This might be old news to you, but you know how little of the rest of the world the U.S. news covers. I recently found this info and thought it was worth sharing!

June 26, 2006

Mauritanians - Including New Female Cops - Vote on New Constitution

Two big changes going down in Mauritania, which hasn’t been in the news much since last August’s coup.

(1) Mauritanians are hitting the voting booth today to vote on a proposed new constitution that would enshrine presidential term limits and promote peaceful democratic political change.

(2)The current ruling junta has allowed women to become police officers for the first time in Mauritanian history. This weekend marked their debut on the streets of Mauritania’s capital, Naukchott. One of the female cadets first acts was to vote in the referendum.

Female Cops Walk the Beat in Mauritania

Qaddafi’s bodyguards have got nothing on these sisters.

I was at my relatives house the other night. We were all hanging out, and this girl, I’ll call her Shiela to maintain her privacy, realized that she had a message on her phone and was freaking that it was her father.

Now, her father is abusive, and she hangs out at my cousins a LOT because she feels safe there.

They mean well, but the mother isn’t equipped to handle other people’s drama like that. She wants to assist her, but has no other solid advice other than to stay away from Shiela’s father.

To her credit, they did call the cops on him one time, but apparently the father is good at pulling snow jobs on people and getting them to think he hasn’t done anything wrong - a lier basicly.

Lately he’s been using drugs really heavy and the level of violence has escalated. So my cousin didn’t want Shiela to go home.

That is pretty logical. I mean if she has somewhere safe to stay, why not stay there right? Only my cousin is worried that she will get cited by the police for kidnapping or something like that, so she’s only adding to the drama!

So this girl is hovering around the house in high tension, freaking out, calling her Aunt (only telling part of the story) to ask what she should do, etc….

Well, all this is just really getting to me. It’s frustrating to see them all freaked out when there is something specific they can do to limit the destruction or harm!!!

So I talked to her, asked questions, provided some LEGAL answers, self protection answers, and some VERY basic training. She was VERY interested.

She also brought up her concerns and questions about wondering if it was allowed because she is Christian, and we cleared that up very easily and quickly.

If you would like to know what steps I had her take for her situation, just start your back stage pass. I’ll detail exactly what I told her and what I taught her.

A few hours later, her father called. Instead of avoiding his call and acting scared, asking “What should I do? Should I answer or talk to him?” like she had earlier in the evening… She simply answered the phone.

He must have said something to the effect of where are you and what are you doing? She told him that she was staying at my cousin’s home.

He was confused.

So she repeated herself, more forcefully this time, and clarified that she meant all night.

There was no coaching from me. I had finished talking to her, we had all finished talking about it.

She was all on her own here, and her behaviour was DRAMATICALLY different.

He was angry of course, but he must have known she meant it (It was probably all a shock to him.), because he just hung up on her, and he didn’t call again that night, or try to come by and get her or anything.

It was wonderful to see her transformation into a confident, young woman who knew she had options to protect herself.  It was like night and day from only 2 hours earlier!

All she needed — All most women need in dangerous situations like that, is someone to teach them their options.

She was confident. Unafraid. Feeling like she could DO something for herself about the whole thing –even if he did lie to the cops. She knew what to do about it!

And that is what this site is ALL ABOUT!

Women learning to take care of themselves in a crazy world of violent crime, trauma, and abuse.

Are you going to do so as well?

Eldra McCracken

http://www.beautifulwarriorwomen.com

© BeautifulWarriorWomen.com  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent of Eldra McCracken.

If you can’t see it, click here. 

It’s freaky what is done to models to get “the look.”

I’ve known many in my day. Some have cellulite. None are what they look like in the photos.

Some get drowned in all the fakeness, others, knowing that it’s all B.S. are perfectly fine with not looking the way they do for a shoot or runway walk.

The models in our pics are most often REAL WOMEN who are REAL WARRIORS ™. That is our focus. Some are attitude pics, but we try to stick to real photos, because it’s more inspiring that way.

I hope everyone who looks at this film remembers it, and passes it on to those they know with eating disorders. That is especially important.

Take care, and God bless.
Eldra McCracken
http://www.beautifulwarriorwomen.com/
http://www.beautifulwarriorwomen.org/

© BeautifulWarriorWomen.com  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent of Eldra McCracken.

Whether you’re looking for self-defense classes or just a great way to keep in shape, martial arts are both educational and physically demanding.

Martial arts are as much a study in mental mastery as they are physical exercise. And very traditional schools sometimes also incorporate spiritual teachings into the training as well.

The first step to finding a martial arts program and instructor to try out a lot of styles and do some research.

Look all over the internet and try classes at different schools. Many offer a free or introductory priced trail class. These are great to make use of.

While it may take several tries to find the perfect chemistry, trust your instinct and you’ll know when you’ve found the right dojo and instructor.

There are many, many styles and it can get VERY overwhelming. In addition there are teachers and masters coming out with their own styles as well that are new or incorporate teachings of many styles they have learned.

While each discipline can be sub-divided into specific categories and techniques, the main thing to look for is wether it is a kicking and/or boxing style, grappling style such as wrestling, weapons teachings, or a mix of all the above.

Here is a list of some of the most popular styles.

Aikido. The Japanese art of unarmed self-defense, Aikido encourages discipline and is comprised of moves made of joint twisting, grabbing and bending.

Judo. Meaning ‘The Gentle Way,’ Judo is a method of turning an opponent’s strength against him or her through a series of throwing and flipping techniques.

Karate. An offensive and defensive art form that contains both hand strikes and kicking techniques, Karate includes a variety of blocks and powerful blows.

Kung Fu. A Chinese art form, Kung Fu is divided into several different styles, and is made up of balance and combination techniques. It also incorporates an arsenal of unique weapons.

Tae Kwon Do. Perhaps the most popular martial art among American children, Tae Kwon Do is a native Korean art form comprised of mostly kicking.

Once you’ve found a discipline that’s right for you, it’s time to look for a studio, often called a dojo, and an instructor, called a sifu or sensei. There are different terminologies and language used depending on where the style origionated from.

Unlike most traditional exercise classes, the relationship between sensei and student is more involved. The teacher is more aware of what each student is doing and corrects technique, and if it is a traditional style studio the teacher also teaches spritual teachings as well as mental and emotional techniques.

The relationship is grounded in tradition and should be one built on mutual respect and positive reinforcement. A good instructor is demanding, but never demeaning. Never train with anyone who treats you like a jerk.

Colored belts show your progress in most styles, but some do not use this system.

The colored belts worn by students in martial arts classes indicate levels of progression.

The sequence of colors differs with each style, but one example is white, yellow, orange, green, blue, red, brown and ultimately, the black belt, and from there there are additional levels which are master levels.

Each belt requires examinations (sometimes both physical and written) for advancement; and each student moves at a different pace. Some schools only have specific times they test, so if you want to move ahead quicker you must find a studio that has that built in or train in personal one on one lessons.

While the cost may vary from school to school, your cost will average approximately $100 per month for beginner classes that meet twice a week.

If you take private lessons the cost will be dramatically different, and if your teacher is world famous that will also increase costs; expect these to be at least $120-$180 a lesson.

I’ve been laid up with a bad sinus infection the last few days. I hope you didn’t miss me too much! Not likely as I don’t write here every day, but today I wanted to share a new post with you all, so… I’ll post it seperately as a permanent page. It’s the who we support page to the right. Put comments about it here.

I hope you all had a good weekend!

Eldra