Libra Lady & Deborah,

At the risk of being criticized for repeating myself because I just replied to Andrea Brandon with the same information, I just wanted to mention that I just received an email from Joni Evans (kudos to her for paying attention) in which she wrote they are in the process of revising their news coverage.  This site is a work in progress and we have to take that into account.  I am grateful that it was launched and I applaud Joni for staying involved.

Libra Lady & Deborah,

At the risk of being criticized for repeating myself because I just replied to Andrea Brandon with the same information, I just wanted to mention that I just received an email from Joni Evans (kudos to her for paying attention) in which she wrote they are in the process of revising their news coverage.  This site is a work in progress and we have to take that into account.  I am grateful that it was launched and I applaud Joni for staying involved.

the poster condescendingly wrote that I didn’t know about Versace because my clothes came from Frederick’s of Hollywood.

I missed that one!  It’s amazing how personal and snarky some of the posters can be when you disagree with them.  As I said in one of my earlier posts, clearly they have never been asked to write a piece of analysis and probably were never on a debate team — We most certainly don’t have to agree on everything — and that’s what keeps things interesting, but for goodness sake we should all try to express our reasons for disagreeing in a civilized fashion.

By the way, I want to add that I just received an email from Joni Evans (kudos to her for paying attention) in which she wrote they are in the process of revising their news coverage.  This site is a work in progress and we have to take that into account.  I am grateful that it was launched and I applaud Joni for staying involved.

She had found a way to travel with a passport that altered her age.

How on earth did she achieve that?

MQC,

You are quite right.  The Bristol has been on the publicity circuit recently and social topics/issues always drum up a lot commentary, however, I agree with you, I’d like to see some more substantive topics raised for opinion/discussion because they truly do impact our lives. 

DK,

Frankly, if you check my previous posts, you’ll find that I question whether becoming the face of abstinence is such a wise move and I worry that it could negatively impact her relationship with her son long term.  I will add that the photo of her in cap and gown holding the baby does not necessarily convey, to those who haven’t read the story, the rather exhausting and confined life she is leading (mark my words there will be those teens who will find it rather glamorous).  On the other hand, I believe the tone taken in the article is truly so appalling, I question the maturity and the wisdom of the individual who penned it. 

This is a site that is run by and is supposed to be dedicated to meaningful discussions between women over the age of forty.  I am not a pollyana and I certainly have a sense of humor, but one would hope that four decades plus would result in the ability to discuss and debate a broad range of topics thoughtfully and respectfully.  If the writer identified herself (I’m assuming it’s a she!) and entered the conversation it would be quite different than as a member of the staff and thereby representing, by default, the masthead women. 

LG

Good move! I did too!

Rachel & Libra Lady,

We have all experienced the vitriol on this site, as well as the adult icky "mean girls", when there has been disagreement on a topic (makes me think that some of the biggest offenders have never had to write a single piece of analysis, nor were ever members of a debate team!).  It is our gender’s most unattractive trait and as the mother of a daughter, I am constantly striving to teach her how to manage those kinds of girls (some who will never outgrow it and eventually will become dreadful adults).  I think it should be the responsibility of the staff of what is predominantly a women’s site to raise that bar and try to elicit the best from its participants. I don’t think it’s too much to ask the staff @ wowOwow to set an example of the "mature and healthy dialogue" it asks for on its Terms of Usage page.  It makes me wonder whether the "staff" is made up of adolescents or those, who have yet to mature emotionally.

Deena,

I’m sure she’s had a change of heart since Levi has turned out to not be the Prince Charming she thought he was when she was hanging around the hockey rink.  Sadly, this is a not unusual story for teens who become pregnant prematurely — and the girl is usually left holding the bag — or rather the baby.  I only hope that becoming a poster child for abstinence doesn’t impact her relationship with her son long term.

Yikes. We’re sure Tripp won’t be so happy to read that down the road. Also, if Palin’s trying to dissuade girls from having sex, why such a smile on the cover? Shouldn’t she be covered in spit-up and look exhausted? Oh well.

Dear Staff @ wowOwow,

Don’t you think you should make more of an effort to raise the bar in terms of the way you express yourselves and report news/events?  Your cattiness contributes nothing toward elevating the tone of this site.  

No doubt there are several of you, so if you have an opinion, and clearly you do, why don’t you identify yourself and join the conversation?

Deena,

You might find this article by the rigorous Jack Shafer of Slate to be interesting.

http://www.slate.com/id/2218602/

Marjorie,

See above where she writes "josh is right. I didn’t read his blog last week, and didn’t have any idea he had made that point until you informed me just now."   What I got from it was that MD was discussing her column with her unidentified friend and her friend, who had read Josh’s piece, asked her to be sure to make this specific point — and while she worked on it aloud with her friend, I suspect the friend edited/dictated the  sentence and used the same words she had just read.  Maureen Dowd added "but, clearly, my friend must have read josh marshall without mentioning that to me." 

Know that I am not a Maureen Dowd apologist; sometimes I agree with her and other times I don’t care for what she’s written.  I do, however, believe her story because she is truly not one who needs to nor would intentionally plagiarize.

She has spoken with Josh Marshall and made the correction, and that’s good enough for me.