Thus Spake Zuska

I have to admit, I am an avid reader of comic strips in the daily newspaper. There's a lot of social commentary in the daily comics. Over the past year or two, I've watched as a few of the more conservative strips have slyly (or not so slyly) introduced references to intelligent design into a panel here and there. Here's an example I commented on in September 2005.

You will also find reflected in many comic stips stereotypical attitudes about gender. You don't have to look very hard most of the time. So when you find something different, it's really a pleasure.

Today's Baldo strip featured Baldo's sister Gracie proclaiming "I like math!". Admittedly, it's in the service of a bad pun, but still...Gracie is just a nifty character in general. Here's the description of her from the official website:

Little sister with a cause. Yeah, yeah, yeah ... she's smart beyond her years, wants to be a doctor, scientist, president and ruler of the universe. What else is new? Oh yeah ... she's known to yell "Chica Power!"

Maybe Gracie could sit Cathy down for a chat and explain to her that understanding your cosmetics label isn't really all that difficult. Better yet, she could just advise her to bypass the cosmetics counter altogether. From the LA Times:

More than 200 chemicals -- many found in urban air and everyday consumer products -- cause breast cancer in animal tests, according to a compilation of scientific reports published today. Writing in a publication of the American Cancer Society, researchers concluded that reducing exposure to the compounds could prevent many women from developing the disease...The researchers named 216 chemicals that induce breast tumors in animals. Of those, people are highly exposed to 97, including industrial solvents, pesticides, dyes, gasoline and diesel exhaust compounds, cosmetics ingredients, hormones, pharmaceuticals, radiation, and a chemical in chlorinated drinking water.