Tammy Arbeter wrote, in part:
> Did anyone see Politically Incorrect last night? I was so upset, I wanted
to
> write to you immediately. They were discussing breastfeeding in Borders
> and one of the guests said he felt it was perfectly natural for a woman
> to feed a baby anywhere and then the host said "he can't understand why
> anyone would breastfeed in public, because he wouldn't masturbate in
public".
> I couldn't believe this stupidity!!!! One of the other guests said that
she
> breastfed her two
> babies and couldn't believe that he could possibly lump the two things
> together. I used to enjoy watching that show at midnight, but not any
more!!
I just read the transcript. I don't think it was tongue-in-cheek, and I find
Maher's view on this vile!
Here's the URL to get to the transcript. Go here and click on May 4:
http://abc.go.com/pi/forum/word_index.html
If you go here pretty quickly, you can still give your "two cents" on the
subject of "Breast Feeding":
http://abc.go.com/pi/talkback/index.html
If they've changed the subjects and put up tonight's information, try this
one:
http://abc.go.com/pi/talkback/talk_index.html
Here's the conversation, with the relevant parts kept. Go to the transcript
if you want the entire thing:
Bill: There's people who watch this -- and I love to identify the lawsuits
that get me angry.
And, since we're talking about sex -- well, there's one every week.
Listen to this one -- a woman was breast-feeding her baby in Glendale,
California, in a Borders bookstore.
And, the manager, not knowing the rules -- because, it's the rule now, it's
the law in California, that you, if you are breast-feeding, you are allowed
to do it anywhere you want.
That is the law according to the Civil Rights Act, like you're Rosa Parks,
whipping out your --
[ Laughter ]
Anyway, a woman complained.
Her 7-year-old son saw this and kind of upset the kid.
He didn't know what the hell that was.
So the manager said, you know, "You can't breast-feed here."
And the woman is suing now because she's actually technically right.
Borders apologized.
They put up signs that said, "Feel free to breast-feed."
[ Laughter ]
I'm not kidding.
[ All talking at once ]
Richard: That's a great, you know, start at sex education.
She could've told her child, you know, what was going on, it's a perfectly
natural thing.
[ Applause ]
There's gotta be 15 books on it down the road.
Collin: Is she suing -- she sued them, though, right?
Bill: She's suing borders because they told her to put her boob away,
because --
Sheryl: Her Boob?
Her breast!
Bill: 'Cause it was scaring children, basically.
Richard: Child.
Kristin: She's suing borders because borders has deep pockets.
If this happened at Joe Schmoe bookstore, she wouldn't be suing.
But she knows that Borders has very deep pockets -- like the woman who sued
McDonald's.
I mean, you know, the bigger the company --
Collin: They made a mistake, and they apologized, and that should be the end
of it, or give 'em -- give her a free subscription, ten free books for the
embarrassment --
Bill: But there's a law itself that makes all of us conform to the idea that
this is a natural, wonderful thing to view in a bookstore, which it is not.
[ Laughter ]
Sheryl: But, you know, some people breast-feed very nicely.
I mean, they just -- they put the -- it's very discreet.
I mean, I did with my two children.
You basically just slide them under --
Bill: In a bookstore?
[ Laughter ]
Sheryl: So I was very -- I was kind of uncomfortable with that.
But you slide them under your shirt and you put something over them so it
basically looks like you're holding your baby, but they're being fed at the
same time.
You don't have to just strip -- just drop it all.
Collin: But the point of the story, though, to me, is that there is the
lawsuit part.
I mean, 'cause, to me, it's just another -- and I'm speaking as a victim of
several wrongful lawsuits -- that you wind up winning, but you wind up
paying a lot of money in attorney's fees just to get somebody off your back,
because I will refuse to just hand somebody something to get them to leave
me alone.
<snip>
Kristin: Flip the issue.
You're saying, oh, should everybody say, you know, "Oh, this is a natural
and wonderful thing."
Flip it.
Do you wanna say, it's illegal to breast-feed your child?
Bill: No, but I don't think everything that you claim is natural -- I mean,
it's natural and feels good for me to masturbate, I don't do it in the
self-help section.
[ Laughter ]
That's natural and it feels good.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Richard: It's like, there are limits, and then, you know, people have to
decide for themselves how far they wanna go with this.
Kristin: And to equate breast-feeding and masturbation, I mean, come on,
bill.
[ Laughter ]
Bill: Well, I'm just saying they're both things that you should do --
Kristin: Now, maybe you get off on both of those, but we do not need to go
there.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Bill: All right.
I only get off on one of those.
Sheryl: So I take it you're not a breast man?
Bill: No, I'm not.
[ Laughter ]
I'm not a breast-feeder.
But, I'm just saying, why should everything have to be done in public?
Why should the rest of us -- what about our rights, not to have to look at
that?
I mean, it's like [ bleep ] in the pool.
Sheryl: But you're not looking at it sometimes.
You're putting in your mind that somebody is -- you're thinking, "What is
it, the 'playboy' bunny and she's got a baby up by her breast?"
No, some of these are just regular women and they just latch that child on
and they go about their business.
Collin: And, in most parts of the world, that is so common that nobody even
thinks about it.
[ All talking at once ]
Richard: The world is getting more and more populated, you know, so, you're
gonna go out there, you're gonna see all sorts of things.
But you don't all have to look at it.
[ Applause ]
Kristin: Exactly.
Richard: You know, your brain registers, "Oh, yeah, there's breast-feeding
going on over there -- oh, I need that -- "
Kristin: Let them buy some books.
Bill: There's a time and a place for a woman to take out her breast --
bourbon street in Mardi Gras.
That's what I say.
[ Laughter ]
All right, we'll take a break.
Janice Berry
Westerville, OH
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