Saturday: She isn’t Fly, She is Levitation

Morning news junkies!

Story behind this Saturday’s post title, in a nutshell: I can’t get enough of “Fly,” the new Nicki Minaj track featuring Rihanna on the chorus.

Here’s a youtube of the song with the entire lyrics for anyone who’s interested, but for the purpose of this post I’ll just highlight a couple excerpts.

Rihanna’s chorus goes like this:

I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise
To fly (x2)

The second verse of Nicki rapping starts off like this:

Everybody wanna try to box me in
Suffocating everytime it locks me in
Paint they own pictures then they crop me in
But I will remain where the top begins
Cause I am not a word, I am not a line
I am not a girl that can every be defined
I am not fly, I am levitation

Suffice it to say that “Fly” reminds me of sheroes everywhere…

…including our gal Hillary and the woman standing with her in the photo up top (taken yesterday at the State Department). That would be Yemeni Nobel Prize laureate Tawakkul Karman.

More photos here. If you click over, be sure to scroll all the way through to the last pic where Hillary and Tawakkul embrace each other. It’s worth it.

Speaking of ssheroes across the globe, if you haven’t checked out Vicki Markham’s report at RH Reality Check–the Significance of 7 Billion World Population for Women and the Environment–please make some time for it this weekend. Two quck snippets:

Women and girls are also disproportionately vulnerable to climate change-related natural disasters and face a significant risk of disaster-related fatalities. Following the 2004 Asian tsunami, three-quarters of the fatalities in eight Indonesian villages were women and girls. In the second most affected district in India, Cuddalore, the proportion of female fatalities was nearly 90 percent due to lack of preparedness which is focused more on men and boys.

I was shocked when I read these stats, even though I shouldn’t be by now.

On the flip side, women can also be powerful agents for leadership and change on these issues, not only in their own communities, but also in the international arena if given the opportunity.

• For example: Local grassroots women worldwide are implementing effective programs in their villages to address local environment and public health issues. Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka of Uganda does just that with the innovative NGO she founded, “Conservation Through Public Health”, where she integrates the needs of local villagers to co-exist successfully with the nearby native gorilla population. She helps villagers to not only protect the species and its habitat, but also realize the linked benefits of their own public and reproductive health, education, and livelihoods.

Here at home, Kirsten Gillibrand is showing elected Democrats how it’s Done. Via Good as You:

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) continues to show that backing equality is a great way to earn positive attention. Attention like this truly pro-family article from the New York Daily News:

New York’s junior senator is pushing federal legislation to lift the ban on gay couples and individuals adopting children.
Between New York’s same-sex marriage act and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, the momentum is there for the needed reform, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said.

“This legislation would open thousands of new foster and adoptive homes to children ensuring they are raised in loving families,” Gillibrand said of her “Every Child Deserves a Family Act.”
KEEP READING: Gillibrand: Open Adoption To Gays, Lesbians [NYDN]

Even closer to home for me is the “Great Mosquito Plague of 2011” that has been ravaging Houston. I’m still recovering from several bites myself, and I swear, you couldn’t go anywhere in this town without having a discussion about the darned mosquitoes last week.

Thankfully a cold front has settled in since yesterday and is bringing some relief. At least so far.

Anyhow, I mention the mosquitoes because I thought y’all might enjoy this bit of local coverage on Occupy Houston, via Culturemap — Occupy Houston endures the mosquitos, no-clapping rules and a slow-flow water fountain:

At the urging of Houston City Council Member Jolanda Jones, Occupy Houston protestors have begun to actively participate in local politics by attending Houston City Council meetings.

Occupiers made up most of the audience during one session this week. They chiefly addressed concerns about continuing their occupation of Tranquility Park in comfort, but also weighed in on prevalent, city-wide problems and hot-button issues on the council’s agenda — including the Kroger 380 Agreement.

Protestors made their voices heard in a nearly two-and-a-half hours long public speaking segment. Many council members were absent during the session. Most elected officials who were in attendance spouted platitudes that seemed geared toward reelection rather than action. The video is somewhat agonizing, but extremely entertaining.

Click over to Culturemap for some highlights of what was said.

Quote of the Week

“You can’t be a perfectly lubricated weather vane on the important issues of the day. Romney has been missing in action in terms of showing any kind of leadership.”

— Jon Huntsman, on CNN

This Week in Women’s History (October 23-29)

Happy Birthday Hillary Clinton! Hillary turned 64 on Wednesday:

We here at The Cable would like to send out our warmest birthday wishes to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is 64 years young today.

So how will the secretary be spending her special day? She did two interviews this morning on Iran: an interview on social media with BBC Persia and then an interview VOA Parazit, VOA’s Persian-language station. Clinton then met with Bahraini Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa and joined Deputy Secretary Tom Nides‘ meeting with Iraqi National Security Advisor Faleh al-Fayyad.

“They don’t make hallmark cards for that,” one State Department official told us.

Seemingly in honor of Hillary’s birthday, Samantha Gowen at the OC Register did a slideshow on
“Powerful Women Worldwide”:

Who says it’s a man’s world anymore? Probably not Hillary Clinton, who turns 64 Wednesday, or any of the other women on our list of powerful women.

Today we celebrate Girl Power with a look at other powerful women in the world, from business to politics, news and entertainment.

From Gowen’s write-up on Hillary:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton: In her 64 years, she has made remarkable strides, both for herself and women. The Wellesley College and Yale School of Law graduate was born in Chicago and got an early start in politics at age 13: Raised in a conservative household, she helped canvass in South Side Chicago looking for electoral fraud against presidential candidate Richard Nixon.
…
She married Bill Clinton in 1975 and was first lady of Arkansas during his 10-year stint as governor, then became the first first lady of the U.S. to hold a postgraduate degree. After her husband’s two terms in the White House, she wasn’t done with politics and ran for U.S. Senate in New York in 2000, another first for a first lady.
…
In 2008 she ran for president and despite a strong showing, fell second to Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination. After he was elected, Obama asked Clinton to serve as his secretary of state. Rumors abound for the 2012 election year: Will she move into place as Obama’s vice presidential running mate?

I’ll close with this blurb via Passport magazine, in case you didn’t hear it through the grapewine already:

Could the child of former President Bill Clinton and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton be considering a run for Congress? Many are reporting that Chelsea has been approached by “the right people” from the New York Democratic Party this year and that the recently married 31-year-old is “actively considering” a run for Congress. Chelsea was involved in her mother’s campaign for President and won over key demographics with her winning personality and knowledge of the issues.

We think today would be a great time for her to announce her run, especially since it’s her mom’s birthday!

Is it too early to start chanting Chelsea 2016? A wonk can dream… *wink*

Well that’s it for me… what’s on your reading list this Saturday?

Saturday: Lead, Hillary, lead!

Morning news junkies!

Wonk here, with some weekend reads for you, so grab a fresh cup of your favorite a.m. beverage and let’s get right to it.

First up — to the right, it’s our girl in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, being greeted by participants of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Network (State Department/public domain photo):

Where women are involved in economies, everybody does better. That’s just common sense.

–Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

Two days earlier at Foggy Bottom’s Ben Franklin Room, Hillary honored African women entrepreneurs–here’s an excerpt from her remarks to them (and a pic of Hillary with the women–click on it to see the HQ version):

And so today, I am here to really not only thank you, but to encourage you – to encourage you to keep making the contacts, building the networks, making the changes that will really revolutionize what women are doing around the world. And I know that there are many here who are very determined and very committed but still face obstacles. So I wanted also to tell you, do not despair. You have many friends and supporters back here in the United States. And we will try to help you break down the barriers and the hurdles that you encounter. You heard Sylvia say that there needed to be support for women to travel those great long distances across Africa, to meet with one another, to share ideas, to start businesses. And we will do our best to help you make the difference in your own lives.

And we also will keep telling leaders around the world, as I did at a conference just a few weeks ago about Asia, that the rise of women in economies over the past 10 years has increased globally the GDP to the equivalent of China’s. Now what that means is if women are empowered to work, to build businesses, to have access to credit, to have an ownership interest in the land that they farm and the crops that they harvest, to be given a chance to compete, as Sylvia said, we know that women will make a huge contribution. So we have to break down the barriers that still exist. We have to change the laws that still hold women back. We have to not only encourage you, but encourage the governments and businesses of Africa to recognize a good thing, which is your empowerment and entrepreneurial skills.

There are still some people I encounter who say, “Well, women don’t contribute much to the economy,” because of course, they don’t count the backbreaking work that women do every single day. And I’m always a little disappointed and quite surprised when I hear that, and I say to these male economists and government leaders, “Look out the window of your car, of your house, of your office. Who is doing a lot of the work in Africa? And who is doing work that is not fairly compensated? And what can you do to unleash that potential so that your GDP grows, your economy gets bigger, you will benefit from this kind of investment?”

I’ve long been one of the voices saying “Rise, Hillary, Rise,” but these days the words that come to my mind are… “Lead, Hillary… Lead!”

Especially after reading the next two items…

The first of which is Laura Rozen’s piece earlier this week at The Envoy — “The Clinton doctrine on economic statecraft: Clinton to urge U.S. diplomats to put economics at top of foreign policy agenda.”

And in many ways, Hillary Clinton’s diplomatic portfolio is increasingly dominated by global economic challenges. Trade issues obviously have a direct impact on America’s efforts to emerge from the present economic downturn–from the battles over the national debt to the need to stimulate job growth. But economic issues also shape other less-noted features of the American foreign-policy agenda, be it the effort to contain fallout from Europe’s debt crisis, to managing the rise of G20 economic powers such as Brazil, Turkey and India—all of whom come bearing their own foreign policy ambitions. As a result, diplomats say, economic and foreign policy are growing ever more intertwined.

“The trading floor is increasingly replacing the battlefield as the forum for state contacts,” according  to one of Clinton’s State Department advisers, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as to describe the department’s economic plans more broadly.

So Hillary Clinton has been working hard to beef up the economic bench strength of the State Department, while also mounting a bid for State officials to play a more decisive role in determining U.S. global economics policy. Aides expect her to lay out what they are calling the “Clinton doctrine on economic statecraft” early this month, likely in a speech in New York. Timing and venue for the address are still being worked out, her aides say.

Here’s a taste of the second piece, from Business Insider — “Obama Taps Hillary Clinton’s Popularity To Help Push Jobs Agenda“:

President Barack Obama has drafted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to help him sell his jobs agenda to a wary Congress and American public.

Clinton, the most popular figure in American government, will host Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness on Friday at the State Department to discuss ways to grow foreign direct investment and increase domestic investment.

It’s a major shift for Clinton, who has largely been above the fray between Congress and Obama, with a heavy foreign policy agenda due to the Arab Spring — and inserting her into the debate seems to be an attempt by the Obama administration to capitalize on her popularity.

Is it any wonder that Hillary continues to be the talk of DC’s 2012 parlor games — the latest of which has Politico nominating Hillary for a fantasy independent run:

There’s the minor inconvenience that she’s a lifelong Democrat, works for Obama and seems hell-bent on getting out of the public arena (before she runs again in 2016). She will need to explain all of that away.

Here’s how. Clinton could plunge in with a nonpartisan campaign that merges the two chapters of her political life: managing a world on fire as secretary of state the past two years and helping her husband oversee eight years of prosperity during the 1990s.

Back here in the reality-based world, Hillary has released a wonderful statement honoring this years’ female Nobel peace laureates:

I am delighted to send heartfelt congratulations to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman and Liberian peace activist Leymah Roberta Gbowee for the prestigious honor of sharing this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. They are shining examples of the difference that women can make and the progress they can help achieve when given the opportunity to make decisions about the future of their societies and countries.

The unflinching courage, strength and leadership of these women to build peace, advance reconciliation, and defend the rights of fellow citizens in their own countries provide inspiration for women’s rights and human progress everywhere. This recognition of their extraordinary accomplishments reflects the efforts of many other women who are promoting peace and security in their countries and communities. I want to commend the Nobel Committee for recognizing the powerful role women are playing in building peace and ending conflict around the world.

Quote Unquote

Here are a few blurbs of interest I caught this week (the first one is strange if you read it all the way through, in a sort of revealing way):

Occupy Wall Street is the latest proof that populism is not a purely conservative phenomenon; instead, populism of the left or the right distrusts government as a bribed, compromised institution, and rejects consensus as a political tactic. For liberals who envy the conservative skill at converting protest movements into a sustained political force, and who want to create a left -leaning enforcer within the Democratic Party, OWS is the answer to a fantasy.

However, for Barack Obama, OWS happens to be the polar opposite of what he campaigned on as well as the message that launched him at the convention in Boston in 2004. Its “us versus them” mantra has made Wall Street its target, but its ultimate result would be a politics that is conflict-driven, divided, and bitterly conscious of the line between a “red” and a “blue” America. Obama should hear the anger in these protests, but he should recognize that it is poised to join the tea party as one more force that is pulling us apart.

–Artur Davis, former congressman (D-Ala.)

“That was an event in my life, not who I am. I’m a friend, daughter, sister, teacher. I’m in a relationship (with a Waltham, Mass. Businessman) that’s been wonderful for 10 years – longer… I’m happy, and I still have a voice.”

—Anita Hill on her testimony against Clarence Thomas 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in San Francisco yesterday for an event at the Westin St. Francis, where she gave a keynote speech about “the inclusion of women as an economic growth strategy” at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Women and the Economy Summit. And this morning an informant tells Grub Street that she dined last night at Zuni Café. “She was super friendly,” says the informant. “She drinks whiskey sours. Weird, right?”

–Grub Street

Gabby did it better than I did.

–Joe Biden, on Gabbty Giffords’ effort to affix a medal to former astronaut and Navy Capt. Mark Kelly’s jacket

Today in Women’s History (October 8th)  

Jeanne Mance  was  the first nurse in New France. On October 8, 1645, she..

…opens the Hôtel Dieu, Montreal’s First hospital and the First lay hospital in North America; she will treat the French and Aboriginal populations for over 30 years.

Jeanne Mance later helped her friend Marguerite Bourgeoys found the Congregation of Notre Dame for the education of girls.

Well that’s it for me… what’s on your mind/reading list this weekend? 

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.