I don't know if anyone pays attention to the generic ballot for Congress, but things are looking up lately for Republicans. The aggregate on Pollster.com shows a generic Republican polling only two points behind a generic Democrat; at several polling outfits, notably Rasmussen Reports, Republicans are ahead substantially in the generic ballot. Coupled with the losses Democrats suffered in the New Jersey and Virginia governors' races this month, you could argue that 2010 is shaping up to be a bad year for the Democratic Party.

Yesterday I watched and listened to Rush Limbaugh give his speech to the faithful of CPac. Since it was covered by FOX, he jokingly announced that it was his first address to the Nation and later on he called it his first International address, slyly noting that he was not using a teleprompter. I can remember when I'd turn off the radio if he came on but that was when there was a Democratic Party that I could identify with.

Full of himself with his usual bravado, the big guy seemed really nervous and coughed a lot. Like most of us he is much more confident alone behind his radio mic but despite all that he was his usual megaphone self, blasting away at the current administration and rallying the Conservatives to take back the country.

Riverdaughter's post today is a hilarious must-read.

Don't know about you guys, but I'm fine with feminist women using stereotype-based humor like this; some of you may disagree. Similarly, I give far more latitude to men, GLBTs, ethnic, racial and religious groups to satirize their own groups. I freely state I'd be pissed to read something similar on Olbermann's blog. Riverdaughter's earned the right to speak so; KO hasn't. Simple. The whines I often hear about this "double standard" seem either disingenuous or humanity-bereft; I'm never sure which it is.

The US Senate’s Ladies Auxilliary met on Tuesday to discuss women’s issues... [and] finished with a demonstration on scrapbooking campaign memorabilia.

In attendance were Senators Diane Feinstein (CA), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Amy Klobuchar (MN) and Barbara Boxer (CA).

I often wonder if it is my strict fundamentalist upbringing that allows me more skepticism when someone is trying to sell me swampland in Florida.

I have seen this comment before, I started this campaign pro-Hillary, I loved her since the Clinton era.

I knew that the attacks on her were on her because she was a moderate female. It is a rare thing to have a moderate “equalist” woman anywhere. The top 50 pundits had 7 women only one was a feminist and she was also a moderate.

I am tired of obama supporters, really tired of them.

I will not be blogging as much as I start back to the grind next week.

Now that I have your attention, think about this from Time via Kevin Drum:

SciAm has a blog article on sex and arousal. It seems that women are more or less equally turned on by images of men or women, without regard to their stated orientation.

Tom has a lot of really fascinating things to say about women and voting. This is a "I learned something new" moment, because although I suspected it was a trend, I didn't know the numbers were this unbalanced:

So if you're an African-American woman - and therefore, presumably, a Democrat - how do you choose between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton in what could turn out to be a precedent-setting presidential election?

That was the question on my mind as I wandered the lobby Friday at the Democratic National Committee's 2007 winter meeting, which doubled as the first cattle call for the party's 2008 presidential contenders. Before getting to the responses from several notable African-American women I cornered, let's pause to consider for a moment just how significant the black female vote might be in next year's Democratic primaries.

According to Census Bureau figures, in 2004, African-Americans cast 14 million votes nationwide. Now comes this stunner: Because African-American men not only are fewer in number but also register and vote at much lower rates, black women cast almost three of every five of these votes - 59 percent, to be precise. White women also outnumber, out-register and outvote white men, but the disparity is smaller (53 percent to 47 percent).

What the hell is wrong with MEN?

Japan's health minister calls women 'birth-giving machines'

Japan's health minister described women as "birth-giving machines" in a speech on the country's falling birthrate, but later retracted the remarks, news reports said Sunday.

"The number of women between the ages of 15 and 50 is fixed. The number of birth-giving machines (and) devices is fixed, so all we can ask is that they do their best per head,

But the Opium production is up. Run tell that.

BBC: Pam O’Toole
An international women's rights group says guarantees given to Afghan women after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 have not translated into real change. Womankind Worldwide says millions of Afghan women and girls continue to face systematic discrimination and violence in their households and communities. The report admits that there have been some legal, civil and constitutional gains for Afghan women. But serious challenges remain and need to be addressed urgently, it states. These include challenges to women's safety, realization of civil and political rights and status. Womankind Worldwide sent a film crew to Afghanistan to investigate the situation of women there. They found a young Afghan woman crying in hospital who said she wanted to die. She was recovering after setting fire to herself. Womankind Worldwide says there has been a dramatic rise in cases of self-immolation by Afghan women since 2003.

One question I always want to ask religionists: so if God is "the father," just how big is His Willy? Looks like a whole passle of ladies aren't going to find out.

Seriously:

"This is a true festival, women will run and vote for parliament for the first time," candidate Khaledah al-Khadher, a 48-year-old doctor and mother of eight, told Reuters on Sunday.