America's Attack On Lemonade Stands

Arguably there is no catchier, kitschier symbol of the American spirit than a lemonade stand. It represents not only a way of life, but a way of making a living. It is capitalism and leisure, refreshment and resourcefulness, enterprise and summer skies all squeezed together — stirred in with lemons and sugar and water — and sold by the glass for whatever the market will bear.

But if you are paying attention to the news, you know that lemonade stands are at risk.

Just this year, The Associated Press reports: In July, police shut down a lemonade-making operation in Midway, Ga., because law enforcement officials were not sure how the lemonade was being made. In April, a 13-year-old lemonade purveyor was robbed of $130 by dastardly customers in Warner-Robins, Ga., and, in July, kids in Strongsville, Ohio, said a handful of teenagers, including two boys sporting skinny jeans and blue hoodies, stole at least $13.50 from their lemonade stand.

During the U.S. Open in June, officials in Montgomery County, Md., fined kids $500 for running a fancy lemonade stand — that sold bottled lemonade and other drinks — near the golf tournament. Proceeds, the children said, were going to charity. County officials finally agreed to waive the fine and allow the kids to operate without a permit if they would move the 10-by-10-foot tent down the road a piece.

As one of the mothers of the children told WUSA news: "The message to kids is, there's no American dream."

'Dreaming Big'

For others, the dream stands tall. In suburban Detroit, students at Beverly Elementary School are planning to string together — side by side — enough 4-foot-wide structures to create the World's Longest Lemonade Stand on Aug. 20. They hope to wind up in the Guinness World Records.

"The lemonade stand is often a child's first business venture," says Mary Ann Hupp, 41, a creative director at a marketing agency and one of the motherly promoters of the event. "We hope this project is an example for our children that they should be proactive and take initiative in life."

Hupp believes that the mere planning of the event has kindled the entrepreneurial spirit in the kids. "My 9-year-old son told me yesterday that he'd like to invent a flying car before college," she says. "While that will most likely not come to fruition, we love that he is dreaming big."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/07/19/138461324/americas-attack-on-lemonade-stands?ft=1&f=1057

sarah palin al sharpton bill oreilly fox news hamid karzai

First Lady: Let's Move Fruits And Veggies To 'Food Deserts'

The First Lady announced today that several major grocery retailers will expand their reach into food deserts where supermarkets are scarce. It's one part of her efforts to tackle childhood obesity.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/07/20/138544907/first-lady-lets-move-fruits-and-veggies-to-food-deserts?ft=1&f=1003

al gore bill clinton newt gingrich sarah palin al sharpton

NASA: Space Station's Best Days Are Still Ahead

After more than a decade, major construction of International Space Station is complete. Scientists are now hoping that the next decade will be a golden age of research aboard the orbiting outpost. But with no American shuttle to transport astronauts and experiments, even simple logistics will be a major challenge.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/07/18/138478225/nasa-space-station-s-best-days-are-still-ahead?ft=1&f=1007

fox news hamid karzai barak obama hillary clinton george w bush

Rethinking SIDS: Many Deaths No Longer A Mystery

The thought of a baby dying suddenly and unexpectedly is one that keeps parents awake at night, fearing the worst. For years, little was known about sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. Babies would die in their sleep, and it was presumed that little could be done to prevent those deaths.

Today in the U.S., more than 2,000 babies die of SIDS every year, according to government figures.

But the mystery surrounding SIDS is not what it once was. Many SIDS deaths are now believed to be accidents caused by unsafe sleep practices. And some are questioning whether the term SIDS remains relevant at all.

SIDS: A 'Diagnosis Of Exclusion'

In Wayne County, Mich., 50 to 60 infants die suddenly and unexpectedly each year, most of them in Detroit.

For the past 11 years, the task of investigating those cases has fallen to Pat Tackitt, a pediatric mortality investigator for the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office.

When an infant dies, law enforcement will contact her. She'll head out immediately to the family's home, spending anywhere from one to five hours talking with the family, using a doll to help parents re-enact what happened.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/07/15/137859024/rethinking-sids-many-deaths-no-longer-a-mystery?ft=1&f=1007

fox news hamid karzai barak obama hillary clinton george w bush

Feinstein unveils DOMA repeal plan

  • Sen. Dianne Feinstein is proposing a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act
  • The act defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman
  • She says federal law denies hundreds of benefits to same-sex married couples
  • "It's unconstitutional, I believe, and wrong," she says at a news conference

Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_allpolitics/~3/wdMBI_gu-DU/index.html

nancy pelosi harry reid john mccain al gore bill clinton

New Republic: Shhh...Secretly Sick Dicatators

Chris Clemans, Max Schulman and Margy Slattery are interns for The New Republic.

Recent events got The New Republic thinking about all the rumors of dictators' bad health and those heads of state whose well-being has generated rumor, uncertainty and controversy.

In 1951, President Juan Peron had his second wife, Eva, examined and treated for cervical cancer without her knowledge — an effort to keep the illness hidden from Eva and the Argentine public during Peron's second presidential campaign. The government denied reports that the first lady was suffering from the disease, but she eventually died from it the following year.

See the entire slide show at The New Republic.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/07/19/138506527/new-republic-shhh-secretly-sick-dicatators?ft=1&f=1057

newt gingrich sarah palin al sharpton bill oreilly fox news