On platitudes vs. policy when it comes to women and politics
News came out today that Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In Foundation – which, as far as I can tell, espouses that women can overcome structural sexism in the workplace by speaking up more at meetings – will be honoring Congresswoman Ileana…
US right wingers claim marriage solves poverty for women
It’s the 1950s, in case you were wondering what happened there. On lip magazine: Bush administration press secretary, Ari Fleischer has proposed that marriage inequality is the cause of a hell of a lot of single ladies’ poverty. In a…
How the GOP Became the ‘White Man’s Party’
On alternet The following is an excerpt from Ian Haney-López’s new book, “Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class.” (Oxford University Press, 2014) . This excerpt originally appeared on Salon.com. Few names…
Abortion Is Not Like Slavery, So Stop Comparing the Two
A strawman argument if ever I saw one (on RHRealityCheck): Anti-choice comparisons between slavery and abortion are nothing new. It is a canard so common that whenever I see it, my eye starts to twitch, because it is nonsense, devoid…
Can Hillary Clinton win in 2016 on women’s rights? She seems to think so
Do. It. You may have been encouraged to forget this small fact during her run for president in 2008, when her critics portrayed her as a crybaby, a ball-buster, a man-hating shrew and not man enough, somehow all at once….
Six Truly Unbelievable Ways Ohio Has Just Eviscerated Women’s Rights
On alternet: The Republican Party continues to hack away at reproductive rights around the country–and Ohio is the latest place to be targeted by anti-abortion forces. Governor John Kasich signed the state budget Sunday night–and included in the budget are…
Wendy Davis’ filibustering for abortion rights is a brave and great thing
On commentisfree: It’s raining here, softly but firmly, and Wendy Davis is filibustering in Texas. She’s speaking in a low, quiet voice in the other tab, talking about admitting privileges, standing quietly as Senators raise points of order, resuming her…
Afghan women’s struggle for their rights will not stop now
On commentisfree: Read the media coverage of the Taliban’s office in Qatar, and you could be forgiven for assuming that this is the first time that the group had entered diplomatic talks. Of course some of the features here are…
Conservatives Double Down on the War on Women
On rhrealitycheck: With all the moaning and wailing at Fox News and other right-wing media outlets about the supposed unfairness about the phrase “war on women,” you’d think conservative politicians would try to avoid the charge by, you know, not…
Working Mothers Blamed For Low Literacy Rates
More working-mother/ mothering-in-general shaming from the US. Because that never gets old. Bust: In today’s feature of “How did these people get elected?” news, Governor Phil Bryant from Mississippi is blaming America’s troubled education system on working mothers. Education is…
When a Doctor Wields a Bible: The Alarming Rise of Catholic Hospitals (US)
On alternet: Across the U.S., religious healthcare corporations are absorbing once secular and independent hospitals and in the process imposing religious restrictions that pit standard medical practice against theology. Recently, a woman was traveling across the Midwest when she developed abdominal pain….
American Fascism: Ralph Nader Decries How Big Business Has Taken Control of the U.S. Government
Democracy Now: Describing the United States as an “advanced Third World country,” longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader calls for a new mass movement to challenge the power corporations have in Washington. “It is not too extreme…
Arrested for Your Politics in America? It’s Already Happening
In the US, due process – one of the defining features of a democratic judicial process – continues to be badly bludgeoned: Obama fights tooth and nail to push through NDAA, which would allow indefinite detention of US citizens, and…
Paul Ryan Wants Personhood for “One-Celled Human Embryos”
Can I express my absolute relief, again, about the results of the November election? From rhrealitycheck: Are you ready to stand up for the rights of the “one-celled human embryos?” Well, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) is, and he’s got a…
2012: The Second-Worst Year for Abortion Rights Since Roe
(Lest we forget that we take a lot of our lead in the UK on reproductive rights from the US.) From alternet: Think the so-called “War on Women” (really a war on everyone, since family planning, abortion, birth control, and…
2012: The Year of The War on Women
2012 was the year of the “war on women.” From attacks on birth control access to atrociously phrased definitions of rape, womens rights and health rights took a beating from members of the GOP and at least one high-profile conservative…
America’s White Male Problem
See also, the 2012 and on-going war on women. From: alternet The American political process is being hijacked by a reckless, whining dangerous gang of psychologically damaged white men who are far-right ideologues. I used to be one of them….
The Rich, White, Conservative GOP Must Change, But It Won’t
This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website. Mitt Romney had hardly conceded before Republicans started fighting over where to head next. Some Republicans—and many Democrats—now claim that the writing is on the wall: demography is destiny, which means the…
The Latest War on Single Moms (US)
Lest we forget the source of the UK’s biggest policy influence, particularly when it comes to women. The United States offers the worst support structure for single parents among all comparable countries — and if anything like House Speaker John…
The State of Young America: Left Out In the Cold
There is a brand new housing crisis looming on the horizon and none of the financial or foreclosure reforms being considered get anywhere close to solving it. According to an article in the Times yesterday, homelessness is on the rise…