A Great Idea That Will Never Happen...

by Amy Watson
October 10, 2008, 4:01pm

Indiana Ninth District Republican Party Chairman Larry Shickles has proposed a great idea, one that should be applied universally!  In an upcoming debate among three Congressional candidates, a Democrat, Republican, and Libertarian, Shickles thinks the candidates should agree to debate while hooked up to polygraphs.  After this week's boring Presidential debate, the idea of having candidates debate this way could be VERY interesting!  Click here for the full article.

Righting Feminism

by Allison Kasic
October 10, 2008, 11:01am

Ronnee Schreiber has a new book out, Righting Feminism: Conservative Women and American Politics, which has a big focus on IWF.  Schreiber recently spoke with NPR about the book and Sarah Palin -- audio is available here.  The link also has an excerpt from the book.

IWF Podcast Alert: Child Brides

by Stacy Chin
October 10, 2008, 10:27am

Allison Kasic and Halima Karzai discuss the world of child brides.  Children's rights activists estimate that there are more than 50 million girls under the age of 18 who are married throughout the world.

Video of the Day

by Allison Kasic
October 10, 2008, 10:25am

George Mason University's Russell Roberts talks to Reason.tv about the bailout:

U.N. Me

by Allison Kasic
October 10, 2008, 10:07am

On Saturday night I went to a screening of a great new documentary, U.N. Me.  It did a great job of chronicling the U.N.'s ineffectiveness and corruption, particularly surrounding security issues.  The film covered the oil for food scandal, the genocide in Rwanda, the current crisis in Darfur, and many other instances in which the U.N. failed to live up to its charter.
 
For more details, check out the film's website.

Why Do We Always Lose the Rhetoric War?

by Amy Watson
October 9, 2008, 5:07pm

This headline from a British paper seems to say it all: "The end of capitalism as we know it? Now U.S. may follow U.K.'s lead as it ponders ownership stakes in banks."  Hourly, I seem to run across a politician, journalist or pundit blaming our current financial crisis on the failure of the free market system.  In fact, the crisis we currently face stems from artificial pressures from politicians and interest groups in the United States.  It frightens me to imagine the nonsense legislation that is sure to get passed by Congress which will likely extend our current economic problems.  Click here for yet another story almost taking delight in what is deemed the failure of capitalism.

This Can't Be a Good Sign

by Allison Kasic
October 9, 2008, 2:46pm

The National Debt Clock ran out of digits.

More Title IX in High Schools News

by Allison Kasic
October 9, 2008, 10:17am

Saving Sports points to another case of Title IX shenanigans at the high school level.

New at IWF

by Allison Kasic
October 9, 2008, 10:06am

-Over at the Examiner, Michelle Bernard rips into the Family and Medical Leave Act.
 
-Halima Karzai tackles the issue of child brides.

DC-area teen slave finally gets justice

by Halima Karzai
October 8, 2008, 3:35pm

The DC Examiner has covered a story of a Germantown, Maryland couple who smuggled a young Nigerian girl 12 years ago into the U.S. using their daughter's passport. Typical of the inhumanity and abuse trafficked victims endure, the young girl was subjected to rape and forced labor by the couple.  Such stories are a reminder of why individuals living in the U.S. should gain greater knowledge about human trafficking and highlights the fact that victims are in places we least expect them.   

A Nigerian man was sentenced to more than eight years in prison Tuesday on charges that he smuggled a teen into the country so that he and his wife could use the girl as their slave.

George Udeozor, 52, had fled to his native Nigeria after police raided his Germantown home in 2001, authorities said. He and his wife, Adaobi Stella Udeozor, a Montgomery County physician, were accused of smuggling the girl in from their native country by using their daughter's passport in 1996. They told the girl that they planned to adopt her.

Instead, they held her as a slave, prosecutors charged. She was ordered to cook and clean and to baby-sit for the Udeozors' six children. The girl also was forced to work in Adaobi Udeozor's Optimum Care Medical Clinic. The girl, unidentified in court papers, also was repeatedly raped by George Udeozor, officials alleged.

After years of abuse, the girl called police in 2001, according to court records. George Udeozor fled the country, leaving his estranged wife to face trial on her own. She was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. Both Udeozors were ordered to pay the girl more than $110,000 each as restitution.

George Udeozor was extradited from Nigeria in February and pleaded guilty shortly thereafter.

Andrea Powell, is the executive director of the Fair Fund, a D.C.-based anti-trafficking group. She said that up to 30 women are rescued from the sex trade every month, Powell said. And sex workers are only a fraction of those smuggled, Powell said.

"The problem is these people don't just walk down the street asking for help," Powell said. "One of the challenges in the District is that there is no specific law to address trafficking."

Udeozor is at least the third person convicted of human smuggling in the D.C. region in the past six months, Powell.

Speaking Out Against Card Check

by Allison Kasic
October 8, 2008, 12:28pm

The Employee Freedom Action Committee premiered its first major ad last night, criticizing the Democratic Party for supporting "The Employee Free Choice Act," which would eliminate the secret ballot process required to unionize workplaces. Over at Townhall.com, Amanda Carpenter reports that former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern is taking a prominent role the ad campaign:

In the ad McGovern says: "I'm concerned about a bill in Congress that would effectively eliminate an employee's right to a private vote when deciding whether to join a union.

"It's hard to believe that any politician would agree to a law denying millions of employees the right to a private vote. I have always been a champion of labor unions. But I fear that today's union leaders are turning their backs on democratic workplace elections. I've listened to all their arguments and reviewed the facts on both sides. Quite simply, this proposed law cannot be justified. Working families deserve a voice and a private vote."

The EFAC estimates Big Labor will spend more than $1 billion urging political candidates to push card check this year.

More info here.
 
Why aren't we hearing anything about this important issue from either candidate?

Bad Economy/ Good for the Environment?

by Amy Watson
October 8, 2008, 10:50am

Climate change skeptics often look for a sinister motive behind the activities of global warming alarmists.  In fact, a Google search of "global warming conspiracy theory" yields over a million hits, even including a Wikipedia entry!  Global warming conspiracy theorists just got more ammunition for their claims from Nobel Prize winning scientist Paul J. Crutzen.  An article by Rueters quotes Crutzen as saying:

Slower economic growth worldwide could help slow growth of carbon dioxide emissions and trigger more careful use of energy resources, though the global economic turmoil may also divert focus from efforts to counter climate change, said Crutzen, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the depletion of the ozone layer.

"It's a cruel thing to say ... but if we are looking at a slowdown in the economy, there will be less fossil fuels burning, so for the climate it could be an advantage," Crutzen told Reuters in an interview.

Unfortunately for Crutzen and other environmental zealots, individuals are less inclined to invest in more expensive, so-called "green" products when they are feeling a pinch in their wallet.  Additionally, companies attempting to appease global warming alarmists with efforts to reduce their "carbon footprint" will likely follow the individuals' example and start making cuts in programs they deem frivolous.  To read the full article, click here. 

Who do you think caused the current economic crisis?

by Kate Pomeroy
October 8, 2008, 10:45am

If you think that the Bush administration's deregulation policies are to blame then you must be listening to Barack Obama, Henry Waxman and other Demorcrats.  But take a closer look...  As today's Examiner editorial (Deregulation Myths and the Wizards of Wall Street) demonstrates... It is so much more complicated than that, starting with the money trail from Fannie/ Freddie and Wall Street to their friends in Congress:

Can multi-billion-dollar corporations like AIG and Lehman Brothers collapse and die without anybody having the faintest idea something was wrong? No, of course not. But don't expect Beverly Hills Democrat Henry Waxman and other House Democrats to let facts get in the way of their simplistic narrative pinning the entire blame for the Wall Street economic crisis on the Bush administration's alleged penchant for "deregulation."

Read the entire editorial here.

Objective Reporting on Title IX

by Allison Kasic
October 8, 2008, 10:07am

Is that really too much to ask for?

An Awful, Wasted Opportunity of a Debate

by Carrie L. Lukas
October 8, 2008, 3:33am

So I'm pretty much a political junkie, and I could barely stand to watch the entirety of the Presidential "debate" last night. It was simply a terrible waste of an opportunity for America to learn more about the two candidates for this country's highest office.

This was billed as a "townhall style" which meant that occasionally a person from the audience asked the same canned questions that were indistinguishable from those posed by Tom Brokaw, the official moderator. The questions were almost entirely policy focused, and didn't ask anything specific about the statements made or criticisms levied by the opposing campaign, just the same broad based questions so the candidates gave the same canned answers and offered the same jabs at their opponents.

I feel like the primary debates for both parties did a much better job in encouraging revealing exchanges. Moderators would ask pointed questions about statements a specific candidate had made and give them the opportunity, and obligation, to respond.

Senator Obama benefited from the utterly boring debate because he's ahead so an event with no impact is better for him than for Senator McCain. He also, frankly, has been given much more of a pass by the press on issues of policy and on his record.

Why is it that no moderator has asked for actual examples of working across party lines or of going against your party, and instead just accepts his vacuous claim to be a centrist who works in a bipartisan fashion? McCain has to point out that Obama has the Senate's most liberal voting record, and many commentators act as if that's out of bounds. That should be a totally legitimate question. Does he regret any of those votes?

Why is it that he has never been asked about his schizophrenic statements about trade? Does he really think NAFTA was a mistake? Or what he will do-beyond another round of tax hikes on the rich-to address Social Security's shortfall?

Why is it that no one asks him about his experience in Chicago and working with tens of millions of dollars to promote "education reform," which apparently had absolutely no positive effect on that school system and instead when into the sink hole of the education bureaucracy?

Senator McCain failed to make a positive case for many of his policies and expose Senator Obama's weaknesses. It boggles my mind that he won't defend the corporate tax cuts. Why not say something like "Senator Obama, I've fought against greed and excess, but it's important to remember that corporations-even big corporations-are not America's enemy. They are job creators and drivers of growth. You know why I want to lower corporate tax rates? Because they are among the highest in the developed world and are driving corporations to leave our great country and export our jobs. I want to stop corruption and bad business practices, but I also want to encourage good companies that create jobs to stay here, and reducing the monstrous tax burden is an important part of that and will benefit everyone who is has a job or is seeking employment in America."

But the real failure here was the creation of the just awful debate format and the completely vacuous, boring questions posed by the moderator. What a shame.

Global Warming Hysteria Man-Made? You Betcha!

by Amy Watson
October 7, 2008, 5:12pm

We are inundated daily with the message that scientists all agree that man-made global warming is a dire problem which we must address immediately, but what about the scientists who disagree with that premise?  Click here to read a brief column from one skeptical scientist.  As author Charles Clough puts it, "Not only is the debate not over; it is expanding." 

New film on human trafficking

by Halima Karzai
October 7, 2008, 4:26pm

A new "rockumentary" called Call+Response exposes the dehumanizing effects of human trafficking.  The film targets a younger audience and features celebrities working to raise awareness about human trafficking. 

Amb.  Mark Lagon calls it, "a superb outreach tool, especially to young people". The film's popularity in its opening week will determine the length of its screening schedule and its potential to reach a broader audience.  To maximize its viability and ensure it is shown in the most theaters possible, film makers encourage you to buy tickets online.

The film's producer and director, Justin Dillon, mobilized the music industry to draw attention to the dehumanizing nature of trafficking.  All the money earned will go towards funding field projects to address forms of trafficking.

Click here for the trailer and make an effort to see this movie with friends and family.

Releasing Nationally:

• OCT 10: SAN FRANCISCO, PORTLAND, SEATTLE, REDWOOD CITY, LOS ANGELES, ORANGE   COUNTY, SAN JOSE, AUSTIN, DENVER, ATLANTA, NASHVILLE, BOSTON, WASHINGTON DC,
• OCT 17: SAN DIEGO, DALLAS, MINNEAPOLIS, CHICAGO

DC theatres:

• E Street Cinema: October 9, 13, 14, 15 & 16
• Arlington Cinema ‘N' Drafthouse: October 10-16

FOR MORE INFORMATION & TICKETS GO TO WWW.CALLANDRESPONSE.COM

Suspected “Mother” of female suicide bombers captured

by Halima Karzai
October 7, 2008, 2:53pm

From AFP:

Iraqi forces arrested on Tuesday a woman suspected of heading up the recruitment of female suicide bombers in Iraq, including that of a teenager caught at a market recently with explosives strapped to her waist.

"Ibitisma Odwan was arrested by our forces," defence ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said.

He said police had caught the 38-year-old woman dubbed "Mother Fatima" in Hommadi village in Baquba's east side after a tip-off.

"The Al-Qaeda woman was responsible for training girl suicide bombers," Askari said, adding that she had been directly involved in the training of 15-year-old Rania Ibrahim.

Rania, who claimed she was drugged and tricked by her husband and two women into wearing an explosives belt, was arrested in late August at the crowded central Baquba market carrying 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of explosives.

Her shocking case threw the spotlight on Al-Qaeda's methods in the recruitment of young women to their cause.

Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, is one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq. Insurgent groups and Al-Qaeda have continued launching attacks there despite a massive military crackdown by US and Iraqi forces.

A number of attacks there, especially suicide bombings, have been carried out by women.

The Grass is Always Greener...

by Amy Watson
October 7, 2008, 2:00pm

Reports out of Canada are that all is not well for the public healthcare system in that country.  More and more private clinics are popping up allowing "queue-jumpers" to pay for and receive services and tests immediately, instead of waiting for their turn in the public system.  And of course, rather than recognize there are failures in a government run healthcare system that has led to the increase in private clinics, critics of the private facilities blame THEM for the often lengthy waits experienced in the public system.  Click here to read this unbelievable article.

Title IX Hits High Schools

by Allison Kasic
October 7, 2008, 9:58am

Title IX was implemented in 1972 to ban sex discrimination in education.  A recent controversy at Temecula Valley High shows just how ridiculous Title IX enforcement has become:

In 2005, a suspicious fire destroyed an old wooden snack shack behind the boys baseball field. In an amazing show of force, parents, players, coaches and community members raised money to rebuild bigger and better.
 
The end result, after more than a year of tireless volunteerism ---- hosting fundraisers, hitting up hardware stores and rebuilding things with their own hands ---- was a two-story concession stand, announcer's booth and tiered seating.
 
The project might have cost $750,000 if completed by traditional means, but the parents did it themselves without taking any money from the school district.
 
While the boys enjoy the fruits of their labor, the girls are still playing on the same old field. They can't share fields because the dimensions are different.
 
Now federal education officials are investigating allegations that officials at Temecula Valley High School discriminated against female athletes in violation of Title IX.

More info here.

File Under: Unexpected

by Allison Kasic
October 7, 2008, 9:54am

The head of the L.A. chapter of NOW introduced Sarah Palin at a rally AND called her a feminist.  Details here.

Another Reason to Support School Choice

by Carrie L. Lukas
October 7, 2008, 8:50am

Public schools are government-run schools. That should give good liberals the chills--after all, having the government decide what kids are taught in school is an invitation to indoctrination.

Yet a story in the City Journal highlights how some supposed liberals' views on "education reform" are explicitly based on indoctrinating children to share their political beliefs. This piece focuses on the unrepentant terrorist--and Barrack Obama's one-time associate--Bill Ayers:

Calling Bill Ayers a school reformer is a bit like calling Joseph Stalin an agricultural reformer. (If you find the metaphor strained, consider that Walter Duranty, the infamous New York Times reporter covering the Soviet Union in the 1930s, did, in fact, depict Stalin as a great land reformer who created happy, productive collective farms.) For instance, at a November 2006 education forum in Caracas, Venezuela, with President Hugo Chávez at his side, Ayers proclaimed his support for "the profound educational reforms under way here in Venezuela under the leadership of President Chávez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution. . . . I look forward to seeing how you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane." Ayers concluded his speech by declaring that "Venezuela is poised to offer the world a new model of education-a humanizing and revolutionary model whose twin missions are enlightenment and liberation," and then, as in days of old, raised his fist and chanted: "Viva Presidente Chávez! Viva la Revolucion Bolivariana! Hasta la Victoria Siempre!"

As I have shown in previous articles in City Journal, Ayers's school reform agenda focuses almost exclusively on the idea of teaching for "social justice" in the classroom. This has nothing to do with the social-justice ideals of the Sermon on the Mount or Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Rather, Ayers and his education school comrades are explicit about the need to indoctrinate public school children with the belief that America is a racist, militarist country and that the capitalist system is inherently unfair and oppressive. As a leader of this growing "reform" movement, Ayers was recently elected vice president for curriculum of the American Education Research Association, the nation's largest organization of ed school professors and researchers.

Despite the Times story, American voters still don't have an accurate picture of the relationship between Obama and Ayers during their work on the Annenberg Challenge. The paper's account quoted several people who worked on the project as saying that they didn't think Ayers had any role in selecting Obama for his position as chairman. But we haven't heard a word about the subject from the two principals. For the first time in his life, Ayers seems to be observing Democratic Party discipline and won't be talking until after November 4. Meanwhile, in one of the Democratic primary debates, Obama said that Ayers was just "a guy I know in the neighborhood"-which certainly qualifies as one of the biggest fibs told by any of the candidates so far.

Senator Obama hasn't said muchabout his education plans beyond wanting more money and, perhaps merit pay for teachers. Americans should hear more not only about his relationship with Ayers, but also if he shares his former associate's views on education.

Excellent Explaination of the Current Financial Crisis

by Amy Watson
October 6, 2008, 2:25pm

With news of our dire financial situation dominating the news, Fox News Channel showed a great explaination of what is currently happening to the nation's financial markets this weekend called "Saving Our Economy- What'$ Next."  Questions like what caused the current crisis and who is to blame are all answered.  You may be surprised by some of the key figures who contributed to the meltdown and who actually tried to stop it.  I encourage you to watch and get the facts:

New Social Networking Site

by Allison Kasic
October 6, 2008, 1:24pm

Our friends over at Bureaucrash recently launched a new social networking website -- Bureaucrash Social -- to connect freedom-oriented activists so they can share their ideas and best-practices and work together to introduce others to freedom. Check it out.