Annie Leonard warns us about toxic cosmetics

Well-informed Annie Leonard (The Story of Stuff) is back with a new video on the completely unregulated toxic crap many manufacturers pump into the shampoos and cosmetics we use. The new video is called "The Story of Cosmetics." It's an important story that touches a theme common to all too many of today's tragedies: The unwillingness of the federal government to regulate business that feed large amounts of money into the the campaigns of politicians.

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Sex education in Texas

Huffpo offers some disturbing information from the Texas approach to "sex education."

Texas lawmakers cut sex ed from two six-month courses to a single unit of "abstinence only" education. But early indications showed that the program wasn't working. In fact, teens in almost all high school grades were having more sex after undergoing the abstinence only program. By 2007, Texas had the highest teen birth rate in the nation.
Texas now has the highest teen birth rate in the nation, and Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas who is leading the abstinence crusade in Texas, now wants to be President of the U.S. The Huffpo article mentions a segment of the abstinence-only training some of the young Texans are receiving in a PUBLIC school:
"Things to Look for in a Mate:" I. How they relate to God A. Is Jesus their first love? B. Trying to impress people or serve God?

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The Grinches Who are Stealing Christmas from America

House Majority Leader Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) are the Grinch and his dog Max who along with the other Republicans in Washington are stealing Christmas from America. The stealing of Christmas from America is going on as part of the ongoing “negotiations” related to the raising of the debt ceiling and has nothing to do with anything but hubris and insanity. Ronald Reagan ran against a $1 trillion national debt in 1980. Reagan, Bush I and Bush II gave corporations and millionaires a series of tax cuts and tax eliminations which were supposed to spur investment and create jobs and make the economy grow. What America got from Reagan, Bush I and Bush II is a nearly $14 trillion national debt and the Republican plan to “fix” the problem is to destroy Medicare, Social Security, unions and what is left of America’s Middle Class. Albert Einstein said on definition of “crazy” is to “do the same thing over and over expecting a different result.” Republicans will do nothing but oppose any debt reduction plan of President Obama because they think voters will blame the President if the entire country and the world are thrown into economic chaos! The Grinch House Majority Leader Ryan and Max the Dog House Speaker Boehner want us all to believe that yet ANOTHER bigger and better round of Reagan, Bush I and Bush II tax giveaways to the corporations and millionaires will fix the economy even though the past Reagan, Bush I and Bush II policies gave us the Great Recession and $14 trillion in national debt! The Grinch and Max the Dog are stealing Christmas from America because if only corporations and millionaires can afford it, Christmas is gone! So, we are at an impasse and the crazy Republicans will throw the country and the world under the bus if the President and the Democrats don’t let the Grinch and Max the Dog have their way. It’s time for the Grinch and Max to abandon their craziness and to learn the true meaning of Christmas---Christmas is for all us here, not just corporations and millionaires.

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