Forgive me right off the bat — that’s both an apology and a plea — but the recent glut of articles and columns about apologies have it all wrong! The media’s focus has been on the symbolism of saying the words “I’m sorry,” as if that single utterance means everything and is the only thing. In today’s soundbite world that clamors to satisfy the hunger of news consumers, the media pushes the meme that the words “I’m sorry” alone are...

Some of my co-bloggers here might roll their eyes if I’d indicated in that title that it continues to appear to be true that I’m in fact the only female political blogger who has run for and won elected office (Pepper Pike City Council) just because I emphasize the where are the women thing a lot. I get it, promise. But the truth is, hardly any political bloggers of either gender run for office. We can fix that! On August 5th, I’m making the “Call to Action” at a joint...

The Ohio Supreme Court handed down a decision today in McFee v. Nursing Care Management of America, Inc. that holds that, “…it’s not gender discrimination for employers to require a minimum tenure for employees to take an extended leave for any purpose, pregnancy included.” (See this Columbus Dispatch blog post.) What’s the problem? Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said [that the ruling punishes] working women for having children. “This...

I was asked to do an interview for the web portal Care2.com with one of the two editors of a new book called, Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists (Seal Press). Given the prominence given lately to the topic of feminism, feminists, who “is” or “isn’t” one, who can or can’t be one and so on, I thought some TMV readers might find the resulting post for it (which you can read here) interesting. If you’re so moved, I hope you’ll leave a comment there...

I’ve written before about what appeared to be a lack of conservative women running for office. So it’s with great satisfaction that I read and listened to not one but two stories from NPR on the statistically significant increase in the number of conservative female candidates in this year’s election cycle. First, from For Republican women, 2010 is already a huge year: Fourteen Republican women are in the running for the U.S. Senate. In 2008, just three Republican women competed...

I’ve written on defining “activism” before but this op-ed in today’s New York Times is superb, as an op-ed and as an argument for why U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is as activist as was the late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger. From professor of law, Geoffrey R. Stone (University of Chicago – yeah yeah yeah where President Obama taught) who also is an editor of The Supreme Court Review, just an excerpt (I recommend reading the full piece,...

I went to college, studying modern foreign governments among other things, in the era of Lech Walesa (so much did it affect my college years and learning that I thought the song, Safety Dance, was actually, Save Gdansk) and the Solidarity Movement. Additionally, I’m a quarter-Polish – my paternal grandfather came over as a stowaway in a pickle barrel during the later part of World War I.  My first boyfriend was Polish Catholic and while the irony was lost on me, it did kind of freak...

I adore the idea and goal of increasing our country’s energy independence from oil and oil-producing nations as much if not more than the average American.  But I also adore the Atlantic coast, having grown up on the Long Island Sound in Connecticut, working and summering in Coastal Maine and spending time on New Jersey and Massachusetts shores.  The vision of oil rigs bobbing in the waves just south of Cape May down to the northern coast of Florida gives me some icy feelings (New Jersey...

Extreme politics isn’t being practiced just on Capitol Hill right now. In Columbus, Ohio, the Ohio Democratic Party has been placed in what at least some Ohio Democrats feel is an untenable, undesirable and improper although absolutely legal and rightful (in that a candidate can do this) position: they’ve received a request from Ohio Lt. Governor and U.S. Senate primary candidate Lee Fisher to make a pre-primary endorsement of him over Ohio Secretary of State and U.S. Senate primary candidate...

Contrary to the reality, at least in the U.S., that online political ads are still a small though growing portion of how candidates spend their resources to get votes, UK politicians have made an extremely high-profile foray into cyberspace via Mumsnet, a large network of mothers and mommy bloggers. From The Telegraph (which includes an interview with the Mumsnet co-founder on this topic): Ten high-ranking politicians, including David Cameron and Gordon Brown, have appeared in live webchats on...

Oh those wild and crazy conservatives: Attendees at a conservative conference in town [D.C.] this week will have the opportunity to whack a pinata of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Conservative Political Action Conference “CPAC” begins Thursday here in D.C. and will feature a party Friday evening where guests will have the opportunity to whack a Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) piñata. On the other hand, Harry Reid will be there in punching bag form. Is there some gender discrimination...

From the New York Times’ coverage of hearings related to the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy related to whether gays and lesbians serve in the U.S. military: On one thing, Mr. Gates, Admiral Mullen and Republicans on the committee agreed: many gay men and lesbians are serving honorably and effectively in the military today, despite a policy that has led to more than 13,000 discharges, including those of much-needed Arabic translators. “I have served with homosexuals...

Fiction. As in, not real. Which is pretty much what the United States Supreme Court has made of our fundamental right to freedom of speech when political speech is involved.  As in, made it not real but just a fiction of a concept. From SCOTUSblog on this point of corporations being only legal fiction: Justice Stevens, writing for the dissenters, turned Chief Justice John Marshall’s celebrated comment in the Dartmouth College case — in a ruling that actually favored the corporate form —...

I know, he isn’t. But I did think tonight, as I watched returns, what if he was. Mazel tov to Scott Brown and condolences to Martha Coakley. For me, it’s on to Ohio.  We have more than enough political drama for a lifetime.

Yes, I would vote for her if I was eligible to vote in Massachusetts.  And yes, I do expect she will win. I could be wrong – wouldn’t be the first time (I wanted Joe Biden in the 2008 primary), but that’s my prediction. Regular readers can guess why: I’m a reliable left of center voter except on a few issues (I vote against casinos and am very independent when Israel is involved, rarely going into the move all Israelis to Siberia territory but also reliably against settlement...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech yesterday to commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the first International Conference on Population and Development. That gathering included a total of thousands of delegates from 179 countries. You can watch the entire presentation here on CSPAN-2 (and it includes remarks by the first ever Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Melanne Verveer as well as Secretary Clinton’s remarks) or the 22 minute version with just the Secretary’s...

Vice President Joe Biden led the Senate this morning while his colleagues voted from their seats in favor of Senate Bill 3590 (aka “Senate Health Care Bill” aka “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”). The vote was 60-39 along party lines, as expected. Republican Jim Bunning of Kentucky, who is retiring at the end of the 111th session of Congress, failed to show up or vote for the second day in a row but no explanation was forthcoming. As you head into serious...

The Senate’s vote on health care reform will now be at 7:00 am tomorrow morning. (See more here.) But the conference committee process that will begin after Congress takes a winter break will be contentious. A lot of attention, as many readers of The Moderate Voice know, has focused on how women fare under the House and Senate versions.  One outgrowth of that attention is the effort Not Under The Bus: The facts page alone at the site makes it worth visiting if you really want to understand...

STATEMENT OF SENATORS BOXER AND MURRAY ON THE ABORTION COMPROMISE Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) today made the following statement on the abortion compromise language included in the manager’s package: “We said all along that we wanted to ensure there was a firewall between private and public funds—this compromise achieves that. We said we would not accept language that prohibited a woman from using her own private funds for her legal reproductive...

I don’t know what fumes the folks on the Hill are living off of but Senator Harry Reid has introduced the Manager’s Amendment (#3276) and word is that Senator Ben Nelson, a Democratic holdout, will support the overall health care reform bill. How they got Nelson: Mr. Reid’s amendment includes major restrictions on abortion that were intended to win support for the bill from Mr. Nelson. Under Mr. Reid’s proposal, health insurance plans are not required or forbidden to cover abortion...

ElectWomen.com has the links and a list for “…the top, most viable female gubernatorial candidates…” and an asterisk after some of the names indicates that in addition to the women listed, there are also female primary challengers for some of the candidates. The number of states involved: 16!  Currently, just six states (Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona, Washington, Connecticut and Hawaii) have female governors. And if you don’t subscribe to ElectWomen’s enewsletters,...

Whether you’re surprised by this story or not is beside the point, which is that this kind of thing and variations on the same thing happen with shocking regularity.  From Why James Chartrand Wears Women’s Underpants: You know me as James Chartrand of Men with Pens, a regular Copyblogger contributor for just shy of two years. And yet, I’m a woman. This is not a joke or an angle or an analogy — I’m literally a woman. This is my story. What you’ll learn when you read his/her...

There’s certainly a place in this world for more and more good Chanuka songs.  But this one by U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch actually has potential. Be sure to read the accompanying article by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg. (The holiday starts this Friday evening.) Eight Days of Hanukkah from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo.

U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski is disgusted with the Nelson Amendment and she is letting everyone know it. “[This bill] allows women to purchase an abortion rider. Oh, boy. Is this supposed to be big deal? Is this supposed to be the kind of thing that’s supposed to make us happy? What an insulting, humiliating thing to say: if you want an abortion, go buy a rider.” Watch the videos for yourself: And here’s another great idea: health care plans allowed to coerce women to get...

If there was a high school yearbook category Person Most Likely to Stand in Front of a Tank To Stop It, I’d be the winner hands down. And yet, there’s no way I would support a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan post-haste. This blog entry, A Commitment Strategy to Afghanistan, by Lorelei Kelly offers a great explanation but here’s the crux for me (I recommend reading the whole column though): The left and the right are too often defaulting to Iraq-era talking points for Afghanistan....