My last box of Cheerios

A little over ten years ago my family boycotted General Mills because they were supporters of Planned Parenthood. We gave up Cheerios in all their permutations in spite of the fact that these had been a major part of childhood. We carried on this boycott for years. Every time I trundled down the cereal aisle with children in tow one of them would point to the Big G logo and say, "We don't buy those! They like abortion." It was only within the last five years that I found out General Mills had stopped donating to Planned Parenthood and we could indulge in Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms again. Alas, no more.

General Mills has now decided to take an active role in promoting gay marriage in Minnesota:

General Mills has entered the Culture War, announcing its corporate opposition to the marriage amendment in Minnesota on the ballot this November which would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Fine. If General Mills wants to choose a side that is antithetical to my Catholic moral principles, then I will do my best to choose an alternate food source. No more Betty Crocker. No more Pillsbury. No more Big G cereals. No more Yoplait. No more anything with the Boxtops for Education coupon.You can see the whole list of General Mills brands here.

Some of you may not be in to boycotts, and that is okay. It is not a mortal sin to buy General Mills. But especially in this case where there are so many easy alternatives, I am happy to put my food dollars elsewhere. If you have children in Catholic schools that participate in the Boxtops for Education program, I would also suggest you talk to the administration of the school and ask them to reconsider their support for a corporation that is using their profits to undermine the sanctity of marriage and the integrity of families.

Defending Our Catholic Village

Don't keel over. I agree with Hillary Clinton. It does take a village to raise a child. However, unlike Clinton, I have no intention of allowing the state to impose itself as the "village". As a parent, it is my right to choose the village. Read why the fight for religious freedom is also a fight for parental rights:

The Washington Post recently published a heartwarming and inspiring story of parents in Loudoun County, Virginia, who banded together to make sure their children succeeded in high school. They perceived cultural obstacles to success and sought to equip their sons and daughters to overcome them.

Beginning in middle school, these parents supported each other and watched out for each other’s children. They set high standards for both behavior and academic performance. Together they mentored, chided, scolded, encouraged and rewarded these young people to keep them on the road to academic excellence. Their children graduated with a 92% rate of enrollment in Advanced Placement classes and an average cumulative GPA of 3.7.

To celebrate their achievement, they partied and enjoyed a cake decorated with the axiom made famous by Hillary Clinton, “It takes a village.” Unlike the government-imposed village of school-based indoctrination programs envisioned by Clinton, however, the “village” that supported these young people was freely chosen by their parents. They had common concerns, goals and values, and cooperatively passed on these values to all of their children.

Continue reading at HLI America

Dream for My Daughter

Why is it that President Obama is convinced that a woman cannot succeed unless she denies her feminine nature and makes herself physiologically like a man? A recent Obama re-election ad suggests that a young woman's professional success is dependent upon using contraception. I responded at the HLI America site:

One of President’s Obama’s latest re-election commercials entitled “Dreams of our Daughters” offers both misleading information and a demeaning characterization of women. The spot shows actors portraying a mother and two daughters with soothing music in the background. The mother’s soft voice narrates the ad and speaks of the ambitious goals of her six-year-old and ten-year-old daughters. One wants to be a “dolphin doctor” and one wants to be a military fighter pilot. She then laments how some want to take away the rights of women to obtain birth control. That is why she is going to vote for President Obama. Unless her daughters have access to birth control, they will never reach their dreams.

Continue reading at HLI America