Although the Washington media elite would like nothing better than to dismiss those who attended this past weekend’s Glenn Beck rally as single issue “racist Tea Party” folks, I think what transpired on Saturday left them smarting and scared to death about November.  Chris Matthews and others tried to marginalize the event in an interview with my good friend Colin Hannah, but Colin got the last laugh when hundreds of thousands of regular, small government, God-fearing folk descended upon Washington, D.C., like a couple from North Carolina who stayed at my own house during the weekend who came specifically for the event.

The Pattons own a dry cleaning business and work hard all week to build their business in a tough economy.  Lord knows they could have used the rest rather than drive six hours each way to Washington to stay just one night.  But they, like most of the others who came to the nation’s capital, desperately wanted their elected officials to hear their angst and to understand the seriousness of the situation.  They came to reaffirm the nation’s fidelity to founding principles, both from fiscal and social issue standpoints. 

The Beck rally was supposedly just about the economy, but the end result was a revival of sorts.  It was regular people joining each other to pay homage to their God and to show love for their country.  All of those ideas work in perfect harmony because it is from this same perspective that our nation was founded by similarly brave men and women. 

I think George Washington summed up the message Saturday when he said in 1789:

The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained. – George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789

As the mom of a 13-year-old daughter, I took time recently while visiting one of the giant retail bookstores to check out the section on parenting teens.  I expected the normal array of books on how to talk to teens about body image, discipline, and, perhaps, dating.  While some of these existed, the largest topic taking up shelf space was on something completely different.  Rows of books detailed the heartbreak of teens who engage in self-injury.

According to the Mayo Clinic, self-injury is usually the result of an inability to cope in healthy ways with deep psychological pain.  And while the most prominent form of self-injury — “cutting” — itself is not a disorder, it can be a symptom of serious psychological problems, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or borderline personality disorder.

The onset of self-injury tends to begin in the pre-teen to teen years and mainly affects girls.  Cutting is a tragic effort to relieve emotional pain by inflicting physical pain.

Honestly, I don’t think of myself as a person who is easily shocked, but the sheer volume of books dedicated to the topic took my breath away.  I left praying for God’s protection for my daughter in one more area of life and saddened for those children struggling with this dangerous behavior.

But the shock I felt that day is nothing compared to the outrage I feel now at the mall accessory retailer Claire’s Stores, Inc. — or Claire’s as they are commonly known.  

You’ve seen them packed with giggling pre-teens trying on inexpensive jewelry and getting their ears pierced.  Sounds innocent, right?  Well, not so much.  Apparently, there is a buck to be made off of teenage cutting. 

I read something recently that suggested Claire’s is hyping the practice by promoting razor blade jewelry to their pre-teen and teen customers.  Surely this had to be inaccurate?  No responsible company is that morally bankrupt!  However, this past weekend, a Concerned Women for America employee confirmed our worst suspicions.

Claire’s prominently sells razor blade jewelry.

This is particularly outrageous, considering a July 2010 study conducted by a psychologist at the University of North Carolina found that peers have great influence over whether or not their friends engage in self-injury.  Imagine the impact among young girls if they believe cutting is “the cool thing to do” because their friends are wearing razor blades as jewelry.

It is undeniably shocking to learn that children in our culture are so desperate that they resort to cutting themselves with razor blades in a plea for help.   But let me tell you, this is so shameful that I haven’t the words — and if I did they would not be printable here or in any of the parenting books that started me on this subject.  I find it vile, disgusting, and depraved that adults stoop to profiteering from a child’s pain and illness as Claire’s has done in this instance.  Shame on Claire’s!

Feel free to contact Claire’s Stores, Inc., to give them our own choice words on the matter.

Claire’s Stores, Inc.
3 S.W. 129th Avenue
Pembroke Pines, FL 33027
Customer Service: 800-252-4737
Headquarters Phone: 954-433-3900
Headquarters Fax: 954-433-3999
Customer Service E-mail: customerservice@claires.com
Marketing Dept. E-mail: marketing@claires.com

In today’s world, many women not only work to balance the family finances but, according to the Small Business Administration, 6.5 million of us also work to keep a business afloat.  The vast majority of these, eighty percent, have receipts of less than $50,000.  So it is fascinating to realize that these same women, many of whom are independents and voted for Obama, have become disenchanted with our winsome president.

Democrats and Republicans are scratching their heads and commissioning focus groups to understand why, but I think it’s clear.  Women are the chief operating officers of the American family and often of a small business as well.  Women understand what it means to live within our means and thus find it outrageous that Congress refuses to live up to the same standards. 

Sixty-three percent of such women say that the longer a politician is in Washington, the less he or she listens to voters, and the more they become part of the problem — and the health care bill is a good example of the kind of “problem” women are fed up with.  The same women who voted for Obama are very displeased with the president’s health care overhaul.  Fifty-two percent oppose it, with 42 percent saying it will make things worse in their personal or family situation.

And the fact that our government has chosen to saddle our kids with a $13 trillion debt — $1 trillion of which was run up in the last six months — is unconscionable to American moms.  That’s why CWA has joined SpendingRevolt.com.  Join us on the bus tour when it comes to your area, and let Washington know it needs to stop the spending spree!