The Nooz: Palin action figure raises objections

If the interest in Sarah Palin’s eyeglasses is any indication, the Oxford, Conn., company making her action figure will be inundated with requests. But not everyone is amused.

HeroBuilders.com has made three action figures of the Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate.

The figures include the Sarah Palin business figure, complete with glasses, a suit and her hair pulled back in a bun. The Sarah Palin hero action figure looks like something from the movie “The Matrix,” with a long black coat opened to show a gun holster on the thigh.

But it is the Sarah Palin School Girl that is raising eyebrows. In the risqué doll, she dons a red bra and a short skirt.

Kathleen Angco-Vieweg, an assistant professor of sociology at American International College in Springfield, Mass., denounced the dolls as sexist.

“If [a woman is] pretty, the only power they have is to turn on a man instead of using their brains and intellect,” Angco-Vieweg said. “She is the governor of Alaska, so she obviously has the brains to run those laws and governance.”

While Palin has a prominent spot on the HeroBuilders.com site, the male candidates in the series also appear to be stereotyped. The Beach Blanket Obama action figure portrays a bathing suit-clad Sen. Barack Obama with some serious muscles, while Sen. John McCain’s action figure also looks as though it has been working out.

The action figures range from $27.95 to $29.95.

— WVIT of Hartford, Conn.; WWLP of Springfield, Mass.

Photographer helps deliver baby who couldn’t wait
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — A baby who couldn’t wait to be born got a little extra help from a calm dad and a television photographer last week.

Teri Griffin is the first to admit that her timing wasn’t perfect. Last week, she went to the hospital but was early. When she headed back in the afternoon, it was a little too late.

“I was like, ‘Honey, my water broke — we’ve got to get there now,’” Griffin said.

But just a few blocks from the hospital they ran into an unexpected detour. Griffin’s husband, Travis, “was driving down the road and was like, ‘Oh, no, I’m speeding.’ And I said, ‘I don't care, I'm in labor,’” she said.

The Nooz Msnbc.com rounds up the strangest stories of the week as reported by NBC News and its network of affiliated stations nationwide. For more oddities, go to msnbc.com’s Weird News section.

With the baby getting closer and closer, the couple pulled over in front of the home of Steve Landeen, a photographer for KSL-TV. He said, “As soon as I saw the situation, it looked like someone was having a baby.”

“I got both my hands underneath, and [Travis Griffin] got one hand underneath, and she pushed and whoosh. The baby came right out,” Landeen said.

Caydice Karie Griffin weighed in at 6 pounds and 18½ inches long. The Griffins say they’re extremely grateful to Landeen and to the paramedics and police who helped them out.

— KSL, Salt Lake City, Utah

Police respond to pet bird’s screams of ‘help me’
TRENTON, N.J. — Police who were called to a house in Trenton after people heard screams inside were surprised to find that the noise was a pet bird.

The people who heard the “screams” said it sounded like a woman screaming “Help me!”

It took police a while to get in the house, because there was also a big German shepherd inside. But once they got in, they found Luna — a cockatoo with a limited but loud vocabulary.

Luna’s owner had no idea why the bird was screaming. Police did not charge the family.

— WCAU, Philadelphia

Wanted man escapes through hotel floor
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A man wanted on a probation violation gave deputies the slip, apparently by escaping through a hole in a hotel floor.

When deputies with warrants arrived at the Vista Inn looking for Jason Scruggs, 35, they knocked on the door and heard noise in the room. When they identified themselves, the noise stopped.

Deputies entered the room to find it was unoccupied — but there was a hole in the floor. Deputies think Scruggs cut the hole in the floor, anticipating officers would come looking for him.

Scruggs’ probation was a result of an aggravated burglary conviction. He also had several previous arrests on forgery and burglary charges.

— WBIR, Knoxville, Tenn.

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