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| WOMEN TODAY |
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 Washington Times
Study urged of military mothers' absence 4-15-03
Pentagon data showing that more than half the military's 200,000 women are mothers has prompted family-advocacy groups to seek creation of a presidential commission to study the effects of mothers' absence on children.
The groups also want the panel to determine whether military benefits create incentives for out-of-wedlock births, and to examine historical and anthropological records regarding the treatment of mothers in times of war.
The fall of Baghdad and the apparent collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime may have reduced the worries for many Americans, but for couples like theTompon,th day ae sill onmed ith fear, loneliness and pain.
She recognizes that one of the most dangerous aspects for the marines -- policing a potentially hostile population -- is just beginning. He shares her concerns about his safety, and worries that the longer he is away, the more time it is going to take to rebuild their relationship.
LATimes
From the Front to the Inbox 4-15-03
War fighters and their families half a world away are e-mailing one another from battlefields, aircraft carriers and desert encampments, an unplanned — and unprecedented — benefit of modern warfare.
Some of the missives are everyday queries. Is the lawn getting mowed? How's that new asthma medicine? Other e-mails capture regret over sharp words and a desire for reconciliation. For Anne and Vince, their missives are chronicles of a relationship deepening with the trials of war.
"Minority women are starting new businesses 2-to-1 over white women, while minorities, especially blacks, are achieving more every year," said Edie Fraser, president of Business Women's Network and Diversity Best Practices, which will release the 908-page reference book next month. "This has to be a wake-up call for America, when it sees that women and minorities are now controlling the economy."
The strides among blacks have been the most noteworthy over the years, she said, "all the way through the system."
Olympia Snowe has her finger on the jugular of President Bush's prized domestic initiative -- and she's pressing hard.
The Republican senator from Maine has led the drive to scale back the $725-billion, 11-year tax cut that Bush has offered as his main plan to stimulate economic growth. She argues it is unaffordable at a time of burgeoning deficits. And last week, she was central to a move that may ensure a much smaller tax cut than Bush wants.
By defying a popular president of her own party in wartime, Snowe has put herself on the hot seat.
NYDaily News
Burk protest proves to be subpar 4-13-03
Martha Burk's protest against the elite men-only club's membership policy drew more reporters than supporters yesterday, and the much-hyped demonstration lived up to its billing as a media circus. The rally drew about 100 supporters, mostly members of her National Council of Women's Organizations and Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, as well as New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.
NYTimes
Teenagers and Parents: a Love Story 4-13-03
"What a Girlf Wants" typifies a new wave in popular entertainment aimed at young people -- one thata elevates the bond between parents and their teenagers above all other attachments. According to its creators, the movie is intended not only for teenage and preteen girls, but also for adult women. Middle-aged mothers and their young daughters have been flocking to it, one age group drawn because the story follows the formula of romantic comedy (Henry is played by Mr. Bridget Jones, Colin firth) and the other because it features the 17-year-old Ms. Bynes, a star of Nickelodeon television. As a father-daughter love story, though, one is left wondering: Whose fantasy is this?
"It's a very different military than when I joined," Cyr said. "When I went into the reserves in 1977, women had only been in the reserves since the 1970s. I was the second woman in that band. There were a lot of stereotypes to overcome. There's a lot of things (Kathryn) will not have to deal with, like I did as a woman. I took everything in stride, everybody adjusted."
Local recruiters say they've seen a 25 percent increase in women expressing interest in the military in the past month.
Although the attention surrounding the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch from behind Iraqi lines might have put the spotlight on women in the military, it's the educational opportunities, patriotism and family traditions that spur them to sign on the dotted line, said Sgt. 1st Class Kerry Manion, Marshfield's Army recruiter.
They are the product of upper middle-class suburbia, high school seniors fretting over their SAT scores and college applications. They are preoccupied with sports, school, friends and sex, not necessarily in that order. They indulge in petty mischief and experiment with drugs. Occasionally, they wind up in big, serious trouble.
They may sound like ordinary teenagers from Anytown, USA, and in many ways, they are. But the central characters in Better Luck Tomorrow also happen to be Asian-American, and it's that last detail that distinguishes the sly, stylish movie, which opens Friday, from every other cautionary drama about the pitfalls of American adolescence.
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WOMEN
INTERNATIONAL |
Anneli Jaeaetteenmaeki will head a coalition of her own Centre Party, the Social Democrats and the Swedish People's Party.
Her appointment means Finland becomes the only country in Europe to have women as both prime minister and president.
Ms Jaeaetteenmaeki also said she wants half her cabinet ministers to be women.
Guardian UK
She who must be surveyed 4-14-03
Africa's legendary Balobedu tribe enters an era of modernity and scandal this week following the crowning of its youngest rain queen, a descendant of the female monarchs who inspired the phrase "she who must be obeyed".
Makobo Modjadji, a 25-year-old princess, was crowned Queen Modjadji VI at an elaborate ceremony held in the highland bushveld of South Africa's Limpopo province.
Independent UK
Young women believe having babies is 'dreary' 4-13-03
Women are refusing to become mothers because they fear that having children will undermine their sense of identity, a study shows. It overturns previous thinking that motherhood is central to being a "real" woman.
Even married women in their 20s and 30s are choosing not to become mothers because they believe being a parent is "unfulfilling", "repellent" and "dreary".
The findings are based on interviews with 269 women at a family planning clinic in southern England. The findings contradict the stereotype of childless women as career-obsessed spinsters.
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| THINKING
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Christian Science Monitor
Valuing 'Women's Work' 4-15-03
There's a silver lining in the cloud over the economy: Female wage earners brought home 77 cents for every dollar earned by men compared with 76 cents the year before. That's a notable, even if small, gain in an economy handing out more pink slips than promotions.
Since 1979, the first year of comparable earnings data, women's wages have steadily increased while men's wages remained relatively stable. The high-tech boom in the '90s saw similar gains for both women and men, but - and this is important - women's wages overall have consistently lagged behind men's by about 25 percent.
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| WOMEN'S HEALTH |
NYTimes
Quest for Weight-Loss Drug Takes an Unusual Turn 4-15-03
Recently, in what might seem an odd twist, researchers have been studying weight loss in people taking two drugs already on the market, but approved for a completely different use, to treat epilepsy. Both drugs, Zonegran and Topamax, are also used to prevent migraine headaches. Zonegran is made by Elan Pharmaceuticals, and Topamax by Ortho-McNeil, a unit of Johnson & Johnson. The weight-loss potential of both drugs was discovered almost by accident, when people taking them for epilepsy or migraines noticed that they were dropping weight without trying.
BBC News
Expert warns of sex disease crisis 4-15-03
Writing in the medical journal, Sexually Transmitted Infections, Professor Adler, of the Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, paints a dismal picture of the nation's declining sexual health over the past decade.
He points to the government's failure to deliver on all the sexual health targets set out in its publication, The Health of the Nation, in 1992.
There has been an upsurge in chlamydial and gonococcal bacterial infections of well over 70% since 1997.
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DESIGN STUDIO |
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USA Today
From battle gear to hot couture 4-13-03
"There's too much sensitivity and risk to try to tread on that ground," says Arnold Aronson, director of retail strategies at Kurt Salmon. "Credible designers won't be exploitative."
However, military-inspired styles were already a trend this season. Designer Michelle Mason, who frequents Army-Navy stores for wardrobe and inspiration, has created military designs for years. She sent an Army shirt-dress down runways last week at shows in Los Angeles. "The dress is a modern translation of what women can wear. It had nothing to do with this war," says Mason.
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STYLE.COM
Vogue and W online
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| CREATORS
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MUSING about the people, real and imaginary, who have shaped his career, Andre Leon Talley, Vogue's editor at large and one of fashion's most voluble cheerleaders, spooled off a list headed by Bennie Frances Davis, his amternal grandmother; Diana Vreeland, the legendary style doyenne who became his mentor; and influential tastemakers of the 1970s and 80's like Mica Ertegun and C.A.Guest.
But the woman who holds the most hallowed spot in Mr. Talley's heart is Emma Bovary.
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AMERICAN
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The retired American general who will run post-war Iraq for the Bush adminnistration flew to Iraq today on a mission to remake the country's politics, a process he predicted would be messy and contentious.
But Lt. Gen. Jay Garner insisted that American-style democracy could sprout on the shards of President Saddam Hussein's government. "I don't think they had a love-in when they had Philadelphia" in 1787, he said in an interview here before his departure. "Anytime you start the process it's fraught with dialogue, tensions, coercion, and should be." Iraq, he suggested, could be the richest country in the Middle Easst within a few years.
BBC News
Iraq's post-war future under scutiny 4-15-03
Several thousand Shia Muslims opposed to the talks have been demonstrating in Nasiriya, shouting "No to America, No to Saddam".
The BBC's Lyse Doucet in Baghdad says that such scenes are replicated on a daily basis in the Iraqi capital with hundreds of protesters gathering to chanting "No to American control. Yes to Iraqis."
Chairing the meeting will be US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who played a similar role in setting up the post-Taleban administration in Afghanistan.
Washington Times
Looting sees start of 'downward trend' 4-15-03
With looting easing in Baghdad yesterday, Iraqis and U.S. troops began jointly patrolling the streets to quell the lawlessness that has engulfed the capital since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, the U.S. military said. In Basra, British troops said they were adopting a zero-tolerance policy on looting.
Iraqis began accompanying troops in Baghdad late Sunday or early yesterday, said Navy Capt. Frank Thorp, a U.S. Central Command spokesman. Iraqis also have launched neighborhood-watch programs, and Iraqi civil leaders are emerging to maintain order.
There was no electricity, no health care, no open shops, no sewage system, no police and no one to turn to for help. The people were scared, hungry and tired, and many children were falling ill.
So religious leaders stepped in. From loudspeakers mounted atop mosques in the low-income west Baghdad neighborhood known as Tobchi, sheiks and imams sent out a call, not to prayer, but to work. They called on doctors, electricians, police, engineers, shopkeepers and laborers to help their community get back to life.
NYTimes
Americans See Clear Victory in Iraq, Poll Finds 4-15-03
Americans overwhelmingly consider the war in Iraq a success, and a majority say the victory will stand even if Saddam Hussein remains at large or if the United States fails to unearth chemical or nuclear weapons, according to the latest New York Times/CBS Poll.
But a majority remains opposed to a policy of pre-emptive attack like the one President Bush invoked in invading Iraq, and see the WhiteHouse, emboldened by its success, as now likely to turn the nation's military might on North Korea, Syria or Iran.
BBC
US warned over Syria stance 4-15-03
The Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Musa, said he was astounded by the threats and an Egyptian spokesman warned against what he called the targeting of Arab countries one by one.
Amid furious speculation about whether the US might set its sights on Syria militarily UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, on a visit to Central Command in Qatar, refused to back the Washington line that Syria is a "rogue state".
And Spain - another key US ally in the Iraq war - on Tuesday spoke out against any military strike on Syria.
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PBS
FRONTLINE
serious tv journalism
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Christian Science Monitor
Park the cause in Harvard Yard 4-15-03
Palmer pauses to allow the thunderous applause to dissipate. As the professor of one of Harvard's most popular courses, "Globalization and Human Values: Envisioning World Community," Palmer is a celebrity of sorts across campus. His accessibility is almost unrivaled (his home number is at the bottom of every e-mail he sends to his 522 students), and his powerful lectures and selection of notable guest speakers always draw a crowd.
But the class has come under scrutiny in recent weeks, and not just because of Palmer's stance against war. His course, which hosts 20 guest speakers - including linguist Noam Chomsky, author Jamaica Kincaid, ethicist Peter Singer, and Beastie Boy Adam Yauch - has been lambasted for airing overwhelmingly liberal perspectives. Editorials in The National Review, a slam from Rush Limbaugh, and dozens of irate e-mails have forced Palmer, who received the Levenson Award for "best teaching by a junior faculty member" last year, to defend not only his course, but himself.
"OK, that's gunfire," Sadler said on live TV as the incident began. "We're just under attack. Under attack. We're OK, we're OK." Seconds later, as the CNN convoy sped away from the gunmen, he added with relief: "I think that's as far as we're going to push it today."
The dramatic footage was aired repeatedly through the day, but in the aftermath some media observers questioned whether the CNN team had crossed what has traditionally been a clear line between the military, which wages war, and journalists, who are supposed to be noncombatants.
Even drawing on his finest sensibilities as a novelist, Frank Schaeffer would not have imagined this scene before his youngest son became a Marine four years ago, straight out of an exclusive private school.
Then he had to come to grips with his son's decision and found himself on an unexpected journey of self-discovery. It forced Schaeffer to confront the prejudice against military service held by his wealthy and well-educated acquaintances — people just like him. Schaeffer encountered widespread ambivalence — even outright antagonism — among those men and women, whose own grandfathers considered it an honor to serve their country.
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