Underground Journal of Initiation

Motherhood Maternity Supports World Breastfeeding Week Original Release PHILADELPHIA - August 1-7, 2006 is World Breastfeeding Week and the experts at Motherhood® Maternity want to remind all new mothers that breastfeeding is best for her newborn. This year's theme, Code Watch: 25 Years of Protecting Breastfeeding, celebrates the progress that has been made to protect and promote breastfeeding worldwide.

Rove Blasts Journalists' Role in Politics Full Article Will Lester Washington - "There are some in politics who hold that voters are dumb, ill informed and easily misled, that voters can be manipulated by a clever ad or a smart line," said Rove, who is credited with President Bush's victories in the 2000 and 2004 elections. "I've seen this cynicism over the years from political professionals and journalists. American people are not policy wonks, but they have great instincts and try to do the right thing."

The McCains and War: Like Father, Like Son MASSIMO CALABRESI WASHINGTON - This September, Senator John McCain's youngest son, Jimmy, 18, will report to a U.S. Marine Corps depot near Camp Pendleton in San Diego. After three months of boot camp and a month of specialized training, he will be ready to deploy. Depending on the unit he joins, he could be in Iraq as early as this time next year, and his chances of seeing combat at some point are high. Of the 178,000 active-duty Marines in the world, some 80,000 have seen a tour in Iraq or Afghanistan, and there are 25,000 bearing the brunt of some of the worst fighting in Iraq now. About 6,000 Marines have been wounded there, and about 650 have been killed. "I'm obviously very proud of my son," says the elder McCain, "but also understandably a little nervous."

New Orleans Cops Probe 6 Killings in 1 Day Mary Foster NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Police were investigating six fatal shootings that occurred within 24 hours, the latest round of killings as the city struggles to rein in violence that has shadowed the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Three brothers and a friend were killed in a neighborhood not far from the French Quarter, and two other people were gunned down in separate incidents hours later, authorities said Saturday.

Original Article Cynthia Tucker Atlanta - In a few precincts of American politics, voters still applaud the utterly futile gesture of defiance, the confrontational rhetoric that pleases only true believers, the fist shaken in the face of an opponent who neither notices nor cares. Apparently, such empty gestures — signs of impotence, really — have come to be seen as "speaking truth to power."

Original Article Larry Elder Forty-seven percent of Americans, according to a recent poll, believe the economy is doing "badly." Or, as a woman I encountered at a party recently put it, "Bush put the economy in the toilet." Really? The feds just revised upward – again – the economic performance of the last quarter. From January through March 2006, the economy grew at a rate of 5.6 percent – higher than any in the last two and a half years. Despite recent inflation scares, inflation remains low, at a 2.1 percent core rate. Unemployment, at 4.6 percent, represents a lower rate than the average during the '60s, '70s, '80s and the '90s. Since August 2003, the economy has created more than 5.3 million jobs.

Original Article David Clarke Pruden Although the simple "born gay" theory has faded from the science scene, activists continue to misrepresent scientific findings. When you assert that individuals are born gay and cannot change, people naturally jump to the conclusion that same-sex marriage is the only rational choice for same-sex attracted individuals. However, the innate-immutable theory of homosexuality has no basis in science. The simplistic biological theory has been dismissed by all of the researchers whose studies have been cited to support the notion that homosexuality is so deeply compelled by biology that it cannot change.

Original Article by Jane Spencer Wall Street Journal - On the heels of a five-year boom in weight-loss surgeries, researchers are observing an unusual phenomenon: Some patients stop overeating — but wind up acquiring new compulsive disorders such as alcoholism, gambling addiction or compulsive shopping.

Full Commentary by Charles Krauthammer The perversity of today's international outcry lies in the fact that there is indeed a disproportion in this war, a radical moral asymmetry between Hezbollah and Israel: Hezbollah is deliberately trying to create civilian casualties on both sides while Israel is deliberately trying to minimize civilian casualties, also on both sides.

Original Article ATLANTA - A new poll by InsiderAdvantage shows Johnson leading McKinney 46 percent to 21 percent, with one-third of voters undecided. The survey recorded the responses of 480 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Lt. Gov. Michael Steele's campaign for U.S. Senate announced that Michael Steele received the endorsement of the United States Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest business federation which represents more than three million businesses. Donohue added that, "historically, a Chamber endorsement has served candidates well. In the 2004 elections, 93% of Chamber-endorsed candidates were elected." The Chamber also reports that surveys of likely voters have found the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to be among the most credible sources for deciding which candidates to support. Learn More about Michael's campaign at www.steeleformaryland.com

Politicians were on parade all over the state on July 4th. The primary’s now less than two weeks away. One of the early surprises to me has been the inability so far of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cathy Cox to project her instinctive ability to connect with speech audiences to the broader campaign. She’s trailing Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor in polls at the moment. It’s an interesting race. She has very feminine leadership style, I think, while Taylor is — or was — typically masculine. Attempting to preside over a Senate controlled by Republicans may have brought out his feminine non-confrontational side, but if so, I’ve seen little of it. Women are not necessarily feminine in management or leadership style nor are males necessarily masculine. Some female politicians — Margaret Thatcher was a famous example — have very masculine goverming styles. Some males — Jimmy Carter comes to mind — have more feminine. Some governing situations need one, some another. Clearly, for example, Louisian...