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disneydream06This Whack Job will do anything to keep her name in the media's eye.
With all the lame tax write offs/loop holes we have in this country, the worst one is a breast pump?????
Bachmann's Brouhaha About Breast-Feeding
posted by: Kristina Chew
After First Lady Michelle Obama announced this month that, as part of her campaign against childhood obesity, she intends to promote breast-feeding, especially among black women, Representative Michelle Bachmann criticized her proposal.
That is to say, Bachmann criticized the First Lady for promoting a practice that the likes of the American Academy of Pediatrics and pretty much every child-development specialist, doctor, registered nurse, and many others have been recommending, certainly in the time I was expecting and have been raising my now-teenage son. While not all the claims about breast-feeding---that it increases a child's I.Q. or lowers the incidence of allergies---have stood up under scientific scrutiny, the benefits have always seemed quite clear. I nursed my son until he was 13 months old and am very glad I did, in no small part because of the close connection it created between him and me from the very first moment (leading to a bit of, ah, mayhem when my husband attempted to give Charlie a bottle, but that's a story for another post).
Laura Ingraham's radio show on Tuesday, Bachmann said that the First Lady's promotion of breast-feeling represented a "hard left" position in which "government is the answer to everything." The Internal Revenue Service has said that it will 'allow people to deduct breast-feeding expenses if they itemize, or use the pre-tax dollars in their medical savings accounts to pay for pumps,' the New York Times notes. Bachmann rather sensed government interference in the First Lady's campaign:
While noting that she had breast-fed the five children she gave birth to, Ms. Bachmann said, “To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump — You want to talk about nanny state, I think we just got a new definition.”
Aside from the brouhaha raised about breast-feeding, the New York Times notes that the First Lady's campaign and Bachmann's response have resulted in a crossing of the 'usual political boundaries':
On blogs and in interviews, some liberal Democrats found themselves agreeing with Representative Bachmann, a Tea Party celebrity from Minnesota, when she criticized the first lady for a campaign to promotebreast-feeding. Some conservatives, meanwhile, stood up for Mrs. Obama for promoting what they said was a healthier choice.
Some reactions to Bachmann's response:
A new mother who called herself a progressive Brooklynite — and would not be identified for fear of scorn from her Democratic friends and other mothers — said that while she hated “just about everything to do with Bachmann’s politics, she is not completely wrong here.”
“I support what the first lady is trying to do, but I also think there’s already enough pressure on working moms,” she said. “Yes, breast is best, but there are plenty of mothers who love and care for their children, but simply can’t pump — for time, work or physical reasons.”
At the same time, people who said they did not like the Obamas applauded the first lady for her efforts. “I am a conservative,” said a writer to an Arkansas Times blog. “I am also a breast-feeding advocate. This is just stupid.”
I don't want to say this is a tempest in a, um, breast pump? bottle?. But Bachmann's response strikes me as an example of politics, or rather ideology, clouding, if not interfering, from caring about the welfare and health of our children. Certainly, not every woman is able to breast-feed, whether for medical or other reasons, such as returning to work and not having a comfortable place in which to pump (though I'm inclined to say that such a scenario should rather spur us to call on employers to provide safe and private places for women to do so). Breast-feeding's positive benefits are many and the reasons for encouraging women to try it (if they are able) have everything to do with something you'd think we could all agree about, giving a child a good and healthy start in life. You'd think.
With all the lame tax write offs/loop holes we have in this country, the worst one is a breast pump?????
Bachmann's Brouhaha About Breast-Feeding
posted by: Kristina Chew
After First Lady Michelle Obama announced this month that, as part of her campaign against childhood obesity, she intends to promote breast-feeding, especially among black women, Representative Michelle Bachmann criticized her proposal.
That is to say, Bachmann criticized the First Lady for promoting a practice that the likes of the American Academy of Pediatrics and pretty much every child-development specialist, doctor, registered nurse, and many others have been recommending, certainly in the time I was expecting and have been raising my now-teenage son. While not all the claims about breast-feeding---that it increases a child's I.Q. or lowers the incidence of allergies---have stood up under scientific scrutiny, the benefits have always seemed quite clear. I nursed my son until he was 13 months old and am very glad I did, in no small part because of the close connection it created between him and me from the very first moment (leading to a bit of, ah, mayhem when my husband attempted to give Charlie a bottle, but that's a story for another post).
Laura Ingraham's radio show on Tuesday, Bachmann said that the First Lady's promotion of breast-feeling represented a "hard left" position in which "government is the answer to everything." The Internal Revenue Service has said that it will 'allow people to deduct breast-feeding expenses if they itemize, or use the pre-tax dollars in their medical savings accounts to pay for pumps,' the New York Times notes. Bachmann rather sensed government interference in the First Lady's campaign:
While noting that she had breast-fed the five children she gave birth to, Ms. Bachmann said, “To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump — You want to talk about nanny state, I think we just got a new definition.”
Aside from the brouhaha raised about breast-feeding, the New York Times notes that the First Lady's campaign and Bachmann's response have resulted in a crossing of the 'usual political boundaries':
On blogs and in interviews, some liberal Democrats found themselves agreeing with Representative Bachmann, a Tea Party celebrity from Minnesota, when she criticized the first lady for a campaign to promotebreast-feeding. Some conservatives, meanwhile, stood up for Mrs. Obama for promoting what they said was a healthier choice.
Some reactions to Bachmann's response:
A new mother who called herself a progressive Brooklynite — and would not be identified for fear of scorn from her Democratic friends and other mothers — said that while she hated “just about everything to do with Bachmann’s politics, she is not completely wrong here.”
“I support what the first lady is trying to do, but I also think there’s already enough pressure on working moms,” she said. “Yes, breast is best, but there are plenty of mothers who love and care for their children, but simply can’t pump — for time, work or physical reasons.”
At the same time, people who said they did not like the Obamas applauded the first lady for her efforts. “I am a conservative,” said a writer to an Arkansas Times blog. “I am also a breast-feeding advocate. This is just stupid.”
I don't want to say this is a tempest in a, um, breast pump? bottle?. But Bachmann's response strikes me as an example of politics, or rather ideology, clouding, if not interfering, from caring about the welfare and health of our children. Certainly, not every woman is able to breast-feed, whether for medical or other reasons, such as returning to work and not having a comfortable place in which to pump (though I'm inclined to say that such a scenario should rather spur us to call on employers to provide safe and private places for women to do so). Breast-feeding's positive benefits are many and the reasons for encouraging women to try it (if they are able) have everything to do with something you'd think we could all agree about, giving a child a good and healthy start in life. You'd think.
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-18 10:36 am (UTC)Absolute media twits, the whole lot of them.
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Date: 2011-02-18 02:56 pm (UTC)