WEB WANDERINGS
“Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
A WOMANKIND EDITORIAL - Part 1
WOMEN, WAKE UP!
Some basic facts to begin this Womankind Editorial:
As of 2012, the United States has a total resident population of 313,229,000, making it the third most populous country in the world.It is a very urbanized population, with 82% residing in cities and suburbs as of 2008 (the worldwide urban rate is 50.5%. This leaves vast expanses of the country nearly uninhabited.California and Texas are the most populous states, as the mean center of United States population has consistently shifted westward and southward.New York City is the most populous city in the United States. (Wikipedia.com more)
Age structure:
- 0-14 years: 20.2% (male 31,639,127/female 30,305,704)
- 15–64 years: 67% (male 102,665,043/female 103,129,321)
- 65 years and over: 12.8% (male 16,901,232/female 22,571,696) (2010 est.)
At birth, men outnumber women by a slight margin. But between 15-64 years of age, women outnumber men. Whatever it is that happens to boys/men up to age 15 is another story to be told someday; what is important to me is that there are approximately 464,278 more women than men between those ages. And after age 65, that number gets even higher: 5,670,464 more women than men.
So my question is: Why the hell are men running our country?
We women outnumber them. We women can outvote them. All we have to do it VOTE! Get the women out of their hidey-holes, wherever they are, and VOTE!
(to be continued tomorrow and you won't like it!)
THE VOICES OF AMERICA'S WOMEN
Daisy updated her status: "Your imagination is your preview to life’s coming attractions. Albert Einstein."
Anita Doll Fiouris's photo.
The War on Women's Health Care Comes to Illinois
secure.aclu.org
Politicians are making an attempt nationwide to block access to health care for women. It is time to say: not in Illinois!......(click here for more)
A Simple Fact About The Trayvon Martin Murder That Must Be Shared
front.moveon.org
As a former federal prosecutor and a former attorney general, I want to talk about the Trayvon Martin story because it disturbs me as a prosecutor, and it deeply disturbs me as a mother of a teenage son. Let me say a word first as a prosecutor......
(click here for more)
front.moveon.org
As a former federal prosecutor and a former attorney general, I want to talk about the Trayvon Martin story because it disturbs me as a prosecutor, and it deeply disturbs me as a mother of a teenage son. Let me say a word first as a prosecutor......
(click here for more)
IL bill on Facebook password requests hits snag
www.wgem.com
Posted: Mar 22, 2012 4:28 PM PDT
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Legislation that would prohibit employers from seeking job applicants' social network passwords is on hold in the Illinois House.
Democratic Rep. La Shawn Ford's measure would allow job-seekers to file lawsuits if asked for access to sites like Facebook. Bosses could still ask for usernames that would allow them to view public information on the sites.
But critics questioned a provision that safeguards an employer's ability to "maintain lawful workplace policies" regarding electronic equipment and investigating suspected unlawful or improper activity. They say that contradicts the password prohibitions.
Ford says he wants to protect employers as well as employees. He says he will work on the language and bring the bill back for a House vote.
------
The bill is HB3782.
Facebook Tells Users Not to Give Passwords to Employers As Senate Prepares Anti-Snooping Bill
gizmodo.com
Facebook's chief privacy officer Erin Egan has sent a warning to social network's users: never give your password to your employer. It's wrong and it's illegal for them to ask you. In fact, the US Senate is working on a bill to specifically ban this despicable tactic..........(click here for more)
www.wgem.com
Posted: Mar 22, 2012 4:28 PM PDT
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Legislation that would prohibit employers from seeking job applicants' social network passwords is on hold in the Illinois House.
Democratic Rep. La Shawn Ford's measure would allow job-seekers to file lawsuits if asked for access to sites like Facebook. Bosses could still ask for usernames that would allow them to view public information on the sites.
But critics questioned a provision that safeguards an employer's ability to "maintain lawful workplace policies" regarding electronic equipment and investigating suspected unlawful or improper activity. They say that contradicts the password prohibitions.
Ford says he wants to protect employers as well as employees. He says he will work on the language and bring the bill back for a House vote.
------
The bill is HB3782.
Facebook Tells Users Not to Give Passwords to Employers As Senate Prepares Anti-Snooping Bill
gizmodo.com
Facebook's chief privacy officer Erin Egan has sent a warning to social network's users: never give your password to your employer. It's wrong and it's illegal for them to ask you. In fact, the US Senate is working on a bill to specifically ban this despicable tactic..........(click here for more)
WARNING: There are consequences to votes... maybe it's time to require our elected officials to 'walk a mile in our shoes' or 'Shadow' us for one week, before they are allowed to vote or as a consequence of their vote. What do you think?
Washboard Express is a way for me to express my own opinions, to be a provocative gadfly, by writing a "letter a day" to the President. I may miss a day here and there, because sometimes my family must be my first priority, but my goal is to write a total of 365 letters, representing one full year. To say I have opinions about most things would be to understate the obvious. Those of you that know me, know this is true, those who don't know me, will learn that it's true. The Washboard is a reference to going back to basics and "keeping it clean," so if you would like me to post your comments or opinions on this blog, I only ask that you be respectful. So go ahead, express yourself, and I look forward to an exchange of ideas and opinions.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Letter #146... Dear Mr. President... We need a "Shadow Law"
Dear Mr. President,
They say timing is everything and that some things are meant to be… and as Oprah would say… sometimes we have an “ah-ha moment.” I had one this morning when I was laying in bed listening via a baby monitor for the sounds of my son breathing.
In letter #138 I told you a little bit about Jeff and his situation, so laying there I couldn’t help but think about all the people that don’t have insurance, or in the case of Jeff, disability insurance, or have a family member that is able to take them and provide the kind of end of life care that each human being deserves. This is what sets us apart from the animal kingdom… our ability to ease one another’s suffering and allowing that person to die with dignity.
Then I thought about all the laws that are being passed that de-humanize and polarize us on various issues, such as the war, abortion, health care, homelessness, funding for schools, taxes, etc… etc…I believe I have a solution that will end all this nonsense… I call it the ‘Shadow Law’.
The Shadow Law would be a law that would require any and all elected officials that vote for laws that deny, restrict, cut, or de-fund programs for citizens to ‘Shadow’ someone affected by the passage of their law for a minimum of one week. People could sign up to be ‘shadowed’ by the representative in their home district… to essentially, ‘walk a mile in their shoes’.
The consequences of voting for the war... any war.
Just imagine what it would be like for Senators and Congressmen and Women to be required to attend the funeral of a young man or woman killed in a war that they voted for. Or being required to sit by the bedside of a dying person, whose disability was denied because his or her Rep. voted to end that ‘entitlement’. How about having to spend a week in a homeless shelter, and eating food provided by volunteers because you, as the Rep. in their district, voted to defund homeless programs. Or, attend a school with leaky roofs, with computers under plastic to protect them from the rain, sitting on the floor because there aren’t enough desks, and going hungry all day because the lunch programs were cut.
I sincerely think there would be a drastic turnaround in priorities if a ‘Shadow Law’ were enacted. Our elected officials would be less inclined to send other peoples children off to war if they had to spend a week in a war zone… and I don’t mean just visiting, but going out and ‘shadowing’ a real live soldier on patrol or fighting in some god forsaken place we wouldn’t send our worst enemy.
Vietnam Vets, Michael Carey & Greg Welch
When I opened my newspaper (Sacramento Bee, March 22, 2012) this morning there was a headline: TWIST OF FATE REUNITES TWO SURVIVORS OF WAR (Vietnam). Do we even know, after 40+ years, why we fought that war? We didn’t stop communism, we didn’t secure anything vital to our country, so why were we there? Why were the lives of 57,000 men and women so meaningless to so many? Corporations and people profited from the war, but the ones who actually fought it got killed, maimed, became sick, and profoundly changed by being there even if they weren’t physically injured. The wife of one of these men said, “If I could redo it now, I would have hooked him up with a therapist a long time ago to see what was bottled up in him from Vietnam. I can’t even comprehend the stuff that they endured. Only another person who went through it would know.”
And that’s the point Mr. President; we can’t even imagine what it’s like until we have experienced it for ourselves. They left Vietnam, but Vietnam never left them. Vietnam isn’t past tense… it’s still here, and these brave men are still living it.
As an example of how the ‘Shadow Law’ would work, one of these men or a family member could call the Rep. in their district, in this case it would be Rep. Dan Lungren of the 3rd Congressional District, and ask that he schedule a week of his time to spend with these two soldiers to get just a hint of what their lives are like. Now I know that Lungren didn’t vote for that particular war, but he did vote for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So it would seem, spending a week with these Vets, would be like a walk in the park compared to a week spent dodging bullets or bombs in Afghanistan.
And most recently we have many Reps., including Governors that are all Republicans, voting on issues that involve a woman’s reproductive rights and the right to receive a legal abortion without being subjected to unnecessary medical procedures not ordered by a doctor, but required by some law written by a person who doesn’t have the foggiest idea of what it’s like to be a woman faced with such a difficult choice. Let them go with her to the required doctors appointments, and wait with her for 72 hours before she is forced have an ultrasound and to look at it before she can receive a legal medical procedure from a licensed doctor.
Yes Mr. President, I think what we need now is a ‘Shadow Law’… a law that protects everyone from arbitrary laws passed by lawmakers that don’t have one iota, not a single clue, as to what ordinary Americans are faced with every single day.
Just maybe if they walked a day in our shoes, or spent a week in our ‘shadow’ they would think twice about how their votes affect us and choose to vote differently.
Let’s talk Mr. President, and maybe we can craft a law, or I could start a “We the People…” petition that would address these issues and force our elected officials to live in our world… if only for a week.
Most Respectfully,
Marcia Reimers
Your Gadfly Granny
Rock The Slut Vote shared a link.
Here's the link to our website everyone! Thank you for helping us spread the word. Come 'like' us on Facebook/RockTheSlutVote, and come to the website and join our effort!
Here's the link to our website everyone! Thank you for helping us spread the word. Come 'like' us on Facebook/RockTheSlutVote, and come to the website and join our effort!
- If you are a Liberal
- If you are a Democrat
- If you are an Independent
- If you are a Republican who rejects the war on women
- If you are raising strong, independent daughters
- If you don't go to church
- If you ever burned your bra
- MORE.....
"Do you believe this crap??? I am so sick of these idots. The Rapture can't come too soon as far as I'm concerned."
Pat Robertson believes Peyton Manning should get hurt this year
If Pat Robertson's vision of theological payback comes true, Peyton Manning will be injured this season as retribution for the Denver Broncos getting rid of Tim Tebow..... (more)
"Yesssssss."
Insider Trading Ban for Lawmakers Clears Congress
www.nytimes.com
The Senate approved a bill prohibiting members of Congress from trading securities on the basis of confidential information they receive as lawmakers................(more)
Insider Trading Ban for Lawmakers Clears Congress
www.nytimes.com
The Senate approved a bill prohibiting members of Congress from trading securities on the basis of confidential information they receive as lawmakers................(more)
Medicare Madness 2012 Action Center
dccc.org
Tell Republicans: Stop putting millionaire tax breaks before Medicare for seniors. Help us reach 100,000 signatures today..................... (more)
dccc.org
Tell Republicans: Stop putting millionaire tax breaks before Medicare for seniors. Help us reach 100,000 signatures today..................... (more)
IMHO: I'm doing things a bit differently for today's page, so I got way behind. But I'll be posting more today on and off throughout the day. In Sisterhood, Blue
