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That's right - I voted today! Yeah!
You?
Halloween, if nothing else, allows children to play dress-up and use their imagination to be anything they want to be. Or in the case of the mainstream costume industry, gives kids the chance to further perpetuate gender roles, reinforce stereotypes, and dress little girls in hyper-sexualized outfits.That's right, in stores all over the U.S.A. there are the racks are full of costumes like:
Women hold a third of all cabinet positions, including foreign minister, education minister, Supreme Court chief and police commissioner general. And Rwanda's parliament last month became the first in the world where women claim the majority -- 56 percent, including the speaker's chair.
One result is that Rwanda has banished archaic patriarchal laws that are still enforced in many African societies, such as those that prevent women from inheriting land. The legislature has passed bills aimed at ending domestic violence and child abuse, while a committee is now combing through the legal code to purge it of discriminatory laws.
One lawmaker said the committee has compiled "a stack" of laws to modify or toss out altogether -- including one that requires a woman to get her husband's signature on a bank loan.
"The fact that we are so many has made it possible for men to listen to our views," said lawmaker Espérance Mwiza. "Now that we're a majority, we can do even more."
You can read more at the Washington Post.
Go read the whole thing. Then I hope you'll come back here and drop a line about what you think of Warner's argument.In 1977, Bella Abzug, the former congresswoman and outspoken feminist, said, “Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.”
In other words: women will truly have arrived when the most mediocre among us will be able to do just as well as the most mediocre of men.
By this standard, the watershed event for women this year was not Hillary Clinton’s near ascendancy to the top of the Democratic ticket, but Sarah Palin’s nomination as the Republicans’ No. 2. ...
Mediocrity, after all, is the privilege of those who have arrived.
I do not wish to sacrifice my faith for anybody's conception of feminism, nor do I sacrifice the struggle and actions for full equality of women, Muslim and non-Muslim women, for any religion. Islamic feminism is not an either/or, you can be Muslim and feminist and strive for women's rights and not call yourself a feminist.It is true, you can strive for women's rights and not call yourself a feminist. Perhaps I've been too intent on defining the label in the past...
"You guys have heard some of the examples of where those dollars go," the fun Alaska governor said to the guys in the audience, acknowledging their media savvy about Congress members, who sometimes acquire public money for frivolous projects. "You've heard about the bridges. And some of these pet projects. They really don't make a whole lot of sense."Now, I had to read about this because it does seem odd for U.S. money to go towards fruit fly research in France...I mean we all know how much the U.S. doesn't like the French these days, right?
A troubled look crossed her face. "And sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good, things like ..." she grinned, shaking her head side to side, her voice rising to a facetious pitch "... fruit fly research in Paris, France." Feeling in tune with the guys in her audience, she added, "I kid you not."
A healthy industry, for sure, and one now threatened by the fruit fly. A University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources report declares that currently "the olive fruit fly occurs in at least 41 counties in California," adding that in other areas of the world where the olive fruit fly has flourished, the pest has wiped out 100 percent of some olive varieties. As Thompson knew, a 2004 USDA report did not mince words: "The recent establishment of the olive fruit fly ... in California has threatened to destroy the U.S. olive industry."And the reasoning behind the location of the research:
In April, when Thompson won the dubious achievement, he responded: "The olive fruit fly has infested thousands of California olive groves and is the single largest threat to the U.S. olive and olive oil industries." He explained that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will employ a portion ($211,000) of the $750,000 award for research in France. "This USDA research facility is located in France because Mediterranean countries like France have dealt with the olive fruit fly for decades, while California has only been exposed since the late 1990s," he said.I still maintain that Sarah Palin is not the right female for White House. This wee little fruit fly tale is another example of how she manages to consistently fail at intelligent assessments of a situation.
“We had a special relationship that went far beyond friendship,” the successor, Stefan Petzner, a former fashion and cosmetics reporter, said Sunday in a highly emotional interview on Austrian Radio 3. “Jörg and I were connected by something truly special. He was the man of my life.”The Times goes on to note that Haidar was maried and had two children, and that "he had cultivated a macho, man-of-the-people persona." And, of course, there are those in his party who insist that the rumors of an intimate relationship between Petzner and Haidar are false - that the sightings of the two men at gay clubs are inventions and that Petzner was speaking only of their friendship in particularly tender terms. Yet, Haidar's relationship with Petzner has been an open secret for years. From an article published in 2000, it seems like Haidar's affair can't truely be such a surprise:
Haider, who has become a target of criticism across Europe ever since his right-wing Freedom Party joined the ruling Austrian government, is widely known to be gay, according to Berlin's Tageszeitung and the Austrian paper Der Standard. "We've known about Haider's homosexuality for about ten years," stated the Austrian gay-activist group Homosexual Initiative.What most bothers me is that Haidar and Petzner were clearly in a loving relationship. As the head of Austria's most conservative and anti-gay party, Haidar was not promoting an agenda of intolerance while feeling guilty about a one-night stand. He had a long term partner and a loving relationship. Why fight to undermine the ability of other couples to find that happiness - why undermine the chances of your own relationship being respected?
“Skinny,” “no body fat,” and “size zero” are the words and phrases associated with models. “Chubby,” “well-fed,” and “big- boned” are not…Is this an April Fool's joke? Unfortunately, no. You can read more about it on the Huffington Post, here.
Dear MM,
I want to share a video with you from an amazing speech I heard last night. It was given by one of our founders, Bono. He spoke at the 2008 California Women’s Conference, an event bringing together thousands of women who are inspiring and empowering others through their work, lives and stories.
Click below to watch highlights from the speech and sign the petition:
http://one.org/keepourcommitments/
If you’re as inspired by Bono’s message as I am, I hope you’ll add your name to the same petition he asked everyone at the Women’s Conference to support. It’s a petition 53,000 other ONE members have already signed, calling on John McCain and Barack Obama to keep their commitments to fight global poverty even during these difficult economic times.
In just the last week, people from across the political spectrum, from Colin Powell to President Bush to Robert Rubin, have come forward to stress the importance of international development in our foreign policy. America’s leadership against extreme poverty is more important than ever. As Bono said last night: “When America looks outside of itself, its view of itself is never clearer. Its faith in itself is never firmer. Its purpose is never stronger. Today, at a time when America, again, is tempted to turn inward, turn away from the world and its troubles, it is more essential than ever that you look outward.”
We’re still looking outward because we know America can and must lead the fight to end global poverty.
Thank you for making a difference,
David Lane, ONE.org
States across the country have been wrestling with the issue of pharmacists who refuse on religious grounds to dispense birth control or morning-after pills, and some have enacted laws requiring drug stores to fill the prescriptions.
In Virginia, though, pharmacists can turn away any prescription for any reason.
The report goes on to note that throughout the United States there are at least seven other pharmacies that are also refusing to carry contraceptives or fulfill any type of prescription having to do with birth control.
Ann at Feministing and Jessica at Jezebel have already done an excellent job of pointing out why this trend is troubling. Yet, particularly since this pharmacy is located so close to my old neighborhood, I couldn't resist mentioning this story here. Besides, it seems to provide an answer to the question posed by Tim Fernholz yesterday at The American Prospect: Why has the pro-choice message gained so much more traction this year than it has in previous election cycles? In the past it seemed to me that the anti-choice retoric used by conservative politicians was just a cynical ploy to excite their base and, while still repugnant, represented no real threat. Roe v. Wade had established the law of the land, I thought, and there wasn't much the fundamentalists could do to erode our rights. Now, though, I feel like cases like these are cropping up frequently enough that I realize there is an increasing threat to women's rights to make our own reproductive choices - and an attack on a woman's right to preventative birth control seems like a particularly sinister and wrong-minded example of the gradual gains being made by the anti-woman crowd.
Simply put, examples like these have made us more aware of the possiblity that we could actually lose the rights over our bodies that we fought for so long to gain.
In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.
She wrote some form of "Lodging -- own residence" or "Lodging -- Wasilla residence" more than 30 times at the same time she took a per diem, according to the reports. In two dozen undated amendments to the reports, the governor deleted the reference to staying in her home but still charged the per diem.Gov. Sarah Palin is clearly saying one thing and doing another. I admit that image is important, but really, $150,000 on clothes seems excessive. Just as important as showing that your words are more than just rhetoric?
"BeadforLife began with a chance encounter between a woman who was sitting near her mud home and the founders, Torkin, Ginny, and Devin. They learned that there was no market for her beads and that the woman worked for a dollar a day in a rock quarry. They admired her paper beads and bought a few. Soon friends began to admire the beads and they realized that there might be a market after all. Classes were held to improve the quality of the beads and develop several different styles of necklaces and bracelets. In North America BeadforLife applied for non-profit status and began to develop it’s unique program of citizen participation in eradicating poverty. The wonderful Bead Circle of support sprung up and allowed BeadforLife to expand the programs. Our approach includes the income generation activities of making beads, but also offers programs in health, vocational training, entrepreneurial training, microfinance grants, and affordable housing."Check out their website to see how you can help by hosting your own bead party!
Existing laws essential for women's economic survival have often been regressively interpreted. Women on average remain poorer than men, largely because of unequal pay. Recently, the Supreme Court held in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc. that plaintiffs must sue as of the first unequal paycheck, when they might not even know that their pay is unequal. Barack Obama supports restoring the rule, followed for decades, that allows suit for all the wage discrimination as of the last discriminatory paycheck. John McCain opposed this in the Senate...Since 1980, when the Supreme Court permitted exclusion of medically necessary abortions from Medicaid coverage, poor women (disproportionately women of color) have not had effective access to abortion because they cannot afford it. This was when many women lost the right to choose.
Last year, a slim majority upheld a federal abortion ban on a specific procedure that had no exception for protecting a woman's health, ominously eroding the rights of even financially privileged women. Should the abortion ban on the ballot in South Dakota prevail this fall, its challenge in court would place any federal decriminalization of abortion in jeopardy. Of all issues that affect women as women in this election, who sits on the Supreme Court may determine this one, along with the fate of a new possible civil remedy for violence against women....
...An Obama presidency could restore that balance in fairness that ideological appointments by past administrations have upset, and that Mr. McCain has committed to continue.Neither presidential candidate has taken a position on all of these issues. But the decision, in Mr. Obama's words, on "what kind of America our daughters will grow up in" could not be more urgent. At stake is nothing less than whether women will be, finally, equal.
Professor MacKinnon, I couldn't agree more.
Bair has a reputation as a consumer advocate who hasn't always won the praise of the lending industry. Two years ago, when the economy and housing were booming, she warned lenders that they needed to rework subprime loans — or risk damaging the economy.
It wasn't a popular position at the time, said Ellen Seidman, a former director of the Office of Thrift Supervision and now a fellow at The New America Foundation.
"To some extent, she was getting the 'Hey lady, you're not supposed to be talking about this' reaction," said Seidman. "She began very early saying we have a problem here."
And now the job of cleaning it up is an overtime job. Bair laughs about her BlackBerry: She's constantly trading communication with FDIC staff, Warren Buffett, interest groups and — of course — Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Considering Bair's foresight, I am relieved to hear of her constant contact with Paulson. So is The American Prospect, which has been putting forth the idea that Bair might just be a good choice to take over as Treasury Secretary in the new administration:
Bair has used FDIC's temporary ownership of a large failed bank, Indy Mac, to demonstrate how a mortgage refinancing program can be done right. The FDIC has contacted all of Indy Mac's mortgage holders who are in financial straits, and is working out easier mortgage terms. In some cases, bondholders are made to eat part of the loss. This is the right approach to repairing the entire subprime mess. So Bair has both the background and the commitment to do the recapitalizing and regulating of American banks correctly.In her interview with NPR, Bair did not seem to be activly seeking an appointment to the Treasury - in fact, she quipped that she was looking forward to the end of the crisis so that she could go back to being unknown. Yet, Robert Kuttner, Bair's advocte at The American Prospect, makes quite a case for her being the perfect candidate - so if the candidates are reading TAP, we might be hearing a lot more about Sheila Bair in the coming months.
My tentative results confirm the “daddy bonus” that others’ have found in other studies, with the range of estimates suggesting a 15-20% salary advantage for fathers. Unlike previous studies, however, I also find a strong suggestion that women with children endure a “mommy penalty,” earning perhaps 10-15% less than the childless (and thus 25-35% less than fathers). I also find some weaker statistical support for the hypothesis that childless women earn less than childless men, with my estimates suggesting an 8-9% difference disfavoring women.Buchanan goes on to speculate a bit about what causes fathers to benefit from a 'daddy bonus' while mothers suffer from a 'mommy penalty.' Do fathers tend to shirk parenting responsibilities by putting in longer hours while mothers are expected to pick up the parenting slack? Do men simply wait a bit longer to have children and therefore have a salary that matches with their greater experience during the fatherhood years, giving them a pay advantage over young men (and -inexplicably- all women)? Are lawyer fathers more likely to have stay-at-home or part-time spouses that take care of all domestic concerns?
...Leibovitz explains that she had considered making a book entirely of personal photographs, but then she concluded "that the personal work on its own wasn't a true view of the last 15 years. I don't have two lives. This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it." While that must be true in practical, physical terms, what it doesn't acknowledge is the emotional difference between assignment pictures and personal ones. The mixing of the two kinds of photographs in this show seemed to confuse the audience, as they moved from public to personal to public again, they looked as if they didn't weren't sure how to respond.While I don't entirely agree with Jobey's criticism, it reminded me of the difficulties I had with the exhibition a year ago - namely with the lack of mention of Susan Sontag as Leibovitz's partner despite the many photographs of her. So, in response to the Guardian's piece, I'm re-posting my own take here:
Above is one of my favorite portraits from the collection. It shows Marilyn Leibovitz, the photographer’s mother.
At 33 she occupies a rare place within Hollywood’s uppermost tier of female stars...There’s also the humanitarian activist who has served as a United Nations good-will ambassador and is now a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.She has that good-will ambassadorship because she is a beautiful celebrity--NOT because she is qualified. There is an important distinction. She's no Boutros Boutros Ghali--that's for damn sure!And there’s her role as half of Brangelina, an unincorporated business that remains the celebrity magazine industry’s best bet for surviving the economic crisis.
A dark period, when Ms. Jolie was cast as the man eater who broke up Mr. Pitt’s marriage to Jennifer Aniston during the production of the 2005 caper "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," is behind her.She was not 'cast' as a man eater--she was in fact a home wrecker. There was no role or play-acting there. She destroyed a marriage. I have no sympathy for this. The soft wording in the Times article enraged me.
Recently she and Mr. Pitt auctioned off pictures of themselves with their newborn twins to People and Hello! magazines, raising an astonishing $14 million for their charity, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.Does is really make it better that she exploits her children for good causes? Personally, I think that there is no excuse for this.
"Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska made her point by going on Saturday Night Live. She proved she has a sense of humor at a time when the country is still debating whether to take her seriously as a potential commander in chief...And that was what was so remarkable — and jarring — about her engaging, relaxed performance on SNL.Instead of building credibility, she's going on the celebrity movie-promotion circuit. She is unfit to be president. And the final line of the article "One thing everybody can agree on is that Gov. Sarah Palin is qualified — to someday host her own television show." Ouch.
...
Usually elected officials like [McCain, Clinton, or Obama] go on the show to disarmvoters by showing their lighter side. Ms. Palin has already shown her lighter side to the public. The one thing nobody has accused her of is being too stiff and sober-minded...And yet on the very weekend that former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell endorsed Mr. Obama on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and cited Ms. Palin’s selection as a reason, and Senator McCain told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday” that she was a “direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda for America,” Ms. Palin joked about her nickname, “Caribou Barbie.”"
I serve on the Board of Selectmen of Killingworth, Conn., a town that has about the same population as Wasilla, Alaska, and I share Sarah Palin's affection for small-town life.Notice there isn’t much of a preamble. She goes right into who she is and what she’s going to talk about. Then she uses her background in serving on the board of a small town to explain why that experience is relevant to talking about Sarah Palin.
It's been widely reported that Sarah Palin hired her friends for high offices and turned to her family for advice. You do that in a small town. The talent pool is limited. You know who is sensible, who gets things done, who is willing to donate time and energy. In my town, few positions -- appointed or elected -- are paid. Even the opportunities for graft and corruption are small potatoes. (Killingworth hasn't received any earmarks.) You call your friends and cajole them into serving on one more board or committee.There’s nothing horribly partisan or accusatory. Sarah Palin did hire her friends for office and turned to her husband for advice. The author isn’t saying that’s wrong. But she manages to turn the fact to the point she wants to make.
This is not the way you want the federal government to be administered. Everyone knows everyone in Wasilla and Killingworth, but obviously, you can't know everyone in the United States. We need the people heading federal departments and agencies to have knowledge, competence and track records that inspire public confidence. And we need a chief executive who knows how to seek advice from independent experts, not just her friends and family.And that’s the key. Catherine Iino is just a a boardmember in the small-town of Killingworth, Connecticut. Why is her opinion important? Because she can illuminate why running a small-town (even as “executive experience”) is entirely different than running a country.
Of course, small towns have distinctive vices as well as virtues. Because we don't have many professional administrators, we reinvent a lot of wheels. Decades-long feuds often color political debates. Sometimes we cut the wrong people too much slack. We muddle through, and I wouldn't want to see Killingworth tie itself in red tape trying to prevent these problems. But you couldn't run Safeway Inc., much less the federal government, the way you run a farm stand.Could Iino have tacked on more about Palin’s experience as governor? Sure, but the op-ed didn’t need it. Palin and the McCain campaign have made a virtue out of “small-townness.” Iino’s op-ed, without being harshly partisan or strident, simply points out the errors in the line of logic.
There is an aspect of small-town life that we should do our best to send to the national level: the attitude toward our neighbors. We need to believe that we are a community, that we all must contribute to the common good. Small-town executive experience, however, would be a risky thing to send to Washington.
A controversial scheme to create special classes for immigrant children has been approved by the lower house of Italy's parliament.
The measure, proposed by the right-wing Northern League Party, would require foreign children to pass a special test before being admitted into schools...
Under the proposal, the children of immigrants would have to sit tests on citizenship and would be placed in "bridge classes" if they failed, where they would study Italian language, law and culture until they could pass the test.
A spokesman for the Northern League said the aim was to guarantee equal opportunities for foreign students and facilitate integration.
But opposition politicians have described it as "an act of the worst xenophobia".
Alright - I understand that adjusting to a new culture can be difficult, especially when you don't speak the language well. And immigrants to the U.S. have to pass similar tests before becoming citizens.
Yet, denying children access to education for not being enough like the locals - that makes me feel queasy.
Thoughts?
A community in eastern Uganda has banned the deeply rooted practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), an official has said...
"The community decided that it was not useful, that women were not getting anything out of it, so the district council decided to establish an ordinance banning it," Mr Chelimo told AFP news agency...It is hopeful to see this shift in rhetoric - the leaders of the community have stopped talking about what is desirable for men - a supposed insurance of virginity - and are instead promoting what is safe for women.FGM is seen in some countries as a way to ensure virginity and to make a woman marriageable...
UN agencies have called for a major reduction in the practice by 2015.
They say it leads to bleeding, shock, infections and a higher rate of death for new-born babies.
The lawyer's "she doesn't look upset enough" defense failed, and Francis has received a five-and-a-half year sentence. Yet, that this argument was even made reveals a still prominent attitude that rape and sexual assault are somehow essentially different from other crimes; unlike other types of assault, if the victim is not completely debilitated - if the victim shows signs of recovery - then we're supposed to act as though the attack must not have been a serious crime. Can you imagine treating another type of physical assault in the same way? If someone is attacked and beaten, does anyone try to excuse the attacker if the victim had a drink that night or manages to smile at a party years later? There is only one other type of physical assault I can think of in which defense attorneys routinely try to blame the victim for the abuse - domestic violence. Hum... what do those two types of attacks have in common?A barrister has caused outrage by suggesting a rape victim could not have been upset by her ordeal because there were photos of her on Facebook looking happy.
The woman was attacked in 2001 when she was 19 and has since tried to kill herself.
Her attacker, Anthony Francis, was caught seven years later as a result of a DNA sample.
His barrister tried to persuade a judge to be lenient by showing pictures posted on the social networking site of the woman laughing and smiling at a fancy dress party in the years since the rape.
Colin McCarraher, defending, told Reading Crown Court last week: 'What we have is a person who has post traumatic stress but is quite capable of going out and having a good time at a fancy dress party.'
Now, when the 'women just don't ask for higher salaries' argument started being frequently bandied about, I wrote about some research that explains exactly why we don't ask - we're more likely to be punished for seeking more. Yet, like La Roxy, I did start thinking more about the need to be proactive in negotiating higher salaries for myself. And when I got my next job offer, I did negotiate for a higher salary. Sure, I was treated with a bit of hostility by one of the people privy to the information that I'd convinced the boss to pay me more; but, trust me, the money was worth the couple of snubs and rude comments thrown my way.This past July, a woman calling herself La Roxy was inspired by the book “Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide” to start a project in which she explicitly asks for something every day for a year. According to the book’s authors, women’s reluctance to ask for stuff can result in massive financial losses over the course of a career, slower advancement and way more grunt work in the home, among other unpleasant things. La Roxy was so struck by their message that by the time she got to Page 7, she’d already decided to try her asking experiment. And of course the next natural step was to blog it, hence the Daily Asker.
“The point is to simplify my life by and boost my financial situation by asking,” she writes. “The point is to try to benefit from the type of situation where ‘it can’t hurt to ask.’ The point is to start thinking about asking in the first place...”
Sister Cecilia Gaudette, who last voted for President Eisenhower in 1952, has registered to vote and says she will vote for Democrat Barack Obama.
"Oscar de la Renta sent some of his most intoxicating evening wear down the runway in February. One of his ball gowns will cost as much as a scooter. (Yes, that's the new analogy. Who's buying cars these days?) And the team at Proenza Schouler sent a fully sequined jumpsuit down their runway in New York. They got behind a showpiece that, if produced, would cost more than the mortgage payments on most of those houses currently in foreclosure."I agree with the article that high-end fashion is out of touch with America, but honestly, hasn't it always been in its own stratosphere? That's part of its allure--it's a glamorous dream. Only movie stars on the red carpet wear runway clothes, and even then it's tamed and tailored to a more reasonable cut, to be less of a spectacle. So what if there is a flurry of brocade--we want to dream about opulence now more than ever.
Just looking at them is a unique pleasure, akin to the high one might get from window-shopping. The point is not the purchase; it's the fantasizing. There is something psychologically pleasurable about simply being around beauty. We are made better by our surroundings.Ultimately, the fashion houses are just businesses. They sell ideas to the masses (of which I am definitely one) and clothes to the uber-rich. I couldn't afford a couture gown even before the stock market tumbled.That was the thinking during World War II. Governments understood that their citizens needed beauty, art and music to make life livable. In Europe, while some fashion houses such as Chanel closed, others struggled through the war even as materials necessary for production were rationed or completely unavailable. In the United States, women were encouraged to maintain their beauty rituals as best they could. They were asked to keep up appearances. To keep looking forward. The fighting, after all, was for a future that was better than the past. The beauty industry -- from lipstick to party dresses -- symbolized hope. A well-turned-out woman, one who had managed to make herself pretty, had managed a kind of victory.
Fiction: Teaching children about same-sex marriage will happen here unless we pass Prop 8.For those among us who don't get it, stop for a moment and really think about it. Prop8 is inequality plain and simple. Surely we are beyond being a nation that supports inequality between its citizens. Consider the following statement found at Proud Parenting:
Fact: Not one word in Prop 8 mentions education, and no child can be forced, against the will of their parents, to be taught anything about health and family issues at school. California law prohibits it, and the Yes on 8 campaign knows they are lying. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley has already ruled that this claim by Prop 8 proponents is “false and misleading.”
Fiction: Churches could lose their tax-exemption status.
Fact: Nothing in Prop 8 would force churches to do anything. In fact, the court decision regarding marriage specifically says “no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs.”
Fiction: A Massachusetts case about a parent's objection to the school curriculum will happen here.
Fact: Unlike Massachusetts, California gives parents an absolute right to remove their kids and opt-out of teaching on health and family instruction they don't agree with. The opponents know that California law already covers this and Prop 8 won't affect it, so they bring up an irrelevant case in Massachusetts.
Fiction: Four Activist Judges in San Francisco…
Fact: Prop 8 is not about courts and judges, it's about eliminating a fundamental right. Judges didn't grant the right, the constitution guarantees the right. Proponents of Prop 8 use an outdated and stale argument that judges aren't supposed to protect rights and freedoms. This campaign is about whether Californians, right now, in 2008 are willing to amend the constitution for the sole purpose of eliminating a fundamental right for one group of citizens.
Fiction: People can be sued over personal beliefs.
Fact: California’s laws already prohibit discrimination against anyone based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. This has nothing to do with marriage.
Fiction: Unless Prop 8 passes, CA parents won't have the right to object to what their children are taught in school.
Fact: California law clearly gives parents and guardians broad authority to remove their children from any health instruction if it conflicts with their religious beliefs or moral convictions.
Kathryn Kendell, executive director of San Francisco’s National Center for Lesbian Rights, says that gays, lesbians and their straight allies need to educate their friends and neighbors about the importance of voting. “There are heterosexuals out there who might love their gay next-door neighbors, but not bat an eye at voting for Prop 8", said Kendell. “You have to engage them in the harm” she said, adding that if the issue isn’t personalized, “it’s easy for them to think the harm doesn’t exist.”Bottom line, if you are reading this post, living in California, and on the fence about Prop8 please realize that there is ultimate harm in this piece of legislation in the form of extreme hate. Don't be a part of that hate.
"I'd like to throw that Sarah Palin off a Bridge to Nowhere, right into the water," said one-time presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm.Nice, right? Because that's exactly what I would expect the intelligent, successful, 1st African-American woman elected to congress, generally kick-ass Shirley Chisholm to say about Palin.
Whether it’s asking for a lifeline in her twangy voice when stumped by CBS’s Katie Couric or playing the flute in her debate with Joe Biden, voters might be getting to know Tina Fey as Sarah Palin rather than the vice presidential candidate herself.Well, yeah, that tends to happen when a candidate refuses to do interviews except for a select few with a laundry list of conditions.
But has the impersonation gone too far? New Yorkers don’t think so.Thank goodness for that.
The fact that Americans knew so little about Palin when she was picked by Sen. John McCain has helped exacerbate the problem of her identity being tightly bound to the characterization by FeyPerhaps if she ever bothered to hold a press conference, or didn't have a scripted debate, or agreed to do more interviews, the McCain camp could counteract this. Maybe that's just me...
"It’s a tremendous help to the Democrats," said John Leo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a popular-culture expert. "It doesn’t create a feeling about Palin. But I think it solidifies or magnifies what’s in people’s minds."If this is already on people's minds, then isn't it a good thing that the skit is bringing this out there? It's not as if it's based on lies, since the funniest stuff is verbatim. People should trust their judgment, no? *long pause* Wait, what's a "popular-culture expert???"