By Giulia Rozzi  

And the winner is Vice Magazine and their discussion of Purity Balls “If anyone should own your flower, shouldn’t it be your mum? She pushed you out of hers after all. Why not have a Mom and Daughter Ball?”

Indeed. I mean how “pure” is it to discuss your sexually activities or lack there of with your pops? Further more, how “pure” is it to then dance the night away with your pops after said discussion. And finally how “pure” do we really think all these chaste girls remain?

This purity ball is being hosted by an organization that when you click the “STD education page” it provides links to abstinence sights. Is that really educational information regarding STD’s? What happens when daddy’s little girl finds herself in the heat of moment completely oblivious to the concept of safe sex, condoms or any birth control methods?

The Father Daughter Purity Ball site explains “Fathers, set this time aside to just be there for her and make her feel like the princess that she is. Maybe she has already made a commitment, maybe she has broken her commitment, or this could be the first time she has really thought about making this commitment. ”

Princess? Whatever happen to birthday party tiaras and dress-up time tulle skirts to fulfill her princess desires? Or maybe she doesn’t want to be a princess? Maybe she wants to be a lawyer or a basketball player?

And maybe she broken the commitment?! You mean these purity balls don’t guarantee 100% pre-martial virginity? No! You mean to say teenage girls lie to their parents about their sex lives? You mean to say that teenage girls actually disobey their parents wishes to remain virgins? No way!

Look I’m not promoting or condoning young girls having sex, but I am a strong believer in education, which includes sexual education. But really, go on, tango the evening away as you celebrate your daughters forced decision to “celebrate her body with God.”

By Kerry Trueman

Scientific American gives us a rather drastic example of the ol’ “good news, bad news” routine today.

First, the bad news: an apocalyptic “Beyond the Worst Case Climate Change Scenario” which says, in essence, that our collective global goose may already be cooked.

But, just in case it’s not, they give us “Ten possibilities for staving off catastrophic climate change.” The recurring theme? Cut back on consumption, whether by biking to work, giving up meat, or having just one kid, as Bill McKibben advocated in his 1998 book Maybe One: A Personal and Environmental Argument for Single Child Families.

Or, if that kind of sacrifice doesn’t appeal to you, you could go a bit further back, to satirist Jonathan Swift’s modest proposal, which offers a way to have as much meat”and kids”as we can eat. One thing’s for sure; we’ve gotta stop cannibalizing the planet.

Go to Scientific American’s 10 Solutions for Climate Change to see what you can do to lower our planet’s temperature.

By Kerry Trueman

We’ve been hemorrhaging blue collar jobs in the U.S. for decades now, and the loss of good-paying factory work has decimated our middle class. But a provision in the energy bill currently before Congress could help create a whole new generation of “green-collar” jobs that would revive our local economies while weaning us off fossil fuels.

The provision calls for “generating 15 percent of America’s electricity from alternative sources by 2020,” and it would create thousands of manufacturing jobs at good wages in the alternative-energy sector. The free market’s all well and good, but this just goes to show that sometimes, it takes a little legislative action to light a fire under capitalism’s ass. Here’s hoping the provision passes.

For a list of “green-collar” jobs check sustainablebusiness.com.

By Kerry Trueman

Most of us turn on our faucets without giving a thought to where the water’s coming from, but that’s about to change for residents of Orange County. Starting this Friday, the Orange County Water District is launching a new system to recycle wastewater, in collaboration with the county’s sanitation district.

The process is sometimes called “toilet to tap,” and with water shortages increasingly more common across the country, we may have to swallow the fact that we can no longer afford to simply flush all that water away.

By Giulia RozziIs it any wonder that Wonder Woman comics should always be written by a woman? I mean, WW is a chick. A cool, strong, ass-kicking chick who deserves a cool, strong, ass-kicking writer to infuse her with womanly words. Enter Gail Simone a hair-stylist turned comic book writer and the first to continuously write for the brunette heroine. She landed the gig after creating “Women in Refrigerators,” an online site focused on the injustices experienced by female comic-book characters. Read more about Ms. Simone in today’s New York Times.

Who has college loans? I do, I do…The cost of higher education is on a never-ending rise. And according to Professor Richard Vedder at Ohio University, not only does it cost significantly more educate a college student today when compared to a generation ago but in general Universities are becoming less and less efficient.And of course, the folks who normally study these things, University researchers and professors, are hesitant to criticize the system that hands them their checks and travel grants. Their students on the other hand (the ones without parents with extra cash) are racking up huge amounts of debt just to get a college education. Not to mention trying to steer clear of evil credit card companies that are doing everything they can to sign up unsuspecting kids…And debt follows you wherever you go — just ask James Scurlock, director of Maxed Out :

By Giulia Rozzi

Looks like the higher-ups at Palm Beach Community College believe that pets deserve more benefits that domestic partners.

According to PBCC the reason that employees pets rather than thier domestic partners have health insurance is due to fear of increased costs of future benefits (I don’t get it either) and not because of any homosexual discrimination. None the less many are outraged by this logic and are calling upon college officials to reconsider this decision.

By Kerry Trueman

With Christmas just a month away, parents are avoiding the Made in China label not only for the toys they’re buying their kids, but for the Christmas trees those gifts will be tucked under. North America’s small Christmas tree farmers are hoping for a big boost in sales thanks to a renewed interest in trees that aren’t manufactured from plastic half a world away.

China produces 85% of the world’s fake Christmas trees, most of which are made out of PVC, aka polyvinyl chloride. Some fake trees have been found to shed lead dust, too, according to the Maine Christmas Tree Association, which notes that the “average family uses an artificial, non-biodegradable tree for only six to nine years before throwing it away.”

I wonder, do those discarded trees ever find themselves reunited with some of the flimsy, schlocky stuff that once sat under them in happier days? Kind of a modern day version of Rudolph’s Island of Misfit Toys: The Landfill of Cast-Off Crap.

The cover of the most recent US Weekly features a pic of a young Britney Spears with the headline “Britney’s Twisted Childhood.” It’s just one of many Britney focused gossip rag headlines that seem to flood every print, Internet and television outlet. Seems it’s not enough to stalk, dissect, criticize, sensationalize, and destroy an adult Britney Spears so now the tabloids are going to relentlessly tear-apart her childhood.Are we so very bored and miserable that we need to focus on someone elses life to own lives? I mean every single move this woman makes is a news flash! Every damn move. Just type her name into Google News and you’ll be bombarded with reports ranging from how she lost weight to when she lost her virginity.
Actually, don’t Google her. Please, go hang out with your child or grandparents or donate your old coats to the homeless. Go for a walk. Go bake cookies. Go do anything but partake the Brittney bashing syndrome.Just today VH1’s Best Week Ever blog noted the earth shattering US Weekly report that, gasp, Brittney ran three stop signs! Yes, Brittney ran three stop signs as she was trying to drive away from paparazzi!I fear for Britney’s life.
Really, she is obviously going through a rough time and it’s been made increasingly harder by the soulless jerks who barbarically chase her with cameras, the TV “news” anchors who “report” on her appearance, parenting skills, dietary habits, sexual activity and everything in between, the bloggers who anonymously verbally pick her apart as though she were raw meat thrown to heartless wolves, and by anyone who buys, watches, read and contributes to the destruction of this human being. Yes in case you forgot, Britney Spears in a human being. 
While Cris Crockers videos are skin-crawling annoying, I do chant a similar plea to please, leave Britney alone.
And kudos to Ms Spears on her latest ( and I must admit, catchy) tune Piece of Me in which she sings:I’m Mrs. “ËœYou want a piece of me? ‘Tryin’ and pissin’ me off. Well get in line with the paparazzi.Who’s flippin’ me off Hopin’ I’ll resort to some havoc End up settlin’ in court Now are you sure you want a piece of me? (you wan’ a piece of me…)I’m Mrs. “ËœMost likely to get on the TV for slippin’ on the streets’ When getting the groceries, not for real..Are you kidding me? No wonder there’s panic in the industryI mean, please, do you want a piece of me?

by Kerry Trueman

The Interfaith Power and Light movement, a coalition of Southern churches, is seeking to inspire its flock to be better stewards of the land. Some churches are screening “An Inconvenient Truth” to their congregations while others are conducting workshops that encourage churchgoers to calculate their carbon footprint and pledge to reduce it by 10%.

The movement is spreading throughout the South as more evangelicals begin to embrace environmental issues. Finally, a faith-based initiative that doesn’t rely on turning a blind eye to science. Hallelujah!