Pope Joan

A group of topless activists scandalized visitors at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral on Tuesday by disrobing in public to celebrate Pope Benedict XVI's resignation.

The small group of women, all affiliated with radical feminist group FEMEN, flashed their breasts and banged on bells in the cathedral, shouting slogans such as, "Bye Bye Benedict" and "No more homophobe," according to the Agence France-Presse.

The pope announced his resignation Monday in a shocking pronouncement that took the Catholic community by surprise. However, FEMEN appears to have little to no love for the outgoing pontiff, whom the group blasted on its website for his stance on same-sex marriage.

Afghana

When NATO published a "media backgrounder" on Afghan security forces in October 2010, the U.S.-led alliance was adamant that as the Afghan National Army (ANA) grew to the point where it would be able to defend its own country, it would also need to increase the women in its ranks.

"This growth must result in an inclusive army," said the NATO document. "This requires future effort in building a cadre of female soldiers, as well as ensuring an ethnically balanced army. Currently there are 301 women in the ANA, of which 166 are officers."

A year later, The New York Times ran a story about a female cadet training to be an officer in the ANA.

"She said she did not feel well because two days before, her fiance had threatened her with (a) knife and told her he would kill her if she did not leave the army," reported the Times.

"He says to me from Saturday to Wednesday (when the training school is in session) you are sleeping among American men," said this Afghan cadet.

Sequential Defense Department reports on progress in the Afghan War describe the department's efforts to integrate women into Afghanistan's army.

Mechanised

When I was young I read about the PPK. They were fighting a guerrilla for independence against multiple enemies. They found that their all-female units had a better kill ratio than their male counterparts. It was the first I'd heard of modern Amazons.In May 1935, French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval allegedly asked Stalin to improve the situation of Catholics in the USSR so as not to provoke a quarrel with the Pope. At that, Stalin, with his brutal sense of humour, asked, “The Pope? How many divisions does he have?”The point is right now women do not have any divisions. As far as I am concerned women won't be a threat until they have their own mechanised armour.

Golf

At the Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament on Thursday, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hit a bad shot on the sixth hole. The ball smacked a female spectator in the face. Here's how the New York Times reported the incident:

"On the par-5 sixth hole, which features a blind approach to the uphill green, Rice’s second shot landed on the side of the hill. After she advanced it several yards with her third, her fourth shot flew out of the grabby grass and hit a spectator standing behind the left gallery rope.

“'Did I hit you?” Rice said, moving quickly to reach the woman, who had a bloody gash above the bridge of her nose. Her daughter was trying to use a pairings sheet as a bandage. “It was a bad shot. I’m really sorry.”

"Rice knelt, handed the woman’s daughter a white towel to stanch the bleeding and held the woman’s right hand until first-aid personnel arrived. Before she headed to the green, she asked the daughter to call her with an update on her mother’s condition. Rice’s assistant, who was walking outside the ropes, slipped the daughter a piece of paper after Rice left. Rice’s game was never the same ..."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/02/08/4055772/fore-condoleezza-rice-takes-down.html#storylink=cpy

Code Pink

Thursday’s confirmation hearing for CIA nominee John Brennan was postponed to clear the room of activists from CODEPINK after they repeatedly disrupted Brennan’s testimony. One woman held a list of Pakistani children killed in U.S. drone strikes. Former United States diplomat Col. Ann Wright interrupted Brennan while wearing a sign around her neck with the name of Tariq Aziz, a 16-year-old Pakistani boy who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011. Wright and seven others were arrested.

Stanford

Picking Rice would cause Romney some problems among the GOP base because she has described herself as "mildly pro-choice."

Rice has said she harbors concerns about government's role in abortion choice. But she's opposed to federal funding for abortion and has supported banning late-term abortions and requiring parental notification.

At a candidates' forum last year in South Carolina, Romney said his running mate would have to share his anti-abortion views, as well as his opposition to same-sex marriage. Rice favors allowing gay couples to form civil unions, but not to marry.

Rice, 57, was Bush's national security adviser from 2001 to 2005, before being named secretary of state, a position she held for four years. After that she returned to Stanford University, where she's now a professor in the Graduate School of Business; a director of the Center for Global Business and the Economy; and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

I'm mildly pro and anti everything.

Playing Hard To Get

The former secretary of state is the clear choice of Republican voters to be Romney’s vice president, according to a new Fox News poll that shows her garnering the support of 30 percent of them. Sen.Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is second with 19 percent.


What does it all mean when the press says she should and she says she couldn't? Is there any difference between Condoleezza and Hillary?