We all know that the appropriation of Native culture by hipsters and other white people is an issue, but apparently no one told the Washington Post. (And if you don't know why it's a problem, please see here for more information.

(Not that this happening in the city where the "Redskins" is an appropriate team name is surprising.)

This Friday, they published a picture of a white woman wearing a head dress on the cover of their "weekend" section. To advertise karaoke bars.

You can see it here, I couldn't find the picture larger. (In case they pull it, I've uploaded it here for posterity.

You can contact the Ombudsman, responsible for ethics, at ombudsman@washpost.com or call 202-334-7521.
You can submit a letter to the editor following these instructions.
You can contact the weekend section here: weekend@washpost.com

I've been unable to find out who the editor of the Weekend section is, but the picture was taken by Rebecca D'Angelo and the article was written by Stephanie Merry and Jess Righthand, though I doubt they're responsible for the choice of the picture.

On a serious note: It's October and in a few days kids will be begging for candy at your door. Lets talk about chocolate.

Did you know that cocoa farmers engage in human trafficking and slave labor to make your chocolate bar? They do.

Did you know that TEN YEARS ago there was an international protocol passed requiring chocolate makers to work to end child slavery? There was, and people were too busy patting themselves on the back to enforce it, so nothing has changed.

Think a boycott will just hurt the people who make those 15 cents a day? You're missing the big picture.

Addicted to chocolate? Fine, here are the Fair-Trade companies that don't use slave labor.

Want to give money to supporting international labor rights? You can do that, too.

Want to learn about better candies to give out at Halloween? I have an app for that.

Okay, so I don't usually do this, but this is an issue near and dear to me and this is getting very little no attention in the mainstream media.

Mississippi is voting on November 8th on whether to pass Amendment 26, the "Personhood Amendment". This amendment would grant fertilized eggs and fetuses personhood status.

Putting aside the contentious issue of abortion, this would effectively outlaw birth control and criminalize women who have miscarriages. This is not a good thing.

Jackson Women's Health Organization is the only place women can get abortions in the entire state, and they are trying to launch a grassroots movement against this amendment. This doesn't just apply to Mississippi, though, as Personhood USA, the group that introduced this amendment, is trying to introduce identical amendments in all 50 states.

What's more, in Mississippi, this amendment is expected to pass. It even has Mississippi Democrats, including the Attorney General, Jim Hood, backing it.

The reason I'm posting this here is because I made a meager donation to the Jackson Women's Health Organization this morning, and I received a personal email back hours later - on a Sunday - thanking me and noting that I'm one of the first "outside" people to contribute.

So if you sometimes pass on political action because you figure that enough other people will do something to make a difference, make an exception on this one. My RSS reader is near silent on this amendment. I only found out about it through a feminist blog. The mainstream media is not reporting on it.

If there is ever a time to donate or send a letter in protest, this would be it.

What to do?

- Read up on it. Wake Up, Mississippi is the home of the grassroots effort to fight this amendment. Daily Kos also has a thorough story on it.

- If you can afford it, you can donate at the site's link.

- You can contact the Democratic National Committee to see why more of our representatives aren't speaking out against this.

- Like this Facebook page to help spread awareness.