Virginia Deane Abernethy (born in Cuba in 1934) is an American professor (emerita) of psychiatry and anthropology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She received a B.A. from Wellesley College, an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University, and Ph.D. from Harvard University. She is an anthropology fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Abernethy describes herself as an "ethnic separatist". An outspoken opponent of immigration, Abernethy has called for a complete moratorium on immigration into the United States. She claims that immigrants devalue the work force, deplete scarce resources, adversely impact carrying capacity, and that Third World immigration has led to a rise in dangerous diseases within the United States.

Abernethy is a close friend of minister Jesse Lee Peterson.

Abernethy's research has focused on the issues of population and culture. Her most famous work discounts the demographic transition theory, which holds that fertility drops as women become more educated and contraceptives become more available. In its place she has developed a fertility-opportunity hypothesis which states that fertility follows perceived economic opportunity. A corollary to this hypothesis is that food aid to developing nations will only exacerbate overpopulation. She has advocated in favor of microloans to women in the place of international aid, because she believes microloans allow improvement in the lives of families without leading to higher fertility.

Virginia (ⁱ/vərˈdʒɪnjə/), officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state located in the South Atlantic region of the United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city and Fairfax County the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population is over eight million.

The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, during which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern counties separated to form the state of West Virginia. Although the Commonwealth was under conservative single-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.

Merlin L. Miller is an American independent film director, writer, and producer. His works include the 1998 television film A Place to Grow, starring Gary Morris, and the 2000 film Jericho, starring Mark Valley. During the 2000s, he adopted an increasingly white nationalist political philosophy and founded a Tennessee-based all-white production company, Americana Pictures. He has also written articles for the Barnes Review and the Occidental Observer.

Miller is the 2012 presidential nominee of the American Third Position Party.

Miller (born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa), claims to be a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and to have commanded two United States Army units. Following this, he says, he worked as an Industrial engineering manager for Michelin Tire Company. In 1985, he graduated from the University of Southern California with an MFA degree in Cinema/Television.

Miller says that, in his childhood, he admired Walt Disney and Davy Crockett.

In 1989, Miller produced and edited Devil Rider, a horror movie starring Tag Groat as the title character. In 1991, Miller produced David Heavener's crime film Prime Target, starring Heavener as policeman John Bloodstone and Isaac Hayes as Captain Tompkins.

Designing Women is an American television sitcom that centered on the working and personal lives of four Southern women and one man in an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. It aired on the CBS television network from September 29, 1986 until May 24, 1993. The show was created by head writer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who wrote many of the episodes in the show's initial seasons. As of 2011, the series currently airs in syndication on the Comedy Gold and TV Guide Network channels.

Sisters Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter) and Suzanne Sugarbaker (Delta Burke) are polar opposites. Julia is an elegant, outspoken liberal intellectual; Suzanne is a rich, flashy, often self-centered former beauty queen and Miss Georgia World. They are constantly at personal odds but have launched Sugarbaker Designs, an interior design firm. Julia manages the company while Suzanne is mostly a financial backer who simply hangs around and annoys everyone under the guise of being the firm's salesperson.

The pragmatic designer Mary Jo Shively (Annie Potts), a recent divorcee raising two children, and the sweet-natured but somewhat naïve office manager Charlene Frazier Stillfield (Jean Smart) are initial investors and co-workers. Anthony Bouvier (Meshach Taylor), a former prison inmate who was falsely convicted of a robbery, is the only man on the staff and later in the series becomes a partner. Bernice Clifton (Alice Ghostley), an absent-minded friend of the Sugarbaker matriarch, also appears frequently.