Free Republic

The Iranian morality police are extending the long reach of the law to dolls, and has activated an official ban on the sale of Barbies. Meet Dara and Sara -- complete with a little head scarf for the eight year old Muslim girl doll. The ban on the pert little American teenage doll produced by the U.S.-based Mattel Company, as well as the accessories she comes with, is part of the response to tightened sanctions against the Islamic Republic by Western nations. Muslim clerics had already succeeded in banning the curvaceous cutie in Saudi Arabia in 2003, outlawing Barbie altogether...

A Clampett may have struck it rich yet again. Or at least the actress who played the beautiful tomboy Elly May on the television show "The Beverly Hillbillies," who settled a lawsuit with toy giant Mattel Inc. and CBS Consumer Products over a Barbie doll modeled after her character. Actress Donna Douglas, who held the role of buxom Elly May, claimed that she never gave permission for the El Segundo toy maker to use her photo or name in promoting the doll, according to court filings. The lawsuit asked for at least $75,000 in compensation, but the settlement amount could...

Farrah Fawcett has been immortalized in plastic with her very own Barbie. The new Black Label Collection doll depicts the late actress posing in her famous red swimsuit in front of a striped blanket, recreating the iconic '70s poster. The uniquely sculpted Barbie uncannily mimics Farrah’s mega-watt smile, and features perfectly feathered hair and even a tiny gold necklace.

Elliot Handler, who co-founded the Mattel toy company and designed the plastic playthings that have filled millions of Christmas stockings, made dinner parties possible by occupying otherwise fidgety children, and stubbed countless parents’ toes, died on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 95. The cause was heart failure, his daughter, Barbara Segal, said. Mr. Handler helped introduce Barbie, helped design the talking doll Chatty Cathy and popularized Hot Wheels toy cars. He began Mattel in 1945 with his wife, Ruth, and a short-term partner. Until the Handlers were forced out of Mattel in 1975, they oversaw a...

Dear Barbie, it’s over, from Ken. Last Tuesday, the Greenpeace environmentalist organization staged a protest outside of Mattel Inc.’s head office in El Segundo, California near Los Angeles. Activists hung a giant poster with a picture of a sad Ken doll with the message: “Barbie, it’s over. I don’t date girls that are into deforestation.” Although the California protest was expected to be much more powerful and theatrical, it did elscalate enough for firefighters to arrive and police officers to make 10 arrests. One of the people arrested was a woman by the name of Elise Nabors, who was dressed...

NEW ORLEANS – The actress who played Elly May Clampett on the hit television series "The Beverly Hillbillies" is suing toy manufacturer Mattel Inc., claiming the company used her name and likeness for a Barbie doll without her authorization. The federal suit filed Wednesday in Baton Rouge, La., says packaging for the "Elly May" Barbie doll features a photo of Donna Douglas portraying the character. Douglas says she never endorsed the doll or gave Mattel permission to use her name to promote its sale before the toy maker introduced the doll in December 2010. From 1962 to 1971, Douglas appeared...

The actress who played Elly May Clampett on the hit television series "The Beverly Hillbillies" is suing toy manufacturer Mattel Inc., claiming the company used her name and likeness for a Barbie doll without her authorization. The federal suit filed Wednesday in Baton Rouge, La., says packaging for the "Elly May" Barbie doll features a photo of Donna Douglas portraying the character. Douglas says she never endorsed the doll or gave Mattel permission to use her name to promote its sale before the toy maker introduced the doll in December 2010. From 1962 to 1971, Douglas appeared in all 274...

One of the world's most famous children's toys, Barbie, has been given a makeover - wearing a burkha. Wearing the traditional Islamic dress, the iconic doll is going undercover for a charity auction in connection with Sotheby's for Save The Children. More than 500 Barbies went on show yesterday at the Salone dei Cinquecento, in Florence, Italy

MEXICO CITY – Federal police on Monday captured a Texas-born alleged drug kingpin who faces trafficking charges in the U.S. and has been blamed for a vicious turf war that has included bodies hung from bridges and shootouts in central Mexico. The arrest of Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "the Barbie," was the culmination of a yearlong intelligence operation, the Public Safety Department said in a statement. The department said Valdez was captured Monday in the state of Mexico, which borders the capital of Mexico City, but did not offer any other details. Valdez — the third major drug lord brought...

A father-of-four has been banned from driving for three years after getting behind the wheel of a toy car when drunk. Paul Hutton, 40, was over the legal alcohol limit when he climbed into the seat of a 4ft by 2ft electric Barbie car, which has a top speed of just 4mph. A police patrol car spotted the 6ft-tall former RAF aeron Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1267136/Father-banned-driving-getting-wheel-toy-Barbie-car-drunk.html#ixzz0lY2qUqd4

(RNS) With her careers as veterinarian, astronaut and U.S. president behind her, Barbie has at last found her true calling: as a second-career Episcopal priest. The 11.5-inch-tall fictional graduate of Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif., has donned a cassock and surplice and is rector at St. Barbara’s-by-the-Sea in (where else?) Malibu, Calif. She arrived at the church fully accessorized, as is Barbie’s custom. Her impeccably tailored ecclesiastical vestments include various colored chasubles (the sleeveless vestments worn at Mass) for every liturgical season, black clergy shirt with white collar, neat skirt and heels, a laptop with prepared...

Throw out that tax and spend jackass and vote in the caribou ... HERE. The video is a slow load at the present time -- probably due to band width demands. If you find this to be the case, you might want to watch the The Great Reneger song about the Wee Wee.

Walmart under fire for selling black Barbies at half price of white dolls An American supermarket chain has come under fire for cutting the price of black Barbies to nearly half that of the white dolls. By Heidi Blake Published: 9:07AM GMT 11 Mar 2010 Walmart was criticised for selling black Barbies at nearly half the price of white dolls Walmart stocks Mattel’s fair-skinned Ballerina Barbie dolls and its darker-skinned Ballerina Theresa dolls at many of its stores, but the chain has now been criticised for “valuing blackness less than whiteness” by cutting the price of the black doll. A...

Walmart is raising eyebrows after cutting the price of a black Barbie doll to nearly half of that of the doll's white counterpart at one store and possibly others.

Walmart is raising eyebrows after cutting the price of a black Barbie doll to nearly half of that of the doll's white counterpart at one store and possibly others. A photo first posted to the humor Web site FunnyJunk.com and later to the Latino Web site Guanabee.com shows packages of Mattel's Ballerina Barbie and Ballerina Theresa dolls hanging side by side at an unidentified store. The Theresa dolls, which feature brown skin and dark hair, are marked as being on sale at $3.00. The Barbies to the right of the Theresa dolls, meanwhile, retain their original price of $5.93. The...

The other day, George Jonas passed on to his readers a characteristically shrewd observation gleaned from the late poet George Faludy: “No one likes to think of himself as a coward,” wrote Jonas. “People prefer to think they end up yielding to what the terrorists demand, not because it’s safer or more convenient, but because it’s the right thing . . . Successful terrorism persuades the terrorized that if they do terror’s bidding, it’s not because they’re terrified but because they’re socially concerned.” This is true. Resisting terror is exhausting. It’s easier to appease it, but, for the sake of your self-esteem, you have...

Women forbidden by law from feeling sunlight—hey, that’s a positive message for young girls The other day, George Jonas passed on to his readers a characteristically shrewd observation gleaned from the late poet George Faludy: “No one likes to think of himself as a coward,” wrote Jonas. “People prefer to think they end up yielding to what the terrorists demand, not because it’s safer or more convenient, but because it’s the right thing . . . Successful terrorism persuades the terrorized that if they do terror’s bidding, it’s not because they’re terrified but because they’re socially concerned.”

Western culture has lost another battle in the clash of civilizations as Barbie dons the burqa. Burkha Barbie, by Italian designer Eliana Lorena, will be among the dolls auctioned by Sotheby's in a benefit for the nongovernment charity Save the Children. The message to little girls worldwide: Abandon all hope.

The best-selling doll has worn all sorts of outfits — from bathing suits to business suits. Now Barbie is wearing a burkha. The iconic plaything sports traditional Islamic dress for a Sotheby’s auction benefiting Save the Children. Burkha Barbie is among more than 500 of the dolls exhibited by Italian designer Eliana Lorena at the Salone dei Cinquecento, in Florence, Italy, according to the Daily Mail.

One of the world's most famous children's toys, Barbie, has been given a makeover - wearing a burkha. Wearing the traditional Islamic dress, the iconic doll is going undercover for a charity auction in connection with Sotheby's for Save The Children. More than 500 Barbies went on show yesterday at the Salone dei Cinquecento, in Florence, Italy. Makers Mattel are backing the exhibition which is the work of Italian designer Eliana Lorena. The auction is part of Barbie celebrations for her 50th anniversary this year. The UK's biggest Barbie fan Angela Ellis, 35, has a collection of more than 250...

(China Daily/Agencies) – Mattel Inc, the world’s biggest toymaker, lowered the sales target for its Barbie store in Shanghai by at least 30 percent after deciding the original marketing concept didn’t work. “The initial sales targets were astronomical,” said Dann Murphy, who took over as general manager as his predecessor left eight months after the store opened. Targets for the six-story outlet’s restaurant and “retail experience”, which includes designing personalized Barbie dolls, have been revised down three times since its opening in March. Mattel chose Shanghai for its first dedicated Barbie store as consumer demand slumped in the United...

Having fended off Hollywood’s lascivious advances for five full decades, Barbie has finally collapsed onto its couch with her legs spread, exhausted from years of being chased around a desk by horny, pantsless studio-executive suitors promising to make her a big movie star. Variety reports that Universal is the beneficiary of the Mattel icon’s weary willingness to surrender her big-screen virtue to the highest bidder, announcing today they’ve reached a deal for a live-action film based on America’s favorite plastic bundle of unhealthy body-image issues. Reaching the deal was the easy part; with the relationship consummated (awkwardly, we’d assume, as...

Stiletto Maker Louboutin Re-Designing Feet Of Fashion Icon Doll; New Yorkers Let Out Collective 'Are You Serious? A French shoe designer is being called on the carpet for a comment he made calling Barbie fat -- specifically her ankles. The iconic, incredible Barbie is now a bigger fashion symbol than ever. In fact, some in the fashion world seem to think she's too big. Stiletto maker Christian Louboutin is re-designing a fashion Barbie set to come out next year, and according to Women's Wear Daily, found her ankles a bit too fat for his taste, so he re-shaped the doll's...

(AP) Mattel has launched a new line of black Barbie dolls with fuller lips, a wider nose and more pronounced cheek bones - a far cry from Christie, Barbie's black friend who debuted in the 1960s and was essentially a white doll painted brown. etc.

An Iowa congressman says an Army general was not out of line when he addressed Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) as "ma'am" during a recent Senate hearing. Brigadier General Michael Walsh, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was testifying last week before Boxer's Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works about the progress of the Louisiana restoration process in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Boxer: "Well, why has it been delayed? Walsh: "Ma'am, at the L-A-C-P-R is..." Boxer: "You know, do me a favor. Could say 'Senator' instead of 'ma'am?'" Walsh: "Yes." Boxer: "It's just a thing; I worked so...

Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.,demanded Brigadier General Michael Walsh to call her "Senator" instead of "ma'am". Senator James Inhofe, R-Ok, on the other hand, was addressed as "sir" by General Peter Pace on January 16, 2007. Unlike Ms. Boxer, Mr. Inhofe did not lecture the General over the issue of calling him "sir".

When talking U.S. debt, the number "$104 billion" doesn't mean much to most folks. After all, it usually takes "trillion" to impress anyone these days.

Ok, this is really quite simple. Everyone by now has heard about Senator Barbara Boxer correcting a General by asking him to stop referring to her as "Ma'am" but rather as "Senator Boxer". So, in the spirit of this correction, we have decided to make a correction to her title as well. Rather, to her name. The person who creates the best name to follow "Senator..." will win an Americans for Limited Government grab bag. Leave your "Address me as Senator _________ " on NetRight Nation here: http://www.netrightnation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1041682:contest-address-me-as-qsenatorq&catid=1:nrn-blog&Itemid=7

Ann Coulter on Sen. Barbara Boxer's decision to dress down Brig. General Michael Walsh. Coulter called Sen. Boxer's remark arrogant and ignorant.

Aside from a briefly worded statement about a "friendly" conversation she had with an Army brigadier general after dressed him down a day earlier for calling her "ma'am," Sen. Barbara Boxer remained silent Friday in the face of growing criticism as to whether she owed an apology.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, gave an Army brigadier general an order this week during a committee hearing: Call me "senator." Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers had addressed male senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee as "sir" during the Tuesday hearing. When the time came to speak with Mrs. Boxer, the panel's chairwoman, he called her "ma'am." Mrs. Boxer quickly interrupted him. "Do me a favor, can you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am'?" Mrs. Boxer pointedly asked the general. "It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd...

YOU DECIDE: After coming under fire from almost all quarters for her snippy request should the senator take a deep breath and apologize to the general? Share your thoughts: First, vote in our poll and then click on “Leave a Comment” below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsGR83Imoto

The Senate Republican campaign operation is citing a Tuesday exchange between California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and U.S. Army Gen. Michael Walsh in its latest fund-raising pitch to supporters. During a hearing before the Environment and Public Works Committee, Walsh referred to Boxer as “ma’am,” a moniker the chairwoman did not appreciate. “Do me a favor, can you say ’senator’ instead of ‘ma’am’?” Boxer said, interrupting the Army general. “It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it. Thank you.” Smith responded: “Yes, senator.” In an email pitch to supporters, National Republican Senatorial...

“Gawd, I really looked like a b**ch!” exclaimed Mrs. Barbara Boxer, a California politician who occupies a political office in Washington, D.C., as she watched a replay of her disrespectful interruption of Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, during his testimony on the Hurricane Katrina restoration process. The General--who has served his country admirably, risked his life and limb, and devoted his life to preserve the lady’s freedom to disrespect him and others in uniform who are trained to refer to ladies as “Ma’am” and gentlemen as “Sir”--was rudely “dressed down” as they say in...

SHE has wowed children, and some adults, around the world with her blonde locks, slender legs and sweet smile. But the latest makeover was not what they were expecting. Barbie has been given a set of tattoos to celebrate her 50th birthday. The doll's makers, Mattel, insist the move will bring Barbie and her brunette equivalent Nikki up to date, reported The Daily Mail. The Sun reported that the new dolls hope to convey the message that girls can make Barbie look like their heroines. The new Barbie dolls are part of Mattel's 'Totally Tattoos' range, and each will cost...

(This classic Dave Barry column was originally published April 25, 2004.) Every now and then, you come across a story so darned heartwarming that you need to take a prescription antacid. This is such a story. I found out about it from alert reader David Rankin, who sent me the Jan. 3 front page of the Sevier County, Tenn., Mountain Press. On it is an article about a Danville, Va.-based textile company called ''Dan River,'' which was closing its Sevierville plant and laying off workers. Evidently, some savvy individual in management realized that the workers would be unhappy about losing...

From SFgate.com: 03-04) 10:57 PST Charleston, W.Va. (AP) -- Just in time for Barbie's 50th birthday, a West Virginia lawmaker wants to outlaw the doll. Democratic Delegate Jeff Eldridge is proposing to ban the sale of the Mattel doll and others like her in West Virginia. He says the dolls influence girls to place too much importance on physical beauty, at the expense of their intellectual and emotional development. He joins others who have criticized the doll over the years for promoting materialism and an unnatural body image. Barbie turns 50 on March 9, and the toy maker has made...

A little girls’ icon gets ink. Can ‘Pole Dance Barbie’ be far behind? By Matt Philbin Culture and Media Institute March 10, 2009 We can be sure she’s not the first of her generation to mark her 50th birthday by getting tattoos. After all, the cultivation of youth-obsessed narcissism and bad taste is a Baby Boomer hallmark (see Clinton, Bill). But “Totally Stylin’ Tattoos Barbie” is no less disturbing for being a product of her generation. Mattel is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the bubbly blonde franchise with an update – tattoos for her and her young owners. Of course,...

SACRAMENTO, California - A popular toy for girls is getting another makeover, but not everyone likes the new look. Mattel is releasing a new Barbie covered in tattoos. She's called "Totally Stylin Tattoos Barbie" and will hit shelves ready for spring. She comes with a set of tattoo stickers which can be put anywhere on the doll. Some people say this is not appropriate for young children......

As others on Free Republic noted today and yesterday, a state delegate wants to outlaw the sale of Barbie dolls in West Virginia: West Virginia state lawmaker Jeff Eldridge proposed a bill Tuesday that would ban sales of the busty Mattel doll, and others like her, in the state, just days before the doll officially logs a half century on March 9. “I just hate the image that we give to our kids that if you're beautiful, you're beautiful and you don't have to be smart," Eldridge told West Virginia Media. "I'd like to send a message to not only...

She's 50 years old and still causing controversy. No, not Madonna. We're talking about Barbie. West Virginia state lawmaker Jeff Eldridge proposed a bill Tuesday that would ban sales of the busty Mattel doll, and others like her, in the state, just days before the doll officially logs a half century on March 9.

"I just hate the image that we give to our kids that if you're beautiful, you're beautiful and you don't have to be smart," said Del. Jeff Eldridge, (D) Lincoln County. Delegate Jeff Eldridge introduced a bill to the house on Tuesday asking lawmakers to stop the sales of Barbie in the mountain state.

Barbie is looking pretty good at 50. She has no wrinkles. She hasn’t put on a single pound. Her curvaceous figure, pouty red lips and vivacious blond hair remain just as striking as when she first stepped out on the world stage in a black-and-white-striped swimsuit during the Eisenhower administration. Baltimore is celebrating the iconic doll’s big anniversary with an exhibition at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, near Oriole Park at Camden Yards. More than 60 Barbie dolls, some clad in ball gowns with sequins, one in a Star Trek outfit, some in ballerina tutus and another in black fishnet stockings, stare...

Suspicions confirmed, ever seen Ken's circumcision?..... Tehran, Jan 12, IRNA -- Religious leader in holy Qom Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi said on Sunday that trading and keeping of Israeli-made goods including the Barbie dolls, are forbidden. He said in a statement that purchasing and keeping of products which are made in factories belonged to the Zionist regime were religiously forbidden (Haram). He was responding to a letter which requested his religious view on trading, keeping and gifting the Israeli-made Barbie dolls or any other items bearing its picture. The verdict was a reaction to the ongoing Israeli onslaught on the...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The rowdy Bratz dolls have been evicted. Barbie has regained control of the dollhouse. Toy giant Mattel Inc., after a four-year legal dispute with MGA Entertainment Inc., touted its win in the case Wednesday after a federal judge banned MGA from making and selling its pouty-lipped and hugely popular Bratz dolls. "It's a pretty sweeping victory," Mattel attorney Michael Zeller said. "They have no right to use Bratz for any goods or services at all." U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson rocked the toy industry with his order that MGA must immediately stop manufacturing Bratz. He allowed...

Call it the Anti-Mall. The tree-lined stretch of College Avenue heading south from the Rockridge BART station in Oakland is a shopping mecca for miles around. But no hordes of desperate customers lined up for steep discounts on Friday. In this shrinking economy, the small, independently owned shops that anchor the Rockridge district are pinning their survival not on cost-cutting but on the loyalty of a limited customer base whose lives and values they study closely. Nishan Shepard, the founding owner of the toy and baby supply store Rockridge Kids, can tell you that 740 infants are born at nearby...

Beirut does not feel like a conservative place. The girls wear shorts up to here and hair down to there. Cocktails are consumed by the gallon, and there is a rumbustious, if incestuous, arts scene. But this week, the limits of Lebanon's liberal attitude to art were tested by images of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the militant Shia group Hezbollah, and a smiling Barbie doll. Some photographs, featuring Barbie dolls and a garish Middle Eastern mishmash of political and religious iconography, were removed from a high-profile exhibition of work by the Lebanese artist Jocelyne Saab by the gallery over...

When Iranian toy seller Masoumeh Rahimi thinks of Barbie and Ken dolls, she thinks of heavy artillery — only worse. “I think every Barbie doll is more harmful than an American missile,” Ms. Rahmi told the BBC back in 2002. In April 2008, Iran’s top prosecutor and religious cleric, Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi, upped the anti-Barbie campaign by calling for a ban on the sale of all Barbie dolls from the country. “Barbie is an emissary of nudity and promotes moral corruption,” wrote the hardliner newspaper Kahyan.... (Photos at link)

'Dara and Sara' have been created by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in an effort to promote traditional Muslim values in the country. Unlike their American counterparts, the toys come dressed in modest clothing. They also have pro-family backgrounds and each of the four models of Sara comes with a white headscarf. They will be sold for just a third of the price of a Barbie doll. Toy seller Masoumeh Rahimi welcomed the dolls, noting that the image of Barbie as buxom, blonde and wearing revealing clothing was "more harmful than an American missile."...