Thursday, March 12, 2009

What Is Wrong With These Pictures?

On a day the Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is going to put more emphasis on placing women in top posts, a picture of 11 men appears above the fold on the front page of the Metro section touting federal commitment dollars for the Dulles Metro extension.

Maybe one individual with red hair on the back row is a woman. It's hard to tell, and her/his name, of course, is not supplied. Two African-American males did make it in.

(The story quotes U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood: “If this is not the greatest day for Virginia, I don’t know what is.” Good grief! And he is a cabinet official? That Virginians are celebrating a railroad track as "the greatest day"?)

In Women's History Month and the week the Washington Post reports that President Obama is going to place more emphasis on placing women in top slots, the Post carried a little one-paragraph story about the lashing and four-month prison terms of two men and a 75-year-old woman in Saudi Arabia found guilty of being together.

She is a grandmother. The men were delivering bread to her. One is the nephew of her late husband. Forty lashes for each perpetrator (for what? Delivering food to an old woman?) says a much lengthier story at YahooNews Canada.

Do we do business with Saudi Arabia? We know Bush and Cheney slept with Saudi Arabia.

By ignoring the plight of women in Saudi Arabia and other countries which actively discriminate against us, by remaining silent we condone its actions.

I wish the Obama administration, Michelle Obama, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Valerie Jarrett and other powerful politicians and celebrities would pick up their telephones and microphones and from their bully pulpits beseech the government of Saudi Arabia to cease and desist exploiting, raping, pillaging women.

How can a civilized nation rationally continue doing business with a country which treats women like possessed animals?

I wish a powerful person would adopt the plight of women in the Middle East and do something besides talk, talk, talk to colleagues about raising the stature of women. I wish someone would act, act, act. Why not use their ammunition and aim their weapons of strength at readily identifiable targets? Like boycotting Saudi Arabia. Who needs its stinking oil anyway? We American consumers continue to show a diminished need for it. The actions of the United States would encourage other nations to follow suit.

Pass it on. And act. It's Women's History Month.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Women Legislators Speak at Archives



From left to right: Rep. Grace Napolitano, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Gov. Madeleine Kunin, Rep. Mazie Hirono, Lt. Gov. Jennette Bradley, and Eleanor Clift

By The Queen of Free

Anger and passion are not always negative. Use them!

As fuel for internal fire to make living conditions better for you and your children. To drive you like it propelled into politics female legislators who made up a panel Thursday night at National Archives: "Big Strides, Diverse Paths: Women's Journeys to Political Leadership."

The marvelous, the sharp, the witty Eleanor Clift served as moderator. (Now really, is there any better talk show on Sunday than “The McLaughlin Hour”? Eleanor started off the evening with “Well, it’s nice to be able to finish a sentence.”)

The presenters’ diversity was commendable: one Latino (Rep. Grace Napolitano,D-CA), an Asian American (Rep. Mazie Hirono, D-HI), an African-American (Jennette Bradley, former Lt. Governor, Ohio), and two Caucasians (Madeline Kunin, former governor, Vermont, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN).

Throughout the evening the panelists addressed their remarks to prospective candidates.

Strong mothers were identified as major components of the political successes of Gov. Kunin and Rep. Hirono.

After she protested the Vietnam War Rep. Hirono said she “eased” into political life “unlike the guys {who} never let incompetence stop them.”

Gov. Kunin said her worry and anger over railroad tracks which her children had to cross daily on their way to school ignited her political career. “I learned you can fight city hall,” she said. She collected signatures and learned to speak before groups, all great experiences for later political battles.

“Be angry about something, be imaginative, and be an optimist,” she suggested.

Rep. Blackburn frequently endorsed the advantages of having a non-risk adverse personality which voters perceive as an attribute. Women are usually not risk-adverse, she noted.

Rep. Napolitano’s parents divorced when she was 3 ½, and she began working at age 12 and has never stopped. She has a high school education.

“Use common sense,” she recommended. Her most important role in California, she said, is to represent “the people who sent me” to Congress. (Who in Congress would disagree?)
“Believing you can makes a difference” makes a difference, she said. Her children “hate” politics but “they’ve learned to accept it…You sacrifice your personal life." Be prepared to skip your daughter’s dance recital and your children’s sporting events.

And by the way, “Develop a thick skin because they’re going to come after you with everything but the kitchen sink.”

Former Lt. Governor Bradley, the first African-American female to win a lieutenant gubernatorial slot in the nation, said she refused to believe the naysayers who said she had no chance of winning since she was 1. Running against an incumbent and 2. Is black. The perceptions increased her anger and motivation. Other women helped.

Gov. Kunin, the author of Pearls, Politics and Power and Living a Political Life, said “Politics is not a dirty word.” Nor is “power.”

Why is it that more women than men need to be asked to run than run?

“Don’t wait to be asked,” Gov. Kunin urged the crowd. “Ask yourself.”

The panel noted female representation in Iraq’s parliament is mandated (what is the origin of that word?) at 25% and at 27% in Afghanistan, but in the U.S. where it is not mandated, only 17% of representatives in Congress are female.

Rep. Blackburn said being a PTA mother, hosting birthday parties and fundraising for non-profits are all good experiences for running a campaign.

Knowing how to speak, write, and read help, too, said Gov. Kunin.

Rep. Hirono said women must learn to open their checkbooks to political races like they open them to buy shoes.

Rep. Napolitano took loans out on her home to finance her race while Gov. Kunin never used her own money. She had to ask for it.

“Get over your fear of failure,” Lt. Gov. Bradley said. “What you don’t know, you can learn.”

When Ms. Clift queried the group about obstacles Rep. Blackburn noted it was her own fear of failure and worry about what people would think if she lost.

The audience, which almost filled the William McGowan Theater, was about 90% female, mixed ages, mostly Caucasian.

“George,” a 20-something who said his major was women’s studies, asked what men can do to spur more female candidates.

Rep. Napolitano: “Volunteer!”

Eleanor Clift: “Share the housework and child care!”

Gov. Kunin: “Be emotionally supportive.”

Another question from the audience concerned media bias against female candidates and Ms. Clift noted the cable news networks are male dominated with a lot of time to fill.

Gov. Kunin urged women to get mad and push back.

Introducing the panel, Carol Hardy-Fanta, the director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at U. Mass., a sponsor, noted that the U.S. is certainly not a model for female political achievement since the U.S. ranks 71st in Democratic countries in female membership percentage in a national congress or parliament.

How do you enter politics?

Unanimous group answer: “Volunteer!” Ask questions, keep up with the news.

Gov. Kunin: “Be curious. Hold on to your ideals.”

Lt. Gov. Bradley: “You must be willing to break barriers.” She did. We can.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Cartoon idea: The Mountain of Cash (Before and After)

BEFORE:

Standing on a plateau on a big mountain top composed of dollars spewing everywhere are the rich people lolling around their swimming pools, jetting here and there, bedecked in their jewels, wrapped in fur, slurping drinks, shopping at the “high end” shops, driving fancy cars.

Holding them up “down below” inside the mountain with their cash infusions are the poor middle class people working hard at cash registers, assembling cars, taking food orders and dry-cleaning, standing in line to spend their precious dollars at low-end shops, driving trucks

AFTER
: The rich are frantic, pulling their hair out, beads of sweat everywhere on their mountain plateau. Gone are the jewels, the furs, the jets because: “down below,” the mountain crumbles: The poor and middle class stand in lines waiting for food boxes. Their cash to support the rich class’ way of life has disappeared and along with it, the rich, now engulfed by the cashless monster

With apologies to Johnny Rivers and Charley Pride:

Standin' on a mountain lookin' down on a city
The way I feel is a doggone pity
Teardrops fallin' down the mountain side
Many times I've been here, many times I've cried
We used to be so happy when we were awash
High on a mountain of cash

Mountain of cash, the mountain of cash
You should be ashamed
You used to be my mountain of cash
But you just changed your game

Way down below there's a half a million people
Somewhere there's a bank with a lot of bankers weepin’
Inside the bank, there's an altar filled with dollars
Courthouse bells are ringin' and they should've been all ours
That's why I'm so upset, my dream is gone so fast
High on your mountain of cash

Night after night I'm a-standin' in the cold
Cryin’ out for you, I’ve never been so old
Prayin' you're not hungry and you'll buy something quick
Hopin' just by chance that you won’t call me a ----
Trying hard to find you somewhere in the mash
High on my mountain of cash

Mountain of cash, the mountain of cash
You should be ashamed
You used to be my mountain of cash
But you just changed my game