Baby Survives After Being Taken Off Life Support

Pete Vincent holds his daughter for what he believes is the last time after she was taken off life support. But an unexpected gift followed for the Afghan war veteran and his wife. The story and pictures of the beautiful family here.

Bring kleenex.

It Isn’t A “Debate”. It’s A Choice.

I have to admit that I’m a little surprised to see the backlash over the comments made by Alberta’s Finance Minister Iris Evans, and her subsequent apology. What’s even stranger is to see a politician feel the need to apologize over something that is an entirely admirable belief. Ms.Evans made the original remarks on Wednesday in Toronto while speaking to the Economic Club of Canada, and were largely spontaneous, as she was responding to a question from the audience. She answered by speaking to the importance of teaching children about finances, and that good parenting sometimes means sacrificing income to stay at home while children are young.

“They’ve understood perfectly well that when you’re raising children, you don’t both go off to work and leave them for somebody else to raise,” Evans told the small crowd. “This is not a statement against daycare. It’s a statement about their belief in the importance of raising children properly.”

What Ms.Evans said is something very close to my own heart. My own family sacrifices a great deal in order for my wife to stay at home full-time to raise our two young children. Her earning potential is at least as great as mine, and together we could probably afford a home, more savings, more investment, and more long-term security. But we didn’t want to leave our children with strange people in a daycare, or have their formative years shaped by people hired to look after them. That was a personal decision we made, and we’re happy with the results. Our kids are very well bonded with their mother, and they are very happy and secure.

That isn’t to say that we know whether our choice was the right one. That’s the beauty of personal choice; it isn’t a “debate” as Ms.Evans said on Friday when she apologized for starting a controversy with parents arguing what is ultimately best for their kids. The fact is that there is no right answer that would be satisfactory to end such a debate. Nobody knows what the absolute best thing is when raising children, which is why parents often make decisions that they feel is best for them, and for them alone. Nobody else can make the decisions but the parents.

As the sole provider for a family of four, my middle class income is halved because I don’t have an equal earning partner enjoyed by many childless couples. Because of that I work every single day, overtime, weekends, through heat and cold, sickness and health, because I want my wife to have the experience of raising our children. And it’s an experience she wants as well. But nobody can tell me that what we’re doing is wrong, any more than I could criticize parents who put their 6-month old in daycare and head back to work.

If there is a political angle to this affair, it is that the “traditional” and social conservative view is one that agrees with Iris Evans’ original statement of her personal belief. As Kevin Libin writes in the National Post, why is that conservatives feel the need to apologize for being conservative these days?

The Alberta Liberals say her apology is “hollow”, and demand she make an apology directly to “young parents, to single parents, to day-care workers.” But why? For offering an opinion? For having a belief that doesn’t happen to coincide with the modern liberated view of the working mother? No. My wife deserves the freedom of choice to raise our children in the way Ms.Evans spoke of, and doesn’t have an obligation to answer to anyone but the needs of her family.

Do Not Attempt This At Home

The funny thing is that if this occurred in Canada, the blonde would get 25 years to life.

Shamelessly lifted from Jack’s.

Barack’s 3am Phone Call

I think the main reason it’s funny, is because it’s true.

Speaking of Barack Obama in action, watch this disturbing parody of the President as a “superhero”.