Join the NO NO Sisterhood!

Posted: October 5, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Action Memo, New Orleans, PUMA, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , , | 15 Comments

I voted in the Democratic run-off yesterday in Louisiana. I did something that I haven’t done for a long time.  I went down the list of candidates for judgeships and the various other races and voted for all the women. Something tells me I wasn’t alone in this when I heard second congressional district candidate Helena Moreno’s speech after she placed second after $Bill Jefferson and ahead of five well known black male politicians vying for the position.  She had a lot of cross-over vote here in a city where the politics of race is pervasive.  She’s a latina and has been frequently labelled  as “that little white girl” in the race.  Her cross-over vote came from black women. This year may yet be known as the REAL year of the woman when a female awakening turns the tide against misogyny and sexism. Our mantra could be something to the effect of “We’re bitter, we vote, get out of office!”

Helena Moreno  has been in New Orleans about 8 years. She quit her job as a news anchor in March to run for office.  As a journalist, she was frequently out on the beat looking for corruption and places where things don’t quite work for people. Since this is New Orleans, Moreno never ran out of material. Moreno also lived through Hurricane Katrina and learned its lessons well.

While she does have great name recognition and quite a presence, she is considered the underdog in this race because of the politics of racial identity. That is unless the politics of being a woman in what has arguably been a brutal year for women creates a NO NO sisterhood.  That is what I want to see: a movement where all women stand up together and say “NO, he didn’t!”  I hope this year we just don’t wag our fingers and speak our indignation then vote for folks who promise to be marginally less worse on the issues we care about.  In the No NO Sisterhood, we vote our interests and write checks to support women’s campaigns to ensure our voices our heard and acted on.  I’m thinking we should adopt that old women’s fist raised in the symbol of woman with a slight change.  The middle finger should be raised to the media and politicians who practice the politics of beating up on women.

During the primary, Moreno had a number of typical dirty tricks pulled on her–including the usual things like hiring Robo phone calls that say you’re from her campaign at all hours and times of day to harass folks and turn them off.  She also became the victim of a whisper campaign that went more public.  During a televised debate an exchange between Moreno and State Rep. Cedric Richmond turned into a shouting match.  Richmond is currently fighting against a suspension of his law license for using a nonprimary residence to run for a city council seat.  This exchange happened shortly after Moreno called him out on the pending case. Here’s the script as reported by the Times Picayune.

“Would everyone up here, Miss Moreno specifically, would you be willing to submit to a random drug test?” Richmond asked, noting that many job applicants face such screening
…
The nasty confrontation ended with Moreno, stung by what she called Richmond’s outrageous “suggestion” that she uses drugs, marching out of WDSU-TV’s downtown New Orleans’ studios and into a nearby clinic, where she voluntarily submitted to a drug test.

She quickly delivered the results — a clean reading — to The Times-Picayune.

There’s been a lot of interesting coverage of this race, and as Ms. Moreno takes on $Bill Jefferson, it is bound to get a whole lot more interesting.  That is why I am asking you to not only follow what happens, but to help Helena.  She’s running in New Orleans and in Louisiana.  Politics down here are not only interesting, but can be very brutal.

Here’s her website:  Moreno for Congress

Please join me at the NO NO Sisterhood at Act Blue to support Helena Moreno and other fine women candidates. 

No No Sisterhood

I think this year has taught us that we cannot rely on many of the current members of the DNC to protect our interests.  We need to send some more women to congress, now.

(Cross-posted at the Confluence)

Here we go again …

Posted: September 25, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Human Rights, No Obama, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , , | 8 Comments

It’s true.  On issue after issue, I pretty  much disagree with Sarah Palin.  I see nothing positive about hunting or fishing unless you have no other way to eat.  I see killing things for fun as a completely immoral action.  I do not consider a gestating protohuman to be ‘ensouled’ and the same as a walking talking human being or even a walking, eating moose.  I’d rather see Nebraska, Kansas, and North Dakota be turned into fan farms than drill in ANWAR.  I’d also rather see Arizona turned into a one big solar panel that do any more drilling off the Florida coast.  I think the death penalty is something right out of the dark ages and has no place in a civilized country.  I don’t care if gay people marry, they have every right to be as miserable and trapped in dead end relationships as straight folks.  I’m definitely a libertarian on the civil rights issues.  My position on anything like this–even those multiple wife holding Mormon men– is it’s not my business and it’s certainly not the government’s business. If you’re not hurting some one and it applies to a person capable of giving reasoned consent (exceptions for minors and the disabled), it shouldn’t be the subject of a law. I don’t even care if folks smoke marijuana or use heroin as long as they stay put where they are and don’t try to drive a car.  I am pro-science and I think Christianity was invented by the Romans to control slaves.  I think folks that believe in it are victim to the biggest on-going sham in history. That pretty much puts me very much at odds with about everything Sarah believes in.  But you know what?  She has a right to say it, believe in it, and run for vice president without being called every nasty, misogynistic, stereotypical, hateful thing you can call a woman.  Senator Obama delivers lectures to us on racism and his campaign accuses every one of using subtle racist code words.  However, he and the rest of his democratic cronies are more than happy to use not so subtle code words or ads against women and the elderly.    Today’s example from the NY Times Op-Ed page.

I have to hand it to Palin, she may be onto something in her batty way: the election is very much about American exceptionalism.

Roger Cohen in Today’s New York Times

When I read “batty”, all I can think of his Archie Bunker calling Edith a ‘dingbat’. It’s the ultimate insult to any woman’s intellgence.

While I’m at it, I’d like to say that any of my gay and lesbian friends and their related activist groups need to start looking (without stars in their eyes) at a candidate that will announce a series of Values Forums and be seen in public over and over again with a homophobic, gay-baiting preacher.  It is also time for Senator Obama to start having a conversation about hating on homosexuals with the black religious community.  He is not holding them to the same standard of supporting civil rights that he expects of white people when it comes to the civil rights of black people. So it’s okay for Obama and this group to hate on gay folks AND it’s okay for Obama and his cronies to hate on women who hold socially conservative positions since racism is the only relevant evil in this race. Is that the deal here?

Also, Senator Obama and his nation of clueless cult members should be more respectful of their elders and stop using ageism in his commercials attacking Senator McCain.  I think portraying the elderly as addled, unable to keep up with technology, and incapable of change is exactly what Obama keeps pulling on Senator McCain.  Any one who spends time teaching at universities, as Senator Obama has, should know that the emeritus professor is the most respected position.  Many, many professors continue teaching and researching way into their nineties.  They may need some additional support from staff, but they continue to be vibrant contributers to their areas way past their retirements.  If Senator Obama thinks that he doesn’t want to be judged on his “funny name” or the color of his skin,  he needs to extend the same level of respect to older Americans.  Not all folks with Hussein in their names are terrorists and not all senior citzens have alzheimer’s disease. The latest mailing I keep getting from the Obama supporters to get McCain to release his ‘real’ medical reports is a thinly veiled whisper campaign made to make folks take notice of McCain’s age.  While there are hate groups out there to remind folks of Obama’s race, there are only Obama supporters out there bringing up McCain’s age and Senator Palin’s sex and fundamentalist beliefs.  Like I said, I disagree on almost every social position possible with the Republican party, but I’ve never seen them say anything blantantly racist about Senator Obama.  However, I see Obama and his supporters spew misogynistic, ageist, and gay-hating terms daily.  I’ve also seen them play the race card at the drop of a hat. This should stop. It’s ugly and it’s un-American.

 UPDATE TODAY:  YET AGAIN …

From Fox New:

Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings on Wednesday warned two minority groups to beware of Sarah Palin because “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks.”

Hastings, who is black and a Democrat, made the comment in Florida at a panel discussion hosted by the National Jewish Democratic Council.

 source: 

 http://http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/25/congressman-warns-jews-blacks-to-beware-of-palin/

What Goes around Comes around …

Posted: September 10, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: No Obama, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

Senator Obama is learning that karma is a bitch!  During the primary, his entire campaign screamed racism whenever they could portray comments by Senator Clinton, President Clinton, or her supporters in the worst possible light.  It was almost a game to them.  Wait for the slightest sign of a code word, send in an Obama surrogate to claim racism, then send the candidate out to say, well, I’m sure they REALLY didn’t mean that!  Clinton spent a lot of time off message due to this tactic.

Well, now the table is turned!  Now that the country has focused on the rampant sexism during the primary, there is heightened sensitivity to any potentially sexist comment and definitely to comments that drip with misogyny.  We’ve already seen Senator Obama’s less than subtle third finger to Hillary so we know he’s incapable of nuanced references.  Remember the after victory party that blared Jay-Z’s “99 problems (But a bitch ain’t one)?”  Well, as the good pastor Wright might say “chickens are coming home to roost”.

The McCain campaign is playing by different rules which maybe why Obama struggles with a response other than, really, I didn’t mean that and you all know better and shouldn’t be picking on me.  Word from McCain: You meant it and it’s sexist!  If this isn’t more proof that McCain is gunning for the 18 million cracks in the ceiling and being serious about it, I don’t know what is.  Obama is so flustered that his message has been virtually lost in the spin cycle.

And now, yet another chicken’s roosting in Obama’s hen house.

South Carolina Democratic chairwoman Carol Fowler reportedly lashed out at Sarah Palin Wednesday, saying the Republican vice presidential candidate’s “primary qualification seems to be that she hasn’t had an abortion.”

Politico.com reports that Fowler, wife of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler, said that John McCain’s decision to choose an abortion rights opponent would not boost his candidacy among many women.

“Among Democratic women and even among independent women, I don’t think it helped him,” she told Politico.com.

source: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/10/sc-democratic-chair-palins-chief-qualification-is-she-hasnt-had-an-abortion/

You remember South Carolina.  It’s the home of the claim that the fairy tale comment by Bill Clinton was about Barrack Obama and not his stand on the Iraq war.  That lunacy cost Hillary many, many black voters. I guess they can dish out the claims on racism but sputter over sexism.  Now we’re hearing Senator Obama whine about swiftboating.  Well, Senator, what did you expect?  It seems Senator Hillary Clinton was right.  Senator Obama can whine about phony outrage, but he better toughen up quickly, it’s not even October yet.  He’s acting completely discombobulated and has been over-explaining rather than just saying sorry, didn’t mean it that way, then getting back on message.  What an amateur!  We told you so … another DNC loser foisted on the masses!

DNC Assimilated by the Oborg

Posted: August 10, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: U.S. Economy, Women's Rights | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

Thursday’s Washington Post stated that the hopium-infused platform of the DNC was the final frontier of assimilation of the DNC by the Oborg.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/07/by_jonathan_weisman_barack_oba_1.html

Democrats Release Platform

By Jonathan Weisman

Barack Obama’s takeover of the Democratic Party is nearly complete.

A draft of the Democratic National Committee’s 2008 platform was sent
this morning to platform committee members, and aside from some nods
to the losers, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, the 54-page
document reads like a compilation of Sen. Obama’s stump speeches.
There is a section on fatherhood, a definition of patriotism (not
only to declare our love of this nation, but to show it), a section
detailing Obama’s newly rejiggered economic stimulus plan, a call for
more service, through an expanded AmeriCorps and Peace Corps, and a
whole lot of hope.

“It is time for a change,” declares the draft’s preamble.

I don’t know how you feel, but I’m not sure I need the democratic party to define parenthood or patriotism for me.  I look to the DNC platform to define programs and governance approaches.  Senator FeelGood’s patronizing lectures to Americans have now been infused into the platform.  There is also the pander section for Edwards and Clinton backers.

For Edwards, who has bigger issues to deal with at the moment, the DNC makes good on Obama’s pledge to him to elevate poverty eradication as a policy goal. “Working together,” the platform states, “we can cut poverty in half within ten years.”

And Clinton is the star of the platform’s section on expanded opportunities for women.

“”We have produced [the] first woman Secretary of State, the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives, and, in 2008, [with] Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first woman in American history to win presidential primaries in out nation,” the platform states.

Again,  I feel patronized.  After the nasty campaign tricks used on Senator Clinton, the appalling performance of Speaker Pelosi, and then a nod to Clinton-ally Secretary Albright, I’m not sure how to re-act positively to this.  It appears to be a second hand compliment rather than a true statement of support for women in high places. There are strong statements supporting women’s reproductive rights as well as statements against government encroachments on privacy and constitutional rights.  These too, sound hollow after recent actions and statements by Senator Obama.  Afterall, he just voted to protect those telecoms that helped President Bush spy on American citizens and also mentioned that he thinks women tend to get THIRD term abortions because they feel blue.

Some one needs to step in and save the democratic party from itself.  Unfortunately, I think that could have been Bill Clinton but with this Stalinesque purge, it’s unlikely the hopium-addicted will come out of the fog before the fall election.  By then, they’ll be screaming every one’s a racist as we transition from President Bush to President McCain.

We have NOT come a long way, baby

Posted: July 30, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Hillary Clinton: Her Campaign for All of Us, U.S. Economy, Uncategorized, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on We have NOT come a long way, baby

I’m the stereotypical PUMA.  I came of age in the 70s and joined the UWAG (University Women’s Action Group) while at the University of Nebraska working on the first of several degrees.  I remember fighting hard to get tougher rape laws in place including getting officers assigned to rape cases out of the Property Crimes Department and lobbying for laws that would let raped wives charge their husbands with rape.  This was not possible at that time.  We’ve made considerable progress on that front.  We now don’t need two to three people to witness rapes in order to get rapists prosecuted.  We also can charge our husbands with rape.  Violet crimes against women are no longer consider property crimes.

I also worked hard for the ERA.  That failed to pass although I travelled to both Missouri and Oklahoma to try to get the last few states to pass it.  I also was trying to fight Nebraska’s attempt to take back it’s pro-ERA vote sponsored by my local state senator who was also a neighbor and father to two of the least popular guys in my high school.  I always thought he’d sponsor the bill because neither of his sons had much luck getting dates back in the day.  He was mad that women could actually support themselves and therefor not have to marry the first thing that comes along to survive their adult lives.

I’m now an economist, and perhaps Equal Pay for Equal Work is the subject that is nearest and dearest too me.  We have another chance to right this problem.  What amazes me is that the current pay gap faced by my young daughters today –one being 25 and in her last year of med school and the other 18 and heading to university–is the same pay gap I faced at their age. This is one legacy I’d rather not leave to them. Women still earn 77 cents to men’s $1 for the same job with the same qualifications.  There is not one state in the country where women have gained traction on men’s pay.  There is an act now in Congress seeking to right this wrong once in for all,  it is called the Paycheck Fairness Act.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would “close loopholes that have allowed employers to avoid responsibility for discriminatory pay” and strengthen accountability in the workplace. The legislation increases penalties for sex discrimination in pay unless the company has a business-related reason for the inequality in wages. The PFA puts gender discrimination sanctions on equal footing with other forms of wage discrimination ­ such as those based on race, disability, or age, allowing women to file lawsuits for compensatory and punitive damages. The bill also prohibits employers retaliating against employees who share salary information with their co-workers. The legislation also strengthens opportunities for women. The Act requires that the Department of Labor “improve outreach and training efforts to work with employers in order to eliminate pay disparities” and “creates a new grant program to help strengthen the negotiation skills of girls and women.”

Source: From the Progress Reporthttp://pr.thinkprogress.org/

So think about which Senators would be most likely fighting for gender equality that would be the sponsors of the bill?   Yup, it’s our Hillary again. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) put this bill into play

The Institute of Women’s Policy Research found that this wage disparity will cost women anywhere from $400,000 to $2 million over a lifetime in lost wages. An April Senate report found that in contrast to previous slowdowns, the current economic downturn “is hitting women harder than men. They are suffering more job losses and larger reductions in wages than the general population.” 

I, like any parent, want to leave my children in a better position in life.  Just by having daughters instead of sons, I know they will suffer the same paycheck inequality that I have endured throughout my adult life.  This is yet another reason to thank Hillary and to write your Senators and Congress to support this Bill.

The senators that are sponsoring this bill:

The Paycheck Fairness Act is co-sponsored by Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Russell Feingold (D-WI), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), John Kerry (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Harry Reid (D-NV), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Bernard Sanders (I-VT).

Also, NOTICE who’s name is missing?  

For more information please go to Senator Clintons site:

http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=272301&&

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