Diamonds Are Mo'Ne's Best Friend

Marilyn Monroe once sang diamonds are a girl's best friend.   But in 13 year old Mo'Ne Davis' case, it's a baseball diamond.

Mo'Ne is the 18th girl to make it to the LLWS, but she has the sporting world's attention as one of the few girls in the 67 year history of the LLWS to be the star player of their Little League team.

Her Taney Youth Baseball Association Little League of Philadelphia squad got to the 2014 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA on the strength of her pitching arm and her 70 MPH fastball.  

In addition to the personal history Davis is making, her Taney squad is also making it as a team. They are the first team from Philadelphia to make it to the LLWS. 

In the Taney Dragons first game on Friday a 4-0 win against Nashville, Tennessee, Davis proved she was no joke as she pitched her second complete game,   She gave up only two hits and struck out eight batters enroute to becoming the first girl ever in the 67 year history of the event to pitch a shutout. .

In the game last night against Pearland East, my H-town suburban homies and the overflow crowd  of 32,000 found out that Mo'Ne can hit, too. 

Her first inning single made her only the sixth girl to record a hit in LLWS play and help her Taney Dragons team to a 7-6 win that puts them two game away from the US Championship.

They face Mountain Ridge LL from Las Vegas in the winners bracket on Wednesday.

Hopefully Mo'Ne and Taney LL will continue to prove that baseball diamonds are a girl's best friend, too.
   

Malala's Triumphant Year

One year ago today a gun toting Taliban thug boarded a school bus and shot Malala Yousafzai in the head for daring to speak up and criticize their efforts to turn Pakistan's Swat Valley back to the Middle Ages. 

Girls' education was banned, women were beaten for leaving their homes without a male relative escorting them, and her hometown of Mingora featured floggings and executions in its central square

She was airlifted to Britain as the world prayed for her survival, and spent three months in a Birmingham hospital recovering from her grave injuries.

She not only survived, but the voice the Taliban thought they silenced forever on that October day has grown louder and has an even bigger international platform. 

Yousafzai celebrated her 16th birthday by speaking to a July 12 United Nations youth conference .   In that memorable speech in front of the nearly 1200 participants and assembled dignitaries, she declared  "Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One teacher, one book, one pen, can change the world."

When Birmingham opened their massive new public librarly last month, she again proclaimed that education is "the only weapon that can defeat terrorism.”

And she says that the West needs to engage the Taliban in peace talks if the social and political conflict in South Asia is ever to be resolved.  "The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue," she said.

In the run up to this bittersweet anniversary the wise beyond her years teen has been interviewed by the BBC.  She was named Time Magazine's Most Influential Person for 2013, is already the youngest person ever nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and is considered the frontrunner to receive it when the winner is announced October 11 in Oslo, Norway.  If that happens Friday, she would become the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala's message is being heard globally as she works to complete her own education while traveling the world speaking about the equal rights for girls and education for all.issues that are near and dear to her heart.

The nonprofit Malala Fund advocates for girls' education and raises money for schools and tuition in her native Pakistan.
 
A lot has changed for her since that horrific day, but she still has dreams of going back home, getting into politics and changing Pakistan for the better.  "I will be a politician in my future," she said, vowing to make education compulsory.

"I hope that a day will come when the people of Pakistan will be free, they will have their rights, there will be peace, and every girl and every boy will be going to school."

People around the world hope that you get the opportunity to make that dream for your homeland a reality.  

The Reason I Buy Girl Scout Cookies Every March

'Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. '  Girl Scout Mission

I was in the wrong body at the time to join the Girl Scouts, but I do wholeheartedly support it and their mission statement as a one time very short term member of the Boy Scouts. .


The Boy Scouts unfortunately got corrupted and taken over by the right wing a long time ago and have long since strayed away from their inclusive values.

The wingers tried but failed in their mission to conservatize the Girl Scouts here in the USA, and ever since then have made it their nefarious mission in life to spew hate at the Girl Scout movement here in the States every chance they get.

It a major reason why I have so much love for the Girl Scouts and when cookie drive time starts, I'm buying them in mass quantities.   In addition to the delicious cookies, the Girl Scouts is a wonderful 99 year old organization with 313 chartered Councils that has produced throughout its history millions of smart, confident, open minded and productive women making their positive marks on our society.

And the right wingers have a problem with that?   .Oh yeah, forgot about their War on Women and the conservafool movement wanting to roll the societal clock back to the 19th century.

The Girl Scouts have been under attack by the conservafools since 2001.   I remember the 2007 furor that erupted in Crawford, TX over the Waco based Bluebonnet Council giving a Woman of Distinction Award to a local Planned Parenthood executive that resulted in the demise of a Brownie troop there and decimated a Girl Scout one to just two members.. 

The Hate On the Girl Scouts rhetoric got ratcheted up another level not only over Planned Parenthood but also the GSA attempt to steer a neutral course when it comes to the abortion and GLBT issue debates.   They are also upset because some councils have decided that young girls on the cusp of puberty might want to know the facts of life based on science, evidence, and individual choice.


That makes them Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of right wing bullies.   The Girl Scouts have not only been attacked by Fox Noise, hate ministers and the rest of the Right Wing Noise Machine, they have even come up as an issue in a Washington state representatives race.

GOP candidate Hans Zeiger's old rantings on the subject surfaced in the middle of his race against Rep. Dawn Morrell.

One might wonder why the Girl Scouts have been spared the painful attacks that have been launched upon the Boy Scouts by the Left in recent years. The reasons are simple: the Girl Scouts allow homosexuals and atheists to join their ranks, and they have become a pro-abortion, feminist training corps. ... If the Girl Scouts of America can't get back to teaching real character, perhaps it will be time to look for our cookies elsewhere."

He's tried to frantically delete the multiple postings and claim he's 'matured' since then at the ripe old age of 25, but as we all know, once you hit the SEND button, it's there forever.

And since you also had some hateful ish to say about public education, hope Rep. Morrell cleans your electoral clock.

But seriously, I'm tired of the toxic right wing hate being spewed at the Girl Scouts, and it needs to be forcefully called out.

And next year, I'm tripling my order of Thin Mints.