Push Up Bras for Children??

Image by woodleywonderworks via Flickr

My journalism degree means I am a news person.  I like to see what is happening in the world and in our country.  As I’m watching one of my favorite news programs, they start showing this clip about bikinis for children with Push-Up Bras!

We have already taken childhood away from our children by exposing them to sexualized television commercials, now a company is trying to sell swimsuits to children with something they don’t need.

The picture above is little girls selling Girl Scout cookies and most are Brownies, in grades 1st, 2nd and 3rd. One of the young girls above is  Junior with the green sash.   This is the age the company is targeting.

I must admit, I have never understood, why we need to push children into doing things they are not ready for, but selling them clothing that is saying that they are not okay with their bodies has gone too far especially in the 2nd or 3rd grade.

As a lifetime Girl Scout member, I have devoted a large part of my life to leading troops, training leaders and sharing the out-of-doors with children.  They do not need to have a large manufacturer of clothing telling them when they are 10 or 11 that they need a Push-Up Bra! Yes, the clothing line has now changed their tune and says it is more appropriate for a 12-year-old?  ”Really!”

These are children developing into young women, and no one knows what their final body look will be yet.  Why even design something like this?

I hope this company catches so much flak, that they pull the line.  Most parents will know not to buy this junk, but what if a child has an allowance and is shopping with friends?

Let’s allow our children to be children as long as possible!  Adulthood arrives way too soon for some when they are teenagers with early pregnancy, we do not need to stoke the fires with more sexual notes to our children.

I as parent will not cave to such outlandish foolery, I respect the fact that children need to be children and enjoy their childhood.

Related Articles

• Why are parents defending a kids’ push-up bra? (salon.com)
• WTF? Retailer Sells Padded Push-Up Bikini For 8 Year Old’s! (hellobeautiful.com)
• Britain Declares War . . . On the One Person Who Could Save the Queen (returnofbenjamin.wordpress.com)
• Store’s padded bras for girls of 8 (thesun.co.uk)

Chris Brown Melt Down On GMA, Now He is Invited to Dancing With the Stars???

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ABC you perplex me! First you tell Chris Brown he can come back on Good Morning America after he has his major anger melt down with you to do another interview.  You said you did not give him pre-approved questions for the interview.

Chris Brown says that ABC was trying to provoke him and now ABC invites Chris Brown to sing on Dancing With The Stars?  Who Lost here?  The American People??  I’m tired of watching Mr. Chris Brown have his Melt Downs!

I quit caring  about his music the minute he beat up his girl friend.  When he appeared in a movie, I refused to go to the movies and watch it, because he was in it.  I will not watch Dancing With the Stars while Chris Brown is on it!

I do not agree with his Anger Issues.  This is sending the wrong message to young men.  Chris Brown belongs in a long-term anger management program.  Anyone who can thrown a chair through a window after someone asks him a question, needs long-term help.

ABC you are lucky that no one was in the way of that chair. Now you want to take a chance again that this Hot Head, can come back on to your lot and not hurt someone else with his anger? I say get out-of-the-way, here comes Chris… step aside because no one knows what color his anger is going to be in.

When the court ordered Chris to get help, that was a first step, but he needs longer help than what he received if just a few questions can mark a super quick melt down like what ABC received with his chair throwing incident.

A Tiger doesn’t change his stripes ABC. I’m not changing mine just because you want to bring the tiger back. I do not condone domestic abuse or anger abuse and that is what you are bringing back onto your lot with Chris Brown.

Related Articles

• Exclusive! Chris Brown STILL Confirmed For Dancing With The Stars (perezhilton.com)
• Chris Brown Is Not Welcome On Dancing With The Stars (perezhilton.com)
• ‘Dancing With the Stars’: Should Tom Bergeron ask Chris Brown about the ‘GMA’ incident? (popwatch.ew.com)
• More Chris Brown Fallout – Tom Bergeron Waltzes Out of DWTS Interview With Mr. Meltdown (eonline.com)

Nuclear Reactor Meltdown in Japan?

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Watching the news from Japan and it sounds worse and worse  each day.  Workers exposed to radiation. Evacuations ordered for larger area around  the plant.  Now radiation is seeping into ocean water.  Another large quake rocked Japan over the weekend 6.5 and what is all this shaking doing to the cracked reactors?

Are we headed for a meltdown?  Many experts have said no, but now I am wondering if they are right.  It sure is beginning to look like they might be just telling us what they want us to know but maybe not the truth!

Radiation detected in rain water in Massachusetts over the weekend. Yes it is not very high, but it is there and of course it is from Japan.  So what can we do?

Not much!  I would think the United Nations would send the top experts to Japan to help them solve the issue, but if I were a top expert, would I want to go to Japan?

No!  I would sit in my home, thousands of miles away and give my advice over the SKYPE and stay clear of any danger.

You see it isn’t as easy as it sounds.  This goes to the danger of nuclear power.  I wrote about this when I was in college and I compared the power available at the time, stating that radiation was unforgiving and we had no recourse if there was a meltdown.

Man designed the power plants and yes, we make mistakes, so it would seem that if we are to use such dangerous methods, we should think of alternative methods to cope with the disasters when they happen.

It is beginning to appear that the scenarios of disaster in Japan were never planned for and no one thought this could happen?  My heart and soul pray for the people of Japan for their gentle spirit to overcome these tragedies, but I also can see that humanity needs to plan better for the unforeseen.

Related Articles

• Japan says high radiation due to partial meltdown after quake – Reuters (news.google.com)
• Japan: Radiation in Seawater 1,250 Times Above Normal Level (rightpundits.com)
• Japan Nuclear Reactor Post Pulled (themoderatevoice.com)

Apparently, I suck at blogging

Apparently, I suck at blogging.

We can’t all be Charlie Sheen, nor do most of us want to be.  Expressing ourselves with our blogs, maybe all that most of us can do, but I really enjoyed this post.  Hope my writer friends do as well.

The First Day of Spring Brings a Whopper of a Storm to Southern California!

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Yesterday, I thought I was in a Hurricane in Houston all over again as I watched the rain coming down an inch an hour.  The wind was between 30 and 50 miles an hour at times and the rain sometimes was parallel  to my car hood.

Trees were toppled onto homes and cars. Power lines were taken out by trees falling down.  Accidents were everywhere as people tried to drive in the driving rain unable to see but a few feet in front of them.

As we went through our storm, I couldn’t help but think of the people of Japan still coping with their tragedy and fighting off snow and cold as they look for shelter.

I at least had a warm home to go to and food to eat, which might be more than some of the people of Japan now. Some of the food crops around the Nuclear Power Plants has been contaminated by the radioactive waste spewing from the plant.

Yes our storm is over, but the people of Japan are still coping with their storm.  I pray for them every day and hope that they will soon be done with their storm.

Related Articles

• Rep. Issa says nuclear power plants need re-examination (thehill.com)
• Japan tsunami: Staff evacuated after smoke rises from nuclear reactor (dailymail.co.uk)
• No increased radiation so far in Southern California, air quality agency says (eyespytheworld.wordpress.com)

Nuclear Disaster on the Same Level as Three Mile Island!

Image via Wikipedia Ikata Nuclear Power Plant

Each day the news from Japan gets worse.  Even the directors from the Plant Operators broke down in tears yesterday when he met with reporters after apologizing for the disaster.

The Japanese do not show emotions easily, so this is serious when they break down in tears.  This means they know that it is the worst that it can be.

Experts have upgraded it to Three Mile Island disaster in Pennsylvania many years ago.  They have upgraded it from a 4 to a 5 which is very high and serious to your health if you live close to the plant.

Last night as I watching the news, I was moved that a whole  hospital had been abandoned with patients by the plant.  This is not like the Japanese people who always take care of their own.

When you start seeing the eroding of what people would never do because they are afraid for their lives, then things are serious.

We saw this in Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans when people who were taking care of the elderly left an elder care facility to save themselves and the old people died who were left there all alone.

Basic needs take over and the survival of one’s self wins out over the survival of others which is not the best of humanity.

I salute those Japanese workers who are staying at the nuclear plant and trying to save the lives of the nation, because they are truly showing the rest of us what devotion is in this cruel world.

Related Articles

• Agency: Japanese nuclear crisis on par with 3 Mile Island (ac360.blogs.cnn.com)
• Experts debate Three Mile Island’s safety buffer (pennlive.com)

US Sending Jets To Japan To Rescue Americans, Radiation Getting Out Of Control

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The United States is sending jets to Japan to airlift families of diplomats out of Japan.  Sending a clear message that the radiation is too hot to stay.  The State Department doesn’t believe all that the Japanese government is saying and they want to protect their families.

Meanwhile the rest of the world has warned their citizens to get out of Japan while they can.  The internet was filled with stories of students leaving Japan yesterday after their countries told them to get out now while you can.  Many did not want to leave and hope they can return, but that is very uncertain now.

Helicopters are dropping water bombs on the nuclear reactors in Japan hoping to keep the reactors from having a complete meltdown.  Families of the workers at the nuclear plant fear for their loved ones safety, and think they may not make it home.

This is one of the most frightening nuclear disasters in the modern world.  The wind is blowing out to sea, and they experts say that is good, but is it?  The West Coast of the United States is  in that path.  Will the radiation be dissipated?

Will Hawaii be safe? Will Guam be safe?  These are all questions that the experts are saying yes they will be safe, but do they really know?  Will those of us in Los Angeles experience any problems from the radiation?

Last night on the nightly news, they showed radiative counters all over Los Angeles, and were trying to show that the emergency powers here are prepared to check our skies.  So what?  What are we to do if it does come here?

I think we will continue with our lives just as we have always done, and hope that we aren’t being overly exposed to more radiation than the x-rays we get at the dentist’s office.

No I didn’t find any of those special pills, but to be honest, I haven’t looked.  The news has me convinced they are already gone, so why look?  I mean if I am exposed, I am exposed, the rest of the Los Angeles will be as well.

Remember that song? Goodbye cruel world, I’m off to join the circus….

Related Articles

• US charters planes to help citizens flee Japan (msnbc.msn.com)
• More US relief crews exposed to radiation in Japan (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Nuclear Crisis In Japan, Rethinking Nuclear?

Image via WikipediaThe CANDU Bruce Nuclear Generating Station is ... the largest in the world

It is Wednesday and the reactors in Japan are in critical shape. Headed for a meltdown and many throughout the world are re checking their nuclear power plants.  Isn’t it time to review Nuclear?

I remember doing a paper on this very topic when I was in College and it was a hotly debated topic then, about building these plants and if they could be safe in an earthquake.  Well now we know, they are not safe!!

Residents surrounding one plant in California swarmed the city hall last night demanding answers and wanting it shut down immediately.  These are not sleeping giants in their back yard, they are sleeping monsters with the ability to kill everything in their path.  They have a right to be upset with what we are watching in Japan.

People are buying up the iodized pills on the West Coast after the Surgeon General said it doesn’t hurt to be ready. “Oh great, I didn’t get mine, and last night on the news, they said the store shelfs were bare”, thanks Surgeon General.

If it is my time to go, it will be my time to go I guess, but seriously, I think we should look for alternative power means, besides nuclear: Wind, geothermal, natural gas, solar? Now is the time to look for ways to provide electricity that won’t melt down and become radioactive in an earthquake.

Related Articles

• Japan lessons for TVA? (knoxnews.com)
• Germany reconsiders extending nuke plants’ lifespan after Japan crisis (cnn.com)
• Green: Questions on the Nuclear Crisis in Japan (green.blogs.nytimes.com)

Jonathan Franzen’s 10 Rules of Writing (via 101 Books)

For all my writer friends, here is a repost of a great article. Great tips to help us all.

Last week, I posted about George Orwell's rules for writing, so while I'm finishing book #12: The Corrections I thought this would be a great opportunity to check out what Jonathan Franzen has to say on the subject. This list came from The Guardian: The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator. Fiction that isn't an author's personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn't worth writing for anything but money. Never use t … Read More

via 101 Books

Japan Braces For Nuclear Meltdown

Image via Wikipedia Tsunami wall at Tsu-shi, Japan

Japan hit by the worst earthquake in 100 years that moved the country 8 feet, then a 23 foot Tsunami and now a possible nuclear Meltdown from its reactors.

Food shortages, water shortages, rescues need to be made from people on top of collapsed homes, and more devastating news about possible radiation leaking.

When we talk about things being bad in our lives, take a moment and think about the people in Japan. They are barely hanging on to life, we have nothing in our lives to even compare to what they are coping with minute to minute.

In my Toastmasters4Writers club, one of my members, Laura Crockett, a gifted writer,  likes to point out how we all use words that are often misused.

Yesterday, she pointed out that we can not imagine the devastation of Japan.  Hawaii  and Crescent City  had some damage, but their damage was minor compared to Japan.

As writers, it is our mission to use the proper words to correctly describe situations. Japan is a historic disaster, that will take years  maybe decades to over come.  Hawaii’s loss might take a few months, and Crescent City a year or two, but Japan’s loss is immense.

My heart and prayers are still with the Japanese people as they struggle to meet their horrendous challenges.

I hope that all the nations send help to them and to New Zealand who also experienced a devastating earthquake one year  to the day from the one that hit Christchurch that destroyed their community.

For those of us here in the United States, we can not comprehend this devastation, but we can give and pray for those who are in the midst of coping with life in a tragedy.

Related Articles

• For battered Japan, a new threat: nuclear meltdown (ajc.com)