My name is Catherine Morgan, I'm a writer, nurse, mother, and founder of "The Political Voices of Women". This is a blog dedicated to inform and educate the voting public through articles, ideas, and links. It's also a way of giving myself a voice, rather than just sitting back and watching politics and my opinion go by.
--- I am now also at the Care2 Election Blog.
SEE VIDEO CLIP HERE — Sorry, I tried to embed the video here but was unable to.
How much do you think the Iraq war is costing you? If you would like to know, check out The National Priorities Project. It’s an extremely eye-opening, interactive website. I don’t think most people really understand the true financial impact this war is having, and will continue to have long past it’s possible conclusion.
What do you think? How is the Iraq war impacting you? How is it impacting our country’s economy? Would we be in a housing crisis, or gas crisis, or a healthcare crisis, if we weren’t spending so much money in Iraq?
On Wednesday, stocks were down, oil prices were up, and new home sales were the lowest they have been in 13 years. But to spite all of this bad economic news, President Bush told a group at a printing company in Virginia, that the economy will soon be “stronger than ever before.” Really? Is Bush the only person in the country who doesn’t understand that when Americans get their “stimulus” checks they are not going to go on wild spending sprees?
Even though her proposals would involve tens of billions in government spending, Clinton moved to head off anticipated charges that such measures would constitute a bailout. “To those who object to our government helping middle-class and low-income families devastated by the housing crisis, I say this: We’ve given Bear Stearns a $30 billion lifeline, we’ve given their creditors, their lenders, their customers, and those associated with them the same lifeline,” she said. “How can you tell a family about to lose their home that there’s nothing we can do to help them?”
I think this is a great plan, and it would be much better for the housing market to help people not go into foreclosure. Not only does foreclosure hurt the family that is made homeless, but it hurts the whole neighborhood, by bringing down home values for everyone.
I personally know more than one family who have been struggling for years to pay their mortgages, and now find themselves facing possible foreclosure. These families have already made huge sacrifices to keep paying their mortgages, in hopes to someday have at least a small nest-egg in their homes. But now those homes aren’t even worth what paid for them, and even if they were able to sell their homes (and many can’t even do that), they would lose money. On top of everything else, the cost to heat these homes has skyrocketed, and so has gas, food, healthcare, and just about everything else. Finances have gotten so bad, that these people feel the only solution is to walk away from their homes and their mortgages.
We need to find a way to help people who (up until now) have been struggling each month paying their mortgages, but who now feel their only option is to abandon their American Dream. We need to find a way to throw these families some sort of life-raft and help them get through this crisis with their dignity and hopefully their homes. More foreclosures, more abandoned homes, and more homeless families is only going to prolong this housing crisis.
And the problems facing the middle-class is not limited to the housing crisis. Rising healthcare cost are seriously hurting many families…
Recent history has not been kind to working-class Americans, who were down on the economy long before the word recession was uttered.
The main reason: spiraling health-care costs have been whacking away at their wages. Even though workers are producing more, inflation-adjusted median family income has dipped 2.6 percent — or nearly $1,000 annually since 2000.
There is no doubt that we are facing serious economic problems in this county. Since stopping this economic crisis is obviously not going to happen, we need to find the best way to get through it…and it shouldn’t be every man for himself. The more we collectively help Americans that need help, the fast are economy will recover from this crisis. The longterm costs of not helping these families, could end up being even more devastating to our economy.
How Does McCain’s Healthcare Plan Measure-up? - by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at Care2 Election Blog)
It’s no secret that we are facing a healthcarecrisis in this country. I’ve heard quite a bit about the healthcare plans of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but I just realized that I’ve neglected to look at John McCain’s healthcare plan. So, I thought I could use this post to take a closer look at McCain’s plan, and what others are saying about it. I would love to know what you think about too…let me know in comments.
In the above clip, Shawn Tully of Fortune Magazine, begins his interview with CNN by saying that Healthcare (specifically Medicare) is going to bankrupt our country, and that is why the McCain plan is more “fiscally” responsible. Is he kidding? He loses me right there, because as far as I am concerned, the Iraq war is what is going to bankrupt this country (if it hasn’t already). If you don’t believe me, check out this post on military spending… But to get back to John McCain’s Healthcare plan - here is some of what other bloggers are saying about the McCain Healthcare Plan.This is from An Insider’s View on Health Care…
FORTUNE magazine published an opinion piece in their March 17, 2008, issue titled Why McCain has the best health-care plan. McCain like many of his fellow Republicans believes that giving individuals more responsibility is a way to solve the healthcare crisis.
From time to time, McCain has made encouraging noises on the issue. He’s supported re-importation of medicine from Canada; he’s teamed up with Ted Kennedy on a “patients’ bill of rights”; and he’ll occasionally criticize HMOs and big pharm.
But TNR’s Jonathan Cohn reports today on the healthcare plan McCain unveiled in October, and labels the policy a “disaster.”
. . .
The main point of McCain’s proposal is to change tax policy to make it easier for people to have more insurance options outside their employer.
. . .
No matter which Dem gets the nomination, this is a fight to look forward to. If McCain support for an unpopular war doesn’t undermine his campaign, his useless healthcare policy will.
There were also some interesting comments on this Carpetbagger post. Here is part of one…
There are arguments out there that every US citizen should get access to the same type of healthcare system that federal employees, including all elected federal representative, receive. Until that day occurs, how about making federal elected officials having to live with the same system the rest of have to deal with. Let John McCain see what it’s like to get insurance after three bouts of melanoma along with a spouse who had a stroke and a past issue with drug dependence or to watch his family’s coverage get dropped because the insurance companies feel like it. Maybe then Congress would take some action if they weren’t so insulated from the problem.
Personally, I’m not sold on this plan one bit. As a person with chronic illness and pre-existing conditions, it’s actually a little scary. But that’s just me, what do you think?
Personally, I have always been against war and violence of any kind. I didn’t even let my children play with toy guns when they were young (not even water guns). Now I find myself worried that my son or daughter could actually be drafted someday. [Over a year ago I did a post addressing my concerns over a possible draft or mandatory military, it still seems very relevant today.] So yes, I am one of the people that are against this war in Iraq, and I have been since day one. And I really hate that we are now talking about the fifth anniversary of this horrific war. What I find myself wondering the most about today is, there seems to be no end in sight and five years from now we might be talking about the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war. How many people have to die? When will ‘man’ realize that war is not the answer?
People have been saying that we aren’t talking much about the Iraq war anymore, and I suspect it is because of the attention our tumbling economy is getting. I wonder? Has it occurred to anyone that $275 million a day spent in Iraq could be adding to the trouble we find our economy in? The National Priorities Project has a running tab of the cost of the Iraq war…
Let’s take a look at how this five year anniversary of the war in Iraq is being reported by the news and on the blogs.
The question isn’t entirely facetious. The war has nearly vanished from TV screens over the past few months, replaced by stories about the fascinating presidential campaign and faltering economy.
Yet Americans continue to fight and die there, five years after the war started in March 2003.
“It’s no big secret that this is a war that everyone has grown tired of,” said CNN correspondent Arwa Damon, whose documentary “On Deadly Ground: The Women of Iraq” is airing several times this month. “Iraqis are aware of it. They think it’s a story that people are tired of hearing about. That’s what makes our job more crucial.”
ABC News will draw attention to the war this week with the fifth edition of its “Where Things Stand” series, polling and interviewing Iraqis about what is happening in their country.
The war in Iraq has already cost the United States more than 400 billion dollars by the most conservative tally, but the total bill could surpass three trillion dollars, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
By the Pentagon’s count, 527 billion dollars were allocated from September 2001 through December 2007 to finance the war against terrorism, including 406 billion dollars for Iraq.
The Congressional Budget Office reported in October 2007 that Iraq accounts for 421 billion, or 70 percent, of the 602 billion dollars that the Congress has authorized for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The CBO estimates that the total cost of the two wars could reach 2.4 trillion dollars by 2017 including interest on the debt, with Iraq accounting for 70 percent of the spending, or 1.68 trillion dollars.
But even that pales by comparison with estimates put forward by Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, a Harvard professor, in a book called “The Three Trillion Dollar War: the True Cost of the Iraq Conflict.”
This is from a post by Connie at Connie Talk. She has done a post on the Fifth Anniversary of the Iraq War.
Yesterday, March 15th, 2008, marked the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War. To be honest, I don’t really understand why so many people call it an “anniversary”: a word that most often indicates something to celebrate. But, regardless, we have been occupying the Middle East in wartime for exactly five years now. There were thousands of people who showed up in Los Angeles, California, yesterday to march the length of Hollywood Boulevard.
Thanks to hard-working YouTuber’s, you can get a peek at the protests from many corners of the Earth without leaving your computer chair.
Check out Connie at Connie Talk, where she has videos of protests that took place all over the world.
So, what do you think? Did you originally support the war? Or were you against it? How are you feeling about it now? Do you see a light at the end of the tunnel? Has the Iraq war reduced the chances of terrorism in America? Do you feel safer because of the Iraq war? Do you want our next president to get us out of Iraq? Do you think it is possible to get out of Iraq? Do you think the $275 million being spent each day on the Iraq war, is contributing to the serious economic problems we are facing today?
These are just a few of the questions I wonder about, let me know how you feel in comments.
It is so tiring and stressful to read the Hillary Clinton-bashing that has been allowed to go on at so many if the big “progressive” liberal blogs, such as americablog, Huffington Post, and Daily Kos. I read the quotes taken out of context, the facts misrepresented, and rumors posted as fact, and I am torn between just clicking away and standing up for her. The problem is, if I post a comment that defends Hillary Clinton on any of those sites, I am assured of hateful, often disgusting replies. Sometimes directed at Clinton, sometimes at me. So I’ve pretty much just given up on those sites.
I’ve been posting at DailyKos for nearly 4 years now and started writing diaries in support of Hillary Clinton back in June of last year. Over the past few months I’ve noticed that things have become progressively more abusive toward my candidate and her supporters.
I’ve put up with the abuse and anger because I’ve always believed in what our on-line community has tried to accomplish in this world. No more. DailyKos is not the site it once was thanks to the abusive nature of certain members of our community.
I’ve decided to go on “strike” and will refrain from posting here as long as the administrators allow the more disruptive members of our community to trash Hillary Clinton and distort her record without any fear of consequence or retribution. I will not be posting at DailyKos effective immediately. I will not help drive up traffic or page-hits as long as my candidate – a good and fine DEMOCRAT - is attacked in such a horrid and sexist manner not only by other diarists, but by several of those posting to the front page.
I have been checking in on those sites every once in a while, just to see what people are saying. But I have to say I agree with Alegre: I don’t want to have any part in driving up their traffic or giving them an audience.So, in addition to her writer’s strike, let’s have a reader’s strike, as well!
House Holds Secret Session on Spying Bill — Posted by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at Care2 Election Blog)
UPDATE: Bill passes House
For the first time in 25 years, the House held a closed session, to debate (what else?) the Bush Spying Bill…also known as FISA and the Telecom Amnesty Bill. Apparently, they will continue the debate openly later today, and then vote on it. However, even if the House version of this Bill does pass…Bush has promised to veto it. I was just thinking that our government is kinda like bumper cars at an amusement park, with George Bush at the power switch.
From the Associated Press - The House held a closed session Thursday for the first time in 25 years to discuss a hotly contested surveillance bill.
Republicans requested privacy for what they termed “an honest debate” on the new Democratic eavesdropping measure that is opposed by the White House and most Republicans in Congress.
As the House cleared out its chambers this evening for a “sweep” by the Capitol Police to ensure that no listening devices were present for the closed session of the House tonight — for a debate about the secret surveillance of suspected terrorists — advocates invoked history.
The last secret session was called in 1983, on the support of Contras.
Today the Care2 Election Blog has a timely guest post by Diane MacEachern, the founder and CEO of Big Green Purse, Diane is passionate about empowering women to use their marketplace clout to protect the environment. She is a best-selling author, successful entrepreneur, sought-after public speaker, and long-time conservationist, she has launched the only company in the U.S. dedicated specifically to transforming women’s environmental concerns into measurable improvements in our quality of life.
Is Sexism Hurting The Clinton Campaign? — Posted by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at Care2 Election Blog)
I didn’t really want to do a post on Hillary Clinton and sexism, but it is just getting too difficult to ignore. Am I the only one that has noticed? Let me just say that I am not favoring either Obama or Clinton…When (and if) I do get a chance to vote between these candidates, my decision will be based on the issues. And this post is not about the issues, it’s about all the gender and sexism banter thats been going on.
As a woman I find it offensive, especially considering much of it is coming from other women. What is with that? I guess my sensitivity to the subject of women verbally bashing other women, was triggered when I read this article by Charlotte Allen in the Washington Post last week - We Scream, We Swoon, How Dumb Can We Get? Here is a taste of Charlotte Allen’s rant against women…
Then there’s Clinton’s nearly all-female staff, chosen for loyalty rather than, say, brains or political savvy. Clinton finally fired her daytime-soap-watching, self-styled “Latina queena” campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, known for burning through campaign money and for her open contempt for the “white boys” in the Clinton camp. But stupidly, she did it just in time to alienate the Hispanic voters she now desperately needs to win in Texas or Ohio to have any shot at the Democratic nomination.
What is it about us women? Why do we always fall for the hysterical, the superficial and the gooily sentimental? Take a look at the New York Times bestseller list. At the top of the paperback nonfiction chart and pitched to an exclusively female readership is Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love.” Here’s the book’s autobiographical plot: Gilbert gets bored with her perfectly okay husband, so she has an affair behind his back. Then, when that doesn’t pan out, she goes to Italy and gains 23 pounds forking pasta so she has to buy a whole new wardrobe, goes to India to meditate (that’s the snooze part), and finally, at an Indonesian beach, finds fulfillment by — get this — picking up a Latin lover!
This is the kind of literature that countless women soak up like biscotti in a latte cup: food, clothes, sex, “relationships” and gummy, feel-good “spirituality.”
Needles to say, I wasn’t the only one who had a visceral reaction to this. PunditMom had a few choice words, and Jeff from Shakesville had this to say, in response to Allen’s response - Shorter Charlotte Allen
Basically, Allen’s argument boils down to this:
*I was serious about women being stupid.
*But I was also just kidding.
*It’s okay to make fun of women, they haven’t been historically oppressed.
*I really don’t know that much about women’s history.
Well! Good job, WaPo, hiring someone capable of making such a winning argument to talk about women.
I can’t imagine that anyone, at any time, thought that all women would rally around Hillary just because she’s a woman. However, I also couldn’t imagine the severity of the rift this division would have on women in general. And frankly, it’s kinda disappointing. Why are women o.k. with dissing Hillary over her clothes, ambitions, and emotions? Most of us would agree that sexism is wrong, yet there is little outrage over the treatment that Hillary Clinton is receiving…It just doesn’t make sense to me. Are we so use to being at the center of sexism ourselves, that we have become desensitized to it? If so, that’s pretty sad.
This is an exciting time in American politics. For the first time in history, the frontrunners for Democratic ticket are two minorities - a woman and an African American.
But still, there’s a gray cloud hanging over this diversity victory - sexism. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is not only under fire for her political stances, but for her gender.
Clinton has endured sexism from all angles. Opponents have criticized her for using the gender card and allow the sexist remarks to continue. Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) explained how he was going to beat Clinton when a supporter in South Carolina asked “How are you going to beat the bitch?” The event inspired a YouTube video, titled “How Do We Beat the Bitch.” It now has more than one million viewings.
On his MSNBC Show, Tucker Carlson said “There’s just something about her that feels castrating, overbearing and scary.” Couldn’t he find a better word than castrating? Other opponents, like MSNBC’s David Shuster accused her of “pimping” her daughter when Chelsea Clinton campaigned for her.
One what planet is this OK? A female Fox & Friends presenter weighs in on the in-studio banter regarding Hillary Clinton’s dress sense by proudly proclaiming, “Here at Fox, we like to be feminine. So we don’t wear the pants.” (If player fails to load, click HERE to view video.) It’s like the feminist movement never happened. This Faux News woman is utterly oblivious to the damage she’s doing. It’s so sad that women are so often their own worst enemies. Evolve people. Then again, along with pant suits, she probably doesn’t believe in evolution either.
Let me just start with this…Is there some way to “impeach” Howard Dean as the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC)? This whole situation is 100% his pig headed fault. I keep hearing him repeating over and over again, that Florida and Michigan are being “punished”, and that is that. Has Howard Dean ever heard of the CRAZY idea that the punishment should fit the crime? When a handful of people make a decision that is punishable…those people should be punished (not a couple million people). Howard Dean appears to be is on some sort of power trip, and as far as I’m concerned, he should be the one that is punished. He should be fired for making such an overwhelmingly irresponsible decision regarding a state’s right to move up their primary. Disenfranchising millions of voters because their state has moved up its primary, is just insane.
Why should the rest of the country care whether or not Florida and Michigan voters are disenfranchised? Well, let me tell you. In less than a year, Democrats need to win the general election, or McCain will end up in the White House. Need I say more?
I don’t care how they do it, but the DNC better fix this problem before it is really too late. I recommend all Democrats contact the DNC and voice their opinion on this issue. You can use their contact form or you can call them at 202-863-8000. This isn’t just a Florida/Michigan problem, this is a problem for every Democrat in this country. Take a stand. Insist that all votes be counted. This is the United States of America, we pride ourselves on our ability to conduct fair elections, and we DO NOT disenfranchise our citizens.
[As soon as I find a video clip of Howard Dean's comments from earlier today, I will post it here]
With no end in sight for the Democratic nomination fight, the past 24 hours have brought on a new round of debate over what to do about Michigan and Florida, including discussion of holding a second round of nominating conteststo award the two states’ delegates.
Govs. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Charlie Crist of Florida released a joint statement Wednesday calling for a resolution to the matter so their states’ voters are not disenfranchised in the nomination fight. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is open to a second round of contests but shot down suggestions that delegates be awarded based on the first primary results. “We are not going to change the rules in the middle of the game,” Dean said in statement Wednesday.
Dean’s missing the boat on the importance of the legislative system, something that doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s observed him over the years. The Florida Senate passed legislation enabling the earlier primary. The Florida House voted 118-0 to do the same—in May, 2007. Maybe next time we want to pass a law in the Sunshine State we better check with Howard Dean first?
The DNC hardline position is nothing more than a move to control candidates. Party of the people? Not. If Sen. Barack Obama had won Florida, you think the DNC would refuse to count the votes? Not. Try tacking on those 210 delegates to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s numbers and see how they look.
