Blog Posts by Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

Virginia state Senate Republican leader Thomas Norment, left, puts his head in his hand as he listens to debate on a bill requiring an ultrasound before an abortion in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday. The measure passed, 21 to 19. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)With a new version of the controversial ultrasound bill approved by the Virginia Senate and the recently tabled "personhood" bill still in the spotlight, a bipartisan group of activists and politicians this week launched a new state Political Action Committee, the Women's Strike Force, to raise money to support elected officials who are willing to fight for women's reproductive rights.

Outraged by what they say is a legislative assault on women, members of the PAC's leadership team have sounded a call to action. "It is time to push back against this intrusive legislation into our personal lives," former Virginia Delegate Katherine Wadell, an Independent, said when the PAC launched on Monday. "[I] was very active in the Republican Party, and it's upsetting to watch what's happened to the party because we always believed in limited government and individual freedom and the right to privacy. I've watched them move completely away from that to total government intrusion into women's

Read More »from New PAC, the Women's Strike Force, Launches in Response to Anti-abortion Bills in Virginia

We're in the thick of tax season, and we're all trying to keep a few extra pennies in our pockets. "Everyone wants to minimize the taxes they pay, but no one wants to end up being prosecuted by the IRS," says Ted Flynn, CEO of the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants. If you itemize your deductions, you may be eying that pile of receipts and wondering how much you can deduct without getting in trouble. Well, the good news is that certain medical, job, childcare, and transportation expenses absolutely are deductible -- within reason. "Use your common sense when you're attempting to deduct certain expenses," Flynn advises.

Here are a few deductions that the Tax Court determined wouldn't fly -- and a few that they, surprisingly, allowed.

A private plane

It's rare that you commute anywhere so often that buying your own private plane makes more financial sense than driving your car, but Kiplinger.com reports that a couple who did just that was actually allowed to deduct Read More »from 12 Ridiculous Tax Write Offs

China is softening the slogans for its One Child Policy, but most couples still aren't allowed to choose to have more than one child.In the United States, many people equate being "pro choice" with being "pro abortion" and think that reproductive rights are mostly about a woman's desire to avoid having kids. But in the China, being "pro choice" means almost the opposite -- it's has to do with allowing people to choose to have children. And now, as if to acknowledge this difference, the Chinese government has decided to change the way its promotes its long-standing One Child Policy.

The policy was put in place in 1979; since then, there have been 250 million fewer births in China. That, coupled with a preference for male offspring, has created a modern marriage crisis: A 2010 study by the Chinese Academy of Social Science found that more than 24 million Chinese males of marrying age are likely to be unable to find themselves a bride, an imbalance attributed to the One Child Policy and sex-selective abortions.

The new campaign is known as the "face-washing project," the Chinese communist party newspaper, The

Read More »from China's New One Child Policy Slogans: What It's like when Pro Choice Isn't an Option

Should you be able to read what your kids are texting?In the age of sexting and cyber bullying, you might assume that parents could easily monitor what they're kids are doing on the phone and online. But you'd be wrong.

"If I have a 13-year-old being harassed via text, I can't call and get those texts," father of six Rich Crandall, a republican state Senator from Arizona, told the Arizona Republic. So he's proposed a law (Senate Bill 1219) that would require cell phone companies to give Arizona parents access to their minor children's text messages.

Right now, federal law requires that the people who create the content -- in this case, the kids -- must be the ones to allow others to access it. In order to avoid violating federal law, wireless companies would probably have to get the child's permission before giving the content of the text messages to the parents. Parents, on the other hand, feel that they should automatically be able to access that content, given that they are usually the ones who purchase the phones and pay the bills.

Read More »from Do Kids Have a Right to Privacy when it Comes to Texting?

A 2010 email accusing President Barack Obama of removing the American flag from the White House and redecorating the Oval Office with a "Middle Eastern" theme has gone viral once again, uploaded by users on several websites over the weekend -- including Yahoo! Shine. It has been debunked several times over.

For the record:

The picture of President Obama addressing reporters while standing in front of a bright-yellow curtain wasn't taken in the Oval Office. As several sources confirm, that's the East Room, a reception room on the second (or "State") floor of the White House, and the curtains -- a brocade pattern featuring birds, medallions, flowers, olive branches, and winged angels (yes, angels) -- have been there since Jacqueline Kennedy redecorated the room nearly 50 years ago. (Both Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush redesigned the curtains during their husbands' administrations, but used the same fabric.) Here's a closer look at the curtain:

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The American Flag is still prominently Read More »from Debunking the Obama Decorating Myth: What Does the Oval Office Really Look Like?

Girl Scouts selling cookies in Dallas, Texas. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)Girl Scout troops in Chantilly, Virginia, have been banned from meeting at a local Catholic church and the school that's affiliated with it.

Not only will girls no longer be allowed to meet on school or church grounds, they are forbidden from wearing their uniforms and badge-bedecked sashes on school or church property, too.

The reason? According to the pastor of the Arlington Diocese, it's all Planned Parenthood's fault.

Since the troop is part of the World Association of Girls Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), the pastor said, and WAGGGS is partnered with Planned Parenthood, the scouts' agenda doesn't align with church teachings, a spokesman for the church explained. "Every pastor in the diocese has the responsibility to determine how best to use their parish facilities, consider the requests of outside groups, and reconcile such requests with the needs and mission of their parish community," the pastor said in a statement reported by NBC News.

Except, as local Girls Scout

Read More »from Girl Scouts Banned from VA Church for Being Connected to Planned Parenthood, Even Though They're Not

A group of medical experts has endorsed a new diet drug to combat obesity, recommending it to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval later this year. But some say that the health risks associated with the drug, Qnexa, are greater than any weight-loss benefit it may provide.

In a clinical trial involving 4,323 people, participants lost an average of 10 percent of their total body weight in the first year of using Qnexa, and some saw improvements in blood pressure as well.

Related: The 8 most obese cities in America

But less than two years ago, the same panel of experts decided that Qnexa was too dangerous to put on the market, since it had a documented history of causing heart problems and birth defects.

What made them change their minds?

Turns out it was a simple promise and a plan: The drug's manufacturer, Vivus Inc., agreed to keep a close eye on patients who are prescribed Qnexa, making them take monthly pregnancy tests (to avoid the possibility of birth defects)

Read More »from Qnexa, new weight-loss drug, approved by FDA despite health risks

Given the intense focus on women's reproductive health issues and contraception lately, it's refreshing to see a lawmaker propose legislation that affects guys.

In Georgia, as members of the state House of Representative debate a bill that would send people to prison for performing abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, Democratic freshman state representative Yasmin Neal has offered up a bill that prohibits vasectomies.

"Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation over vasectomies," House Bill 116 states. "There is substantial evidence that unregulated vasectomies result in fewer unwanted pregnancies and, by extension, fewer births. It is patently unfair that men can avoid the rewards of unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgement over such matters is more valid than the judgement of the General Assembly."

Predictably, Neal's bill has caused an uproar -- mostly among Republicans who have worked

Read More »from Georgia lawmaker counters abortion bill with one restricting vasectomies. Well, why not?