Friday, April 20, 2012

Teacher/Former Porn Actress Fired


Here we go again.

The latest teacher to be fired for having a past—Stacie Halas.

According to the Huffington Post, “A Southern California science teacher was fired Wednesday night for performing in a pornographic video, school district officials said.”

Halas had performed as a porn actress before becoming a teacher, so I find it difficult o understand legally how this can impact her career as a teacher now.

The problem apparently stems from the fact that some students became aware of a video available online. 

Perhaps the problem lies with the students and the parents who were not more aware of what their children were doing on the Internet.

It seems we slide into dangerous territory when we begin deciding that a woman’s past occupation should determine her present situation. All accounts are that she was a good teacher.

Just because women were once employed in the adult entertainment business doesn’t mean they can’t go on to pursue other work.

You’d think that people would be happy to see that porn actresses and strippers can make something of themselves with their clothes on.

There should be no disgrace in our pasts.

And there should be no discrimination just because some of that past “work” can be found on the Internet.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Man and Woman Strip Down at Airport: One Gets Arrested; One Must be Mad


Thank you, Gothamist, for sharing the latest person willing to strip down in the name of, well, stripping down: Man Protests TSA Screening By Stripping Naked, Gets Arrested.

John Brennan took a stand against the TSA’s screening process by making it easier for the agents to see he meant no harm. Unfortunately for Brennan, his performance ended in his arrest for indecent exposure and disorderly conduct.

I find it interesting, as does Gothamist, that when a woman did the exact same thing last week at Denver International Airport, she was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.

Brennan allegedly refused repeated orders to put his clothes on, and later told authorities he is a frequent flier who "disrobed as a form of protest against TSA screeners who he felt were harassing him." According to the Portland law enforcement report, "Mr. Brennan's actions caused two screening lanes to be closed and while some passengers covered their eyes and their children's eyes and moved away from the screening area, others stepped out of the screening lanes to look, laugh and take photos." 

So I’m just kind of curious what the differences were in these two strippers’ circumstances. Is it simply that a woman stripping down in public as a form of protest must be mad while a man doing the same must be a pervert?

And for all the hubbub about parents covering their children’s eyes I must ask—why? Haven’t kids seen plenty of naked humans before? It’s not like the naked people were involved in sexual acts. I would much rather my children see some naked protesters in real-life situations than airbrushed bikini models on magazine covers at the grocery store.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Weight Loss Extreme: The Nose Tube Diet Hits America



This article and video on Yahoo’s Shine answers the question—when will women go too far to lose weight? Brides’Extreme Wedding Preparations: The Nose Tube Diet.

Sarah B. Weir writes about what I seriously hope is not a coming trend.

Want to lose twenty pounds fast? Like in ten days fast? Just have a tube stuck down your nose and be fed through a bag and surprise, surprise! You’ll lose the weight.

Does this scare the living bajeezus out of anyone else? And it’s not cheap either—$1,500 for the ten-day program.

"People think I'm sick, I'm dying," Jessica Schnaider, 41, of Surfside Florida, told the Times referring to people's reaction to seeing her wearing a nasogastric feeding tube attached to a portable plastic bag of low-cal liquid nourishment. During the program, she skipped picking up her daughters at school because she didn't want to scare the other children.

But this does not deter her from her weight-loss plan.

What does she say to her children about why she has a tube down her nose? For vanity’s sake? Which is kind of humorous when you think about it; you have to look like you’re a seriously ill person to get to the desired end.

And, of course, as most people know by now, the weight loss will most likely be temporary and one might even gain back extra weight afterwards.

I was going to say—what will be next? Surgery to reduce body weight that is merely cosmetic? And then I was like, oh…yeah.

We’re already living in this beautiful new world.