We can only hope that "FOX and Friends" Brian Kilmeade made a serious word choice error. If he did not, then he needs some lessons in biology.
On Wednesday morning's "FOX and Friends" Kilmeade was discussing a study done in Sweden and Finland that showed couples who stayed married were less likely to develop Alzheimer's.
The study was done to show the health benefits of remaining in relationships. However, Kilmeade completely missed the point. He said that this study does not apply to Americans because "we marry other species." Therefore the reason Swedes and Finns are healthier is because "they have a pure society."
I wasn't aware that marrying other species was LEGAL in the United States, Kilmeade, because that would involve humans marrying other animals like goats, pigs, and fish. Does he believe people of different races are different species?
Honestly, why was he not forced to apologize for his word choice?
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
When Do We Stop Playing Nice?
When is "playing nice" detrimental to us?
A friend of mine wrote a note listing all the things that really bothered her that she has spent years saying didn't bother her. She wrote about how bothered she is by the number of her friends marrying, by seeing photos of parties that she wasn't invited to, by writing off her nightmares as just bad dreams. I responded with a small list of my own.
How often do we tell people that something is ok when it really bothers us? It seems to me that women especially fall prey to these white lies. We are taught from a very young age to play nice. We have to be polite. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.
These things sit on our chests for years. Is there something wrong or rude about saying "I don't like this" or "I don't want to do this"? I'll use an example. It really bothers me that one of my friends gripes on about how awful my boyfriend must be and what a louse he is because he doesn't have a job. I'm getting to a point of explosion because I can't tell her to just bugger off, and that she has no right to judge him. Doesn't she know there is a huge recession and even wait staff jobs are hard to find?
So do I just tell her to shut up because it's bothering me? Or do I keep quiet and listen to the "wisdom" of my elders (she is older than me)?
What does being polite get us anymore?
A friend of mine wrote a note listing all the things that really bothered her that she has spent years saying didn't bother her. She wrote about how bothered she is by the number of her friends marrying, by seeing photos of parties that she wasn't invited to, by writing off her nightmares as just bad dreams. I responded with a small list of my own.
How often do we tell people that something is ok when it really bothers us? It seems to me that women especially fall prey to these white lies. We are taught from a very young age to play nice. We have to be polite. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.
These things sit on our chests for years. Is there something wrong or rude about saying "I don't like this" or "I don't want to do this"? I'll use an example. It really bothers me that one of my friends gripes on about how awful my boyfriend must be and what a louse he is because he doesn't have a job. I'm getting to a point of explosion because I can't tell her to just bugger off, and that she has no right to judge him. Doesn't she know there is a huge recession and even wait staff jobs are hard to find?
So do I just tell her to shut up because it's bothering me? Or do I keep quiet and listen to the "wisdom" of my elders (she is older than me)?
What does being polite get us anymore?
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Citizen B's Favorite News: Supreme Court Rules Strip-Searching 13-year-old Girl Unconstitutional
After six years, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that when school officials forced then 13-year-old Savana Redding to strip down to her underwear so they could search her underwear for suspected prescription drugs they violated her Fourth Amendment rights.
The two school officials (both women, by the way) insisted that a student told them Savana carried prescription strength drugs on her to school. The "prescription-strength drugs" they were referring to were prescription strength ibuprofen. In other words, these school officials were looking for some strong Advil.
Savana was told to strip down and shake out her underwear in search for the pills which were never found.
The Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 (Justice Clarence Thomas found the search legal) that Savana's right to privacy was compromised and further violated by having school officials strip her down without a permit or suspicion that the "drugs" were harmful or dangerous to the school.
While the district strongly prohibits prescription and over-the-counter drugs in school, isn't this going a little too far? What are you going to do next, take away the inhaler from the asthmatic kid? Or maybe forbid the diabetic kid from having his insulin?
Furthermore, could it be legal for school officials (not police with a warrant) to strip search ANY student for any reason?
(I might also remind people that a former colleague of Justice Thomas named Anita Hill testified that he sexually harassed her at work. Two other female colleagues made the same complaints.)
The two school officials (both women, by the way) insisted that a student told them Savana carried prescription strength drugs on her to school. The "prescription-strength drugs" they were referring to were prescription strength ibuprofen. In other words, these school officials were looking for some strong Advil.
Savana was told to strip down and shake out her underwear in search for the pills which were never found.
The Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 (Justice Clarence Thomas found the search legal) that Savana's right to privacy was compromised and further violated by having school officials strip her down without a permit or suspicion that the "drugs" were harmful or dangerous to the school.
While the district strongly prohibits prescription and over-the-counter drugs in school, isn't this going a little too far? What are you going to do next, take away the inhaler from the asthmatic kid? Or maybe forbid the diabetic kid from having his insulin?
Furthermore, could it be legal for school officials (not police with a warrant) to strip search ANY student for any reason?
(I might also remind people that a former colleague of Justice Thomas named Anita Hill testified that he sexually harassed her at work. Two other female colleagues made the same complaints.)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
No, My Face Is Not On Fire
So my Facebook status quoting Madeleine Kahn in Clue apparently didn't go over well.
Writing "flames FLAMES on the side of my face..." earned me several emails and messages asking if I had been burned. Was it acid? Was it an accident? Had I stayed in the sun too long?
While trying for the umpteenth time this morning to fix our satellite, I walked back to my office after receiving a signal only to find it had gone out again when I got back. A coworker and I had a good laugh, and I said "I'm so angry. SO angry..." And the thus the quoting begin. So I posted that as my status, as that was indeed my feeling at the time.
What's more when I clarified that I had not been burned, but was quoting the film, I was rebuked and chastised. How dare I worry them and cry fire when I had not been burnt.
I believe I have seen presidential death threats on status messages that received less attention. I have written "has a gran coat on and a cake on her head" and no one assumed that I was suddenly senile wearing a large coat and pastries.
Oddly enough, I've written this same message on my status before and received "haha, love that movie" and "I was so angry SO angry...breath...heaving breaths..."
Am I honest to God the only person in the world who has seen this movie?????
Writing "flames FLAMES on the side of my face..." earned me several emails and messages asking if I had been burned. Was it acid? Was it an accident? Had I stayed in the sun too long?
While trying for the umpteenth time this morning to fix our satellite, I walked back to my office after receiving a signal only to find it had gone out again when I got back. A coworker and I had a good laugh, and I said "I'm so angry. SO angry..." And the thus the quoting begin. So I posted that as my status, as that was indeed my feeling at the time.
What's more when I clarified that I had not been burned, but was quoting the film, I was rebuked and chastised. How dare I worry them and cry fire when I had not been burnt.
I believe I have seen presidential death threats on status messages that received less attention. I have written "has a gran coat on and a cake on her head" and no one assumed that I was suddenly senile wearing a large coat and pastries.
Oddly enough, I've written this same message on my status before and received "haha, love that movie" and "I was so angry SO angry...breath...heaving breaths..."
Am I honest to God the only person in the world who has seen this movie?????
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Meet your Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great...
Scientists revealed what could be the "missing link" in human evolution today.
Her name is Ida, and she is 47-million years old. While her skeleton looks closer to that of a lemur than a person's, but she is unlike any other primate-family fossil ever discovered. She had a long tail and was covered with fur, but she had a talus bone in her feet (like a person's) and she had nails, not claws. Unlike lemurs, she doesn't have a "grooming claw" on her feet, nor does she have a fused tooth on her lower jaw. At only 3 feet long, she has short arms and legs. She also had forward facing eyes like a person, giving her 3D vision and depth perception.
Unlike other ancient human fossils, Ida was recovered from a mile-wide crater in Germany. Her bones were first dug up in 1983. The people who excavated her divided her bones into two sets, fabricated the rest of the skeleton and sold the pieces separately. One part ended up in Wyoming, where Jens L. Frazen recognized the fraud. Rejoined with her original bones, Ida has been in the University of Oslo Natural History for the last two years. 95% complete, she is the most complete ancient human relative ever found.
Her name is Ida, and she is 47-million years old. While her skeleton looks closer to that of a lemur than a person's, but she is unlike any other primate-family fossil ever discovered. She had a long tail and was covered with fur, but she had a talus bone in her feet (like a person's) and she had nails, not claws. Unlike lemurs, she doesn't have a "grooming claw" on her feet, nor does she have a fused tooth on her lower jaw. At only 3 feet long, she has short arms and legs. She also had forward facing eyes like a person, giving her 3D vision and depth perception.
Unlike other ancient human fossils, Ida was recovered from a mile-wide crater in Germany. Her bones were first dug up in 1983. The people who excavated her divided her bones into two sets, fabricated the rest of the skeleton and sold the pieces separately. One part ended up in Wyoming, where Jens L. Frazen recognized the fraud. Rejoined with her original bones, Ida has been in the University of Oslo Natural History for the last two years. 95% complete, she is the most complete ancient human relative ever found.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Citizen B's Woman of the Week: Indra Nooyi
Amidst the economic disaster, there are a few companies looking to their new leadership to weather the storm. On Fortune 500's list of top companies a surprising number of female CEOs are pulling in top dollars for their businesses in this market. Today, I've picked PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi as my woman of the week.
Indra Nooyi came to the United States from India in 1978 to get an M.B.A. at Yale University, much to the disappointment of her parents. This former cricket player and karaoke enthusiast earned a job at PepsiCo as a chief strategist. Her plan was to get PepsiCo off their soda-habit and onto healthy foods. She engineered PepsiCo's purchase of Tropicana and Quaker Oats (who owns Gatorade, by the way.) The company dropped KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and profits showed she had made the right choice.
When she was picked to replace CEO Steve Reinemund in 2006, she went to the other top candidate and asked him to stay on as her right hand, increasing his salary. As PepsiCo's "caring CEO" she has also pledged that the company will become more sustainable, using wind and solar power in their plants and producing more fruit juice and healthy snacks, and launch a public service campaign to fight obesity. It shows that a multi-billion dollar enterprise once so reviled for its practices and presence can turn itself around and still make a profit at the end of the day. "We bring together what is good for business with what is good for the world."
And running a major company hasn't made her lose her spirit either. She still calls her mother in India twice a day. She raises two daughters, and still sings karaoke for her employees at company events.
Indra Nooyi came to the United States from India in 1978 to get an M.B.A. at Yale University, much to the disappointment of her parents. This former cricket player and karaoke enthusiast earned a job at PepsiCo as a chief strategist. Her plan was to get PepsiCo off their soda-habit and onto healthy foods. She engineered PepsiCo's purchase of Tropicana and Quaker Oats (who owns Gatorade, by the way.) The company dropped KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and profits showed she had made the right choice.
When she was picked to replace CEO Steve Reinemund in 2006, she went to the other top candidate and asked him to stay on as her right hand, increasing his salary. As PepsiCo's "caring CEO" she has also pledged that the company will become more sustainable, using wind and solar power in their plants and producing more fruit juice and healthy snacks, and launch a public service campaign to fight obesity. It shows that a multi-billion dollar enterprise once so reviled for its practices and presence can turn itself around and still make a profit at the end of the day. "We bring together what is good for business with what is good for the world."
And running a major company hasn't made her lose her spirit either. She still calls her mother in India twice a day. She raises two daughters, and still sings karaoke for her employees at company events.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Citizen B's Happy News: Church Congregation Pays for Homeless Couple's Wedding
This is a story that I found really touching.
Nhiahni Chestnut and Dante White exchanged vows in the Grace Episcopal Church in Washington, DC's upscale Georgetown neighborhood. They ate chocolate cake, danced to "Take the A-Train" and took off for their honeymoon at the Key Bridge Marriot Hotel in Virginia.
After the honeymoon, the couple heads back to the DC streets where they live. Both Nhiahni and Dante are homeless.
The couple met at the Grace Episcopal Church's Bible study and meals program. White has been living on the street since he was thrown out of his mother's house when he was 14. With little education, he's had a hard time finding a job and an even harder time finding love.
Nhiahni herself had struggled with keeping her life afloat after her drug and alcohol abuse problems left her on the street. She says that when she met Dante everything just clicked, and the two starting hanging out.
After nine years of dating, the couple wanted to marry. The parishioners were enthusiastic about the idea and each took up the cost for parts of the ceremony- the rings, the dress, the tux, the cake, and the flowers. One churchgoer even paid for the honeymoon.
The members of Grace Episcopal Church are looking out for this couple. They want to find affordable housing for the newlyweds. They are currently getting together money for a security deposit on an apartment and a few other things to help the couple set up a home.
I hear a lot of people say that the homeless are homeless by choice; they don't want to work. They are lazy. Especially right now I don't believe that this is true. In the case of this couple, Dante was left to fend for himself at 14, which I'd assume kills opportunities for education or work experience. Most of the newly homeless are families, a trend that is growing across the country. Schools are taking on the role of social workers, giving kids basic necessities and meals twice a day.
There are incredible stories of people who persevere through homelessness to achieve great success, such as Jeannette Walls an MSNBC journalist whose parents were transients while she was growing up, or Chris Gardner who was homeless raising his son, and on whose life the movie The Pursuit of Happyness is based.
It makes me happy that the congregation of Grace Church not only pulled off a wedding for this couple, but is looking for a home for them. That is a real show of Christian charity to me, although I wish they could find employment, training, or education for the pair.
Nhiahni Chestnut and Dante White exchanged vows in the Grace Episcopal Church in Washington, DC's upscale Georgetown neighborhood. They ate chocolate cake, danced to "Take the A-Train" and took off for their honeymoon at the Key Bridge Marriot Hotel in Virginia.
After the honeymoon, the couple heads back to the DC streets where they live. Both Nhiahni and Dante are homeless.
The couple met at the Grace Episcopal Church's Bible study and meals program. White has been living on the street since he was thrown out of his mother's house when he was 14. With little education, he's had a hard time finding a job and an even harder time finding love.
Nhiahni herself had struggled with keeping her life afloat after her drug and alcohol abuse problems left her on the street. She says that when she met Dante everything just clicked, and the two starting hanging out.
After nine years of dating, the couple wanted to marry. The parishioners were enthusiastic about the idea and each took up the cost for parts of the ceremony- the rings, the dress, the tux, the cake, and the flowers. One churchgoer even paid for the honeymoon.
The members of Grace Episcopal Church are looking out for this couple. They want to find affordable housing for the newlyweds. They are currently getting together money for a security deposit on an apartment and a few other things to help the couple set up a home.
I hear a lot of people say that the homeless are homeless by choice; they don't want to work. They are lazy. Especially right now I don't believe that this is true. In the case of this couple, Dante was left to fend for himself at 14, which I'd assume kills opportunities for education or work experience. Most of the newly homeless are families, a trend that is growing across the country. Schools are taking on the role of social workers, giving kids basic necessities and meals twice a day.
There are incredible stories of people who persevere through homelessness to achieve great success, such as Jeannette Walls an MSNBC journalist whose parents were transients while she was growing up, or Chris Gardner who was homeless raising his son, and on whose life the movie The Pursuit of Happyness is based.
It makes me happy that the congregation of Grace Church not only pulled off a wedding for this couple, but is looking for a home for them. That is a real show of Christian charity to me, although I wish they could find employment, training, or education for the pair.
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