Like most people I don’t think of girls as brides, unless they are wearing a costume for Halloween or a school play. However an article in the New York Times this week, “Tiny Voices Defy Child Marriage in Yemen”http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/world/middleeast/29marriage.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=yemen&st=cse&oref=slogin made me aware that girl brides are part of the reality of several countries in the world, and that for these girl brides life is not a game but a painful reality.

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/07/some_california.html

Excerpted from the article...

"It sounds like one of those stories that conservatives often use to
make government look bad - the city of Sacramento is fining a household
$746 for letting their lawn die to save water. But the real issue here
isn't government - it's whether California will abandon wasteful and
even elitist 20th century values to meet the needs of the 21st century.

This basic tension according to the Sacramento Bee:

Does anbody know how something like the animal above might be attacked. Im really interested in the two degrees. Would be an awesome combination. Would appreciate the help.

GNM

I was at my friend's house last Saturday night witnessing the Philippine star boxer, Will "Manny" Pacquiao defeat his opponent, thereby winning another title. AsianWeek dubbed Pacquiao the "Thrilla from Manila." As I began a conversation with my dad about the fight and how Pacquiao pulled a KO on Diaz, my dad informed me that prior to the fight, Pacquiao promised to donate all of his prize money to the victims of the recent natural disasters in the Philippines. No, not a percentage of his wins, but all of his wins. My dad said Pacquiao's already a millionaire, and he recognizes that there are others he can help.

Tonight at 7pm EST, Brave New Foundation is launching In Their Boots, a weekly 30 minute live webcast that will profile the challenges American service members and
their families face once they return home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is an innovative and provactive way to chronicle the experiences of returning vets, even after they have arrived back from service.

So, I came across this blog post on Obama's comemorative doll and I just wanted to share this with the YP4 community. I mean really, is this the best we can do for brown dolls?

The doll just looks like another Sambo-rendition of black people and people of color.

I'm still trying to let it marinate.

Society has failed the mentally ill over and over again. Only today in the media there was a story of a woman in New York who had been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility who died after falling to the floor in the emergency room of the psychiatric hospital and laying there unattended. A videotape revealed that numerous employees of the facility saw her lying on the ground convulsing and then motionless but no one did anything to help her for over an hour. The woman had been forcibly taken to such facility 24 hours before yet had received no treatment at the facility.

The staff at Young People For have been generous enough to give the staff at Living Liberally a temporary home in their New York office. As well as a 2008 Fellow, I am a summer intern with Living Liberally (the group that hosted the comedy show at the Summit). As I am working in YP4 space right now I thought I would share this blog with my fellow fellows. This blog was originally posted to Living Liberally.