Current Events: May 2004 Archives

Ella Gunderson became frustrated trying to find something fashionable — yet modest — in a world where she seems to be surrounded by low-riding jeans and tight, revealing tops. So she penned a letter.

"Dear Nordstrom," she wrote. "I am an eleven-year-old girl who has tried shopping at your store for clothes (in particular jeans), but all of them ride way under my hips, and the next size up is too big and falls down...."

....Two Nordstrom executives wrote back, promising the Redmond girl the company would try to educate both its purchasing managers and salespeople on the range of fashion choices that should be available to young people. (link)

Go Ella! I have a theory that retailers are not always very smart, and they need us to spell things out for them. It's not enough to roll your eyes and walk out of the store; they're just going to just the clothes even skimpier unless we clue them in.

Because they haven't gotten the clue yet:

"If modesty is what she is looking for, it's going to come full force in the fall," said Gigi Solis Schanen, the New York-based fashion editor for Seventeen magazine.

"The '50s sexy-librarian look is in."

...Annie Sparrow, owner of Seattle women's boutique Tulip and a trend watcher, said women in their 20s and 30s are also tiring of the skimpy look.

"People are saying 'I am a woman, I've had babies and I have hips. I can't go around showing my booty to everyone on the streets,' " Sparrow said."

Hello, fashion industry, your clue phone is ringing.... The point is not that girls like Ella want to look like a "sexy librarian" instead of a sexy pop singer. The point is that they don't want to look overtly sexy. Ms Sparrow, the point of modesty is not to conceal a "less that perfect" body -- there are girls and women with fashion-perfect figures who want to cover up too.

Yes, this is the Navy Hymn, but surely our gentlemen of the Navy will not object if I give the verses for all our services....

The melody ("Melita") can be heard here. Get an mp3 of this hymn sung by the Navy Sea Chanters here.

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddest the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Christ, the Lord of hill and plain
O'er which our traffic runs amain,
by mountain pass or valley low,
Wherever Lord thy brethren go;
Protect them by Thy guardian hand
From every peril on the land.

Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
Though the great spaces in the sky.
Be with them always in the air,
In darkening storms or sunlight fair;
Oh, hear us when we lift our prayer,
For those in peril in the air!

Eternal Father, Lord of hosts,
Watch over the men who guard our coasts.
Protect them from the raging seas
And give them light and life and peace.
Grant them from Thy great throne above
The shield and shelter of Thy love.

Eternal Father, grant, we pray,
To all Marines, both night and day,
The courage, honor, strength, and skill
Their land to serve, thy law fulfill;
Be thou the shield forevermore
From every peril to the Corps.

O Trinity of love and power!
Our family shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect us wheresoever we go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
And those who on the ocean ply;
Be with our troops upon the land,
And all who for their country stand:
Be with these guardians day and night
And may their trust be in they might.

I have refrained from commenting on politics in regards to the war and partisan politics in this blog for many reasons. The biggest is that I never feel like I have all the facts. My gut always tells me that the info that gets filtered down through the media is half truths, or has some spin on it, so I like to reserve my judgements. Also, my comments here, after I felt I did not get all the information would only go to stir people up for no reason.

With that said, I am not sure this is even a political comment as much as a comment on the current events in general. I have a lot more to say as far as my own thoughts politically, but I will keep them to myself.

I was listening to Michael Savage last night. Very often he makes comments I whole heartedly agree with. Yet for every agreement, he says something that rubs me the wrong way, which does not put him on my favourite people list. He was playing sound clips of people commenting on the murder of Nick Berg, but in the middle of it he played the "soundtrack" if you will of Nick Berg's beheading. I instantly broke into hysterical tears had nightmares all night.

This whole event has made me sick to my stomach. First the grim pictures of the US soldiers abuse in the Iraqi prisons, which was plastered on every newspaper cover. Not only was that upsetting enough, but the way the media used to it spin anti-Bush sentiments was just horrible and tiresome. It's like it was too much to deal with the issue and we couldn't just get facts, but everyone's opinion about why Bush is horrible on top of that. Please give me enough credit to form my own opinion.
On top of that, I was horrified enough to read the description of what happened,
I didn't need to see no pictures! I had to hide the newspapers from my kids-they didn't need to see that either. Why did we need to see that?

Now this poor guy-I can't imagine how scared he must have been. Things are a mess these people are crazy. They did this in the name of God?

I am becoming very afraid of what the future holds because I think we are seeing the tip of the iceberg.

Sorry, I had to vent a bit after my restless night.

This is very telling:

Assemblyman John J. McEneny is a Catholic who supports some abortion rights. The Albany Democrat said he backs Hubbard's decision not to go down "the slippery slope of becoming judge and jury."

Well, duh, of course he does!

"I don't see priests making a judgment on the conscience of a person," McEneny said. "Are they voting for a pro-choice bill because they want to kill unborn babies? Or is it because they want to prevent back-alley abortions?"

So in other words, pro-choice Catholic politicians can deduce that the Bishop does not want back-alley abortions I guess.

Or is that -- a time-traveling antipope? My husband showed me this evening that Mr Shields has bestowed the red hat on "Cardinal" Joseph Francis Rummel. The time-traveling part comes from naming him a prince of the Church retroactively, since the good Archbishop (who was never made a Cardinal by any of the generally acknowledged popes) fell asleep in the Lord in 1964.

Of course, it is nothing for a time-traveling antipope to give the late Joseph Cardinal Bernadin an extra "e" on his name. I see that Francis Cardinal Arinze (or, as Shields styles him, "Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze") has at least been promoted to "a major Vatican official."

So what did Shields take for his antipapal name? Maybe he's Pius XXIII!

I wish Mr Shields would avail himself of the Catholic Almanac, which is even available on-line. It would be so much less distracting. He does make a couple of good points in his article about the hypocrisy of those who criticize church leaders for disciplining pro-abortion Catholic pols while praising church leaders who take positions they like (such as the late Archbishop, who excommunicated two segregationist leaders.) Of course, Shields goes on to repeat the tired old slander that pro-lifers don't care about people who are actually born, urging them to heed "the wise counsel of Cardinal Bernadine [sic], who reminded those who emphasize political opposition to abortion to the exclusion of all other social justice issues that to believe that life begins at conception does not mean that it -- or our serious responsibilities -- politically end [sic] at birth." But then, if Mr Shields doesn't know who his own bishop is, perhaps it is asking too much for him to be in aware of the activities of his co-religionists active in the pro-life movement. Why should he? After all, they're not mentioned in the DNC press releases.