Independent Women’s Forum Reviews SATC 2
During my sorority days, I loved this show. I even designed a t-shirt to match the show’s logo. Now? Not so much. The franchise needs to end, and it’s bothersome that Candace Bushnell is now packaging it for tween girls with her Carrie Diaries. At this point, I don’t care anymore, and the excess of the characters’ lives seems inappropriate with so many people struggling economically. Please just go away.

Help Mike Raise Money for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
My friend Mike is riding in his first 100k bike race in the Air Force Cycling Classic, which raises money for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. He’s already beat his fundraising goal, but go over there and show some support for a good cause. Mike will attempt to ride 62 miles in 3.5 hours. Good luck!

Edmund Burke in 20 Minutes | Young Conservatives Coalition
As part of their Conservatives You Should Know series, YCC promoted a short podcast on the legacy of Edmund Burke. With all of the focus on the conservative movement and ideals, more of an emphasis should be placed on Burke.

Pirate Bay Launches Dating Site, PirateDate.com | Tech Crunch
While perusing TechCrunch, I was amused by the announcement that Pirate Bay, a file-sharing site, has launched an online dating platform. While I find the concept of online dating creepy, this is simultaneously bizarre and funny! Are there actual women involved in the BitTorrent universe? Would you really want to connect your Facebook profile with something similar to Match.com? If one of your friends joined and PirateDate.com showed up in your Feed, would you block them or stage an intervention? I would pay to see a YouTube video of a wedding with the couple saying, “I’m so lucky I found my honey on Pirate Date. Yar!”

This is likely one situation where creating a new brand would have helped. I only see this appealing to two audiences: guys on BitTorrent and people with a Pirate fetish, which I’m assuming exists.

Can Feminists Wear Aprons? | Huffington Post & Jezebel
This article made me snicker yesterday at Jezebel, and saw it on Huffington Post today. A young feminist, who relies on Wikipedia to define her feminism, questions if aprons are acceptable. Seriously? I didn’t realize that aprons were a symbol of the patriarchy. I though they existed to keep your clothes clean while cooking or working on messy projects. Heaven forbid an item be used for practicality when you can find hidden political meaning in it.

Coincidentally, a while back, I picked up vintage aprons at an estate sale. Who knew my preference for traditional gender roles was coming through? I just thought, “Hey, those are cheap at $3 each, and I collect vintage stuff. They would look cute hanging in my kitchen.” Even my subconscious is conservative.

The Equal Pay Day Reality Check | The American
Christina Hoff Sommers highlights some of the holes in the the wage gap theory: the complaint that feminists trot out sometimes when they get tired of whining about abortion. Their theories really don’t stand up when faced with things like facts. Younger workers are paid equally. The life decisions and career paths that women follow explain the the small difference in pay. It’s not a grand conspiracy. Feminists are always lamenting the shortage of women in STEM fields. Since those are the highest paid fields, isn’t it logical that women make less money? Not every job field can be paid equally. Talent, education and the availability of workers determine pay. There are more teachers than scientists, so they make less. Teachers also require far less education and training and get three months off a year.

I recently read in Dee Dee Myers book, Why Women Should Rule the World, that people who think with both spheres of their brain are far more likely to enter the liberal arts fields, and hence be subjected to lower paying jobs. Since the majority of women think with both parts of their brain, more women go into liberal arts. But who needs facts when you can complain about a grand patriarchal conspiracies?

Generation Y’s steep financial hurdles: Huge debt, no savings | USAToday
I don’t know if I should be happy that I’m on better financial footing than these examples, or if I should be worried that I’m likely facing higher taxes to one day subsidize the bad financial decisions of my generation?

Confessions of a former unemployed | Rachel Steinberg
My friend and brilliant writer, Rachel, has an interesting theory on post-traumatic unemployment disorder, which makes a lot of sense. Between these two links, will rampant unemployment dramatically change the Millennial Generation? If we could use these lessons to grow up and responsibly live within our means, that would ultimately be a good thing. However, it looks like Millennials are poised to make even worst financial decisions than our parents, the Boomers.

Boom Times for Young Workers | Wall Street Journal
Conversely, if you are a Millennial and have a job, chances are that you’re facing unprecedented job responsibilities and advancement. Please, start saving money and investing in retirement plans!

Tennessee Leads the Way | Susan B. Anthony List
While it’s still terrible that health care passed, at least Tennessee taxpayers won’t be paying for abortions. This is truly surprising given that Governor Bredesen is a Democrat. Odd, that I haven’t seen this story on the fem blogs. Guess they can’t attack one of their own.

Tax Day Deals | Lifehacker (via @stackiii)
Feeling the crunch on Tax Day? Take advantage of these free or discounted deals.

Few lawmakers file their own taxes | The Hill
If the people who write our tax codes can’t do their taxes, it makes me nervous to think that I filed mine in 30 minutes using Turbotax. Of course, I’m honest and don’t have off-shore accounts to hide money in, making my taxes easier to prepare.

What’s in a woman’s name? Broadsheet
A new study found that women who take the name of their husbands or have hyphenated names are viewed as more traditional. They are more likely to be hired and make more money. )Correction: I got this wrong, and mis-read it. The study found that women who change their last names were less likely to be hired.)

This issue has always seemed silly to me. You have to have a last name. If you keep your maiden name, you still have your fathers name, which is still reflective of that horrible patriarchy. What are the alternatives? Most people have two grandmothers and four great-grandmothers. If you go with a matriarchal style, which name do you take? Every generation has different last names. Doesn’t that get confusing?

Oddly, Southern women have never had issues with this. It’s traditional to take your maiden name as your middle name and go by all three. You can also name one of your kids with your maiden name if legacy is important. Doesn’t that nicely solve the debate?

Six Green Cleaning Uses for Vinegar | Blissfully Domestic
Everyone needs to clean, and vinegar is useful. If “green” bothers you, substitute “cheap” or “practical” since these are all things that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers knew. I’ve used vinegar for mopping and cleaning lime (hard water stains), but I didn’t know about drain cleaners or dishwasher rinse.

The Pro-Abortion Reaction to Nebraska | RH Reality Check
This post uses the same blathering about privacy, women’s rights and endangerment of the mother’s life as the pro-abortion crowd always uses.  They also emphasize the importance of the Supreme Court debacle that is likely to ensue this summer. With several likely high-profile legal battles ahead of us (health care and Nebraska), the abortion litmus test will once again be central in the proceedings.

Good for T-Paw
Gov. Pawlenty has declared April to be Abortion Recovery Month to highlight the physical and psychological effects of abortion. Per Politico:

The proclamation, first cited by the Minnesota Independent, “encourages and promotes healing opportunities and raises awareness of the aftermath of abortion experienced by individuals and families,” according to the document signed by the Republican governor and Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

Unless you’re a member of the abortion cheerleaders, this is a good opportunity to highlight that abortions have consequences long after the procedure is finished.

Not surprising: MRC Study finds Tea Parties received very little attention in the media.
I saw this on Fox this morning while getting ready. Despite devoting many hours and inches to the Million Mom March and the endless barrage of amnesty and anti-war protests, the tea parties have gotten very little coverage. The few stories they’ve received have been mostly negative. The Media Research Center has the full report.

Yet, tea parties are a tremendous force this year. One more nail in the coffin for traditional media.

Personal vs. Professional Branding at BrianSolis.com
As the line blurs between professional and personal lives, how we brand ourselves is critical. This should be on the radar of everyone who blogs or is engaged on Twitter since those are more public networks. The Google brain should also concern you.

MTV needs more…abortions?

The despicable Jessica Valenti whined last week that MTV’s 16 and Pregnant hadn’t featured any girls who decided to get an abortion. Susan B. Anthony List responds. Oh, and Lori Ziganto at Red State and Snark and Boobs also responds. See what I miss when I’m busy over the weekend?

IWF Highlights China’s Real War on Women
One of the many reasons why I  disagree with feminism is the Western focus on whiny, post-modern complaints. Any woman in the rest of the world would be thankful to experience the horrors of the US “wage gap.”

Independent Women’s Forum highlights the lack of women in China from a human rights issue. They’re absolutely right. In America, no one gets past abortion on this issue. As a pro-life woman, it’s terrible that so many baby girls are killed, but that issue goes beyond the moral implications.

What’s in a rape kit?
Rape kits are one of those terrible things that you hope never need to be used but are thankful that they exist. Amanda Hess of the Washington City Paper de-mystifies what goes in one. It makes the horror of rape all that much worse to think of what the victim is going through when such an exam needs to be done.

The Next Female Pundit
Sara Libby at Broadsheet highlights a Politico article from last week that discussed those precocious kids climbing the ranks at major news outlets (I didn’t realize 25 was the new acceptable age to get a personal assistant. I’m three years overdue.)

Per the normal whining feminist frame, she asks where are all the women? Forced diversity is typically ineffectual and lacks authenticity, so it comes across as empty and pretentious. However, she asks a good question. Where are all the up-and-coming female pundits on the left? There are a number of fantastic women on the right that are respected and considered rising stars. Perhaps when you actually promote people by merit, the diversity juggernaut works out?

After a nice four-day weekend in Chattanooga, I’m back to the grind and attempting to catch up on the news. I can’t believe the audacity of good friends getting married on what ended up being a heavy news weekend. They should have known better…

Back in TN-03, I noticed the Congressional race is heating up. Van Irion signs are everywhere, and “Send Mrs. Smith to Washington” bumper stickers covered numerous cars. While the entire country becomes more and more divided over politics, my home district is just slugging it out over which Republican to elect. One of the many reasons I love East Tennessee.

What did I miss over the weekend?

1. There was not one, but two new “scandals” involving Sarah Palin. E! News reported that she was a bit greedy at an Oscar event, which conflicted with a number of other stories that I read earlier. Ted Casablanca, who doesn’t have the best gossip track record and is just a tad partisan, spread the vicious story. Earlier accounts said that Palin accepted the free gifts and then donated them to the Red Cross in addition to donating $1,700. Immediately after Casablanca published his version, the blogosphere and media ran with that angle. When you factor in Radar incorrectly announcing the retirement of Chief Justice John Roberts, don’t trust celebrity gossip sites for political news. If these are legitimate sources for politics, Perez Hilton needs a Sunday morning talk show.

The media is also going crazy with reports that Palin’s brother illegally obtained medical care in Canada when they were children. Hot Air has a rebuttal. Good heavens. We need a version of Snopes just to get Palin facts right.

Dear media: we get that you don’t like Palin. Get over it and focus on real news.

2. Christopher Buckley realized that Obama is not that great after all.

Mr. Buckley, you are still my favorite novelist, but you are not your father. Sad that someone who writes razor-sharp satire about the Beltway could be taken in by the slick marketing of the Obama campaign.

3. The Census sent letters to 120 million households announcing that the Census will be mailed in April. How much did this cost? Mail from the Federal government doesn’t require postage like private mail does, but this had to cost several million dollars to print and deliver. Couldn’t those resources have been used more efficiently? Also, what about the environmental impact? How many trees died so that the US Government could tell us something we already knew?

Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy couture collection sold at auction, Daily Mail

If I had an extra $450,000 to spend, this collection would have been fun to own.

The Teapublican Moment, The Next Right

Patrick has some good points about the Tea Party movement and Republicans, namely GOP establishment types will use them to get re-elected and pretend 2008 never happened. Sad but true. Republicans never seem to learn their lesson.

W.H. Nixes Receiving Line, Politico

I saw this last night but in my sickness haze didn’t feel up to writing and Hot Air linked to it. You’ve got to wonder just how stupid the Obama Administration really is. Climategate is causing a few embarrassing moments for the Prez, the stimulus isn’t working, the jobs summit was a joke, and Obama is now as popular as that dreaded Sarah Palin.You’d think the Obama Administration would work double-time to keep the media, their biggest  ally, in the tank. Why piss off the media and change their beloved Christmas party? Reporters make next to nothing, work crazy hours and live in constant fear of getting laid off. The only thing going for them is Obama-worship and adding another photo to their “Me Wall.” Obama can’t take a few minutes to pose with his most ardent supporters this holiday season?

Note to Michelle: it’s common courtesy to send out invitations ahead of time and to invite everyone. Don’t be selective with the guest list at Christmas. Perhaps you should spend less time in the garden or hula hooping and pay a little more attention to the job the First Lady is actually supposed to do. This administration is nothing short of an amateur joke. Wonder what to give the First Lady that seems to have everything? A copy of Emily Post might help her.

Sarah in the Springs, Michelle Malkin

Two of my favorite conservative women meet up. I would have loved to witness that conversation.

Who’s Who on climate fraud, Washington Examiner

I’ve Left My Church, Radical Womanhood

A new church plant is coming to Arlington, which is one of the most “un-churched” areas around here. After spending a year with friends at the Embrace Church plant in Chattanooga, my prayers are with this team. I never ever dreamed I’d be part of a church plant team. It’s one of the hardest and most wonderful things I’ve ever done.

The Evolution of a New Trust Economcy, PR 2.0

Just read this. Absorb it and acknowledge that we’re in the midst of some type of technological revolution.

NY Times Highlights Aging Feminists’ Anxiety Over Abortion, Newsbusters

Feminists are in meltdown about the future of abortion. Ironic that they’re losing support because younger generations are more pro-life. When you kill your offspring, you can’t instill your values into the next generation. Conservatives may win simply because we like kids and the numbers are on our side.

From a Young Woman to (Some) of the Menopausal Militia, RHRealityCheck.com

It seems the protest for the Stupak amendment didn’t go so well yesterday, and feminists are bickering at each other in response to the article mentioned above.  Hehe! Keep it up ladies.

Ehrenrich: The Pink-Ribbon Breast Cancer Cult, Alternet

Ehrenrich complains that feminism has been replaced by breast cancer awareness and the focus has shifted away from abortion. I would say that the pink-washing of feminism is the only thing that’s kept it in the news for the past decade. If people knew the truth behind it, no one would follow it.

Taylor Swift: Pop princess, feminist villan? Salon

Seriously? First it was Palin, then it was Twilight. Now Taylor Swift is the catching the ire of feminists. Can’t a young woman just write about what she wants? How many 19-year-olds have the talent to write songs? At 19, did you sit around pondering deep issues of society?  Do all female artists have to be Melissa Ethridge or the Indigo Girls? Sheesh.

Patience Is a (Feminist) Virtue, The Sexist, Washington City Paper

It’s strange that by pursuing traditional roles and values, I’m now counter-cultural. I need a “Proud Supporter of the Patriarchy” t-shirt.

Ms. Pac-Man: Post Feminist Icon, Moving Pixels

A satirical view of the popular 80s arcade game within the realm of feminism. Entertaining, but it makes me wish that I had one. I loved Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. Classic gaming is very in right now.

Where’s My Post-Feminist Manifesto, The Cornell Daily Sun

Another funny editorial about the dismal state of feminism. I like these. Keep them coming.

Duke University Digital Collection, Vintage Ads

Absolutely nothing to do with feminism, but I’m looking for vintage ads to use as artwork in my apartment. The ads are organized by year and subject. Very cool. Also helps fulfill Mad Men withdrawal.