Redtracker 'Drivers Seat': Smart Sensuality Women's News 7-20-09
/Clinton Struggles in India, Where America’s Own Environmental Promises Are Broken
July 19, 2009
A reporter allowed to observe the negotiations between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and India’s Environmental Minister Jairam Ramesh gives us a glimpse into Secretary Clinton’s diplomatic negotations approach.
The Indian government is under great pressure to make no concessions to curbing emissions, given their currently very low emissions per capita index, and America’s failure to act honorably in reducting our own emissions.
“We look upon you suspiciously because you have not fulfilled what [developed countries] pledged to fulfill,” (Minister Ramesh) jabbed, calling it a “crisis of credibility.” For Hillary’s response, read Washington Post’s: Clinton, India’s Ramesh Clash on Climate Change.
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Belly Dancing On Fire Around the World, but Now Decadent in Egypt
July 19, 2009
Belly dancing has been practised in Egypt since the time of the Pharaohs, but the dance is loosing its luster in Egypt, where internationals flock to the Ahlan Wa Sahlan belly dancing festival.
“I see people coming from France, Italy, United States, Argentina, Spain, Japan,” Raqia Hassan, the festival organiser, told the BBC.
Simona Minisini - Winner of “Ahlan Wa Sahlan” Festival 2007
“It has a kind of sexual movement. That’s why I don’t like to watch it,” adds his friend. Read BBC’s Enduring allure of Egyptian belly dance.
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France Condemns Sudan’s Flogging of Trouser-Wearing Women, Supports Lubna Ahmed Hussein
July 18, 2009
The French foreign ministry called on Khartoum to drop charges against journalist Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, who is protesting her arrest on the world stage. See Givenchy Couture Embraces Mid-Eastern Influences, While in Sudan, Women Are Flogged for Wearing Pants.
France issued a statement saying: “France, which is fighting for the abolition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment and is combating violence against women, demands that the Sudanese authorities break off its prosecution of these people,” the statement said. (via BBC)
A Google search suggests that the Obama Administration presently has no position on this subject. President Obama (who I support) is on record saying that burqas are none of our business. I don’t know what all else is included in his official American position.
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Christiane Amanpour Is Just Dazzling in Harper’s Bazaar!
July 16, 2009
The August 2009 issue of Harper’s Bazaar gives us a look at Christiane Amanpour as a sexy, Smart Sensuality woman. For just one moment, the 51-year-old Christiane hangs up her fatigues and headscarf, leaves the kids with dad, and heads to the makeover salon.
Christiane Amanpour loses no super intellect brain cells on her way to the photo shoot. Bravo, Christiane. You look simply fabulous!
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With Bills to Pay, Mommy Bloggers Aren’t the Only Ones Selling Out Online
July 16, 2009
Newsweek is promoting a feature Are Bloggers Corporate Sellouts?
The topic of making money online and retaining a believable, authentic voice concerns me, too. Paying the rent is creating all sorts of ethical challenges online, and that includes Newsweek.
I just left a previous Newsweek story Keeping Her Promise, supposedly outlining the best places for kids in America, as determined by the languishing Colin Powell group America’s Promise. I wanted to read the entire article, but I bailed, insulted that I should sit and click through 10 one-word pages.
Reading the list of America’s best cities for America’s Promise kids, I was delivered to a one-word page: Austin. The next page: BrocktonCharlotten.C. Would anyone like to translate?
I call this strategy the ‘click to nowhere’, an incredible abuse of my precious time that exists for one reason: to increase Newsweek’s page counts and expose me to the ads.
Within this contect, Newsweek publishing Are Mommy Bloggers Corporate Sellouts? is pretty darn hypocritical. Yet the premise of the article raises a valuable question — not about mommy bloggers — but about the Internet in general.
Consumers want everything free online; time is money; and mommys are up against the economic wall, right along with the rest of us.
Trusted writers like myself must let readers know when they’ve been paid to write the endorsement or that they have a relationship with the products they write about. I’m discussing a possible relationship with the wrinkle treatment cream Easeamine.
The Federal Trade Commission is considering new guidelines, requiring bloggers to write: ‘I was paid to write this review.’ The bloggers of Momdot upped the ante by challenging the mommysphere to join them in a PR Blackoutfor one week in August in the hope of getting writers back to basics.
This little guerilla war bears watching. A
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Two New York State Blonds May Not Have More Fun Come Autumn
July 15, 2009
Is the battle of the blonds heating up in New York State?
via The Daily BeastMany New Yorkers believe that Carolyn Maloney, in her ninth term representing New York’s 14th District, had every right to be furious that she, rather than Kirsten Gillibrand, should have filled Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s vacant senate seat.
The question now is whether Maloney will challenge Gillibrand in the Democratic primary. The Daily Beast’s Andrew Tobias says ‘no, no, no’, after making a strong case that Maloney was absolutely overlooked by new Governor David Paterson, who has his own slate of problems.
Remember, the rule for women in politics is ‘pay your dues’, support the party, your turn will come. (Are those rules in Sarah Palin’s playbook?)
“Carolyn,” writes Tobias, “It’s about money, honey. The party doesn’t have $40 million — NOT to turn a red seat blue, but simply to decide which of two progressive Democratic women gets to be senator.
Moroccan Ladies Love Their Djellabas
July 15, 2009
GlobalPost wants to convince us that Star Wars-inspired Jedi robes are all over Morocco. The djellaba is a traditional North African garment long worn by men in Morocco. Moroccan women adopted it in a variety of colors, around the time of independence in 1956.
Anne is diving deeply into the conversation of politics and fashion, inspired by the current response to her Journal article While the World Debates Burqas, Fashion Designers Show Beautiful Abayas at Paris’s George V Hotel.
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In Congressional Hearing on Her Confirmation, Republicans Paint Sotomayor as the Tempermental Latina
July 15, 2009
The Sonia Sotomayor hearing produced a generally good day for the lady in red, yesterday. Sotomayor was calm, focused and articulate, especially under questions regarding her ‘wise Latina’ statements and questions about judging with empathy.
AP photoAs Republican Senators pressed Sotomayor on the notion that judgement, experience and interpretation of the law are all bad things, I wondered why we have so few 9-0 decisions on the Supreme Court. Clearly, in almost every Supreme Court case, there’s disagreement on how the law should be interpreted, which cases set the legal precedents regarding the case before the court.
I was taken aback when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) asked Sotomayor is she has a temperment problem.
Mr. Graham challenged Judge Sotomayor with unfavorable reviews she received from anonymous lawyers in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, which rates judges. The reviews singled her out among Second Circuit federal appellate judges, describing her as “a terror on the bench,” among other things. via WSJ
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Sarah Palin Promises an Unpredictable Next Act
July 15, 2009
RedTracker has been quiet about Sarah Palin, although I do believe that she’s a Smart Sensuality woman, probably much smarter than any of us give her credit for being. Palin’s a bit of a loose canon in my playbook, and I never know what she will do next.
Yet, how many women have graced the cover of TIME magazine? I assume this makes at least two for Palin. Read this week’s Sarah Palin: Where is the Political Outsider Going Next?
Politico leads this morning with Palin’s announcement that she’s ready to campaign for Blue Dog Democrats, although none are lining up so far. A
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Did POTUS Put Hillary Clinton Out to Pasture?
July 14, 2009
The Daily Beast’s Tina Brown had plenty to say yesterday about our Secretary of State: It’s time for Barack Obama to let Hillary Clinton take off her burqa. I, too, find Hillary’s absence in Moscow astounding.
Sorry, the West Wing could have organized physical therapy for her elbow. I flew in a private plane 18 days after hip surgery. Read Anne’s POTUS! For Crying Out Loud! The Whole World Is Watching! Behave Yourself!
Many women are wondering just what’s up with the Obama Administration and strong women. The First Lady was reduced to a spouse last week, after her spectacular April trip. Hillary’s left in Foggy Bottom when POTUS speaks to the Russians. Obama embraces burqas, which has me reeling; I admit it. (Note: we have a serious conversation going on about burqas at Anne of Carversville. I’m listening right now, inviting Muslim women to tell their stories. This is a complex topic for me; I admit it. ) Read Tina Brown’s Obama’s Other Wife.
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Britain’s National Health Service Advises Teens that Daily Sex — Pleasure — Is Good for their Cardiovascular Health
July 14, 2009
A British-bred National Health Service leaflet advises students that they have a “right” to an enjoyable sex life. Frequent intercourse, preferably daily, is good for their cardiovascular health.
This strategy represents a shift from the “safe sex” message, which ignores the entire concept of Pleasure.
We’re talking about a key plank of Anne of Carversville — that sensual and sexual pleasure are good for you. I should be rejoicing. But even I question that teens have the emotional sophistication and maturity to develop an enjoyable, pleasure-driven sex life.
Getting the parents back in bed together is more important than their children.
I believe that the Europeans are right about allowing their kids to share wine at dinner. It’s my understanding that with most ‘vice’ behavior, the more permissive European attitudes results in lower rates of abuse of the activity, whether it’s drugs, smoking, drinking or teen sex.
But an enjoyable sex life with one or multiple partners for teens, encouraged by the state? Wow … and they banned the Federici gelato ads in Britain. And the Orangina ad, too. Very confusing. A
Orangina - Advert 2007
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Jack Welch Says: Face the Facts, Ladies. Work-Life Balance? Forgetaboutit!
July 13, 2009
Jack Welch has always been a truth-serum kind of guy.
Welch advised women that they can have a very nice life and a good career, with extended lapses taken for childrearing. But will they be superstars? Not likely, says Jack. Career success involves a certain amount of putting work first. Period. via Wall Street Journal
The Smart Part of Sonia Sotomayor
July 13, 2009
As the hearing begin around Sonia Sotomayor’s appointment to the Supreme Court, most profiles have gone back to her Princeton days, where Sotomayor’s Latina identity crystalized in opposition to the most Southern and conservative of the Ivy League schools. (See Michelle-Style The Fusion of Empathy, Experience & Princeton in the Mindsets of Sonia Sotomayor, Michelle Obama & Women Like Me.)
What’s noteworthy in Newsweek’s piece this week on Sotomayor is a mention of the particular style of power game that both Sonia Sotomayor and Michelle Obama learned at Princeton. One wins, not by bullying or assertion, but by reason and carefully prepared persuasion. Princeton believes in the power of critical thinking, an asset that’s highly valued by Smart Sensuality women.
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Words of Wisdom, After the Dreaded Words: “You’re … ”
July 13, 2009
Ex supermodel Paulina Porizkova wrote fearlessly about being fired from “America’s Next Top Model” at 44.
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Maggie Rodriguez Brings a Latina Voice to CBS Morning News
July 13, 2009
Maggie Rodriguez’s star continues to rise on the CBS “Early Show”, reports the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz.
Kurtz describes Rodriguez as small but mighty; feisty but fair.
The daughter of Cuban refugees and mother of a 4-year-old daughter, Maimi-raised Rodriguez says she is “proud” of Sonia Sotomayor but will report both strengths and weaknesses on her Supreme Court nomination.
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