Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) speaks on the Senate floor, in opposition to the $700 billion bailout.

Senate passes $700 Billion “rescue” Bailout Bill…

After one spectacular failure, the $700 billion financial industry bailout found a second life Wednesday, winning lopsided passage in the Senate and gaining ground in the House, where Republicans opposition softened.

Senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners before passing it by a wide margin, 74-25, a month before the presidential and congressional elections.

From The Swamp…

In a rare show of bipartisan spirit, both of the presidential candidates also have lent their support to the measure. And both left the campaign trail to lend their votes to passage of the Senate bill.

“Even with all these taxpayer protections, this plan is not perfect,” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) said today. “Democrats and Republicans in Congress have legitimate concerns about it. I know many Americans share those concerns. But it is clear that this is what we must do right now to prevent a crisis from turning into a catastrophe.

“I am pleased (measures) are being added to improve the original bill,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said. “If we fail to act, the gears of our economy will grind to a halt.”
Leaders of both parties, allied on the basic plan and struggling to bring more House Republicans into the fold, predict that a strong bipartisan Senate vote will add impetus for House passage.

“I think the Senate thinks it has the votes and I think it probably will pass,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.)

What do you think about this?   Do you think it helps the Obama campaign to support a Bush Bailout Bill?  Do you think this will Bill will pass in the House?  Let me know what you think in comments.

Here is my two cents…

McCain is falling in the polls.  He needs to come out of this bailout thing on top, and Obama has set him up to do just that.  I think once the public outrage over this bailout is at it’s peak, McCain will pull a “gottcha” and announce he is now against it because of all the pork barrel spending.   He will claim to be the candidate that will “risk his campain” to do right by the American people.  Who will be the “change” candidate then?   But…I hope I am wrong.

[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.

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

Washington – Top leaders from women’s rights groups gathered to announce their support of the Barack Obama – Joe Biden ticket at an emotionally charged press conference on Tuesday, September 16th. Qualifying that it was an unusual move for her organization to make an endorsement, Kim Gandy, chair of the NOW PAC (National Organization for Women Political Action Committee) stated, “This is an unprecedented candidate and an unprecedented time for our country.”

Gandy, who has spoken at length with Obama about his “commitment to women’s equality,” went on to present what she characterized as Obama’s record of saying “yes” to women’s rights. She focused on four primary categories: pay equity; reproductive rights; violence against women; the Supreme Court.

Obama is a co-sponsor of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act – legislation designed to end wage discrimination against women. He has made it clear that he not only supports Roe v. Wade, but would also oppose any efforts to overturn it. Understanding that a component of the total picture is the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, Obama signed on as a co-sponsor of The Prevention First Act, which would strengthen access to contraception and reproductive health care.

Obama backs the continued reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (Joe Biden – Chief Sponsor). He stands behind the…(SAFE) – which would provide medical, legal, and financial support to domestic violence victims. Obama has opposed George Bush’s selection of candidates for the Supreme Court, who espoused an “anti-choice” agenda.

Gandy completed her opening remarks referencing NOW’s support of Hillary Clinton in the primary, and said, “We proudly stand with her [Clinton] to support Barack Obama and our longtime friend and ally, Joe Biden.”

The Feminist Majority PAC chair, Eleanor Smeal, took her turn at the podium. “Hundreds of women’s groups are coming out,” she said. “McCain has a 26 year record of voting against women’s rights.” As an example, she pointed to a $214 million breast cancer research-funding bill that McCain had voted against. Smeal reiterated that Obama and Biden wanted to expand opportunities for women, which would close the pay gap. “This is a ticket that we know. They are standing on the strongest platform.”

Betsy Clark, Executive Director of NASW-PACE, which has 150,000 social worker members (81% are women), spoke about the “strength and power of women in this country.” Talking about her profession (600,000 practitioners nationwide) she explained, “We advocate; we promote social justice; we are committed to supporting children and families.” There are 13 million children who live below the poverty line, and Clark characterized Obama and Biden as those who “will do the most” for them. She ended her comments with, “The best hope for America is Barack Obama.”

CEO of Business and Professional Women/PAC, Deborah Frett, discussed her personal meetings with Obama and observed, “The return of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) to the Democratic Platform wouldn’t be there without Barack Obama’s support.” Having contacted both candidates with questions about their positions —including expanding sick leave, flexible work hours, and equity for women in the workplace — Frett mentioned that there had been no response from McCain. Another area of concern for Frett came out of her organization’s research on women veterans (numbering 200 million), which exposed their specific needs. She stressed Barack Obama’s election as essential for working women. “We need to ensure that our voices are heard loud and clear.”

Injecting a bit of humor into the proceedings, E. Faye Williams, National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women, said, “We know the difference between a zero and a hero.” “Obama,” she said, “is willing to listen to us. He has met with us, and he will support equal pay for equal work.” Emphatic about her vision of women she asserted, “We women — we stand ready, willing, and able to turn this country right side up again.”

Inevitably, during the Q & A, inquiries were posed about the latest polls and the Sarah Palin factor. Gandy replied that “polls will shift” when people find out more about Palin’s record. On an ironic note, Gandy opined, “I love it that the Republicans have discovered sexism. Before that…it was whining.” For her, the key to supporting Obama-Biden is that “they both stand up for women.”

Smeal spoke about “where people stand on issues, not gender.” Directly addressing the Palin query she maintained, “We are not against a women being on a ticket. Her [Palin] personal positions are extremely negative.” Discussing the top of the ticket, Smeal said, “Naral and Planned Parenthood gave zero to McCain on his voting record.”

There was definitely an air of urgency in the proffered comments. Smeal admitted, “We are worried to death,” alluding to the possibility of “losing the Supreme Court.” With an air of finality she concluded, “If you care about the rights of women, there is only one place to stand.”

As reported by The New York Times:

The United States stepped up the diplomatic skirmish with its left-wing adversaries in Latin America on Friday, saying it would expel the Venezuelan ambassador and declaring that Venezuela’s top two intelligence officials had supported the “narco-terrorist activities” of rebels in the region.

The moves heightened the political tensions that have been building between the United States, Venezuela and Bolivia in recent days. On Wednesday, Bolivia’s embattled president, Evo Morales, expelled the American ambassador there, Philip S. Goldberg, accusing him of supporting rebellious groups in eastern Bolivia.

Then on Thursday, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela said he was expelling the American ambassador to his country, Patrick Duddy, contending that an American-supported coup plot had been discovered.

The State Department responded by declaring Bolivia’s ambassador to Washington persona non grata. Then on Friday morning, it said it would expel Venezuela’s ambassador, while the Treasury Department accused the Venezuelan intelligence officials of aiding Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, “even as it terrorized and kidnapped innocents.”

The latest moves represent a low point in Venezuela’s political relations with the United States, which imported more than $40 billion in oil from Venezuela last year. Trade between the countries has remained resilient, topping $50 billion in 2007, despite repeated threats by Mr. Chávez to halt oil exports to the United States, a warning he reiterated on Thursday

In her post “We live in a global village“, Political Voices of Women blogger Paula Hall raises the question of why the US Presidential Candidates have seldom addressed this issue:

It is understandable that the American foreign policies are focused on the Middle East. After all, thousands of American soldiers and millions of Iraqis have died in the Iraq war. But I am curious to know what do the two candidates for the White House think about Latin American countries.

I read today that the US Ambassador in Venezuela has 72 hours to leave the country. The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chaves, is expelling the American Ambassador. So is the Bolivian President, Evo Morales. And Venezuela is a major oil supplier to the United Sates, which it means America, is the number one client of Venezuela.

Not to mention Brazil’s large oil exports to the US. And Brazil is also having problems with Bolivia over natural gas production. The border between the two countries has been closed and relations are at it worst ever.

With all the talk about renewable energy, gas prices and so forth, how can the United States overlooks such countries? We live in a global village under a global economy. All decisions are important and the consequences of it will affect us all.

What are your thoughts on the US’ Latin American foreign relations policy?

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

Ooh That Smell…

Obama is getting my Hold The Nose vote. I’m sure he won’t care if I’m holding my nose or not. And it’s not because I drank the Kool Aid – I just feel the gun at my head.

Many people I know are mad at me. Oh, well, they will have more stress than I will. Lambert at Corrente says I can still be a PUMA anyway, lol. YES, I know how much vile BS Obama spewed during the primary. The media treatment was just as abhorrent to me as it was to them. I used to really like Olbermann; now I can’t stand the sight of him. The sexism has really sunk in, and the men did it to themselves. In the end, however, there are more reasons Not to vote Republican than Not to vote Democrat, or not to vote at all. And no, I won’t include the SCOTUS or Roe v. Wade, because I think they should not be part of it, either.

If you are a Dem, and vote for McCain, then maybe I could say You have fallen for the Republican Kool Aid. It has always made me wonder, the people who started this movement, are they really Republicans in stealth, who have set out to do this ON PURPOSE to split up the Democratic Party? And not just for PUMA itself, but for a lot of the bloggers that banded together early with PUMA? If that’s true, then the Republicans have succeeded. So far. Meaning we ALL drank the Kool Aid.

Someone said, or I read somewhere, that PUMA reminds them of Jews for Jesus. You know, the ones who convert Jews into Christians? Now, there’s also Jews for Judaism, which is a group that combats Christian Missionaries that wish to convert Jews by stealth. Thinking of “Jews for Jesus” as being PUMA, and then “Jews” as “Hillary Democrats”, and the “Christians” as “Republicans.” The point of PUMA is to convert Hillary Democrats into Republicans, by having these stealth Republican missionaries pretending to be Democrats. We’re not really that dumb, are we? Maybe we are….menopause does weird things…I know from experience….!

I know that the Democratic Party doesn’t seem to represent me any more. But these women that find Palin appealing can NOT be anything other than Republican at heart. She is not “of the people” – I don’t know any “people” who pay themselves $16K to work from home…. McCain is incontinent incompetent and a warmonger, but Palin is the scary one. Outside of the Religious Right connection, Sarah Palin is a liar, she is a cheat, she is like Teflon – all these lawsuits, all this crap going on all around her, and everyone is ignoring it except the left bloggers. Oh, and on the RR tip, God wanted the pipeline built. Please, spare Moi…

The DNC should be busting heads, and getting the Dem voters back. But they aren’t. True to form, they are limp. So much for Dean’s leadership. I think it’s a reason for some of the female Hillary supporters not to want to vote for Obama….they just don’t realize that’s what’s doing it. Even tho Joe’s got his share of testosterone, there’s more coming from the other side…..

No, after the convention, it finally sunk in that the Hillary supporters who are not voting this election, or who are voting McCain, are really fighting a battle that no one can win. Movements begun from hate don’t change things for the better. It may wreck the Democratic party, but it will not change the system or the DNC; the Republicans will just reign forever as a result. Which, of course, is what they want. Two wrongs don’t make a right. And I do not intend to stop criticizing BO if it’s warranted.

The PUMAs think that not voting for Obama will enable Hillary to run in 2012, or that it will serve the DNC right. Several have told me they want revenge. They are using fuzzy math. If Obama does not get in this election, after four more years of Republican Rule, they really think that she stands a chance to win in 2012. Um, I don’t think Obama voters will be inclined toward voting for Hillary in 2012, and they will then be getting their revenge against YOU. And who’s to stop Obama from running again?

No, the only way to real change is to educate. Did anyone ever teach you that knowledge is power? Women need to KNOW, and those of us that DO know need to be organizing to teach them, and to do it NOW. Daughters by the droves voted for Obama in primaries over a woman. WHY? We need to start grassroots organizations specifically targeted toward women, girls & politics. There are plenty of foundations that give money for this stuff. So there’s no excuse, and we can only blame ourselves if it happens again.

We need to make sure that an election like this NEVER happens again, that women who run for office are NEVER treated as shamefully again. But not voting Obama into office (or voting McCain in) isn’t the way to that goal.

 [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.

After a C-section, I chose to homebirth my second child. She was a PERFECT VBAC. When I found myself pregnant with child #3 in a state that was hostile to homebirthing, I chose to fly home at around 8 months to finish my pregnancy and deliver at home. With child #4 and #5, again, I chose to homebirth. My water broke almost 2.5 weeks early with #5, but I chose to follow through on my initial decision. The supposed safe period after the water breaking is 48 hours… (that is in a stable environment and flying on a plane is NOT a stable environment!) Although we were right up to 44 hours, I continued to make the decision that I would birth this baby at home… and I did and all ended well.

Now, I do not say any of this to encourage homebirth as an option. It was our decision and we were comfortable with it and it worked well for us. I made a lot of choices that my friends and family were not always comfortable with. Just as some of Sarah’s choices may not have been the wisest, they were HER choices to make!

For me, pro-choice is not about making abortion easier or more prevalent. There has been a steady decline in abortions, which I think is fabulous. But the extremism of pro-life is that you do not have any right to make decisions. I would NOT want to make the decision of whether to keep a baby that was conceived by rape. But I also do not want a court to tell me what I have to do! And I would not go through a pregnancy (such as an ectopic pregnancy) where the best thing I could hope for is to lose my reproductive organs and the pregnancy, and the worst being I would DIE and leave my husband a widower and my 5 living children motherless!

I want to send you to Huffington. Lynn Paltrow has written an amazing “Open Letter to Governor Sarah … and I could not agree with her more heartily!! (HT: Cynthia)

Community member Slim, from no fish, no nuts – sent me the following email…

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has proposed a new rule that will limit the rights of women to receive medically accurate information and treatment. The alleged goal of the rule is to protect the rights of “conscience” of health care workers, volunteers, and trainees. The result would be limited access to birth control and abortion for women all over the country – regardless of state law.

Here is what you can do…

The ACLU has a letter you can send.

Planned Parenthood has a letter you can send.

NARAL has a letter you can send.

It will take you less than five minutes to click through and sign all three.

I urge you to sign and send every one of them – and pass every one of them along to every single family member and friend you know.

We have 19 days. After 19 days this regulation goes into effect and every single health care worker in the United States will be able to refuse any woman health care based on their own personal moral views.

Thank you.

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

Growing up in the 60′s and 70′s I was blessed to have strong women for role models.

My mom at the top of the list.

At 17-years-old, she was recruited by the FBI to work for J. Edgar Hoover. My mom worked throughout her entire career in a male dominated promotional system. Without a college education and female, my mom had to work harder and smarter than anyone else to qualify for a promotion. And that she did. Upon her retirement from the government she had risen as high as she could in her field.

If any young girl or young woman today wants to know what it was like to be a woman in the 60′s, she only needs to watch AMC’s excellent television program, Mad Men.

When I was growing up, the slogan for Virginia Slims (cigarettes) was “You’ve come a long way baby.”

It is now 2008 and I wonder just how far the young women of today think women have come. Do they even know from what depths the women before them have risen so that they (the young women) may enjoy as many of the benefits as they (the young women) do today?

The world still has a LONG way to go before women are truly recognized as equal by the majority of their male counterparts and oddly enough by some women (what’s up with that?).

The one thing that always bugged me about the Virginia Slims slogan is that it implied women had a come a long way. Women have always been capable of achieving the greatest of goals. History shows that. Women have been serving in ruling positions for centuries. What I always thought the slogan should say was “They’ve come a long way baby” and show men not thinking twice about having a female for a boss.

One thing that this 2008 presidential election has most clearly shown is that men in the media have most definitely NOT COME A LONG WAY. Can you imagine being the wife or daughter to one of the media guys in this video? Yikes. They’ve clearly shown how little respect they have for the abilities of their own wives and daughters.

For more information on this video and how you can take action to improve the profile of women in the media, visit the Women’s Media Center.

Here is a guest post by Emily Kronenberger from New Wave Grrrl. [What I think: As a mother this issue infuriates me, and I have written about it in a post titled Teen Pregnancy Rising - Abstinence Only Not Working.]

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

Last week, on Wednesday April 23rd, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on Abstinence Only Until Marriage (AOUM) curriculum programs. testimony was heard from both AOUM advocates and advocates of Comprehensive Sexuality Education programs, which include information on abstinence, family planning, contraception and condom usage. AOUM programs are still widely used in public middle and high schools across the US, despite the evidence-based conclusions and consensus among researchers, community health educators, and other professionals that they are ineffective in reducing the number of unintended pregnancies and decreasing the transmission of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) among young people.

In addition, aside from not being an effective tool in the prevention of unplanned pregnancies or STIs among US teens, these programs have not been able to deliver on improved knowledge outcomes, and do not increase baseline knowledge or core competencies among young people on health subjects.

In these tumultuous economic times, and within a current budget season where both Federal and state budgets are experiencing massive cuts to some critical programs that make up the very fabric of our nation’s safety net, Republican AND Democratic members of Congressional Committees have still approved vast funding increases for AOUM programs in public schools over the past several months. Ongoing approval for these programs which lack evidence of improved outcomes and efficacy is outrageous! Not only is this a public health issue (and a public health failure I might add), but it is also an economic and accountability issue. Why continue to fund a program that simply DOES NOT WORK?

For more information on this issue, visit the following links:

*Committee Holds Hearing Assessing the Evidence of Domestic Abstinence-Only Programs:
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1888

*”Content of Federally-Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs,” better known as the Waxman Report, Prepared by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20041201102153-50247.pdf

*Testimony by Shelby Knox, Comprehensive Sexuality Education Activist and subject of the HBO Documentary, “The Education of Shelby Knox:”
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20080423120409.pdf

*Statement by James Wagoner of Advocates for Youth on the most recent Oversight Hearing:
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/news/press/042308.htm

—

More Political Voices of Women…

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

Iddybud Journal

I Hate Your Opinions — A cynical political blog with 2008 election coverage, book reviews of autobiographies of presidential candidates, and more

I Wish I Were In Paris

Impudent Ways — tattooed tea enthusiast. like that’s original.

In Jennifer’s Head

In The Pink Texas — Humorous Texas and national political blog targets a readership of influential legislators, lobbyists and media. Has received over 700,000 hits since it launched last year.

In Women We Trust

Inches Away From Sanity

Independence Lost

Informed Voters 2008 — I’m a 30-year old wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, veteran, citizen, patriot, wanna-be environmentalist and conscientious voter.

Irrational Woman

Is That All You’ve Got?

It’s Curtains For You - nanc is a breath of fresh air in a stale world.

It’s My Right To Be Left of the Center — The truth doesn’t care where you or I stand on an issue. I want to see through the bullshit of it all and find the Truth. It’s there somewhere.