Miscellaneous Rambling
I volunteer occasionally to ring bells for Salvation Army, but this past weekend, someone told me that Salvation Army donates to Planned Parenthood. I went online and found articles that discuss Salvation Army International's support of limited abortion rights, but also articles that say Salvation Army USA vehemently disagrees with the position. And I found no articles about direct donations from Salvation Army to Planned Parenthood.
Anybody have any leads? I'm not sure I'll get around to ringing bells this year or not, but if I have a nifty and overwhelmingly-valid excuse to avoid it ("Gee, I'd like to stand out in the cold for an hour, but you guys promote baby-killing"), I will. There are enough charitable causes to support this time of year. I don't need to donate any time or money if even a small slice of a fraction goes to the notorious Planned Parenthood (an organization I've loathed since my pre-Catholic days).
But at this point, I'm not comfortable accusing the Salvation Army of something as heinous as donating to Planned Parenthood. I haven't seen nearly enough evidence.
Amazon
Please access Amazon through any of the book links you see at TDE or the Amazon ad link in the upper righthand corner of the page. About eighty percent of TDE "revenue" comes in between now and early January, so your patronage is greatly appreciated this time of year.
Kid Struggles
Michael (15) is having sartorial troubles. He simply doesn't care what he wears, style-wise. If it were up to him, he'd wear sweat pants and shorts all day, every day. Marie has been trying to liven up his wardrobe a bit ("Michael, you're in high school now. You need to dress sharper.") Michael has gone along with it, but he freaked out and asked me to intervene when Marie brought these home for him:
Michael's words, "Dad! They're red, they're red pants! I just heard a couple of upperclassmen making fun of some kid in the cafeteria who was wearing red pants."
It reminds me of an in-law story about "Mr. Christie's pants." Mr. Christie was a octogenarian who died in the 1970s. Marie's Mom bought some of his clothes for Marie's eighth-grade brother, which included a pair of bright yellow golf pants. The kids in Marie's ritzy neighborhood were none too kind about it . . . and now, over thirty years later, his brother-in-law isn't either.
