Fast-food chain Carl's Jr. is currently holding a contest entitled "Hot Chicks Eating Burgers," which promises a grand prize of $1,000, an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas, and a chance to be in an upcoming commercial for the hottest chick eating a burger.

The Washington Post clearly didn't do its homework before posting a photo and caption implying that President Obama was checking out a young woman's rear end, just like all men do.

From the 2009 National NOW conference in Indianapolis to your computer screen, you can now watch video of our terrific feminist speakers online.

The ad promotes a new 7-inch sub suggestively positioned in front of the profile of a young woman, mouth agape (though clearly not prepared to bite), with the words "blow" and "taste" in notably large font beside it.

As usual at the National NOW Conference, Sunday was devoted to debating and voting on resolutions that shape NOW's agenda for the coming year. Eleven resolutions were passed this year on issues including: stopping domestic terrorism at women's health clinics; single-payer health care as an issue of economic justice for women; health care for women with disabilities; the horrendous practice of shackling pregnant incarcerated women before, during and immediately post-childbirth; the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2010; the long-overdue U.S. ratification of the international women's treaty CEDAW; calling for the criminalization of sexual exploitation of women by clergy; the continued need for an Equal Rights Amendment; and more. Read the full text of the resolutions online.

NOW President Kim Gandy writes in her biweekly Below the Belt column: "In the United States it is entirely possible for an employed, fully-insured family to go bankrupt because of health care costs. The burden of a major illness, even with health insurance, can cause you to lose your job, force you to sell your home, and leave you no option but to move hundreds of miles to live in your grown daughter's storage room. That this can happen in the richest, most powerful country in the world (or so they say) is nothing short of criminal."

The 2009 National NOW Conference, June 19-21 in Indianapolis, was an action-packed event -- with exciting speakers, dynamic workshops and a spirited election. Read more about some of the highlights from this year's conference!

Vocal far-right conservative Ann Coulter took anti-choice hate speech to a level even Bill O'Reilly couldn't support while discussing Dr. George Tiller's murder: "I don't really like to think of it as a murder. It was terminating Tiller in the 203rd trimester," said Coulter.

Today's Supreme Court ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano was disappointing, but it's what we have come to expect from the conservative majority on the Roberts Court. Had retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor still been on the court, instead of her successor Justice Samuel Alito, this 5-4 decision might well have gone the other way.

Radio host Rush Limbaugh mocks and belittles Sonia Sotomayor's participation in a women's Club – the Belizean Grove – which she recently left as a result of pressure from those opposed to the "discrimination" inherent in a woman-centric group: "I think I'm going to send Sotomayor, and her club, a bunch of vacuum cleaners to help them clean up after their meetings."

Since its passage on June 23, 1972, there have been repeated attacks on Title IX, the civil rights law that guarantees equal educational opportunities to women and girls. After eight years of Bush administration regulations limiting the impact and effectiveness of Title IX, there is now an opportunity to reinvigorate the law and once again prohibit sex discrimination in educational programs receiving federal funds.

In a preliminary hearing Monday, singer Chris Brown avoided jail time altogether and pled not guilty of assaulting ex-girlfriend and singer Rihanna in February. After the assault, shocking photos of Rihanna surfaced, showing her face badly swollen and bruised.

In a plea deal, Brown received no jail time -- only community service, domestic violence counseling, and five years of supervised probation for the felony assault charge.

"Even Paris Hilton got more jail time!" said NOW President Kim Gandy. "Young girls and boys watching this unfold on TV will see that men who commit violence against women practically go scot-free," said Gandy.

This weekend members of the National Organization for Women (NOW) cast their votes for a new team of leaders to direct the largest grassroots feminist organization in the country over the next four years. NOW delegates elected Terry O'Neill, who served as the group's membership vice president from 2001 to 2005, to succeed President Kim Gandy.

The news lately has been a roller coaster of extremes -- shifting between hope and injustice, success and tragedy, gain and loss. The only consistent aspect is the major role the media play in telling these stories, and the abuse of their power to shape the news.

The National Organization for Women calls on President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to withdraw the U.S. Department of Justice brief filed in support of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and to publicly renounce this discriminatory law. The brief was reportedly written by Bush administration holdovers, and if that is the case, this administration must immediately make it clear that President Obama does not support this position.

Under DOMA, same-sex couples who wed in states where their marriages are legal are still denied federal marriage benefits, and other states may refuse to recognize their unions.

"President Obama ran on a Democratic Platform that specifically said: 'We oppose the Defense of Marriage Act and all attempts to use this issue to divide us,'" said NOW President Kim Gandy. "This brief is indeed divisive, and the administration must disavow it immediately."