Seems to me there is much more than pink hair to concern a school with

Pink-haired student invited back to school

By Dave Warner

Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:08pm EDT
 

(Reuters) - A school that barred a sixth grader after she dyed her hair pink with her parents' blessing to celebrate her good grades lifted its ban on Tuesday following an outcry from civil rights advocates.
After missing three days of classes, pink-haired Brianna Moore headed back to Shue-Medill Middle School in Newark, Delaware, on Tuesday after administrators reversed their decision after a call from the Delaware branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

"We're on our way right now," said Kevin Moore as he drove his 12-year-old daughter to school.
At his daughter's request last week, he helped dye her hair a shade called crimson storm, which has a pink hue, as a reward for improving her grades.

But when she showed up for school the next day, she was sent home and told not to return until her hair met school policy mandating a "natural color, brown, blond, black, natural red/auburn."

The ACLU soon got in touch with attorneys for the school district and asked, "Don't you think this is unconstitutional?" said Kathleen MacRae, ACLU executive director in Delaware.

Moore was invited back to school with assurances she would not be punished, said Wendy Lapham, school district spokeswoman.

"The hair is not going to be an issue," Lapham said.

(Editing By Barbara Goldberg and Paul Thomasch)

 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/21/us-school-pinkhair-idUSBRE82J16R20120321?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&rpc=935

Seven Million Pounds of “Pink Slime” Beef Destined for National School Lunch Program

By Sarah B. Weir, Yahoo! blogger | Healthy Living – Thu, Mar 8, 2012 1:05 PM EST

"pink slime" burger? McDonald's and Taco Bell have banned it, but now the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is buying 7 million pounds of beef containing ammonium hydroxide-treated ground connective tissue and meat scraps and serving it up to America's school kids. If you thought cafeteria food was gross before….


According to TheDaily.com, the term "pink slime" was coined by microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein, formerly of the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service. He first saw it being mixed into burger meat when he was touring a Beef Products Inc (BPI) facility in 2002 after an outbreak of salmonella. "Scientists in D.C. were pressured to approve this stuff with minimal safety approval," Zirnstein told The Daily.

"Pink slime," which is officially called "Lean Beef Trimmings," is banned for human consumption in the United Kingdom. It is commonly used in dog and chicken food. Celebrity chef and safe food advocate Jamie Oliver featured the substance and called for its ban on the April 12, 2011 episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, which may have influenced McDonald's to stop using beef patties containing the filler.
Reportedly, Zirnstein and his colleague Carl Custer studied the substance and classified it as a "high risk product." Custer, who worked at the Food Safety Inspection service for 35 years, says, "We looked at the product and we objected to it because it used connective tissues instead of muscle. It was simply not nutritionally equivalent [to ground beef]. My main objection was that it was not meat."

Another issue is the ammonium hydroxide, a chemical that is used to kill pathogens such as E. coli. The FDA considers it safe for human consumption but a 2009 expose by the New York Times questioned its safety and efficacy. Some food advocates are asking for meat containing "pink slime" to be labeled. It's used in about 70% of ground beef in the US. "We don't know which districts are receiving what meat, and this meat isn't labeled to show pink slime. They don't have to under federal law," Bettina Siegal, a writer and mother of two who created TheLunchTray.com told NBC. Siegel has started a petition to demand the USDA stop using the product in the National School Lunch Program.

Would you allow your kids to eat ground beef mixed with "pink slime?"

Yes! Yes! Yes! Let's move forward - since we've already took way too many steps back

Should "Sesame Street" Teach Kids About Breastfeeding?

By Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine | Parenting – Tue, Jan 10, 2012 1:58 PM EST

Should a show like No doubt about it: Breastfeeding still causes controversy. In 2011 alone, a judge ruled that a woman couldn't do it in "his court" and under "his law," and Facebook deleted thousands of photos of mothers with babies at their breasts. Stores have thrown women out for discreetly nursing their infants, angry moms protested at places like Target, and any magazine that shows a nursing mother on their cover still sparks outrage, even if the woman is showing less of her breast than a bikini-clad model on the front of a typical fitness magazine.

Now, some parents are pushing to bring breastfeeding back to public television. Specifically, on "Sesame Street."

In the 1970s and 1980s, the landmark show routinely talked about nursing as a normal and natural part of childhood. In this clip from 1977, guest star Buffy St. Marie breastfeeds her baby while Big Bird watches. "See? He's drinking milk from my breast," she explains to the curious bird. "At first, when he was just born and very tiny, this was all that he wanted and all that he needed. But now that he's getting bigger, see, I mash up fruit and vegetables and sometimes a little meat, and as he gets older he'll need more and more different kinds of food to eat."

A decade or so later, Sonia Manzano, who played Maria, nursed her real-life daughter, Gabi -- so bundled up in a blanket that only her tiny hand was showing -- while an older child asked questions. "Is that the only way you can feed her?" the child asks. "Oh no, sometimes I feed her this way, and sometimes I feed her with a bottle," Maria replies. "But you know? I like this way best. It's natural, it's good for her, and I get to hug her more."

In both segments, the women are completely covered up. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that little Gabi was kicking and stretching, one might think Maria was pretending to nurse a doll. But by the 1990s, "Sesame Street" had stopped airing those clips, and had edited a breastfeeding shot out of the montage for their popular song, "You're My Baby."

Now, some parents are asking the show to promote breastfeeding again. As of January 10, more than 2,600 people had signed a petition asking the public television program to do so. But others are offended that the long-running children's show -- which routinely features story lines on potty training, younger siblings, and meal times -- would consider showing a baby being fed from a breast instead of a bottle.

"There are a LOT of things people might consider 'normal' and 'natural', but many of them do not belong on TV or in public, including this," "Steve68112" commented at The Huffington Post. "This does not belong on TV or in public, it is gross."

Over at Sheknows.com, other commenters felt that the public television icon was overstepping its bounds, even though it had touched on the topic in the past without a problem. "While I agree breastfeeding is important, I don't think Sesame Street is the place to have it," "Ula from Michigan" wrote. An anonymous poster added her two cents: "I wouldn't stand behind bringing it to 'Sesame Street'. I do not feel it is their place to educate a small child on nursing."

And yet… it wasn't that long ago that some of the toddlers watching "Sesame Street" were being breastfed themselves. And many of those young Elmo fans probably see their own moms nursing younger siblings at home, so the visual is more likely to be familiar to them than awkward.

 http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/sesame-street-teach-kids-breastfeeding-185000424.html