Would you fight in the aisle over a $10 hamster?

I was reading at CNBC about the new must-have toy for Christmas which apparently is this Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster. From the article:

Maybe it's a sign of the times when one of the toys predicted to be among the top sellers this Christmas Holiday is a $10 Zhu Zhu pet hamster.

Toys 'R Us has issued its 2009 Holiday Hot Toy list. The list includes 36 total items, but the fuzzy hamster is one of the "Fabulous 15," which is considered to be the best of the best on the retailer's list.

The retailer puts a lot of effort into selecting these toys, which will be featured promiently at its stores and promotions. This year, the company has put an extra focus on selecting toys that offer parents good value.

I don't care how much a darn toy costs, there is no way I would fight in a aisle over much of anything, much less a $10 hamster. If a kid on my shopping list really wants this, I'll go to Amazon and cough up the extra $16.50 (or so) to have it shipped to me. Or a better alternative might be to teach the kids that a ten buck hamster is not anything that great.

"All Men are Pigs!"

This is the greeting I received at the checkout line at the Bearden Earth Fare in Knoxville yesterday. After work, I was driving by, had a coupon and thought I would stop by to pick up something for dinner. At the cash register, the women who worked there were congregated around talking, and finally after a few moments, the cashier started to ring up my order and stated to me that she had to impart her words of wisdom that "All Men are Pigs!" to the younger female grocery bagger. The younger woman, a petulant looking twenty-something yelled back, "Yeah, all Men are Pigs!" and started to laugh.

If you have been reading this blog, you know I was not a happy camper. I said to the younger woman, "All men are not pigs" to which she replied,"Well, they are pigs...but I guess not all are, some are okay." To which I replied, "I bet there is no way you would have stood here and said "All Women are Pigs! There is no way you would say that in public." Her response? "Well, we're all pigs." Great, so she thinks her customers are pigs too.

I could tell the older cashier understood that they had made a mistake. But after all, they were in their comfort zone. A health food store where organic food spelled liberalism and an intolerance for those people male or conservative. Grocery bagger girl quickly changed the subject to "paper or plastic." I stared at her as I got my bags and she looked at me with a mixture of intimidation, confusion and perhaps, hatred. I left. But I hope that next time these women feel free to play out their male-bashing meme at work in front of the general public, they will remember that not all of their female customers agree with the good old girl network.

Update: Earth Fare responds in the comments:

Dear Ms. Smith:

We are so sorry that you encountered this type of behavior in one of our stores. We respect all of our customers and are saddened that you had to deal with this sort of behavior.

We are dealing with the problem now. And, thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Sincerely,

Misty Faucheux
Social Media Manager
Earth Fare

PJTV: Interviewing the Founders of Smart Girl Politics

I interviewed Stacy Mott & Terri Christoph, the founders of Smart Girl Politics. Instead of shouting at the TV, they decided to get their views heard via Twitter and the social networking sites and have picked up 20,000 members to their cause. Meet them and some of their members in this interview at PJTV.

You can see the interview here.

"I think I know a lot of men who deserve to be beaten,"

Trudy Schuett reports at Examiner.com on Praxis International, an organization that she says "encourages domestic violence, when properly applied." Trudy says:

I wouldn't have known anything about this org but for an e-mail I got from Marc Angelucci, of NCFM. The e-mail was about the outrage felt by participants at the recent Washington State Domestic Violence Coalition (WSDVC) annual conference, where Amanda McCormick, an employee of Praxis said with a grin, "I think I know a lot of men who deserve to be beaten," during her keynote address.

Naturally, when asked for clarification about this comment, Janice Wick, Associate Director of Praxis, said:

"Amanda McCormick is an employee of Praxis International but was not representing Praxis at the Washington conference. As I was not present, I can not speak to your concerns. I would not want to make a judgment based on a sentence that may or may not have been taken out of context. I will forward your email to Amanda and she will respond to you directly."

Notice how there is always an excuse when PC comments are made in most organizations, one that would not be tolerated had the sexes been reversed. I am glad to see that people who were attending were outraged and that Ms. Schuett is on the case.

"...they're more focused on their own worries, such as getting a job or paying off mountains of student loans."

I just read this story linked from Drudge about the "quiet" youth who are no longer so interested in politics. It seems those between 18-29 are too busy looking for a job and trying to pay back student loans to get too invested in politics:

Letdown is inevitable to a point, says James Emmett, an unemployed recent college graduate.

"Of course I'm not as hopeful because everyone's been exhausted, absorbed by the economic realities, from man on the street to Congressman," says the 23-year-old artist who's living with his parents on Long Island, N.Y., while he looks for work. But, he adds, the president needs to "trust that we're still with him, build upon his community of support."

Apparently, none of these college grads is able to put two and two together and realize that they voted for a guy who is ruining our economy, and hence, is making it more difficult for them to get a job and pay off those student loans. I should feel sorry for these younger Obama voters but I don't. All I have to say is "serves ya right, suckers!"

Melanie Phillips has a good article at The Spectator on the problems of Britain's "feral" youth and illiteracy (thanks to the reader that emailed the article). Take a look.

PJTV: Interviewing Michelle Malkin

More Smart Girl Politics interviews, this time I talk with Michelle Malkin about the women who gave birth to the Tea Parties, personal attacks on right-leaning women and her books, such as Culture of Corruption.

You can watch the interview with Michelle here.

PJTV: Smart Girl Politics

I interview Congressional Candidate Robin Smith at the Smart Girl Politics Summit on why women are getting involved in politics.

You can watch the interview here.

Michael Barone: "Strangers to dissent, liberals try to stifle it."

Conservative women and politics

Glenn and I spent part of the weekend in Nashville covering the Smart Girl Politics Summit, a conference of conservative women for PJTV. Women from around the country were there to learn how to be activists, listen to speakers such as Liz Cheney, Michelle Malkin and Congresswoman Masha Blackburn, and to find like-minded souls who share a love of free markets and limited government.

After interviewing a number of the women, I found the common theme to be a sense of isolation due to media exclusion of their voices, or if they were mentioned at all in the media, their portrayal was negative. I must say all of the women seemed pretty tough and talked about how they were personally attacked for their views. Most were moms and worried about their kids and how the negativity would affect them. One attendee, Vanderbuilt Law and Political Science Professor Carol Swain, stated that she was often given flak and negative feedback for being an African American conservative. But all of the women rose to the challenge and said that despite the personal attacks, they would continue to speak out, become activists, and some would run for office. The conference, and the women were inspiring, and reminded me that there are many people, both men and women who will continue to fight for the American way of life.

The interviews should be up at PJTV soon and will give you a chance to hear from women whose views are a welcome departure from the typical propaganda we hear from the popular women's magazines and the MSM.