The Case Against Breast Feeding

Just thought this article was a rather thoughtful rebuttal to how we and many people we know are trying to raise our kids.

This quote pretty much summarizes the conclusion of the article:

"So overall, yes, breast is probably best. But not so much better that formula deserves the label of “public health menace,” alongside smoking. Given what we know so far, it seems reasonable to put breast-feeding’s health benefits on the plus side of the ledger and other things—modesty, independence, career, sanity—on the minus side, and then tally them up and make a decision. But in this risk-averse age of parenting, that’s not how it’s done."

The author basically says that most (if not all) of the studies about breast feeding's benefits are inconclusive, that the popular media's reporting on the benefits of breast feeding are overblown, and that really, it's almost impossible to perform a controlled experiment comparing kids who were breast fed to those who weren't.

Also, she makes an excellent point that mothers who breast feed are by default taking on a much bigger parenting load than their husbands at least until the babies are weaned and that this tends to carry over later...

Just some nice points to consider...

Should I Increase my Fast Offering Contribution or Should I Give Well?

My wife and I are LDS and we were contemplating during these tough financial times on increasing our fast offering contributions. So far, we've been really blessed. I am lucky enough to have a good job that pays well, and at least right now, I'm secure in it. I know that there are people around me not doing as well and can use a little help and have used help from our church. We were set on doing just that, until I heard this podcast featuring the author of this book, Peter Singer who suggested that although many Americans donate a lot of money, their donations are misplaced.

The highest beneficiaries of our donations in America are churches, then schools, then places like museums, etc. Church donations are good, especially if they use that money to help those in the most need, but many churches don't do that. A large percentage of that money goes toward paid staff, maintenance and upkeep of their buildings, etc. Rich universities need the money still less. And museums? Maybe we should wait until we can solve severe poverty before we splurge on those... His words, not mine.

The fact is that 2 million children under five years old die of diarrhea every year, a disease that is completely treatable and requires a very small amount of money. I could donate $50 in a targeted way and save a life through a vaccine, for example.

I feel that some of my fast offering contributions does go to desperate cases like this, but I also know that some of it goes to less deserving causes (though probably still deserving). Maybe I'll keep my fast offering contributions where they're at, and look to funding some organizations who are helping the most desperate poor among us.

What do you think?

I really wanted to post, and yes Republicans are insane

Sorry, for anybody anxiously awaiting another post from yours truly... I've been locked in on a never-ending e-mail debate with a friend of mine who hates it that Obama is continuously bailing out banks.

I really want to summarize some of my arguments (which I feel are getting more and more sophisticated as I'm learning more) and compose a blogpost, but I just haven't had time.

Just some quick thoughts, more later:

1) You can blame a lot of folks for this financial crisis, but the core blame really belongs to all of us, every single one of us. The fact is that we have incurred a lot of debt to the tune of 100% of our GDP. The last time we had this much debt you might ask? Yes, 1929. I know I have composed recently the idea that debt is good, and I stand behind that. But its good up to a point. Its good like desert is good, in small doses. Too much of it will kill us.

2) Our banks are in major trouble, basically the major banks are insolvent. But, the government has to find a way to preserve confidence in our banking system, and the best way he can do that (in my opinion) is to keep shoveling tax payer money into them. I just don't think now's the time to incur a Citibank bankruptcy.

3) I know two very depressing points. On the positive, I feel that we can really bounce back strong from this recession. And we have the president who can do it. We need to take this opportunity to make some significant changes. Thomas Friedman has a really nice op ed today right here. We just had stake conference today, and one comment from one of the speakers (a visiting General Authority from SLC) was that things are not going to be as they were. He talked about how we would need to learn to fix things rather than throwing stuff away... How we should learn to grow a garden, etc. Surprisingly, that's correlates quite nicely with Friedman's article.

4) Finally, yes, indeed Republicans are insane, I'm praying every day grateful we did not elect one for president:




and




Loved the thoughts here. The government is the only entity big enough to address the problems we are facing in our economy. The Republicans are in complete lala land on this.

I'm not saying this in the eyes of a partisan. I'm saying it because it's true. The leadership of the Republican party is insane.