Bridging the gendered toy gap

NEW STATESMAN, Glosswitch usually nails it: 'We are happy to allow girls to indulge in equality make-believe every now and then (check out these pink NERF guns!), just as long as boys are not being unmanned by insufficiently boisterous play (indeed, it has reached a stage where some parents might even question whether a boy who likes Disney princesses, Hello Kitty and My Little Pony can be a boy at all). It is as though girls, preparing for a life of flexible multi-tasking, must bend to different roles, whereas boys must remain static and fixed. Gender liberation itself is run along strictly gendered lines.'

Zara's Star of David Shirt

After complaints, the Spanish clothing retailer Zara have removed a pajama top with the Star of David from their children's collection.

If there's one thing....

‎"If there's one thing we can all agree on: We want to end the violence that breaks all our hearts." - Sen. Patrick Leahy, a dek quote on the front page of today's Burlington Free Press. He was not talking about the Children Killed by American Drones.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

These PS 122 5th graders from Astoria, Queens chose to study fluoridation as a class research project. At a rally with Queens councilor Peter Vallone in Manhattan last Tuesday, they urged the New York City Council to stop endangering their health by adding fluoride chemicals into their bodies via the water supply. (See this link with video.) No one asked them, they said. Any legislator who claims they can't understand fluoridation isn't as smart as a fifth grader who does her homework!

Etan Patz

Authorities in New York City have closed off a street in SoHo, one of the trendiest consumerist shopping areas in the world, to search for a child who disappeared nearly thirty years ago. (Link: New York Daily News.) The media would have us believe that this displays America's regard for human life. Then I think immediately about our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Photo credit: Bryan Smith for The New York Daily News.

They did know!

A chilling report from Radio Netherlands Worldwide. The RC church hierarchy knew about the sexual abuse of children in the late 1950s by priests and workers in church run homes and institutions which continued into the 1960s and 70s - and failed to act. The excuse has been that they didn't know anything about it.   New evidence - a letter  in the church archives, written in 1958, reveals that they did know.  And church authorities did act - they took a conscious decision not to do anything to remove the offending priests and workers in the homes.  It was more about protecting the clergy rather than the children!

"You've got to be carefully taught..."

While Vermont hosted children of 3 faiths from Israel and Palestine - last week they attended a 10 day "Kids4Peace Camp" with Vermont children at Rock Point in Burlington - Max Blumenthal reported (in depth, with photos - taken by Ata Abu Madyam of Arab Negev News) on Israeli high schoolers who have helped demolish a Bedouin village of Al-Arakib, as part of their summer service indoctrination.

It is not hard to imagine what lessons the high school students who participated in the leveling of al-Arakib took from their experience, nor is it especially difficult to predict what sort of citizens they will become once they reach adulthood. Not only are they being indoctrinated to swear blind allegiance to the military, they are learning to treat the Arab outclass as less than human...

[T]he scenes from al-Arakib, from the demolished homes to the uprooted gardens to the grinning teens who joined the mayhem, can be viewed as much more than the destruction of a village. They are snapshots of the phenomenon that is laying Israeli society as a whole to waste.

Other blogger/reporters have commented on Max's story, too: Mondoweiss; PULSE (cross-posted), Helena Cobban. I doubt NPR and other corporate press in the USA would cover this as much as Max has. I first read this when I saw Max had posted it on his Facebook. While there are more horrendous actions in Palestine/Gaza for sure, this was not pleasant to read while eating dinner!

Everyday Exposure to Pesticides Linked to Hyperactivity

Beyond Pesticides, May 18, 2010:

A team of scientists from the University of Montreal and Harvard University have discovered that exposure to organophosphate pesticides is associated with increased risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the study focused on 1,139 children from the general U.S. population and measured pesticide breakdown product levels in their urine. The authors conclude that exposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides, at levels common among U.S. children, may contribute to a diagnosis of ADHD.

“Previous studies have shown that exposure to some organophosphate compounds cause hyperactivity and cognitive deficits in animals,” says lead author Maryse F. Bouchard, a professor at the University of Montreal Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and scientist at the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center. “Our study found that exposure to organophosphates in developing children might have effects on neural systems and could contribute to ADHD behaviors, such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.” Marc Weisskopf, PhD, ScD, another study author told Reuters, “What this paper specifically highlights is that this may be true even at low concentrations.”... MORE

Surveillance Cameras: You Are Never Alone

If George Orwell were alive, what would he write?

"It’s hard to adjust to the idea that cities — New York in particular,and Times Square most of all — are now places where unseen watchers canmonitor your every move." - City Critic, New York Times

And... who knew? The Burlington school board's Policy and Advocacy committee

"is currently writing the district’s policy on the use of surveillance cameras in schools."

(I've not seen any local media coverage about this.) Your tax dollars at work indeed, treating children as criminals. But hell, it's business-as-usual in our schools. The little buggers are groomed anyway, to be passive and unquestioning automatons, to accept being monitored by the surveillance cameras of businesses on Church Street (the major pedestrian shopping district in Burlington).

Look at this ACLU link (my emphasis in bold):

Camera surveillance systems also inevitably raise issues of racial profiling and voyeurism. Everyone has heard of the camera operators who zoom in upon women's breasts or police officers who used infrared video surveillance equipment to watch a couple engaged in romantic activity.

The bottom line is: Are cameras worth the cost in terms of money and civil liberties? Cities and states are still wasting limited security budget dollars on camera surveillance systems. In the last five years, the US Department of Homeland Security had handed out about $300 million in grants for camera surveillance systems. These funds could have gone toward hiring more experienced police officers, improving equipment for first-responders so that they can be ready to help in cases of emergency or other such security needs.

And consider the civil liberty costs of video surveillance systems. Video surveillance technology will only grow more sophisticated. There will come a day when the cameras will be routinely linked with other technologies in attempt to instantly identify you and me via face recognition, RFIDs, or other technologies. Do we want a society where an innocent individual can't walk down the street without being considered a potential criminal? Do we want a society where people are comfortable with constant surveillance?

Recommended video (Quicktime): Its Eyes, filmed on location in New York's Chelsea Market and Harlem - treating "surveillance cameras as a biological organism slowly taking control of our urban space."

The Men's Club

From Religion Dispatches, a thoughtful analysis: "An Unholy Holy Week: Is the All-Male Rule of the Roman Catholic Church
Self-Destructing?"

'In fact, the all-male rule of the Roman Catholic Church is self-destructing. Ordained men from priests to the Pope are proving that it wasn’t a good idea to leave church governance to an old boys’ network. They have been focused on forgiving each other and covering up crimes “to avoid scandal”—that is, to protect each other, their power, and the church’s wealth.'

Oh yes, hiding behind that clerical collar. My ex, who's a PK, always complained about that! This also happens to a certain extent within some Protestant denominations and certainly within the Anglican Communion (with a smattering of women clergy, it's still a white men's club), whose leaderships remain unaccountable and self-protecting!

GAZA WAR CRIMES: USE OF HUMAN SHIELDS

“They would make us go first, so if any fighters shot at them the bullets would hit us, not them,” said 14-year-old Al’a al-Attar.

Clancy Chassay at the Guardian investigates claims from three brothers that the Israeli military used them as human shields during the invasion of Gaza. Part One of Three. Watch Part Two and Part Three.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL

Playmobil Security Check Point

Read the product reviews: priceless!

STUDY FINDS HIGH LEVELS OF CHEMICALS IN INFANTS USING BABY COSMETICS

It's those phucking phthalates again and the EPA is doing nothing about it!

ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP

WASHINGTON – Environmental Working Group (EWG) Vice President for Research Jane Houlihan issued the following statement in response to a study appearing today in the journal Pediatrics showing for the first time that infants are exposed to potent reproductive toxins called phthalates from everyday baby products, including shampoo, lotion, and powder.

"This new research provides strong evidence that phthalates in baby products end up inside babies’ bodies, where they pose real-world risks for reproductive system damage among baby boys. We hope these results spur companies to remove phthalates from products sold in the U.S. Many of these same chemicals are banned from baby products in other countries. There is no justification for keeping them on the shelves here,” said Jane Houlihan, Vice President for Research of Environmental Working Group.

Unlike for food additives and drugs, cosmetic companies aren’t required to test their products for safety before they are sold. “This study confirms that it’s high time for Congress to update standards for cosmetics, and require that companies prove their products are safe for children before they go on store shelves,” added Houlihan.

An EWG study found that personal care products expose children to an average of 60 chemicals every day that they can breathe in or that absorb through their skin. EWG product testing, conducted in partnership with Health Care Without Harm and other members of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, showed phthalates in three-quarters of 72 name-brand products tested. Because federal law contains no safety standard for cosmetics, it is legal for companies to use ingredients that are reproductive toxins like phthalates, carcinogens, and other potentially harmful substances.

EWG publishes an online safety guide for more than 27,000 personal care products, including a wide range of baby products, with safety information for not only phthalates but also more than 7,000 other product ingredients.

Dispair

And they're worried about sectarianism in Iraq. Sure.

A new United Nations report on human rights in Iraq paints a devastating portrait of the conditions of life facing the civilian population as the US occupation enters its fifth year.

Raising Kids IV

News24/South Africa - Oprah's a tough school matron:

Johannesburg - The rules at Oprah Winfrey's ultra-posh school at Henley-on-Klip near Johannesburg are apparently so strict they make a reformatory look like a holiday resort.

That's the word from upset parents, who say the school rules make it difficult for them to keep contact with their children.

They would have aired their concerns during a satellite link-up with the chat show queen a week ago, but that was cancelled at short notice by the school's management body.

Meanwhile the school seems to have made the rules even stricter. Until now, the girls could receive visitors every fortnight, but parents can now only visit them once a month.

Raising Kids III

What happens to the children when their parents are swept up in an immigration raid?

The photo is from the above-referenced Globe story.

Raising Kids II

BBC -- The Netherlands has come top of a league table for child well-being across 21 industrialised countries.

The US and UK are rated last.

Raising Kids

I had no idea they were still around. NY Times - Manhattan’s Littlest Soldiers

The Knickerbocker Greys is an organization for children ages 6 to 16, and it has been something of an Upper East Side institution since 1881 — though the typical response of most people in the neighborhood upon the mention of its name is, “Good God, does something like that still exist?”

Last summer, an article in a publication put out by the Social Register (Good God, does that still exist?) made note of the Greys’ 125th anniversary and described it as “a kind of Junior R.O.T.C. or Scouts with, if you like, a more pronounced military bent.”

I could have been a cadet. I know, hard to believe. I grew up as a kid in the same social milieu in NYC. Now look at me. My maternal uncle was in the Greys about 90 years ago (he died last September at aged 96 years). Which one of the current crop of Greys will grow up just like some of the students in Lindsay Anderson's If.....?