Free Republic

Amy Siskind, a 42-year-old mother of two from Westchester, stood in a Washington, D.C., park on the last day in May, telling a few hundred cheering people that she would not, under any circumstances, vote for Barack Obama. She was a lifelong Democrat, she said, a donor and a volunteer for the party. But, watching the race with a "mixture of shock, disgrace, and disgust," she was appalled at the leadership's failure to defend Hillary Clinton from the sexism that she believes bolstered Barack Obama's campaign. "Now I have a message for Howard Dean and the DNC," she said into...

This is an actual letter from an Austin woman sent to American company Proctor and Gamble regarding their feminine products. She really gets rolling after the first paragraph... PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best webmail-award-winning letter.... Dear Mr. Thatcher, I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the Leak Guard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature...

When The Bee's Bobby Caina Calvan volunteered for a six-week reporting stint in Iraq, he didn't have the faintest notion he would be nominated for an award. Just a few days into his assignment, conservative blogger Michelle Malkin did the honors, nominating Calvan for "Jerk of the Year." That was just the beginning of the accolades. In a matter of days, bloggers and their flock of sheep across the country were calling Calvan an "immature human," "a pompous ass," "disrespectful," an "embarrassment," and an "anti-American military" ideologue. There were more, but you can't print them in the newspaper. What was...

Because the label, "psycopathic paranoid schizophrenia" was already taken. Who is this woman and what's she done with my wife?

THE bizarre episode of a female astronaut driving halfway across the US in a nappy to confront a rival in a love triangle has raised the question: just how well grounded are astronauts? Lisa Nowak, a 43-year-old married mother of three, was charged on Tuesday with attempted murder and attempted kidnapping after allegedly assaulting Colleen Shipman, a US Air Force engineer and student pilot based at Patrick Air Force Base, near Orlando, Florida. Nowak, a navy engineer, flew on the space shuttle Discovery in June as a mission specialist and earned the nickname "Robochick" as the operator of the shuttle's...

PMS SURVIVAL GUIDE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgtWZXK9gm8 Some background: She is Judge Leslie Lewis, 3rd district of Utah. And she is up for retention, or "re-election" on this coming election day. http://www.firejudgelewis.com/

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan has fantasized about going back in time and killing "an infant" George W. Bush, thereby preventing the war in Iraq. That's according to her upcoming book "Peace Mom," in which Sheehan also says she regrets voting for John Kerry, who left her "unimpressed." Radar magazine reports Sheehan calls Sen. John McCain a liar for denying that he told her that her son will probably end up having died "for nothing," and calls Sen. Hillary Clinton "a conservative in liberal clothing," adding, "We don't need another power monger in the White House."

NEW YORK — Just over half of Americans believe Sen. Hillary Clinton is prepared to be the first female president of the United States, according to a new FOX News poll. In addition, Clinton is the preferred choice of Democratic voters for their party’s 2008 presidential nominee; on the Republican side, former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani barely edges out Ariz. Sen. John McCain for frontrunner billing. Opinion Dynamics Corporation conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News from August 29 to August 30. The poll has a 3-point error margin. A slim 51-percent majority of voters...

Life without monthly periods has always been one of the few things women look forward to as they grow old — but thanks to a new birth control pill, Canadian women of all ages may soon be able to stop menstruating.

I have never posted a vanity before. I have tried to swallow the bitter pill. I am perplexed by the debate about general election choices. Time to get ACTIVE; BEYOND the General Elections. No choices between Dems and RINO's. Time to MARCH TO THE PRIMARIES.. march in numbers NEVER SEEN BEFORE..... Here is my call..... I am sick and tired of being called names. I am done having the people charged with the HONOR of representing MY voice in MY country SLIT my throat for their personal gain. Meanwhile they invade the money I earn to seek the American Dream....

For young women with a world of choices, even that monthly curse, the menstrual period, is optional. Thanks to birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives, a growing number of women are taking the path chosen by 22-year-old Stephanie Sardinha. She hasn't had a period since she was 17. "It's really one of the best things I've ever done,'' she says. A college student and retail worker in Lisbon Falls, Maine, Sardinha uses Nuvaring, a vaginal contraceptive ring. After the hormones run out in three weeks, she replaces the ring right away instead of following instructions to leave the ring...

It started as a swearing in ceremony to put badly needed cops back on Detroit streets, but it turned into a swearing out ceremony when Chief Ella Bully-Cummings decided to stop the event at the very last moment. The 25 police academy students were ordered back to class after one of the students failed a pop quiz by Chief Bully-Cummings. According to Richard Weaver, Detroit Police Officers Association, the chief asked one of the students for her assistant chief’s job description. When the student didn’t know, Weaver said the chief was "highly upset," had their badges stripped and sent all...

Baltimore City police arrested a Virginia couple over the weekend after they asked an officer for directions. WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions . "In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said. "It was a nightmare," Brook said. "I was in there thinking I was just dreaming and waiting to wake up." Collins reported...

President Bush is continuing the homeland security dog-and-pony charade in his quest to deliver a massive "guest worker"/amnesty plan to the open-borders lobby. A few weeks ago, Bush's Department of Homeland Security put on a bogus performance of Get Tough Theater with a series of politically timed immigration raids...which, as I predicted, simply resulted in more catch and release of illegal aliens nationwide. This new last-minute stunt to sprinkle National Guard troops on the border--temporarily, of course, to appease Mexican President Vicente Fox--is more transparent than the Scotch tape used to hold together our dilapidated border fences. (That's only a...

In the midst of a predictable episode of Bush Derangement Syndrome, Barbra Streisand castigates President Bush as "this C student," all the while littering spelling and grammar errors throughout her February 28, 2006 screed... For now you can read the whole error-ridden piece at BabsOnline. Assuming the text is eventually fixed you can see the highlighted errors in a PDF version or a Word version.

Infant Had Been Run Over Several Times (CBS) NEW YORK The dead body of a newborn baby that had been crushed by a car was discovered lying on a Long Island street Saturday. Police had few clues where the infant came from, or whether it was dead or alive when it was abandoned. A man walking his dog found the badly mangled body at 7:30 a.m. on a residential street near a golf course and a high school in Hempstead, about 20 miles east of Manhattan. "The first time I saw it, I thought it was a dead raccoon,...

A Framingham woman angry at her boyfriend beat him with a police baton yesterday, then tried to run him over with her car as he ran for his life, police said. Kelli S. Donovan’s pursuit of her boyfriend was witnessed by Framingham Deputy Police Chief Kenneth Ferguson, who watched the man running as Donovan drove her 1991 Chevrolet Lumina on the street and the sidewalk right behind the man. Donovan, 29, was arrested at 8:02 a.m. and was charged with trying to kill her boyfriend, although she denied she wanted him dead, Framingham police Lt. Vincent Alfano said. “She claimed...

When I entered college in 1969, women were bursting out of theirs 50's chrysalis, shedding girdles, padded bras and conventions. The Jazz Age spirit flared in the Age of Aquarius. Women were once again imitating men and acting all independent: smoking, drinking, wanting to earn money and thinking they had the right to be sexual, this time protected by the pill. I didn't fit in with the brazen new world of hard-charging feminists. I was more of a fun-loving (if chaste) type who would decades later come to life in Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw. I hated the grubby, unisex...

OAKLAND - Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan received an expected warm welcome at her first Bay Area appearance since returning from a tour of the country. Sheehan, 48, gave a speech Wednesday night at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland as part of a welcome back party that brought out activists of all stripes -- all except pro-President Bush supporters. The event drew an audience of more than 300 people.Green Party members held a banner outside, receiving honks for their effort, while a duo calling themselves the "Raging Grannies" sang an ode to Sheehan. The Revolutionary Communist Party newsletter was being...

Dear Cindy Sheehan: I know you want to talk to President Bush about the conflict in Iraq, the war in which your son, Specialist Casey Sheehan, was tragically killed. I also know that while the President met with you previously, he is not eager to see you again – not now that you are affiliated with Moveon.org and supported by David Duke and handled by slick public relations professionals. So let me suggest an alternative: Come visit with me. Our meeting probably won't get much publicity but I can promise you an interesting discussion. I'll invite to join us some...

The president of the National Organization for Women declared a "state of emergency" for women's rights and planned a march on the state Capitol as news of Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement reverberated through the group's annual convention. NOW president Kim Gandy told about 800 NOW members Friday that women need to send a message that they won't tolerate "extremist" judges who set back women's rights. "This is our time. This is our challenge," Gandy said as the crowd replied by clapping and chanting, "Hell no, we won't go" and "We won't go back." The group shifted the agenda for their...

Hormonal changes may actually alter the chemical balance in the brain and trigger some of the mood swings associated with a woman's monthly menstrual cycle, according to a new study. The study suggests that cells in a brain region called the hippocampus generate different types of receptors for the brain chemical GABA during various phases of the menstrual cycle. These changes may affect a woman's susceptibility to anxiety, depression, and seizures. Both estrogen and progesterone have effects on nerve cell activation, but the mechanism behind changes in seizure activity and increased anxiety are unknown, write the researchers. They say their...

CORONADO NATIONAL FOREST, Ariz. Firefighters have cut a rough line around a wildfire burning in the Coronado National Forest near the Mexican border. However, forest spokesman Gail Aschenbrenner says fire crews remain concerned because of windy and dry conditions expected in the area today. Aschenbrenner says crews made good progress on fighting the fire last night and are working to strengthen their fire lines. The fire has burned across 121 acres in the remote area west of the Coronado National Memorial. No structures are threatened.

Female workers at carmaker Toyota could soon benefit from 12 days paid menstrual leave each year. The claim is one of 600 improvements being sought by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) from the company. Others include employer-provided childcare, 10 per cent annual pay rises for three years and superannuation payments of 15 per cent by 2007. The union's Vehicle Division has started negotiations with the car manufacturer over a new enterprise bargaining agreement to replace the document that expires later this year. The agreement would cover about 4000 people of which 10 to 12 per cent were women. "We're...

Received this in my e-mail from Mrs. Lando. Thought it might be enjoyed by some FReepers.

Police: Woman Scalps Girl For Offensive Behavior POSTED: 1:25 pm EST February 8, 2005 BOISE, Idaho -- A 16-year-old girl was tied up and scalped by a woman who believed the girl slighted her, police said. The victim and a friend were visiting Kirkham Hot Springs in central Idaho Jan. 18 with 26-year-old Marianne Dahle, Boise County Chief Deputy Bill Braddock said, when Dahle allegedly tied the girl up and cut away the entire crown and back portion of the victim's scalp. Authorities have issued a felony arrest warrant for Dahle, accusing her of aggravated battery. She has not been...

(From a mom): He told me how wonderful the care packages were and wanted me to tell everyone thank you. He said that one guy we’ll call “Marine X” did get a girl care package and everyone was giving him a hard time. My son said, "Marine X got some really nice smelling lotion and everyone really likes it, so everytime he goes to sleep they steal it from him." I told my son I was really sorry about the mistake, and if he wanted I would send Marine X another package. He told me not to worry about Marine...

Police say a Harris County mother stabbed her 10-year-old daughter "multiple times" and then drowned herself in a retention pond Saturday. The woman, whose identity remained unknown, left her home in her sport utility vehicle and parked on the edge of the pond located at the intersection of U.S. 290 West and Hager Road in northwest Harris County. Witnesses saw the woman repeatedly forcing her head under the knee-deep water, said Sgt. Michael Thompson of the Harris County sheriff's office. "She succeeded and she is now deceased," Thompson said. One witness tried to rescue the woman by jumping into the...

Dr. Katharina Dalton, a gynecologist who did pioneering research on premenstrual syndrome and was said to have coined the term, has died. She was 87. Dalton died Sept. 17 in Poole, Dorset, her family said. The family did not specify the cause of death.

Stomach cramps, mood swings and hot flushes. Yes, it's that time of the month again. But these are symptoms reported by men, not women. New research suggests men suffer from pre-menstrual-style symptoms, in some cases as badly as women. The news is bound to be greeted with snorts of cynicism by most females. But the study published today shows that the majority of men claim to suffer from a range of symptoms most usually associated with pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS). Dr Aimee Aubeeluck of the University of Derby, who carried out the study, said: "We asked 50 men and 50 women...

If the election were held today question....This poll needs some serious FREEPING. Lower right portion of the page.

Are you there, God? It's me, George W. Come in, Almighty. Do you read me? It's about 8:00 pm and it's just after my last bubble bath of the day and here I am again, kneeling here in the Oval Office all by myself in my most favoritest PJs, the funny ones with the little M-1 tanks and baseball players all over them. I gots some problems, Lord. Look, I've done everything you asked. I've been good. Haven't I? I take the message to the people, don't I? I spout that evangelical born-again crap in pisswater Podunk conservative churches across...

FReepers: Please do not post full text from articles copyrighted by Maralyn Lois Polak per her copyright complaints. The last two she complained about were published on WorldNetDaily.com. Thanks, Jim

The other night, I came across the writer Naomi Wolf participating in a TV panel discussion about the Patriot Act. When one of her fellow guests, David Horowitz, turned in his chair to look at her, Wolf angrily broke off from the point she was making, to upbraid him. "Don't try to shut me up!" she shouted. Horowitz looked at her, mystified. "What did I do?" he asked. "It's all in your body language!" Wolf said, indicating the movement he had just made in his chair. "But Naomi," Horowitz replied in some confusion, "you told me during the last commercial...

Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean blew his stack at an Iowa voter on Sunday who had asked him to end his "slam, bam and bash" rhetoric attacking President Bush. "Please tone down the garbage, the mean-mouthing of tearing down your neighbor and being so pompous," said Dale Ungerer during a question-and-answer session initiated by Dean after he had delivered his standard stump speech at the Oelwein Community Centre on Sunday. Dean's response was calm at first, telling Ungerer, "George Bush is not my neighbor." But when the Iowa Republican stood and tried to interrupt, Dean shouted: "You sit down. You...

<p>Dubya, now that you've got your dime-store thug, can you stop the warmongering and death?</p> <p>Well gosh golly it took only upward of 500 dead U.S. soldiers (and counting) and more than 2,500 U.S. wounded (and counting) and more than 10,000 dead innocent Iraqi citizens (and counting) and countless tens of thousands of hapless dead Iraqi soldiers (and counting).</p>

With VERY few exceptions (thanks to the people that were human and to people that wrote me privately) you people are a bunch of fundamentalist zealots. You aren't conservatives...you're fascists. You make me embarrassed to be a Republican.

Dear Mrs. Web, I am in a happy relationship with a kind, supportive, positive and mature man. We are in our late 20's. We will probably become engaged at Christmas. That would mean we will have only dated for 10-11 months before our engagement. Is it too soon? We are both very comfortable with the idea of marrying each other, but a friend said we should date for at least 2 years or we won't have enough time to really get to know each other. Neither of us have ever been in a serious relationship, so we really don't know...