Presidential views on choice

I find it amusing that McCain chose a woman for his running mate (presumably to get the chicas to vote for him), seeing as how he's completely anti-choice. Here are some quotes/opinions of the dear Republican candidate (special thanks to GlassBooth.org!):

If Roe v. Wade is overturned and abortion outlawed, McCain said he believes doctors who performed abortions would be prosecuted. "But I would not prosecute a woman" who obtained an abortion. -- Boston Globe, Jan. 31, 2000

"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned." -- Associated Press article, Feb. 18, 2007

Here he acknowledges what women would have to resort to without a choice - and still disagrees!!!

But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations." -- Washington Post

Voted NO on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education and contraceptives. Vote to adopt an amendment to the Senate's 2006 Fiscal Year Budget that allocates $100 million for the prevention of unintended pregnancies. -- Appropriation to expand access to preventive health care services, 2005

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain's campaign officials boast he has "consistently voted against taxpayer-funded contraception programs." -- NowPublic article, August 27, 2007

"I would do everything in my power to ban that horrible procedure...of partial-birth abortion." -- GlassBooth

McCain was asked whether he would reinstate the Reagan era rule that prevents international family planning clinics that receive federal funds from discussing abortion. "I don't believe they should advocate abortion with my tax dollars," McCain said, adding that he opposed abortion except in cases of rape and incest. He was then asked how he would determine whether someone had in fact been raped. McCain responded, "I think [bold font ours] that I would give the benefit of the doubt to the person who alleges that." -- NYT, Jan. 25, 2000

He supports abstinence-only programs...even though countless research have shown that they DON'T WORK:

Senator McCain has a long legislative record of supporting abstinence-based initiatives in his record in the U.S. Senate, said Trey Walker, McCain's South Carolina campaign director. "He thinks that abstinence is healthier and should be promoted in our society for young people." -- Associated Press article, Feb. 16, 2007

On his own Web site!!

On a decision by the Supreme Court to uphold a ban on "partial birth" abortions: "Today's Supreme Court ruling is a victory for those who cherish the sanctity of life and integrity of the judiciary. The ruling ensures that an unacceptable and unjustifiable practice will not be carried out on our innocent children...as we move forward, it is critically important that our party continues to stand on the side of life."

And my personal favorite:

"I am pro-life because of my belief in the dignity of human life." -- ABC News: Political Radar post

Right...let's kill everyone except unborn babies.

Aussie inflation deflation

ABC News in Australia reported the following today:

The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index measures the happiness and wellbeing of Australians.

The latest findings have shown that for the first time in seven years, the wellbeing of men is higher that that of women.

Report author Professor Bob Cummins, from Deakin University, found that women are more sensitive to rising costs as they make more of the household purchasing decisions.

Well, that made me curious, seeing how our economy isn't so hot in the good ol' US either. So after doing a little research, I found the following in a Wall Street Journal blog by Wendy Pollack:

In addition to the well-documented disparity between men’s and women’s pay, there is a persistent gender gap involving consumer prices. Lately, that gap has been widening, Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg tells BusinessWeek. The cost of consumer goods and services targeted at women — including clothes, shoes, cosmetics, jewelry, housekeeping and appliances) have been rising faster than those for typically male products (men’s clothing, sporting goods, televisions, and auto parts and repairs). Using U.S. consumer price inflation data for the past year, Mr. Rosenberg pegs the “female inflation rate” at 3.6% year to year, 18 times the 0.2% rate for men.

Dubs T F? Cause we're not already at a disadvantage?? Of course, there are some reasons for this. WSJ goes on to say:

There are a number of factors driving the disparity. For starters, women currently are experiencing greater job growth than men, fueling an increase in their consumer confidence to six-year highs. That bolsters demand, and consequently, prices, for the things that women are more likely to purchase.

What’s more, women are marrying later than they used to, or not at all. That affects price inflation because single women spend a greater proportion of their income than single men. Unmarried women also tend to spend more money on themselves than men, according to the Census Bureau’s Consumer Expenditure Survey.

Hmmm...makes you take a little different look when at the mall.

The women (and men) know what they're talking about!

I'm watching Hillary's speech at the DNC and thought I'd post some solid pro-femme quotes...'cause nothing's better than reiterating truth. :)

Sylvia Plath:
I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.

Susan B. Anthony:
The fact is, women are in chains, and their servitude is all the more debasing because they do not realize it.

Hillary Clinton:
I have met thousands and thousands of pro-choice men and women. I have never met anyone who is pro-abortion. Being pro-choice is not being pro-abortion. Being pro-choice is trusting the individual to make the right decision for herself and her family, and not entrusting that decision to anyone wearing the authority of government in any regard.

Virginia Woolf:
The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.

Sojourner Truth:
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Margaret Sanger:
Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression.

Ayn Rand:
The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.

Camille Paglia:
We cannot have a world where everyone is a victim. "I'm this way because my father made me this way. I'm this way because my husband made me this way." Yes, we are indeed formed by tramas that happen to us. But you must take charge, you must take over, you are responsible.

Andrea Dworkin:
Woman is not born: she is made. In the making, her humanity is destroyed. She becomes symbol of this, symbol of that: mother of the earth, slut of the universe; but she never becomes herself because it is forbidden for her to do so.

Ursula LeGuin:
We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains.

Florynce Kennedy:
You've got to rattle your cage door. You've got to let them know that you're in there, and that you want out. Make noise. Cause trouble. You may not win right away, but you'll sure have a lot more fun.

Margaret Sanger:
No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.

And my personal favorite tonight:

Hillary:
Eleanor Roosevelt understood that every one of us every day has choices to make about the kind of person we are and what we wish to become. You can decide to be someone who brings people together, or you can fall prey to those who wish to divide us. You can be someone who educates yourself, or you can believe that being negative is clever and being cynical is fashionable. You have a choice.

Check out what other women have said!

Verbage I hate:

I hate the term "alleged rape" - call it what it is. Rape.

The Working World of Women

New Mexico programs are helping women find ways to support themselves and learn skills.

Festival Helps Women Artisans Gain Self-Sufficiency

According to the New Mexico Business Weekly,

Half the women in New Mexico are struggling to live on less than $10,000 a year.

It’s statistics like those from New Mexico Voices for Children that spurred the New Mexico Women’s Foundation to launch its Women’s Cottage Industries Program in 2001. The nonprofit makes grants to other nonprofits and cooperatives around the state who help women earn money through home-based enterprises...

The Foundation also organizes outlets for the products these women make, such as the Rag Rug Festival and Design Collective, which takes place August 15-17 in Santa Fe at the Stewart Udall Center for Museum Resources on Museum Hill.

The article goes on to state:

"We don’t really care what women make,” said Frieda Arth, producer for the festival. “They can make software, start a writers’ retreat, they can make products, they can make crafts. It doesn’t matter to us. They can build furniture. Whatever they can do to make a living is what we’re interested in.”

The women keep all the proceeds from their sales and the Women’s Foundation also covers the costs of bank and credit card charges. The festival is one of three the Foundation does around the state each year and this one includes about 100 artisans.

Arth said the Foundation’s mission has always been geared toward education and economic development, so this program best exemplifies what the Foundation is all about.

Love it!