Transvestite Dressed Like Michelle Obama Graces Cover of Fashion Mag

/7 Comments/in , /by

The publisher of a transvestite fashion magazine has featured a man dressed as Michelle Obama on its cover.

The publisher looks forward to seeing a transvestite in the White House some day:

I remember back in early 2007 when the Democratic Party’s nominees were narrowed down between two “controversial” stereotypes never before seen for presidency: a black man, Barack Obama; and a woman, Hillary Rodham Clinton. At that time, I thought, “when will the time come when these archaic walls break down and the White House will be occupied by, for example, a black, transsexual woman?”

Disabled Girl ‘Traumatized’ By TSA After Being Detained for ‘Bomb Residue’

/9 Comments/in , /by

The 12-year-old girl left in tears after TSA agents detained her for nearly an hour at a Texas airport because they claimed to have found traces of bomb residue on her hands has revealed she is still ‘traumatized’ by the incident a week later.

Wheelchair-bound Shelbi Walser was traveling to Florida with her mother, Tammy Daniels, for treatment for her brittle bone disorder on December 8 when she was stopped at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas.

Shelbi Walser says she is still in shock by the event that caused a public outcry when video footage emerged showing Shelbi sobbing as officials detained her in front of hundreds of travelers at security, but refuse to allow her mother to get close enough to comfort her.

‘I didn’t know what was going to happen and what they were going to do to me. [I thought they might] take me away,’ she told RadarOnline.com.

The little girl makes the trip at least twice a year to receive treatment for brittle bone disease, which has left her wheelchair-bound. Her mom revealed that during the ordeal Shelbi told her that she didn’t want to go to Florida and that she wanted to go home. Shelbi said the unpleasant incident meant she would be more nervous in future and she would be washing her hands before going through security for fear that she might test positive again.

A TSA agent swabbed Shelbi’s hands and she tested positive for explosives. But the wheelchair, which is likely to have transferred any substance to her hands as she pushed it, was never tested, her mother said. Rather than ‘explosive residue’, her mom believes it was probably fertilizer they detected on Shelbi’s hands. The family live in the country and Daniels believes it could have transferred to her daughter’s hands via her wheels.

Read more from this story HERE.

More Babies, Please

/0 Comments/in /by

photo credit: o5com

IN the eternally recurring debates about whether some rival great power will knock the United States off its global perch, there has always been one excellent reason to bet on a second American century: We have more babies than the competition.

It’s a near-universal law that modernity reduces fertility. But compared with the swiftly aging nations of East Asia and Western Europe, the American birthrate has proved consistently resilient, hovering around the level required to keep a population stable or growing over the long run.

America’s demographic edge has a variety of sources: our famous religiosity, our vast interior and wide-open spaces (and the four-bedroom detached houses they make possible), our willingness to welcome immigrants (who tend to have higher birthrates than the native-born).

And it clearly is an edge. Today’s babies are tomorrow’s taxpayers and workers and entrepreneurs, and relatively youthful populations speed economic growth and keep spending commitments affordable. Thanks to our relative demographic dynamism, the America of 50 years hence may not only have more workers per retiree than countries like Japan and Germany, but also have more than emerging powers like China and Brazil.

If, that is, our dynamism persists. But that’s no longer a sure thing. American fertility plunged with the stock market in 2008, and it hasn’t recovered. Last week, the Pew Research Center reported that U.S. birthrates hit the lowest rate ever recorded in 2011, with just 63 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age. (The rate was 71 per 1,000 in 1990.) For the first time in recent memory, Americans are having fewer babies than the French or British.

Read more from this story HERE.

Vladimir Putin Calls On Russian Families to Have Three Children

/1 Comment/in , /by

. . . Mr Putin lauded recent measures to give cash payments and other benefits to mothers having a second child. Current birth rates show an average of 1.7 children are born to each Russian woman, but the president urged a huge leap in family-building.

New payments for those having a third child would begin next year, he said. “Demographers affirm that choosing to have a second child is already a potential choice in favour of a third,” he added. “It’s important that families make that step… I am convinced that the norm in Russia should become a family with three children.”

To achieve that goal, he said, women needed to be provided with the opportunity to continue work, so that they “did not fear that having a second and third child would close the path to a career”.

Mr Putin has long equated Russia’s demographic decline over recent decades with a potential threat to security. On Wednesday, he added: “In order for Russia to be a strong and sovereign country, there must be more of us and we must be better in morality, in our competences, our work and our creativity.”

To applause, the president said there were already signs that Russia’s long term demographic decline was reversing, and the population had grown by 200,000 in the first nine months of this year. “The birth rate is at last above the mortality rate,” he said.

Read full story HERE.

University Settles Case with Student Kicked Out of Program for Christian Beliefs

/3 Comments/in , /by

DETROIT (LifeSiteNews.com) – A nearly three-year ordeal has come to an end for a Christian psychology student kicked out of a public university’s program because she would not compromise her belief that homosexuality is sinful.

Eastern Michigan University has settled out of court with Julea Ward. In March 2009, the Ypsilanti-based university ejected her from its graduate counseling program because she would not affirm a patient’s homosexual lifestyle. Ward said her deeply held religious beliefs would not make her a good counselor for this person and that she wished to make a referral to another counselor.

Instead, EMU forced her into a “remediation” program designed to change her “belief system.” She responded by filing Ward v. Wilbanks.

Under the terms of the settlement, the university will pay Ward an undisclosed monetary settlement, and the expulsion will be stricken from her record.

U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh agreed to dismiss the suit with prejudice on Monday.

Read more from this story HERE.

Cheer up Michelle, it’s Christmas! First Lady gives presents to children… but forgets to put on a smile

/8 Comments/in /by

Tugging a huge red sack stuffed with toys, First Lady Michelle Obama delivered about 900 gifts to the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots campaign but perhaps lost in the seriousness of her mission, forgot to wear her smile.

Taking a few minutes to thank military families at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C. Mrs Obama shared how they make her job ‘easy’ in their representation of the U.S. as well as in inspiring her role in the White House.

‘The military families are what inspires my work,’ she said at the annual toy drive started by a Marine reservist and his wife.

‘Somehow you’re always the ones who find the extra hours in the day to give back, above and beyond what life has thrown your way anyway,’ she said.

Among the unwrapped toys donated today by White House employees and American CEOs were Mrs Obama’s two daughters 14-year-old Malia and 11-year-old Sasha, according to the White House.

Mrs Obama along with Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, started the Joining Forces campaign in 2011 to honor and support military families.

Before slapping her hands together to get to work, Mrs Obama wished volunteers and service members at the military base ‘Happy Holidays.’

Read more from this story HERE.

Obamacare Driving Up Your Pet’s Healthcare Costs, Too

/0 Comments/in , /by

American health care consumers aren’t the only ones who will be hit by slated Obamacare tax hikes. Medical bills for their pets may go up as well.

According to a rule published Friday by the Internal Revenue Service, some medical devices used in veterinary practices will be hit by Obamacare’s 2.3 percent device tax. Many of their manufacturers are expected to hike prices, meaning higher veterinary costs for the nation’s pet owners.

The tax will not hit devices that are used exclusively for veterinary purposes. But a host of such devices are manufactured for use in both human health care and veterinary practices. Those devices’ manufacturers will have to pay the tax.

The IRS rule states: “Section 4191 [of the Internal Revenue Code] limits the definition of a taxable medical device to devices described in section 201(h) of the [Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act] that are intended for humans, but does not provide that the device must be intended exclusively for humans. Under existing [Food and Drug Administration] regulations, a device intended for use exclusively in veterinary medicine is not required to be listed as a device with the FDA, whereas a device intended for use in human medicine is required to be listed as a device with the FDA even if the device may also be used in veterinary medicine.”

According to the FDA, common “dual use” medical devices are “examination gloves, sterile catheters, infusion pumps, etc.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Salvation Army Seeing Record Number Of Families In Need (+video)

/2 Comments/in , /by

Officials with the Salvation Army say they’re seeing a record number of families asking for help this holiday season.

Nearly 18,000 families have registered for Christmas assistance in the last month. That number has grown by 2,500 since last year, breaking the 2009 record.

Registered families will get free toys, money for food and other donated items at up to six Salvation Army locations as well as other partnered agencies.

Read more from this story HERE.

You can donate to Salvation Army HERE. And in case you’re interested in its history, the following is a brief video on Salvation Army’s background:

Touching Video: Cerebral Palsy Sufferer Wins Wrestling Match

/3 Comments/in , /by

With one heartwarming gesture of sportsmanship, a teenage boy has become an internet sensation after letting a severely disabled opponent defeat him in a wrestling match.

Video posted online shows cerebral palsy sufferer Jared Stevens, 13, fulfill his dream to fight in a competitive wrestling match and beat big-hearted Justin Kievit in front of his cheering classmates in Nolensville, Tennessee. With over 100,000 views on YouTube and Facebook so far, the video shows the moment the two boys meet for the first time and show the ‘bigger message’ according to Phil Stevens, Jared’s father.

‘It’s what — a minute, minute and a half maybe?’ said Jared’s dad, Phil Stevens to The Tennessean. ‘But it’s the echoes of it that make the difference.’

Physically, Jared is equivalent to a six-month old but intellectually he has no difficulty and the teen practices with the Sunset Middle School wrestling team every day – but has never competed until now.

‘The first time he met Jared was when he shook hands with him before the match. So it really was spontaneous. They just picked this kid,’ said Craig Kievit, Justin’s father. ‘If you watch the video, he just did an amazing job. There’s not many adults comfortable putting hands on a disabled kid, much less another 13-year-old.’ Read more from this story HERE.