Oprah Talks About Sarah Palin Interview (Video)

Oprah talks about her encounter with and interview of Sarah Palin in the video clip below. Palin wrote on Facebook:

We taped the show for Monday, November 16th, and enjoyed it so much that we went way over on time. The rest will air on Oprah.com. Oprah was very hospitable and gracious, and her audience was full of warm, energized and (no doubt) curious viewers.

Sarah Palin's new book -- "Going Rogue: An American Life" -- goes on sale Tuesday, and she will be promoting it by touring the country in a bus painted over with the graphic from her book cover. McCain aides are said to be thinking of leaving the country, as Sarah Palin is expected to name names and settle scores in Going Rogue. Oh, and the book has no index. In other words, people have to actually read the book to find out if the woman is talking about them.


"It was really an interesting interview," Oprah said. She acknowledged that lots of people didn't want Palin to come on the show. . Palin will dish on her marriage, what it felt like when she was first asked to be vice president, Bristol, the pregnancy, Trig, and of course, Levi Johnston. "We talked about everything," Oprah repeated. "There's nothing that we didn't talk about."

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A Moral Objection to Taxpayer Funded Viagra

Digby speaks for a flaming chorus of women who have had it with a male-dominated culture that bends over assbackwards to accommodate every real and imagined need of men while balking at the most basic of services for women:

I have a moral objection to paying for any kind of erectile dysfunction medicine in the new health reform bill and I think men who want to use it should just pay for it out of pocket. After all, I won't ever need such a pill. And anyway, it's no biggie. Just because most of them can get it under their insurance today doesn't mean they shouldn't have it stripped from their coverage in the future because of my moral objections.

And who knew that a 100-count bottle of Viagra goes for $1,457.61?

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I'm a Democrat. I'm a Republican. (Video)

The system is rigged. This video is a lot more lighthearted about that fact than I feel.


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Jon Stewart Catches Faux News Hannity Manipulating the Videos (Video)

Uh-0h. Sean Hannity has been caught in the act of making up some more faux news. No surprise. Fox News holds the record for manipulating the news. In the video clip below, the world's favorite media critic Jon Stewart presents the evidence and demonstrates conclusively that Hannity is getting pretty sloppy over at the faux news factory. Fox News says Hannity will respond, no doubt with lame excuses, sometime tonight. See more examples of Fox News making it up here.


Jon Stewart, the host of “The Daily Show,” presented excerpts from a segment of Mr. Hannity’s show in which he discussed the so-called tea party protests in Congress last Thursday with Representative Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota who had urged supporters to turn up at the Capitol to protest the health care bill.

Beyond questioning the crowd estimates cited by Mr. Hannity, Mr. Stewart demonstrated that the Fox News program had included several scenes of the crowd, one of which he conclusively proved had not been shot the day of the health care protest but at the much larger tea party protest in Washington last summer. Fox News would not comment on the use of the video Wednesday beyond having a spokeswoman say: “Sean will address this on his show tonight.”

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Women of the Year Awards Highlights (Video)

Rihanna, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, Maya Angelou and Amy Poehler were among this year's deserving winners. Just for fun, the video below is comprised of highlights from Glamour's Women of the Year Awards. Bill Clinton was there, as were most of the award winning women. As Broadsheet wisely observes, Amy Poehler had the best line: "Girls, if boys say something that's not funny, you don't have to laugh."

Winners of Glamour's Women of the Year Award: Rihanna, Maria Shriver, Stella McCartney, Amy Poehler, Marissa Mayer, Serena Williams, pediatrician Jane Aronson, Susan Rice, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, The Women of Iran’s One Million Signature Campaign and Maya Angelou. Michelle Obama was also honored.


via Jezebel

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Quote of the Day

"It's time that women stopped believing that the Democratic Party is always on their side."

Marcia Pappas,

President, NY State NOW

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NOW's Terry O'Neill: "Hillary Clinton Would Have Fought for Our Rights"

"There’s no question that Hillary Clinton would have fought for our rights. There’s no question that she would have understood the devastating implications of the Stupak-Pitts amendment. She would not have countenanced the Democratic leadership."

Terry O’Neill,

President, National Organization for Women

Duh. But Goddess love her for saying it because in this clueless age somebody needs to shout the obvious from the rooftops.

Terry O'Neill has more to say: (snippets from ABC News)

“He has passed health care for half the population and an anti-abortion bill for the rest of us,” O’Neill said.

In our interview with President Obama on Monday, we asked the President whether the Stupak amendment meets or goes beyond his pledge to keep federal funds from funding abortions. "I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill," Mr. Obama said. "And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions."

That phrase – “this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill” – bothers O’Neill, she says. “Abortion is health care,” she says. “I read that quote to a huge number of people and they just gasped. Abortion is fundamental health care. Candidate Obama repeatedly said reproductive health care is a fundamental part of health care. Candidate Obama repeatedly said reproductive health care would be included in his health care package.”

During the Democratic primaries, the campaign of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, suggested that Obama would not fight for abortion rights as would Clinton. O’Neill sees this current action in that light.

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Protecting the Status Quo In Women's Rights Is Change We Can Believe In? (Video)

This is really odd. In the video clip below there is an actual panel of women discussing women's rights. On a cable news channel?!? I almost fell off my chair. Granted it's on CNN's poor sister channel HLN, but still, broadcasting women talking about women's rights could be dangerous to the status quo. What would our president say?

I'm sorry, but only in a deranged America can your president say he's for change you can believe in -- except for women's rights. When you're talking about women's rights, he's for the status quo. My theory is that after eight long years of bizarro Bush, even deranged statements from President Obama sound just fine. I mean at least this president can speak in complete sentences, right?

The women only panel (Joy Behar, Maxine Waters, Nancy Keenan, Julie Minnon) discuss the Stupak Abortion Amendment and what the hell is to be done about it. Maxine Waters says don't bother contacting the Blue Dogs, nothing will change their closed minds. Instead, women should work on getting a commitment from the president, the leaders of Congress and the women of Congress -- a commitment to withhold support from the health care bill until the anti choice amendment is removed.

Maxine Waters adds that 'Obama will sign whatever he's given. He's not going to fight for anything. He believes he needs a bill to get re-elected and that's that.' (paraphrased) (Our president is thinking only of himself?!?!) Maxine also says that Blue Dogs have way too much power and progressives are losing at every turn.

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NARAL & Family Research Council Face-Off on Stupak Abortion Amendment (Video)

President of NARAL Pro-Choice America Nancy Keenan vs. Family Research Councils Cathy Ruse . . Earlier this morning (November 10) 2 women from 2 different planets met on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan show to attempt a discussion of the Stupak Abortion Amendment. One of the women was more prepared than the other.

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Don't Ask, Don't Give: Liberal Bloggers Launch DNC Boycott

About those fierce advocacy promises:

Joe and I are launching today a donor boycott of the DNC. The boycott is cosponsored by Daily Kos, Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake, Dan Savage, Michelangelo Signorile, David Mixner, Andy Towle and Michael Goff of Towle Road, Paul Sousa (Founder of Equal Rep in Boston), Pam Spaulding, Robin Tyler (ED of the Equality Campaign, Inc.), Bil Browning for the Bilerico Project, and soon others. . .

So please sign the Petition and take a Pledge to no longer donate to the DNC, Organizing for America, or the Obama campaign until the President and the Democratic party keep their promises to the gay community, our families, and our friends. -- John Aravosis

Or, as Pam Spaulding terms it, graphic and all: "the gAyTM is officially shut down."

Update: Jane Hamsher: We’re Joining “Don’t Ask, Don’t Give” Boycott

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Hillary Rodham Clinton In Berlin: Some Walls Remain (Video)

via Daily Beast

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Feminist Scholar, NOW Founder, Alice S. Rossi Dies

Alice Rossi's The Feminist Papers was one of my first favorite feminist books. She made a huge contribution. She will be missed:

Alice S. Rossi, a noted sociologist and feminist scholar who was a founder of the National Organization for Women, died on Tuesday in Northampton, Mass. She was 87 and lived in Amherst, Mass. . .

In her scholarship, Professor Rossi explored the status of women in work, family and sexual life. An early public advocate of abortion rights, she was often quoted by the national news media on an array of women’s issues. Her writings are widely credited with helping build the platform on which the women’s movement of the 1960s and afterward was erected.

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NOW Opposes Health Care Bill That Strips Millions of Women of Abortion Access

File this one under where's that desperately needed 3rd party? And whatever happened to NOW's 1990s discussion about starting a women's party?

Terry O'Neill, President of the National Organization for Women condemns the anti-woman health care bill passed by the allegedly pro woman Democratic Congress:

The House of Representatives has dealt the worst blow to women's fundamental right to self-determination in order to buy a few votes for reform of the profit-driven health insurance industry. We must protect the rights we fought for in Roe v. Wade. We cannot and will not support a health care bill that strips millions of women of their existing access to abortion. . . read more . . .

UpDate: Obtained: In Letter To Pelosi, 41 House Dems Pledge To Vote Against Bill With Anti-Abortion Amendment

Stupak Amendment Passes; 64 Dems Vote to Throw Abortion Rights Under the Bus

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Sexist Publisher's Weekly Prefers Books By Men

Just when you thought we had finally buried that insufferable patriarchal tradition of declaring that all the best thoughts, all the best books were written by the men . . . along comes sexist Publisher's Weekly.

Publisher's Weekly, a U.S. trade magazine, has decreed that all the best books of 2009 are books written by men. Because the menz are the best!!

Clearly, Publisher's Weekly still believes in male supremacy. We are not the only ones who are so embarrassed for them:

Poet Erin Belieu, WILLA's other co-founder and director of the creative writing programme at Florida State University, said that "when PW's editors tell us they're not worried about 'political correctness', that's code for 'your concerns as a feminist aren't legitimate'". "They know they're being blatantly sexist, but it looks like they feel good about that," said Belieu. "I, on the other hand, have heard from a whole lot of people - writers and readers - who don't feel good about it at all."

WILLA has now launched a wiki list of "great books published by women in 2009", which already includes AS Byatt's The Children's Book, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's The Thing Around Your Neck and Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry.

via Melissa at Women and Hollywood

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SNL Mocks Fox News

Saturday Night Live spoofs the Fox News crew. Glenn Beck, Greta Van Susteren, Karl Rove, Joe Trippi, Shepard Smith and friends spin, and celebrate!, the latest election. Funny.


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Rachel Maddow On Meet The Press: 'Women May Revolt' (Video)

On Meet the Press earlier today, Rachel Maddow predicted serious woman trouble for the Democratic Party unless the outrageous Stupak Amendment disappears from the health care bill.


Maddow: "The Stupak amendment . . . it's the biggest restriction on abortion funding since the Hyde Amendment, it's the biggest restriction on abortion access in this country in a generation, if it took a Democratic President 60% majorities in the House and Senate of Democrats in order to get that I think you can expect Democratic women to sit on their hands at least, if not revolt if that doesn't get taken out in conference."

Politics Feminist News Gender Abortion Reproductive Rights Health Care

Stupak Amendment Passes; 64 Dems Voted to Throw Abortion Rights Under the Bus

The anti-choice Stupak Amendment -- "a dramatic departure from current law which would restrict a women's right to choose" -- passed 240 to 194. If this measure becomes law, private insurance companies will have to drop the abortion coverage which they currently offer.

UPDATE #1: Jan Schakowsky, the co-chair of the Congressional Women's Caucus, explains:

This amendment says that a woman CANNOT purchase coverage that includes abortion services using her own dollars; middle class women, using exclusively their own money will be prohibited from purchasing a plan including abortion coverage in every single public OR PRIVATE INSURANCE PLAN in the new health care exchange. Her only option is to buy a separate insurance policy that covers only abortion – a ridiculous and unworkable approach since no woman anticipates needing an abortion. This amendment is a radical departure from current law and will result in millions of women losing coverage they already have.

Sixty-four (64) Democrats voted for the draconian anti-woman measure. Here are the traitors' names. (Roll Call) Oh looky, my dying-to-be-primaried Congressman Jim Cooper is one of the 64 Dems who voted to throw women's rights under the bus. As Rayne over at Firedoglake observes: 64 Dems are just begging for primary opponents.

UPDATE #2: Toward that goal, Paul Rosenberg has compiled a table of some things you need to know about turncoat Dems. And be sure to see Jane Hamsher's article on the massive failure of Planned Parenthood and NARAL.

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Kucinich: Why I Voted NO

KUCINICH DENOUNCES HEALTH CARE SELL-OUT BY PELOSI AND THE HOUSE DEMS

“We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system.

. . . read more at Tikkun

And see: Kucinich's Brave Health Vote Vs. Obama's Failed Promise

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Health Care Plan Passes House 220 to 215

The health care reform bill passed and it's a bipartisan bill - one (1) whole Republican came aboard. Thank Gawd the Dems made all those compromises! [Update: House Democrats pass healthcare reform for men.]

Rep. Anh Cao (R-LA) voted for the bill. Thirty-nine Democrats voted against it. Conservadems in Tennessee who voted against the health care reform bill: Lincoln Davis, John Tanner, Bart Gordon.

Dennis Kucinich voted against the bill. See the list of House Democrats who voted against the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

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GOP Men Behaving Badly in Congress: Silencing Women Lawmakers

Gawd, you won't believe this video clip. Or maybe you will. All the A-holes are Republican men, aka boorish sexist pigs doing their sexist best to make the women shut up.


As the Democratic Women’s Caucus took to the microphone on the House floor to offer their arguments for how the bill would benefit women, House Republicans — led by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) — repeatedly talked over, screamed, and shouted objections. “I object, I object, I object, I object, I object,” Price interjected as Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) tried to hold the floor.

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Health Care/Abortion Reform: Catholic Bishops v. Women's Rights

What's a little thing like a constitutional right when it applies to women only? Catholic Bishops were afraid that our Democratic controlled Congress might forget who's important when it comes to alleged health care reform. Women? Or the Church?

Ah, but not to worry. Nancy Pelosi has submitted to the will of the Bishops. The Bishops are pleased to report that the House will vote today on the amendment that will forbid certain private insurance companies from covering abortion.

Sounding quite surreal, like the Politico of Theocracy, a headline at Politico reads: Bishops Endorse the Amendment.

NARAL and Planned Parenthood are apparently defenseless when it comes to dueling with the old church fathers, but these days, NARAL and Planned Parenthood take their orders from the White House:

Thank you, Planned Parenthood and NARAL, from the bottom of my heart, for sitting on your hands and enabling this shit. Hope you have fun at all those Common Purpose meetings, those cocktail parties at the Pelosi’s. You own this one. It’s not like they haven’t been perfecting this act for a long time. Helping the Democrats stay in power by giving them the Official Good Gyno Seal of Approval even when they do things like — oh, I don’t know, voting for Samuel Alito and tell rape victims to take a cab to another hospital if they want to get Plan B contraception.

Better late than never, it pretends, Planned Parenthood speaks:

Planned Parenthood decried the amendment, saying it would result in the elimination of abortion coverage currently offered by most private health insurance plans.

"This amendment would violate the spirit of health care reform, which is meant to guarantee quality, affordable health care coverage for all by creating a two-tiered system that would punish women, particularly those with low and modest incomes," the group said in a statement. "Women won't stand for legislation that takes away their current benefits and leaves them worse off after health care reform than they are today."


TGW: Misogyny in the Alleged Health Care Reform Bill: Still searching for women's constitutional rights in a Democratic controlled Congress and a Democratic controlled White House. / BBC: Obama in 11th-hour health plea

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Hillary Speaks to the Women at 'No Limits' (Video)

via / Thanks beethovenqueen!

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Policewoman Kim Munley Hailed as Hero for Wounding Gunman at Fort Hood

This is the woman who stopped Major Hasan from killing yet more innocent soldiers at Fort Hood yesterday.

Kimberly Munley, hero and civilian police officer, saved lives when she put an end to the rampage by shooting Major Hasan 4 times, even while Officer Munley herself was wounded.

Officer Kimberly Munley is currently in the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds. She is in stable condition. She is a hero:

Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said Friday morning that Sgt. Kimberly Munley and her partner responded within three minutes of reported gunfire Thursday afternoon. Cone said Munley shot the gunman four times despite being shot herself. . Cone said, "It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer."

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Rihanna Interview Part 2 (Video)

Rihanna talks about the violent assault by Chris Brown in this clip from Good Morning America. Tonight on 20/20, ABC will air the full interview.


See Part 1.

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Time Magazine Cover: The State Of Hillary

Hillary Rodham Clinton is on the cover of this week's Time Magazine. I haven't read the cover story yet, unfortunately it's written by Joe Klein.

Kate Harding has a few choice words about Joe Klein's twisted point of view.

It's only a paragraph, but I'm betting Kate Harding gets more right about Hillary in this one paragraph than Joe Klein does in his entire cover story. On the subject of Hillary, Harding writes:

Perhaps the big lesson to take from this profile, then, is that Hillary Clinton is nowhere near as predictable as we'd like her to be. For as long as she's been in the public eye (and under insane scrutiny to boot), it really seems like we ought to know her well enough to anticipate her next move — and fully understand her last. But it turns out we might not. Which makes it hard to analyze her but really interesting to watch her.

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