Hoping Congress Makes a Good Decision...

I admit, my level of "informed" in US politics hasn't exactly been stellar since I took up residence way south. However, a few topics, like renewable energy and oil prices, really get my ire. So I thought I'd share this opinion article by Thomas L. Friedman (whom I have always enjoyed as a writer/economist) which I think really tells it how it is. I particularly like his oh so literate description of Bush's plan as "lame". Really, no better word for it! Please feel free to leave nasty comments if you don't agree, I am always open to all opinions!

Mr. Bush, Lead or Leave
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Two years ago, President Bush declared that America was “addicted to oil,” and, by gosh, he was going to do something about it. Well, now he has. Now we have the new Bush energy plan: “Get more addicted to oil.”

Actually, it’s more sophisticated than that: Get Saudi Arabia, our chief oil pusher, to up our dosage for a little while and bring down the oil price just enough so the renewable energy alternatives can’t totally take off. Then try to strong arm Congress into lifting the ban on drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

It’s as if our addict-in-chief is saying to us: “C’mon guys, you know you want a little more of the good stuff. One more hit, baby. Just one more toke on the ole oil pipe. I promise, next year, we’ll all go straight. I’ll even put a wind turbine on my presidential library. But for now, give me one more pop from that drill, please, baby. Just one more transfusion of that sweet offshore crude.”
It is hard for me to find the words to express what a massive, fraudulent, pathetic excuse for an energy policy this is. But it gets better. The president actually had the gall to set a deadline for this drug deal:

“I know the Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past,” Mr. Bush said. “Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions. If Congressional leaders leave for the Fourth of July recess without taking action, they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act.”
This from a president who for six years resisted any pressure on Detroit to seriously improve mileage standards on its gas guzzlers; this from a president who’s done nothing to encourage conservation; this from a president who has so neutered the Environmental Protection Agency that the head of the E.P.A. today seems to be in a witness-protection program. I bet there aren’t 12 readers of this newspaper who could tell you his name or identify him in a police lineup.
But, most of all, this deadline is from a president who hasn’t lifted a finger to broker passage of legislation that has been stuck in Congress for a year, which could actually impact America’s energy profile right now — unlike offshore oil that would take years to flow — and create good tech jobs to boot.

That bill is H.R. 6049 — “The Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008,” which extends for another eight years the investment tax credit for installing solar energy and extends for one year the production tax credit for producing wind power and for three years the credits for geothermal, wave energy and other renewables.

These critical tax credits for renewables are set to expire at the end of this fiscal year and, if they do, it will mean thousands of jobs lost and billions of dollars of investments not made. “Already clean energy projects in the U.S. are being put on hold,” said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association.

People forget, wind and solar power are here, they work, they can go on your roof tomorrow. What they need now is a big U.S. market where lots of manufacturers have an incentive to install solar panels and wind turbines — because the more they do, the more these technologies would move down the learning curve, become cheaper and be able to compete directly with coal, oil and nuclear, without subsidies.

That seems to be exactly what the Republican Party is trying to block, since the Senate Republicans — sorry to say, with the help of John McCain — have now managed to defeat the renewal of these tax credits six different times.

Of course, we’re going to need oil for years to come. That being the case, I’d prefer — for geopolitical reasons — that we get as much as possible from domestic wells. But our future is not in oil, and a real president wouldn’t be hectoring Congress about offshore drilling today. He’d be telling the country a much larger truth:

“Oil is poisoning our climate and our geopolitics, and here is how we’re going to break our addiction: We’re going to set a floor price of $4.50 a gallon for gasoline and $100 a barrel for oil. And that floor price is going to trigger massive investments in renewable energy — particularly wind, solar panels and solar thermal. And we’re also going to go on a crash program to dramatically increase energy efficiency, to drive conservation to a whole new level and to build more nuclear power. And I want every Democrat and every Republican to join me in this endeavor.”

That’s what a real president would do. He’d give us a big strategic plan to end our addiction to oil and build a bipartisan coalition to deliver it. He certainly wouldn’t be using his last days in office to threaten Congressional Democrats that if they don’t approve offshore drilling by the Fourth of July recess, they will be blamed for $4-a-gallon gas. That is so lame. That is an energy policy so unworthy of our Independence Day.

Papa, Play, Palabras

Although Mother's Day is in October in Argentina instead of May like the rest of the world, Father's Day is in fact on the same day. I should tell you it was yesterday so I can seem very timely in my blog post, but it's not true. In fact, I didn't even get a picture of Mario last Sunday so I had to take it yesterday. I assure you he hasn't changed in a week. And not only can you see the belt we got him and the card we made him for Father's Day, you can also see that we allow him to fulfill his desires to get in touch with his inner Erkel, even though he has no idea whom Erkel is.

We had a great weekend last weekend. Monday was Flag Day and it was a long weekend so Paco, Alicia and Pilar came again (Griselda was still prohibited from traveling due to road blocks and now the total absence of gas to put in her car in her town). We got out the mini chocolate fountain and I'm pretty sure Deo was the number one fan. His wife and sons kept trying to stop him from eating too much, reminding him of his diabetes but he had a singular focus and kept right on enjoying. Happy Father's Day to an amazing man who has taught all four of his sons to be truly great fathers and husbands. No small feat.

Gabe demonstrated for tia Alicia (pediatric dentist) how he likes to brush his teeth HIMSELF. I try to get a few swipes in before he bites the toothbrush and then grabs it out of my hands, I hope it's doing some good...

This weekend all the primary kids went to the children's museum here. Gabe is not officially primary age yet, but they invited him and the bishop wanted to spend some time with the kids, so we all went. Here is Gabe being silly with our friend Ada before we left.
I actually took Gabe to this museum when he was about 2 weeks old with his cousins. I had been dying to jump in in the "sea" of balls ever since, so of course it was the first thing we did.

Gabe letting out his inner rocker.

I'm showing him the flag on the mini replica of the monument to he flag. He liked the flag...
but he liked climbing it better.
He was very pleased with himself and I was a jumping nervous wreck trying to make sure he didn't fall off in exactly the direction I couldn't reach.
And I can now also post that Gabe is saying his first word - mama. He's been making the sounds for a while now, but he would do it randomly so I wasn't really sure he associated mama with me. But this morning at 7 am he called from his bed "mama mama mama mama mama" until I finally got up. So I guess he gets it. I've heard remnants of chao, "tao" a few times, so that may very well be his second word. English is already losing to Spanish.

Que los cumple feliz...

Dinosaur cake

These were the carefully laid plans:

Two weeks out: email in-laws to find out if they will be able to make it to Rosario for Gabe’s party. All confirmed positive.

Thursday: Bake cakes and do all shopping for produce and fresh goods (all other items were purchased two weeks earlier when food strike was announced).

Friday: Assemble and decorate cakes, slow-cook meat for French Dip sandwiches, prepare artichoke dip to be baked on Friday, make hummos. Put Gabe to bed early and decorate house.

Saturday: Get up at 7:30 and shower before baby is awake (7:30 is early for me). Make sure Gabe is up by 8 so her will nap by 10 and be well-rested and able to make it until 3:30 when party will end. Finish decorating cake, assemble salads, bake appetizers, and heat sandwich meat.
Gabe, Sofia and Mateo playing in his room.

This is what really happened:

Thursday: while baking cakes husband calls to tell you that in-laws can’t come because the truckers are angry that the farmer’s aren’t sending any food to market (because they are still fighting with the government over the soybean retentions) so have blocked all roadways…again. You begin praying that truckers, farmers, government, anybody will be reasonable.

Friday: Get cakes mostly decorated, but fear moisture from fridge ruining fondant icing, so decide to cover well in plastic then aluminum foil as instructed by internet and save buttercream frosting finishing touches for the morning. Get other food prepared, but don’t finish decorating because husband says balloons won’t last until morning so we should wait. Find out that prayers are NOT being answered, that neither set of in-laws is going to be able to make it for the party. Get really depressed because you were so excited to see them. Put Gabe to bed at 8:30 as planned. Husband invites a few friends to fill the holes in our party.

11:00 Gabe wakes up crying. Feed him a bottle while you think about his teeth rotting out of his head and put him back to bed.
Love this picture of Mario's parents.

2:30 am: Gabe wakes up again crying. Give him a bottle in bed and mentally start setting aside money for caps before the age of 2.

Pilar longingly waiting for time to cut the cake.

5:00 am: Gabe, your child who has been wonderful at sleeping through the night since the age of 8 weeks, wakes up crying AGAIN. You are convinced he CANNOT be hungry, so hold him, sooth him, and put him back in bed. Get back in own bed and listen to him cry for 30 minutes, during which time you crab at husband “No I am NOT giving him a bottle, he CANNOT POSSIBLY BE HUNGRY!!!” Decide that you are not picking him up, but not sleeping anyway so you might as well be useful, get up and decorate cake. 10 minutes into cake decorating husband takes child out of bed and lets him play. You finish decorating cake and hold child while you watch a baby Einstein video together, and at 7 am he finally falls asleep. You put him in bed and crawl back into bed yourself, turning off the alarm that was set for 7:30.

Feliz Cumple to Gabriel!!

Saturday around 8, phone ring: You hear something about lifting and okay but are too tired to process, fall back asleep.

Gabe gots lots of help to open his many very fun presents.

9:30: wake up yelling “It’s 9:30, crap!” Decide to get yourself then house ready first, guests can wait for food. Ask husband what phone call was about, he reports that it was your MIL calling to ask if there were any news on the traveling in-laws, but the strikes are still on.

Too tired to be sure how he feels about his new car.

9:45: child wakes up. You realize this will mean he is ready to nap just as guests are arriving, and that he will be a mess all day. Oh well.

Not sure what he was expressing, but he felt strongly about it.

Noon: Just as you are expecting your first party guests, hear your Sister in-laws voice out the window!!! Husband LIED about the morning phone call, it was Paco and Alicia calling to say the strike had been temporarily lifted and they COULD travel. Prayers are answered, literally start crying with joy.

Gabe finally enjoyed some cake on Sunday after church, Saturday he was not capable of sitting in his chair.

So Gabe was too tired to handle anything, would start laughing and then switch to crying in the same breath, but we had a great time and a 1st birthday party is really about the mom anyway, right??

Mandamos muchos besos a Paco, Alicia y Pilar quienes viajaron tanto para pasar muy poco tiempo aca, unicamente por el cumple de Gabriel. Estamos MUY agradacidos por su sacrificio, les queremos muchisimo!!!

A "Smart-Style" Birthday Wish

Click here to see Gabe's Birthday Wishes from my family.

Seriously, I have the greatest family.

Happy 1st Birthday Gabe!!

What are my parents doing now??

Oh, that does look kind of interesting...

Yes, I think I like that flame, I should try and grab it.
Flame was great, cake was great, I'll give you an applause while my mouth is stuffed full of the tiny bit of cake that I didn't throw all over the ground.
Family party on Saturday, scene sure to be repeated.

A Baby No Longer

Tomorrow Gabe turns one and officially becomes a toddler. Yesterday he had his one-year visit with the pediatrician and he weighs 24 lbs. 3 oz, is 31 inches long, and was declared perfectly healthy. He is walking everywhere, although still falling a lot. He is curious about EVERYTHING and in order to investigate properly all items must be held, put in his mouth, and then thrown on the floor. He is very silly and has the greatest laugh ever. He loves to be chased but instead of running away, he often turns and runs towards you and falls down so you'll tickle him, giggling the whole time. And whenever he hears music, he dances. Always with at least his right hand in the air, something both. In my church Relief Society meeting last week during the hymn he walked to the front of the room and started dancing. It was hilarious. Here Mario captured him really feeling the music.

Yes, I am aware I am breaking some major parenting rules by allowing him to not only have a bottle at 1 year old, but walk around with it. Oh well.

This week I also reorganized his room, moved some of the furniture around, and finally hung the wall stickers that I got at Target last time we were there. Four full months to get them on the wall. I know I'm a little slow. Gabe was watching me put them up and then touching them and awing, of course until I got out the camera to take a picture of him enjoying his new decorations, then he started screeching at me because he wanted to get to the camera. That is his other favorite new thing - screeching when he wants something because he has no other way of communicating. Here he is mid-screech with the stickers behind him.
And here are the stickers on the opposite wall.
So now I'm looking into baby sign-language so my child who still doesn't say a single word will have some means of communication. I'd love any and all advice/suggestions/experience with baby sign language!!

In search of Prettiness

This is not an actual post. This is an entry into Tristan's contest to win a free blog re-design. I love beautiful, creative, interesting things. Clearly my blog needs lots of help to get there. So go visit Tristan's blog or her business blog and check out all the cool things she does. And if you want to tell her to please help me out, that would be great too. Or you could just enter the contest yourself...

One actual post coming soon.