US Supreme Court to rule on medical-device liability

The US position on state sovereignty can create strange situations. Recent government administrations have taken oppposite sides of this thorny one (Clinton's for, Bush's against)--does federal approval of medical devices shield manufacturers from product liability lawsuits in state courts. So far, most federal appeals courts have said, yes, indeed, if your FDA-approved device fails during my operation, I can sue you anyway in state court.

Well, the Supreme Court is made up of individuals with political leanings. It'll be interesting to see where it lands.

Botswana invites women to join forces in business

Hey, I like this idea! In Botswana they're having a conference to talk about a "cluster model" as a way to help women/sole proprietors combine forces (and resources) to be able to more effectively conquer their unique business challenges:

• lack of entrepreneurial skills


• lack of working capital


• lack of capacity to deliver large orders


• lack of promotional strategies, and


• lack of specialized machinery

all of which can result in

• poor quality products


• uncompetitive pricing


• poor customer service

True for so many women struggling alone to start a business. A representative of the Botswana government talks about the benefits of the cluster approach... "Women entrepreneurs are grouping nowadays but the way they do it is not systematic. The model will assist them to work as business entities as it advocates for separation of functions according to design and marketing as well as production entities." The structure and discipline of the model will include economies of scale through specialization and improved systems.

Wow. Many single working women entrepreneur-wannabes could use some of that over in the U.S., too. The key over there is that the government is providing the model and the access and the assistance with locating the businesses. Some places in the U.S. have education for women fledgling business owners (Chicago's Women's Business Development Center is very good at this). Ladies Who Launch is a private group that works towards the online/community/incubator model.

All I can say is, "More!"

Note: The Republic of Botswana's tagline is inspiring: Democracy, Development, Self-reliance and Unity. Cool.

Single working women and single working men - a play about a story

Went to a wonderful play reading today at Chicago Her-Rah, a festival put on by The International Centre for Women Playwrights--3 days of readings held in this wild little venue on North Avenue in Chicago called Around the Coyote.

Heard about this through a new acquaintance whose friend's was one of the plays being read--a sparkling depiction of the New-York-intellectual-neurotic malfunctioning male/female dynamic that captured the essence of what's going on between so many men and women today. Depressing kind of, full of angst but also tenderness and lots of humor... Read with only a commentator, no scenery, lights or anything, it was "Manhattan Cassanova" and it was mesmerizing. Remember the playwright's name: Jenny Lyn Bader.

The festival is a once-a-year event that honors female playwrights everywhere. Wish I'd had time to see a few more. Next year it's in Roumania. Read more on their website www.internationalwomenplaywrights.org.

The state of singleness--stats and the Christian viewpoint

Looking around for another way to get the word out about our upcoming holiday - Single Working Women's Week. Checking out Google adwords, I thought well, single women would not be looking for the term "single women" on the Internet (probably even if they were gay!). So I was trying to think of another term. Typed in "single men" just for the helluvit and found this interesting website that claims to have statistics (from 2002 census data) on the rate of single men to single women by county all across the U.S.

Not that women are typing in that term either, though--except for dating and matchmaking sites. Seems the Internet has replaced the local church as the place for singles to meet. Which brings me to the long Christian tract I found about how single people must accept their condition as God's will. A particularly telling quote from a male missionary about how it's not necessarily tough to be single everywhere:

"Our North American society is structured definitely for couples. Not so the tribe of Ayangan Ifugaos among whom I work. Although 99 percent of the men are married, they don't look at the one percent as weird. The social cost only hits me when I return home--in the churches, among Christians, who, of all people, should know better."

Yes, they do a lot of talking about why it's okay to be single, all the while pointing out the Jesus himself was single--and celibate. In the Christian world if you're single you can never express your sexuality physically.

Wouldn't the world be a different place if everyone observed that dictum...

A weight loss pill that works? Ask who says so

Yes, Virginia, at last there is a weight loss aid that really helps--even if you're not grossly overweight. At least that's what a researcher at the University of Kentucky says about a new weight loss pill you can buy in stores in the U.S. as of today.

It's called Alli and works not by curbing your appetite, but by blocking your body's absorption of fat. Of course, the catch is you have to be on a low-fat, weight-loss type of diet for it to help. For 16 weeks they compared a group of mildly to moderately overweight (as opposed to obese) patients who took a placebo and dieted with a similar group that took Alli and dieted.

My only issue with this report is that, although they say how much weight the Alli patients lost (7 to 15 pounds), they don't say how much more that was than what the control group lost. Now when I see an important statistic like that missing from a report, it gets me wondering about who paid for the study. This especially after studying a press release the other day from the Better Sleep Council that was supposed to be about getting better sleep, I concluded it had to have been funded by the National Mattress Council or somebody--because it kept harping on "get a new mattress more often" as a big solution for sleep problems.

So if you've got a friend who's looking for any kind of help to lose weight, suggest she try this pill. That way you can see how it works for her and find out how much money you have to spend before you try it yourself.

How to interview a nanny/babysitter for your child

You're about to have a baby. If you don't plan to use a daycare center, you'll need a reliable child care resource--a person to whose home you will bring your baby, or someone who will come to your home. How do you know if you can trust the person you're hiring not to lose her temper or turn abusive or mistreat your child? Impossible to say? Well, no one can ever predict anything with 100% accuracy, but there are ways single moms--and every parent--can increase their chances.

This is not an exhaustive list, but asking some of these questions could be helpful in weeding out a potentially dangerous person when you're hiring a child care person/nanny. The basic information is from the book The Gift of Fear: Survival signals that protect us from violence. The book was written by a guy who grew up in a violent home and eventually started a business in which he became advisor to stars, politicians and the U.S. government on preventing stalking, violence and murder. He says our intuition is very powerful if we just listen to it.

He cautions it's important to look not for reasons this person might be good, but instead for reasons to DISQUALIFY when interviewing a person to care for your child. I've added a few of my own.

• Don't rely on the fact that a person acts like s/he likes animals as a sign of anything. Although a dog does react to fear because it knows a creature who's afraid is more likely to be dangerous, author Gavin deBecker says that if your dog reacts badly to someone, it's almost certainly your dog reacting to your own intuition. He says your problem as a human being is that you will use something your dog doesn't have--judgment--to decide not to honor your perceptions...to ignore your intuition. But he still cautions that you not give any weight to how your animals act.
• Ask about drug use.
• Ask about use of alcohol.
• Ask what her family was like when she was little. People who become violent or abusive as adults were invariably abused as children.
• Ask "Have you ever mistreated a child?" - Even though s/he can lie about any of these questions, the way s/he answers them will give you a big boost in comfort -- or discomfort -- with that person.
• Ask a close friend or trusted relative to be in the interview with you--ask them to suspend their judgment, too, and just listen carefully. If you want to eliminate someone, it can help to have a confirming opinion--and it may be that the other person might even have a stronger feeling than you do that this is the wrong candidate. Don't ignore that.

Suspend your judgment and listen to your instincts. Start early, because it's better to have to interview 50 people than to hire the wrong person because you're in a hurry--or worse, because you didn't want to be rude.

Raising Boys Without Men - can be a good thing

Sound creepy? Radical? Weird? Well, get used to the idea, because it's going on every day--and according to an extensive deep research project conducted recently by a married female sociologist with no preconceived agenda, it's working really well in many cases.

Dr. Peggy Drexler decided to write this book after she was astonished to find her study yielding extraordinary information that debunked the oft-repeated idea that boys must have a father present in the home in order to learn how to be male. Raising Boys without Men: How maverick moms are creating the next generation of exceptional men. Contrary to popular lore, she found that the many sons of the single and lesbian moms she interviewed over 2 years were not only strong, emotionally healthy, and quite male, but they also had an abundance of flexibility and sensitivity and an extraordinarily well-developed sense of morality and justice.

Dr. Drexler concluded that it's good parenting--which can come from any combination of motherers/fatherers (people who aren't necessarily blood relatives but who care about the kids)that makes for gender-comfortable, emotionally stable boys and girls. She said it's the isolation of a parent that can produce difficulties. The most important thing is that a child have more than a single adult to whom s/he can turn for advice, comfort or other emotional needs.

For single-by-choice moms, here's a good comment from the adoptive single mother of 5: "I think the hardest thing is that I chose this for myself, so you don't have any right to ask for help. I have to watch that, because the help is there. ...people are always so worried about insulting you." Single moms, don't be afraid to invite others to share your life and your challenges. It's good for the kids, too!