Posted in 51 Percent, Communications, Congress, ERA, Feminism, Feminist Majority, Great American Women, Politics, women, Women's Rights, tagged Alexandra Gleysteen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA, Commission on the Status of Women, Geena Davis, Wikipedia on July 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Geena Davis and Alexandra Gleysteen have both been appointed to the State’s “Commission on the Status of Women”, by Governor Schwarzenegger. The appointments are pending CA Senate confirmation.
I’ll just say to whomever is editing Wikipedia for these two, Geena’s page definitely needs revising to better reflect her activities as a woman’s advocate. Alexandra needs inclusion. Better bios were found on the “appointed” link.
They certainly deserve Senate confirmation.
Posted in 51 Percent, Communications, Feminism, Feminist Majority, Humanism, Justice, Politics, women, Women's Rights, tagged 331%, Liberal, Obama Vilsack, Older Workers, Shirley Sherrod, Unemployment, Van Jones on July 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »
It’s always nice when people agree with and say exactly what you think; especially when they say it so well over at the Confluence:
My $0.02 on Shirley Sherrod
By Wonk the Vote
UTube and all the other media videos deserve the same scrutiny as your local grown fruit.
Ask these questions: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, HOW, and WHY!!! if you can’t answer those questions, you don’t know what you are watching. If you don’t know what you are watching, you can’t make a decision. That sure as heck means you don’t go riling people up and firing them cause, you, Freda, are suffering from information deficit syndrome.
Now, you’d a thunk all those gal’ durned Harvard Grads would know that stuff by now.
Either, they really are a bunch of doofuses, or ?
Try this on:
1) As Wonk alludes, we are a long way from realizing the ageist and misogynist elements of this story. WHO, right now is being asked to take early retirement, or let go in the greatest numbers? Who as a group has earned the highest salary in the last few years, and thus has the greatest impact on the bottom line? If you can’t remove someone because of tenure, what other tactics are used? This is a long running storyline.
2) Liberals, and I am one, should spend a little time pondering a pattern of dispensability of the more liberal political elements and civil rights “Old Guard” on the part of the Obama administration. Van Jones wasn’t the only other example. In case you still don’t get it. Obama is NOT A LIBERAL! He is not on your side. Whatever is wanted must come from you and your actions.
Posted in Congress, Disaster, Environment, Health and Food, Humanism, Justice, Nature, Politics, tagged BP Oil Spill, Dahr Jamail, Erica Blumenfeld, Gulf of Mexico on July 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Posted in 51 Percent, Congress, Finance, Justice, Politics, tagged American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, Carte Goodwin, Charles Rangel, H. RES.955, H.R. 1935, H.R. 4213, H.R.3931, H.R.3933, H.RES.1403, S.1934, S.3191, S.3333, Unemployment Extension on July 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Update -At 2:15 ET Carte Goodwin was sworn in as an appointed member of the Senate. Shortly thereafter the Senate resumed consideration of, and approved H. R 4213, entitled the “American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010”. The document downloads under “Text of Legislation” HERE, as 412 pages. There appear to be attendant amendments that I am still reading through. However, you can read them for yourself by following the links on the above mentioned page.
I’ll Have more in a bit. The bill goes back to the House this week, but is expected to pass:
Unemployment Filibuster Broken
Months-Long Unemployment Standoff Ends With Vote By New West Virginia Senator
By MATTHEW JAFFE
July 20, 2010
Boosted by the swearing-in of new West Virginia Sen. Carte Goodwin, the Senate today voted to restore and extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, ending a lengthy stalemate.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/unemployment-filibuster-broken/story?id=11205700
Posted in 51 Percent, Children, Communications, Congress, Environment, Health Care, Human Rights, Humanism, Justice, Nature, Politics, women, tagged Border Security, CA, California, Carte Goodwin, Epidemic, Gray Panthers, Gulf OIl Spill, Immigration, indentured labor, National Ocean Council, Ocean Policy Task Force, Pertussis, Unemployment, Unfair child labor, Vaccine, Whooping Cough on July 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »
If you haven’t yet done so, The Gray Panthers urge you to SPREAD THE WORD to reinstate and extend unemployment insurance and contact you Senator TODAY:
In Unemployment Benefits Extension, a Logistical Headache for States
Overtaxed State Agencies Struggle to Keep Up
By ANNIE LOWREY 7/19/10 6:00 AM
[People seeking unemployment benefits wait in the lobby of an Employment Development Department office in California. (EPA/ZUMAPRESS.com)
On Tuesday, the Senate plans to vote on a federal extension of unemployment benefits, blocked by Senate Republicans for an unprecedented two months. The swearing-in of Carte Goodwin, the temporary replacement for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), will give Democrats the crucial 60th vote to overcome a GOP filibuster and restore unemployment insurance to 2.5 million Americans….]
For more on Carte Goodwin try HERE and HERE.
The DOL has published a list of products we all want to think twice about purchasing. However, as you read the list you will see some of the difficulties in following through on this kind of a determination. Take cotton for example; Benin, Burkina Faso, China, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are on the no-no list. Where did your last tee shirt come from? Do we have anywhere near enough inspection? See the list HERE:
ILAB News Release: [07/19/2010]
Contact Name: Gloria Della Clarisse Young
Phone Number: (202) 693-8666 or x5051
Release Number: 10-0914-NATUS Labor Department publishes updated list of products made with forced or indentured child labor
[WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs today announced the publication of a final list of products that federal contractors must certify under Executive Order 13126 are not produced with forced or indentured child labor. The list will appear in the July 20 edition of the Federal Register….]
As an older adult, around age 55?, my father had Whooping Cough and let me tell you, it wasn’t fun. It is very hard to breath during the coughing attacks. He thought that he had been vaccinated as a child, leading us to believe that the vaccine had lost effectiveness. Check with your doctor about vaccines. Personally, if I were traveling to CA in the future, I’d check with my doctor about getting the vaccine as well.
Vaccine urged as whooping cough epidemic grows
By Bobby Caina Calvan
Published: Monday, Jul. 19, 2010 – 12:37 pm
Last Modified: Monday, Jul. 19, 2010 – 1:02 pm
[State health officials today urged more Californians to get vaccinated for whooping cough, as the disease grew to epidemic proportions…]
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/19/2900460/vaccine-urged-as-whooping-cough.html
Border security and Immigration reform are two separate issues. The former is used as a ploy to prevent the latter from happening. Ruben Navarrette shows how the two issues rotate around each other:
Politicians posture over U.S.-Mexico border
Ruben Navarrette Jr.
[“What do you mean I’m out of money?” says the bumper sticker. “I still have checks left!” In the immigration debate, some folks use the same logic to raise the issue of border security.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/29/EDAP1E6NQ5.DTL
You may remember that President Obama issued an Executive Order on May 22, 2010 directing the institution of a “ National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling”. The Commission released it’s final report today. I guess it will be my evening read:
Final Recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force Announced
Posted by Phil Larson on July 19, 2010 at 02:23 PM EDT
Obama Administration officials today released the Final Recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force, which would establish a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes (National Policy) and create a National Ocean Council (NOC) to strengthen ocean governance and coordination.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/oceans
Posted in Communications, Disaster, Environment, Health and Food, Human Rights, Humanism, Indigenous, Nature, Politics, tagged BP Oil Spill, Gulf of Mexico, Haliburton on July 18, 2010| 1 Comment »
Truthout has published a photo essay by independent journalists on the current state of the Gulf. The photos and statistics continue to stun. If we want to change our future, the time is now:
The Source of Our Despair in the Gulf
by Dahr Jamail and Erika Blumenfeld
Posted in 51 Percent, Communications, ERA, Feminism, Feminist Majority, Health and Food, Health Care, Humanism, Justice, Politics, Women's Rights, tagged Abortion Rights, New Insurance Pools, Preexisting on July 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
On my travels through FaceBook today, I came across an astounding announcement over at the National ACLU site. It isn’t yet on their webpage. It said:
ACLU Nationwide: BREAKING: Obama shockingly adds abortion coverage ban to new insurance pools for women with pre-existing conditions. More soon.2 hours ago
http://www.facebook.com/aclu.nationwide?v=wall&story_fbid=142916209053423
Looking for any source, I found two.
Earned Media, a rightist site reported:
Administration Reiterates That No Federal Funds Will Be Used for Abortion
“Despite Claims by Republican Groups, High Risk Pools will not pay for Abortion”
Then there was NARAL:
Pro-Choice America Speaks Out!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 15, 2010
Statement on Obama Administration Policy Excluding Abortion Coverage from High-Risk Pools
[Washington, D.C. – Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, called the Obama administration’s decision today to exclude abortion coverage from newly created high-risk pools wrongheaded and inexplicable….]
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/news/press-releases/2010/0707152010_obamaexcludeabortionhcr.html
Bemusedly, I looked for any announcements from the White House, but there was only one up to the time of this blog, an Executive Order on March 24th.
Now I don’t know about you, but I thought it was pretty clear from the Order in March, even if you didn’t grasp all of the nuances of the Patient Protection and Affordable health Care Act, so recently in our memory, that existing conditions for women were never part of the final deal. That’s just one more reason the Act was so heinous for women. In March, over at the Confluence, people were having this kind of discussion about it.
RH Reality check had the best discussion of today’s debate HERE.
So, what is with these groups? Are they really so slow on the uptake? Or is something else going on? If Nancy (I don’t believe in abortion, but I run NARAL and spent big bucks to get Obama elected and drop kick Clinton) is screaming, it must be about something else? Koolaid withdrawals? The start of a new battle?
Hey what do I know, I’m just one of those low information working class voters, with dial-up. Someone out there in blog land, enlighten me.
No enlightenment thus far. Maybe it’s as mundane as basic “Velveteen Rabbit” legaleze. It’s not real until you rub it’s fur off and pull its eyes out, and the PA kurfluffle is a first test. If that’s the case why not present it like that instead of pretending it’s some new horribleness?
Posted in 51 Percent, Disaster, Environment, Health and Food, Health Care, Humanism, Justice, Nature, Politics, tagged BP, Cap, Gulf OIl Spill on July 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
SacBee is reporting HERE, that the BP gulf oil cap has stopped the oil gusher in the Gulf. No news yet on the permanency of the cap, but so far so good.
Posted in Communications, Finance, Justice, Media, Politics, tagged Advertising, Blog, Deceptive, Powell's, WordPress on July 14, 2010| 1 Comment »
WE ARE ANTI CORPORATE ADS!!
WordPress provides a good format for my scribblings. $29.95 isn’t a lot of money for what is essentially a vanity blog, that is to say, a self-published vehicle for one’s own thoughts.
I suppose that if WP gets enough people like me to spring for it, $29.95 could add up to a tidy sum for them. That’s fine.
I want to say however, that when WP says they discreetly place ads and the regular readers will not see them, I object to this form of advertising. I further object to the ad placement being labeled as “discreet”. I prefer the word hidden. A blogger should be able to see on their own site, what the reader sees, whether they are a “regular reader”, or not. At the least this practice is misguided, and could easily be viewed as deceptive.
In fact, there appears to be some question as to what a regular reader is. There is indication that a regular reader is counted by methods unknown to me. My husband is a regular reader, yet he was able to see the ads on my site. This suggests that readers are counted by links, or are themselves, WP members. Because I personally email my blogs to several people, including my husband, rather than through the WP subscription link, I suspect these folks are not being counted.
You will note the Powell’s button in the right hand column. Powell’s is a corporation. Their button has been on this website from almost it’s inception. Powell’s is an independent US bookstore specializing in used books. As such, behind libraries, I view their efforts in the light of the very best in American recycling, knowledge management, and learning. Therefore, their button will stay. With that exception, we are now hopefully AN AD FREE BLOG SITE!!
If you see any ads on this site please report them to the site administrator.
Posted in Communications, Election, election reform, Feminism, I Own My Vote, Justice, Politics, tagged Banner Ads, Google, Newsmax, Sodahead, WordPress on July 11, 2010| 6 Comments »
Update – Hubby was kind enough to print up a few examples of what is going on. See one below. When he put them to pdf, the second column normally on the right of my screen slid down to a separate page, so it looks a little different. However these were taken today July 12th, and so are still on my website. When the viewing with the right hand column in place, the text of my blog is a little smaller and ads are even larger. Google appears to be placing ads on the basis of some kind of text tagging. Thus baby formula was inserted on a blog about kittens, that was intended to be a counterpoint to death in the Gulf. A shoe ad was attached to the recent Oakland disturbance after the conviction where shoes were stolen. Imagine if I blog about a few politicians what might happen!!
Update – Perhaps many of you already know about these ads, but I have been on WP since 2008 and never saw one of these ads before. Find a comment HERE from Matt, clear back in 2006, discussing the ads and how we won’t see them. It’s anyone’s guess what our sites have supported. At the very least, should we decide to forgo the ad blocks, we ought to be able to see what they are. Matt says in his blog that they got very little feedback when they began the ads. How can we provide feedback to WP if we can’t see the ads?
Update – Bobbie informs me that the cost to keep the ads off my blog is $29.95 a year, not a month.
Update -I just logged out and still did not see the ads on MY computer, so I am pretty peeved right now.
Today I happened to be look at my blog site in my husband’s computer. I was stunned to see Google ads at the bottom my page. I had no idea my puny blog was worthy of that kind of consideration.
I immediately went in search of answers and found this one (Let me know if this link drops. I have a pdf.) from Bobbie Newman.
Bobbie thought that being signed out of WP makes the Google ad visible. Since Hubby doesn’t have a WordPress account, he isn’t signed in, so this might be true. However, I have been signed out before and failed to notice the ads, so I don’t know for sure if this is the case. I wonder though, how many of us WP bloggers have them and don’t even see each others, because we have a WP account.
I OBJECT to these ads, because:
1) To turn them off requires that we pay WP $29.95 a month.
2) I have no control over the ads that display on my page.
3) I am unable to see them from my computer.
4) The formating is terrible and is bigger than almost anything else on my page.
Honestly, I would have considered the $30 bucks a month, but I don’t like the way this has been handled, so now instead, I will have to consider whether I will continue a blog here. The political ads are coming. I have already seen a Google ad denigrating Barbara Boxer on a web site I would not expect. I hated the way Sodahead and Newsmax banner ads were utilized during the election. It appears Google (And WordPress.) will do the same.
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Grab and Keel 