{"id":1483,"date":"2008-08-17T21:38:16","date_gmt":"2008-08-17T21:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/17\/shes-a-tiny-pow\/"},"modified":"2008-08-17T21:38:16","modified_gmt":"2008-08-17T21:38:16","slug":"shes-a-tiny-pow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/17\/shes-a-tiny-pow\/","title":{"rendered":"TRIUMPH IS EXPENSIVE: HONORING MY FRIEND RACHEL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rachel_from_family_photo\"<\/a>
\nShe’s a tiny powerhouse, hair in ringlets, face of an angel, but
\nwhen she wants something to happen, woe unto those who stand in her
\nway.  Her name is Rachel, and  because of her, we’re all a lot safer
\nthan we were yesterday.  Really.  Safer.\n<\/p>\n

One of the things we discover as years pass is just how much
\ndiscipline, determination and talent it takes to win a big battle.
\nPeople who win show up on the front page, on the evening news, in
\nTalking Points Memo… all over the place.  It looks so great to be the
\none taking the bow.  Most of the time, nobody knows what it took to get
\nthere.  Can’t imagine, and probably, don’t care.  But I know.  And I
\ncare.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Just weeks ago Congress, by huge margins in both houses, passed what the Wall Street Journal<\/a>
\ncalled "The biggest overhaul of U.S. product-safety rules in a
\ngeneration."  It’s going to make a real difference in our lives and the
\nlives of our children – and theirs. And one of the people who made it
\nhappen, quoted "above the fold" and interviewed all over the place
\nafter the bill passed, who ate, slept and worked this bill 24 hours a
\nday for close to two years, is my friend Rachel Weintraub<\/a>.  (Ms. Magazine did a story about her called "Rachel and Goliath<\/a>".)\n<\/p>\n

And while she was so determined to get the bill (remember, I said she
\nwas determined?) she never took time off from being a remarkable
\nmother, wife and friend.  When we first began living an observant
\nJewish life, it was Rachel
\nwho took the time to teach me; who took phone calls at weird times when
\nI was in Giant and needed to know if something was kosher or what to do
\non a holiday.  Who taught me
\nhow to light Sabbath candles<\/a>.  Who was always ready with a meal for a
\nfamily with a new baby or a sad loss.<\/p>\n

Mother to two beautiful children, it was
\nRachel who, with her husband Scott, created an amazing home with lovely rituals for her family that will
\nbuild strong, joyous memories, and then sat up until 2 in the morning
\n(literally) reviewing documents and amendments, who cooked Shabbat
\ndinners while on conference calls and birthday cakes while dealing with
\na disparate and sometimes fractious coalition.<\/p>\n

I guess she’s not a saint, but she’s a pretty amazing woman and
\nsomeone whom I admire deeply.  I’m not sure I can describe the energy
\nand concentration it took to get this bill to happen; how she went days on
\n4-5 hours of sleep a night because documents had to be dealt with and
\nshe waited to do the work until after the kids were asleep, not to mention all the discouraged periods when
\nit looked like it wasn’t going to work.  But she never stopped.<\/p>\n

So next time you notice that children’s toys and other products are now being tested independently and before<\/em> they go on the market instead of after someone gets hurt, and that there are new toy safety standards, or that those nasty phthalates<\/a>
\nare gone from sippy cups and water bottles, or that there’s more
\nenforcement going on because the budget is doubled, that’s why.<\/p>\n

Think about the powerful interests that fought this comprehensive
\nbill, and the coalition members with particular interests who needed to
\nguarantee that their perspectives were represented in the final bill
\nand you’ll understand what a miracle it is that it happened.  And with
\nhuge majorities in both houses.<\/p>\n

So if you’re inclined, post a thank you here and I’ll see that she
\ngets it.  It’s not much to do – and she deserves thanks – from all of
\nus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She’s a tiny powerhouse, hair in ringlets, face of an angel, but when she wants something to happen, woe unto those who stand in her way.  Her name is Rachel, and  because of her, we’re all a lot safer than we were yesterday.  Really.  Safer. One of the things we discover as years pass is … Continue reading TRIUMPH IS EXPENSIVE: HONORING MY FRIEND RACHEL<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,7,9,29],"tags":[1312,1316,1315,824,1314,21,1313,1318,1317],"class_list":["post-1483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-life","category-politics","category-women","tag-consumer-safety","tag-law","tag-lead","tag-legislation","tag-phralates","tag-politics-2","tag-product-safety","tag-product-safety-rules","tag-rachel-weintraub"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gBq8-nV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}