I lost my father early due to sickness, which included alcoholism and lymphoma, among a myriad of other illnesses that run the gamut. He technically died of a heart attack, but it remains my belief that his final cancer operation is what led to him deciding to call it quits. He’d been a smoker all his life, Lucky Strikes. After we’d moved to St. Louis, Mo., he was diagnosed with runaway cancer. He’d gone to the hospital for an operation and I wasn’t sure when he’d be home. It was a very long operation, especially at the time. Days later, I was playing one day in my room with a friend when I heard something. I looked up to see this man walking by my room. “Is that your dad?” asked my friend. I glanced up at a horror I’ll never forget. My dad’s jaw and shoulder area of one side of his body looked like it had completely sunken away. In fact, bones were gone. I’ll never forget it as long as I live. No one had warned me. My dad just reappeared after going to the hospital as someone I couldn’t recognize. It scared me to death.
But there was nothing to worry about, really. I had a backstop. Larry.
When my dad died, which I just know was really him saying he wouldn’t spend the rest of his life drinking his steak, because he could no longer chew solid food in his life. Larry stepped in. Mom had never worked a day in her life, didn’t know her financial status was in the crapper, and was totally without a plan on what would happen if she lost her man, especially where it concerned me.
Larry became my dad, even though he had his own family. He’d already begun teaching me about politics, as I learned about inspiration through watching what John F. Kennedy meant to him and America, how a president can impact people, which is how I came to study J.F.K. my entire life, including a one-woman show out of Los Angeles. Larry became my guiding compass on everything. He taught me right and wrong, but particularly the morality and purpose of living true to one’s self.
When he sat me down in front of the TV to watch the Miss America pageant one night when I was still not even a teenager, he simply said that scholarships were the only way I was getting to college. That’s why I entered them, starting with Miss Teenage America (I became Miss Friendship, believe it or not); pageants begat other opportunities to get money to fund college, with becoming Miss Missouri in the Miss America pageant assuring I’d have the cash (though I graduated early to save money).
Larry has been there at every grand moment, and there have been plenty, as well as each disaster in my life and there have been several desperately rocky times. I travel the path least taken and the road has been glorious, but never smooth, which remains the case to this day.
There isn’t a moment that goes by I don’t thank the gods for this giant of a man in my life. Of all the cruelties I have endured, having the grace of God bestow on me Larry Richard Marshall as my protector, mentor, brother soul mate and friend has been the greatest gift and saving grace that’s made the difference.
I’ve wished him a Happy Father’s Day every year as far back as I can remember. I do so again today.
I love you, Larry. Everything I am is because of you. Everything I have is because of you. Everything I am still to accomplish and become is because of you.
A longtime anti-abortion crusader, Pence has three times previously tried to cut off legislative funding, called Title X, for any group that provides abortions. The money cannot be used to pay for abortions, and Pence has not argued that Planned Parenthood has used the funds to do so. But he argues that cutting off support for millions of women’s health clinics would cut off their ability to perform the procedure. “We should end the day when the largest abortion provider is the largest recipient of [Title X] federal funding,” he said. – POLITICO
This is what happens when organizations allow the Right an inch.
Planned Parenthood cannot use any federal funds for abortions services. Pence’s legislation denies funding for HIV testing and other services, but was drawn up because the Right doesn’t like what Planned Parenthood does beyond their federal funding, which is to provide abortion services.
Of course, Speaker Pelosi and Pres. Obama aided this move rightward on women’s health care when they legitimized Stupak-Pitts, with the President signing an Executive Order to legitimize the move to codify the Hyde Amendment in law.
During the health care debate Ms. Richards said she had no problems with the Democratic compromise on women’s freedoms, as Blue Dog Dems applauded the moves.
You had to either be an idiot, born yesterday, a Blue Dog, or a man to fall for what the Democrats did to women in the health care law.
On the other side you have the Live Action hoax targeting Planned Parenthood, which helped stoke Rep. Pence, all of it a carefully planned assault that culminated in the House vote today. Regardless of what happens in the Senate, the Right’s success today will have repercussions going forward; we’ll see a lot more of Mike Pence, for one thing.
Rep. Jerry Nadler called what Pence and his allies did a Bill of Attainder, which is unconstitutional. His remarks are below.
“Madam Chairman, I am not going to repeat all of what has been said about the Republican war on women, about the fact that the Republican majority was elected pledging jobs and all we see is a war on various social services and women and nothing about jobs. But I am going to say this: I have been listening very carefully to the supporters of this amendment, to Mr. Pence and others, and what do I hear? I hear that we must punish Planned Parenthood by defunding them because they have committed a number of sins.
“Sin Number 1 – they perform abortions. They are a very large abortion provider, and even though none of those abortions are paid for with federal funds – that is prohibited under the Hyde amendment, however you read it – ‘we don’t like Planned Parenthood because they are a large abortion provider.’
“Number two – ‘we don’t like Planned Parenthood because they have committed allegedly various terrible things.’ Some provocateurs went into their offices and said that they were representing sex workers and they were offered services, and any organization that is willing to do this should not get federal funds.
“We are going to punish Planned Parenthood, number one, because they are a large abortion provider and we don’t like abortion providers; and, number two, because they do other things which, if in fact they do, which I don’t think they do, but if in fact they do, they are bad things.
“There is a major problem with this. There is a major problem with this rhetoric and with this reasoning. And, by the way, the CR to which this is an amendment eliminates Title X family planning funding anyway, so it will eliminate most of the funds that go to Planned Parenthood. But whatever funds that are available, they can go to other people to provide those services, not Planned Parenthood, because ‘we don’t like Planned Parenthood for various reasons.’
“A bill that punishes someone, some person or organization who is named or is identifiable, by legislative action is called a bill of attainder. That is the definition of a bill of attainder: A legislative punishment, penalty, a legislative penalty, a legislative-enacted penalty – in this case, no funding – directed at some identifiable person or organization to punish them for something.
“Article I, Section 9 says, ‘No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed’ – a fundamental foundation of constitutional law.
“If Planned Parenthood or anybody else is doing terrible things and ought to be punished, that is up to the courts. If, indeed, Planned Parenthood is trafficking with sex traffickers, let them be prosecuted. If, indeed, Planned Parenthood is doing anything illegal, let them be prosecuted. Let the organization be prosecuted. Let the individual employees who are doing these things be prosecuted at law. That is our system. But you don’t punish an organization because they are doing something of which you don’t approve.
“Now, if you want to say we don’t think that there ought to be any contraceptive services in the United States and therefore we are going to have no Title X funding, the CR does say that. I don’t agree with it, but it is constitutional. But, to say that if we have Title X funding, if we have maternal services funding, none of it can go to Planned Parenthood, it can go to somebody else, but not Planned Parenthood, that is a legislatively enacted punishment because Planned Parenthood is or is allegedly doing things of which you don’t approve.
“Now, I heard a lot at the beginning of this Congress about how we have to make sure that we adhere to the Constitution. This is a bill of attainder, because it is a legislatively enacted punishment of a named organization because that organization is doing things, or is allegedly doing things, of which we don’t approve.
“So I submit that, in addition to all the other reasons why this shouldn’t be done that have been enacted here, this is flatly unconstitutional, and I challenge anyone to say how this is not a bill of attainder. Again, the black letter definition of a bill of attainder is a legislatively enacted penalty aimed at some person or organization that is identifiable, named right here, for some reason, that they have done various things, provided abortions, done illegal things or otherwise.
“So, in addition to all the other problems, this amendment is unconstitutional and will be struck down by the courts if it should pass.”
It doesn’t matter what happens in the courts later.
Today the Right won and Democrats helped them do it.
This has been an extraordinary week. What follows is a remarkable story I’ve done my best to unpack and requires a lot of investment on your part. I don’t claim this is perfectly packaged, but I’ve done the very best I can on a story I think is historic, including news late last night that Egypt had left the Internet, as well as flummoxing for U.S. leaders.
The cables, which cover the first year of the Obama presidency, leave little doubt about how valuable an ally Mr. Mubarak has been, detailing how he backed the United States in its confrontation with Iran, played mediator between Israel and the Palestinians and supported Iraq’s fledgling government, despite his opposition to the American-led war. Privately, Ambassador Scobey pressed Egypt’s interior minister to free three bloggers, as well as a Coptic priest who performed a wedding for a Christian convert, according to one of her cables to Washington. She also asked that three American pro-democracy groups be granted formal permission to operate in the country, a request the Egyptians rejected. – Cables Show Delicate U.S. Dealings With Egypt’s Leaders
The Obama administration needs to up its game. Al Jazeera is watching and broadcasting to a region that is convulsing with freedom pangs in the era of transformative media access through Wikileaks, Twitter and Facebook that empowers people held in bondage by brutal regimes, which we often bankroll, including $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt yearly.
When Al Jazeera English became available in parts of the U.S., like the Beltway, it was a seminal event as far as I am concerned. It’s the most important channel not enough people are watching, a tiny part of that because it’s not available everywhere. It’s the first successful channel to connect the Arab world while blasting what is happening into America, which the U.S. media ignores at our peril and they do so because it doesn’t pay and we’re such a navel gazing country most don’t understand the repercussions of our own ignorance. It’s also why too many Americans accept Beck-Palin-Rush stereotypes of the people whose countries we are occupying and the regimes we continue to bolster, even against what the people want.
The first post I did on the beginnings of the Arab eruptions this week, on Monday, was centered around Al Jazeera’s prominent role in the Palestine Papers. This story revealed Sect. Clinton allegedly saying the Palestinians are “always in a chapter of a Greek tragedy,” with Al Jazeera reporting the U.S. as anything but an honest broker. Watching the Palestine Papers unfold on Al Jazeera English, as well as on Twitter, was stunning, all of which came on the wave of what happened in Tunisia.
Today, Friday, the New York Times writes in more detail what I began covering on Monday, which is that Al Jazeera is at the center this story as much as anything else. (My tweet below mirrors what others tweeting that day were also witnessing on Al Jazeera English, which the New York Times confirms today, the “finally” meaning they finally woke up.)
On Tuesday afternoon, as the street protests in Egypt were heating up, Al Jazeera was uncharacteristically slow to report them, airing a culture documentary, a sports show and more of its “Palestine Papers” coverage of the leaked documents.
Many Egyptians felt betrayed, and Facebook and Twitter were full of rumors about a deal between Qatar — the Persian Gulf emirate whose emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, founded Al Jazeera in 1996 — and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, who visited the emir in Doha last month. Within a day, Al Jazeera was reporting from the streets in Cairo in its usual manic style.
Al Jazeera’s freewheeling broadcasts have long made it the bête noire of Arab governments, and in some earlier instances they have succeeded in reining it in.
In 2007, the channel received orders to soften its blunt coverage of Saudi Arabia after Qatar and the Saudis mended a smoldering political feud. That remains a weak point for Al Jazeera — as for most of the pan-Arab press, which is largely owned by Saudi Arabia.
Yet for all its flaws, Al Jazeera still operates with less constraint than almost any other Arab outlet, and remains the most popular channel in the region. To many Arabs, Al Jazeera’s recent exposé on the Palestinian Authority documents — sometimes called “Pali-leaks” — is of a piece with its reporting on protests against autocratic Arab regimes.
The story continues to widen with Vice Pres. Joe Biden’s unhelpful statements to PBS last night, the latest foreign policy fodder to be subject to Twitter and Facebook responses and relays that ricochet.
JIM LEHRER: Has the time come for President Mubarak of Egypt to go, to stand aside?
JOE BIDEN: No, I think the time has come for President Mubarak to begin to move in the direction that — to be more responsive to some of the needs of the people out there. These are — a lot of the people out there protesting are middle-class folks who are looking for a little more access and a little more opportunity.
And the two things we have been saying here, Jim, is that violence isn’t appropriate and people have a right to protest. And so — and we think that — I hope Mubarak, President Mubarak, will — is going to respond to some of the legitimate concerns that are being raised.
JIM LEHRER: You know President Mubarak.
JOE BIDEN: I know him fairly well.
JIM LEHRER: Have you talked to him about this?
JOE BIDEN: I haven’t talked to him in the last three days.
I — last time I — actually, I haven’t talked to him in about a month. But I speak to him fairly regularly. And I think that, you know, there’s a lot going on across that part of the continent, from Tunisia into — all the way to Pakistan, actually. And there’s — a lot of these countries are beginning to sort of take stock of where they are and what they have to do. [...] [...]
JIM LEHRER: The word — the word to describe the leadership of Mubarak and Egypt and also in Tunisia before was dictator. Should Mubarak be seen as a dictator?
JOE BIDEN: Look, Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interests in the region: Middle East peace efforts, the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing the relationship with Israel.
And I think that it would be — I would not refer to him as a dictator.
When asked about Pres. Mubarak being a “dictator,” Biden’s first response even in the face of what has been covered on Al Jazeera just this week, was to talk in terms of our “geopolitical” relationship that in the 20th century was the way people talked about foreign policy, before it became as multidimensional as it is today.
I also cannot figure out why, considering Biden knows Mubarak “fairly well” and speaks to him “fairly regularly,” he hasn’t spoken to him “the last three days.”
The State Dept.’s spokesman P.J. Crowley went down a similar road on Al Jazeera, as I wrote about yesterday and it was ugly.
Others may disagree with me, but all of this combined with the Wikileaks cables on Egypt that has us saying one thing privately about human rights, then in public making statements that might aid Mubarak while Al Jazeera is broadcasting reality, add in the Palestine Papers revelations, makes for potentially vulnerable geopolitical ramifications Biden seems not to have considered.
There is no way we can survive humiliation through our current 20th century thinking in a world now connected via Twitter and Facebook and with Al Jazeera beaming into homes across the Arab world, especially now that we can also see what the Arab world is seeing.
The contagion since Tunisia is proof, regardless of whether “governments topple,” something Biden at least had the humility to admit he could be misjudging.
I have no opinion on this, because I don’t think anyone knows what the new media platforms working in synchronicity with the people driving them at once can achieve today.
But it’s simply none of the U.S.’s business to declare whether Mubarak is a “dictator,” a nice word for what he’s leveled on his own people, or say he should or should not step down. Not even our financial investment or geopolitical alliance gives us this right and that we still think it does is one of the problems of our foreign policy in this converging new media century.
After Sect. Clinton’s very first meeting with Pres. Mubarak at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik, March 2009, which the cables at the top of this post reference, Clinton was reported to have said something much more tuned in than what she initially said this week. Back in 2009, on a question on Egypt’s human rights, Hillary responded as follows, emphasis added.
“We hope that it will be taken in the spirit in which it is offered, that we all have room for improvement,” Mrs. Clinton said, adding that Mr. Mubarak and his wife, Suzanne, were friends of her family, and that it was up to the Egyptian people to decide the president’s future.
Yet her first response on Tuesday, like Biden ridiculously stating Mubarak wasn’t a “dictator,” however his splitting hairs definition defines it, was to bolster the Egyptian government and describe it as “stable.”
Clinton’s first statement looked even worse when ElBaradei landed in Cairo yesterday, with CNN’s Ben Wedeman tweeting his message from Cairo: ElBaradei at airport says the point of no return has been reached must be peaceful change govt must stop using violence.
Much earlier Thursday, so it was leaked on Wednesday at some point, it was reported that an anonymous administration official was saying Pres. Obama was “poised to intensity U.S. criticism of Egypt’s Mubarak.”
So what to make of V.P. Joe Biden’s interview on PBS Thursday night? From where I sit it was a serious and embarrassing misstep from a foreign policy veteran, but also the Administration, who hasn’t caught up with how world events are zipping around the globe on multiple and converging media platforms that everyone can see.
Pres. Obama didn’t address what’s been happening in Egypt publicly until yesterday. That may have been good for his time table, but it was woefully late considering Tunisia and what happened this week.
Once upon a time not so long ago, in a century that now seems so far away where communication, media and social platforms are concerned, the Obama administration might have caught a break.
It’s been the week that Al Jazeera has been waiting for, coming on the heels of Wikileaks, as Twitter and Facebook continue to rock the globe, with Pres. Obama and his administration still not quite getting what they’re up against, the most challenging of which may yet be to come.
Pres. Obama talked about the people first, stressing the importance that there be no violence. He stressed the important relationship with Egypt, stating reforms must be made, which he relayed to Mubarak. Backs Mubarak, but strongly leans towards the people and once again reiterated that it’s up to the people of Egypt. Importantly, Pres. Obama finished by saying we’ll know more in the morning. It clearly stated to me that after the Egyptian people digest what Mubarak said we’ll see if the protests continue and what the govt. does about opening up the communication gateway. Pres. Obama transmitting the real dangers in the situation and walking very, very carefully, as he should. This is a long play not a one act. It will be developing for a while.
UPDATE 6:30 pm: Waiting for Pres. Obama to speak. Via Chuck Todd he finally spoke to Pres. Mubarak and the conversation reportedly lasted 30 minutes.
UPDATE 5:19 pm: Mubarak saying demonstrations representative of “freedoms” offered by Egypt through his presidency. Will “always adhere to the right of freedom…” Mubarak then sacks his whole government, but he continues on. Outside the protesters continued to yell “Down, down with Mubarak.” Via CNN’s Nic Robertson, chants “We don’t want him” rising. Mubarak obviously has gotten assurances from Egyptian military. We’ll see what develops when the Internet and communications are switched on again. Nothing in Egypt will ever be the same.
UPDATE 3:15 pm: Gibbs after being challenged about his words (3:54 pm): “I’m not tempering one word or one syllable of one word. .. we’ve reached a point where grievances have to be addressed.” Robert Gibbs: “We will be reviewing our assistance posture based on events now and in the coming days.” Chip Reid: Has he tried to reach Mubarak? Gibbs: “Not that I’m aware of.” MESSAGE SENT TO EGYPT. Why isn’t the President standing where you’re standing? Not much to say on that one, so Gibbs vamps. At top, Gibbs invoked “legitimate grievances” people have must be addressed by Egyptian gov. “immediately,” emphasizes it, including communication. Gibbs rightly points story back to the Egyptian people, “this will be solved by the Egyptian people.” Again stresses “grievances” re Mubarak. Never been a fan of Gibbs, but this is one of his best moments and it comes at a critical time for Pres. Obama & the US govt. Chuck Todd: Has anyone condemned house arrest of ElBaradei? Gibbs: “a Nobel Laureate… type of activities gov has responsibility to change.”
UPDATE 2:55 pm: picture via Mike Memoli.
UPDATE 12:56 pm: STILL WAITING FOR MUBARACK TO SPEAK. Marc Lynch on Twitter: Mubarak’s silence is increasingly becoming the story. Egyptians continue to defy curfew.
UPDATE 12:14 pm: Sect. Hillary Clinton just spoke condemning internet shutdown and urging govt to address “grievances” of people. She made a shift towards people (finally), putting them before government. The trouble is that though the US is powerless here, our govt. props up Mubarak against the people’s will. A very sobering moment for the US.
Picture above is the NDP in flames. Egyptian’s National Museum is near.
UPDATE 11:26 pm: Pictures from AJE… Iconic imagery now. Huge plumes of deep black smoke rising from NDP (National Democratic Party) headquarters & complex of buildings, which is the ruling establishment of Mubarak, going back to ’80s.
BREAKING… MUBARAK TO SPEAK SOON. CURFEW NOW IN EFFECT… loud cries still being heard. People are not leaving the streets. Egyptian state media says Pres. Mubarak has ordered the Egyptian State Army on to the streets.
UPDATE 10:27 a.m.: Curfew now imposed in Egypt, which is 30 min. away.
UPDATE III: A very important point by media expert on Al Jazeera, Kevin Anderson, correctly reporting that in Egypt the “overlap betweeen internet activists and activists is almost complete. The activists in Egypt have long been using the internet.” Primarily from blogging, with Egyptian political bloggers well known.
“Egypt has enjoyed a long history of internet activism,” Kevin Anderson continues. “Now they have a very sophisticated way of not just using FB & Twitter… but also SMS and mobile networks, which have also been effective in this clampdown.”
ElBaradei has already criticised the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, for describing the Egyptian government as stable and he stepped up his calls for the rest of the world to explicitly condemn Mubarak, who is a close ally of the US.
“The international community must understand we are being denied every human right day by day,” he said. “Egypt today is one big prison. If the international community does not speak out it will have a lot of implications. We are fighting for universal values here. If the west is not going to speak out now, then when?”
After a year of terrific analysis, thanks to everyone for joining in. …and please remember you can contribute all year ’round! There’s always a donate button on the right-hand margin. Seriously, it’s expensive operating on the web, so your investment is critical to keeping this site high in everyone’s eyes.
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For those of you following the BP blowout catastrophe, I’ve got a post up on Huffington Post, which is worth a read. On a personal note, I can’t help but wonder what my late brother-in-law might have to say about the current BP calamity. I come from a point of knowledge and interest on what’s happening in the Gulf. Anyway….
Consider this a topic free for all, anything goes. Anyone having comments on the Israel – Freedom Flotilla carnage can post them here.
One interesting political note on DADT. Bill Browning has a copy of an email reportedly sent out to “Troops.” Via Browning the upshot is, as I wrote when the news first broke of a “deal,” that DADT repeal is anything but sure.
Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen George W. Casey sent an e-mail to troops over the weekend about Congress’ “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” repeal compromise. The legislation, which has been passed by the House and a Senate subcommittee, would give McHugh_Casey.jpgauthority to repeal DADT to the President, the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, and the Secretary of Defense after the military issues a formal report in December.
In the e-mail, McHugh and Casey complain about Congress’s efforts to repeal DADT, saying, “such an action taken before the men and women of the Armed Forces were consulted could be seen as a reversal of our commitment to hear the views of our Soldiers and Families before the law was repealed.”
They go on to implore soldiers to tell others to “resist that urge to think that this is a ‘done deal’.” They hint strongly that Congress’ actions aren’t important since the military has to sign off on the repeal as well. The two also ask officers to tell “your soldiers and your Families [sic]” that “the current law remains in effect. [...]
The floor is yours on this holiday. Whatever is on your mind… while I share my Memorial Day art that is flown from our balcony, no matter where we reside. What is not seen, because if would hit the flora, is a section of the art where “WE THE PEOPLE” is emblazoned. Memorial Day should be a moment in time where people reflect on this primal force. Let the people rein.
A very windy, chilly day in D.C. turned into an evening of women’s celebration, which began on the terrace offering a spectacular view of Washington, with the Capitol in the one direction, the Air Force monument easily seen in the distance on a very crisp night.
When I was invited to the event, I wasn’t sure what to expect or if there would be anything worth noting in a report. However, that changed very quickly, which is evidenced by my tweets during the festivities.
The young women bounded out on to the terrace as Frank Sinatra played, wine, water, soft drinks and hors devours were served, with excited conversation beginning the evening. Among those I met were Josephine Kairaba from Rwanda, Aicholpon Jorupbekova from Kyrgyz Republic, and Anna Grishchenkova Russia who will spend her month in the United States being mentored by JP Morgan in New York City, and Jin Yan from China. Later sitting next to Thailand’s Sirinatda Panichapong, she handed several of us a pin with her country’s flag melded to the U.S. flag, while inviting everyone to come visit her country, requesting we call her to let her know we are coming. Every conversation was charming and inspiring. The Hill, in “Washington Scene”, has photos of many who attended, including business mentors and women in the media (myself included).
So, amidst the biodynamic wines from Quivira, Dry Creek Valley, Bergstrom, De Lancellotti Valley, Newburg; after the truffled goat cheese appetizer, the pesto crusted Halibut and creamed Yukon golds, and fresh berries with crème fraiche (though it was the ginger crisps that stole the dessert show), one thing stood out.
It was seeing my country through these young women’s eyes. It quite simply blew me away.
The irony of 10,000 Women being one of the many sponsors didn’t go unnoticed. This is Goldman Sachs’ program, in association with education institutions from around the world, launched in 2008 under Lloyd Blankfein, to provide 10,000 “deserving” women from all over the globe with a business and management education. Considering the current firestorm surrounding Goldman Sachs, no one is going to sing their praises even on something as worthy as this program.
Economic politics wasn’t in the room last night as economic justice took on a different look and meaning with the Fortune/State Dept. mentor program being celebrated, which started under Pres. George W. Bush and continues under Pres. Barack Obama. Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large Global Women’s Issues, the first position of its kind, was there representing State.
The young women brought to the U.S. State Dept. to celebrate the program, but also their good fortune, represented Ghana, Jordan, South Africa, Pakistan, Argentina, Palestinian Territory (Gaza), Egypt, Nigeria, Russia, Kyrgyz Republic, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, India, Uganda, Brazil, Kenya, Thailand, Haiti, China, Afghanistan, Morocco.
Senators Susan Collins (R-MN) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) were also at the event, as was Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL), with Sen. Feinstein being interviewed about the importance of “paying it forward” to help young women. She said of Collins, she “is what her party is supposed to be.” Advice from the California Senator: You have to be twice as good as the men, so develop a portfolio of expertise, something that you can write and give speeches about; expertise that works to your long suit, not your short suit. Feinstein said the real key is to never give up and “be like the Phoenix,” citing Shirley Chisholm, someone Feinstein admired, but who she felt gave up. Failures will come, but you must just keep going.
Former mentee Rehmah Kasabe from Uganda closed the evening’s remarks by simply saying, “Get rid of the dream takers, only have dream makers” around you.
What an evening it was. Highlighted by the beaming faces of these young women from around the world who are living their dream awake in the United States, compliments of the Fortune/State Dept. program that endeavors to make new entrepreneurs out of women from around the globe, along with some hefty lifting from U.S. corporations who make it all possible.
It hits on a constant theme in all the work and writing I do about women around the world. You simply cannot have stable, thriving and peaceful countries if half of the population is uneducated and untrained, either because of cultural prejudice, gender discrimination, or reality in a land of poverty.
Women can change the world, but only if we all pitch in to help.
TM NOTE:Photograph above of me (and Candace Kendle, of Kendle International) at the event is from The Hill, taken by Kate Ozcypok. The full shot below the table shot above — notice the place cards, the whole execution flawless — is of the Benjamin Franklin Room where the event was held and dinner was served. Additional shots at the end include Thomas Jefferson’s desk, and the Paris Treaty that ended the Revolutionary war, pictured to the right, with the John Quincy Adams Room below, which is across from the Benjamin Franklin Room, all of which are in the main building of the State Department.
Roger Ebert’s interview in Esquire magazine has caused quite a commotion, as has Mr. Ebert’s response, especially to the cover photo of the movie critic. Boy, did it home for me.
When I was a little girl, after we’d moved to St. Louis, I remember one ordinary day I was playing in my room with a friend. I saw my girlfriend look up and she looked rather horrified. “Is that your dad?,” she asked. I turned to see a man walking through the family room a short distance away. I turned back fast trying to focus on whatever we were doing, my mind reeling, chills down my legs. It was indeed my father, but I hardly recognized him. He’d been sick, in the hospital, but no one told me why or that he was coming home, let alone that he would return unrecognizable. That was our way. Irish-Scots can be a cruel, deal with it, you’ll get over it lot. Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, our unspoken creed. But seeing daddy like that, deformed, marked me. I was just so young. I’ll never forget it.
Dad was caved in. Walking slowly, the stocky pug Irishman I knew, the once handsome dandy, was now skin and bones. The right side of his upper body sunken in, looking as if he’d lost his shoulder blade, his jaw collapsed into his face, too. It was the hardest thing I’d seen in a very young life that had been all too real from way too young an age.
My father never ate a solid item of food again. Mom having to blend everything he ate. Steak, too. Oh, how he hated it. It was a nightmare. The operation that had taken hours and hours had saved him, but he no longer was the man I’d known. But oh, how he fought. He died of a heart attack, but make no mistake about it, cancer killed him.
Keep fighting, Mr. Ebert. I went through this with my parents, long before there were the type of modern miracles science offers today. My father fought like crazy, but back decades ago, the stigma of such radical surgery was overwhelming. The same for my mother, but she kept going for years, made a life for me, for which I’m exceedingly grateful.
Watching my parents, I know first hand the courage it takes to fight invasive illness, but the love of life is fierce, which you certainly have shown.
I’ve followed Mr. Ebert’s health struggles when there is note of them in the papers, just like I’ve followed his movie reviews. My heart going out to him on such a deep level for the strength I know it takes to battle such hideous onslaughts on your body, but also your ego. Mother went through this too, including with people close to her, but somehow, no matter the odds or the horrors inflicted, the human spirit somehow triumphs.
Life is so preciously short. Whatever you’re putting off, do it. This sweet instant is all we’ve got.
According to ABC News (with video), Elizabeth Edwards “may be preparing to sue her husband’s longtime aide for allegedly contributing to the demise of her marriage.” Mrs. Edwards also making demands of Andrew Young, while threatening to charge him with “alienation of affection.” Whether she does or not is immaterial at this point, because the choices of Mrs. Edwards long ago doomed her.
Covering for her husband to keep his presidential hopes alive. Putting her own credibility on the line for something that she had to know would eventually unravel. Fighting a physical assault while living a lie. Writing a book to find a pathway through, but forgetting that the only way to get out is by accepting and facing the truth. The embarrassment of negotiating a ban of Reille Hunter’s name on Oprah. John Edwards admitting the affair, continuing to lie about the extent of it. The alliance of a child ignored. Mrs. Edwards’ coming completely unglued during the falsely laid presidential campaign now in print for all to see, as her friends rally around her, saying it’s true, but who can blame her? The book from the aide who kept the secret and put his life on the line. The sex tape rumors. The latest from the National Enquirer that according to the Enquirer, John Edwards proposed to Reille Hunter and she has accepted. This being denied from an Edwards’ spokesperson, for what that’s worth at this stage. Yet, Elizabeth Edwards “may” decide to go after Andrew Young for ruining her marriage.
After “Game Change” broke the story on Elizabeth Edwards, followed by friends writing that the behavior depicted was true, there still hasn’t been very much talk about Mrs. Edwards’ culpability in the whole presidential campaign charade and what it says about her own character. Many people understandably sympathetic towards her, but also giving her a pass on her own behavior, because of the horrendous tragedies she’s faced, the unspeakable loss of her son, then the debilitating unfairness of being struck with incurable cancer. The unfairness is choking. Let’s hope she finds peace, but there is still much reckoning for the covering and lying she did for her husband, which cannot be excused even by her incredible challenges, which I so respect and for which I have much sympathy.
See, I watched my mother fight for well over ten years with the worst kind of lymphoma you can imagine. Operation after operation, in the midst of learning how to make a living, with my father’s death revealing she didn’t even know where he kept the checkbook, let alone the state of their finances. When she finally got work, we used to celebrate when she’d get a nickel raise, which came every several months. My mother a woman who had to learn to make a living in life with no skills, a young daughter of never ending dreams and ambitions to raise, with no road map on how she’d help get it done; the only goal in her heart was for me to fly high. After one of her last operations, she came out of it with her entire head in a cast, only one eye showing, the surgeon having to break bones to rip the cancer from her body, for the umpteenth time. We worked together, me helping her learn to talk well all over again. But never once in all these torturous years did my mother lose her dignity, her faith, or ever think of taking advantage of someone else, though she and I had very rough times due to other horrific realities we never would face together before she died, but stalked us every day. I’ve never written about this because it’s wrenching to the point of distraction for me to recall, as her death was as violent as you can imagine, more so than I can retell; the whole thing practically paralyzes me to this day to even recall, as the horror haunts me still. A wrenching choice the difference in saving my own soul. I tell this tale finally to say that there is no excuse for selling out people because of burdens you face. Many others have fought like my mother, who until the end, against all odds, kept her dignity and never acted out in a manner unbecoming of the person she was when she was well. In the end raising a daughter who remains undaunted through the amazing ride of successes, failures, rises, falls, highs, and backbreaking lows, while facing life faithfully fearless, because of the woman who came before her who gave her a life.
People battle horrific illnesses every day and never stoop to taking people hostage over it. Let alone letting the actual monster in the maelstrom off the hook.
There was a far flung hope that just maybe, with Elizabeth finally accepting the loss of her greatest love and moving on legally separating from John, there would be some peace to find within her own personal world, maybe even her own realization of what she cost herself. I certainly wish her nothing but peace. But if the news about her going after Andrew Young is true it seems that Mrs. Edwards hasn’t learned a thing.
It’s all the woman’s fault when things you know about and hide end up spiraling out of control. Mrs. Edwards initially a victim of John’s ego, the realization of what he’d done a moment to escape for her own self-preservation. But somewhere in this mess she decided that keeping John was worth more than keeping her self-respect; and that she could retain love that was long gone. What she did for love the worst example I’ve seen of an abused wife who can’t let go of her abuser. A tragic tale of ego and self-destruction over which, after the initial betrayal was known, Elizabeth Edwards could have controlled, especially if she’d come clean herself about what the knowledge of Mr. Edwards’ betrayal had done to her and how she’d acted out during the presidential season.
If only Elizabeth Edwards’ book had been about that; about John Edwards’ lying, depraved duplicity, her own cowardice in refusing to stand up to him, instead of the story she chose to tell, however important. If the threats of her unleashing what she knows about her husband in divorce court turn out to be true, well, she may finally be set free.
No man is worth one-half the grief of this sorry saga. That Elizabeth Edwards continued to sell her own soul for his affections, which she lost anyway, offers a very public example of what can happen when a woman puts herself behind the man, which in the end gets you nothing; your ego in command leading to your own self-destruction. For once this kind of man knows you’ll do anything for him, you just become his whipping post, but you also end up responsible for the damage done to other people’s lives.
As for John Edwards, at least his daughter with Ms. Hunter will know she had a father. Someone who is a completely different man than the one who ran for president, because that person never existed in the first place. The enablers around him protecting his fantasy persona.
Elizabeth Edwards was a primary player in this modern Shakespearean tragedy, where no one has been spared, least of all Mrs. Edwards, who lost everything, including herself.
“Secretary Hillary Clinton wasn’t at the State of the Union because she was in London. Which was a relief to the White House — they were afraid she might have been in Iowa.” – Sen. Kit Bond
I met Mr. Bond decades ago when we shared a float in a state parade (he hit on me), back when I was Miss Mo, which is the best segue around to congratulate Miss Virginia, the Beltway state I call home now, for winning the Miss America contest. It reminds me of a kerfuffle I had with a NOW representative, who picketed the pageant the year I was in it and it was a very grand affair; back when it was still held in New Jersey, along the famous boardwalk. I came out of my hotel one morning, press mobbing me (yes, that was really the scene back then), when this gal came up to me and said: How can you demean yourself like this? In front of a throng of reporters, I simply looked at her and said, “Do you want to pay for my college tuition?” Long before the pageant allowed two-piece swimsuits, girls like me competed for the cash. I couldn’t have gone to college without it.
In another looks competition, the on-air media world, I’ve been noticing for months the gradual weight loss of Candy Crowley, the veteran marathon ever-on-the-road journalist. Well, via Michael Calderon, it turns out she’s getting a Sunday show nod. No doubt there is always inspiration to lose weight, but getting a good TV gig is certainly one of them. Congratulations to Candy.
Thought you might like to see my appearance with Matt Lewis on MSNBC earlier this week.
Ed might want to rethink this line: There are more death panels in ObamaCare than there are monopolies in health insurance.
Also, I’m not against health care reform, what Ed calls “Obamacare,” but what Dems have crafted so far doesn’t cut it.
He also takes issue with my use of the word monopoly, though it’s a small quibble. Insurance companies competing for MANDATED customers, when there isn’t an outsider involved that offers competition, because after all the insurance industry agrees on the rates they will offer, is monopolizing a system while Democrats are throwing people into it, because if they refuse the IRS will fine them.
And since I’ve got this video up, I’m looking for someone to capture my media appearances when they happen, as the person I used before isn’t available any longer. Contact me if you’re interested.
* A majority of private health insurance plans now provide coverage for abortion services. * One in 3 women will have an abortion within her lifetime. * Abortion is one of the most common surgical procedures.
Under the Stupak-Pitts abortion ban, which passed the House in the health reform bill, women would not be covered for abortions in the new health insurance market despite spending their own money to purchase coverage.
And women who opt into the more affordable public option would be banned from getting coverage for abortion services, even if their own money was used to buy insurance.
With Stupak-Pitts, it would be much harder—and perhaps impossible—for private insurance companies to offer abortion coverage for plans under health reform
The same politicians who oppose healthcare reform because it is “big government” now want to dictate the terms of women’s healthcare coverage.
Obviously, a very important subject for us all.
I don’t do radio interviews much anymore, having overdosed on them over the last 15 years. And even though I wish I could successfully land back on radio, podcasts remain an enjoyable part of my work, with interviews important to me.
Sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries. We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google. – Google
If you want to know what powerful women are up against, this photo gives you an example. I’m thankful that Michelle Obama can rise above, even as Google has seen fit to apologize for the image rising to high rank on its search. It would leave me speechless, except that I remember well what Hillary Clinton had to go through during her reign as first lady (and well beyond, let me add). The images weren’t racist, but the misogyny and sexist slaps were equally insulting. Powerful women get this all the time. Judge Sotomayor knows all about it. But you can’t keep strong women down. We are undaunted by the deluge.
“Every woman in public life needs to develop skin as tough as rhinoceros hide.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
The reason I find myself in Washington, D.C. this Thanksgiving is because of the man pictured here, who one year ago this coming week said it was time we moved to the nation’s capital. I’m frequently asked why I moved here, the answer obvious to anyone who knows me, especially my husband. They don’t make feminist men any better.
The shot was taken of Mark standing on the top of the hill, above J.F.K.’s grave at Arlington, wearing a very special 9/11 – PAPD hat that was a gift from a good friend, WB. I’ve seen countless ceremonies, wreath laying services, and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and you never forget the sacrifices of those who stand watch for this country. Thank God for these brave souls, who choose to go into harm’s way to make the world a better place. Because today, it’s not just about U.S. national security within our own borders or the idea that is America, in a world where borders and boundaries, oceans and miles don’t keep us safe any longer, it’s about joining with the world to craft a better planet.
That’s one reason I’m grateful for President Barack Obama, someone who understands the world in a way his predecessor did not. I’ve many critiques on Mr. Obama, but I’m grateful he’s in office, because I don’t even won’t to contemplate the mess McCain-Palin would have made with what Bush-Cheney left in their wake. I never forget this, even as I remain mystified at the year past, which hasn’t come close to living up to the potential promised, with Obama coming into office with the wind at his back and the world at his feet. There is always time to turn it around, as Pres. Obama has more talent than all of the Republicans standing against him combined.
Thanks to all of you who make this place a stop on your day. Blessings to you and yours, to this country, as well as those who stand on the line, whose sole purpose is to give others in the world a chance to manifest our country’s promise in a land of their own. Even as we all know so very well we have a lot more work today in our own back yards.
“Our core goal is to achieve peace and security for all peoples of the region.” – Pres. Obama
The most important thing Pres. Obama said about Afghanistan is that “It is my intention to finish the job.”
For more see Jake Tapper, with ABC News having video.
When Mark Knoller asked his question on Afghanistan, he attempted levity by talking about the leakers: “I suspect you don’t want my colleagues and I to rely on leaks until next week.” Obama smiled, then said, “Why stop now?”
Leaks have been a sore subject with the Administration. Obama went into how deliberative the process has been. When he said that what he’s about to decide isn’t just important to the U.S., but is also critical to the whole region, P.M. Singh nodded. It seemed clear throughout the presser that in their talks, which yielded concrete agreements on U.S. – Indian “cooperation, a connection was made between the two leaders. But, of course, Knoller did not get a definitive answer, which Obama said will come “after Thanksgiving,” with the current rumor targeting next Tuesday, but that’s pure speculation, when Obama may address the nation on his decision. After sidestepping a direct answer, Pres. Obama said that this should give “sufficient preview until after Thanksgiving.” The quote at the top is foreshadowing, with Pres. Obama’s decision likely not to make anyone happy on either side.
Beyond Afghanistan, Obama also addressed Pakistan, saying it’s not the place of the U.S. to solve the issues between these two countries. Further stating that there were times when the U.S. was solely focused on the military aspects of our relationship with Pakistan, with strategy ignoring what lies beyond. This is when Obama specifically called Clinton out giving her a nod, though he wasn’t sure where she was seated in the room, saying she had “done an excellent job to focus our State Dept. on that front,” meaning beyond the military aspects.
Nuclear issues, civilian and military, were also stressed, with both leaders agreeing on joint commitments to denuclearize. Copenhagen and climate change was up front as well.
Obama also acknowledged Mumbai attacks, which happened one year ago come the 26, November, but also terrorism and national security threats, which impact the entire region, as well as the U.S. Tapper has full quotes as well:
“It is in our strategic interests, in our national security interests, to make sure that Al Qaida and its extremist allies cannot operate effectively… We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks.”
The pictures below are mostly self-explanatory: 1) White House from the walk to the press briefing room; 2) Pres. Obama and P.M. Singh, the view from my seat; 3) Stunning chandeliers in the East Room; 4) White House, with press briefing room and walk way where we enter. 5) Thought you’d like to see where the traditional networks situate themselves for reports from the White House.
Oh, and the latest from the State Dept., where Clinton hosted a lunch for PM Singh. Here’s the menu and the wine served, remembering that the Prime Minister is a strict vegetarian.
The menu at the lunch included Butternut squash soup, Arugula, endive and roasted pear salad (with St. Pete’s Blue Cheese and Walnut Oil Vinaigrette) for the first course. The main course included sun-dried tomato crusted sea bass, toasted couscous (with grilled zucchini, red onion and fennel) and haricots verts for the main course. And for dessert: Apple Croustade with caramel and toasted pecans and vanilla ice cream.
The meal was served with Conundrum 2007 and Ravines Pinot Noir 2007.
Below is the live Twitter feed from the event earlier this morning (with this post originally posted in the 9:00 a.m. hour), though it got a bit slow once it all started, as many in the room were tweeting like mad.
9:56:09 AM: Pres Obama hosts PM Singh today with State Visit, official State Dinner this evening.
9:58:46 AM: In earlier remarks, which I watched via press briefing room, Singh said US and India must work to make world free of nuclear weapons.
11:22:45 AM: Inside the East Room White House, jammed w press, including very large Indian delegation. Presser set to start @ 11:35 am
11:29:59 AM: The chandeliers are spectacular, with large rectangular mirrors on the long walls. Maybe 250 press, cameras 2 rows deep, US press separate
11:50:07 AM: Waiting for Obama and Singh, the East Room gets chatty, as the kids get restless.
12:08:09 PM: Obama: India is one of our “defining partnerships.” Hillary Clinton is also present. Obama to visit India in 2010
12:11:08 PM: Obama recommits to US civil nuclear commitment; clean energy partnership; phase our subsidies for fossil fuels. Men
12:11:13 PM: Obama recommits to US civil nuclear commitment; clean energy partnership; phase our subsidies for fossil fuels.
12:17:32 PM: Singh: “values of democracy, pluralism” celebrated today. ..We admire the leadership” of 0bama. Defense cooperation strengthening.
12:20:40 PM: Both Obama + Singh stressed importance of Copenhagen, reaching strong agreement on climate change. Nuclear security stressed.
12:22:20 PM: Mark Knoller: Kidded of leaks, asked about Afghanistan.
12:23:37 PM: It is in our strategic interest to destroy al Qaeda. After 8 years, “It is my intention to finish the job.”
12:32:08 PM: “Sect Clinton has done an excellent job to focus our State Dept. on that front,” talking abour Pakistan, beyond military.
12:35:20 PM: Clear it seemed that Obama and Singh were in sync, signaling a stronger relationship going forward. My analysis, anyway.
UPDATE II (11.25): Robin Givhan on last night’s festivities. Being fortunate enough to get pool reports, I prefer them and thank those who wrote up the evening’s fun. Sounds like the Obama’s know how to throw a party.
“The audience is there, the need has never been greater,” he added, saying his team planned to launch a new, independent publication. Douglas-Brown agreed, saying, “It’s a tremendous loss. … None of these publications have been shut down for a lack of stories.” – Gay publications close after bankruptcy
TM NOTE: If you haven’t given this year (or can afford to give again), here’s another chance. Please give (credit cards welcome) if you can. I need more people to join in.
Some of you may think this video is a little odd coming from a die hard Miles Davis and jazz buff. It’s about the lyrics. It’s about the journey. She’s absolutely right. As I look towards 2010, that point is crystallizing once again for me.
For those who can’t give money, thanks for the emails, the stories sharing what you’re going through, and how much you appreciate the work I do. No one knows more than myself how tough it is; just read the article at the top of the page. Still, businesses covering stories that matter are folding every day. Think about the Stupak-Pitts amendment. Imagine if the reporting and writing I do every day wasn’t around.
As I said to thousands yesterday, doing fundraisers “suck,” but they are a reality for new media orgs like mine. I’ve been online since 1996, one of the first, even a very first in some instances, and I’ll always be here. But this is a business for me, something that goes beyond the new media side, though it also a calling.
Things will be different next year and I’m excited about it. A project I’ve begun taking priority, no matter what finally manifests. After all, it’s not always about outcome. It’s the journey.
Finally, thanks for those who have supported this site all year, including with your readership, coming back every day, you die hard commenters, but also those who spread the word about the work I do; it’s something that costs you nothing financially, but adds up on advertising and many other things.
For those who have supported this site financially all year, though I can’t name you all for fear of missing someone important, you are part of the reason this site has survived beyond an archive and publicity point this year. The realities of doing this side of my business hitting home hard in this economy.
It’s been a tremendous year for me, with the move to Washington, D.C. not only important, but rewarding and astoundingly productive, with the progress I’ve made really beyond what I could imagine manifesting before landing here. Grateful doesn’t begin to cover it.
As I look towards the holidays it will be quite a celebration of spirit around our house. As we look towards next year. I’m excited, even as the work I’m now turning to do will be daunting. I know the journey will rock.
________________________original fundraising post below_____________________
The Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) is committed to bringing peace and dignity to Afghan people as they struggle to overcome poverty, oppression, devastation, and injustice. AIL’s internationally recognized work is improving the health and education of Afghan women and children, relieving their suffering after three decades of war and civil strife, and enhancing the quality of their lives.
Regular readers know my commitment to women’s issues, but also foreign policy, which includes women around the world. Writing about their struggles, but also supporting their importance in the stability of their country, especially in Afghanistan. Without women being involved directly in their country’s future, they will never have stability.
I’m in the beginning phases of a project I’ll announce in early 2010. The work I do takes money. Advertising is critical, but so is the money you invest.
Anti-abortion Democrats will be allowed to offer an amendment during the House health care debate Saturday that would ban most abortion coverage from the public option and other insurance providers in the new so-called “exchange” the legislation would create, three Democratic sources told CNN. The prohibition would exclude cases of rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in danger, known as “Hyde” language. … – Anti-abortion Democrats get chance to amend health care proposal
This means that any woman opting to join the exchanges would not have access to full women’s health care, including abortion. Without employer based health care, women are left wanting.
As House Democratic leaders were assembling their health care bill last month, Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Washington on a political fund-raising tour.
Accompanying her on the US Airways flight to her first stop, Cleveland on Oct. 2, was a prominent health care lobbyist, Frederick H. Graefe, who represents hospitals, medical equipment companies, a few drug companies and others in the industry. …
Of course, this discussion on health care doesn’t impact wealthier women or women with access and means. Something I never forget.
… .. It was back in the late 1970s and I was living in Manassas, VA. for a short time with a road show, before I hit Broadway. My boyfriend and I were very careful about sex, never forgetting to use contraception. In fact, we both protected ourselves so we wouldn’t become one of the small minority where protection doesn’t work. It happened anyway. Panicked, there wasn’t a moment that I didn’t know what I had to do. The trouble was there were no doctors in the area we could find to help. I also had to orchestrate it so no one knew, as the stigma was unbelievable at the time, which meant on our day off of a grueling performance schedule, making sure I was back at work and ready to dance up a storm by Tuesday night. We had to travel across state lines to get the abortion performed, which ended up being an out-patient experience, back at home and in bed to rest up so I’d be ready to perform the Can-Can on Tuesday, high kicks and jumping full splits and all. Everyone asked where we were going on our day off, then why I wasn’t feeling well on Tuesday, with that lasting most of the week, including not being at a clean-up rehearsal, as I was lead performer and choreographer of the show. Stomach flu. I was queasy all week, but the show went on. No one questioned. What ensued afterward was a nightmare, complete with hemorrhaging as I walked through a mall, a rush phone call, meds, just horrific. But in the end we kept it quiet and it was worth it. There was absolutely no way I could have had a child, having decided from a very early age that being child free was the bottom line of a life I intended to spend changing the world however I could, through artistry and politics, whatever the cost. Of course, as in all decisions in life there were other factors, but those will remain mine alone.
To this day I think of poor women who don’t have the support or means to take care of themselves. What might have happened if my boyfriend hadn’t supported my decision, but also helped me pull it off. The desperation women must feel when they have so system on which they can rely, so they’re forced to endure a pregnancy and a child they cannot handle. I put myself in their place and I shudder at what might have been for me.
There is no health care bill worth supporting that sells out women’s rights. That it’s happening under Pres. Obama doesn’t surprise me, because I never expected him to champion our civil rights, but that Speaker Pelosi and Democrats in the House, but next, in the Senate, may likely go along is a bridge too far for me. It’s one reason I refused to get exercised about health care in the first place. I always believed it would come down to this, especially after Obama put Hyde in the budget, then the stimulus action, but also because Obama didn’t lift a finger to get health care passed by the August recess, which not even a dying Ted Kennedy could inspire. A man who had worked decades to see this dream manifest, just as he’d helped candidate Obama, deeming he was the man on which we could pin all of our future hopes.
Right now every woman who values her civil rights should understand how the gay community feels. Because the Democrats look poised to sell us out too.
If I was in the House I’d vote to kill the Stupak-Ellsworth amendment. But if it passes and it’s in the final legislation, I’d vote to kill the bill.
Civil rights begin with autonomy over our own body. If we don’t have that we have nothing.
But at least Mr. Obama and the Democrats will be closer to their “historic health care win.” That they did it on the backs of women’s civil rights will be a footnote, though some of us will never forget.
All that persecution Miss Prejean cried about. She should get an award for her performances.
You just can’t make this stuff up.
Carrie Prejean has a homemade sex tape. Well, of course she does. TMZ has the goods and some great pictures of Prejean. It begins:
Carrie Prejean demanded more than a million dollars during her settlement negotiations with Miss California USA Pageant officials — that is, until the lawyer for the Pageant showed Carrie an XXX home video of her handiwork. …
I mean, really, back when I was in the Miss America Pageant, the other pageant, girls knew how to keep their sex lives to themselves or at least secret. The biggest scandal then was a Miss America who, even after being awarded a whopping Gillette contract, it was rumored, showed up for a big parade event exhibiting full arm hair. That is until Vanessa Williams was crowned the first black Miss America, only to have a nude photo scandal that eventually ended with her being stripped of her crown. The Miss America people didn’t mess around.
TMZ is reporting it took all of “15 seconds” for Miss Prejean to turn around and walk out after her demands blew up in her face. The pageant officials must have cherished that moment.
Hey, but you can’t blame a gal for trying, right? Besides, who cares?
Except…. All that God and prayer talk Prejean spewed, pretending she was the reincarnation of Mary come down to be the next world ambassador for the Concerned Women for America. Tears included.
The more someone feigns purity, while getting breast implants and strutting around acting like purity’s manifestation, the more suspicious I am. But how these upright Republican beacons of hypocrisy can use God as a shield is a mastery of theater few can manifest. It really must be in their DNA.
multiple updates below (Post originally logged @ 8:38 pm)
Earthquake in New Jersey, according to Fox News and CNN. On top of the independent voter news, this is huge. But in NY-23, the tea party activist candidate Hoffman is on his way to a loss, with the Dem possibly winning in a district we haven’t won in 200 years, though final tallies won’t be ready until tomorrow. Tea party activists came close, but maybe not enough. Though not long ago a Hoffman supporter said, “it’s over.” To tea party activists it will be a disappointment, but it won’t matter. It was about more than winning for them. It was about backing people they want in office, no matter the costs, even if they lose. Message sent. For Republicans, the civil war continues.
Health care freezes now. Blue Dogs and other Dems won’t budge on big legislation. All this with the Republican brand in tatters.
In Virginia, where 30 percent of voters identify themselves as independent; 65 percent cast their ballots for CNN’s projected winner, Republican Bob McDonnell. That’s according to early CNN Exit Poll data. Democrat Creigh Deeds earned the votes of 34 percent of independents.
In New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie took 58 percent of the independent vote while incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, got only 31 percent. Independent candidate Chris Daggett got just 9 percent of the independent vote. Independents made up 28 percent of the voters in New Jersey race.
Polls over the last couple of months have revealed a trend away from Democrats. It now seems to have manifested. We shall see as the night deepens.
Six in 10 New Jersey voters said Tuesday that President Obama had no effect on their vote in this off-year gubernatorial election, according to early CNN Exit Poll data. – CNN
Except on Fox, where Bill O’Reilly and Karl Rove said the opposite. I know, you’re shocked.
As for Creigh Deeds, standing for nothing has consequences, as does running as a Blue Dog in a state that likes strong. Deeds saying he would “opt-out” of the public option was the end for Democrats. See conversation with my friend Mash (a Virginian) @ Facebook.
A majority of voters in both states said they are worried about the direction of the nation’s economy over the next year. 85 percent of Virginia voters said they are worried, as are 90 percent of voters in New Jersey. These percentages were similar on Election Day in 2008.
In both states the economy topped the list of issues that mattered most to voters in their choice for governor – in Virginia health care was second, while in New Jersey the second choice was property taxes.
… Still, majorities of voters in both states (55 percent in Virginia and 60 percent in New Jersey) said President Obama was not a factor in their vote today. Those who said Mr. Obama was a factor in New Jersey divided as to whether their vote was a vote for the president (19 percent) or against him (20 percent). In Virginia, slightly fewer voters said their vote was for Mr. Obama (18 percent) than against him (24 percent).
Vast economic discontent marked the mood of Tuesday’s off-year voters, portending potential trouble for incumbents generally and Democrats in particular in 2010. …
That was the question asked by the National Journal in its weekly new media poll, getting answers from the left and right. Both lefties and righties agreed that it would be the economy: left by 93.8%; right by 82.4%. From there partisan opinion diverged.
I was the only one who weighed in by adding another choice than what the good people at the National Journal gave us in the survey. My second choice was GOTV, because as you’ll see next week from the vote in Virginia, but maybe even New Jersey, Democrats are in real trouble on the enthusiasm meter. Here was my response, adding a category all my own, “Volunteered”:
“The biggest issue for Dems will be turnout, with the right revved up and ready to rumble. I’d go for this combo: economy/GOTV. The bailout blues is far more widespread than Democrats acknowledge. It will fuel the right in 2010. Jobs is an issue building for 2012, as the Obama administration hasn’t had the subject in its narrative at all, mostly due to the desperate financial situation and its reverberations.” Taylor Marsh
Thanks to the National Journal for allowing me to be creative on this one. I’m not very good at political analysis within constructed lines, as the answer usually lies beyond.
“LEADERLESS” … One of Barack Obama’s strongest new media supporters during last year’s primary season slams him today on its front page.
Resurrection Sunday… for the public option, that is. At least, that seems to be the most fitting label today when reading traditional journalists’ take on the public option. Dan Baltz:
The resurrection of the public option is the latest and one of the most surprising turns in the long battle over legislation to overhaul the nation’s health-care system. Under assault for months, and declared on life support repeatedly in recent weeks, the provision for a public insurance option is unexpectedly alive as House and Senate leaders prepare to send their bills to the floor. …
[...] On Friday, Pelosi signaled her receptivity to the opt-out approach as a possible compromise between the House and Senate, a sign that despite her advocacy for a robust public option she doesn’t want to jeopardize reelection prospects for the moderate-conservative members of her caucus. Much negotiating and posturing lie ahead. Obama told Senate leaders late last week he still sees value in trying to keep Snowe in the coalition. But liberal Democrats will be unhappy if the Senate bill includes her trigger mechanism rather than something stronger. That will then test Democrats’ cohesiveness, and Obama’s leadership and persuasiveness. That battle could be weeks away. The fact that the House and Senate now appear likely to receive health-care bills with a public-option provision is surprise enough.
Take a bow, folks. This is all because of YOU.
Meanwhile, Tom Ricks is likely saying I told you so, as a bomb wounds at least 500 in Iraq, with “scores” being reported dead, the last total over 100.
And for the record, if Virginia Democrats are “irate” at the Obama White House for calling Deeds out, they should consider picking a better candidate next time. I wrote about this days ago, as did others in new media.
Switching subjects, I’ve long been harping on women’s absence on the Sunday shows, my main target the late Tim Russert who when talking about subjects like family, faith and abortion rarely if ever had women on. A favorite guest of Russert’s in fact was Richard Land, a man who today is making news because he refuses to quit using Nazi references when speaking about Democrats. Having women on Sunday shows is important as it’s the news setting day for the next week. Talking about substantive issues without women taking a role marginalizes the majority voters, which happen to be women.
So, on that note, let’s take a look at our culture and what’s happening to women in film. The Washington Post has an interesting piece up today featuring Hillary Swank and “Amelia”, the story of the pioneerng aviatrix, opened last week.
To cries of “I call sexism!” most insiders agree that it’s more complicated than that. “I don’t think it’s sexism,” says writer-director Rod Lurie, whose films “The Contender” and “Nothing but the Truth,” as well as the television series “Commander in Chief,” all featured strong female leads. “Because Hollywood will do whatever it takes to make money. They are not taking a principled stance against women. They just don’t see the audience as going there.
“I’ll tell you something,” Lurie continues. “When we were researching ‘Commander in Chief,’ which was about the first woman president, we found that men supported [the idea of] a woman for president more than women did. Women’s top priority was security, and they felt more comfortable with a man for that reason. Women are the predominant buyers of tickets at movies, but they don’t seem to support in any great strength going to see ‘The Brave One’ or ‘Duplicity’ or ‘Changeling.’ ” (The failure of “Duplicity,” the Julia Roberts caper comedy that came out earlier this year, is often mentioned as yet another death knell for meaty women’s roles.)
What do you think should happen with the Palestinians?
We just wasted six months because of the Palestinian effort to place preconditions on the negotiations — preconditions that weren’t there for the last 16 years.
Is that freezing the settlements?
It’s freezing the settlements, it’s committing in advance to the results of the negotiations.
It’s committing to the outcome basically?
Yes, it’s the old technique. Let’s agree on what the results of the negotiations will be before the negotiations begin.
Didn’t the U.S. get the Palestinians’ hopes up by saying there should be a settlement freeze?
I think the Palestinians have to recognize [that] Washington says there should be negotiations without preconditions.
Absolutely pure nonsense from Netanyahu, who is obviously trying to reset reality. In fact, Mr. Netanyahu is rebuffing Pres. Obama on an issue that the President addressed to his face and in front of press, which was blasted around the world. This past May:
Now, Israel is going to have to take some difficult steps as well, and I shared with the Prime Minister the fact that under the roadmap and under Annapolis that there’s a clear understanding that we have to make progress on settlements. Settlements have to be stopped in order for us to move forward. That’s a difficult issue. I recognize that, but it’s an important one and it has to be addressed.
Now, I realize Obama has agreed to “natural growth,” which unfortunately Bibi interpreted as a signal to start over. The other issue is the Goldstone report, which has obviously given new energy to Netanyahu’s worst instincts.
As for the pictures, it’s hard to get a decent shot in a torrential downpour, but this is what it looks like around here right now. It’s the first full fall I’ve seen in two decades and I’m loving it. In fact, today as my husband and I chatted in my office, at one point he yelped “Deer! … Look! In the front yard!” A mother and her fawn, likely born last spring, came traipsing across our lawn. A beautiful sight, something my husband, a long-term desert rat, never thought possible. Oh, how we love Virginia.
Backdrop… The setting for my conversation with Richard Holbrooke was Kati Marton’s book salon and wine reception at the New American Foundation.
Ironically, Josh Rogin had an exclusive interview with Richard Holbrooke several hours after I had a conversation with him, with the following from Rogin the exact same thing Holbrooke revealed in our casual conversation earlier in the evening. To add, Fred Kaplan amplifies Holbrooke’s comments about John Kerry’s role today on Slate, with ABC having Kerry’s trip chronology.
… He said he “has no interest” in the press stories discussing his lack of face time with the media, but took exception to one editorial in the New York Times, which wondered aloud about his status. Holbrooke’s absence from Afghanistan during what many see as a crucial time in Afghan politics also spurred rumors and speculation that Holbrooke was not welcome there because of a reported feud with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a feud that Holbrooke has clearly denied. – Josh Robin, The Cable
Both Rogin’s interview and my conversation with Holbrooke rebutting hard the McClatchy story, “Where’s Dick?”
Our conversation happened after Kati Marton’s talk, when Holbrooke, Marton’s husband, was standing with Steve Coll and a small group gathered, including Cliff May and myself. May having just gotten back from Pakistan offered a pessimistic view.
“Our involvement in Pakistan is not altruistic, it’s strategic,” Holbrooke reminded May. When May continued, talking about the Pakistanis not being very happy with the aid package, Holbrooke pressed a question a couple of times. “You know who started that?” May didn’t answer. Holbrooke repeated the question, then added, “the military.” With much of what’s going on in Pakistan having to do with internal politics as much as anything else, Holbrooke also mentioned briefly his long friendship with ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, as well as the internal dynamics of the stretched tensions in Pakistan.
I asked Mr. Holbrooke whether he believed the Afghan winter would impact the runoff election. That started a monologue that would last around ten minutes. Once the runoff of Nov. 7th happens, Holbrooke said there is about a two week envelope, with the winter’s impact in the north, thus the Tajiks. (Abdullah is Tajik and is from the north; Karzai a Pashtun from the south.) Continuing, he said that we got Karzai to agree to the runoff “by the skin” of our teeth, by “this much,” changing metaphors and holding up two fingers to show less than an inch. “Of course, we got it,” but it was very close, he added.
Then I interjected another question, starting with “John Kerry–”, with Holbrooke interrupting me immediately, saying “Can’t say enough about John Kerry.” I smiled and said, “I’ll make sure to quote you.” Holbrooke continued heaping praise on Sen. Kerry, stating what had already been reported about Kerry meeting with Obama after he got back. Holbrooke talking about all the serious work he’d been doing in the area and how long it had been going on, with everyone working in concert. Holbrooke, Secretary Clinton and Amb. Eikenberry also had a 40 minute conversation with Kerry as well.
At one point he added that he’d seen a caption, he believed on CNN, that said “Ambassador Kerry?”, then chuckled. Now, some would have tried to construe this as a snide aside, however, Holbrooke was obviously making a good-natured comment about Kerry’s diligent efforts, while also making the point of how everyone worked different angles together. To add, today Politico has a piece on Secretary Clinton’s vital role in giving Sen. Kerry the Afghan mission and spotlight.
“The Administration worked seamlessly on this,” Holbrooke added, nodding his head.
After the discussion with Holbrooke I had an interesting conversation with Cliff May talking about Pakistan, but also my interest in international women’s issues, particularly Afghanistan.
The family about which Kati Marton writes is her own. A moderately well-known and exceedingly well-connected print and broadcast journalist in New York, she is a native Hungarian who lived the first eight years of her life in a country under the repressive communist rule of the dictator Matyas Rakosi. She was born in 1949, the daughter of a prominent Hungarian journalist, the Associated Press correspondent Endre Marton, and his wife, Ilona, also a journalist. They were brave people who paid for their courage by being sent to prison, leaving their two young daughters to live with a family “willing to take us in for a certain monthly sum.” – Behind the Iron Curtain (Washington Post review of ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE – My Family’s Journey to America, by Kati Marton)
I’ve pictured her book and the review, not because I’ve read it or was given a copy, which I have not and was not; but because the conversation she offered last evening was riveting. I tweeted some of the more interesting moments, which included her hilarious assessment of her nanny: “French babysitter the most treacherous of them all.” According to Marton she was a “part-time nanny, full-time agent.” After Marton’s father was arrested by the Hungarian secret police he went through “Abu Ghraib like interrogations,” which never got real info. FBI, Hoover investigating her parents too.
Kati Marton’s husband beamed throughout the conversation she had about her book, which was facilitated by Steve Coll, in what turned out to be a very interesting evening.
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