcards from the Conservative Edge
Please excuse my political diversion, but I can't let the Secretary of Education's comments about the show "Postcards from Buster" pass without comment. To fill you in, "Postcards from Buster" is a spin-off from "Arthur" and airs on PBS. Buster travels around the country with his father meeting ...
Thank you. It's nice to hear when people are reading and enjoying.
Also, I'd love to hear what you have to say about Fuzhou, we know very little about the city and the area.
Green Mountains
I know my posts haven't been as updated as everyone would like, but things are busy, busy, busy. We just got back from Smugglers Notch, Vermont where we enjoyed a wonderful vacation. For those who have never been, Smuggler's Notch is a family resort. Basically it's a place geared toward those wi...
Hmmm.... a category for Demby? I never planned on writing about him enough, but I guess he deserves one.
Dog's Life
Demby, our rather large fury, four-legged friend, decided to spend part of the evening in the backyard. After our walk he just lay down in the grass and stayed, no amount of prodding would get him up. So about 45 minutes later I went outside to bring him in, but he was nowhere to be found. Some...
I'm confused. One the one hand you praise Wilco for working with, and probably accepting money from, VW. Then you get on other artists for "crass commercialism." Where is the line between the two?
Walk through any art museum and you'll see lots of great paintings of very rich people or paintings done specifically for the church. Why? That's where the money was.
Why is music any different?
The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Most successful (and not so successful) recording artists have a fairly short period of time to cash in on their fame. Singles go down the charts as quickly as they rise. Musical trends can become passe in an instant. And for brands there is the temptation to feel if they miss out on an artist...
My brain only works in 6-month increments.
Back from DC
I know things have been a bit quiet, but we just got back from visiting my brother and his family in DC. Also, Ellen got sworn into the Supreme Court, so she's now admitted to the Bar there. Despite the somewhat mundane nature of both the procedure and the actual swearing in itself, it is pretty...
We've been inundated by Star Wars, so having something that isn't leading to the Dark Side is kind of nice.
That said, when Ben got a light saber for his birthday, Shoshi and a friend her age picked up some wrapping paper roles and started doing battle too.
Tea Parties
Last year Shoshi got a small plastic tea set that played the song "I'm a little teapot" in annoying digital tones. She played with it for a while, but it didn't have its own container, so the pieces ended at the bottom of the toychest. This year someone got her another plastic tea set, this on...
If I'm not mistaken, Warner used this model pretty successfully in tying music to most of the shows on its now-defunct WB network. Some may say that they pushed that envelope too hard, but for someone like me who doesn't follow music that closely, it was a nice way to get exposure to music I may not have heard before... or paid attention to.
Reborn at Black Rock
Today CBS Corporation announced it was launching a new music label under the old CBS Records moniker. The release notes that efforts will be geared to funnel the music from artists on CBS Records into its own programming and distribution networks. The Wall Street Journal notes that physical di...
Thanks everyone!
And Kevin, good luck with your new baby. The screaming goes on for quite a while.
He's a Whole Hand!
When Ellen first tried to nurse Benjamin he missed, and left a searing mark on her breast. The child sucked with intensity. A few months later we tried to do the "wake him at 11 and feed him" thing, which eventually worked just fine. But for a long time he'd scream at me until I woke Ellen and ...
Ask is a loose term. It's more like a yell that wakes everyone but Alex.
Our dog doesn't get walked as frequently as he probably needs, but the old boy is very good to us, he deserves better.
Early to Rise
For some reason, on days when Shoshi and Ben don't have to be anywhere in the morning, they're up early. Today the wakeup time was around 6:30am, when Ben came downstairs and jumped into bed with Grandma. Then he commanded that I go up and retrieve Shoshi, who had been in her crib asking to come...
Thank you, we think so as well. In fact... all our children are above average :)
Alex had a few answers for his brother. First, he says that the tooth fairy organizes the teeth, because that's what she told him in one of her earlier pieces of correspondence.
Ben is convinced that the tooth fairy keeps the teeth in a store in Waltham down by the railroad tracks that has a large tooth on it. If nothing else, the place has a low overhead.
As for God, Alex claims He doesn't have hands. I disagree, since we sometimes talk about "The hand of God." Must be a hand in there somewhere.
Critical thinking.... check
This is a sample of questions that Benjamin has asked me during our ride home over the past two days: Does God have hands? Who made God? What does the tooth fairy do with all those teeth? (He asked this question twice, I guess my "I guess she just collects them" answer wasn't good enough.) Dad, ...
Only in the form of frequent flier miles... and the blackout dates on hers are horrible.
Flight Problems
Alex lost another tooth yesterday. But last night the tooth-fairy didn't appear and leave money under his pillow. He woke up this morning in tears. So we told him the truth... The terrible thunderstorms experienced in the Boston area last night caused the tooth-fairy to delay her flight (probab...
My wife does as well, and apparently so do a lot of other people!
http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=sturgis+pretzel&m=text
If anyone has pictues of themselves in that same pose, I'm happy to create a Flickr stream. Just email them to me.
Americana Vacation
We took a little ride this week from Boston through Washington, DC and back again, taking a longer route home through Lancaster, PA. This was all about family, staying with friends, enjoying the company of family and seeing a bit of history. But it was also about spending hours upon hours in a c...
Thank you! They do things every day that blow me away, but this one just left me awed.
The greatest part is that when a poet writes they want to touch people and these poems obviously touched them.... even if the touching made them burp.
The Poetry of the Burp
While my parents were in town Benjamin played a game with my dad in which my father would push Ben's bellybutton, and Ben would burp. They told me this came from a Shel Silverstein poem. I thought that was interesting. Then I remembered that I hadn't read them such a poem. Hmmm.... A few minu...
I tried taking one of the full exterior of Blue Ribbon, with that cool sign over the door, but I just couldn't get it right. I know there's some solution to my problem, but I don't have the time or desire to figure it out.
So I just changed the picture. I also wanted to add some action to it, since there are so many photos that use the place just as a setting.
Fun with Zooms
I had a little time to myself this week, so I took my camera out for a little night photography. I'm not the best at night pictures, but these seemed interesting. One is from the front of Blue Ribbon BBQ in West Newton, the other of the Starbucks in Newtonville.
No, I've been looking into the Reconstructionist movement for some time. I like the egalitarian bent.
So this wouldn't be the single issue, but a strong indication that my views diverge from those of Conservative Judaism.
Ellen's Cousin to Lead Conservative Jewish Movement
In our ongoing effort to bring you family news before the New York Times does it, Ellen's cousin Arnold Eisen has been named Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary. For those of you who are saying "so......" keep in mind that the Conservative movement is losing members by the car-load and...
No, he has not yet learned the joys of a bathroom read.
Books
Back in college I used to sleep with books in my bed. I'd be reading, fall asleep, and just leave them there. I think I did it in high school too, but it was more of a college thing. For the record, hardcover books are much easier to sleep with, the covers are less likely to get bent when you r...
I'm not so sure I want to start at that point. Frankly, I doubt he remembers it, but also the more I think about it the more I think we need him to lead us where he needs to go.
We can answer some questions, but some he'll just have to ask us. I have some pictures of ground zero that I took in December 2004, he's seen those without realizing what they are. At least those are familiar.
We may be surprised, he may know more than we give him credit for.
Down the Path
Alex's reading has exploded recently, and he's starting to absorb non-fiction books like crazy. Like most other nearly-seven-year-old boys he gravitates toward non-fiction, mostly on about disaster sand military subjects. Right now he's reading a book about the Navy. Recently we've started a ...
I kind of feel the same way about China.
After I showed the video from the trip a friend told me he assumed that when I said we paid "fees" to the Chinese government that I meant "bribes." But I honestly meant "fees," as that's what they are.
The gifts we gave felt like a cultural thing, not a payment. As Ellen said at the time "how do you thank someone for taking care of your daughter for the first year of her life?"
I think the point of the article is asking "how much of those fees are understandable and how much are over the top?" or "where is the line that fees end and exploitation begins?"
Certainly not easy questions. I don't feel we crossed it, or even came close, during our experience.
Adoption or Business?
An interesting story from this weekend's Boston Globe Magazine (free sub. req) takes a look at the world of international adoption and asks if it is, or should be, more of a business. The author is an associate a professor at Harvard Business School and has three children, one of whom was adopte...
Thank you!
And Michael, nice to finally hear from you! She is now ours in the eyes of "The Man" in China, "The Man" in Washington and "The Man" in Mass.
So... I guess... The Men?
The Final Signature
That's it, it's done. The final document has been signed that makes Shoshi ours in every possible jurisdiction. Thanks to a judge in the Middlesex County Probate Office, Shoshi has her very own Massachusetts birth certificate. We all walked in around 8:30, said hi to the clerks behind the desk...
I have no idea if they drop cookies, but if they do, you probably already have those anyway.
This is the same Google ad technology that is already all over the Internet.
I believe that it works by simply contextualizing both the content of the blog and your location (based on your IP address).
Advertising
If you look to the top right of the Tanoblog you'll see a small bit of advertising. Yes, I decided to sell out. Well, not exactly. If you haven't noticed, we have three kids. That means three kids who will one day graduate high school and, if all goes according to plan, go to college. Consideri...
39 degrees would produce rain, not snow. Also, being an average it will occasionally dip lower and rise higher.
So my original comment holds.
Ok, So It's Today
I made the mistake of joking in front of the boys that it always snows on Benjamin's birthday. When Alex woke up on Wednesday he was quite disappointed to find it hadn't snowed. Enough so that he threw a screaming and crying fit. Well today Benjamin looked out the window at the falling snow (we...
I'm not sure, but that's a good point. I should probably investigate that before investing in any new vehicle.
Snow... again?
Around the time that Ellen was due with Benjamin, I made the unfortunate comment to my father-in-law that it rarely snows in the Boston area during December. This is a statement backed up my mother, who actually grew up around here. Yet, the day after Benjamin showed up it snowed. Just a few inc...
Quite the contrary! I'm quite happy to help!
I hope our story can help everyone involved. I was more curious about what was posted than anything.
Congratulations, good luck and I ohpe to read your stories soon.
Welcome CCAI DTC May-June
I've seen quite a few people link in from a post on a CCAI message board. I'm guessing you received your referrals today (or around today), so first, congratulations! But I'm also curious about how you found my blog. If someone could just email me or post a comment to let me know, I'd really app...
This is a great point. How many times you have you said something like "remember the ad that...." and describe something terribly funny, and then have no idea what it was for?
There are a number of great, but ineffective ads.
Humor In Advertising?
We just received a flyer from a satellite dish network. First off, it's a xeroxed copy of a brochure...not a good start. But the picture it paints, while funny, probably isn't going to get many customers. A lap dog is sitting in the chair, watching the "man" of the house press the side of his fa...
Surprisingly... YES! She does have all her hair.
Frankly, I'm not sure she'd sit still enough for him to cut anything on her anyway.
I'm more concerned about the dog.
Overheard
Ben: Where are the scissors? Dad: What do you need them for? Ben: Um... nothing. Dad: Nothing? Then why do you want them? Ben: (smiling) Just give them to me! Dad: It doesn't work that way. What is it you're doing? Ben: Please can you give them to me? By now I was laughing too hard to give any ...
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