catching up

Another busy week and the newspaper has been stacking up on my desk and so I am trying to catch up this morning. Just a couple things to share before I send them down to the recycling room:

I am NOT a fan of the CDC's new "pre-pregnant" guidelines. The goal of decreasing premature births, low birth weight and infant mortality is admirable and necessary. But the message that all women -- from the time we get our first period to the time we go through "the change" -- should treat ourselves as pre-pregnant -- even if we have no plans to get pregnant -- is sexist crap. We are not baby machines. We are autonomous individuals who can make decisions for ourselves (right and wrong) about how we treat our bodies. And what about the idea of urging men to ensure that THEY are contributing to creating healthy babies both in terms of how they treat their bodies. Call it the pre-ejaculation guideline campaign and get back to me.

Interesting that the Enron trial has been delegated to inside the business section of the paper. Once front page news, it's now barely being discussed.

There was nothing in the paper on Thursday morning, but Wednesday night, Greg Shipe's family, friends and neighbors came out to mark the eight month anniversary of his murder. Back in September I commented on the fact that five days had passed and no one had been arrested and it's hard to believe that it's still the case. Greg's mom and dad were there. We all want someone to answer for their crime, but no one is under the false impression that it will make the hurt go away. There were two television cameras at the event, but there's nothing in the paper.