“From June on, no models will appear in Vogue’s pages who are under 16 or who appear to suffer from any eating disorder.

“The magazine will also ask agents and casting directors to police the ages of models when casting shoots. It promises to encourage healthy eating practices among models and new practices among designers to promote the casting of models from a broader range of body sizes.

“The moves follow years of criticism of fashion magazines — and the industry more generally — in pushing young girls to believe their bodies are somehow malformed if they do not mirror those of models. The use of photoshop to whisk away blemishes and unwanted fat from the pictures of celebrities has if anything accentuated those concerns.”

That’s great news; I hope other fashion magazines choose to do this as well.

A few years before my brother died, he became ill and needed a very minor procedure. Without it, he would likely get worse and die. The doctors were shocked when my sister and I said, “of course we want you to do it.” To them it seemed like a no-brainer: who would want a life so reduced in quality? “It’s the life he has,” we said, “and he’s entitled to it. It may not be the life you think you’d want, but he loves music, and he has friends he laughs with, and he watches his tv shows and likes to sit outside and draw and listen to the birds. He loves flowers. It’s his life! No one is entitled to take it from him.” One of us even said — and I am not sure who, because either of us are capable of being this direct: “one day this might be all the life you have, and you might find yourself wanting to live it, even if others can’t see the point.”

They didn’t like it, but they did the procedure and my brother lived for four more years before passing in his sleep. They were his years, even if they made no sense to anyone else, and he was entitled to them.

Read the rest.

Since last night (and we stopped work about 11pm) I’ve been working on floating sheetrock.  Jeez, this stuff is like real work, especially working on the ceiling.  I may start having withdrawals, though, if I don’t catch up on the news soon.  I took a few minutes to check Hot Air and Ace of Spades while I ate lunch just now, and apparently Romney’s pretty well locked in the nomination. While I’m still not a fan, we could do worse. Like keeping Obama in office, for example. And this speech did hearten me up a little. It’s discouraging that my initial response to it was, Well, Mitt, were you lying then about your moderate, anti-Reagan, progressive positions in Massachusetts, or are you lying now? But, whatever. I have sheetrock to float. If you haven’t heard the speech, it’s pretty decent. I hope he meant it.

“Say what you want about Romney, but at least he only put a dog on the roof of his car, not the roof of his mouth.”

“Q: Why did @MittRomney put his dog on top of the car? A: So@BarackObama wouldn’t eat it. #WeWillNotBeSilenced#GenK9“

Back to the “war on women” nonsense. It’s worth mentioning that while no such war is being conducted in the United States, there is one in Afghanistan.  I would take feminists a lot more seriously if they took the plight of Muslim women seriously.

I’ve been posting so seldom lately – that whole pesky “real life” thing going on – that I’ve accumulated some links that I keep thinking of posting about and never have time to follow through. So here, have a “kitchen sink” post.

I’ve never made a secret of my disdain for Mike Huckabee.  He’s a sneak, among other things.  So while I was disappointed that his much vaunted radio show began with a phony call-in, in which the caller (Huckabee’s boss) took care to egregiously slam Rush Limbaugh, I wasn’t surprised. (More here.)

Speaking of politicians I don’t like, as expected, we’re stuck with Romney.  I got into a lengthy back-and-forth with a Romneybot on Twitter who assured me that I haven’t given Romney a fair look, because I am prey to anti-Romney propaganda.  I’m actually disgustingly well-informed about Romney’s record.  (Quick – ask me to quote a bible verse if you want to see an #epicfail!  Jesus wept.  And well He should, because I’m more knowledgeable about politics than theology.)  So no, I don’t need anyone telling me how great Romney is, how conservative and just generally dreamy as candidates go.  You’re not going to see any Tiger Beat coverage of Romney from me, now or ever. But I will gladly vote for the man, because Obama is orders of magnitude worse.  Be satisfied with that, Romneybots; it’s all you’re getting from me.  And from John Hawkins, who still thinks Mitt’s “electability” is a myth.  I agree.

Remember all the hysteria about “unqualified” Sarah Palin potentially being a heartbeat away from the Presidency? Put aside the fact that Obama had exactly zero executive experience.  The man currently a heartbeat away from the Presidency thinks that Al (I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it! People like me!) Franken is a “leading legal scholar.”  Angels and ministers of grace, defend us. Or at least, defend Obama, because the idea of President Biden is terrifying.  Well, on second thought, it might be okay. If we give him a new pack of crayons and just try to keep him busy until January, we might survive it.

John Edwards is whining about how people don’t like him anymore. Hey, he just cheated on his dying wife, lied about it, and engaged in financial shenanigans to cover it up.  By Democrat standards, that’s really not so bad.

“He knows he made mistakes,” Bergenfield says on the eve of Edwards’s trial, which is set to begin Thursday with jury selection. “But John thinks that the treatment of him is so unflinchingly horrible and that what he did is not so different from what others did — JFK, Clinton, the whole rogues’ gallery. We’ve had this conversation about his situation, and I remember he did compare it to Clinton. He said, ‘I did a horrendous thing, but I don’t know why I’m getting such an unforgiving treatment when you think of what other people have done.’ ”

And you know, he’s  got a point. Ted Kennedy killed a woman and committed treason not once, but twice, and is still lauded to this day.

This season has been, in many ways, quite terrible. And yet I’d do it again if I could. At least, if I knew then what I know now, I’d do it again.  And I’d absolutely suck the marrow out of each and every experience.  Each time my sins of selfishness and an unloving heart were revealed, I’d double down on praying for repentance.  Each time I had the opportunity to work harder, I’d do it without complaining the way I did about working on the roof in 100+ degrees.  Each time I had a chance to do something for my husband – who has worked infinitely harder than I have – I’d do it.

Unfortunately I can’t get a do-over for those things. But now, during Easter week, I’m reminded that I can have a fresh start. And I’m experiencing a gratitude that I never did back when my life was right-side-up.  The despair that the disciples experienced after Jesus’ crucifixion paled in comparison to their joy at his resurrection, and on a smaller scale, I’m experiencing the same thing.  Every one of my sins is forgiven. Every day is new.  And life upside-down will be better than I could have imagined a year ago.

(click for larger image)

I’m not particularly a fan of either Romney or Santorum, but I lean more toward Santorum simply because I feel confident that Romney is going to move left in the general election, and if he wins, in how he governs. But the idea that either man wants to recreate Iran’s theocracy is simply insane. Yet liberals really do believe this. Some of the comments include:

• Repugnicants are unAmerican terrorists.
• I see no difference between Ahmadinejad and the Bush Administration or Republicans in general. I will say, having many Persian friends, they are wonderful people. And just like us they are a victim of their government. We were very fortunate to elect Obama, for the Iranians their election didn’t go so well.
• Listen, Iran is more of a western nation than we are anymore. So while appreciate the metaphor, the content is misinforming.
• But Iran doesn’t discriminate against transgendered folks, in fact they subsidize the surgery thru their healthcare. Much more progressive than Republicans
• YES. it must be their way or the highway, they must have total control. they will stop at nothing to make it so. the ONLY way America can escape the effects of this kind of thinking is to keep them out of political office, and make it illegal for them to purchase the people that are in office.
• The eyes have it. I swear this guy is GW Bush’s doppelganger. Both CIA clones, no doubt, except Ahmad actually has a functioning brain, as many of the things he says make sense. Since he speaks out against the USA and Israel, the worlds most powerful terrorists, he is highly maligned. BTW, This photo shown is not a real quote from him. He actually has no real power in his country, it is run by Mullahs that promote what is depicted here.
• He’s makes a good republican.
• I love the absolute truth in this!
• Too true to be funny.
• If the mullahs set policy and Cheney actually ran the Cabinet, Ahmadinejad and Dubya were similarly ethnically handsome and charming government figureheads. So in a continuing pattern, who’s really behind Obama, Romney, and Santorum?
• Yeah sorry, it’s only moderately funny…. Because its so true……

I don’t have to like the GOP candidate to recognize that – using Obama’s example – these people need the keys taken away from them for their own safety.

Since September, I’ve been having a “NSA”/ very casual relationship with a guy I met online. We’re both in our mid-twenties. Initially, we met solely for sex. We’re both in high-pressure, time-consuming professions. The thing is, I’m starting to develop feelings for him and want an actual relationship now and I’m wondering if that’s possible.

We only communicate with one another in order to find out if the other person is available to hook-up. We usually meet about once every week or so. After sex, we don’t usually cuddle and one of us usually makes an excuse about needing to go do something because we’re busy. This past week, however, he started rubbing my leg and holding my hand afterwards. I reciprocated, but a few minutes later, he said that he had something to do later. Additionally, while getting dressed, he tried to engage me in conversation, which usually doesn’t happen. The thing that gives me pause, however, is that he hasn’t divulged too many details about himself, and when he does, it’s in response to what I’m talking about. I’m really shy and I think he is too.

Good grief, if “really shy” now includes hooking up with a stranger for sex, I would hate to see this woman become outgoing.

Remember that all this mess started with post-WWII wage controls – employers could not legally raise wages to meet demand, so they started adding benefits as a way to attract workers.  The real costs of health care were masked from the worker, and that led to the government-instigated train wreck we’re experiencing today.