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By Kurt Vonnegut
$17.82
By Allen Barra
$18.45
$23
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FreedomHouse (CC BY 2.0)
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The United Nations has confirmed that 32 children and nearly twice as many adults were killed after Syrian government forces attacked the western town of Houla. Locals are furious that U.N. observers, deployed to monitor a cease-fire between officials and the opposition, did not intervene.
Posted on May 26, 2012
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Kim G. Appels (CC-BY)
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By Chip Ward, TomDispatch —
There were plenty of signs we took a wrong turn but we kept on going. Dumb, stubborn, blind: Who knows why we couldn’t stop? Greed maybe—powerful corporations we couldn’t overcome. It won’t matter much to you who is to blame. You’ll be too busy coping in the diminished world we bequeath you.
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AP / Damian Dovarganes
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In the wake of two independent molestation scandals at one of L.A.’s poorest elementary schools, school district Superintendent John Deasy announced that he is temporarily replacing the entire staff—teachers, administrators, janitors—while he tries to make sense of the situation. (more)
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Brad Montgomery (CC-BY)
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California Gov. Jerry Brown has suggested steep cuts to social programs that benefit parents and children on the verge of homelessness. Brown is hoping to close a $9.2 billion hole in the budget (and drum up support for tax hikes) by asking the state’s most desperate families to do without.
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Schröder+Schömbs (CC-BY-ND)
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According to journalism prof Ted Gup, the prevalence of the word “like” in youth-speak is evidence that teachers have “condemned children to a common cluster of mediocrity.” But as linguist Geoffrey Nunberg pointed out a decade ago, “like” isn’t a tic or filler, it’s “a word with a point of view.” (more)
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ruminatrix (CC-BY)
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It seems the schoolyard is more boring than ever. Researchers found that lackluster playground designs brought to us by strict equipment safety rules and low budgets have made outdoor playtime unappealing to toddlers at child care centers around the nation. The need to meet stringent academic requirements is leading schools to underemphasize physical play too.
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U.S. Air Force / Tech. Sgt. Michael Holzworth
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By Barry Lando — Better to let Iraq blow itself apart than inflict the kind of policies that have, as most commentators refuse to acknowledge, plagued the country’s entire, sorry history.
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Art by Yayoi Kusama, images from Colossal
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In this simple, delightful installation, thousands of kids armed with thousands of colorful stickers turned a completely white room into a work of art.
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This just in: The Muppets are brainwashing your children with liberal, anti-corporate messages, according to this astute analysis conducted by objective reporter Eric Bolling of Fox News’ “Follow the Money” propagandafest business broadcast. “Where are we, communist China?” he wonders.
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Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune —
Posted on Nov 13, 2011
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AP / Carolyn Kaster
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By Eugene Robinson — Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said, “I did what I was supposed to.” In fact, nobody at Penn State did what basic human decency requires—and as a result, according to prosecutors, an alleged sexual predator who could have been stopped years ago was allowed to continue molesting young boys.
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The organization No More Victims works with local communities to bring children injured in America’s wars to the U.S. for medical treatment—children like this inspirational little Iraqi girl who simply beams despite everything she has been through.
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Alpha (CC-BY-SA)
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British Prime Minister David Cameron and four of the country’s Internet service providers are bending over backwards to accommodate parents concerned with the allegedly corrosive influence of titillating adverts and porn sites on youth, because teenagers never thought about sex before billboards were invented. (more)
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Flickr / Monica's Dad (CC-BY)
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Gov. Jerry Brown announced Saturday that he has signed the California Dream Act, making state financial aid available to undocumented immigrants who choose to attend California universities and community colleges. (more)
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Joe Hall (CC-BY)
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The Census Bureau reports that in 2010, more Americans descended into poverty than in any other time since the government started keeping track in 1959. The 2010 poverty threshold for a family of four was a mere $22,314 a year, and 46.2 million of us have been surviving on that or less.
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Albert Sabaté
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By Mary Slosson, Albert Sabaté, and Andrew Khouri —
Israel began importing workers after the government choked off the flow of cheap Palestinian labor. Abuse and corruption are rampant as employers take advantage of a revolving-door policy meant to protect the state’s Jewish identity.
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By David Sirota — In a breathless story somehow presented as a groundbreaking revelation, The New York Times recently reported that the Pentagon is—shocker!—using all sorts of media channels to market itself to the nation’s children.
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Flickr/theimpulsivebuy
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Energy drinks might have more serious side effects for children and teenagers than just getting them good and hyper, according to a group of doctors who released a cautionary report in the journal Pediatrics, warning that the amped-up beverages might trigger seizures and other highly undesirable reactions in rare cases. As it happens, they should also lay off the Gatorade.
Posted on May 30, 2011
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Sean MacEntee (CC-BY)
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By David Sirota — Is Snoop Dogg the new Joe Camel? Is Ronald McDonald? What about Facebook—has that website become synonymous with an infamous tobacco industry cartoon that preyed on unsuspecting kids?
Posted on May 27, 2011
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Denis Dervisevic (CC-BY)
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Lior and Vardit Adler of Israel were looking for a unique name for their baby daughter, and boy did they find it. Like Adler was named after the Facebook button, and papa Adler says it’s “the modern equivalent of the name Ahava [Love],” except it’s not, because it’s like. (more)
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AP / Jeff Chiu
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By James Harris — In a recent interview, Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Tony Smith shared with me one of the most mind-numbing statistics I have ever heard.
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Recently uncovered 2010 security footage showing Brazilian police shooting a 14-year-old boy has led to the arrest of five men. The BBC reports that the “boy survived with several wounds and is now in a witness protection programme along with his family.”
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With the number of kids living below the poverty line closing in on 25 percent, homelessness and hunger are becoming normal for American children, as illustrated by this “60 Minutes” report.
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Wikimedia Commons / Prolineserver
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According to New York Times econo-whiz Paul Krugman, all this emphasis on austerity will not be good for posterity. In his latest column, Krugman slams the GOP for claiming to be all about the kids while stacking the deck against them with “draconian” budget cuts.
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By Ruth Marcus — Just in case his wife doesn’t take Sarah Palin up on her offer, I’ll say it: Rick Santorum is a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal.
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Flickr / Arasmus Photo
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Arizona lawmakers, adding to their anti-immigrant portfolio, are pushing a bill that seeks to end the automatic citizenship granted to children born in the state to illegal-immigrant parents.
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By Ruth Marcus — I come from a family where the “joke,” if you came home with a 97 on a math test, was to ask what happened to the other three points.
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Wikimedia Commons
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A new study has concluded that a rise in genetic damage in children born in Fallujah, Iraq, could have been caused by the weaponry used in the U.S. assault on the city six years ago.
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By Amy Goodman — President Barack Obama signed a slew of bills into law and was dubbed the “Comeback Kid” amid a flurry of fawning press reports. In the hail of this surprise bipartisanship, though, the one issue over which Democrats and Republicans always agree, war, was completely ignored.
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The author who gained national attention last month by selling his self-published “Pedophile’s Guide to Love & Pleasure” on Amazon has been arrested on obscenity charges. Authorities are concerned that the book advocates illegal behavior, a familiar challenge to free speech protections.
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The president reportedly wrote “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters” before he was inaugurated. The illustrated children’s book, proceeds of which will benefit the children of wounded and killed soldiers, profiles 13 famous Americans and lands on store shelves Tuesday.
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Flickr / Adam Jones, Ph.D.
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On Wednesday, the United Nations announced the launching of its Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, for which the U.N. has managed to drum up $40 billion from various governmental and private sources, according to the BBC.
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Bungie
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By Peter Z. Scheer — Don’t listen to Hillary Clinton. Video games are good for you. They make you and your children sharper, and kids should be able to play them without permission.
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AP / Bernat Armangue
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Q: What do Arizona and Israel have in common? A: An uncanny disregard for immigrant rights. Two weeks ago the Israeli Cabinet voted to deport 400 children of migrant workers, and even after the wife of the Israeli prime minister wrote a letter pleading for amnesty for them, the Cabinet has refused to reconsider.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Rather than shout, I’ll just ask the question in a civil way: Dear Republicans, do you really want to endanger your party’s greatest political legacy by turning the 14th Amendment to our Constitution into an excuse for election-year ugliness?
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Today on the list: Why you can’t really get to know more than 150 people, why Democrats should be jealous of Greens and why a Maryland man faces 16 years in prison for shooting a video.
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AP / Australian Maritime Safety Authority via the Sunderland family
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By T.L. Caswell — Abby Sunderland was ill served by the grown-ups around her. Had the talented sailor suffered just a bit more bad luck at sea, she might not be alive to anticipate her 17th birthday.
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Flickr / Shutter Bunny
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Those goofy social scientists, always trying to quantify life’s seemingly immeasurable phenomena and solve intractable mysteries—such as, for example, whether or not having kids makes people any happier.
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Flickr / katyhutch
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Scientists believe that a simple blood test could in the future be able to predict exactly when a woman will start menopause, a development that would be invaluable in helping women make reproductive decisions.
Posted on Jun 27, 2010
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Flickr / cactusbill
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Arizona Republicans are expected to introduce legislation this fall that would strip the citizenship of those quite offensively dubbed “anchor babies,” children born in the U.S. to parents who are undocumented. It seems that the state’s anti-immigrant wing is going even crazier than previously thought possible.
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Why researchers say lesbians make the best parents, how the Internet is affecting your brain, and why Americans are no rugged individualists. All this and more on today’s list.
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By Ruth Marcus — In understanding the foibles of politicians, I’ve always found it is a benefit to have spent large amounts of time with toddlers.
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Flickr user dbking (CC-BY)
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An Oregon jury on Tuesday hit the Boy Scouts of America with a $1.4 million verdict and potentially a lot more in punitive damages. Jurors determined that the national organization was negligent in the case of an assistant Scoutmaster who had admitted to abusing Scouts. (continued)
Posted on Apr 13, 2010
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Flickr / Tina P.
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Score one for the anti-spanking parental contingent: A study published in the latest issue of Pediatrics suggests there may be a link between the corporal punishment—e.g., spanking—of children and aggressive behavior on the part of those kids as they grow up.
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File this under scary stories about drugs that lead to bad policy, but U.S. health officials just announced that about 7 percent of 12-year-olds have tried to get loaded by inhaling household chemicals. The little huffers far outnumbered junior pot smokers (1.4 percent), but, even at this age, alcohol is America’s drug of choice.
Posted on Mar 11, 2010
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Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Germany —
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U.S. Navy / Petty Officer 3rd Class Daniel Barker
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Eight of the 10 Baptist missionaries accused of kidnapping have been sent packing by a Haitian judge, who said he had not finished questioning the group’s leader and nanny. The judge said that parents of children taken by the missionaries made statements in their defense, AP reports.
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Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Germany
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By Eugene Robinson — Even in the midst of a terrible natural disaster, spiriting away a busload of kids—with vague plans to worry about the “paperwork” later—is no act of charity.
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Flickr / World Economic Forum
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Polygamous South African President Jacob Zuma has apologized for fathering his 20th child with a woman who is not one of his three wives. Many health activists are arguing that the 67-year-old is setting bad example, given that South Africa has one of the world’s highest rates of HIV and AIDS.
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By Ruth Marcus — With 70 percent of children living in households where all adults are working, we need to reexamine the disparity that makes child care a luxury working families can’t afford.
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