A Silly, Bubbleheaded, Mommy Blog Round Up for a CPSIA Weekend -

Why the title? Scroll down, it's pretty ironic:

The Go-To People for CPSIA coverage including a kind reference to yours truly, and more Go-To People. A very sweet thank-you note to those go-to people.


The motorbike industry, wiped out for lack of Congressional foresight:

“It's a law that passed without anybody realizing the ramifications to everybody involved,” said Jim Tabor of Willow's Motorsports in Cheshire, who has an equal number of OHVs from Honda, Kawasaki, Polaris and Yamaha put away.

Ralph DeLuco of Canton Cycles in Winsted wondered, “Is a toddler going to chew on a fender?” Maybe, if the fender is stripped from the bike, placed in his crib and smeared with hot fudge.

Why the Mommy-Blog Dismissive title?
Rick Woldenberg reports:

For the moment, however, I would like to comment on how we are being portrayed by the Powers That Be. I can confirm that you (and I, apparently) are “Mommy Bloggers” in the parlance of the PTBs and that we are “misleading” the public in our writings in our blogs. Yes, you are just “Mommies”, not serious people, intelligent people, business people. We are (apparently) a marginal group of trivial people, not quite smart enough to handle a law as brilliant as the CPSIA and certainly no match for the Brains at the consumer groups or in Congress. We’re just a bunch of Mommies, whiling away the hours with newfangled blogs, unable to control ourselves at the keyboard. And, boy, do we love to talk online. You get the picture.

When you don't have an argument based on actual facts, of course, it's always easier to resort to name-calling and marginalizing the opposition.

Compounding the problem in the view of the PTBs, we are apparently guilty of “misleading” our readers. I get the impression that it is because we all appear to be “hysterical” and “panicked”. [The proffered solution to our “emotional moments” is just to TRUST the CPSC and Congress. They know what’s best for us,, don't worry. I guess they must be the “Dads”. There, there, Mommies., Congress will protect you!] The beautiful part of this slam on our intelligence and integrity is that the accusation comes from Congress and from the consumer groups.[...]

In the case of the consumer groups, it is clear that they are making considerable errors themselves (misleading accusations of travel abuse by Nancy Nord, distortions of actual testing costs, mischaracterization of the actual workings of the law and so on) but, hey, let’s not be too picky here because, DARNIT, they’re just looking after our own best interests!

We hear this accusation in one form or other all the time, and it's generally the Consumer 'advocacy' groups explaining to the public or Congress on our behalf just what sort of poor, pitied, confused, bemused, and baffled idiots we are. But if you'll notice, they never, ever, bother to offer anything substantive. It should be the work of a few seconds to actually document the misinformation and offer specifical, factual, counterpoints. But they don't, for obvious reasons.

Lora notes in the comments:

Really, the statement is quite interesting if you think about it.

It is similar to saying, "No one has complained about the smell except that nose."

Saying that mothers are outraged over a law intended to "protect children" speaks volumes.

After all, who would know better about foul aromas than one who possesses a nose?

We "mommy bloggers" smell and tell.
It is time for Congress to use its ears and listen.

Jewelry makers probably going out of business:

The CPSC last month issued a stay to delay testing requirements for one year, but children’s jewelry products were explicitly excluded from the stay. As of Feb. 10, the law made it illegal to sell jewelry for children less than 13 years old if it contains more than 600 ppm of lead, which is a certainty if the piece includes lead-rich rhinestones.

The law has “definitely hurt our business,” Barber said. “We’ve gotten stuck with inventory we can’t sell because of the lack of a crystal exemption, all because the government did not do its work properly.”

Barber said he has been following this issue for at least five years, since California adopted a strict law banning lead in children’s products. The California law became the model for the federal version, and Barber noted that California included an exclusion for rhinestones and crystals. California, he said, “took the time and did it right.”Green says that he could live with going out of business if he were a lousy businessman or as a result of the weak economy. “But to lose my business because of an ill-conceived federal regulation that is completely divorced from reality, that’s really going to hurt,” said Green. He, too, is seriously mulling the idea of using plastic rhinestones, but he also has inventory with rhinestones that he cannot sell, worth thousands of dollars. Sales, he said, “are dangerously low.”

Silly Mommy Man. He should just listen to his betters and ignore the reality crashing down around his ears. The paternalistic do-gooders say so.

Half the Foreclosures Come from Four States

And California, which accounts for only 10 percent of the nation's housing market, had 34 percent of the foreclosures in 2008.

En passant par la Lorraine

Very cute French song about a girl and her shoes. Warning -- this song does get stuck in your head!

Why California Should Be Allowed To Fail

Good article here.

I don't know why we think rewarding bad behavior, careless choices, and dead end policies is wise.

A couple more sewing things completed :)

Earmarks

Below, I have summarized some of the proposed earmarks. Do you consider these expenditures "reasonable," given the current economic crisis?

* 400,000, to combat bullying in Montana (huh?)

* 1.8 million,"swine odor and manure management in Iowa" (I suspect this might be a fairly important environmental issue in an agricultural state like Iowa)

* 900,000, Chicago's Adler Planetarium (requested by Rahm Emanuel before he left the House)

* 190,000, Chicago's Children's Memorial Research Center (Emanuel)

* 238,000, Academy for Urban School Leadership (Emanuel)

* 190,000, Advocate Health Care (Emanuel)

* 95,000, Kohl Children Museum of Greater Chicago (Emanuel)

* 95,000, Peoria Riverfront Museum (requested by Ray LaHood before he became Transportation Secretary)

* 381,000, University of Illinois College of Medicine (LaHood)

* 951,500, Sustainable Las Vegas (Shelley Berkeley and Harry Reid)

* 143,000, Las Vegas Natural History Museum (Reid)

* 190,000, Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody Wyoming (Barbara Cubin)

* 381,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City (Jerrold Nadler)

More at Dissenting Justice, a newish to me blog by Professor Darren Hutchinson- liberal, progressive, sharp, fair, balanced, discusses issues rather than personalities. He's pro-choice and I'm pro-life. He's a Democrat, and I am a Libertarian Lite, but I really enjoy reading his blog.

Fish With Transparent Head

This is strangely beautiful. Because the head is see-through, the fish can rotate its eyes in its head and see what's above without moving its body.

The FYB's latest creation...

Indiana Jones Lego set, part of a Star Wars Lego set, dirt, rocks from his rock collection, and a tray on top of one of our card tables. There is also a five foot long ramp leading up to the card table composed of a couple cushions, a yardstick, and a ruler, but I couldn't get it to fit into the shot.

What Consensus?

Japanese scientists not impressed on science hype behind global warming/climate change/whatever Newspeak term is in vogue today. In fact, one of the scientists compares current computer models used by global warming proponents... to astrology.

From the comments:

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any nation that met Kyoto targets. It was absurd to begin with, as our Senate clearly and unanimously agreed, and any stricter replacement will also similarly fail.

Besides, it's all completely unnecessary. The globe is cooling and CO2 has an undetermined role in climate, but it is obvious that that role has been desperately exaggerated.

This issue is going to be big politically. Encumbering carbon cripples economic recovery. The administration faces a quandary. Let's hope they can accept reality, and deal with it.

Congress to Voters: You Are Not the Boss of Us, and Don't Call Us, We'll Call You

Senator Jim DeMint has a reform bill in Committee right now.That link is to an article he wrote about it, this link is to a site where you can read the test of S. 374, his reform bill. THere is also a version in the House, here is where you can read the actual bill. Unfortunately, it's in the same Committee that gave us this bill in the first place.

HR 968, a House version of the same reform bill, is experiencing a similar fate in the House, languishing unheard in the same Committee that gave us this piece of legislature in the first place, and that committee is NOT interested in revisiting the issue or hearing what they've done wrong.
There was supposed to be a hearing where Rick Woldenberg and others could explain to Committees some of the flaws and possible fixes of the bill. This hearing was canceled, and Rick is getting mad, with good reason.

The Democrats, as the majority party, have complete control about when or if hearings scheduled.

Rick Woldenberg writes:

the hearings of the Subcommittee on Regulations and Healthcare (House Committee on Small Business) has been CANCELLED. This is the third time I have been invited and uninvited to testify before Congress. Mr. Waxman must be terrified to have me on the record.

Today he updated:

Having had a few hours to mull the cancellation of the hearings on CPSIA by the Subcommittee on Regulations and Healthcare of the House Committee on Small Business, I conclude that we need to flex our muscles if we want to stay in the game. This shameful display of partisan politics (lest we call it some form of “religious” zeal) is a real demonstration of the tyranny that confronts us. It’s all the more shocking that it took place at the supposedly non-partisan House Committee on Small Business – they should be EMBARRASSED (shamed, really). To me, it’s impossible to deny that our voices are being INTENTIONALLY kept off the record, and worse still, powerful people are attempting to undermine YOU with slander and marginalization. We CANNOT allow this to go on.

He says:

start calling the offices of the Small Business Committee (202-225-4038, ask for Erik Lieberman and leave a message if necessary on his voicemail) to inquire about why the hearings on the CPSIA were cancelled. We should tell them that the law is killing our small businesses, that we cannot comply with it, that it’s too complex and unrelated to safety risks and needs to be changed. Tell them that this is not all about crafters and dirt bikes – it’s about American small businesses trying to survive in a Depression! The hearings were essential to air out these issues. Ask for a response.

He has other links and comments as well, please read, and if you haven't called, PLEASE do, and if you already did, PLEASE do it again.
The following Members serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Please contact them and ask them to support HR 968, and specifically to exempt books, all books, not just those published after 1985, and thrift shops from all but the recall portions of the bill:

Henry A. Waxman, CA, Chair		Joe Barton, TX, Ranking Member
John Dingell, MI, Chair Emeritus		Ralph Hall, TX
Edward Markey, MA		Fred Upton, MI
Rick Boucher, VA		Cliff Stearns, FL
Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ		Nathan Deal, GA
Bart Gordon, TN		Ed Whitfield, KY
Bobby Rush, IL		John Shimkus, IL
Anna Eshoo, CA		John Shadegg, AZ
Bart Stupak, MI		Roy Blunt, MO
Eliot Engel, NY		Steve Buyer, IN
Gene Green, TX		George Radanovich, CA
Diana DeGette, CO		Joseph Pitts, PA
Lois Capps, CA		Mary Bono Mack, CA
Michael Doyle, PA		Greg Walden, OR
Jane Harman, CA		Lee Terry, NE
Janice Schakowsky, IL		Mike Rogers, MI
Charles Gonzalez, TX		Sue Wilkins Myrick, NC
Jay Inslee, WA		John Sullivan, OK
Tammy Baldwin, WI		Tim Murphy, PA
Mike Ross, AR		Michael Burgess, TX
Anthony Weiner, NY		Marsha Blackburn, TN
Jim Matheson, UT		Phil Gingrey, GA
G.K. Butterfield, NC		Steve Scalise, LA
Charlie Melancon, LA
John Barrow, GA
Baron Hill, IN
Doris Matsui, CA
Donna Christensen, VI
Kathy Castor, FL
John Sarbanes, MD
Christopher Murphy, CT
Zachary Space, OH
Jerry McNerney, CA
Betty Sutton, OH
Bruce Braley, IA
Peter Welch, VT

These are the members on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, where the Senate Reform bill is currently languishing while mom and pop businesses disappear, pre-1985 books go into dumpsters, and children's clothing is removed from thrift shops if it has zippers, buttons, snaps, or grommets:


Democrats (this is how they are listed on the Committee's webpage):
*John D. Rockefeller, IV
(Chairman)
*Daniel K. Inouye
*John F. Kerry
*Byron L. Dorgan
*Barbara Boxer
*Bill Nelson
*Maria Cantwell
*Frank R. Lautenberg
*Mark Pryor
*Claire McCaskill
*Amy Klobuchar
*Tom Udall
*Mark Warner
*Mark Begich


Republicans

*Kay Bailey Hutchison
(Ranking Member)
*Olympia J. Snowe
*John Ensign
*Jim DeMint
*John Thune
*Roger Wicker
*Johnny Isakson
*David Vitter
*Sam Brownback
*Mel Martinez
*Mike Johanns

Here they are again with phone numbers- Wacky Hermit called this list and said it took a whole fifteen minutes. She even offers a handy-dandy pronunciation guide and a short script of what she said.

John D. Rockafellar 202-224-6472
Kay Hutchinson 202-224-5922
Mark Begich 202-224-3004
Barbara Boxer 202-224-3553
Samuel Brownback 202-224-6521
Maria Cantwell 202-224-3441
Jim DeMint 202-224-6121
Bryon Dorgan 202-224-2551
John Ensign 202-224-6244
Daniel Inouye 202-224-3934
John Jackson 202-224-3643
Mike Johanns 202-224-4224
John Kerry 202-224-2742
Amy Klobuchar 202-224-3244
Frank Lautenberg 202-224-3224
Mel Martinez 202-224-3041
Claire McCaskill 202-224-6154
Bill Nelson 202-224-5274
Mark Pryor 202-224-2353
Olympia Snowe 202-224-5344
John Thune 202-224-2321
Tom Udall 202-224-5941
David Vitter 202-224-4623
Mark Warner 202-224-2023
Roger Wicker 202-224-6253


What should you say (besides SUPPORT CPSIA REFORM!!!)?

Put together your own list of talking points, the ones that matter most to you so you can speak most passionately about them. Make a few notes to keep with you on the phone- or script your comments completely.

To find out more, you could start here.

There is a helpful starting list of talking points here, and in a later post she added the suggestion to have an 'ask'- in this case, when you contact your representatives, ask them to support Senator DeMint's CPSIA reform bill, if you are contacting Senators, and HR 968 if you speaking to members of the House.

The Handmade Toy Alliance has a Myth vs Facts sheet that can also be used as a source for you to develop your own letter or list of talking points for contacting your reps, your local paper, your friends and relations.

Here are some of my thoughts (I am not terribly good at bullet points. My bullets tend to become minor novellas).

1) Duplicate testing is overly burdensome, in fact, impossible.

2) A good law is not overly burdensome or impossible to follow or understand.

3) If we must have testing and certification, it needs to be at the top of the supply chain and for imports.

4) It's not only redundant, costly, and burdensome to test as required by law- in some cases it is financially and physically impossible for thousands of end users to have to test their products, particularly when some of them are made in batches of only 1 to three or so. Books from library collections and One of a kind objects cannot be third party wet tested, even if it wasn't cost prohibitive, because the testing destroys the item.

5) We are punishing 100 percent of American businesses as well as safe businesses in Canada and Germany, places we know have strict standards in place and businesses that honor those standards, and yet, 80 percent of the recalls are associated with products from China.

6)- the third party testing is impossible for another reason- many testing facilities will not even work with micro-businesses, and the cost of testing is sometimes more than a product sells for annually.

7) The law regulates common sense out of the picture by treating the bikes of 12 year old children as though they were as risky as the teething rings of 1 year old children. It regulates common sense out of the picture by forbidding the agency to give any consideration to risk assessment.

a. Because risk assessment is not permitted: NO child has ever been made sick by lead in books. Yet the CPSC currently bans the selling of untested children's books published before 1985. This de facto book banning act will result in thousands of wonderful children's titles being removed from children's hands. Thrift shops and second hand stores won't take them any more for fear of being sued. Libraries cannot sell them and some are pulling them from the collection (mine) and forbidding public access. This law deprives current and future generations fo children access to some wonderful literature, because in times past when a children's title went out of print, the bookplates were often destroyed.

b. Because risk assessment is not permitted, the children's motorbike industry is destroyed, losing a billion dollars in business, entire businesses wiped out with the stroke of a pen, even though no child has ever mouthed a bike valve or chewed the brakes.

c. Because risk assessment is not permitted, children's stickers are severely impacted, even though a child would have to eat his weight in stickers before he got enough lead to make him sick.

8) The retroactive portions of this law are harshly unjust and in bad faith. Manufactures made products in good faith that were safe when they made them- and still are. They obeyed the law, and now the new law punishes them for that by wiping out their inventory overnight.

9) This law, as written, causes immeasurable harm, while not actually protecting children as it puports to do. (For the following I am indebted to Kathleen Fasanella's response to Rep. Shakowsky's intemperate and inaccurate letter of complaint):

a. New rules for cribs:

Prior to the passage of the CPSIA, the CPSC had ample authority under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act and Consumer Product Safety Act to implement mandatory regulations but chose not to do so. The new crib standards to be promulgated not later than August 2016 under the CPSIA simply makes mandatory what the CPSC had the authority to implement since 1970.

None of the tragic crib related deaths in any way justify banning untested books published before 1985, razing the entire motorbike industry for kids to the ground and severly punishing all kindred businesses (dirt bike tourist industries, helmets, boots, specialized gear, dirt bike magazines, etc), destroying micro businesses that specialize in products like baby booties, bibs, or Irish dance costumes, flower girl dresses, ball point pens, and more.

b. The CPSIA cannot prevent deaths or injuries from hazards that are as yet unknown- the death and injury from swallowing two strong magnets was, at the time it happened, an unknown hazard. In response, well before the CPSIA, the CPSC had already reacted to keep children safe by updating the ASTM F963-07 standard to "establish criteria for use of magnets in toys." The CPSIA is a case of mandating the closing of a barn door after the cows have been found, brought home, and the door closed.

c. Lead in children's jewelry is a hazard, and I agree that we need to see this practice stopped. It is likely the CPSIA actually prevented timely action on this hazard:

In February 2005, after recalling a number of items of children’s jewelry that presented such a hazard, the Commission issued a policy statement that set forth the criteria for evaluating the hazards associated with such jewelry. Subsequently, in January 2007, the Commission commenced a rulemaking proceeding to formally define children’s jewelry as a banned hazardous substance. In March 2008, five months before the passage of the CPSIA, the manufacturer paid a $1,000,000 civil penalty to resolve the Commission’s allegations that it violated the law [cit]. As far as can be determined, the January 2007 rulemaking proceeding has been tabled in light of the CPSIA which mandates specific levels of lead in children’s jewelry. It is clear, however, that the CPSIA was not necessary to regulate leaden children’s jewelry and in fact the rulemaking might have been completed already had Congress not intervened. As a result, it can be argued that the CPSIA actually delayed implementation of rules on leaden jewelry.

d)

CPSIA will not make children’s products safer but it will make them scarcer and more expensive. The law fails to incorporate concepts of risk assessment and will have the unintended consequence of devastating the business community and employment in this challenging economic environment.

10) The CPSIA harms disabled children by making it impossible for small businesses to continue to produce many of their adaptive devices and clothing. Most of these items are made in small batches and the redundant testing is simply impossible.
Personal example of my own: Our disabled child is difficult to fit, and she cannot manage buttons and snaps. While now our Jenny is capable enough to take over the task of sewing clothes that work for her, in the past, we have hired seamstresses to make special clothing for her that looks pretty (this is VERY important for a handicapped child, as people do respond to her differently based on how she looks, we can rail about this all we want, but it isn't even a conscious decision, it's just reality), fits her nicely, and she can dress herself. The CPSIA makes this transaction illegal, as my seamstresses, who were personally known to me, did not have the time, money, or inclination to mess with the labeling and testing required, nor did or do I believe that we need those things.

There is another GREAT wrap up from Walter Olson for today. Please read- thrift shops continue to pull clothing ( am so relieved for myself that my youngest child is now wearing a size 12 and is stocked up until next year, but so grieved for the thousands of families with small children who can no longer buy clothing at their thrift stores), and more, including this:

The Examiner, which has a wide readership in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and other cities, is out today with a great editorial on CPSIA which also generously directs readers to this site and its “chilling” reports. It concludes: “This law is an utter disaster. Congress ought to fix it, immediately.” The Examiner also quotes Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), one of the law’s sponsors, as saying “the law allows the CPSC to make ‘commonsense exceptions’ to anti-lead requirements.” This is not the first time I have been obliged to wonder whether Sen. Pryor actually has a close familiarity with the terms of the bill he helped guide to passage, and if not, whose summaries he has been relying on when he talks to the press.
It is precisely because the law does not confer on the CPSC any “commonsense exception” authority that the commission was obliged to turn down the makers of kids’ minibikes in their plea for an exemption the other day. Same for many other instances that could be cited, such as the pre-1985 books and the size 10 winter coats with zippers and snaps that are being yanked from thrift store shelves. Had the commission such a “commonsense exception” discretion, it would almost certainly have acted by now to defuse these sources of public outcry. To repeat the question: who does Sen. Pryor rely on for his briefings?

A very good question. Because we all know he's not reading the law, nor is he listening to regular voters.

Please. Call now.

Spending Spree

When Barack Obama delivered his 44-minute acceptance speech in August among the majestic columns of Denver, it was apparent his would be an expansive presidency. Some wondered whether his solutions for a very long list of problems was too ambitious. On Tuesday, before Congress, he made clear across 52 minutes that the economic downturn would not deflect him from his Denver vision.

Instead, the economic crisis, as it did for Franklin D. Roosevelt, will serve as a stepping stone to a radical shift in the relationship between the people and their government. It will bind Americans to their government in ways not experienced since the New Deal. This tectonic shift, if successful, will be equal to the forces of public authority set in motion by Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. The Obama presidency is going to be a radical presidency.

More here.

It's like there's absolutely no connection between how much money we have, and how much he's going to spend. None. And when he told Congress he did not believe in bigger government, was he lying on purpose, or do his words mean something different to him than they do to me? I really do not know.

Frugal reading

My weekly post at Frugal Hacks is up.

Human Rights? Shrug.

On the massacre at Tiananmen Square in 1989, Mr. Freeman unabashedly sides with the Chinese government, a remarkable position for an appointee of an administration that has pledged to advance the cause of human rights. Mr. Freeman has been a participant in ChinaSec, a confidential Internet discussion group of China specialists. A copy of one of his postings was provided to me by a former member. “The truly unforgivable mistake of the Chinese authorities,” he wrote there in 2006, “was the failure to intervene on a timely basis to nip the demonstrations in the bud.” Moreover, “the Politburo’s response to the mob scene at ‘Tiananmen’ stands as a monument to overly cautious behavior on the part of the leadership, not as an example of rash action.” Indeed, continued Mr. Freeman, “I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be.”

~Mr. Freeman is President Obama's appointee for Chair of the National Intelligence Council

More at I Perceive, and the WSJ

Cloth Diapers

Those studies purporting to show that cloth diapers and disposables cost about the same, economically OR environmentally? Nonsense, truly. Unlike the disposable diaper, the cloth diaper can be used for about 200 diapers, will last through two or three kids, and also can be used as spit up cloths, terrific lens cleaners for your glasses (they won't scratch lenses), pads to catch leaks from breastmilk, baby washcloths, fantastic window and mirror cleaning rags (very absorbent, don't leave streaks), and even exceptionally soft and absorbent feminine hygiene products that won't irritate your skin.

In addition, in our case, not one of our cloth diapers carried any added environmental costs to the world at large in their creation, because we never bought them new. Click on the following link for helpful tips on how you can do the same thing. Once you've found your nice inexpensive source for thick, thirsty cloth diapers (see part one but the short answer is to look at yard sales and call cloth diaper services to ask if they sell used diapers- these are the BEST diapers you can find- forget the fancy schmancy high priced and oddly shaped things from upscale catalogs), you don't need much else- just a couple things listed below:

Scrreeeeccccchhhhh- I interrupt this post to explain that we used our last cloth diapers as diapers sometime in the year 2000. There are some very cool products out on the market now (I don't know how durable some of the market life will be given the CPSIA)- I have just learned about something called a 'snappi-pin' here- I can't agree with most of the rest of that post- you do not need a sprayer, and you do not need to spend hundreds of dollars (I doubt we spent more than twenty in a year), but the snappi thing looks cool, AND it would extend the live of your diaper. On the other hand- Amazon review says it lasts 'up to six months' whereas diaper pins can last for decades.

I return to the regularly schedule post:

You will also need diaper pins (my preference) and diaper covers (I preferred nylon, but they were getting harder and harder to find at the end of our diapering years). Both of these you may get at your local grocery or department store without breaking the bank. Sometimes you can find them at thrift stores. I did not like shaped, velcro attaching diaper covers. I found that they leaked more and that odd things stuck to the velcro. Others swear by fleece and wool covers, and you can make these from old clothes and blankets.

Nylon and plastic pants can be reused several times without washing. You may, if you prefer, wipe them down between diapers, using water or a home-made diaper wipe. These homemade wipes are easy to make and, like cloth diapers, have a variety of uses not just for babies.

I prefered rectangular diapers from a diaper service, thick, 'prefolded' (meaning they had a thicker layer down the middle). This is how we used them:

If you are using pins, as we did, stick them in a bar of soap to keep them sharp. It also helps to run them through your hair near the scalp just before inserting in the nappy- they slide better this way.

Double-diaper the baby at night.
Sleep on a towel (presuming the baby is sleeping with you so you can nurse him in the middle of the night), or put the baby on a towel, just in case of leaks.
Change the baby when he wakes in the middle of the night.

You need something to put the diapers in- any pail with a lid is fine. Do not soak the diapers. This is very inconvenient and not much help.

You'll probably want a pair of rubber gloves so that if the diapers are soiled you can quickly shake them off into the toilet and rinse them there if they need rinsing (if you are on city water you should not put human feces into the sink). Wet diapers go directly into the pail. Soiled diapers get shaken off into the toilet, and then the diaper goes directly into your pail. If they have to be rinsed, put on your gloves, dip, rinse, flush, and wring them out and then put the rung out diaper directly into the pail.

You need a washing machine (though I have known a couple of families who washed their diapers in the bathtub) and a place to hang them out to dry.

When you wash them, you can put them in the washer to soak the night before, and then finish the cycle the next morning. I used a bit of Borax and a few drops of tea tree oil to wash, and put them through a second rinse and hung them in the sun to dry. If this results is stiff, cardboard like diapers, after they are dry, put them through the dryer for about ten minutes. I did use vinegar for a while (in the rinse), but a friend told me vinegar was hard on natural textiles, so I quit, and I did find my diapers lasted longer. I washed in hot water, rinsed in warm, and sometimes did a second rinse.

You need to remember to pack a few plastic grocery bags in your diaper bag so that when away from home you can seal the cloth diaper in the plastic bag until you can get home and treat it appropriately.

Make your own diaper wipes. (also handy anywhere you would use 'Wet Ones' or Handiwipes, such as picnics and long car trips)

Follow these directions and using cloth diapers will indeed be much less expensive than disposables- and still better for the environment if this is important to you, as you can't get the same mileage out of one disposable diaper.

You will also save money on gas. No more last minute trips to the store because you just used the last disposable diaper! But what if you forgot to get a load of diapers going in the wash and you're down to your last cloth diaper? In a pinch, you can use two or three dish towels, or even a smaller bath towel folded down to a rectangle and pinned with your diaper pins. This will work while you get that load in the wash! Ask me how I know.=)

We quit using cloth diapers in approximately the year 2000. We used the last shred of my last cloth diaper in 2005 (it was a cleaning rag). I defy any disposable to be so versatile and long lasting while saving so much money. And had I known about the snappi thing, they would probably have lasted even longer, as the diapers all began to tatter and deteriorate in the corners where I used the pins.


I have three posts on cloth diapering. You can read the other two here, here (this one explains laundering).

UPDATE: In the comments Laura left this link to a very impressive tutorial for putting together your own diaper sprayer, bidet spray, do-hickey for about half the price of a ready made sprayer. I am impressed! Thanks, Laura!

The Audacity of Trillions of Dollars of Debt

Via Tom Elia at New Editor:

Robert Reich: (emphasis added)

President Obama’s new budget is, well, audacious -- not just because it includes several big, audacious initiatives (universally affordable health care, and a cap-and-trade system for coping with global warming, for starters) but also because it represents the biggest redistribution of income from the wealthy to the middle class and poor this nation has seen in more than forty years.

.

We're looking at a trillion dollars in new taxes. And a reduction in deductions for charitable contributions.

Betsy has more on how Obama plans for that to work, and how real world precedents indicate it will work. There's quite a discrepancy.

Speaking of discrepancies:

as a candidate, Barack Obama criticized Pres. George W. Bush for adding $2.9 trillion to the national debt over eight years. But under the budget released today, President Obama plans on adding $3.2 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2010, 20 months and 11 days into his term. Over the full four years, Obama will expand the national debt by $4.7 trillion.

Don't Buy Stuff You Can't Afford

Waxman Cancels Meeting with Small Businesses

• UPDATE 5:45 p.m. Eastern: Well, that was quick. A source reports that Congressional staffers hastily announced that they’re canceling the hearing next week and that the idea is “not likely to ever be brought back”. Someone must have realized that letting people from around the country get in front of a microphone and talk about the effects of this law would not exactly do wonders for the image of Henry Waxman, Public Citizen, PIRG, or Consumer Federation of America. More: Rick Woldenberg confirms cancellation/disinvitation.

From Walter Olson at Overlawyered. Not good.

More on a variety of CPSIA related topics at Overlawyered.

Patterns

Many people don't like schedules (I'm one of them). Some people don't like them because they believe you should just do whatever you feel led to do each day. I'm not one of them. I don't like a schedule because I don't like being told what to do, even by myself. Sigh.


Weaving is a patterned activity. You do this, then that, then this, then that- and the creation of a skilled wearver is a thing of beauty created by a pattern.
Our lives are a tapestry, too, and those of us who are Believers hold that( to varying degrees based on our theology) God is the weaver, but He allows us to participate with Him in this work of art.

"A pattern should emerge in the weaving. Within the larger pattern of a whole life is the intricate design of the day... a precious wisdom has been gained when the rhythm in which body and soul best function is found.
...A woman at last discovers that love is the golden thread running throughout the pattern, binding all her seemingly disparate activities together. If she willingly accepts the slow pace and the seeming scatteredness of her years, her life will be blessed and give blessing."

page 8, The Pace of a Hen, by Josephine Moffett Benton

'Guard your mornings,' is the advice Benton quotes of another author. The early mornings, she says, are the best time for certain tasks.

And in case anybody is wondering, no, I've not mastered this. I'm constantly pulling out the threads of my weaving and trying again and again. I write these things as a reminder to me, as a working out of what I wish I was, what I hope for my daughters to learn, not necessarily what I have accomplished.

My own mornings are more likely to be guarded by Orpheus and spent in 'golden slumber on a bed Of heapt Elysian flowres.'

Of Frying Pans and Fires

A bonnet tip to Kathleen Fasanella of the Fashion Incubator for getting me started with some of the information in this post. Kathleen has been absolutely tireless, professional, careful, and painfully accurate in her pursuit of the CPSIA story, and thousands of people owe her a debt of gratitude for picking it up and running with it as she has.


You may remember how much heavy lifting PIRG and Public Citizen did to get this bill passed, and to make it even wrose than it was to being with. Review this post to refresh your memory, if need be.

Rick Woldenberg reports:

Bob Adler of the University of North Carolina Business School and the Obama Transition Team (along with Pamela Gilbert) gave a keynote speech at the ICPHSO conference yesterday. Bob has been very influential in the development of this organization, and has strong ties with both the CPSC and consumer groups. He gave a fairly gloomy report.

Adler's other remarks are also noteworthy, but what I want to focus on Rick's report that Adler is recommending Pamela Gilbert as the new Commissioner. Who is Pamela Gilbert?

Gilbert is the former Executive Director of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). She has over 20 years of experience in consumer advocacy in Washington, DC. She has testified before the U.S. Congress over 50 times and made dozens of appearances in the national print and electronic media.

Gilbert graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University with a B.A. in mathematics in 1980. She received her law degree from New York University in 1984.

Gilbert served as Consumer Program Director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group from 1984-1989 where she specialized in civil justice and consumer protection issues. She worked for Public Citizen's Congress Watch, one of Washington's largest consumer advocacy organizations, first as Legislative Director and then as Executive Director from 1989-1994.

She served as Executive Director of the CPSC from 1995-2001, that agency's senior staff position. She supervised a staff of approximately 500, including 25 attorneys; was responsible for the full range of government management issues; and helped persuade Congress and the administration to increase funding by nearly 40%. During her tenure, the Ford Foundation awarded the CSPC the prestigious "Hammer Award" for government innovation, administered by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

From 2001-2002, she was the Chief Operating Officer for M&R Strategic Services, a public affairs and political advocacy firm based in Washington, DC.

Emphasis added.

Now, it's been a long time since she was with PIRG and Public Citizen. Maybe she's not completely bedazzled by their pronouncements the way Congress seems to be. But I am troubled by the fact that she appears never to have worked in the private sector, to be a longtime D.C. insider, and to have close ties with the sorts of 'consumer advocacy groups' that got us into this mess in the first place.

And in November of 2008, she joined with PIRG and others to target Nancy Nord in her recommendations to President Obama:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission over the past eight years was run by political appointees who let the agency languish, promulgating few new regulations, announcing few new programs, and rolling back existing rules.

The most important thing that the new president must do to restore confidence in the safety of consumer products is to appoint a chair of the CPSC who has a proven commitment to consumer safety—not industry preferences. He or she should quickly address the shortage of experienced staff and low staff morale, follow through on congressionally mandated improvements to the agency’s authorities and testing laboratory, and establish new partnerships to enable it to do more with its limited resources. CPSC must also address new challenges, including the meteoric rise in imports of unsafe consumer products and any hazards associated with new technologies, such as nanotechnology.

In June of 2008 she testified before Congress about a cell phone issue, and described her practice as entirely consumer protection issues.

In 1995 she was married to Married to Charles Lewis. "Princeton, N.J. Mayor Marvin R. Reed of Princeton performed the ceremony at the home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Murray Gilbert."


"Charles Lewis

(Born October 30, 1953) is a former 60 Minutes producer who left the ranks of commercial journalism to found, in 1989, the Center for Public Integrity,[1] a non-partisan group which reports on political and government workings. When commenting on his move away from primetime journalism, Lewis expressed his frustration that the most important issues of the day were not being reported. Lewis and the Center recently won the first George Polk Award for Internet Journalism for the piece "Windfalls of War."

...
Lewis has given interviews for various publications and has appeared in the 2003 documentary Orwell Rolls in His Grave, which focuses on the hidden mechanics of the media, its role as it should be and what it actually is, and how it shapes (to the point of almost controlling) U.S. politics. He has commented on the dismal state of U.S. political reporting which was and is woefully understaffed across the board. He also discussed the inability of media to fulfill its public duty in keeping the public informed when television, newspaper and radio outlets are owned almost entirely by a few major corporations such as General Electric, Disney, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation—and how the interests of these large conglomerates steer the route of what we believe to be "objective journalism" today.

The Center is 'nonpartisan' like PIRG is nonpartisan.

I can only find one mention of the CPSIA on their site, and it is curiously misinformed:

In January 2008, the CPSC created a new import surveillance division, placing full-time inspectors at U.S. ports. Additionally, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 authorized the CPSC to implement mandatory safety standards for imports, require testing by an independent laboratory, and subject foreign manufacturers to civil and criminal penalties if necessary. It remains unclear, however, if CPSC will have enough inspectors and other staff to do its job properly. In late November, Nord said that due to being “resource constrained,” a database required by the act has yet to be started, and that other major CSPC initiatives have also stalled, as staff have had to “pull back” on the creation of voluntary safety standards.

Of course, the bill is not about mandatory standards, testing, and penalties only to imports and foreign manufacturers. Domestic manufacturers are also subject to the burdensome, ridiculously redundant testing standards as well, and since they are retroactive, used books, second hand coats, and ALL other children's products, foreign, domestic, new and used, are equally subject to the testing requirements and penalties if you try to sell them or donate them to charity.

Looking at Pamela Gilbert's record, does anybody really believe she will continue the stay and make the sorts of exemptions this law needs? Congress needs to act.

Senator Jim DeMint has a reform bill in Committee right now.That link is to an article he wrote about it, this link is to a site where you can read the test of S. 374, his reform bill. There is also a version in the House, here is where you can read the actual bill. Unfortunately, it's in the same Committee that gave us this bill in the first place.

The following Members have been selected to serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee in the 111th Congress. Please contact them and ask them to support HR 968, and specifically to exempt books, all books, not just those published after 1985, and thrift shops from all but the recall portions of the bill:

Henry A. Waxman, CA, Chair		Joe Barton, TX, Ranking Member
John Dingell, MI, Chair Emeritus		Ralph Hall, TX
Edward Markey, MA		Fred Upton, MI
Rick Boucher, VA		Cliff Stearns, FL
Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ		Nathan Deal, GA
Bart Gordon, TN		Ed Whitfield, KY
Bobby Rush, IL		John Shimkus, IL
Anna Eshoo, CA		John Shadegg, AZ
Bart Stupak, MI		Roy Blunt, MO
Eliot Engel, NY		Steve Buyer, IN
Gene Green, TX		George Radanovich, CA
Diana DeGette, CO		Joseph Pitts, PA
Lois Capps, CA		Mary Bono Mack, CA
Michael Doyle, PA		Greg Walden, OR
Jane Harman, CA		Lee Terry, NE
Janice Schakowsky, IL		Mike Rogers, MI
Charles Gonzalez, TX		Sue Wilkins Myrick, NC
Jay Inslee, WA		John Sullivan, OK
Tammy Baldwin, WI		Tim Murphy, PA
Mike Ross, AR		Michael Burgess, TX
Anthony Weiner, NY		Marsha Blackburn, TN
Jim Matheson, UT		Phil Gingrey, GA
G.K. Butterfield, NC		Steve Scalise, LA
Charlie Melancon, LA
John Barrow, GA
Baron Hill, IN
Doris Matsui, CA
Donna Christensen, VI
Kathy Castor, FL
John Sarbanes, MD
Christopher Murphy, CT
Zachary Space, OH
Jerry McNerney, CA
Betty Sutton, OH
Bruce Braley, IA
Peter Welch, VT

To find out more, you could start here.

There is a helpful starting list of talking points here, and in a later post she added the suggestion to have an 'ask'- in this case, when you contact your representatives, ask them to support Senator DeMint's CPSIA reform bill, if you are contacting Senators, and HR 968 if you speaking to members of the House.

These are the members on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, where the Senate Reform bill is currently languishing while mom and pop businesses disappear, pre-1985 books go into dumpsters, and children's clothing is removed from thrift shops if it has zippers, buttons, snaps, or grommets:


Democrats (this is how they are listed on the Committee's webpage):
*John D. Rockefeller, IV
(Chairman)
*Daniel K. Inouye
*John F. Kerry
*Byron L. Dorgan
*Barbara Boxer
*Bill Nelson
*Maria Cantwell
*Frank R. Lautenberg
*Mark Pryor
*Claire McCaskill
*Amy Klobuchar
*Tom Udall
*Mark Warner
*Mark Begich


Republicans

*Kay Bailey Hutchison
(Ranking Member)
*Olympia J. Snowe
*John Ensign
*Jim DeMint
*John Thune
*Roger Wicker
*Johnny Isakson
*David Vitter
*Sam Brownback
*Mel Martinez
*Mike Johanns

Here they are again with phone numbers:

John D. Rockafellar 202-224-6472
Kay Hutchinson 202-224-5922
Mark Begich 202-224-3004
Barbara Boxer 202-224-3553
Samuel Brownback 202-224-6521
Maria Cantwell 202-224-3441
Jim DeMint 202-224-6121
Bryon Dorgan 202-224-2551
John Ensign 202-224-6244
Daniel Inouye 202-224-3934
John Jackson 202-224-3643
Mike Johanns 202-224-4224
John Kerry 202-224-2742
Amy Klobuchar 202-224-3244
Frank Lautenberg 202-224-3224
Mel Martinez 202-224-3041
Claire McCaskill 202-224-6154
Bill Nelson 202-224-5274
Mark Pryor 202-224-2353
Olympia Snowe 202-224-5344
John Thune 202-224-2321
Tom Udall 202-224-5941
David Vitter 202-224-4623
Mark Warner 202-224-2023
Roger Wicker 202-224-6253

Please call or write and push for the reform bills to be heard and passed.

Peek in the Past

I have about ten years of my Great-Grandmother's journals, representing the last ten years of her life before she entered the nursing home, unable to move around any longer. I've shared some entries before, just because it's fun to get a slice of an ordinary life from some fifty years ago- I know it's not that long ago, but still, things are a little different now:

February, 1961:
Her leg was bothering her so she called the doctor (she'd had a broken hip)- "Dr. Forbed came over in the evening, examined me, gave me a B.12 shot- also three kinds of pills. Just charged 3.00 for the call.
the next night she said she had a whole night's sleep, and a neighbor came over, so they had a good fire in the fireplace.
She slept well the next night as well, did her hand washing, and watched television (she rarely tells us what she watched)
The next night a different neighbor came over to visit, bringing cookies and candy and stayed all afternoon.
On Saturday, February 25th she wrote:
"At least a foot of snow came down. Trees are beautiful, but I wonder if my evergreen branches can take it. Birds are on Howard's feeder (Howard is a son who gave her the feeder for Christmas). Has nearly a foot of snow cap on top of it.
People were stalled all over this district."

Her married daughter (my grandmother) brought over her groceries from the town 12 miles away and shoveled a path thru her walkway as well.

On Sunday, it was still snowing. She had a novelty- a T.V. turkey dinner, and she 'didn't care as much for this one.'
"Mr and Mrs. Stokes came over to visit, such fine people..."

As usual, what always strikes me about these entries is how busy and rich her life was even though she was essentially housebound. This week was fairly typical- she had one day out of the entire week where nobody stopped by to bring her some small gift or just to visit, and the people trooping in and out of her house are not, most of them, relatives. They're just neighborly.

She also complains of a very high electric bill for February- 9.45.

And if you believed that, you probably voted for him....

The President said only 'the deserving poor' would get help with their mortgages. Okay, he said 'responsible' not deserving, because we all know that it's elitist and patriarchal to talk about 'the deserving poor.' But he certainly implied he had some sort of litmus test for separating the sheep from the goats:

THE FACTS: If the administration has come up with a way to ensure money only goes to those who got in honest trouble, it hasn't said so.

Defending the program Tuesday at a Senate hearing, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said it's important to save those who made bad calls, for the greater good. He likened it to calling the fire department to put out a blaze caused by someone smoking in bed.

"I think the smart way to deal with a situation like that is to put out the fire, save him from his own consequences of his own action but then, going forward, enact penalties and set tougher rules about smoking in bed."

Similarly, the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. suggested this month it's not likely aid will be denied to all homeowners who overstated their income or assets to get a mortgage they couldn't afford.

"I think it's just simply impractical to try to do a forensic analysis of each and every one of these delinquent loans," Sheila Bair told National Public Radio.

Disclosure- we are paying mortgages on two, count them, two houses. And it hurts.

Here's how that happened. Husband was in the military and we were stationed in Colorado. Experience had taught us that finding somebody willing to rent to a family of eight was very, very, very, very hard to do. In Washington, in fact, all but one place we looked told us it was illegal to have rent to anybody who would have more than two kids in a bedroom. That one, who ended up renting us a home, told us that was false, but a common lie. He was letting us rent anyway, he said, because he'd been in the military and felt bad for us, and our kids were all girls and he figured they wouldn't be that hard on the house. The boy was born 8 months later.=)
We had thought of buying, but we were only going to be there for two or three years, and we worried about being able to sell when we left, so we rented. Oh, and base housing was there none.


So... we were transferred to Colorado, and based on previous experience (My husband deeply regretted not buying a house, we could have sold it easily and made a tidy profit), the lack of available base housing, and the difficulty of finding somebody to rent to a family of 9 and a dog (we could have gotten rid of the dog, but people need to understand the frequent moves of a military family are hard enough on kids without forcing them to lose their pets, too. Yeah, so maybe we should have gotten the dog in Washington, but we did), we decided to buy a house.

It looked like we'd be able to sell pretty easily when the time came to move on, but that turned out not to be the case. The house is rented. I think we make something like fifteen dollars or something silly over and above the house payment each month.

Still, it is rented and we do get the house payment covered, just barely. Whose 'fault' is this? Nobody's and ours, but mostly ours. Whose responsibility is this? Ours.

It's really, really hard to justify making further payments when we believe we could simply take that rent, apply it to other needed places in our budget, and skip the house payment a few times and then apply for aid. Or we could skip the house payments until the bank forecloses and let them try to sell it. But we do not do these things because that would be wrong, irresponsible, and selfish. It is not the fault of our fellow taxpayers that we guessed wrong on the housing market and ended up with a house that isn't selling and then decided to build anyway.

Yeah, we were living in a one bathroom, 1200 square foot house with nine of us and then TWO large dogs, but so what? It's not the fault or responsibility of our fellow taxpayers that we have a family of nine. It's not anybody else's responsibility to see to it that my kids get to have the large dogs they and I believe they need.

If our renter ever leaves, then we'll not be able to make the payments and the bank will get the house. I really hope and pray that doesn't happen, but if it does I will remember that it is part of the agreement with the bank- make the payments, or give us the house is basically the foundation of a mortage agreement. That's part of the agreement between us and the lender.

It's not part of any agreement I know of that y'all should have to pay us for our bad luck and shortsighted decision, and it sticks in my craw that we keep making two house payments even when its not easy, and other people who didn't bother to make their house payments should get any kind of a government bail-out (I feel exactly the same way about the bail-outs for banks, car companies, and other businesses, too).

D. C. Officials caught by obvious spoof

Patrick at Popehat created an obviously fake Eric Holden twitter account, replete with giggly LOLs, offers to bring back rum and cigars, and other obviously errant nonsense.

Well, obvious to everybody but

the high officials in the government of the District of Columbia, who are also following “Eric Holder” and have sent the account private messages thanking the attorney general for following them, or sending “Eric Holder” policy advice, via Twitter.

They’re not morons. Not in the slightest.

Home-Making On Purpose

Several years ago an online friend wrote about her struggles with being a stay at home mom. She said she was committed to it and that honestly, deep down, she liked it, but she was constantly frustrated by the disconnect between her expectations and reality. In talking with her to flesh out her concerns, I realized that she'd kind of envisioned staying at home all day doing nothing but joyfully creative things with her children while the the house would continue to look as though nobody had been in it since the last time it was cleaned and photographed for the cover of a House Beautiful magazine.

Ruh-roh.


She also thought that since she had been very good at her very complex previous career, staying at home ought to be something she just took to naturally, without any thought, preparation, planning, or training.

Ungood.

She had an underlying assumption that being a sahm was going to look an awful lot like Ozzie and Harriet, only with more fun stuff. She also found children's television programs stultifying, organized activities for children (library programs, play dates, that sort of thing) utterly boring. I didn't see why that was a problem, I do too. Then I learned that she thought that watching Barney and participating in story hour each week with her children was a requirement for good mothering.

Doubleplusungood.

You are not a bad mother if you don't take your kids to story hour at the library. It's okay to read to the children at home alone together. In fact, it's just as good, maybe better. The point of story hour is to introduce books to kids who might not be around them much, and to entertain the little ones for a few minutes while mom checks out some books. Once I could put books on hold from my home computer and just run in and check them out when the library calls to tell me they are in, we never did another story hour. There's nothing wrong with it if you like it, but there's no reason you should feel compelled to participate.

Below is a revised, updated, and edited version of my part of our exchange:

Hon, your expectations were too high. I love staying home, but it didn't just happen, any more than you just were born knowing how to do your job in your former career. I'll bet you required some training or mentoring for that when you first started, too. ;-)

Make some new friends- find somebody who stays home and likes it, someone who does it because they think it's important. Search the web for homemakers sites, but make sure that the ones you find are upbeat and positive. It never helps to hang around with people who are busy complaining.

Get rid of the things that are hindering you. Dump all the 'mainstream' mothers' magazines (if you have any). If it's slick and glossy and inclined to make you discontented, you don't need it. Dump the television set (if you watch it much).

I'll bet that when you were learning how to do your old job you studied it a little, practiced, watched other people who were successful at it, and maybe read in the field to find out more about it. If being new to the sahm thing is making you feel uncomfortable, inept, and unprepared, there are things you can do to change that. Go to the library and look for books that will help you with your new life, make some new friends (in real life or online), and stop thinking that there is this perfect mold that you must match to do it right.

Here are some titles to consider if you need help with cleaning or organization:
Don Aslett's books- I liked Is There LIfe After Housework and Who Says It's a Woman's Job to Clean (this last one is a good one for your Progeny to read). Make Your House Do the Housework has some good tips as well. I think you'd do as well to pick up any of his books at the library first, and then decide if you want to own them or not.

Emilie Barnes has many practical helps and tips, and she's a woman, so her perspective is a little less, well, sterile to me than Aslett's. I've read More Hours in My Day, the Creative Home Organizer, and a couple of others.

Confessions of an Organized Housewife by Deniece Schofield has some helpful tips and ideas.

Home Comforts is the most comprehensive book about household chores I've ever seen.

And so do the books by the Sidetracked Home Executives. Today I'd recommend Fly Lady to those who can tolerate her bossy style, and it really does work for many people. Me, I'm too stubborn and there is only Queen Bee in my house, and Fly Lady is not it. My house isn't as tidy as it would be if I didn't have these character flaws, but we can all live with that. I simply will not be told to wear shoes in my own home (yes, I know I can remain barefoot and Flylady never has to know. It's the principle. And that stubborn thang. Okay, it's ALL about that stubborn thang.).

If you want to read more about positive ideas for family life, helping your children's emotional and intellectual development, and Mommy stuff, then here are a few books that come to mind:
Look for books by Edith Schaeffer. Her ideas on life and relationships are
wonderful, as are Elisabeth Eliot's. I especially like Hidden Art for its wonderful ideas about using your talents and gifts at home.
Look for books by Marie Winn and Jane Healy (Endangered MInds will eliminate any guilt you feel about disliking children's television programs).

Most importantly, learn ( by practicing, one moment at a time) to look at
mothering not just as a default, but something you do deliberately, purposefully, and intelligently- with thought and design.
Also look for books by Phyllis McGinley (old-fashioned, but nice. I love it so much, I buy it every time I see it at a thrift shop to send to a friend).
And certainly read the Tightwad Gazette books for help with budgeting.

And then, do your own thing, don't try to be somebody else. It is so frustrating and sad to me when I see people who could be joyfully working out a unique homemaking style of their own depressed and unhappy because they think there's one right way to do this- especially when that one imagined right way is based on a television fantasy.
You know not even Ozzie and Harriet or June Cleaver thought their programs were
realistic at the time? They weren't intended to be. Somebody once criticized
Harriet for always being seen with her hair done and her heels on in her
television show, and she said something like, "don't you like to look your best
when you have company in your home?"
So _why_ do we try to force ourselves into this mold? Of course we're miserable and unhappy when we try to do things this way, because it's all wrong! We not only cheat ourselves when we do this, we cheat our children. They never learn who we are because we're so busy creating an artificial world based on Sesame Street and Ozzie and Harriet. Our own interests and joys should be reflected in the sort of home we create.

At 4, the FYG had never seen an episode of Sesame Street, never been to a library story hour, and I don't think she'd seen a movie in a theater yet. She had, however, been to see two or three Shakespeare plays, to the zoo, the art museum (several times) and a couple historical museums. She knew more about Bottom from a Midsummer Night's Dream than she did about Barney the purple dinosaur. For years my children did not know who Britney Spears was, but they could hum Pachelbel's Canon and recognize Mozart when they heard him. My children have never read a Babysitters's Club or a Goosebumps book, but they have been known to request the story of Jezebel as a bedtime story. Yes, my children have interests that other people consider 'odd' or 'advanced,' depending on their point of view.


But I think my children can appreciate Shakespeare, request the story of Jezebel as a bedtime story, recognize Bach, retell the story of Icharus, and hum Pachelbel's Canon not because they are so much brighter than 'normal', but for the simple reason that they have been exposed to Shakespeare and all those other things as a normal part of life. Those interests reflect some of my interests. Yours may be different. Your children may identify five breeds of goat and milk them competently and discuss organic gardening with knowledge. Or they may be amazingly well versed in marine life and the kingdom, phyla, and so forth of seashells. You're the mother, you get to decided what flavor your home takes. As my children have matured, their interests have expanded, too, so that now they introduce me to new things and they have developed interests of their own, but it all starts with the MOTHER (and father) living an interested life, an examined life, and this is not dependent on what you 'do' for a living.

Children are not limited to understanding only Barney and Big Bird, and if we develop our own interests and share them with the children we enrich their lives as well as our own, and they will be repaying that favor with interest.


revised from two previous posts

linked at Raising Homemakers

CPSIA Destroys More Businesses Than the Chicago Fire

From Amazon: "A pepper pot, left behind by picnickers in the French countryside, seeks his fortune, and finds it in a beautiful farmhouse saltcellar. " Published in 1982. Beautiful artwork, charming story. There are some later editions, but this is the one I found at a library booksale and which would now be illegal to sell. It's not vintage. It's not a collectible. It's certainly not a book anybody would purchase with the intention of keeping it away from your children. Alain Vaes has illustrated other titles besides The Porcelain Pepper Pot. He's done several fairy tales, including a very pretty copy of Puss in Boots. Some of them are also now banned from resale, although, unlike most other 'recalled' items, the Commission isn't warning people that these books need to be removed from homes where small children might read them.

CPSC to issue more financial penalties:
While the CPSC has been issuing FAQs (which do not contain binding legal advice, but which do have expiration dates of 'until the Commission says something else' or Public Citizen sues us) promising micro-businesses that they don't want to put anybody out of business, Rick Woldenberg says this is what they said at a recent conference:

Gib Mullan, the head of Enforcement at the CPSC, has just stated publicly the Agency's intention to change its policy on penalties. In the last year, the CPSC has imposed 19 penalties (Mullan). Allan Schoem in the same panel discussion noted that penalties have always been de-emphasized at the agency (he was Gib Mullan's predescessor), limited to perhaps 12 per year for cases deemed extreme by the staff. Gib indicated that this policy is changing. They now intend to impose many more penalties (small and medium-sized) in order to drive the "deterrent effect" downstream. Wow, this should be lots of fun. . . .

Of course, this is hardly a surprise to me. I have written about it in the past (call me paranoid). The powers granted to the agency under the CPSIA was intended to be used.

He goes on to explain just how destructive this can be to a small business:

There is a lot to worry about in this important shift. The cost of interacting with this agency is already HIGH. There will be significant legal fees, very significant costs for recalls, loss of business from damaged commercial reputation, and NOW big penalties. Many people, perhaps naively, represent themselves with the CPSC. This will be foolhardy in the future. It is worth noting how penalties are "negotiated" with the CPSC. If you don't want to pay, you certainly don't have to. If you choose to fight, all you need to do is litigate with the U.S. government. They own the big printing presses, in case you forgot.

One recall could be instant death for a business.

Speaking of death, this hardback copy of A Toad for Tuesday was published in the seventies. It's still in great condition, and it's sickening that similar copies in libraries or thrift shops are being thrown in the dumpsters:



The Owl catches the toad and keeps him in his home, telling him that Tuesday is his birthday and he is saving the toad for his Birthday Dinner- hence, a Toad for Tuesday.

The Toad is none too impressed with the owl's digs:


Not to worry, the owl assures him. "You won't be here that long."

The same can now be said of many businesses, thanks to the CPSIA. In the book, the toad does so many helpful things for the owl that they actually become friends, and the owl vows never to eat another toad again.

I wish Congress would come to its senses, and like the owl, agree never to devour another business again through 'unintended consequences.' I keep asking, of course, of the consequences are so unintended, why not do the right thing and eliminate those 'unintended' consequences?

What we can do...
Rick is hiring a firm to help represent the interests of those who wish to see the CPSIA reformed, and there are some interesting ideas in the comments for raising some funds for that.
He's also testifying before the Subcommittee on Regulations and Healthcare of the House Committee on Small Business next Thursday, and says they're still looking for other small businesses to testify. Click through to read more.

Here's an update to the helpful post on talking points to use when contacting your reps (and you are doing this, right?)

Keen Insights:
Tristan Benz has a Dr. Seussian poem based on the Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe, who asked the government to keep her children safe for her, and later found herself evicted from her unsafe shoe by that same government. It's cute, and like all good fables, it's true where it really counts. Here's an excerpt:

We’ll force every citizen to see things OUR way
If they can’t afford testing they’ll throw it away!
To the top of our landfills, no matter how high
It all shall be piled, right up to the sky!

This heap we deem toxic we’ll leave there to stink
Why worry that toxins may reach groundwater kids drink?
And in place of the old ones, we’ll make plastics new
(forget some new chemicals may be toxic too…)

Don’t bother to think - our cause is too great
On behalf of the CHILDREN we deputize each State!

The Wacky Hermit has another great post, and she points out:

When you have to consult a lawyer before you hold a church benefit sale, YOU ARE NOT IN AMERICA. When you live in fear that some rogue group of logically-impaired self-appointed safety nannies who have the ear of the powerful are going to take you down for selling pewter crosses, YOU ARE NOT IN AMERICA. When your customer wants you to add non-slip fabric to the soles of their custom toddler booties and you have to advise her to do it herself because you haven't had such fabric tested, YOU ARE NOT IN AMERICA. The Founding Fathers would be turning over in their graves if they saw how their carefully crafted republic had been perverted into a country where the people don't have a say, unless they're the right kind of people, in which case their word literally becomes law.

The America I knew and loved died the day I discovered that nobody in Congress was ever going to listen to us because we aren't with a prominent organization.

Amen. I am just reeling over how stubbornly Congress refuses to acknowledge a single flaw in this clearly broken bill, and how much they seem to be ventriloquist's dummies for groups like PIRG and Public Citizen. What on earth do those groups have on our representatives to make them refuse to represent us?

Sharp losses:
The alleged economy building portions of the stimulus bill aren't going to kick in for another year for the most part, but the economy destroying portions of the CPSIA are taking place right now. A billion dollars in losses for the motor cycle and bmx industry, $50,000 dollar in inventory returns for one small business that cannot afford it, performance costumes for the Irish step dancing group, and businesses associated with them are just a few of those that Congress and the special interest groups who hold their ears never even thought about when they passed this law.

More voices:
Hugh Hewitt is following up on his recent radio program (hip, hip!):

Yesterday marked the first day that plaintiffs' attorneys could file suits against anyone selling goods covered by the Consumer Products Safety Improvements Act --basically anything intended for use by children. This draconian law continues to sweep across the retail world and to cause economic damage that is deep and enduring. The impact on all-terrain vehicles, for example, was clearly not foreseen by Congress but the strict liabilities of the Act have forced the withdrawal of tens of millions of dollars of product from the market and a resulting devastation on the industry.

Mark Riffey wants people to contact Glenn Beck and get him to talk more about this story.
Rabbit Trail- I listen to talk radio when I am in my vehicle going somewhere besides church and it's a trip longer than fifteen minutes, which means I might catch a show once a month, and never more than once a week. I had never heard of Glenn Beck that I recall until the last couple of weeks when some CPSIA pals mentioned him. And then my husband came home from work and said, "So, what do you know about Glenn Beck? I heard his show today on my way to the store, and he sounded pretty good to me."
No, there's no point to that. I just found it interesting. I found the following depressing.
The books, oh, the books:
The Wuggy Chronicles:

I stopped by the local friends-of-the-library book sale yesterday. There's a sign up saying that they are no longer permitted to sell used children's books.

I hadn't taken the internet rumors seriously, but there's no denying it now. Regardless of the good intentions of the law, the CPSIA, as it currently stands written, is preventing me from purchasing old books to read to my children. Vendors now understand it to be illegal to distribute children's books published in the year 1984 or earlier, and many sellers are no longer selling any used children's books at all.

Most of the internet 'rumours' I've seen have come from Snopes, Representatives Waxman, Feinstein, and Boxer, and the folks at PIRG and Public Citizen who keep saying testing is affordable and microbusinesses are 'confused' and 'hysterical.'

It's a a growing emergency, and we need to respond.
The Big Book of Real Fire Engines, by Elizabeth Cameron. The latest copy at Amazon is from 1977. A few sellers are trying to sell their copies for 80.00, but most range from change to a few dollars. Treasures like these should not be illegal to sell or distribute to children. The devastation and destruction from the CPSIA will easily outrun that of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, which destroyed 200 million dollars worth of property. The CPSIA wiped out a billion dollars worth of business for the motor bike industry alone.

Be a hero.
These people serve on the Committee where Senator DeMint's reform bill is languishing unless we can get more of them to swallow their pride and admit that they messed up and the bill needs fixing. Call them and tell them you are in favor of Senator DeMint's Reform CPSIA bill, and you expect them to support it, too. Tell them it doesn't matter what they intended, what they did is ban books, bikes, and pens and destroy businesses or deeply wound them and they need to support the reform bill asap.

Keep track of the bill here.

The representatives to contact are:
Sen. John Rockefeller [D-WV]
Sen. Kay Hutchison [R-TX]
Sen. Mark Begich [D-AK]
Sen. Barbara Boxer [D-CA]
Sen. Samuel Brownback [R-KS]
Sen. Maria Cantwell [D-WA]
Sen. Byron Dorgan [D-ND]
Sen. John Ensign [R-NV]
Sen. Daniel Inouye [D-HI]
Sen. John Isakson [R-GA]
Sen. Mike Johanns [R-NE]
Sen. John Kerry [D-MA]
Sen. Amy Klobuchar [D-MN]
Sen. Frank Lautenberg [D-NJ]
Sen. Mel Martinez [R-FL]
Sen. Claire McCaskill [D-MO]
Sen. Bill Nelson [D-FL]
Sen. Mark Pryor [D-AR].
Sen. Olympia Snowe [R-ME]
Sen. John Thune [R-SD]
Sen. Tom Udall [D-NM]
Sen. Mark Warner [D-VA]

And, of course, there's one in the House, now, too:
Excellent:

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett. Congressman Bartlett joined by Congressman John Shadegg introduced H.R. 968 a bill that corrects unintended consequences of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 that became law last year. H.R. 968 is identical to companion legislation introduced by Senator Jim DeMint, S. 374.

These are the members of the HouseSubcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, where a companion bill to DeMint's is languishing. Call them, too.

Bobby L. Rush, Illinois, Chairman

Jan Schakowsky, IL, Vice Chair	George Radanovich, CA, Ranking Member
John P. Sarbanes, MD	Cliff Stearns, FL
Betty Sutton, OH	Ed Whitfield, KY
Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ	Joseph R. Pitts, PA
Bart Gordon, TN	Mary Bono Mack, CA
Bart Stupak, MI	Lee Terry, NE
Gene Green, TX	Sue Wilkins Myrick, NC
Charles A. Gonzalez, TX	John Sullivan, OK
Anthony D. Weiner, NY	Tim Murphy, PA
Jim Matheson, UT	Phil Gingrey, GA
G. K. Butterfield, NC	Steve Scalise, LA
John Barrow, GA	Joe Barton, TX (ex officio)
Doris O. Matsui, CA
Kathy Castor, FL
Zachary T. Space, OH
Bruce L. Braley, IA
Diana DeGette, CO
John D. Dingell (ex officio)
Henry A. Waxman, CA (ex officio)

Contact them and ask them to apply their time and energies toward fixing a law so badly broken that the best remedy they have offered is to tell people to ignore it, it doesn't apply to them.