Strollerderby : united states

Breaking News - New Jersey Dad Wins Brazilian Custody Case

Brett Singer — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:37:00 GMT

This is a strange story but the ending appears to be a happy one.

The details, from CNN:

- Sean's parents divorced and mom moved him to Brazil in 2004

- Mom died in childbirth in 2008, leaving Sean with stepfather

- Sean Goldman, 8, to be turned over to U.S. Consulate on Wednesday

Hilary Clinton even referred to the case yesterday, which is unusual. But so is the story itself.

If you want to get depressed before you get happy, read this letter that Sean's father, David Goldman, wrote at BringSeanHome.org. There's even ('natch) a Facebook group, with over 40,000 members. One more from the "get angry before you get happy" file: Sean's stepdad's lawyer compared the decision to allow Sean to return to the United States with being sent to a "Nazi concentration camp," according to a post in that Facebook group.

David Goldman is supposed to arrive in Rio de Janeiro this morning to pick up his son. Something tells me he won't be all that interested in sight-seeing.

Source: CNN

UPDATE: President Obama Issues Statement About Dr. George Tiller

Babble Talk Radio Live - Friday May 29 - Listen Here

Best of FameCrawler: Week of November 7th

Whit Honea — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Obama Elected 44th President of the United States!

Brooke Burke Says She's Married...More Kids, Please!

Sarah Palin Gets Crank Pranked But Good (Video! And Palin Response! GOD THIS IS FUN!)

Jemaine Clement Has A Son

Rahm Emanuel is Now Part of Barack Obama's Entourage (Photos)

Colbert, Stewart and Obama: The Tears of a Clown(s)

Brad Pitt's Parents Don't Want to See Angelina's Boobs

Is Taylor Swift Pregnant?

Salma Hayek Is A Thief

Did A Celebrity Convince You To Vote?

Michelle Obama is a Work of Art

Baby Brother For Suri Cruise?

Scientific Reasons Not to Hit Your Kids–Ever

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:29:00 GMT

The majority of parents raise their hands to their children from time to time. And the vast majority of people who physically punish their kids are loving, devoted parents. They don’t see anything wrong with spanking or slapping their kids, and this view is all but condoned by our society. This makes sense: a quick slap or a spanking is bound to stop misbehavior in the moment.

But, as the child psychiatrist Alan E. Kadzin argues, corporal punishment not only does not permanently change behavior; it actually increases aggressive and noncompliant behavior in the long run. And children who are hit by their parents are also more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, to do poorly in school, and to have strained relationships with their parents. That’s a whole lot of good reasons not to ever raise your hands to your children, especially since corporal punishment is likely to become increasingly severe and frequent over time.

Unfortunately, these clear scientific findings are not enough to change parents’ behavior. 85 percent of adolescents have been corporally punished by their parents. This high number may be partly explained by studies finding that people who are confident in their parenting abilities are impervious to science that goes against their parenting style. So when society says that hitting children is okay, and a parent finds that hitting stops a child from talking back in that moment, the parent is unlikely to listen to a psychologist claiming that hitting doesn’t work.

Societal thinking must change before parents’ views on corporal punishment change. In 23 countries, it is illegal for parents to hit their children, and parents in these countries are, not surprisingly, more likely to view physical punishment unfavorably. In the United States, however, the prevailing wisdom is that parents have the right to discipline their children as they see fit, within certain obvious limits. But, as Kadzin argues, if it’s illegal for an adult to hit another adult, why should it be okay for adults to hit the smallest, most defenseless people?

Interestingly, and disturbingly, the United States is one of only two countries that has not ratified the U.N.’s Convention on the Rights of Children. The obvious argument against ratification is that it would infringe on parents’ rights, since it forbids violence against children, even in the home. But the less obvious argument is that it would prevent 17-year-olds from entering the armed forces.

I don't think science has a fighting chance of defeating that brand of national wisdom.

Image: bible.ca

America's Main Problem? Men Are Oppressed

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:58:00 GMT

Normally I’m not one to draw more attention to the Ann Coulters of the world—people who get famous by writing books making the most inane, controversial arguments they can think of. But this Jezebel rant on one such book is so much fun, I’d thought I’d share.

I believe Kathleen Parker's intelligence level is pretty clear from the book cover pictured. The provocative subtitle, mysteriously written in all lower case letters, is, "why men matter; why women should care." Unfortunately, this is not a witty spoof of the most ridiculous book topic ever. Parker actually believes that America’s problems are due to the fact that men are oppressed. And by oppressed, she means not able to learn male-centric history in school, to be free of contact with the hate-filled female sex until they’re 30-years-old, and even sometimes forced to do housework.

Parker credits her two sons with teaching her about how sexist the United States—unlike Thailand, which is clearly the epitome of gender paradise. What lucky boys her sons are.

Photo: RealClearPolitics

DVD Review: Our Country, USA to Z

Brett Singer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:00:00 GMT

With July 4th coming up in a couple of days, many of us are feeling patriotic. But in our current political climate, patriotism can be a highly charged topic. Personally, I think you should be able to love your country without buying into the ideology of a particular person or political party. More "celebrate what's great about America" and less "keep the immigrants out."

"Our Country, USA to Z" (Team Baby Entertainment) is more the former than the latter. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg in her usual slightly sleepy-voiced style, this is (mostly) politics-free patriotism.

The disc opens with a relatively painless song (performed by John Lennon Songwriting Award winner Joe McDermot) about our nation and how good it is, with shots of cute babies dancing around. Football, kids, cities, Native Americans, Statue of Liberty – pretty straightforward stuff, pleasantly presented.

Then come the letters. (The chapters on the DVD, available in the main menu, are helpfully split up by letter so you can skip around if you need to.) A is for America (duh), B is for Bell, as in "Liberty Bell," C is for Columbus (with no mention of Native Americans), D is for Diveristy, and so on. My favorite segment was J, which is of course for Jazz. Whoopi should do a whole DVD for kids on the history of jazz. M is for Military was a little weird, but kids will like the trucks and Coast Guard boats. There is a slightly right-of-center leaning revealed (I think) in the choice of "great presidents" (the letter P, of course): George Washington, Abraham Lincoln (a "civil war hero", no mention of freeing the slaves), Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. It's not a huge deal, but I'm guessing that the Democratic version of this disc might not mention ol' RR in this grouping.

There is a teeny amount of suspense when you watch "USA to Z" for the first time – what the heck are they going to do for X, for example? Since K was for King (as in Martin Luther King), I thought maybe we'd get Malcolm X, but they went with Railroad Crossing, which is a little lame, but at least features subways as well as railroads. Then there's "Road Trip," another original tune with a nice montage of video from the 50 states. These include cities as well as purple mountains majesty and amber waves of grain, something that, as a lifelong city dweller, I always appreciate. As always, there are cute kids of various colors and creeds bouncing around.

"Our Country, USA to Z" is a little different from the DVDs that Team Baby Entertainment typically puts out. Most of their content (which I've never seen) seems to be geared towards indoctrinating young children in the ways of sports fandom – Mets Baby, St. Louis Cardinals Baby, Red Sox Baby World Series Edition narrated by Ben Affleck (ouch, that was hard to type – guess who my favorite team is?), and of course, Yankees Baby, which I've never seen but is of course the best of the bunch (that would be my team.)

For the most part, this relatively short DVD is cute, harmless patriotism that does a decent job of including the different types of people and places that make up the United States of America. There is no mention of more controversial topics – Native Americans, slavery – but it is geared towards very young children; 2 or 3-year-olds is about right in my view. "Our Country, USA to Z" is educational, colorful, and doesn't go too far to the right. And when it does skew a little bit more Red State than Blue, that's tempered by the presence of the Whoopster's narration. Whoever hired her deserves a big, fat all-American raise.

image: Team Baby Entertainment

Strollerderby : united states

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America's Main Problem? Men Are Oppressed

DVD Review: Our Country, USA to Z

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