Women Affairs

Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden Booed by NASCAR fans

2011-11-22T03:41:00.001-08:00

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Joe Biden's wife, were at the Homestead-Miami Speedway to promote Joining Forces, an organization that promotes the hiring and training of veterans, when they were booed by some NASCAR fans as they served as the grand marshals for the racing circuit's final event Sunday. They were joined by Army Sgt. Andrew Barry, a veteran of the Afghan and Iraqi wars who now volunteers at an Orlando, Fla., veterans center, and his family. The clip shows that people cheer for the soldier, but boo when the two women's names are announced. There are some audible sounds of approval, but they seem to be mostly drowned out by the dissenters.

It would not be too difficult to overanalyze this incident. Sports fans tend to be raucous, especially after they have been well lubricated. It is possible the NASCAR crowd would have booed the Second Coming if it came before the big race.

On the other hand, Mrs. Obama has delved into controversy in her pet cause of getting people to eat healthy. Her campaign against childhood obesity, while well intentioned, is being greeted by many people as an attack on their parenting. A lot of two-income households do not have the time or the energy to cook a traditional family dinner where nutrition can be controlled to a certain extent. In too many homes, home delivered fast food or something that can be nuked quickly in the microwave have become the featured dinner. Harried parents are not likely to take very well someone lecturing them about feeding their children properly, especially if they are eschewing playing at the park for lying about with their game boys.

By and large, "It's a sad statement on our political discourse if the booing was indeed directed at Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden," said ABC News Senior Political Reporter Rick Klein. "They were appearing on behalf of military families, a cause which transcends party lines."

Does Soy Ease Symptoms of Menopause?

2011-08-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

Sora Song
Times Magazine

What is a menopausal woman to do? A new study finds that taking soy supplements, a popular alternative to hormone-replacement therapy, does not help relieve the symptoms of menopause or protect against bone loss.

After two years of taking daily soy isoflavone tablets, women showed no differences in bone density and no improvement in symptoms such as hot flashes or night sweats, compared with women taking a placebo. Indeed, by the end of the study, more women taking soy were having hot flashes than women taking placebos.

Soy has been considered a potentially safer alternative to hormone therapy because of its isoflavones, or plant-based estrogens. Researchers have also observed that women in Asia, whose diets are typically rich in soy, are less likely to have bone loss, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease than their Western counterparts. To date, however, most clinical trials of soy have been limited by their small size, short duration or faulty design. The aim of the current study was, therefore, to offer a more definitive conclusion.

Researchers led by Dr. Silvina Levis, director of the Osteoporosis Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, randomly assigned 248 women to take either 200 mg of soy isoflavones — a dose that is roughly twice the amount of dietary soy isoflavones found in a typical Asian diet — or placebo tablets for two years. Neither the researchers nor the women knew who was taking which pills until the end of the study.

The women were 45 to 60 years old at enrollment, and all were within five years of the start of menopause.

Researchers used bone scans to measure women's bone mineral density at the hip and spine. At the end of the study, the scans showed no differences between the soy and placebo groups. Both groups had small amounts of bone loss.

The Natural Menopause Plan: Overcome the Symptoms with Diet, Supplements, Exercise and More Than 90 Delicious Recipes

Researchers also used questionnaires to gauge the frequency of women's menopausal symptoms. At the start of the study, 176 women reported at least one symptom. The most common ones: hot flashes (50%), night sweats (38%), insomnia (37%), loss of libido (37%) and vaginal dryness (31%).

At the end of the two-year intervention, the two groups showed no differences in symptom improvement. In fact, the frequency of hot flashes didn't change in the soy group, but decreased in the placebo group, so that more women taking soy (48%) ended up with hot flashes than those taking placebo (32%). Women in the soy group were also more likely to have constipation and bloating.

"When we started the study we wanted this to work, because it would provide an easy and healthy way to help women in the initial stages of menopause," Levis told Reuters.

Seeing as how it didn't, what other alternatives to hormone therapy do women have? For hot flashes, some antidepressants or the anti-seizure medication gabapentin may work. Exercise also helps, and so may deep breathing exercises done regularly. Some women say they have found relief through yoga and acupuncture.

To protect against bone loss, women should make sure to get enough calcium and vitamin D, get regular weight-bearing exercise and refrain from smoking or overindulging in alcohol. Taking bisphosphonates can also help maintain bone mass.

So far, efforts to develop alternative menopause therapies as effective as hormone replacement have come up short, notes Dr. Deborah Grady, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, in an invited commentary accompanying the study.

"The important question for women is what degree of symptom relief is sufficient," Grady and co-author Katherine Newton, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington Seattle, write. "Perhaps efforts should be directed away from the hope of a one-size-fits-all therapy for menopausal symptoms toward using existing treatments to target the symptoms that disturb patients most."

Madeleine Pickens - the Mustangs' Messiah

2011-08-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

By Tim McGirk / Wells, Nev
Times Magazine

As the wife of a billionaire and a wealthy woman in her own right, Madeleine Pickens is accustomed to traveling in limos and private jets. But this afternoon, she is bumping along in a rusty pickup truck. The truck halts in the middle of a sagebrush valley. Nearby, a broad mountain shifts in color from ochre to indigo in the fading afternoon light.

Pickens, 64, a petite blonde in a fringed buckskin jacket and matching boots, jumps from the truck and points to a low thundercloud of dust moving across the valley. It's a galloping herd of mustangs, tan and black and pinto, their manes streaming like water. Soon, the earth is drumming with their hoofbeats. "These horses were going to the slaughterhouse," she says, admiring the racing herd, "and so I brought them to my ranch, where they can run wild."

Her giant ranch, in northeastern Nevada, is spread across three valleys and two mountain ranges, and Pickens intends to turn it all into a wild-horse sanctuary, or as she calls it, Mustang Monument. The first arrivals are 500 horses she bought from a Paiute Indian reservation. The horses, she says, would otherwise have been slaughtered across the border.

The trouble is, many of Nevada's ranchers look upon wild horses as vermin, chomping grass that is meant for their cattle. These ranchers say they are afraid that Pickens, who is married to energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, will lead a stampede of "touchy-feely" millionaire horse lovers who will start buying up pastures to save the pretty horses. And this, they insist, may run the cattlemen out of business.

Pickens may have money and high connections, but she is confronting powerful forces. The cattle ranchers, according to Chris Heyde, deputy director of the Animal Welfare Institute, an animal-rights group in Washington, have an "absolute choke hold on the state legislature in Nevada." The ranchers are trying, so far unsuccessfully, to push through a bill that would bar wild horses from having access to water — condemning them to die of thirst. In the U.S. Congress, the cattlemen have allies among legislators from 21 farm states and the influential agricultural lobby.

Nobody can dictate to ranchers if they want to raise cows or kangaroos on their own land. But in Nevada's high deserts and extreme weather, most ranches are granted access to vast tracts of federal land for grazing. Pickens' original spread of 28 sq. mi. (72.5 sq km) gives her access to another 875 sq. mi. (2,266 sq km) of federal grazing land. And it is this public land — controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — that has become the battleground for Pickens and the cattlemen.

Pickens envisions Mustang Monument with a museum and lodging for visitors in futuristic teepee villages beside a creek from where they can view the roaming mustangs. Because her horse sanctuary will partly be on federal land, and because she is angling for federal help to keep the refuge running long after she is gone, Pickens needs approval from the BLM. So far, the agency has been slow to respond. Animal-rights advocate Heyde says the federal bureaucracy is lassoed to the cattlemen's interests, and has been "trying to tie Ms. Pickens' applications in knots." The BLM says it is studying Pickens' proposals before making a decision on whether to help her sanctuary.

Caught in the middle is Pickens' ranch manager, Clay Nannini, a rangy ex-rodeo cowboy from Wells, Nev., who is as adept with his smart phone as he is with his lariat. "Some of the local ranchers could care less, some are in favor, but mostly they're opposed to what Ms. Pickens is trying to do," he says with a shrug. "People I've been involved with all my life are giving me the bird and walking away."

Back in the sagebrush, Pickens grabs an armful of fresh-cut hay and walks boldly toward a wild stallion, black with a splash of white between its wary eyes. The stallion was gelded a few days before and is understandably skittish, retreating from her fearless advance. "Riding isn't a big part of my life," says Pickens, who was born in Iraq to a British father and a Lebanese mother. "I used to watch [the TV horse opera] Bonanza, and when I came to America, I saw that the things I loved about it — like the mustangs — were being destroyed."

Pickens has always had a soft spot for animals. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she and her husband arranged six airlifts for 800 stranded dogs and cats. Pickens says this gave her a direct, emotional satisfaction she never got by just writing checks for charity. Then an animal activist drew her attention to the plight of wild mustangs.

Brought to North America by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century, the horses thrived in the boundless, grassy plains of the West. Estimates in the early 1900s put the number of wild horses at over 2 million, but by the 1960s, the herds were on their way to extinction, with only 17,000 mustangs left. Herds were being rounded up and butchered. Domestic horses were not spared slaughter: even tottering old thoroughbreds ended up being sold for horseflesh. Today the BLM reckons that there are more than 33,000 horses in the wild, far too many, the agency insists.

This struck a chord with Pickens. With her first husband, the late Gulfstream Aerospace founder Allen Paulson, she had bred racehorses. "The Japanese actually made a big deal of eating a Kentucky Derby winner named Ferdinand," says Pickens, who is a dainty vegetarian. "I was horrified."

Her Bonanza-inspired spiritual quest to save America's mustangs belies the fact that Pickens is an astute operator. As T. Boone Pickens tells TIME, "When Madeleine sets her sights on something, you best get on board or get out of the way. She makes things happen. I'm amazed by her passion for horses and preserving this critical piece of America's heritage."

A formidable duo, the billionaire couple lobbied Congress successfully in 2007 to ban horse slaughter in the U.S. Consequently, many horses are trucked over the border to Canada and Mexico to be butchered and exported to Japan and Europe, where horse meat is a prized delicacy. In 2008, the BLM announced that it was considering a massive cull of wild horses. The BLM backed off on this due to public outrage, but it spurred Pickens into action nonetheless. In 2011, she closed on two adjacent Nevada ranches for her eco-sanctuary, a place where mustangs could roam free and the public could watch these equine icons of the Wild West.

The BLM keeps more than 41,700 horses in captivity. More than 15,000 are crammed into corrals, "butt to butt," says Pickens, while the others are kept in long-term pastures, costing taxpayers about $70 million a year to feed and care for the animals. "Forget about sentiment. You're talking about $70 million for a government that's busted," she argues. "I can look after mustangs more cheaply and humanely."

Prodded by the cattlemen, the BLM rounds up thousands of wild horses every year, using helicopters that swoop low over the stampeding herds and drive them until they are so exhausted, they can be easily caught. The BLM says more than 33,000 mustangs and wild burros still roam free, more than can be sustained by the available pasture, but animal-rights activists dispute this. Says Heyde: "There are 8 million cattle and sheep on government land, and yet a few horses get blamed for everything."

Pickens knows that even with her fortune, she can't save all of America's mustangs. With pasture sparse, even her massive ranch can handle only 1,800 mustangs. But she insists that her eco-sanctuary will serve as a model for other reserves where horses can run free and that the size of the herd can be managed. With no predators and ample food, a herd of mustangs can double in size in five years, a prospect that scares cattle ranchers. Steve Boyce, a former President of the Nevada Cattleman's Association, says, "We're made out to be the bad guys here. But there's a limited amount of forage out there. In the winter, it's all frozen out. We're worried that if the horses aren't gathered, they'll eat the pasture for our cattle."

A helicopter buzzes down to chauffeur Pickens on an aerial tour of her property. She is joined by Tommy, her pet dachshund, who is so accustomed to his mistress's jet-set lifestyle that, as soon as the helicopter roars skyward, he falls asleep in her lap. The helicopter banks over juniper-clad mountains, into the high meadows. And there below is a herd of mustangs, racing along the mountain ridge, wild and free-spirited. "To me, these mustangs are emblematic of America's freedom," Pickens says later. "And they're ending up on dinner plates in Japan and Europe."

Anti-Anorexia Model Isabelle Caro Dies at 28

2010-12-30T02:54:00.000-08:00

A French model who posed nude for an anti-anorexia campaign while suffering from the illness herself has died at the age of 28, her colleagues confirm.

Isabelle Caro died on 17 November after being treated for an acute respiratory illness, Swiss singer Vincent Bigler told journalists.

He added that he did not know the exact cause of death.

Ms Caro appeared in posters for an anti-anorexia campaign in 2007, but the ads were banned in several countries.

It was not clear why it took so long for her death to be made public.

The anti-anorexia campaign came amid a debate among fashion circles on the use of "ultra-skinny" models on the catwalk.

The AFP news agency reported her as saying at the time: "I thought this could be a chance to use my suffering to get a message across, and finally put an image on what thinness represents and the danger it leads to - which is death."

The model, who was 5ft 4in tall (1.65m) at the time of the poster campaign, reportedly weighed 32kg (five stones).

Ms Caro's acting instructor, Daniele Dubreuil-Prevot, told the Associated Press news agency that Ms Caro had died after returning to France from a job in Tokyo.

She said family and close friends had held a funeral ceremony in Paris last month.

Mr Bigler, who was a friend of Ms Caro, told Swiss media: "She was hospitalized for 15 days with acute respiratory disease and was recently also very tired, but I do not know the cause of her death."

Danica Patrick At Indy500, Her Best Not Enough

2010-05-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

Danica Patrick might not be IndyCar's most popular driver anymore, either because fans are tired of the excuses, don't like her turning on her teammates, or are unhappy because she's splitting time between open-wheel and NASCAR. Patrick has said she made a mistake in criticizing her teammates, but insists there are issues with the car. She'll start outside the top 10 for the first time in six Indys.

Despite the sexy commercials, big-buck sponsors, model looks and international attention, she's yet to win the big one - the Indy 500 - or even string together enough smaller wins to match the attention she garners off the track.

Moreover, to some she has committed the ultimate open-wheel sin by dabbling with those full-fendered boys in NASCAR.

Could there be a Danica backlash brewing?

As the sport gets ready today for the IndyCar Series' 94th running of the Indianapolis 500, some long-time followers of open-wheel racing are thinking there just might be.

Last week, after publicly blaming her car for her poor qualifying effort that has her starting in Row 8, fans booed Patrick at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which some have taken as a sign that her pristine image may be starting to turn.

"Truthfully, I talked to some of the fans that were there," says Marty Reid, who will work the broadcast booth for ABC's telecast today starting at 1 p.m. "There is a bit of resentment that she went over to NASCAR by some of them. There's those that felt like she threw her team under the bus."

The NASCAR foray has Patrick testing the waters in a handful of races this season, which started at Daytona in February. For fans of IndyCar, which popularity wise is behind NASCAR, that was like someone willingly leaving the Yankees for the Red Sox.

"Getting booed does not make me want to go somewhere else more," Patrick tells Bloomberg. "Hopefully just as quickly as they get mad, they get happy and cheer for me."

Not surprising, there are a handful of I Hate Danica Patrick pages on Facebook, where, of course, the fans are piling on.

"She's setting out to be a Sideshow Performer instead of a legitimate driver!" says one poster this week.

Patrick is one of four women starting in Sunday's race. Ana Beatriz will start 21st, Simona De Silvestro will start 22nd, Patrick 23rd, and Sarah Fisher 29th.

Sunday is the first time Patrick hasn't started among the top-10 at Indy where she finished third last year.

Helio Castroneves, also a fan favorite, is on the pole for the race, and at the precipice of winning a historic four Indy 500s.

Yet, despite Castroneves' appeal, a majority of the eyes in the stands - and the media - will be focusing on what Patrick does.

No other race on the IndyCar circuit draws as many fans or media attention, so Patrick's turn comes on the sport's biggest stage.

"More than personality, success breeds fans," said long-time motorsports writer Lewis Franck, a contributor to ESPN the Magazine. "It's been two years since her only victory."

Franck suggests that Patrick's honeymoon is over.

"It hurts my feelings, of course, I don't want to be booed," Patrick told ESPN's Hannah Storm this week.

"I feel bad if I offended anyone, for sure, and, of course, I don't like not to have a good public opinion."

Earlier this year, Patrick ran at Daytona in cars co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The two together, interestingly, are in similar predicaments. Both are the most popular drivers in their genres, both are with good teams, yet neither has been able to put together the performance on the track to match the fan and media attention.

Likewise, those vaulted spots carry an additional burden to win that, in Patrick's case, isn't riding on the shoulders of the drivers starting next to her today.

"They're all competitors, they all want to win, but Danica, in my opinion, because of the exposure, the platform, the high Q score, the recognition, she carries more pressure," says Terry Angstadt, president of the IndyCar Series commercial division.

Angstadt says he was a little surprised by the boos Patrick got last week, but he says Patrick has always been very passionate and outspoken.

More important, controversy also builds attention for the sport.

NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon, Angstadt noted, gets as many boos as cheers, and that hasn't hurt the stock car series.

"She will have far more people cheering for her to make history," Angstadt said of Sunday's race.

There's no doubt that simply having her in the field is good for the IndyCar series.

Watch any show skewed toward a male audience - even the Super Bowl - and one is bound to see a sexy godaddy.com commercial featuring Patrick. That visibility helps bring fans to the IndyCar series.

Fans line up at trackside souvenir stands in far greater numbers for Patrick than any driver. And, earlier this week, when the series brought the drivers to Manhattan for a promotional event she got a louder cheer than anyone else in the field.

Yet, cheers only go so far.

And it was outside Macy's on Tuesday that Patrick managed to do her best bit of maneuvering, steering clear of the media, save one lone interview session with Bloomberg News Service, before being whisked inside the department store to eat and sign autographs.

ESPN.com writer Terry Blount suggested that Patrick might be heading for something scarier than an Indy wreck - irrelevancy.

"I think Danica would be the first to agree, she is driven and focused to perform every time out there," Angstadt said. "Is she happy with where she is right now? I don't think so. Everyone involved, especially Danica, understand its performance that counts."

And for IndyCar, having Patrick do well is what everyone is rooting for in Indianapolis.

Ratings spike when she does well, such as her third-place finish last year.

When she ran at Daytona in February, ratings jumped more than 30%.

"Our sports world is just like everything else in business: What have you done for me lately?" says Reid. "I think there are some fans out there that are going to be demanding her to do well and not just to finish in the top 10, but she's got to have the podium, she's got to win. They're going to keep putting that pressure on as time goes on."

That pressure could be relieved - along with some of the boos - with a win Sunday at Indianapolis.

"I might get booed if I win, too, but that's OK," Patrick told the Associated Press. "Winning will solve everything for me. That's the be-all, end-all cure for me. I don't know if it'll cure everything from the fans' perspectives, but I can't force them to feel a certain way."

Becoming the first woman to ever win the historic race could erase bad feelings and propel Patrick to even greater heights.

"That would be a real big deal," Angstadt said of a Patrick win Sunday. "That would be world-wide news."

Page 2

Only Bad Mothers Don't Breast-Feed Their Babies?

2009-08-03T06:44:00.000-07:00

World Breastfeeding Week can leave bottle-feeding mothers feeling guilty and resentful of society's judgemental pressure.

Picture this. A newborn child is brought to the mother for its first feed. Mother and child both glow with health and happiness as they bond over this age-old ritual, which has well-documented benefits.

But in the case of Simran Jha, 28, the experience wasn't quite like this rosy picture. "It was embarrassing as I tried to breast-feed but couldn't produce milk for over an hour," says the accounts executive. The fact that all her relatives were around, trying to figure out what was going wrong, only added to her woes.

Jha eventually opted for bottle-feeding a month after her baby was born but resents the labels that come with the decision. "Women who don't breast-feed their kids are accused of being selfish and lazy," she says. "To people who make such harsh allegations, I say: it is my breast, my milk, and my child."

The benefits of breast-feeding have been well established -- it is nutritious, economical, and boosts the immunity of infants, besides reducing the chances of breast cancer in women. But as a massive campaign to promote World Breast Feeding Week kicks off, it has left a number of bottle-feeding mothers feeling alienated and defensive.

Rina Bhatnagar*, 25, a homemaker, hates it when she watches TV and comes across an advertisement that encourages breast-feeding: "It is all fake; the mum looks happy, her skin is glowing and healthy -- very unlike what actually happened in my life."

Bhatnagar didn't have an easy delivery. After a caesarean section, her wound didn't heal for a couple of months. "While breast-feeding, you are asked to sit up straight and feed your kid. That was very painful for me. I have on many occasions given my kid a milk bottle as I didn't have the energy to sit up or feed him."

Dr Anjali Malpani, author of How To Have A Baby, says, "There are young urban mothers who are preferring bottle milk for a variety of reasons. But it is rare that society understands their position. These mothers are faced with societal pressure and feel guilty for not breast-feeding their children."

Doctors say that high stress levels and demanding jobs among young mothers along with fewer public facilities for breast-feeding are aggravating the problem. "The city lacks a breast-feeding culture and it is rare to find nursing rooms at public places where mothers can breast-feed their kids," says gynaecologist Rashmi Nair. "In restaurants, mothers are asked to use the most uncomfortable place to breast-feed their kids -- the toilet. So when out on parties or at work, if the mother happens to forget to pump her milk, she will usually ask the nanny to give bottle milk to the kid and, over a period of time, bottle milk replaces breast milk."

While most mothers insist that what they feed their children is a personal choice, the spiral of negative emotions can cause reluctance to seek support on bottle-feeding their infants. For Kurien, lack of information on bottle milk was a disadvantage. "I once placed the bottle with the milk inside the microwave to heat it. Later when I removed the bottle the plastic had melted. It is taboo to speak about bottle milk when you have a young child at home. If you try to speak to doctors and relatives about how to proceed with bottle milk, you get a lecture on breast-feeding instead. There is little information and literature available on what can be given to kids who aren't breast-fed."

For Jha, World Breastfeeding Week is not a happy prospect. It is likely to be filled with phone calls from relatives to tell her how wrong she is in not breast-feeding her child. "Neither my parents nor my in-laws live with me," she says. "So during the week, they will take the opportunity to remind me of my responsibilities."

Breast-feeding advocates are adamant, however, that there should be more promotion for breast-feeding as the rates are falling.

Shah Rukh Khan and Ash Jodi are back Together

2009-08-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

Time heals all wounds, especially in the entertainment business' and none would vouch for this truism of life more than super icons Shah Rukh

Remember, they parted on a sour note after her hasty departure from his home production Chalte Chalte six years ago?

She had already canned a portion of the film when Salman Khan reportedly landed on the sets... and, well, the rest as they say is history.

Post that scene, SRK let Ash off the hook and took Rani Mukerji as his leading lady. And, since then, many big banners including Yashraj and Dharma failed to reunite the pair that created such magic in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas.

Subsequently, though the Bollywood Badshah wasn’t invited to the Ash-Abhishek wedding, King Khan and wife Gauri posed with the Bachchans for the shutterbugs at the Drona premiere last year. And more recently, at Karan Johar’s birthday party on May 25, the two couples — SRK and Gauri, Ash and Abhi — spent quality time together.

In the light of this thawing of relations, comes the news of cinematographer-director Rajiv Menon (whose Kandukonden Kandukonden in Tamil had Tabu and Ash) reuniting the SRK-Ash jodi. Menon is said to have flown to London to narrate a dramatic script (with Ash in mind) to Shah Rukh, which the actor liked.

At this point of his career, SRK is looking to do films that explore his dramatic intensity as in Devdas. He has no problems working with Ash and she with him. At Karan’s birthday, the Bachchans and Khans got along famously. Rajiv Menon’s film is being seen as a natural progression towards mending the bridges between two of the most powerful families of Bollywood.

8 steps to go about a Sexy Eye Make-up

2009-08-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

Sexy eye makeup will only really be sexy if you know what you are doing. That means that before you can learn how to apply sexy eye makeup, you need to figure out what your best colors are. To do this, you can either experiment or ask an expert. Keep in mind that the colors you choose may also depend on what you are wearing.

Prep your eyes with concealer: Concealer can be used to cover dark circles or the bluish discolouration just under your inner eye. Apply three dots of concealer under each eye. Start at the inner corner where skin tends to be darkest, then under the pupil and the third on the outer edge. Pat until it disappears.

Apply eye base to your lid: Eye base is the secret to keeping your shadow in place for hours. Your eye shadow is likely to end up as a greasy line if you don’t prime your lid properly first.

Apply shadow: It’s great to use a three-toned shadow and build from lids to brow. Start with a light colour that almost matches your lid. Sweep the colour across the lid and up to your brow bone. Follow with a medium colour across your lid only. Build on this with a darker colour in the crease. Blend the colours well.

Follow with eyeliner: Dark eye shadows work great as eyeliners. Wet a slanted brush, and then dip in a dark eye shadow. Line eyes as close to the upper lashes as possible from the inner corner to the outer corner. Follow with liner on bottom eyes, but only line from the middle of the eye out. Smudge the bottom line with a cotton bud. You don't want a prominent line. For a smoky eye, use a brush to pat in a dark eye shadow along the upper lid and below the lid.

Brighten your eyes with a highlighter : This step involves only the inside part of the eye. With a gold or pink highlighter, draw a v-shaped shape that follows the inner corner of your eye from top to bottom. Blend with your fingers. This will help make eyes ‘pop.’

Highlight your brow: Take the same highlighter and dab it on your brow bone, concentrating on your mid-brow outward. Blend with your finger.

Curl lashes: An eyelash curler will make even long lashes look gorgeous. For added effect, you can heat the curler under a blow dryer for a couple seconds. Test curler before applying to lashes because you could burn yourself.

Apply mascara: Place the wand of your mascara brush at the bottom of lashes and wiggle back and forth. Follow with a few sweeps of the wand. Apply to bottom lashes as well.

"The Female Genitalia", If God made it, Why should Man remove it?

2009-07-31T04:46:00.000-07:00

'They said they were going to give us ostrich eggs,' Esther Mbarga, aged 49, recalls. "'They're huge,' they said. 'Come and we'll give them to you.'" Aged ten or eleven, she and her friends had never seen an ostrich egg. They were really excited. They were taken deep into the bush and waited expectantly. Then, one at a time, they were led off to have their genitalia mutilated. Esther was pinned to the ground by four women and cut by a fifth. She limped away bleeding and crying. It was hard to walk and urination was incredibly painful for days afterwards. For some reason, the women weren't happy with the excision. On further checking they decided that there was more to cut. They cut more the following day and yet more a week later.

Esther lives in Burkina Faso where female genital mutilation is not legal but is still carried out covertly. Female genital mutilation comprises 'all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons'. Not only may the clitoris be partially or wholly removed, but also one or both of the labia. Sometimes the vaginal orifice is narrowed by cutting and repositioning the labia. The World Health Organisation estimates that 91.5 million girls over the age of 9 in Africa have been mutilated in one of these ways. According to the most recent U.N. statistics, 72.5% of women in Burkina Faso aged between 15 and 49 have undergone genital mutilation. In the majority of cases this procedure is arranged and carried out by the older women in a community.

As well as violating a woman's human rights and causing short term pain and trauma, a mutilated woman may suffer chronic pain and urinary infections for the rest of her life. Her sexual enjoyment is inevitably diminished, she may be unable to give birth normally and her child is more likely to die during or immediately after birth.

Some say that the practice began when men, going to war, wanted to ensure the fidelity of their wives. The reason given today is that it prevents women from being promiscuous. That was why Esther and her friends were cut: 'our parents believed that if a girl was not cut she would love boys a lot and be unfaithful to her husband.'

Certainly, sex is far less enjoyable for a woman who has been mutilated. It may even be very painful. Oumoul Koulsoum Bouda, aged 24, remembers, 'My cousin was married for two years. They couldn't make love. Each time it hurt her and she cried.' It seems paradoxical, when this practice is carried out for the sake of the husband, that men often cite the fact that a wife either doesn't want to have sex or isn't good at it as a reason for divorce.

In 2008 the World Health Organisation produced an interagency statement reaffirming a commitment to eliminate female genital mutilation within a generation. In Burkina Faso, the government has made a commitment to eradicate the practice through educational efforts. Joining the fight are numerous NGOs, such as RECIF, PromoFemmes and The Association of Women Jurists. However, governmental or institutional awareness that FGM is unacceptable is not enough – the men and women of Burkina Faso need to feel the same way. Attitudes to women must change.

As it stands now, the 'ideal' Burkinabe woman is submissive to her husband. 'Before you go to your husband's house, there's a little ceremony,' says Oumoul. 'The old women give you advice: don't disobey your husband… even if he does something you don't like, keep quiet about it.' After marriage, a woman's family may be unsupportive if she tries to stand up for herself. 'If a woman goes to her family with a legitimate grievance, they're likely to tell her to calm down and go home.'

A woman who does not conform to society's ideal is a source of shame to her family. Oumoul's grandmother wanted her granddaughter to be mutilated because she said it would be a source of shame to her if she wasn't. 'She said her friends would mock her.'

Isabelle Zongo works for Marie Stopes International in Burkina Faso. 'Shame plays a very powerful factor in promulgating social conventions,' she says. 'Even if a wife wants to leave her husband - be it for domestic violence, insistence on mutilating daughters or other reasons - there is really nothing she can do. She cannot leave and go to her family for support as she will bring shame on her family for acting outside social conventions. Because of the weight that shame carries, many women withstand domestic violence and are unable to seek any kind of help for fear of bringing shame on their family.'

The future isn't entirely bleak, however. Among educated men and women, at least, attitudes are changing. Mothers are beginning to refuse to have their daughters mutilated - Oumoul's mother was one of them. Oumoul herself believes that women must start to stand up for themselves and should never become dependent on a man. When asked which women she admires she replies, 'Ellen Johnson-Surleaf and Angela Merkel.'

As for Esther, she believes that the answer lies in Christianity. A woman, she says, should only be submissive to God and a husband should love his wife like Christ loved his church. She is adamant that she will not have her own daughter mutilated. 'Enough is enough,' she says. 'If it wasn't good, God wouldn't have made it. If God made it, why should man remove it?

Female Genital Mutilation: A Practical Guide to Worldwide Laws & Policies by Anika Rahman

Female Genital Mutilation: Legal, Cultural And Medical Issues by Rosemarie Skaine

Paris Hilton's Sermon to a Younger Sister

2009-07-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

Paris Hilton wants to warn young girls from making "humiliating" sex tapes.

The blonde socialite was devastated when X-rated footage of her and ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon surfaced in 2003 and has vowed to stop other girls from agreeing to film themselves engaging in sex acts to please their lovers.

She said: "I want young girls to never put themselves in that situation I was in. Don't ever let someone talk you into doing something you don't want to do."

She added: "I was humiliated, embarrassed and in shock that it happened. It wasn't my fault, it was something that someone did to me, so I've just learned to be a strong woman and nothing can hurt me at this point.

"It was definitely very painful. When you trust someone and love someone - for them to do that to you, it's really hard. It's something that bothers me everyday."

The 28-year-old hotel heiress - who receives a percentage of profits from the footage, which was eventually released as a DVD entitled One Night In Paris - discussed the incident in a documentary about her rise to fame.

Paris wants to use the MTV program Paris, Not France to clear up misconceptions about her party-girl lifestyle.

She explained: "I think there are a lot of people that have misconceptions about me. They assume I'm just a party girl and they don't realise there's a business behind it. I've created this over the past 10 years.

"I think when people haven't met me they might think that I'm spoiled, that I'm a brat, that I haven't worked for what I have. I've worked very hard for what I've achieved. None of this was given to me. I've done it all by myself."

Miranda Otto, Frances O'Connor, Deborra-lee Furness, Victoria Haralabidou, Tasma Walton and Sophie Lowe in 'Blessed', opens September 10.

2009-07-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

The chance to explore the complexities of the mother-child relationship in new movie Blessed was too much to pass up for mothers Miranda Otto, Deborra-lee Furness and Frances O'Connor.

The Australian actresses join forces in director Ana Kokkinos's film, adapted from the play Who's Afraid of the Working Class?

Furness plays Tanya, a married mother of a teenage boy and the family's sole breadwinner. Otto is Bianca, who is more like a sister than a mother to teenage Katrina. O'Connor is Rhonda, a welfare-dependent woman whose three children have different fathers.

They are joined by Russian-born actress Victoria Haralabidou, who plays Gina, a widowed and very religious mother who feels her son and daughter are a mystery.

Speaking before the world premiere of Blessed at the Melbourne International Film Festival yesterday, the four women said they were drawn to the project because of the powerful bond between mother and child.

"It's about mothers and children and I think that's something we probably all relate to," O'Connor said. "It's the first relationship you have and it's a very intimate relationship and it's something that influences you for the rest of your life in all your other relationships. So it's very powerful because of that."

Otto, Furness and O'Connor all have four-year-old children.

"It's a huge responsibility," Furness, wife of Hollywood star Hugh Jackman, said. "Because, if there's something dysfunctional that's going on, you are going to hand it on to that child and that child's going to hand it on.

"You look at the characters in this film, like Frances's character - you can see obviously her mother would have handed on not a very positive message."

Haralabidou is pregnant with her first child, and said she found it fascinating watching the finished film and taking notes. She found out she was pregnant at the time.

Unravel The Secret behind a Passionate Kiss

2008-11-29T18:30:00.000-08:00

Kissing is probably one of the best things you can do with your lips. It’s not just the most passionate way of getting close to your partner, it’s also something that enlightens your mood and adds zing to your love life. So, what comes to your mind when you first think of kissing? A peck on the cheek or a passionate French kiss? Well, if you want to explore what turns on your mate or simply add creativity to your kissing techniques, here are some lip smacking ideas …

Reverse lip kiss – Remember the sensuous kiss exchanged between Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in Spiderman ? You can re-create the sizzling kiss with your partner. Of course you can’t hang upside down like the famed super hero, so kiss your partner when he/she is lying down or seated. Come from behind and have them tilt their head backwards. Lower down your head and gently kiss their lower lip and feel your partner breathe on your neck. Abhishek, who works with a software company in Mumbai says, “My girlfriend really took me by surprise when I was working on my laptop. She came from behind, tilted my head backwards and gave me a kiss upside-down while I could feel her hair tickle my neck. I must confess I was quite impressed with her initiative and it really turned me on.”

Underwater kiss – Dive to the bottom of the swimming pool, embrace your lover under water and suck in as if you were sucking air from their mouth. Leave them gasping for breath just for a few seconds. By the time you run out of air, reach the top, breathe and get set for the act again. If you are a guy, just pull your babe up above the water, while remaining in the pool and gently caress her thighs while rolling your tongue around her navel to provide the ultimate erotic sensation. Ashish Singh (name changed on request) says, “I would love to lock lips with my girlfriend under water. I love water sports and I think it would just add to the sizzling underwater action. What can be more sensuous?”

Ring kiss – When you and your partner are sitting together on a couch or lazing in bed, gently hold his hand and start kissing. Then smoothly, suck a ring out of his finger with the help of your teeth. Roll your tongue and slide the ring slightly to hold it around your tongue. Then share a passionate kiss by rolling the tip of your tongue to trace his lips. Let him suck the ring from your tongue and you can try stealing it again, it will heat up the scene.

Foot kiss - This one’s not just amorous, but also an erotic gesture. Gently move your fingers on his/her bare foot. It may tickle your partner initially, but relax and enjoy the sensations! Then, gently kiss her foot and suck her toes. You can make the act even more intense by rolling an ice cube on her foot as you gradually move the cube up her legs and then to her inner thighs. “My partner turns me on by massaging my foot. He rubs his thumbs in circular motions from the heel to the toe and then sucks my toes one by one. Some people think it’s kinky, but you have to try it to believe it. It works for me and it’s even more fun if you do it in the 69 position and face each other’s feet,” says newly married Meenakshi (name changed on request) .

Nip kiss - When you kiss your partner next time, gently nibble on his/her lips. Be careful not to bite too hard and hurt them though. While smooching on one’s lips is enjoyable, use your imagination and try exploring other body parts as well. Nibbling on the neck, for instance, is a great turn on. If you do it well, this kiss ignites flames of passion that will arouse you to explore your beau’s body further. Arvind (name changed on request) , who got married a year ago, says, “If I really want to drive my wife wild, nibbling is the best way to do so. It makes her squirm with desire. It is the best foreplay act and gets you in the mood for more action. Biting her gently at the right time and the right place just makes her scream for more.”

Earlobe kiss - As the name suggests, gently sip and suck your partner’s earlobe. Cuddle close to your sweetheart, bite gently to make him/her moan and whisper something naughty. Let him hear you breathe and feel your wet lips. This will surely make him want you more than ever. However, take extra care to avoid loud, sucking noises.

My hubby simply loves it when I bite him on his earlobe. And if I say something wild or naughty during the act, it sets his mood right. Just telling him what exactly I want him to do to me..the dirtiest of things makes him long for more, says Suchita Mishra (name changed on request) from Pune.

Discover the Male Pleasure Zone (G-Spot)

2008-11-29T18:29:00.000-08:00

It’s not just women who are lucky enough to have the ‘fabled’ G spot, the route to sexual satisfaction, for men too are gifted with the ‘pleasure zone’ - and the hot spot on the male body is prostate. Yes, you heard it right. After years of bedroom exploration and debate, an expert has come to the conclusion that when it comes to ‘male G-spot’, the prostate reigns supreme.

As a man becomes sexually aroused, the prostate begins to swell with fluid, sending pleasurable sensations throughout his loins. These moan-worthy reactions get more and more intense, pulsating throughout a man’s loins as he approaches orgasm.

However, digging for this piece of gold, which is the size of a chestnut, is not that easy.

Therefore, Dr. Yvonne K. Fulbright, who is a sex educator, relationship expert, columnist and founder of Sexuality Source Inc, has provided some tips as to how to embark upon the ”treasure hunt”

1. Know what you’re looking for.
The prostate, which is found wrapped around the urethra, below the urinary bladder, is a firm, partly muscular, partly glandular body.

2. Realise that almost any time is a good time.
Unless a man isn’t in the mood or prefers to be turned on first, the prostate is always up for action. While this erogenous zone comes alive when a male becomes sexually excited, it can also send amazing sensations sans erection and other stimulation. It is best, however, for a man to be already aroused before you go “probing,” lest he’s likelier to experience pain or discomfort.

3. Discuss the preferred method of stimulation.
The best way to access the prostate involves going to a place where more than just the sun doesn’t shine. There are external ways to stimulate this organ, but you’ll have to experiment, making communication key.

4. Explore different positions.
The prostate is best stimulated when a man is in a position that allows stimulation of the entire erogenous area.

5. Try a sex toy.
There are plenty of sexual enhancement products, including vibrators, which are designed specifically for prostate stimulation.

6. Know that prostate play isn’t for everyone.
A person’s discomfort with this type of sex play can override pleasures, neither of which does anybody any good. Some men, too, don’t enjoy prostate stimulation at all, while others really don’t think that much about it.

Britney Spears Makes a Comeback to X Factor After Four Years

2008-11-29T05:23:00.000-08:00

Britney Spears will appear on the X Factor tonight for her first UK television performance for more than four years.

The pop singer will perform her current single Womanizer, while the five remaining finalists will each cover one of her songs.

Her appearance is part of a whistle-stop tour to promote the release of her sixth studio album, Circus, which is out in the UK next week.

Spears, who is 27 on Tuesday, recently announced two concerts in London next summer as part of her world tour. She is scheduled to play at the O2 Arena in London on June 3 and 4.

The new album and tour mark a comeback for the singer, who in recent years has hit the headlines for her turbulent private life.

In January this year police took her to a psychiatric hospital, fearing she would harm herself. Her parents said at the time that they believed her life was at risk.

A representative for Spears said she would only be performing on X Factor and would not coach the show's contestants, as previous guests have done.

Contestant Alexandra Burke, who will be singing Toxic, said: "When I was nine, Britney brought out Baby One More Time, and I loved her.

"I'm very excited about meeting her. This is the Britney we all know and love.

"I hope I can do my Britney song justice, with my own twist."

Eoghan Quigg will perform Sometimes, Ruth Lorenzo will sing I Love Rock 'n' Roll, Diana Vickers will sing I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman and JLS will take on Baby One More Time.

The 16-year-old pop star and actress Miley Cyrus will also perform on the show.

Previous stars to have appeared on this year's X Factor include Take That, Mariah Carey and Girls Aloud.

10 Hurdles to Overcome When Approaching Women

2008-11-28T10:08:00.000-08:00

Starting a conversation with an attractive woman can be a nerve-racking experience. In fact, many guys are so intimidated by attractive women that they avoid most females they don't know; in turn, missing opportunities to meet potential girlfriends every day.

The solution here is to overcome your "knee jerk" reaction to avoid attractive woman and learn to approach them with confidence.

Here are 10 tips to help you do it:

Approach her no matter what
If you approach, you win -- no matter what happens. Most guys are too focused and concerned about a conversation going well and walking away with a phone number. This is a big mistake. Look at it this way: As long as you open your mouth and say something -- anything at all -- you're doing what 95% of guys can only dream about. Congratulate yourself the instant you start the conversation -- after all, you're already a cut above the rest! Once you've made this initial verbal contact, relax and enjoy the chat with her.

Ignore your excuses
One of the best ways to move forward and start a conversation is to learn to ignore your own excuses: "She'll never go for me;" "She'll think I'm a slime-ball or a pervert;" "She's busy, I don't want to interrupt her.". All these excuses come from the desire to stay in your "comfort zone," and each one is complete BS. As soon as you notice these excuses in your head, stop thinking, go over to her and start talking. You'll be glad you did.

Screw up big time
Are you a perfectionist? If so, work on restraining your need to get things just right (at least when it comes to the female sex). When you expect to have perfect interactions with women, you put too much pressure on yourself, which makes it harder to get off your butt and take action. Even if you mess up, be happy with yourself for taking the initiative.

Focus on how you'll feel if you don't talk to her
One reason you hesitate to start talking to her is because it feels uncomfortable to take the leap. But the fact is, it's more uncomfortable not to. Think about it: If you approach her, you may be nervous at first, but before you know it, the conversation is over. And if you don't approach her, you'll wish you had, and you'll carry that regret with you for the rest of the day. Save yourself the agony and go talk to her.

Don't put undue pressure on yourself
When most guys see a woman they'd like to meet, they immediately view her as a potential date -- which creates all sorts of pressure. Instead, look at the next woman you meet as an opportunity to work on your "skills." This "mindset shift" helps you to be less attached to the outcome; in turn, making you more relaxed and more likely to start the conversation. Don't forget: You also improve the chances of it turning out to be a fun experience for everyone.

Use fear as your signal to approach
Learn to make fear your friend. Next time you're afraid to say something to a woman, realize that fear is a sign that you need to start the interaction. Using fear as a guide allows you to stretch your comfort zone, become a more confident guy and meet new women. Just get it done and you'll feel great!

Be courageous and you'll become confident
How would you define courage? Is it having no fear of doing "scary" stuff? Actually, the correct definition of courage is "the ability to take action in spite of fear." The courageous man isn't the one who doesn't feel fear -- it's the one who can push himself to take action even though he is feeling afraid. The next time you want to talk to a woman and you begin to feel that nervous energy rushing through your body, see it as an opportunity to have courage and channel your fear to make the conversation happen. Your self-confidence will get an instant boost, and you might just meet a great woman in the process.

Don't stereotype
Sure, every once in a while, a woman is going to act a little grouchy when you try to start a conversation with her. But don't forget, this is the exception, not the rule. Once you start approaching more women, you'll find that most are friendly as long as you don't act like a dumbass. So stop telling yourself that every woman will turn out to be snooty, because it's far from the truth.

Make the move
Do you want to know a simple yet effective trick to get unstuck? Stop trying to figure out what you're going to say and just begin moving in her direction. On the way over, you'll naturally notice something you can comment on and use that to start the conversation -- no matter how simple it may be. The key is to say something to get the ball rolling and let things progress from there.

Grab every opportunity to talk to women
Did you just miss a perfect opportunity to talk to a woman? No, you didn't -- it's never too late. Stop what you're doing, find her, and have the conversation you should have had earlier. You'll find it's no big deal and she'll be impressed that you went out on a limb to speak to her.
master your fear of picking up
Apply all 10 tips listed here, and you'll be on your way to seducing women. Be cocky, be funny and, soon enough, you'll get more dates then you have time for.

7 Ways Texting Can Ruin Your Date

2008-11-25T04:41:00.000-08:00

For those of you who use text messaging as a form of communication with someone you're dating, whether you have a BlackBerry or an Apple iPhone, text messaging is the most abused and misinterpreted form of communication out there.

There are some things for which text messaging is great. It's great for confirming things ("See you tonight at 7:00 at Joe's Restaurant.") It's great as a good night kiss ("Did you get home safely?"). It's great to reconfirm things ("What time are we meeting on Sunday? Let me know.") It's great for when you want to lob in a quick message to someone when they can't talk on the phone ("Can't wait to see you tonight.")

Texting is all about short conversations, and can be useful and fun in the dating context. Texting used in certain other ways, however, gets ugly within the dating context -- and can really get you into trouble. Some of these uses should be avoided because they can cause unintended misunderstandings, while others are simply bad manners or outright rude! So, here are seven of the biggest misuses of texting that you should avoid in the dating context:

1. Save the Jokes. One drawback of texting (as with any written form of communication) is that it is sometimes difficult to convey the tone of what you write. Words are often misinterpreted. You can text somebody something that you think is a joke, and they don't read it that way. This will get you into trouble, because they may never call you back and give you the opportunity to straighten out the misunderstanding. So if you want to tell someone you're dating a joke, it's best to save it and tell it to them in person.

2. Texting is Not Intended to Cancel a Date. If you don't want to see somebody again, you need to call them and cancel the plans. “Texting is the chicken way to blow someone off, whether you ever intended to see them again or not.” Texting is the chicken way to blow someone off, whether you ever intended to see them again or not. Texting is not an excuse to be rude. Be a grown-up and pick up the phone.

3. Don't Ask Someone Out via Text Message. Women especially can't stand when a guy asks them out via text messaging. Every woman I've spoken to thinks that when a guy asks them out via text message, that he really is not that interested in them. They all wish a guy would just pick up the phone. Guys, if you're interested then be a man and just pick up the phone! Granted, some women will say yes to a text date, but they will always prefer if you call them.

4. Avoid the 'Morning After' Text. If you had a great date with someone the night before, don't text the person the minute you get up the next morning. Wait a few hours. Let the post-date recap settle down on both sides. Give someone a little time to think about you. There's no harm in waiting a few hours, especially after a first date. You don't want to look over-anxious.

5. Keep the Texting to a Minimum. Once you've texted back and forth a few times, and unless one of you is in a Turkish prison being tortured by a not-so-friendly cell mate, you need to pick up the phone and have a real conversation. You will not discover whether you share a true connection with someone by conversing with them via text message. Also, as two adults, you need to have an actual voice-to-voice conversation. So go ahead and exchange a few texts, but then get yourself on the phone!

6. You May Not Get an Answer. Just because you texted someone, doesn't mean they're going to respond. This is another issue with using text messaging as your main communication method -- especially in the dating context. You're texting back and forth with someone, then you send something to them and they don't respond. They may have gotten on the phone. They may have fallen asleep. They may have gone into a meeting. Because texting is so impersonal, though, you don't know what happened to them.

7. You Are Left Wondering. Let's say you texted someone on a Tuesday, they responded to your text, you texted them again and... now it's Friday and they still haven't texted back. What does someone do in that situation? They may not be keeping a text count like you are. They may have forgotten to text you back because they got on a long phone call or got caught up in some work, and your text may have gotten lost. Let me ask you a question? Do you answer every email that comes in... or does one sometimes get buried and go unanswered? If you haven't heard from someone in a few days, pick up the phone and call them. You never know what they're response is going to be. Most of the time you're going to be pleasantly surprised, but all of the time you're going to get your answer. That's what dating is all about... getting answers. Plus, you won't drive yourself and your friends crazy wondering.

There's a lot of misinterpretation that can happen via text messaging. Understanding all of the seven reasons above will help you navigate the fun side of texting in dating, while helping you avoid the bad side of texting in dating.

Texting is a great way have a little verbal flirting to stay connected in someone's life. It's not a replacement for a phone conversation. So if you're hoarding your cell phone minutes, I suggest you contact your provider and get some more minutes. Start having conversations again instead of hiding behind text messaging!

Susan Cheever's 'Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction'

2008-11-16T06:28:00.000-08:00

Susan Cheever is a sex addict. She wants you to know that she has had sex - a lot of sex - with all sorts of men. She has committed adultery. She has been up to hanky-panky in hotel rooms. She has made eyes at lawyers and book salesmen and the guys from the moving company.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about her new book, "Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction." (A fine title, but an even greater name for a club in the meatpacking district.) In "Desire," Cheever explores the nature of sex addiction, interspersed with her own experiences, specifically her relationship with her long-term adulterous lover turned third husband, a rakish, hard-drinking journalist named Warren. The result floats somewhere between psychology essay and issue memoir ' "A straight look at some crooked feelings," Cheever calls it ' and is slim enough to fit nicely into a copy of Smithsonian, if you want to read it on the train without advertising your innocent interest in the horizontal mambo.

Not that anyone would care. When David Duchovny recently announced that he was entering in-patient rehab for sex addiction, the whole world shrugged knowingly. We love sex ' within certain boundaries. "We are," Cheever writes, "a nation of puritanical love junkies." We are also a nation of addicts: shoe addicts, chocolate addicts, Sunday crossword addicts. The word "addict" is so overused that sex addicts have a hard time getting taken seriously, much less getting sympathy. Cheever aims to fix this.

The book ' like a manual on crabgrass control ' is divided into three parts, "What is it?" "What causes it?" and "What can we do about it?" The definition of sex addiction is tricky to pin down. What separates the addict from what Cheever terms the "passionate amateur"? It all comes down to how you feel in the morning. "Addiction," Cheever writes, "is alwaysa broken promise, whether it's a promise made to oneself or to another person." If you promise yourself you won't do it ' won't drink, won't have sex with the doorman ' and you do it anyway, it might be time to start going to 12-step meetings.

Why pursue carnal relations with the wrong people again and again? It can't all be blamed on Axe body spray. Cheever ticks off some theories ' childhood trauma, genetics, society, underlying psychological conditions, longevity. That last one is my favorite. Staying true to the missis was easier when you were dead before the seven-year-itch could hit. In the end, Cheever settles on "all of the above" ' or maybe, more accurately, a little of each.

Chastity belts, while effective, are bulky under clothing. So what is a sex addict to do? Cheever suggests we all stop giggling (and making jokes about chastity belts) and redefine how we look at addiction. "So the highschooler smokes dope and steals from his parents' liquor cabinet," she writes, "while the businessman rents videos and hires prostitutes on trips to faraway cities, and the college freshman buys bags of groceries, eats them and vomits in the communal bathroom. Isn't this all really the same thing?"

The moral equivalency of smoking dope and cheating on your spouse is sketchy. Cheating hurts a loved one. Smoking dope makes the Grateful Dead sound better. Whatever. The argument Cheever's making is that if you scratch an overeater, you'll find a shopoholic, and so on. What makes sex addiction different, she suggests, is that "addiction to other people ' especially addiction to sex partners ' is the only addiction that is applauded and embraced."

Cheever began mulling over sex addiction when she was working on "My Name Is Bill," her biography of Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. Wilson, married for 53 years, liked to engage in the forbidden dance with women who were not his wife. Cheever, the author of a memoir about her own drinking problem, got to wondering if Wilson might just have replaced one addiction with another. Then she took a long hard look in the mirror.

Susan Cheever created a stir when she revealed the bisexuality of her father, John Cheever, in her memoir "Home Before Dark." In "Desire" she goes further, describing him as gay. You could say that her childhood was full of privilege and adventure. Or, she writes, you could say "that my parents were miserable partly because my father was a closeted gay alcoholic and that he sometimes took it out on me. Both are true." Her father hid his sexuality. She couldn't keep a leash on hers. If Cheever sees a connection, she doesn't mention it.

But that's in keeping with the book's approach. "Desire" asks considerably more questions than it answers. It's a conversation starter - like telling strangers you slept with your dying mother's oncologist or left your daughter's hospital room for an adulterous romp. True to this confessional bent, as well as Cheever's sly sense of humor, the book is dedicated "To whom it may concern." Her children, according to the acknowledgments, suggested an alternative: "To my children, who died of embarrassment."

Get A Copy of Desire Where Sex Meets Addiction By Susan Cheever. 172 pages. Simon & Schuster.

One on One With Angelina Jolie on The Changeling

2008-11-15T03:33:00.000-08:00

Angelina Jolie may be playing an anguished mother in her latest film The Changeling, but in this exclusive interview, she explains why she's never been happier.

Angelina Jolie is in a buoyant mood as she sweeps into New York for the premiere of her new film The Changeling, directed by Clint Eastwood.

"This is such a beautiful time for me," the elegant, green-eyed actor says.

"When I look back on my life, I never really believed that I would find this kind of happiness on so many different levels.

"I think I trained myself to expect less, but meeting Brad and being with him has shown me that sometimes it just takes the right circumstances for you to meet a good man who enjoys being with you and working towards the same goals in life. Brad has always been there for me."

A year after her appearance in the harrowing A Mighty Heart, Jolie delivers another remarkable performance in The Changeling, a searing drama based on the true story of a child's disappearance in 1928 and his mother's struggle to discover the truth.

Jolie plays Christine Collins, a telephone company supervisor who refuses to be pressured by corrupt Los Angeles police into going along with a scheme wherein her missing son is "returned" to her.

Unfortunately, the child is not her real son but a substitute paraded in front of the press by a police force desperate to curry public favour.

The 33-year-old Jolie has not only managed to sustain her work for UNICEF amid her film career; she is now the proud mother of six children, three adopted (Maddox, Pax and Zahara), and three fathered by Brad Pitt (Shiloh and twins Vivienne and Knox).

You look great. How did you get back in shape so quickly after giving birth to the twins?

I have six kids and I'm breast-feeding!

As a mother, how hard was it for you to play a woman whose worst nightmare is realised when her son goes missing in The Changeling?

It was difficult because the idea of one's son being kidnapped is one of the worst things any parent can imagine. The loss of a child and not knowing where they are or what is happening to them is probably the absolute worst thing in the world. As a mother, it was harder for me imagining that somebody was abusing my child while they were wondering why mummy wasn't coming to save them.

What made it particularly troubling for me to put myself into this woman's head was my own relationship with my son Maddox. I just couldn't shake the thought of him through the whole film.

Why Maddox particularly?

Because Maddox is my eldest and also because he says things that are similar to what the boy in the film says.

I also talk to Maddox the same way I talk to the little boy. So when Brad and I saw the movie we noticed strange similarities, especially when the boy says: "Am I too heavy?" Mad says that all the time. And I tell him: "Oh, never! But one day you're going to carry me!"

How are you handling being a working mother?

I have a big, wonderful family and I get to travel and be creative with my films and that's tremendously rewarding and satisfying.

I've always loved being an actor and the ability to tell stories and express emotions and making a connection with audiences.

The publicity that comes with that is a reality of the business and it's only the paparazzi that is really a bother sometimes when Brad and I are with our children.

How do you stay so positive?

By doing the things which are important and meaningful to you and not worrying about the rest. How can I complain about anything when I wake up in the morning and I'm surrounded by so much love with Brad and our children and the feeling that comes from sharing my life with them?
Does having twins make things a little more complicated now?

It's a little more stressful in terms of your time because you have two very tiny babies wanting your attention. But it's also so beautiful to be part of that.

Once you have three or four children, having a few more isn't going to alter your lifestyle that much.

Brad and I have found a way to organize our time with the children and so we stick to that. It's also a fascinating new experience for me to have twins and look after them and have the other children seem so curious about them.

A family is a social unit in its own way and watching the children interact is part of your role as a mother.

Has Brad seemed particularly taken with the twins?

He's just so happy and having twins is something neither of us ever expected and I think that makes it all the more special for us both. When I see how much love is in Brad's eyes for the twins and for all our children -- it's a very moving experience for me. I never wanted to become pregnant and have children that way unless I had come to know Brad and see how loving he was with Maddox and Pax. So that was a big step for me.

How will you integrate the twins into the life of your family?

It's a matter of indulging the curiosity of the other children and making them feel part of the whole process. Things like helping prepare bottles or changing diapers or doing little things that help me. It all works. Kids are great at adapting.

What about teaching your kids about religion and culture?

I want to teach them about all religions, and I'm trying to find a way to do that. And when it comes to the subject of adoption, like when my daughter, who's African, wants her hair to look straight like mummy's . . . and I look for a Barbie that's African, and the African Barbie has straight hair! And you know, why has Disney never made a film with an African-American princess?

Women Manual: Top 10 Tips to Charm a Woman

2008-11-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

David Wygant
How can you charm a woman? Do they like a daily check-in phone call? Does she secretly wish you'd text her in the middle of the day for no reason but to make her smile? Do they prefer expensive dinners to home-cooked meals? Rock-hard abs? Flowers for no reason?
Identifying women's turn-ons is complicated, because they all react differently. Some women you wish came with owner's manuals so you knew exactly how they were wired. Luckily, I've done most of the legwork for you and am happy to pass this knowledge on to you.

1. Be aware. This means cracking open more than the sports section on the daily paper. Be up on current events and learn the difference between feelings, emotions and thoughts. Women are emotional beings and tend to think things through. They are attracted to men who are as smart or smarter than them, and your knowledge of worldly matters will demonstrate your intelligence.

2. Demonstrate humor. Women love a man who can make them laugh. Now don't fret here if you're not a stand-up comedian. We all have a certain type of humor. You can be dry, sarcastic, hilariously funny, quick-witted or dark. Being able to poke fun at yourself and just plain old being goofy is a turn-on for women. Keep in mind that all women are not attracted to the same type of humor, so if you don't vibe, just walk away and try someone else.

3. Have passion. A guy who lives his life with gusto is incredibly appealing. When you speak to a woman about your life, your travels, your job, your interests, speak with passion. That passion about who you are will turn her on instantly. She will start to imagine what it will be like when you are involved with her and how passionate you will speak about her.

4. Be considerate. Pay attention to the little things and look for opportunities to make small gestures that show you care. A simple "How was your day?" and being able to listen to her when she wants to discuss something are huge. So many men forget about simple things like holding the door, paying for her valet or just thanking her for a great time last night. Women are all about a guy with manners -- she is not attracted to the dope who acts like a caveman.

5. Be honest. Share who you are by telling her something personal. Maybe share one of your favorite childhood memories or some personal growth that you have been going through. Something that will show her that you are a trusting and honest person. It also shows that you are a confident but vulnerable man. Women love to see the vulnerable side of you. Note: Don't talk about an ex in a bad way here. If you have to talk about an ex, do so in a positive manner and share what you learned and how you grew from the relationship.

6. Be flexibile. Be open to her plans but surprise her with your flexibility. Take charge and surprise her with a fun night out. Instead of being the typical guy who makes a reservation, think about how you can be the guy who listens to her and plans a great date that she did not expect. If you can pull this off, she will be open to all sorts of advances from you.

7. Be positive. If you are positive about life, it shows in your actions. I always tell men to be extra nice to waiters, bartenders and other service people. Be a courteous driver when she's in the car. When you are in line at the movies, don't complain. Look for the humor and try to have fun with people all around you. Be positive about everything, and she will find you to be very sexy and alluring. No one wants to be with a negative hothead.

8. Be balanced. Women love a successful, ambitious man. They love that you work hard, but if you constantly put work ahead of her she will become turned off. She will start to imagine what life with you will be like with her needs being ignored. If you are out meeting women to date, you need to balance your life between work and play. This will be a major turn-on for her.

9. Have ambition. Men who are ambitious about what they do are a turn-on to women. It doesn't matter if you choose to be a rich stock trader or a painter, as long as you are passionate about who you are and what you do. If you don't love what you do, find something that really turns you on. You can't attract the woman you want with a negative ambition. Women love a man who is the best at what he does.

10. Be attentive. You are out with her for the very first time, and she tells you she loves a certain type of music. On the next date take her to a lounge that plays that type of music. It is all about paying attention to the details and working on your listening skills.

This list of 10 things will work in most cases. Keep in mind there is always the woman who you just can't seem to please. If you happen to cross paths with this type of woman, ask yourself, "Why would I want to be with a woman who is so difficult?"
I tend to avoid the difficult, judgmental women. Knowing women's turn-ons and putting them into practice will help you identify women who may be relationship material. You need to realize that you want to attract and turn on the women that are attracted to you on an equal level!

Women Oppression: Acid attack on Afghan Schoolgirls

2008-11-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

A woman’s role in Islamic society is to stay at home and to be at the back of a man and to obey him (Hurley p.87). The Sharia laws make this role not only a possibility but also a rule of life in Afghanistan. Women are considered "lower" than men for many reasons. One justification for the low value of the woman is that Eve was made from Adam’s rib. Eve also caused them to be kicked out of the holy gardens because she ate some of the forbidden fruit. This is according to the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis, in the Bible, which is considered a semi-holy book in Islam (Hurley p.88).

Did you these phrases? "be at the back of a man," "to obey him," "a rule of life," "lower than men" and "low value of the woman."
A community with people who have a hign regard for such beliefs will definitely have NO REGARD FOR WOMEN. For reasons like this we would not be suprice about women or girls been attacked with acid as shown below.

Hurley, Jennifer A., Islam: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diago, Greenhaven Press, Inc., 2001

South African Music Legend Miriam Makeba Dies at 76 in Italy

2008-11-10T05:10:00.000-08:00

CELEAN JACOBSON
Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who wooed the world with her sultry voice but was banned from her own country for more than 30 years under apartheid, died after collapsing on stage in Italy. She was 76.

In her dazzling career, Makeba performed with musical legends from around the world — jazz maestros Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon — and sang for world leaders such as John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela.

"Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years. At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us," Mandela said in a statement.

He said it was "fitting" that her last moments were spent on stage.

The Pineta Grande clinic in Castel Volturno, near the southern city of Naples, said Makeba died early Monday of a heart attack.

Makeba collapsed on stage Sunday night after singing one of her most famous hits "Pata Pata," her family said in a statement. Her grandson, Nelson Lumumba Lee, was with her as well as her longtime friend, Italian promoter Roberto Meglioli.

"Whilst this great lady was alive she would say: 'I will sing until the last day of my life'," the statement said.

Castel Volturno Mayor Francesco Nuzzo said Makeba sang at a concert in solidarity with six immigrants from Ghana who were shot to death in September in the town, an attack that investigators have blamed on organized crime.

The death of "Mama Africa," as she was known, plunged South Africa into shock and mourning.

"One of the greatest songstresses of our time has ceased to sing," Foreign Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said in a statement.

"Throughout her life, Mama Makeba communicated a positive message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa and the certainty of victory over the dark forces of apartheid and colonialism through the art of song."

Makeba wrote in her 1987 memoirs that friends and relatives who first encouraged her to perform compared her voice to that of a nightingale. With her distinctive style combining jazz with folk with South African township rhythms, she was often called "The Empress of African Song."

The first African woman to win a Grammy award, Makeba started singing in Sophiatown, a cosmopolitan neighborhood of Johannesburg that was a cultural hotspot in the 1950s before its black residents were forcibly removed by the apartheid government.

She then teamed up with South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela — later her first husband — and her rise to international prominence started when she starred in the anti-apartheid documentary "Come Back, Africa" in 1959.

When she tried to fly home for her mother's funeral the following year, she discovered her passport had been revoked. It was 30 years before she was allowed to return.

In 1963, Makeba appeared before the U.N. Special Committee on Apartheid to call for an international boycott of South Africa. The South African government responded by banning her records, including hits like "Pata Pata," "The Click Song" ("Qongqothwane" in Xhosa), and "Malaika."

Makeba received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording in 1966 together with Belafonte for "An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba." The album dealt with the political plight of black South Africans under apartheid.

Thanks to her close relationship with Belafonte, she received star status in the United States and performed for President Kennedy at his birthday party in 1962. But she fell briefly out of favor when she married black power activist Stokely Carmichael — later known as Kwame Ture — and moved to Guinea in the late 1960s.

Besides working with Simone and Gillespie, she also appeared with Paul Simon at his "Graceland" concert in Zimbabwe in 1987.

After three decades abroad, Makeba was invited back to South Africa by Mandela, the anti-apartheid icon, shortly after his release from prison in 1990 as white racist rule crumbled.

"It was like a revival," she said about going home. "My music having been banned for so long, that people still felt the same way about me was too much for me. I just went home and I cried."

Makeba courted controversy by lending support to dictators such as Togo's Gnassingbe Eyadema and Felix Houphouet-Boigny from Ivory Coast, performing at political campaigns for the veteran leaders even as they were violently suppressing the movements for democracy that swept West Africa in the early 90s.

The first person to give her refuge was Guinea's former President Ahmed Sekou Toure who was accused in the slaughtering of 10 percent of the population.

Makeba, though, insisted that her songs were not deliberately political.

"I'm not a political singer," she insisted in an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper earlier this year. "I don't know what the word means. People think I consciously decided to tell the world what was happening in South Africa. No! I was singing about my life, and in South Africa we always sang about what was happening to us — especially the things that hurt us."

Makeba announced her retirement three years ago, but despite a series of farewell concerts she never stopped performing. When she turned 75 last year, she said she would sing for as long as possible.

Makeba is survived by her grandchildren, Nelson Lumumba Lee and Zenzi Monique Lee, and her great-grandchildren Lindelani, Ayanda and Kwame.

Sarah Palin Sorry For Any Vote She made McCain to Loose.

2008-11-05T11:51:00.000-08:00

Sarah Palin said today she was sorry if she ‘cost John McCain even one vote’ and that it was giving her too much credit to blame her for the Republican defeat.

Mrs Palin, blamed the economic crisis which engulfed the country for the loss.

In an interview with CNN today, the Alaska governor, who went from being hailed as a bold “breath of fresh air” to being ridiculed on the national stage, denied the McCain-Palin campaign had descended into nasty in-fighting.

“I don’t think anybody should give Sarah Palin that much credit, that I would trump an economic, woeful time in this nation, that occurred about two months ago, that my presence on the ticket would trump the economic crisis that America found itself in and attribute John McCain’s loss to me,” she said.

“But having said that, if I cost John McCain even one vote, I am sorry about that because John McCain is, I believe, the American hero.

“I believe he would have been the best pick, but he is not the Americans’ choice at this time.”

Sarah Palin's selection as John McCain's running mate redefined how vice-presidential candidates influence a campaign. Unfortunately for McCain, the Alaska governor hurt his presidential bid more than she helped.

Palin had been unfamiliar to most Americans, aside from some conservative writers and bloggers, who had admired her since she upended Alaska's Republican establishment by knocking off incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2006.

That all changed on August 29 -- the morning after Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention -- when Palin was introduced by McCain.

It wasn't just reporters who were stunned. Even McCain staffers at the event itself were shocked. Many assumed McCain would tap a GOP heavyweight like Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty. The most daring option, many thought, would be Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat.

But Palin's debut instantly energized the Republican base, which had long been cool to McCain, and the GOP ticket surged in the polls.

McCain took a shine to Palin's anti-establishment streak and her familiarity with energy issues. His advisers believed her "average hockey mom" persona would attract women. The party grass roots admired her devotion to family and her conservative positions on social issues. Video Watch Palin as McCain concedes the election »

But because the Alaska governor was largely unknown, her record and background were immediately under scrutiny. Journalists descended on her hometown of Wasilla to examine her record as mayor and governor, though Palin was still sheltered from questioners.

The craving for knowledge spread outside the media and paid huge dividends at the Republican National Convention, when Palin took the biggest stage of her life and assuredly presented herself as both a small-town mother of five and a pit bull who could smile her way through a sharp political attack. The speech garnered mammoth television ratings and rave reviews.

McCain came out of the convention with a healthy bounce -- leading Obama by a 10-point margin. Palin's ratings were also riding high, with nearly 50 percent of Americans viewing her in a positive light. She got bigger crowds than McCain, an unusual phenomenon that underscored her newfound political clout.

But a series of missteps began to harm her image and McCain's standing.

Palin was still kept away from the media, even friendly conservative talk radio shows, in a strategy that campaign aides later acknowledged was flawed. Advisers chose to grant interviews only to two networks. When Palin stumbled over foreign policy questions, she undercut the foundation of McCain's experience argument. Her sometimes-rambling answers in the highly-scrutinized appearances formed the basis for Tina Fey's "Saturday Night Live" caricature.

Palin held her own on economic and energy issues in the first half of her debate with Joe Biden -- the highest rated of the presidential and vice-presidential debates. But when questioning turned to national security, she seemed to resort to talking points.

Back on the stump, Palin began to attack Obama, accusing him of "palling around with terrorists," being a socialist and not as patriotic as herself and McCain.

Her offensives were often scattershot, appearing at one rally and disappearing at the next. And while Republicans enjoyed the aggression, Democrats and independents were turned off.

Over a month, poll numbers shifted and Palin became more of a polarizing figure. Liberals called her the most divisive politician since Richard Nixon or George Wallace, and some former Hillary Clinton supporters said McCain's selection of Palin was a cynical gambit that wouldn't help him sway female voters.

Palin kept up her rigorous campaign schedule but the problems continued.

A long-running ethics investigation in Alaska determined she abused her power in firing the state's public safety commissioner, though she broke no laws.

News broke that the Republican National Committee had spent $150,000 on her wardrobe, angering her and prompting her to deviate from the campaign's game plan.

Aides insisted Palin wanted to speak to reporters but had been reined in. That changed in mid-October when she ditched her staff and launched an impromptu press conference in which she criticized the use of robocalls, even as they were being used for her boss.

Later she ad-libbed a diatribe on the wardrobe fiasco, stressing a preference for consignment-store clothing and flashing her $35 wedding ring.

McCain aides refused to go on the record about it, but they groused anonymously that Palin was "going rogue," that she was a "diva" and "difficult" to work with.

In the final two weeks, Palin was at last given a chance to make in-depth speeches on substantive issues like energy and special-needs children.

But the tide had long turned. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll in October showed she had become a bigger drag on McCain than President Bush, with voters citing her qualifications as their primary concern.

A CNN poll released last weekend showed Palin's unfavorable ratings were twice as high as when McCain picked her, and 57 percent of Americans believed she didn't have the personal qualities a president needed.

As for the future, the poll indicated that only four in 10 voters would support Palin if she chooses to run for president in 2012. But Palin's fortunes have changed before.

Amy Winehouse's Drug Suppliers Jailed

2008-11-01T17:28:00.000-07:00

The British couple who supplied singer Amy Winehouse with drugs have pleaded guilty and could face jail.

The news comes as Winehouse checked out of hospital after a brief stay, E! online reported.

Johnny Blagrove, 34, and Cara Burton, 22, confessed to supplying cocaine and Ecstasy to the 25-year-old Grammy winner and then secretly filming her getting high and selling the footage to The Sun.

The newspaper published images of the Rehab star's binge in January.

The video sparked a police raid on the pair's east London home.

There, investigators turned up a purported "hit list" of stars, including Winehouse, whom they regularly supplied.

Authorities did not press charges against Winehouse.

Blagrove pleaded guilty to two counts of offering to supply Class A drugs, specifically cocaine and MDMA, and one count of offering to supply Class B, while Burton copped to two counts of offering to supply Class B drugs. Prosecutors dropped an additional charge each of conspiracy.

The twosome face unspecified jail time.

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for November 28.

Winehouse's spokeswoman Tracey Miller told E! News the singer was home from a London hospital where she was being treated since last weekend for a chest infection.

"All has been completed and she is fine," said Miller.

Paris Hilton Stole Benji Madden from Sophie Monk

2008-11-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

Paris Hilton has revealed that she and boyfriend Benji Madden fell for each other before his split from his Australian fiancee Sophie Monk.

The Hollywood heiress made the surprise admission during an exclusive interview with The Sunday Telegraph yesterday in Los Angeles.

Hilton, 27, said she and the Good Charlotte rocker fell in love shortly after the January 11 birth of Harlow Richie-Madden, the daughter of her best friend Nicole Richie and Madden's twin brother Joel.

"Ever since Harlow was born I was over playing with her and visiting Nicole and Joel - and we just fell in love right away,'' Hilton said yesterday.

"We've been friends for seven years and he said he always had a big crush on me and when I finally became single it was great that we got together - it was the best.''

Hilton revealed that the couple had been together for "like 8 months'', meaning from mid-February.
Monk's publicist announced on February 12 that she and Madden had split after being engaged for 13 months.

When asked if she was a factor in Madden ending the relationship with Monk, Hilton just giggled.

Asked how she felt about Monk, who parodied Hilton in the 2006 spoof comedy Date Movie, Hilton smiled widely.

"I never met her and I don't know her, so I have no opinion,'' she said.

"I wish her the best.''

Hilton also said she signed a lucrative contract two days ago to host a New Year party in Sydney, with Madden set to DJ at the exclusive event.

Jennifer Hudson to hold a Private Memorial on Monday for Relatives

2008-11-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Hudson will hold a private memorial service next week for her slain mother, brother and nephew.

The invitation-only funeral will be held Monday on the South Side.

The arrangements are being handled by Hudson Funeral Home, whose owners are related to the actress.

The service comes as US Weekly has published a story claiming a friend of Jennifer said he tried to warn the family about William Balfour, who is currently the main "person of interest" in the shootings of the Hudson family.

William Balfour, a.k.a. "Flex" - who's divorced from Hudson's sister, Julia, a bus driver - got into a huge fight with Julia, Darnell and Jason about a month ago, a neighbor says. James Peyton, Hudson's ex-fiance, was also present, reports thehollywoodgossip.com

The family on Friday is expected to announce plans for a public memorial, according to the funeral home. The second service would allow fans to mourn the deaths of the Oscar-winner's mother, Darnell Donerson, brother, Jason Hudson, and nephew Julian King.

Like Jennifer Hudson, Julian's father has shunned the spotlight since the Oct. 24 slayings. Greg King's only public appearance came last weekend when he stood beside the boy's mother, Julia Hudson, as she tearfully pleaded for the 7-year-old's safe return.

Julian's paternal great-grandfather, Robey Williams, 80, said he's grateful to the Hudson family for holding a private service. He has been haunted by thoughts of the boy's final moments and says doesn't want a national audience to witness his grief.

"I don't know what I'll do when I see his casket," he said. "I cry when I think about it now. I don't know what I'll do in the church."

Police consider Julia Hudson's estranged husband, William Balfour, the primary suspect in the case, but have not charged him with the slayings. He remains in an Illinois prison on a parole violation.

Authorities found a gun Wednesday matching the caliber of weapon used in the killings. Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis confirmed Thursday that the weapon recovered was a .45-caliber Sig Sauer semiautomatic handgun, but declined to comment on anything police may have learned from tests being done on the weapon.

Community leaders held a vigil outside the Hudson home on Thursday and called on law enforcement to solve the high-profile case.

"We need answers," said John Paul Jones of the Greater Englewood Community and Family Task Force. "The world is watching."

Niger, West Africa - Where Slavery is still practiced

2008-10-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

Sold into slavery at the age of 12, Hadijatou Mani says she was forced to labour for her master and his family for 10 years.

She quickly became one of several sexual slaves, or "sadakas" and was made to bear her master's children. She was subjected to regular beatings.

Now the former slave from Niger has won a landmark case against her government, which a regional West African court found had failed to protect her.

The court has ordered the government to pay her 10m CFA francs (£12,430; $19,750) in compensation.

"I will be able to build a house, raise animals and farm land to support my family. I will also be able to send my children to school so they can have the education I was never allowed as a slave," Ms Mani said afterwards.

The ruling could have broad implications for countries nearby where slavery is still practised, including Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Mali, according to observers.

Human rights organisations say more than 40,000 people are still in slavery in Niger, though the government says this figure is exaggerated.

Most live in conditions little changed over centuries, forced to look after animals or domestic work such as cooking and cleaning without pay.

Born into an established slave caste, they inherit a status from their mothers that it is almost impossible to shake off.

Romana Cacchioli, Africa Programme Coordinator for Anti-Slavery International, says this form of slavery began centuries ago when North African Berbers and Arabs raided the settlements of black Africans to the south and enslaved them.

Bigamy

Hadijatou Mani's case was different - she was sold by her Berber, Tuareg family to a master from the Hausa community.

She says he bought her for the equivalent of about $500 (£315).

"My master has four wives. We, the slaves, were doing all the housework like cooking, fetching water and firewood and working on farms," she told the BBC.

"I was beaten so many times I would run to my family. Then, after a day or two, I would be brought back."

But one day she heard that Niger had banned slavery, a decision that was announced in 2003.

"One of the anti-slavery activists from the Timidria association went to see the local chief who summoned my master.

"He was told that slavery had now been abolished, that he had to free his seven slaves, but he denied having seven slaves - he said he had only three, including myself.

"They told him if he loved us and we agreed, he could marry us. Otherwise he should just let us go. When he came back home he didn't tell us what happened, he just took us to another location so that we could not hear the news.

"After a while we came back, and that was when I heard that slavery no longer exists. I decided not to go back to my master but he kept going to the court saying that I am his wife."

In 2005, her master freed her and gave her a "liberation certificate", reports Anti-Slavery International, which helped her bring the case.

But when she left him and tried to marry another man, her "master" said they were married.

A local court found in favour of Ms Mani and she went ahead with her new wedding.

But this was then overturned on appeal and she was sentenced to six months in prison for bigamy.

She took her case to the Court of Justice of the West African regional body Ecowas earlier this year.

Ms Mani accused the government of Niger of failing to protect her from slavery, which was criminalised five years ago.

"I was wrongly jailed, not because of anything I did but because of slavery, and today there is no more slavery so I wanted the court to vindicate me, to give my rights which I was denied some four years ago, to compensate me," she said.

'Charm-offensive'

Ilguilas Weila, head of the local human rights group Timidria, said the situation in Niger had barely changed since the country announced that it was banning slavery.

"There has been a lack of political will," he said. "The law was only passed for Westerners. It was a charm-offensive aimed at those who were asking why slavery had not been made illegal."

Slaves are kept in humiliating and degrading conditions, he said. They can be beaten, sold, or given away as wedding presents.

"They wake up before their masters, and they are the last to go to sleep. During the day, the men look after the animals, the women collect water feed the family and gather wood."

"Almost the whole of the slave's day is spent working for their master."

Mr Weila said his group had estimated that in 2002 about 8% of the population in six of Niger's eight regions were living in slavery.

Ms Cacchioli says Anti-Slavery International has helped free about 80 women in Niger over the past five years.

She says that leaving their master is more difficult for women, as this also means abandoning any children she has had with him.

And the deeply-rooted practice has persisted in some neighbouring countries.

Ms Cacchioli says there are no reliable figures for the number of slaves in Mali.

Mauritania has also officially abolished slavery, but Anti-Slavery International says 18% of the population are estimated to be slaves.

The government there strongly disputes these figures.

Officials and some ordinary Mauritanians argue that it is difficult to define who is a slave - few records are kept, unlike during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

They point out that abolishing slavery - and its scars - is not straightforward.

The practise is most widespread in remote, rural areas. Few have been to school and so they not be aware that slavery has been abolished.

And if they do manage to leave their masters, without training and land, they could just add to the ranks of the unemployed in the cities.

Jennifer Hudson's Mother and Brother Shot Dead and Nephew Missing

2008-10-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

A Fatal shoot out left the mother and brother of Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson dead in the mother's Chicago home - about five miles from the home of the presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The police said that a seven-year-old boy, named Julian King who is possibly the nephew of Hudson, was possibly abducted from the scene and may be in the company of William Balfour, a suspect in the double homicide investigation.

Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the deaths appeared to be the result of a domestic incident.

Deputy Chief Joseph Patterson told reporters that a family member entered the home around 3pm today and found a woman fatally shot on the living room floor. That person left the house to notify police.

When Chicago police searched the house, they found a man fatally shot in the bedroom, Patterson said. There was no sign of forced entry.

Authorities were looking for a 1994 white Chevrolet missing from the area around the home with seven-year-old Julian King inside, Bond said. The child was the grandson of the female victim, Patterson said, and Bond added the boy could also be a relative of Hudson.

Public listings show a Jennifer Hudson and Darnell Donerson at the address. Hudson grew up in Chicago and her mother's name is Darnell Donerson.

A publicist for Hudson at her record label said she was not aware of any incident involving Hudson's mother.

She did not immediately return subsequent calls and an email seeking additional information.

An email sent to Hudson's personal publicist was not immediately returned.

The Cook County medical examiner's office could not immediately identify the victims.

Police tape blocked access to the large, white house, where a crowd gathered outside.

The tragedy comes as Hudson continues to reach new heights in her career.

Her song Spotlight is No 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts and her recently released, self-tiled album debut and has been a top seller.

She is also starring in hit movie The Secret Life of Bees and won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 2007 for her role in Dreamgirls.

In an interview last year with Vogue, Hudson credited her mother with talking her into auditioning for American Idol, which launched her career in 2004.

The singer, whose father died when she was a teenager, described herself as very close to her family.

In a recent interview she said her family, which includes older siblings Julia and Jason, helped keep her grounded.

"My faith in God and my family, they're very realistic and very normal, they're not into the whole limelight kind of thing, so when I go home to Chicago that's just another place that's home," she said.

"I stand in line with everybody else, or, when I go home to my mum I'm just Jennifer."

Does Asha Mandela have the World's Longest Dreadlocks?

2008-10-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

Asha Mandela, 46, said she started letting her hair grow 20 years ago. Today, it measures 8-feet, 9-inches long. She's submitted her hair's length to the Guinness Book of World Records in hopes of being the first entry in a new category of World's Longest Dreadlocks.

Her dreadlocks, which she started growing 20 years ago, are longer than she is tall. She cradles her locks in her arms like a baby. She wraps them around her neck like a scarf. She lets them hang down her back and trail behind her like a bridal veil.

Mandela said says she "used to wash it three times a week. Now I do it once a week. It's very tiring. Sometimes I don't have the energy."

It takes one bottle of shampoo and one bottle of conditioner every time she washes her hair and can sometimes take days to fully dry after she washes it.

Asha Mandela, 46, believes she has the longest dreadlocks (like those pictured here) in the world. Measuring 8'9", she's submitted her name to the Guinness Book of World Records to be the first entry in a new category of World's Longest Dreadlocks.

Beyonce changes her name to Sasha Fierce

2008-10-24T00:27:00.000-07:00

Music World Music/Columbia Records is releasing I Am… Sasha Fierce, the new full-length double album from international superstar and cultural icon Beyoncé on Tuesday, November 18.

"The new record is a double album and has two covers, like a magazine would have two covers," Beyoncé revealed. "One of the covers is named I Am… and the second cover is named Sasha Fierce. That is my alter ego and now she has a last name.”

One of 2008's most hotly anticipated new album releases, Beyoncé's new album is the artist's first new studio collection since the Grammy-winning multi-platinum-selling B'Day debuted at #1 on charts around the world shortly after its international release on September 4, 2006 (in celebration of Beyoncé's 25th birthday).

Beyoncé's fans got their first taste of the two sides of I Am… Sasha Fierce with the simultaneous release in early October of "If I Were A Boy" (from I Am…) and "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" (from Sasha Fierce).

The R&B singer has christened herself "Sasha Fierce" for her new double album, "I Am ... Sasha Fierce," due in U.S. stores on November 18, and has released a lengthy justification for the comical moniker.

"I have someone else that takes over when it's time for me to work and when I'm on stage, this alter ego that I've created that kind of protects me and who I really am," the former Destiny's Child frontwoman said in a statement.

"Sasha Fierce is the fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken side and more glamorous side that comes out when I'm working and when I'm on the stage."

Sarah Palin's $150,000 Spending on Clothing and Make-up

2008-10-22T05:24:00.000-07:00

Since her selection as John McCain's running mate, the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothing and make-up for Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband, and even her infant son, it was reported on Tuesday evening.

That entertaining scoop -- which came by way of Politico -- sent almost immediate reverberations through the presidential race. A statement from McCain headquarters released hours after the article bemoaned the triviality of the whole affair.

"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," said spokesperson Tracey Schmitt. "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."

But even the most timid of Democrats are unlikely to heed this call for civility. For starters, the story has the potential to dampen enthusiasm among GOP activists and donors at a critical point in the presidential race. It also creates a huge PR headache for the McCain ticket as it seeks to make inroads among voters worried about the current economic crisis.

Mainly, however, Democrats (in this scenario) are not prone to forgiveness. After all, it was during this same campaign cycle that Republicans belittled the $400 haircut that former Sen. John Edwards had paid for with his own campaign money (the funds were later reimbursed). And yet, the comparison to that once-dominant news story is hardly close: if Edwards had gotten one of his legendary haircuts every singe week, it would still take him 7.2 years to spend what Palin has spent. Palin has received the equivalent of $2,500 in clothes per day from places such as Saks Fifth Avenue (where RNC expenditures totaled nearly $50,000) and Neiman Marcus (where the governor had a $75,000 spree).

Beyond the political tit-for-tat, however, the revelation of the clothing expenditures offers what some Democrats see as a chance not just to win several news cycles during the campaign's waning days but to severely damage Palin's image as a small-town, 'Joe Six-Pack' American.

"It shows that Palin ain't like the rest of us," Tom Matzzie, a Democratic strategist told the Huffington Post, when asked how the party would or could use the issue. "It can help deflate her cultural populism with the Republican base. The Plumber's wife doesn't go to Nieman's or Saks."

Indeed, the story could not come at a more inopportune time for the McCain campaign. During a week in which the Republican ticket is trying to highlight its connection to the working class - and, by extension, promoting its newest campaign tool, Joe the Plumber - it was revealed that Palin's fashion budget for several weeks was more than four times the median salary of an American plumber ($37,514). To put it another way: Palin received more valuable clothes in one month than the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years. A Democrat put it in even blunter terms: her clothes were the cost of health care for 15 or so people.

There are, in these cases, legal questions surrounding campaign expenditures. Though, on this front, Palin and the RNC seem to be in the clear.

"I don't think it's taxed," said David Donnelly of Campaign Money Watch. "I don't think she can keep it. It's owned by the RNC. They had to use coordinated funds to pay for the clothes."

And certainly the possibility exists that this issue can be effectively swept under the rug. Palin is not known for taking impromptu questions from the press. Moreover, the media, at this juncture, has other major story lines (see: upcoming election) to grapple with, thus denying the piece the relative vacuum that accompanied the Edwards story. Finally, there is little desire among conservative writers or pundits to litigate the matter, even if they were more than happy to jump on board when a Democrat was in the spotlight.

Several hours after Politico posted its findings, the topic remained nearly untouched by the major right-wing outlets. Though as Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic opined: "the heat for this story will come from Republicans who cannot understand how their party would do something this stupid ... particularly (and, it must be said, viewed retroactively) during the collapse of the financial system and the probable beginning of a recession."

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) A West African Plague

2008-10-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

Cross-border female genital mutilation / cutting (FGM/C) is on the rise in West Africa according to the UN, spurring the need to impose a region-wide law banning the practice, say experts.

Experts from the region met this week to discuss how to eliminate FGM/C across West Africa, at a conference sponsored by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou.

A study sponsored by UNIFEM to be released in late October 2008 said circumcisers or girls who undergo circumcision are increasingly crossing borders to perform or undergo the procedure to operate in countries with weaker FGM/C laws, and border police can do little to stop the flow.

"There is a lack of collaboration among governments across borders because the issue is so politically sensitive to manage," said Dieneba Ouedraogo, coordinator of the International Centre for Research Training and Action (CIRFA). As a result, she said governments have shied away from collaborating on policies and legislation or on coming up with a joint communications strategy to try to dissuade people from crossing.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says FGM/C includes all procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Up to 140 million girls and women worldwide live with the consequences of FGM/C, and three million girls in Africa risk undergoing the procedure each year.

Consequences can include excessive bleeding, problems urinating, childbirth complications and stillbirths. It is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and 15 years old, according to WHO, and it is generally recognised as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.

Border populations vulnerable

Girls living near borders are most vulnerable to being forcibly moved, said Ouedraogo, particularly if they are living next to countries with weaker anti FGM/C legislation than their own.

In Mali, where there is legislation relating to FGM/C but it is poorly applied, the prevalence rate is 85 percent, which makes communities living near the border in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal vulnerable, said Traoré.

Circumcisers will always travel where they can work with the least restrictions, said Elize Dossou, FGM/C expert at the Benin ministry of family and children's affairs. So, circumcisers travel from Burkina Faso to Niger to circumcise nomad Gourmantché girls, while populations in northern Benin tend to cross the border to be circumcised in Burkina Faso, she said.

Hidden victims

Because of this cross-border movement, the real number of FGM victims is unknown, according to Dossou.

Official FGM/C rates in Benin are 17 percent of women and girls, but she says the real number is higher.

According to UNIFEM families are sending their daughters to circumcisers to perform the practice at an increasingly young age to avoid being caught, which also distorts official figures.

At the meeting, UNIFEM officials called on health ministry and WHO officials who coordinate annual health and demographic surveys country by country to specifically target questions relating to girls 14 and under so those who underwent FGM/C would not be overlooked.

Toughen national laws

UNIFEM is also lobbying West African governments to adopt and implement laws to prosecute perpetrators of FGM/C wherever they practice, Cecile Mukarubuga UNIFEM's Senegal-based regional director, told IRIN.

"If all countries legislate or review their laws to cover cross-border practices, I am sure it will eventually eliminate FGM," Marian Tackie of Ghana's Ministry of Women and Children Affairs told IRIN.

Among West African countries, only Ghana has reviewed its legislation to prosecute all perpetrators of FGM/C including those who perform outside the country, she said. In Ghana even the women who participate in the circumcision ceremony by shouting to drown out the screaming of the girls are subject to prosecution.

Most West African countries have some form of indirect or direct anti-FGM/C legislation, but in the majority it is poorly enforced, Tackie said.

But Lamine Traoré, coordinator for a project to eliminate FGM/C in Mali, said unless a region-wide law is applied, "countries which have weaker [anti-FGM/C laws] will become a hub for the practice."

Passing a regional law would involve appeasing leaders nervous about violations of their sovereignty, said Mukarubuga.

"It is true that border issues are sensitive, but legislation for the rights of women in the region does not violate the sovereignty of countries since it is a regionally integrated zone with mutually complementary economic and social interests, which this law would serve," she explained.

Applying such a law would also require tighter collaboration among border security officials, communities, and social welfare ministries, Mukarubuga said. At the moment, volunteer civilian surveillance teams work in villages along the borders of some West African countries to monitor and report circumcisers to the authorities, but without regional legislation, Doussou said, the border police cannot pursue them across borders.

Progress on this will not be possible unless governments, non-profits and civil society organisations work with religious leaders to try to shift their resistance. UNIFEM has started by setting up a network of 16 traditional leaders in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries to try to raise awareness among families and religious leaders.

"There is still a strong resistance from all sides now, but governments need to do more to confront these traditions," said Traoré.

2 Women Killed Over Witchcraft Claims in Tanzania

2008-10-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Herman Meza, Shinyanga
A mob brutally killed Nhumba Nolelaga, 38, and Mwanandama Ndama, 55, at Idahina village in the district last week.

The mob implicated the two in the death of a seven-year-old boy, Maduhu Masunga, who was bitten by a black mamba while sleeping and died instantly.

Rumours had spread during the funeral of Masunga that he did not die, but was rather mysteriously turned into a ghost to work in the women's farms.

Information had it that the boy was seen alive under the deceased women's beds, leading to the mob to demand the truth from the women, lest they be killed.

The acting Shinyanga regional police commander,Mr Charles Nyanda, confirmed the incidents.

Another woman who had disappeared mysteriously from her home only to be found unconscious at a paddy field in the same village alleged that she was superstitiously kidnapped by Nolelaga and Ndama.

Fed up with allegations leveled against the duo, the Idahina villagers killed the suspects and burnt their bodies.

Witchcraft beliefs are deeply rooted in Shinyanga Region where elderly women with red eyes have for ages now been suspected as witches.

Between four and five elderly women are killed each month in connection with the witchcraft associated beliefs.

Challenges of Women Taxi Drivers in Botswana

2008-10-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

Dan Mosekaphofu

KANYE: They continue to be victims of gender stereotypes that have corrupted the minds of the world.

Their capabilities continue to be doubted despite the fact that they have proven their worth for all and sundry to see. The world unfortunately judges them harshly and prefers to categorise them as males in the event that they are recognised.

From conductors, they have slowly but surely progressed to be the "queens" behind the steering wheel. But instead of applauding them for such an achievement, the world shuns them.

These are the women taxi drivers who unfortunately are also given the famous tag of 'Botaxi man or combi man'- a clear sign of the brainwashing that our society is still reeling from.

Kanye's 26-year-old Keabetswe Rabasimane is one of the women taxi drivers in the sprawling village. She reveals that this trade continues to prove to be a menace for her and her colleagues in this male-dominated sector. "I don't know why the society cannot accept that we are just as capable as men. This myth that woman can't be good drivers is the one that is misleading a lot of people including our customers," she says.

Rabasimane decries the fact that "our people are still not used to the idea of having a woman as a taxi driver. This is why when they get into the taxi they will say, 'How are you sir!' only to apologise later when they realise that you are a lady. This happens almost everyday and can be quite frustrating," she says.

She says society must accept that women taxi drivers are here to stay and should expect to see them in any public transport, be it a taxi or a mini bus. "Women are now into this profession and people must change their perception about women and accept the reality of the situation," she says boastfully.

She also reveals that one major challenge that confronts them in their daily operations is the issue of some men who deliberately undermine them and take them for granted.

"Some men will ask you to take them somewhere and on arrival at their destination they will give you a headache when they are supposed to pay for the trip," she laments.

Rabasimane says that such characters might advance various reasons why they cannot pay. "At times they will tell you that they don't have money and after sometime they will pay you. This is a clear demonstration of male chauvinism and a challenge to see what you can do to them as a woman," she says.

She says that others "will ask you to drop them off somewhere and will begin shouting at you when you arrive at that place. They will then accuse you of taking them to the wrong place. This is solely done by some men as a way of demonstrating their male ego, which is very unfortunate," she complains.

Francistown driver Gopolang Raditsebe, 27, echoed Rabasimane's sentiments. Raditsebe believes that society is still gripped by a sense of disbelief. She decries the fact that even some women are still wallowing in the misconceptions that emanate from the stereotyped gender roles. "Some women still allow gender stereotypes to cloud their judgement and world view. They look down upon women taxi drivers. They still have a feeling that we are encroaching onto males' domain," she says.

Raditsebe explains that for security reasons women drivers are compelled to knock off earlier than their male counterparts. "As women we have to take the necessary precautions and we mostly knock off around 6pm though such a decision is costly to our business. It means that we cannot exploit the opportunities that open up at night when demand is even higher," she says with a sense of hopelessness.

How Obstetric Fistula is Turning Malawian Women to Outcasts.

2008-10-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

Women suffering from obstetric fistula in Malawi received free medical care to reverse their condition during the country's Fistula Week.

Between Oct. 12 and 18, the Malawian government, with technical and financial assistance from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), treated more than 130 destitute women who have no or little access to health care services.

Lausi Adamu, from Makanjira in Malawi's lake district of Mangochi, who does not know her exact age, has suffered from fistula for the last 25 years. Her affliction came to an end last week, when she received an operation free of charge to stop her ailment.

Adamu told IPS reporter Pilirani Semu-Banda about her life with the disease as she recuperated in hospital after the operation.

How did you develop fistula?

It was 25 years ago, when I was in labour for three days while giving birth to my first and only child at home.

I received no medical care throughout pregnancy, and it was only my mother who was with me during delivery. There was no midwife or doctor available. It was a very long and painful labour and the baby was stillborn when he eventually came out.

I have been unable to control the leakage of both urine and faeces from my body ever since and I haven't had the courage to have another child.

Why did you not receive medical care during pregnancy and delivery?

It takes four hours to walk from my village to the nearest hospital, and no vehicle goes into my area because the road is in a very bad condition. Most births therefore happen at home, and women rely on their mothers, their mother-in-laws or traditional birth attendants to help them during labour.

The culture in my area also demands that the first baby has to be delivered at home for elders to ensure that the husband is indeed responsible for the pregnancy. There is a belief that most women have more than one relationship after they just got married -- so the women who help at birth ask the woman in labour to mention the (name of the) real father of the baby. The belief is that if any complications develop during the process of giving birth the woman has been unfaithful.

What did you know about fistula before you developed the condition?

I thought I was bewitched, but everyone else in my community thought I had been unfaithful to my husband. It was a very strange affliction. My mother took me to five different traditional healers who told me that the condition was incurable and that I should accept to live with it for the rest of my life.

However, there have been many such cases in my area over the years, and most of the women have been treated by community members the same way as me (with contempt).

Government and UNFPA staff have in the past year been coming to my area, and they have been carrying out community meetings where they are telling us that the condition is medical and that it is repairable.

I decided to come to the hospital to see if indeed I can be helped after one of the women from my community, who had a similar condition, came back cured after visiting the hospital.

How has fistula affected your life?

It has been a terrible nightmare. My husband left me two months after I developed fistula and my mother died soon thereafter. All of my relatives, including my own brothers and sisters, deserted me.

I have been living a very lonesome life since no one wanted to be close to me because of the appalling smell that emanated from my body at all times. I could never attend any social gatherings within my community, not even funerals of my own relatives.

I have been selling mats, which I weave, to make a living, but I never got close to my customers even then. I leave the mats by the roadside and speak to them from a distance about the price.

Do you still believe fistula is caused by witchcraft?

Not any more. After listening to the community meetings being carried out by UNFPA and government and after my visit to the hospital, I believe that fistula occurs due to prolonged and hindered labour during which the baby's head puts pressure on the bladder and rectum, thereby causing holes. This causes the woman to leak urine or faeces or both uncontrollably.

Looking back 25 years, I do agree that this is what really happened.

Are many members of your community now changing their perceptions about fistula due to the meetings?

It is very difficult to change people's perceptions because most of us have not been to school. Our culture is strong and it's not easy to sway people away from what they have believed in for a long time.

Of course, there are quite a number of us that have now come to accept how fistula occurs, but it will take a lot of sensitisation before most people start to believe that fistula is indeed a medical condition.

Now that women with fistula are able to access medical treatment, what other challenges are they facing?

The medical personnel carrying out the repairs are men and because my community is very traditional and conservative, most women are not willing to be treated by men, especially since the condition has to do with private parts.

Given a choice, I would have opted to be operated on by a woman. However, we are being told that it is only men that are qualified to carry out fistula repairs, so we don't have a choice.

Will you play a role in educating people in your community about fistula?

I have had fistula for a very long time and I have experienced unimaginable torture from this condition -- I know the terrible feelings that women with fistula have to live with.

When I go back home, I will encourage women with fistula to go and seek medical help. I will also be advocating for hospital deliveries and try to change people's thinking. The best way to avoid fistula is to encourage pregnant women to go for antenatal care and to have their babies delivered in hospital.

Do you think that organisations working to combat fistula are doing enough?

They're trying their best. But apart from aid organisations we need government to help us in the reduction of poverty as well because I now understand that fistula happens mostly among poor people.

Communities like where I come from do not have easy access to proper health care and good roads because they are mostly poor. We also need education so that we can understand issues and to get rid of harmful traditional beliefs.

Clarion Chukwurah Exposes Female Sexual Exploitation In Nigerian Movie Industry

2008-10-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

SAM AWOYINFA

You started quite early, featuring in a film titled Money Power (Owo Lagba), that was in the early 80’s. How has it been since then?

Yes, the journey has been quite eventful. I featured in Money Power in 1982, I was just 14 and since then I have done several other plays. I appeared in Mirror In The Sun, a soap opera produced by Lola Fani-Kayode. Again, I have featured in a couple of home videos. It’s been quite interesting. I have equally featured in two stage plays, Yemoja and Idemili, both by National Troupe of Nigeria

Could you compare the level of professionalism and production quality of works then with what obtains in the industry now?

Money Power is a far cry from what we have today, as far as movie production is concerned. Money Power was shot in form of a film(16mm), and not in video format. So, the quality is higher.

You did call me after Sunday Punch published the story on the glut currently being experienced in Nollywood, and said you wanted to make some other revelations on how the industry got itself entangled in this mess. Let us have your view...

So many things are wrong in Nollywood. First, the industry has become an all comers affair. The Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), other guilds in the industry, the movie marketers (distributors) and even the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), have their own share of the blame.

Could you please be more explicit...

When one talks about the glut in the movie market, there are many salient points that need to be stressed. First, the marketers and their mafia network have rendered the guilds ineffective in every single area. This is due largely to poverty and the need to put food on the table. Instead of the heads of the various guilds in the industry to fight back, they sold the industry wholesale to the marketers. Much more so that even the areas that the marketers are not concerned, they are making incursions into them. The areas such as professional qualifications, and procedures for becoming an actor, a producer etc. The guild exco are not doing anything to regulate the creative aspect of the industry. So, you discover that the marketers are 70 per cent responsible for the glut in the industry and the professional guilds are responsible for the other 30 per cent.

What is the problem with the AGN?

If you can pay the registration fee, you can join the Actors Guild, irrespective of whether you have the qualifications or not. If you want to hold an audition to recruit for movie production, you don’t need a paper certifying you as professsionally capable to hold such audition. The situation is such that people who are themselves failures in the industry sit at the auditioning table to cast people for roles.

That is why casting is now being done on the basis of who you know, which village you are from, who has slept with you, or who is interested in sleeping with you. This is wrong.

What is the way out?

The Directors Guild in a proper movie industry is responsible for the training and issuing out of casting directors for the casting of any movie. Rather, you have the movie directors sitting with the marketers to do casting for a movie. That is why you find repetition of faces, people being cast on the basis of which part of the country they come from, which village they are from. All these biases have contributed a great deal to the mess the industry has found itself.

Any other measures you think can be helpful?

There should be a level of professional training that an actor, a director, a make-up artiste etc should have before the person can be deemed qualified enough to become a member of the Actors Guild. Also, before audition could hold, the Actors Guild should certify the person or organisation holding such audition as capable or otherwise, and only the registered members of the guild should have authority to attend such audition.

What blame for the NFVCB?

The NFVCB have their own share of the blame. They fail woefully by censoring any and every movie that comes their way, irrespective of whoever produced it. They don’t care about the message of movies. All they are interested in is the censorship money, which they keep increasing, so that they could make more money for the board.

Could you share with us the progressive pattern of the censorship fee?

In 2001, it was N10,000. By 2004 and 2005, it jumped to N25,000. Right now, it is about N35,000. I believe the censors board has made enough money from Nollywood, from which they can set up a fund for the independent movie producers. They did say two years ago when I visited their office in Abuja, that they were going to broker some funding arrangement with some banks to help independent movie producers, but we haven’t seen evidence of any such arragement. Now, the existing market structure is what they claim has to preceed with that arrangement.

Unfortunately, the existing market structure was set up by men who put their blood on the line, to create what is today known as Nollywood. And by their nature, they will not comply 100 per cent with the censors board’s directive. These are men who over the last 15 years created loopholes with which to beat the system, as they did with their initial various merchandise before they came into movie making.

Let’s get a little bit personal. You have been in the limelight and obviously you have had your own share of scandals...

(Cuts in) Scandals characterised my career up till last year December. But right from January this year, it all started getting civilised. Up till last year, everything I did was put under a scandalous headline. Whatever I said was misquoted to sound somehow scandalous or sensational. Whoever I dated would have some crazy stories told to him by people who claimed to have known me from a kid, those who claimed to have slept with me, or would claim they were in the other room while I slept with another actor in another room. These were people I didn’t know, or people who would have greeted me at a function, who wanted attention, and I had given them just a side glance in return.

Are you saying those things they said about you were all lies?

Some of those who wrote about me and were quoting the specifics, as to quoting the time, place and mentioning names were right. But some others were mere gossip, which were all lies.

Now, you have been twice married and twice ...

(Cuts in again) No, I have only been married once. I was only married to Tunde Abiola. That is the only person I was legally married to.

But there was a story of another suitor, Femi Egyptian?

I was never married to Femi Egyptian. We only had a traditional introduction in my parents’ place in Onitsha, and we did not move it further from that stage.

What really happened that you could not carry the marriage process through?

I don’t think I want to talk about that. It is purely a private affair.

Do you wear perfumes?

Yes. My favourites are Kenzo, Provocative Woman, Estee Lauder and Yves Saint Laurent.

Is McCain Admitting Palin is a Liability? Wishes He Chose Charlie Crist

2008-10-19T04:01:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine suggested weeks ago that John McCain did not pick Sarah Palin as his VP running mate. She believes McCain's people picked Palin. And according to this, I'm inclined to believe that Palin was not McCain's first choice:

Sen. John McCain acknowledged in an exclusive interview Friday that he probably would be better positioned in must-win Florida if he had picked Gov. Charlie Crist as his running mate.

"Charlie, because he's so popular, he probably would have made a significant difference,'' McCain said in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times and Bay News 9.

Is McCain saying Palin isn't popular, or is he saying she's not as popular as his people first thought she was?

The media has called Palin a liability and even conservative blogger Andrew Allison says

John McCain chose Sarah Palin, so he has no-one to blame but himself, but as I have said before, why didn't they vet her thoroughly? Why didn't they find out that she knew absolutely nothing about foreign policy and economics? Why didn't they probe her and find out that she was intellectually inferior for the job of Vice-President?

Personally, I'm glad McCain chose Palin. His actions have helped push Obama closer and closer to victory. I'm guessing McCain chose Palin because he thought having her by his side would help him appeal to Hillary Clinton supporters who hated the idea of Obama winning the Democratic nomination. But, how many independent voters would have voted for a McCain/Crist ticket? Two old gray-haired men doing the same stupid shit that Bush did? No thanks!

How Angelina Jolie Stole Brad Pitt From Jennifer Aniston

2008-10-18T04:24:00.000-07:00

Lizzie Smith

Angelina Jolie has admitted that she and Brad Pitt fell in love while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston.

Hollywood's most glamorous couple have always stressed that they only fell for one another AFTER Brad had split from the Friends star.

But Jolie has now confessed that they found love on the set of Mr and Mrs Smith in 2004, when rumours of romance first emerged but long before Brad's break-up.

However, it was not clear if the 'confession' was a bid for more openness - or an accidental slip-up during an interview with The New York Times which she was 'jet-lagged'.

The revelation came during a seemingly innocent aside that she is excited about her children being one-day able to see their mother and father in Mr And Mrs Smith.

Tellingly, she explained: 'Not a lot of people get to see a movie where their parents fell in love.'

But Angelina will not be afraid of a public backlash, as she insisted: 'I live in a bit of a bubble when it comes to people's perceptions of me, which I'm sure is a very good thing, because I'm sure it's not always very nice.'

She said she is more worried about the day their children are old enough to research their parents' backgrounds - and will easily stumble across the good and the bad.

Jolie admits she already worried about when Maddox, the oldest at seven, will 'look up my name and see some kind of sexy pictures or read a story about himself that isn't true.

'There's a lot we're going to have to explain to them about how public their family is.'

But she said she hoped that their children may also one day get a completely different perspective on who their parents really are.

'What's going to be funny is when they think Mum and Dad are a little bit cool,' she added. 'Because right now, we're not cool Mum and Dad.

'Even video games, you know, it's: "Mum, you can't play this. You won't know how."

'Oh, they all think I can't do anything, that I'm just there to snuggle with. But the other day Madd said, "Can you do a cartwheel?"

'And I said, "Yeah, I can." And he was like, "Wow, Mum." And I thought: "Oh, yeah. I can do some things. You wait. You'll find out. I'm capable.'

Jolie and Pitt are parents to six children - Maddox as well as Pax, four, daughters Zahara, three, and Shiloh, two, and three-month-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

Jolie has made no secret of their desire for their family to keep getting bigger still.

'I mean, I know we seem crazy, just bringing them in one after the other, but we do plan,' she insisted.

'We make sure one is absorbed completely into the family before we add another.

'There are moments when we look at everyone around the dinner table, and it's just crazy, but our family is the greatest thing we've done in our lives.'

So great, in fact, Jolie may put her blossoming Hollywood career on hold.

She says she plans to stay home for another full year, and she expects acting to play a diminishing role in her life as time goes by. Since the twins were born almost four months ago, the older children have been home-schooled: 'and they've had Mummy and Daddy every day for every meal, and they've been very close to us,' Jolie said.

It makes the decision to take a new role 'really hard,' she said.

'Who's in school at that time? How can I be sure I don't do too many long hours? Can the three youngest be on the set every day?'

'As long as I can still be with my family, it's fun,' she added. 'But I only want to do that, and I'm not looking for anything else.'

Being such a devoted mum may also play a part in what roles she takes - with her taking great pride in Kung Fu Panda, the kids cartoon movie in which she provided the voice of Tigress.

It is the only one of her movies that of her children have seen, and she proudly says: 'It's a big hit in the house. Jack Black is like De Niro to the kids.'

Traditional Iranian Wedding Ceremony

2008-10-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

There are two stages to a Persian marriage. Most often both take place on the same day, but occasionally there could be some time between the two. The first is called "Aghd", the legal process of getting married, when both the bride and bridegroom and their guardians sign a marriage contract. The second stage is "Jashn-e Aroosi", the wedding reception - the actual feasts and the celebrations, which traditionally lasted from 3 to 7 days.

The ceremony takes place in a specially decorated room with flowers and a beautiful and elaborately decorated spread on the floor called "Sofreh-ye Aghd". Traditionally Sofreh-ye Aghd is set on the floor facing east, the direction of sunrise (light). Consequently when bride and bridegroom are seated at the head of Sofreh-ye Aghd they will be facing "The Light".

By custom Aghd would normally take place at bride's parents/guardians home. The arrival of the guests, who are to be witnesses to the marriage of the couple, initiates the wedding ceremony. Traditionally the couples' guardians and other elder close family members are present in the room to greet the guests and guide them to their seats. After all the guests are seated the bridegroom is the first to take his seat in the room at the head of Sofreh-ye Aghd. The bride comes afterwards and joins the bridegroom at the head of Sofreh-ye Aghd. The bridegroom always sits on the right hand side of the bride. In Zoroastrian culture the right side designates a place of respect.

Persian Wedding Spread - Persian Wedding Sofreh Aghd

The spread that is used on the floor as the backdrop for Sofreh-ye Aghd was traditionally passed from mother to daughter (or occasionally son). The spread is made of a luxurious fabric such as "Termeh" (Cashmere: A rich gold embroidered fabric originally made in Cashmere from the soft wool found beneath the hair of the goats of Cashmere, Tibet, and the Himalayas), "Atlas" (Gold embroidered satin) or "Abrisham" (Silk).

On Sofreh-ye Aghd, the following items are placed:

Mirror (of fate) "Aayeneh-ye Bakht" and two Candelabras (representing the bride and groom and brightness in their future) one on either side of the mirror. The mirror and two candelabras are symbols of light and fire, two very important elements in the Zoroastrian culture. When the bride enters the room she has her veil covering her face. Once the bride sits beside the bridegroom she removes her veil and the first thing that the bridegroom sees in the mirror should be the reflection of his wife-to-be.

A tray of seven multi-colored herbs and spices "Sini-ye Aatel-O-Baatel" to guard the couple and their lives together against the evil eye, witchcraft and to drive away evil spirits. This tray consists of seven elements in seven colors:
1. Poppy Seeds "Khash-Khaash" (to break spells and witchcraft)
2. Wild Rice "Berenj"
3. Angelica "Sabzi Khoshk"
4. Salt "Namak" (to blind the evil eye)
5. Nigella Seeds "Raziyaneh"
6. Black Tea "Chaay"
7. Frankincense "Kondor" (to burn the evil spirits)
A specially baked and decorated flatbread "Noon-e Sangak" with blessing "Mobaarak-Baad" written in calligraphy on it. The writing is usually with either saffron "Zaffaron", cinnamon, Nigella seeds, or glitters. This symbolizes prosperity for the feasts and for the couple's life thereafter. A separate platter of this flat bread, feta cheese and fresh herbs are also present to be shared with the guests after the ceremony, to bring the new couple happiness and prosperity.
A basket of decorated eggs and a basket of decorated almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts in the shell to symbolize fertility.
A basket of pomegranates and/or apples for a joyous future. Pomegranates are considered heavenly fruits and apples symbolize the divine creation of mankind.
A cup of rose water extracted from special Persian roses "Gol-e Mohammadi" to perfume the air.
A bowl made out of crystallized sugar "Kaas-e Nabaat/Shaakh-e Nabaat" to sweeten life for the newly wed.
A brazier "Manghal" holding burning coals sprinkled with wild rue "Espand" a popular incense. Wild rue is used in many Zoroastrian ceremonies, rituals and purification rites. It is believed to keep the evil eye away and bring on plenty of health.
A bowl of gold coins representing wealth and prosperity.
A scarf or shawl made out of silk or any other fine fabric to be held over the bride and bridegroom's head throughout the ceremony by various happily married female relatives (mostly bride's close family members).
Two sugar cones "Kalleh Ghand" made out of hardened sugar to be used during the ceremony. These sugar cones are grinded together above the bride and bridegroom's head (over the scarf held above their heads) throughout the ceremony to shower them in sugar (symbolizing sweetness and happiness).
A cup of honey to sweeten life. Immediately after the couple is married they each should dip one pinky finger in the cup of honey and feed it to the other one.
A needle and seven strands of colored thread to figuratively sew up the mother-in-law's lips from speaking unpleasant words to the bride! The shawl that is held above the couple's head throughout the ceremony is sewed in one corner by the needle and threads.
A copy of the couple's Holy Book is placed on the spread. For Christian couples, it would be the Bible, for Zorastians Avesta, For Muslims Qur'an, .... This symbolizes God's blessing for the couple. Some couples use a poetry book such as Khayyam's poetry collection or Hafiz poetry collection instead of a religeous holy book. Traditionally "Avesta" the ancient Zoroastrian holy book was used by the majority of Iranins and Bible by the Iranian Christians during the ceremony and readings were made from it. Eventually Qur'an replaced Avesta for most wedding ceremonies after Iran was attacked by Arabs and forced to accept Islam.
A prayer carpet/kit is placed in the center of Sofreh-ye Aghd to remind the couple of importance of prayer both at blissful times and times of hardship. This prayer kit would include a prayer rosary or a cross & Holy Bible or a small rug "Sajjaadeh" and a strand of prayer beads "Tasbih".
An assortment of sweets and pastries to be shared with the guests after the ceremony. The assortment usually includes: Sugar coated almond strips "Noghl", Baklava (a sweet flaky Persian pastry "Baaghlavaa"), Mulberry-almond paste made in the shape of mulberries "Tout", Rice-flour cookies "Noon-Berenji", Chickpea-flour cookies "Noon-Nokhodchi", Almond-flour cookies "Noon-Baadoomi", and Honey roasted almonds "Sohaan A'sali".

The Traditional Role of a Woman In Ghana

2008-10-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Women in premodern Ghanaian society were seen as bearers of children, retailers of fish, and farmers. Within the traditional sphere, the childbearing ability of women was explained as the means by which lineage ancestors were allowed to be reborn. Barrenness was, therefore, considered the greatest misfortune. In precolonial times, polygamy was encouraged, especially for wealthy men. Anthropologists have explained the practice as a traditional method for well-to-do men to procreate additional labor. In patrilineal societies, dowry received from marrying off daughters was also a traditional means for fathers to accumulate additional wealth. Given the male dominance in traditional society, some economic anthropologists have explained a female's ability to reproduce as the most important means by which women ensured social and economic security for themselves, especially if they bore male children.

In their Seven Roles of Women: Impact of Education, Migration, and Employment on Ghanaian Mother (1987), Christine Oppong and Katherine Abu recorded field interviews in Ghana that confirmed this traditional view of procreation. Citing figures from the Ghana fertility survey of 1983, the authors concluded that about 60 percent of women in the country preferred to have large families of five or more children. A statistical table accompanying the research showed that the largest number of children per woman was found in the rural areas where the traditional concept of family was strongest. Uneducated urban women also had large families. On the average, urbanized, educated, and employed women had fewer children. On the whole, however, all the interviewed groups saw childbirth as an essential role for women in society, either for the benefits it bestows upon the mother or for the honor it brings to her family. The security that procreation provided was greater in the case of rural and uneducated women. By contrast, the number of children per mother declined for women with post- elementary education and outside employment; with guaranteed incomes and little time at their disposal in their combined roles as mothers and employees, the desire to procreate declined.

In rural areas of Ghana where non-commercial agricultural production was the main economic activity, women worked the land. Coastal women also sold fish caught by men. Many of the financial benefits that accrued to these women went into upkeep of the household, while those of the man were reinvested in an enterprise that was often perceived as belonging to his extended family. This traditional division of wealth placed women in positions subordinate to men. The persistence of such values in traditional Ghanaian society may explain some of the resistance to female education in the past.

In traditional society, marriage under customary law was often arranged or agreed upon by the fathers and other senior kinsmen of the prospective bride and bridegroom. This type of marriage served to link the two groups together in social relationships; hence, marriage within the ethnic group and in the immediate locality was encouraged. The age at which marriage was arranged varied among ethnic groups, but men generally married women somewhat younger than they were. Some of the marriages were even arranged by the families long before the girl attained nubility. In these matters, family considerations outweighed personal ones--a situation that further reinforced the subservient position of the wife.

The alienation of women from the acquisition of wealth, even in conjugal relationships, was strengthened by traditional living arrangements. Among matrilineal groups, such as the Akan, married women continued to reside at their maternal homes. Meals prepared by the wife would be carried to the husband at his maternal house. In polygamous situations, visitation schedules would be arranged. The separate living patterns reinforced the idea that each spouse is subject to the authority of a different household head, and because spouses are always members of different lineages, each is ultimately subject to the authority of the senior men of his or her lineage. The wife, as an outsider in the husband's family, would not inherit any of his property, other than that granted to her by her husband as gifts in token appreciation of years of devotion. The children from this matrilineal marriage would be expected to inherit from their mother's family.

The Ewe and the Dagomba, on the other hand, inherit from fathers. In these patrilineal societies where the domestic group includes the man, his wife or wives, their children, and perhaps several dependent relatives, the wife was brought into closer proximity to the husband and his paternal family. Her male children also assured her of more direct access to wealth accumulated in the marriage with her husband.

The transition into the modern world has been slow for women. On the one hand, the high rate of female fertility in Ghana in the 1980s showed that women's primary role continued to be that of child-bearing. On the other hand, current research supported the view that, notwithstanding the Education Act of 1960, which expanded and required elementary education, some parents were reluctant to send their daughters to school because their labor was needed in the home and on farms. Resistance to female education also stemmed from the conviction that women would be supported by their husbands. In some circles, there was even the fear that a girl's marriage prospects dimmed when she became educated.

Where girls went to school, most of them did not continue after receiving the basic education certification. Others did not even complete the elementary level of education. At numerous workshops organized by the National Council on Women and Development (NCWD) between 1989 and 1990, the alarming drop-out rate among girls at the elementary school level caused great concern. For this reason, the council called upon the government to find ways to remedy the situation. The disparity between male and female education in Ghana was again reflected in the 1984 national census. Although the ratio of male to female registration in elementary schools was fifty-five to forty-five, the percentage of girls at the secondary school level dropped considerably, and only about 17 percent of them were registered in the nation's universities in 1984. According to United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) figures published in 1991, the percentage of the female population registered at various levels of the nation's educational system in 1989 showed no improvement over those recorded in 1984.

Despite what these figures might suggest, women have risen to positions of professional importance in Ghana. Early 1990s data showed that about 19 percent of the instructional staff at the nation's three universities in 1990 was female. Of the teaching staff in specialized and diploma-granting institutions, 20 percent was female; elsewhere, corresponding figures were 21 percent at the secondary school level; 23 percent at the middle school level, and as high as 42 percent at the primary school level. Women also dominated the secretarial and nursing professions in Ghana. When women were employed in the same line of work as men, they were paid equal wages, and they were granted maternity leave with pay.

For women of little or no education who lived in urban centers, commerce was the most common form of economic activity in the 1980s. At urban market centers throughout the country, women from the rural areas brought their goods to trade. Other women specialized in buying agricultural produce at discounted prices at the rural farms and selling it to retailers in the city. These economic activities were crucial in sustaining the general urban population. From the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, however, urban market women, especially those who specialized in trading manufactured goods, gained reputations for manipulating market conditions and were accused of exacerbating the country's already difficult economic situation. With the introduction of the Economic Recovery Program in 1983 and the consequent successes reported throughout that decade, these accusations began to subside.

The overall impact of women on Ghanaian society cannot be overemphasized. The social and economic well-being of women, who as mothers, traders, farmers, and office workers compose slightly more than half of the nation's population, cannot be taken for granted. This was precisely the position taken by NCWD, which sponsored a number of studies on women's work, education, and training, and on family issues that are relevant in the design and execution of policies for the improvement of the condition of women. Among these considerations the NCWD stressed family planning, child care, and female education as paramount.

Marital Processes and Types of Marriage

The marriage process itself varies among ethnic groups. Also, the type of marriage consummated by a couple often depends on a host of factors, including their socioeconomic status (e.g., formal education, occupation, income, wealth, place of residence), and their family, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. Ghanaian family law recognizes a plurality of marital forms. Throughout the country, customary law marriages, consensual unions, marriages contracted under Islamic rules, and those contracted under the ordinance (civil or church) are all recognized as legal. Of these four types of marriages, marriage under customary or traditional law accounts for most marriage contracts in the country (Table 2).

Although national-level data on type of marriage are not readily available, evidence from small-scale surveys conducted throughout the country indicate that most marriages in Ghana are the traditional type (Gaisie and de Graft Johnson TABLE 2

**TABLE 2**
**Percentage distribution of Ghanaians by form of**
**marriage contract**
	1969^a	1992/93^b
	Women	Couples
SOURCE: (a) Gaisie and de Graft Johnson (1976). (b) Couples
data, Oheneba-Sakyi et al (1995).
Form of union
Customary only	81.7	69.8
Ordinance only	0.3	na
Ordinance/church/Muslim	5.8	18.0
Mutual consent	11.0	12.2
Other	0.1	na
Not reported	1.1	na

1976; Awusabo-Asare 1990; Oheneba-Sakyi et al. 1992; Ardayfio-Schandorf 1995). As indicated in Table 2, although the number of marriages performed under traditional law is declining, they still account for the bulk of all marriages in Ghana. In part, customary law marriages are popular because they are based on traditional norms and beliefs and are often less expensive to contract. Also, unlike marriage under the law, traditional marriage does not have to be monogamous. As a marriage form, the incidence of polygyny varies from somewhere between 20 to 50 percent in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa (Timaues and Reynar 1998). In Ghana during the late 1970s, about one-third of all currently married women were in polygynous unions (Aryee 1985; Gage and Njogu 1994). By the late 1990s, the proportion of women in plural marriages had declined to about 23 percent (Table 3).

TABLE 3

**Percentage distribution of married Ghanaian women by**
**their type of union**
		Survey and year
	GFS	GDHS	GDHS	GDHS
	1979^a	1988^b	1993^b	1998^b
SOURCE: GDHS (a) Aryee (1995, Table 1). (b) GDHS, 1988–1999.
Monogamous unions
All women	65.4	67.1	72.3	77.3
Urban residents	68.2	71.4	78.5	84.3
Rural residents	64.1	65.2	69.3	74.2
Polygamous unions
All women	34.6	32.9	27.7	22.6
Urban residents	31.8	28.6	21.5	15.7
Rural residents	35.9	34.7	30.6	25.8

1988–1999.

Sarah Palin, A Clash of Knowledge Vs Mindless Populism

2008-10-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

The question, the McCain campaign later acknowledged, was a fair one. In one of her sit-downs with Katie Couric of CBS News, Sarah Palin was asked to discuss a Supreme Court decision with which she disagreed. "Well, let's see," Palin replied, pausing. "There's, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but …" Couric followed up: "Can you think of any?" Palin, still pondering, said: "Well, I could think of … any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level. Maybe I would take issue with. But, you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a vice president, if I'm so privileged to serve, wouldn't be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today." Asked about the exchange afterward, a McCain adviser who didn't want to be named talking about a sensitive matter said the question was fair, but added: "I wonder how many Americans would be able to name decisions they disagree with. The court is very important, but Palin is on the ticket because she connects with everyday Americans."

Palin is on the ticket because she connects with everyday Americans. It is not shocking to learn that politics played a big role in the making of a presidential team (ticket-balancing to attract different constituencies has been with us at least since Andrew Jackson ran with John C. Calhoun, a man he later said he would like to kill). But that honest explanation of the rationale for her candidacy—not her preparedness for office, but her personality and nascent maverickism in Alaska—raises an important question, not only about this election but about democratic leadership. Do we want leaders who are everyday folks, or do we want leaders who understand everyday folks? Therein lies an enormous difference, one that could decide the presidential election and, if McCain and Palin were to win, shape the governance of the nation.

In an interview before her debate with Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Palin offered a revealing answer to radio host Hugh Hewitt. "Governor, your candidacy has ignited extreme hostility, even some hatred on the left and in some parts of the media," Hewitt said. "Are you surprised? And what do you attribute this reaction to?"

On the phone from McCain's retreat in Sedona, Palin replied: "I think they're just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying, 'You know what? It's time that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency.' I think that that's kind of taken some people off guard, and they're out of sorts, and they're ticked off about it, but it's motivation for John McCain and I to work that much harder to make sure that our ticket is victorious, and we put government back on the side of the people of Joe Six-Pack like me, and we start doing those things that are expected of our government, and we get rid of corruption, and we commit to the reform that is not only desired, but is deserved by Americans." This is, presumably, good politics: it makes a strength out of a weakness, always a shrewd tactic.

A key argument for Palin, in essence, is this: Washington and Wall Street are serving their own interests rather than those of the broad whole of the country, and the moment requires a vice president who will, Cincinnatus-like, help a new president come to the rescue. The problem with the argument is that Cincinnatus knew things. Palin sometimes seems an odd combination of Chauncey Gardiner from "Being There" and Marge from "Fargo."

Is this an elitist point of view? Perhaps, though it seems only reasonable and patriotic to hold candidates for high office to high standards. Elitism in this sense is not about educational or class credentials, not about where you went to school or whether you use "summer" as a verb. It is, rather, about the pursuit of excellence no matter where you started out in life. Jackson, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton were born to ordinary families, but they spent their lives doing extraordinary things, demonstrating an interest in, and a curiosity about, the world around them. This is much less evident in Palin's case.

John McCain is a man of accomplishment and curiosity, of wide and deep reading, travel and experience. He is smart without being a snob. He has authored legislation and books. He is a man of parts—the kind of figure whom one could effortlessly imagine being president. Are there many politically attuned people in America now who can honestly say the same thing of Sarah Palin? That they can effortlessly envision President Palin in the Oval Office, ready on day one to manage a market meltdown or a terror attack? Whether one agrees or disagrees with his politics, there is no arguing that McCain is qualified to be president of the United States. But there is plenty of argument about Palin's qualifications. Why should we apply a different standard to the vice president who would stand to succeed him?

Even devoted Republicans doubt whether the Sarah Six-Pack case is the best one to make. After the vice presidential debate, a senior figure in the party, who asked not to be named because he was telling the truth, told me that Palin should talk less about being "just-folks" and more about being governor of a large state.

We have been here before. In 1970 a Nebraska senator, Roman L. Hruska, was defending Richard Nixon's nomination of U.S. circuit Judge G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court. An underwhelming figure, Carswell was facing criticism that he was too "mediocre" for elevation. Hruska tried an interesting counterargument: "Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos." Fair enough, but it still seems sensible to aspire to surpass mediocrity rather than embrace it.

The capacity of the common man (and now woman) to serve in government is the subject of ancient debate. The philosophers Robert Dale Owen and Jeremy Bentham believed in the principle of rotation in office—the idea that citizens could do the work of government for a time, then return to private life—and Andrew Jackson, in the beginning of the modern democratic era, spoke in similar terms about the federal government: "The duties of all public officers are, or at least admit to being made, so plain and simple that men of intelligence may readily qualify themselves for their performance." But Jackson was thinking about postmasters, not presidents.

We have had terrific presidents and vice presidents from humble backgrounds, and we have had terrible presidents and vice presidents from privileged ones. The unease with Palin is not class-based. It is empirically based. She is a rising political star, a young woman—she is only 44—who has done extraordinary things. It takes guts to offer oneself for election, and to serve. It is far easier to throw spitballs from the stands than it is to seek and hold office. She is a governor, and she has the courage to go into the arena. For that she should be honored and respected. If she were seeking a Senate seat, or being nominated for a cabinet post—secretary of energy, say, or interior—the conversation about her would be totally different.

But she is not seeking a Senate seat, nor is she being nominated for a cabinet post, and so it is only prudent to ask whether she is in fact someone who should be president of the United States in the event of disaster. She may be ready in a year or two, but disaster does not coordinate its calendar with ours. Would we muddle through if Palin were to become president? Yes, we would, but it is worth asking whether we should have to.

What do we know about Palin after, as she put it with a wink, "like, five weeks"? That she can be a superb political performer (she held her own against Biden, projecting an image of warmth and toughness) and she can be a poor one (too many questions in the debate went completely unanswered, and the Couric interview is full of moments no candidate would like to have out there). But that is only human. Everyone has good days and bad days. Her syntax is sometimes a world unto itself. But George H.W. Bush occasionally sounded as though English were more foe than friend, and he was an astute president who managed complexity with skill and balance. The arsenal of folksy phrases—"doggone it," "you betcha"—grates on some, but seems just great to others.

The story of Palin's brief national career helps explain her uneven performances. She had virtually no time to prepare, and has had virtually no time since. Her star turn began quickly, and mysteriously. When Nicolle Wallace and Matthew Scully, two former Bush aides who now work for McCain, showed up at a dingy Ohio hotel in late August to meet the new running mate, they had no idea who might be waiting for them. Just a day before, Wallace had been in a dentist's chair in New York, getting a root canal, when Steve Schmidt, McCain's top strategist, summoned her to Ohio. She tried to say no, but her dentist, a McCain fan, insisted she could make it, giving her a prescription for Vicodin to numb the pain. The next morning, dazed by the meds, Wallace arrived in Cincinnati and drove with Scully to Middletown, Ohio, where McCain's VP was holed up until the big announcement the following day.

As Wallace and Scully drove up, they were met outside by Schmidt and Mark Salter, McCain's longtime aide and speechwriter. Schmidt escorted the two upstairs, where he dramatically paused before a closed door. "You're No. 7 and 8," Schmidt said, referring to the number of people who were privy to McCain's choice. As the door opened, a woman rose to greet them, shaking their hands enthusiastically. Scully and Wallace, still numb from her procedure, smiled and introduced themselves. The woman, Sarah Palin, looked very familiar, but, as both later recounted to other McCain aides, they did not immediately know who she was. (McCain loves this story, relishing the success of his bid to keep the selection process secret.)

When she shook their hands, the governor of Alaska was already in the surreal bubble of a modern presidential campaign, an odd ethos in which one is rarely alone and yet often lonely. Remembering how John Edwards had brought his own staff to the ticket with John Kerry in 2004, creating immediate and lasting tensions, the McCain camp wanted to exert complete control over their running mate. Schmidt and others assembled a team of well-known Republican hands for the veep squad. The campaign pointedly did not hire anyone from Palinworld.

The governor, meanwhile, is only a recent visitor to McCainworld. After the announcement in Dayton, the Friday before the convention in St. Paul, aides gave her thick binders full of policies and arranged sit-downs with some of McCain's top advisers, including Randy Scheunemann, Doug Holtz-Eakin and Sens. Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham. On the day she was nominated, Palin, joining McCain on a bus tour, was given reading material: every policy speech McCain has given in this campaign.

Some who know her from Alaska suggest that Palin is a deft crammer, and her performance against Biden supports that. Larry Persily, a former Anchorage Daily News editorial-page editor, left the newspaper in May 2007 and worked as an associate director in Palin's Washington, D.C., office until June 2008. He says he left on good terms—Palin offered him another job when he resigned—but he believes she is not qualified to be vice president and is speaking out for that reason. He describes Palin as an easily distracted manager. "Her preppings [briefings] were accentuated by the brevity of them. She's not going to pore over briefing books and charts and white papers and reports for hours and hours. She knows how to connect with people, and it's like, 'Give me bullet points and I'll run with it' … I don't think she had trouble focusing. She didn't have an interest in focusing."

Her isolation in recent weeks has taken a toll, and she has been hungry for company. It has been difficult for Palin to be isolated from her friends not only by distance, but also electronically. Palin's Yahoo account was hacked into in mid-September and messages between her and friends were posted online. (In one such message, a colleague tells Palin not to let the negative press get to her.) Wasilla friend Kristan Cole says that in the initial days after Palin was picked she regularly communicated with Palin via e-mail. That stopped after the hacking incident. The women have always talked electronically. "You can do it on the go and respond at 2 o'clock in the morning, and with all the time changes that was the best way to communicate." Since Palin's account was hacked into, Cole has not sent her a single e-mail or received one from her. "I'm more gun-shy, because when you've had the relationship we have had—my son was in a critical car accident, and working through all that and her family and Trig—it's made me hesitant to say anything very personal [via e-mail], and that's sad."

A turning point came last week, when Kris Perry returned to Palin's immediate orbit. Perry, who worked as her scheduler, was stuck in Anchorage for the past month, waiting to see if she would be deposed in the ongoing "Troopergate" investigation. Only on the Friday before the Thursday debate, after a delay in the investigation, did Perry feel able to leave town and fly south. (Troopergate could make headlines again this Friday, when a special counsel is due to issue his report on the matter.) It was Perry who helped Palin relax and regain her footing prior to last Thursday night's debate.

Sealing Palin off from Perry, whom she met when both were in the hospital giving birth to their children six years ago (in Palin's case it was her fourth, daughter Piper), was a mistake, say those in Palinworld. Next to Todd, says one former aide who did not want to be named discussing sensitive personnel matters, Perry was the person most responsible for "creating a sense of peace around Sarah." Despite recent media reports of a wild temper, those who know Palin say she is more prone to anxiety and frantic overdrive than tantrums. "She's the world's worst multitasker," says the aide. "She'll have a cell phone in one hand, the BlackBerry in the other while she is reading two position papers. You have to tell her prior to the debate, 'Put that down, breathe deep.' They [the McCain staff] are not going to know that."

What Palin knows, and what the country knows about her, is an issue for the next few weeks. Barack Obama is not the Messiah, and Biden is no Simon Peter, but it stretches credulity to say that Obama is no more qualified to be president than Palin is. Though you may prefer McCain-Palin to Obama-Biden, there is not the same threshold question about the Democrats that is now being asked about Palin.

Sitting with her for part of the Couric interview, McCain implicitly compared Palin to Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, saying that they, too, had been caricatured and dismissed by mainstream voices. The linkages are untenable. For all of his manifold sins, Clinton was a longtime governor, and George H.W. Bush's attacks on his qualifications failed for a reason: people may not have respected Clinton's character, but they did not doubt the quality of his mind. A successful two-term governor of California, Reagan had spent decades immersed in politics (of both the left and the right) before running for president. He did like to call himself a citizen-politician, and Lord knows he had an occasionally ambiguous relationship with facts, but he was a serious man who had spent a great deal of time thinking about the central issues of the age. To put it kindly, Palin, however promising a governor she is, has not done similar work.

I could be wrong. Perhaps Sarah Palin will somehow emerge from the hurly-burly of history as a transformative figure who was underestimated in her time by journalists who could not see, or refused to acknowledge, her virtues. But do I think I am right in saying that Palin's populist view of high office—hey, Vice President Six-Pack, what should we do about Pakistan?—is dangerous? You betcha.

With Holly Bailey, Karen Breslau, Suzanne Smalley, Michael Isikoff and Sarah Kliff

Mexican actress Salma Hayek, Tetanus Crusader

2008-10-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hollywood mom Salma Hayek is lending her star power to a UNICEF campaign to eradicate tetanus in mothers and babies around the world within four years.

Hayek, a paid spokeswoman for Pampers' tetanus vaccine program, recounted her experiences during a recent trip to the West African nation of Sierra Leone, where she met with tetanus victims.

"One of the things that was very moving about the trip was to see 15-year-old girls, really young, taking responsibility for their lives and their children before they're born by saying 'I am going to be healthy, I am going to take this vaccination,'" she told journalists at the United Nations on Thursday.

"I had no idea how much this was going to really personally move me," added the 42-year-old star of films including Desperado and Frida.

The Pampers-UNICEF partnership has already provided over 50 million vaccines to mothers and babies in developing countries, where tetanus kills up to 140,000 infants and 30,000 women each year, according to the U.N. agency.

Pampers, owned by Procter & Gamble Co., said it would give UNICEF the money for one tetanus vaccine for every pack of specially marked diapers it sells before the end of the year. It expects that to produce 70 million more vaccinations.

Hayek's daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault was born in September 2007.

Brangelina Back To The USA

2008-10-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone! Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have arrived in America for the first time since the birth of their twins!

This is very important news, and we’ll tell you why soon. Anyway, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrived in New York for the first time since the birth of their last children so that Angelina can promote her new movie The Changeling.

We said we’d tell you why it was so important that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were returning to America, didn’t we? Well, alright, we will - it’s important because, um, well, Brad Pitt is, um… and Angelina sort of… no. We’ve got nothing. Literally nothing. Maybe they left the gas on or something. We genuinely couldn’t care less.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s newborn twins haven’t been on this planet for long, but the time they have spent on it has almost exclusively been in France. Imagine that - 10 weeks surrounded by nothing but onion trees, shrugging mechanics, afternoon naps and excessive female bodyhair. That’s tantamount to child abuse in our books, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie should bloody well be ashamed.

Which we assume they are, because Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have decided to return to America with all their children, where they can be brought up the way God intended - on a diet of Ritalin, incessant flashing images, processed food containing constituent parts that have never seen a speck of sunlight and brightly-coloured cartoon dinosaurs that shout the alphabet.

Yes, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have decided to return to America with their entire flock of culturally nonspecific offspring to allow Angelina Jolie to promote her new movie The Changeling. It’s an important movie for Angelina Jolie, because it’s the first role for several years where she hasn’t just played Angelina Jolie. Also, it’s a Clint Eastwood film, so there might be an Oscar in it for her if she licks enough arse. Access Hollywood reports:

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have brought their six kids to New York City for the first time since the birth of their twins, Vivienne and Knox. The actress and mother of six is scheduled to walk the red carpet at the film’s premiere for the first time since giving birth to her twins.

As nice as it must have been for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to spend time in another country with less media intrusion and a slower, idyllic pace of life, it will do everyone some good to return to America.

More people will recognise Shilou Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, for example, so she’ll find booking a table at a restaurant much easier. And Brad Pitt’s bodyguards can beat up people who they actually understand for once. And lovely old Olivia Poupot gets to go a few days without giving a hilariously disdainful police statement about what a dreary couple of bastards she thinks Brad and Angelina are.

But the break won’t last - Brad Pitt is filming Inglorious Bastards in Germany at the moment, so after a few days, the entire brood will decamp back to Europe again. But no matter where they go they’ll always have a little piece of America inside them. True, it’s an impacted clump of hamburger that’ll cling to the inside of their colon until they day they die, but it’s good enough.
Source

Britney Spears' 'Womanizer' Leaked Thus Held Back

2008-09-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

Britney Spears' new single called "Womanizer", which has been leaked three days ago, was supposed to hit the airplay today, but has been pushed back for another week. A publicist from Jive/Zomba Records named Wendy Washington says that the release delay happens because the song "needs more mixing and editing."

The track, which record company bosses had been desperate to keep secret until the singer's big relaunch in November, was discovered on YouTube by an LA radio station.

The station played a 40 second clip of the song, which has now been picked up by hundreds of thousands of fans.

The revelations follow reports of a fake leak which appeared last week when new website BritneySpearsCircusLeak claimed to have a leaked version of single Candy from Strangers, from the singer's new album Circus. It was later proved to be a fake.

The record company are now trying to track down the insider who posted the version of 'Womanizer' on the internet, along with private footage of Spears rehearsing in an LA dance studio. They are considering legal action against the culprit.

Security measures have been installed at the studio to protect the rest of the material.

The greatest fear for Spears's bosses is the effect that the unfinished track could have on what was promising to be a successful comeback.

Spears's PRs have been trying to carefully rebuild her career following her nervous breakdown and, along with the release of the single, have scheduled only one glossy magazine interview with her in December.

They fear that, if people hear an unpolished version of the single, it will jeopardise their campaign.

Friends of the star told The Sun that the revelations that someone from inside the company had broken her trust have been a further knock for Spears.

Fake Sarah Palin Photos Portray her as A Stripper

2008-09-07T03:48:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin's credibility as a possible American Vice-President is being undermined by a series of spoof photographs circulated on the internet.

The saucy pictures, which exploit her glamorous image, have been published amid a concerted ‘dirty tricks’ campaign against the former beauty queen, following her surprise appointment as 72-year-old Republican candidate John McCain’s running mate.

One shows her apparently wearing a leather miniskirt and stilettos, while another has her in a Stars and Stripes bikini, brandishing a rifle.

While the images could be seen as harmless fun, they will hinder the relatively inexperienced 44-year-old Alaskan Governor’s attempts to be taken seriously as a political heavyweight.

Barbara Brunton, a Republican Party spokeswoman, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘There is a dirty-tricks campaign being waged against Sarah Palin by the liberal lobby.

'They have flooded the internet with fake photographs that make her look like a stripper. It’s nothing more than a vicious smear campaign.

‘Our political enemies have simply put Sarah’s head on someone else’s body. It’s easy to do with Photoshop. The idea is to undermine her character and to stop people from respecting her.’

The pictures come after a widespread smear campaign of tawdry rumours about Palin’s private life – including claims she had an affair with one of her husband’s business partners, which were strenuously denied last night.

America’s National Enquirer magazine made the allegations about an unnamed man, but internet gossip sites quickly named the alleged ‘lover’ as Scott Richter, 44, who co-owns property with oilfield worker Todd Palin.

Richter’s ex-wife Debbie, a former campaign worker, categorically denied the claims last night.

‘I can tell you with 1,000 per cent certainty that Sarah Palin never had an affair with my ex-husband,’ she said angrily.

‘Sarah is driven, determined and committed to public service. She will not be deterred by anything.’

Palin has threatened to sue over the allegation.

In Palin’s Alaskan home town of Wasilla, locals are stunned by the attention she has brought to their sleepy community.

Local resident Anne Kilkenny, who has known Palin all her life, said darkly: ‘Sarah Palin is a woman who is good at keeping secrets. Like the fact she kept her pregnancy secret for seven months. I have no idea why she did that.’

Another person familiar with Palin said: ‘There is more dirt to come out. People are scared to talk now because she is representing Alaska and Alaskans don’t want to do anything to make our state look bad.

‘But Sarah has trodden on a lot of toes. She is no angel and she has made some enemies along the way.

'She is ruthless and ambitious and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. There are skeletons in her closet.’

Locals say that Wasilla, like much of small-town America, is plagued by problems such as drug and alcohol abuse, especially among bored teenagers.

The Mail on Sunday was openly offered marijuana at one of the town’s drive-through coffee stands. The girl at the Pacific Coast Espresso coffee stall on West Parks Highway, two miles from Palin’s Lake Lucille home, said: ‘I can get you pot. I’m just waiting to get a call back. How much do you want?’

But the wilderness around Wasilla means that in many ways it is far from a typical US town.

Palin, a lifelong National Rifle Association member, taught her children to handle a .22 rifle from the age of ten, and enjoys taking her three eldest children Track, 19, Bristol, 17, and Willow, 14, to the local shooting range.

‘The kids would mostly bring their own rifles. As far as I could see, they’re all expert shots,’ said Pat Kilkenny, a regular at the range.

‘I’ve not seen her in a while because they had to close the place down. Hazardous lead levels were created as a result of so many bullets being fired.’

Fellow resident Andy Kopczenski, a 58-year-old father of seven, said: ‘If everything that Sarah’s saying sounds kinda rough to everybody else then that’s because they didn’t grow up in a place where they had to shoot dinner.

'Every day here is hunting season because if US$2000 worth of meat runs across my front yard, I’m putting it in the freezer. OK? You get an immediate reality check living in Alaska.

‘All the kids are firearm savvy. We don’t have Bambi up here; we have animals that can kill you.

'An eight-year-old might meet a bear as he walks to school, so he better know how to protect himself.

‘Even a moose can kill you: That thing weights 1,000lb and has hooves sharper than you can dream. You can die every day here if you’re not careful.’

He also told of how Palin’s high profile has changed the character of the small town, a criss-cross of log cabins on streets with names such as Polar Bear Drive or Grizzly Bear Road.

‘The Secret Service went into her neighbourhood and screened everybody,’ he said. ‘She’s got a motorcade every time she hits town and there are three “Men in Black” vehicles parked permanently outside her home.’

In a town where the idea of a good night out is reindeer sausage or a moose burger at The Mug-Shot Saloon, the thought of one of their own in the White House is still beyond comprehension.

Paula Abdul Feels Threatened By Kara DioGuardi As American Idol Judge

2008-08-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

Paula Abdul Feels Threatened By Kara DioGuardi As American Idol Judge

Kara DioGuardi joins the show today in NY for the first round of auditions, where she'll meet her co-panelists face to face. When asked whether her judging style falls into the nicer, Randy/Paula brand of criticism or on Simon's blunt, sometimes forceful end, DioGuardi says she's not similar to anybody.

"I have my own style ... I'm honest," she says, "And pretty feisty."

Just hours after the announcement that "American Idol" will be adding a fourth judge, Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGuardi, for the show's eighth season, Paula Abdul said she has concerns about the newcomer.

Paula said on Phoenix's KISS-FM that she's excited about DioGuardi coming aboard, according to UsMagazine.com, but added: "I am concerned about the audience and acceptance. Time will tell. We'll see."

She said that DioGuardi was added because the show's producers "wanted to try a change," and noted that the show "always tried for a fourth judge because it followed the format of the original show, 'Pop Idol.' We haven't had much luck with that working, but we're gonna give it another try."

Abdul replied with a "nope!" when asked if the four judges — Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson, along with DioGuardi and herself — have sat down and given their chemistry a test run. She said DioGuardi will be involved in "everything" related to "Idol," adding that the judges are currently in New York for "Idol" auditions (for which "American Idol" expert Jim Cantiello tried out last week). "We shoot tomorrow," she added.

Abdul admitted that the presence of a fourth judge complicates the judging process.

"That's gonna be weird if it's a split decision," she said. "I'm sure Simon will get to make the final [call]. It takes the fun out of all the hard work I do to push those kids through."

Michelle Obama Stands By Her Man At The Democratic National Convention

2008-08-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

Michelle Obama takes center stage at the Democratic convention before some 4,400 delegates and millions more glued to their televisions at home, to proudly proclaim to the world why she believes her husband should be elected president of the United States. She is expected to deliver a passionate speech in support of Barack Obama's historic bid for the White House.

She will need to do more than introduce herself as a potential first lady Monday night when she takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention in front of a nationwide TV audience.

The setting gives her an opportunity to reinvent herself after being portrayed by Republicans as unpatriotic for saying during the primaries that her husband’s campaign made her proud of America “for the first time.”

“She has been by all accounts a polarizing figure in this campaign,” NPR Correspondent Juan Williams said Monday. Williams, a FOX News contributor, said the “proud” comment defined her for a lot of voters.

“It’s off-putting to a lot of people, but especially to middle-of-the-road white America,” Williams said. “So tonight she wants to reinvent herself. She wants to say, ‘Hey, listen, that’s a distortion, a caricature of who I really am.’”

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson grew up on the South Side of Chicago in a family of modest means. She fought her way into Princeton, and later to Harvard Law School, and began dating Obama while working at a corporate law firm in Chicago. They’ve been married for 15 years.

In the primaries, she was dubbed “the Closer” for her ability to persuade undecided voters to come on board. Now she’s the opener, the first-night star called upon to testify about her husband’s vision and values.

Like any candidate’s spouse, she is in the unique position of knowing the presumptive nominee best. Barack Obama has made no secret of how much he values his wife’s insight.

Asked by pastor Rick Warren at a forum last week whom he’d rely on most for advice in his administration, Obama said: “That’s Michelle, my wife, who is not only wise, but she’s honest. And one of the things you need … is somebody who can get up in your face and say, ‘boy, you really screwed that one up’.”

Not everyone is so trusting.

To a large extent, Michelle Obama faces a task that no other potential first lady has: She must reassure voters that she loves her country. Obama has said that her statement about being proud of America for the first time referred to having pride in the political process.

But the critics have not let up, to a point where her husband told people to “lay off my wife,” and the Obama campaign created a Web site solely to counter innuendo about both of them.

A summer AP-Yahoo News poll found the public hasn’t taken to her yet. Respondents were more apt to dislike her than Republican candidate John McCain’s wife, Cindy. But polls also show that Americans don’t know either woman well.

For many voters, her speech Monday night will be her debut on the public stage. While she has campaigned solo for her husband, some of the heaviest TV coverage she has received has been the Republican videos criticizing her “proud” remarks.

Michael Steele, former Republican lieutenant governor of Maryland, said Michelle Obama alone is responsible for her image, and that her speech is a chance to counter that.

“I think what she wants to accomplish is to show America that she’s a mom, she’s a wife, she’s a businesswoman … and that she is capable of being the first lady of this country,” Steele said. “And her challenge tonight is to do that in the context of perceptions, real or imagined, that Americans have of her. Some would say militant, some would say anti-American.”

Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis said he thinks Michelle Obama will be able to express her personal story of accomplishment as well as a full picture of what she and her husband are fighting for and why.

But Kirsten Powers, a FOX News political analyst, said Michelle Obama should not talk too much about herself.

“Michelle Obama really needs to connect with ordinary people and she needs to promote her husband, not herself,” Powers said.

Mrs. Obama did a walk-through at the Pepsi Center Monday afternoon with daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7. Both girls stood at the podium and practiced pounding the gavel.

The Obamas, their days of financial struggles well behind them, reported making $4.2 million last year.

Williams said Obama’s race is playing a big factor in the way she’s being portrayed.

“I think it’s also a factor that she’s an educated professional black woman,” he said. “It’s as if you’re adding multipliers to this math problem. This is someone who’s had strong statements about race in America, she’s had strong feelings about how she’s been treated by whites. … This really is a unique individual and so many of the issues and controversies that swirl around her might not pertain to every black woman who was going be a potential first lady, but it does apply to her.”

Michelle Obama, The Power Behind Barack Obama

2008-08-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

In the past year, Michelle Obama has been on the campaign trail, often standing in for her husband, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama. In doing so, the potential first lady has put her own career on hold.

Trained as an attorney, Michelle Obama left the legal field early. She has spent most of her career in the public and nonprofit sectors. And like many working women, Obama says she has struggled to balance her professional and family life.

At a recent luncheon in Chicago, the applause swelled as Obama, taller than most in the room at 5-foot-11, strode to the podium.

"[I'm] always living with the guilt that if I'm spending too much time at work, then I'm not giving enough time to my girls," she said to the mostly female audience. "And then if I'm with my girls, then I'm not doing enough for work — or you name it. It's a guilt that we all live with in this room. Can I hear an amen?"

Her Early Career

Michelle Obama's maiden name is Robinson. After she earned degrees from Princeton and Harvard Law School, Michelle took her first job at the Chicago office of Sidley Austin, where she was part of the firm's marketing and intellectual-property practice groups. Published reports say Michelle Robinson worked on teams representing AT&T and Union Carbide. She met Barack Obama while at the firm, mentored him, then left the job after three years.

In 1991, Michelle Robinson was hired as a mayoral assistant by Valerie Jarrett, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's chief of staff. Jarrett is now Michelle Obama's close friend and a senior adviser to the Obama campaign. Michelle Obama was not available for an interview, but NPR spoke with Jarrett.

"Usually, when issues get to the mayor's office, they have worked their way through the bureaucracy. And the problems are sufficiently complicated that it takes somebody with a very level head and an honest broker and a sense of right and wrong and reason to sort them through," Jarrett says. "So we were looking for a person who could help us do that, and Michelle was outstanding at that."

During her time at City Hall, Michelle Robinson became an assistant planning commissioner. That's also when she married Barack Obama.

His and her professional lives crossed again when Barack recommended Michelle to head up the new Chicago office of Public Allies, a leadership training group for young adults. He was a former board member.

Michelle Obama was a mentor to many of the young staff and created the organization's professional template, according to Public Allies' CEO Paul Schmitz.

"The mission of the organization was to identify and develop this next generation of nonprofit and community leaders. And Michelle interpreted that as trying to really find the people with the greatest passion for making a difference in their communities, regardless of their background — and helping turn that passion into a viable career path," Schmitz says. "And so that's a model that she really solidified for us that we've kept to this day — this belief that leadership has to come from all parts of the community."

Joining The University Of Chicago

After leaving Public Allies, Michelle Obama's next job was at the University of Chicago. First, she worked as the associate dean of student services. She left that position to work for the University of Chicago Hospitals.

The university's former CEO, Michael Riordan, who hired Michelle Obama, said her commitment to both family and work was front and center.

When she interviewed for the hospital job, Michelle brought her daughter Sasha, an infant at the time. Sasha slept while her mother got the details about the executive director of community affairs position.

In her hospital role, "What she helped us do was bring together sort of a strategy," Riordan says. Her approach, he adds, was to "have an asset-based view of the community. Go in. See what they're strong at and then build on from that.'"

Obama collaborated with churches and community groups. She recruited volunteers, increased staff diversity and worked with clinics and physicians to provide primary care to low-income patients who would otherwise use the emergency room.

Professional Life Under Scrutiny

After her husband won a U.S. Senate seat in 2004, Michelle Obama's professional life began to come under scrutiny. An online video said she received a pay increase of $195,000 just months after her husband was sworn in.

Obama was promoted to a vice president at the University of Chicago Hospitals; her salary nearly tripled, from $122,000 to $316,000 a year.

"A lot of people help mentor young people; a lot of people help teach," says former political consultant Joe Novak, who runs a Web site that criticizes the health care industry and another that is critical of the Obamas. "But when she got to the power of influence about being married to a U.S. senator, about being the wife of a rock star, what did she do to affect positive change? What she did is help a hospital, a not-for-profit hospital, carry out a strategy of maximizing profits."

Former hospital chief Riordan calls the criticism of Michelle Obama silly, and he says Barack Obama was not a factor in her promotion or her raise.

"If you want good people to solve difficult issues, I think the market sort of sets what's the price that we have to pay to attract and keep those people," Riordan says.

Last year, Michelle Obama resigned from the board of Tree House Foods, which sells products to Wal-Mart, citing increased demands on her time. The resignation came after her husband said he wouldn't shop at the store because its workers are not unionized.

A Work-And-Family Focus

Now on leave from her hospital job, Michelle Obama works voluntarily to help elect her husband president. She has not said what issues she would champion if they make it to the White House, but discussing work and family remains her agenda on the campaign trail.

"If there's one thing that I've seen out there, as I've traveled around the country over this last year, is that women need an advocate in the White House now more than ever before," she has said.

If her husband does not win his presidential bid, will Michelle Obama resume her career? Her good friend Valerie Jarrett says that's a hypothetical that's not being considered.

Ben Affleck And Jennifer Garner Are Hunting For A New Home.

2008-07-25T14:09:00.001-07:00

While they have neither confirm nor deny their rumored pregnancy, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are hunting for a new home, in which to raise their expanding family.

Just days after Garner's former Alias co-star Victor Garber reportedly let slip the couple is expecting a second child, the actors have been snapped house hunting in Los Angeles.

Affleck and Garner, who was struggling to hide a distinctive baby bump, spent an hour on Monday (21Jul08) at a construction site in Brentwood viewing a luxury house currently under construction.

Although the couple has yet to confirm the pregnancy, Garner is expected to give birth later this year (08) to a little brother or sister for two-year-old daughter Violet.

Garber insists comments he made about the possible pregnancy were taken out of context, and he has no idea if Garner is with child.

Miley Cyrus Mocks Selena Gomez Online Video

2008-07-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

The Hannah Montana star, 15, has posted new footage of herself and her best pal joking around as they mock an earlier video made by friends Gomez and Lovato, in which they talk about their love of make-up and cartoon characters Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

In her own take on the chat, Cyrus boasts about a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt she's bought, saying: "I got a really cool shirt today. Like, really emo, like emo-mazing."

Cyrus' video has now been interspersed with Gomez and Lovato's footage and posted on video-sharing website YouTube.com to show a frame-by-frame comparison of the two.

The attack has sent online gossips into a spin, with many speculating that Cyrus' actions were prompted by reports her ex-boyfriend Nick Jonas is dating Gomez.

However, both Jonas and Gomez, who appears in The Jonas Brothers' new Burnin' Up video, have denied the claims.

In an earlier report, Miley Cyrus says she's "lookin'" for a boyfriend.

The Hannah Montana star -- who has been linked to Nick Jonas and co-star Lucas Till -- insists she's single, but is on the look out for the perfect man.

When asked by Today Show interviewer Bailey Monte Thursday if she had a boyfriend, Miley replied, "No," but then added with a laugh, "Lookin'.

"It is hard when you are hanging out with guys, even guys that are just your friends.

"[He's] automatically your boyfriend, because that's what the media thinks," she explained.

"I think it's good if you can be able to have guy and girl friends that, you know, understand you... and it stinks when we go out; people automatically think we're together."

Nick, meanwhile, is being linked to fellow-Disney star Selena Gomez.

And she might be one of the biggest stars in the world right now, but does Miley, 15, ever get grounded by her parents?

"Yes, yes, Miley Cyrus does. And I kinda like it sometimes," Miley replied. "I'm like, 'Oh, it's kinda nice just to be home,' you know. And it'll kinda stop me for a little while from wanting to work and wanting to do this and that.

"The worst is cell phones getting taken away," she added. "It's the worst!"

However, things could change for Miley when, on November 23, she turns turns 16 and qualifies for a driver's license.

"I'll take anything that'll drive," Cyrus said of her car preference. "Seriously, right now I just want anything that'll get me around and hopefully it's something somewhat OK."

From The Cosmetic Surgery Clinics To The Grave In Dubai

2008-07-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

One of Dubai's most senior cardiologists spoke out on Friday about the boom in local cosmetic surgery practices, warning patients to prepare in advance of potentially risky operations.

Dr Klaus Kallmayer, from the German Heart Centre in Dubai Healthcare City, said more had to be done to warn patients about the dangers of the surgery so decisions were not taken lightly.

An Emirati woman underwent laser liposuction surgery at a Dubai hospital in November, 2007 but at the end of the procedure, her heart stopped, cutting off the oxygen supply to the brain.

Doctors resuscitated her but she had already slipped into a coma and died a few days later.

And, where the licences of the plastic surgeon and other staff involved in this incident have been suspended, Dr Kallmayer believes more should be done to explain the dangers to potential patients.

He said: "This was not a singular incident. In fact, damaging and even fatal outcomes of cosmetic surgery happen on a regular basis, with many of the cases not reaching the public eye.

"Cosmetic surgery is hugely popular in Dubai, particularly among the local population. The density of clinics offering cosmetic surgery in Dubai is now staggering, and these procedures are aggressively advertised in this region.

"At the same time there is very little awareness of the fact cosmetic surgery is not a minor procedure and should not be taken lightly.

"It remains surgery and these invasive procedures carry all the usual risks associated with surgery. General anesthesia alone carries a risk, however small, of severe organ damage, permanent disability and even death.

"Having personally visited one of Dubai's busier cosmetic surgery clinics, I was appalled to be informed the only preoperative 'cardiovascular test' performed there was to make the patient walk up and down a flight of stairs. Anyone completing this was considered fit for surgery, which is highly alarming."

His comments echo the views of Arabian Business readers - 65 percent said in a recent online poll that they would not go near a local clinic because there was not enough regulation in the industry.

Last week it was revealed that health inspectors closed several clinics and withdrew licences from some doctors as part of a move to impose tougher rules on the industry.

In our poll, a further 15 percent said they would avoid treatment locally because they were worried about the standard of service they might receive.

Jennifer Lopez Is Not A Spoilt, Self-obsessed Diva

2008-07-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

It's official. Jennifer Lopez is not a spoilt, self-obsessed diva. It must be true because Jennifer herself says so, and when she speaks you'd better snap into action and believe what she says or she'll tear you a new one, OK?

J.Lo (sorry, she demanded that she doesn't want to be known by that name anymore on pain of legal action) admits she may have a slight reputation as a demanding monster, but that simply isn't her fault – it's the fault of the vast entourage she employs to cosset her and pamper her every whim, the bastards. Get sacking them!

So what of the stories of a rider demand for an all-white dressing room bedecked with white lilies and another 99 demanding items? Simply not true, she says.

"I think it's easier to make up this type of story rather than tell the truth. Like everybody in this profession, I have a list but I haven't seen mine in years. "I'm sure it's got longer without me knowing it. Really, I don't have any special requests, it must be my team's doing. They know my likes and they just want me to be comfortable, but believe me, I'm a nice guest at hotels."

So there you go. No special requests whatsoever. What a lovely humble woman. Or she could just be talking out of that extremely substantial arse.

Megan Fox's Sexiest Woman Position "Annoys" Her

2008-07-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Megan Fox hates her position as the Sexiest Woman In The World - insisting the flattering title "annoys" her.
The Transformers actress was voted the top babe in FHM magazine's annual list of lovelies earlier this year (Apr08).
But the sexy star isn't keen to promote herself as a screen siren, and hates getting raunchy on set after her "awkward" love scenes in upcoming movie Jennifer's Body.
She tells MTV UK.com, "I'm not comfortable with it (FHM Sexiest Woman) at all. It annoys me.
"I have a few love scenes (in Jennifer's Body). I eat and seduce everyone - boys and girls. There's a lot of kissing and craziness. It was awkward, it's always awkward and it's never fun."

Heath Ledger's Ex-fiancee Michelle Williams Moves On With Spike Jonze

2008-07-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Seven months after the sudden death of her ex-fiancé Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams appears to have found happiness again.

A U.S. magazine reports the former Dawson's Creek actress, 27, has started dating film director Spike Jonze, ex-husband of Lost In Translation director Sofia Coppola.

Williams and Jonze, 38, have been spotted together several times near the film-maker's £1.5million New York apartment in recent weeks.

Williams was devastated in January when her former fiancé Ledger died following an accidental drug overdose.

Since the actor's death, Williams has been struggling to stay strong for the sake of their two-year-old daughter Matilda.

But now it appears she finally has something to smile about again, thanks to a burgeoning romance with Jonze.

American magazine Star reports Williams was seen kissing Jonze outside his Lower East Side Manhattan apartment on July 2nd.

An onlooker told the publication: 'Michelle kissed Spike with a closed mouth on the corner of his lips.

'There was definitely a bit of caressing going on. She was clutching his arm. The body language was very romantic.'

Williams first met Jonze in 2006 when she auditioned for his film adaptation of the Maurice Sendak children's book Where The Wild Things Are.

She was offered a part, but later withdrew from the film.

Actress Chloe Sevigny, who also auditioned for the movie, said last year: 'I auditioned for Spike Jonze on Where The Wild Things Are, but Michelle Williams got the part. She's much prettier than me.'

But last year, the pair finally worked together on Synecdoche, New York in summer 2007 and struck up a friendship.

Just a few months later in September, Williams and Ledger ended their three year relationship.

During their time on the movie - which Jonze produced - Williams was still dating Ledger, while he has been romantically linked to Drew Barrymore.

After reportedly getting together this summer, Ledger's best friend Trevor DiCarlo, who has been helping Williams care for Matilda at her Brooklyn, New York, home, has given the new couple the seal of approval.

A source tells Star: 'I saw Trevor, Michelle and Matilda out for an afternoon in the neighborhood. They walked around chatting, went to a pizza joint for lunch and took the subway. Heath would be happy to know all his loved ones are doing so well.'

In Vitro Fertilization, Brad and Angelina's Secret

2008-07-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

The chance of having fraternal twins at Angelina's age (33) naturally is under 1 percent; with in vitro, the chances are 25 percent. Says Dr. Arthur Wisot of L.A.'s Reproductive Medical Group (who did not treat the couple), "We live in an era of reproductive freedom, so anybody can do anything they want within legal limits."

The actress chose the procedure (which can cost around $12,000 a pop) so "she wouldn't have to deal with the stress of trying to get pregnant," the source tells Us. "She could just knock it out."

Indeed, Jolie has spoken about her goal to do just that.

"If we're going to have 10 kids, we'd like to raise them while we're young," she told Elle U.K. last year. Brad Pitt turns 45 on December 18.

Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston Dating Each Other's Ex-Boyfriend

2008-07-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

Cameron Diaz and Jennifer have decided to put their differences aside and talk about the awkward situation they have found themselves in -- they are both dating each other's ex-boyfriends.
Jennifer, 39, is currently romancing crooner John Mayer, who dated Cameron last year, while the 'Charlie's Angels' star is dating British model Paul Sculfor, who had a brief fling with the former 'Friends' actress.
A source reveals, "Jennifer is friends with Cameron. They had a chat about the situation because Cameron felt a bit awkward about dating Jen's ex. But Jennifer is really easy-going and cool about it."
Cameron and Paul's relationship is said to be getting serious and the couple are planning to move in together.
A friend said, "Cameron and Paul have been spending every night together. He doesn't have a house in Los Angeles and Cameron doesn't mind him staying with her.
"When he dated Jennifer Aniston he used to stay at hotels, but Cameron likes him a lot and always wants to be around him."
Cameron, 35, sparked rumors she is set to wed by sporting a diamond on her ring finger.
The actress flashed the dazzling band as she left Los Angeles' exclusive Nobu restaurant.
Jennifer is also said to be getting serious with John, 30, and has introduced him to family and friends.

Is There Really A Global Fight Against Sex Slavery?

2008-06-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

Economic impulses and commercial forces drive globalization, but its impact goes far beyond the economy to affect all facets of social and political life. Powerful commercial interests have given rise to a commercial and commercializing global culture that, it is quite apparent, will not be satisfied until it reaches into the deepest recess of social life. Most recently the commercial global culture has generated a new form of slavery, more brutal and degrading than any form of slavery known thus far.

Millions of vulnerable women and unsuspecting children throughout the world, some as young as ten years old, are trapped into a vicious and ugly world of exploitation, disease, and abuse. These children are sold, traded, prostituted, and trafficked under the watching eyes of a world community that has decided to ignore their plight.

Most of these sex slaves are kept by their masters until their commercial value deteriorates as a result of their deteriorating health conditions with the advancement of the many sexual diseases they are exposed to, including HIV and AIDS. Sadly, the end of their conditions of slavery does not signal the end of their miseries, but the beginning of a life of poverty, illness, and shame.

Scope Of The Problem

Although most governments, particularly governments of countries where sex slaves originate, do not provide information and statistics on trafficking in women, and seem to be oblivious to the plight of these vulnerable children, studies conducted by NGOs and research institutions reveal a human tragedy of great proportions. The figures given by NGOs and individual researchers are often rough estimations, as accurate data are scarce. The difficulty of coming up with hard figures stems from two interrelated factors: (1) trafficking in women is conducted by organized criminals who use deception and intimidation to maintain a wall of silence and secrecy around their international trade, and (2) the criminal syndicates involved in this ugly trade are often backed by corrupt politicians and law enforcement agents who use all means at their disposal to provide cover up for crimes that provide lucrative income.

There is hardly any region in the world that escapes the activities of sex slavery syndicates. Trafficking in women is reported in Africa, Europe, North America, South Asia, and East and Southeast Asia.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), a European Union agency, estimates that some 500,000 women were trafficked to Europe in 1995. A large number of the women and girls involved came from the impoverished East European countries of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Many of the women involved in the sex trade are underage girls who have been duped into their state of slavery by an elaborate network of organized criminals. The nonprofit organization End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and the Traffic in Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) provided the following figures on the number of children involved in the sex industry in 1994: Brazil 500,000, India 400,000, Thailand 200,000-850,000, Taiwan 100,000, Nepal 200,000, North America 100,000-300,000. The Political Economy Center at Chulalungkhorn University of Thailand estimated that the world sex industry generated in 1993-95 around $20-23 billion. (ECPAT Development Manual, Melbourne, Australia, 1994, pp. 21-37.)

Intimidation And DeceptionThe sex slaves who are bought and sold in red light districts around the globe come from impoverished communities. A significant number of them are underage girls. Shrewd slave traffickers who offer their parents tempting sums of money dupe these young and unassuming girls into sex slavery. The parents are deceived into believing that the money is given in exchange for employment or marriage.

The trafficking of Nepalese girls into India is a case in point. Every year 5,000 to 7,000 Nepalese girls are trafficked into red light districts in Indian cities. The girls are sold by poor Nepalese families, tricked into fraudulent marriages, or promised employment in towns only to find themselves in Indian brothels. Their kidnapers use brutal means of starvation, intimidation, and outright torture to initiate the defenseless children into prostitution.

The wicked methods of slave traffickers are well documented in numerous cases. One such case is that of Mira, a 13-year-old from Nepal. Mira was offered a job as a domestic worker in Bombay, India\'s largest commercial center, but ended up in the one of the city\'s numerous brothels. When she refused to submit to the sexual demands of her new masters, she was sent to a windowless room, stripped naked, and was left for three days without food or drink. On the fourth day, she was gang raped. In the end, Mira\'s will was broken and she joined Bombay\'s sex slaves. (Robert I Friedman, India\'s Shame: Sexual Slavery and Political Corruption are Leading an AIDS Catastrophe, The Nation, 8 April 1996).

Child-Sex Tourism

In the nineties, a new tourism industry, thriving on child exploitation and abuse, emerged in South and Southeast Asia, concentrating mainly in India, Thailand, and the Philippines. Sex tourists come mainly from high-income countries, particularly North America, Europe, and Japan.

Of 160 foreign pedophiles arrested on child sex-abuse charges in Southeast Asia between 1992 and 1994, 25% were American, 18% German, 14% Australian, and 12% English. (End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism, Lambiet, 17 May 1998)

In 1990 an orphanage owner in Goa, India, was arrested for allegedly supplying children to British, French, German, Swiss, and Scandinavian sex tourists. He was freed on bail. Seven years later, the case was still not filed with the court. (Rahul Bedi, Bid to Protect Children as Sex Tourism Spreads, London\'s Daily Telegraph, 1997).

Cultural Hedonism

Sexual slavery and sex tourism described above are fueled by an increasingly hedonistic culture glorifying pleasure, promoting promiscuous attitudes and behavior, and presenting pornography as another form of entertainment. Children at a young age are bombarded with sexual images and gestures. This clumsy promiscuous attitude has invaded all corners of the world. Pornographic material is becoming more accessible by the day to wider segments of humanity. Porno-producing companies use the Internet very effectively to publicize and promote even the most extreme forms of sexuality. Ron O\'Grady, chairman of ECPAT, estimated that in 1998 around 40,000 pornographic photographs of children, many from Southeast Asian countries, were displayed on the Internet. The demand for children in the sex trade is great. Every year, people from all over the world travel to Asia to have sex with children, taking photographs and videos, he noted. (Poona Antaseeda, Expert urges global law to end child pornography on the Internet, Bangkok Post, June 3, 1998).

The attitude of youngsters influenced by the rising hedonistic culture is a cause of concern. Friedman reported that 70% of students surveyed at a wealthy high school in India were interested in a career in organized crimes, citing good money and good fun as their reasons for making the choice. (Robert Friedman, India\'s Shame, The Nation, April 8, 1996.)

In Japan, pornography is so pervasive, even schoolchildren have access to comic books with pornographic contents. Sex magazines can be bought at vending machines. In 1998, Japan was the world\'s biggest producer of child pornography, and the Japanese parliament refused to pass a law banning the production of child pornography, citing business reasons. (Poona Antaseeda, Expert urges global law to end child pornography on the Internet, Bangkok Post, June 3, 1998).

Stopping The Abuse

Sexual slavery is a serious crime of global proportion, and should be viewed as such. To combat it, we must view it not simply as a legal problem, but as a moral issue as well. As long as pornography, promiscuity, and violence are glorified in movies produced by entertainment centers, most notably Hollywood and Bombay, the problem is likely to persist and intensify. The problem must be confronted on the legal, political, and cultural levels. This requires international cooperation by both government agencies and nongovernmental organizations.

Will the world hear the silent cry of sex slaves and end this human tragedy? Will the world reject the excesses of the entertainment industry riddled with sexual abuse and violence? Will the world reject the excesses of economic disparity and economic greed? The freedom and dignity of millions of children now and in the future hinge on how the above questions are answered.

Celtic Teens In Pregnancy Pact, 17 Pregnant Already

2008-06-20T03:48:00.000-07:00

Officials in the US state of Massachusetts are investigating how 17 teenage girls from the same school have become pregnant.

The number is four times as high as the year before at Gloucester High School.

There are reports that some of the girls - none of whom is older than 16 - entered into a pact to have their babies together.

The girls and their families have so far made no comment. Officials are also investigating the ages of the fathers.

Some are believed to be in their twenties and could face the possibility of being charged with having sex with minors.

It is illegal to have sex with anyone younger than 16 in Massachusetts.

Disturbing

Some of the school's own staff believe the sharp increase in the number of pregnancies was no accident.

Don't try to get pregnant - people say they know what it's but they really have no idea
Amanda Ireland
Gloucester teenage mother

"Some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," Gloucester High School principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine.

Local officials say that nearly half of the girls had entered into a bizarre pact to have their babies together.

Dr Elizabeth Guthrie, a paediatric psychiatrist at New York's Columbia University, told the BBC that said some girls might be viewing pregnancy as a fast-track to adulthood and independence.

"It may give you an opportunity for unconditional love and attention from the baby," she said.

Local teenager Amanda Ireland, a mother who just graduated from Gloucester High School, offered a blunt warning to other girls.

map

"Don't try to get pregnant. People say they know what it's like because they have younger siblings, but they really have no idea," she told the BBC.

David Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based non-profit group focusing on reproductive issues, said the declining teenage pregnancy rate of recent years appears to be reversing.

Birth rates for teenagers aged 15 to 17 rose by 3% in 2006, the first increase since 1991, according to preliminary data released in December by the National Center for Health Statistics.

This trend was highlighted on Thursday when Britney Spears' 17-year-old sister Jamie Lynn, star of a popular television show Zoey 101 gave birth to a baby girl, according to People magazine.

But Mr Landry cautioned against attributing the pact or the worrying statistics to Hollywood following the recent hit movie Juno, in which a teenager gets pregnant and decides to have the baby, and Knocked Up, a comedy about a one-night stand.

"The trend emerged before those movies," he said.

Tania Zaetta Still Furious About Sex Claims With Aussie Troops

2008-06-05T03:55:00.000-07:00

Entertainer Tania Zaetta is still furious over claims she had sex with Aussie troops on a war zone tour, despite Defence chiefs offering an apology yesterday over its handling of the affair.

The Bollywood movie star said "mud sticks" and is still hoping fellow performer Angry Anderson -- and the media - will offer an apology to clear the "slur" on her name.

Defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston and Defence Secretary Nick Warner both admitted the military completely mismanaged the affair - which Zaetta vigorously denies - after a so-called "Hot Issues Brief" containing the claims from ageing rocker Anderson was distributed to 96 people. It was recalled four minutes later and the names removed.

Despite his denials, The Daily Telegraph can reveal Anderson triggered the scandal when he told Lt-Col Greg McCauley that Zaetta had sex with troops and there were "photographs to prove it". But last night Zaetta said she did not expect an apology from Anderson.

"Well it's great that I have the apology so far from the Defence Force and I do feel I was owed that," she told the Nine Network. "I do know that mud sticks."

She also indicated she was considering legal action against newspapers, including The Daily Telegraph.

Despite claims from her agent Max Markson that Zaetta wants the story to go away, his agency Markson Sparks sent unsolicited jpeg images of his client to the Telegraph yesterday.

He also sent four other shots featuring Zaetta to this newspaper after the story broke last month.

Separately, sources close to the military have sent new photographs showing Zaetta with Australian troops.

Anderson made the claims to Lt-Col McCauley, who was commanding officer of the Middle East tour, during a TV taping session in Melbourne.

Anderson, who sits on the forces advisory committee on entertainment, flatly denied that he was the source of the allegations.

However, a government source said that Lt-Col McCauley immediately reported Anderson's allegation to his chain of command, which then generated the infamous brief for Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and subsequently 96 others.

Written reports also say Anderson was the source of the allegation. Zaetta has expressed her hurt.

During Senate Estimates hearings yesterday, ACM Houston said he was "absolutely appalled" by the scandal.

"I will obviously apologise and express my deep regret about any hurt she has suffered," he said.

"I was absolutely appalled that the names were put out in the 'hot issues brief' and I regret the whole thing."

Kylie Minogue's Diagnosis Triggered Breast Cancer Check In Women

2008-06-05T03:53:00.000-07:00

Pop singer Kylie Minogue's breast cancer diagnosis triggered a surge in women being screened for the disease, according to a new study.

But the University of Melbourne study found the increase in testing of women at low risk of developing the cancer did more harm than good, by lowering the capacity of the system to deal with high-risk cases.

The study found use of mammography and breast ultrasound procedures soared by more than 30 per cent in women aged 25 to 44, in the six months following Minogue's diagnosis.

There was also a sharp rise in women aged 25 to 34 who had breast biopsies but the surge did not lead to the detection of more cases of breast cancer.

The study, published this week in the International Journal of Epidemiology, used Medicare data to examine the impact of the publicity surrounding the singer's illness on breast imaging, biopsies and operations to remove breast tumours.

Study leader Margaret Kelaher, of the university's Melbourne School of Population Health, said the results showed women at low risk had been overusing imaging services.

"Raising women's awareness of the need to get screened is a generally good thing," she said.

"But these findings suggest that thousands of additional imaging procedures and biopsies did not improve breast cancer detection among young women.

"It appears there has been a situation where publicity has led to many low-risk women using - and probably overusing - screening services."

The researchers suggested the influx of low-risk women into screening services may have damaging effects by reducing the capacity to deal with higher-risk women.

Dr Kelaher said that although Minogue had been a great ambassador, the message had to be better managed between celebrities' PR teams and public health agencies.

Royal Melbourne Hospital consultant surgeon Julie Miller said there was no need for routine screening of women under 40 who did not have symptoms or a strong family history of breast cancer.

Ashkenazic Women In Canada Offered free Cancers Treatment

2008-05-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

Jewish women in Canada to be offered the chance to alter their genetic destiny by taking a test – at no cost to them – that will determine whether they are at high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers.

By screening for three inherited breast cancer gene mutations common to those of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, Women’s College Research Institute scientists have an ambitious goal: to prevent the dreaded disease before it strikes.

They plan to do that by offering adult Jewish women in Ontario, with no known family history of breast or ovarian cancer, the blood test to screen for three specific mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, beginning this Thursday. Jewish women with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer who have never been tested are also eligible.

If expanding genetic testing to this group proves worthwhile, it could alter the way the testing is offered across Canada by recognizing one’s inherent risk of cancer, simply due to ancestry.

The goal of the test is “to prevent cancer,” said Steven Narod, director of the familial breast cancer research unit at Women’s College Research Institute in Toronto. One in 44 Ashkenazi Jewish people carry the mutation, he noted; in the general population, an estimated one in 400 individuals carries a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2.

For Ashkenazi women, a group with mainly Central and Eastern European ancestry, the test could reveal a risk they never knew they had.

Until now, Jewish ancestry was not enough to warrant testing for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer anywhere in Canada; nor is there any known organized population screening of Jewish women in the United States.

International Prostitution Fueling Human Trafficking In West Africa

2008-05-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

Nigeria's porous border with its northern neighbor Niger is being exploited by traffickers smuggling teenage girls to Europe where they will work as prostitutes, immigration officials told IRIN.

"Our 910 kilometer boundary with Niger is too much for us to police which provides human traffickers an advantage to conduct their trade of smuggling young girls to Europe for prostitution," Oemi Bio Ockiya, head of the Nigerian immigration department in Kano told IRIN.

Ockiya said girls are transported from the southern part of Nigeria to Kano from where they are driven to Libya through Niger and then shipped to Europe, their final destination, for prostitution.

The traffickers convince the girls and their parents that lucrative jobs await their victims, but force them into prostitution once in Europe by holding on to their passports.

The trafficking of young women to Europe through Kano has been a common occurrence. Hitherto the traffickers would smuggle their victims through Kano airport using fake and stolen passports.

However the introduction of state-of-the-art passport reading machines and a run of high-profile arrests meant the traffickers resorted to driving the victims overland to Niger then Libya from where they are shipped to Europe, Ockiya said.

On May 12 immigration officials in Kano apprehended Samuel Osagie, a Nigerian national residing in Libya with 21 victims, 16 of them teenage girls, at a motor park in the city. He was apparently bound for Libya.

The girls, who are from four southern Nigerian states Edo, Akwa Ibom, Anambra and Delta, told the officials that Osagie arranged with their parents to take them to Libya to work as maids for US$1,272 fees each, which they would pay in installments from their wages.

"The work promise is a ruse. The truth of the matter is that they were going to pay the fees from the money they would make from prostitution in Europe," Ockiya said.

Ahmed Bello, head of the federally-funded National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons [NAPTIP] in charge of 18 northern states said trafficking is also spreading HIV/AIDS.

"Our investigation shows that 40 percent of trafficked girls repatriated to Nigeria test positive to HIV and this has serious social and economic implications," he said.

A Niger official who asked to remain anonymous as he was speaking on a sensitive subject without authorization said tackling trafficking is testing both countries.

"This is an issue that has to be tackled collectively. Nigeria and Niger conduct joint trans-border patrols to check criminal activities along the boundary but the length of the border is too much for us."

"Nigeria has more resources and personnel than Niger and if it is finding it difficult to police its side of the border you can imagine how much more difficult it is for Niger to effectively shut its side of the border against human traffickers," the official added.

Ockiya agreed limited manpower and inadequate logistics make effective policing of the long border impossible. He said the border patrol agencies would need helicopters and cars to help match the wealthy, sophisticated smugglers.

Mairo Bello, head of Kano-based Adolescent Health Information Project [AHIP], said that the authorities on both sides of the border are fighting an enemy far more sophisticated than them.

"The more the authorities devise new strategies, the more sophisticated the traffickers become in running their trade," he said.

Internet Dating, Internet Mariage, Gateway to Bliss?

2008-05-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

Brenda Yufeh

Have you ever attended an "internet marriage"? By that, I mean a wedding which came as a result of using the World Wide Web to meet a suitable marriage partner. Statistics indicate that internet marriages are en-vogue nowadays. Although many people have not had the chance of attending such weddings, others have witnessed how many people met on different dating sites. Start dating, fall in love and get married. Why some people have ordeal stories to tell about internet marriages, others say it is not only a bed of roses but a gateway to find oneself in Europe or America.

Some might say an internet marriage is risky. It could be, but many choices in life are risky. And it remains true: nothing ventured, nothing gained. A pastor recently said he knows of three couples that met on the internet and are now married. He also knows a fourth couple who plan to get married. There is another woman in her forties who is corresponding with two men who have shown some interest in her through the net.

The web site was the meeting point for Melanie and Jeffery. In her early thirties, Melanie used to live at the Mvog-Atangana neighbourhood in Yaounde. She had never used a computer nor knows how to operate the internet. Being a cleaner in an administrative building, Melanie had to ask those who work in the office to show her how to operate the internet. This was to enable Melanie access to a web site which was meant for those searching for a husband or a wife. Jeffery came across Melanie's profile and became interested in her. Thereafter, they started dating each other. Over the internet, their love grew to the extent that they decided to tie the knots in holy matrimony. Before marriage, Jeffery, a French nationality, came to Cameroon to see Melanie for the first time. On his arrival at the Nsimalen Airport in Yaounde, he was with his son. For over two years, Melanie is happily living in France with her husband.

Not many people are lucky to narrate such a sweet story behind internet marriage like Melanie. Although Constance firmly believes in internet marriages, she says there is more than just dating and getting married through the web. "I married and divorced someone each month over the internet without ever having met them. One turned out to be a chimpanzee with really good skills at hitting the keyboard", Constance notes. Unlike Constance who was able to discover the nature of her man without ever meeting him, some girls have almost died of shock when they discovered that the person they use to discuss with never presented a true picture of him. Some have rejected their men on arrival at the airport when they realise he does not look like the person they expected. Others have travelled abroad just to discover that the person they called "my husband" was either a handicapped who could not do anything for himself or some person they never dreamt of accepting as a husband.

Paris Hilton And Benji Madden's Wedding Soon

2008-05-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Paris Hilton has recorded a gushing interview with the talk-show host claiming she and relatively new boyfriend Benji Madden are planning to marry. Urgh.

The blonde bombshell dropped the clanger, with Madden - who only recently was set to wed Monk - giving the idea the thumbs up.

Hilton waxed lyrical about what a great couple they were, while flashing his initials in bling on her ring finger.

Meanwhile, Paris Hilton has swapped partying for Monopoly.

The Simple Life star, who is currently dating Good Charlotte rocker Benji Madden, prefers quiet nights at home preparing homemade food and playing the property board game with her friends.

She said: "When I was younger I loved to go out, but now that I'm in a really great relationship it's so much more fun to stay at home. We don't really like to go out. We have game night where friends come over and play Monopoly.

"I love to cook for Benji, I cook great lasagne. I've grown up a lot and I'm at peace. He has changed my life in every way."

Paris isn't the first celebrity to confess a love of games. Pregnant Jessica Alba recently revealed she has been spending hours playing family card game Apples to Apples, while Kanye West played classic children's game Connect Four on his European tour and even challenged Beyonce Knowles to a tournament.

Paris - who is wearing a new two-banded diamond ring on her engagement finger - also revealed the pair have discussed starting a family, and she has her heart set on a traditional white wedding.

The 27-year-old socialite - who is best friends with Nicole Richie who is engaged to Benji's brother Joel Madden - added to People magazine: "We want to stay together forever. I wouldn't do a Las Vegas wedding. I don't know where or when but I do want it to be romantic.

"I can tell Benji will be an incredible father. He loves babies. Nicole is our first friend to have a baby. Seeing her daughter Harlow, it really makes me want one. I've always wanted to have a baby."

D.C Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, Apparently Commits Suicide To Avoid Jail

2008-05-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

Deborah Jeane Palfrey while awaiting sentencing for running a prostitution ring catering to Washington's elite has been found dead in a storage shed at her mother's home in Florida.

Police in the Gulf Coast town of Tarpon Springs said the 76-year-old mother of Deborah Jeane Palfrey woke from a short nap and began to search for her daughter.

She found Palfrey's body in the shed next to her mobile home, police said.

"Hand-written notes were found on scene that describe the victim's intention to take her life, and foul play does not appear to be involved," Captain Jeffrey Young said.

Palfrey, 52, was found guilty last month of running an escort service that earned her at least $US2 million ($2.12 million). She had not yet been sentenced but media reports said she could have faced up to 50 years in prison.

The scandal over the woman dubbed "the DC madam" ensnared Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, whose number was discovered in her telephone records.

Senator Vitter apologised publicly for committing a "serious sin" in his past.

Palfrey had insisted her company, Pamela Martin and Associates, was a legal sexual fantasy business and initially considered selling her phone records to raise money for her defence.

When she later released her phone records for free, they ended up shedding little further light on her clientele.

Her lawyer, Montgomery Sibley, said he did not have any additional information about her death.

"My only comment is that I regret the loss of a good woman who deserved better," he said.

Seven Ways To Turn Your Man Off In Bed

2008-04-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

HOPING YOUR MAN IS A MIND-READER

It may be a feminine game, but it won’t get you what you want. Men just don’t think that way, and it’s disrespectful to later blame them for something they could never figure out from such indirect communication. Drop the games and be direct. Effective communication is what will hold you in good stead. If you’re embarrassed to ask what you want, use language which makes your meaning clear. Though you may find it difficult to express your emotions, he’ll need feedback to make sure he carries on enthusiastically. Losing your self in your bliss and not saying anything will make him wonder if you’re asleep, dead or uninterested, at which point he is most likely to stop.

RESENTING HIM WHEN HE DOESN’T GET IT RIGHT

If you want more foreplay, then you need to say so. If he charges straight into your erogenous zones after a few minutes’ of petting and kissing, then you need to educate him about what you want. Men are much more quickly aroused than women on the whole, and they simply need slowing down. As a woman you’re likely to be more creative than a man, so maybe you can apply your creative skills to sex, and improve it for both of you!

NOT REALISING THAT ‘WOMEN COME FIRST’!

Well, maybe not in everything, but it’s not a bad rule to follow during sex. Men lose interest after a while: like it or not, that’s how they are biologically built (in fact they are programmed to sleep after sex) and unless they’re especially sensitive, they won’t be much interested in your satisfaction. The best way to deal with this is to have extended foreplay. This way he’ll be very turned on and he will enjoy the act.

BEING CRITICAL OF YOUR BODY

It’s hard for women to believe, but it’s true. In general, men are much less critical of your body than you are. When you start hiding it during sex, or refusing to enjoy certain sexual positions because you fear what he might think of your body, he’s likely to get very disenchanted, very quickly. If you need reassurance that your body is OK, remember rule number 1: ask him for it. Say, for example, “Do you find me attractive?”

NOT BEING ASSERTIVE DURING SEX

It’s an old, old stereotype: men lead, women follow. Well, that certainly shouldn’t be true all the time in sex. Even if you like him to be masculine and dominant during sex, or even if you like to feel as if you’re being “taken” sometimes, it’s just as nice for him to see your assertive side. Take the lead from time to time.

BEING CRITICAL OF HIS PERFORMANCE

Nothing but nothing will turn a man off faster than being critical. Instead, find a way of gently expressing your feelings.

BEING TOO INSECURE

You want the lights off, you have to be under the covers and you never want to take off your shirt. Yeah, that sounds like some really exciting sex. If he’s with you, it’s because he likes you. So it’s time you got over your insecurities and gave in to your flaws. You can do so with baby steps by lighting candles. You are all set, go with the flow

How To Become An Online Dating Guru

2008-04-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

It is in mans nature to find his or her partner in life; unless of course the person has made a commitment to the Single for Life Club. Some people have a hard time trying to find a partner in their lifetime. Because of their difficulty in finding a partner, they eventually are forced to join for the Single for Life Club.

Thanks to modern technology, the single people are slowly being driven to extinction. The internet has been able to connect people from all sites of the world to help them find the right person for them. Thanks to the internet a person two people from Tajikistan and Alaska may find love. The internet in a way has given single people a better chance to find the right person.

The internet has been able to do these because tons and tons of dating websites have popped up. All of these dating sites aim to help a single person find the right person and connect people from all areas of the world. These dating websites require the single person to create his or her own profile and pay the membership fees. Then the person can now freely surf for the person he or she thinks suits his or her type.

In the single persons part, he or she should learn to write a good profile page. The persons profile page is like the first impression he or she gives. If you write a stinky profile page, youll have the same chance in finding a date in the real world; which is zilch. A person who is hoping to find a date or partner online should learn to properly write his or her profile. Here are some tips to give you a much better chance compared to your real life chances.

1. Try to be witty in your profile. Having a sense of humor in your profile can attract attention. This is not funny when you just write, I am witty. It is just pathetic. Try to be creative. Write something like My mamma wants me out of the house, please take me home with you.

2. Dont be negative. Being negative will turn people off. Why would you want to hang out with a person who dampens your day? Dont write Just been busted again so Im looking again. Be happy and write something cheesy like looking for the person that could complete me. Yucky!! Dont try to be too cheesy, you can think of a better one.

3. Try to avoid using personal adjectives because sometimes they tend to either glorify or degrade you too much. If your mother always told you how smart and handsome you are you may want to rethink the way you describe yourself. Instead try writing things that you like doing. You can also describe what you are doing briefly; unless you have a lousy job like a clown.

4. When writing about the type of person you are looking for, try to be briefly descriptive but still have some vague scope. Heres a bad example, Im looking for a Donald Trump kind of Guy. This will only attract rich guys or those that wear wigs.

5. Try not to be sexual on dating sites profiles. If you are trying to be sexual there are other kinds of websites for you.

The important thing to remember in creating your profile is try not to like what you dont want. Instead write what you are looking for. Another important thing to remember in online dating is that since it gives you more chances to find a date, it will also give you more chances that the date could be a dud. Thats why when relying on online dating sites, you should have a very open mind.

5 Key Communication Skills for American Singles

2008-04-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

1. Use The 3 Magic Words of Listening- "Is there more?" For most people, listening is far more challenging than talking. If you do nothing else, being attentive to what your partner is saying and using these 3 magic words will make you a star listener. Try it! Are you wondering what the "3 Magic Words Of Speaking" are? Simply . "I love you." If you are expressing things that may be difficult for your partner to hear, be sure to start and end with these healing words.

2. It's NOT about you!

When your partner is expressing a thought, feeling, need, issue, or judgment, it comes from their reality, is valid for them, and it is not about you! Most arguments would never happen if we would simply accept our partner's point of view and agree to disagree.

3. It's ALL about you!

Your thoughts, feelings, needs, issues, and judgments are your reality, are valid for you, have little to do with your partner, and many people (including your partner) are unlikely to see things your way. If you take full ownership for your experience you will be able to create the conditions for connection and harmony in just about any situation with your partner. A fulfilling relationship is about having, accepting, and negotiating differences, not being "right," seeking sameness or consensus.

4. Turn complaints into requests

We bring many, many needs into any relationship and will experience an issue when a need is not met. It is impossible for all needs to be met all the time in any relationship, so you will have many opportunities to experience and express issues. Simply making a request and focusing on what you want to happen, instead of what is wrong or not happening, and negotiating a "win-win" outcome, will effectively prevent or resolve conflict.

5. Tell your truth

The path to true intimacy and connection is by being authentic and telling your full truth to your partner about your thoughts, feelings, needs, wants, issues, boundaries, etc. Intimacy means, "Into me I see," a transparency between two people that requires full expression of what is inside. Seeking to avoid conflict and maintain harmony by censoring yourself can work for awhile, until your suppressed truth comes out in other ways, such as withdrawal, resentment, "acting out," etc. Telling your whole truth can be scary, but will result in the kind of relationship that you really want.

Nicole Kidman Draws World's Attention To Violence Against Women

2008-04-23T02:29:00.000-07:00

EDITH M. LEDERER

Actress and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman speaks Tuesday during a news conference at U.N. headquarters, urging world leaders and ordinary people to join the global fight to end violence against women.

The actress, seven months pregnant and passionately committed to her role as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Development Fund for Women, said the violence was probably the "most widespread human rights violation of our time."

"One in three women will encounter violence in some way, shape or form against them in their lifetime," Kidman told a news conference at U.N. headquarters. "That's an extraordinary statistic. Yet do we ever hear it?"

The 40-year-old Australian star became a goodwill ambassador in January 2006 for the U.N. Development Fund for Women, known as UNIFEM. Its acting executive director, Joanne Sandler, said Kidman wanted to focus on an issue "where she could make a difference."

She came to U.N. headquarters on Tuesday to join Sandler, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, and U.N. Foundation President Timothy Wirth to promote UNIFEM's "Say NO to Violence Against Women" Campaign."

Since the yearlong campaign was launched on Nov. 26, Sandler said some 210,000 people have added their names to a Web page calling on world leaders to end impunity for perpetrators, provide services for survivors and, most importantly, invest in prevention.

Kidman urged people of all nations to add their names and demand "that ending violence against women be made a top priority for governments everywhere." She also encouraged the private sector to contribute to the U.N. Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which provides grants for programs in the developing world to help fight the scourge.

In January, the U.N. Foundation said it would donate $1 to the fund for each of the first 100,000 signatures — and Wirth said he was happy to pay up.

Sandler said progress has been made: 89 countries have laws on domestic violence, more than 100 have made rape a crime, 90 have provisions against sexual harassment, and 93 on human trafficking. There are 192 U.N. member states.

Kidman is expecting her first child with country singer husband Keith Urban; she has two adopted children with first husband Tom Cruise.

In 2005, she starred in the movie The Interpreter, a thriller in which she played a U.N. interpreter caught up in a cloak-and-dagger assassination attempt.

American Idol Says "Good Bye" To Kristy Lee Cook

2008-04-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Gina Carbone

It wasn't exactly the Berlin Wall or The Sanjaya Occupation, but the vote-off of Kristy Lee Cook almost brought me to tears.

America, I take back all the things I've said about you. You're beautiful people and you got there eventually.

I'm expecting thank you cards from everyone I've ever predicted to be ditched from "American Idol" because I have not been right once.

This time I thought Carly was out. Brooke, maybe, or Syesha whom I've guessed the past few weeks.

Instead, you finally voted KLC extra tasty crispy GONE.

Several weeks belated, but at least Kristy Lee Cook had the chance to prove herself worthy of being on the show at all. She took it like a pro and tried to sing her final song. Then she was cut off. Here endeth the lesson of Kristy.

(Should we feel sorry for her that she sold her horse to go to the "Idol" auditions? She lives in Oregon and auditioned in Philly. Why? So she could be at the first auditions? Another reason? There were closer cities to go to. Either way, I think the horse might be better off with someone else.)

And here beginneth the lesson of David Archuleta: When forced to make an awakward and even cruel decision, the best thing to do is sit down. Passive resistance.

How cuddly was his decision not to take sides? To sit right in the middle (where his voice and personality belong, hence the universal love-fest).

Just when you think "American Idol" has gone as low as it can, it pulls new stunts like last night. David Cook, KLC and Brooke White on one side, Carly Smithson, Jason Castro and Syesha Mercado on the other. Ryan "Beelzebub incarnate" Seacrest told Little Archie to move to the side he thought was safe. His sweet refusal was class itself and I hope it made Seacrest and the show's producers at least a little pink in the face.

Almost 36 million votes were cast, Seacrest said. That's a lot of people who were willing to give Carly another shot. Good for her.

Not sure why the show started with the sad "Once Sweet Day," especially with Jason and KLC launching it. They have some of the weakest vocals.

Oh. Who else laughed out loud when Dread-head reacted to the luau question with "I haven't been to the beach much but I really like it." This kid is seriously growing on me.

Elliot Yamin. I liked his "Free" song. When was he kicked out? Can we get him back? Did he need the white scarf? What's your position on ornamental man scarves? I'm against.

Not sure why he was there - other than to honor his recently deceased mother, now an "Idol" legend - but he clearly did not want to leave the stage.

Fine with me when Seacrest is playing dirty tricks and Mariah Carey with her short short skirt doesn't even try for the high notes anymore. Her right hand was working hard conducting her own orchestra.

I love questions from fans. Props to Cape Elizabeth, Maine, viewer Jillian for talking about Record Store Day (April 19) and asking for the judges' first records.

Randy: Led Zeppelin, Beatles, James Brown
Paula: Jackson 5, Earth Wind and Fire, Carole King
Simon: I was 10 years old and it was Paula Abdul's "Straight Up"

We found out David Cook is single (although on the radio this morning they said he was dating David Schwimmer's cousin, Lacey Schwimmer) and also safe, as Seacrest moved him to the other group and brought Brooke, Syesha and KLC to the bottom three.

Next week is Andrew Lloyd Webber week, which I have very very very high hopes for. Can't wait to hear how Castro and Cook interpret that.

Best part: I don't have to clarify which Cook I mean! Hallelujah!

Kristy Lee Cook Makes Her Secret Engagement Public

2008-04-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Kristy Lee Cook's American Idol run was marked by a number of stays in the bottom three and, as it turns out, a secret engagement.

Cook's boyfriend popped the question in the sauna of her Idol apartment on March 15, days after she survived her first elimination round as a finalist.

The country-inclined singer was able to share this detail with reporters Thursday because she did not survive Idol's latest elimination round Wednesday night.

After an especially Byzantine results show, Cook, 24, was revealed to be the odd singer out, exiting in Mariah Carey week with the inaptly titled "Forever."

"I was kind of upset that I went home because I thought I was getting stronger and stronger," Cook said. "I thought ["Forever"] was my best performance so far. I thought I had at least another week in me."

Cook said her goal was to make the top five. In the end, she finished seventh.

No stranger to the bottom three—she was there four out of the last six weeks—Cook "built up a stamina for it." And so when host Ryan Seacrest divided the finalists into curious groups Wednesday night, Cook wasn't fazed, even if Carly Smithson was.

Smithson, Cook said, was convinced that Cook's group—she was sent to stand next to her nonrelation David Cook—was the safe group. "They're going to do something that's so off the wall," Cook said she advised the nonbelievers.

Cook was right. David Cook, the show's emotional favorite, was sent to safety—and to Smithson's group. Kristy Lee Cook, Brooke White and Syesha Mercado ultimately comprised the unsafe group.

Cook took the opportunity of her exit to sing her swan song right in the face of her chief critic, judge Simon Cowell.

" 'Well, you made it awkward for me,' " Cook said Cowell told her. "And I said, 'Well, now you know how you make it for all of us.' "

Of Cowell, Cook said, "He didn't really get what I have. I still don't think he does."

On a happier note Wednesday night, Cook's boyfriend, whom she identified only as Andy, reproposed on the Idol set, dropping to his knee—a move he didn't do the first time out in the sauna. "He owed it to me," she said.

Cook didn't talk about her engagement earlier because of all the Idol-related madness that goes with being a finalist. "The first time we tried to keep everything on the down-low," she said.

There's no wedding date yet, although Cook guessed she might walk down the aisle in June 2009. And she more than guessed that she might invite the Idol judges, Cowell included.

"Oh, yes, of course I would," Cook said. "I definitely would."

Other titbits:

* Conventional wisdom had it that Cook saved her endangered bacon a couple of weeks ago when performed the critic-proof "God Bless the U.S.A." But Cook denied working any angles. "It wasn't like a huge thought process," she said of the song selection. "My dad was in Vietnam. He absolutely loved that song. I've loved that song, and sang it for a long time."
* Cook's eviction means the Vote for the Worst has lost its latest champion. (Prior to Cook, the Idol-vexing site had stumped for Amanda Overmyer, Danny Noriega and Amy Davis). At last check Thursday, Vote for the Worst had not settled on its next new anti-hero.
* First Madonna, then Kristy Lee Cook. It could have been. Had Cook survived to sing on next week's Andrew Lloyd Webber recital, she said she would have performed Evita's "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina."
* No novice, Cook had a major label record deal when she was 17. But her album never came out, and Cook said she didn't regret putting herself through the Idol cattle call. "My career was a long time ago," she said. "And I needed this to get my career started again."
* Once upon a time, Cook was signed by Britney Spears' production company. If Cook's former boss was keeping tabs on her former protégé's Idol run, she didn't make it known. "I actually haven't heard from her," Cook said. "It's been a long time since I've been in contact with her."
* On Wednesday's show, Cook called Cowell "kind of a butt." Her statement was the product of due deliberation. Said Cook: "I was debating brat and butt."

Top 12 Types Of Women We Meet Daily

2008-04-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

1. Ms. Gold-Digger

Advantages
a. You have some one to manage your money.
b. She always looks good.
c. She makes your other homeboys jealous.
d. She makes you look good.

Disadvantages
a. When you get broke she'll be gone and take what you have left.
b. She makes sure she has a child by you to sue you for child support.
c. Once your homeboy comes up she'll be on his arm the next day.

2. Ms. Freak (secret lover)

Advantages
a. She knows all the right positions.
b. She'll try everything more than once.
c. You're never unsatisfied.
d. She'll do all the things your girl won't do.
e. She doesn't mind being your freak, as long as she catches one too.

Disadvantages
a. Eventually, b/c she's a female, she'll end up catching feelings.
b. She starts to act like she's your "main".
c. She fools around with ya boy and act like you in the wrong for telling her that she's a freak.
d. Eventually her sex gets old. And you need a replacement.

3. Ms. Independent

Advantages
a. You don't have to worry about buying her anything. She got it.
b. She's intelligent, sassy, confident and determined.
c. She's great for (business) conversation.
d. She keeps it real and has goals.
e. She knows how to please a man.

Disadvantages
a. She will continuously let you know, that she can handle it on her own.
b. She will eventually say f&@you and get a dildo.
c. She will consider you another one her play toys, or goals.

4. Ms. Dyme

Advantages
a. She's top of the line.
b. She stays looking like a fantasy.
c. She has the body of a goddess with the face to match.
d. She considers herself a "model"
e. Gets you on hard whenever you see her.
f. All the girls envy her, but she doesn't care.

Disadvantages
a. She's superficial. She cares only about her looks.
b. She honestly lacks confidence and will annoy you about the way she looks.
c. She's probably dumb as hell and if she's not her personality is dry.
d. You have to constantly keep your game up b/c every guy is gonna try to get her.

5. Ms. Tomboy

Advantages
a. She's cool and laid back.
b. She'll be willing to play rough with you.
c. Of course, she loves sports.
d. Her body is athletically divine.
e. She's easy to talk to and fun to be around.
f. She's a diamond in the rough.

Disadvantages
a. She'll remind you too much of one of your boys.
b. She might not want to change her appearance.
c. She might actually beat you in basketball, football and track.

6. Ms. Ghetto

Advantages
a. She's not afraid of any other female or male. She will fight to keep you.
b. She's down for you. She'll be there to bail you out of jail.
c. She's always stays fresh.
d. She can cook up a storm. She can make the best out of a bad situation.
e. She keeps it real and keeps you satisfied.

Disadvantages
a. She doesn't know how to act in public.
b. Your mama can't stand her.
c. You get into with her every other second.
d. She's willing to fight another girl looking at you or her PERIOD.
e. Her weave colors are distracting and her vocabulary is minimal.

7. Ms. Good Girl

Advantages
a. She's always there for you.
b. She's intelligent, classy, kind, sweet and cool.
c. Your mother loves her.
d. You can see yourself falling in love with her.
e. You are her first everything.
f. She makes you feel like a man.

Disadvantages
a. She's an A or B situation either:
A. You're not gonna get any until ya'll are married or
B. She said she's never done - she said she's never tried - she's sitting there telling a muthaf* lie.

8. Ms. Main

Advantages
a. She is the one you respect.
b. She probably may know about the others but might not care.
c. She has all the qualities you want in a female.
d. You've been with her forever.

Disadvantages
a. She starts getting very suspicious and calls you every moment.
b. She will devise a plan to catch you in your act and then kick your butt

9. Ms. Psycho

Advantages
a. She's fun and spontaneous.
b. She's down to earth.
c. She loves you unconditionally.
d. Everything about her is too good to be true. So everyone loves her.
e. She makes you feel loved.

Disadvantages
a. Don't you break up with her. She will stalk you constantly.
b. She keeps pictures of you everywhere and knows everything about you.
c. She can manipulate the hell out of you.
d. She will consider herself wifey even if she may just be that chick on the side.
e. Messing with her can make your life a living hell.

10. Ms. I have a Man

Advantages
a. She may have a man but she'll mess with you anyway.
b. She looks good.
c. You have an intense night of passion with her.

Disadvantages
a. She'll always come crying to you about the problems with her man.
b. She'll get you caught up and then leave you anyway for her man.
c. If you piss her off she'll get her man to come beat your %#&@$!.
d. She'll unofficially make you her man once she gets pissed off at her real man.

11. Ms. Tease

Advantages
a. She's tempting and a nice piece of eye candy.
b. She's intelligent, athletic, respectable and SEXXXXXXY.
c. She knows how to turn you on without touching you.
d. Everything she does is just so sensual.
e. She can bring you to that point and make you wait to get it.
f. Every time you see her you catch a mini orgasm.
g. Every nigga wants her b/c she's so mysterious and that makes you want to get her first.

Disadvantages
a. NO matter what you think or do you never get it.
b. She probably has a long distance boyfriend somewhere that you will never know about.
c. She gets you hard and leaves you like that. (Unbearable)

12. MRS. RIGHT

Advantages
a. She is not sexy, fine, or a dyme she is Beautiful and therefore encompasses all of these descriptions.
b. She is intelligent, sassy, funny, outgoing, determined, strong and classy.
c. She can cook or at least order a meal that is just like your mother's.
d. Her personality is just as beautiful as her body.
e. She believes in God and follows his virtues.
f. She knows that a relationship requires a 200uota yet she gives her man an extra 10 /SPAN>
g. She can please her man in anyway. Mentally, Spiritually, and Sexually.
h. She makes you recognize your full potential as a man and completes you.
i. She's always there for, no matter what your dreams are.
j. She's not afraid to tell you the truth and set you straight.
k. You can talk to her and confide in her, she's your best friend.
l. You love being around her more than your boys.
m. You can share your most intimate moments with her without sex.
n. You can have a bad argument with her and have the BEST Mind Numbing and passionate love making fest ever.
o. She's always willing to find a way to work out your problems and will often take most of your *bleep*. But she's also intelligent enough to leave.
p. She's nothing like any other girl you've met. She's your woman.

Disadvantage
a. You've probably met her, or had her in your life but got too consumed with all the other types that you let her go

Internet Job Ad For Hitman land Woman In Jail

2008-04-19T01:40:00.000-07:00

An American woman who advertised online for a hitman to kill her lover's wife has pleaded guilty to the murder-for-hire scheme.

Anne Marie Linscott, 49, faces 10 years in prison for each of three federal charges, including intent to commit murder, the US Attorneys for the Western District of Michigan and the Eastern District of California said today in a joint statement.

In November 2007, three California residents searching job listings on Craigslist.com found an advertisement for a "freelance" position posted by Linscott, according to court documents.

The three job seekers contacted California police.

The defendant asked two of the respondents via email to "eradicate" the victim and provided the victim's name, age and employment address.

In one correspondence, she said she was looking for "silent assassins" and offered to pay $US5000 ($5340) to kill the victim, who was not identified by the court.

"This IS a serious proposition," Linscott said via email. Her account name was "bourne2run".

Linscott, a resident of Rockford, Michigan, met her lover while taking an online college course several years ago.

Linscott and the man, identified in court documents only as Duane, had an affair, meeting in Reno, Nevada in 2005 and 2007. They spoke on the phone and corresponded by email, the court papers said.

As part of a plea deal between the government and Linscott, prosecutors agreed to drop charges that she had left an incendiary device outside her rival's house in April 2007.

Sentencing has yet to be scheduled.