Barack Obama

Women's health care just as important as men's To the editor: New health insurance plans are now required to cover women's preventive services without charging a co-payment, co-insurance or a deductible. Since there is a disparity in incomes between men and women, this is not something that should even be debated. If men can get happy pills, pumps, vasectomies and Pro-Vas Occlusions, what is the big problem providing for women as well? Too often, the combination of women's lower incomes and burdensome health costs means that women forgo necessary preventive services, making even more cost to society at large and women in particular.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2009. Last year's winner was then-President-elect Barack Obama. The 2007 winner was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Other recent winners have included Bono, President George W. Bush, and Amazon.com CEO and founder Jeff Bezos On the Net: www.time.com/

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- Natalie Bonner Snyder, one of 380 Jefferson High School seniors who graduated Saturday in Shepherd University's Butcher Center, remembered her class' early days as freshmen. "Days and weeks went by and, before we knew it, we started to forget who was from Charles Town, Shepherdstown or Harpers Ferry and we simply became the Cougars of Jefferson High School," she said. Snyder, one of 134 seniors to graduate with honors, said in remarks to her class, "During our four years walking those halls, sitting in those classrooms and being with each other, we have had many accomplishments that have reflected the group we are and the individuals we have become.

Picture it: Somewhere in a red state, an unhappy woman sits down at her computer and starts brainstorming for her latest chain e-mail against the country's 44th president. She bangs out ideas on her keyboard: "Barack Obama used stimulus money to tear down a bald eagle sanctuary. " "Barack Obama wants to tax grocery-coupon savings. " She stares at the screen, wondering which idea to run with. That's when she notices the squiggles. Underneath the president's first and last names are Microsoft Office's telltale sign of a misspelled word.

"To the letter about Darwin from Dr. Ernest Arnold, which I have no idea what he's a doctor of: I just wish you'd understand one thing. With a doctor in front of your name, I assume that means you're a very intelligent person, but I sure am glad, as a born-again Christian, that I am such a dumb person that I believe the Bible as being the true and the only infallible word of God. How you could have that much faith to believe in evolution. ... " - Hagerstown "Our economy has gone from bad to worse.

Last week, Sen. Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44th president. We all know what the adults of America thought, but what are the young people of our community thinking about this historic event? "President Obama's goals are well for this country. Obama has the right mind set to help the people not just the government," said Bernard Cabatit, 14, a ninth-grader at North Hagerstown High School. "He had a great way to show that he was ready to lead before he was even elected, because the day before he was out painting a house for the homeless and poor.