I so totally loved this article that I had to pass it along.

Written in reaction to the recent recall of toys ... a very serious issue ... it puts a twist into the topic that cracked me up. The title, "Can't they recall a toy because parents hate it?" should give a clue as to why.

I'll admit that many of the toys she talks about might as well be from Marsmart for all I'd know of them ... Polly Pocket Pollywood Limo-Scene, for example, I have no clue about, although I will admit to a slightly queasy feeling over the name ... but my kids, too, have toys I despise.

The story is a hoot.

Another one I liked is this article this from the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman, even though it's a few days old and harkens back to the anniversary of women's suffrage I wrote about recently.

In what she calls a time-honored tradition, she announces her "Equal Rites Awards" special attention she showers on "those who have labored over the last 12 months to set back the cause of women."

From Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's refusal to apologize for WWII abuses of women by the Japanese Army to the Egyptian cleric who issued a fatwa urging women to breast-feed their male co-workers as a way to get around the religious taboo against unmarried men and women working together, she has some humdingers.

And in yet another example of stuff I don't get coming out of Australia, this story about how the states of New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania are banning circumcisions.

Yes, it's a controversial procedure, and when there' s no religious mandate parents may to-and-fro over putting their little guys to the clippers, but for a government to step in and just say no seems over the top to me.

Apparently, I'm not alone:

"There is a big anti-circumcision campaign out there run by lunatic-fringe organisations and unfortunately they've infiltrated the medical profession," said Brian Morris, professor of molecular medical sciences at the University of Sydney.

Gee, knee-jerk legislation inspired by emotive spewing, haranguing, and conspicuous tossing of opinion passed off as evidence of broad implications ... is that a way to lead?