Single Parents the Losers in Bill O’Reilly/Jennifer Aniston Fracas

You know, sometimes celebrities should just stick to acting. Or being bigoted bullies. Or whatever. This “feud” between Jennifer Aniston and Bill O’Reilly is getting totally out of hand and is fanning fires instead of generating useful discussion, which some disagreements between public figures so effectively do.

The gist of the situation is that Aniston made an attempt to de-stigmatize single-parent families at a recent press conference, emphasizing that women “don’t have to settle with a man just to have that child” and noting that there are numerous options out there in this day and age if a single woman does desire a child.

This is a mindset that I agree with wholeheartedly. In a world where the nuclear family is fast disappearing and some of the happiest and most loving families are …

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The NAACP + The Tea Party = The Shirley Sherrod Debacle?

If you follow the news at all, you’ve more likely than not heard the name Shirley Sherrod. While you’re probably aware of the veritable circus being made out of comments she made at an NAACP event, you might be a little foggy on the whole story. I know I was.

Basically, Shirley Sherrod was the USDA Director of Rural Development for the state of Georgia until she quit abruptly last week just before a media storm of epic proportions. Her resignation came about after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted excerpts on July 19 of a video taken of Sherrod speaking about the importance of overcoming personal prejudices.

Sherrod’s comments, which were pretty obviously taken out of context in an edited two minute clip, come off as sounding about as racist as they come when speaking about her laissez faire attitude in helping white farmers because of their skin color. Sherrod was pressured to resign and ultimately did so via an e-mail sent from her BlackBerry on the side of a road.

From Politics Daily:

Sherrod made headlines Tuesday morning after a video clip surfaced from a speech she made in March to an NAACP forum recounting her meeting with a struggling white farmer who came to her for help in 1986.

“Here I was faced with having to help a white person save their land,” Sherrod said about her feelings 24 years ago. “So, I didn’t give him the full force of what I could do. I did enough so that when he (went to state or federal officials) he needed to go back and report that I did try to help him.”

Sherrod told CNN on Tuesday that the clip was taken out of context. She said she described the decades-old incident with the white farmer because she has since come to realize her mistake. “Working with him helped me realize the issue is not about race, it’s about those who have and those who have not,” she said.

And now the backlash has begun.

Howard Dean, former Democratic National Committee Chairman (and former presidential candidate), is making strong racist claims against Fox News, whose Bill O’Reilly led the charge in smearing Sherrod’s name.

From CNN:

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“Anchorladies” Taking Over Top News Desks in Canada

In the space of about two weeks, Canada named its first ever female news anchor — and then it named another. Both Dawna Friesen and Lisa Laflamme will take over top television news desks in the nation up North, replacing their male counterparts, and making history.

Friesen, who was reporting for American station NBC prior to this announcement, is “coming home” to take over the Global national news desk, replacing current anchor Kevin Newman.

A week earlier, following the news that longtime CBC anchor Lloyd Robertson was finally retiring, CBC national news had named Lisa Laflamme as Robertson’s replacement. But since Laflamme won’t take the desk until September, Friesen is technically the barrier-breaker.

The question now is whether or not Laflamme or Friesen will be successful. I’ve heard the theory batted around that most viewers simply feel that men are more trustworthy as news anchors because they fear women won’t be as impartial or unemotional and that the news will become too sentimental as a result.

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Northern Exposure Actress Janine Turner Seeks Republican Appreciation Through Patriotic-Themed Website

photo of northern exposure actress janine turner in a white dress

Northern Exposure’s Janine Turner has turned to writing.  She is the founder and Co-Chair, along with Cathy Gillespie, of the, uh, conservative leaning website Constituting America.  The tagline at the top of the site (attributed to Turner) states, “An enlightened America regarding her roots, her basis, and her thesis is the key to America’s pertinent survival.”  While I think Constituting America is a bit right-wing for Rush Limbaugh me, it is a great example of women using their talents and sharing their opinions in an intelligent and appropriate forum.

Although best known as Maggie O’Connell, Turner has evidently been politically active for some time.

From her bio:

[Turner’s] op-ed commentary articles have been published in media outlets such as FoxNews.com, and she has appeared on numerous television and radio talk shows including Fox and Friends, Hannity, Glenn Beck, The O’Reilly Factor, Neil Cavuto, Larry King Live, Laura Ingraham, William Bennett, Lou Dobbs and the Steve Gill Show.

Janine proudly served as a member of President Bush’s Council on Service and Civic Participation and continues to encourage volunteerism across the country.  She has volunteered and raised money for numerous charitable efforts such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America, My Sister’s Place, the Pregnancy Resource Council, Texas Ballet Theatre, the Lois Weber Film Collection, the USA Film Festival, the Inwood House, and Single Parent Outreach of Richland Hills Church of Christ.  She is a sought after public speaker, and has inspired audiences in locations such as Saddleback Church, Texas A&M, Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, and at breast cancer events, single parent outreach and Special Olympic events.

While not a household name, Gillespie also has quite a resume.

She has served as Chief of Staff to United States Congressman Joe Barton, as a Commissioner on the President’s Commission on White House Fellows, and as the Director of the Bush Cheney ’04 W Stands for Women.

Cathy is active in a number of political and charitable organizations, serving on the board of Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services, the Joe Barton Family Foundation, and the Board of Governors of Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Virginia. She has volunteered and raised funds for the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation Maryland Celebration of Reading, Independent Women’s Forum, Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Histiocytosis Association of America, and the Texas State Society.

Like any good bureaucratic endeavor, Constituting America has a mission statement which is, in my opinion, kind of sneaky.  Basically it starts out with blazing patriotism rhetoric so that, by the time you reach the snarky digs at the left-wing (accusations that liberals view the Constitution as “antiquated,” for example, or “devalue freedom”), you’re singing “The Star Spangled Banner” so loudly that you won’t realize it.
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