Happy New Year!

We’re back everyone! Hope your holidays were happy and we wish you all the best in 2006, but enough with the good cheer, Christmas is over. Well, not quite...

We at Holier than Thou really feel for parents who were Christmas shopping this year because not only were right-wing Christians claiming that there was a war on the holy holiday and that evil liberals were trying to take Christ out of Christmas (is that even possible?) but toys were coming under their wrath, too. What’s a parent to do? Read on.


1) The Pro-Life Action League is calling for a boycott of the ever-popular American Girl dolls and some Catholic schools have cancelled American Girl events. These ever-popular dolls that are made by Mattel, boasted more than $379 million in sales in 2004, attesting to their wide appeal. So why the sudden acrimony toward these wholesome dolls rooted in American history? Seems that American Girl:

A) …has come under federal scrutiny for money laundering.
B) …has revealed that the original creator of American Doll is a self-avowed atheist.
C) …donates money to a charitable organization that offers support to underprivileged girls, endorses Roe v. Wade and promotes acceptance of homosexuality.
D) …pays Chinese children working in sweatshops less than a dollar a week to assemble the dolls.


2) Meanwhile, the radical Christian organization Concerned Women for America says THIS toy “has become another tool for promoting gender confusion among children.” What toy?

A) Sing-Along Barney Cuddle-Me plush toy
B) Barbie
C) Bert and Ernie’s Best Friends board game
D) Teletubbies Touch and Learn Activity Set


ANSWERS:
1) Answer: C. American Girl donates money to Girls Inc. American Girl released a statement saying it is “profoundly disappointed that certain groups have chosen to misconstrue American Girl's purely altruistic efforts.”

2) Answer: B. On the Barbie Web site, www.Barbie.com, there is a poll that asks children their age and sex. The age choices are 4-8, but as Bob Knight, Director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, notes children are given three options for their choice of gender: girl, boy and “I don’t know,” which CWA feels possibly reveals Barbie’s darker motives to promote homosexuality and transgenderism. Go figure.