America's New Mothers More Educated Than Ever | Heritage Foundation's Jason Richwine Resigns

1. Federal judge Edward R. Korman slammed the Obama administration on Friday, denied the government’s request that he suspend his ruling making the morning-after emergency contraceptive pill available to women and girls of every age and without a prescription.

The Ronald Reagan appointed judge called efforts to delay distribution of the pill based on “frivolous” and “silly” arguments and not scientific evidence. Korman is so angry over the efforts by secretary of health and human services Kathleen Sebelius to deny full implementation of the pill that he questioned her credibility and integrity.

Judge Korman postponed the enforcement of his order until today, allowing lawyers for the Justice Department to take their case to the appeals court. via NYT

2. In an attention-getting opening line, celebrity interviewer Lynn Hirschberg writes “The only thing that worried Michael Douglas about playing Liberace, the flamboyant Las Vegas superstar, was the fourteen-inch penis.”

Who knew!! Douglas opens up on playing Lee, as Liberace was known to friends, in HBO’s Behind the Candelabra’. The focus is the famed entertainer’s life with Scott Thorson, played by Matt Damon, who was Liberace’s live-in boyfriend for five years.

The movie represents a return to public eye for Douglas, who reveals more of himself in questions about his battle with stage four cancer and his son’s imprisonment.

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3. New mothers are more educated than ever, writes PEW Research. In 2011, 66% of new mothers had some college education, with 34% having a high school diploma and 14% not having finished high school.

The trend reflects a continuous rise in educational levels of all American women, as well as a decline in births set in motion with the Great Recession in late 2007. Between 2008 to 2011, the number of new mothers with no high school degree dropped 17%, as the number with only a high school diploma dropped 15%.

4. Co-author of the Heritage Foundation’s disputed immigration study Jason Richwine resigned on Friday, as questions mounted about the racially-charged conclusions in his previous work. Richwine as hired by the ultra-conservative think tank in 2010, and his departure comes less than five weeks after former Republican senator Jim DeMint assumed leadership of Heritage.

To date, the organization defends its methodology, one rejected by libertarian groups like the Cato Institute. The report argues that low-skilled immigrants have less education and lower IQs, making them likely to earn less money and need more taxpayer-supplied benefits.

In 2007, a similar Heritage report helped derail immigration reform, arguing that the plan would cost $2.7 trillion, instead of last week’s $6 trillion.

5. PEW Research reports that Hispanic high school graduates have passed whites in their rate of college enrollment. In post recession America, a record 69% of Hispanic high school graduates in the class of 2012 enrolled in college. As the rates of Hispanic college enrollment have risen from 49% in 2000 to 69% in 2012, the rate of college enrollment has dropped among white high school grads to 67%.

In 2011 only 14% of Hispanic 16-24-year-olds were high school dropouts, 50% less than the 2000 level of 28%. PEW suggests that some educational growth may be driven by declining employment among young Latino youths, where unemployment has risen by 7 points, compared to 5 points among whites.

Hispanics are less likely to be in a four-year college, be enrolled full time, and complete a bachelor’s degree.

Numéro's 'African Queen' Controversy Raises Legitimate Questions About How Many White Women Are Enough

Anne of Carversville is back, after an intense four days of opening our two new shops at Building Character in Lancaster, Pa. I’ll share the details soon … sort of a “best laid plans of mice and men” story. But we are open for business and will soon be a jewel!!

Meanwhile, back at the digital ranch there was quite a brouhaha last week over Numéro magazine’s ‘African Queen’ editorial. I weighed in when the controversy first broke out and again today. Trying to move the conversation out of topics of quotas, fashion industry racism, reverse racism, and the creative egos of libertarian men — I look at the controversy from the standpoint of the Smart Sensuality women: smart, sexy and with heart. After all, she is a large consumer of these brands and products. ~ Anne

Ondria Hardin Plays ‘African Queen’, Lensed by Sebastian Kim for Numéro 141 AOC Sensual Rebel

When I ask myself if I would ever use a Caucasian woman in black makeup to sellGlamTribale jewelry, the answer is clearly ‘no’. Even though I do believe strongly that we are all African queens because humanity began in the Omo Valley, I don’t need to wear black skin to celebrate my heritage. I am Caucasian for official purposes and also wear the privileges and stereotypes associated with that skin color. I simply can’t go into the mindset of an African woman — or an African American woman — because of my inexperience.

Is White Models Going Black for Fashion’s Sake What Luxury Customers Desire? AOC Sensual Rebel

Charlotte Cowles wrote:

No black models walked in A.F. Vandevorst’s show in Paris today, but several of the light-skinned girls appeared on the catwalk with their arms and hands painted black. Obviously, this looks bad. (When will fashion LEARN?) If the Vandevorst designers really wanted that visual effect, why not just have everyone wear gloves?

Is it ‘lame’ as FC suggests to point out this fact? No. It is never ‘lame’ for people to question the relationship between branding, marketing, images and their real-world impact on peoples’ psyches and especially the female psyche which is bombarded daily by the business strategies of mostly white men worldwide. 

Bernard Arnault Explores Luxury Brands & Smart Sensuality Values 

Arnault is known for having patience with a designer’s creative vision, even if—as with Dior—the financial results are mixed.

“Designers are closer to artists than to engineers,” Arnault says. “They’re not like normal managers, and you have to balance their creativity and rationality. John, Karl, Marc, they’re genius. You can’t put them into a rational environment. They’re sometimes late, and you have to accept that if you work with them, you have to be understanding with them.”

Also:

Cultural Creatives Now 35% of US | 10% In Transition

Cultural Creatives often describe themselves as ‘bridge people’ between the Traditionalsand Moderns, ‘trying to make a ‘cultural synthesis’ that moves the world beyond its polarized opposites.

Phoenix Rising, Charlotte Allen's Weak Women, The Antichrist: 2013 Should Be A Spectacular Year

Leaning Towards Solace from Sigur Rós Valtari Mystery Films on Vimeo.

Sigur Rós - Dauðalogn & Varúð
Sigur Rós ‘Valtari’ Mystery Film Experiment: Leaning Towards Solace
Directed by: Floria Sigismondi

We start the new year with a beautiful, conceptual film starring Elle Fanning and John Hawkes in ‘Leaning Towards Solace’, part of Sigur Rós’ Valtari Mystery Film Experiment, in which they’ve urged different artists to create short films inspired by songs off their new album Valtari. Follow the link for many other outstanding films that provoke and inspire thought. See also Sigur Rós’ blog.

“Leaning Towards Solace” was made by Black Dog Films and was directed by Floria Sigismondi.

The concept of the Phoenix, found in Greek mythology and also that of Egypt, is supremely threatening to social conservatives who argue that it’s just another anti-Christ, anti-American concept. Anne of Carversville finds Phoenix Rising concept, which represents the reinvigoration of female values and principles into our thinking, of great interest. Our ideas put us at major odds with Charlotte Allen.

Anne Is Watching

Selita Ebanks | Kanye West ‘Runaway’ Full Video Embedded

I went to sleep last night with the most preposterous thoughts, perhaps inspired by watching the hate videos posted yesterday on AOC, on the 150th anniversary of America’s Emancipation Proclamation.

Rarely do I hoot in the dark, saying “Oh, God, Anne. That is a ridiculous thought!” Probably so.

Watching Floria Sigismondi’s beautiful, haunting film above, I couldn’t help thinking of Kanye West’s ‘Runaway’. I’ve posted it again within the context of this new intellectual meditation.

Symbols of the ancient Phoenix are deplored by ardent social conservatives as signifying the rise of the anti-Christ in the form of Lucifer. The Phoenix destroys itself in flames and then rises from the ashes. The symbol is also tied to the ‘Masonic Christ’, considered by today’s social conservative Republicans to represent the global threat of a new world order.

Charlotte Allen’s Bonfire

Conservative pundit, anti-feminist Charlotte Allen, argues at the National Review that men would have made all the difference in the Newtown massacre, simply because they are male. National Review published Allen’s controversial piece on last week, where she attributed the massacre to Sandy Hook’s female staff and its “feminized setting.”

Male aggression can be a good thing, as in protecting the weak — but it has been forced out of the culture of elementary schools and the education schools that train their personnel. Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza.

When the public predictably went nuts over her comments, Allen responded saying she wasn’t blaming the parents. With thinking people combing her words for countless errors in her facts and assertions, Allen sent out another major volley, writing:

I am, however, blaming our culture that denies, dismisses, and denigrates the masculine traits—including size, strength, male aggression and a male facility for strategic thinking–that until recently have been viewed as essential for building a society and protecting its weaker members.

For more information on just how stupid and weak Charlotte Allen thinks women are, read We Scream, We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get, a 2008 Washington Post op ed piece.

High Profile Parents

Kim Kardashian on pregnancy with Kanye West’s baby: ‘It’s not as easy as people think’ NY Daily News

We’re assured that the birth won’t be televised. And I’m certain that the news that Kim Kardashian and Kanye will be parents has the KKK beyond bezerk.

Kardashian, 32, hit the 1 Oak party just a day after West, 35, dropped the baby bombshell during a performance in Atlantic City. The happy couple raced from New Jersey to Los Angeles early Monday and then high-tailed it to Vegas for Kardashian’s long-scheduled paid appearance.