Free Republic

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Dec. 1, 2009 – Four soldiers serving here with the New Hampshire National Guard earned a special distinction last week when they became their company’s first all-female medical evacuation crew. From left, Sgt. Debra Lukan, Capt. Trish Barker, Staff Sgt. Misty Seward and Chief Warrant Officer Andrea Galatian, of the Army’s 3-238th Medevac, C company, became the company's first all-female crew just before Thanksgiving. They are serving in Iraq as part of Task Force Keystone. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Neil Gussman  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. In the three days before Thanksgiving, Capt....

She is a striking brunette with a decidedly outspoken attitude. She lambasts President Barack Obama as a socialist and has become the darling of America's right-wing activists who flock to her appearances. She is hated by liberals and loved by conservatives. Sarah Palin? Not quite. Meet Michele Bachmann, a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota who is being hailed as a new and increasingly powerful voice in American politics

Col. Maria Zumwalt, commander, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, chats with students at the Shab Female School in Baghdad, Nov. 5. Photo by Sgt. Joshua Risner, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. BAGHDAD — The Shab, Yassamin and Monte Tenaybo Schools were officially re-opened here, Nov. 5, thanks to the efforts of Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers. The schools were in shambles before they came to the attention of Army Civil Affairs (CA) Soldiers, according to Staff Sgt. Frank Halstead, from Brooklyn, N.Y."All three schools had to be completely redone because they were a mess," he...

NORFOLK, Va., Nov. 4, 2009 – Army Staff Sgt. Megan Krause’s words come out in a rush, as if she wants everyone to hear and learn from her story. Staff Sgt. Megan Krause, an Army Reserve medic who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, hopes to help other servicemembers by telling her story of seeking help when post-traumatic stress had her spiraling out of control. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Krause, an Army reservist with the 365th Engineer Battalion in Pennsylvania, does want people to hear her story, and she wants to connect with servicemembers so they...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A Saudi court on Saturday convicted a female journalist for her involvement in a TV show, in which a Saudi man publicly talked about sex, and sentenced her to 60 lashes. Rozanna al-Yami is believed to be the first Saudi woman journalist to be given such a punishment. The charges against her included involvement in the preparation of the program and advertising the segment on the Internet. Abdul-Rahman al-Hazza, the spokesman of the Ministry of Culture and Information, told The Associated Press he had no details of the sentencing and could not comment on it. In...

In the next 20 years, it's estimated that 30 million Chinese men won't be able to find wives. For mothers and fathers who visit the "People's Park" every weekend there's a lot more to it than just finding love for their kids. There's a tradition in China of the young looking after the old. The government hasn't paid pensions and provided health care for most Chinese. So many parents' social security is on the line.

According to the United States General Social Survey, women’s overall level of happiness has dropped since 1972.  Two professors at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania released a paper exploring female happiness, “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,” this spring which garnered national press attention.   One of the major findings in this study is that women’s happiness has declined both compared to 35 years ago and compared to men’s happiness. This study has prompted me to ask once again—Is feminism good for women?  Does feminism make women happier?  What does feminism hold for me?                I began asking these...

FOXSexpert: The Real Reason Women Have Sex Monday, September 21, 2009 Print FNC “Why Women Have Sex.” Given the stereotype that women are never in the mood, it’s not surprising that this book title is grabbing people’s attention. Written by researchers Cindy Meston and David Buss, the work flushes out the results of a survey of 1,006 women. And their findings are all over the board; the authors highlight 200 reasons. RELATED: New Book Reveals the Real Reason Women Have Sex So why do women have sex? The vast majority (84 percent) have sex to guarantee a quiet life or...

If a president that is as much white as he is black can declare himself black, why can't a South African sprinter that is a hermaphrodite declare herself female? It works for me.

Police in Connecticut on Sunday said they found what they believe is the body of a Yale University graduate student and bride-to-be hidden inside the wall of a university building where she was last seen five days before. ... State police found the body at around 5 p.m. Sunday in an area of the building that houses utility cables that run between floors.

FORT JACKSON, S.C., Aug. 4, 2009 – Army Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa King of the 369th Adjutant General Battalion has been selected the next commandant of the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant School. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa King will become the first female commandant of the Army’s Drill Sergeant School in September. U.S. Army photo by Crystal Lewis Brown  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. When she assumes responsibility in September, the ceremony not only will be commemorating a new school leader, but also the school’s first female commandant. King, who learned of the selection in June, will replace Army...

(CNSNews.com) – The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s health care legislation will give the Health and Human Services secretary the authority to develop “standards of measuring gender” -- as opposed to using the traditional "male" and "female" categories -- in a database of all who apply or participate in government-run or government-supported health care plans.

ELCA NEWS SERVICE July 2, 2009 Worship, Bible Study Leaders for ELCA Churchwide Assembly Named 09-147-CD* CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Preachers, presiding ministers and Bible study leaders chosen for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ECLA) Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis this August come from diverse backgrounds. The preachers, presiders and Bible study leaders were chosen by the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop. The Rev. Jennifer P. Ollikainen, associate for worship resources, said the goal with this group was to have "broad representation" of the church body. The presiding and preaching ministers include four pastors who are bilingual, a first-year...

LAKE WORTH, FL -- Some business women who work in an area hit hard with crime are arming themselves and taking matters into their own hands. Lake Worth business owner Mayra Ramirez has been practicing at the Palm Beach Shooting Range in Lake Worth for months. "I was always against guns but from watching the news and seeing so many things happen, I figured it was time to get one," Ramirez said. Ramirez is arming herself because she's fed up with the crime around her business. A week ago a man was shot just steps away from her storefront. "At...

IN THE CUTTHROAT world of business, companies are always looking for ways to increase their profits. They outsource to Bangalore. They endlessly tweak their "brands." Some even try to shed their least desirable customers. Now, a growing number of consultants and corporate leaders swear by a new strategy to boost the bottom line, one that departs from the standard bag of tricks: put more women in charge.

NEW YORK (AP) - Advocates of the female condom are promoting a less costly, more user-friendly version that they hope will vastly expand its role in the global fight against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. An early version of the female condom was introduced in 1993, and it remains the only available woman-initiated form of protection against both STDs and unintended pregnancy. Yet despite global promotion by the United Nations and other organizations, its usage is still minuscule, even as women bear an ever-growing share of the AIDS epidemic.

Video on sitehttp://nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com/2009/04/bad-female-drivers-video.html

FARAH PROVINCE, Afghanistan, March 10, 2009 – Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment -- the ground combat element of Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan -- now have a special group of people to help them complete their mission in Afghanistan. Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Johanna Shaffer shares a cookie and a smile with an Afghan child while under the watchful security of Marines assigned to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, during her all-female team's first mission in Farah province, Feb. 9, 2009. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Monty Burton  (Click photo for screen-resolution...

Women are now equal to men...at long last! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEtw3XJoJrE Check this link.

February 10, 2009 Indian women launch pink knicker protest against radical Hindu group The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women has asked members to send pink knickers to them in protest at attacks by the SRS Jeremy Page in Delhi A group of young Indian women is planning to send pink knickers to a Hindu radical organisation that attacked women in a pub last month and has vowed to target unmarried couples celebrating Valentine's Day. The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women — which had 7,422 members as of this afternoon — is also urging Indian women to...

February 3, 2009 'Female suicide bomb recruiter' Samira Ahmed Jassim captured Samira Ahmed Jassim Deborah Haynes in Baghdad A middle-aged woman suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers has been arrested in Iraq, a senior officer said today. Samira Ahmed Jassim, 51, confessed to sending 28 of the women to carry out attacks, Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi, a Baghdad security spokesman, said. She was captured at an undisclosed location a fortnight ago. He played a video of her apparent confession at a news conference. Jassim, dressed in traditional black Islamic robes, is shown appearing to confess to recruiting and...

An imperfect body might be just what the doctor ordered for women and key to their economic success, an anthropologist now says. While pop culture seems to worship the hourglass figure for females, with a tiny waist, big boobs and curvy hips à la Marilyn Monroe, this may not be optimal, says Elizabeth Cashdan of the University of Utah. That's because the hormones that make women physically stronger, more competitive and better able to deal with stress also tend to redistribute fat from the hips to the waist. So in societies and situations where women are under pressure to procure...

Four times Italian women's champion Lara Liotta, 29, was on a street in broad daylight in central Rome when the man, a Romanian immigrant of no fixed abode, approached her and asked her for a cigarette. When she told him she did not smoke he allegedly lunged for her and grabbed her around the neck. Miss Liotta, who works as prison officer, immediately put her black belt training to good use, delivering two swift jabs to the man's face which sent him crashing to the ground. The karate champion was fortunate she could rely on her skills to fight off...

Following up on the main stream media's contention that Sarah Palin maybe unable to carry out the duties of the Office of the Vice President of the United States of America due to her children, we need to ask the main stream media companies if the following female executives have children and if so how are they able to carry out their executive duties. This is a question share holders need answered since the inability of these female executive to carry out their duties could have a financial impact on the corporation. Rena Golden senior vice president and executive producer...

It wasn't an intentional double entendre in the title of the post (Paglia being a proud, self-proclaimed lesbian and all), but I had to tie in that Palin was the subject of the comment . . .. Anyway Camille Paglia is, by far, one of the most intelligent Democrat commentators I can think of, and even Rush Limbaugh digs her - a lot - even if she is, as Rush says, totally in the tank for Obama. I have the deepest admiration -- the most profound respect and love -- for Camille Paglia. I think Camille Paglia is absolutely brilliant...

If soccer moms determined the outcome of the 1996 presidential race and security moms tipped the balance in 2004, it is beginning to look as if older moms are the key to the 2008 contest. Obama has a problem among women over 40 and a big problem among women over 50. These groups, normally the staunchest of Democratic supporters, are showing a propensity to back McCain and a disinclination to support Obama.

The Vatican has recently confirmed that anyone who attempts the priestly ordination of a woman will incur automatic excommunication. At the same time, this year’s Lambeth convocation of the world’s Anglican leaders has opened the way for the ordination and consecration of female bishops. To the Anglicans at Lambeth, the issue is no doubt obvious. But the question of the ordination of women is just the tip of an iceberg. Slaves to Fashion The contemporary West is largely existentialist. By this I mean that we instinctively believe that there is no particular order and meaning to the universe apart from...

Dutch scientists claim they have completed the first sequencing of an individual woman's DNA. The researchers at Leiden University Medical Center say they have sequenced the entire genome of one their female researchers, though no other scientists have yet verified their data. The first sequencing of a composite human genome was announced in 2001. Four individual male genomes have so far been sequenced. Scientists have also mapped the DNA of about a dozen mammals, including chimpanzees, dogs, cats, cows and a platypus. The full complement of an organism's DNA is called its genome. In animals and people, it is made...

Brown runs on record; challengers want change Energy, veterans, taxes among 1st Dist. issues By Robert Behre The Post and Courier Saturday, May 24, 2008 First District Rep. Henry Brown is vying to serve a fifth term in Congress, but first he must overcome two Republican challengers who think they can do a better job. Johns Island businessman Paul Norris said he's making his first bid for public office because he wants to use his engineer's approach to solving problems that he said threaten the next generation. Professor and U.S. Army reservist Katherine Jenerette of North Myrtle Beach said...

Youtube vid here

'Sexy' voice gives fertile women away 01 May 2008 From New Scientist Print Edition. Colin Barras A woman's voice becomes more attractive when she is most fertile. That's according to Nathan Pipitone and Gordon Gallup of the State University of New York at Albany. The pair recorded women counting from 1 to 10 at four occasions during their menstrual cycle. They then replayed the recordings at random to male and female students and asked them to rate the attractiveness of the voices. Both males and females judged the women's voices to be most attractive if they were recorded during the...

The professor told his class one day: 'Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph,...

Flirting females baffle men, say researchers By Julie Henry Last Updated: 2:33am BST 30/03/2008 The flutter of eyelashes, the smile across the dancefloor and the giggle after a lame joke - every woman knows the time-honoured ways to get a man. Men commonly mistake women's sexual signals as merely friendly But research suggests that the flirty female is wasting her time. Men, it seems, are blind to the subtle seduction techniques of the opposite sex. Short of pouncing on the object of her lust, a woman's non-verbal signals of sexual interest often prove sadly lost on the young male brain,...

When She's Turned On, Some Of Her Genes Turn Off, Fish Study Shows ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2007) — When a female is attracted to a male, entire suites of genes in her brain turn on and off, show biologists from The University of Texas at Austin studying swordtail fish. Molly Cummings and Hans Hofmann found that some genes were turned on when females found a male attractive, but a larger number of genes were turned off. "When females were most excited--when attractive males were around--we observed the greatest down regulation [turning off] of genes," said Cummings, assistant professor of integrative...

AL FALLUJAH, Iraq (Oct. 9, 2007) -- There’s less violence on Fallujah’s streets these days, but there are still some insurgents bold enough to try to sneak weapons through one of the city’s numerous checkpoints. As the threat remains, so do the Marines who regulate inbound traffic by searching for contraband on possible smugglers. Due to the sensitivities of Arabic culture, this task, at times, requires a woman’s touch. In order to search women, Combat Logistics Battalion 8, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), provides a temporary Female Search Team upon the request of 2nd Marine Division’s Regimental Combat Team 6....

"Shall Woman Preach?"Louisa Woosley and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church by Mary Lin Hudson, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Homiletics and Worship, Memphis Theological Seminary. IN OCTOBER 1938, a petite gray-haired grandmother stood behind the pulpit of the Marion Cumberland Presbyterian Church and presided over a meeting of Kentucky Synod as moderator. At age seventy-six, she demonstrated the same discipline and skill in leadership that had insured the success of her difficult ministry. Elected to the office of moderator by acclamation, this woman now stood before a synod that had refused to recognize the validity of her ordination in 1889, almost fifty...

U.S. Army combat medics, Spc. Aimee Collver (foreground) and Spc. Vanessa Bolognese (background), both with the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Personal Security Detachment, help pull security during a mission in Amerli, Iraq, July 11, 2007. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Mike Alberts Female Combat Medics Fight Every Day, Earn Respect Missions find success with support of dedicated female soldiers. By Spc. Mike Alberts 3rd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs KIRKUK, Iraq, Aug. 1, 2007 — Temperatures exceeded 115 degrees during the five-hour mission in Amerli that day. More than 50 soldiers were on site and...

NEW DELHI - India elected Pratibha Patil as the country's first female president Saturday in a vote seen as a victory for the hundreds of millions of Indian women who contend with widespread discrimination. Patil received 65.82 percent of the votes cast by national lawmakers and state legislators, said Election Commission head P.D.T. Achary. She had been widely expected to win. Patil, the 72-year-old candidate of the governing Congress party and its political allies, defeated incumbent Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

Female madrassa students battle Musharraf By Massoud Ansari in Islamabad, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 11:54pm BST 14/04/2007 They look like ninjas in the morning shadows, and as the sun sets in the woods around their madrassa, they resemble wraiths. Dressed in black from top to toe and wielding menacing bamboo sticks, the young women students of Islamabad's Jamia Hafsa religious school make a fearsome enemy - as the government of Pakistan is finding out. Women students chant outside the Jamia Hafsa religious school For the past three months, they have been in a standoff after President Pervez Musharraf launched a...

U.S. Army Pfc. Lauren Hebrank, a medic with 710th Brigade Support Battalion, Task Force Spartan, administers medical care to an Afghan girl at the Korengal Outpost. Hebrank and another female soldier provided medical coverage to infantrymen and residents. U.S. Army courtesy photo Female Army Medics Take Lessons of Forward Mission to Heart Task Force Spartan soldiers care for Afghanistan residents, combat wounds By Combined Joint Task Force-82 Public Affairs Army News Service   JALALABAD AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, April 5, 2007 — Compassion on the front lines of battle is a concept that few infantrymen or artillerymen consider in the heat...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Michigan's first female U.S. attorney says she is stepping down, prompting speculation that she is the latest in a wave of resignations forced by the Bush administration. Margaret M. Chiara, 63, said Friday she would resign her position effective March 16, but did not say why. She said in a statement issued by her office that she intends to remain in public service. Chiara was unavailable for comment Friday because she was attending to personal matters, an aide said. Seven other U.S. attorneys have been forced to resign in recent months. Democrats have accused the Bush...

Female candidate campaigns in mosques By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels Last Updated: 1:58am GMT 23/02/2007 A muslim woman running for public office in the Netherlands has refused to be interviewed or photographed and will only campaign in mosques, sparking new claims of attempts of isolationism among the Islamic community. Ouafaa Abrazi is standing for the Islam Democraten in municipal elections in the Zuid-Holland region, and is the only female candidate on the Islamic list. "She does not want to give interviews and we must also not give her phone number to anyone," said Islam Democrat leader Hasan Kucuk. "She does...

Drinking two cups of spearmint tea a day could help women lose excessive body hair by lowering levels of sex hormones in their blood, scientists said yesterday. Women who drank tea leaves from the spearmint plant, Mentha spicata, for five consecutive days had reduced levels of a sex hormone believed to trigger hirsutism, a condition where thick, dark hairs sprout on the face, stomach and breasts. The disorder is linked to a hormonal imbalance and is common among women with polycystic ovary syndrome, which affects 5-10% of women of childbearing age. It is usually treated with drugs that block the...

Male Sweat Can Boost Arousal in Women From Associated Press February 12, 2007 9:26 PM EST BERKELEY, Calif. - A chemical in male sweat can boost mood, brain activity and sexual arousal in heterosexual women, according to a new study released just in time for Valentine's Day. The study offers the first direct evidence that humans secrete a scent that can affect the physiology of the opposite sex, said researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Their findings were published this week in The Journal of Neuroscience. "This is the first time anyone has demonstrated that a change in women's...

Female Medics Earn Respect from Afghan Army Afghan soldiers now trust these women with their lives. By 1st Lt. Amanda Straub 41st Brigade Combat Team GARDEZ, Afghanistan, Jan. 30, 2007 -- Oregon Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Jo Turner and Spc. Cheryl Ivanov have found a niche in a “Good Ol' Boys' Club” while serving in Afghanistan. "They stared and stared at first. Then they saw us sleep on the ground like they did and eat their food like they did." Spc. Cheryl Ivanov, combat medic Turner, from Springfield, Ore., and Ivanov, from Coos Bay, are female combat medics...

In the last two years, international organizations and Asian nations have stepped up their efforts to eliminate sex-selective abortions, which have created a massive dearth of girls in many nations over the past 20 years. With the new year, some new statistics have been released. The result of these efforts? The sex imbalance continues to worsen, not improve, thanks to the ever-increasing spread of cheap abortion and ultrasound technology into more and more areas of China, India, and other countries. One expert who spoke at the United Nations estimates that up to 200 million women and girls are missing worldwide...

Proverbs 5:15-23INTRODUCTION Sex and wisdom are closely intertwined in the OT. Wisdom and Folly are both pictured throughout the early chapters of Proverbs as women – one honorable and blessed, the other seductive and ultimately deadly. Further, the Song of Songs is included among the wisdom books. In some way, skill in living and skill in love-making are connected. BASIC PERSPECTIVES Sex is a mystery. Sex is a mystery because masculinity and femininity are elusive qualities. Sexual desire is a mystery, so spontaneous and powerful that we might almost forgive ancient pagans for thinking of sex as a goddess, a...

Among social activists and feminists, combating female genital mutilation (FGM) is an important policy goal. Sometimes called female circumcision or female genital cutting, FGM is the cutting of the clitoris of girls in order to curb their sexual desire and preserve their sexual honor before marriage. The practice, prevalent in some majority Muslim countries, has a tremendous cost: many girls bleed to death or die of infection. Most are traumatized. Those who survive can suffer adverse health effects during marriage and pregnancy. New information from Iraqi Kurdistan raises the possibility that the problem is more prevalent in the Middle East...

A Egyptian conference of Muslim scholars from around the world declared female circumcision to be contrary to Islam and an attack on women, and called today for those who practice it to be punished. The conference, organised by the German human rights group TARGET, recommended that governments pass laws to prohibit the tradition and that judicial bodies prosecute those who mutilate female genitals. "The conference appeals to all Muslims to stop practicing this habit, according to Islam's teachings which prohibit inflicting harm on any human being," the participants said in their final statement. Egypt's two top Islamic clerics, Mohammed Sayed...

Female Search Teams Aid Battalion’s Mission Six soldiers assist in cordon and search operations during Operation Together Forward By 1st Lt. Amanda Leggett704th Support Battalion4th Brigade Combat Team4th Infantry Division FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq, Oct. 16, 2006 -- A group of soldiers sat down on a Saturday afternoon, casually exchanging stories from a mission recently completed in the residential neighborhoods of Baghdad. Although the tales of their exploits sound typical of any group of soldiers fighting on the front lines, there is something remarkably different about these six soldiers - they are females. Trained in military occupational skills...