Columbian Hostages Freed

I know I'm not the only one that is in the middle when it comes to being politically aware. By this I mean that I don't feel as though I'm sheltered by any means. I am aware there are conflicts out there in the world and that, due largely in part to our media, things are not always as we are told. However, I also am not so well informed that I am able to have strong opinions on many topics and wouldn't be able to argue a point in a conversation. I don't always have both sides to the story - and even when we do have both sides to the story, how do you know which side is the "right" side?
Anyway, my point is that I was completely in the dark about the situation in Columbia. I still find it not only hideous, but almost surreal that people are at this moment being held hostage in jungles around the world - I'm sure it's not just Columbia! Especially since these hostages contained a former Columbian presidential condidate and 3 Americans. Am I representative of the average person in the US, or do I really need to start getting into daily world news readings? My guess is that there are many more situations like this that neither I, nor the average American, is aware of.
I am glad for these hostages being rescued, especially in such a high drama way, but as one of them said, they fear for the ones left behind as they are probably getting more severe treatment now than ever before.

OK! Magazine Perpetuates Gloucester 17 Syndrome!

So today OK! Magazine came out with Jamie Lynn Spears on the cover with her baby. For anyone who has been living under a rock, Jamie Lynn Spears is the younger sister of the sometimes psychotic Britney Spears. Jamie Lynn has had quite a career with Disney up to this point in her YOUNG life. Nice, wholesome image. Then it was announced that at 16 years of age, she was pregnant! I know, not really shocking considering that teen pregnancy happens all the time. The most uncomprehensible part of all this is that after it was publicized, it started becoming something the media was celebrating. This 16 yr old having a baby was a good thing. How happy she and her family are, etc. I would see articles about how she was doing with the pregnancy, how they were getting ready for the birth, how they felt, etc. etc. What a wonderful picture it painted!

BAM! The Gloucester 17 hits the headlines. Again for those living under a rock, the town of Gloucester, in my own state of Massachusetts, became headlines when it was revealed that their high school had 17 girls get pregnant this past year - nearly 4 times the normal average. On top of that, the principal stated that some of the girls had made a pact to get pregnant together. Now I have heard different stories...some say a bunch got pregnant and made a pact to raise them together since they were all in the same situation, another story said the school nurse who administered the pregnancy tests (when did high schools start administering pregnancy tests?) said certain girls would be sad when their test was negative, would come back frequently to get the tests and be really happy when it was positive. The girls were all 16 yrs old or YOUNGER and supposedly all the men involved were older than high school age.

So I'm not saying that Jamie Lynn is directly responsible for the Gloucester 17 Syndrome, but honestly, I think she needs to take more responsibility in not promoting teen pregnancy. I read a little of what the OK! Mag article says and she literally says it was a perfect pregnancy and perfect delivery. If any of us had millions of dollars like she does, we would have people to tell us what to eat, help us exercise during pregnancy and do whatever needed to be done to have a perfect pregnancy - and of course we wouldn't have to work and worry about daycare after the baby was born and where the hell we were going to get the money to pay for that! I'm sure you won't find anything like that in the article, though.

I think we should start a letter writing campaign to OK! Magazine - they should be ashamed of making teen pregnancy look like the "in" thing to be doing.

No Rest For the Wicked....or the Weary

I haven't been faithfully following the outcome of the runoff "election" in Zimbabwe, however I have read some news here and there. The G8 summit this week seems to have Zimbabwe on much of its agenda. Although even the African Union is torn on what to do about the country in turmoil - some actually back the fake election and others want it out of the Union. The G8 summit seems to be coming to agreement on sactions against Zimbabwe, but some are not sure if this will work. It's amazing that the UN and African Union and G8 Summit are discussing the fate of this country with literally thousands of peoples lives in the balance. I still don't know what, if anything, we can do to help the situation so I guess I would just ask for everyone to keep the people of this country in their thoughts.