Free Republic

Legislative and social reform ploys, ranging from affirmative action to state sponsored quota mandates for female placement in the public sector, have stripped away any semblance of professional credibility that modern women can gain. Feigning equality for all, these policies have allowed society to swap meritocracy and individual responsibility for socialism, and to women’s financial, professional, social and personal detriment.

Have pity on Barbara Walters. Barbara Walters is, after all, Barbara Walters. And Barbara Walters should not be made to suffer the gross indignity of flying in first class while a common woman breast-feeds her baby. Barbara Walters for those few of you left on the remote islands of Fiji who don't know who she is is a world-famous, Very Important Person. She has, according to her official bio, "arguably interviewed more statesmen and stars than any other journalist in history. She is so well known that her name and a brief biography is (sic) listed in the American Heritage...

This week I had planned to write a column about Sinn Fein, the political front organization for the Irish Republican Army, whose leaders have recently been linked to acts of murder and grand larceny. I chose the subject because I wrote often about the IRA while living in Britain in the 1990s, because I've worked as a reporter in Belfast, because it's timely -- tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day -- and because there might be lessons in the story for Hamas and Hezbollah, terrorist groups that may or may not be able to make the transition to democratic politics as...

<p>Martha made us feel guilty. Now it's her turn.</p> <p>That's my best explanation for the venom with which politicians and prosecutors have pursued Martha Stewart and the glee with which critics have greeted her arrest.</p> <p>Stewart is being burned at the stake for conduct we all know is commonplace (among men) in the corporate world.</p>

<p>Bear Atwood, a former president of the state chapter of the National Organization for Women, will be named director of the state Division on Women, Gov. James E. McGreevey confirmed yesterday.</p> <p>In a separate appointment, Maureen Fullaway, a professional planner from Brick Township, was named executive director of the state Council on Affordable Housing yesterday.</p>