From Crooks and Liars…

Clearly, in all his debate prep, no one thought to coach McCain not to go to the third rail of the abortion issue. Boy, was that an oversight. Because not only did McCain go there, he jumped right on to it. In trying to paint Obama as being for the great Republican bugaboo of late term abortions (because, you know, there are so many women running around and deciding after being pregnant for six or more months that being pregnant is no longer convenient for them), Obama replied that he didn’t vote for the late term abortion ban because it had no provision for the health or life of the mother. And that’s when McCain proved how heartless and clueless he is: Again…just again, an example of the eloquence of Senator Obama, health (indicates air quotes) of the mother. You know that’s been stretched by the pro-abortion movement to mean almost anything. Really? Not a legitimate concern?

From Sarah Palin Lies…

We already knew McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, isn’t concerned about the health of mothers since she opposed a ban on abortions even in the case of rape or incest. Now we learn that McCain has contempt for women’s health issues as well and thinks concerns about their health is “extreme.” McCain can kiss the independent women’s vote good-bye after this doozy.

From Nancy Keenan…

McCain doesn’t understand a key principle that, for many women, is central to their choice of a candidate for president. The same woman who wants a president to address the difficulty of paying to put gas in the car while other bills pile up on the kitchen counter also wants a president who respects her ability to make the personal, private medical decisions that are best for her and her family. She doesn’t want a politician like McCain mocking protections for her health or voting against birth control. As the election enters its final phase, and these key voters hear from NARAL Pro-Choice America about the stark differences between John McCain and Barack Obama about a woman’s right to choose, women will choose the candidate who will stand with them. That candidate is Barack Obama.

From Equal Writes…

John McCain put women’s “health” in inverted commas during the debate last night, as though it’s a made-up phrase that represents some imaginary or laughable idea. Or alternatively, an idea that doesn’t matter very much and can be easily dismissed by a candidate who, say, had no idea that health insurance plans cover Viagra but not birth control. McCain labelled people who support the right to terminate a pregnancy when that pregnancy endangers the health of the mother “extreme” and “pro-abortion.”

From The Fertile Infertile…

In my last political post, I said I was deeply disturbed by McCain’s stance on women’s reproductive rights. Now, I’m going to say, if you are a woman of reproductive age or if you love a woman of reproductive age, you are playing with her life and health if you vote for McCain. McCain totally dismissed the fact that pregnancy ever threatens a woman’s life.

. . .

Hell, I wish we could completely ban late term abortion but I value the lives of the adult women involved more than I value their unborn babies. I am pro-choice but I am not pro-abortion. I will never presume to claim I know whats best for someone medically and that includes whether or not they should continue to carry a baby. I believe each and every woman should be able to decide what to do with their own body. With this one ignorant statement, John McCain has alienated many people who feel the way I do.

Sarah Palin has had some pretty interesting answers to some seemingly easy questions. [See her interview with Katie Couric here, and the SNL parody here]. Some are questioning her experience, and whether she could be a good president. What do you think? Even some conservatives are beginning to turn on Palin.

Kathleen Parker – Palin Problem…

If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream — away from Sarah Palin.

To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president — and possibly president — is to risk being labeled anti-woman.

Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.

Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick — what a difference a financial crisis makes — and a more complicated picture has emerged.

As we’ve seen and heard more from John McCain’s running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.

From Marc Ambinder – The Great Palin Panic of 2008…

Gov. Sarah Palin has lost control of her public image, several top-level McCain advisers said this weekend, and even a baseline performance in Thursday’s debate with Joe Biden may be too late to recover it.

The decision to sequester Palin from the national political press corps was made with the assumption that the afterglow from her convention speech would last; a month later, even some Republicans are beginning to have a less favorable opinion of her.

Her knowledge of policy has seemed at times no more than inch deep, and even admirers have complained that her penchant for returning to talking points sounds artificial. Several times the campaign has had to clean up her remarks for her, such as on Saturday, when she hinted at a view of U.S.-Pakistani relations that was closer to Barack Obama’s.

Huffington Post – George Will:  Palin Is Not Qualified…

Famed conservative columnist George Will told a gathering of Senate aides on Monday that Gov. Sarah Palin is “obviously” not prepared to assume the presidency if necessary, two event attendees told the Huffington Post.

Appearing at a Senate Press Secretaries Association reception at the Cornerstone Government Affairs office, Will offered a harsh assessment of John McCain’s running mate.

Palin is “obviously not qualified to be President,” he remarked, describing her interview on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric as a “disaster.”

Is Conservative Support For Palin Cracking?

Parker’s criticism of Palin is qualitatively different from the consistent “Palin derangement Syndrome” we’ve seen from the left. That opposition is both reflexive and ideological. The feminist opposition to Palin in particular is rooted in the pro-choice orthodoxy that would have made any pro-life woman unacceptable — though the venom hurtled at Palin by those in the women’s movement was far, far more vicious than it would have been had the selection been someone else — a Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, for example. Palin’s five kids, her blue collar roots and her frontier persona is tremendously appealing to many. But it has bred much vitriol among the left’s intelligentsia (an oxymoron, I know).

Kathleen Parker’s views, however, are potentially far more damaging to John McCain. Should this be the first of many respected conservative voices who turn against her, it will dampen some of the enthusiasm among the base.

From News Busters…

While talking to CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric about her interview with Sarah Palin, on Wednesday’s Early Show, co-host Harry Smith asked: “…there is a — I won’t say growing — but there are a number of Republicans and conservatives have started to question whether or not she’s good for this ticket. What — what is the feeling in the McCain camp about that?” Couric actually defended Palin: “Well, you know, she has helped the McCain campaign raise $30 million. Helped them double their get-out-the-vote effort. And as you can see, she’s energized the crowds.”

Concerns About Palin’s Readiness…

“I think she has pretty thoroughly — and probably irretrievably — proven that she is not up to the job of being president of the United States,” David Frum, a former speechwriter for President Bush who is now a conservative columnist, said in an interview. “If she doesn’t perform well, then people see it.

“And this is a moment of real high anxiety, a little bit like 9/11, when people look to Washington for comfort and leadership and want to know that people in charge know what they are doing.”

Ms. Palin, of Alaska, continues to draw large crowds, is helping Mr. McCain with fund-raising and drawing volunteers, and is drumming up support among base Republican voters who were once skeptical of his candidacy, party leaders said in interviews. Yet these rough two weeks have led some Republicans to reconsider their initial assessment that she would sharply increase Mr. McCain’s appeal among women and independent voters.

Her halting interview with Katie Couric on CBS News alarmed many Republicans and gave fodder for a devastating parody on Saturday Night Live.

Also See:

Voters Broadcasting

——–

Republicans brace for debate

Wall Street Journal – Game Plan for Palin is Retooled

Oprah = Yes – Ifill = No

First they were upset because Sarah Palin hasn’t been invited to appear on Oprah Winfrey’s program, even though the latter has openly stated that she supports Barack Obama. Several Republican women’s groups have asked viewers to boycott Oprah’s show.

Now they’re upset because PBS’ Gwen Ifill, who is scheduled to release a book in January which analyzes the new era of black political leaders (obviously including a section on Barack Obama), is moderating tomorrow night’s Vice Presidential debate.

They want Sarah Palin to appear on Oprah. They don’t want Sarah Palin to be questioned by Gwen Ifill.

(If you would like to be a guest blogger on this site, please join our community)

U.S. Marshall escorting James Meredith to class at Ole Miss in 1962

I will be watching tonight’s debate knowing just how historical this event truly is.

Oh and gee, glad to know John McCain has decided to show.

Yes, the economy is in the toilet. It has been for sometime, Senator McCain.

But

Tonight’s debate and the INCREDIBLE significance of where the debate is taking place has been YEARS in the making and has come at a very high price for many Americans.

The acknowledgment of their sacrifices and their challenges should not be postponed one minute longer.

Segregation was and is horrendous. Why should any American have to fight, be humiliated or denied their right to receive an education based upon race [gender, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation]?

This is a terrible, terrible, unbelievably horrendous mark in American history.

I applaud those that stood up to an unfair system and created a path for either themselves and/or others to change the status quo.

Tonight is significant and I shall be watching.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/sep/14/new-era-takes-root…

[If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women, just join our community, and start posting.]

New York City – On Sunday, September 21, Women for Obama held a press conference on the steps of City Hall. Arriving early, after navigating the security point guarding the government edifice (referred to by one official as “the house of the people”), I had a chance to interview some of those who had been invited to attend.

In contrast to the narrative that has been promulgated about disgruntled Hillary supporters, the women I conversed with had moved on without trauma. Martha Baker, a consultant on work/family issues, was sporting a button that announced, Hillary Supports Obama, So Do I. “He’s our candidate,” she told me. One of the forces behind the Women For Parity website, which began as “Hillary Voices,” she referenced viewing “the campaigns through a women’s issues prism.”

Carol Greenman, a retired medical administrator and Hillary turned Obama advocate said, “I’m scared to death of another Republican administration.” For her, the major questions were the future of the Supreme Court, and how life would be for her five grandchildren in a country that could be shaped by McCain-Palin ideology.

Grandmothers, ranging in age from 62 – 77, were out in force. Worried about the path that faces the younger generation, members of Grandmothers Against the War and the Granny Peace Brigade were quite vocal about their apprehensions.

Diane Dreyfus, a retired architect and activist (Code Pink) since 2001, was wearing a “We Will Not Be Silent” shirt with Arabic, Hebrew, and English writing. Asked about Sarah Palin she shuddered, “She’s frightening. If she can gut a moose in five seconds, imagine what she can do to health and welfare.”

Actress Kathleen Turner, a featured spokesperson, related to me her commitment to the Obama candidacy. She pronounced her mission as, “Whatever I can do.” Chair of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America Board of Advocates, Turner has testified before Congress on Title X (family planning program), and on the Equity of Prescription Insurance Contraception Coverage Act.

Behind those charged with addressing press and supporters, was a phalanx of women with a set of diverse signs…Nurses for Obama, Latinos for Obama, Put Children First, and Don’t Vote Race – Don’t Vote Gender – Vote Intelligence.

Letitia James, a Councilwoman from Brooklyn, served as the MC. “We will deliver New York State for Obama with a commanding mandate for change.” She spoke about the necessity for an urban agenda, and taking the fight to the battleground states. Later she confided that the people in her districts were zeroed in on “meat and potato issues.” She also voiced a concern about “special interests hijacking the government.” Although her district gave a win to Obama in the primary, she had supported Hillary.

The first woman Puerto Rican member of Congress, Nydia M. Velázquez, (who has Brooklyn, Queens, and Lower Manhattan within her district) gave an impassioned speech. Velázquez serves on the House Financial Services Committee and is the Chairwoman on the House Committee on Small Business. It was therefore not surprising that she stressed, “We must rescue Main Street.” She talked about women who work three and four jobs and have no health care. In response to McCain’s claim that women don’t need legislation to ensure “equal pay for equal work” but rather more education, she informed the crowd that in the United States “more women have advanced degrees than men.” Pointing out that 10 million children in the nation “have no healthcare” she intoned, “This is the moment. The choice is clear. We stand for change.” Delivering some of her comments in Spanish, she was answered with cries of, “Sí se puede.”

Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, representing Brooklyn, showed why she won her seat with 89% of the vote in 2006. Delivering her comments with a deft comedic flair, she deadpanned, “Without our voices in the mix, people are going to wake up and think they were in the worst reality show produced in America.” After the applause subsided she continued, “We want to spread the news to women. This is not about the flim-flam. We have powerful women in the Democratic Party that have been doing the work. Women are going to make the difference in this election. McCain is missing in action on women’s issues. We’re taking the country back. This country stands for working families.”

Kathleen Turner then took the microphone to discuss her battle with rheumatoid arthritis, and to underscore how fortunate she is to be able to fight the disease with the doctors and medication she needs. She shared her distress “about the women who aren’t covered by insurance” and are not able to access the resources they need. “This,” she declared flatly, “is not acceptable.”

On-site was Dawn Smalls, who before joining the Obama team had served as a regional political director for the Clinton campaign. When I asked her how she thought things were going in the post-Palin afterglow, her response was succinct. “Obama is going to be the best candidate. We will get that across.”

[If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women, just join our community, and start posting.]

It’s election season, and I’m not about to let up on the McCain-Palin ticket. If I put these two at the larval stage, I’m giving them too much credit. To show that I’m not just a one-issue voter when it comes to McCain and Palin, the issue of women’s rights will not play into the article (but only this one time). I’ve done that article before, and there are other reasons I’d never vote for this ticket.

We already have people in government who believe they are above the law (one resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue right now) and it looks like McCain would like to add one more. Initially, Sarah Palin said she would cooperate voluntarily with the ongoing abuse of power investigation against her. Suddenly, the Alaska legislators are under pressure to wait until after the election to continue the investigation, and her husband is now going to ignore the subpoena he has received. I wonder if he’s getting pointers from campaign advisor Karl Rove about how best to ignore a subpoena and get away with it. It doesn’t take much in America these days, particularly if you’re an elected official. We’ve lowered the bar here to the point where we should all be doing the limbo.

McCain campaign spokesman Ed O’Callaghan is falsely accusing the supporters of Barack Obama of controlling the investigation. The fact is that the investigation was recommended prior to Palin’s selection by a bi-partisan Legislative Council, the vast majority of whom were Alaska Republicans. There’s no way this investigation should be delayed until after the election. If McCain chose this woman as a running mate with full knowledge of the accusations against her (and he says he knew from the beginning), then let the chips fall where they may.

McCain wants to distract, not inform. If he distracts, you may not learn that his plan is to privatize and cut Social Security approximately one percent per year, along the lines of the proposed Bush plan. Workers who retire ten years after the McCain plan is put in place would see a ten percent reduction in benefits from the very beginning.

Next on the McCain-Palin hit list is the nation’s health care system. Their plan would effectively dismantle the employer-based coverage that protects most American families by converting health care benefits into income on which employees would have to pay taxes. The idea is to force millions of Americans into the non-group market where costs are high and services are limited. Benefits that millions now have would be lost. This is what the Republicans call the ‘free market’ system, much like the one currently bringing down Wall Street at the taxpayers’ expense.

John McCain’s confusion about who’s who in the world continues to embarrass. This from a candidate supposedly superior to Barack Obama in the foreign policy field. When asked if he would commit to a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, McCain refused. Apparently, McCain thought Zapatero was a Latin American autocrat. Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s foreign policy advisor, denied it was yet another McCain gaffe, but rather an intentional policy position with regard to Spain. Why would McCain refuse to commit to a meeting with a Democratic NATO ally with 1,000 troops serving in Afghanistan? Either McCain is intent on hiding his confusion from the public or he is upset (as is President Bush) that Spain pulled its troops from Iraq in 2004. Someone should point out to both George Bush and John McCain that there sometimes are repercussions when other nations find they’ve been deliberately lied to.

Sarah Palin continues to look directly into the eye of the American people and just plain lie. She paints a picture of Alaska as a self-reliant, independent state. The fact is that Alaska is anything but. It is the state most dependent upon the federal government, receiving back from the feds almost $2 for every $1 it sends to Washington. Alaska is the biggest pork barrel waste state in the union, hands down. Before leaving her position as Mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist who brought $27 million in earmarks to a city of 8,000.

In her third interview, this one with Sean Hannity, she weighed in on the Wall Street fiasco. Following McCain’s lead, Palin blamed Wall Street lobbyists and greedy CEOs for the meltdown of the American economy. Perhaps either McCain or Palin, or both, can then explain why their campaign employs 83 of the very same lobbyists they’ve been complaining about. One of their chief economic advisers (and once a VP contender), Carly Fiorina, former head of Hewlett Packard, is also one of the greedy CEOs they’re referring to. Fiorina was dismissed by HP in 2005 with a golden parachute of $21.4 million after the merger with Compaq went bust, the stock fell 50% and 20,000 people lost their jobs. Would any of us be so well rewarded for screwing up? I think not. Frankly, I don’t have much faith that a candidate with thirteen cars and eight homes is going to eliminate greed.

Sarah Palin does not believe that global warming is man made. Even knot-headed McCain has come over to the other side, stating at nearly every turn that human activity is the driving force behind global warming. Still, he chose a vice presidential candidate who is on the fringe and intent on rejecting scientific consensus. I’m not sure why anybody should be surprised at this. Sarah Palin wants creationism taught in the classroom as a science. There’s nothing scientific about creationism.

Global warming aside, Sarah Palin boasts a disgraceful environmental record. She has sued the federal government for declaring the polar bear endangered because she is concerned it will interfere with offshore energy development (read: oil). The reality is that Alaska oil peaked back in 1988 at about 777 billion barrels. In 2006, it was down to 250 billion barrels and it continues to fall. She favors drilling in Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge even though she has openly stated that it won’t solve the oil problem, and has also proposed opening up Alaska’s Brooks Range Mountains to open-cast coal mining. Under Palin, Chevron has tripled the amount of toxic waste it dumps into the waters of the Cook Inlet. She allows this even though the number of beluga whales in the bay has fallen from 1,300 to 350 (virtual extinction) because of increased ship traffic and pollution. Oh yeah, let’s not forget that Sarah Palin gets her kicks shooting wolves from low-flying aircraft and helicopters for sport.

When the subject of banning books came up, Palin told Charlie Gibson that the accusation was an “old wives tale.” Yet, she did indeed try to get the head of Wasilla’s library, Mary Ellen Emmons, fired. Again, here come the hair splitters from the McCain campaign to the rescue. According to Brian Rogers, “the fact is that as Mayor, Palin never asked anyone to ban a book and not one was ever banned, period.” That’s right, she didn’t…as mayor. As Mayor, the discussion was a theoretical policy discussion about, perhaps, banning books. Emmons refused. It was as a member of the Wasilla city council that Palin asked for specific books to be banned. Stretching the truth is to be expected in a political campaign, but not to the degree to which McCain and Palin stretch. They barely know how to tell the truth at all. We do not ban books in America. If there’s something you do not want your children to read, then do not allow them to read it. That’s your business. Leave the rest of us alone to go to hell in a bucket if we so choose.

Like many other so-called ‘Christians,’ Sarah Palin uses God’s name to justify the continued death and destruction going on in Iraq. In June she asked ministry students from the Wasilla Assembly of God to pray for the soldiers in Iraq. “Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God,” she said. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God’s plan.” Somehow, Sarah Palin’s God has decided that an illegal war because of our addiction to oil and for the continued feeding of the military-industrial complex is a just war.

Almost as scary as Palin’s desire to ban books is the fact that she was secretly vetted for Senator McCain by a right-wing group called the Council for National Policy. Past and present members include Jack Abramoff, Gary Bauer, Oliver North, Pat Robertson and James Dobson. That McCain would abdicate his responsibility to such a group is a disgrace. Why should any of us accept Palin as the vice presidential candidate when she doesn’t speak for anyone in America but the extreme right-wing? The American voters deserve candidates that will speak for all, even if it doesn’t meet their personal ideology. That must be put aside when leading a diverse nation of many.

If the last few days have left you with the same feelings that you had during the run up to the Iraq War you’re definitely not alone.

Remember the WMDs that posed an imminent threat to America?

Remember the statements that implied that the Iraqi oil revenue was going to pay for the war?

Now the Bush Administration and The Fed are saying that we have a financial crisis that needs an immediate $700 billion infusion from the American taxpayer. Did you know that some of that money could be used to bail out foreign owned banks?

Within the next 24 hours, Congress is expected to make an historic choice in addressing America’s financial crisis:

Cut the Bush administration a $700 billion blank check for Wall Street
OR
demand sensible public checks and balances in the $700 billion bailout.

Well, before you let them cut that blank check think about this?

Remember the brave US service men and women who were sent to war in Afghanistan and Iraq without proper body armor.

Remember the appalling conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Remember that the US embassy in Iraq which cost in excess of $600 million to build and is projected to have an annual operating cost of $1.2 billion.

Remember that President Bush vetoed a $35 billion expansion to the SCHIP program which would have provided health insurance to millions of America’s uninsured children. He said that we couldn’t afford it.

Remember the devastation caused by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and now Ike. There are still parts of New Orleans’ 9th Ward as well as many parishes in Western Louisiana which have yet to have all of the debris removed.

Remember that five years after the worse blackout in US history, the energy grid is still “in dire straits“.

Americans, Get Over The Shock Already!

Are you going to let The Fed, the Bush Administration and Congress rush through a $700 billion dollar bailout of Wall Street and the banking industry when all of the aforementioned have put America and Americans last time after time after time after time?

Now, I’m not saying that nothing needs to be done to fix this broken economy. But are you going to let them rush to a bailout like they rushed to a war?

I just took action with the Campaign for America’s Future to weigh in for common sense solutions. I wanted to urge you to do the same. Please write an emergency letter to Congress now, and tell them: **No $700 Billion blank check to the Bush administration for Wall Street!**

Enough is Enough!

URL: http://www.youtube.com/v/kieyjfZDUIc&hl=en&fs=1

Speak up now, this may be your last chance.

In the following video clip, Rep. Dennis Kucinich sounded the cry –

WAKE UP AMERICA!

He may have been addressing the Democratic National Convention at the time but his words are a call to all of us.

Url: http://www.youtube.com/v/Lv0smG7ptcM&hl=en&fs=1

Americans wake up. Please!

Related posts:

A Healthy Dose of Economic Reality
July, 2008

In Search of Answers to the Foreclosure Crisis That Won’t Make Matters Worse
May, 2008

Bad Luck, Incompetence, Lack of Regulation, or Simple Avarice
March 2008

Where Are They Getting The Money?
March, 2008

Watch for the Signs
October, 2007

Lay, Skilling Convicted in Enron Collapse
May, 2006

For Minorities, Signs of Trouble in Foreclosures
February, 2006

and

The Debt Peonage Society by Paul Krugman
New York Times, March 2005

[If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women, just join our community, and start posting.]

A “grassroots” letter that will be presented to Sarah Palin by MomsRising is currently on their site, available for signature. To date, 20,000 women’s names have been collected. The question is asked of Palin, “Where do you stand on issues that matter to me?” After extending heartfelt congratulations to the Governor on her path from “PTA to Vice Presidential candidate,” the organization gets down to brass tacks by specifically asking what she and the Republican Party would do for mothers and families.

MomsRising was founded in 2006. It grew out of a book project undertaken by Joan Blade and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. Released on Mother’s Day of that year, The Motherhood Manifesto, “explored the struggles of the American family.” It later became a documentary film. Having reached a critical mass with their extensive research data, Blades and Rowe-Finkbeiner decided to mobilize the strength behind mothers’ voices and their concerns.

A non-partisan organization, which works at the state and national level, MomsRising tackles problems that don’t get adequate recognition. Statistics that the public should be aware of are underscored. For example, you may not hear on the campaign trail that 25% of families with children under six live in poverty, single mothers make 60 cents to a man’s dollar, or that 75% of American mothers are in the labor force.

The website has excerpts from Ann Crittenden’s book The Price of Motherhood.  Included is the quote, “…having a baby is the worse financial decision a woman can make.”

On social security Crittenden writes,”[Women] earn a zero for every year they spend caring for family members. This means that motherhood is the single biggest risk factor for poverty in old age.”

With a present membership of 160,000, MomsRising has the muscle to request Palin to clarify her positions. They want to know where she stands on “healthcare, fair pay, paid family and medical leave, early learning, paid sick days, and flex-work options.

I interviewed Joan Blades by telephone to get her reaction to Palin — who actively references her role as a mother. “We haven’t heard her agenda yet,” Blades told me. “The focus needsnot to be on [her] personal family issues, but what she would do as Vice President.”

Blades spoke passionately about the “40,000 children in kindergarten who are home alone after school,” and “the heart-wrenching” e-mail correspondence that she receives. Manywrite her to discuss the conflicting choices they are forced to face, often between “feeding their children or taking care of them.” Blades emphasized, “We’ve got to get to the issues, so that all women have the supports that they need.  We need to make it possible for people to choose work.”

For Blades the question is, “Where are they [Republicans] leading?” She is concerned with “substance, not just form.” In December of 2007, MomsRising was part of a consortium that reached out to all the candidates running in the primaries, with a survey soliciting their positions on “family friendly policy.” Every Democratic contender responded. There was no follow-up from the Republicans.

With Palin not yet weighing in on specifics, if McCain’s past record sets the tone for his potential administration, the future is dismal. In late spring, McCain (although not present for the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act vote) suggested that the legislation wasn’t necessary because women needed more “education and training.” Blades qualified that point of view as “just outrageous.”

Perhaps that is one of the reasons MomsRising has mobilized MomsVote’08. Their set task is to ensure that the country’s 80 million mothers are registered, vote, and get involved. Using the slogan “Use your outside voice!” (a tag line any mother would love), they have aligned with ninety other organizations on this endeavor.

Motherhood has always been used to invoke visceral reactions to a wide range of agendas. With Palin presenting herself as a “pit-bull” on the case, MomsRising is making it their job to find out what she supports, and if she is all bark and no bite.

MomsRising can be found at http://www.momsrising.org

Also See:

Women Respond To Palin – Part 1

CNN Economic Woes. What will Barack Obama and John McCain do?

From The New York Times…

The financial crisis that began in the United States spread to many corners of the globe. Now, the American bailout looks as if it is going global, too, a move that could raise its cost and intensify scrutiny by Congress and critics.

Foreign banks, which were initially excluded from the plan, lobbied successfully over the weekend to be able to sell the toxic American mortgage debt owned by their American units to the Treasury, getting the same treatment as United States banks.

On Sunday, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., indicated in a series of appearances on morning talk shows that an original proposal introduced on Saturday had been widened.

How Did We Get Into This Mess?

From AMERICAblog…

It just gets worse by the minute. Toxic debt traders of the world, unite. Who ever would have thought that the US taxpayer would be coughing up billions for foreign banks to save those precious, delicate little flowers trying to make ends meet on Wall Street? It’s not unreasonable to ask yet again, what the hell everyone on Main Street is getting out of this deal, besides screwed.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Sunday that foreign banks will be able to unload bad financial assets under a $700 billion U.S. proposal aimed at restoring order during a devastating financial crisis.

“Yes, and they should. Because … if a financial institution has business operations in the United States, hires people in the United States, if they are clogged with illiquid assets, they have the same impact on the American people as any other institution,” Paulson said on ABC TV.

So let me understand this. Is Henry Paulson talking about bailing out Phil Gramm’s UBS? UBS has been one of the worst hit banks in the world and so far has written-down roughly $38 billion in bad business during this cycle. Phil Gramm already tried lobbying the US government for a bailout on behalf of his employer, elite Swiss bank UBS, so Paulson’s addition does raise questions. We need to understand if McCain’s friend and rumored Treasury Secretary has lobbied for Swiss bank UBS to be included in this US taxpayer bailout. Let the Swiss, the British or any other country bail out their own banks with their own damned money.