A Woman on the Ticket

It has been 24 years since a woman has been nominated by a major political party for the VP slot. Geraldine Ferraro was taped as Walter Mondale's running mate in 1984.

On the anniversary week of Women's Right to Vote,the Republican candidate for President, John McCain, has taken a bold step to choose Sarah Palin for his Vice Presidential nominee.

So here I am "STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU".

Freedom of Speech

What does "freedom of speech" look like? Well, in my opinion, it does not look like the picture above or video below.

I remember when the entire United States of America was set aside as "free speech zone", now you are fenced off, away from where you can be seen or heard. The media does not cover any protests unless there is extreme violence involved.

The First Amendment still exists, Freedom of specch still exists, but no one can hear you. The news is too afraid to cover it, remember the patriot act?

You can speak out, but you cannot be heard.

So here I am "STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU".

Women's Movement

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So here I am "STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU".

Stephanie Tubbs Jones

Who was she?
A rebel. A woman who believed she could "cure the ills of society".

Stephanie Tubbs was born September 10, 1949 in Cleveland, Ohio.  Her dad was Andrew Tubbs worked as a skycab for United Airlines and her mother, Mary, was a homemaker until Stephanie started kindergarten.

She was a gifted student through high school and was offered a full scholarship to attend Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland.

A sociology major with a minor in psychology, Tubbs Jones believed that she was going to "cure the ills of society" upon graduation, as she told CBB. However, her focus altered greatly after she enrolled in a course in the Black Studies Program during her senior year. Entitled "Law As It Relates to the Black Community," the class was taught by the late Judge Charles W. Fleming, who at the time was a prominent trial lawyer and defense attorney. Through Fleming Tubbs Jones not only met people of color who were practicing law, but she was also encouraged to apply to law school herself. Thus, in 1971 Tubbs Jones entered Case Western Reserve University School of Law on another scholarship. At that time very few women, let alone women of color, attended law school

Throughout law school, Tubbs Jones worked as a law clerk for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and remained with the district as the assistant general counsel and equal opportunity administrator following her graduation in 1974. However, she yearned to try courtroom cases and after applying three times was hired to work as an assistant prosecutor in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office in Cleveland in 1976. From 1979 until 1981 she continued her time in the courtroom as a trial attorney with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Cleveland, trying a wide variety of discrimination cases.

In November of 1981, at the age of 31, Tubbs Jones was elected with 33 percent of the vote among a field of five candidates, and she has been in elected life ever since.


After only 15 months, then-Ohio Governor Richard Celeste appointed Tubbs Jones to the Court of Common Pleas, making her the first African American female to serve on the Court of Common Pleas in the state of Ohio. After winning election to the bench in 1984 and again in 1988, Tubbs Jones was asked by the Democratic Party in July of 1990 to replace Judge Mary Cacioppo on the ballot for the Ohio Supreme Court who had been forced to withdraw due to health problems. Despite the short lead time and despite running against Republican incumbent Justice J. Craig Wright, who had twice as much funding as she herself commanded, she almost won the November statewide election, losing by only three percentage points.

In 1990 John Corrigan, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor for the previous 34 years, retired, and Tubbs Jones was drafted by a cross-section of the party to run for his position. Following a ten-day campaign Tubbs Jones won the party election by 31 votes to become not only the first female prosecutor in Cuyahoga County but also the first African American prosecutor in the state of Ohio and the only African American female prosecutor in a major metropolitan area in the United States. But, as she told Mihaly, "I don't glory in being first ... I hope I don't see myself being last." Capitalizing on her success, she won the general election in 1992 with a resounding 70 percent of the vote and was reelected again in 1996. Jones had truly proven to be a masterful politician.


After seven years in office, Tubbs Jones decided to build upon her previous electoral success and enter the national political scene. When Louis Stokes, the only African American congressperson in the state of Ohio, decided not to seek reelection in 1998, Tubbs Jones mounted a campaign for his seat. As might be expected, her platform focused on those key issues which had always consumed her: the protection of children and the improvement of education for all; safe, affordable child care; the safety of neighborhoods; the extension of affirmative action for minorities and women; and the protection of social security and health care for seniors and families. After gaining 51 percent of the vote among a field of five candidates in the primaries, she dominated the slate in the general election: with 52.1 percent of her support coming from business and 33.5 percent from labor, she won 79 percent of the vote to become the next United States congressperson from Ohio's 11th District.

While in office Tubbs Jones has sought to address the issues which she raised during her campaign. Given the broad socio-economic diversity of the district which she represents, she has focused on economic development and a strong educational system, issues which connect and are powerfully relevant to her entire constituency. Towards this end, Tubbs Jones has energetically worked as a member of the banking and small business Congressional committees.

She was one of Hillary Clinton's most ardent supporters as she ran for the Democratic candidate.  Because of this she was given much grief from her fellow memebers of the Congressional Black Caucus.  This did not phrase her, she had faced adversity before and believed she would again.

Stephanie, you will be missed.

A champion for women's rights, human rights.

Stephanie was not but
here I am "STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU".

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones Tribute

I am not sure that I have the words to express my sorrow at the loss of this champion.

Senate & House

So, what has Congress done in the last three weeks?  Not a darn thing.

When Nancy Pelosi took over as Speaker of the House, we had great hopes that now that a woman was in charge, changes would happen.  Things did change, even less was done than the previous Congress.

Nancy Pelosi's strategy is to do nothing until after January 20, 2009.  She wants the American people to wait five months before significant legislation is passed to help hard working people with the price of fuel.

So, if I go into work today and tell my boss that I am not going to do any work until after January 20th, what would my boss say?

So here I am "STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU".

Bill Clinton:

IMAGINE: A Generation Free of AIDS

Barack Obama Makes Shocking confession!!

Birth Control Pills = Abortion?

Department of Health and Human Services released a proposal that allows any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman's access to contraception. In order to do this, the Department is attempting to redefine many forms of contraception, the birth control 40% of Americans use, as abortion. Doing so protects extremists under the Weldon and Church amendments. Those laws prohibit federal grant recipients from requiring employees to help provide or refer for abortion services. The "Definitions" section of the HHS proposal states,

Abortion: An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy. There are two commonly held views on the question of when a pregnancy begins. Some consider a pregnancy to begin at conception (that is, the fertilization of the egg by the sperm), while others consider it to begin with implantation (when the embryo implants in the lining of the uterus). A 2001 Zogby International American Values poll revealed that 49% of Americans believe that human life begins at conception. Presumably many who hold this belief think that any action that destroys human life after conception is the termination of a pregnancy, and so would be included in their definition of the term "abortion." Those who believe pregnancy begins at implantation believe the term "abortion" only includes the destruction of a human being after it has implanted in the lining of the uterus.

Some medical authorities, like the American Medical Association and the British Medical Association, have defined the term "established pregnancy" as occurring after implantation. Other medical authorities present different definitions. Stedman's Medical Dictionary, for example, defines pregnancy as "[t]he state of a female after conception and until the termination of the gestation." Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines pregnancy, in relevant part, as "the condition of having a developing embryo or fetus in the body, after union of an oocyte and spermatozoon.

Up until now, the federal government followed the definition of pregnancy accepted by the American Medical Association and our nation's pregnancy experts, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which is: pregnancy begins at implantation. With this proposal, however, HHS is dismissing medical experts and opting instead to accept a definition of pregnancy based on polling data. It now claims that pregnancy begins at some biologically unknowable moment (there's no test to determine if a woman's egg has been fertilized). Under these new standards there would be no way for a woman to prove she's not pregnant. Thus, any woman could be denied contraception under HHS' new science.
The other rarely discussed issue here is whether hormonal contraception even does what the religious right claims. There is no scientific evidence that hormonal methods of birth control can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb. This argument is the basis upon which the religious right hopes to include the 40% of the birth control methods Americans use, such as the pill, the patch, the shot, the ring, the IUD, and emergency contraception, under the classification "abortion."

As the HHS proposal proves, the absence of fact or evidence does not slow anti-abortion movement attempts to classify hormonal contraception as abortion. With HHS' proposal they have struck gold. Anyone working for a federal clinic, or a health center that receives federal funding--even in the form of Medicaid--and would like to prevent a woman from accessing most prescription birth control methods has federal protection to do so.

Once Roe v. Wade is overturned, these regulations will affect all women, not just those recieving health from the government. Now, I am little past the age where these products are needed but are you?  Do you have a daughter?  Just something to think about.

So next will they say men cannot masturbate because sperm swims so therefore it is "potential life"?  Not a chance, men demand control of their bodies.




So here I am "STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU".

Edwards Affair versus Real News

I checked all the news channels and papers and found the leading stories were all about John Edwards affair.

What f i wanted real news, say for instance Russia and Georgia conflict?

Only on youtube.com



Why is the news media trying to distract us with garbage?

So here I am "STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU".

Speaker Pelosi, CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?

Nancy Pelosi closed the House on August 1st to go on a five week vacation without ever bringing the issue of energy to the floor for debate and vote.

While hard working Americans are trying to figure out they can pay their bills in the wake of oil prices rising, Speaker Pelosi shuts down the House, our House.

As the price of oil rises so goes the price of everything else, food, electricity, clothing, entertainment, you name it.  In my household it has gotten more and more difficult to pay the bills.

Calls are going out to call, email, snail mail Speaker Pelosi to call back into session the House to do what they should have done before recessing.

Please contact Nancy Pelosi to let her know your thoughts and feelings on this important issue.

You can use the House Speaker's email form using the following:

http://speaker.house.gov/contact/

The main number to Congress:

202 225-3121
The following are toll free numbers to Congress:
(800) 828 - 0498


 (800) 614 - 2803

 (866) 340 - 9281

 (866) 338 - 1015

 (877) 851 - 6437

 (800) 459 - 1887
One person can not change anything, but we are not alone.  Just as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul were not not alone.  They helped shape the America of today.

Now it is left to us.

So here I am "STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU".

Misogyny or Sexism?.

Does it matter?  Whether misogyny or sexism, you end up in the same place, discrimination and abuse against the female gender.
While searching the net for the information I needed for this post I ran across another blog which says it much better than I can.

~~ Posted by Kenosha Marge, August 8, 2008



(With additional comments by GRL)

I sat down to write a little essay about misogyny. I intended nothing too profound and nothing that hasn’t been said before, just something that hadn’t been said by me. I thought perhaps, as had happened before, that if I put something down in writing I would better understand it.

Looking back I wonder that I was so surprised by the brutality of the misogynistic attacks on the first woman to be a viable candidate for president. Sexism is such a part of daily life that few of us stop to think about it. A snort of disgust here, a sniff of resentment there, and on with the business of living our lives.

Older women have had a lifetime of watching incompetent and under qualified younger men come out of no where and snap up the best jobs. I’ve worked in offices where the big man couldn’t find his ass with either hand if his secretary hadn’t pointed it out to him. He got the big paycheck, the power, the glory and she got to do all the work while supporting the dunce. She also got to be taken out to lunch once a year during the week of April 22 – 28 for Secretary’s Day.

While fooling around googling sexism I came across this sentence: “On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day.” I reread it just to make sure that I was reading it correctly. Their husbands or boyfriends murder three women every day.

This is happening here in the USA. It’s happening here so going all C.J. Craig about the awfulness of how Saudi Arabia or some other foreign country treats it’s women seems a tad hypocritical. Unless we use the same logic we use to elect presidents; we may be bad but they’re worse. Feel better now?



The United States is not a safe place for women. It may be safer than elsewhere but we don’t live elsewhere. We live here. Here where every single day of the year more than 3 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends.

President Clinton signed into public law the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 on September 13, 1994. VAWA was reauthorized in 2000 and signed into law by President George Bush on January 5, 2006. It will be up for authorization in 2010. Okay, that takes care of that.

Somewhere in America, a woman is raped every 2 minutes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Four in 10 women at a veterans hospital reported being sexually assaulted while in the military. 7% of girls in grades 5-8 and 12% of girls in grades 9-12 said they had been sexually abused. Does this sound like a society that likes, respects or cares for women?

Gender trashing is epidemic, out in the open and unashamed. Women do it to other women. Men smirk and laugh while making malevolent sexist remarks on national television. It all seems part of the same underlying disdain for women.

Cringe? Protest? What’s the matter sweetie can’t take a joke? Ya trying to play the victim? Laugh it up girls or the boys won’t think you’re a good sport.
Wish I could wave a magic wand and make it all go away. Wish I could make all the “isms” disappear as they should in any decent society. I wish busybodies would quit worrying about the sex lives of consenting adults. Homophobia isn’t any prettier than any other form of bigotry.

For the sake of my 7 granddaughters and my two lovely little great-granddaughters I wish my generation had done a better job of making a better world for them. I wish I could somehow keep them safe from all the ugliness that misogyny will bring into their lives.
I am no smarter or any closer to the answers I sought then when I started this essay. I’ve learned some things. Some ugly, terrible things. I wish I was hopeful.

Because I don’t want to leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth and since we women can always find a way to get through what we have to get through with humor I give you a song about women.


****
GRL Adds:

This post hits home for me on so many levels. For example, I trained a young man, only to see him get a promotion which I was in line for. He leap-frogged me, and I was forced to find another job to reach the level I should have reached in my former workplace. As a temp, I literally bailed out a manager at Rolls Royce who screwed up the publication of a manual and who was even more dismissive of me after I did him the favor.

And then there is the concept of “comparable worth.” The idea has gone nowhere. Once in awhile you’ll hear how a stay-at-home mother is worth several hundred thousand dollars but, in reality, it’s more like $30,000 and that may be high. As Liz Pulliam Weston of MSN says, the “shocking truth” is that “Our society doesnt place a high dollar value on a homemaker’s work, and those who choose to stay home do so at their own economic peril. “ Meanwhile, women earn what 80 cents for every dollar men earn. Sure there are trade-off, choices which may contribute to this disparity. But some of those choices have to be made because we don’t have the attitude toward supporting families and children that other countries have. (An interesting read on this subject here.)

Complacent young women these days may believe they’ve reached parity but reality hits them sooner or later. But I’m afraid that something else is going on, too…that the violence and sexual messages against that are so prevalent and viral these days are being too easily accepted as “the norm.” I’m afraid a lack of self-respect is just as deeply ingrained as it always was…

This campaign season has been a reality check for many of us who have been fighting for women’s rights for several decades. When you see NARAL and Planned Parenthood support an inexperienced guy who makes a habit of using and discarding people along the way, you have to wonder what has happened to the women leading these organizations.

They’ve gone soft, at a time we still need them to lead.

This post is dedicated to all the women who came before us who fought the good fight for women. 

And this is a plea to all women who come after us, for the sake of our future generations, keep fighting on, we have won some battles but the war against discrimination is not over.  Women still make 77% of what her male counter part makes. 

So here I am "STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU".

Owe my Soul

Tennessee Ernie Ford had a hit in 1955, 16 Tons. Well I am not a coal miner but I do Owe my soul to the company store. Like many working class people as the economy takes a downward plunge, and my salary does not go up, my debt is increasing at an alarming rate.

As the price of gas has increase, so the price of other products have risen..food, clothing, electricity, water (who wooda thunk it).

I figure at the rate things are going, I'll manage to retire about 20 years after I'm dead.

And the Senate and House go on vacation again.

I can't afford a vacation can you?

The Physical Conditions of Life Are Collapsing

Look at the United States, look what's happened to it, since 1970-71. Look at what has happened to the lower 80% of the family-income brackets of our households, as opposed to earlier, under Roosevelt, in that Roosevelt tradition. Look around the world at systems. What do you see?
The objective physical conditions of life, the conditions necessary for human qualities of life, of our people, the lower 80%, have been collapsing at an accelerating rate since 1977. Collapsing, consistently: There's been no prosperity in the United States! Not for the lower 80% of family income brackets. Anyone who says so is a fool, or a liar. Everything is worse. Look at health care. Look at the cost of housing. Look at the quality of education. For the lower 80% of the family-income brackets in the United States, everything has become consistently worse. And the means by which we had a higher standard of living, was destroyed, as part of the program of the Rockefeller Trilateral Commission. This policy destroyed the United States: destroyed our agriculture, destroyed our industry, destroyed our infrastructure.
It was continued under the Reagan Administration. It accelerated under the Bush I Administration.

Anyway, the problem is, the cultural problem is that our people have come to accept the idea of an oligarchical model in society, even in these United States. We accept the injustice which is heaped upon the lower 80% of our income brackets. We accept the injustice that's done in many other ways, to our own people. We sit in awe about the upper 3% of family-income brackets in the United States. We kiss the butt of some billionaire who's nothing but a thief. That's what we do. We have destroyed the idea of the commonwealth. We destroyed what we prized when we built our Constitution, in terms of Solon of Athens. We tore apart and disregarded every tradition, noble tradition of humanity, particularly of European civilization. And that's what we've done. And we've come to accept that! We've come to accept politicians who think like that. We've come to accept laws that practice that.

And in the case of Franklin Roosevelt: Franklin Roosevelt found us in a low moment. We'd lost 30% of our standard of living, our income, in a short four-year period. And he led in rebuilding our nation, which was shattered. Not only rebuilding our nation, but moving to preserve this, to extend this, to eliminate colonies and similar kinds of oppression throughout the world. To promote a world based on republics, sovereign republics, which are each dedicated to serving their own people, by republican standards, and promoting republican standards of life among people of other nations, knowing that our security, and our well-being, and our purpose in living, depended upon what we did to promote these kinds of ideas, and these kinds of opportunities, among other peoples. The same rights that we desired for ourselves.

We have turned away from that.

So here I am "STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU".