The Political Voices of Women

Will John McCain’s Health Care Plan Help or Hurt You?  With the economy spiraling out of control, it’s important that we can all be secure in the availability, and quality of our health care.  If you have a pre-existing condition, are receiving your health care through your employer, or are a woman…You may be in trouble with a McCain Health Care Plan.  Here is some of the latest information, let me know what you think in comments.

Journal Disputes McCain’s Health Care Claims

Senator John McCain’s top domestic policy adviser, former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, recently said in a conference call with reporters that Mr. McCain’s health care proposal would “put 25 to 30 million individuals out of the ranks of the uninsured, into the ranks of the insured.” In an article released Tuesday, a panel of prominent health economists concludes that Mr. Holtz-Eakin’s projection is off by, well, 25 to 30 million.

The article, published in the journal Health Affairs, argues that “initially there would be no real change in the number of people covered as a result of the McCain plan.” After a short-term reduction of 1 million in the number of people without coverage, the number of uninsured would increase by 5 million after five years, the authors predict. There are currently 45 million people without insurance, or 15 percent of the population, according to the Census Bureau.

On Obama’s Health Care Plan…

By comparison, Senator Barack Obama’s plan, which would provide heavy government subsidies for insurance for low-income workers, would reduce the number of uninsured by 18 million in 2009 and by 34 million in 2018, according to the Urban Institute/Brookings Institution report. That would still leave Mr. Obama well shy of his goal of achieving universal coverage.

[read full article at the caucus]

Think You Know John McCain?   His Health Care Plan Will Penalize Women…

Presidential candidate John McCain’s health care reform plan would have a devastating impact on women, according to a new analysis.

“Tens of millions of women would be at risk of losing their current insurance coverage even though they use health care services more frequently than men, suffer chronic illness more often than men, and require maternity care and other reproductive health services,” concludes a report by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The aim of McCain’s health care plan is to break up the existing employer based health care coverage system and replace it with a market-oriented system funded in part by the government.

Employers that currently offer health care coverage would find fewer incentives to continue doing so under the McCain plan. Instead, individuals would be given a tax credit of $2,500 (families would receive $5,000) so that they could shop around on the open market for the best plan for them, whether that insurer is based in the same state or not. The catch, though, is that the private insurance market doesn’t treat women that well.

The study reports that if McCain’s plan is implemented, “more than 30 million women with employer-sponsored health insurance who suffer from a chronic condition could lose their coverage, find it harder to obtain coverage, or have to purchase supplemental insurance to cover their chronic condition.”

Read more »

When news of the John Edwards affair broke yesterday, it was very shocking. I had heard the rumors, but always assumed they were untrue. I didn’t watch the Nightline interview last night, but just in case you wanted to see it, and missed it. Here is the full interview, in two parts, and some of the reaction and commentary from around the web. I hope you’ll let me know what you think about this in comments.

John Edwards interview on ABC…

Part One

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Part Two




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Tami Winfrey Harris, contributing editor to The Political Voices of Women, wrote a very personal response to the shocking news about John Edwards…

I Am Disappointed In You, John Edwards…

Long time readers know that I was a supporter of John Edwards’ presidential campaign. I believed in his platform and thought he would make a wonderful president of the United States. You know, I still believe in his platform, but I am woefully disappointed in the man. On the one hand, I don’t think sexual habits have anything to do with the ability to be a leader. The list of unfaithful men who Americans swoon over is long: From Thomas Jefferson to JFK to MLK. And none of my Republican friends better say one word to me about this, as their presidential candidate is married to his former mistress.

But I am disappointed that powerful men, even the ones that seem “better than that” seem always to live down to the public’s lowest expectations of them.

read full post here

There was an interesting comment on a post about Hillary, it’s a look at the John Edwards scandal from another point of view…

Re: Senator Edwards
From all the news coverage tonight I didn’t hear one word on the question of whether Senator Obama wins the nomination if Senator Edward tells the truth last year when the story broke.
Does anyone really believe that Senator Clinton looses the Iowa caucuses if Senator Edwards is not in the race, especially after the landslide of working class voters who supported Senator Clinton after Senator Edwards left the race?
And what of the value of the Edwards endorsement, the timing of which stepped all over an important moment for Senator Clinton.
So all of the above leads to the question of motive. Was it just revenge for perceived slights during the 2004 campaign? Will some one at least try to find out?
And finally, exactly how hard did the media investigate the Edwards story when it mattered.
I find it hard to believe that if the story was reversed, the “What if” questions and investigation of motive would not have been a center point of the story.
Fraud has been committed against the members of the Democratic Party potentially resulting in an illegitimate nominee. But not one word uttered about it.

Denise from BlogHer, wrote a post on The Edwards Affair, that has many comments from the women of BlogHer…

For months we’ve heard John Edwards deny rumors that he had an affair with Rielle Hunter. He’s also denied being the father of Hunter’s baby. Today, he revealed that he did, after all, have an affair with Hunter but continues to deny paternity. The blogosphere is buzzing.

Sister Toldjah says Looks like The Enquirer got it right after all and questions the MSM’s handling of the story.

. . .

Some of us are saying this is not news, this is not a story, this is no big deal… And the blog posts just keep rolling in. The tweets continue to fly.

Are you tweeting it or blogging it? Are you talking about it offline with coworkers, family and friends? IS this news? Does this matter to you?

The MOMocrats also had a strong response to a man they were supporting as president…

Top ten reasons I’m done with this John Edwards affair (and you should be too)

Elizabeth Edwards responds to news of affair

John Edwards hops aboard the bad judgement express

Also See:

Erin Kotecki Vest wrote for The Huffington Post…Edwards Affair: A Hard Lesson For The Left Half of the Blogosphere.

PunditMom wrote Political Rule #1 — If You Want To Be President, Keep It In Your Pants.

The Politico story has almost 1800 comments.

The New York Times - Edwards Admits to Affair in 2006

Well, if you are over your shock (and I’m not quite there yet), please let me know how you feel about the John Edwards affair in comments.

Also…Do you think if voters knew of this before the primaries, that the outcome of the election would have been different?

Damn you, John Edwards!

STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS
August 8, 2008Chapel Hill, North Carolina

In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99% honest is no longer enough.

I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then. I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established. I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby.

It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry. In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up — feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.

I have given a complete interview on this matter and having done so, will have nothing more to say.

Long time readers know that I was a supporter of John Edwards’ presidential campaign. I believed in his platform and thought he would make a wonderful president of the United States. You know, I still believe in his platform, but I am woefully disappointed in the man. On the one hand, I don’t think sexual habits have anything to do with the ability to be a leader. The list of unfaithful men who Americans swoon over is long: From Thomas Jefferson to JFK to MLK. And none of my Republican friends better say one word to me about this, as their presidential candidate is married to his former mistress.

But I am disappointed that powerful men, even the ones that seem “better than that” seem always to live down to the public’s lowest expectations of them.

I am disappointed that another family has to suffer through pain inflicted by a callous father who cannot put his sexual needs behind the welfare of his family–and this family has already suffered through enough pain, including the death of a child and Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer. I hope to God that Edwards’ “handlers” don’t subject his wife to tawdry photo ops and press conferences where she must stand mutely in support of her man.

I am disappointed that someone who could have done a lot of good as a leader may have thrown his career away…and for what?

I am disappointed in John Edwards’ overweening ego. How do you enter the presidential primary process at a time when a Democratic win is imperative for the survival of the country and Constitution, knowing that you have recently had an affair and that your paramour is having a baby, and knowing that the press is on to the story (HuffPo wrote about the rumors back in Sept. 2007)? If Edwards had become the Democratic candidate instead of Barack Obama, this little revelation would surely have cost the party November and stuck the country with four more years of shitty government. Really–what kind of egomaniac do you have to be to take that chance?

I am disappointed that some jackass just called the political radio show that I am listening to and proclaimed, “I used to think John Edwards was ’soft,’ but this makes me think he is a regular guy. I like him now.” WTF?

I am disappointed that we, as a public, are going to be all titillated about this for weeks on end. Gleefully dissecting the Edwards’ marriage and acting like this affair means more to us than the people truly involved.

I am just damned disappointed. Period.

[Crossposted from What Tami Said]

Universal Health Care: A Fine Line Between encouraging Healthy Living and Placing Blame on the Sick — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

As a health and wellness CE, I talk a lot about healthy eating and healthy living. But lately I’m starting to feel like there is a conspiracy against sick people. Well, maybe “conspiracy” is too strong of a word. Let’s say…discrimination. With so much focus on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, being unhealthy has quite a stigma attached to it. And it’s even crossed over into politics, turning judgment into a pundit pass-time. What I mean by that is…Health care and the uninsured is a hot-button policy issue these days (as it should be), and opponents of universal health care, often justify their opinion, by blaming lifestyle choices for poor health.

They point to the many studies that link chronic illness to obesity and smoking. Now, I’m not going to argue that an unhealthy diet and smoking aren’t contributing significantly to problems like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. But, “contributions” are not causes. Is there anyone who believes that if we just eliminated smoking and junk food, that we would eliminate chronic illness? Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way. And the high cost of health care has little to do with lifestyle, and everything to do with unscrupulous insurance companies and drug companies.

I agree that part of a good health care plan, is preventative medicine. But all the prevention in the world is not going to stop chronic illness. No matter how hard we try, we can not prevent the major cause of chronic illness, and that is aging. Then there are those other pesky little things, like genetics and the environment. The truth is, any one of us could spend our entire life eating only healthy foods and never smoking - yet still die of lung cancer or heart disease.

The point I am trying to make is, that there is a very fine line between encouraging a healthy lifestyle, and blaming people for their own medical hardships. A good example would be the discrimination of overweight people.

From The F-Word…

Weight-based discrimination is rampant today because of our culturally ingrained stereotypes of fatness and fat people. Fat people, it is assumed, are fat due to “lifestyle choices,” that being a willful overeating of “bad” foods and sedentary lifestyle. So-called obesity-related diseases are viewed to be a drain on our national economy, as they decrease work productivity and increase health care costs. And because of the conflation of fat with overconsumption, those rapacious fat people are also thought to represent a threat to the environment and the security of the nation state itself.

Another thing we have little control over, is the amount of stress in our lives. But this video shows, that stress can have the same negative effects on our heart as smoking does. That’s kinda scary given the stressful times we are living in.

Not too long ago, I was asked to write a post on how stress can affect your health. It’s hard to imagine that at the age of 40 we could have a heart the age of 50, and for no other reason than stress. Can you imagine the amount of stress an uninsured person must have? Just like the rich get richer…the sick get sicker. And universal health care might not be the perfect solution to this problem, but it is the only solution.From Moms Speak Up…

What does it mean to you to hear the phrase, “uninsured children?” What does it mean to hear, “underinsured children?”According to the Children’s Defense Fund

9.4 million children in America, almost 90 percent living in working households and a majority in two-parent families, are still uninsured. Millions more are underinsured. Chronic budget shortfalls, often confusing enrollment processes, and dramatic variation in eligibility and coverage from state to state prevent millions of currently eligible children from living healthy and realizing their full potential in school and life.

But what does that mean to the families of the 9.4 children living without insurance?

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More Political Voices of Women…

We now have over 400 women political bloggers on our list, here are the N’s…

Kim Gandy of NOW

Sue J — Nailing Jello To The Wall

Nancy Scola — I’m a non-fiction writer and — for lack of a better way to put it — activist who lives and works in Brooklyn.

Neogaia’s Blog

Emily Kronenberger — New Wave Grrrl - New Wave Grrrl is a policy-focused health information and resource-sharing venue for women with a special focus on health parity across gender lines, sexuality, advocacy, and women with disabilities. I blog frequently about political and policy issues that impact the health of women and girls.

NEWSgrist - where spin is art

Newshoggers

Nite Swimming - Is mostly politics.

No Blood For Hubris — Freestyle liberalesque socio-political blog avec a modicum of snark.

Slim — No Fish, No Nuts — I’m a woman and I blog about politics; I’m a liberal atheist lawyer, mom, baker, and tae kwon do blackbelt (not necessarily in that order).

No More Apples

Notions of Identity

Now For Something Different — A blog that encourages the wide spread use of common sense.

Nyceve and others at Daily Kos - Dailykos.com

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John McCain Straight Talk or Double Talk? — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

Last week I did a post for BlogHer on the realities of John McCain’s health care plan — Would You Be Covered Under McCain’s Health Care Plan? Here is an excerpt…

Would you be covered under John McCain’s health care plan? I wouldn’t.

Regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination, that person will be running against John McCain. Not too long ago, I posted about McCain’s position on a woman’s right to choose. Basically, his position is to do everything possible to stop a woman from having reproductive choices. And when it comes to McCain’s healthcare plan, anyone with a preexisting medical condition should be very concerned.

I was watching ABC’s Sunday program, This Week with George Stephanopoulos — John McCain was being interviewed, first on the economy, then on his healthcare plan, and then on Barack Obama’s patriotism. I already wrote about what I thought of John McCain’s plan for the economy. So, I thought I would take some time to address his plan (or lack of) for healthcare.

Unlike the Clinton and Obama plans, McCain doesn’t seem to think it’s important to insure everyone have quality and affordable healthcare. It actually seems like his plan is to see how happy he can make the health insurance industry.

Over 40 million Americans do not have health insurance, and under the McCain plan, neither will people with preexisting conditions. So, who won’t be covered? Anyone with a preexisting condition such as…

• Asthma
• Diabetes
• Any Type of Cancer
• Heart/Blood Pressure Problems
• All Chronic Illnesses

But don’t worry. McCain says, he will “talk” to each state and “try” to have them cover some people with preexisting conditions. Well…That makes me feel a lot better…NOT. This is nothing more than straight-talking double-talk. What he should be saying is…If you thought things were bad with health care now, just wait till I am in office. I think someone needs to point out to the McCain campaign, that calling something “straight-talk” doesn’t actually make it straight-talk. Although, in his defense, he is just doing exactly what the Bush administration has become an expert in. Giving something a “feel good” name, that doesn’t reflect the truth in any way. Let me give you some examples…

• No Child Left Behind
• Foreclosure Prevention Bill
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• Support The Troops

Just to name a few.

Bottom line. Things aren’t always as they seem…Especially when it come to straight-talk.

This is from The New York Times…

As Senator John McCain spends the week talking about health care and health insurance coverage, the Service Employees International Union has begun broadcasting an ad against his plans in Ohio and Washington, D.C.



The S.E.I.U.’s ad buy coincides with a new bus tour it began this week, starting in Cleveland, to promote and push for better health insurance coverage.

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More Political Voices of Women…

We now have over 400 women political bloggers on our list, here are the J’s…

Jac’s Notepad - an election 2008 diary

Jen’s Green Journal — My blog is 1/2 politics and 1/2 green living (which is becoming more and more political)

Jenn’s Journey As a Conservative - jenn is an awesome woman of conscience and conservative values stuck somewhere in n.j. and she’s always a fun read.

Jessica Mondillo’s Blog — I am a freshman at Boston University. I’m an 18 year old girl with very different views than many of the people around me. I enjoy intelligent conversations and seeing other people’s views.

Jo Jo Says…

Julie Pippert: Using My Words

Peggy Ronning from The NonSilent Majority posted about an article by Elizabeth Edwards in the New York Times today. Elizabeth Edwards is calling the media out on their lack of substantive coverage of election issues, and that is something we all should be doing. Here is an excerpt from her article, but I recommend you read the whole thing.

FOR the last month, news media attention was focused on Pennsylvania and its Democratic primary. Given the gargantuan effort, what did we learn?

Well, the rancor of the campaign was covered. The amount of money spent was covered. But in Pennsylvania, as in the rest of the country this political season, the information about the candidates’ priorities, policies and principles — information that voters will need to choose the next president — too often did not make the cut. After having spent more than a year on the campaign trail with my husband, John Edwards, I’m not surprised.

Why? Here’s my guess: The vigorous press that was deemed an essential part of democracy at our country’s inception is now consigned to smaller venues, to the Internet and, in the mainstream media, to occasional articles. I am not suggesting that every journalist for a mainstream media outlet is neglecting his or her duties to the public. And I know that serious newspapers and magazines run analytical articles, and public television broadcasts longer, more probing segments.

But I am saying that every analysis that is shortened, every corner that is cut, moves us further away from the truth until what is left is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism, in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture.

READ FULL ARTICLE AT THE NEW YORK TIMES

More Political Voices of Women…

We now have over 400 women political bloggers on our list, here are the G’s…

Georgia Women Vote — A view of the Georgia political scene from the perspective of a Democratic women. We cover the local politics, events, legislation, opinion, and the occasional gossip!

Get The Facts & Get Involved

Girl With Pen

Gloria Feldt - HeartFeldt Politics Blog

Golden Apple Press

GOP Vixen — The blog of columnist Bridget Johnson

GOTV with contributing editor, Alice

Granny Geek

GRAPEVINE — Georgia Federation of Democratic Women

Great Satans Girlfriend - courtney is an awesome discovery and she NEVER minces words.

Green Consciousness

Grizzly Mama

Why Is Life Expectancy For Women Going Down In America? - by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

A new study has found that the life expectancy for women in the United States is on the decline. But don’t worry, this is not something that will affect ALL women in our country - just the poor women.

Even more troubling, is that the study doesn’t include any statistics after 1999. What that means is, the Bush years have not been figured into these statistics. I can only imagine how the last eight years of the Bush administration have impacted the reality of these numbers.

It seems like it wasn’t that long ago, that I heard how the US life expectancy had slipped in ranking from 11th to 42nd, behind most European countries.

John Edwards was absolutely right when he talked about two Americas. Try to picture America on one side, and a third-world country on the other. Now picture that third-world country within the United States. Thanks to a failing economy and a serious health care crisis, that is exactly what we face today. It’s really not surprising at all. Very sad, but not surprising.


From The New York Times…

Life expectancy has long been growing steadily for most Americans. But it has not for a significant minority, according to a new study, which finds a growing disparity in mortality depending on race, income and geography.

The study, published Monday in the online journal PLoS, analyzed life expectancy in all 3,141 counties in the United States from 1961 to 1999, the latest year for which complete data have been released by the National Center for Health Statistics. Although life span has generally increased since 1961, the authors reported, it began to level off or even decline in the 1980s for 4 percent of men and 19 percent of women.

“It’s very troubling that there are parts of the wealthiest country in the world, with the highest health spending in the world, where health is getting worse,” said Majid Ezzati, the lead author and an associate professor of international health at Harvard. It is a phenomenon, he added, “unheard of in any other developed country.”

Listen to an interview on NPR…

Women in the southern part of the U.S. are dying earlier than before, according to a new study of life expectancy among women in the deep south and lower Midwest. The study’s lead author, Dr. Christopher Murray, explains the findings. And Dr. Wendy Klein, who specializes in women’s health, discusses what could be causing the change.

This is from a post at Momathon Blog

Women in the U.S. aren’t living as long these days. Can we blame it on the increase in obesity, high blood pressure, smoking and chronic illnesses related to these health concerns? One of every five American women (compared to only one of every 25 men) are dying at a younger age or seeing no improvement in life span according to a new study by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Washington. That works out to be a decline average of 1.3 years in 180 counties mainly in the south and certain rural areas. The decline is not the same in all parts of the country. That raises the question: What is causing the deadly trend? And why are life expectancies not on the decline for other Western nations?

This is from Crooks and Liars…

Now it would be easy to take the Republican route and blame this on individual lifestyle choices rather than looking at this as a symptom of inequality of care. PBS has just recently offered a series titled “Unnatural Causes: is inequality making us sick?” showing how our position in society affects our health. Executive Producer Larry Adelman wrote about it at the AFL-CIOblog.

This is from Healthy Moms…

There is a lot of discussion about a recent study done in the late 1990’s that concluded that the life expectancy rate in American women is declining. On AmericaBlog.com readers are blaming Republicans and the current administration for the decline. I don’t understand why since the study was done before President Bush was elected. Anyway enough of my politics. I thought that this story would be fitting because most of my readers are women.

It would be easy to look at this study and assume that these women are choosing an unhealthy lifestyle, and therefore contributing to the health conditions that are causing them to die at a younger age. But when you look closer, it’s clear that poverty and a lack of adequate healthcare is the underlying cause. I hope these new findings will be a catalyst in helping to bridge the gap between poverty and wellness.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan, also at The Care2 Election Blog

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More Political Voices of Women…

We now have over 400 women political bloggers on our list, here are the D’s…

Read more »

Did You Know John McCain’s Health Care Plan Does Not Include Preexisting Conditions? — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

Would you be covered under John McCain’s health care plan? I wouldn’t.Regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination, that person will be running against John McCain. Not too long ago, I posted about McCain’s position on a woman’s right to choose. Basically, his position is to do everything possible to stop a woman from having reproductive choices. And when it comes to McCain’s healthcare plan, anyone with a preexisting medical condition should be very concerned.

I was watching ABC’s Sunday program, This Week with George Stephanopoulos — John McCain was being interviewed, first on the economy, then on his healthcare plan, and then on Barack Obama’s patriotism. I already wrote about what I thought of John McCain’s plan for the economy. So, I thought I would take some time to address his plan (or lack of) for healthcare.


Unlike the Clinton and Obama plans, McCain doesn’t seem to think it’s important to insure everyone have quality and affordable healthcare. It actually seems like his plan is to see how happy he can make the health insurance industry.




This is from The Democratic Daily…

Elizabeth Edwards touted Hillary Clinton’s health care plan over Barack Obama’s today saying that the “mandated coverage” in Clinton’s plan “made it the only truly “universal” health plan.”

Edwards said:

“It means every American has to be covered. Senator Obama means every child has to be covered. I think we need to go the full nine yards.”

Elizabeth Edwards also criticized John McCain health care plan, saying, “He’s the beneficiary of some great government programs. But in terms of private insurance, he would not be guaranteed coverage under his own plan. Neither would I or anybody with a pre-existing condition.”

This is from Kentucky Women: Power, Passion and Politics…

Elizabeth Edwards has taken Republican presidential candidate John McCain to task and rightfully so. Hopefully, the Democratic presidential candidate has a plan to make this a huge campaign issue. Edwards also points out that she prefers Democrat Hillary Clinton’s Health Care Plan.

Let’s hope Hillary aims and fires at McCain for this shameful stand he has taken on the health and wellness of Americans.

You can read the entire article appearing in The New York Times HERE

Read more »

Is This Post About Hillary Clinton, Women’s Health, Ellen DeGeneres, or Breast Cancer? All of the above? - by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

Hillary Clinton was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Monday. I didn’t actually see it, but I did see several reports of it on the cable news channels. The media was very thorough and quick to compare Clinton’s mock bowling with Ellen, to Obama’s gutter ball of last week. [Personally, up until that moment I had been undecided, but after seeing the riveting side by side bowling comparison, I’m now totally committed to one candidate.]

Anyway, one station was even observant enough to report on the differences between Barack’s “Ellen Show” strategy and Hillary’s…It seems Hillary didn’t do a jig with Ellen, but Barack did. So thanks to Hillary’s appearance on Ellen yesterday, the evening news programs had a lot of great election news to cover. The level of journalistic integrity on this important election coverage was nonexistent. I even continued to see the same coverage several times today, so I could only assume nothing politically relevant happened during Hillary’s appearance on Ellen. However, it wouldn’t actually be safe to assume that.

To my surprise I happened upon this blog post from Shakesville: Hillary and Ellen…

Hillary Clinton was a guest on Ellen yesterday, and, although I haven’t generally been in the habit of posting talk show appearances of the various candidates, I watch all of them (even John McCain—grumble), and I thought this one was worth posting because the two Dem candidates’ positions on gay rights have been the subject of much debate around here recently, and Hillary spoke to Ellen about gay rights and told a very personal story about people who influenced her support of equality and fairness (love that framing!). She also spoke about an objective that I thought would be of interest to a lot of Shakers: Making breast cancer curable in the next decade.

Hillary said what? She wants to make breast cancer curable? That seems like a pretty big deal, but all I had heard was that she couldn’t hit more than one plastic pin down with a plastic ball. So, let me just get this straight. When given the choice between stupid, pseudo-bowling clips, and actual relevant election news, major networks chose to cover bowling clips. Something just seems wrong about that? Has journalistic integrity been replaced with journalistic stupidity?

O.K. - I’ll calm down now. Anyway, this is supposed to be my health and wellness post. So let me get past my rant, and address the importance of what Hillary announced during her appearance on the Ellen Show.

Press Release…

Hillary Clinton appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show today and announced her plan to find a cure for breast cancer within our lifetime. Hillary’s plan would provide $300 million a year in increased funding for breast cancer research at the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

In addition to funding research for new treatments, these investments will also go to investigate the cause of breast cancer, including the role that environmental pollutants may have, as well as, potential genetic and hereditary links. The plan would also improve access to screenings and treatment by making mammograms more affordable and providing funding for treatment for low-income women. Under Hillary’s American Health Choices Plan, all women will have affordable, quality health insurance regardless of employment, marital status, or pre-existing conditions so they get the care and treatment they need.

Here are some clips from Hillary’s appearance on Ellen…








Fom Taylor Marsh…

Set a big goal of finding a cure in our lifetime. Studies show that most young women don’t believe it will be possible to find a cure in their lifetime. Hillary wants to shatter that myth. With the significant investments she is planning to make in research, we should be able to make much more dramatic progress in identifying the causes, developing and identifying the most effective treatments, and ultimately, finding a cure. By setting a big goal, Hillary will provide national leadership on breast cancer, help leverage additional action across the country, and make clear that fighting this disease will be a top priority when she is President.

From Jewess…

This is clearly a last-ditch effort to court the women’s vote, but it’s also a worthy initiative — a taste of what having a woman in the oval office might mean for women — and one especially relevant to Jewish women, who have a much higher incidence of the breast cancer gene than the general population, as Town Crier points out.

From Tennessee Guerilla Women…

Hillary announced her plan to defend gay rights as president and eliminate inequalities for same sex couples in federal law! Hillary spoke at length about her desire to be The President who at long last makes equality for gays the law of the land.

So, did you see Hillary on Ellen? What do you think about her initiative to cure breast cancer in our lifetime?

Is anyone else sick of the media ignoring important issues, so they can report on fluff? There seems to be less and less difference between network news programs and entertainment shows.

UPDATE: Elizabeth Edwards was on Good Morning American today. She talked about her belief that Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan would be best for America…

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan CatherineBlogs, The Political Voices of Women, Care2 Election Blog

This is from a post by Pundit Mom…

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with the the outcome of last night’s Democratic Caucus in Iowa.

At least my Jayhawks won.

Seriously, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I am an ardent John Edwards supporter and am still keeping my fingers crossed that he can win the Democratic presidential nomination, especially since many polls show that he has the best chance to beat a Republican candidate for the White House in the fall.

But I have to admit that last night’s winner Barack Obama does have a powerful message. I just worry that it’s a bit naive.

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