[OPINION] Women deserve same chance as men to serve in combat

U.S. Army First Lt. Shaye Haver, center, and Capt. Kristen Griest, right, pose for photos with other female West Point alumni after an Army Ranger School graduation ceremony on Aug. 21 at Fort Benning, Ga. Haver and Griest became the Army's first female graduates of the rigorous Ranger School.

In America, all boys and girls should grow up confident in the knowledge they are free to pursue the dreams of their choice provided they are ready and able to perform the work.

For girls, in our view, this should include the dream of serving their nation on the field of battle.

The historic graduation of the first two female soldiers to complete the Army's rigorous, nine-week Ranger School (the Army opened Ranger School to women for the first time this year) - 1st Lt. Shaye Haver of Copperas Cove, Texas, and Capt. Kristen Griest of Orange, Conn. - on Aug. 21 in a ceremony at Fort Benning, Ga., focuses renewed attention on the issue of whether women in America's armed forces should serve in direct combat roles.

We believe women who wish to put their life on the line in defense of our country deserve nothing less than the same opportunities afforded men.

On Jan. 24, 2013, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted a ban on female soldiers serving in combat positions, thus setting in motion a three-year review and transition for each branch of America's armed services.

"Everyone is entitled to a chance," Panetta said at the time.

Under the ban, women were excluded from some 300,000 jobs. Today, some 240,000 positions, largely in infantry and armor units, remain closed to women. According to a June Military Times story, leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines this year must eliminate gender restrictions for all jobs or request, by Jan. 1, formal waivers from Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

"We've really tried to give them the time that they need to finish their studies," Juliet Beyler, the Pentagon's director of officer and enlisted personnel management who is overseeing the transition, said for the Military Times story.

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In our minds, the first graduations of female soldiers from Army Ranger school and the opening of all combat jobs to women are natural next steps in the evolution of women's roles in our nation's military.

Today, more than 200,000 women serve in America's armed forces, more than 35,000 of them as officers. Women have, in fact, distinguished themselves in combat-support positions, such as helicopter pilots and medics. Some 300,000 women served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan; more than 150 of them were killed and hundreds more were injured.

We do not wish to see the nation's defense diminished, so we do not support lowering of standards for combat positions, but if a woman can prove herself equal to men in completing the necessary training, then we believe she is entitled to the honor of wearing America's uniform into battle.

In nearly all professions and walks of life, we as a nation have moved beyond outdated, gender-based concerns and stereotypes to proper acceptance of equal opportunities for women. Because we have absolute confidence America's military is up to whatever task or challenge it might face, we believe it more than capable of breaking down remaining barriers to women in combat and making the new rules work.

Via: Sioux City Journal

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Jobs shock: 100% of female employment gains taken by foreigners since 2007

Under Obama, all job gains among women have gone to foreign-born females. AP Photo

All of the employment gains among women since the recession hit in December 2007 have been taken by foreigners, even at a time when the numbers of U.S.-born women surged more than 600,000, according to new federal statistics.

The jobs data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed gains in the "employment level" among "foreign born women" and losses among "native born women."

The charts show that 9.041 million foreign-born women held jobs in December of 2007 compared to 10.028 million today – or a gain of roughly 1 million jobs.

In contrast, 59.322 million U.S.-born women held jobs in December of 2007 compared to 59.258 million today – or a loss of nearly 64,000 jobs.

Overall, nearly 25 million foreign workers, men and women, hold jobs inside the United States, according to a Senate immigration expert.

The shocking female jobs statistic comes as the U.S. provides some 1 million green cards to new permanent immigrants, along with 700,000 foreign workers visas, and accepts 70,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, and half a million foreign students.

And according to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., if changes to green card allotments are not changed and lowered, the U.S. will issue more green cards to new permanent immigrants over the next decade than the combined populations of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Via: Washington Examiner

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RECORD 56,209,000 WOMEN NOT IN LABOR FORCE

The number of women not in the labor force reached a record high in July, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to the BLS, 56,209,000 women aged 16 and older were not participating in the workforce in July, besting April’s record of 56,167,000 women who were neither employed nor had made a specific effort to find work in the four weeks prior.

July’s figures represented an uptick of 124,000 over June’s level of 56,085,000 women who were out of the workforce.

The civilian labor force also shrank for women last month from 73,547,000 in June to 73,528,000 in July. The labor force participation rate for women, meanwhile, remained the same at 56.7 percent.

Of those women considered to be in the workforce, 69,638,000 had a job and 3,891,000 were unemployed. The unemployment rate for women was 5.3 percent in July, up slightly from June’s 5.2 percent.

The month of July also saw a record 93,770,000 Americans not participating in the labor force.

While the labor participation rate remains at the lowest it has been since the late 1970s, the overall unemployment rate remained at 5.3 percent and nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 215,000.

Via: Breitbart

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Concealed Carry Permits For Women Up 270 Percent Since 2007

Leah wrote about some great news over the weekend regarding concealed carry permits. The Crime Prevention Center reported that the number of permits has increased since 2007–and the murder rate has dropped. The main reason is that President Obama has possibly become the greatest gun salesmen of all time (I may be exaggerating).

“The researchers found that the change in trends with regard to permits and gun sales is directly related to Barack Obama’s presidency. Simply put, the greater the push for gun control in the wake of several mass shootings, the more Americans head to the gun shop,” wrote Leah.

Before Noah Rothman went to Hot Air–he’s now with Commentary–he was atMediaite where he reported on a 2014 Applied Economics Letters’ study that showed between 1980-2009, “the results of the present study suggest that states with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher gun-related murder rates than other states. It was also found that assault weapons bans did not significantly affect murder rates at the state level.”

Of course, liberals disagree, but regarding women and firearms the Crime Prevention Center noted another interesting find: women obtaining concealed carry permits rose 270 percent since 2007. Additionally, some findings found that minorities lining up for their concealed carry permit is increasing twice the rate of whites.

• The number of concealed handgun permits is increasing at an ever- increasing rate. Over the past year, 1.7 million additional new permits have been issued – a 15.4% increase in just one single year. This is the largest ever single-year increase in the number of concealed handgun permits.
• 5.2% of the total adult population has a permit.
• Five states now have more than 10% of their adult population withconcealed handgun permits.
• In ten states, a permit is no longer required to carry in all or virtually all of the state. This is a major reason why legal carrying handguns is growing somuch faster than the number of permits.
• Since 2007, permits for women has increased by 270% and for men by 156%.
• Some evidence suggests that permit holding by minorities is increasing more than twice as fast as for whites.
• Between 2007 and 2014, murder rates have fallen from 5.6 to 4.2 (preliminary estimates) per 100,000. This represents a 25% drop in the murder rate at the same time that the percentage of the adult population with permits soared by 178%. Overall violent crime also fell by 25 percent over that period of time.

It’s confirmation of what’s been reported already; that women are lining up across the country for their concealed carry permits­–and now we have a percentage of that increase. They’re the next frontier in the gun industry, and even liberals are noticing that these ladies exercising their constitutional right to bear arms often “defy stereotypes.” Fancy that.

Via: Townhall

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US sees 25 percent surge in women hunters since 2006

The number of American women spending time hunting has spiked 25 percent between 2006 and 2011.

According to Census Bureau statistics cited by National Geographic, while men still make up the majority of the 13.7 million hunters in the United States, 11 percent are women.

Many states, the magazine reports, are now hosting workshops, titled “Becoming An Outdoors-Woman” (BOW), which instruct participants in archery, shotgun and rifle shooting.

"There is definitely a high demand. We have over 3,000 women on our mailing list, and workshops fill up quickly," Patricia Handy, information and education program manager at the Department of Natural Resources in Maryland, told National Geographic.

Minnesota has followed the national trend; the state granted 72,000 hunting licenses to women last year, up from 50,000 in 2000, CBS Minnesota reports.

According to the station, the spike in women hunters also has led retailers to market smaller firearms and outdoor gear specifically to women.

Via: Fox News

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[VIDEO] MSNBC's Roberts: Republicans Want To Stop Women From Voting

WHERE DO THEY COME UP WITH THIS CRAP????  DO THEY MAKE IT UP AS THEY GO ALONG???

The liberal claim that Republicans are engaging in a perpetual “war on women” seems to have taken a new turn on MSNBC. No longer does the term “war on women” apply only to access to abortion but now encompasses voting rights as well.

Appearing on MSNBC on October 29, liberal MSNBC host Thomas Roberts claimed that Republicans are trying to restrict a woman’s access to the ballot box. This comes one week after fill-in host Michael Eric Dyson made a similar complaint on The Ed Show. [See video after jump.]  

Speaking with Terry O’Neill, president of the liberal National Organization for Women, Roberts introduced a segment that initially centered around abortion before quickly focusing on new voting laws in Texas. O’Neill began her talking points by claiming that:

The Republican Party in Texas is not only waging war on women's access to reproductive health care, they're even waging war on women's access to the ballot box. They are now enforcing rules that are aimed to stop women from voting.

Roberts seemed happy to take Ms. O’Neill’s bait playing a clip of State Senator Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth), who is running for governor of Texas, complaining that:

I was required to sign an affidavit because the name on my voter registration card is slightly different than the name on my driver's license. My driver's license includes my maiden name. My voter registration card does not. 

Via: Newsbusters
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Backward on Women’s Dignity

“We have made woman a sex creature,” complained a psychiatrist at the Margaret Sanger clinic, according to Betty Friedan’s 1963 book The Feminist Mystique. A half-century later, a new Obama ad proudly likens voting for the first time to a young woman losing her virginity.

You’ve come a long way, baby. But not necessarily forward.

Women’s liberation is parodying itself in “The First Time” spot featuring Lena Dunham, 26-year-old creator of the shockingly sexualized HBO series Girls.

“Your first time shouldn’t be with just anybody,” Dunham provocatively begins the ad. “You want to do it with a great guy.”

“My first time voting was amazing,” says Dunham. She salaciously describes her vote for Barack Obama as a rite of passage to womanhood, dangling a policy teaser about free birth control along the way.

It is an astonishingly base, sex-centric monologue that degrades public discourse and demeans young women in particular. Seeing sexual double entendre everywhere is typically the sport of sophomoric boys. Now adults are using it to stoop for the youth vote—and expecting women to fall for it.

“The First Time” is the lowest yet in a year of new political lows when it comes to infantilizing women.

First, liberals fabricated the “War on Women” to shroud a bumbling Obamacare mandate that trampled on religious liberty. The coercive policy requires, with few exceptions, coverage of abortion drugs and contraception despite conscience objections. When religious charities sought relief, liberals accused them and their defenders of assaulting women’s freedom—as if the First Amendment’s religious freedom protections don’t apply to women, too.

Then they brought us the government-driven Life of Julia. The faceless female seemed hardly capable of taking a step in life without government intervention from the “hubby state,” as one observer dubbed it.

Via: The Foundry

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Why Romney is Winning the Women's Vote

It is a poorly kept secret among students of female psychology that women are not attracted so much to beautiful men as they are attracted to men who are accompanied by beautiful women.

That is not to say that appearances don't matter to the ladies.  Of course they do.  The macho man in a tank top or the smooth-talking metrosexual guy in an Yves St. Laurent suit will garner that interested second look.  A handsome face, a good body, a whiff of money -- these are all promising entries in a man's résumé.

But in the mating and dating world, the advantages of a pleasing exterior don't go as far for guys as they do for girls.  It's great for a guy to be the eye candy at the party.  But in most cases, eye candy or not, the guy has still got an interview ahead (perhaps several) before he can land that coveted position with his lady of choice.

Now, on the other hand, suppose that you are lucky enough to be accompanied one evening by a beautiful woman.  Suppose you sashay into that party, larger than life, with your beautiful (let's say) blonde in a flashy red dress, clinging to your arm, and suppose (here's the killer) that as you enter the room, she is laughing at something you just said!  Well, then...you, my friend, have been certified.  Your lovely companion has placed your name at the top of all the lists in the room.  Those other guys have got a flashy résumé -- you've got a golden reference letter.

What you do with it, of course, is up to you.

Via: American Thinker

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Swing States poll: Women push Romney into lead

9:06PM EDT October 15. 2012 - WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney leads President Obama by four percentage points among likely voters in the nation's top battlegrounds, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, and he has growing enthusiasm among women to thank.

As the presidential campaign heads into its final weeks, the survey of voters in 12 crucial swing states finds female voters much more engaged in the election and increasingly concerned about the deficit and debt issues that favor Romney. The Republican nominee has pulled within one point of the president among women who are likely voters, 48%-49%, and leads by 8 points among men.
MORE: Follow who's up and who's down in the polls

The battle for women, which was apparent in the speakers spotlighted at both political conventions this summer, is likely to help define messages the candidates deliver at the presidential debate Tuesday night and in the TV ads they air during the final 21 days of the campaign. As a group, women tend to start paying attention to election contests later and remain more open to persuasion by the candidates and their ads.

That makes women, especially blue-collar "waitress moms" whose families have been hard-hit by the nation's economic woes, the quintessential swing voters in 2012's close race.

Via: USA Today

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House GOP Women Respond to Attacks by Rep. Wasserman Schultz

WASHINGTON - Conference Vice Chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and U.S. Representatives Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Sandy Adams (R-FL), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Judy Biggert (R-IL), Diane Black (R-TN), Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Renee Ellmers (R-NC), Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Nan Hayworth (R-NY), Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Candice Miller (R-MI), Kristi Noem (R-SD), Martha Roby (R-AL), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) today issued the following joint statement in reaction to Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) comments that Republicans are “anti-women” and waging a “war on women.”

“Apparently it’s open season on Republican women.  Between Ed Schultz’s tasteless insult of a conservative woman radio host, and Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz’s comments that the Republican Party is ‘anti-women,’ the tone in Washington, D.C. has reached a new low.

“Debbie’s accusations are baseless and inaccurate.  Republican women fight every day for the women who can't start a business because of burdensome taxes and regulations, for the women who worry that we are capping their children's future and trading it to China in exchange for cheap loans, for the women who deserve to make their own health care choices, and for this year's young women graduates who are entering a job market stagnated by Washington-driven uncertainty.

“It’s disappointing that Democrats would rather call names and use such divisive language than find areas where we can work together on behalf of American women and families.”

Via: GOP.com

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Obama Grades the United States: 'Incomplete'

In a recent interview with Glamour magazine, President Barack Obama gives the United States an "incomplete" grade. Obama's grade is based on how women are treated in America. 

"I think the way I’d grade the United States right now is incomplete," says Obama. "There are more opportunities for women than ever before. I think women excelling in school is now translating into greater opportunities in their professional lives. Some of the steps that we’ve taken have helped to open up additional access, but I’m not going to be satisfied until every young person who is willing to work hard and take responsibility can fulfill their dreams. I think this campaign is going to be so important because it really presents two fundamentally different visions about how we expand opportunity for all people."

Obama was asked about this because, according to the interviewer, "Back in 2008 [he] told Glamour that your mother once said, and I’ll quote, 'the best indicator of whether a country does well is how it treats its girls and its women.'"

Obama said, "Still believe it."

"So, by your mother’s standards, give me a thumbnail sketch of how America is doing," said Glamour to the president.

Via: Weekly Standard

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US median household income in 2011 lowest since 1995

The median income of US households in 2011 dropped to its lowest level since 1995, highlighting the income pressure on Americans on middle to lower steps of the economic pyramid.

The median level is the mid point where half the population sample are above and half below. It avoids the distortions caused by top earners in average income data.

Real median household income in the United States in 2011 was $50,054, a 1.5% decline from the 2010 median and the second consecutive annual drop.

The nation's official poverty rate in 2011 was 15.0%, with 46.2m people in poverty. After three consecutive years of increases, neither the poverty rate nor the number of people in poverty were statistically different from the 2010 estimates.

As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2011 was $23,021.


The number of people without health insurance coverage declined from 50.0m in 2010 to 48.6m in 2011, as did the percentage without coverage - - from 16.3% in 2010 to 15.7% in 2011.

In 2011, real median household income was 8.1% lower than in 2007, the year before the most recent recession, and was 8.9% lower than the median household income peak that occurred in 1999.

In 2011, the median earnings of women who worked full time, year-round ($37,118) was 77% of that for men working full time, year-round ($48,202) - - not statistically different from the 2010 ratio. Real median earnings of both men and women who worked full time, year-round declined by 2.5% between 2010 and 2011. The rates of decline for men and women were not statistically different from one another.

Via: FinFacts

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Unemployment Rates Of Women Up Under Obama

Unemployment rates of women, young women, and single women have all increased since O took office

The Democratic Party plans toprominently feature women at its convention in Charlotte this week, an effort that could be haunted by the Obama administration’s troubled relationship and failed record with respect to the fairer sex.

The sluggish economy under President Obama has been particularly hard on women. Nearly six million are currently unemployed, more than 400,000 have lost their jobs, and poverty rates among women have soared to record highs.

Since Obama took office, the unemployment rate among women has jumped from 7 percent to 8.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Young women have fared even worse. Their unemployment rate has risen from 12.5 percent to 14.4 percent since 2009.

The jobless rate among single women, a demographic the Obama administration is targeting, has nearly doubled compared with prerecession levels.

A recent Pew report found that women are the only demographic group for which employment growth fell short of population growth between 2009-2011, and have consistently lagged behind men.

“By this yardstick, the economic recovery has proceeded in opposite directions for men and women,” Rakesh Kochhar, the report’s author, toldthe Hill.

“Where have all the women’s jobs gone?” CNN asked in April 2012, noting that the “mancession”—during which men lost twice as many jobs as women—has since turned into the “hecovery,” during which men have gained backfour times as many jobs.

Even strong Obama backers concede that women are struggling. “Though we are seeing some recovery, we have not seen it in a recovery of jobs for women,” Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the left-wing Center For American Progress, told CNN.

Via: WFB

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