The United States has the highest teen birthrate of any developed country.

I’m sorry, but that’s inexcusable.

I’m going to lay a lot of the blame at the feet of the woefully inadequate “abstinence-only” programs that are basically a waste of everyone’s time and money.

Teenagers have sex.

Get used to it.

Give them all the tools they will need, including access to birth control, knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases, and you’ve got a pretty good shot at keeping someone from getting pregnant.

In the article linked to above, a quarter of the teens said that their partner did not want them to use birth control.  Say what?

Teach your kids that if their partner doesn’t want them to use birth control, then that partner isn’t worth being with.

Humans are sexual beings.  That includes teenagers.  That ESPECIALLY includes teenagers.  It’s like nobody ever remembers being a teenager.

What is wrong with people, anyway?

I apologize.

I will do my durndest to keep up with the pace I’ve been churning out now for going on five years.  You’d think I’d have it down to a science by now.

I spotted these courtesy of Boing Boing:

The evil snowman who will haunt your dreams and I wish you a very happy holiday season!

I’ve made peace with the fact that I’m never going to rise to any Doocian levels of fame.

I just toil quietly here in my little corner of the blogosphere, riding the coattails of the boss, and simply hoping to brighten someone’s day, somewhere.

But then I found out that Kourtney Kardashian has a mommy blog.

Granted it’s a video blog, but it launched only a few days ago and already almost 3,000 people have fanned it on Facebook.

I’m not bitter or anything.

But I think I’ll retreat into the kitchen and drown myself in some spiked eggnog now.

Yay or nay on the baby cursing? The internets seem to be divided.  One commenter suggested you would only hear what your filthy mind WANTED to hear.  I assure you what I heard was in no way lurking in my subconscious.

50% of you subscribe to discount service sites like Groupon or Living Social. 16% say no way, 27% just stick to local coupons, and 5% have never heard of Groupon and its ilk. I have to say that I enjoy sites like Groupon, because I think I really do get some great deals, better than what’s in the paper. The key is buying something because you WANT it and will use it, not because it’s “just too good to pass up.”

This weekend saw a lot of cleaning happening here, as well as spending our entire day today waiting for an AT&T technician to figure out why our connection is so damn slow. We were told that he would arrive between 8am and 4pm. Which, let me tell you right now, is a ludicrously large window. Yeah, like I want to wait ALL DAY for this person, who will probably show up at 3:55. Alas, we waited in vain, for he never showed up and never called. Glinda and Mr. Glinda are NOT PLEASED, AT&T.

I think it’s a tie between Voldemort and Dobby as to who will be the star of my nightmares tonight.

Herminone Granger

Ron Weasley

Dobby

Harry Potter

Severus Snape

Voldemort

via

Now I don’t know about anyone else, but I sure as hell would not be laughing at a lioness attempting to eat my offspring. She isn’t being “cute” or “funny,” she is literally trying to attack that baby. It doesn’t make me giggle, it makes me want to run far, far away from that enclosure.

I was born, raised, and still live in Southern California.  Yeah, I’m one of those people, wanna make something of it? I have never lived further than a half hour from the beach.  In high school, my friends and I practically lived at the beach during the summer.

And do you know what I’ve never seen in my life until today?

People in heels on the damn beach.

Leave it to Katie Holmes to blaze that trail.

I’ve kept my mouth shut on all the things that have kept her and Suri in the press, from midnight dinners to clutching X-rated candies.  Not a word from me. 

Let Suri take her shoes off, for the love of all that is holy.  She is at the BEACH.  It was not at all hot in Southern California this weekend, so there will be no theorizing that the sand was too hot to go shoeless.  That and all the other people in the picture have no shoes. 

One of the pleasures of going to the beach is the tactile feeling of walking on sand.  Feeling it beneath and between your toes, noting how it changes texture and temperature as you get closer to the water. 

I don’t care if they were at a party in a house prior to walking down the steps onto the beach.  That is where the parent is supposed to say, “Hey honey, let’s go walk on the beach!  Take off your shoes and let’s go!” Not “Yes, let us keep our fancy schmancy shoes on in the sand where the heels will sink in and we will get sand in our shoes, which is actually pretty uncomfortable and not much fun at all.”

Sheesh.

Or maybe crazily rich people don’t allow their, or their children’s, feet to touch something as common as sand.

The entire premise of the blog is to show “how funny big kids look in little strollers.” Or at least that is what the (childless, natch) authors claimed when called out on Jezebel for being ah, a bit judgemental about parents who choose to place “big” kids in strollers.

I’m calling foul on this for a couple of reasons.

1) Don’t care if you are childless and having fun, somewhere there is a commandment that says “Judge not, lest ye find yourselves walking miles at Disneyland in their Nikes.”  Or something like that.

2) Did we mention that many of these pictures were taken at Disneyland?  Dude, when it comes to kids and walking around ALL BETS ARE OFF AT ANY DISNEY PROPERTY.  Period.

3) There are kids who look a lot older than they are.  Take my friend’s five year old daughter.  She is almost as tall as my eight year old, and often has people expecting her to act a certain way based solely on her height.  There’s also a commandment relating to books and covers.

4) The authors claim that they carefully “screen” their victims candidates for disabilties, by you, know, looking at them. Because we all know how easy it is to recognize a disability just by looking at someone.

I think what saddens me the most is that they have over a thousand likes on Facebook. 

Hide behind the all in good fun excuse all you like, but I think this is just plain mean.