In the past several days I’ve read numerous articles comparing Caroline Kennedy to Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. Seriously? For the most part, I understand the concern over the fact that she’s not been elected to anything. But the outrage over the fact that she’s rich or that she comes from a political family baffles me.
In a carefully controlled strategy reminiscent of the vice
presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, aides to Caroline Kennedy interrupted
her on Wednesday and whisked her away when she was asked what her
qualifications are to be U.S. senator. (seattlepi)
One of Ms. Kennedys qualifications, leading the Fund for Public Schools
in raising $240 million in private donations, is about as impressive as
being Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Ms. Kennedys main
disqualificationsnot having paid her political dues, not having enough
experiencewere also attributed to Mrs. Palin. (examiner)
The curious thing about this story is how closely it resembles Hillary
Clinton in the early months of this year’s presidential campaign, when
the former first lady was running as a quasi-incumbent. (seattlepi)
Though I disagreed with Sarah Palin on nearly every political issue, I flinched when she was asked to defend her qualifications. Yes, she was extremely unqualified. But so have several male politicians been, yet they are much less often asked to defend this weakness. Arnold, the Governator, comes to mind. But as Marie Cocco points out,
There are no female Arnold Schwarzeneggers. That is, no woman will
ever burst into politics, capture the voters’ imagination and be
catapulted into high public office without a lick of experience.
Perhaps one of the reasons that the extremely unimaginative comparisons are being made between Caroline Kennedy and Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton is that the sexism is all too familiar.
MomsRising has a campaign going on in support of Fair Pay. They are gathering signatures to get the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act moving forward again.
Sign the petition here.
Also, check out new research on the pay gap between men and women. You can calculate the average pay gap (over a career) for women in your state by occupation and education.
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Act now!
The ACLU has a petition up here. Speak out against the Bush administration’s belief that it’s above the law.
Speak out against preemptive pardons and help restore the American values of justice and due process. Send a message to President Bush telling him you oppose preemptive pardons for these people and any others who may have been involved in torture. (ACLU)
From the text of the petition:
These pardons would effectively preclude criminal investigations that are clearly appropriate based on the facts in the public domain, and block any U.S. criminal prosecutions for torture or abuse. Preemptive pardons for torture crimes would violate one of the most core American values: that no one — no matter how powerful — is above the law.
In case you needed another reason to love Amy Poehler…
Check out: Smart Girls at the Party
Amy Poehler teamed up with producer Meredith Walker and musician Amy Miles to create this unique show that celebrates girls who are making a difference by being themselves. Read more about the show in Marianne Schnall’s interview with Poehler here.
Also, there’s a Smart Girls at the Party blog.
The AIDS Epidemic: What we haven’t learned
Today is World AIDS day. With the Bush administration on its way out there is hope that we might begin to think big about preventing and even curing AIDS. Lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research will open up some possibilities. But prevention and education remain the keys to slowing the spread of HIV. According to Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, “we can’t treat our way out of this epidemic.”
And even though major progress has been made in the last couple of decades, rates of infection continue to rise. For every person receiving treatment today, three new people get themselves infected.
On GRITtv journalist and author Linda Villarosa, activist and editor of POZ magazine Laura Whitehorn, Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, Senior Consultant for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and Rep. Barbara Lee discuss recent breakthroughs in AIDS treatment and how national healthcare policy and education can influence prevention strategies.
How would single payer healthcare change the way those with chronic illnesses, including AIDS, are treated? Protesters at the America’s Health Insurance Plan’s (AHIP) convention in San Francisco say a lot would change. To learn more visit guaranteedhealthcare.org.
Noticing the Gap 