Thank You Seth Meyers
Late Night talk show host Seth Meyers provides much needed levity in the wake of what amounts to a modern day witch hunt mounted by the Party of Extreme Crazy: Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards did a fabulous job in the face of not only badgering questions, but stupid and condescending grandstanding. The ...
Because Ferguson: Long Reads
I haven't had a lot of time for blog writing lately (since I became president of Pennsylvania National Organization for Women), but wanted to share some of the media that's affected me most profoundly over the past weeks, since Mike Brown was senselessly shot dead by a Ferguson, MO police officer for no reason other ...
Citizens Walk for Campaign Finance Reform in New Hampshire
Organized by Lawrence Lessig and his group, Rootstrikers, the New Hampshire Rebellion Walk gathered citizens from across the state to participate in a 185 mile walk - in January - to raise awareness of the issue of money in government, and support for asking 2016 a simple question: what will they do to end the ...
Shirley Chisholm: First Black Presidential Candidate
Shirley Chisholm was a pioneering political leader who, in 1972, directly challenged the view that only white men could run for President of the United States. Not only was she the first African-American Presidential candidate, she was also the first woman Presidential candidate. What made her such a stand out was her ...
Hilarious Song: “Restricting Abortions is Not a Jobs Bill!”
Just yesterday, the US House passed a sweeping anti-abortion bill, not for the first time either. It will (hopefully) find no traction in the Senate and President Obama has already said he would veto it. The bill is labeled "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions," which is really an on-purpose misnomer, because thanks to ...
President Obama’s Plan to Confront Sexual Assault on Campus
In his weekly address this past week, President Obama outlined the steps his administration is taking to stop sexual assault, starting with reducing the high incidence of sexual assault on college campuses. "Sexual assault is an affront to our basic decency and humanity. And it’s about all of us – the safety of ...
Protecting Abortion Rights As the Basis for All Reproductive Rights
Today marks the 41st Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark US decision that gave women the right to abortion. The ability to decide for herself if and when she will become a parent is the basis for a woman's freedom and is rightly nobody's decision but her own. I've written about abortion many times before (here ...
Joseph Gordon-Levitt Talks to Ellen about Being a Feminist
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PA Lawmakers Roll Out Agenda for Women’s Health
Harrisburg, December 11, 2013 - Members of the Pennsylvania Senate and House Women's Health Caucuses unveiled an ambitious first round package of bills to kick off their proactive Agenda for Women's Health. Too often these past years the Republican dominated General Assembly has passed bills restricting women's ...
Daily Show: Republican Hostage Negotiation
In this hilarious sketch, Daily Show interviewer Jason Jones tries to negotiate with the GOP strategist Noelle Nikpour, with the help of former FBI veteran hostage negotiator Christopher Voss. Things go badly as Jones realizes the problem is the people who have taken the hostage don't value the hostage, in this case ...
Faith & Choice: A Woman’s Conscience and It’s Demise
On October 11, 1972, Sarah Weddington stood before nine male justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. Each of the men were old enough to be her father, yet the 26-year-old Weddington spoke as a woman with convictions. Her mind and her conscience were clearly focused on the right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy. ...
Feminism In Philadelphia: The Glory Years
Last Spring the New York Times lamented– in the Fashion & Style section – that the women's movement had not found another Gloria Steinem, one dynamic leader to be the “voice of feminism” as if there were only ever one leader of this movement that spans centuries. As if Steinem single-handedly started the ...
The Problem with Gynoticians
In June, the US House passed an unconstitutional 20-week abortion ban. Over the last few weeks American women have watched in disbelief as Texas, North Carolina and Ohio passed laws to limit safe, legal abortion access even further, with the result that health clinics women rely upon are closing. These states join ...
House will Vote on Nationwide 20-Week Abortion Ban Next Week
Despite the fact that abortion bans are unconstitutional, directly challenging Roe v. Wade, despite the fact that there's little to no chance it will pass in the Senate, despite the fact that Americans are desperately hanging on by a thread while Tea Party-dominated Republicans pass everything except bills that would ...
Corbett to Sign Bill Banning Abortion Coverage in Obamacare
From the moment after the 2010 elections, the Pennsylvania Republican dominated General Assembly has been hard at work to pass this worthless law that throws women to the wayside. It was literally the first bill passed out of committee in the Senate in 2011. That's right. In an election that Republicans said was all ...
Anti-Sexist Approach to Gender Violence Gets Men Involved
Instead of focusing exclusively on the victims of gender violence (most often women and girls, but also men and boys), focus on the perpetrators, says MVP Strategies founder Jackson Katz in a recent TEDTalk. Ask why there is so much violence. Look beyond just individuals and specific cases for causes, because gender ...
Pennsylvania House Bans Abortion Coverage in State Insurance Exchange
In yet another bid to "protect" women from having access safely, and legally to their constitutional right to an abortion, the Pennsylvania Republican-led State House passed HB 818, a bill to ban abortion coverage in the state exchange. The bill has the effect of dictating to private insurers what they can and cannot ...
Gosnell Has Gotten Two Years of Press, Bills Enacted in Reaction
The Internet is alive with indignation that the "mainstream media" is ignoring the trial of Kermit Gosnell, the unlicensed physician and abortionist who ran a clinic in West Philadelphia for 31 years. Gosnell was indicted in January 2011 for the horrific murders of babies, and patients who had come to him seeking ...
Tell Congress “Chained CPI” Is An Unacceptable Benefits Cut
Here are Senator Bernie Sanders, AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka, and National NOW's Terry O'Neill with the good reasons why cuts to Social Security are unacceptable and unfair. Some stand out points: Despite the rhetoric, Social Security does not have anything at all to do with the deficit, and is solvent for the next 21 ...
Morning After Pill Should Be Available to All Over the Counter
So ruled Brooklyn District Court Judge Edward Korman Friday, in a reversal of Health and Human Services rules that restricted access to the drug. He said the HHS rules were "arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable, an excuse to deprive the overwhelming majority of women of their rights to obtain contraceptives without ...
New York’s Women’s Equality Agenda- A Bill Worth the Fight
In his January State of the Union address, Governor Cuomo announced his proposal for a 10-point omnibus bill called the Women's Equality Agenda, which will: Enact the Reproductive Health Act, to ensure that every woman in New York has access to the reproductive health care she needs, without stigma. Strengthen and ...
Earned Sick Days in Philly- So Low-Wage Workers Can Get Sick
Karen Barnes, a Philadelphia day care center employee, knew just by looking that the child was ill. She immediately contacted the parents and separated the child so as not to spread illness to the other children. Three days later, her employer told her she looked sick herself and sent her home. It turned out she'd ...
Vandana Shiva on International Women’s Day
Vandana Shiva in an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, discusses a wide range of issues connected to the growing women's movement in India and worldwide. Shiva has long criticized the global economic order as fostering increasing violence, especially against women and the ...
Aida Guzman Unjustly Beaten, Arrested by Philadelphia Policeman
During the Puerto Rican Parade this year in Philadelphia, Aida Guzman was enjoying herself, minding her own business. A passerby threw water on a group of nearby officers (and Guzman). When they turned around, they saw her, with a cup in her hand. Enraged, Officer Josey clocked her in the face, then arrested her. He ...
Sequester State by State
There's a lot of info around the 'net about the nuts and bolts effects of the looming "Sequester," a deal struck by Congress during the "fiscal cliff" negotiations about the US debt limit back in 2011. In it, Congress agreed to $85 billion worth of across-the-board spending cuts that will kick in automatically without ...
US House Passes an Inclusive Violence Against Women Act
It took more than a year, and the House let last year's bill expire, but Thursday a majority of US Representatives finally agreed to renew the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and to expand it to include protection of gays and lesbians, immigrant and tribal American women. They voted 286-138 in favor of passing ...
Strike – Dance – Rise! With OneBillionRising.org
Today all over the world, feminists - women and men, will gather together in solidarity against violence towards women. In Philadelphia, One Billion Rising will happen at Love Park, at 2:14PM. The event is the creative juggernaut of Eve Ensler, the feminist activist and playwright best known for The Vagina ...
Senate Passes Violence Against Women Act – Will the House?
The US Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act Tuesday by an overwhelming majority, 78-22. Yes, there are 22 Republican Senators that think violence against women is OK. Here they are, for the record, courtesy of Think Progress: Now the US House will take it up, hopefully anyway. They allowed the Act, passed ...
40th Anniversary for Roe v. Wade
Another year, another Roe event, another post about the importance of the right to abortion, and how the right to practice contraception rests upon 1973's Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade to uphold a woman's right to seek abortion. I'm sorry, but I've said it all before: That abortion is essential healthcare ...
The Rise of “Jane Crow” Laws Threaten Personhood for Women
When women become pregnant, do they lose their constitutional rights? A study published today in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law shows that anti-abortion laws in many states are being used to justify the arrest and detention of pregnant women, and to force them to undergo unwanted medical interventions, ...
1 Billion Rising in Philadelphia
On Valentine's Day, be a part of Eve Ensler's International event to end violence against women: One Billion Rising. In Philadelphia, join Women's Way and Mayor Michael Nutter at 2:14PM in Love Park across from City Hall to STRIKE, DANCE, RISE, to celebrate women and end ...
Barack Obama Wins Four More Years!
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Do You Have Romnesia?
Republican Mitt Romney is on record stating he will defund Planned Parenthood, will repeal the Affordable Care Act, which brings multiple benefits to women including no-copay birth control and prenatal care, and supports overturning Roe v. Wade. The Republican Platform, which he ran on, states its support for fetal ...
Romney Implementing Etch-A-Sketch Strategy
In the wake of his uptick in the polls, Mitt Romney is in the process of reinventing himself as a populist. Everybody by now knows the first Presidential debate was disappointing for Democrats, with an unenthusiastic effort by President Obama. As a result, the race has tightened. Challenger Mitt Romney is doing ...
Elizabeth Warren: Corporations Are Not People!
It seems intuitive, but if you're a corporate lawyer, or a Supreme Court Justice, corporations have more rights than many people do-- in fact, more than women, as women's rights are not considered by some (and some Supreme Court Justices) as guaranteed in the US Constitution. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court counted ...
Michelle O Has Class
Michelle Obama sets a high bar for grace under pressure! She is a rocking First
1 is 2 Many
Awesome PSA by the 1 is 2 Many campaign kicked off by Vice-President Joe Biden nearly a year ago. So inspiring to see men standing up for the rights of women and condemning violence against them. So often programs to prevent sexual assault focus on women - the victims. As if how women dress or act 'invites' rape. Men ...
To Misogynists, No Co-Pay Birth Control a Terrorist Act
August 1st marked the phase-in of Affordable Care Act mandates that women's preventive services be offered in all insurance products without co-pay. This includes FDA-approved birth control. You would think the sky had fallen to hear the Republican hand-wringing. Apparently, freedom is solely for the religious, and ...
SCOTUS Upholds Obamacare!
The Supreme Court of the United States today upheld President Obama's Affordable Care Act by a 5-4 vote. The swing vote, incredibly, was Chief Justice John Roberts. Thousands of citizens (and press) were able to follow the remarks of the judges live via scotusblog.com, plus reactions all day from President Obama, ...
PA House Leader Turzai: Voter ID bill will win PA for Romney
Last week, PA Representative and House Majority Leader Mike Turzai bragged to a group of supporters that the Republican-led General Assembly had passed all sorts of laws on the conservative agenda, including a pro-gun, "stand your ground" bill (the Castle Doctrine), anti-woman anti-choice, abortion provider TRAP ...
Where Women Lead: Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony is perhaps the most famous of all US feminists. In 1872, 140 years ago in November, she was arrested for casting a ballot in New York state during the presidential election. Anthony used the event to launch a nationwide speaking tour to agitate for the right of women to the vote. She didn't, of ...
Vagina
Michigan Representative Lisa Brown was not allowed to speak on the floor yesterday after saying the word "vagina." Thus making the Speaker of the House a dick. Last year, a Florida state representative was rebuked for using the word "uterus." He suggested that maybe his wife should incorporate her uterus so ...
Michigan “Superbill” Redefines Women’s Political Rights
I haven't been writing in a while because what's happening in this country concerning the laws that effect women - 50% of the entire population - leaves me practically speechless with horror. It shocks the conscience. I know that's what anti-abortion people will say happens to them when they think of the poor innocent ...
Really Good News for Earth’s Inhabitants!
"The last train out of any station will not be full of nice guys" Hunter S. Thompson After twenty years of sitting on their thumbs wondering what was in it for them, world leaders, through the G8, came to some pretty astonishing accords that look like they will actually do something to ween the world from greenhouse ...
Sen Bernie Sanders “Wall St Controls Congress”
"3 of 4 largest banks are now bigger than they were before the bailout" Senator Bernie Sanders tells it like it is. The investment banks need to be broken up, because as long as they're 'too big to fail', they are a threat to our economy and our democracy. Congress needs to update Glass-Steagall, the bill that ...
“Conscience” Conflict a Women’s Issue Disguised as a Religious Issue
I was featured in an AP video covering the anti-Obamacare Rally I posted about previously. I found the clip posted on a site called GodDiscussion.com. Here's the video: I'm glad to have found GodDiscussion.com. It's a site that encourages intelligent conversation and tolerance, both essential to a robust democracy. ...
Anti-Healthcare Act Rally Marks Beginning of a Nasty Election Season
Yesterday, on a freakishly warm Friday in March, a well-organized crowd of 600 or so people gathered before Independence Hall in Philadelphia to protest the second anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. They had signs that said "Obamacare is Socialism" and "Protect the First Amendment." One lady carried a crucifix ...
PA Governor Tom Corbett on Forced Ultrasounds
Women should "just close your eyes." Women say Corbett should "just close your
Voter ID Bills Disproportionately Disenfranchise Democrats
Voter ID bills are on my mind today. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, a Republican, is poised to sign a new state Voter ID bill into law today. Introduced by foaming-at-the-mouth radical right wing-nut State Representative Daryl Metcalfe, it's currently back in the State House after being passed in the Senate last ...
SuperPAC Mad Lib Formula for Winning Political Campaigns
Hilarious SuperPAC Mad Lib formula for the ubiquitous negative campaign ad, created by the very talented Mark Fiore. Thanks also to comic genius Stephen Colbert whose "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow" PAC deftly highlights the inherent absurdities of SuperPACs, which were first allowed in the US by the ...
More Tibetans Self-Immolate to Protest Chinese Oppression
18 year old Tibetan, Dorjee, died after setting himself on fire yesterday. He joins the growing number of men and women who have self-immolated to protest Chinese oppression in Tibet, including two women over the weekend, Rinchen a mother of four, and Tsering Kyi. Five women have self-immolated in the past five ...
Thanks to Rush
It's kind of unbelievable how stupid the right wing of the Republican Party is being lately. Between Santorum saying he's against contraception and prenatal care, and Rush going off that women who want birth control are sluts, the profile of women's issues and the unrelenting attacks made on them by Republicans has ...
Blunt Amendment Tabled
51-48. By a hair! It truly is ludicrous that so many legislators would elevate the 'conscience' of employers and insurers above the 'conscience' of individuals and their doctors to determine medical treatment. Interesting debate. Here are some highlights: Against the Amendment Senators Frank Lautenberg (NJ) and ...
Blunt Amendment Debate Going on in Senate
New Jersey Senator Lautenberg: It's ridiculous we're having this debate in the 21st Century. Republicans are asserting that religion needs to be protected from democracy, rather than democracy protected from religion. On C-SPAN: ...
PA Ultrasound Bill on Hold in the House
Republican Leader of the State House Mike Turzai held up the ultrasound bill, HB 1077. It is wildly unpopular. Here's a comment from He Visto Todo that captures the disbelief: "And this idea is being encouraged by the very people who object to government getting into health care. And aren't they also the folk who ...
To My Senator’s Conscience:
I hope you will take a moment to reflect upon the consequences of the expansion of “conscience” rules to substitute women’s judgements about their own health needs with the “conscience” of their employers or insurance providers. I know you are “pro-life”. I put that in quotes because I don’t know what ...
Stop the Blunt Amendment- Call your Senator Now!
Vote likely tomorrow! Calling only takes a minute, but this is crucial. For more info about the Blunt Amendment, watch this short ...
Stop the Blunt Amendment! Call your US Senator TODAY!
The Blunt Amendment to the Transportation bill being considered in the US Senate greatly expands the notion of "conscience" so that an employer's conscience about your healthcare decisions can be substituted for your own (and your doctor's). The intent is to gut the Affordable Care Act. In the process it gives ...
Working on the Next Feminist Wave
The struggle for women's rights has been going on for a long, long time. Which is why feminists have counted themselves parts of different waves: first wave, second wave, third wave... I think we're working on a fourth wave right about now, maybe a tsunami! For Women's History Month I will be profiling some of the ...
Blame the Witches
Back in the 1500s, if there was a devastating plague or drought, religious authorities recommended a sound purging of the bad elements: Burn the witches and prosperity will return. So religiously motivated attacks on women are not so new. Americans, feeling the pain of recession, looking for relief, voted for a ...
Pro-Choice is Pro-Women
On the subject of abortion, we need to grow up as a society. Pregnancies don't always go as hoped for. Birth control doesn't always work. Women are adults- half the population, half the workforce in the US, yet women are only 17% of Congress, hardly fair representation. And it shows, because it's hard for some ...
Money=TV=Votes but not Understanding
More money was spent this election than ever before- predictably, considering the pass the Supreme Court gave to corporations, unions and advocacy groups to flood the airwaves with propaganda. Karl Rove and his friends used this in a particularly masterly way, if you can admire evil genius. But there is no substance ...
Americans Embrace the Party of No
Well it's a suck day for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Sestak lost, Onorato lost, the Democrats lost the state House and nationally, the US House. Expect more gridlock. Despite the fact that this administration, in two years, has done much to correct the failed policies of the previous one- the economy is, in ...
Election Day Nov. 2- Vote!
If you don't vote, you can't complain. Sadly, Democrats don't turn out often for mid-term elections. I admit it's hard to whip up enthusiasm some years. Some electoral seasons I volunteer less, give less, care less. But I always vote. Always. Voting is a sacred trust. The underpinning of civic discourse. We are the ...
Representative Babette Josephs on Women in Politics
From her early days as Executive Director for Pennsylvania's NARAL, to promoting energy conservation, to tireless advocacy for civil rights, public schools, and a more open and transparent government, State Representative Babette Josephs has serious progressive street cred. As Chair of the State Government Committee ...
Maternity Care Crisis in Southeast Pennsylvania
Feminists are used to fighting for reproductive rights- for access to family planning services and contraception, for adequate health and sex education for our youth, and for access to safe abortion. In general, we don't consider that access to maternity care is really a problem, but it is. Since giving birth is ...
Ex-Governor Sarah Palin
I'm always amazed at how popular Sarah Palin is within her own party, or as a Tea Party darling. She resigned her post as Governor of Alaska!! If a Democratic Governor of any sex, in any state quit as the chief executive of their state, and head of their state's party, their career would be over. That would be the end ...
What is Feminism?
OK. Square one. Men and women are different, obviously. This is a good thing. Politically, they are not equal. This is a bad thing. Certainly they should be equal, considering society would not exist without the contributions from both sexes. No-brainer, right? Science says there are some basic differences between ...