The Political Voices of Women

Here is a guest post from community member Anita S. Lane.  You can read more from Anita at her blog Unconventional Politics.

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

Majority of Americans Don’t Want a Bailout and Are Willing to Suffer the Consequences!

Estimates reveal that the proposed $700 billion bailout plan will cost $2,333 for each person in America. For my family that means $13,998. Hec, I’ve got my own debt to pay down.

As it turns out, I’m not alone. Many Americans (about 1/3) are not inclined to support this bailout. Another third will consider voting for the bill only if it’s done right—and I fully understand.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and President Bush assert that if we don’t approve the bailout, and I paraphrase, “all hell will break loose.” And if it does? …

What I and most Americans want to know is whether this plan will serve as a temporary bandaid that just postpones the inevitable, or will it incorporate systemic policy changes that will help prevent a similar crisis in the future?

No New Crisis
Truthfully, many of us in America are pretty fed up and are willing to just let the whole thing burn. Most of us have already been burned. Middle and working class American families have been in a crisis for a while. Between rising gas, food and energy prices, depreciating housing values, layoffs and few raises to offset the cost of living increases, ordinary Americans have been looking for our own bailout plan, and it just doesn’t exist.

Now, the treasury and the President wants each American to dig a little deeper into our own bleak pockets and cough up $2,333 per person to rescue Wall Street—effectively increasing our record high national debt by almost an additional trillion dollars.

Treasury Secretary, I’m sorry to inform you, but we cannot afford a bailout of this magnitude. We simply don’t have it. There has to be another way. Keep thinking…

Debtor Nation
Increasing our current $10 trillion debt by another $700 billion just cannot be sound financial policy. Is it fair that a few folks on Wall Street could so detrimentally impact the masses? No. Should someone be held accountable? Sure, but the bottom line is, if we Americans are willing to take our chances and decide we aren’t willing to bailout Wall Street, then let it be our decision—you know, “we the people?…”

But what if Wall Street crumbles? Well, we’ll just have to take it and make some good ol’ American apple crumble. Americans know how to bounce back. We always do. If our paper house burns down. Little-by-little, we’ll just build it back up again. That’s old-school. That’s the American way. There simply are no short fixes and get-right-quick schemes when it comes to finances.

Sorry, King Paulson.

 Here is a guest post from community member Marcia G. Yerman, who also blogs at The Huffington Post.

[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.

Read more »

Here is a post by community member Lindsay Ross from Young, Political & Fabulous.

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

One of the many blatant hypocrisies that has stood out for me during this election is the fact that Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin supporters, who are so quick to cry sexism, remain silent when seemingly sexist connotations are assigned to Michelle Obama.

Most recently, Bill O’Reilly stated, “Now, I have a lot of people who call me on the radio and say she looks angry. And I have to say there’s some validity to that. She looks like an angry woman.” I wouldn’t be surprised that if such a description was attributed to Clinton or Palin, supporters would assert that there’s a double standard that women who are smart, serious and professional are considered “angry.” Not to mention that such a statement seems completely untrue. At most appearances, Michelle is either smiling or serious – and certainly does not come off as an “angry woman.” What’s more, the Fox News’ characterization of Michelle Obama as “Obama Baby Mama” in June was also met with radio silence from the feminist community. But why?

Could it be that the intersection of race and gender just gets too hairy and so the battle is best left alone? The “Obama Baby Mama” comment is soaked in both sexist and racist connotations and perhaps many supporters of Clinton and Palin would rather avoid a subject where racism plays a role. It is clear that some republicans are trying to associate Michelle with pejorative images that are specific to African-American females. They would like to perpetuate the image of the “angry black woman” to instill hatred and fear in small-minded people – much like Ronald Reagan tried to do with the image of the “welfare queen” during his presidential campaign.

Or are we dealing with that aged-old taboo question from the Suffragist Movement that Women’s Rights has always been an exclusively white middle class woman phenomenon and black women are rarely invited to the dinner table? Such a question reemerged during the primary election, when Geraldine Ferraro asserted that; “Gender is the most restricting force in American life.” It is a zero-sum game to try to quantify sexism, racism or any other “ism” for that matter, but many women of color shuttered when they heard this comment. It brought back the fears that women of color and black women in particular have always been on the sidelines when it comes to fighting for equal rights for women and that they are virtually ignored when sexist comments are hurled their way.

Here is a guest post from community member Kimber Caldwell, from The Politics of Joy.

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

Not too many days ago, Cynthia and I were discussing Sarah Palin’s right to choose HOW she gave birth to Trigg.

#1… She chose to complete a pregnancy that was probably considered high risk, considering her age, the discovery of Down’s Syndrome in the baby and the fact that this was at least her 5th pregnancy. I have 5 children, but have had 6 pregnancies, one that ended in a miscarriage at 12 weeks. I don’t know many women who haven’t miscarried who have this number of children. It is not unusual.

#2… She chose to travel, despite how far along she was. When her water broke in Texas, she made the choice to fly home and then subsequently drive 50 miles to her chosen hospital or birthing center. Now, I’m not sure about you, but I remember the times when my water broke… As Cynthia pointed out, she would have had to have SEVERAL changes of clothes and a box of chux pads. Not to mention that labor usually intensifies after the water breaks, so I am sure she had the complete attention of the flight crew. But this was HER choice.

At first, I was a little appalled about some of her choices. But then I recalled the choices I made in my pregnancies.

Read more »

Our very own PunditMom was on Fox and Friends yesterday morning. We finally have a clip, and she did a great job.

Pundit Mom On Fox Talking About Oprah/Palin Controversy…

Way to go Joanne!

[Cross-posted at BlogHer Health & Wellness]

This is the thing…Blogging about politics is very stressful.   And, we all know what stress can do to our health.

Do you blog about politics?  Is politics making you stressed?  Is your blood pressure running a bit high?  Are you getting more headaches than usual?  Are you losing sleep because you’re blogging to all hours of the night?  Does the release of poll numbers give you heart palpitations?  Do you ever get the urge to lock yourself in a dark room and not come out until after the election?  If you have answered yes to any of these questions, you may be suffering from Political Blogger Stress Syndrome (or PBSS).

There is no medicine or treatment for PBSS [Although, give the pharmaceutical companies some time, I’m sure they will come up with something…expensive], and many sufferers don’t even realize they have it.  So.  What can we do to combat the symptoms of PBSS?

Read more »

Here is a clip of Erin Kotecki Vest being interviewed live on CNN. GREAT JOB ERIN!

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Here is a guest post by Cynthia Samuels at Don’t Gel Too Soon.

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

This is breaking my heart. Why is it that we Democrats are incapable of NOT shooting ourselves in the foot (feet even)? In my view (and I’m hardly alone in this) this may be the most critical election of my lifetime. I’ve written (are you sick of it yet?) about the parallels to 1968 when the refusal of many anti-war voters to show up at the polls and vote for Hubert Humphrey brought us Richard Nixon and a cascade of disaster. That could and most likely will happen again if we don’t all pull ourselves together.

I heard a commentator quote — I thought Jefferson but can’t find the source — “True democracy means acceptance of defeat by one vote.” Sounds right, doesn’t it? But there is what we wish were true and there is political reality, and the reality this year is that every moment of hesitation by Senator Clinton’s supporters puts another barrier between Senator Obama and the White House. My most-respected friend PunditMom has a very smart analysis of where all this antipathy is coming from. And there’s a survey of much of the conversation in Lisa Stone’s summary at BlogHer.

Read more »

Here is a guest post by community member Emily Kronenberger…

Despite women’s enormous presence and accomplishments throughout U.S. history in public and political life, we still are not represented in our nation’s capital with a monument or museum venue that truly captures the spirit and narratives of American women. Do you find this as unacceptable as I do?

Well, thankfully the National Women’s History Museum (NWHM) seeks to change this and put women’s history on the map, the walking map of Washington D.C. that is, with their Right Here, Right Now Campaign, and right now – they need your help! Read on to find out more about the Campaign and what you can do…

The NWHM was founded in 1996, and since that time, has succeeded in creating opportunities for women’s history to claim its rightful place within American cultural and historical dialogue and display. Highlights of the NWHM’s advocacy include the establishment of its Cyber Museum which features online exhibits about women in history, and its successful campaign to move statues of female suffragists into the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building where they can be honored next to their historical counterparts, visited, and viewed by students, tourists, etc.

In 2008, the NWHM launched its Right Here, Right Now Campaign, which focuses on the passage of legislation, H.R. 6548, introduced by Carolyn D. Maloney of New York in July. This bill would allow the NWHM to purchase a parcel of currently unused land, adjacent to the National Mall, for the purpose of building a brick-and-mortar women’s history museum. The location is at 12th Street S.W. and Independence Avenue S.W., and is across the street from the National Air and Space Museum, the National American History Museum and the National Gallery of Art. The new National Women’s History Museum would be dedicated to preserving the narratives and artifacts of women’s personal, public, and political lives throughout American history and would finally give women’s history a home in our nation’s capital city.

Read more »

All week we have been celebrating women political bloggers.

Monday, I posted on the first 100 women blogging politics, from our list of over 500. Tuesday, the next 100. Wednesday, the next 100. Thursday the next 100. And today, I will be posting the last part of our list of 100+ women political bloggers.

One of my goals for this site, is that women will use each other’s sites, to link to in their own blogs, and promote each other.

You can help promote women political bloggers, by linking to them on your own blog. And, if you know someone not on the list, please send me their link, and I would be happy to add them.

Maybe you can even do a post on women political bloggers for your own site, and link to some of the women on this list.

So, here is the next 100 on our list…

1. The Catharine Chronicles
2. The Civil Right — I am a 40-something marketing professional, writer, wife and mom living in Iowa who blogs conservative.
3. The Common Ills — This is a great site, pro-choice, left.
4. The Confluence
5. The Course of Some Human Events - Blogging on Webtech and Politics.
   
6. The Crone Speaks — My life experiences of being a mother, a caretaker of parrots, a breast cancer survivor, a business woman, a paralegal, and so much more, have shaped my conclusions on any given issue.
7. The Dame Domain
8. The Delaware Curmudgeon
9. The Demo Memo — written by Claire Celsi
10. The Democratic Daily - Founder, Pamela Leavey
11. The Dishpan Chronicles
12. The Divine Democrat
13. The Essentia Sphere
14. The Garance — Politics and Whatnot
15. The Goddess — Progressive politics, civil rights, freedom of religion, and commentary from a Pagan perspective.
16. The Gypsy’s Caravan
17. The Hackenblog
18. The Hand Mirror
19. The Hill Chronicles — Conservative weblog with a piffy twist.
20. The Impolitic
21. The Jaded Hippy
22. The Lady Speaks
23. The Little Pink Clubhouse
24. The Mahablog
25. The Motherhood — The power of mothers, making things happen.
26. The National Intelligence
27. The New American Revolution
28. The New Homemaker!
29. Penny Ronning - The NonSilent Majority
30. The Official Site of Lydia Cornell
31. The Ones Who Get Screwed — This site expresses my opinions on the world today. While you can disagree with them, they can not be wrong as they are mine and not yours.
32. The Ones Who Fly Away From Omelas
33. The Only Baggage You Can Bring
34. The Outskirts — Served From Philly’s LGBT Side of the Tracks
35. The Pakistani Spectator — Hi I am Ghazala Khan from Pakistan, I have been one of the very few female bloggers from Pakistan I run a blog with another female Amna Gilani, the title of our blog is The Pakistani Spectator.
36. The Peeled Apple
37. The Pink Flamingo
38. The Political Safari with Laura Fiorilli — A collection of interesting, often funny political stories and Web links.
39. The Punkin Patch
40. The Reaction with Libby and Carol Gee
41. The Savvy Sista
42. The Silent I
43. The Sin City Siren
44. The Sirens Chronicles — Bitchy politics, culture critiques, manners, morals & random thoughts served with hot chicken soup & a loaded .45 caliber handgun in the apron pocket.
45. The Soccer Mom Vote — If you want to win the election, you’ve got to capture the soccer mom vote. Many political strategists keep their eye on this demographic, described as a moderate block that can swing for either party depending on the issue in focus any given election cycle. They’ve tried to describe us. They’ve tried to persuade us. They’ve even tried to charm us. The one thing they haven’t done is ask us what we think.
46. The Truffle
47. The White House Project — If you could do one thing to change America for the better, what would it be? At The White House Project, we believe that if you add women to the ranks of leadership, you change everything.
48. The White House Project Blog
49. The Women’s Media Center — The WMC is the first of its kind. Our mission is to assure that women and women’s experiences are reflected in the media just as women are present everywhere in the real world; that women are represented as local, national, and global sources for and subjects of the media; and that women media professionals have equal opportunities for employment and advancement.
50. The Women’s Post
51. The Zafting Redhead
52. Think Girl
53. Amanda from Think Progress
54. ‘This & That’ Politically Incorrect
55. This Can’t Be Happening — A nice middle-aged Midwestern woman staying in touch with the reality that the USA, like Rome, will fall if we do not exercise our freedom of speech, listen critically, and uphold the Constitution. (It`s possible to be nice and an angry liberal.)
56. This Girl’s Weblog — just me, my thoughts, and experiences.
57. This is my United States of Whatever!
58. Maggie Thurber — Thurber’s Thoughts — I’ve started this blog to share thoughts on issues and concerns that face Lucas County. Some of the items I discuss are issues I voted on when I was Commissioner.
59. Toledolefy — A personal blog focusing mostly on politics.
60. TruthHugger — Question with boldness, education, philosophy, humanity, culture, religion, social science
61. Twilight Notes
62. Urban Hang Suite
63. Using My Words
64. Vaccine Awakening — Barbara Loe Fisher is the mother of three children, a writer and speaker on vaccination and informed consent issues.
65. Vanessa: Unplugged!
66. Vickie Rock - at RockSpot
67. Vim and Vinegar
68. Viva La Feminista
69. Verna Smith — “Putting the zip in politics!”
70. Vivian J. Paige — I learned a lot about politics as the result of my run for City Treasurer. This blog is my way of staying in touch with those who supported me and reaching out to those who did not.
71. Wacmagnet: Common Sense from a Ditzy Blonde
72. Wanderlust
73. Washington Woman — Thinking, speaking, writing, and being active on issues that affect women, children, society and the environment. Emphasis on women`s issues both social and political. Washington State to Washington DC.
74. What About Our Daughters?
75. Watergate Summer — It is a Politically driven Blog that also is written by a mom and nurse so it explores the Impact of this Administration on a single mom as well as my neighbors and friends.
76. We The Purple
77. Webutante (the sequel) — I am a conservative woman living in the Southeastern US and the Rockies, depending on the season.
78. Weezie Lou — a yankee in a red state, semi-intelligent, well-read, lesbian, left centrist, pisces moody
79. Well Read Hostess
80. What Do I Know? (politics AND food!)
81. What Tami Said
82. White Noise Insanity — by Kay in Maine — White noise is a low dull sound that drowns out other sounds (simplistic definition but you get the idea).
83. Whose America is it Anyway?
84. Winding Road In Urban Area
85. Woman Honor Thyself–Angel
86. Women & Hollywood
87. Women and Work
88. Women In Media and News — Women In Media & News, a media analysis, education and advocacy group, works to increase women’s presence and power in the public debate. WIMN’s POWER Sources Project provides journalists with a diverse network of female experts.
89. Women Want Answers
90. Women Who Think
91. Women’s Space/The Margins — A radical feminist, not the fun kind.
92. Womenstake — Our Take On What’s At Stake
93. Wonkette: The D.C. Gossip
94. Work It Mom — A Conversation With Hanah Storm
95. Write Stuff — I write because I must. I write for teenagers, and adults, and the teenagers who live within most adults. The heart of the young adult has all the passion and power and drive and energy needed to change the world.
96. WriteChic Press
97. Jill Miller Zimon — Writes Like She Talks — Politics and parenting.
98. Yankee CowGirl
99. Yeah, Right, Whatever
100. Young, Political & Fabulous - Lindsay

There are also women writing blogs about the presidential candidates they support…

1. Ann Marie for Mitt Romney
2. Moms 4 Mitt
3. Positively Barack
4. Women For Edwards
5. Women For Hillary
6. Women For Obama
7. Women For Romney

So, there you have it…Our list of 500+ Women Blogging Politics.

If you are a woman blogging about politics, and your name is not on the list…Please leave me your link in comments.

Don’t forget to join our community. Among other things, community members are able to post on the community, and possibly have their post used as a guest post on this site.