Sexy styles for girls frighten some parents
Halloween hasn’t changed much for boys: Gory get ups and monster masks still sell.
But in the last few years costumes for girls have traded silly and sweet for skimpy and sexy.
It’s gotten so bad, one mother on an Internet bulletin board suggested renaming the holiday Dress Like a Prostitute Day. “That’s an awful thing to say,” the woman wrote. “But that’s what some of these costumes look like to me.”
Look in costume shops and you’ll see what she means. They don’t sell scary witches so much as saucy witches. Costumes that once were merely daring now look more at home on Vegas showgirls. Outfits that were once “cool” are now ” Hot! Hot! Hot . . .
Long-shot candidates plug away
It’s hard out here for third-party candidates.
Few listen to them. Fewer vote for them. And the media? Well, they don’t pay much attention to them at all.
So when the gubernatorial candidates whose names aren’t Schwarzenegger or Angelides gathered Monday for a candidate forum put on by the Commonwealth Club of California, it was a big opportunity before a small crowd to score some points, try a little humor and hope someone, somewhere, will take heed.
“You’ve got to step out of yourselves,” pleaded Janice Jordan, the Peace and Freedom Party nominee, hoping that she could persuade the few dozen in the audience and those who catch the forum’s broadcast in a few days. . .
Candidates Art Olivier, Janice Jordan and Edward Noonan will be on the show in the 6:00 hour
The holes in the border fence plan By Phil Angelides
ON THURSDAY, President Bush put his signature on a measure authorizing a new fence along 700 miles of the 1,952-mile-long border between the United States and Mexico. Funds for the fence may never be provided, and the fence may never get built. Regardless of its future, the fence legislation alone is no substitute for the kind of comprehensive immigration reform that California and the nation need.
The United States has long been strengthened by policies that have brought immigrants here from every corner of the world. And yet every period of high immigration also has been shadowed with fear, ignorance, hatred and racism. As we move forward with immigration reform, we must adhere to what makes our country great — freedom, opportunity and equality — and resist pandering to the lowest common denominators of divisiveness, stereotypes and ignorance.
Comprehensive reform starts with full funding for the strong border security provisions originally provided in the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act in response to the recommendations of the 9/11 commission. The act calls for at least 2,000 new, permanent border agents a year and 8,000 new detention beds a year for five years. Investments in border personnel and surveillance technology are essential for protecting national security and regulating immigration, but the federal government has funded only a fraction of these requirements. . .
