New Baby

My daughter gave birth to her third child, third son, on 10/28/09, at 11:39 pm. It's still close to Halloween, but now it's 3 days away for the birthday parties. Of course, it's only one week before his big brother's birthday on 11/4. That's going to be a problem in several ways: 3 days before and 4 days after Halloween, and just one week apart. Who will have the birthday party? Will they share a party? They are 8 years apart and maybe sharing won't be as big a deal as if they were one or two years apart. We will see. It won't be my call in any event and their mom is likely to take the path of least resistance.

There was quite a crowd in the delivery room: me, my wife, Laura, of course, 2 doctors, 3 nurses, and Laura's part-time(?) one-time(?) boyfriend and father of the baby. When the time came, it seemed to come quickly. Contraction. Use it. Push. Harder. Take a breath and do it again. Lay back and wait for another contraction and start over. This time (I have been in on the delivery for all three boys) it seemed to move more quickly. I suppose that is to be expected on the third child, but what do I know? Another contraction. Push. Doing a good job - seeing the head - oh, he went back in. Again. Push. His head is out. Once more, Laura, push! He's out! Just a second or two and he is crying - making a lot of noise. Yes!

Then it came: "Papa, will you cut the cord?" I said nothing - couldn't. I took the scissors - they looked like they were gold-plated(?)! What's up with that? Do I get to keep them? This is what I was thinking. That and the fact that Laura wanted me to hold them and do the deed. It was quick - just a couple snips - but it was a big deal to me. I cut him loose from his tether and set him on his journey into our world. Seems dramatic, but that's what I thought.

He was cute right away. And he got cuter as he turned more pink and got cleaned up. When it was my turn to hold him, he felt just right. What a rush - what a thrill!

Thanks, Laura.

The Flat-Screen TV Kerfluffle

The recent kerfluffle about the flat screen tv's put into the new Moose Lake sex offender unit is pretty ridiculous. Long ago television moved from luxury item status to a necessity in the American home. Those responsible for designing the new facility and those charged with administering the treatment program both agreed that televisions were a necessity in the facility. I an imagine they tried to the televisions that would work the best for their population and for the layout of the facility. I do not believe they would have tried very hard to find traditional analog sets to put in the corner. Even if they had tried to get such a set, where would they look? There are no other kinds of televisions in the stores or available for purchase. What should they have done? Maybe they should have skipped having tv's at all. Of course, that would have been outside the treatment program and then those responsible would have been lambasted for not having television sets for the inmates.

Suddenly, because Ms. Kelliher-Anderson does not have a brand new set in her home, why should the inmates have them? Because the inmates in this controversial lock up program have some creature comfort, the rest of should be outraged. Ridiculous. The idea behind the sex offender program is that some of our citizens have what has been determined as a mental illness or defect that causes them to behave in what most civilized people call perverse ways with other more vulnerable people. Putting them in the treatment program is the alternative to the prisons and is intended to rehabilitate them. While in the program they are treated as human beings - not garbage. Providing them with basic amenities should not offend one's sensibilities.

What we should be doing is looking into the debate over whether confining citizens for indeterminate sentences is actually allowable under the US Constitution. We should be looking for ways to reduce our prison populations - both regular and sex offender facilities. We should be looking into providing basic services for the State's veterans instead of providing television hand-me-downs. We should be putting our money into education so that our citizens have opportunities other than crime and into health care so that our citizens can get adequate care for what ails them, both mental and physical.

The flat screen tv kerfluffle is unfortunately too indicative of what is wrong in Minnesota and in the US.