Wow! Lots for me to choose from this week in the news, so I guess I’ll get started.

— 1 —

Mea culpa. I owe a number of you an apology for posting the link to the White House blog and saying that there were religious exemptions if you had mentioned the HHS situation on your Quick Takes. Thank you to Lisa at All Things Gale for emailing me and explaining the intricacies of the situation politely and civilly. Thank you also to Katie of NFP and Me for giving me the link to the roundtable on ABC that includes this discussion.

— 2 —

Regarding the Susan G. Komen debacle, it is THEIR choice as to whom they choose to grant funding. Yeah, it was spineless of them to have caved to public pressure but it would also be dishonest if they did not fulfill the grant money that had already been promised for this year. Next year, however, is different and they can sever ties at that point. The damage has already been done — their donations will drop because of this. This should also be a sign to Planned Parenthood that they need to acquire some mammography machines and get some licenses to use them so they can actually claim truthfully to promote breast health rather than making referrals out to other providers.

— 3 —

On Monday night, I found a great article on being a super successful introvert. I’m one of the last people to like anything sanctioned by Oprah but this article is excellent. I’ve actually put some of these things into practice in past situations and they really do work. And seriously… I’m proud to be part of a class of people that includes Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt.

— 4 —

The petition to rescind the HHS mandate hit 25,000 signatures on Tuesday. It’s not surprising given that even *I* signed it because I think that the terms of the mandate needed to be adjusted to allow for issues of conscience for *ALL* religious groups, not just the Catholic Church. (I signed it on February 1st if anyone wanted to know). 25,000 is the threshold to go to the HHS peeps and the president so I hope this all gets resolved soon. It doesn’t go into effect for another year but it isn’t good to have more tension in a country that is already polarized enough and has been for a very long time (since 2000 at least).

— 5 —

I’ve been having to sleep in the living room because of the cough from the MUTANT DEATH COLD. I can’t be flat or I start coughing up a lung, making it really hard to get sleep. I’m on the last few days of my antibiotics which were supposed to treat any infection if it was present (as bronchitis = hospital for me) and the only difference is that I’m maybe getting some stuff up now. I don’t know if I just have a really inflamed area in my throat or what but this is getting frustrating. *makes a mental note to get more cough drops*

— 6 —

Dude… marshmallow gun. President Obama and Joey, an 8th grader from Arizona, shot a marshmallow across the State Dining Room of the White House using the air cannon that Joey built for his science project at the White House Science Fair.

I don’t care how you feel about Obama — I think shooting *anything* out of an air cannon needs to be viewed… repetitively.

— 7 —

This article on helicopter parents in the workplace from NPR is scary. I honestly can’t imagine my parents calling the seminary or the clinic or UPS Supply Chain Solutions (my brokerage in Montana) to make them be nice to me or make them pay me more. For one thing, it’s highly unprofessional and it also shows that the candidate cannot function independently if their parents are still fighting their battles for them. My mom has told me who happened to be hiring when I was looking for a job one summer and I’ve asked her advice with regard to work situations (she’s calm and diplomatic which is what I aim to project); but that’s the limit. The only reason she met my boss in Montana is that she was at the baby shower that the UPS Supply Chain Solutions people threw me when Daniel came home from the hospital. Helicopter parents in general just stymy me. I mean, I’m uber-involved in Daniel’s life and advocate for him but he’s also only two years old and autistic. I’ve told friends of mine to shoot me if I ever show up to a parent-teacher conference and complain that the teacher doesn’t see Daniel’s innate specialness.

— Bonus —

In California news, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Prop 8. This is kind of a useless ruling because it was going to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, regardless of in whose favor the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. (The 9th Circuit Court gets overturned by the Supreme Court 54% of the time which another reason why this ruling is useless.) I probably should have an opinion on this… and I don’t. I have too many friends on both sides of the issue who are going to be wounded when it is decided one way or the other that I’ve just decided to keep my mouth shut. I will say, however, that this is not a good thing for those who were in favor of Prop 8 (which means that they are against same-sex marriage) because the Supreme Court deciding the law is unconstitutional means that the door is WIDE open for DOMA to be repealed and other states to pass laws allowing same-sex marriages.

For more Quick Takes, visit Hallie Lord at BettyBeguiles.Com who is graciously hosting this meme while Jen pushes toward the end of her manuscript.