The upcoming NATO summit in Chicago must ensure that special measures are taken to protect the rights of Afghan women as US-led coalition forces prepare to pull out, UN organisations said Saturday.

There is widespread concern that gains women have made in the 10 years since the overthrow of the brutal Taliban regime could be lost in government attempts to reconcile with the hardline Islamists when NATO troops withdraw in 2014.

"Now is the time to deal with the longer-term security and protection needs of Afghan women who have long borne the brunt of the war in Afghanistan," said Jan Kubis, special representative for the UN secretary general in Afghanistan.

(Detroit-WXYZ) - James Brown hardly lifted his head as he listened to the charges brought against him in connection to the murders of four women whose bodies were found in trunks of cars in Detroit last December.

Kansas Abortion Bill
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has said that he will sign a sweeping 69-page anti-abortion bill.

Following more than two hours of emotional debate, the Republican-controlled Kansas House of Representatives passed a sweeping 69-page anti-abortion bill.

The passage sets the stage for Kansas to potentially enact one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the United States, coming a year after the state passed measures severely limiting the types of buildings that could house abortion clinics. The bill now heads to the state Senate for consideration. Gov. Sam Brownback (R) told HuffPost in February that he would sign the bill, which he said he had not read.

SACRAMENTO, CA—United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Tynisha Marie Hornbuckle, 22; Tamrell Rena Hornbuckle, 26; Cherrelle Elizabeth Hornbuckle 25; Latrelle Alicia Hornbuckle, 24; and Tammy Rena Brown, 45, all of Sacramento, pleaded guilty to various counts relating to their involvement in the prostitution of underage females in the Sacramento area.

Dan Savage, creator of the It Gets Better Project, gave a talk about anti-gay bullying at a conference for high school journalists a couple of weeks ago, which after just being upped to YouTube has caused an uproar through the usual channels as an attack on the Bible, this time by "rightist rag" Citizen Link, a James Dobson outlet.

More than 85 sexual assaults are committed every year per 100,000 residents

Clearwater, Florida -- Clearwater Police have a man in custody accused of abducting and sexually battering two women.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) --
Detectives are stepping up their search for the so-called "Teardrop Rapist," who they believe is responsible for 28 sexual assaults since 1999 in the South L.A. area.

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. — After nearly 30 years behind bars, a serial killer was executed Thursday for murdering a Florida teenager.

MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) --
A Moreno Valley Unified School District board member was charged with 11 felonies Wednesday, including rape, pimping and pandering involving six alleged victims. Two of them were underage girls, authorities said.

I’ve thought deeply about the laws that are being created to deny women equality and rights as citizens. Contraception, of course, has been the biggest discussion along with abortion and other health related subjects. Where will this end if these laws are passed and put in place? Are we going to be scrutinized when needing a hysterectomy, cesarean birth option or other reproductive health care? Women have a variety of issues with their reproductive organs and proper health care is needed and necessary. If a group of political/religious types insist upon dictating what women can and cannot do, where will it end?

What do you believe motivates these politicians/religious types to focus so soundly on women? 

Plant City, Florida -- The mystery surrounding a severed leg that washed ashore in December only continues to get deeper.

HAMTRAMCK, MI (WXYZ) - Police sources say the killer or killers, of Ashley Conaway and Abreeya Brown used duct tape to bind their hands and legs before shooting the two Hamtramck women to death. They were buried under mounds of dirt and short logs in a shallow makeshift grave on Detroit's west side.

So it has come to this. Everyone who knows me here on the vine knows that I support President Obama and that I want him to be re-elected in 2012. Quite often I will show my support by typing Obama 2012 at the end of a comment. I don't do this every time I post a comment but I do type it often when I am responding to negative comments about the president. Apparently, I have been reported to the the "authorities" here on the vine for putting Obama 2012 in some of my posts. Would any of you get bent out of shape if someone typed Romney 2012 or Santorum 2012 at the end of their posts? Do you think that my freedom of speech is being denied? I am asking you to vote in my poll and to comment. Thank you.

Gentlemen, Ladies? Your thoughts/preferences please.

COH strictly enforced, unless it's an offer I can't refuse!

The Republicans really are the party of white people, and especially older white people," Kohut told reporters as the poll was released. "They’ve done nothing in this campaign to make themselves be more favorably viewed" among other parts of the electorate.

I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for Liberty cannot be Eaquelly Strong in the Breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of theirs. Of this I am certain that it is not founded upon that generous and christian principal of doing to others as we would that others should do unto us

I long to hear that you have declared an independancy--and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness.

Virginia legislation requiring abdominal ultrasounds for women seeking abortions was signed into law Wednesday by Governor Bob McDonnell.

The new law forces women to be given an ultrasound before receiving an abortion and requires all Virginia abortion providers to comply by July 1^st or face a $2,500 fine for each violation. Patients living within 100 miles of the clinic where the abortion is performed must wait 24 hours after the ultrasound before undergoing an abortion procedure. Patients must be offered the chance to view the ultrasound images, but cannot be forced to view them. In addition, abortion patients will be required to sign a release form stating they were given the opportunity to view the fetus, confirm its gestational age, and listen to its heartbeat.

Victims of rape or incest who reported the attacks to police are exempt but pregnancies in which the baby will suffer from birth defects or in which the mother’s health is threatened are not. In cases where the fetus has died, the patient will still be required to undergo an ultrasound.

I’ve been stumped over the Religious Right’s War on Women and other strategies that only harm our country and our relationship with one another. This group portrays man as a heartless beast without compassion or caring for all but an elite and entitled few.

I am seeing a Hell Fire and Brimstone mentality that we are sinful and must pay dearly for simply being who we are. If we are women we are a threat as we lure men to lustful sins forcing men to commit acts they cannot resist. All of these charges simply make the males look like they are incapable of making sound judgements and that women are the cause of all the chaos we endure as humans. 

This group doesn’t mention the roles males play in connection with the circumstances women find themselves within. If a woman is raped or a victim of incest why is it her fault entirely? If a woman becomes pregnant why is the burden placed completely upon her? If a father leaves his family destitute why is the mother solely responsible?  If a woman enjoys sex why is it any different from a man enjoying sex?

What I’m seeing is men are being cast in a role of selfish, uncaring, foolish and irresponsible. He’s seen as a human without sound judgment, incapable of critical thinking, reason and logic and his only drive comes from lust. We know this is not true as we know men are honorable and have the ability to be responsible, kind, compassionate and caring, yet this group would have us believe men are victims of women and women must be punished for this.

It truly makes me furious that this is occurring in our country. This group of zealots has smeared the image of all of us. Beating up on women makes men look like fools and this is not conducive to harmony among us. Hopefully we will speak out about this outrage and stop those that are involved in their war against us all. They are using woman as a vehicle for their hatred for all and this should not trick us into believing anything they say as it tears us apart and encourages us to mistrust one another.

SARASOTA - She says it lasted about a minute. A New College of Florida senior, who woke up early one September morning last year to a masked man in her bed.

All my adult life, I’ve been pretty sure I’m a sentient, even semi-competent human being. I have a job and an apartment; I know how to read and vote; I make regular, mostly autonomous decisions about what to eat for lunch and which cat videos I will watch whilst eating my lunch. But in the past couple of months, certain powerful figures in media and politics have cracked open that certitude.

You see, like most women, I was born with the chromosome abnormality known as “XX,” a deviation of the normative “XY” pattern. Symptoms of XX, which affects slightly more than half of the American population, include breasts, ovaries, a uterus, a menstrual cycle, and the potential to bear and nurse children. Now, many would argue even today that the lack of a Y chromosome should not affect my ability to make informed choices about what health care options and lunchtime cat videos are right for me. But others have posited, with increasing volume and intensity, that XX is a disability, even a roadblock on the evolutionary highway. This debate has reached critical mass, and leaves me uncertain of my legal and moral status. Am I a person? An object? A ward of the state? A “prostitute”? (And if I’m the last of these, where do I drop off my W-2?)

Imagine finally getting pregnant, showing up for your N/T or anatomy scan, and learning that there is a terrible genetic issue with your baby.  You have two choices: terminate the pregnancy, or continue it, aware of the issues you will be dealing with after birth and arranging the sort of medical assistance you will need for your new situation.

Now, imagine having no idea that your baby has any issues until you give birth, because your doctor lied to you.

Arizona thinks that is just fine, as long as it prevents an abortion.

 

SCOTT TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A Scott Township man accused of drugging and raping at least two women turned himself in Wednesday.

Afghanistan's president on Tuesday endorsed a "code of conduct" issued by an influential council of clerics that activists say represents a giant step backward for women's rights in the country.

President Hamid Karzai's Tuesday remarks backing the Ulema Council's document, which allows husbands to beat wives under certain circumstances and encourages segregation of the sexes, is seen as part of his outreach to insurgents like the Taliban.

Both the U.S. and Karzai hope that the Taliban can be brought into negotiations to end the country's decade-long war. But activists say they're worried that gains made by women since 2001 may be lost in the process.

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan prior to the 2001 U.S. invasion, girls were banned from going to school and women had to wear burqas that covered them from head to toe. Women were not allowed to leave their homes without a male relative as an escort.

The "code of conduct" issued Friday by the Ulema Council as part of a longer statement on national political issues is cast as a set of guidelines that religious women should obey voluntarily, but activists are concerned it will herald a reversal of the trend in Afghanistan since 2001 to pass laws aimed at expanding women's rights.

Among the rules: Women should not travel without a male guardian and women should not mingle with strange men in places like schools, markets or offices. Beating one's wife is prohibited only if there is no "Shariah-compliant reason," it said, referring to the principles of Islamic law.

Asked about the code of conduct at a press conference in the capital, Karzai said it was in line with Islamic law and was written in consultation with Afghan women's groups. He did not name the groups that were consulted.

"The clerics' council of Afghanistan did not put any limitations on women," Karzai said, adding: "It is the Shariah law of all Muslims and all Afghans."

Karzai's public backing of the council's guidelines may be intended to make his own government more palatable to the Taliban, or he may simply be trying to keep on the good side of the Ulema Council, who could be valuable intermediaries in speaking to the insurgents.

But either way, women's activists say that Karzai's endorsement means that existing or planned laws aimed at protecting women's rights may be sacrificed for peace negotiations.

"It sends a really frightening message that women can expect to get sold out in this process," said Heather Barr, an Afghanistan researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Shukria Barikzai, a parliamentarian from the capital Kabul who has been active in women's issues, said she was worried that Karzai and the clerics' council appeared to be ignoring their country's own laws.

"When it comes to civil rights in Afghanistan, Karzai should respect the constitution," Barikzai said. The Afghan constitution provides equal rights for men and women.

The exception for certain types of beatings also appears to contradict Afghan law that prohibits spousal abuse. And the guidelines also promote rules on divorce that give women few rights, a real turnaround from pledges by Karzai to reform Afghan family law to make divorces more equitable, Barr said.

"This represents a significant change in his message on women's rights," she said.

Afghan women's rights activist Fatana Ishaq Gailani, founder of the Afghanistan Women's Council, said she feels like women's rights are being used as part of a political game.

"We want the correct Islam, not the Islam of politics," Gailani said. She said she supported negotiations with the Taliban, but that Afghanistan's women should not be sacrificed for that end.

Hadi Marifat of the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, which surveyed 5,000 Afghan women for a recent report on the state of women's rights in Afghanistan, argued that the statements show Karzai is shifting more toward the strictest interpretations of Shariah law.

"In the post-Taliban Afghanistan, the guiding principle of President Karzai regarding women's rights has been attracting funding from the international community on one hand, balanced against the need to get the support of the Ulema Council and other traditionalists on the other," Marifat said.

"The concerning thing is that now this balance is shifting toward the conservative element, and that was obvious in his statement."

" The statistics are powerful and disturbing. According to The American Humane Society, 71 percent of pet-owning females who enter women's shelters reported that their batterer had injured, maimed, killed or threatened family pets for revenge or to psychologically control family members."

Fresh from the Senate's rejection of a GOP-led measure to roll back new rules on contraceptive coverage, the historic number of Democratic women running for U.S. Senate will take a victory lap with a Western states fundraising swing.

The tour will bring almost all of the 11 Democratic female candidates -- six incumbent senators and five challengers -- for stops in Los Angeles, Seattle and Denver, including one hosted by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple's Steve Jobs, in San Francisco. The women have also released a new video making their case.

"If you don't like what Republicans are doing, send a woman to the Senate," says a online ad featuring the 11 women. "In fact, send them all."

I have been thinking this morning about how ardently some women argue that prostitution is an acceptable way to earn a living… for other women.
The attitude that prostitution is alright and okay and tolerable and acceptable – and every other form of adequate you can think of – is passionately and enthusiastically expressed by some non-prostituted women. It is an attitude which contrasts wildly with their own life choices, which convey, very revealingly, that prostitution may well be all these things for other women, but certainly not for themselves.
Of course this begs the question, why is that? Why would any woman argue the acceptability of prostitution for other women while clearly regarding it unacceptable for herself?

Vietnam Veterans of America Enraged by FOX Network Liz Trotta's
Commentary On Sexual Assault in the Military

"Vietnam Veterans of America is enraged by the comments of FOX Network's Liz Trotta, who, in a February 12 edition of America's News HQ,, challenged the Pentagon for its increased spending on programs for victims of sexual assault," said John Rowan, VVA National President. In response to a DoD report showing a 64 percent increase in violent sexual assaults since 2006, Trotta remarked, "Well, what did they expect? These people are in close contact."...

...Said Rowan, "Ms. Trotta's despicable commentary has sent a shock wave through the ranks of our membership and beyond. No institution in America condones the disgrace of sexual assault. It is not accepted in corporate America, nor is it on the streets of our towns and communities. Why should sexual assault in the military be anything less than criminal? As the Department of Defense grapples with the problem, it must take responsibility at all levels of command, and leadership must be held accountable."

"As veterans who fought to uphold our Constitution, we hold sacred all the rights it insures, said Rowan. "As such, we are appalled that Ms. Trotta would use the Fourth Estate as a vehicle to condone the criminal acts of some by contending that sexual assault in the military is 'expected' behavior. It is a disgrace that FOX would stand behind this type of commentary. Ms. Trotta owes the men and women of our military and those in the veterans' ranks an apology, and VVA believes FOX should demand it of her."

Hat tip to Ellen at NewsHounds, who notes:

You can demand an apology from Fox News, too, by contacting the show at newshq@foxnews.com or comments@foxnews.com or by tweeting them at @ANHQDC. They’ve also got a Facebook page.

Would the world be more peaceful if women were in charge? A challenging new book by the Harvard University psychologist Steven Pinker says that the answer is "yes".

In The Better Angels of Our Nature, Pinker presents data showing that human violence, while still very much with us today, has been gradually declining. Moreover, he says, "over the long sweep of history, women have been and will be a pacifying force. Traditional war is a man's game: tribal women never band together to raid neighbouring villages." As mothers, women have evolutionary incentives to maintain peaceful conditions in which to nurture their offspring and ensure that their genes survive into the next generation.

 does gender really matter in leadership? In terms of stereotypes, various psychological studies show that men gravitate to the hard power of command, while women are collaborative and intuitively understand the soft power of attraction and persuasion. Americans tend to describe leadership with tough male stereotypes, but recent leadership studies show increased success for what was once considered a "feminine style".

Catriona Menzies-Pike (managing editor of progressive Australian web magazine New Matilda): "Is it sexist anytime anyone ever criticises any woman? Can anything any female politician ever does be shielded from criticism on the grounds that to do so is sexist? If a female politician who happens to be a Prime Minister screws up royally and appears to make a habit of doing so, can she ignore all the slings and arrows that come her way because they’ve all been hurled by sexist bastards who want nothing more than to see a good woman fall? The answer to all of these questions should obviously be "no".

Former Australian Democrats MP Cheryl Kernot re sexism allegations over treatment of Australian  PM Julia Gillard: "The first thing I’d say is none of those other countries [Germany, US, New Zealand] has the “gotcha” media syndrome. We seem to have perfected that. American presidential campaigns have it, but the wider political discourse doesn’t have it as much as we do. We are the masters of it. The second thing I think we need to remark upon is that Angela Merkel, Julia Gillard and Helen Clark all have no children. That has been used against Julia Gillard. There have been occasional insinuations against Helen Clark [implying] her husband is a homosexual. I haven’t heard anything much about Angela Merkel. Hillary Clinton has one child, and both Clintons are power players."

Kansas lawmakers have been given six days to consider one of the most sweeping state anti-abortion bills to be introduced.

A Kansas House committee is scheduled to take up a bill Wednesday that would exempt doctors from malpractice suits if they withheld medical information to prevent an abortion. The measure would also take away tax credits for abortion providers, remove tax deductions for the purchase of abortion-related insurance coverage and require women to hear the fetal heartbeat. The bill includes several provisions, which passed in other states and now face federal lawsuits. The bill would also require women be told about potential breast cancer risks from abortions, even though medical experts discount such a connection.

More than two dozen House members endorsed Friday a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that sponsors believe could trigger a ban on abortion in Kansas.

The so-called personhood amendment, if passed by legislators in the 2012 session and approved by voters in November, would guarantee — regardless of age — the rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

A contingent of 25 Republicans and one Democrat cosponsored the measure to create an abortion prohibition by defining the beginning of life as the moment an egg was fertilized. The language would invite a constitutional challenge of the U.S. Supreme Court precedent set by the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973.

The Jarawa tribe have lived in peace in the Andaman Islands for thousands of years. Now tour companies run safaris through their jungle every day and wealthy tourists pay police to make the women - usually naked - dance for their amusement. This footage, filmed by a tourist, shows Jarawa women being told to dance by an off-camera police officer

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's anti-abortion movement experienced a setback on Monday when a district judge ruled that a new fetal personhood ballot measure -- similar to the high-profile measure that recently failed in Mississippi -- is misleading to voters. The judge rewrote the initiative to include all of its potential effects on birth control, in vitro fertilization, treatment for ectopic pregnancies and stem cell research.

Local human rights watchdogs on Sunday accused the Egyptian military of systematically targeting female political activists, and demanded that Egypt’s military rulers admit to violations committed against demonstrators.

In a joint statement, five human rights organizations accused military rulers of exercising "unprecedented violence against protesters, with the targeting of female activists being a distinctive feature of the proceedings to disperse sit-ins, as depicted in pictures and video clips showing protesters being arrested, beaten, dragged and stripped of their clothes.”

In this video, army soldiers are seen beating an older female activist named Khadiga al-Hennawy.

[Bellingham, Wash] According to police, William Adam Lane confronted two women after seeing them embracing romantically outside a bar early Sunday, yelling “@!$%#ing faggots. You @!$%#ing lesbians.” He then smashed the rear window of their car, according to the arrest report.

That’s when one of the women jumped into action. She went after Lane and held him down, while a bouncer from a nearby bar came to help until police arrived...

Lane...was arrested and charged with malicious harassment, a hate crime, and disorderly conduct.

This is medieval! Why are we there supporting a society which not only condones such behaviour, it seems to actively encourage it! It is truly vile!

Virginia Haussegger (ABC News presenter & member of the UN Women National Committee) concludes after presenting horrific statistics that : "If Australia - and now the US - is truly serious about the Pacific, we have to get serious about ending the culture of silence and impunity that has allowed the abuse and degradation of women to go largely ignored. After all, what gives us the right to talk to China about human rights when the rights of women to be protected from violence - in our own neighbourhood - are so badly abused?"

Yesterday, in a discussion about a poll which showed that a large percentage of men don't care if their significant other makes more money, Brian Kilmeade took a page from the Dennis Miller lexicon of old-school and otherwise sexist terms for women. In response to Steve Doocy's comment that the percentage is even higher, the brown haired guy that isn't Steve Doocy said this: "You think that 90% of men wouldn't mind if their babes, their skirt, their chosen one was making more money

When an Egyptian activist posted a nude picture of herself online in protest at the lack of freedom of expression, it sparked outrage in her country.

Now, a group of women in Israel have also stripped off in a show of solidarity.

Inspired by 20-year-old Aliaa Elmahdy's bold move, the 40 Israelis posed naked for a 'copycat' shot - holding a banner to cover their modesty.

The sign read 'Homage to Aliaa El Mahdi. Sisters in Israel' with the slogan 'Love without Limits', written in Arabic and Hebrew.

After more than three months of complaints from users, a grand total of over 200,000 petition signatures (186,000 of them on a single Change.org petition), a Twitter campaign, the withdrawal of several major advertisers and an outpouring of harsh criticism from a multitude of feminist activists and writers, Facebook has finally removed rape-humor pages from the site. Surfing Facebook, you will no longer find a page titled, “What’s 10 inches and gets girls to have sex with me? My knife.”

Marian looks like somebody you might exchange a smile with in a bus queue. Aged 43 and nicely dressed in a bright jumper, she has lovely eyes. Some years ago, she also formed the idea of bombing Tesco."It suddenly came in my head that I should blow it up," she said. "I'd worked at the Tesco in question and I watched a lot of TV crime. I threatened them [in letters], saying: 'Watch out, there's a bomb coming your way – boom.' Then I went on to the internet to look up how to make a bomb." She gives a small laugh of disbelief. "There's a page on it. It's monitored by the major crime squad, I think. So I was arrested by them."

Late last week, a subcommittee unanimously voted to update the FBI's definition of rape, which has not been altered since 1929. The current definition is laughably archaic, defining rape as “the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.”

Men are explicitly excluded. The FBI clarifies: "By definition, sexual attacks on males are excluded from the rape category and must be classified as assaults or other sex offenses depending on the nature of the crime and the extent of injury.” Statutory rape and rape with inanimate objects, like the one Abner Louima endured at the hands of police officers, don't count either. This language has been used to excuse the slew of rapes that occur when a victim is intoxicated and unable to consent.

...

If the entire All Points Bulletin votes yes to this wording in December, and FBI director Robert Mueller makes it official, the Uniform Crime Report may reflect what rape actually is, and therefore cause crime rates to skyrocket. Because of the narrow definition currently on the books, the FBI's reporting of rapes nationwide are hopelessly inaccurate. States and cities report other kinds of rape locally, but the FBI neglects to include them in their annual crime reports. The FBI didn't include any of Chicago's 1,400 rapes last year because the city uses a definition that doesn't line up with the FBI's language. 

3. If breakthrough ovulation occurs, the effects of contraceptives on the endometrium make the embryo less likely to implant.

This is the highly debated issue. Those who write in support of COCs admit that the endometrium is thinner during non-ovulatory cycles (as is typical with Pill users). For the  purposes of argument, they may even grant that a thinner endometrium may be less hospitable for implantation (though this is not completely clear). However, if ovulation
takes place, a completely different hormonal milieu exists. As summarized earlier, ovulation leaves behind the corpus luteum, a rich source of estrogen and progesterone. After the six days required for the embryo to travel down the uterine tube into the uterus, these hormones have transformed the endometrium, which has now become receptive for implantation.

There is no doubt that this is true at least
some of the time. This should' be obvious
from the known "failure" rate of the Pill
cited earlier (0.1-5%). In other words, some Pill-users get pregnant. The key questions become: How often does the user of COCs ovulate and conceive, only to have such a conception fail to implant? How does this rate compare with non-Pill users? 

   When you're working in customer service, there's always a customer that makes you grit your teeth and pray really hard that they will just finish and leave; the kind that make your face hurt from the fake smile you're trying to keep plastered on your face and make your jaws hurt from clenching your teeth. It happens all the time; and it happens a lot that the customer will decide that since they don't work there, they can say or do whatever they want to, and because you don't want to lose your job, you're going to take it. Well, two women in Greenwich Village, NY found out otherwise!

    The two women were arguing with the male employee about money; they claimed that they'd given him a $50.00 bill, and evidently thought he didn't give them the correct change. The employee tried very hard at first to control himself, but the exchange became more and more heated, until one of the women jumped over the counter, cursed at the employee and slapped him. He didn't take that very well. He grabbed a long black metal object (what it was hasn't been said, not even on TV news) and began beating the woman who slapped him. All you can see in the video is the male employee with the object swinging downward repeatedly, where we can only assume that the woman lay at his feet. He does pause for a moment, but just when you think "Oh good, he stopped!" he starts again!! He just keeps on swinging...

    Now I know I'm going to take some flack for this, but I'm going to state my opinion, if a woman thinks she's man enough to do as she did, (wait till you see the Olympic-class jump over the counter!) to jump over the counter and attack him, then IF he hits her back (not saying he should) then I have no sympathy for her.  I am a woman, a middle-aged woman who has been the victim of repeated domestic abuse as well as rape, and I still say that if I attack someone as this woman did and he swings on me, I should not go crying to anyone "He shouldn't have hit  me, I'm a woman!" I thought I was man enough to attack, so I should be man enough to shut up and accept the possible consequences. However, this guy should have been hit in his nuts with a bat, not just fired! The woman obviously wasn't getting up, and he just kept swinging like she was a big mountain lion and he had to make sure it was dead!

   This employee went so far beyond the bounds of human decency, let alone male-to-female etiquette, that he needs to be prosecuted and given whatever maximum sentence he can get. There's a point you just don't go beyond, and he certainly went there.

A United Nations envoy has arrived in Turkey to investigate a reported surge in the number of young women committing suicide.

Yakin Erturk, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women, travelled yesterday to the eastern Turkish city of Batman to follow up on reports in local media that up to 36 women had killed themselves since the start of the year. This figure is already much higher than the number for the whole of last year.

Many of the women who have died were allegedly the victims of "forced suicides", where husbands or relatives pushed them into killing themselves to cleanse a perceived offence against family honour.

Women's groups have claimed that in some instances women have been locked in a room with a knife and a gun and told by relatives to end their lives.

Mehdi Hasan: "For the past decade, western governments have repeatedly claimed that the war in Afghanistan was justified by the Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama Bin Laden for trial. This is a lie... A secret plan to put Osama Bin Laden on trial in Pakistan has been blocked after President Musharraf said he could not guarantee his safety, it was disclosed... Suggested by the Taliban's closest allies in Pakistan, it was a last-ditch attempt to satisfy Western demands for Bin Laden's surrender while averting a war and ensuring the fanatical regime's survival."

Last night, in between approving city expenditures and other routine agenda items, the Topeka, Kansas City Council debated one rather controversial one: decriminalizing domestic violence.

It doesn't matter how hard I study Facebook's terms and conditions, I still can't find the bit where it says: "Like Humpty Dumpty, Facebook is at complete liberty to interpret the words used in this document in any way it sees fit." And yet that's obviously what Facebook executives have been doing: making words mean what they want them to mean, or else they'd have removed the pages that promote rape and other forms of violence against women months ago.

The specific clause in Facebook's statement of rights and responsibilities that's supposed to protect groups against violence and hate speech instructs the user: "You will not post content that: is hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence." However, Facebook has now defended the numerous pages that clearly violate these terms by claiming: "Groups that express an opinion on a state, institution, or set of beliefs – even if that opinion is outrageous or offensive to some – do not by themselves violate our policies." Which is strange, because if a page entitled "Roses are red, violets are blue, I've got a knife, get in the van" isn't hateful, threatening or gratuitously violent, I don't for the life of me know what is.

It was back in August that feminists first began to notice the proliferation of pro-rape pages on the popular social networking site. Two months later over 176,000 people have signed a US-based petition calling on Facebook to take them down, and nearly 4,000 people have signed a UK-based petition calling for the same. The Facebook pages, such as the one cited above and others that include "You know she's playing hard to get when your [sic] chasing her down an alleyway" still remain.

Facebook has been accused of promoting rape and ‘rape culture’ by British and American women’s rights activists.

The claims came after the social networking site refused to remove pages that feature jokes and apparent confessions of sexual assault posted by users.

Pages such as ‘You know she’s playing hard to get when your [sic] chasing her down an alley’ have been featured on a petition for removal, signed by more than 3,600 people in the UK and 175,000 in the US.
The petition titled ‘demand Facebook remove pages that promote sexual violence’ was set up on US website Change.org.

Here's a link to the petition: Demand Facebook Remove Pages That Promote Sexual Violence

The following are actual pages on Facebook:  "Raping your mates girlfriend to see if she can put up a fight", “Kicking Sluts in the Vagina,” “I know a silly little bitch that needs a good slap,” and “Riding your Girlfriend softly, Cause you dont want to wake her up.” These clearly are in violation of Facebook's own policies and need to be removed.

Facebook’s own Terms of Service prohibit content that is “hateful, threatening,” or contains “graphic or gratuitous violence” Moreover, users are specifically barred from posting content that aims to “bully, intimidate, or harass” any user.

Facebook could and should do more to stop them from popping up in the first place and to swiftly remove those that do exist. First, Facebook needs to clarify that pages that encourage or condone rape --like the ones mentioned above-- are in violation of their existing standards. Secondly, they need to make a statement that all pages that describe sexual violence in a threatening way will be immediately taken down upon being reported. Finally, Facebook must include specific language in their Terms of Service that make it clear that pages promoting any form of sexual violence will be banned.

Demand that Facebook took a stronger stand in enforcing its own policies and stop promoting rape and rape culture.

Women in one of America’s most liberal neighbourhoods have been left outraged after being told by police not to wear short skirts in case it gets them raped.

Those living in Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York, are being warned they could grant a sex attacker ‘easy access’ with their provocative clothing and that they should change.

Short skirts should not be worn and shorts that show too much leg have been deemed inappropriate by male cops who are patrolling the streets.

 

According to immigrant advocates, a new immigration enforcement bill being considered in Congress would undermine existing immigration law by removing prosecutorial discretion and deferred action, two components that protect undocumented victims of domestic violence.

Michelle Ortiz — the supervising attorney of Lucha, a unit within the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center — says that Rep. Lamar Smith’s Hinder the Administration Legalization Temptation Act (better known as the HALT Act) would force immigration authorities to deport victims of domestic violence who reach out for help.

Smith, R-Texas, has said the HALT Act is necessary because President Obama is seeking “backdoor amnesty” for millions of undocumented immigrants. The bill is cosponsored by Florida Republicans Vern Buchanan, Richard Nugent and C.W. Bill Young.

Welcome to the 20th century Saudi Arabia (no, that is not a typo, I did not mean the 21st century, I meant the 20th.)  I cannot believe that the Saudis do not get more bad publicity for how they treat women.

Seriously, this article mentions that fact that they are not allowed an identity and the right to drive.  Get with it Saudis.

Notice the Fella who's problem was that the beach was STILL TOO OPEN?

Sharia law = oppression

Women wearing the Islamic burqa (full body cloak) or niqab (face veil) in public will soon be subject to a maximum fine of 380 euros. The planned measure is to be discussed by the Dutch cabinet on Friday.

This weekend, something pretty disgusting and criminal happened to me, but the police didn't seem to care. After a friend's shabbos party, I swiped into the turnstile and paid the Metropolitan Transit Authority the $2.25 they've decided it costs to transport me safely home. It was late, and when I got down the stairs I could tell from the signal lights that a train had just departed; I was alone on the platform.

Having spoken to many women about contraception in my professional practice, I know well the personal and professional cost one must be prepared to pay -- the "grudge" -- when one is willing to "trespass" this beehive of feminine shame and anger in the clinical setting. One fully expects to get stung!

Saudi Arabia, the ad says, "doesn't allow women to drive, doesn't allow them to leave their homes or work without their male guardian's permission." "Why are we paying their bills and funding their oppression?" it asks. The Michigan Messenger flagged the ad yesterday, which is posted below:

I read a quote once that said, "Friendship is like a book. It takes years to write but just a few seconds to burn". I find that quote to be very true. Especially when it comes to the relationships women have with one another. Friendships between women seem so different from the ones that men develop. Women often have deep bonds with their girlfriends. They tell their innermost secrets, share their insecurities with one another, offer each other support, trade stories and compare their lives. You may talk on the phone for hours over something as silly and random as a reality show. We also like to vent (or complain) and spend years venting and listening to one another. When you have a good friend, you support her when she's sad, you back her up when she's mad and you are just as happy when she's glad. It's a very deep connection and I get the sense that most men's connections aren't as deep. Or at least they have us think that.

Friendships can be very beneficial to your health. It's cathartic to talk and share your feelings and having a good friend means lots of laughter. But when a friendship is tested or there is a strain between two women, things can change very quickly. The person you once thought of as a sister, has now hurt you or made you angry. Depending on your personalities, you may fight it out, you might write your friend to tell her how you're feeling, you might make passive-aggressive comments to one another, or worse, ignore the person you called a friend. Friendships are made in a matter of seconds and can last a lifetime. But they can also end just as quickly as they were made. I have witnessed my own friends go from being best friends to enemies. It can happen in the blink of an eye. All that time and effort you put into that other person is gone. All those marathon phone calls, all the endless emails or heart to hearts are now a thing of the past. I have witnessed it between others and have also experienced it personally. The loss of a friendship or breakdown of one can be very stressful. Sometimes we may even greive the loss of a friendship as though the person has died.

Women are complex and fascinating creatures. We can be very loyal, nurturing and supportive. But cross us and we'll have your head! Two women fighting one another is also the stuff dreams are made of. It is at the top of some men's fantasies. They always want to see us fighting and clawing at one another.......hoping some clothes will get ripped off during the fray. Of course that isn't what really happens when we fight. That only happens on the Spike TV channel or Two and a Half Men. When women fight with one another, it isn't pretty. It's sad and it hurts. Those claw marks dig really deep into your heart. It's not pillow fighting and bras flying in the air. It's hurt feelings and a sense of rejection or betrayal.

So, have you ever had a friend turn into a frenemy? If not, consider yourself lucky. If so, how do you solve this problem?

There is continual talk that the “Feminist” movement in the United States did more damage than good yet by the events that have come to pass the movement gave women a voice and a place in Society. How could equality damage the social structure when a minority group is given the same rights as men enjoy? Is this the rub that cannot be soothed? What possible threat could be issued from this movement?

As a society we have progressed and flourished enjoying the benefits of our hard work and dedication to building a better country. Throughout this endeavor a rift has been made by some that feel women should not have rights when it comes to personal choices. What makes some in society believe a woman is not capable of making sound and wise choices for herself? Who should make them for her and why?

For a person that has been caught up in the movement from the beginning of the 50’s simply by observing the inequity of the sexes I find this reluctance to enforce The Equal Rights Act ludicrous and without merit.  I have been greatly benefited by the changes that have come about. I see women having more protection from rape and abuse and this extends to their children. I see women able to be employed and not worry about sexual harassment. Women can live on their own without ridicule and have personal views that are not those of another. Reproductive rights, employment rights are just two very important matters that came out of the Liberation Movement yet some think these are giving women too much power and is a threat. 

What is driving some political and religious bodies in the quest to rob women of their rights? Is it to curb the drive to give all minority groups a value and worth in society? Is it a way to derail the need to recognize the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transsexual community? Will stripping women of their rights stave off the push for same-sex recognition and give them what we all enjoy as our rights such as marriage, adoption and the ability to benefit as partners?  Is this nothing but a ploy to ignore the needs of those that do not fit another’s idea of “normal” and a way to say some are “inferior” and always will be? What’s your best guess?

http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/womenslliberation/womensliberation.htm

Scott Walker's budget is the latest to slash health funding for women--showing that the war on workers and the war on women are intertwined.

Walker launched a frontal assault on about 12,000 women across the state.

So the Wisconsin's legislation's most acute impact won't merely be stopping much-needed abortions, but will go far beyond: preventing women from obtaining critical health care in general. While Republicans posture themselves against the “abortion industry,” the health centers under threat provide women with comprehensive health care and family planning services that many would never be able to afford otherwise.

Addressing women's health needs just got even tougher under another anti-abortion budget item aimed at University of Wisconsin-affiliated hospitals and clinics.

 the provision raises fears that the budget “could put at risk the university's accreditation for its obstetrics and gynecology program” and in turn undermine medical education for future reproductive health providers.

 

Walker's budget takes aim at much more than just women's bodies. Indeed, though it's sure to score points with his base,

 Separately in the budget, deep cuts Medicaid funding threaten a lifeline for the poor and uninsured in a state where the number of adults in poverty has grownby an estimated 119,300 since 2007, and where the poverty rate of children in single-parent households has reached about 40 percent.

Poor families will see cuts to tax credits that help them scrape by between paychecks,

Walker's attack on civil servants' collective bargaining rights earlier this year, the final budget underscores the overlapping effects of starving the public sector. Since women make up the majority of state and local employees and enjoy high unionization rates, they face disproportionate pain from government cuts, in terms of job loss as well as cuts to social programs they need to avoid sliding toward poverty.

 

Thanks to the Republican Party, America can once again, PARTY LIKE IT'S 1899!

The entire Republican Party has been hijacked by far-right lunatics and the Flea Party. Now...once again, we can all party like it's 1899! The Republicans have slipped into the Twilight Zone and now they're taking the entire country BACK IN TIME! Thanks to religious extremists, the new Klan (A.K.A. American conservative media), corporate crooks, and the Flea Party we are all moving back to the eighteen hundreds! State by state, legislature by legislature, county by county and block by block...we're all being dragged back to "THE GOOD OLD DAYS" of open racism, blatant sexism, idiotic moralizing and snazzy Jim Crow. That's right! No more women's rights! No more minority rights! No gay rights! No more Unions or worker's rights! No more religious freedom! No more nothing, except doing things the way the conservatives, religious extremists and Flea Party folks want us to. For a group that claims to love "small government", they sure are making every effort to control peoples lives! They want to be in your bedroom! In your pocket! In your brain and in your mouth! They want to control every aspect of human life in America. PERIOD. 

ANY WOMAN, GAY PERSON, MINORITY OR FREE-THINKER IN THIS COUNTRY THAT VOTES FOR A REPUBLICAN IS EITHER  CRAZY, COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL OR GRAVELY MISINFORMED. 

Thanks Republicans! Now there is absolutely no such thing as a moderate Republican! Thanks a lot! One would think it would be obvious, but I'm afraid I still need to make the following statement:

ANY WOMAN, GAY PERSON, MINORITY OR FREE-THINKER IN THIS COUNTRY THAT VOTES FOR A REPUBLICAN IS EITHER CRAZY, COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL OR GRAVELY MISINFORMED. MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT. REPUBLICANS ARE SYSTEMATICALLY ROLLING BACK THE RIGHTS OF ALL NON-WHITE MALES IN THIS COUNTRY. THAT'S RIGHT! WOMEN'S RIGHTS ARE GOING BACK TO 1899, TOO! ALL THE PROGRESS WE'VE MADE SINCE 1899, YOU CAN KISS IT ALL GOOD-BYE! 

ANY WOMAN, GAY PERSON, MINORITY OR FREE-THINKER IN THIS COUNTRY THAT VOTES FOR A REPUBLICAN IS EITHER CRAZY, COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL OR GRAVELY MISINFORMED. 

If you doubt the veracity of the above statement...even for a moment, just watch a few hours of C-SPAN or read recent articles in the New York Times or Time Magazine about the Republican Party's systematic campaign of voter suppression across the country. Read about their systematic efforts to roll-back abortion rights across the country. Read about their systematic assault on immigrants and the racial-profiling legislation they are attempting to pass nationwide. Read about Republican attempts to crush Unions and destroy even basic fair labor practices. Read about Republican governors throughout the country introducing legislation to dismantle medicare and strip away child labor laws. This is not a coincidence or some random happening. This is a well thought out, carefully constructed, overall strategy to take this nation back to 1899!

UNITED WE STAND...DIVIDED WE FALL.

If you can't see it? Please read and learn about it, so you can begin to see the truth and help inform your fellow Americans. We all need to see and recognize this horrible reality and fight against it with all our might. In tough economic times, it's easy to become cynical and resentful. It's easy to forget we are all in the same boat. It's easy to forget the love we must have for each other, if this nation is to succeed. Let's remember to stay optimistic and strong in the face of adversity. We can beat this economic down-turn, but we have to recognize those who seek to turn this nation backwards and fight them!

 "The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." -- Thomas Paine

Okay ladies, It doesn't matter how young or aged we are, we all probably have bras stashed somewhere. It isn't too late to gather them up to add to the donations for the women of Africa. It will give them a way of earning a living for themselves so that they won't be forced into the sex trade.

Afghanistan has been ranked as the world's most dangerous country for women, with Congo taking a close second position, a Thomson Reuters Foundation expert poll has said.

Ongoing conflict, US occupation, Nato airstrikes and cultural practices combined make Afghanistan a very dangerous place for women. (Photo: GETTY) Violence, dismal healthcare and brutal poverty afflicts women in Afghanistan, while in Congo there are horrific levels of rape, the survey conducted by TrustLaw, an arm of Thomson Reuters, said on Wednesday.

Pakistan, India and Somalia ranked third, fourth and fifth respectively in the global survey of perceptions of threats ranging from domestic abuse and economic discrimination to female foeticide, genital mutilation and acid attacks.

"Ongoing conflict, NATO airstrikes and cultural practices combined make Afghanistan a very dangerous place for women," Antonella Notari, head of women change makers, a group that supports women social entrepreneurs around the world, said.

The night Lissa Cunneen was raped by a stranger in the University of Washington dorms, she was wearing Levis, a red sweatshirt, boots, an Arab scarf, and pearl earrings gifted to her by her grandparents.

This is the outfit Cunneen plans to recreate on June 19 for Seattle Slutwalk, a march organized to combat an all-too-common argument that women should dress less provocatively to avoid being raped.

"The person responsible for rape is the rapist," she says. "Victims are never to blame for being sexually assaulted."

Now Cunneen is organizing a group of like-minded sloggers, feminists, victims of assault, and anyone else who refuses to believe that women bring sexual violence upon themselves to join her...

Cunneen was 19 when she was attacked.

Egypt: Admission of forced 'virginity tests' must lead to justice

The Egyptian authorities must bring those responsible for ordering or conducting forced ‘virginity tests’ to justice, following a senior military figure’s admission that the army subjected female protesters to them, Amnesty International said today.

A senior Egyptian general told CNN that women detained on 9 March at Cairo’s Tahrir Square had been forced to undergo ‘virginity tests’, which the government has previously denied. 

The general, speaking on condition of anonymity, justified the abuse by saying that the women “were not like your daughter or mine.  These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters.”

“This admission is an utterly perverse justification of a degrading form of abuse,” said Amnesty International.  “The women were subjected to nothing less than torture.”

“The Egyptian authorities must condemn these discriminatory, abusive and insulting attitudes which have been used to justify torture of women protesters, and which are clearly present at the highest levels. 

Amnesty International gathered the testimonies of women protesters subjected to forced ‘virginity tests’ in March, and wrote to Egypt’s Supreme Council for Armed Forces requesting an investigation.  However, no response was received.

PETITION LETTER: Protect Egyptian Women from "Virginity Tests" and Torture

Dear Sec. Clinton,

I am writing you about the serious allegations that women protesters taken into police custody after protests in Egypt in early March 2011 were tortured and forced to submit to ‘virginity checks.’ I urge you to intervene immediately and ask Egyptian authorities to investigate these shocking reports and stop this degrading treatment of women protesters.

After army officers violently cleared the square of protesters on March 9, at least 18 women were held in military detention. Amnesty International has been told by women protesters that they were beaten, given electric shocks, and subjected to strip searches while being photographed by male soldiers, then forced to submit to ‘virginity checks’ and threatened with prostitution charges. ‘Virginity tests’ are a form of torture when they are forced or coerced.

Forcing women to have ‘virginity tests’ is utterly unacceptable. Its purpose is to degrade women because they are women.

The Egyptian authorities must halt the shocking and degrading treatment of women protesters. Women fully participated in bringing change in Egypt and should not be punished for their activism. All security and army forces must be clearly instructed that torture and other ill-treatment, including forced ‘virginity tests’, will no longer be tolerated, and will be fully investigated. Those found responsible for such acts must be brought to justice and the courageous women who denounced such abuses be protected from reprisals.

I urge you send a strong message to the governing Egyptian Military Council to immediately stop this practice and bring those responsible military officers to face charges. I also urge you make a strong public statement condemning this act and to instruct the US Embassy in Egypt for a report on this practice.

Photo of Egyptian women protesting from Wikimedia Commons by Kodak Agfa

Join the Ms. No More Excuses campaign

Last month, Ms. reported on a woman who had been fined $500 for “false rape reporting.” Police said the details of her story were “inconsistent.” Three years later, among an accused serial rapist’s snapshots of assaults in progress, her photo was found. Her account fit the M.O. of the other attacks.

The Lynnwood, Wa., police department reopened her case and returned the fee, but Ms. didn’t think that was good enough. So we started a Change.org petition demanding a public apology and assurances that the department would better handle rape cases in the future.

We received this response from the Lynnwood Commander of Police right away:

When I was a student in Boston, I rode the subway almost every day. There was a woman who I saw more than once on the Red Line; her face was unforgettable, but not because she was a great beauty.

Her features were, in fact, grotesque: her nose deformed and melted, her eyes reduced to the size of dimes, her skin one great mass of flesh, tender and pink. She would stare at everyone who glanced in her direction, fury bright in her nearly-invisible eyes.

It took me many years to realise that she had been the victim of a fire, and her face had suffered second- or third-degree burns, turning her from an ordinary human being into a figure of shock, disgust and ridicule as she went about her daily business

1978 Supreme Court ruling that states that Tribal governments cannot prosecute criminal defendants who are non-Natives even if the crime occurred on Tribal land.

The fact that non-Natives cannot be tried in Tribal courts has actually drawn sexual predators to Tribal areas to assault women. 86% of all reported cases involve non-Natives.

Defendants Allegedly Used Internet Sites Such as Backpage and Craigslist to Recruit Women and Force Them into Commercial Sex Acts

ATLANTA—SOLOMAN MANASSEH MUSTAFA, 37, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, and KALANDRA ANNETTE WALLACE, 24, of Jonesboro, Georgia have been indicted on federal charges relating to a sex trafficking ring operating in the Atlanta area. MUSTAFA was arraigned today before United States Magistrate Judge Christopher Hagy.

The American People, especially women, better take notice what the Republican - Tea Party is slowly trying to do. They are slowly stripping women of rights when, it comes to their health, and their own bodies.

In a few days Americans will celebrate Mother’s Day with roses, chocolates and fine dinners, inducing warm and fuzzy feelings all around. But, in addition, I’ll bet helping mothers less fortunate would also render any mom giddy.

The U.S. envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council on Thursday that troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were increasingly engaging in sexual violence and some had been issued the impotency drug Viagra, diplomats said.

Several U.N. diplomats who attended a closed-door Security Council meeting on Libya told Reuters that U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice raised the Viagra issue in the context of increasing reports of sexual violence by Gaddafi's troops.

"Rice raised that in the meeting but no one responded," a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. The allegation was first reported by a British newspaper.

Pfizer Inc's drug Viagra is used to treat impotence.

Diplomats said if it were true that Gaddafi's troops were being issued Viagra, it could indicate they were being encouraged by their commanders to engage in rape to terrorize the population in areas that have supported the rebels. That would constitute a war crime.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill yesterday restricting abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy because, the bill presumes, at that point a fetus can experience pain. The "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" makes performing such an abortion a felony, although exemptions are allowed when the mother is at risk. But who determins if the mother is at rist, the doctor or the State of Oklahoma?

Congress will vote on the last-minute, bipartisan budget deal that promises about $38 billion in cuts that, according to several economists, will knock a full point off U.S. economic growth. Republicans successfully extracted wide-ranging cuts on health care, job training, education, law enforcement, and nutrition assistance to women and children.

In response to the "severe budget cuts that would disproportionately target the poor and the hungry at home and abroad," 28 Members of Congress are joining 35,000 Americans in former Congressman and Ambassador Tony Hall's Hungerfast — an effort launched March 28 to demand that the budget deficit not be balanced on the backs of the vulnerable. In protest of "the severe cuts being proposed to poverty-focused international assistance programs" which "largely hurt women and girls globally" who represent "60 percent of the hungry worldwide," 14 Democratic congresswomen will fast this week...

Michelle Grattan, political editor of the Age newspaper, "[Defence minister] Smith is marching in to change a culture where other ministers have failed...Why is the defence establishment, especially the military, so hard to bring to heel? "

Elizabeth Broderick i(federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner and an adviser on women's issues to the Australian Chief of the Defence Force): "I urge Defence to accelerate its cultural reforms. Without more women, without an ironclad commitment to respect for women, these unsavoury incidents will continue." .

No matter how available wage data is sliced and diced, a single truth remains: a wage gap exists between male and female workers. On average, full-time female workers make 23 percent less than male full-time workers. And for women of color, the gap in wages is even larger. African American women and Hispanic women working full-time make far less, on average — 62 percent and 53 percent respectively — compared to white, non-Hispanic men

As I have watched the footage of the demonstrations throughout the Middle East, I have been struck by the large numbers of women in the streets who have risked their lives for democracy.

This is a phenomenal video of the immigrant rights community in southern Arizona & their battle last summer against Governor Jan Brewer's draconian legislation regime....

It was submitted for an immigrant rights community award called the Freedom From Fear Awards; & it certainly has my vote!

A fraternity email from a member of USC's Kappa Sigma chapter details how to be an effective "cocksman" and breach a woman's "pie"—vagina—or "gullet"—mouth and throat. "I will refer to females as 'targets," notes the author in his missive to his frat bros'. "They aren't actual people like us men.

Since the start of the year, Republican lawmakers on the federal and state level have charged headlong into a comprehensive assault on a woman's right to choose.

In Nebraska, one law already in existence heaped needless trauma on a mother's tragedy. Thirty-four-year-old Danielle Deaver was 23 weeks pregnant when she faced a fate "worse than your own death" — her baby would not make it. Her water broke early and, without amniotic fluid, the fetus would not develop lungs to survive outside the womb. Deaver and her husband decided they wanted to let "nature take it's course" and would not risk harming the child further, so they asked their doctor to help "put an end to this nightmare."

But because of Nebraska's law prohibiting any abortion after 20 weeks, the doctor could not assist or he would "face criminal charges, jail time, and lose his medical license." Her doctors told her "she'd just have to wait." So she did, in "torture," and gave birth to Elizabeth at 3pm, watched her gasp for breath, and then watched her die at 3:15pm on December 8, 2010. "The outcome of my pregnancy, that choice was made by God," said Deaver, but "how to handle the end of my pregnancy, that choice should've been mine."

A New Yorker charged with beating a woman into a coma in an argument over a parking space insists the 4-foot-11-inch victim struck the first blow. Lana Rosas, 25, is in critical condition and still unconscious more than a week after she struck her head on the pavement during the fight.

Dr Coleman: "In a more fluid democratic system, women's groups in Tunisia and Egypt will have to forge alliances with moderate religious leaders. If a brave new world of electoral politics does emerge, women's rights activists will have to be savvy "

The morning started out nice and sunny for a change, a bit warmer.
I did my morning routine and set out for Walmart do a bit of shopping. Don't
ugh me it's well lit, has books and this is March, so a sale is on for sure.

Checking out though was a different matter. The card swipe refused my bank card.
Then the cashier's register refused my bank card. hmmmm, I'm getting annoyed.
Luckily I had the cash. Ladies do carry some cash.

Once I got out to the car, I immediately called my bank. I have a Real Person
I can talk to at my bank. (Smuggies) Dana found the problem. The bank security
had put a hold on it because, ready, it had been used for a pre-authorization
at a Cal Mar Hotel in California! She also had a phone number. Really, I said.
Really, she said. Cancel the card? she asked. Cancelled
I said. I'll reissue you another one. Thank you. Isn't it great when you
have a Real bank person? Even better they knew I wasn't in California. It's
one of their security things, computer tracking charges, anything out of the
ordinary and a hold is put on the card.

When I got home I looked up the phone number on reverse number find. It was in Morrabay, California.
I then went to my local police station and filed a complaint. Since this is a small
town, the officer knew me and took the complaint.

See, it's not a crime Until funds are transferred then it's a crime report.
It's more like a crime in progress.

Back home I called the San Luis Ospiro Police and the dispatch helped me sort
out that it was Morrabay that I wanted if the phone number was good. Then I emailed the
Morrabay police the information.

If you're wondering why San Luis Ospiro police, it was because that's where Internet
website for Cal Mar Hotel's said they were.

Bottom line is I have to check my bank account each day for any unusual charges. Someone got
hacked that has my bank information. Wait for a new Bank card and I'll be notifying
the four online business's that I do business with my card.

In the meantime, my late husband's niece just a couple of months ago didn't get her SSI
check. The reason being a woman in California (again) had stolen her information some
way or another (she doesn't have a checking account or computer) and was put in jail. SS was
notified and they stopped the check. The woman that was in jail also got charged with ID Fraud and
stealing a SS check.

Both of us live in Kentucky so it seems a bit odd that two women within three months
had their ID's stolen. I'm just wondering how many more there are.

Be alert! The hackers are getting desperate when they steal an SSI check and try to
use a widow's bank card.

they stay in the shadows. Protected from consequences of their actions by
people that just point a finger at the woman.

"You are pregnant. You must have the child. You must raise the child."
and then after the woman has the child, she hears more often than not "
You are on Welfare. Get a job or Stay home and raise your child"

Everyone has a something to say to her about her situation.

But the man that got her pregnant, where is he? His name isn't on
the birth certificate. He didn't stay and marry her. He didn't stay
and help her raise the child. He left and went to another woman
and got her pregnant. On and on the man goes on to do what he wants
not caring about the mothers or the children. Bye

There are others that stay in the shadows. The man that marries the woman and then
decides that he doesn't want to be married with children. He leaves her and the
child for another woman. Bye.

The men that get women pregnant and then say "go get an abortion. I'm not going to pay for a child. I'm not
going to marry you. I'm already married. Bye."

What is it about this country that only the woman is yelled at, told how to live
when she gets pregnant. What is it that men, lawmakers feel so compelled to get
into the situation and their decisions are solely for the woman?

Is it that they are one of these shadow men?

Is this how women become 'second class' citizens, human beings? Because they can
give birth to a child, they become the ones that bear the burden of procreation alone.
The men have no responsiblity, they do not have to have their names on the birth
certificate, they do not have to do anything but walk away from her and the child.

If a woman chooses abortion, then the father of the child also needs to be 'counselled'.
Why is it that only the woman is to be counselled? Why is it that only the woman
must see the ultra sound? No woman should have to go to a clinic without the man. No man
should be allowed to avoid counselling or family planning. Yet this is how it is done. It is this way
in America.

Only the woman has the law written for her and the fingers pointed at her.

The shadow men, they are free to move on to another woman.

A crucial reminder that myths are precisely that: halfway between fact/truth & lies/falsity!

As Joan says:

"Ronald Reagan gave America so many pretty sayings, but when it comes to social equality, he'll go down in history for his lyrical lie, "The federal government declared a war on poverty, and poverty won." (He said it many times, many ways; that exact quote is from his 1988 State of the Union address.)"

To think that under Reagan, the deficit tripled & the only people who benefited were the super-rich: if you're thinking "tell me something that I didn't know!" just remember that most people don't know!

There's nothing like a FAIR spin on anything! It's called perspective & it's good for you - like kale!

You'll notice that the Shirley Sherrod debacle is mentioned at the end: how soon we forget!

Another shock video campaign proven to be based on a hoax!

And another O'Reilly broadcast of the video (along with the witch-hunting screams of terror & demands for their heads on pikes) AFTER the video's been exposed as a hoax! (Though apparently the one renegade worker did actually violate the rules of the organization & federal laws; but she was fired last week when PPFA contacted the FBI to report that the activists had been in their offices....)

Unfortunately, so many people are not going to read the fine print: how many people am I going to have defend PPFA to for the next few years who think they know that the organization systematically violates federal laws in promoting child sex trafficking?

This is precisely why we need to do more than just "Drop FOX!" & "Stop Beck!" We need to prosecute these criminals under the full extent of the law!

You don't need to read the 46-page Missouri Supreme Court decision to determine that this Guatemalan mother's due process & maternal rights were infringed upon: it's common sense!

But the lower court who earlier ruled that she had no such rights is now going to be forced to grant them to her when they re-hear the matter at some yet-to-be-determined date in the future.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, they will undoubtedly try to impinge their discriminatory perspective yet again in the future ruling, leaving the child's fate in limbo while they pursue their bigoted agenda!

But for now at least Encarnacion Romero can petition the (same?) court for visitation rights - to her own child!

I'm just dying to hear your thoughts on this!

We should be working to further strengthen our health care system, not rolling back all the hard-won progress we have already made. Republicans keep talking about repeal, but forget to say anything about replace!

Nina Funnell (Researcher in the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of NSW, Sydney, Australia): "These issues are clearly complex. But ultimately blaming Muslim women for participating in their own oppression (and the subjugation of women at large) does little to advance the situation. Those women who accept and even condone their own persecution merely illustrate the need for more education and feminist intervention." .

There has been a lot of conversations over the years about women's clothing. Today's woman in the Western Cultures wear less during the heat of summer and more during the cooler and cold months. Yet, Western dress is considered 'bad' by some other cultures.

In the old, old days, women wore a lot of clothes. Full floor length dresses that required a lot of material. For the more well to do woman this wasn't a problem, nor was the handstitching required to create such a dress. For the poorer women, it was hand me downs or less material inadequately or poorly stitched.

With the advent of the migration to the west, less clothing became more de'rigor but still the floor length fashion was kept. Then came WWI and material was needed for uniforms and bandages, etc. Clothing for the western culture women took a hit due to the material shortage. Dresses became shorter and shorter, trousers came into fashion and never left. Once the comfort level was established for them, women didn't want to give up those trousers.

The current fashions, often exaggerated in the media, show less and less clothing and more bizarre outfits to most of the world's public. Yet, those very fashions are thought to be 'this is what western women wear'. It is accurate but only to a small segment of the western worlds population of women.

There are women in western cultures that wear full length dresses or knee length dresses. This is not to completely cover their body or to hide their figures, it is more to designate a religious theme or a personal choice. Not by any stretch of the imagination though would a woman choose, without coercion of some type, to wear a complete head to toe covering that is more a tent than clothing especially in hot weather. A woman that wears this type clothing only does so for a couple of reasons that come to mind. 1) they are compelled to from an early age 2) they are hiding physical beatings.

Physical beatings by a man on a woman has been seen through the ages and the women attempts to cover up the bruises and markings left by the beating when she goes out in the public areas. She doesn't want the humiliation of someone seeing that she trusted a man and he wasn't trustworthy. Even in western culture, women of domestic violence want to hide these personal affronts to their person.

One other topic comes to mind after I had read an article about 'child' marriages in other cultures. An old man hides his 16 year old bride in a hijab or burqa. Well, it would be kind of a thing right?

The coercion of women to wear head to toe coverings is also indicative of a lack of trust of women in their society. For whatever reason the men delude themselves into thinking that this is a 'good' thing to do to women, they forget that not having a real partner in life makes them less not more of a person. There was a very good reason for humans to be one male and one female. The two together make them whole. A society that promotes this type of coercion on their women is not seen by other societies as whole. A very basic societal reaction.

A new report published by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has found that the lives of Afghan women have improved little since the fall of the Taliban. But the West seems unmoved.

Nina Funnell: "In theory, Australians are unequivocally opposed to human rights abuses. In reality, many will condemn the governments of other countries where human rights abuses occur while simultaneously expressing complacency about human rights abuses occurring in our own backyard. In fact many individuals reject the notion that human rights abuses are routinely occurring in this country."