Blog Posts by Erin Flaherty, Shine staff

Last night Barbara Walters interviewed Rush Limbaugh as part of her "10 Most Fascinating People" special, and she could barely contain her animosity towards Rush for that unfortunate Hillary aging comment he infamously made earlier this year, blurting out, "What's with you Rush?" This erm, hard-hitting moment in television journalism was followed closely by, "Who is the real Rush?" to which he responded: "I am a harmless, lovable little fuzzball...I am the most unthreatening, tolerant, lovable guy you could ever meet." Uh huh.

Now, I'll admit it, Rush Limbaugh is not winning any points from me with enthusiastic claims like, "I love Sarah Palin!"--he defended his admiration by saying that she only seemed "uninformed in one interview," and I would LOVE to know which one, out of the many interviews where she proved herself to have less civic knowledge than your average grade schooler, he was referring to-- and alluding to this terribly polarizing, mythical idea that there is a "battle

Read More »from Rush Limbaugh: Sexist or adorable fuzzball?

Harper Collins
The author of How to Talk to Girls may have some things in common with other relationship authors, but the most distinguishing factor--the one that really sets him apart from the pack--is that he's never actually been on a date. That's because he's um, nine.

According to the New York Post, Alec Greven wrote a handwritten, $3 pamphlet that he sold at his school book fair, which was subsequently snapped up by publishers and turned into a real book that hit nationwide shelves last week. His motivation? "I saw a lot of boys that had trouble talking to girls," Alec said.

Preach on Alec. Clearly, someone had to come along and fill that important gap in today's literary market.

"The fourth-grader from Castle Rock, Colo., advises Lothario wannabes to stop showing off, go easy on the compliments to avoid looking desperate - and be wary of 'pretty girls.'

'It is easy to spot pretty girls because they have big earrings, fancy dresses and all the jewelry,' he writes in Chapter Three.

'Pretty

Read More »from Would you take love advice from a little kid?

Um, this video has been blowing up the buzz charts, and while I get it--"dancing with the dogs" or whatever is a sure fire crowd pleaser--I can't help but have mixed feelings. Anyone care to weigh in here?


Want more "Heavy Petting"? See also:

Monkey cowboys riding dogs

The presidential puppy: What will the Obamas pick?

Piglet fears mud

Read More »from Heavy Petting: The "chihuahua tango"-creepy or cute?

Getty ImagesSome fun facts to help us kick off World AIDS Day:

• In 2007, the Federal Government gave $176 million to abstinence-only education, which, as we discussed a few posts back, is just going swimmingly (ahem).
• In fact, over 30 percent (30!) of girls in the U.S. become pregnant by the age of 20.
• Two-thirds of all people infected with an STD are under 25 years old.
• Every year in the U.S. there are 19 million new cases of STDs.

Today is indeed World AIDS Day, so it seems like the perfect time to draw attention to a new initiative between MTV and Trojan Condoms called "Evolve One Evolve All." The idea is to draw attention and awareness to sexually transmitted diseases through an interactive website that lets you be a sexual health philanthropist of sorts, in that every click on the site goes toward Trojan giving away a million condoms. For example, go check out the resources and kinda hilarious educational videos from people like Stephen Colbert and Cobra Starship, and every Read More »from What's your favorite kind of condom?

According to the recent Rolling Stone cover story, Britney's long time, off-again, on-again manager Larry Rudolph admits that his currently single client is more of a "relationship girl" at heart. But while some young celebrities never seem to get caught up in over-the-top public romantic drama (oh say, Ashlee and Pete, Nicole and Joel), Britney Spears hasn't been so lucky. And it's no wonder she can't seem to catch a break: Between her father's conservatorship and pressure to make a comeback, not to mention the fact that as many as 20 paparazzi have been assigned to track her every move at any given time, how is she supposed to get involved in a healthy relationship? Sure, it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all and all that, but this singer likely has decades of love affairs ahead of her. Hopefully Britney will apply what she's learned from her most high profile love affairs going forward.

We get it--after all, who hasn't made questionable dating choices

Read More »from Britney's top 5 romantic mistakes

In celebration of International Human Rights Day on December 10th and in reaction to anti-gay ballot initiatives in California, Arizona and Florida, DayWithoutAGay.org has come up with a brilliant way to peaceably fight the opposition. The gay community is asking for supporters not to call in sick, but to "call in gay" in order to take the day off from work to volunteer time with various organizations that promote equality. (For those who fear getting fired, there are other ways to get involved.) Oh and you don't have to be gay to call in, duh. Given the huge organizing success of Join the Impact and the nationwide protests this past Saturday, we wonder how many people will actually call in and say, "Can't work, I'm too gay today."

SEE ALSO:

Why gay marriage lost big this week

About gay marriage... our kids will fix it

Read More »from Could you handle a day without the gays?

Getty Images
I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting a little sick of retailers using the shoddy state of the economy to well, sell us stuff. Every press release I've received for the past few weeks has started out by saying things like, "You may not have much money, but here's one item that every recessionista needs," and blah, blah, blah. How about this year we consider the um, true reason for the season or whatever? This is the time to bust out those "Good for 5 hugs" coupons we made when we were kids.

I got lucky this year: My partner and I have our gift to each other bought and paid for. Months and months ago, we decided to go on a vacation with our family and we're so excited. Maybe if we were more flush with cash we would also have considered exchanging presents once we got there, but now it feels more important to save that dinero. Besides, not to get too cheesy here but what more could we ask for than the joys and blessings of being together with the people we love the most?

Read More »from What are you most grateful for this season?

Um, this commercial for Australian tampon brand Kotex U is kinda freaking me out. See, there's this beaver and well... Maybe it simply speaks for itself.