Video: Obama Raising the Bar
I made this video during the campaign and I think it still has relevance, maybe even more so right now during our country's crisis of trust.
What do you think?
It just so happens that Honey Alexander, wife of Senator Lamar Alexander, was the first name on my list. As I read her bio, I couldn't help thinking that we would probably agree on many issues, especially those impacting children. This letter asks wives of senators to prevail upon their husbands to consider healthcare from a woman's point-of-view. I decided to name this letter DEAR HONEY, underscoring the role wives play in the consciousness of their husbands. A note from MadamaAmbi, author of this letter.
"Recently I saw a pregnant woman I will call Lillian, a 22-year-old who brought her two children with her to the ER. Lillian has a full-time job whose health insurance doesn't cover pregnancy. She can't afford to cover herself and her family on the individual market, and she makes too much money to qualify for Medicaid. Lillian came to the ER because she wants to make sure her baby is okay. A friend with better insurance advised her that she should have an ultrasound. I discharged Lillian with worry. I know that she will have a difficult time finding standard prenatal care. Without that help, she and her baby are at much higher risk for complications, like low birth weight, that can turn into tragedy. Or Lillian's health might suffer. I am embarrassed by how many women die in childbirth in the U.S. — at 15.1 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, our rate is higher than most developed nations. Most women in America will spend roughly 35 years of her life preventing pregnancy, trying to become pregnant, having children, or recovering from pregnancy. She might also face a sexually transmitted disease ~ or a common condition of the reproductive system, like fibroids or polyps. Her health insurance will not help her with any of these basic needs, yet we still call it health insurance. Although women comprise more titan half of the U.S. population, many insurers treat their medical care as an exception to the rule, charging them more, to stay healthy than men and refusing to cover basic reproductive services. When women do not receive gynecological care, they get sick when they could have easily and inexpensively been kept well. Just as she needs to be in good cardiovascular health, a woman must be in good reproductive health whether or not she is trying to got pregnant. An undetected problem in the reproductive system can have devastating consequences. Two of my colleagues have had patients who went without ob/gyn checkups because they could not afford health insurance. By the time they saw a doctor, their cervical cancer had already spread too far to save their lives. One of these women was in her 50s. The other was 28. A woman's reproductive health affects her throughout her life; it is inextricable from her overall well-being. Reproductive health care is a necessity that too many women have gone without for too long. And when women get sick and die, their children feel the impact, as do their spouses, employers, and everyone else who depends on them. I was disappointed but not surprised by the following survey finding: 52 percent of women in our country did not visit a doctor when they had a medical problem or went without a needed prescription or follow-up care because they could not afford these services. I have worked in Philadelphia's emergency rooms since 2002. where I have treated women of all ages who have nowhere else to go for fundamental care. Every day our department treats at least 10 women who come to the ER for pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. These women have to pretend that they have emergency stomach pain or bleeding so that they can get a little bit of obstetric attention, In the rush to develop legislation for health care reform, our senators and representatives must not forget the health of half their constituents. Every private and public insurance plan must guarantee the same set of reproductive services to every woman. We can't keep Lillian and the rest of the women in this country healthy and alive without taking care of their reproductive health."
We need think of abortion in this context. What if it was necessary to save the life of the mother? I think some of these young women need to go before Congress, No one has the right to make decisions for women like this. Can you imagine the health care bills these young women have already? My daughter's bill is like a house payment that never ends. These young women would die because they can't be treated.
A diagnosis that, came in fairly often was TAB. They were always white women, well-dressed, beautiful hair and nails, usually a fur coat if it was winter, and always a private doctor. I never could find out what that acronym stood for. No one wanted to share. Eventually, an intern on the ob-gyn floor told me it stood for therapeutic abortion. He also explained it didn't necessarily mean something was wrong with the mother or the fetus (I asked, because the woman I had just admitted wasn't sick looking).
Abortion is not for me, BUT, I will defend to the death anyone's right to have a safe and legal abortion and a doctor's right to give someone that abortion and have it covered by insurance. The lies and scare tactics being used make me sick and angry. I just wish that everyone would remember that there were abortions before they were legal. There were also many, many tragedies—hemorrhaging to death, septicemia, ruptured uterus, etc., because they didn't have insurance or a doctor to do a TAB.
I have been an active Obama supporter since 11/2007. There were 100,000's of other NYers who did likewise. We labored on in the face of a Dem Party leadership that refused to recognize our existence.
There are so many people in NY who contributed so much to Obama's victory
We won. So my question is why is this organization headed by an aide to a Congress member who campaigned against Obama and continued to advocate for Clinton long after the primaries were over.
It's not that I'm advocating a spoils system or doubting Ms. DeRosa's sincere commitment. I'm just saying it might be better to have one of the many people who committted to Obama's agenda and techniques early on to lead this effort.
(BTW, I hear something similar is going on in South Carolina)
How can we make sure that health care reform includes ending insurance companies' abuse of denying claims (millions of claim denials a year)?
My son was just refused reimbursement for $1,300 for physical therapy for a serious knee injury. His physical therapy was recommended by his doctor to prevent the need for surgery. He was told he could be covered for PT only after he had surgery. How stupid and short-sighted is that! But I bet that, if he has to have surgery , insurance will find another reason to deny the claim. Just think about it. Our insurance premiums pay for insurance staff to find excuses to deny our benefits! Multiply this problem by millions a year.
Access to affordable health insurance is a key starting point, but reform needs to include correction of these bogus claim denials and continued oversight. Universal and continuous access to a public option would also help a lot to keep private insurance honest and give people like my son a chance to vote with his feet and walk out on ripoff private insurers.
Dear Senator Boxer:
I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan not only for your stance on issues impacting women and girls, but also because you're courageous and know how to handle your colleagues and the press with sechel! (I hope I've spelled that correctly.) I used to live in the Bay Area but am now retired in Phoenix. I am a longtime feminist now getting very vocal in "cyberfeminism." Although there are many capable leaders in women's movement, none of them have the moxie you do, or the leverage. I'm writing to tell you that YOU'RE IT! Yes, dear Senator, You Are It. You are the obvious person to step forward and speak for women when current events focus worldwide attention on issues that disproportionately affect women and girls. In my review of the landscape, there is no one else who can take the podium or the microphone or the spotlight and do it as skillfully, as eloquently, and as powerfully as you can.I'm going to mount a campaign to put this idea out to online feminists, and I'll update you on where I'm posting and who else is weighing in on the issue. If you think that other members of Congress should take the podium with you, like Maxine Waters or another woman of color, I hope you will recruit them. If you think that there are men in Congress who should stand with you, please recruit them. Speak for women, Senator Boxer. You're it.
I just finished my first post-election conference call with Organizing For America (OFA). During the election I’ve been on several conference calls for volunteers, but this is the first time I’ve heard “This is the operator from Air Force One, please hold for the President.” After graciously thanking us for our efforts, President Obama talked to us about the importance of working together for health care reform now, and answered questions from volunteers. Clearly the great organization built during the campaign is fired up, and ready to go to work for change. OFA staff – Jeremy Bird, Mitch Stewart, Natalie Foster and David Plouffe - did their usual excellent job of running the call and letting us know about events – June 6th house parties for health care reform – and online organizing tools – event tool, call tool. Now it’s up to us.
To host or attend a health care organizing kickoff, link to:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hckickoff
D.C. Awakening--my interview with Jen Nedeau, Women's Rights blogger at Change.org.
Jen Nedeau blogs about Women's Rights at Change.org. She's not a seasoned feminist who has it all figured out; in fact, her feminist awakening began only a year ago. But she understands that women of her generation have grown up with a "dangerous sense of equality" that does not sync with real-world politics. This interview was recorded in March of 2009.
Get it at iTunes.
In addition to being supportive of many groups, I’m also a transparent organizer, regularly laying out my ideas, my visions, and inviting collaborators. As I’ve said in many places, there’s a tremendous amount of talent in the femisphere and the movement can prosper with many leaders; we don’t all have to sign onto the same agenda or even belong to the same group. That said, the more I get to know who’s doing what, the more I see women’s movement as a vast network of groups and individuals with specializations. Recently I floated the idea of unifying women’s movement on a wiki-map with a recognition of specializations so that we can share talent, resources, know-how and connections. It seems to me that the circuitry exists–the job is to strengthen our connections. Here’s an analogy from a recent article in the NY Times on brain research:
"…research…suggests that brain cells activated by an experience keep one another on biological quick-dial, like a group of people joined in common witness of some striking event. Call on one and word quickly goes out to the larger network of cells, each apparently adding some detail, some sight, sound, smell. The brain appears to retain a memory by growing thicker, or more efficient, communications lines between these cells."
Gloria Pan of Fem2.0 replied that she liked the idea but that there were too many egos involved for this to happen, to which I replied if that’s what’s holding up women’s movement, then we women need to confront it. I’m building relationships with many women and especially focusing on women of color, partly because as a Jew (secular) I don’t identify as white (although I recognize that I have had much white privilege), but also because I really feel that women’s movement cannot succeed without leadership of women of color. Women of color will be the leaders of this phase of women’s movement, imo, and I’m gung-ho on helping this happen.
My basic organizing principle for Feminist Advisory Board for Obama is that it will be networked to all other women’s groups and will facilitate direct communication from the people with the needs to the people who make public policy. This is a very big vision, and I’ve laid out some of my ideas for this in a a proposal for a needs-based women’s media network driven by user-interactivity: Our Needs Have Not Been Met: needia
Although I already feel like you are a friend, I wanted to extend myself to you and your fellow organizers in recognition of our common cause and to open up the lines of communication. Would you please pass this email to your fellow organizers? Also, you are all invited to join Feminist Advisory Board for Obama. I’m looking forward to having meaningful conversations with Feminist Campus.
http://digg.com/politics/Feminist_Advisory_Board_FAB_within_Organizing_for_America
How nice to wake up and find an idea that exists right now in my head and in words is getting eyeballs. Tom Hayes, the Synergist, has posted about FAB and http://needia.blogspot.com at his blog.
Someone has also DUGG the post! Oy, this reminds me of the months I spent doing the drill for the Obama campaign! Push push push! Digg Digg Digg! Tweet Tweet Tweet!
thank you, Mr. Tom Hayes, whoever you are...I see also that you are an entrepreneuer? Would love to have your input on needia.
For incoming White House staff, the past few days have been a singularly thrilling -- and learning -- experience. Wide-eyed staffers roam the halls of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with thick stacks of HR paperwork in hand, new phone numbers are being memorized -- and the line for coffee and club sandwiches is starting to grow as word spreads about the White House Mess. It's safe to say that working at the White House isn't something anyone can prepare for, but the career staff continue to work tirelessly to make the first few days as smooth as possible.
The new media team is coming online as well and our first priority is digging into this new website: improving some of the basic press office functions (like the timely posting of press releases, executive orders, etc.), developing content from other parts of the Administration to share with you and mapping out a plan for technology development. Thanks to heroic supporting roles by the Office of Administration's web and IT team (career government employees who span administrations), we were able to launch the new website. Now we begin the task of moving it forward.
Congress isn't waiting for the dust to settle though -- and neither is the President. Next week the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is due to be passed by Congress and sent to the President. The language within the Senate's version (S.181 [check it out on THOMAS, a service provided by the Library of Congress]) is likely to be the version that arrives on the President's desk for signature, and includes this summary:
A bill to amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and to modify the operation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to clarify that a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice that is unlawful under such Acts occurs each time compensation is paid pursuant to the discriminatory compensation decision or other practice, and for other purposes.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will restore the law to where it was before the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Justice Ginsberg's dissent summarizes the facts of Ledbetter's complaint:
Lilly Ledbetter was a supervisor at Goodyear Tire and Rubber’s plant in Gadsden, Alabama, from 1979 until her retirement in 1998. For most of those years, she worked as an area manager, a position largely occupied by men. Initially, Ledbetter’s salary was in line with the salaries of men performing substantially similar work. Over time, however, her pay slipped in comparison to the pay of male area managers with equal or less seniority. By the end of 1997, Ledbetter was the only woman working as an area manager and the pay discrepancy between Ledbetter and her 15 male counterparts was stark: Ledbetter was paid $3,727 per month; the lowest paid male area manager received $4,286 per month, the highest paid, $5,236.
The Court ruled that employees subject to pay discrimination like Lilly Ledbetter must file a claim within 180 days of the employer's original decision to pay them less -- even if the employee continued to receive reduced paychecks and even if the employee did not discover the discriminatory reduction in pay until much later (check out Justice Alito's arguments in the Court's opinion). Restoring these rules means that complaints can be filed 180 days after any discriminatory paycheck.
President Obama has long championed this bill and Lilly Ledbetter's cause, and by signing it into law, he will ensure that women like Ms. Ledbetter and other victims of pay discrimination can effectively challenge unequal pay.
"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."
--From Inaugural Address, President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009
Professor Bettina Aptheker's popular course at University of CA, Santa Cruz, has released a 17-DVD set of her lectures covering an entire academic quarter.
You can view a short video clip of her giving her own definition of feminism--click here.
There's more info at my blog Feminist Advisory Board for Obama
