Free Republic

OAKLAND — An Oakland cookie company has closed its doors for good. After operating in Oakland for 92 years, Mother's Cookies shut down when its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection Monday. --snip-- In filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy .. company officials cited rising prices for raw materials and fuel.

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq, June 5, 2008 – More than 100 Iraqi families showed up to receive diapers, formula and cereal at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex Civil Military Operations Center, about seven kilometers southwest of Baghdad, May 31. An Iraqi woman and her children leave the Radwaniyah Palace Complex Civil Military Operations Center with free diapers, cereal and formula, May 31, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kerensa Hardy  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Rakkasan” soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team distributed two packages of disposable diapers, two cans of powdered formula and...

Carol Rudes has not read her son's love letter couched in a short autobiography he has written. He's been waiting for the perfect time to give it to his mom. Today. "My name is Mathew Rudes, and this is my story. When I was brought into this world 21 years ago, doctors predicted that I had less than 24 hours to live. "They had only to look at my warped body, hands bent at odd angles, to know that something was not right. I was quickly whisked away to another room. The doctors refused to let my mother look at...

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2008 – President Bush praised America’s mothers, especially those who’ve lost sons or daughters during the war on terror and those who gave their lives in service to their country, during his weekly radio address yesterday. An excerpt from the president’s remarks follows: “On this Mother’s Day weekend, we think of the many mothers who raised the brave men and women serving our country in uniform. And to those mothers, I offer the thanks of a grateful nation. “Your sons and daughters are defending our freedom with dignity and honor, and America appreciates the sacrifices that...

It Might Be True That 'Men Marry Their Mothers' ScienceDaily (May 7, 2008) — Whether a young man's mother earned a college degree and whether she worked outside the home while he was growing up seems to have an effect years later when he considers his ideal wife, according to a study by University of Iowa sociologist Christine Whelan. High-achieving men -- those who earn salaries in the top 10 percent for their age and/or have a graduate degree -- are highly likely to marry a woman whose education level mirrors their mom's. Nearly 80 percent of the high-achieving men...

Mothers And Offspring Can Share Cells Throughout Life ScienceDaily (May 5, 2008) — Cutting the umbilical cord doesn’t necessarily sever the physical link between mother and child. Many cells pass back and forth between the mother and fetus during pregnancy and can be detected in the tissues and organs of both even decades later. This mixing of cells from two genetically distinct individuals is called microchimerism. The phenomenon is the focus of an increasing number of scientists who wonder what role these cells play in the body. A potentially significant one, it turns out. Research implicates that maternal and fetal...

Good fathers 'powerless against vengeful mothers' By Tom Peterkin Last Updated: 1:04PM BST 01/05/2008 Decent fathers are left powerless to see their estranged children if vengeful mothers are determined to prevent access, a senior judge has admitted. Lord Justice Ward attacked child access law after presiding over a case that saw a “vicious” mother falsely accuse her ex-husband of sexually abusing their child. He spoke out after telling the father that there was nothing he could do to help him re-establish contact with his daughter after his ex-wife turned her against him. The man’s 14-year-old daughter, who cannot been identified,...

Ask any man when he last phoned his mother, and he will pull a guilty face. Ask him when he last talked about her to his friends and he will look at you as if you are insane. Why is the mother-son relationship so complicated? To find out, our correspondent asked someone who should know – his mum Men are more likely to confess to a predilection for pornography than admit to a close relationship with their mother. There isn’t much left that the modern man is made to feel ashamed of, yet confessing to your friends that you sometimes...

Indian DNA links to 6 'founding mothers' By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer NEW YORK - Nearly all of today's Native Americans in North, Central and South America can trace part of their ancestry to six women whose descendants immigrated around 20,000 years ago, a DNA study suggests. Those women left a particular DNA legacy that persists to today in about 95 percent of Native Americans, researchers said. The finding does not mean that only these six women gave rise to the migrants who crossed into North America from Asia in the initial populating of the continent, said study co-author...

Why motherhood is the greatest job of all22:13pm 29th February 2008 Motherhood is denigrated as never before. Yet here, in a tribute to Mums everywhere, the Mail's Allison Pearson says it's still the most joyous (and important) job in the world. Situation vacant: challenging managerial position in busy small organisation. Would suit flexible, energetic female who doesn't need any sleep. Shifts last 24 hours a day. Boss comes on holiday with you. You will be expected to be a teacher, a cook, a nurse, a chauffeur, a health and safety adviser, a cleaner, a management consultant and an agony aunt. Must...

Dear Santa, I've been a good mom all year. I've fed cleaned and cuddled my kids on demand, visited the doctor's office more than the doctor has, sold 62 cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years. Here are my Christmas wishes:...

In 1999 the CEDAW Committee, which regulates the operation of CEDAW in countries that ratify and domesticate it, told Columbia that the provision of its law outlawing abortion was a violation of the rights of women to health enshrined in article 12 of CEDAW. On July 1, 1999 the CEDAW lambasted Nepal for criminalizing abortion. On July 9, 1999, CEDAW Committee told Chile that the Chilean laws punishing abortion were violating the rights of Chilean women. In 2000, CEDAW told Burkina Faso to review its laws on abortion and provide for coverage by social security. In 2000 also, CEDAW...

Rich mothers 'have more sons' By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 12:01am BST 08/08/2007 Rich, married and well-educated women tend to have more sons while those who are unhealthy and poorer tend to have more daughters, according to a study. Well-off women produce more sons Researchers studied 50 million people and found that mothers in 'good condition’ - those who were married, better educated and younger - bore more sons than mothers in 'poor condition’. The reason, simply put, is that women are tougher than men so according to evolutionary theory women living in poorer communities are predisposed to...

Mother's Day is, to be honest, somewhat of an annoyance. It's manifestly one of those tedious Hallmark holidays wherein everyone is supposed to run out and support the revenue stream of cardboard manufacturers in the name of expressing gratitude to mothers, fathers, grandparents and anyone else to whom we might be related. I imagine it won't be long until Sept. 18 is declared Anonymous Sperm Donor's Day, which will probably be celebrated by giving matching card sets to one's two mommies and lighting a candle for dear old anonymous sperm donor, whoever he might be. Mothers are not only important,...

Hope freepers remember dishes and recipes that were specialties of their moms this Mother's Day.

Mother’s Day Away Deployed moms stay in touch with home By 2nd Light Infantry Brigade Combat Team,2nd Inf. Div. Public Affairs Multi-National Division–Baghdad FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq, May 11, 2007 — U.S. Army Spc. Latoya Roberts will be spending this Mother’s Day away from her 1-year-old son, but she’s doing everything she can to shorten the distance. "It’s quite a feeling just knowing you have that person’s life in your hands and you’re responsible for him."U.S. Army Spc. Latoya Roberts “I have pictures of him everywhere, and I talk to him on the Webcam every weekend,” she said....

Mother's memoir reveals sensitive Stalin Last Updated: 1:01am BST 07/05/2007 Josef Stalin, the monstrous Soviet dictator responsible for the deaths of millions, was a "sensitive child" with a love of flowers, his mother's memoirs have revealed. Keke Djugashvili: son installed her in a former Tsarist palace Stalin was born in Georgia in 1878, the only child of a cobbler, Beso Djugashvili and his wife, Keke. In her memoirs, released from a secret Soviet archive, she detailed how a series of illnesses and accidents left "Soso" - her nickname for Josef - partially crippled, and how he coped with a violent...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2007 – While some American homes have only drapes or blinds in the windows, other households also display a unique flag that signifies a family’s support of a son’s or daughter’s service in the military. Those banners represent an old tradition and are part of Blue Star Mothers of America Inc., a patriotic organization that traces its roots back to World War I, when mothers displayed flags decorated with stars signifying the number of offspring serving in the military. Gail Cunningham, a resident of Lakewood, N.J., founded New Jersey-based Chapter 1 of the Blue Star Mothers...

Mothers get heart risk off their chest 15 February 2007 From New Scientist Print Edition. Breastfeeding is well known to boost an infant's health, and now it seems it may be good for the mother as well. In a study of 96,648 nurses who gave birth between 1986 and 2002, those who had spend at least two years of their lives breastfeeding were 19 per cent less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who hadn't breastfed at all. The difference was independent of any of the usual risk factors for heart disease, such as family history, diet or...

Now that the party of death has retaken control of Congress, battles over funding of embryonic stem cell research, chemical abortifacients, contraception, sex education, special privileges for homosexuals, and other such controversies will ensue over the next two years. The fight over an obscure international treaty could be just as important, if not more so, than these others even though few people have ever heard of CEDAW. The pompously named CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, sounds on its face not to be too bad, just clumsy and utopian. Yet it is a...