“But there's something about the visceral response to the idea of cross-feeding that intrigues me.”

Me too. Is it the idea that breastfeeding is something gross, but natural and necessary? Like peeing or pooping? So cross-nursing is like wiping someone else’s ass?

My visceral reaction was “eww” before I actually stopped and thought about it.

As for the La Leche League warnings—please read the article before you comment on them. I initially thought, “those Breast Nazis are at it again!” But then I read the article, which largely gives important, non-judgmental information such as 1) not drinking, smoking or taking medications, 2) being disease-free, and 3) cross-nurses should have babies of similar age.

The website also has links some to other (more recent) cross-nursing articles: http://www.llli.org/NB/NBmilkdonation.html with the main message being “Cross nursing is not a decision that should be made lightly.” http://www.llli.org/NB/NBNovDec05p253.html

Also, Emily, you're a "liberal queer-loving feminist atheist intellectual?" You're a conservative's worst nightmare! Congratulations!

I don't mean to sound judgmental, because I think you're sorting through some interesting family dynamics beyond the nuclear family structure.

But... you're wondering "how much the dad’s would need to pitch in on weekdays?" Dads don't "pitch in." They don't babysit. They're the parents, too (or at least should be). It's likely not what you meant, but I point it out as a pet peeve of mine.

Good luck sorting things out with all of the moms and dads. If you wind up going this route, you should all keep journals of the experience. I'm sure they'd make a great read.

From an April 11th Press Briefing:

Q Dana, if I could follow. Representative Rahm Emanuel has put out a statement about this, saying, "The Washington Post reports that the White House wants to appoint a war czar to run the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they can't find anyone to do it -- someone needs to tell Steve Hadley that position is filled -- it's the Commander-in-Chief, unless the decider has become the delegator." Do you see his point?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think it's really interesting coming from somebody who works with 217 other members of Congress who think that they are Commanders-in-Chief. The President is the Commander-in-Chief.

Well, Ms. Perino, according to you, there is someone who wants the job of War Czar--the Democratic Congress, the one "tying the President's hands" with the troop-funding bill.

If the Democratic Congress wants the role of "War Czar," why not let them have it?

Absolutely. The Washington Post website has a great interactive database "Faces of the Fallen," which shows fatalities by branch, state, age, year, etc. Does anyone know of a comparable site that details types of injuries in this manner?

Also check out the 2003 study that showed people became dumber from watching Fox News.

Misperceptions:

-48% of ALL of those surveyed incorrectly believed that evidence of links between Iraq and al Qaeda have been found

-22% that weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq

-25% that world public opinion favored the US going to war with Iraq.

-Overall 60% had at least one of these three misperceptions.

The number of misperceptions you believe increases your support for the war:

-23% of those with none of these misperceptions supports the war

-53% of those with ONE of these misperceptions supports the war

-78% of those with TWO of these misperceptions supports the war

-86% of those with ALL THREE of these misperceptions supports the war

Belief of misperceptions by chosen media source:

-80% of FOX News watchers believed one or more of the above misperceptions

-55% of CNN watchers

-47% of print as media source

-23% of NPR/PBS listeners/watchers

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/international_security_bt/102.php?nid=&id=&pnt=102&lb=brusc

To be fair, I’ve never seen an organization use so many parentheticals to say “we’re required by U.S. Code to report some kind of figures, but these are likely wrong and meaningless.”

-While NCTC keeps statistics on the annual number of incidents of "terrorism," its ability to track the specific groups responsible for each incident involving killings, kidnappings, and injuries is significantly limited by the availability of reliable open source information, particularly for events involving small numbers of casualties.

-NCTC cautions against placing too much emphasis on any single set of incident data to gauge success or failure against the forces of terrorism. Furthermore, NCTC does not believe that a simple comparison of the total number of incidents from year to year provides a meaningful measure.

Meanwhile, what’s highly ironic is that this database is called the “Worldwide Incidents Tracking System” or WITS. “Wit” means “reasoning power or intelligence.”

And, bonus irony, “wit” can also mean “irony.”

It’d be fun if it weren’t so awful.