The evil that is Rodale/Prevention

So, when we moved to this new house I stupidly ordered Prevention. I paid for my subscription. Somehow a new order was "received" on January 9, 2009, and they have been bugging me for $12 ever since then. I ignored it because I PAID FOR MY SUBSCRIPTION. But noooo, apparently what I paid for is an "expired, completed or cancelled subscription." Just today I got a notice that told me that if I didn't get them their $12 immediately they were going to turn the account over to the "North Shore Collection Agency." Wev. I went online and canceled. What do you want to bet they will try to charge me $7 for the issues I've already received, and, as far as I recall, do not recall ordering.

Please take this as a warning never, ever, ever subscribe to this worthless little magazine. The articles are recycled crap and they have a deep loathing for fat people. And they will take every opportunity to bill you. They will also send you books you don't want and did not order and then try to make you pay for them (true story, I did not fall for it and called customer service and sent it back). They remind me so much of People Magazine which kept sending my Mom subscriptions renewal forms, even though she had paid through, like 2020. Anyway, Rodale/Prevention truly, truly suck eggs, my little dumplings.

Card didn't just drink the kool-aid - he bathed himself in it well and good

Look at this little "aside" from OSC's most recent column at greensboro.rhinotimes.com:

(California is a desert, until you add irrigation water and illegal immigrant gardeners.)

Sure, Mr. Card, all farm workers in California are illegal immigrants. Nevermind the long early history of California farm workers who were white refugees of the dust bowl. Nevermind all the people who came here (some of whome were coerced) from Asia to build railroads then abandoned to figure out their own way. Nevermind all the people WHO WERE HERE FIRST and suddenly became "illegal immigrants" when California became part of the US instead of Mexico. Nevermind the fact that brown skin does not make one an illegal immigrant. We must appease our crazy-hat conservative readers and pretend that all the brown people in California don't really belong. Because California really belongs to white people, they just let the brown people stay because they have such a knack for growing things.

Okay, so I read more into that than is there. But still. I used to think Mr. Card was a compasionate person, someone who was really and truly Mormon. My doubts have been growing for awhile, but the casualness of this aside and all of the assumptions that are behind it just make me sick. Why do I punish myself by reading this crap?!

Words fail me

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/06/05/200906050055.asp

Here's the headline:

"Firm sues dead actress for being beaten - and wins"

Here's a quote:

"Models who failed to maintain appropriate dignity as representatives of the products they represent should compensate for the damages caused to their advertiser, the top court ruled. "

I agree with the lower court:

"A lower court said in an earlier ruling that Choi could not be held responsible for depreciating the image of the apartment or the company as she had not been proven guilty of causing her former husband's violence. "

Thank you to Hoyden About Town for alerting me to this story.

(http://viv.id.au/blog/20090607.5262/model-choi-jin-sil-sued-for-being-beaten/)

Murdering in the name of preventing murder

I don't have words to respond to the murder of Dr. George Tiller this weekend in Kansas - in the foyer of his church as he handed out the church bulletin! I'm just simply stunned. I am going to ask that you read this blog, regardless of your views on abortion:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/06/01/late_term_abortion/index.html

I lost my ability to have children when I was 33 years old, three days after my birthday. I have watched loved ones struggle and pray for a child of their own. The loss of a child is heart-wrenching and I don't know that I would have chosen to abort any of my own pregnancies. I believe that every child is precious and should be greeted with rejoicing. And yet I still feel that abortion should be a choice determined by a woman and her medical care provider(s), not by the State, and definitely not by a murderer.

See below for an article regarding the suspect:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/us/02tiller.html?hp

Here's the quote I find chilling:

"Commenting on Dr. Tiller’s death, Mr. Leach [who runs the Prayer and Action News newsletter] said, “To call this a crime is too simplistic.” He added, “There is Christian scripture that would support this."

My anger is so high right now I'm afraid of saying something deeply hateful.

(this post was edited by ABM)