I finally had to sit down with my 11-year-old daughter for “the talk.” Despite my best efforts to preserve her innocence and protect her from growing up too quickly, I simply had to tell her some important facts of life.

No, we didn’t have a talk about how babies are born. This talk was about America’s assault on girlhood. The time finally came for me to explain to my daughter the relationship between media and marketing and money, and why some people think nothing of exploiting girls if it increases their ratings, sells advertising and beefs up the bottom line.

It’s a conversation I wish I could have avoided, but unfortunately Miley Cyrus’ recent performance at the “Teen Choice Awards” forced my parental hand. And anyway, I’m not one to waste a teachable moment.

If you don’t know, Ms. Cyrus made headlines for her performance of a poll dance during the telecast of the “Teen Choice Awards,” one of those faux awards shows designed to sell commercials to corporate sponsors who want more opportunities to reach America’s children.Read On

NATIONAL SUICIDE Remember when the deficit was so bad that Democrats said we (or more accurately the Republicans) were placing a terrible burden on our grandchildren?

That was several trillion dollars ago. Democrats now appear perfectly fine with extending the growing deficit and national debt to their great-grandchildren. Perhaps politicians think they will never be held accountable three generations from now because they won't be around to explain to those not yet born why they refused to stop our financial hemorrhaging. Read On

TRAINING OTHERS LeRoy Carhart wants to educate as many doctors as he can to perform late-term abortions so the process doesn't die with him, according to the latest issue of Newsweek.

"That makes the anti-abortion activist's job just 10 times harder," he said, "because there are now 10 times more of us."

Carrie Gordon Earll, senior bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said that may be easier said than done. Read On

NO CONTEMPT OVER PRAYER A federal district judge told Michelle Winkler, a Florida school district clerical assistant, that she would not be held in contempt regarding her husband's prayer at an awards banquet. The decision stems from an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed last year in which the court entered an injunction barring school employees from praying at school activities.  Winkler's husband, who is not a school employee, read a prayer his wife had written at a privately funded event at a nearby Naval base.  The ACLU claimed the event in question was in connection with the public school. Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said it's an important step in protecting freedom of speech. "We don't want to have to go to these contempt hearings," he said.  "We want to make sure that the students, faculty, staff and administrators understand and enjoy their First Amendment right to freedom of speech." Liberty Counsel attorneys will be back in court Sept.17 to defend Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman, who are charged with criminal contempt for blessing a meal at a separate luncheon. Nima Reza reporting for CitizenLink.

LISTENING I sat at a picnic table listening to various mothers discussing their hectic schedules trying to keep up with teenage daughters, all on the same sports team. When one mother told of squeezing in an appointment that morning to get her daughter the HPV shot that her doctor recommended, the conversation turned to the necessity to "protect" their girls in such troubling times. I stayed quiet, hoping to learn the values guiding these parents' decisions. Predictably, they had not thought through the issues, nor did they know the facts. Those mothers were merely following doctors' recommendations and that of all the experts. Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, was approved in 2006 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for females as young as nine and up to age 26. It has been marketed as a protection against four types of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Merck, the company that makes Gardasil, claims that the drug will protect against two types of HPV that cause 70 percent of cervical cancers and two types that cause 90 percent of genital warts. Every federal health authority recommends the shots and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about a quarter of the nation's 13-17 year olds have received the immunizations. The vaccine is on the CDC's vaccine schedule for 11- and 12-year-old girls, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends it. Read On

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