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Coddling Moms Need to Be Tougher With Their Kids
Tweet Share on Facebook May 14, 2012 Comment (10)In the run-up to Mother's Day, we have been predictably inundated with stories of women who give up everything to make things easier for their children. There's Clueless actor Alicia Silverstone, who chews her child's food and spits it into his mouth, as though he's a baby bird. Then there was the woman who was on the cover of Time, shown breast-feeding a child who looks old enough to chew barbequed ribs. Most of the rest of the stories are less provocative, extolling women who gave up such selfish pursuits as a career and adult personal life to cater to her children.
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Don't Discourage Girls from Soccer to 'Protect' Them
Tweet Share on Facebook May 10, 2012 Comment (7)MSNBC has done a terrific story on the problem of concussions for school-age female soccer players. Girls, the experts the network interviewed, are particularly vulnerable to concussions, second only to football players in terms of risk.
But what's disappointing is the questions the reporters raised to the players and their parents: Why take the risk? Why continue to play the game?
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No, Mitt Romney Didn't Save the Auto Industry
Tweet Share on Facebook May 9, 2012 Comment (18)One might think that presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney would be a little more careful on two fronts: thinking about how his comments will come across before he says them, and being sensitive to concerns about him changing his views on things. So what would lead a smiling Romney to take credit for the resurgence of the automobile industry?
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Joe Biden's Gay Marriage Comment Was No Gaffe
Tweet Share on Facebook May 8, 2012 Comment (17)From the press drubbing of White House press secretary Jay Carney this week, you'd think that the Obama administration had made some sort of huge faux pas, had displayed some devastating lack of discipline that exposed a divergence of opinion at the top and an inability to control it.
Please.
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What the French Elections Mean for the U.S.
Tweet Share on Facebook May 7, 2012 Comment (8)Americans politicians don't like to be compared to the French. It's a simple adjective, one that oddly became an actual slur against Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 campaign, much as the esteemed term "professor" is being used as an insult now against Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts. But U.S. lawmakers and candidates would be wise to look closely at the results of France's presidential elections.
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Junior Seau Suicide Brings Tough Questions for NFL, College Football
Tweet Share on Facebook May 3, 2012 Comment (6)Any suicide is tragic. The grief and miscomprehension by the surviving family, the guilt they may (generally wrongly) feel over a loved one's decision to take his or her own life—it's so much more awful than the profound sadness one feels over the natural death of a friend or family member. Those of us who are, gratefully, mentally well tend to view the episode with the perspective of a mentally well person, seeking to attach some reason to it. Was the person disappointed in work or in love? Was he or she about to be exposed in some sort of scandal? But the maddening truth is, there is nothing reasonable about suicide. If there were, the suffering person could reason himself or herself out of it. Severe depression, it is said, is like a cancer on the soul.
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The Real Problem With the White House Correspondents' Dinner
Tweet Share on Facebook May 2, 2012 Comment (3)An alleged government takeover of healthcare is nothing compared to the Hollywood takeover of Washington—or at least, of the Washington press corps.
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Congress Has Become Oversensitive to Ethics Scandals
Tweet Share on Facebook May 1, 2012 Comment (2)Rep. Spencer Bachus was cleared this week of allegations that he committed insider trading by using privileged information to direct his stock purchases. The case against Bachus appeared a bit flimsy from the start, but unfortunately for Bachus, that doesn't really matter. A Google search of his name will always produce stories about the accusations against him.
