Hillary: Your Anti-Drug

CLICK PIC FOR TRANSCRIPT: Hillary and Chelsea at the CGI on Thursday, holding a one-on-one “conversation” during the Closing Plenary. (State Dept/public domain photo)

Hey news junkies…I’ve missed y’all bigtime! I’m still not quite up to full-time blogging, but after catching Minx’s hilarious (and way too kind) comment about “Wonk withdrawals” this morning, I’ve put together a bit of an installment of pics & links to help tide you over for awhile. So enjoy!

First up… check out this New Deal 2.0 interview (on first ladies being assets to the presidency) with Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Ellen Chesler:

Like Eleanor, Hillary also spent the better part of her years as first lady on the road, meeting as often with the powerless as with the powerful. She had boundless enthusiasm for that. She also had an understanding that the modern welfare safety net created by the New Deal was not fulfilling the vision of the Roosevelts for a temporary government subsidy that would help build personal capacity and self-reliance.

Chesler also made a great comment about First Lady Michelle Obama that I agree wholeheartedly with:

As so many pundits have observed, Michelle Obama, a forceful advocate for her husband during the campaign, has been something of a prisoner in the White House, her attention focused only on matters that could not possibly provoke controversy, such as elementary education, child obesity, military families, and of course, fashion. I know all the arguments about why this was necessary and how threatening a tall, strong, brilliant, and beautiful African-American woman would be to many Americans, especially if she seemed “uppity.” I realize that she was encouraged to appear devoted to her daughters and family and essentially to take an “un-Eleanor, un-Hillary” approach to her position. But after hearing her speak this week, I think this has been a mistake and would send her out on the road 24/7! It’s still not too late, and she may yet turn out to be one of her husband’s best assets.

Personally I’d add Elizabeth Edwards’ name to this conversation, even though she was technically never first lady and even though she should have been the one running for president! Andrea Mitchell recently did an interview with Cate Edwards, who is leaving her law career to head up the Elizabeth Edwards foundation. People magazine has a write-up on the interview as well, with a headline focused on Cate’s marriage next month and her comment that of course she’ll be thinking of her mother when she walks down the aisle. If you don’t have time to watch the Andrea Mitchell interview clip, here’s a snippet buried at the end of the People article:

Talking to Mitchell at the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure, Edwards also announced the creation of the Elizabeth Edwards Foundation, which she called “a perfect reflection” of her mother. The organization will support high school students who have limited resources but “great potential,” according to its website.

“Big choices that I make … little choices that I make, sort of everything I do, I hear her voice,” says Cate, “the same way I did when she was alive.”

My thoughts while listening to Cate–wow, she can talk the talk just like her mother!

CLICK FOR TRANSCRIPT: Another pic at the CGI, of Chelsea and her "Techno Mom." I love how Hillary looks so content and Chelsea, so proud. (State Dept/public domain photo)

In other mother-daughter news, if you haven’t clicked on the pic of Hillary and Chelsea at the CGIand read the transcript yet, I highly recommend doing so and scrolling down to the bottom third where they discuss technology. What a hoot, and informative too! I’ll tease a bit:

MS. CLINTON: I’d like to go back to technology, partly because, as your daughter, I remember when I helped you send your first text message.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Yes. (Laughter.)

MS. CLINTON: And —

SECRETARY CLINTON: That wasn’t very long ago, I have to tell you.

MS. CLINTON: And I also remember, even before you became so identified for your vigorous support of, kind of, the internet and social media as a way for people to participate virtually, when you were first emailing, you would self-identify as Techno Mom.

SECRETARY CLINTON: (Laughter.)

Over at Taylor Marsh’s, Joyce Arnold continues to be essential reading on all things LGBT and “liberally Independent.” Here are her two latest pieces:

• Queer Talk: Online, out or anonymous?

• ‘Throw the Bums Out’ Empowers Grassrootsie Types (The Liberally Independent ‘Too Few Choices Series’)

Please check them out when you get the time.

Also at TM’s, guest blogger Art Pronin (aka texan4Hillary) has this headline that piqued my interest: “Progressive Notes: Meet the Woman who Ran Against Austerity and Made History.” Art is referring to Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who is now the first female prime minister of Denmark. Give it a look.

While I’m at it, here are some “powerful women pow-wow” pics of Hillary meeting with female leaders over the last week or so (click to see larger versions):

Madames Secretary: Hillary with Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa in New York on Friday. (State Dept/public domain photo)

Bilaterally speaking: Hillary meets with Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla on Friday in New York. (State Dept/public domain photo)

Chatty Cathies: Hillary meets with EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and European Foreign Ministers on Thursday in NY. (State Dept/public domain photo)

Hillary and Hina: Hillary meets with Pakistan's first female (as well as youngest) foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, last Sunday in New York. (State Dept/public domain photo)

CLICK PIC FOR TRANSCRIPT: Hillary delivers remarks at an event hosted by UN Women on Women’s Political Participation, on Monday in NY (State Dept/public domain photo)

To go along with this photo to the left of Hillary, here’s a Daily Beast/Newsweek link from last weekend, on “Clinton’s Cause.” It’s an interview with Hillary, under the following byline:

At an international conference last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a seminal speech about women’s essential role in the global economy, pronouncing the 21st century a “Participation Age” for women. NEWSWEEK caught up with her.

Here’s an excerpt from a State Dept. fact sheet on that “seminal” speech:

In her remarks, the Secretary outlined a vision for a fundamental transformation of our economies. She also called for more and better data to measure our results and drive our policy-making. And, she challenged the leaders of APEC economies to take concrete steps, including these outlined in the San Francisco Declaration, which will be delivered to the APEC Leaders’ Meeting in Honolulu in November:

• Promoting greater access to financial services for women entrepreneurs;
• Improving women’s access to markets by identifying networks and associations that can assist women to access business connections and distribution channels;
• Encouraging the empowerment of women and removing discriminatory practices that inhibit women’s capacity and ability to build their skills; and
• Working to support the rise of women leaders—in both the public and private sectors.

Speaking of “Clinton’s cause,” Hillary Clinton’s State Department has committed up to $55 million dollars in additional funding to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves on its first anniversary. Hillary launched this initiative a year ago and you can see her tireless commitment to this effort has continued. Once again, Hillary demonstrates the difference between “just words” and doing the hard work it takes to put words into action.

Hillary doesn’t need to tell people to “take off their slippers” and put on their “marching boots,” ahem. She inspires by example and persuades people to join her campaign for us all by making abstract goals accessible in *real* terms.

Case-in-point: Hillary’s Remarks at the High-Level Meeting on Nutrition this past Tuesday.

Now, I know that you’ve covered a lot of this ground already and will continue to do so in the consultations tomorrow and afterwards, so let me simply say this: The United States is firmly committed to our investments in global nutrition, and we believe fervently that improving nutrition for pregnant women and children under two is one of the smartest investments we or anyone can make. The science for this is unassailably clear: When we ensure that women and children receive essential nutrients within the 1,000-day window, we can set youngsters on a better path toward lifelong health. When we miss that window, children can suffer both physical and cognitive damage that cannot be reversed.

Now, *that* is a call to action!

Switching gears slightly… Here’s a development in women’s health that made me smile last month (via Huffpo): First U.S. Inpatient Clinic For Moms With Postpartum Depression Opens. Huffpo blogger Laura Stampler reported on this, stating that:

Some initiatives are so relevant, so beneficial to a population in need, that it’s hard to believe they’re new. One of these is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hospital’s inpatient perinatal psychiatric unit for new mothers with severe postpartum depression, the first free-standing unit of its kind in the United States.

It is sad that it took so long to have an inpatient clinic for mothers suffering from postpartum depression, in a country where political hacks can’t shut up about their bogus “culture of life.” That said, I am so glad there is one now, and I hope it is the beginning of more to come.

And now for a development in global women’s rights today!

Via Bloomberg/Business Week…King Abdullah Gives Saudi Women Right to Vote for First Time:

We refuse to marginalize the role of women in Saudi society in every field of work,” Abdullah said on state television as he inaugurated a new session of the council. “Women have the right to submit their candidacy for municipal council membership and have the right to take part in submitting candidates in accordance with Shariah.”

This next one managed to pull on my heartstrings AND my funny-bone, even though it was written up in People magazine and I’m usually impervious to their attention deficit-style reporting… I credit it all to Wanda’s wit. Wanda Sykes: I Had a Double Mastectomy. From the link:

When it came to speaking out about her past few months, Sykes, the mother of nearly 2½-year-old twins with her wife, Alex, tells the talk-show host, “I was like, I don’t know, should I talk about it or what? How many things could I have? I’m Black, then Lesbian. I can’t be the poster child for everything.”

With a laugh, she notes, “At least with the LGBT issues we get a parade, we get a float, it’s a party. [But] I was real hesitant about doing this, because I hate walking. I got a lot of [cancer] walks coming up.”

As DeGeneres states, “I just admire the hell out of you.”

I admire the hell out of Wanda, too!

Here are a couple fun ones before I wrap up with some history trivia for this Sunday:

• From last month, via yahoo — American girl in Italy: 60 years later:

A stunning young woman walks down a street in Florence, her head held high. All around, men playfully gawk at her grace and beauty. Just then the camera shutter snaps. “American Girl in Italy” is among the most popular snapshots of all time, and it’s turning 60 years old this month.

The photo, which was shot in 1951, perfectly captures the fun and romance of being abroad. In honor of its birthday, Ninalee Craig, the subject of the photo spoke with the “Today” show about what happened behind the scenes and what the photo really represents.

• Betty White’s “I’m Still Hot” Remix with Luciana (via Huffpo):

This Day in Women’s History (September 25)

Thirty years ago today, Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in to the Supreme Court. Here’s a snippet from a thoughtful op-ed on O’Connor in the LA Times called “Flirting with Justice”:

In nudging the Supreme Court doors open, O’Connor made way for Justices Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, and even for the possibility of nine wise women, and one woman who will finally be considered wise enough to be elected president. In her holdings themselves, and in her holding against expectation to her own sense of the law, Sandra Day O’Connor demonstrated that the time to give up traditional notions of gender roles had come. This one wise judge set everyone on notice that women were no longer merely to be flirted with, if we ever were.

Last but not least, inspired by remembering O’Connor’s swearing in, the National Ledger has published a very neat list of “Famous Women Firsts,“ in which I was very pleased to see:

2008 Hillary Clinton wins the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, becoming the first woman in U.S. history to win a presidential primary contest.

Well, that’s it for me! I hope you check out the rest of the list — I would love to see you add your own “famous women firsts” in the comments. Until my next post–take care news junkies! And, know that your anti-drug Hillary is always just a click away.