I've always found it absurd when money is spent to do a study that finds obvious things such as "Racism Still Exists." There's only one word I can respond with, a perfect word, that I haven't really used since I was 12: Duh! I know it's not mature or intelligent, but to me it's perfectly fitting.

I came across another "duh" moment this week when I saw this headline: "Women's rights key to Africa AIDS crisis: study." My fellow Democrats, liberals, feminists, and users of common sense and logic have known this for years. If a woman has the right to say no, to use her own protection or insist that her unfaithful husband use protection, to have control over the body that she lives in, she will be in better health. The study focused on the failings of African governments in regards to women, but I can't help but think of our own country's failings for women around the world.

Jennifer Leblanc