Zee Plan...

I "plan" to post at least once a week now... maybe twice if you're lucky. I might post random stuff that doesn't matter sometimes, but we'll see.

POSTING DAYS ARE MONDAYS because most people spend their Monday's reading stuff on the internet any way.

*All statements subject to change without notice. No returns or exchanges. Not to be used as a flotation device. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

I get a lot of cool emails...

BUSINESS & ECONOMY


Let's Just Say You Had $700 Billion to Spend
By Allison Stevens
Washington Bureau Chief


WASHINGTON (WOMENSENEWS)--Anti-poverty and women's rights lobbyists are looking at the government's $700 billion bank bailout and seeing a way to talk about national spending priorities.

"It's obviously incredibly unfair," said Irasema Garza, president of New York-based Legal Momentum, a legal advocacy group for women. "We're willing to get ourselves in that type of debt to take incredible risk to bail out those industries but as a country we're not willing to take a fraction of that particular risk to make sure we have sound economic policies to give the citizens of our country the basic things they need to live: a place to live, health care, food, education for their kids and the creation of good jobs."

In his personal blog Duncan Green, head of research for Oxfam Great Britain and author of the 2008 book "From Poverty to Power," notes that $700 billion could eradicate world poverty for more than two years.

That would disproportionately benefit women, who make up 70 percent of the world's poor, according to Washington-based Women Thrive Worldwide, a group that lobbies for aid for women in developing countries.

"It's important that we help people here who are in need and have been hurt by this financial crisis," said Nora O'Connell, vice president of policy and government affairs at Women Thrive Worldwide. "But we also have to realize that the impacts of the crisis don't stop at U.S. borders."

$150 Billion for Global Poverty
Worldwide, Green estimates that about $150 billion each year could help governments meet the United Nations millennium development goals, a global set of anti-poverty guidelines--including gender parity in education and improved maternal health care--laid out by 189 nations in 2000.

The Institute for Women's Policy Research, a think tank in Washington, D.C., that focuses on women and the economy, is hosting an Oct. 30 panel discussion on the impact of the financial crisis on women featuring the institute's president, Heidi Hartmann; Erica Hunt, president of the 21st Century Foundation, which focuses on economic development in the African American community; and Legal Momentum's Garza.

"We all now recognize that the economic crisis is No. 1; severe," Garza said. "But before this crisis hit Wall Street, people on Main Street were already hurting. Within that, working women were taking a big hit and have been over the last five years."

Carrie Lukas, a budget analyst with the Independent Women's Forum, a free-market think tank in Washington, D.C., said she would use the money to simplify the tax code.

"Women need a growing economy which provides jobs, especially a wide range of jobs that offer women a variety of work arrangements, and a less burdensome tax structure would certainly help toward that end."

Other advocates said they would spend the money to enhance government.

The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, a lobby in Washington, D.C., estimates that $759 million--about 1 percent of the rescue plan total--would enable the country's low-cost health care clinics to provide all eligible individuals with the full range of family planning services: access to contraceptives, counseling, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

The government currently spends $300 million on the program.

Targeting Social Programs
On the domestic front, about $6 billion would cover the annual human, social, criminal and medical cost of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, according to the Washington-based National Network to End Domestic Violence. Through two major funding streams, the government allocated $573 million for programs aimed at providing service to survivors of abuse and prosecuting offenders in fiscal 2008.

Another $13 billion a year would fully fund and expand government child care programs for low-income families, according to the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C. And about $15 billion a year would double the number of children receiving federal child care assistance, according to the center.


On a larger scale, $90 billion would pay for a legislative package cutting domestic poverty in half over a decade, according to the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, D.C. That package would expand tax credits for parents; increase college grants; provide housing assistance, food stamps and unemployment compensation; and increase the minimum wage.

Expansions in these programs would help more women than men. Women are more likely to live in poverty, more likely to lose jobs than men and more likely to have low-wage employment without benefits.

Stimulating Global Economy
The bill is a good use of taxpayer money if it succeeds in thawing the credit markets and infusing cash into the global economy, said Lukas. "If there is truly a potential looming depression due to credit problems, and the investment of $700 billion can head that off, then this will be a positive investment for women."

With less wealth than men, women around the world are more vulnerable to economic downturns. If they do have jobs, women are more likely to lose them before men if companies are forced to lay off employees.

As the majority of the world's poor, women are also more vulnerable if foreign aid from wealthy countries shrinks as a result of souring economies.

"This globalized financial crisis will hit the poorest countries the hardest," said Linda Basch, president of the National Council for Research on Women, a think tank in New York. "There is justifiable concern that international development assistance will be reduced and this will hurt the poorest of the poor, who tend to be women."

A majority of female lawmakers voted for the $700 billion bailout. In the Senate, 12 of the 16 female members backed the bill; 52 of the 71 women in the House voted for passage.

"I voted, with great reluctance, for the economic rescue package," said Lois Capps, a California Democrat who chairs the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues, a bipartisan group of female House members, "because I believe decisive action is necessary to head off what could be a huge economic calamity, one that would hurt women disproportionately."

Allison Stevens is Washington bureau chief at Women's eNews.

Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

And watch the Presidential debates tonight

http://www.youdecide2008.com/2008/10/07/presidential-town-hall-debate-tonight-at-9pm-et/

And you have to watch these also: cause I said



I'm all up on my political high horse today: So lets get to posting



I basically started crying right here in front of my computer. Amazing.

Political Consultant Donna Brazile speaking on the New Yorker's Panel "If I Were Running This Campaign." Passion and emotion aside, she makes some very good points. And since McCain is INCREASINGLY attacking Obama for the dumbest of things (he knows a guy who did some terrorist things in the 60's! So do I, in fact my daughter goes and visits them every afternoon and calls them GRANDPARENTS), and since McCain's supporters are yelling out that Obama is a TERRORIST at McCain rally's and since Sarah Palin is just dumb enough to agree with them... and since Elizabeth Hasselbeck repeats it like she believes it and it makes me want to reach through my computer screen and just SHAKE HER... here... some ACTUAL THOUGHTS to make you think, on this Tuesday... see the video here (seriously, watch it).

From The New Yorker Website (transcript, incomplete, watch the video... it's better)

I'm gonna say it and get it off my chest, because for the next thirty days, I'm gonna be the best Catholic woman ever….As a child who grew up in the segregated Deep South, we've come so far in this country….But I remember when I used to get on the bus: my mother would tell me, "Donna, when you get on the bus, you and your brothers go all the way to the back, and don't look at anybody." We have changed. This is a more tolerant, open, progressive society. And yet, we're having this conversation because [Obama] is biracial. He spent nine months in the womb of a white woman. He was raised…by his white grandparents…He got out of school and went to Harvard, and all of a sudden he's "uppity" and there's something wrong with him? What is wrong with us?…You can vote against him, but don't ever put me in the back of the bus. I'm not going to the back of the bus! I'm not going to be afraid! My black skin does not make me inferior! And may I add: being a female does not make me dumb!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Am now starting to think that those TV shows which FIND ME and I become obsessed with somehow reflect my current feelings on life

Witness: From my time living in that city I often referred to as the Hellmouth, dealing with a job I hated, getting fired from that job, then living in the burbs in a city I couldn't stand, then figuring out what next to do with my life I give you: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER



Witness: From my time in San Diego, where we be po and getting po-er by the minute. Finally having to hang my head in shame and FLEE the place.



Witness: From my time returning home, living in my parents house, trying to get my life back in order, head in SHAME.



And finally WITNESS: living in my cute little house in the burbs, getting to work on time (or MOSTLY on time) every day, scheduling Baby Gym for Baby so that she has plenty of activity in her life... LITTLE BOXES.

Current show obsessed with because we don't have cable (but we do have NETFLIX)







Random Sarah Palin thoughts in my head



What's the difference between Sarah Palin and George Bush? -Lipstick-


In fact I'm quite sure THAT'S how the conversation went with old Mickey-McCain.


McCain Aide: You know who we need? George Bush, but with lipstick.

Other McCain Aide: This isn't San Francisco!

McCain Aide: But if we got a woman...

Other McCain Aide: You mean like a girl? Do they have those in politics? Where are we gonna find a GIRL who wears LIPSTICK and yet has all of the insane thoughts of an over privilaged Daddy pleasing upper class white male?

McCain Aide: How about her? (Shows YouTube video of crazy lady talking about God making oil pipelines across America."

Other McCain Aide: I love it! Sir? Sir? What do you think Sir?

McCain Aide: He can't hear you when he's in his cryogenic chamber.

So, Liberal Media (as Fox news says you are) I don't think this is helping



Because the crux of this whole Palin-thing is that she's just like us. Sara Palin, just like us! Her kids are crazy and she has a criminal brother in law and her baby is having a baby! Anybody can be President!


Monday, September 15, 2008

So gee, whatcha been up to? Watching lots of videos of Sarah Palin and getting miffed that she proves to be just as dumb as I think she is.

Dumb is the wrong word.

No, dumb is the right word.

Even Husband, who usually takes the "it's not really going to affect you in the long run so WHY do you get so up in arms about people when it's not like they are your friends or on your hiring committee or something" line, is constantly updating me on what apocolyptic piece of information he heard about Palin on Democracy Now!

She's a crazy psycho fundamentalist. She has a weird fargo accent! She believes that god is responsible for hurricanes! She hates polar bears!

I'm obsessed. I'm watching Charles Gibson (why do people call him Charlie? Are you his friend? Do you KNOW HIM? Do you CALL HIM AT HOME?); I'm catching up on The Daily Show, I'm laughing right along with Tina Fey, I'm... pretty sure that for as much as I disdain her presence, is as much as some lady sitting in front of her TV watching the news LOVES HER.

And I miss Hilary. I miss her sweet, fake smile and her clenched teeth. I miss that she was 10 years ahead of her time, trying to run on the merits of being QUALIFIED, instead of being cute and so very "small town." I miss that she had something to say. I miss a woman who was running for President as a PERSON running for President.

I wonder if Obama misses her as much as I do...

Overheard Conversations: It's about TIME somebody told you to F off dude

Bum #1 outside the liquor store: Anybody within 50 feet of my voice who can hear me...does anybody know what time it is?!!!

Bum#2 outside the liquor store: It's time for us to tell you how much we love you.

Bum #1 outside the liquor store: Fuck you!

Random college student passing by: It's 3:03

Bum #1 outside the liquor store: Fuck you too!

Politics are on my mind: and I'm a tad miffed... so bare with me

(Not) surprised that the media isn't talking about this little gem, as those "foreign Native people" aren't particularly their main demographic.. but check out this video. It takes forever, as it's a bunch of nice ladies sittin' around chattin' it up about their "friend" Sarah and how she likes to pay children slave wages to brush and style her hair.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5755383

Head to the end of the video (THE END) about -1:00 left. Here's a transcript for ya (AND I QUOTE):

News Lady: How does a small town mom with character and integrity sit down and deal with Putin on foreign issues?

Really smart friend of Sarah Palin: You know Sarah's a very, very, very good commnicator. And like Juanita said she's a very good listener. And she goes to these native villages in Alaska, which is like going to a foreign state, some of them don't even speak English, I mean, they do, but um, the communication is so different because these are people that hunt and fish and live off subsitance so she really has, you know, Alaska's really different as far as the lower 48 goes. And um, I think being the Governor of this state and living here all of her life has given her a different perspective and um, I have all the confidence in the world. I mean, it's just not an issue for me because I know her. You know, watch and see I guess.

Okay, lets get past the part that this is a non answer, answer. I mean, it's just not an issue because she knows her. And granted, this lady is just the friend of some lady who is running for Vice President of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. And it's not a friends job to be smart, well informed or have something interesting to say (although all of MY friends would). Lets put aside the (sometimes) friends don't have the same views and beliefs on things and (perhaps) this is an instance of the pretty, smart, intelligent, well rounded, well informed person being friends with a bunch of people TOTALLY OPPOSITE of her.. but COME ON.

Natives are like a foreign country? They are so totally different when they are a significant population in Alaska (prelim research suggests about 16% of the population actually. Well ahead of ANY other minority group, and the second largest group in the state. Yes, white is first, what did you expect?) not to mention the ORIGINATORS OF THAT PIECE OF LAND. So who is FOREIGN?

But I guess it's kind of flattering that visiting an Alaska Native Village can be compared to visiting the largest country in the world, covering more than an eighth of the Earth's land area; with 142 million people, the ninth largest by population.

Or that talking to those foreign native type peoples can be compared to sitting down with the former second President and current Prime Minister of Russia as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus.

Hold on, I have to make a call out to The Hoopa Indian Reservation... lets hope I know the right INTERNATIONAL CODE. Man I hope they speak English, or rather, you know, understand the customs of those who speak English, or, you know, um, that we're able to um, communicate and like, you know, stuff.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Dear Mr. McCain: Who ever told you to select that cute little lady as your VP, give that guy a raise. A big one.

Good God I am loathe to admit that McCain's campaign is actually pulling one smart move, selecting a cute little lady from Alaska to be his Al Gore (you know, cute beta male, goes to meetings, looks nice standing next to you at the podium. NOT to be confused with selecting your own Dick Cheney or/ Devil Puppet Master).

So today Johnny announces that yes, in fact, he's selected a woman. From Jezebel.com Veepstakes It's confirmed: John McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his VP running mate. Palin is a conservative, pro-life Christian and self-described "hockey mom" who supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, something McCain opposes.

Oh man to sit in on those meetings:

Lowly campaign staffer 1: Hey, why don't we nominate a woman? Sure the media will say its pandering to womens supporters and sure people will have a skeptical eye on the whole thing, because it's almost like you actually DO feel threatened by OBAMA and his chances at winning sicne you feel like you have to combat him with some woman. But it just might work.

Johnny McCain: I don't know. I mean, it's a woman.

Lowly campaign staffer 1: I know, and it would mean having to work with a woman and having this woman stand next to you but come on.

Johnny McCain: Do you think we could get that one chick? You know the one that was all on TV for a while, talking about how she was going to change America. Blondie, you know, with the husband.

Lowly campaign staffer: You mean Hilary Clinton?

Johnny McCain: Yeah, that little honey. What's she up to? She's a woman right? We could stick her in a skirt any way, maybe fix her hair.

Lowly campaign staffer: I don't think she's available sir, but I'll look in to it.

*END SCENE*

Yeah yeah, I'm skeptical. And then I wonder, all those poor people who hate women and minorities, who are they going to vote for?!! WHO!!! This country is so polarizing to people that hate people, I mean sheesh.