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sears

Let the toy paranoia begin

Don't get the kid a lead pencil/Ryn Gargulinski
Don't get the kid a lead pencil/Ryn Gargulinski

Think twice before grabbing the latest newfangled toy for your tot.

Never mind if the toy has small parts that could fall off and end up lodged in a kid’s throat, or Venetian-blind-like cords that could hang the child from the window.

You need to fret about the amount of lead the toy may contain.

In addition to not allowing your child to suck on old school pencils and lick walls covered in old paint, you should heed the new lead toy blacklist that was announced in a news release from Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.

To give you some background, Goddard came to a settlement last year with toy giant Mattel, Inc. and its subsidiary, the fabulous Fisher-Price, Inc., that made the company promise to “implement strict new limits” on the amount of lead in children’s toys.

The company also has to alert the AGs in several states when the lead content exceeds the “strict new limits,” get heartily scolded, and then work with the AGs to “remedy any
such violations.”

That said, we were treated to a recent black list of toys and other items that exceed the “strict new limits,” although we are never told what those limits are.

As a guideline, perhaps, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has a policy with kids’ metal jewelry, where it recalls anything that contains lead in amounts of more than 600 parts per million, or ppm.

Items recently noted by the California attorney general to have high amounts of lead include:

Forget giving the kid a lead can/Ryn Gargulinski
Forget giving the kid a lead can/Ryn Gargulinski

Barbie Bike Flair accessory kit sold by Tuesday Morning, 6,196 ppm

Disney Fairies Silvermist’s Water Lily necklace sold by Walgreens, 22,000 ppm

Dora the Explorer activity tote sold by TJ Maxx, 2,348 ppm

Kids poncho sold by Walmart, 677 ppm

MSY Faded Glory Rebecca shoes sold by Walmart, 1,331 ppm

Reversible Croco belt sold by Target, 4,270 ppm

Paula fuchsia open-toed shoes sold by Sears, 3,957 ppm

Why kids would be sucking on ponchos, croco belts and Sears open-toed shoes may remain a mystery, but we guess it’s better safe than sickly.

We are not sure how much lead will make a kid drop dead, unless a lead safe falls on his head and then we know a single unit will do the trick.

We also know that kids absorb 40 to 50 percent of lead that gets into their mouth, whereas an adult absorbs about 10 percent.

That means we older folks can more safely lick old paint and suck on croco belts.

Watch those reversible croco belts/Ryn Gargulinski
Watch those reversible croco belts/Ryn Gargulinski

While there may be some merit to the lead argument, this type of information still gets classified in the “give me a break” category.

It seems parents should spend more time watching their tots to make sure the kids don’t stick things like ponchos and shoes in their mouth rather than trying to get the lead out of the world that surrounds them.

Speaking of the surrounding world, many soils generally contain lead in amounts of about 10 to 40 ppm, while contaminated soils can soar above 100,000 ppm or more.

So much for those scrumptious mud pies.

Don’t forget, too, that vegetables are grown in soil and, if lead-laden dirt is stuck in the broccoli and not rinsed off, that broccoli is no longer quite so healthy.

May be safer to have the kid chew on open-toed shoes.

[tnipoll]

__

Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who never chewed on shoes as a kid but did once eat a petunia. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.

logoWhat do you think?

Do you check the lead content in toys for tots?

Do you check the lead content in everything dang thing you buy?

Do you suck on Sears open-toed shoes?

Filed Under: blogski, column, danger, death, environment, life, stupidity Tagged With: ag terry goddard, attorney general, barbie bike flair accessory kit, children, children's safety, disney fairies silvermist water lily, dora the explorer activity tote, fisher price, hazardous toys, kid hazards, kid safety, kids poncho, lead content toys, lead poisoning, mattel, paula open-toed shoes, reversible croco belt, sears, target, tj maxx, toy hazards, toy paranoia, toys lead content, tuesday morning, walgreens, walmart

Crossdressing at church tougher than crossdressing at Sears

A big, burly guy was recently spotted browsing Sears’ women’s lingerie department at Park Place Mall. The guy, however, wasn’t browsing bras for his girlfriend. He was seeking something for himself.

My secret Park Place spy said the dude had a “manly face, Adam’s apple the size of an apple and a really bad wig.”

Not the Sears guy, but a participant in London's July 4 gay parade/AP Photo
Not the Sears guy, but a participant in London's July 4 gay parade/AP Photo

So what. It’s still beautiful. The beauty, of course, is that Americans can dress how the heck they want anywhere they want.

Amost.

Crossdressing at church is another story. I recently researched the subject for one of my freelance assignments and found some actually consider it a sin.

Those against it use an Old Testament verse, Deuteronomy 22:5, to condemn the practice:

“The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.”

As noted on the site RachelMiller.info. “These people use a literal interpretation of that single verse to automatically brand all male (but not female) cross-dressers as sinners in desperate need of repentance.

London's July 4 gay parade/AP Photo
London's July 4 gay parade/AP Photo

“Women routinely wear ‘male’ clothing to church and no one calls them an abomination. Curiously, the Biblical prohibition is first levied towards women and then secondarily towards men. Rather an odd sequence unless the true meaning of the verse has more application to women than to men. It should also be noted that Jesus and His disciples wore what amounts to floor length dresses.”

CrossdresserHeaven.com, which contains comprehensive crossdressing information of all sorts, says some Biblical verses are not always applicable to modern society.

“(Some) verses vilify seafood, allow slavery and command against a good haircut,” says site author Vanessa, who has been crossdressing for 25 years, about Lev 1:9, Lev 15:19-24, Lev 25:44, Lev 11:10 and Lev 19:27.

My research also taught me the first key to crossdressing at church is to find a congregation where it’s accepted. You don’t need mass to come to a halt so everyone can stop and stare.

The second is to be sensible. Just as women should not show up to church in hot pants and plunging necklines, neither should a guy. Especially if the latter exposes a hairy chest – or lingerie from Sears.

wb-logolil17

What do you think?

Have you ever seen a crossdresser at church? Was it a sensible outfit?

Have you ever crossdressed in church?

Do you have any crossdressing tips for the masses, pun intended?

Filed Under: blogski, life Tagged With: art, church, cool, crossdresserheaven.com, crossdressing, funky, kooky, lingerie, odd, old testament, park place mall, sears, transvestite

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