Free Republic

After the Senate voted Saturday night to pro ceed with debate on health reform, Majority Leader Harry Reid declared the public the winner. In truth, more Americans will be losers than winners. Both Senate and House bills strip nearly half a trillion dollars from Medicare, robbing seniors to expand Medicaid. The Senate bill also spends billions on drug treatment, sex education, translators and romance and relationship lessons (p. 612) that could be used to treat heart disease, cancer and stroke -- the diseases that kill most of us.

Russian Victoria Radochinskaya has won the Mrs World 2009 beauty pageant, which took place in the Vietnamese city of Vung Tau. Seventy-eight participants, aged between 19 and 41, competed for the title of the world's most beautiful married woman. Vietnam, the host country, was represented by two contenders. The final round of the competition took place on Sunday. Victoria Radochinskaya, 31, became the 15th winner of the contest since it was first held in 1985. The PR specialist received the $150,000 jewel-studded crown from last year's winner, Ukrainian Natalya Shmarenkova. First runner-up was Mrs America Andrea Robertson, a professional model....

Curvy Women May Be A Clever Bet. Nigella Lawson: Curvy figure and an Oxford degree [Pic in URL]. Women with curvy figures are likely to be brighter than waif-like counterparts and may well produce more intelligent offspring, a US study suggests. Researchers studied 16,000 women and girls and found the more voluptuous performed better on cognitive tests - as did their children. The bigger the difference between a woman's waist and hips the better. Researchers writing in Evolution and Human Behaviour speculated this was to do with fatty acids found on the hips. In this area, the fat is likely...

KIRKUK — The use of non-governmental organizations to champion social issues is often a successful method of combating social and cultural woes. Some examples include anti-smoking and –litter campaigns in the United States. While the government of Kirkuk continues to develop, private citizens are encouraged to take on social challenges. The role of women in Iraq, and their contributions to Kirkuk, was the subject of a conference Nov. 19 at the Kirkuk Government Building. Non-Governmental Organizations representing women's issues attended the conference, which included groups who addressed issues ranging from illiteracy, domestic violence, small business development and civil rights awareness....

Title IX Expansions Bethany Stotts, November 20, 2009 During a November 10 press call on “Women Scientists and American Competitiveness,” speakers suggested that Title IX should be used to focus on “educational equity” and not just athletic equity. One speaker stressed, in particular, the importance of reaching out to federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes for Health (NIH), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of Energy (DOE) for additional grant money. (Predoctoral women received 63% of the NIH’s awards in 2007, but only 25% of “competitive faculty grants” that same year, reports...

One of the first-ever female Iraqi Police officers to attend and complete training at the Baghdad Police College proudly poses for a photo following the BPC’s latest graduation ceremony, Nov. 9. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Edwin L. Wriston, Joint Combat Camera Center - Iraq. BAGHDAD – Fifty female Iraqi Police (IP) officers became the first women to graduate from the Baghdad Police College here, Nov. 9. The new female officers and more than 1,000 male students culminated their training with a ceremony marking their successful completion of the rigorous nine-month training program.Dozens of senior Iraqi political leaders, U.S....

11/19/2009 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The USO has changed a lot in 68 years and the organization marked another milestone in the group's history of supporting the military Nov. 18 when it sponsored a care package service specifically for female servicemembers. While previous USO care packages were unisex, containing little sundries from home -- snacks, magazines, toiletry items -- the new line of female-specific packages contain items specifically requested by servicewomen such as cosmetics, moisturizers and special soaps. In a ceremony at the Rayburn House Office Building here, Congress members joined servicemembers and volunteers, including Dr. Jill Biden and Speaker...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Nov. 19, 2009 – Women in Iraq have struggled for centuries to carve out a life of their own. Even with the advent of democracy, that struggle continues, and without attention and assistance, there is no telling how prolonged it may be. Army Capt. Ann Demapan takes a few photos of the rugs at a factory managed and staffed entirely by Iraqi women near Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, Oct. 16, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Gavriel Bar Tzur  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. With that in mind, Task Force Pathfinder members of...

Women should support women. That’s what feminists preach. They write it as a part of their creed. It’s basic. Not however when it comes to Sarah Palin. She will not get the support of America’s women in total. Not on your life.

Health Care: A government task force has decided that women need fewer mammograms and later in life. Shouldn't that be between patient and physician? We have seen the future of health care, and it doesn't work. We have warned repeatedly that the net results of health care bills before Congress will be higher demand, fewer doctors, more cost control, all leading to rationing. New recommendations issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) regarding breast cancer and the necessity for early and frequent mammograms do not convince us otherwise. Just six months ago, the panel, which works under the...

Sarah Mohammad, 3rd Infantry Division Women's Initiative coordinator, demonstrates products that can be sold on U.S. Military installation during a Business Workshop for Iraqi women in Dujayl, Nov. 11. Photo by Capt. Rebecca Walsh, 1st Infantry Division. DUJAYL — A meeting room inside the library here was filled with lively conversations, Nov. 14, as Iraqi women discussed business opportunities available to them within the Salah ad-Din province. Women from Balad, Samarra, and Dujayl gathered together for a business workshop to exchange ideas about the possibilities of selling hand-made goods on Contingency Operating Base Speicher at the Iraqi Souq Bazaar.For Provincial...

Women have a lower carbon footprint than men but are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of global warming, according to the United Nations’ State of World Population report. Women drive and fly much less than men and purchase fewer carbonintensive goods. The research found that women in industrialised countries were more likely to buy ecologically friendly and organic foods, were more likely to recycle rubbish and more interested in efficient energy use. The report quoted a US research finding that women responded more positively than men to advertising for products that companies claimed were less detrimental to the environment....

Woman's Lawsuit: She Yelled Stop, Practitioner Continued With Forced Abortion Flint, MI -- Alberto Hodari owns six abortion centers in Michigan and LifeNews.com has delivered multiple reports on how he has three of them up for sale. A new lawsuit from a woman who says he forced her to have an abortion could explain why Hodari is quickly moving to divest himself of his abortion business. http://www.lifenews.com/state4585.html

CNN Poll: 61% Oppose Tax-Funded Abortions, 63% Oppose All or Most Abortions Washington, DC -- As Congress remains embroiled in a massive debate over whether to force Americans to pay for abortions through the new government-run health care programs, a new CNN poll finds 61 percent oppose government funding abortions with public dollars. It also found 63 percent of Americans say abortion should be illegal in all cases or only in a few cases while just 36 percent say abortion should be legal in most cases or in all cases. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5677.html

The city council of Tampa, Fla., voted unanimously last week to include "gender identity and expression" as a protected class under the city's human rights ordinance, leading some to fear the council has opened the city's public bathroom doors to sexual predators masquerading as protected transsexuals.

What a difference six months — and a health-care overhaul proposal — can make! Just six months ago, the U.S Preventive Services Task Force, which works within the Department of Health and Human Services as a “best practice” panel on prevention, sounded a warning signal over a slight decline in annual mammograms among women in their 40s. In fact, they warned women of this age bracket that they could be risking their lives if they didn’t get the annual preventive exam (via HA reader Devil’s Advocate): The downward trend, however slight, has breast cancer experts worried. Mammograms can enable physicians...

NEW YORK – Most women don't need a mammogram in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50, a government task force said Monday. It's a major reversal that conflicts with the American Cancer Society's long-standing position. Also, the task force said breast self-exams do no good and women shouldn't be taught to do them. For most of the past two decades, the cancer society has been recommending annual mammograms beginning at 40. But the government panel of doctors and scientists concluded that getting screened for breast cancer so early and so often leads to too...

Most women should start regular breast cancer screening at age 50, not 40, according to new guidelines released Monday by an influential group that provides guidance to doctors, insurance companies and policy makers. The new recommendations reverse longstanding guidelines and are aimed at reducing harm from overtreatment, the group says. It also says women age 50 to 74 should have mammograms less frequently — every two years, rather than every year. And it said doctors should stop teaching women to examine their breasts on a regular basis.

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

Why all the gang up on the new Sarah Palin book? Three video clips to peruse for you this morning. The Sunday talk shows were abuzz with Palin talk on the eve (no pun intended) of the release of the former Alaskan Governor’s new book, “Going Rogue”. Normally I would not post on this. BUT, what I found interesting is how the battle lines were drawn. The men, even the sol called conservatives dismissed Palin as a non factor in 2012 … and that my friends kinda ticked off the women … even the liberal women. First the sound bite...

Republican women convening at the Galveston Island Convention Center this weekend said they are “energized” about the 2010 and 2012 elections and view them as a turning point for the state and nation. Women from across the state, many of whom donned Republican red, gathered Saturday for the third of a four-day convention hosted biennially by the Texas Federation of Republican Women. Highlighting the convention’s agenda during the last few days were keynote addresses by party front-runners Gov. Rick Perry and gubernatorial challenger Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison Hutchison addressed the delegation Saturday morning announcing, as expected, she won’t resign her...

Each Sunday, Peyton Alsobrook, a 19-year-old freshman at Auburn University, gets together with his Alpha Tau Omega fraternity brothers to compare notes on the women they take on dates to Saturday football games. Those who seem bored are eliminated from further consideration, he says, along with any who might talk too much during a close game "because they're from up North or something." As the all-important Alabama game approaches, Mr. Alsobrook says he's narrowed his list of potential dates to four. The winner, he says, will get a coveted ticket to the big game and, beyond that, special treatment that...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/12/work-office-white-house-office-faith-based-and-neighborhood-partnerships The Work of the Office: White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Posted by Joshua DuBois on November 12, 2009 at 02:15 PM EST President Obama announced the creation of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships on the 17th day of the President’s new Administration. Since then, our Office has been pretty busy! I thought it'd be helpful to give you a little context on what we've been up to. Our office is situated within the Domestic Policy Council. This placement allows our office to have close interaction...

WASHINGTON — First lady Michelle Obama sought to assure older women on Friday that efforts to overhaul health care won't undercut the benefits they receive through Medicare, saying her husband considers the government-run program a "sacred part of America's social safety net." Mrs. Obama, championing the health care effort at the White House while her husband travels through Asia, said women are among those struggling the most under the current system and would benefit from health care overhaul. She said there's been "a lot of misinformation" and she wanted to be clear that the legislation in Congress would make Medicare...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy says there is no place for full face and body veils such as the burqa, or for the debasement of women, in France. Sarkozy says all beliefs will be respected in France but says "becoming French means adhering to a form of civilization, to values, to morals." Sarkozy said Thursday during a speech on national identity that "France is a country where there is no place for the burqa."

Research: Women in China See 17% Higher Breast Cancer Risk From Abortion Beijing, China -- Chinese researchers have issued a new study indicating women who have had abortions face a 17 percent higher chance of contracting breast cancer than women who carried their pregnancy to term. One leading American scientist says he believes the increased risk is even higher. http://www.LifeNews.com/int1379.html

Study: 20 Percent of Women Using Abortion Drug Face Medical Complications Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Planned Parenthood says "Our monitoring shows that mifepristone medication abortion continues to be a safe abortion option." The distributor of Mifeprex (the trade name for RU 486) says that "Mifeprex is 92-95% effective for safely ending early pregnancy." But a new study from Finland says that 20% of the women using the abortion pill suffer at least one significant complication. Nearly 4% reported two or more complications or "adverse events." http://www.LifeNews.com/int1377.html

Media & Authorities Slow or Reluctant to Acknowledge Mass Murderers Come in All Colors: Playing the Race Card: Does it Apply When Not Politically Correct? According to FBI statistics, at any given time there are 30 to 50 serial killers roaming the United States, seeking out their prey. 76% of all serial killers worldwide perform their dark and evil murders in the United States. Europeans represent 17% of the world's serial killers. In totality, the United States and Europe combined make up 93% of all mass murderers internationally. In the U.S., California holds the dubious distinction of the most homicidal...

Note: The following text is a quote: November 6, 2009 U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and World Customs Organization Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya announce preliminary results of largest global cash smuggling operation BRUSSELS - Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and World Customs Organization (WCO) Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya today announced the preliminary results of Operation ATLAS-the largest multilateral operation in history targeting cash smugglers which took place from Oct. 26-30. More than 80 countries participated in Operation ATLAS (an acronym for Assess, Target, Link, Analyze and Share)-leading to more than $3.5 million in cash seized and...

In the story making the rounds here in Mexico's drug capital, the setting is a beauty parlor. A woman with wealth obtained legally openly criticizes a younger patron who is married to a trafficker. The "narco-wife" orders the hairdresser to shave the first woman's head. Terrified, the hairdresser complies. Urban legend or real? It almost doesn't matter; it's the sort of widely repeated account that both intimidates and titillates. And it highlights a disturbing trend: As drug violence seeps deeper into Mexican society, women are taking a more hands-on role. In growing numbers, they are being recruited into the ranks...

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Some women strode the catwalk in vicious spiked bracelets and body armor. Others had their heads covered, burqa-style, but with shoulders — and tattoos — exposed. Male models wore long, Islamic robes as well as shorts and sequined T-shirts. As surging militant violence grabs headlines around the world, Pakistan's top designers and models are taking part in the country's first-ever fashion week. While the mix of couture and ready-to-wear fashions would not have been out of place in Milan or New York, many designers made reference to the turmoil, reflecting the contradictions and tensions coursing through...

NOW Opposes Health Care Bill That Strips Millions of Women of Abortion AccessSays Bill Obliterates Women's Fundamental Right to Choose Statement of NOW President Terry O'Neill November 8, 2009 The House of Representatives has dealt the worst blow to women's fundamental right to self-determination in order to buy a few votes for reform of the profit-driven health insurance industry. We must protect the rights we fought for in Roe v. Wade. We cannot and will not support a health care bill that strips millions of women of their existing access to abortion. Birth control and abortion are integral aspects of...

A recent article in the Telegraph discusses the rise of “ladies-only gun camps.” Why ladies-only? The article doesn’t say, but I know that similar training efforts have been sex-segregated because some women feel a bit intimidated by the inevitable “let me show you how it’s done, little lady” behavior that some guys exhibit — as if there’s something intrinsically masculine about shooting a gun. Of course, there isn’t. Nor should this be a surprise. The tragedy at Fort Hood was ended by a female police officer. What might have been an even bigger massacre in Colorado Springs two years ago...

A police officer and mother of one was hailed a heroine yesterday after it emerged that she almost single handedly ended the massacre at America’s biggest military base. Kimberly Munley does not look as if she would be much of a match for a heavily armed US soldier on a murderous rampage. But the slightly built 34-year-old civilian officer was first on the scene after Major Nidal Malik Hasan began firing on comrades at Ford Hood in Texas as they prepared to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq. The 39-year-old psychologist killed 13 and left 31 others with serious injuries. On...

BYU advances in MWC tournament despite multiple dirty plays from New Mexico's Elizabeth Lambert.

AL MUTHANA, Iraq, Nov. 5, 2009 – The Iraqi army graduated 42 women here as the first all-female class to complete its enlisted basic combat training course. Iraqi Staff Brig. Gen. Mohammed Abdul Razq, deputy director of the tactical training directorate, and Iraqi Staff Col. Mohammed Abdul Rahman Essa, deputy commander of the Regional Training Center, delivered congratulatory remarks to the pioneering women at an Oct. 29 graduation. Iraqi army recruit Junde Lubab Ibrahim Kaleel said she was very excited about graduation. "It is important for me, for Iraqi women and for Iraq because we have a chance for a...

Study: 85 Percent of Women Say Abortions Cause Mental Health Issues London, England -- A new report from researchers at a university in New Zealand indicates 85 percent of women who had abortions report negative mental health issues as a result. The report is the latest from professor David Fergusson and his team showing abortions cause problems for women. http://www.LifeNews.com/int1371.html

'Great American Conservative Women' Calendar

Thinking about Peggy Noonan's column the other day the question is has it started? What has started, I think women are starting to see that Obama in today's street talk is a "Poser". It hit me, how many times after a breakup etc has a lady asked to go out to diner and talk about that low life ex-husband/boyfriend, in need of venting. He was any of the following; two-timer, weasel, or a poser, promised her the word and gave her non of it or all of the above. Especially in the providing dept.With that said, non of what Obama...

Representatives from eight Iraqi women's associations meet to discuss possible business training with members of the Ninawa Provincial Reconstruction Team in the town of Qare Qosh in Ninawa province, Oct 27. Photo by 2nd Lt. Jeff Orban, 1st Cavalry Division. Iraqi business women here are taking advantage of a program instituted by the Ninawa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) to train them on business administration practices. Tony Daza, an economics advisor for the Ninawa PRT, and representatives from eight women's associations held an open dialogue here about the details of the training program, Oct. 27."After we meet with these women’s associations,...

’m certainly happy to be a modern woman. The possibilities are numerous — career choices, children, freedom. Life is good. American women have all these things, yet there is a notable lack of women, both Democrat and Republican, in national political office. Why? Well, the job is demanding as hell and requires extended periods of separation, for one. Another reason: I’ll call it Sarah Palin Syndrome. Women, especially conservative women, are chewed up by the media. (This also happens to women bloggers. Related thoughts here.) Leftist feminists feel that conservative women disparage the very things feminists work for while enjoying...

Interesting editorial............

Why has nobody ripped on the new Brinks/Broadview ads yet? Those commercials are ripe for the plucking. A young woman or vulnerable woman with little girl faces a bad guy who bashes in the door. Here’s what I’d like to see: rather than running away in terror, the woman calmly pulls out her gun and removes the dirt bag’s defective DNA from the collective gene pool. Then when the Brinks guy calls: Hello, Ms. Smith, this is Mr. Handsome Brinks guy. Are you all right? Woman: Yes, we’re fine. Some dirt bag just kicked in my front door. Brinks Guy:...

At least five people have been killed and 35 wounded by a large blast in a market in Peshawar, Pakistani, local media say. Huge plumes of black smoke were seen drifting over the city. Pakistan has seen an increase in such attacks in recent weeks as the military carries out an operation against Taliban militants in South Waziristan. The blast comes as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton begins a visit to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Pakistani television showed footage of burning shops in Peshawar, in the northwest of the country, and ambulances rushing to the scene

"Somali jihadists forcing civilians to watch executions" SNIPPET: "Movies and television? No way. Executions? Bring the whole family -- or else! "Somalis 'made to view executions'," by Mary Harper for BBC News, October 25:" SNIPPET: "Hundreds of people in Somalia have been forced to watch Islamist militants executing two people accused of spying. People in Merca said al-Shabaab militia patrolled the town with loudspeakers, demanding they attend the executions. The militants also ordered schools to close for the day as they were keen for children to watch the two men being shot dead by a firing squad. Most of those...

When Suzanne Fetting sees women shuffling down sidewalks in heels way too high for them, it makes the confidence coach crazy. "Instead of lifting their feet up and planting them gracefully, they do a little thing called shuffling," says Fetting, a former runway model. "It drives me nuts." And if they aren't dragging their feet forward, they wear the heels the way they wear running shoes. "They don't have that sexy sway that you get when you activate the hips," she says, adding you have to do that if you wear five-inch stilettos. Fetting, who'll be speaking this weekend at...

“Obama hasn’t reset the American relationship with Russia. He was taken for a ride. Maybe his vanity won’t let him admit it. But, believe me, the Russians know they have taken him (and us) for a big ride, indeed.” Obama, he adds, gave the Russians what they asked for, in the hope that Putin would then agree to tough sanctions against Iran. Secretary Clinton then goes to Russia, only to be informed by Putin that his government does not believe sanctions are appropriate. As Peretz concludes: “Of course, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. In fact, with the...

Harper: Controversal Drug Will Do Little To Reduce Cervical Cancer Rates Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, said the controversial drugs will do little to reduce cervical cancer rates and, even though they’re being recommended for girls as young as nine, there have been no efficacy trials in children under the age of 15. Dr. Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the University of Missouri, made these remarks during an address at the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination which took place in Reston, Virginia...

The image of young women in a hot , dusty combat zone toting automatic weapons is still startling to some. But right now there are 10,000 women serving in Iraq, more than 4,000 in Aghanistan. They have been fighting and dying next to their male comrades since the wars began. "I can't help but think most Americans think women aren't in combat," says Specialist Ashley Pullen who was awarded a Bronze Star for valor in 2005 for her heroic action in Iraq where she served with a military police unit. "We're here and we're right up with the guys." Technically...

Reporting from Naples, Italy - In most respects, it was a typical mob shootout: members of feuding clans facing down their rivals on the main street of the small town of Lauro, exchanging gunfire from their cars until three people lay dead and four others wounded. The difference, though, was that the battle between the Cava and Graziano families involved women only. As townspeople looked on in horror, two mothers in their 50s and a 16-year-old girl were slain in their Audi on the streets of the Naples-area community. Yet even after the deadly 2002 firefight, prosecutors were slow to...