Each year the President of the United States proclaims Women's Equality Day on August 26th, the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment which gave women equal rights to men, especially the right to vote. Now we just need to once and for all equalize pay for women and insure that our daughters continue to have the freedoms hard won since the 1970s women's rights movement.
"On this Women’s Equality Day, we honor those who fought tirelessly for a woman’s right to vote." http://t.co/meP9ZJ2Hoz#WomenVote
From Texas, to North Carolina, to Ohio, to Wisconsin women must stand and fight back against the Republican attempt to control women's bodies and freedom. Sneaky Governors and Legislators are conspiring to pass draconian bills that hurt poor women and take away legal choices that are rights in this country. This isn't about being "pro-abortion" but protecting the right of women to control their own bodies. This is about the right of doctors and women to be free to discuss healthcare issues in a private way uncontrolled by the state. This is about the GOP closing down clinics for poor women and children in the name of being "Pro-life" whatever that means.
Thanks to gerrymandering and spineless state officials we can't win every battle, but if we keep it up, we WILL win the war . . . again. This is a struggle going back to the Suffragettes and the Women's Liberation movement in the 70s, and we can't forget those who fought before and made great strides in equality. Whatever nonsense the GOP comes up with next, there will be no surrender. But we all have to vote and work and text and tweet and network and make signs and stand up for ourselves and our daughters.
Edward Snowden can call himself a patriot, but he ran away on his own to be a man without a country. Meanwhile, real men and Women are standing and fighting for their states and their lives, willing to go to jail for what they believe. That is REAL civil disobedience as it was lived by Thoreau, Gandhi, and Mandela.
Scott Walker quietly signed a bill requiring ultrasounds for all women seeking abortions in Wisconsin: http://t.co/4vgembVhGX
Thousands of Texans on both sides of the abortion divide will descend on the state capitol in Austin on Monday, at the start of a special legislative session designed to pass a bill that would sharply restrict abortion services in the state.
More than 5,000 people have signed up to a “Stand With Texas Women” rally, to be staged at noon on the steps of the Capitol. The rally is being billed as a continuation of the dramatic scenes last week, when 400 pro-choice advocates staged a loud protest in the state senate chamber following Wendy Davis’s epic 10-hour filibuster that blocked the controversial bill, SB 5.
Anti-abortionists will stage their own rally in support of the new legislative session that the Texas governor, Rick Perry, called shortly after Davis’s filibuster ended. Some 700 pro-life campaigners have signed up to the rally called by Texas Alliance for Life.
. . . In the course of almost 11 hours of filibuster, Davis was required to speak in the chamber without pause, standing and without leaning on anything. Her extraordinary endurance propelled her into the national political limelight, and sent the pair of training shoes she wore rocketing up the sales charts.
We may never get the comprehensive gun reform that Progressives want in this country, but it's not due to lack of trying on the part of Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Dianne Feinstein, D-California.
Warren gave a speech to the Consumer Federation of America in which she slammed the NRA for not allowing basic research on Gun violence so we can study just how far-reaching an epidemic it is.
“If as many people were dying of a mysterious disease as innocent bystanders are dying from firearms, a cure would be our top priority,” Warren said. “But we don’t even have good data on gun violence. Why? Because the NRA and the gun industry lobby made it their goal to prevent any serious effort to document the violence."
Feinstein had it out with Texas Tea Partier and NRA proponent Ted Cruz this week when he began lecturing her about the Second Amendment of the Constitution.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX) The question that I would pose to the senior Senator from California is would she deem it consistent with the Bill of Rights for Congress to engage in the same endeavor that we are contemplating doing with the Second Amendment in the context of the First or Fourth Amendment, namely, would she consider it constitutional for Congress to specify that the First Amendment shall apply only to the following books and shall not apply to the books that Congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights?
Likewise, would she think that the Fourth Amendment's protection against searches and seizures could properly apply only to the following specified individuals and not to the individuals that Congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights?
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA): Let me just make a couple of points in response. One, I'm not a sixth grader. Senator, I've been on this committee for 20 years. I was a mayor for nine years. I walked in, I saw people shot. I've looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. I've seen the bullets that implode. In Sandy Hook, youngsters were dismembered.
Look, there are other weapons. I'm not a lawyer, but after 20 years I've been up close and personal to the Constitution. I have great respect for it. This doesn't mean that weapons of war and the Heller decision clearly points out three exceptions, two of which are pertinent here.
You know, it's fine you want to lecture me on the Constitution. I appreciate it. Just know I've been here for a long time. I've passed on a number of bills. I've studied the Constitution myself. I am reasonably well educated, and I thank you for the lecture.
Incidentally, this does not prohibit — you use the word prohibit — it exempts 2,271 weapons. Isn’t that enough for the people in the United States? Do they need a bazooka?
Do they need other high-powered weapons that military people use to kill in close combat? I don’t think so. So I come from a different place then you do. I respect your views. I ask you to respect my views
FEINSTEIN: I just felt patronized. I felt he was somewhat arrogant about it. And, you know, when you've come from where I've come from and what you've seen, and when you found a dead body and you put your finger in bullet holes, you really realize the impact of weapons. And then as you go up the technical ladder with these weapons, and they become more sophisticated, and more the product of a battlefield, and you've got these huge clips or drums of 100 bullets out there that people can buy.
When you see these weapons becoming attractive to grievance killers, people who take them into schools, into theaters, into malls, you wonder, does America really need these weapons? My answer to that is no. And so it's based on my experience. And I think -- well, the bottom line is, we passed the bill out of committee by a vote of 10-8. The president has issued a very strong statement in support of it.
. . . BLITZER: Did you have a chance to speak to Senator Cruz after that public exchange?
FEINSTEIN: No, I needed to cool down.
BLITZER: Have you cooled down yet?
FEINSTEIN: I've cooled down.
BLITZER: So when you see him the next time, what will you say?
FEINSTEIN: Yes. Yes. Well, I did say, look, I'm sorry. But, you know, this is one thing that I feel very passionately about. And I appreciate the lecture, but -- that's all I'm going to say.
I always marvel at the human spirit when I hear about people who have fled oppressive fanatical churches. Imagine that moment when they finally realize that a spiritual leader they have trusted all their lives has betrayed them by creating a false world that has nothing to do with spirituality or knowledge, and everything to do with power and control. The most oppressed people are always the women and children who lead an existence of drudgery and powerlessness, sexual abuse or dysfunction. Their experiences bear little resemblance to normal family life in the outside world, which they usually realize only after leaving. Those who grow up in such churches are brainwashed into thinking everyone else in society is evil, so for years they may accept the justification that keeps them physically isolated, and become willing captives who might even view their jailors as saviors. For the more rebellious in the congregation, the church leaders intentionally block information and play emotional mind games to shame people into staying, or resort to blackmail with threats to withhold contact with loved ones, including children. To overcome such tactics you really need guts and a strong will, so to take flight from such a church is an inspiration. I wish all these women the best of luck.
Ruby Jessup grew up in the recently received custody of her ten children in Colorado City, Arizona, and escaped with them in January, helped by local law enforcement and a sister on the outside. CNN Transcript
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 26- year-old Ruby Jessop has accomplished something very few women in Warren Jeffs' fundamentalist polygamist church have done. Late last week, she escaped.
(on camera): How old were you when you got married?
RUBY JESSOP, ESCAPED FROM FLDS: I'm 14.
TUCHMAN: How old were you when you had your first baby?
JESSOP: I was 16.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And Ruby escaped with those babies, six of them. Babies she had with a husband that is still in the church. The children are now 10, 8, 7, 6, 4 and 2.
(on camera): Do you still believe that Warren Jeffs is the prophet?
JESSOP: No.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Warren Jeffs, the self-professed prophet of the FLDA since 2002 is now serving a life sentence in prison, but he continues to rule the religion with an iron fist from his cell. He made many of the laws here and forced countless young girls like Ruby Jessop into marriage.
Most never leave, but Ruby said she always dreamed of leaving. Hoping to get out of the twin towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hillsdale, Utah, where most FLDS members live.
But taking children away from a husband who is obedient to the church and Warren Jeffs is extraordinarily difficult. Just days ago, this was the emotional scene, Ruby receiving temporary custody of the children from a county court judge, these pictures showing Ruby being reunited with her children after this man, her husband, Haven Barlow, had allegedly kept them away from her for weeks.
JESSOP: Arizona law is very clear that one parent cannot keep another apparent from their children regardless of their religion.
TUCHMAN: Ruby then took her children and escaped into the outside world. Author and private investigator Sam Brower shot the photographs.
SAM BROWER, AUTHOR, "PROPHET'S PREY": The children were ecstatic to see their mother. They were all smiles. It was wonderful to see the looks on their faces when they saw their mom.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Ruby Jessop was raised by her father, mother, and two sister wives. She has 30 brothers and sisters. The man she was forced to marry is her second cousin. The man who presided over the wedding is Warren Jeffs. When she went to the altar, Ruby was in ninth grade. She never went back to school.
(voice-over): Ruby is filing for divorced from Haven Barlow, a man she said she never loved. We went to the house they shared to try to get her husband's response to all this.
. . . TUCHMAN (voice-over): Ruby and her children are currently living in her sister's house in Phoenix. She has no job, no high school diploma, and little knowledge of the outside world, but she said there's no turning back.
JESSOP: I want to raise my kids. I want to be free. Be able to make my own choices, to be happy.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Are you happy today?
JESSOP: I am. I am very happy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jenna Miscavige Hill, whose Uncle is a Leader of the Church of Scientology has written a book called Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Her parents were part of "Sea Org" which she described on ABC's The View as "the clergy of the church who sign billion-year contracts, sort of like a paramilitary organization." However, Jenna was separated from her parents for most of her young life, instead living in various communal camp situations where she worked at hard labor for the church for hours every day. According to Ms. Miscavige, Scientologists have no real god that they worship, which begs the question of whether the church should get tax-exempt status as a church, and why they display a big cross on top of their churches. When asked whether celebrities are treated differently than regular members, she gave an emphatic yes, saying the elite members such as Tom Cruise or Kirstie Alley wouldn't be harassed for money or favors the way ordinary members are, and their children wouldn't be expected to work at one of the camps the way she was raised. As she described it to Piers Morgan, celebraties have "willful ignorance" about what is really going on, and because they attend the fancier churches they just don't see how other members are treated. But Jenna does blame them for failing to check the internet about the realities of Scientology and Dianetics.
Jenna's parents eventually left Sea Org, but Jenna chose to stay behind, which she told Piers Morgan was due to years of brainwashing. On The View, she explained that in 2005 she could "no longer look away from the abuse, the mental, the physical, the verbal" and "realized I just wasn't helping anyone." If she had stayed with Sea Org, she wouldn't have been allowed to have children, but happily, she and her husband escaped together and they now have two children away from the world of Scientology. And to help others with the same background Jenna started a website called Ex-Scientology Kids
~~~~~~~~~~~~
And last but certainly not least, two high-profile women have fled the notorious Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, which is famous for loudly picketing any gathering they view as connected to homosexuality or gay life, even military funerals. Here are some of their craziest protests. They even threatened to come to Newtown and protest at the funerals of the dead children, but thankfully stayed away. It's really hard to understand what they hope to achieve by picketing all over the country holding signs that say "God Hates You." Nothing is more disturbing than seeing the innocent children of Westboro waving signs in the air with the word "F*g" on them as their parents have instructed them, but Leader Fred Phelps believes in all hands on deck when trying to shame the rest of the world. So Pastor Phelps must be in total shock that two of his granddaughters left the Westboro fold this week: Megan Phelps-Roper and her sister Grace Phelps.
The Westboro Baptist Church may be the most controversial religious group in the country. By some accounts, it’s not a religious group at all -- the
Southern Poverty Law Center has called it “the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America,” and a White House petition urging the government to label it as such earned more than 330,000 signatures in January.
For several years, Phelps-Roper was one of the WBC’s loudest and most
believable defenders. By age 25, she led social media efforts for the
church, gave hundreds of media interviews and tweeted regular Bible
verses and inspirational quotes to an audience of more than 10,000. She
briefly coordinated WBC protests at funerals and disaster sites, the
church’s most reviled activity.
But something changed, Phelps-Roper told journalist Jeff Chu,
when a Jewish friend she met online challenged the WBC’s teaching on
homosexuality. Didn’t Jesus say to “let he who is without sin cast the
first stone?,” he asked.
And so Phelps-Roper -- who once told the Kansas City Star the church was the only place she’d seen “people who serve God in truth” -- finally began to doubt.
To see just how confused the Phelps sisters may be as they move into the real world, watch the video below. There are several displays of pure cognitive dissonance in which the girls express both hate and love of the the people targeted by their church's hatred. While picketing the funeral of a Muslim and burning a Koran (which was 'doing the right thing,' according to Megan), the younger sister, Grace, also took a photograph of "an adorable Muslim boy," but she sees no contradiction because as Grace tells an incredulous journalist: "I didn't set the bounds of his habitation. I can't change that. And saying 'that's a cute picture' doesn't change that." You have to admire the complicated, yet innocent, use of church-speak. Megan rails about how horrible "those little Muslims" are while spewing one offensive epithet after another. She also seems to have no idea that the god of the Muslims was the same god of the Jews and Christians, and she speaks of her own "jealous and vengeful God" as if Jesus had never said "turn the other cheek." So much for her religious education, which up till now centered around targeting homosexuals and yelling at them from the side of the road.
Clearly these girls will have to relearn many things in order to function in society.
David Chu, a writer on gay issues for Medium.com, got to know Megan while interviewing her about Westboro, and now he's written the definitive article about her sudden change, her light on the Road to Damascus, so to speak.
To some, this story might seem simple—even overly so. But we all have moments of epiphany, when things that are plate-glass clear to others but opaque to us suddenly become apparent. This was, for Megan, one of those moments, and this window led to another and another and another. Over the subsequent weeks and months, “I tried to put it aside. I decided I wasn’t going to hold that sign, ‘Death Penalty for F*gs.’” (She had, for the most part, preferred the gentler, much less offensive “Mourn for Your Sins” or “God Hates Your Idols” anyway.)
What “seemed like a small thing at the time,” she says, snowballed. She started to question another Westboro sign, “F*gs can’t repent.” “It seemed misleading and dishonest. Anybody can repent if God gives them repentance, according to the church. But this one thing—it gives the impression that homosexuality is an unforgivable sin,” she says. “It didn’t make sense. It seemed a wrong message for us to be sending. It’s like saying, ‘You’re doomed! Bye!’ and gives no hope for salvation.”
. . . Once a constant Tweeter, she hasn’t posted anything online since October. “I don’t know what I believe, so I don’t know what to say,” she explains. “I haven’t been ready to talk about any of this.” She’s only doing so now, and briefly, because, she says, “I was so proactive before and vocal about the church. My name means something now to others that it doesn’t mean to me. I want people to know that it’s not now how it was.”
It's a huge turnaround for the young woman who was called the "Heir to Hate" by the Kansas City Star. But she is not the first family member to leave the fold, nor will she be the last.
Fred Phelps . . . at 82 has grown increasingly removed from the church’s everyday business. His daughter, fire-and-brimstone figurehead Shirley Phelps-Roper, handles operations. But even she’s begun delegating more to others, with much of the work falling to Megan, her oldest daughter and the one who, more than any of her brothers, sisters or cousins, has been entrusted with the most responsibility.
As Shirley puts it, “She was always kind of my right-hand man.”
Megan’s importance to the movement stems also from the fact that for the past decade, the church’s future has been walking away at an alarming rate.
Since 2004, 20 members have left the Westboro Baptist Church, three-fourths of them in their teens or 20s. The defections have left a sizable dent in the group’s third generation, which, for a church that has relied almost exclusively upon family to populate its congregation, is not an insignificant development. There are those on both sides of the family who would like to guide Megan’s future.
“There’s still an element of hope,” says Megan’s uncle, Nate Phelps, who left the church in 1976 at the age of 18 and now travels the country speaking out against its practices, “that someone can get through to her.”
Megan has watched with unease as some of those closest to her have defected and then been cut off completely from the family. The older brother who left in the middle of the night the day before her high school graduation. The cousin and best friend who decided three years ago that the church’s practices had grown too extreme. Each departure forcing her to confront the same frightening possibility: That she, too, could succumb to the same temptations.
NBC's The Today Show did an interview with a cousin of the Phelps sisters, Libby Phelps Alvarez, who said that while she misses her family, leaving the church has brought her new joy in life, such as her recent marriage. She wishes that others in the church would realize that the world is not full of evil people.
Until very recently, this is what I lived, breathed, studied, believed, preached – loudly, daily, and for nearly 27 years.
I never thought it would change. I never wanted it to.
Then suddenly: it did.
And I left.
Where do you go from there?
I don't know, exactly. My sister Grace is with me, though. We’re trying to figure it out together.
There are some things we do know.
We know that we’ve done and said things that hurt people. Inflicting pain on others wasn’t the goal, but it was one of the outcomes. We wish it weren’t so, and regret that hurt.
We know that we dearly love our family. They now consider us betrayers, and we are cut off from their lives, but we know they are well-intentioned. We will never not love them.
We know that we can’t undo our whole lives. We can’t even say we’d want to if we could; we are who we are because of all the experiences that brought us to this point. What we can do is try to find a better way to live from here on. That’s our focus.
Up until now, our names have been synonymous with “God Hates F*gs.” Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what we did. We hope Ms. Kyle was right about the other part, too, though – that everything sticks – and that the changes we make in our lives will speak for themselves.
Megan and Grace
The new order, signed Thursday by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, will open as many as 237,000 new jobs to women. Women comprise about 14% of the 1.4 million active military personnel.
Military officials who briefed reporters on background said occupations such as infantry and artillery have exacting physical requirements and appropriate standards will be maintained. The officials declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
The military has different physical standards based on age and sex for the Army and Marines. In either service, the standards for both sexes would be the same for those trying to get into the infantry and other combat arms specialties.
"The department's goal in rescinding the rule is to ensure that the mission is met with the best qualified and most capable people, regardless of gender," Panetta said.
I struggled with this title for this post because "Military Women Now Permitted in Combat" or "Military Women Finally Allowed in Combat" would mislead the reader into thinking that these women have led sheltered lives up till now. Women have always been in the thick of the battle as medics, pilots, technicians, military policewomen - you name it. And when battle lines change in distant lands, bombs and firefights are their reality, as well as their male counterparts. So it's not accurate to say "Now, Suddenly, Women are in Combat" as if something is new and unusual.
The only "new" feature is that women will now receive combat pay equal to men, and they will be considered for promotions and honors based on their very real combat experience.
Goldie Taylor, MSNBC pundit who served in the military, explained it well on last night's Ed Show:
You know, women have been serving in our armed forces and in
military operations around the world for decades. The fact is we`re doing
the job. We`re helicopter pilots. We`re Marine Corps, you know, military
police officers. We`re military intelligence officers.
We just don`t get formally recognized for it. And we certainly don`t
get paid for it. There`s a differential pay for someone who is formally
recognized as being a part of infantry. That is a boost in pay and
benefits that women don`t have access to. Certainly, if you serve on the
front line, you have greater access to leadership positions. That
opportunity is cut off for women who, again, not formally recognized.
I don`t know how much recognition you need than to look at someone
like Tammy Duckworth who comes home missing her legs, or someone like a
Shoshana Johnson, who was a POW, or someone like a Jessica Lynch, who was
shot in the heels of her feet. So I don`t know how much more formal
recognition you need that women are doing the job today.
SCHULTZ: Women have to volunteer for combat duty and face the same
physical standards that men do. Is that an issue or not an issue at all?
TAYLOR: You know, I went through boot camp back in 1987. My former
husband attempted to go through boot camp that very same year. He did not
graduate from boot camp and was returned home not a Marine. I, on the
other hand, did complete boot camp and did rise to the challenge. I do
believe that the standards for infantry should be high. They should not be
relaxed.
But if a woman can meet the physical and mental challenges of serving
on the front line, then she darn well ought to be able to serve on the
front line, be recognized, be promoted, and be paid for it.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi with
Democratic Women of the House
What a day of firsts for our country! And it gives everyone a feeling of optimism that this Congress might be different because it is more diverse, in spite of the obstinate Tea Partiers.
Women, Women Everywhere!
20 Women of the Senate
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is Sworn In
Deb Fisher ~ First Woman Senator EVER from Nebraska
Sources told Huffington Post today that Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, has been tapped to serve on the Banking Committee. This is happy news and a coup for Democrats since Warren, a consumer advocate and economics expert, was blocked by Republicans from serving as head of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during Obama's first term.
Ms. Warren, who beat Republican Sen. Scott Brown for the Senate seat in November, emerged as a high-profile Wall Street critic after the financial crisis and hit on many of the same populist themes during her campaign. "Wall Street CEOs, the same ones who wrecked our economy...still strut around Congress...demanding favors," she said in her speech at the Democratic National Convention in September.
She embraced several policy positions that bankers dislike, including calling for a return to Glass-Steagall, the Depression-era law that separated commercial and investment banks.
. . . Several financial industry officials admit they're concerned about Ms. Warren being on the panel, given her policy positions and industry criticisms, but they said they don't know of any banks or lobbyists working against her selection.
With Ms. Warren on the banking panel, it may be harder for Republican critics of that agency and the banking industry to win any changes, such as replacing its director with a bipartisan commission structure.
2012 will go down in history as groundbreaking for women:
184 women ran for Congress this year, half were elected
29 women of color will now serve, a record number
20 female Senators, up from 17
81 women elected to the House
4 states - HI, MA, ND, WI elected first female senators EVER
New Hampshire has nation's first all-female delegation
First Asian-American woman in the Senate, Mazie Hirono D-HI
First openly gay Senator - Tammy Baldwin D-WI
First Hindu in Congress, Tulsi Gabbard D-HI
First Disabled Female Veteran in Congress, Tammy Duckworth, D-IL
This election was really something else, and the Republicans underestimated women, just as they underestimated the votes of Latinos, African-Americans, and college students.
. . . the results came in. It quickly became clear that women hadn’t just reelected the president–they’d dealt a historic blow to the religious right, helped put a record number of women in the Senate, and become the heart of a new governing coalition.
According to CNN exit polls, women made up 53 percent of the electorate, and they went for Obama by 11 points. (Romney, meanwhile, won men by 7.) According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers, it was the second-largest gender gap in American history, exceeded only by the 1996 electorate. Because of women’s votes, Republicans lost two Senate seats they once seemed certain to win–Missouri and Indiana–after their candidates made shocking comments about rape, pregnancy, and abortion.
Among some conservatives, a realization has begun to set in that they need to start winning over women or get used to being a permanent minority party. Writing in National Review Online, the Independent Women’s Forum’s Carrie Lukas admitted that she’d been wrong in assuming that the “war on women” frame wouldn’t work: “This should be a wakeup call for everyone on the right.”
All six female incumbent Democrats won their re-election, including Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who had been in tight race until her opponent, Rep. Todd Akin, made his comments about "legitimate rape." Democrats joining the Senate next year will be Democrats Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.). (Rick Berg of North Dakota conceded the race late yesterday to Heitkamp.) Six other female Democrat senators were not up for re-election this year.
Thus the full list of female senators for 2013 includes 16 Democrats:
1. Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin, incoming)
2. Mazie Hirono (Hawaii, incoming)
3. Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts, incoming)
4. Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota, incoming)
5. Claire McCaskill (Missouri, re-elected)
6. Debbie Stabenow (Michigan, re-elected)
7. Dianne Feinstein (California, re-elected)
8. Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota, re-elected)
9. Kirsten Gillibrand (New York, re-elected)
10. Maria Cantwell (Washington re-elected)
11. Patty Murray (Washington)
12. Barbara Boxer (California)
13. Barbara Mikulski (Maryland)
14. Mary Landrieu (Louisiana)
15. Kay Hagan (North Carolina)
16. Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire)
And four Republicans:
17. Deb Fisher (Nebraska incoming)
18. Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire)
19. Susan Collins (Maine)
20. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
Yesterday Nancy Pelosi announced she will be staying on as House Minority Leader, which caused young whippersnapper Luke Russert of MSNBC to ask her a rather ill-thought-out question that bordered on age discrimination and was boo'ed by the other ladies from Congress on stage with Pelosi.
Pelosi was announcing her intent to remain in post as the leader of the minority caucus in the House. Russert asked whether this choice was blocking younger members who wanted to move up in the party.
"Some of your colleagues privately say that your decision to stay on prohibits the party from having a younger leadership and hurts the party in the long term," he said. "What's your response?"
"Age discrimination!" some of Pelosi's colleagues shouted. "Boo!"
"Next!" Pelosi cried, adding, "Oh, you've always asked that question, except to Mitch McConnell!" The women behind her applauded.
Russert pressed on. "No, excuse me," he said. "You, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Clyburn, you're all over 70. Is your decision to stay on prohibiting younger members from moving forward?"
"Let's for a moment honor it as a legitimate question, although it's quite offensive," Pelosi responded. "You don't realize that, I guess." She went on to say that she had no concerns about the question Russert raised, adding flatly, "the answer is no."
This was a great election, not just because Barack Obama was re-elected in a near landslide, but because women found the power to fight back against an oppressive Republican Party that seemed hell-bent on attacking our decisions, our basic human rights and our bodies. Most of the time, they simply attacked our intelligence, thinking a return to 1950s values is what women want for ourselves and our daughters. This is why I've written 26 Posts on the War on Women going back to Rick Santorum in the Primaries, as well as 21 posts on Snark Amendment collecting quotes and video from these guys. I want all of it to stay on the internet forever if possible, so that four years from now we won't have complacency and forget just how bad it was.
Well, today is a much better world for my daughter as well as my sons, and everyone else in society. Obama will protect the Supreme Court, health care, and Pell Grants. While the Tea Party may still control the House, and unfortunately Ryan and some others are still there, we have the political capital and some new voices to help in the fight, Obama will surely be able to pressure Speaker Boehner in ways we never did before. The conservative message failed and their party is in shambles. For all Romney's talk of family values and his love of his wife and kids, he couldn't put himself in the place of one female American who wasn't either a wealthy Stepford Wife or some glorified secretary in a binder.
The Gender Gap was real, and that should prove that the War on Women was real for us. We shouldn't have to explain it. We don't need anymore lectures and threats of probing and rape and forced pregnancy from nutjobs and religious fanatics. We don't need anymore insults from loser misogynists like Rush Limbaugh either, and he needs to realize his day is DONE.
But if that is the only message you have, just keep on keepin' on. It can only help the Democrats in the future. I know I will stay fired up even after this election and I think all women feel this way. History books will be written on the failure of the white-male oriented GOP to connect with half the country. If they don't understand it by now, just read the book.
And look at some of the great women who were elected yesterday!!!
Claire McCaskill Beat Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin in Missouri
Tammy Baldwin beat Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin
And Becomes the First Openly Gay Senator
Tammy Duckworth Beat Joe "Misogynist Shouter" Walsh in Illinois
Elizabeth Warren defeated Scott Brown in Massachusetts
“I wish we could have an honest and respectful dialogue about these complicated issues,” Fey said. “But it seems like we can’t right now. And if I have to listen to one more gray-faced man with a two-dollar haircut explain to me what rape is, I’m gonna lose my mind.”
“I watch these guys and I’m like what is happening? Am I a secretary on ‘Mad Men’?” Fey joked.
Fey then tried to summarize Akin’s views on pregnancy and rape, concluding “It’s making me dumber when I say it. But it’s something about the body not being able to get pregnant when it’s under physical stress. Mr. Akin I think you are confusing the phrase ‘legitimate rape’ with the phrase ‘competitive gymnastics.’”
I see many people on Twitter and elsewhere pretending the War on Women is a joke made up by "hysterical" Dems. But there are real things going on in government that are aimed at controlling and limiting women for years to come. No one should close their eyes. No one should think these guys (and some women) in the GOP are kidding around or that they "don't really mean it." They do. This is not a joke.Other politicians take them at their word and we should too.
This is not a game and we Democrats are not "hysterical" if we fight back every way we can.
Need a reminder of what the War on Women is all about?
More 1950s retro-crap from a Republican, this time Governor John Kasich of Ohio waxing poetic about women doing laundry.
I never enjoyed doing laundry myself - my husband does it for our family. We're funny that way - sharing chores and stuff. He mows grass and I cook, but I also fix the computer for him, while he does the grocery shopping. He has even changed hundreds of diapers in his lifetime. I realize our lifestyle is so very radical that some politicians might label us "socialists" or "hippies" or something. *eyeroll*
"You know, Jane Portman, Karen Kasich, and Janna Ryan, they operate an awful lot of the time in the shadows," he said, speaking of his wife and those of Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). "It’s not easy to be a spouse of an elected official," he said. "You know, they’re at home, doing the laundry and doing so many things while we’re up here on the stage getting a little bit of applause, right? They don’t often share in it. And it is hard for the spouse to hear the criticism and to put up with the travel schedule and to have to be at home taking care of the kids. And where is the politician? Out on the road!"
Makes me wish all women had superpowers like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Lots of demons around this political season. Keep a spike handy. Don't get sucked into the Hellmouth, I mean, the dryer. And don't stay "in the shadows" - kick some butt out in the sunlight.
