Every so often you’ll come across something on the internet that is more than a funny story, catchy meme or even a salacious & controversial issue. You read. You comment. You blog & you may even discuss it around the dinner table. But what about when the stuff you see on the internet crosses the line & people’s lives are at stake?

Since becoming involved in the blogging community I’ve been a part of the Amazon pedophile scandal. I’ve watched twitter as people have threatened to kill themselves, jilted/abusive husbands wreak havoc with a wife’s blog & even once watched tweets about someone live tweeting the removal of their penis ::shutters::

Last week I was lurking over on GOMI {which I mentioned here about internet trolls} and started reading the story of a homeless or “houseless” couple & their baby who had just been removed from their custody.

The short story is Mom & Dad are homeless & live in their car & flitter from state to state. Their claim is that they want to live “off the grid” & be sustainable farmers etc. But they blog about eating nothing but junk food & I believe they even have collected or are collecting from the government. They’re doing drugs & based on some of the terms they use it’s not just weed. If it was just them it would be fine for them if that is how they truly wanted to live their life. But it’s not. They have a baby girl named Sunshine Rae who is in the middle of all of this.

They recently were arrested & had Sunny taken away from them because they say they picked up two hitchhikers ::RED FLAG:: that had 19 pounds of weed on them. As of the 31st they did not seem to have Sunny back. The mother is also bi-polar & currently pregnant with a second baby. If you want to read the longer version of the story you’ll need to hit the GOMI forums & sit back because those guys have done tons of digging.

Ever since reading the story I can’t stop thinking about them & especially the babies. I even had a dream about them a few nights ago. A few of the members of GOMI had talked about involving CPS but I’m not sure if anyone has.

My question though is if someone did call was that the right thing to do & if they didn’t should they/we have?

If we saw parents abusing a child or neglecting their child in our own communities we wouldn’t hesitate to call but when the only proof of this is an internet blog* what do you do? Do you move forward with being the protector of the child & deal with the possibility that it was a hoax later on or do you turn away & hope that someone IRL sees this stuff happening & does something?

We moderate our comments on our blogs, we unsubscribe & unfollow people who spew hateful things or vulgar things, but should we step in & moderate a situation like this?

*As of Friday the 31st the blog has been removed so there is no way to confirm if Checkers & Kayla have gotten the baby back or not. 

via pinterest

Some point during or after the holiday season with the big green tree & blinking lights there was a controversy brewing over at Mecca Mom aka Target over some breastfeeding Mom.

My husband was the one who actually brought the thing to my attention & after reading it I thought Target acted unfairly & that had I had a nursing baby of my own I may just make a trip to Target to protest with the masses. Until a week or so later when I came across this article & picture about the sitch & had a slight change of mind.

I am a huge, huge, breastfeeding advocate. Liquid gold all the way baby. I cried when I started, I cried when I was told I couldn’t breastfeed, I cried when it felt like there was a lighter running over my nipples & I cried when I stopped. It was truly the most, blah, blah, magical moment ever.

I have always been a supporter of women being able to take care of their starving & screaming baby when the time called. And when I first read the story of the Texas Target mom I thought that Target made a big no-no. Here you have a mother sitting in Starbucks with her feet propped up on a chair nursing a bottle of water & an infant with her Hooter Hider…wait…or maybe not. And I changed my mind.

I don’t think I can support the notion that a woman should be allowed to nurse her child in public with her breast hanging out like in this picture. I just can’t.

Yes, if you are a nursing momma & the time calls to whip those puppies out you do the damn thing girl, but let’s do it with a modicum of respect for the other people around you. Would I be quick to call it gross or disgusting or unsanitary if I saw this? No, but would I think it was  & a tad bit inappropriate/rude, to be enjoying my hot chocolate & biscotti while having to take in some womans areola? Yes I would.

Just because one of the functions of a breast is to give life & nutrients to your child doesn’t mean you have to put it on display. My vagina also has a life-giving function. Next time I’m at Red Lobster {which is never} should I prop mine up?

Everyone has the right to eat, but its rude when diners around you eat with their mouth open. 

And also as I read the comments on this post & see that the original mother had 4 kids with her & was sitting in the middle of the floor I take back my “I’d support it” comment. If my 3 year old needed lunch I wouldn’t sit him in the middle of the aisle with a Happy Meal. Common decency. 

What are your thoughts on breastfeeding in public? 

I’m not even going to pretend that this will be some kind of regular feature, because when I commit to those they usually fail me big time. So maybe for one or two times a decade I’ll post interesting parenting stories from around the web. Lay your input down in the comments & tell me what you think.

News from Around the Diaper Pail 

 Sasha Grey the porn star reads to children- This was a big story last week. Parents were all freaked out I’m guessing because Sasha came into class in crotchless panties & pasties. Oh, wait actually she didn’t. She had on a pretty boring button down shirt & some New York Company type slacks. But parents in COMPTON no less had an issue with it. From what I know about Compton they may want to just make sure the kids aren’t selling weed in Pre-K. So what do you think was this an outrageous story? Would you have been upset?

Man leaves 6 month old in a parking lot- I first saw this story posted on Jill’s Facebook page. I purposely did not read any comments because IF I had seen people being all judgmental & stabby I would have blown a gasket. I feel horrible for this guy. I am 99.9% certain that this was an accident. He took 4 kids with him to pick up dinner. In the hectic rush that is 4 kids his mind just got away from him. Accident? Should CPS get involved?

Co-Sleeping AD- Before having Phoenix I was an advocate against co-sleeping. In fact. 10 years ago my mother gave birth to my youngest sister in the same hospital was another baby born who would later be smothered by her sleeping mother. Incredibly, incredibly tragic story. I always thought that I would never do it. Until I had a baby. And co-sleeping became the most natural thing in the world for us. It wasn’t something we sought out it just happened. And at 3 he still sleeps with us almost every single night. The pictures bother me because co-sleeping does NOT have to be dangerous. It does not have to be like a baby sleeping with a dagger. There are several things you can do to co-sleep safely & this campaign is just shock value. Do you/Did you co-sleep? Would this advert bother you?

French President Nicolas Sarkozy {I’m contemplating changing my name to that because it’s badass}- Made a “parenting faux-pas” by referring to breastfeeding as “a joy and kind of slavery”….seriously have truer words ever been spoken? 

 via TODAYMoms

Also post script. I have a Facebook page. Did you know that? If you did you would have already known about Sasha Grey’s & her porn reading ways, the Blair & Chuck reunion & the cool new Prince William attraction. And sometimes I put out calls for blog help.