Cultural Differences

I just thought this was funny.

And this one is funny too, but for different reasons.

Obama: The Disappointment

POLITICS - The Boondocks had it right when Obama was elected president in the USA. Nothing really changed except the puppet directing the show.

World's Most Powerful Woman: Michelle Obama

Forbes magazine has ranked First Lady Michelle Obama as the world's most powerful woman. Beating out heads of state, chief executives and celebrities.

So who rounded the top 5 spots in Forbes magazine's annual listing?
Irene Rosenfeld Chief Executive of Kraft Foods, who led a hostile $18 billion takeover of Britain’s Cadbury, came in second, with talk show host Oprah Winfrey, (who after 25 years is ending The Oprah Winfrey Show next year to launch her cable network, own) coming in third.

Angela Merkel, German Counsil came in fourth, followed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was put in charge of brokering Middle East peace coming in the firth spot.

Moira Forbes, vice president and publisher of Forbes Woman, said the women on the business magazine’s list were “shaping many of the agenda-setting conversations of the day.”

“They have built companies and brands, sometimes by non-traditional means and they have broken through gender barriers in areas of commerce, politics, sports and media and cultural zeitgeist, and thereby affecting the lives of millions, sometimes billions of people,” she said.

In previous years Forbes ranked women based on power and wealth. This year, however, they decided to concentrate on more on creative influence and entrepreneurship.

Last year Obama ranked No. 40 with the winner being Merkel, followed by Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Forbes said Obama topped the list this year because “she has made the office of first lady her own” while remaining popular.

“In a telling sign of her charisma, the White House is putting her on the campaign trail to headline fundraising events in battleground states like California and Colorado,” Forbes said.

“She’s also effective: In response to her Let’s Move! campaign against childhood obesity, companies like Coca-Cola, Kellogg and General Mills have pledged to reduce the calorie content of their foods by 2015,” it said.

Last week, PepsiCo Inc Chief Executive Indra Nooyi, was named the most powerful woman in U.S. business for the fifth year in a row by Fortune, was in sixth place, while singer Lady Gaga got the number 7 spot.

Gail Kelly, chief executive of Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp, came in eighth place, followed by singer Beyonce Knowles for 9th. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres rounded out the top 10.

Disney's first black princess

ENTERTAINMENT/POLITICS - Get in line, black women are apparently kewl in the United States of America. And around the world too, as I will demonstrate.

First there is Princess Tiana, the first black princess in a Disney film, which debuts in "The Princess and the Frog" on November 25th and in wider release on December 11th just in time for the Christmas rush.

The film is already getting lots of attention from children and parents, even though Tiana spends most of the film in frog shape (she kisses the Frog Prince and instead of transforming him back into a human, she tranforms into a frog).

Which begs the question, when will we get our first real Princess? Technically Tiana isn't a real princess. But then again neither was Belle, Cinderella, Mulan or Pocahontas. I suppose Pocahontas was at least a chieftain's daughter... And Belle and Cinderella only marry princes, starting off poor. Whatever, its really a moot issue.

Secondly there is Mattel's new "So In Style" line of black Barbie dolls which have various skin colour tints allowing little girls and collectors to choose between a dark chocolate to a light mocha. (The biggest complaint however is that the hair is too easy to come through.)

The hair issue is nothing new. That complaint has been around for decades.

Mattel first made a black Barbie in 1967. They also made black and Hispanic versions in the 1980s, a Kenyan Barbie in 1994, and so on. In 1992 they made a Teen Talk Barbie which would talk and say "Math class is tough." which sparked outrage.

According to designer Stacey McBride-Irby: "As far as the hair, I wanted to create dolls little girls would play with. They couldn't have as much fun playing with an Afro." A wardrobe of hair extensions might have been useful and more authentic.

There is a lot of politics around African hair and accepting the way it is. (You will note nobody is complaining that Princess Tiana's hair is mostly straight and only a wee bit curly.)

Thirdly there's what I'd call the "Michelle Obama" effect... black women, young and old, jockeying for position on how to best help humanity and other women. For example singer Rihanna says she wants to be a role model:

"I’ve always been a role model for young women so it’s only natural that I continue to set the right example and encourage them and give them insight," says Rihanna. "It doesn’t have to be a specific topic, but whatever it is I want to help young women."

Overseas there is also Senegalese-French novelist Marie NDiaye, who recently became the first black female to win the Prix Goncourt for her best-selling work Trois Femmes Puissantes (Three Powerful Women). She has been openly vocal and critical of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, sparking rumours she might run for the French presidency. MPs loyal to Sarkozy have been trying to muzzle her ever since.

And in Oklahoma Senator Connie Johnson and members of the Legislative Black Caucus are taking the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to federal court over discriminatory practices against both women and minorities.

The list goes on and on. It is as if collectively black women around the world suddenly all stood up and said "Yes, We Can." Maybe they were taking action before too, but the mass media just wasn't paying attention. Regardless, black women are now in vogue.

Exercise Goal: Mrs Obama's Arms

HEALTH - U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama 's toned biceps, triceps and shoulders – often displayed in sleeveless dresses and shirts – have become the summer's hottest accessory. But is there any exercises you can do to get arms like that? Apparently weightlifting is the answer.

1. Stand tall, with your abs tight and your feet shoulder-width apart. Take a dumbbell in each hand, enough weight that you get tired after 15 repetitions.

2. Hold the weights at shoulder height, elbows bent and palms forward.

3. Press your arms up above your head, turning so your palms face each other. Make sure you don’t arch your back.

4. Lower the weights to your shoulders. Do 15 in total; that’s one set.

Do three sets.

Move over Oprah, here comes Hugo Chavez

POLITICS - Want to promote your book? Forget Oprah. Call Hugo Chavez.

Back in September 2006, Chavez flourished a copy of Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival during an anti-American speech to the United Nations, transporting the trenchant analysis of United States foreign policy to Amazon's No. 2 position and sparking a 25,000-copy reprint from the publisher.

And just recently, thanks to the flamboyant Venezuelan president, Uruguayan political writer Eduardo Galeano's 1971 'The Open Veins of Latin America' also shot to No. 2 on Amazon's bestseller list 24 hours after Chavez gave a copy to President Barack Obama. The same Chavez who once compared George W. Bush to the devil, added a tender note: "To Obama, with affection."

Galeano's book "analyzes the history of Latin America as a whole, from the time period of the European discovery of the New World to contemporary Latin America, arguing against European and later U.S. economic exploitation and political dominance over the region."

The gift – and the unexpected friendliness between the two leaders – sent Galeano's book to the top of Amazon's "movers and shakers" category for books that make the biggest 24-hour gains.

Sorry Oprah, you've got competition.

Obama's Family Values

FEMINISM/POLITICS - Thanks to Michelle Obama, balancing your career and work has suddenly become sexy and cool.

Traditionally some people have frowned on people who try to balance (dare we say juggle) work and kids, but the statuesque United States First Lady – with her global presence, Ivy-league education, law career and two young daughters – seems to do it with ease.

I disagree however. I think women who manage to find time for both work and family should be admired, not disliked. After all, what is a gal supposed to do with all that free time while the kids are at school?

Its not like we need women as dishwashers/etc any more. These days technology has replaced the role of the homemaker. We have robotic vacuum cleaners, automated dishwashers, frozen TV dinners, pizza delivery (yes, the White House has been ordering pizza since the 1970s) and if you're wealthy enough, in a position of prestige, meals prepared for you by servants.

Of course most of us don't have servants, but the point is still made. In modern America eating out or ordering in has become relatively normal, and there is now a lot more women can do than cooking and cleaning while the kids/husband are away at school/work, so why not have a career?

Well, lets look at what Michelle Obama has been doing. She has her beautifully sculpted arms, the Portuguese water dogs (including new pet Charlie-Bo), has become a fashion icon, and yet still manages to carve out lots of family time.

For women in the USA and around the world Michelle Obama is a role model, and no less a busy one. As a U.S. First Lady, Obama gets a staff, an office and is expected to champion a cause... in the past First Ladies have championed issues like literacy, health care and education.

Right now Michelle Obama seems to be championing family values.

The Obama family hardly live the life of the mainstream masses, walking the dog on the sprawling White House lawns and surrounded by a cast of thousands. She talks about "date nights" with her husband, the hassles of making healthy school lunches and why her daughters should make their own beds, Michelle Obama touches on the stuff of everyday life for ordinary families.

She is also growing a vegetable garden. She has spoken about how managing two careers and children put a strain on her marriage and how her mother has helped out with childcare (we've all done that, if anything the granparents enjoy it).

Its been a long time since there's been young children in the White House, let alone a First Lady who has young kids and a career, and Michelle Obama sends a powerful message that balance is important and also achievable.

It will likely be translated into domestic policy, too. Mrs Obama is pushing for more family-friendly leave policies from U.S. employers and incentives for community service. This is alongside her husband's priorities of investing in childcare, working families and education.

While Canada is far ahead of the United States on policies like health care, child care programs, maternity and parental leave, and flex-time, many countries will feel the effects if family issues move up the U.S. public agenda.

It comes at a time when lack of affordable childcare in the USA is stressing families, the post-Bush recession is pressuring workers, and boomers grapple with caring for aging parents.

For both working mothers and homemakers, Mrs Obama's role to play is to show that the "one-size-fits-all" approach for supporting parents and children doesn't work for everyone. Parents need more flexibility to work out their own needs and determine what is best for their kids.

There are those who despair of Obama's evolution from tough Harvard lawyer to a role Michelle Obama once described as "Mom-in-chief." Obama has put her career on hold while her husband takes over the running of a nation and tries to fix the mistakes of the past 8 years. Its a big role to fill actually, and frankly she will be far too busy doing political work anyway on behalf of America.

That's not something people should be slamming her for. Its something to be praised. True, its kind of sexist she had to put her career on hold because of her husband's career... but the Presidency isn't a normal career.

After all... its not what your country can do for you, its what you can do for your country.

And I believe Michelle Obama is going to give America her best.

New In Town

A funny thing happened to the movie New in Town on the way to your local multiplex: Angela Bassett morphed into Gabrielle Union, who then became Renée Zellweger.

This is not entirely shocking. "Colorblind" casting has been around for a while. Remember that the drill sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman was slated to go to a white actor, until Louis Gossett Jr. (who won an Academy Award for best supporting actor) read for the part. Sylvester Stallone was supposed to play the not-by-the-book fuzz in Beverly Hills Cop, a role that went to Eddie Murphy, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But with this romantic comedy, which opens today and stars Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr., the lead was supposed to be a black actress and the writer had someone in mind from the very beginning. "I initially wanted Angela Bassett," says Kenneth Rance, the screenwriter. "I’m a big fan of her work. And Gabrielle Union was initially cast."

Rance, 38, who graduated from Howard University with a degree in film, based the story on a woman he met in his native Minneapolis over 16 years ago. "I was at the Riverview Supper Club where I see this fine woman — I mean this girl is fine — dancing like there’s no tomorrow. I bought her a drink— I knew she wasn’t from there."

"She was a quality control engineer at Kraft. We talked, exchanged numbers, and she would come to the city. It started off kinda platonic. She was dating a guy she thought she would marry, then she got the opportunity to be promoted to New Ulm and took the position in haste."

I thought, "That’s a movie." I wanted to do a movie on loneliness. I didn’t quite know what the story was, but I was like, "That’s a movie." I was at CBS in 1995 and the whole time I was thinking about the idea of being 32 and single. I was thinking, "Can a sister have it all?" I also wanted to examine if a sister could date a blue-collar guy and how that would work out. Monica Tate was her name and she would not give a brother the time of day. Stripped of pretension, she falls in love with a highway patrolman with two kids — he was a widower.

Though his agent initially didn’t think anyone would buy it, the script was snapped up by Universal five years ago. The studio then promptly excused Rance and brought in another writer. Rance was later recalled by Gold Circle Films and Lionsgate to be his own script doctor. (The other writer, C. Jay Cox, also gets billing credit.)

But by then, the black woman from North Carolina was a white woman from Miami, and voila, Fargo meets Baby Boom. Rance admits some disappointment at the turn of events, but he's a practical man. "When you start looking at who can open a film, the marketing, worldwide distribution etc., it makes sense," he says. "That’s not how I felt personally about it, but it shouldn’t be called show business but ‘business show.’"

It has been repeatedly noted that outside of Will Smith and maybe Murphy, no black actor—no, not even Denzel or the ubiquitous Samuel L. Jackson, and certainly no female black actress, even the exquisite Halle Berry—can open a film with the big box office bang that Hollywood now demands, and none can be counted on for the huge sales overseas that are now critical to a movie's success. Sure, it happens in buddy films (see: Chris Tucker with Jackie Chan). But by their lonesome? Not a chance.

"It wasn’t until Halle won the Oscar for ‘Monster’s Ball’," says Rance, "that I thought people were ready for a black female lead." Obviously, they are not. Even as actresses such as Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Viola Davis (Doubt) prove their mettle with Oscar nominations, albeit for supporting roles, the movie terrain remains uneven for black talent, particularly black female talent. At least during the Blaxploitation heyday, Tamara Dobson and Pam Grier got top billing.

Still counting goose bumps in the wake of the film’s well-received premiere in his hometown, Rance is hopeful that other black filmmakers would get more opportunities, whether they were culturally specific or not. "It does give me hope that the industry is becoming more open-minded," he says. But on the other hand, in the age of Obama, "the world is browning. Yet the images that we see are more conservative."

Alex Grey paints Obama

ART HISTORY - American artist Alex Grey, who creates Visionary Art, has made a portrait of Barack Obama. Check out his other work below.

Michelle Obama's Fashion Frenzy

FASHION - Fashion designers from all over the world are clambering to establish themselves as Michelle-Obama-esque.

Michelle Obama doesn't attend fashion shows, but she is all over the runways in New York, Paris, London and Madrid. Some of the most established and renowned names in American fashion – Oscar de la Renta, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren – are all out to woo Michelle.

The Obama influence is enormous. Unlike Hollywood celebrities, Michelle Obama cannot be bought. She selects, purchases and wears what she likes. Every garment she wears is scrutinized, carefully copied and sets off a new fashion trend.

And its not just the fashion designers. Runways are now booking Michelle Obama look-a-likes as models.

Despite being the designer of past White House administrations, Oscar de la Renta has so far not found favour with Mrs. Obama. In his Fall 2009 collection he hired more black models than usual and, with the soulful Marvin Gaye on the soundtrack, seems to be making a direct appeal to Michelle Obama and her fans.

Francisco Costa, a designer at Calvin Klein, is doing something similar. In his new Fall collection he focused on modernity and clarity, hallmarks of the new Washington gang. Likewise the soundtrack at Tommy Hilfiger's show was lyrics from the Soul II Soul song – Back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now – summed up the designer's take on the American recession.

In the United States Ralph Lauren, the designer of quintessential Americana, stuck to his upper-crust look with patchwork tweeds, rich velvets, sumptuous Mongolian lamb coats, a hint of equestrian with soft jodhpur pants and lots of antique cream colours. Lauren evidently has ignored the recession and is sticking to the tried and true.

Fashion designers are survivors. They know that tough times will weed out the competition and the wise ones will be the ones left standing.

Even Tyra Banks has jumped on the Michelle Obama fashion bandwagon, seen right.

Obama invites Michaëlle Jean to USA

POLITICS - During his recent trip to Canada, Obama discussed Haiti with Canada's governor general Michaëlle Jean (who was born in Haiti) and even invited her to visit Washington DC in the United States.

American aides to the president who briefed the travelling White House reporters en route back to Washington Thursday said Obama and the Governor General exchanged "views about how we could be helpful to the government there in dealing with economic and social issues."

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was NOT invited to visit Washington, perhaps suggesting Obama's trip to Canada did not go as well as he hoped.

Harper gave Obama a chilly response during the president's visit to Ottawa, refusing to agree to cut back on greenhouse gases but agreeing only to a dialogue on the subject. Years ago Stephen Harper claimed in a Conservative Party newsletter that global warming is a scam and that climate change is a hoax. Stephen Harper has since flip flopped repeatedly on the issue and refused to set caps on greenhouse gases because most of his political party's funding comes from the Alberta oil industry.

A Shoppers Drug Mart Locks Up Black Hair Products

CANADA - Some people are decrying a Nova Scotia drugstore's decision to keep several of its hair-care products for black customers under lock and key.

While some balms and creams for black hair were openly available on an adjacent shelf, customers are required to ask a clerk to unlock the cabinet if they want a closer look or to buy any of the products inside.

Only merchandise aimed at black customers, however, was locked inside the cabinet — a retail practice that some said was insulting.

"It's very degrading, as a black person, to hear that," said Gavin Griffiths, a client at nearby Ebony Hair Salon.

Salon owner Elvera Ross said to lock up some products and not others sends a specific message to customers.

"It's the perception that they have that there's a lot of black people that are shoplifters, [which] they aren't," she said.

"It's just that perception that people have, and it's something that has to change."

The owner of the Shoppers Drug Mart referred questions to the store's head office, where a spokesperson said she was looking into the matter.

Those offended by the retail practice, however, say it's been going on for years.

"We're behind the times, you know? As [U.S. President Barack] Obama said, we need a change. We all should be treated as equal," Ross said.

Barack Obama Inauguration Speech

Katie Couric Interviews Michelle Obama

Brown is Beautiful

POLITICS - Excerpt from a Newsweek article by Allison Samuels about Michelle Obama:

“As my brunch friends and I continued talking about Michelle, our conversation wandered into one area we seldom discuss, even among our families and closest confidantes. Michelle is not only African-American, but brown. Real brown. In an era when beauty is often defined on television, in magazines and in movies as fair or white skin, long straight hair and keen features, Michelle looks nothing like the supermodels who rule the catwalks or the porcelain-faced actresses who hawk must-have cosmetics. Yet now she’s going to grace the March cover of Vogue magazine–the ultimate affirmation of beauty.

Who and what is beautiful has long been a source of pain, anger and frustration in the African-American community. In too many cases, beauty for black women (and even black men) has meant fair skin, “good hair” and dainty facial features. Over the years, African-American icons like Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Halle Berry and Beyoncé – while beautiful and talented – haven’t exactly represented the diversity of complexions and features of most black women in this country.

That limited scope has had a profound effect on the self-esteem of many African-American women, including me. “When I see Michelle Obama on the cover of magazines and on TV shows, I think, Wow, look at her and her brown skin,” said Charisse Hollands, a 30-year-old mail carrier from Inglewood, Calif., with flawless ebony skin. “And I don’t mean any disrespect to my sisters who aren’t dark brown, but gee, it’s nice to see a brown girl get some attention and be called beautiful by the world. That just doesn’t happen a lot, and our little girls need to see that–my little girl needs to see it.”

Black supermodels absent from the catwalk

FASHION - Check out this article about black supermodels in January 2008:

Black Supermodels being left behind

Its poses the question at the end:

"So will 2009 be more of the same? You'd hope the Obama effect would sink in and the fashion industry would suddenly realize black supermodels aren't just sexy, they're cool."

And it has statistics on the lack of black fashion models on runways and how some fashion casting agents won't even consider non-white models.

Hopefully with Barack Obama as president it will set a new standard, open people's minds to new possibilities and people will realize black women (and men) should get more attention and be treated equally instead of as a token gesture. Not just in the world of fashion supermodels, but in the new economy overall.

Oprah Winfrey weighs 200 pounds, she says

HEALTH - Oprah Winfrey has always been honest about her weight.

The talk show queen continues the honesty, saying in the January issue of O magazine out today that she now weighs 200 pounds and has "fallen off the wagon" when it comes to healthy living.

"I'm mad at myself. I'm embarrassed," Oprah writes. "I can't believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I'm still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, `How did I let this happen again?"'

Oprah Winfrey, 54, says her recent struggles with an out-of-balance thyroid gave her "a fear of working out." She says she's gained 40 pounds since she weighed 160 pounds in 2006. "Yes, you're adding correctly; that means the dreaded 2-0-0," Winfrey writes. "I was so frustrated I started eating whatever I wanted – and that's never good."

Oprah also writes that her goal is to exercise so she can be strong, healthy and fit. She hopes to get started with her upcoming "Best Life Week" starting Jan. 5 with an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show during which she is expected to talk candidly about her weight.

Oprah famously wheeled a wagon loaded with fat onto the set of her talk show in 1988 to represent a 67-pound weight loss while wearing a pair of size 10 Calvin Klein jeans. She had lost the pounds with a liquid protein diet.

Oprah's weight has yo-yoed to the delight of the tabloid press ever since. She weighed as many as 237 pounds and by late 1990 admitted she had regained most of the 67 pounds, saying "I'll never diet again."

In 1994, she finished the Marine Corps Marathon and by 1996 hired personal trainer Bob Greene, saying her roller-coaster weight saga was over.

But now, 20 years since the Calvin Klein jeans episode, Oprah finds herself tipping the scales again, saying that she has yet to choose a gown for President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural ball next month.

Oprah says she hit rock bottom when she wanted to skip out on an April 26 taping with Cher and Tina Turner in Las Vegas. "I felt like a fat cow," Winfrey writes. "I wanted to disappear." An admitted food addict, Oprah sounds almost apologetic in her article. "I definitely wasn't setting an example," she writes. "I was talking the talk, but I wasn't walking the walk. And that was very disappointing to me."

Oprah's weight and height (5'6½") put her body mass index at 31.8, which is obese according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC says people who are obese are "at higher risk for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol."

See also: American Obesity Rates.

Michelle Obama asks Hillary for advice

POLITICS - Michelle Obama wasn’t always an admirer of Hillary Clinton, but last Wednesday the soon-to-be first lady dialed up the former first lady for pointers on protecting her two young daughters from the media maelstrom of the White House.

“Michelle may not have loved the senator, but she always respected how the Clintons raised Chelsea,” said a Clinton aide. “They need to talk. There just aren’t too many people who have shared that kind of experience.”

An aide briefed on Obama’s side of the chat said she was “grateful” for Clinton’s “pointers” on “raising children in the public eye.”

It’s the latest phase in the soap opera that is the Obama-Clinton alliance, where the two first families negotiate new personal relationships as Hillary Clinton wrestles with her own ambivalence about Barack Obama, a man she once competed with and then worked tirelessly to elect.

“Senator Clinton did not just check the box for Obama - she went all out for him, which says an awful lot about how important she felt this election was, what kind of character she has, and the positive state of their relationship,” said Chris Lehane, an aide to both John Kerry and Al Gore during their United States presidential bids.

Since the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton headlined about three dozen rallies and fundraisers – working rope-lines where well-wishers often lamented her exit from the race. Bill Clinton hosted about 20 events for Obama.

Obama responded by lavishing praise on the pair – after months of questioning the legacy of the Clinton White House. More importantly, he embraced much of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s domestic agenda, especially her health care and green jobs proposals.

People close to the New York senator say she is still struggling to define her role in the Senate following a jarring and unexpected loss. But she’s sure of one thing: she desperately wants to play a major role in crafting the health care reform Obama has pledged to introduce.

The Obama-Clinton relationship is less fraught on the personal front, where Clinton seems surprisingly eager to mentor Michelle Obama.

The incoming First Lady, who had been privately critical of Clinton during the primaries, first reached out to the former First Lady six weeks ago for advice on how to provide some semblance of normality for her young daughters Sasha and Malia.

“They talked for 30 minutes the first time,” said a Clinton insider. “It wasn’t just for show – it was a real conversation.”

Last week, on election night, it was Hillary Clinton making the call, congratulating Barack Obama on his victory and consoling him after the death of his grandmother. It won’t be their last conversation. During that chat, the president-elect vowed to schedule a sit-down meeting with the Clintons in the not-too-distant future.

Obama may reverse Bush policies on stem cells, drilling, birth control

POLITICS - President-elect Barack Obama could reverse some of President Bush's most controversial executive orders, including restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, shortly after taking office on January 20th 2009.

Two other executive orders from George W. Bush, one dealing with a "gag order" on international aid organizations regarding birth control pills, condom usage and abortion and the other with oil and gas drilling on federal lands are also are receiving increased scrutiny.

BUSH'S EXECUTIVE ORDERS

New presidents often use executive orders to put their stamp on Washington quickly. Unlike laws, which require months to complete and the consent of Congress, presidents can use their executive authority to order federal agencies to quickly implement new policies (or reverse old ones). Obama's transition team is reviewing hundreds of Bush's executive orders.

Stem Cell Research

Obama is expected to use his executive authority to reverse Bush's order limiting the types of embryonic stem cell research that can receive federal tax dollars. Health advocates for those suffering from a host of diseases (including diabetes, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries) are eagerly awaiting the Bush-era restrictions to be lifted.

In August 2001, Bush barred the National Institutes of Health from funding research on embryonic stem cells other than that using 60 cell lines existing when he signed the executive order.

Researchers say the ban has limited their progress and want the opportunity to create new stem cells from human embryos. On his campaign website, Obama said he supports the creation of new stem cells from embryos created for in vitro fertilization treatments that would otherwise be discarded.

NOTE: Approx. half of the world's facilities capable of doing stem cell research are in the United States. Allowing the USA to participate in stem cell research will effectively double the speed at which people can discover new cures for various diseases.

Planned Pregnancy

Other controversial Bush measures Obama is expected to overturn are related to abortion and family planning. United States family planning groups such as Planned Parenthood said they expect Obama to overturn the "Mexico City" policy, first instituted by the Reagan administration. The policy prevents taxpayer dollars from funding groups that promote planned pregnancy and pro-choice.

President Clinton dropped the order, but Bush re-implemented it and expanded the policy to ensure State Department funding does not go to family planning organizations that give advice about condoms, birth control pills, abstinence and abortion.

Overpopulation

Obama's administration also could overturn the Bush administration policy of banning funding to organizations such as the U.N. Population Fund that operate in countries like China that have overpopulation problems and adheres to the "one child" policy.

Oil Drilling in National Parks

Obama's team is also reviewing Bush's order that lifted restrictions on oil drilling on fragile federal lands in Utah. Environmental groups decried Bush's decision when he opened the lands to oil exploration.

Guantanamo Bay

One set of executive orders that may take longer to overturn pertains to detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison. Obama has said he wants to close the prison, but will have to make decisions about what to do with the prison's 255 inmates.

Reversing Bush's executive orders would be an immediate way for Obama to show that a new era has begun in Washington.

Poverty the leading cause of abortion

FEMINISM - Here is some interesting statistics from the United States regarding abortion:

Black women are three times more likely to have an abortion and Hispanic women are twice as likely to have an abortion.

73% of women who have abortions are living below the poverty level (earning $9,570 or less per year).

75% of women who have abortion cite lack of money to raise a child as one of their reasons for having an abortion.

33% of all women who have abortions are between the age of 20 and 24.

So really, when you look at the statistics what you realize is that POVERTY, not rape, is the leading cause of abortions in the United States.

Shouldn't anti-abortionists be doing more to get rid of poverty? If we simply got rid of poverty the abortion rates would drop significantly.

Between 1990 and 1995 the abortion rate in the USA dropped 20%. Why? Because in 1990 we were in a recession. After Bill Clinton got into power he made some changes, the economy got really good and the abortion rate dropped significantly. Now thanks to George W. Bush being incompetent the American economy is in a new recession and Barack Obama has to help fix it. If Obama can get the economy back on track poverty and abortion rates will go down again.

But will anti-abortionists care or notice? If they spent half as much time and effort trying to get rid of poverty Americans wouldn't need so many abortions.

For more statistics and info about the connection between poverty and abortion see: Open Letter to Anti-Abortionists