Free Republic

“Trauma from an abortion can also affect men. Guilt and hurt after an abortion can drive couples apart, especially if one partner was unsure about the decision. Often couples split up following an abortion. You may want your relationship back to where it used to be, but this is impossible. Sometimes men react with a gut instinct that it is better to do something quickly and worry about the consequences later. A common reaction is “Get rid of it”. But this is not one of those situations, and an abortion will not put things back as they were. In short,...

Am I the only person watching this "football game" (which is actually a good football game) annoyed by these annoying lectures, masquerading as commercials, about how powerful, capable, independent and valuable women are, so we barbaric men shouldn't devalue them, disrespect them (not actually a word) or hit them? Is this really what we need to be told while we're trying to just watch a ball game? I know the rest of the culture insists on this, but aren't men the primary clientele of the NFL? Why does the NFL have to subject us to this nonsense?

Former Alaska governor to discuss how women are showing 21st century leadership. UTPB’s John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute is hosting a lecture featuring former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Feb. 12 at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center. As part of the Shepperd Distinguished Lecture Series, Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, will address the topic, “Groundbreakers, Mavericks and Trailblazers: How Women are showing 21st Century Leadership.” The lecture is free and open to the public and begins at 7 p.m. The event will be co-moderated by Patrick Canty, publisher of the Odessa American, and Robert Brescia, executive director...

Americans support women in the pulpit and in senior leadership positions within the church. But they are more hesitant when it comes to supporting openly gay and lesbian religious leaders. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of American Adults favor women in the pulpit, while just 16% are opposed. Twenty-five percent (25%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) Even more (74%) support women in leadership positions in their respective faiths. Just nine percent (9%) are opposed, with 17% undecided. Just 43% of Americans favor openly gay and lesbian individuals in the pulpit. Thirty-eight...

Here is another mark against sugary drinks: A new study has found that drinking them is associated with lowered age of menarche. Age of first menses has decreased substantially since the early 20th century, and studies have shown that younger age of menarche is associated with increased risk of breast and endometrial cancer in later life. [Snip] After controlling for birth weight, maternal age at menarche, physical activity, and many dietary and behavioral factors, [researchers] found that girls who drank one-and-a-half 12-ounce cans a day of nondiet soda or sugared iced tea had their first period an average of 2.7...

Every girl’s life matters to Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett only so long as those lives can be exploited for publicity Are first lady Michelle Obama and her mentor Valerie Jarrett, who is her husband’s senior advisor, complicit in a publicity stunt making it appear that they champion women’s rights? While Michelle Obama seized the spotlight by not wearing a head scarf when meeting with Saudi officials in Riyadh yesterday, Jarrett was sending out this message on Twitter: “Every girl’s life matters. Every woman should be able to go about her day and be safe and treated with respect.” The...

Heavier women are more likely to be lighter in the wallet, reports a new study that says obese females tend to occupy lower-paying, more-strenuous jobs in less-visible corners of the U.S. workforce when compared to average-sized women and men. In fact, the link between extra pounds and leaner paychecks is distinct: When a woman “becomes overweight,” she already is less likely to land a public-facing role in better-paying white-collar jobs, according to research released Tuesday by Vanderbilt University. And women who are considered obese or morbidly obese — based on their body mass indexes — are more likely to forced...

I am trying to purchase new original Sacred Sisterhood Of Wonderful Wacky Women Mugs and they seem to have gone off the radar - just since Christmas. The inscription on the inside reads, "Forever Friends Kindred Spirits." Everything seems to be out-of-stock on-line, with caveats that they may no longer be available. So, I a wondering if anyone on FR knows of a Mom-And-Pop specialty shop that carries them. Any help is appreciated.

I have come as a beggar, says PM as he pleads to save girl child Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches the Sukanya Samridhi Account Scheme at the launch of the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ Programme, at Panipat, in Haryana along with actress Madhuri Dixit. Photograph: Press Information Bureau  Denouncing the practice of female foeticide, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the discrimination against girls reflects "mental illness" and displays a mindset worse than that in the 18th century.Launching 'beti bachao beti padhao (save daughter, educate daughter)' scheme in this district of Haryana, a state with one of the poorest...

As part of President Barack Obama’s annual effort to provoke Republicans and cheer up disheartened Democrats, the president touched on a theme that he has deployed effectively in the past that is designed to inflame tensions between the genders: The idea that women are systematically discriminated against in the workplace. “Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. That’s why this Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work,” Obama said during his State of the Union address. “It’s 2015....

President Barack Obama shamed Congress in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night to pass legislation that already exists. Apparently not briefed by his secretary of labor and attorney general, Obama announced: "That's why this Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It's 2015. It's time." But it was June 10, 1963 when Congress passed “The Equal Pay Act of 1963,” which can be found at 29 U.S.C. § 206(d). It says: (d) Prohibition of sex discrimination (1) No employer...

Manspreading and manslamming are just the beginning! By now, you may have heard of “manspreading” – when a guy sits with his legs apart on the subway to assert his dominance — and “manslamming” – when a man doesn’t get out of the way of a woman on the street and they run into each other. While these are definitely very important women’s issues, there are still so many more we need to be talking about. Here are ten words for even more ways men are constantly oppressing women: 1. Broplimenting This is when a guy says something nice to...

A while back I brought up that my daughter had mentioned she was researching and thinking about joining the military. About 80% of the people that responded said "not in this environment". Which I completely understand. She brought it up again tonight. I asked her why. She is a very intelligent girl and would probably get in to many colleges with scholarship money. Before when she brought it up, she didn't say why, just that she was looking. Today was different. She told me how much of her high school has turned anti-military and talk about today's soldiers and marines...

There’s a widening gap between the baby-having of married women, who tend to be more educated and more affluent, and their less-educated, less-financially-secure, unmarried peers. A growing body of research, including work by Johns Hopkins University sociologist Andrew Cherlin, raises the possibility that because people like to feel financially secure before taking the marriage plunge, the rise of income inequality has divided Americans into those who marry and those who don’t. Now this could be playing out with childbearing, too. America’s recessionary “baby bust” has clearly leveled off now, but we’ve yet to see the birth recovery one would expect...

Blake Vaught and Alex Williamson, buddies in their late 20s, were having a cognitive dissonance moment. “This place is like a country club,” Vaught said, looking at a concierge desk, granite countertops and sleek black couches. “Or like a really nice steakhouse,” Williamson said. They were not at a country club. They were not at a steakhouse. They were at Elite Shooting Sports, a new gun range in Manassas, Va., that, like a wave of other new ranges around the country, is targeting a new breed of shooter — younger, more affluent, style-focused, increasingly female and even environmentally conscious. The...

Very long... suggest reading at the link. Basically he seems to blame women and feminization for the ills of the church, for loss of manliness, and even for homosexuality!

To quote a friend of mine, “Trying to understand Church issues through mainstream secular media is like trying to understand global economics through a 13-year-old girl’s Instagram account.” In short, it just won’t happen. The personnel aren’t equipped, and likely don’t want to take the time to become equipped, to speak well and foster understanding about nuanced issues in the Church. They’re only after eyes, likes, and shares, (and I don’t know that they deny it) so why, OH WHY do we fall for this every. single. time? A bit of background: Cardinal Raymond Burke, former bishop of the Dioceses...

Cardinal Raymond Burke at the extraordinary Synod on the Family in Rome in October 2014 (CNS photo) Kaya Oakes, a revert to Catholicism after spending time as a self-described pro-choice liberal, has penned a little screed—a veritable bundle of befuddlement!—aimed at the recent New Emangelization interview with Cardinal Raymond Burke (which I posted about on Monday). I've not read Oakes' book about her spiritual, uh, arc, which is titled, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church, but my impression is that she has some—nay, numerous—issues with orthodoxy, or what she apparently calls "Catholic conservatism", which is in...

My "Aha Moment" happened because of a package of hamburger meat. I asked my husband to stop by the store to pick up a few things for dinner, and when he got home, he plopped the bag on the counter. I started pulling things out of the bag, and realized he'd gotten the 70/30 hamburger meat - which means it's 70% lean and 30% fat. Read more at http://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/610/I-Wasn-t-Treating-My-Husband-Fairly-And-It-Wasn-t-Fair#EY4FIxGCmr92Qrb1.99

From an article titled "8 Quirky Ways Epiphany Is Celebrated Around the World": 1) “Women’s Christmas” Also known as “Little Christmas,” in Ireland Epiphany is a day that women take off from work to rest and celebrate for themselves after all the work of the Christmas holidays. Women gather together in pubs without men for special meals and wine (in commemoration of the Wedding at Cana miracle, of course!). Women also receive gifts from their children and grandchildren. (How do we bring this tradition to more places??)