Good point, Arubus:

It's the totally outdated training methods Millan employs which I suppose are reflected in his outdated stereotyping. People cling so hard to this whole "alpha" dog mentality that it's extremely frustrating to anyone who has actually done studies in this field in the last 30 years.

It's very frustrating to people who actually DO train dogs (for dog sports, say) to watch this guy and think "Jeebus, THIS is how you get rich?" Seriously, the guy sucks.

Oh, and Cesar? Check out the number of women vs. men competing in Agility, Obedience, even Flyball. Those dogs are trained to a level that you can only DREAM of... and mostly by women.

Nyah.

Thank god nobody got hurt--but shouldn't we be pounding our "war on terra" politicians to prosecute these people like terrorists? And won't it make reasonable anti-choice citizens think, gee, what side is using terror tactics?

IF there was an affair involved, it apparently was with Helena Bonham-Carter, who he costarred with in "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein".

That it's when he's meeting them at his *surgery* for a consultation--is he a physician? that he asks them, respectfully, if they would remove their veils--and he always ensures that he has a female colleague with him so that the woman will be more comfortable.

I don't see anything wrong or disrespectful about this. I'm not a Broadsheet-basher either, but I think Broadsheet got this wayyyy wrong.

We might keep in mind that a lot of that "Freshman 15" could be attributed to much drinking and the eating of fatty fast food the next morning/early afternoon (nothing went down better for me than a Wendy's Chicken Club and a Cherry Coke). Only thing that saved me from gaining lots more weight was my lack of a car, and attendant need to walk everywhere.

I didn't read the original article so I don't really know what it's celebrating, but I'd say that we PROBABLY shouldn't be encouraging ANYONE to binge drink and then gorge on fast food. Not that I didn't have a good time doing it...

And another thing--I noticed when I was teaching in graduate school that my freshman male students tended to mature physically between their freshman and sophomore years--they gained weight, yes, but also grew a little in height and just generally filled out. They didn't look heavier so much as more adult. The girls, OTOH, were already mature, so when they gained weight, it really was extra fat. I think it's simply the difference in rates of maturation that make the "Freshman 15" more of a chick phenomenon.

I lived in Pittsburgh for 5 months or so, and I think it is a beautiful city--much more livable than Chicago, where I had lived before that. And the cost of living is SIGNIFICANTLY lower. AND someone ought to point out to Sienna that in Pennsylvania, clothing isn't taxed.

If a city is offering you its hospitality, the least you can do is be gracious about it and don't publicly diss it. What a big baby. My heart bleeds...

1) It seems to me that if the father really wanted to keep the child, he would have. If he didn't feel able to care for the child, and there were no other relatives to take him, the child is functionally orphaned.

2) Why is it so strange that they would "line up" the kids so that Madonna could choose? Presumably there were quite a lot of children available at the orphanage. Would you take in and take home someone who is to be a member of your family sight unseen and on someone else's say so? You can't adopt a pet (or buy one from a reputable breeder)without going through a screening process. Like as not the breeder or the shelter volunteer, knowing what you are looking for, will nudge you in one direction or another, but you would never allow that person to pick the animal you will finally take home. The final choice SHOULD be yours. Why would taking in a child involve less consideration than adopting a dog or cat?

3) I'm tired of hearing about people having problems with adoptions across ethnic groups. More than anything I suspect a child without a family wants a family. The rest is secondary.