Be Careful What You Wish For...

Stomp the Stigma - May is Mental Health Awareness Month

2010-04-30T12:00:00.002+02:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSfntKqtsJY

Take Action Against Bullying of ANY Kind!

2010-04-29T11:26:00.002+02:00

Stand Up for Those Who Can't Stand Up for Themselves!

Anti Bullying Creative Action (ABCA)
http://www.antibullyingweek.co.uk

Working together creatively to tackle bullying and violence in schools, communities and the work place.

Everyone has a responsibility to help prevent bullying. We can all make a difference; the bystander can intervene, the bully can end violence, the bullied can learn strategies and we can all help educate the ignorants out there.

Basic anti-bullying advice:
- Tell someone
- Don't stay quiet about it
- Empower yourself
- Find a way to stand your ground
- Keep eye contact with the bully
- Have open body language
- Stay with friends
- Practice sport and healthy eating
- Have some responsibility for yourself
- Remember you have rights
- Take action

Bullying can take many forms including:
- Racist bullying
- Homophobic bullying
- Hitting/Kicking/Spitting
- Name calling
- Spreading malicious rumours
- Isolating
- Oppressing
- Stealing
- Taking away your friends
- Threats and intimidation
- Damaging belongings
- Frightening or scaring
- Making/sending abusive phone calls or SMS's
- Posting insulting internet messages or IM's

Another Thought on US Immigration Laws

2010-04-27T14:19:00.005+02:00

Just to be clear, I certainly do not support the influx of illegal aliens in the United States. I hope that Arizona will pass a bill that will prosecute the businesses that are hiring the illegal immigrants. I think that would be far more effective in stopping their problem.

I often try to put myself in someone else’s shoes (it’s called empathy, in case anyone is curious), and I wonder what it would be like if the Baden-Württemberg police began to stop me, and other foreigners, on the street and ask to see my residency visa because I wear my engagement ring on my left hand, just to make sure I am here legally. That would become a real pain after a while... Oh wait. I don't wear my engagement ring since I moved to Germany for just that reason! Not because there is a law to incentivize the police to check my “papers” to see if I am here illegally, but because I don’t want to be singled out as a foreigner and treated as an outsider who isn’t wanted here. It's a good thing I can take off my ring and keep my mouth shut so no one will ever know that I'm really not a citizen of this country. I suspect that legal Hispanic immigrants in Arizona have a harder time blending in with the European-Americans...

An Embarrassing Day for European-Americans

2010-04-27T08:23:00.001+02:00

As a "European-American" and a foreigner, I find this Arizona state legislation extremely disturbing... Rachel Maddow does a great job summarizing the issue.

I wonder how many of the people who support this type of legislation have ever lived as a foreigner, legal or otherwise, in another country for more than their 3 month study abroad program in college, or a vacation... Or for that matter have ever been issued a US Passport. Or better yet, have ever studied US History beyond the one class they took in high school - I'm looking at you, tea-partiers!

---

April 26: Rachel Maddow exposes the origins of Arizona's new immigration law in the racist Federation for American Immigration Reform.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/vp/36791568#36791568

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers

2010-03-22T11:55:00.002+01:00

Why is the Gospel of Love Dividing America?

If you were to meet ten average Americans on the street, nine of them would say they believe in God. So why is the Gospel of Love dividing America?

Dan Merchant put on his bumper-sticker-clad jumpsuit and decided to find the reason. After talking with scores of men and women on streets all across the nation, and also interviewing many well-known activists in today’s “Culture Wars,” Dan realized that the public discussion of faith doesn’t have to be contentious.

From its opening Talking Heads sequence through its touching look at faith in action, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers is a fast-paced, highly engaging documentary that explores the collision of faith and culture in America while opening up this important conversation to all of us.

As discussion of religion floods the media, the rhetoric is divisive, hyper, and most often, angry. With humor more common in a comedy-sketch program than a documentary, Merchant brings the sensibilities of someone who is deeply concerned with how his faith is being represented by others. Lord, Save Us provides a provocative, funny, and redemptive discussion that is sure to continue long after the credits run.

Merchant sits down for interviews with well-known people on all sides of this great divide, including best-selling author William Paul Young (The Shack), comedian/politician Al Franken, former “Religious Right” Senator Rick Santorum, noted “liberal evangelical” Tony Campolo, conservative radio host Michael Reagan, and racial reconciliation activist Dr. John Perkins.

If that’s not divergent enough, other features include Bono, Rick Warren, Bill Maher, James Dobson, George Clooney, Jerry Falwell, Stephen Colbert, Ann Coulter, Pat Robertson, Lewis Black, Tony Perkins, Monty Python, and even Stewie from “Family Guy”… along with many others.

Add to that the nationwide man-on-the-street interviews with “Bumper-Sticker Man,” the Culture Wars game show, the “renaming” of St. Paul to New Leningrad, and a controversial and moving “Confession Booth” at Portland’s Gay Pride celebration, and Lord, Save Us From Your Followers delves into religious hot-button issues with candor, humor, and balance.

Engaging, unpredictable, and challenging, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers will change the way you talk about faith!

http://lordsaveusthemovie.com/

'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' = Propaganda to make Americans hate themselves = Increase in Anti-Depressant Sales

2010-03-22T09:26:00.000+01:00

In the six-part series, renowned chef and TV personality Jamie Oliver wants to change the way America eats and help stop obesity. Oliver travels to Huntington, W.Va., recently named the unhealthiest city in the country, to get families to rethink the way they eat at home, in schools and at the office.

'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' regurgitates the worst of reality TV pap

By Hank Stuever
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 20, 2010

Afflicted with the kind of warm-hearted caring that requires the constant presence of a TV crew, British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver went to Huntington, W.Va., last fall to help people eat better. The city had recently been singled out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the nation's unhealthiest (read: porkiest), and Oliver, whose previous work includes the "Naked Chef" series and a show where he reinvented British school cafeteria food, arrived babbling about a "revolution."

Well, you can imagine how eagerly the people of West Virginia respond to a foreigner with meticulously rumpled hair and a funny accent telling them to hand over the fries.

Anyone who has ever tried to pry chicken nuggets from their child's grip has been met with the same stubborn resistance seen in "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" (premiering Sunday night). Also there's the added soupcon of outright scorn. Not a word is spoken at "Food Revolution's" outset about our culture's politicization of food -- the whole arugula divide, the high cost of eating right, the class issues over portion size, the constant character judgments strewn between a fine meal and the drive-thru.
Red state, blue state; I don't know about you, but I'm tired of trying to get the nation to eat right. It's tempting to just let folks keel over in a puddle of kountry gravy if they like, dead from clogged arteries or scurvy (or both).
"Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" has all the problems of most network reality pap, in that the show feels pounded into submission by too many manipulative ABC producers. Its "moving" attempts at charity ooze the opportunism seen in "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." And it has a certain hectoring quality, a la "SuperNanny," that obscures its educational aim. In its zeal to show America to itself, it helps America make fun of itself.
Oliver appears to quite honestly blunder into that last mistake. By choosing Appalachia, which already has certain esteem issues over stereotyping, the star chef and fresh-food advocate has bitten off more than he chew, PR-wise. It goes wrong from the start at the Rocky n' Rod morning show at a country radio station (aka "93.7 the Dawg"), where DJ Rod lays into Oliver: "We don't want to sit around and eat lettuce all day. Who made you king?" (Oliver leaves the station grumbling that Rod is a "grumpy old git.")
Of course there's an irresistibly watchable quality to this, and it gets better when Oliver arrives to start his revolution at an elementary school and meets the lunch ladies -- Paulie, Millie, Linda, Louella and one feisty head cook named Alice Gue -- just as they're serving up "breakfast pizza" (eggs, sausage, gooey cheese) to 450 kids. Oliver is disgusted, of course, and only more so a few hours later at the lunchtime chicken nugget feeding frenzy.
"It's that kind of food that's killing America," he announces.
"You don't have processed food in England?" Alice snaps back.
"God, yes, and it's killing England, too," he replies.
Unfortunately for Alice, the school board has agreed to give Oliver's methods a one-week tryout. Unfortunately for Oliver, he discovers that school lunch funding is meticulously micromanaged by this unheard-of entity called the USDA, which has determined that french fries count as a vegetable. (Bollocks!) Nevertheless, Oliver whips up a lunch the next day of roast chicken and wild rice. Alice and her team offer an alternative of pepperoni pizza, which counts for two grains and a vegetable. Guess which one the schoolkids go for?

Then the local newspaper reprints some choice statements Oliver made in the foreign press about his trip to the United States, including: "They are all anemic with information. Like, when you meet these people, they are not stupid. They are not ignorant. It's just they have never had food from scratch in their life."

True! But offensive! While the anemically informed townsfolk ready the anemic hanging rope, Oliver sits on the recess playground and tearfully tells the camera that he sincerely loves these people and wants to help. To its credit, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" is committed to Huntington for the duration of the season, instead of packing up and moving on to de-donutize the next hickville. I take Oliver at his word and guiltily look forward to seeing whether any of these people will manage to eat something that isn't golden brown.

I would also like to try some of this breakfast pizza.
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
(one hour) debuts at 10 p.m. Sunday on ABC.

I wish Limousine Liberals would get the eff off their high-horses!!!

2010-03-18T10:47:00.004+01:00

It isn't class warfare to point out that the poor live differently from us. To ignore that fact maintains our caste system rather than demolishing it.

So until we are prepared to solve the 'problem' of their poverty first, perhaps we should keep mum with our 'advice' to poor families about making better nutritional 'choices'.

(And that means you, Jamie Oliver.)

If only the poor were more like me! (from Bitch Ph.D.)

Is local food really miles better?

2010-03-15T13:53:00.001+01:00

Many of us now count "food miles." But local fruits and veggies may not be more carbon-friendly than produce at the supermarket.

BY ROBERTA KWOK

http://www.salon.com/life/food/eat_drink/2008/06/24/food_miles/

It's a long article so here's an excerpt that (I think) expresses the main message:

While locavores list numerous reasons for eating local -- including freshness, taste and boosting regional economies -- one primary argument is protection of the environment. Long-distance food transport sucks up more fossil fuels, says the Farmers Market Web site, and unleashes more carbon dioxide onto our planet.

That does sound dire. But what if conventional distributors make up for the long journeys by driving big trucks packed with produce? Let's say a distributor travels 1,000 miles and carries 1,000 apples to market, while 10 local farmers each drive a pickup 100 miles and carry 100 apples each. The local farmers log fewer food miles but cover the same total distance -- and use a comparable amount of fossil fuels -- for the same amount of food.

Vehicle types and packing likely make a difference, says Richard Pirog, associate director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and lead author of the food miles study. "I bet you dollars to doughnuts that at your San Francisco Farmers Market, the farmers don't pull up in semi-trailers," he says.

He's right. After surveying 19 farmers on my Saturday visit, I found that most of them drove Ford, Isuzu or Chevrolet trucks, packing anywhere between 200 and 2,000 pounds of goods. While some were hanging onto late '90s models, one proudly sported a new fuel-efficient Dodge Sprinter. They'd trucked their wares an average of 117 miles, with farms ranging from nearby Bolinas to the 230-miles-distant town of Exeter in the Central Valley.

Not surprisingly, conventional distributors such as Banner Fruit Co. range farther afield. According to a survey of nine wholesalers at the Golden Gate Produce Terminal in South San Francisco, their produce comes not only from California but Arizona, Washington, Texas and Mexico, with distances from farm region to market averaging 942 miles. These distributors supply produce to small- and medium-size grocery stores in the region, including Whole Foods and Mollie Stone's; large chains such as Safeway and Costco manage their own distribution systems. They use semi-trailer trucks that can pack more than 40,000 pounds of food -- about 20 times the largest load hauled by a farmer.

But how does that translate to carbon dioxide emissions? To find out, I crunched the numbers on five types of produce -- apples, oranges, lettuce, greens and squash -- with fuel efficiency estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency and Bay Area truck dealers. Factor in carbon emission figures from Argonne National Laboratory, and I had rough carbon footprints for each farmer and wholesaler.

Local farmers won one category, proving more carbon-friendly on squash. While farmers came from cities about an hour's drive from San Francisco, wholesalers had imported their squash through Arizona from Mexico. In these cases, the idea that more food miles equals more fossil fuels appeared to be true.

But wholesalers beat local farmers on the four other produce items, boasting fewer average carbon dioxide emissions per pound of apples, oranges, lettuce and greens. Apple distributors got almost all their apples from Washington's Yakima Valley, about 700 miles away. (Safeway's California stores get Granny Smith apples from Stockton during fall and winter, and from Washington the rest of the year.) While the two local apple farmers traveled one-tenth the distance, their loads averaged less than 700 pounds -- and generated six times more carbon dioxide per pound of apples than the semi-trailer trucks.

Local oranges didn't fare much better. Part of the reason is that "conventional" oranges are local, too. Distributors shipped most of their oranges from California's Central Valley, a mere 200 miles from San Francisco and the home of several farmers market vendors. Conventional lettuce and greens came mainly from Arizona and also produced less carbon dioxide during transportation, though by a smaller margin.

The Farmers Market's green image was beginning to look a bit tarnished. But no sooner did I finish my calculations than I started to wonder if I had missed some hidden carbon costs. For one, I'd asked the wholesalers how far their produce traveled to the terminal market -- but what about the extra leg from the terminal market to the retail store? For that matter, how much carbon dioxide was emitted while consolidating 45,000 pounds of produce from various farms into one semi-trailer truck? And how about the distance traveled by the consumers themselves, whether to the grocery store or to the Farmers Market? What kind of cars did they drive?

Food researchers felt my pain. "There are so many complexities," says Holly Hill, author of a 2008 food miles review for the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service. "Trying to make those real exact calculations is nearly impossible."

Despite the difficulties, scientists are now devising methods that attempt to calculate every waft of greenhouse gas for a given food product. That means examining a product's entire "life cycle," from fertilization and heating to packaging and storage. Fertilizer production, for example, is an energy-intensive process that can release copious carbon dioxide. And nitrogen fertilizer releases the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide after it is applied to fields. Refrigerating picked fruit for later distribution is another source of carbon dioxide emissions.

When scientists look behind the scenes, local food doesn't always come out on top. A 2005 report for the U.K.'s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) found that growing local tomatoes caused more than three times the carbon dioxide emissions of importing Spanish tomatoes. The culprit was the glasshouse heating required to grow tomatoes locally.

Fight the Power!

2010-02-11T10:22:00.000+01:00

THE TIMES OF INDIA

Iran braces for protests to mark Islamic revolution anniversary

AFP, 11 February 2010, 12:47pm IST

Topics:  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  Iran Islamic Revolution

TEHRAN: Tens of thousands of Iranians, shouting "Death to America", gathered Thursday at a Tehran square to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution amid tight security and expected opposition protests.

State television showed footage of men, women and children carrying banners reading "Death to America! Death to Israel!" as they headed to Azadi (Freedom) Square in southwest Tehran to mark the day the US-backed shah was toppled in 1979.

Opposition website Rahesabz reported that thousands of anti-government protesters were also in the streets of Tehran. There was no independent confirmation as the foreign media has been banned from covering street marches.

An AFP reporter among a group of journalists taken by Iranian officials to cover a speech at Azadi Square by Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said security forces had been massively deployed in the area.

Celebrations to mark the day the shah have been traditionally festive, and an opportunity for Iranian leaders to showcase popular support for the establishment.

But this year, opposition groups -- led by some of the founding fathers of the Islamic republic -- look set to hijack the national day as they continue to reject the legitimacy Ahmadinejad's government.

If the opposition does succeed in mounting protests, this would be highly symbolic given the anniversary's historic significance.
The elite Revolutionary Guards and police have warned they will crack down heavily on any protests which, since they first erupted last June, have threatened the very pillars of the Islamic regime and split the senior clergy.

"If anyone wants to disrupt this glorious ceremony, they will be confronted by people and we too are fully prepared," police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam warned on Wednesday. Several people who had been planning to protest are already in custody, he added.

Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election last June plunged the Islamic republic into one of its worst ever political crises, with the opposition refusing to take the fight off the streets despite often deadly crackdowns.

Most recently, eight people were killed on the Shiite holy day of Ashura on December 27 and hundreds were jailed as authorities battled protesters they accuse of seeking to topple the regime and siding with Iran's enemies abroad.

Iran's all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says he wants Thursday's celebration to be a show of unity and to deliver a stunning "punch" to "arrogant" powers.

Khamenei -- the commander-in-chief who has the final say on all key national issues -- has openly sided with Ahmadinejad, dismissed allegations of fraud in the election, blamed the West for the post-poll unrest and slammed continuing dissent as "sedition".

The opposition is led by former stalwarts of the Islamic republic, including one-time premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, who says the 1979 revolution failed because the shah-era "roots of tyranny and dictatorship" still exist. Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the other main opposition leader, have urged a mass turnout by their supporters in what is known as the "Green Movement," but also urged them to show restraint.

"I feel we have to participate while maintaining the collective spirit as well as our identity and leave an impression," Mousavi said on Monday. "Anger and bitterness should not take our control away."

Karroubi's son Hossein told AFP that his father would be participating in the annual march on Thursday but his "mother was contacted and told not to allow him (Karroubi) to go out.".

The deadly Ashura protests saw Mousavi's nephew shot dead, and in January Iran executed two men for seeking to overthrow the regime and has said nine protesters were on death row on similar charges.

Ahead of the anniversary, Internet connections slowed to a crawl and text messaging services were disrupted, with the government blaming technical glitches.

Google said Iranian users were having trouble accessing Gmail following a report that Iran's telecoms agency had suspended the Internet giant's email service.

The United States meanwhile imposed new sanctions on Iran's all-powerful Revolutionary Guard, ordering a freeze on assets of an individual and four firms linked to the unit.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the US is targeting the Guards for their role in Iran's controversial nuclear and missile programmes, alleged links to terrorism and crackdown on anti-government protests.

Plants that are Poisonous to Pets

2010-02-11T09:28:00.001+01:00

Some plants are obviously harmful to pets, such as poison ivy, oak, or sumac. But there are many common plants and flowers that pose a big danger for dogs and cats as well. Seasonal bouquets, in particular, often contain flowers that are lethal to pets. And with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, it’s a good time to read up on the plants and flowers that are dangerous for your pets. This article will help you keep an eye out for both indoor and outdoor dangers.

Dangerous plants you find indoors
Some popular holiday decorations can make pets very sick. American and English Holly are toxic to animals. The ASPCA believes that the unpleasant taste keeps animals from eating a lot of the plant but recommends keeping pets far away from them. Mistletoe is also poisonous.

Different flowers in the lily family are extremely poisonous to pets. Cats are more common lily poisoning victims than dogs, but they are toxic to both species. They are also extremely popular bouquet items. Lilies, Tiger Lilies, Easter Lilies, Tulips, and Calla Lilies are just some of the toxic plants found in the lily plant family.

Other bouquet favorites are also likely to make your dogs and cats sick if eaten. Keep flower arrangements that include these plants where your pets can’t get at them:

•Baby’s Breath
•Bird of Paradise
•Carnations
•Daffodils
•Dahlias
•Daisies
•Irises
•Peonies

You can still keep your favorite flowers inside where you can appreciate their beauty, but lock them away when you’re not at home and keep a close watch when your pets are near the bouquet. By being aware of the danger and taking proper precautions, you can keep your favorite flowers and pets safe.

Poisonous outdoor plants and trees
It’s not advisable to let pets out unsupervised, but we can’t watch them every second. You can help keep your pet healthy by knowing which plants and trees are toxic in your area.
Azaleas, Buttercups, Chrysanthemums, Gardenias, Gladiolas, Hibiscus, Hyacinth, Hydrangeas, Mums, Primroses, Rhododendrons, and Sweet Peas are popular garden items that are poisonous. That’s just another good reason to keep your dogs away from your neighbor’s award-winning flower bushes.
Trees like Yews and Red Maples have toxic leaves. Wilted Red Maple Leaves are especially dangerous and the ASPCA states most poisonings take place between late summer and early winter.
Gorgeous climbing plants, like Ivy and Wisteria should be off limits to your dog. Even medicinal and recreational plants are unsafe. St. John’s Wort, Aloe, Tobacco, and Rhubarb plants are no good for dogs or cats.

How to protect our pets
The complete list of poisonous plants from the ASPCA contains over 400 items. It’s helpful to keep a short list of the most common dangerous plants tacked to your fridge as a constant reminder. Visit the longer list periodically to refresh your memory, and a good rule of paw is to keep your pets away from any plants you don’t recognize or are unsure of.

Happy Birthday, Norman!

2010-02-03T11:33:00.001+01:00

I knew there was a reason I liked this guy...

Personal life

Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of ‎St. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Erik Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.

Rihanna Interview On 20/20 [Full 28 Min]

2009-12-08T10:45:00.002+01:00

Rihanna speaking out on Chris Brown
(Video Added to http://worldstarhiphop.com/ on 2009-11-07)

Das Rauchen Weihnachtsmann Kommen...

2009-12-07T18:28:00.000+01:00

Rihanna (feat. Jay Z) - Umbrella Music Video

2009-12-07T10:56:00.001+01:00

Umbrella Video

Def Jam Platinum recording artist Rihanna is back with a new single "Umbrella" featuring Jay-Z from her forthcoming album "Good Girl Gone Bad," due in stores June 5.

Rihanna enjoyed a tidal wave of industry acclaim in 2006 with her second album A Girl Like Me, and its back-to-back #1 hits, "S.O.S." and "Unfaithful."

A Girl Like Me was the follow-up to Music Of the Sun, Rihanna's debut album of 2005, featuring her #1 Dance hit "Pon De Replay," a traffic-stopper in the U.S. and Europe that was certified a triple-platinum digital download by the RIAA. With its infectious taste of "Tainted Love" (the Soft Cell classic), "S.O.S." became Rihanna's second world wide phenomenon - hitting #1 in the U.S. and Canada, the Japanese International chart, the Australian singles chart, and European airplay chart.

Personally signed by Def Jam president and CEO Shawn "JAY-Z" Carter, Rihanna is a unique role model for West Indians back home and around the world. She created Believe, a public charity organization dedicated to assisting terminally ill children worldwide. Its mission is to assist and inspire children who suffer from life-threatening diseases including cancer, leukemia and AIDS. Believe raises funds and awareness for medical research, as well as for individual and institutional medical needs. The vision of Believe is to achieve what Rihanna has always strived for in her remarkable music career - "to inspire with hope, courage and love."

Site - http://www.rihannanow.com

Christmas 2009

2009-12-04T09:32:00.002+01:00

Another 'Third-Wave Feminist' Outburst from Yours Truly

2009-11-27T14:30:00.000+01:00

Settling in with a good book to celebrate Black Friday: Get to Work, A Manifesto for Women of the World by Linda R. Hirshman.

Third-wave feminism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-wave_feminism

OpEd | Linda Hirshman's Middle Finger Raised to Gen X Values:
http://www.literarymama.com/oped/archives/001200.html

"...many women choose to take time off without knowing very much about what impact it will actually have on their futures: A recent study found that a full 93 percent of "highly qualified" women who have opted out want to find a way back in and can't. And, according to several studies, women in the United States suffer a 10 to 15 percent dock in future earnings when they have children—a drop that doesn't affect men." http://www.slate.com/id/2144505/

Uh-oh... At least I have the old "trailing expat-spouse" excuse to fall back on... right? RIGHT?

Immigration Reform in the United States (2009)

2009-11-27T13:47:00.002+01:00

After reading this article, I'm really glad I'm an expat wife from America living in Germany and not an L-1 visa holder working for, well, any company in the US:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-1_visa#Top_20_L-1_Visa_Users

Also, for the sake of full disclosure I should mention that:

1) I'm currently sitting in my living room, in Germany, eating refried beans and tortilla chips. I purchased said beans for 3,29 EUR/can. You can do the conversion on what that cost me in USD. I'm embarrassed to openly admit it.

2) Said beans have melted shredded Gouda on top. So far I have not found, and trust me I've been on the look out, that Cheddar cheese is sold in Germany, except for 5 slices of pre-pkg'd Irish Cheddar (at Kaufland).

So, needless to say I am probably woefully out of touch (and slightly biased). But I would love to hear other people's thoughts on this topic, if anyone is interested in reading the 2 page article I have attached below.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1421/where-the-public-stands-on-immigration-reform