Canada Wins Gold for Men's Hockey (Video)

Woo hoo! Canada won the Gold for men's hockey too! Just like they did for women's hockey. The country set a record by winning the most Gold Medals for any Olympics, winter or summer. I'm half Canadian, so this victory is great for my Canadian side, which sometimes resents living in the shadow of the side that bullies like, and pollutes on the scale of, an Empire. Living in the shadow of an Empire can be bad for your health and self-esteem too. The Olympic Gold for a game that Canada invented is good for my Canadian self-esteem. Oh, and another reason I'm glad, Robert Gibbs lost a bet and will have to wear a Canadian jersey for 15 minutes of a televised press briefing. Heh.

Team Canada vs. Team USA Hockey

Yet another very cool Canadian ad from Molson:

Made from Canada

Politics Canada USA News Olympics Molson Commercials Vancouver 2010

Jay Leno Returns. Conan Tweets. (Video)

I'm with Jay Leno on the subject of curling (watch it below). This is a sport? A sport that even the Olympics couldn't get me to sit on the edge of my seat for or stay awake even. But I'll be awake when Leno returns Monday night (tomorrow)! Meanwhile Conan tweets.


Politics Curling News Jay Leno

Women Win the Gold for Canada & Celebrate With Champagne on the Ice (Photo)

Toronto Sun: VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — In a sport Canada invented, nothing less than gold would do. And when the women’s hockey team had it in hand, the joy and champagne overflowed. The players stormed back onto the ice half an hour after beating the United States 2-0 on Thursday and staged a raucous celebration — smoking cigars and swigging beer and bubbly.

Haley Irwin poured champagne into the mouth of Tessa Bonhomme, gold medals swinging from both their necks. Meghan Agosta and Marie-Philip Poulin posed with goofy grins. Goalies Charline Labonte and Kim St-Pierre posed at center ice for Poulin, lying on their stomachs with a giant bottle of champagne resting just above the Olympic rings. Rebecca Johnston actually tried to commandeer the ice-resurfacing machine. via Gawker

Politics Feminist News Gender

Judd Gregg (R) on Reconciliation: 'Is There Something Wrong with Majority Rules?' (Video)

Here's Republican Judd Gregg, in a video clip back in 2005, arguing that the Reconciliation process is a really really good thing. It's the American way! Majority rules! If you've got 51 votes, you win, argues the Republican. That's the way the U.S. Senate works, and Democrats should just get used to it, insists Judd Gregg.

Nowadays, Gregg and his Republican cronies have switched sides and sound exactly like the Democrats of 2005. Nowadays Republicans argue that using the Reconciliation process would pave the way to hell. It would be "an unprecedented, dangerous and historic mistake."

This is the utterly stupid two-party tyranny system at work. The Dems and Republicans simply take turns making the same moronic arguments over and over and over again. No wonder the two parties get nothing done over and over and over again. It's impossible to believe that we would have such an utterly dysfunctional and pathetic system of government if women had been permitted to have a hand in designing it. The idiots in charge are good for taking out the garbage, and that's about it.

Politics Two Party Tyranny News Gender

Gov. Sanford's Divorce to Be Televised

South Carolina's Governor Mark Sanford -- infamous for having an adulterous affair with his "soul mate" in Argentina while pretending to hike the Appalachian trail -- will have his divorce finalized this Friday. The divorce hearing will be covered live on teevee. This is so weird. When did divorce hearings begin to be televised?

A court roster published in Charleston County reveals a family court judge in Charleston County will preside over the Sanford's appearance in court Friday. It will mark the first time in state history that a sitting governor has divorced. The first lady filed for divorce in December on the grounds of adultery. . .

Live coverage will be provided on WMBF News Xtra & online: http://bit.ly/bMkfap

Politics Feminist News South Carolina

Judge Orders Deadbeat Dad Levi Johnston to Pay Up

The judge ordered Levi Johnston to pay $1,688.42 a month in child support and to cough up roughly $18,000 in back payments. I guess Levi will have to get back to work at his high-paying occupation of bad-mouthing Sarah Palin.

During a hearing in the child support case between Bristol Palin and Levi, the judge ruled Levi must pay $1,688.42 a month in support, retroactive to the child's birth -- December 27, 2008. Bristol was in court in Alaska for the hearing -- Levi was a no-show.

Politics Feminist News Gender

Pelosi to Obama: Remember When You Supported the Public Option? (Video)

At today's Health Care Summit, Nancy Pelosi managed to bring forth our fondest memories of a long-ago Barack Obama who fiercely championed the public option. Also, at the mostly male Health Care Summit, it fell to Nancy Pelosi to correct the conservative lies on the subject of abortion.


video via firedoglake

Politics Feminist News Gender

The 2010 Health Care Summit: Where Are the Women?

It's the year 2010, so why am I remembering the bad old days when men made the laws of the land for the good of us helpless little women?

Looking around the Health Care Summit table, I see Nancy Pelosi, Kathleen Sebelius and Marsha Blackburn.

Over there on the Republican side, I see a number of unidentified women sitting silently behind important men. Like this is a Middle Eastern conference of important male leaders attended by silent, obedient women.

Why can't our esteemed leaders get anything done? Gee, I dunno, maybe it has something to do with the outrageous and draconian and sexist custom of keeping women away from the decision making table.

Politics Feminist News Gender Equal Representation

Rachel Maddow To Obama: Ignore the Public Option 'At Your Very Grave Peril' (Video)

This is from last night, Rachel Maddow delivered a pre Health Care Summit WORD to Obama on the electoral dangers of ignoring Medicare for All and an actual Pubic Option.


Politics Health Insurance Reform News Health Care Medicare for All Public Option

Gay Activists to Harold Ford: "Snake-Oil Harry, Go Away"

Harold Ford Meets New York's Stonewall Democrats, and it ain't pretty.

Harold Ford, or as they call him in New York --Snake-Oil Harry -- showed up at the Stonewall Dems and got the kind of welcome only a snake-oil salesman deserves:

It wasn't an easy message to get out in a raucous 30 minutes at the W. 13th St. club. Ford was interrupted repeatedly by chants of "No more lies, no more lies" and "Snake-oil Harry, go away."

At one point, several audience members raised signs with slogans like, "It's the lies, stupid!" At the end of the session, someone even ignited a loud but harmless confetti bomb - sending a noticeable jolt through Ford and others. Ford stood his ground, answering a dozen or so questions and trying - with little apparent success - to argue that his support of gay marriage was now for real. . .

One of few hushed moments of the evening came when Lt. Dan Choi - a gay Army officer who came out last March - rose to press Ford on gay marriage, noting pointedly that he fought in Iraq to secure rights "for your family that mine is not afforded."

Ford said he, too, would fight to let gays serve openly, but Choi was not convinced.

Ford was quizzed on same-sex marriage, DADT, choice, etc. The crowd was loud and jeering and broke out in chants of "Anti Choice, Anti Gay, Snake-Oil Harry, Go Away," among other things. See the entire hilarious event via 3 videos at Watch: Harold Ford Vs. NYC’s Stonewall Democrats – Complete Video! This is #3, the shortest one:

Politics LGBT News Harold Ford Tennessee New York Stonewall Democrats

The 2010 Health Care Summit Political Drama (Video)

President Obama meets with Republicans today in a political drama billed as a Health Care Summit. The President says he wants to compromise some more with conservatives. There are no plans for the President to hold a similar meeting or compromise in any way whatsoever with those on the left whom Obama expects to show up at the polls later this year. Womb-obsessed conservadem Stupak will be there. And that may be as liberal as the President's Summit gets.


The summit runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., EST. The first four hours will be broadcast on MSNBC, they will switch to Olympics at 2:00, EST. Live C‑SPAN coverage begins at 9:45am ET on C‑SPAN3, C‑SPAN.org.

Politics Obama News Republicans

She's Live-Tweeting Her Abortion on Twitter (Video)

Blogger and mother of a 4-year-old, Angie the Anti Theist is live-tweeting her abortion. She says she's doing it to demystify abortion, to make the point that "it's just not that bad." That's 1970s talk. After Roe became the law of the land back in 1973, women talked like that all the time. With courageous women like Angie leading the way, maybe we'll eventually get back to the way we were in the 1970s. (See comments at YouTube)

"I'm live-tweeting my abortion on Twitter. Not for some publicity stunt, or attention, or to justify this to myself; I am at peace with my decision.

"I'm doing this to demystify abortion. I'm doing this so that other women know, 'Hey, it's not nearly as terrifying as I had myself worked up thinking it was.' It's just not that bad." Read more at Shakesville

Politics Feminist News Gender Abortion Rights Pro Choice RU-486

Tennessee Woman Testifies About Near Death Toyota Experience (Video)

In tearful testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Rhonda Smith, a retired social worker from Sevierville, Tennessee, describes the nightmare near-death experience of her new Toyota Lexus (350 ES sedan) suddenly zooming to 100 miles per hour.


Politics Tennessee News Toyota

Canada Responds to the Loss of Gold

via DU

Politics Winter Olympics News Vancouver Olympic Hockey United States

Public Option Hocus Pocus: Deceitful Dems Pursue Winning Strategy of Pissing Off the Base

Chris Bowers, over at Open Left, observes that the White House offers no proof of its claim that Dems can't pass the public option even via the 50 vote Reconciliation procedure.

Hell, Dems could have a 95% vote majority and still be unable unwilling to pass anything without their corporate masters' stamp of approval. Come election day, maybe their corporate donors will show up at the polls because, other than droves of Republicans, who the hell else is going to? November 2, 2010 looks like a great day to stay in bed.

Glenn Greenwald has another fine post documenting the deceitful tactics of President Obama and the sham of a Democratic Party:

Progressives: Hey, great! Now that you're going to pass the bill through reconciliation after all, you can include the public option that both you and we love, because you only need 50 votes, and you've said all year you have that!

Democrats/WH: No. We don't have 50 votes for that (look at Jay Rockefeller). Besides, it's not the right time for the public option. The public option only polls at 65%, so it might make our health care bill -- which polls at 35% -- unpopular. Also, the public option and reconciliation are too partisan, so we're going to go ahead and pass our industry-approved bill instead . . . on a strict party line vote.

This is why, although I basically agree with filibuster reform advocates, I am extremely skeptical that it would change much, because Democrats would then just concoct ways to lack 50 votes rather than 60 votes -- just like they did here. Ezra Klein, who is generally quite supportive of the White House perspective, reported last week on something rather amazing: Democratic Senators found themselves in a bind, because they pretended all year to vigorously support the public option but had the 60-vote excuse for not enacting it. But now that Democrats will likely use the 50-vote reconciliation process, how could they (and the White House) possibly justify not including the public option? So what did they do? They pretended in public to "demand" that the public option be included via reconciliation with a letter that many of them signed (and thus placate their base: see, we really are for it!), while conspiring in private with the White House (which expressed "sharp resistance" to the public option) to make sure it wouldn't really happen.

The only thing I wonder about is whether Washington Democrats are baffled about the extreme "enthusiasm gap" between Democratic and Republican voters, which very well could cause them to lose control of Congress this year. By "enthusiasm gap," it is meant that the very people who worked so hard in 2006 and 2008 to ensure that Democrats became empowered are now indifferent -- apathetic -- about whether they keep it. Even as crazed and extremist as the GOP is, is it remotely possible that the Democratic establishment fails to understand not only why this "enthusiasm gap" exists, but also why it's completely justifiable?

Politics Liberal News Two Party Tyranny

And the Women Nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards Are . . (Video)

This is from the Women's Media Center. You can help women stop losing ground in Hollywood, by signing the WMC petition.


"Women are 51% of the population but are losing ground in Hollywood. Even as we celebrate Kathryn Bigelow's "Best Director" nomination, in 2009, women comprised only 7% of all directors, 8% of writers, 17% of all executive producers, and 35 percent of 2009's top films had no female producers at all." Sign the petition. .

Politics Feminist News Gender

French Anti Smoking Ads Shock

Anti-smoking ads featuring teens kneeling before men in an oral sex pose are causing an uproar in France. Reportedly, the anti smoking campaign attempts to compare sexual slavery to slavish dependence on tobacco.

Politics Feminist News Gender

Stupak Makes Anti-Choice Noises

Womb obsessed Bart Stupak wants everyone to know that he is not going to rest until his anti choice amendment is attached to every health care bill in the nation.

The Michigan Democrat says the President's Health care proposal is "unacceptable" because it does not include the anti choice Stupak Amendment.

Meanwhile virtually every Democratic-supporting women's organization in the country has condemned the anti choice language of the House health care bill, the Senate health care bill, and now the President's newly released health care plan. All of them promote the anti choice agenda by placing dangerous restrictions on abortion rights. But hey, we're only women. It's not like we're going to riot in the streets or anything.

Aren't you glad we have a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President in the White House?

"Who needs the overturning of Roe v. Wade when you have healthcare reform?"

--Meg White

Politics Feminist News Gender

Senate Stalls On 290 Bills Passed by House

Democratic Leaders of the House have put together a list of 290 bills passed by the House and stalled by the Senate. Two hundred and ninety! If the Lords and token Ladies in the U.S. Senate actually passed bills, the U.S. Government might not be quite so dysfunctional. With a record like this ordinary people would have been fired a very long time ago.

Politics News Gender

Kathryn Bigelow Is First Woman to Win 'Best Director' at 'British Oscars' (Video)

Kathryn Bigelow has become the first woman to win the BAFTA award for Best Director. Here's hoping Kathryn Bigelow does this again at the U.S. Oscars on March 7. Bigelow's The Hurt Locker won BAFTAs in 6 of 8 nominated categories, including Best Film. The Hurt Locker has been nominated in 9 categories, including Best Director, at the U.S. Academy Awards. The Oscar for Best Director has never been awarded to a woman.


Politics Feminist News Gender Hurt Locker

Joy Behar to Evan Bayh: You Sound Like Sarah Palin (Video)

Evan Bayh appeared on The View this morning where Elizabeth Hasselbeck pointed out the oddity of someone who is allegedly sick of partisan politics making partisan jokes:


"I hate to say it, but you sound like Sarah Palin right now," Joy Behar said, accusing the senator of quitting his job before his work was done.

"Do you want to look at my hand?" he joked, referring to the talking points Palin wrote on the palm of her hand when she appeared before the National Tea Party Convention earlier this month. Elizabeth Hasselbeck, the conservative in the group, pounced on Bayh's remark about Palin. "You sit here and say, 'I'm sick of the partisanship,' yet you throw a cheap Sarah Palin joke in, so I don't really understand or believe you," Hasselbeck said.

Politics Feminist News Gender

Obama's New Health Care Plan

The biggest news about the President's "new" health care plan is that it's basically the same old same old senate bill, and the Dems intend to pass it via Reconciliation. Or so they say. IF Democrats actually deliver on the threat to stand and fight for anything, then Democrats would not be acting like Democrats. So, we'll believe it when we see it. Obama also proposes to block excessive rate increases from the insurance companies. Following are snippets of opinion from lefty bloggers of interest:

Digby: "It's pretty much the Senate bill with the reconciliation fixes everyone's discussed. The regulation of insurance rates was apparently a part of the discussions early on but was dropped in order to get the "cooperation" of the insurance industry, something which they have finally figured out isn't worth doing. All in all, no surprises."

David Dayen: "Community health centers. Bernie Sanders worked hard to get close to $10 billion in additional funding for community health centers, some of the most efficient money in the entire bill, offering universal coverage to low-income community residents.

Paul Krugman: "OK, the plan is out. Basically, it splits the difference between the House and Senate bills, with a set of measures that can be passed through reconciliation. Igor Volsky has a nice table doing the comparison. Since the House bill is better than the Senate bill, and the Senate bill is much better than nothing, this should be a go."

Jane Hamsher: "Mandate Penalty Increases From 2% to 2.5% In President’s Health Care Bill"

Cedwyn: "This comment by dmhlt 66 has a nifty comparison chart for the three bills, Obama/House/Senate and this comment by Femlaw has info about the WH blog feature where you can calculate how his proposal would impact you."

Ezra Klein: "The changes are pretty much what we expected: more money going to subsidies (which are now being referred to as "the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history"), an excise tax that kicks in later and affects fewer plans, a new Health Insurance Rate Authority to oversee premium increases and reject them if they're unfair, the elimination of the Nebraska deal, and so on. There's no public option, nor any significant retrenchment. In fact, the cost of the bill has increased by $75 billion, the result of more generous subsidies."

Politics Feminist News Gender

Joslyn James Wants An Apology from Tiger Woods (Video)

Politics Feminist News Gender Gloria Allred

Did Ford Tell Gillibrand to Stop Lying On Him Or to Stop Reclining Upon Him?

Harold Ford, the phony who swings to the right when he's in Tennessee and to the left when he's in New York, is calling Senator Gillibrand a liar. There's a funny conversation over at Politico about what Harold Ford really meant when he whined to Senator Gillibrand: "stop lying on me."

Also, Harold Ford Jr. Is a Rogue Twitterer

Politics Tennessee News New York

Bill Maher's Real Time Panel Takes on the Democrats (Video)

In the video clip below, Bill Maher's Real Time panel discusses the apparent inability of Obama and the Democrats to stand and fight for anything, or get anything done. Maher's show returned to HBO last night. The panel: Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, MSNBC Washington Correspondent Norah O'Donnell, and "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane.


Politics Democrats News Obama

Al Gore on Twitter: "Exxon Lies"

"No surprise. Exxon lies about pledge not to fund climate deniers" http://bit.ly/9pI7RN

via The Hill

Politics Nashville Tennessee Environmentalist Climate Change News

Ohio Man Bulldozes His $350,000 Home To Stop Foreclosure (Video)

A sign of the times . . .

Politics Ohio News Tennessee

Martha Coakley to Judge: DOMA Is Unconstitutional

Go Martha Coakley!:

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley says a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman interferes with her state's right to regulate the institution. Coakley's office filed a lawsuit in July challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act. In papers filed late Thursday, Coakley asks a judge to deem the law unconstitutional without holding a trial on the lawsuit.

Coakley argues that regulating marital status has traditionally been left to the states. She also says the federal law treats married heterosexual couples and married same-sex couples differently on Medicaid benefits and burial in veterans' cemeteries.

Politics Feminist News Gender Same-Sex Marriage Gay Defense of Marriage

Tiger Woods' Apology Is Just in Time for Masters Tournament. Quelle Coincidence!

Tiger Woods is making his televised apology as I write. And the choppers have been hovering all morning. Reportedly, Tiger will not answer any questions about his serial womanizing. Our sources say that John Edwards is eager for us to forgive Tiger.

The apology comes just in time for the upcoming Masters Tournament.

Tiger Woods is the odds-on favorite to win the Masters Golf Tournament. As the name suggests, The Masters is an all male contest which follows the traditional path of forbidding women from competing with the men, preferring instead to keep women in their traditional place, for the pleasure of men. In that area too, Tiger is a pro.

Tiger Woods Apology: Buddhism Will Guide Me

Politics Feminist News Sexist Masters Tournament Video

Olbermann's White Male NBC Problem (Video)

via Instapundit

Politics Feminist News Gender MSNBC Diversity

Smith College Students Go Wild When Maddow Announced As Commencement Speaker (Video)

Politics Feminist News Gender

The Democratic Party, A Figment of Your Imagination (Video)

Aka, In Search of Democrats, by Ted Rall:


Politics Feminist News Gender

Draft John Mellencamp for the Senate

There appears to be a movement afoot to draft John Mellencamp for the senate. If he would only do it, Indiana would forget all about Evan Bayh real quick. And the Republicans could forget about even trying to pick up the Indiana seat. Good idea? Or just another sign of Democratic desperation?

Politics Progressive News Indiana

After the Rapture Pet Care

Now here's a good business idea.


Politics Feminist News Gender

Crash & Protest Anti-Gay Harold Ford's Stonewall Democrats Address

When Harold Ford addresses the Stonewall Democrats next week, he can expect some uninvited guests. A group called The Power (The People United for LGBT Equality) is organizing the protest. (Wed. 2/24 6 p.m. at NYC LGBT Center.) Ninety-one 164 protesters, and counting, are currently signed on at the Facebook page. It reads:

Crash Harold Ford, Jr.'s Address to Stonewall Democrats NYC . . Stop this anti-gay candidate from running for the Senate in New York.

It would be hard to find a politician more two-faced than Harold Ford. Now he says he supports gay marriage and has always supported civil unions. Funny, we never heard anything like that back when Ford was bashing gays and voting for discrimination during his 2006 campaign for the senate here in Tennessee. In fact, liberals in Tennessee got so sick of Ford's gay bashing that many abstained from the senate vote that year.

As others have noted, New York ain't Tennessee, and Harold Ford is now clearly out of his league: "I don't think he's aware of what the gay community is like in New York," said Marty Algaze, a veteran of both LGBT and Democratic politics. "He's walking into a lion's den." It's high time that Harold Ford got some payback for being such a two-faced liberal-hating anti-choice homophobe. Bring it on!

Update: Change your Facebook profile picture to support the LGBT protest of Harold Ford, Jr.’s speech

Politics LGBT News Gay Harold Ford New York Tennessee

Right-Wing Politics: Punch A Pelosi Piñata at CPAC

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) begins tomorrow. At this year's ultra right-wing CPAC, conservatives will be invited to punch a Nancy Pelosi piñata. They can also slug a Harry Reid punching bag. Afterwards they can all go home and kick their dogs.

Feminist Politics News Gender

Johnny Weir Wows Them at the Winter Olympics (Video)

Politics Olympics News Figure-Skating

Keith Olbermann Defends MSNBC's Diversity Problem

Keith was busy calling out the Tea Party people for racism when someone mentioned MSNBC's preference for shows hosted by white people. MSNBC's preference is actually for white men because, hey, that's the American tradition. It's true that the cable news channel has made a small measure of progress on gender since it got called out for pronounced misogyny in 2008. It just goes to show that embarrassment and public humiliation works wonders. MSNBC, like the rest of US media, needs lots more embarrassment and public humiliation.

Keith put up a very long and winded defense of MSNBC's futile efforts to promote diversity. If the charge had been misogyny, or sexism, Keith would have made somebody Worst Person and told them to SFU.

"It is sad that Ms. Couric could not have emulated [Cowan] and separated the hype from the news in her own promulgation of the nonsense that Senator Clinton was a victim of pronounced sexism."

-- Keith Olbermann

Politics Feminist News Gender

Searching for Harold Ford's Principles

Quote of the Day

“'Southern voters are interested in solutions,' said Harold Ford Jr. in 2003. 'They can spot a fake.' Perhaps this explains Ford’s subsequent decision to decamp from the South in search of a more gullible electorate. . .

“All politicians, to varying degrees, have pliable beliefs that must bend and twist to mesh with political surroundings that change over time. Ford’s distinguishing trait is that his principles are not merely pliable but completely liquid--they have no form of their own, taking the shape of whatever surrounds them. . . The notion that Democratic primary voters in New York will embrace Ford may be more fantastical than the wildest investment scheme that predated the crash.

“Harold--don’t call me. We’ll call you.”

-- Jonathan Chait, In Nowhere Man,

The vain search for Harold Ford’s principles

Politics Liberal News New York Tennessee Conservadem

Study: Public Transportation in the USA is Not Exactly Safe for Women

A recent study finds that other countries are doing a much better job of responding to the needs of women when it comes to making public transportation a safe and viable option:

We . . found that other countries are doing much more. Particularly I’m talking about the U.K., Australia and Canada, that have all incorporated women’s voices into transportation planning. . . If you look into Japan, or Mexico, Brazil, the countries I mentioned before, this issue is being dealt with much more systematically than here in the U.S.

Politics Feminist News Gender

Obama Woos Republicans by Going Nuclear

No one knows where we'll put all that new toxic waste, probably here in the poverty-stricken South, but who cares, eh? The South didn't vote for Obama. The President has promised to return us to the cold war era practice of building nuclear reactors. Here's a great way to restore confidence in government. A few little lethal toxic mishaps will really do the trick.

The New York Times notes that Obama's embrace of nuclear reactors is, among other things, another ploy to win Republican support for the Obama agenda. What a joke. And isn't it funny how the very same Republicans who don't trust government, are so eager to trust government with the production and storage of radioactive waste? I see the first two reactors will be built in Georgia, a state which certainly didn't vote for Obama.

How about if the next two nuclear reactors are built in a Chicago suburb?

Related: Amy Goodman: Obama's Nuclear Option

Politics Environmental News Gender

Hillary Meets Saudi Women

In a question and answer session with Hillary Rodham Clinton, Saudi women were invited to raise questions about women's rights, but did not:

The college appeared to exert tight control over who was handed a microphone.

Politics Feminist News Gender Hillary Rodham Clinton

Sen. Barbara Mikulski to Resign Too?

The earth hasn't stopped reeling from Evan Bayh's knife in the Democrats' back, or the stunning news of Senator Evan Bayh's resignation. Yet already there are rumors of another resignation. Reportedly, Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski will resign within days. If true, the heavily male-dominated Congress will become even more so, and the US will fall even farther behind. If true, Mikulski will become the 6th Democratic senator to jump ship.

If New York doesn't work out for Harold Ford, maybe he can move to Maryland or Indiana. Or one of these states:

"Evan Bayh is the fifth Democratic Senator not seeking re-election. He joins Sens. Chris Dodd (Conn.), Byron Dorgan (N.D.), Ted Kaufman (Del.) and Roland Burris (Ill.) on the sidelines."

via

Democratic Politics Feminist News Harold Ford

Sexist Bill Maher Stages 'Fashion Show' of 'Hot' Burka-Clad Women, Again (Video)

Bill Maher's show -- Real Time -- returns to HBO this week. It's as good a time as any to remember why the sexist slime can't get sponsors. Maher's new stand up act, But I'm Not Wrong, played on HBO Saturday night, and it featured yet another one of Maher's shamefully offensive Burka fashion shows. Maher called it the Christian Dior show.

Burka-clad women traipsed barefoot across the stage while Bill leered and made his signature snide and derogatory sexual comments. Jezebel has the clip. Below is another one, a clip of a Burka fashion show from one of Bill's old shows. Notice in the new show, Bill adds a twist, the women's bare feet and legs are exposed.

Gawd. I am so waiting for the day when women get up and stage a mass exit from his show. If this was the 1970s, Bill Maher wouldn't be able to walk through a door without confronting crowds of outraged women carrying signs. Alas, jerks like this thrive during eras of feminist apathy.


Politics Feminist News Gender

No 'Testicular Fortitude' in this White House

The Obama Administration is said to be terribly understaffed due to the Republicans' refusal to confirm Obama's nominees. So what does Obama do about it? With a historic number of holds on his nominees, does the President summon a little of that famed 'testicular fortitude' and prepare to make some recess appointments?

Um, no. Instead, the President effectively bows down to Republicans and promises he won't hurt them. Because governing the country is not so important that we want to risk hurting the feelings of Republicans.

Ezra Klein explains:

"On Tuesday," the president said in a statement released last night, "I told Senator McConnell that if Republican senators did not release these holds, I would exercise my authority to fill critically-needed positions in the federal government temporarily through the use of recess appointments. This is a rare but not unprecedented step that many other presidents have taken."

At this point in his presidency, George W. Bush had made 10 recess appointments. Over the course of his presidency, he would make almost 200. Bill Clinton made about 150. In describing recess appointments as "a rare but not unprecedented step," Obama made it harder to actually make any, because he's defined the procedure -- which, unlike the hold, is a defined constitutional power of the president rather than a courtesy observed in the Senate -- as an extraordinary last-resort. He also promised, later in the statement, that he wouldn't make any appointments this recess. . .

What was the danger, then, of making recess appointments? That it would lead to a fight over Republican obstruction that the administration might actually win?

Politics Feminist News Gender Obama Recess Appointments