Recently in Election Category
We are happy to announce the launch of ¡PRESENTE! an online organizing effort to support and make powerful voices of the Latin@ community. From their introduction letter,
Our goal is to create a broad-based online community of Latinos and our allies strong enough to make the United States honor its promises and protect our people. We're starting with immigration, but we won't stop there--we'll provide you with ongoing opportunities to make change on the issues that most affect our communities.
Get more information here and retweet and re-post widely.
If you think there's even a tiny chance of you heading to the June NOW conference in Indianapolis, sign up to become a NOW member, well...now.
If you want to vote in the NOW elections, and believe me - you want to vote - you must be signed up today. (Late notice, I know. Apologies.)
I'm working on a longer post about why I'm so excited that the fabulous Latifa Lyles is running for NOW President...so be on the look out!
In an effort for women to regain footing in Iraqi government and decision-making, it has become a requirement for every 3rd elected seat in Iraq to be held by a woman. As a result, 4000 women will be running in this year's election.
Nibras al-Mamuri is a secular female candidate who argues that fundamentalists have taken over the country. She says it was the 2005 elections that brought them into power and tarnished Islam's image in Iraq.Al-Mamuri, who is running for the Baghdad provincial council, says it's time for a change.
As we have discussed before and as the article concludes, the US-led invasion of Iraq has made conditions for women worse.
In recent years, Iraqi women have been targeted by extremists for a variety of reasons -- from not covering their hair to entering the political arena.Under Hussein, Iraq was one of the more secular Arab countries, but the 2003 U.S. invasion unleashed extremist militias. Now, many activists say women have been forced back to the Dark Ages, forced to be submissive, anonymous and fully veiled.
Al-Mamuri said she believes Saturday's vote can help women improve their position in society.
Related:
The Military's disingenuous talking points on women's rights.
I completely forgot that back in November on election night, someone was taking video of our reactions to Obama winning and to Prop 8 failing. I was in CA for the historic election this year and I felt this video captured the moment so well and the tension in all our hearts that this moment was so great and so tragic at once.
Read more about it here.
So you probably already know where you are going for tonight's festivities. And while many of us are cynics and we still have a lot of work ahead of us-tonight we have a lot to celebrate. So please consider this a party open thread and promote your inauguration event!
Where will I be? I am currently in LA and I am attending, "Obamas and Beer!"
Details:
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 6:00pm
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 2:00am
Senor Fish
422 E. 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA
Where are you going to be?
This last year was an amazing year in art, music, literature and politics, not to mention some serious personal transitions including a 3000 mile coast to coast move back to my hometown in NY. Here are some of the things I loved this last year.
Favorite movie: Milk. You can read what I wrote about it here. I haven't felt so inspired by a motion picture since Ghandi. Honestly, Slumdog Millionare was a close second, but Milk was my favorite because it combined both great film and a brave and beautiful story.
Favorite Album: Benga, Diary of an African Warrior. For those of you who don't know me personally, you don't know that my other personality is that of an electronic music nerd that goes all over the place to dance to new and interesting forms of electronic music. My most recent favorite being a form of music called dubstep. This album got me up and out of my chair consistently and does what we would call, "bring the noise." Check it out if you dare and remember to keep an open mind.
Favorite art exhibit: Josue Rojas, Deporting the American Dream. Yeah, I know Josue personally, that might be part of it, but his short lived art exhibit in San Francsisco was hands down the best art I saw this year which mixed media, images and one of the most powerful stories, not being told in mainstream media.
Favorite book: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz. Diaz won the Pultizer for this this. I can't speak highly enough of this book, I have sat to write reviews about it time and again and I feel I have to read it again to do it any justice. If you are a fiction fan, it is a must read. You can also listen to an interview with him here. The man is an inspiration to the aspirations of immigrant writers and artists.
Favorite live show: Erykah Badu with the Roots. Do I really need to say more?
Favorite city: New York. After 7 years on the West Coast I made the move back to NY and fell in love with this city all over again. San Francisco will always be in my heart, but right now, New York is who I am dating.
Favorite moment of 2008: When it was announced that Barack Obama is to be the 44th president of the United States of America. Yeah, that is cheesy and everyone else's moment, but damn, it was pretty great.
What were your favorite things of 2008?
Please check the a new series, "You voted, now what?" by Wiretap Magazine and the Nation highlighting the huge bump in youth energy, engagement and organizing through the Obama campaign and election and inspired by the hope that young people will embark upon a life-long careers in public service.
Here is a promo explaining the series, "You voted, now what?"
Check it out and spread the word. One way we can hold Obama accountable is demand the resources we need to keep organizing, along with stay involved ourselves.
The Washington Post has a piece up about the anti-choice movement's next moves now that Obama has been elected. Some movement leaders are abandoning their strategy to overturn Roe, instead focusing on ways to reduce the number of abortions. (Well, not really - but I'll get at that in a minute.)
Some of the activists are actually working with abortion rights advocates to push for legislation in Congress that would provide pregnant women with health care, child care and money for education -- services that could encourage them to continue their pregnancies....Although the activists insist that they are not retreating from their belief that abortion is immoral and should be outlawed, they argue that a more practical alternative is to try to reduce abortions through other means.
And yet, contraception is not mentioned once. I think that increased health and child care opportunities for women are a great thing - and frankly, it's about time the folks who blather on about fetuses start supporting social programs that actually help people - but the best way to reduce the number of abortions is to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. That means birth control.
Despite efforts from pro-choice groups like NARAL Pro-Choice America - who launched their Prevention First campaign calling on anti-choice groups to support increased contraception access for a mutual goal of decreasing unwanted pregnancies - and proposed legislation like the Prevention First Act, anti-choicers continue to turn a blind eye. That's because reducing unwanted pregnancies isn't their goal, and they don't want women to realize that anti-choice groups don't support access to contraception - something 98% of American women will use at some point during their reproductive lives.
I also must admit that I'm wary of what kind of legislation anti-choicers have in mind when they talk about programs to support pregnant women. It's not like conservatives and anti-choicers have done such a good job in the past trying to "encourage" women to be mothers and wives.
So really, I fail to see how this is a change of strategy at all - anti-choice groups are going to continue to try and block access to contraception and limit women's reproductive choices. Sounds like the same old shit to me.
Are we really still discussing this?
While Dennis Miller being a totally sexist asshole is no big news, this takes the cake for me. On Wednesday's O'Reilly Factor, he plays into the whole "liberal women are just jealous of Sara Palin" nonsense, saying it's because we're just frigid and have no sex lives. He says:
She's a great dame. People are fascinated by her because the Left hate her. I think the Left hate her -- mostly women on the Left hate her -- because to me from outside in it appears that she has a great sex life, all right? I think she has non-neurotic sex with that Todd Palin guy. ... I think that snow mobile looks like mechanized foreplay to me and that's why people are fascinated.
Look up the whole segment too, where he also contends that most women in general are cranky and unhappy "mean girls." He's a sharp one, that Miller!
h/t to Brooke.
