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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>On the whole, I support eccentricity – after all, I am not unaware of my own tendency to occasionally stop by the kingdom of Quirky. Nonetheless when idiosyncrasy includes a genuine risk to others, it crosses the line from harmlessly peculiar to potentially dangerous. What jackassery prompted the Daily News editorial board through its designated spokesperson Murf Racquet to address obstetric protocols at local hospitals? It’s not too late to share with your readers the professional credentials held by Daily News editorial board members which provided you with even a scintilla of the background and training necessary to evaluate the risks connected to VBAC deliveries. And what in our troubled world with the genuinely serious issues of political upheaval , economic crisis and environmental degradation suggests to you that VBACs are worthy of your editorial attention?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It was a dim-witted decision to put your two cents into a VBAC debate in the first place. To follow it up by giving space to a VBAC advocate who advertises the following special ‘gifts” and powers tells me more about the decision making ability of the Daily News than it does about the mystical Ms. Hoger.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=blog-date style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=date-text><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>12/08/2011</span></span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal>“I have identified with the Crow as a bird itself for its intense beauty, magic and intelligence and as the representation of the link between death and life, the transition, the veil, whatever you want to call it, it is the space in-between. I've lived in that space to a substantial degree myself and it is an interesting and sometimes difficult place. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>My youngest son, [<b>I removed his name to protect his privacy although his own mother clearly didn’t give a hoot</b>], was very much a girl and very much a different entity up until three weeks prior to birth. We never had an ultrasound, there was never a measurement, and of course, to most people, my statement will sound ludicrous. "He was obviously not a girl at anytime!" (Other than the fact that we all start as girls, but that is yet another story). Anyway, we had quite a series of events occur right at the end of pregnancy and there was a time (although I never worried that he would not be ok) where I had no idea, suddenly, who he/she/it was. <br><br>There is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenberg_uncertainty_principle" target="_blank">Heisenberg principle</a> which essentially identifies the fact that we can only be so certain about physical properties at any given time and the closer we interact with the system we are studying, the more change we bring to the very nature of that very system. In a very simplified manner, you can take this also to mean that when we nail down the sex of a fetus in an ultrasound, the parameters become that much harder to change. Ie. If you measure it as a boy, it will most likely be a boy. But anyway, we never measured the baby or nailed him down into any kind of matter and once huge life changes took place, there was this shift. And then, finally, when everything else fell into place, I got the feeling he was going to be a boy and that he was finally going to be born. And there 'he' was.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><a href="http://www.umacenter.com/2/post/2011/12/one-child-in-either-world.html">One Child in Either World</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>Among the many “products” she sells I found (and gagged over):<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>“Replenish and restore hormonal balance with Placenta Encapsulation. Using either a raw foods method or the Chinese Methodology of steaming the placenta first, the placenta is then cut and dried at temperatures which preserve the nutrient and energetic values of this amazing organ which provides the perfect balance specific to YOU. <br> ~ Minimize post-partum blues<br>~ Restore vitality <br>~ Provide plentiful antibodies for you and your child<br>The dried placenta is ground and placed in capsules for ease of consumption. Umbilical cord is also saved and allowed to shape in its natural way during drying. A tincture will be made for long-term use (menopause, etc.)<strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>$250 ~ includes encapsulation, tincture, pick-up & delivery, and cord drying”<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><a href="http://www.crowmedicine.net/products.html">http://www.crowmedicine.net/products.html</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><br><span style='color:windowtext'>Her ability to “heal” includes: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><span style='color:windowtext'><a href="http://www.crowmedicine.net/distance-sessions.html">Distance Sessions</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='color:windowtext'>“Many of the same concerns we deal with in the office can also be discussed and worked with from a distance (by phone or email) using elements of Reiki and Clairvoyance or Shamanic Journeying. It is not necessary that we have met in advance or that you have been seen in the office to receive distant work. There are quite a few different ways to describe the techniques or processes, but I feel we are simply tapping into the collective shared consciousness to access details that are parts of the whole. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><em><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-style:normal'>Fees are the same as for in-office sessions:</span></em><br><em><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-style:normal'>$90 for your initial 90 minute session</span></em><br><em><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-style:normal'>$75 for 1 hour follow up sessions thereafter. </span></em><br><em><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-style:normal'>Payments online through PayPal.”</span></em><span style='color:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></p><h2><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-weight:normal'>And her credentials, if you had any interest in verifying her claims related to obstetric practice include:<o:p></o:p></span></h2><h2><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-weight:normal'>“I have decided to move away from being a doula and am honoring the many past lives of midwifery and herbal training I have had as a mode of channeling that knowledge and wisdom into other sources: the shamanic side of my work, the online education, and my writing. Crow Medicine is and has been many things over the years, but first and foremost, it is how I live and walk through this world; shifting and changing and living on the border of transitions.”<br></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.crowmedicine.net/3/post/2012/01/shifting.html">Shifting</a><o:p></o:p></span></h2><p class=MsoNormal>Does the DN have any responsibility to readers when it comes to publishing credentials of advocates for a particular point of view? Was this whole pile of baloney an attempt to stir up discussion and increase circulation? Do you think that these kinds of editorial decisions increase your credibility?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Shaking my head – which frankly was exploding when I researched this woman’s philosophy – and deeply grateful that placenta is not on my lunch menu.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Rose Huskey<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>