You'll regret not doing them when you get tonsillitis at roughly 6 months post partum which comes with an uncontrollable cough.  You'll especially regret it when said tonsillitis lasts for nearly a month.

This kid is lucky she's cute.

The tipping point is a generation away, assuming women's economic power keeps rising as expected. But already, the trend is stunning enough that TIME made it the subject of its current cover.

"Almost 40% of working wives out-earn their husbands," noted Liza Mundy, author of "The Richer Sex"--both the cover story and a new book that goes by the same title--at a breakfast in New York City, hosted by TIME and Fortune.

The audience was Fortune's Most Powerful Women: female Masters of the Universe who have seven-figure salaries and househusbands. Mundy's research shows that women are out-earning men all around. In most U.S. metro areas, for instance, single childless women in their 20s have higher median incomes than their male peers. In Dallas and Atlanta, the average young woman earns $1.18 and $1.14, respectively, for every dollar earned by a male.

Why such rapid advancement? The Pill, Mundy said, helped spark the trend 50 years ago: Newly able to delay marriage and childbearing, women began focusing on their careers. America's shift to a service economy also favors college grads, who increasingly tend to be female. Today, women make up 60% of U.S. college classes and earn more masters and doctorate degrees than men.

What can stop women from out-earning men in more than 50% of U.S. households? "Nothing that I can see," Mundy, who writes for the Washington Post (WPO), told TIME Executive Editor Nancy Gibbs at the breakfast. Some industries, such as veterinary medicine, are so populated with women that few men are now entering them, she said. She calls the phenomenon "gender pollution." In 25 years, law and medicine may well be female-dominated.

And there's the fact that 41% of babies in the U.S. today are born to single mothers. While Mundy found no reliable data on how many of these unmarried moms are cohabiting vs. living alone, "what we do know from the census is that currently about 25% of children under 18 live with a mother and not a father."

This got me and the powerful women at my breakfast table asking: Can men, bred to be providers, live happily in a world where women may not need them for support? An optimist, Mundy believes that many men will cede control as breadwinners.(One bit of evidence: Marriage rates for high-income women are rising, as overall marriage rates decline.) Moreover, society will adapt by "broadening the definition of masculinity," she contends. Masculinity will include cooking as well as hunting, and child care as well as golf.

"We are always too quick to think masculinity is finished," Mundy writes in her TIME cover story. If the evolution plays out as she hopes, both men and women will become richer in their own ways.

Click here to read why men are attracted to high-earning women.

After less than three full days of deliberations, the five men and seven women of the jury found Dharun Ravi, 20 years old, guilty of invading the privacy of his 18-year-old roommate, Tyler Clementi, and his dorm-room date. They also found that Ravi was motivated by bias in at least some of the charges in the case under a New Jersey hate-crime law that had been largely untested so far.

The jury had been asked to decide Ravi?s motivations when he trained his webcam on Clementi and his date on two separate occasions in September 2010, in a case that set off a national conversation about cyber-bullying and treatment of gay youth. Clementi, a quiet freshman and gifted violinist who had told his parents he was gay days before leaving for college, killed himself by jumping off George Washington Bridge shortly after he learned about the spying.

Ravi was not charged in connection with the death. He showed no reaction as the jury forewoman read the verdict. Families for both sides filled five benches of the packed courtroom, remaining stone-faced as the verdicts were read.

Ravi faces up to 10 years in prison on most serious bias intimidation convictions, but is likely to receive a lesser sentence based on sentencing guidelines because he is a first time offender.

 http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/03/16/former-rutgers-student-convicted-in-webcam-spying-trial/

The patients were pretty shaken up by the numbers and the volume, and their boyfriends/husbands/moms were furious.  The boyfriend of one patient who was leaving (and it was pretty clear she was physically uncomfortable-- a little hunched and kind of limping) asked if there was an alternate exit away from them because she couldn't take them again. 

They even yelled at a really young teenager waiting in her mom's car  while the mom was going in to pick up a prescription for something.  Klassy. 

I want to again thank Jermy's girl and Sibil for pointing me in this direction.   These   patients / families really needed a friendly face today.

How does Mormonism reconcile their feelings about modesty with things like gymnastics, and swimming/diving, where girls are wearing leotard and Speedos? Does the sanctioned uniform for the sport trump the modesty standard in that case?  

http://front.moveon.org/the-gop-myth-about-small-government-shattered-with-one-simple-chart/#.T2PoZfIBc3s.facebook

but does anyone want to explain why no one is calling the idol of the GOP on growing gov't at a faster rate during his first term than Obama?

http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/the-right-not-to-know

An excerpt:

?I am so sorry,? the young woman said with compassion, and nudged the tissues closer. Then, after a moment?s pause, she told me reluctantly about the new Texas sonogram law that had just come into effect. I?d already heard about it. The law passed last spring but had been suppressed by legal injunction until two weeks earlier.

My counselor said that the law required me to have another ultrasound that day, and that I was legally obligated to hear a doctor describe my baby. I?d then have to wait 24 hours before coming back for the procedure. She said that I could either see the sonogram or listen to the baby?s heartbeat, adding weakly that this choice was mine.

?I don?t want to have to do this at all,? I told her. ?I?m doing this to prevent my baby?s suffering. I don?t want another sonogram when I?ve already had two today. I don?t want to hear a description of the life I?m about to end. Please,? I said, ?I can?t take any more pain.? I confess that I don?t know why I said that. I knew it was fait accompli. The counselor could no more change the government requirement than I could. Yet here was a superfluous layer of torment piled upon an already horrific day, and I wanted this woman to know it. 

ETA b/c I meant to emphasize, not scare quote 

I need to find curtains for these windows.  We have a grey couch with white walls, and teal/green/yellow colored artwork on the walls.  Our wood furniture and dining room set are black. 

The curtains I have now were white sailcloth which I dyed.  Horrible mistake.  I was going for a light green, but they turned out almost neon.   So back to square one. 

What color/style curtains should I go with?   I was thinking about sheers, but I'm afraid they'd be too sheer for windows on the front of the house.  I also looked at sheets at Target to possible turn them in to curtains, but I don't know what would look good. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeHQO1XvZAY

Also, a 15 year old comes to her defense.

http://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/64333909.aspx?MsdVisit=1 

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http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=19616293&title=governor-vetoes-controversial-sex-education-bill&s_cid=featured-1 

SALT LAKE CITY ? Utah Gov. Gary Herbert late Friday vetoed the controversial sex education bill, turning back the legislative effort to eliminate classroom discussion tied to contraceptives, intercourse and homosexuality.

"Existing law respects the ability of Utah parents to choose if and how their student will receive classroom instruction on these topics," Herbert said in a prepared statement. "I am unwilling to conclude that the State knows better than Utah's parents as to what is best for their children"

The bill, HB363, was one of the more controversial issues the 2012 Legislature addressed and the uproar amplified after lawmakers adjourned, with thousands calling for its veto through phone calls, emails, an online petition and protests at the Captiol.

HB363 passed with overwhelming majorities in both legislative chambers, but it would be necessary for some dissenting lawmakers to change their votes in order to overrule the veto. Allie Isom, a spokeswoman for Herbert, said it is the prerogative of the legislature to challenge the veto if they choose, but that the possibility did not influence the governor's decision.

"The governor makes his decisions irrespective of what they will do," she said.

She said after careful consideration of the bill, Herbert decided it went to far.

"He feels he can't sign a bill that restricts a parent's choices," she said.

Rep. Bill Wright, R-Holden, who sponsored the bill, has said that in addition to reasserting the role of parents in the education of their children, he was motivated by what he perceived as inappropriate material being presented in schools. Specifically, he mentioned material developed by Planned Parenthood and links on the Utah State Office of Education website that directed users to Planned Parenthood content.

Representatives from both organizations said that collaboration ended last year. But the sentiment gained momentum in the Legislature and help push its passage.

The bill drew condemnation from thousands who voiced their opinions through social media and in calls to the governor's office, fearing the bill could keep potentially life-saving information from students who might not receive it otherwise. Others supported the bill that attempted to put the focus of sex education into the home. 

After being called Ofadam on here for about four years now, I've avoided the book thinking it's just going to make fun of "people like me".  But it seems like everyone here has read it and enjoyed it.  My library has it available so I can pick it up on the way home from work.

I read The Year of Living Biblically after someone here recommended it and really liked it.  It actually helped me sort out some spiritual issues.  So I'm willing to try some books that you guys think I would like.

I'm not religious, but I do find a lot of comfort in the Episcopal service (i was raised in the epsicopal church--every sunday). Even though catholicism is similar I don't like the mass.

I'm curious.  If the liturgy is similar, what is it about the mass that you don't like?

SAN DIEGO ? A co-founder of Invisible Children, the group behind the ?KONY 2012? video on alleged atrocities by an African warlord, was detained for being drunk in public and masturbating, according to the San Diego Police Department.

Jason Russell, was taken into custody after he was found masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and possibly under the influence of something, said Lt. Andra Brown, NBCSanDiego.com reported.

Russell is one of the the founders responsible for the "KONY 2012" video that went viral last week. He is described on the organization's website as a co-founder and "our grand storyteller and dreamer." Russell is also described as a Christian and father to two children who wants to have nine more children with his wife he calls his "best friend for over 23 years."

http://abcnews.go.com/International/pope-benedicts-custom-made-cologne/story?id=15927330#.T2PBDsWPVTk

Pope Benedict Has Custom-Designed Cologne

Italian celebrity perfume-maker Silvana Casoli, has created her most heavenly scent yet for a very special client, Pope Benedict XVI.

Known for creating a number of perfumes that can be used by both men and women with names like Chocolat Bambola (Chocolate doll) and Vanilla Bourbon, Casoli has designed unique fragrances for famous personalities like Madonna and Sting.

Speaking to Rome's daily paper, Il Messaggero, Casoli said that the name of the pope's specially-commissioned scent is top secret and she is not allowed to divulge all its ingredients. She did, however, reveal that she was inspired by the pope's love of "nature" and used a blend of fragrances from lime-wood, verbena and grass.

"I love speaking of my work," said Casoli, "but this time I can't. I am very devoted to the Holy Father." She promises his special cologne will never be reproduced for anyone else.

Casoli said she nearly fainted when she received the phone call from the Vatican and took months working on the commission in her small laboratory in northern Italy. At times she thought she would abandon it, but then she said she got inspired.

Pope Benedict's Deals With Scents and Sinners

"I realized that an essence like this had to have at its core something pure and clean, recalling the idea of peace," she said. "I thought of the smells the pope would smell when praying at the Grotto of Lourdes" and about "his love for music, animals, green Bavarian forests."

Casoli is not new to "spiritually-inspired" scents. She created two perfumes for pilgrims on pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. They were called "Water of Faith" and "Water of Hope" and were so popular that priests presented samples to the pope, which gave him the idea that he would like his very own.

Pope Benedict XVI, who is 85 and was once the archbishop of Cologne, Germany, is known for his elegance in both speech and attire. His attention to detail and color in his papal clothing has often been commented on and he has reintroduced a number of items to papal attire during his papacy, like his fur-lined, short, deep-red cape. Shortly after his election it was said that he wore Prada shoes and Gucci sunglasses, all quietly denied by the pope's entourage.

The Vatican does not comment on products used by the pope and the pope's image is carefully protected from inappropriate commercial exploitation, but until someone comes forward to deny this, Casoli will probably get a rush of snooping, sniffing fans wanting to smell that oh so special fragrance.

Although the more than 2.5 million people who see the pope at the Vatican annually do not all come into close contact with him, those who are lucky enough to shake his hand at private and public audiences, or receive communion from him during mass, may possibly now also get a whiff of the papal eau. 

Real help for high gas pricess?

My guess - this is pure politics due to his low poll ratings on gas prices. It will only be a temporary downward  blip, does not solve the problem, puts our national security at risk (think Israel attacking Iran) and will cost big $$ to replace the oil for future reserve needs).   Sounds desperate to me.

The girls were telling me they're upset that the boys get to run with their shirts off.  They tried to approach the AD, and the AD told them it's how boys are or some such thing.

I can't decide whether I should be amused at them thinking thinking it's sexist that they can't take their shirts off or exasperated at the AD for allowing 2 sets of rules to apply to the boys' and girls' teams.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203160002

There was something very telling, and even morose, about the commercial break Rush Limbaugh took deep into his third hour of broadcasting on Tuesday's show. Still at the center of an advertising firestorm that rages around his program as corporate America turns its back on the AM talker in the wake of his ugly, invasive, three-day smear campaign against Sandra Fluke, Limbaugh boasted he had thwarted the left-wing attack and they were the ones "shell shocked" at the turn of events.

But the truth was that for days on his flagship station, WABC in New York, Limbaugh's show had been stripped of key advertisers. Instead, the once robust revenue-generating program had turned into a feel-good forum where during commercial breaks WABC ran nonpaid public service announcements on behalf of the United Negro College Fund and New York Office of Emergency Management. That's because WABC didn't feel comfortable putting lots of advertisers on Limbaugh's show, which up and down Madison Avenue had become poisonous in this wake of his misogynistic Fluke debacle.  

So towards the end of his show on Tuesday, the nine-figure salary talk show host went to commercial break and a paid advertiser did pop up. And it was a new advertiser, a sponsor who apparently had signed on amidst the controversy. The sponsor's name? The Holy Name Cemetery in New Jersey, which was advertising a "pre-planning open house weekend."

How fitting.

Whether Limbaugh's show is in the midst of the death throes, only time will tell. But one thing is clear, the radio industry has never seen anything like the sponsorship controversy surrounding Limbaugh's once-untouchable program. And it's certainly never seen anything like the wholesale decision by his syndicator, Premier Radio Networks, to suspend barter ads for two weeks in an apparent effort to ride out the controversy. That was soon followed by news that advertisers are requesting Limbaugh's affiliated stations provide "Rush-free programming grids" so sponsors can verify that their brands aren't appearing on his show.  

"It's unprecedented," Holland Cooke, a talk radio consultant, tells Media Matters. He says Premiere's startling advertising move "suggests things are worse than we know."

The question is: How long will stations be able to sustain the ad losses on Limbaugh's show, and how does the host justify his $400 million pay in the face of the advertiser revolt?

The boycott comes at a bad time for Premier's parent company, Clear Channel. A conservative-friendly media behemoth with a soft spot for right-wing radio, Clear Channel continues to struggle not only with a depleted radio audience as more and more consumers migrate away from the AM/FM dial, but it's also sagging under the weight of massive debt.

From a Forbes report, earlier this year:

Clear Channel's consolidated businesses are struggling amid a sea of losses and a $19.9 billion debt load, meanwhile its largest revenue source, radio broadcasting, is a loss leader. Overall, the combined company is set to lose over $200 million in 2011 after notching $4 billion-plus annual losses during the recession. 

And now comes the Limbaugh debacle. Like Fox News when it was hit with a sweeping advertising boycott of Glenn Beck's show (a boycott that eventually drove him off TV), Clear Channel executives are downplaying the impact of the current controversy. A company source told the New York Times that the advertising action had only cost the company $1 million per week in lost revenue, stressing the pain to the company's bottom line has been minimal. The source also suggested the company is simply taking advertisers who want off Limbaugh's show and finding spots for them on other Clear Channel programs.

But the boycott is only in its third week and shows no signs of abating. Worse, Clear Channel pays Limbaugh an astounding $38 million annually, or approximately $750,000 each week. So right now, Clear Channel's paying Limbaugh $750,000 weekly for a show that's shedding $1 million from its bottom line every seven days.

With regards to shifting disgruntled advertisers onto other programs, here's the reality: there are a finite number of commercials spots in radio. If you take commercials off Limbaugh's program and shift them to another Clear Channel offering, you're simply bumping  commercials that were already in place on the other program. Limbaugh's show sorely lacks national advertisers and moving sponsors onto other shows doesn't change that, nor does it make up for the lost Clear Channel revenue.

Another problem Limbaugh and Clear Channel face is the looming threat that some major talk news stations could drop Limbaugh in favor of Mike Huckabee's new national talk show, which begins to air in April and will compete against Limbaugh during the noon-to-three time slot. Huckabee's show is being syndicated by Cumulus Media Networks, whose parent company owns some of Limbaugh's most high-profile affiliates, such as WABC in New York, WLS in Chicago, and WMAL in Washington, D.C.

"With the flip of the switch they could take Rush off" major markets, says Cooke, a move he says would do permanent damage to Limbaugh's radio prestige.

Just consider the predicament Cumulus' WABC now faces, filling the dozens and dozens of ad spots each day with unpaid public service announcements. Since the controversy broke, WABC has aired hundreds of them during Limbaugh's show. And yes, Limbaugh's ratings on WABC were already down 37 percent from 2010. (In the New York metro area of approximately 20 million people, just 72,000 people tune into Limbaugh's show each day, according to Crains New York.) 

"Talk radio is a business," stresses industry veteran and talk radio consultant Valerie Geller. "And when the money stops flowing, every station looks at every show."

Anyone else want to discuss?  I can't wait to see where he ends up.

link

WASHINGTON ? The American staff sergeant suspected of killing 16 Afghan villagers had been drinking alcohol ? a violation of military rules in combat zones ? and suffering from the stress related to his fourth combat tour and tensions with his wife about the deployments on the night of the massacre, a senior American official said Thursday.

?When it all comes out, it will be a combination of stress, alcohol and domestic issues ? he just snapped,? said the official, who has been briefed on the investigation and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the soldier has not yet been formally charged.

As new details emerged about possible reasons behind the shootings, the American official said the military was preparing to move the sergeant to a prison in the United States as early as Friday, most likely to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., just a day after he was flown to a detention site in Kuwait from Afghanistan.

The sergeant?s sudden transfer to the United States is the result of a behind-the-scenes diplomatic uproar with Kuwait, which learned of the sergeant?s move to an American base on Kuwaiti territory from news reports before the United States government could alert the Kuwaitis about it, the senior American official said.

?When they learned about it, the Kuwaitis blew a gasket and wanted him out of there,? the official said.

The account by the American official, confirmed by a senior official at the Pentagon, is the most detailed description so far of the state of mind of the sergeant, a 38-year-old married father of two who was on his first combat tour in Afghanistan but his fourth over all, including three in Iraq, since he enlisted in 2001.

?There will be questions raised about his emotional and mental stability for a fourth deployment,? the American official said.

The Army still has not named the soldier, but on Thursday a lawyer who said he had been retained by his family offered some information and questioned some of the American official?s claims.

The lawyer, John Henry Browne of Seattle, said it was ?nonsense? that there were exceptional marital tensions. ?I know that is not true,? he said at a news conference at his office Thursday night in Seattle.

Mr. Browne added that the inaccuracy of the claim made him ?suspicious? of the suggestion that alcohol and stress contributed, though he noted that virtually anyone at a remote base in Afghanistan would be under stress.

The soldier and his wife had ?a very healthy marriage,? Mr. Browne said. Their two children are 3 and 4 years old.

A decorated soldier who grew up in the Midwest, the man enlisted within a week of the terrorist attacks of 2001, he said.

?He felt it was his duty to stand up for the United States,? said Mr. Browne, who has handled many high-profile cases in the Northwest, including the recent defense of the teenage fugitive known as the Barefoot Bandit, Colton Harris-Moore.

Mr. Browne, who said he met with ?a very large group of family members? on Wednesday and spoke with the soldier by telephone on Thursday, said the man had ?been decorated many, many times.?

?He was injured twice and he was deployed back to Afghanistan,? Mr. Browne added. "He is a career military man.?

He added, ?He was injured in Iraq in two places on his body, so he wasn?t certain he was healthy enough to go back, physically.?

Mr. Browne said the soldier suffered a concussion during a vehicle rollover accident caused by a roadside bomb. He also lost part of a foot in another episode.

He confirmed that the soldier, part of the Third Stryker Brigade, Second Infantry, had served three tours in Iraq with that unit.

He declined to say whether the sergeant might have psychological or mental health issues, and he also would not say whether the soldier had confessed. Mr. Browne said he would wait for the government to release the man?s name.

Mr. Browne criticized anonymous reports from government officials, calling them baseless.

?The government is going to want to blame this on an individual rather than blame it on the war,? he said.

Mr. Browne said that his client had been based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, just south of Tacoma, Wash., for his entire career. He said that many but not all of his family members had moved from the Midwest to western Washington. He said the soldier had done ?blue collar? work in the Midwest before he enlisted. The soldier?s wife had ?a very good job,? he said, noting that he was being paid, not working on the case pro bono. Mr. Browne said that the day before the shooting a soldier in the same unit had been ?gravely injured.?

The senior American official said the account of the sergeant?s state of mind came from two other soldiers with whom he drank alcohol on the night of the shootings. Those soldiers face disciplinary action. 

The sergeant has refused to speak to investigators, invoking his right to a lawyer shortly after he surrendered on returning to his base after the shootings.

The soldier?s wife and children have been moved from their home at Joint Base Lewis-McChord for their protection in anticipation of the release of the sergeant?s name, the American official said. Concern for their safety was among the reasons for initially withholding the sergeant?s identity, the official said.

Anyway, I thought I'd share here, since I don't think I can share this news with anybody at work yet. 

George Clooney arrested, handcuffed, outside Sudan embassy in D.C.

No, it wasn't for a movie. Actor George Clooney, long a political activist, was arrested and handcuffed outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington for protesting the country's blockage of food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains area of the country.

Because the embassy is private property, Clooney and colleagues knew standing there and refusing to move would end in arrest, The Washington Post reported. The newpaper's website posted photos of the actor and other protestors being handcuffed and taken away by police.

Clooney's father, journalist Nick Clooney, 78, was reportedly with him and was also arrested.