Strollerderby : Iowa

Iowa Mulling Same Sex Birth Certificates?

JeanneSager — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:32:00 GMT

Same sex marriage is finally legal in Iowa, so what's next? Recognizing their right to parent as same sex partners.

Iowa is debating whether to strike the traditional "Mother" and "Father" listings on children's birth certificates so same sex couples can simply be parents.

Currently, Iowa law states that the woman who gives birth to a child is listed on the certificate as "mother." If she's married, the law states her husband is to be listed as father. So what if a mother is married . . . to another mother?

Other states have faced this battle - and nothing has been rectified. Massachusetts parents still face the "mother" and "father" lines on birth certificates, and town clerks have been told the "X" out the inappropriate gender title rather than having official forms printed up. Those parents say they've encountered trouble obtaining passports and other official documents for their kids because the birth certificates look doctored. Even parents who have more legal-looking certificates - including same sex adoptive couples who both appear as mother or father on their kids' birth certificates, encounter a hiccup at the federal level. As one lesbian mom explained, "The feds don't care if you're two moms or two dads, but the application still says father and mother."

So it's a Pyrrhic victory; the feds OK the passport, but force a mom to become a dad or vice versa.

If Iowa can make this leap, it may well be as large a coup as the passage of the same sex marriage act. Not only will gays and lesbians be afforded the right to marry who they please but to finally name their spouses as parents of their kids - without an adoption process and without requiring a gendered title that does not fit.

Come on Iowa!

Morning News: D.C.'s Lovin' Gay Families

Madeline Holler — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:00:00 GMT

The walls of intolerance appear to finally be crumbling. It even seems like states -- and non-states -- are scrambling to show gay families the love.

On the same day that Vermont became the fourth state to recognize gay marriage, the Washington, D.C. Council voted to do the same. The Council's vote is the first step in passing a big fat gay marriage bill, which is just really exciting (and shhhhh, don't tell the Mormons!). All of this comes a week after Iowa (Iowa!) approved gay marriage. Man, when Iowa says gay marriage ain't no thing, doesn't that make California slap it's forehead once or twice?

Oh, oh, and as if recognizing gay marriage wasn't enough (and it's not, actually), those crazy Obamas invited a bunch of gay families to participate in the annual Easter Egg Roll. They've set aside tickets just for gay and lesbian families as a part of their effort to "reach out." Of course, with all this support and recognition of gay and lesbian families, the whole my-two-moms thing is going to lose some of its cool. Huh. Progress.

Speaking of losing one's cool, a couple of Gisele Bundchen's body guards apparently fired shots at photographers during Bundchen and Tom Brady's wedding. Costa Rican police are investigating.

Think Tom Brady had to give Bundchen a gift just to get her to sleep with him? We ask, because the Telegraph is reporting on a new study that says chimps will have sex for gifts and of course, we mean logically!, it follows that women put out for trinkets wrapped in pretty boxes. Oh, female primates. We're so simple!

We can also detect body odor better than men. Were just sniffing out biological information, the story goes (and also looking for a cute new purse!).

In bad economy news, the Juilliard School's program for poor students has been drastically slashed. While 50 students will return for a second year in the fall, the school won't be holding auditions for a new incoming group. The program was held up as a national model and is suffering the fate of so many arts programs.

The death toll from Monday's earthquake in Italy just keeps going up. The latest number is 228 -- many are young children.

Bloomin' Weird Name for Naked Chef's 3rd Girl

Quest for Sons in One-Child China Fuels Abductions

Photo: MSNBC.com

Responsible Parenting Law is Unconstitutional

JeanneSager — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:01:00 GMT

Can I hear an Amen from every writer of "Bad Parent" here on Babble?

Oh wait, I'm part of that contingent - so AAAAAMEN!

A law passed by Davenport, Iowa that would have made it illegal to be an "irresponsible parent" (close enough) was taken to the courts by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa, and has now been deemed unconstitutional because it was "is overbroad and denies due process rights."

You think?

The law would have required parents to be sent a strict letter of admonishment the first time their child was caught committing a crime or even breaking the town curfew. The worse their kids got, the harder the penalties levied against the parents would be, including fines and mandatory parenting classes.

I was an all around pretty good kid with parents who did some pretty heavy supervision. But on occasion (very rare, of course!), I screwed up royally. Would you blame my parents? No - blame me, I was the idiot. It's no wonder kids take little responsibility for their actions - first their parents hire lawyers to fight the big mean teacher that gave them a B and now the government is willing to pass the buck on to mom and dad.

I'm glad to see this one knocked down, but Lisa Belkin of the Motherlode pointed out in a recent column that there are a fair amount of attempts still in the works to bully parents into being good at their "jobs" with legal threats. North Dakota parents face fines if their kids skip school, Minnesota parents can't smoke in cars with kids.

Do you think the laws can ever really change bad parents into good ones? Or will more laws simply mean more bad parents sitting in jails?

Image: Zazzle

Morning News: The President-Elect is a Secret Smoker

Madeline Holler — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:00:00 GMT

On Meet the Press yesterday, Tom Brokaw dragged it out of the president-elect: yes, Barack Obama still smokes.

So what's the big deal? He obviously keeps it out of the limelight.

Well, the White House is a smoke-free zone. He'll have to go to some lengths to light up and not break the rules. Obama assured Brokaw (very end of the transcript and video) that he wouldn't. He also said he hasn't given up on giving up and that, under the circumstances, he's done well with cutting back.

We think it's totally better to be a closet smoker than, say ...

... a total dimwit that takes long vacations every chance he gets, wrecks the country's economy, starts a war under false pretenses, gives away rights and money and human lives, and doesn't even really regret much about it. (Oh, wait, kind of got off course there. Our advice to Obama regarding ciggies: never quit quitting.)

Love the youth and vitality of Obama, his supporters and loads of the people that work for him. But we can't help but loathe this guy: 27-year-old Jon Favreau, Obama's incoming director of speechwriting. He may be gifted with words, but comedically he's very empty. Here's a picture of him at a party back in the primary campaign days, making advances at a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton.

Was a titty grope the best Favreau could come up with? And posed in front of a camera? Hanging out with a guy who still wears his ball cap backwards? We suppose there's one of those Hillary nutcrackers kicking around in the background too.

Reports say that Favreau apologized to Clinton, who responded with humor.

Ann Romney, wife of once presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. Following a lumpectomy, she's doing well. Her post-op cardboard cutout will soon be ready for a little attention from the hil-AR-ious Jon Favreau and the can't-be-contained Backwards Ball Cap.

Oh, in case this needs clarifying: Obama's totally an American, born on American soil and everything! Still, it's the whisper campaign that won't end and the Supreme Court will decide today whether to hear either of the two cases challenging the president-elect's "natural born citizen" status. Some claim he doesn't qualify because his father was a citizen of Kenya.

Update on President George W. Bush's new house: exclusive community, home also to Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and, at one time, Ross Perot, only recently started letting non-whites to live there. Recently, as in 2000!!!!

From Raw Story:

Until 2000, the neighborhood association's covenant said only white people were allowed to live there, though an exception was made for servants. The document, enacted in 1956, reads: "Said property shall be used and occupied by white persons only except these covenants shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of different race or nationality in the employ of a tenant."

Laid-off workers at Republic Windows and Doors, a Chicago factory, have staged a sit-in to protest the short layoff notice, a lack of severance pay and paid-out vacation time. Obama says he supports the workers' demands.

Obama spelled out a few of the details of his WPA plan. Grab a hard-hat and get to work!

Former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich thinks we should call this economy what it is: a depression! Is Prozac going to get us out of it?

So much for going green the easy way -- recycling. Everything's back to junk value so a lot of your good sorting efforts will wind up in the landfill. But we'll always have reduce and reuse.

Unsold cars are piling up too.

Good news for Iowans! Their state may be inching closer to lifting a ban on gay marriage. Their supreme court will start hearing arguments today challenging the legality of a recent ban on same-sex marriages.

Drinkable, Dressable Obamas

Photo: AP

Parent Coaches: Hardest Job They'll Ever Volunteer For?

JeanneSager — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:06:00 GMT

Parents who coach their kids get a bad rap. But Iowa football Coach Kirk Ferentz wasn't playing favorites when he suspended his son from all team activities this weekend after the 19-year-old was charged by police for underage drinking.

It's a reminder that the parent coach doesn't always have the easiest row to hoe.

They're accused to playing their kid first, playing their kid longest. If they take the other tack and limit their kid's playing time and focus the discipline on their own child, the other parents start whispering about how hard they're being on that poor kid. Really, they can't win.

Yet, you see a lot of parent coaches. Who else is going to step in? You don't see a lot of down-on-their-luck lawyers mandated by the court to coach a the mighty ducks or former pro baseball players with a pest control business and lack of ethics that will take on a paying gig to lead a bunch of bears out of embarrassment. Even on the high school level, where there is actually pay (however meager) on the line, coaches are generally either school staffers or parents. Sometimes they're both.

They do it because they want to spend time with their child. They do it because they don't want their kid to have to do without the chance - and no one else is stepping up to coach. They do it because they like the sport. And they take it on the chin all season long.

Image: Amazon

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Des Moines sex club shut down

Brett Singer — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Most of the news that mentions Des Moines this week will be about will Shawn Johnson, the adorable little pixie person with abs of steel who is winning gymnastics medals in Beijing. But there's something else happening in Iowa's most populous city. (BIG GIANT CORRECTION: This happened in Des Moines, WASHINGTON, not Iowa. We have egg on our faces and offer a big thank you to Megan, the commenter who pointed this out.)

A sex club called – hang on – the Hardwood Cabin has been shut down. I've tried to come up with a better re-write for the basic facts, but here is the opening paragraph of the story: "Regan 'Draco' Lane-Smith and 'Naughty' Nonah Elliston outfitted their six-bedroom rental house with 15 mattresses, bondage crosses and sex swings. They built elaborate sets in their backyard for taking erotic photos."

The fun part is that they were doing this in a residential neighborhood. At least, it's the fun part if you didn't live in that neighborhood.

Now, being pervy isn't illegal in ~~Iowa~~ Washinton (as far as I know; I've actually never tried anything pervy in Des Moines). But operating a business without a license is, and that's what got them in trouble with the law.

Naughty and Draco (sounds like the name of a a really crummy rap duo from the mid-90's – "D to the R to the A to the C to the O / I got Naughty on my left and she ain't no ho!") say that they are "being persecuted for their lifestyle," and that since they weren't charging admission, it's not a business; therefore they shouldn't be asked to stop being "happy hedonists." They go on to say that they are, "normal people who happen to enjoy sex."

Sex with a whole lot of people at once, that is. After searching for a house "that would perfectly suit them and their hobby," they found the Hardwood (can't type that without laughing) and started having, um, parties. What began as a bi-weekly affair blossomed into a three day a week thing, with as many as 60 people present. "Members were as young as 22 and as old as 80," according to the Seattle Times.

N and D did what they could to be respectful of their surroundings, telling neighbors that they would be having parties (not sure if they said what kind), and giving out their phone numbers for folks to complain if they felt things got too noisy. The problem is, as the Hardwood (heh heh) groundskeeper points out, "They've tried to be decent…[but] With all that many people, you're going to lose control." Most of the complaints would have happened with any sort of party, clothed or not – too many cars in the driveway, too much noise. In this case, the noises were of the "moaning and slapping" variety, sounding "like a raccoon dying." (Hey! Now that's a party.) The dionysian soiree's also featured nude swimming and sunbathing in the yard in the middle of the afternoon, although no actual sex acts took place outdoors.

As for whether or not it was a business or just a private party filled with naked strangers, I can see why authorities would be a little bit suspicious: the couple's website, HardwoodCabin.com (snicker) said, "on Wednesday, ladies are reduced rate or food or pop donations and men are the usual rate." There are also references to a "staff" that is, of course, "really cool." The site is gone, but you can see it via the Internet Archive; some of their Yahoo! Group is also archived.

I'm not generally a prude, but I don't think I'd be all that thrilled if my neighbors were having weekly parties with that many people, especially if said parties included nude sunbathing and loud sex. In my Manhattan apartment, we used to have a neighbor who was, shall we say, quite noisy when she was in the company of her significant other, but I only heard her when I went to take out the garbage at night. It wasn't like this neighborhood, where you would have had to black out your windows to avoid seeing people going the full monty on a weekly basis. I also admit that I question whether or not a desire to constantly have sex with multiple partners while married is as "normal" as they say. That is, if they really weren't charging anything, why are you having so many people over for random screwing?

Would you want to live next door to these people? And is "swinging" normal behavior?

source: Seattle Times

images: HardwoodCabin.com via Internet Archive

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Political Nanny Cam: McCain Asked Whether He Called Cindy the 'C-Word'

Madeline Holler — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:28:00 GMT

Awhile back, Political Nanny scolded John McCain for calling his wife a "trollope" and the c-word (yes, THAT c-word) in front of a group of reporters back in 1992. The press didn't pick up on it back when it happened, and McCain still hasn't had to answer for it. In fact, McCain has had to answer for very, very little, but let's focus on his temper and language.

So at a townhall meeting in Iowa last week, one guy thought he'd confront the issue: he asked whether it was true. Watch the results. Feel the disappointment.

What do you think? Should Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos tag-team McCain and demand answers?

If you're the kind of person who takes Freudian slips (and Howard Stern) seriously, you may enjoy this little clip from the Howard Stern Show on YouTube, wherein you can hear McCain say the c-word, albeit NOT aimed at his wife.

[via HuffPo]

Political Nanny's Playground: Eeny Meeny Miny, Moe

Madeline Holler — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:14:00 GMT

Well, Republicans, you have a clear winner in Iowa. Democrats? Um, not so much. Sure, it's been called for Obama. But look at the numbers -- the difference isn't so great.

So if you were counting on Iowans to pare down the crowd, unless you were waiting for them to hand you Chris Dodd (which they didn't), you still have to make up your own mind. (And isn't that how it should be? Are you getting impatient for your state's primaries?)

For those who are still undecided and unwilling to follow a tiny percent of Iowans in how you cast you vote, Political Nanny has found another candidate quiz, this one from Minnesota Public Radio. Here, you pick issues that are important to you and how much.

Catch up with the candidates everyday. See who's good, bad, hanging in, dropping out.

Kids Shuffle Down the Campaign Trail

Madeline Holler — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:34:00 GMT

Besides a young Chelsea Clinton and Jimmy Carter's little girl Amy, the children of the presidents in my lifetime have been teens or much much older. So it's fun watching this year's campaign, as Political Nanny, as a voter, and especially now as a mother. I know how challenging it can be to take kids to the store -- what new version of hell must it be to drag them all over Iowa and beyond? Yet this election is just littered with little bitty kids! Miss Emma-Claire Edwards and Malia Obama, Hayden Thompson and Mitt Romney's son's son.

Sure, everyone's putting on a good face. And mercifully, reporters haven't run any footage of total meltdowns on the trail (politicians' kids melt down too, right?). It's all happiness and precocious repartee, sledding, eating, pressing the flesh.

So what do you think of this, taking young kids out of school to help daddy stump? Cruel? Selfish? Or opportunity of a lifetime for a two-year-old? What do you think it's like? Do they feel the losses? Stay up for returns? Watch their fathers crumble into a heap on a hotel bed and think people are being mean to him and making him lose? I imagine, from the child's perspective, it's a lot of sweaty adults with bad breath asking you the same questions at every stop.

However, I'm inclined to say that no matter how boring it must get for them, it's got to be better than not seeing mommy or daddy for days and weeks on end. I'm sure the quality face time is also lacking, but who am I to judge? I wave away my kids just to write emails.

In any case, time to say bye-bye to all your new friends in Iowa, young Dodd girls, because that state's history and Daddy's moving on.

Kids Ruin Everything: The Iowa Edition

Madeline Holler — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 22:03:00 GMT

From the Heartland, on the eve of the much ballyhooed Iowa caucuses (they're here? They're finally here?!), I bring you a new twist on that old parenting classic: who is going to watch the children.

Like when you want to go to a grown-ups only party, or, say, out on New Year's Eve. Or maybe just spend some alone time with your partner without having to take out a loan to pay a babysitter. Those damn kids sure get in the way of your freedom!

If you're an Iowan, the kids get in the way of your civic duties too! I mean, who is going to watch the children when you head out on a dark winter's night Thursday to go caucus?

In fact, it's not just parents who have to jump some serious hurdles to get this 2008 election rolling with the nation's first caucuses. Plenty of Iowans are inadvertantly disenfranchised by the caucus process due to a late shift for work or the inability to get away from home for several hours. Or, what should give every person in the state pause: members of the Iowa National Guard who are serving overseas! Yikes!

No wonder only 5 percent of the state actually show up to caucus. Which now makes me wonder, why the hell is Iowa so important in the first place?