Lets examine the parallel benefits of a healthy regimen for our bodies and our country. After all, isn't America a living breathing being of sorts with people in place of cells. These cells can be beneficial, malignant or have no effect.

The 5 benefits of regular exercise according to the Livestrong Foundation applied to America.

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It would have made good video if Gay Rights activists would have actually interrupted Senator Marco Rubio's speech this weekend, as The Advocate reports. But the truth is, The Advocate lied about Rubio's speech being interrupted.

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Last month I wrote about my summer reading list.  On the top of my list is the latest from Jen Lancaster, "The Tao of Martha."  I love Jen because she's one of us, but doesn't wear it on her sleeve.  Instead, she writes witty, entertaining bestsellers that all women can enjoy.  In an interview she told me, "But if my goofy little stories just happen to emphasize conservative values like morality, self-determination, and liberty, well… let’s just say that’s not unintentional."

Ahead of the new book coming out on June 4, she did an interview on CNN Radio.  It's worth a listen.

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Ace, I see you've got a post about National Review's Kevin Williamson going vigilante on a cell-phone-wielding boor at a theater.  As Williamson tells the tale:

The lady seated to my immediate right (very close quarters on bench seating) was fairly insistent about using her phone. I asked her to turn it off. She answered: “So don’t look.” I asked her whether I had missed something during the very pointed announcements to please turn off your phones, perhaps a special exemption granted for her. She suggested that I should mind my own business.

So I minded my own business by utilizing my famously feline agility to deftly snatch the phone out of her hand and toss it across the room, where it would do no more damage. She slapped me and stormed away to seek managerial succor. Eventually, I was visited by a black-suited agent of order, who asked whether he might have a word.

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Another aspect of feminists' philosophy is that even in 2013 there is oppression from the patriarch around every corner.  They tell us that the sexy models on the magazine stands, in commercials, TV and movies are hurting young women's self-esteem and body image.  Then why are they ignoring a former Victoria's Secret model's recent story about giving up the modeling business because it made her feel like a "sex worker" and "like a piece of meat"?  Because the model also says she gave up her career because of her faith.

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On Tuesday evening, Jews celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, better known in English as Pentecost--the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, the central event of the five books of Moses in the Old Testament. Shavuot is also a spring festival welcoming the first fruits of the season and the end of a seven-week counting period (the Omer) that began the second night of Passover--hence the name Shavuot, which means “weeks” in Hebrew.

Shavuot is observed with a day of rest (two days outside Israel, where historically the Jewish population could never be precisely certain that their calendars were exactly in sync with that of the Holy Land). Traditionally, Jews stay up all night on Shavuot to study the Torah together. The Shavuot morning service features the reading of the Ten Commandments from the Torah scroll, and festive meals emphasize dairy foods. 

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During the 2012 election we heard about "Julia," the woman who benefited from government programs or more specifically from President Obama being in office.  What we didn't hear (because Republicans failed to make the case) was the harm that big government does to women. 

From Carrie Lukas at Huffington Post:

So what really stands in the way of women achieving that holy grail of work-family balance? Ill-conceived government policies shoulder part of the blame. Government imposes a wide-variety of regulations and policies that limit the employment opportunities available for women. Most of these are done in the name of protecting workers, but they can backfire by making it more difficult and expensive for businesses to offer jobs, particularly flexible work arrangements. The good news is that, unlike so many of the other factors that complicated this issue, these policies can change.

Consider the Fair Labor Standards Act, a law that was enacted in 1938. FSLA's rules for pay, hours, and worker classifications may have made sense during the Great Depression, but it is out-of-date today, leaving the work-world much less flexible than it should be.

Technologies that allow at-home work--for workers to respond to email, participate in conference calls, and complete computer-based tasks--have been a boon for professional workers who are exempt from FLSA's requirements and are on salary. Parents who need to stay home with sick children or want to be at home for after-school hours have the ability to complete work tasks later in the evening from home.

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I'm currently reading a galley copy of "Men on Strike" by Dr. Helen Smith (aka InstaWife).  A thought-provoking book that I'll write about more after I'm done reading it.  Basically, it talks about why men are boycotting marriage and fatherhood.  Smith likens it to "Going Galt" in that men are taking their production away from a society that oppresses them. 

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You can't have Mother's Day without fathers, and children.  Too many fathers don't stick around to pay due respect to the mothers of their children.  The Hallmark-card image of Dad and the kids bringing breakfast - sometimes cooked with lovable ineptitude - to Mom in bed is increasingly remote from the life experience of large sectors of the population today.

I was raised by a miracle-working single mom myself.  We were both acutely aware of the hardships caused by an absent father and husband.  We got through some tough times together, my mom, sister, and me.  It would have been easier with Dad around, no doubt about it.  To this day, twelve years after my mother passed away, I'm not sure how she kept a roof over our heads and food on the table with her meager salary.

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