Clearing my blog clog and seeing what comes tumbling out

Well I’ve certainly run out of blogging steam, haven’t I?  I suppose this is okay given that this was supposed to be a travel blog and I am not travelling right now, so I would tend to post opinionated rants which I would fear lean generic and would most likely make my mother cry, and since she is 50% of my confirmed readership (en ook goede dag Chris!) and I am hoping for a ride from/to the airport in a couple weeks, I probably shouldn’t upset her.

The only thing I’ve typed in the last couple months, a discussion of religion that degenerated into a diatribe against Christianity.  That would definitely make her cry.  Shit.

Most things I felt like talking about fit in a facebook status update.  Like my embarrassment that gay marriage is still such a controversy in America.  How can people still claim that its legalization will lead to the decay of society when the world is splattered with countries that have legalized it and not suffered one iota of moral decay because of it.  (Pot and hookers were already legal in Amsterdam, just for the record, though I would contest their characterization as decay also, but that’s another post.)

Even Spain legalized gay marriage 5 years ago, and this is the country that still hasn’t realized you can put something on a sandwich other than ham.  I love Spain, though I think the custom of men wearing thongs and strutting is indicative of a certain lack of subtlety and patience, no?

I give Spain credit for something else too, although the decision was made by a court in Luxembourg, in true inscrutable European Union fashion…

Dads in Spain are now entitled to Breastfeeding Leave.  This is awesome, albeit initially ridiculous.

The idea is for fathers to have more time to bond with the child and help the mothers.  What’s better are the court’s words that not giving fathers this time would be “liable to perpetuate a traditional distribution of the roles of men and women by keeping men in a role subsidiary to that of women in relation to the exercise of their parental duties.”

That’s beautiful.  So men should be allowed to be just as active in parental duties.  Hopefully this will extend to a mindset that they also be expected to do so.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=74928