Apparently American Girl isn’t squeaky clean enough for some conservative groups, because of their support for a respected girls-advocacy group. Chicago Tribune | Groups Threaten to Boycott American Girl NEW YORK — American Girl, manufacturer of a highly popular line of dolls and children’s books, has become the target of conservative activists threatening a boycott unless the toy maker cuts off contributions to a youth organization that supports abortion rights and acceptance of lesbians. The protest is directed at an ongoing American Girl campaign in which proceeds from sales of a special “I Can” wristband help support educational and empowerment…
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this little Iraqi girl? I ran across another essay today written by a Catholic nun, Joan Chittister. It reminded me of the story and I wondered if anything further was known, beyond the Newsweek followup a couple of months later. The original photos were taken by Chris Hondos. He has some other news stories about the Hassan family here. Remember her and her siblings. The soldiers were cleared of wrongdoing, but after they come home, will they remember, or try to forget? I don’t know – but these images should not be forgotten, ever.
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AAWWWWwwwww! Ooowwowoooooga! Woochie woochie coochie! Gooo! Cyoooooot! Wookada baybee! Seeda baybee! Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Gah. Gah. Gah. Gah. Gah.
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I heard this exchange on NPR this morning and looked around for a transcript. Found it at AAR: WH aide: “Capt. Kennedy are you ready?” Kennedy: “I am ready, ma’am.” WH aide: “Okay, this is for the money. We are going to time this and remember that if the President cut’s it short, if he asks more questions, if you have the microphone and he follows up with a question to you, no matter who has it, Captain Pratt if you have the microphone and the President hears something and he wants more information, you just keep that microphone and…
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That’s all Gene Robinson wants to be known for being: the good bishop, and not just the gay bishop. According to the article, the Diocese of New Hampshire is doing very well, with most parishes reporting modest growth, especially from young families. And there’s been a surge of applications for clergy positions in the diocese. Most are not gay, but think New Hampshire is the place for them to begin their journey.
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My current struggles with air quality at my work have reminded me of something from nearly 20 years ago – the “Symptomatic Nerve Gas” guy. This was a street character that I used to see out and about when I was still living in Eugene. I moved from there in 1985, but still remember running into the guy when my friend Jean and I would go to clubs for live music and dancing. We’d spot him and start chanting “symptomatic nerve gas” to each other, because that’s all we ever heard him say. I was astounded just now after Googling…
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Don’t let the bright colors and screaming banner ads put you off, this is going to turn out to be important in the tale of how the WHIG party orchestrated the war in Iraq. First, you form a sekrit club and have meetings about stuff you want to get done, like knock off countries you don’t like because they’re not American enough and have a lot of oil that you might like to have. Then you give a journalist a really, really juicy scoop that paints that country as teh evil. Then you use that published story to justify why…
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BBC NEWS | Health | Women’s health fuelling poverty For every woman who dies, roughly 20 more suffer serious injury or disability – between 8 million and 20 million a year. Experts agree that the majority of maternal deaths are preventable through family planning to reduce unintended pregnancies, skilled attendance at all deliveries and timely emergency obstetric care in all cases where complications arise. And our own government’s moralizing policies are a big part of this problem. We refuse to give aid to countries and charities without strings attached. Which is morally indefensible, if you ask me (but they won’t).
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I’ve been troubled by something I heard in conversation yesterday. It’s really bothering me, and I’m wondering if I had an obligation to register my discomfort or disapproval of the comment. Or not, as this was at work, and a complaint might be raised about me. Here’s the deal: I was talking to a client about hotel accomodations for that night, somewhere in the southeastern US in an area not far from where Katrina and Rita raised a little hell a few weeks back. Hotel availability in the area is really, really hard to come by, and every time I…
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I already knew where this episode was supposedly headed; spoilers had been floating around since the day they filmed at today’s location, because it’s been just about impossible to keep people from all over the country from saying “Hey! I think they filmed an episode of TAR in my area! I saw Racers/clue boxes/flags/production crew.” The spoilers are showing up in news articles and TV Guide-type websites, too, so I’m not feeling too much doubt about where we’re going. Of course, if we go somewhere else, I’m not the only one with egg on my face. Apparently, tonight we’re going…