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Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Tag Archives | women

Days of Our French Lives, the Sarkozy – Strauss-Kahn Downfall Edition

By on 30 April 2012

QUITE A DOGFIGHT has broken out in France, with just a week left before the election. Evidently, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is having a very hard time accepting that his oversize libido blew his chances to be president of France.

The story was detailed on Friday by the UK Guardian, which interviewed Strauss-Kahn, who vented his spleen over his poor rich man’s humiliation that was precipitated by his gargantuan ego and now infamous appetite for women.

In the more than two hours we speak, it becomes clear that Strauss-Kahn is convinced that his downfall was choreographed by his political enemies. They may not have gone so far as to set up the encounter with Diallo, he now accepts, but he believes they did play a role, through intercepted phone calls, in making sure that the hotel maid went to the police and thus turned a private tryst into a public scandal.

The media in France has recently reported, based on interviews with French intelligence officers, that he had become a target of the country’s intelligence service in 2011. I ask him whether he believes the targeting of him by French intelligence, the interception of his calls, and the surveillance in New York are related. “It would appear that more was involved here than mere coincidence,” he replies, with characteristic understatement.

He also blames French officials for the fact that he had to languish in jail in New York and had to undergo the public humiliation that brought. He thought he would be released immediately on bail – as would be normal for someone as prominent as he was. But later that day the deal was abruptly terminated. It has been reported in the French press that the New York prosecutor, Cyrus Vance, had received information bearing on the case from one or more French officials. At the bail hearing, the assistant district attorney said that unverified “additional information [was] being provided on a daily basis regarding [Strauss-Kahn's] behaviour and background.”

Strauss-Kahn’s unseemly whine has caused his last allies to bolt and the man who’s poised to be the next French president, François Hollande, to cut him off.

The BBC got Pres. Sarkozy’s response:

The charges were later dropped, but he has since been embroiled in new allegations that he was involved in a prostitution ring.

On the campaign trail Mr Sarkozy dismissed Mr Strauss-Kahn’s interpretation of events.

“Enough is enough!” he said, “I would tell Mr Strauss-Kahn to explain himself to the law.”

This comes as a delicious web rumor, which Sarkozy is calling “grotesque,” but further complicates his efforts to win reelection, which wasn’t going so well in the first place.

A left-wing political website, Mediapart, claims to have documentary evidence that Mr Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign received 50m euros ($66m) from the Gaddafi regime.

The document – dated 2006 and written in Arabic – appears to have been signed by the then Libyan foreign intelligence chief Musa Kusa.

It refers to an “agreement in principle to support the campaign for the candidate for the presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, for a sum equivalent to 50m euros.”

Awkward.

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Secy. Clinton Flies to China Amid Diplomatic Crisis

By on 30 April 2012

“They’re trying to figure out what they’re going to tell Hillary Clinton,” the official said of the Chinese leaders, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic delicacy surrounding the case. “We’d like to know as much as we can before she leaves.” – The New York Times

THE U.S. EMBASSSY IN CHINA is rumored to be protecting Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who is seen in the amazing video above after he escaped house arrest. The video was released on Friday and pictures Chen Prime appealing to Chinese Minister Wen Jiabao.

No one is talking inside the State Dept., with only Pres. Obama’s counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan addressing it through a question from Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday,” saying “we are working very closely with the individuals involved in this.” Not even about Kurt M. Campbell, an assistant secretary of state, who was pictured in China, but whom the United States will not say is actually in that country.

Clinton will be in China with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for two days of discussion in what is known as a Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

Chen Guangcheng’s crime is openly and adamantly disagreeing with the Chinese government’s one-child policy, as well as forced sterilization.

Mitt Romney made his first comment on the situation, which was brief, though you can argue he shouldn’t have made any at all. It’s simply not his place to opine.

“Any serious U.S. policy toward China must confront the facts of the Chinese government’s denial of political liberties, its one-child policy and other violation of human rights,” Mr. Romney said in a statement on Sunday, his first remarks on the issue since Mr. Chen’s escape was reported Friday.

I’m wondering if Mr. Romney realizes how China feels about blanket human rights statements, which they interpret as meddling in their internal affairs. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s not helpful and once again makes him sound like he just doesn’t understand the complicated intricacies of Chinese – U.S. relations, especially given the sticky circumstances surrounding Chen.

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Pres. Obama at the Political Insiders Prom

By on 29 April 2012

“What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? A pit bull is delicious.” – Pres. Barack Obama

AT THE 1% INTERSECTION OF ELITISM, access and insider greasing.

That doesn’t mean it wasn’t funny.

I’m sure someone will find something wrong with Pres. Obama’s prepared jokes, because it wouldn’t be fitting to just enjoy the hilarity without bitching about some perceived slight or offense.

“We gather during a historic anniversary. This weekend last year, we finally delivered justice to one of the world’s most notorious individuals,” Obama said to a packed ballroom at the Washington Hilton.

A photo of Trump was shown, rather than that of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Obama then went back even further in time.

“Four years ago, I was in a brutal primary battle with Hillary Clinton,” Obama said. “Four years later, she won’t stop drunk texting me from Cartagena,” a reference to the city where Secret Service agents allegedly consorted with prostitutes.

The President of Cool, baby.

The king of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner remains Stephen Colbert roasting of George W. Bush.

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The Women Behind Reelect POTUS

By on 28 April 2012

The “Girls Club” 2012, via Buzzfeed

BUZZFEED’S QUICK AND DIRTY dissection of three of the top women inside Obama reelect is instructive. The tale begins with Rosengate, with Stephanie Cutter the central figure that helped manage a situation that went viral and gave Mitt Romney a breather from withering, well earned war on women attacks.

But Cutter’s central role in damage control that night wasn’t unusual. Though the campaign’s outward faces are male, she’s one of three deputy campaign managers at Obama’s headquarters in Chicago, and all three are women. The other two —Julianna Smoot, who handles fundraising, and Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, in charge of field operations — are in equally key spots.

“The guts, the mechanics, of the president’s campaign are driven by women,” DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz tells BuzzFeed. “It says something about the president’s commitment to women, and to making sure women really have a seat at the table.”

It’s a good piece, another one for Buzzfeed written by Michael Hastings, coming after his weird piece on Chelsea Clinton.

Hastings did get one thing wrong in the original, citing Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as the “”first woman chair of the Democratic National Committee.” A friendly tweet to Ben Smith from me and they corrected the original. Hastings is a great reporter, as he’s proven many times and I’ve written about as well. There’s just no reason for him to be assigned stories on women, given how desperately new media needs women covering women. I also have to wonder if the error on the DWS chairmanship, which could have been fact checked with one simple Google search, would have been made by someone who follows women in power studiously and cares about the subject as more than an assignment. I doubt it.

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Photo in Search of a Caption

By on 27 April 2012

Madalyn Starkey, a University of Colorado Boulder student



You likely know the story by now.

It went viral online and screams for a caption.

Consider this your thank the gods it’s Friday open forum. Any topic goes.

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Why Is DOJ Wasting Money on John Edwards Soap Opera?

By on 27 April 2012

Guilt and innocence turn on one question: Was the money that Edwards used to keep Rielle Hunter in quiet comfort a campaign contribution? Edwards says no; the cash came as gifts from rich friends who wanted to help him deal with a private indiscretion. The feds say yes; the money was intended to cover up an affair that would have sunk Edwards’ campaign for the White House, thus making it a campaign donation. – Los Angeles Times

I still can’t figure it out. What he’s done is absolutely despicable and criminally stupid, but I cannot find the actual crime.

If you want to know the absurdity of our criminal justice system, the John Edwards trial gives the bookend example to the prejudice faced by the poor and people of color. A potential 30-year sentence is obscene, not to mention never been given for what Edwards is accuse of doing, as far as I can tell from the commentary available.

Speaking of absurd, Rielle Hunter is still begging for secrecy. The judge told her she’s nuts.

The Department of Justice should be pulled on the carpet for the waste of what will be millions of dollars on this “Days of Our Lives” political soap opera.

The idiot pretty boy deserves scorn, which he’s gotten by the Google page, but this is 2012 and the “crime” dates back years and the case will likely go on for years, through appeals, if the jury goes against Edwards.

As for Andrew Young, I wouldn’t trust that schmuck, who wrote one thing in his tell all book, having to also sign off that everything in it was the truth, but is now turning his prior statements into confetti.

Campaign finance laws from 2008 have also been turned upside down at this point.

More from the Los Angeles Times, which matches much of the commentary around the sphere:

Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, corporations are now “people” and they are free to donate unlimited amounts of money to “super PACs” that “independently” promote candidates for president.

A corporate super PAC would have come in handy in 2008 when Edwards was trying to hide his girlfriend from his dying wife.

As for John Edwards allegedly calling Rielle Hunter “a crazy slut,” he should look in the mirror, something Edwards used to be very fond of doing.

Another part of the story that’s slowly being revealed is what Elizabeth Edwards knew and when she knew it, though only snippets of that have made it in the news. Suffice it to say that she knew more earlier than was previously believed.

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From Pit Bull and Pepper Spray to Concealed Carry Vigilantism

By on 26 April 2012

“Don’t use pepper spray,” he told the Zimmermans, according to a friend. “It’ll take two or three seconds to take effect, but a quarter second for the dog to jump you,” he said. “Get a gun.” – Reuters

When the homeowners association asked George Zimmerman to begin a neighborhood watch, according to a Reuters report, he took it very seriously. In violation of neighborhood watch rules, Zimmerman began carrying his Kel-Tec on his patrols. It was the uncorking.

More from Reuters:

A criminal justice student who aspired to become a judge, Zimmerman also concerned himself with the safety of his neighbors after a series of break-ins committed by young African-American men.

[...] “Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. I’m black, OK?” the woman said, declining to be identified because she anticipated backlash due to her race. She leaned in to look a reporter directly in the eyes. “There were black boys robbing houses in this neighborhood,” she said. “That’s why George was suspicious of Trayvon Martin.”

The fact remains that George Zimmerman pursued Trayvon Martin with a concealed carry and Stand Your Ground gun laws bolstering his sense of civic duty that didn’t come with the training required to do what amounted to the job of policemen and women.

Then came 2005, and a series of troubles. Zimmerman’s business failed, he was arrested, and he broke off an engagement with a woman who filed a restraining order against him.

That July, Zimmerman was charged with resisting arrest, violence, and battery of an officer after shoving an undercover alcohol-control agent who was arresting an under-age friend of Zimmerman’s at a bar. He avoided conviction by agreeing to participate in a pre-trial diversion program that included anger-management classes.

Trayvon Martin represents the lightning strike in the middle of a perfect storm that begins with George Zimmerman’s life and his inability to deal with his own anger.

Following Trayvon Martin was wrong and Zimmerman was told not to pursue, which bears repeated reminding.

Targeting a person while carrying a weapon, with no crime having been committed and no suspicious activity involved to alarm, is felonious intent to play judge and jury of a man, because of other events that have no relation and can only be decided by law enforcement.

Zimmerman’s multicultural background is interesting, which a jury will consider, if this gets beyond the Stand Your Ground hearing, with the case allowed to go forward.

The fact remains that with the neighborhood robberies allegedly committed by African Americans as background information, George Zimmerman’s overblown sense of vigilantism pushed him to follow the black man wearing a hoodie.

There was no action by Trayvon Martin to warrant George Zimmerman tailing him, let alone pulling the trigger and ending his life.

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Gritty GIRLS Takes Over

By on 26 April 2012

“You could not pay me enough to be 24 again.” – female doctor giving Hannah a pelvic exam



Inspired genius.

Two episodes in and I’m hooked. Everybody is.

Well, not everyone. The politically correct TV police are upset everyone is white. I get it. TV is too bleached.

People should stop caterwauling about it, because white didn’t start with “GIRLS.” Nor did female naval gazing, eviscerating portrayals of men, with a lead character written by the executive producer who rips the bark off of her own persona continually and does the same for all the rest of the self-centered bitches.

It’s a different beast than “Sex and the City,” but being a girl in your 20s stays the same for the privileged, no matter the decade and especially in New York. That’s where I spent my 20s after college, too, and you couldn’t walk a block without seeing an African American. Hey, but I was working on Broadway in Times Square.

That’s not the world of “GIRLS.” Executive producer Judd Apatow explained his delight after the backlash landed.

“We wanted it,” he enthusiastically explained. “That’s the point of it, really. It’s supposed to be a comedy about women in New York who are really smart, but their lives are a mess. They know they should be doing great things, but they don’t know what it is, and they have kind of a feeling of self-entitlement about it. That’s the joke of the show.”

“GIRLS” is about a small slice of the female population. Several of the actresses are from privileged families and so are their characters. They also have acting chops, so if things were fair in the entertainment industry and there were actually cattle calls for parts this ripe, every single actor would be in the running for the part in which she is cast.

The chemistry proves the formula is just right for the show, with plenty of room to address multicultural reality in a second season, something Lena Dunham has said is on her radar if they get a second season.

But in the lives of these girls, just maybe their whole world is white and that’s part of it. Get it? Many didn’t.

Hannah Horwath is obsessed with the fear of getting AIDS. In the second episode of “GIRLS,” she shares why she’s going to get an STD test, which was preceded by an afternoon of Googling the possibilities of a condom not protecting, not to mention the horror of scary stuff around its rim, all the while inspecting her vagina.

“…and then when they pull out it’s fucking mayhem. I’ve been diagramming it in my head all afternoon. And no one speaks about this.” – Hannah Horwath, played by Lena Dunham, executive producer, director, writer of “GIRLS”

The Catholic League will need something strong for this one and it’s only a matter of time before Bill O’Reilly’s head explodes. Mitt Romney would commission a filter.

I couldn’t stop laughing. My husband just looked at me. This is what a chick flick should be about; identity combat, not gooey fantasies.

Waiting in a women’s clinic for Jessa, played by Jemima Kirke, who has decided to get an abortion, Marnie, played by Allison Williams, whose father is NBC’s Brian Williams, is pissed that her friend hasn’t shown up yet. Marnie grabs the phone from Shoshanna, played by Zosia Mamet, who’s leaving a message for Jessa, and drops her two cents into Jessa’s voicemail, too.

Marnie’s had it with Jessa and vents after hanging up.

“…There is seriously nothing flakier in this world than not showing up to your own abortion. [...] … She should fucking return our calls or something or at least send us a text.” – Marnie

Shoshanna explains Jessa:

“uh… She doesn’t really know how to text. She calls it a word alert.”

Perfect.

Shoshanna is different. When she goes along with her friends on sex talk, there’s just something oddly off key about her comments. When Shoshanna finally spills it, telling Marnie she’s never had sex, her humiliation is total.

Marnie is positively speechless.

“…I don’t know what to say, I mean. I hit a puppy with my car once. I only had my learners permit.”

Only the horror of killing a puppy could compare to still being a virgin after college!

In the doctor’s office for her exam, Hannah just starts babbling. The doctor scolds, then lays out why her statement that it’s easy to live with AIDS today because of pharmaceuticals is whacked. With. Statistics.

Hannah’s response to the pelvic exam begins where we all did way back when.

“Ow.”

“…Is that painful?” asks the doctor.

“Yeah, but only in the way it’s supposed to be,” Hannah responds.

The 21st century version of only a man could have come up with the idea of stirrups and that cold steel vagina scoop.

The writing is samurai sharp, performances to match from all the women, as well as the men we’ve met so far. The subject matter is real for these girls and it’s hilarious. F-bombs fly, orgasm-challenged sex complete with men who either ignore their pleasure or love you but don’t know what a girl needs to be turned on by a man. Who can’t relate?

Oh, and Jessa isn’t actually pregnant.

While having anonymous sex in an alcove at a dive bar in the middle of the afternoon, which is why she was late to her own abortion, the guy touching her reveals the evidence. She couldn’t even be bothered with a pregnancy test. The passion proceeds, with Jessa not learning a thing from her scare. It’s not like she’ll have to live with consequences.

You wonder if Hannah will either. Her problem is getting summarily cut off from cash by her parents after they carried her for two years after college. Must have been nice, but now mom has taken charge, because daddy isn’t up to it. Panic ensues, but Hannah’s first job interview is a flame out on purpose.

Hannah isn’t too concerned. Life will go on.

HBO Sunday will never be the same for girls, no matter your age.

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Blue Dog Dems Go Down

By on 25 April 2012

Let there be dancing.

From the Washington Post:

Two conservative Democrats lost their seats in Pennsylvania tonight thanks to the state’s new congressional map.

Rep. Mark Critz beat Rep. Jason Altmire in a highly competitive member-vs-member Democratic primary for the 12th district, while Rep. Tim Holden (D) was defeated in a primary by lawyer Matt Cartwright in Pennsylvania’s new 17th district.

Critz beat K Street man Tim Holden, who voted against Obama’s health care bill. It’s one thing to be against it, as Critz is, though he has said he won’t vote to repeal it. He wasn’t in office when the vote on ACA was held.

Blue America, part of the hero pack of progressives who targeted the Blue Dog Democrats who lossed, released a statement (h/t Crooks & Liars):

Blue America Treasurer Howie Klein said, “Blue America congratulates Matt Cartwright on his hard fought win and we pledge to continue that fight across the country wherever progressive candidates are working hard to free our political system from the entrenched interests on behalf of ordinary Americans. Our next stop is Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district where progressive businessman Rob Zerban is battling to defeat Republican poster boy Paul Ryan in a swing district. The establishment doesn’t think that’s possible, either. We think Rob can prove them all wrong once again.”

Cartwright evidently does a legal segment on the evening news, proving the Fox News model can pay if you want to jump from expert talking head to political candidate.

I’d like to see Sen. Bob Casey taken out, too, but he’s up against one-percenter, self-funded coal-mining rich man Tom Smith, so you have to ask what’s to be gained? You could say the same thing about Sen. Claire McCaskill’s brutal battle in Missouri. Republicans out of that crowd are nothing short of depressing, which often applies to Casey and McCaskill, too.

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The Moment Where Charles Pierce Obliterates Ross Douthat

By on 25 April 2012

Simply put, Elaine Pagels has forgotten more about the events surrounding the founding of Christianity, including the spectacular multiplicity of sects that exploded in the deserts of the Middle East at the same time, than Ross Douthat will ever know, and to lump her work in with the popular fiction of The Da Vinci Code is to attempt to blame Galileo for Lost in Space. – What’s Wrong with the Ross Douthat Creed, by Charles Pierce

The boys love to argue with Ross. He provides a wide target, which is just one reason. Another is he’s impressed with his own fancy pants philosophies, no matter how unwittingly hilarious they are to ponder.

Pierce knows his religious patter, and I’ve read Elaine Pagels, have some of her books in my library, so this was a delicious hike into Why Do Men Like Ross Douthat Have Any Intellectual Clout At All?

That he writes for the New York Times is the short answer. The longer one for this discussion is more complicated and it centers on the fact that women aren’t seen as religious scholars, with men keeping women out of the holy hills and dales of man theology.

Unfortunately for Douthat, his religious hallucinations are showing him up. The final insult in thought comes from The New Republic:

ROSS DOUTHAT’S ANALYSIS of religion in America is more sophisticated than the analysis of, say, Rick Santorum—but not by much.

That’s the review opener.

More from Pierce’s brilliant Douthat evisceration:

[...] The Didache comes up because Douthat is opposed to abortion. Period.

Too much of the book is simply a culture-war text gussied up in a chasuble. Douthat is extremely bothered by people who claim to seek enlightenment from a “God Within,” and outside the framework of preferred ecclesiastical constructs. (In this, he risibly cites Deepak Chopra and Elizabeth Gilbert — and Oprah Winfrey! — as somehow being American religious figures.) Can you find spiritual enlightenment outside of a formalized religious structure and, having found it, can you still be a Catholic, or a Jew, or a Presbyterian? An interesting question that Douthat simply ignores. But he also gives a good leaving-alone to the born-again evangelical experience of a “personal Lord and Savior.” (Apparently, a God Within is fine, as long as He’s wearing a Douthat-endorsed logo.) As Winters points out, he’s drunk deeply of Michael Novak’s neoconservative Catholic capitalist malarkey, which is how Sister Gilbert, and Father Chopra, and Pope Oprah I get blamed for the irreligious consumerism of American society. (He also quotes David Brooks to back himself up, which is a dead giveaway.) This passage is a remarkable three-rail shot in which the conservative religious historian manages to blame his idea of “heretical” religious liberalism for all the sins of capitalism without ever mentioning any of the large American business concerns that spend billions turning a buck on those heresies…

The sentence I highlighted above is important, because if women want any spiritual empowerment that’s fueled to our frequencies we sure as hell aren’t going to find it in the halls of organized religion that men built.

The reason it was constructed, beyond concentrating wealth and power, was to keep the girls in our place, which was never next to men as equals, something that has always been organized religion’s dividing line on piety.

Yesterday I quoted an article that stated that the real war on women was in the Middle East. That’s only half true. The war on women blasted off with the last stake laid at Christ’s crucifixion, a barbaric act of torture, which we all know the Douthat set loves. It’s the moment the boys started crafting the tale that led to Douthat’s delirium.

The whole Jesus forgiving a whore chapter was simply meant as a warning, you see, because we all know your average man is no Jesus, so sinning women better watch out.

That means you, too, Oprah.

As for Elaine Pagels, she had the audacity to translate and contemporize the whole thing, the witch.

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We Won’t Have Newt Gingrich to Kick Around Anymore

By on 25 April 2012

“I’m going to be the nominee.” – Newt Gingrich

Breaking from CNN…

Newt Gingrich will officially end his bid for the Republican presidential nomination and formally express his support for Mitt Romney next week, two sources close to Gingrich tell CNN.

While details are still being worked out, Gingrich is likely to hold his final campaign event Tuesday in Washington, DC where he will make the announcement surrounded by his family and supporters.

The final flame out of a hypocrite, liar and all ’round despicable man.

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Ann Romney’s Mitt-ism

By on 25 April 2012

“I love the fact that there are women out there who don’t have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids. Thank goodness that we value those people too. And sometimes life isn’t easy for any of us.” – Ann Romney

I bet women who don’t have a choice but to work and raise kids would rather live in a society where day care was accessible and affordable, with national health care offering benefits for people who can’t afford to insure their kids on their own.

Now, I’m not a fan of ACA, as people know, but having the alternative be no national health care at all is nuts.

Mitt Romney used to think health care was important, too. In fact, Republicans going back to Richard Nixon used to believe that national health care of some sort was imperative in America.

What happened to those Republicans?

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Is Newt Still Around?

By on 24 April 2012



It’s primary Tuesday and Newt Gingrich is hanging on by his pudgy little fingers. But for how much longer?

Newt Gingrich hinted he may withdraw from the presidential race if he has a poor showing in the Delaware primary Tuesday – a state where he has been actively campaigning for several weeks. – First Read, MSNBC

Politico’s Ginger Gibson, who’s been covering Gingrich, isn’t so sure it’s lost.

Meanwhile, Pres. Obama gets slammed by a Republican group in the video above, with Solyndra and the GSA scandal rich fodder for the right.

For those following the primary results tonight, Buzzfeed and Comedy Central are joining together in a Twitter extravaganza. Watch it at Comedy Central Indecision or Buzzfeed’s FB page, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Oh, and Ann Romney evidently hit it out of the park in Connecticut. I’ve been talking about Mrs. Romney since she started opening for her husband. She’s got the gift.

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The Sex Issue: FP’s Phenomenal Coverage of Women & the Uproar It’s Causing

By on 24 April 2012

Everybody should be talking about this. The future of the Middle East turns on it, as does the entire globe.

If you don’t know anything about foreign policy, this is your primer. It sets the 21st century stage & will give you an idea of the real challenges ahead and how the U.S. must continue to expand the opportunities of women if we’re ever going to reverse poverty, and begin to tackle the scurge of war.

Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues under Secy. Clinton, the first role of its kind, has a classic piece. Seriously, Guys: Why Women Are a Foreign Policy Issue,” reads like Secy. Clinton’s platform for U.S. diplomacy, which is part of the Hillary Effect, in a lecture that the “guys” need.

The most pressing global problems simply won’t be solved without the participation of women. Seriously, guys.

[...] This is not just about the economy, though; it’s also about global security. In the 1990s, nearly half of all peace agreements failed within the first five years, according to the Human Security Report Project. These deals are generally struck by a small number of male military and political leaders shielded from war’s impact on daily life. Women, meanwhile, endure much of the residual violence and poverty caused by armed conflicts, and they bear much of the burden of rebuilding families and communities. They are often excluded, however, from both the negotiating table and the governments charged with sustaining peace. Less than 8 percent of the hundreds of peace treaties signed in the last 20 years were negotiated by delegations that included women, and according to the World Economic Forum, women hold less than 20 percent of all national decision-making positions.

One note about Verveer and trying to cover her work… A couple of years ago, in the middle of writing my book, I made a herculean effort to make a trip with Ambassador Verveer on one of her excursions abroad. Contacting the State Dept. innumerable times, never getting a definitive time for a trip, while running into a hamster wheel of assistants and non-ending non-answers, however politely they were pushing me off, I’d had enough. They won. I gave up. I’m fairly certain that if I wrote for the New York Times or even Foreign Policy this would not have happened. I was willing to travel on my own nickel, but still couldn’t get it booked. And it’s not like certain people don’t know who I am over at the State Dept.

Mona Eltahawy reminds America that the real war on women is in the Middle East.

Eltahawy’s writing for Foreign Policy’s “The Sex Issue” spectacular is causing a typing explosion on Twitter. From Shadi Hamid this morning, who is from Brookings:

How does @monaeltahawy explain the fact that the majority of Egyptian women voted for parties that don’t believe in gender equality?

I cover women around the world in my book in the chapter titled “Is Freedom Just for Women?” It’s a subject that more Americans need to engage. The freedom of women in countries around the world directly impacts U.S. aid and involvement. It’s important to note that one of the issues most important, access to reproductive services, is something the Republican party would strip from the budget, because of their phobia of contraception and simple family planning, which is so desperately needed around the world.

From Mona’s piece titled “Why Do They Hate Us?”

Foreign Policy's Sex Issue Centerfold

But let’s put aside what the United States does or doesn’t do to women. Name me an Arab country, and I’ll recite a litany of abuses fueled by a toxic mix of culture and religion that few seem willing or able to disentangle lest they blaspheme or offend. When more than 90 percent of ever-married women in Egypt — including my mother and all but one of her six sisters — have had their genitals cut in the name of modesty, then surely we must all blaspheme. When Egyptian women are subjected to humiliating “virginity tests” merely for speaking out, it’s no time for silence. When an article in the Egyptian criminal code says that if a woman has been beaten by her husband “with good intentions” no punitive damages can be obtained, then to hell with political correctness. And what, pray tell, are “good intentions”? They are legally deemed to include any beating that is “not severe” or “directed at the face.” What all this means is that when it comes to the status of women in the Middle East, it’s not better than you think. It’s much, much worse. Even after these “revolutions,” all is more or less considered well with the world as long as women are covered up, anchored to the home, denied the simple mobility of getting into their own cars, forced to get permission from men to travel, and unable to marry without a male guardian’s blessing — or divorce either.

Not a single Arab country ranks in the top 100 in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, putting the region as a whole solidly at the planet’s rock bottom.

What a sumptuous dish Foreign Policy has laid out on this one.

The Aytollah Under the Bedsheets, By Karim Sadjadpour

The Startling Plight of China’s Leftover Ladies, By Christina Larson

The 25 Most Powerful Women You’ve Never Heard Of

The Bedroom State, By Joshua E. Keating (Coming if Republicans have their way.)

Fill in the Blanks, The Sex Edition

…and much more.

There's no shortage of data showing that men rule the political world: Women make up just 20 percent of the world's parliaments and constitute about 17 percent of cabinet positions. Why aren't there more women leaders, and is there any hope of change? We asked top female leaders around the world to tell us about the worst cases of sexism in politics, the biggest obstacles for aspiring female politicians, and the best ways to bring more women to the negotiating table. Presidents and vice presidents, cabinet secretaries and members of Congress answered our call -- and here's what they told us.



This column has been updated.

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Barbra Streisand Turns 70

By on 24 April 2012



I cannot begin to write what Barbra Streisand meant to me growing up as an artist, performer, dancer, singer and entertainer, but especially as a young woman dreaming of a life beyond where I was born. There was film and Barbra Streisand.

When boys in my high school heard me screeching in the shower outside my window, they laughed and made fun of me for weeks. I was a bit embarrassed, because my shower singing was always ghastly, as I stretched beyond my talents as the water relaxed me and took me beyond the boundaries of my life.

What Ms. Steisand has done in her life is not only remarkable, but has made entertainment history. Some of us understood what it meant when it was Ms. Streisand who presented the Academy Award to the first female director to receive it, Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker.”

Like many liberal women, she’s been a target of the right, while being a staunch supporter of Democrats her entire life, particularly of former Pres. Bill Clinton, though he’s certainly not the only one. She came to Pres. Obama’s aid recently, while slamming the Fourth Estate for negligence, with a slap at Susan G. Komen for playing politics with women’s health. From a piece she did on Huffington Post from February of this year:

…Journalists need to stand strong and do their job, which is to challenge candidates immediately when they are purposefully misleading the public. They should not be polite or fearful of offending someone when the truth is in question. As we continue through the primary and head toward the general election, this is crucial. Without the mainstream media’s commitment to holding candidates accountable, we have little chance of having a well-informed electorate on Election Day. And let’s look at the facts. The truth is, President Obama’s leadership on the stimulus, bringing the auto industry back from the brink of collapse, adding nearly 3.7 million private sector jobs in 23 consecutive months of job growth proves that our country is moving in the right direction. Because of the President’s policies, our economy is on the road to recovery and it’s time we start celebrating the truth.

P.S. Hooray to everyone who supported Planned Parenthood and spoke out against Susan G. Komen for the Cure, who wrongfully politicized the issue of women’s health. This week we saw how the power of grass roots activism can lead to positive change. Bravo!

I’ve chosen some lesser heard vocals, though I start with the most important; others include Streisand in French, which I love, via “Je m’appelle Barbra” (1966) that you can hear after the jump. I never had the means or opportunity to see and hear Ms. Streisand in person, my money always needed to live, but I’ve heard most everything she’s ever recorded, which was good enough for great joy. “One Night Only” is spectacular, if you haven’t heard it yet. There are so many from which to choose. Oh, and if you haven’t had the pleasure of perusing her book on living and design, it’s marvelous.

Happy Birthday 70th to Barbra Streisand.

Your life has meant so much to so many. I’m just one of them.

Biography

Actress/singer/director/writer/composer/producer/designer/author/photographer/activist Barbra Streisand is the only artist ever to receive Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Directors Guild of America, Golden Globe, National Medal of Arts and Peabody Awards and France’s Legion d’Honneur as well as the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also the first female film director to receive the Kennedy Center Honors.

She won Oscars for both Best Actress (“Funny Girl”) and Best Original Song (for her composition of “Evergreen” which has since become a standard.) She also was nominated for Best Actress for “The Way We Were.” The three films she directed received 14 Oscar nominations. A leading film star in dramas, comedies and musicals, her latest film, “Meet The Fockers,” became the first live-action comedy to earn over half a billion dollars and remains the highest-grossing comedy..

An eight-time Grammy Award winner who is the only performer to have number one albums in five consecutive decades, her 51 gold albums, 30 platinum and 18 multi-platinum, each of which, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, exceeds all other female singers. Only Elvis Presley has achieved more Gold albums than she. The RIAA also notes that her 71 million albums sales tops the RIAA list of album sales by a female singer. With the recent debut at #1 of her “Love Is The Answer” album, her 9th record to reach that top spot, the time-span between her first and most recent Number One albums, exceeding that of any other performer or act, is now 46 years. Her most recent album, “What Matters Most,” debuting at Number 4, was her 31st to reach the Top Ten in the ratings charts, with which she passed The Beatles to become the third highest achiever in that significant statistic, exceeded only by the Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra.

Her civil rights activism and philanthropic pursuits are just as impressive. The Streisand Foundation has given millions of dollars in 2100 grants to non-profit organizations and she has raised many millions more through her performances.

The career of Barbra Streisand has been paved with bold, creative achievements and highlighted by a series of firsts.

For her first motion picture, “Funny Girl,” she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, the first of two Oscars.

With “Yentl” (1983,”) her first film as a director, she became the first woman ever to produce, direct, write and star in a major motion picture. “Yentl,” earned five Oscar nominations and also brought her Golden Globes for both Best Director and Best Picture.

“The Prince of Tides,” her next directorial feature, was the first motion picture directed by its female star ever to receive a Best Director nomination from the Directors Guild of America as well as seven Academy Award nominations. Barbra Streisand produced the heralded drama in addition to directing and starring in it.

She won the DGA award (Best Director Music/Variety Television Program) in 1994 for her television special, “Barbra Streisand: The Concert,” which she co-directed with Dwight Hemion.

For her very first Broadway appearance in “I Can Get It For You Wholesale,” she won the New York Drama Critics Award and received a Tony nomination.

For her very first solo recording, “The Barbra Streisand Album,” she won two 1963 Grammy Awards. One of these was for Best Female Vocal Performance. The other, Album of the Year; made her the youngest artist to have received that award.

She is the first female composer ever to win an Academy Award, this for her song, “Evergreen,” the love theme from her 1976 hit film, “A Star Is Born.” She was nominated again in 1997 as co-composer of “I Finally Found Someone,” based on her love theme for her 1996 film as director/producer/star, “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” The film achieved two Oscar nominations and the Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for Lauren Bacall.

She is the recipient of five personal Emmy awards. Her first television special, “My Name Is Barbra” (1965,) received five Emmy Awards, including one for her for best performance, as well as the distinguished Peabody Award, the first of two. This achievement was repeated 30 years later by “Barbra Streisand: The Concert” which won two additional Emmy awards for Ms. Streisand among the five for the production. That show also was accorded the Peabody Award, the Directors Guild of America award and three CableACE awards and it became the highest-rated musical event in HBO’s history. Her 2001 television concert special, “Barbra Streisand: Timeless. Live in Concert,” also co-directed by its star, won four more Emmys, including one for Ms. Streisand’s performance. She is also an Emmy recipient in 2001 for her Barwood Films’ documentary on pioneering women directors in the early decades of motion pictures, “Reel Models: The First Women of Film.” … and much more…



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Chick Bit

By on 23 April 2012

Watching the Republican vice presidential bubbles squeeze themselves to the top has been disappointing so far. Sarah Palin sure put a whammy on the Republican party.

I assume you saw this.

It was always the play, with Marco Rubio playing the disinterested pol organically because of circumstance. Chris Christie just too sloppy for the Romney photo visualization.

Rubio. Schmubio.

Why isn’t there more talk about female Republicans who could stand next to Mitt Romney?

It’s hard not to extrapolate that someone around Mitt Romney is wary of seriously vetting a woman. The press doesn’t seem to care either.

Sarah Palin’s vice presidential nomination started on the highest of political highs before nose diving. But she made up for it in 2010, though, just to blow it again. But love her or hate her, she rocked the right, blew her chance, then flamed out. Yeah, all that. The lesson Republicans are taking from it is that girls come with different kind of baggage.

Or does someone inside the Romney camp think a woman as vice president isn’t the move, because a woman shouldn’t rise to be president?

We’re the majority of the voters. It’s time to expect, even demand, women be considered for these executive branch jobs.

It also just doesn’t seem the elite press is as interested in the women that deserve to be given a fair vetting versus all of the men who are taken more seriously and assumed in the running.

Well, it’s time to shake up presumptions and challenge the audience.

Mary Matalin co-hosted for Rush Limbaugh, which never happens, creating one of the weirdest audio experiences I’ve ever heard and that’s going some, because I’ve been listening for years. The women’s vote is the thing this year.

So, highlighting the women serving in government, governor or senator, that are vice presidential material is worth network time. People deserve to see the female politicians that just might offer a different perspective that includes understanding the oppression women experience and the need for world cooperation to drag our sorry collective ass into a time where violence against women, in whatever form and includes economically and that includes reproductive health care access, because women live beyond our borders, is agreed upon and women don’t have so many people in our face and down our pants.

Can’t someone in these non-stop, morning to night infotainment shows learn to do short, snappy profiles of rising women on the right who are vice presidential material? Who are the leading Republican women in line for power? Starting with Gov. Susanna Martinez, then Sen. Kelly Ayotte, and Gov. Nikki Haley and… Who else?

Let’s meet the women.

America needs to see them and hear their stories.

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John Edwards Goes to Trial

By on 23 April 2012

“If his affair went public it would destroy his candidacy, and he knew it,” said prosecutor David Harbach. “His mistress was a loose cannon, and he knew it. He made a choice to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars. He made a choice to break the law. That is why we are here.” [...] “John Edwards is not afraid of the truth. He welcomes it,” said Edwards’ attorney Allison Van Laningham. “The truth may be a sin, but it is not a crime. John Edwards has not asked us to paint a picture of him as virtuous. … He admits he cheated. He admits he lied.” – John Edwards Trial: ‘Truth May Be a Sin … Not a Crime’

It began today.

Walter Shapiro* has an interesting piece up today on the tragic trial of the idiot pretty boy. Here’s one important snippet:

I am also told that there was an innocent, if comic, reason why Mellon shrouded the donations in secrecy. She wrote the checks to her decorator Bryan Huffman, ostensibly for furniture (“antique Charleston chair” read one memo), and the money was immediately signed over to Young’s wife. The subterfuge, I am told, was not designed to fool the FEC or federal prosecutors. Instead, the hush-hush maneuvering was designed to deceive the one person she feared—her sternly proper lawyer Alex Forger—and protect her from another lawyerly lecture on the folly of her infatuation with Edwards.

Josh Gerstein’s take is also worth a read.

It gets down to the intent of John Edwards, which no one knows but him.

Edwards better hope the jury has a different opinion of him than the latest poll. Though it should be understood that the people questioned in the polling give us our current crop of politicians in office. What do they know?

It takes a lot of courage and love for his daughter to stand beside him. He’s lucky to have her and I bet at this point in his life he knows it.

*The author of the article was misidentified as Jonathan Chait, but has been corrected.

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Anti-Austerity French Socialist François Hollande Thanks Dominique Strauss-Kahn

By on 23 April 2012

“I don’t like the rich.” – François Hollande

Well, the man who’s now facing a runoff with the President of France didn’t actually thank Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but he should have. Christopher Dickey of the Daily Beast agrees.

But Hollande got lucky. Sarkozy’s most dynamic opponent a year ago seemed sure to be former finance minister and then–International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn. But DSK suddenly flamed out in scandals in New York and France before he ever had a chance to announce he intended to run. And once Hollande got the nomination, he made what now appears to have been the wise decision to present himself as the candidate of “normal.” Even his campaign T-shirts proclaim that bland virtue.

It’s the first time a sitting president has lost in the first round, according to the BBC.

The Socialist candidate has promised to raise taxes on big corporations and people earning more than 1m euros a year. He also wants to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers.

Lowering the retirement age, however, is just plain irresponsible.

The far-right wing is in “shock,” with the turnout around 80%, because the French seem to want Sarkozy out.

Somewhere François Mitterrand is smiling.

That François Hollande is now the first from the French Socialist party to get this close to the presidency since Mitterand is due to two primary events. The unpopularity of current French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and the libidinous lechery of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund whose arrogant idiocy has gotten him entangled in sex scandals in the last year, which should have been a campaign year for him. Nothing yet from Anne Sinclair in the English edition of HuffPost, who is not only Strauss-Kahn’s wife, but the editor of Huffington Post’s French edition.

The Financial Times has a profile of François Hollande, which is free to read after registering.

Hollande promises “fiscal discipline, but plans to raise spending and taxes,” as well as tackle Sarkozy’s pension reforms.

I wonder how Dominique Strauss-Kahn will soothe himself after blowing the chance to be president of France. It all started going down hill because he allegedly couldn’t keep his hands off a hotel maid.

Sex and France go together like Scotch and ice. It’s just that it gets a little creepy when headlines start blaring about a one-percenter who wants to be the next French president can’t keep his sexual exploits out of the international press.

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As the World Turns: Susan G. Komen Uzbekistan Edition

By on 21 April 2012

For whatever reason, Susan G. Komen for the Cure failed to fully vet its partner in Uzbekistan and assess the risks of working with them. – Due Diligence, Googoosha, and Komen for the Cure

Susan G. Komen is getting bad press and deserving it again. But this time they’re being mentioned with “the most hated woman in ‘rampantly corrupt’ Uzbekistan.”

One cable describes Miss Karimova and reads: ‘Most Uzbeks see Karimova as a greedy, power-hungry individual who uses her father to crush business people or anyone else who stands in her way … She remains the single most hated person in the country.’

Reports swirled this week that Susan G. Komen had gotten into the charity business with corrupt dictator-ette Gulnara Karimova, “the socialite, part-time pop star daughter” of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, as Foreign Policy described her this week.

In addition to her dad’s atrocious and well-publicized human rights record, Gulnara herself has been implicated in a range of illegal business practices, including essentially taking over rival companies at gunpoint. Then there are disturbing reports of widespread forced sterilizations of women in Uzbek hospitals and evidence that’s it’s being encouraged by the authorities.

Numerous reports reveal that organized crime and Karimov’s government are deeply linked, with the proximity to a raging war in Afghanistan having been a gold mine for him and his country, with his daughter in the middle of rumors flying about a possible squeeze play in Britain.

Since this story started spreading from Registan, Foreign Polcy and Wonkette, Susan G. Komen has been manning the phones. Their clean up pitch is that they’re not partnering with the notorious dictator’s daughter, but the National Breast Cancer Association of Uzbekistan.

The intent of Susan G. Komen to help women and fight breast cancer is not in question. The disarray at the Komen Foundation is and this incident is just more proof of fundraising scrambling amid an organization that is looking like amateurs while asking people to give money when donors have every right to be skeptical of where that money is actually going and who is involved with the charity to which they’re donating.

As for Afghanistan, there are salacious rumors swirling about Gulnara Karimova being her dad’s ambassador to the Court of St. James, with push back on this tale coming from all quarters.

Rumors are circulating that London has rejected the daughter of Uzbekistan’s strongman Islam Karimov as his ambassador to the Court of St. James’s. Gulnara Karimova, the self-styled glamorous society queen, has already served as Uzbekistan’s ambassador to Spain and representative to the United Nations in Geneva. If true, the rebuff could spell trouble for Britain’s Afghanistan exit plans.

Though the idea Gulnara would seek such a sinecure is not far-fetched, for now the main source seems to be Craig Murray, a scandalous former British ambassador to Tashkent known for his debauched parties and long-standing hatred for the Karimov regime.

The BBC’s Uzbek arm reports that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) denies any such ambassadorship.

You can read Craig Murray’s March account and decide for yourself.

The reason these salacious tidbits matter is that if Britain wants an easy exit from Afghanistan they’re going to need Islam Karimov’s help out of Uzbekistan or things could get messy, long and drawn out, complicating P.M. David Cameron’s life exponentially.

The next hire for Susan G. Komen if they’re going to delve into international charity partnerships is a foreign policy expert. Getting mired with the “kelptocratic Karimov state” soap opera is the last thing they need after their Planned Parenthood disaster. But it does fit a pattern of incompetence.

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Catholic League’s War on Jon Stewart’s ‘Vagina Manger’

By on 20 April 2012


Oh, sweet Jesus on a biscuit. No, actually, that would be a plastic baby Jesus in a miniature manger tucked in tight on a woman’s tee-tee and shown on TV.

The Catholic League is taking on Jon Stewart over misogyny? They cannot be serious, but yet some how it’s perfect.

An organization that mandates women be kept in subservient positions in the church and away from God without a man as conduit, which includes nuns that are considered less than pedophile priests that were moved around from parish to parish like a religious lazy Susan, now thinks a miniature idol needs to be protected from an “anti-Christian and grossly misogynist attack.”

They’ve even concocted a voodoo-esque jpg image of Jon Stewart’s head in hell for their campaign!

Unfortunately, it’s not going very well for Bill Donahue so far, who runs the Catholic League, and is getting an education about Comedy Central viewers. The League vented on Twitter.

“I had not seen that picture,” was Jon Stewart’s reaction to the graphic that appeared during the bit, which was called “The Battle for the War on Women.” Laughter then ensued from Stewart, as well as the audience, including myself at home, except to add I thought he’d pay for it some way, though Donahue launching a campaign against him is too good to be true. The offending idol shot comes at around 4:50 in “The Daily Show” video above.

The Catholic League’s statement is on their website. That is if you can get to it, because it was taken down by those bound for hell Daily Show fans once already.

Jon Stewart refused to apologize last night for the unprecedented assault on Christian sensibilities he launched on April 16. In that episode, “The Daily Show” featured a naked woman with her legs spread and a nativity scene ornament placed between her legs; with the picture on the screen, Stewart laughed at what he called the “vagina manger.” To see the picture, click here.

Our effort against Stewart includes asking his most consistent sponsors to pull their advertising (if necessary, we are not ruling out a boycott of their products), and a lengthy public relations campaign. The goal? To get him to apologize. If that doesn’t work, we can guarantee that his reputation will never be the same.

I cannot wait until some enterprising reporter asks Mitt Romney what he thinks about this one.

Oh, and please dear God, don’t let Jay Carney reduce himself to “distancing” the President from this folly by dignifying the delusional ravings of Bill Donahue, who was accused of being anti-Semetic because of a hate speech rant when he said, “Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.”

Lord only knows what he thinks about New York Jews, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he tells us before this is over.

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