The Modern Lady on Planned Parenthood

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Republicans have gone awry the country over.  Do you know what’s going on?  Here are some websites to give you the gist on two important legislative happenings: Planned Parenthood and Wisconsin labor unions.

 

Wisconsin state employee unions

(yes, this really does matter to you)

New York Times

**(I’ve linked some definitions for “collective bargaining,” “union,” and “public employee”)**

• The legislative push by Wisconsin’s new governor, Scott Walker, a Republican, to slash the collective bargaining rights of his state’s public employees could prove a watershed for public-sector unions, perhaps signaling the beginning of a decline in their power — both at the bargaining table and in politics.
• But Mr. Walker is going far beyond that, seeking to definitively curb the power of government unions in his state. He sees public-employee unions as a bane to the taxpayer because they demand — and often win — generous health and pension plans that help push up taxes and drive budget deficits higher.
• To end that cycle, he wants to restrict the unions to bargaining over just one topic, base wages, while eliminating their ability to deal over health care, working hours and vacations.
• By flooding the State Capitol in Madison with more than 10,000 protesters, labor unions are doing their utmost to block Mr. Walker’s plans. They helped persuade Democratic state senators to slip out of the building this week to deny Republicans the quorum they needed to pass the legislation.
• Democrats say the governor’s “budget repair bill” — strongly supported by the Republicans who control both legislative houses — is political payback, intended to cripple public-sector unions, which spent more than $200 million to back Democrats across the country in November’s elections.

Andy Manis/Associated Press - A Capitol protest in Madison, Wis., over Gov. Scott Walker's bill to slash collective bargaining rights for many state workers.

New York Times

• Behind closed doors, Scott Walker, the Republican who has been governor for about six weeks, calmly described his intent to forge ahead with the plans that had set off the uprising: He wants to require public workers to pay more for their health insurance and pensions, effectively cutting the take-home pay of many by around 7 percent.
• Mr. Walker said he had no other options, since he is facing a deficit of $137 million in the current state budget and the prospect of a $3.6 billion hole in the coming two-year budget.
• “For us, it’s simple,” said Mr. Walker, whose family home was surrounded by angry workers this week, prompting the police to close the street. “We’re broke.”

New York Times

• Then the surprising drama in Madison this week added a new twist: the Democrats disappeared.
• That left Republicans, who control the Capitol and had expected to push through the bill, in limbo. Although Republicans control the State Senate by 19 to 14, 20 senators — and thus, at least a single Democrat — must be in the room to call a vote on such fiscal matters.
• “The plan is to try and slow this down because it’s an extreme piece of legislation that’s tearing this state apart,” Senator Jon Erpenbach, one of the missing Democrats, told The Associated Press by telephone. (He refused, of course, to say where he was.)

Planned Parenthood

(not just birth control or abortions)

Washington Post:

• The Republican-led House approved an amendment Friday that would prohibit federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
• The measure, which passed the House 240 to 185, blocks Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funds for any of its activities. The organization already is banned from using federal funds to perform most abortions.

Huffington Post

• House Republicans voted on Friday to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood, cutting money for contraceptives, HIV tests, cancer screenings and reproductive health services as part of an attempt to weaken the abortion provider. Planned Parenthood does not currently spend federal money on abortion services.

• The vote, which passed, 240 to 185, came after an emotional, late-night speech by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who revealed on the House floor that she had had an abortion. Speier criticized Republicans for vilifying Planned Parenthood and abortion-rights supporters.

• “There is a vendetta against Planned Parenthood, and it was played out in this room tonight,” she said on the House floor. “Planned Parenthood has a right to operate. Planned Parenthood has a right to provide family planning services. Planned parenthood has a right to perform abortions. Last time you checked, abortions were legal in this country.”

And there are massive protests in Bahrain which you should read up on.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

While I love flowers (all ones, not just roses), I worry about all the gas and pesticides that go into making and sending them from Mexico to my door.

And I’ve never been one to straight up and eat a box of chocolates.  I like one piece of dark chocolate.  That is all.

And stuffed animals?  What am I 8?

Might I suggest you make your own edible body paints?

Oh yes.

At Budget101.com you can get a couple of different recipes that literally help you make some from scratch.

But instead of reading the directions I got the bright idea that I would buy vanilla pudding mix (which I found out later was bright yellow) and mix in various colorful fruits (because food dye is kind of bad for you).

I made a purple one out of blueberries, a yellow one with pineapple, a blandish yellowish pinkish one with strawberries, and a baby poop green one with a super food drink and a lime.

Now that I’ve done all this hard work, I’m going to give you some sound advice: the whiter the original thing, the better your colors.  Obvious right?

So, use marshmallow cream, or whipped cream, white frosting,white cake mix…all of which you can make yourself if you really want.  Then, those food dyes or fruit juices you add will really make them pop.

You can also make it together in your birthday suit and be sure to shower together afterward because you gonna be dirty!

____________________________________________

Now, on to the news:

Sara Haskins on online dating for all the single ladies!  Also see her hilarious video on how giving diamonds has become an imperative in heterosexual relationships.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

 

Ms. Magazine offers several suggestions to make your Valentine’s Day more feminist, but this one is my favorite – become politically active!

How about joining a political campaign in honor of Valentine’s Day?  Saint Valentine was arrested for marrying couples against the wishes of Emperor Claudius II, so what better way to honor the day than to continue fighting for the right to marry?

Celebrate Freedom to Marry Week, which concludes on Valentine’s Day, by adding your voice to those supporting the freedom to marry or by asking Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. You can also join or organize a marriage license counter action on Valentine’s Day to protest Prop. 8.

Be part of a global movement to end violence against women and girls by attending a V-Day event–”The ‘V’ stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.”

 

You can even buy something from the V Day store if you really want. And yes, even men can support V Day too.

 

You can always send a Planned Parenthood Valentine’s Day e-card to your special someone. February 14 is also National Condom Day, so take part by being safe and using one.

 

And finally, didn’t think I could touch on race, gender, class, or ethnicity in a Valentine’s post?  Think again.

Lisa Wade from Sociological Images recently posted an assort of old Indian-themed Valentines, all which enforce stereotypes of natives as war-like, men as powerful, and women as passive.  All from Native Appropriations and the Vintage Valentine Museum.

 

“I’d never squaw’k if you’d be my Valentine” (1950s or ’60s)

 

 

“I want to be the CHIEF” (1940s or ’50s)

“I’m hunting for you, Valentine” (1941)

 

 

 

 

What does the Republican win mean for women?

Personally, I’m taking the road less traveled by society and following the advice of Jon Stewart – everybody’s going to be fine America.  I’m an activist not a fatalist.

Before we begin, if you weren’t paying attention to women running in the election, then here’s a recap from Rutgers on who ran.

With that said, this election was both good and bad for women.  Here’s the gist from news sources and organizations:

“Despite GOP Wins, Hill May See Fewer Women” by Carrie Kahn, NPR:

It started as a banner year for female candidates. More of them ran in party primaries than ever before, especially Republican women, who set a new record.

Many of the winners had the backing of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who coined a new nickname for the like-minded conservative moms: Mama Grizzlies.

Republican losses paled compared with those suffered by Democrats. Swept up in the conservative wave, Democratic women took big hits. Nine of them were booted in the House and one in the Senate.

Since most women in Congress are Democrats, the party’s problem this week became theirs. That means there will likely be fewer women in Congress for the first time since the 1970s, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

Planned Parenthood was sure to chalk this election up as a loss:

Despite some bright spots in the election — races in which pro-choice candidates ran and won on our issues and the resounding defeat of an anti-choice ballot initiative in Colorado — it’s clear that the House of Representatives is in the hands of dangerous politicians who oppose women’s health and a woman’s right to choose.

The majority of Americans agree with Planned Parenthood on the issue of choice. While this election was a referendum on the economy and government, the results are truly alarming when it comes to a woman’s right to choose.

“2010 Faltered as a New ‘Year of the Woman’ in Politics by Ashlee Parker, The New York Times

This year’s results for women should be considered in the context of a tough year for Democratic incumbents, many of whom were women, cautioned Jennifer Lawless, the director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University.

“The overall downside of this is people are going to look at a lot of these results and think, ‘Oh, my gosh, women can’t win or women can’t get elected,’ ” Dr. Lawless said.

The idea that 2010 would be the second coming for the Year of the Woman may have been overstated from the beginning. A handful of high-profile candidates, all Republicans — Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman in California, and Linda McMahon in Connecticut — generated an inordinate amount of news media attention. Upsets in primaries drew national interest to Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Sharron Angle in Nevada.

“Several of these women,” Dr. Lawless said, “had interesting personal stories or personalities that garnered so much national attention, which obscured the fact that they represented actually a very small portion of the actual candidates.”

“Republican Shift Only Part of the Story of Women Voters” by Bryce Covert, The Huffington Post:

While Democrats took a beating on Tuesday, women were the deciding factor in many victories. A quick list of some of the Democratic winners who benefited:

• More than half of women voted for comeback kid Harry Reid, Senator from Nevada.
• Richard Blumenthal, running for Senate in Connecticut, had double-digit leads with women over his female opponent.
• Michael Bennet, Colorado Senator, led with women over his Republican opponent.
• Joe Manchin’s winning coalition included women’s support.
• Ron Wyden and John Kitzhaber in Oregon both drew winning support from women.
• Women favored New Hampshire’s new governor John Lynch, while men split the vote between him and his opponent.
• Washington’s Senator Patty Murray drew her support from women.
• Two-thirds of women backed New York gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo.
• Deval Patrick owes his gubernatorial win in Massachusetts to women.
• And in the West in general, women were a huge factor.

Speculation that women will vote for a woman no matter how conservative her policy positions has also dissipated. Many “mama grizzlies” met with defeat, particularly in the Senate. Sayonara to Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Linda McMahon, and Carly Fiorina, along with gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. And their defeat was at the hands of women voting for the opponent.

“A Mixed Election for Women” by Kathryn Lopez, Townhall.com

You win some, you lose some; We’ve seen that idea playing out in these midterm elections. And with the loss of the first woman speaker, we gain a presumptive speaker in Rep. John Boehner, who is willing to defend the most defenseless among us — the unborn. Bring him on.

And yet, in the wake of the election — which, frankly, had funereal aspects for all of us — it wasn’t a total win for either party — there were headlines like: “Americans slam women in midterm election.”

That one’s from an article in an online magazine for women executives. Reacting to the Democrats’ relegation to minority status in the House, the article struggled with the loss of Speaker Pelosi: “how will women survive in this man’s world come 2012?”

Quite fine, thank you. This last election cycle has engaged many Americans, including women, in citizen-activist roles — working for women and men in Congress who understand that Washington has been guilty of some comprehensive fiscal, moral and Constitutional malpractice of late.

We’ve got hope for change that will put us all in a much better position — perhaps, before long, with some change to spare, for once. We want good policy from Washington, and we know that men are quite capable of it, too.

Sarah Palin is definitely happy about the win.  I’d like to kill the editor who included the final clip.