Clearing Out the "Edit Posts" List

I have sat down and started about 5 blog posts over the past 2 weeks, but none have managed to flourish into completion. Being a bit disappointed in myself for not maintaining my personal goal of at least one post per week, I am going ahead and posting this complete stream of consciousness entry.

So what were those other posts going to be about? Here is the low-down...

Baby Whale tried to nurse boats in Australia....brought back many memories of nursing our children. I found it very sad that this little newborn was so desperately trying to latch-on and aren't all newborns as clueless about their surroundings? Put just about anything in front of them and they will suck it; just ask any new parent's finger if this is true.

Mother Gorilla mourns dead baby .... The mother did not want to give up the corpse of her dead baby that died from a suspected heart defect. Many people doubt whether animals have any parental feelings beyond instinct, but perhaps humans are too far removed from parental instinct. It is especially evident when there are so many instances of child neglect, like this recent story about an 11-month-old that died of starvation and dehydration.

The last news story that I started to post about was (surprisingly) not about animals, but about The Recent Immunization Debate that seems to be going on day-in and day-out over at MSNBC.

Lax vaccinations causes whooping cough outbreak -- link
Vaccines cause autism -- link
Vaccines are not linked to autism -- link
(the above to articles are older but referenced heavily)

Aug. 21- Non-vaccinating causes more measles -- link
Aug. 22- Non-vaccinated kids pose a health risk to everyone -- link
Aug. 25- Our kids shouldn't play together -- link

Where do I even start with this one? I, for one, am cautiously suspicious of vaccinations, but our children have had the shots on the infant/toddler schedule. They have not had any of the school age booster shots.

I imagine that if I had been more informed about the dangers of the shots and the actual effectiveness (or should I say ineffectiveness) of immunizations, we may have chosen a different route, but either way, there is no reason for parents to be in such an uproar and battling it out over this.

Don't we all do the best we can to take responsibility and make intelligent decisions for our children? Are any of us so confident in our daily choices that we want to force our decisions onto other parents?

This is simply a great way for MSNBC to maintain their readership. Get everyone to take a side then maintain this perpetual debate.

So those are the thoughts and perspectives that have been swimming around in my head recently and now that they are out of the way, I can now post about what has been occupying my time since last Monday.

....But now I am out of time again and I need to get up and chase my naked 2-year-old!

I'll be back later, I'm determined!