Category Archives: Politics

13 September 2010

EPA Hearing Feelings

By Nicki

The people in upstate NY that live over the Marcellus shale formation should be happy that the EPA has chosen to hold a hearing in Binghamton, NY.  I realize that this issue is dividing our communities but I also think that public hearings should not be forums for long political speeches.

The current rules are such that each speaker has two minutes to speak.  The first four hour session had 123 speakers lined up.  This is too many for two minutes each.  Congressman Maurice Hinchey is the finally speaker.  I believe he held the main podium – not the podium where the average citizen is to speak from – for approximately 10 minutes.  This means that four of his constituents did not get to speak because he chose to run over his two minute time limit.

I will most likely add to this as the 16 hours of hearing continues.

 

A few resources that I discovered during the first four hours of the EPA hearing are that you can follow comments on Twitter by following the hash tag #epahearing.  Innovation Trail is live blogging from the hearing at http://innovationtrail.org/content/live-blogging-binghamton-epa-hearing.  Both the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin and the Elmira Star Gazette are streaming a live feed.  The feed does occasionally go down but they are very good about getting it back up as quickly as possible.

Here are notes I took and tweeted during the first four hour block.  The speakers seemed about evenly divided between those for and those against fracking.

Can’t politicians follow the same rules the rest of us have to follow? - Representative Maurice Hinchey stood at main podium and took about 10 minutes, though it seemed longer.

Representative Arcuri makes a point that EPA and environmental agencies need to know the chemicals used in fracking.

Broome County Exec Barbara Fiala says county gov’t believes fracking is safe if properly regulated. Fiala also hopes study done in timely manner.

Petroleum engineer from Madison Cty, David Keif (?), says in years of work with hydraulic fracking, he has no knowledge of ground H2O being contaminated.

Tompkins County legislature chair says H2O contamination is contamination whether from leak, trucking accident or whatever.

Steven Palmitier from Chenango Cty asks that all interested parties be kept up to date on EPA process.

Rural towns being overwhelmed with processes needed to protect residents, not budgeted for costs.

No cases of contaminated ground water in NY from fracking which is how over 90% of wells in NY are drilled.

To see the effects of processes, look where the processes have already been in use.  Statement from woman with Damascus Citizens for Sustainablity (I think that is the name of the group).

Isaac Walton League voted to back a moratorium on new hydraulic fracking permits.  Isaac Walton League also questions cumulative effects of creating access roads and additional runoff.

Many speakers have mentioned the understaffing at NYS DEC and that this will impact DEC’s ability to regulate fracking.

Dr Dan Brown, Animal Science at Cornell, “dose makes the toxin” so MUST have what chemicals are used and in quantities  Brown also suggests looks at how toxins will go into food sources from animals.

Air pollution, which is already an issue in NYS with ozone alerts, should be considered in studies by EPA.

Jackie Root, Tioga PA, says she & husband stewards of land. Wants to know likelihood of H2O contamination.

Hydraulic fracking is inherently dangerous. If we understood this, we would not be fracking before study is done.

Speaker asks EPA to remove bias from their web site and literature.

Disposal of waste fluids is being an complicated problem, according to Halliburton.

Stein, insurer for gas industry in NY & PA: if water contamination via sub-surface migration was prevalent, would be more claims.

People generally do not get sick right away. Takes generations. Elmer Ewing of Shaleshock

Did Danby bus people in for the hearing? Lots of speakers from Danby, NY.

Compell companies to reveal what is in fracking fluids. Do not just ask for them to reveal.

Water contamination feared to undermine economy. NYS can’t take more hits to its economy.

1,000 gas wells within city limits of Fort Worth. Good area to study for health issues.

River Keeper organization released report today regarding ground H2O contamination.

Hydrogeologist John Conrad says confident hydrofracking can be done safely under current regulations.  Conrad also says use this as an opportunity to educate and inform.

Methane often occurs naturally in ground H2O in shale formation areas.

Being scared makes adults/big people gullible.

Northeast does not currently have the capacity to clean the flowback fluids or brine from hydrofracking.

Surface waters our life in NYS. Can’t afford to contaminate it.

Erosion on property in town of Horseheads is brought up by landowner.

Who has the greater stake in protecting our lands: the landowner or MoveOn.org?

Life is water. Water is life.

League of Women Voters requests EPA widen study, including transport of chemicals for fracking.

Methane has 72 times potency over CO2 over 20 years.

NYS could, again, be the bread basket of the Northeast. This could change with hydraulic fracking.

Only way to keep water safe is to keep control local.

Partnering with industry sheds doubt on the study.

Dr Charles Carpenter, retired: based on science, hydraulic fracturing does not contaminate water.

Be sure to study all the processes that are involved – both before and after gas extraction.

Speaker asks EPA to start at beginning of drilling for study, not just fracking.

Speaker suggest start case studies in Towanda, PA.

Speaker also says problem is residents of Towanda, PA are scared to speak up.

Not everyone will get to everyone who was scheduled to speak this afternoon at EPA hearing. Apologies from organizer.

Highest priority should be balance of risk versus benefit.

Oil and gas idustry has worked very hard to influence scientists and the public. -Lisa Wright

Did I hear 2 speakers say that 1 child dies every 8 seconds from contaminated water? I believe it is a WHO stat.

Think how corporations have behaved in the past. Take tobacco companies and the lies told the public.

Lying of omission by gas companies by refusing to reveal what chemicals are in fracking fluid.

Hydraulic fracturing is not an exact science.

Between 18,000 and 48,000 abandoned wells in NYS which will offer path of least resistance to fracking fluids.

Major concern is water – both amount that needs to be used and contamination of drinking H2O.

Many speakers have asked that entire process be studied, not just frackimg.

Waste water treatment a huge question for fracking.

Need to know effects of chemicals – not just individually but in combination with each other.

Cortland County 50% leased. Sole source aquifer for 80,000 people will be effected by fracking.

What are the current gaps in knowledge, one speaker, from Binghamton Regional Sustainability, asks EPA at hearing.

Deparments of health in NYS do not have the ability to test drinking water for contamination. Study by Ron Bishop from SUNY-Oneonta.


Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

10 August 2010

The EPA and Security Issues

By Nicki

This coming Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency was scheduled to hold a public hearing on hydraulic fracturing as a method for removing natural gas from shale deposits.  The hearing, the fourth and last in a series of hearings being held across the country,  was originally scheduled for the Binghamton, New York area.  Binghamton is an area where natural gas is just beginning to make an economic impact.

On Tuesday, August 9th, the EPA announced that the hearing was being moved to the OnCenter in Syracuse, New York.  The EPA took no responsibility and blamed Binghamton University for raising the price on the event.  The problem was, as I read over many days in local papers, that the original location was not big enough.  The Events Center at the university was not available due to the floor being refinished.  The West Gym, which was available, does not have air conditioning and the EPA said that would be an issue of public safety.

The other issue is that there are approximately 6,200 people who are not speaking at the actual hearing who will be in attendance – demonstrations by both pro-fracking and anti-fracking factions.  The costs to ensure the safety of all – those at the EPA hearings, those demonstrating for and against fracking – is a lot.  The university, from all I can tell, was charging the EPA for all costs so that the university remained cost neutral on the event.

Just one day after the EPA announced the hearing would move to Syracuse, the hearing has been postponed.  Syracuse was not able, on such short notice, to guarantee the safety of those that would be in attendance.

While I think that the hearing is a necessity and should be held in the Southern Tier, preferably in Binghamton, I do think that the EPA needs to realize that the venue is the least of the costs for the hearing.  The EPA should realize it has to assume the costs for the safety of all those in attendance, not just those who are speaking at the hearing.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

17 April 2010

Board of Education Update

By Nicki

Just a quick message to all of you out there who may be wondering what I decided to do regarding the Board of Education election.  I took a few hours yesterday – yes, I now know where my children get their procrastination gene from as petitions were due at 5 pm yesterday – to walk around a neighborhood in town and gather signatures.  By 2 pm, I was at the District Office, getting the petition and a campaign spending form which was due yesterday also notarized and turning all of that and my biography in to the Clerk of the Board.

It is official.  I am running.  I was amazed at some of the people who wanted to ask questions and talk about the district just as I was walking around for signatures.  There are a lot of people out there that want to know more of what is going on.

I am sure that a second blog is coming, just to keep my thoughts about this out there.

Oh yes, just an aside.  I ran into another board member at the high school drama club production last night.  She checked at 5 pm and I am running unopposed.

6 comments   |  tags: , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

16 April 2010

How Do You Reconcile “You” with Your Work?

By Nicki

For those of you who do not know it, I am a political junkie.  I worked in politics for many years.  I also love, love, love the television series “The West Wing.”  I am not saying it is gospel of what truly goes on in the West Wing or in politics in the US.  I am saying it is captivating.  The series brought out points about politics and about life in general.

As is my habit, I have reruns of “The West Wing” on the background as I start my work day.  It airs on BravoTV at 8 am and 9 am, Monday through Friday.  Today’s first episode got me thinking.

CJ responds to several questions from the press regarding 17 school girls not being allowed to exit a burning school.  This outburst by CJ caused me to think.

First, this made me think of Ronna Detrick.  She is constantly talking about saying the truth and about roaring.  CJ did both in this episode.

Then, the scene made me think.  What do we – as freelancers – do when our thoughts, convictions do not “jive” with our clients?  My feeling is – and I do not recall as the phone rang and other things happened so I did not see the whole episode – CJ got in trouble for lambasting Saudi Arabia.  She is meant to be a neutral voice, to speak for the White House, for the President at times but not to voice personal opinion.

I have worked with several clients whose political outlook, whose overall outlook has been different than my personal beliefs.  This conflict makes working difficult because you are not authentic.  I was not authentic.  I would literally cringe when some issues would be discussed.  I finally got to the point where the position, the inability to me was not worth the money or the work.

As a person who likes to work, this annoyed me also.  I felt like I was, again, not being authentic to myself by turning down work, work that was paying my kids’ tuition to college, work that was something others would love to have, work that I was good at.  It took a long time for me to realize the greater issue was the cringing while working with clients, the not letting my voice be heard.

What do you do when a business you work for goes against what you believe?  What do you do when companies you do business with go against what you believe?

11 comments   |  tags: , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

10 April 2010

Looking for a New Supreme Court Justice

By Nicki

The hints had been in the news for weeks.  Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens was rumored to be retiring.  The man is approaching 90.  Just because an appointment to the Court is lifelong doesn’t mean you should stay your entire life.  Stevens has been on the Court since I was in high school.  That is no easy feat since my class just celebrated its 30th reunion last year.

Yesterday, the announcement came.  I do believe that Associate Justice Stevens timed this announcement, by his own writing in the note sent to President Obama, with purpose.  He wants to allow enough time so there is a new associate justice in place when the Court sits again in October, the start of its next term.

With Stevens’s letter to President Obama came the usual pundits saying this will allow Obama to leave his imprint on the Court.  With the exception of Stevens who was a Ford appointee, the Court has two Ronald Reagan appointees – Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, one George H.W. Bush appointee – Clarence Thomas, two Bill Clinton appointees – Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, two George W. Bush appointees – John G. Roberts and Samuel Alito, and the recent Obama appointee – Sonia Sotomayor.  The average age of these nine is just shy of 70 at 68, but that is an average and brought down by the fact that two of the more recent appointees – Sotomayor and Roberts – are still in their 50′s.

Now comes the part where I spout off about this process more than give you facts.  The facts are above.  The ironic part of all this is that Associate Justice Stevens was appointed by a president who was never elected to the presidency or the vice presidency.  His appointer, Gerald R. Ford, was himself appointed to the vice presidency when Spiro Agnew resigned.  After that, when Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, Ford became president.  His biggest election win was for the Congressional seat he had held from the Grand Rapids, Michigan area.

As I was pondering this fact yesterday, I wondered if Nixon or Agnew would have ever survived in politics as they are today.  For that matter, Ford was not without “family issues” that may have been a problem in today’s microscopic view of politicians.

Now, on with the irony.  Stevens is currently one of the most liberal members of the Supreme Court.  Yet, Stevens was appointed by a Republican president.  This begs the questions has Stevens become more liberal while sitting on the Court or has the Court become more conservative.

The overwhelming point is that two appointees does not truly stamp the Supreme Court with an Obama slant.  Many presidents have appointed two Supreme Court justices.  If I were to guess, George W. Bush may have had the most influence as he was allowed to appoint a Chief Justice as opposed to an Associate Justice.

The next few days will all focus on “the short list” of who may be announced as the Obama administration’s nominee.  Pay attention!  Chances are it will be a white male as Obama hit the minority trifecta by appointing a single mother who is Latina the first time.  I know that sounds both sexist and racist but in the world of politics, it is most likely true.

5 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

5 April 2010

Making Two Lists

By Nicki

I have been making two lists in my head.  This is not totally out of the ordinary for me.  I make lists all the time.  These lists, though, were brought on by a visit from a neighbor about ten days ago.

I was writing, totally absorbed in my work, this particular day.  I did not hear a car pull into the driveway and did not realize anyone was around until the loud knock on my inside door.  You see, my laundry room is huge and the back door opens into it but there is a door into the house/kitchen as the laundry room was an addition to the house.  Most seasons but summer, I keep this door closed so cannot hear anyone at the back door.  This particular neighbor knows this and came right and knocked on the inside door.  Scared the crap right out of me as I seldom have guests that I am not aware are coming.

Anyway, the neighbor happens to also be a local school board member and that was ultimately the reason for his visit.  He wanted to encourage me to consider a run for Board of Education this year.  This is not totally out of the blue.  I ran back in 2003 and lost.  My oldest’s first vote ever was in an election I was running in, a fact I have always thought cool though it did not seem to impress him.  I applied to fill a position that was vacated due to the death of a long time member.  I withdrew from this process after finding out how I would have to run again that next May and again the following May – hard to explain it but I did understand.

So out came the lists.  I have always said I am biding time in this area.  Don’t get me wrong!  I love it here and have loved raising my children here.  It is not where I want to spend the rest of my life.  Where that may be, I am not totally sure but I have always known I was going to be here until the last child graduates from high school – with luck and a bit of work on his part, two years from now.  I want to be able to travel.  I want to live closer to either a lake or a mountain or both.  I want a lot of things that I have put on hold, and willingly will continue to put on hold.

That said, the lists are looking a bit lop-sided.  The pros are service.  That is short and sweet.  I have always encouraged my children, through actions and words, to give back to our community, to our church, to others.  This is an opportunity to do so.  Unfortunately, this is the only pro that I can think of at the moment.  I know there are more, but I am drawing blanks.

On the con side are multiple items.  No pay – it wouldn’t be service if there were pay, would it?  Grief – NYS and most all of its school districts are in, or heading imminently for, fiscal hardships.  Tough decisions are going to have to be made in the next three to five years, most of these coming sooner rather than later.  Education as my community knows it is going to have to change in some manner or manners for it to fiscally survive.  Term – school board terms are three years.  What did I say above about my youngest graduating?  I would be committing to three years here in this community.  That is not a horrible thought.  Most likely, that is a good thing.  Time – I just joined a softball team.  I have goals in my running.  School boards are not a twice a month meeting commitment.  There is knowing what is going on in each building in the district.  There are committees and committee meetings.

I have the petition form.  It sits in my kitchen with no writing on it.  I have my reasons for holding off on getting signatures.  I have my own thoughts on what is the right thing to do.  I am just torn.  I need to decide and soon as petitions are due back by 5 pm April 16th.

29 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

9 March 2010

Budget Woes and Education in NYS

By Nicki

New York State is in a horrible fiscal reality.  Along with a recession the likes that most of us have never seen, NYS took a huge hit with Wall Street firms closing and some lowering of massive Wall Street incomes.

You see, NYS has, for many administrations, gone against the number one rule in freelancing and put all its eggs in one basket.  That was perfectly okay through the bull years.  Unfortunately, politicians seem to not look into the future with any great reliability.  The bear years came and then the recessionary ones.  The income taxes from huge salaries decreased drastically.  The property taxes for buildings that were now empty, defunct firms, did not come into state coffers.

So, NYS is facing a double whammy – part of it the fault of its own shortsighted lawmakers and part of it the fault of a recession and all that recessions entail – increased unemployment, increased social programs to help those who need it.

One area that has always been a sacred cow in NYS has been education.  The main reason for this is that the educational unions in NYS and their associated lobbies are extremely powerful.  This applies to both higher education and K-12 education.

Last year Governor Paterson attempted to cut TAP (Tuition Assistance Program) mid-year to help balance a growing budget deficit.  I was not in favor of this particular cut as it came midstream.  TAP is a grant program for NYS residents who attend an institution of higher education within NYS.  By cutting the funding in the middle of the school year, many students would be left high and dry for that amount for the second semester.  Financial aid does not get recalculated mid-year.

This year a cut to state aid to K-12 schools was presented in the governor’s executive budget.  The cuts varied from school district to school district.  These cuts will mean different cuts in the various school district budgets set to be voted on in NYS on the third Tuesday in May.  It has been seen that school budgets tend to carry the brunt of voter unhappiness.  These are the only budgets that people can vote on in NYS.  Other votes are for the representatives who will vote on budgets.

I am not saying these cuts are not needed.  I am saying that I hope, in many areas of the state, that people understand that funding was cut but not a lot of mandates removed.  This means that school districts do have a lot of required items that must be budgeted for, above and beyond contractual obligations.  There are few areas where cuts can come from other than personnel.

To that end, the state Board of Regents is discussing stopping some state Regents examinations.  In NYS, a high school student must pass a state final (a Regents) in five areas to graduate.  An additional three Regents must be passed for a diploma with distinction.  Currently, students must pass with at least a 65 a state exam in Global History (a two year course), US History and Government, English (a six hour exam given in two three hour sittings), in math and in science.

Other states do not have Regents exams.  Actually, California does but I am not invested in their educational systems.  I worry about several areas that are being looked into for saving money.

One, I worry that curriculum will suffer.  Without a doubt – and I do not say this in a demeaning way, the Regents exams are rigorous.  Curriculum has been built around this rigor.  Will curriculum suffer if the exams are no longer necessary for graduation?

Two, where is the accountability for a school district if there is not a set of state standards?  The current state standards are hard.  I did not raise a half dozen of extremely intelligent children.  None of my children have had difficulties with these standards.  The first five have gone into their senior year of high school with the number of credit hours met but needing required senior courses.  My theory is that almost anyone can meet the requirements at present.  I am sure there are some exceptions but I do not think these are the norm but the actual exception.

Third, NYS had to do little to fulfill No Child Left Behind (NCLB) when it was enacted.  A lot of the testing was in place already.  While not a fan of NCLB, I do appreciate that NYS had been doing a lot of the record keeping for years to help compare similar schools and how students were doing.  If these tests were stopped, where would NYS be in this continuum?

I am not saying I love Regents exams.  I am saying that cutting 13 of 17 exams and not printing any in a foreign language other than Spanish seems a bit drastic to me.

8 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

6 March 2010

A Love-Hate Relationship

By Nicki

I know I should not complain.  My children, and myself to some extent, are lucky.  Their father works for the state and he is required to carry health insurance on them.  State plans, while not cheap, are very good as far as coverage.  Yet, I have a love-hate relationship with health insurance.  Here is my most recent hate experience.

Number 5 went to Florida in January with his college swimming and diving team for training.  This is a normal occurrence with a lot of college teams.  When he got home, he was having knee issues and pain.  Rather than screw around at college – we had tried that when he hit the diving board in October – I sent one of the older kids to get him the day after the team returned and managed to get him into the doctor’s here.  He has had a small meniscal tear previously so we don’t usually mess around with knee issues.  While he could not get into the orthopedist we see, the hospital his Primary Care Provider is part of could do an MRI the next day and he could be back at school in time for the next team meeting.

Now comes the fun part!  (How do we type in sarcasm as that is the tone I would be using if I were talking to you face-to-face?)

First, I get two bills from the group that read the MRI.  One is for $32 and the other a little over $200.  Now, I will tell you that the MRI was pre-approved by the insurance company as all items like this have to be.  I know that the approval part is important and also difficult as we had issues with it and #2 when he had appendicitis while at college.  I knew that there would be some issue but was unsure what these issues would be with the MRI as they seldom go through insurance without a hitch.  Then, came the big letter from the hospital.  It stated that the claim had come back from the insurance company and they – the insurance company – needed additional information.  The hospital would resubmit in ten days so contact your insurance company promptly as you may be responsible for the entire bill if not taken care of.  The total of this bill – $2,501.00.

I called the toll-free number on the back of the insurance card.  Little did I know they had actual office hours and I was calling in the evening and no one could help me.  Because the phone answering system is automated, this call took almost 10 minutes to get to the part where I was being transferred to a person and then told said person was not there as it was outside office hours.

The next morning I picked up the phone again.  Clarisse was very helpful.  I had the wrong option.  Hospital charges were administered by Blue Cross and I had the United Healthcare portion of the company.  She did check and manage to tell me that they also needed additional information to pay the bills for reading the MRI.  I took down what could be sent in to verify that #5 is indeed a full-time college student.  Without telling subscribers, this particular state plan has suddenly changed to wanting this verification per semester as opposed to per year.  Since we didn’t realize that, the kids’ dad had not done it again in January.  No small overlook since we currently have three full-time students over the age of 19.

Clarisse transfers me to Blue Cross where a representative tells me that the hospital has not only received payment but said payment has cleared.  Now, I am getting testy – not with these people but with the local hospital as I have now spent a total of almost an hour on the phone only to find out there was not truly a problem, at least not the problem about which they wrote me.

To make matters better, I received an email today from the ex.  The claim – which was awaiting information regarding #5′s student status – was also paid out several days ago as he just received the Explanation of Benefits.

While I am not necessarily a fan of what is going on in Washington at the moment, I am 100% sure that something has to be done to improve the way health insurance functions in our country.  I happened to have the time during the day to go through this red tape.  Many people would not as an employer would not allow that time on the company dime.  This is not the way to run an industry that is 100% necessary!

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts, Politics

17 February 2010

Two is the Problem

By Nicki

Hope you all are ready for this post.  I am about to declare the problem in politics in the United States and it is a number – two.  The main problem in our political system is that it is a two party system.  Two!  There is no way, should people vote on straight party affiliation lines, to break that up.  Two is an even number.

First off, let’s look at logistics.  When there is an even number – two is one such number, there is no way to break a tie.  Consequently, voters get the “us” versus “them” attitude from their representatives.  This attitude is not in the issues that are debated and talked about during primaries and campaigns.  This is a two-party attitude.  We – whatever party that is – must be right so they – the other party – must be wrong.

How often does that attitude work for you in life?  You have a fight with a good friend.  You must be right; he/she must be wrong.  Does one of you decide to think maybe I was right/wrong?  We need to talk about this problem.  Usually, in the real world, someone takes a first step and the roads mend and merge again.  In the political world, these steps towards reconciliation do not get taken often enough.

What would help the two party system?  The first thing that would help would be honesty.  If a candidate ran on the way he/she was actually going to vote – as opposed to the way “the party” wants the candidate to sound, constituents would know better what to expect from representation.  The second thing would be a strong third and/or fourth party.  When there are more voices involved in the debate, the honesty comes about naturally.

Are you a fan of our political system?  Do you have a way to improve the current “government is broken” issue?  Have you ever voted for a third party candidate?

14 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

1 February 2010

Women in Politics

By Nicki

As I have said many times, I am a huge fan of “The West Wing.”  That show is the first place I ever heard of Emily’s List as CJ Cregg – Alison Janney’s character – had worked with the group prior to working in Hollywood.  Emily’s List is all about getting pro-choice Democratic women elected to office.  You can read their mission on their web site.

 

Today I was reading an op-ed piece in The Boston Globe. The authors of the piece hold that a “critical mass” of females in politics would help greatly influence discussions on public policy.  That “critical mass” is rather high, 30%, especially if you live in Massachusetts as there have only ever been five women elected to statewide offices.

 

Two summers ago, during the 2008 presidential primary season, I was reading an article in More magazine.  While I cannot find the article online, I can summarize it.  It talked about why all the power brokers in politics were men – because they contribute to political campaigns.  Women do not.  Not only do we not support fellow females who are running – and I do not advocate supporting someone just because that candidate is female, we do not support any campaigns.  This means that in an arena where cash is king and contributions buy you power or at least a bit of an ear with someone in a campaign, women are falling behind.

 

Unfortunately, the truth is that when women fall behind so do the issues women care about – women’s health care issues, education, family issues, and equal pay for equal work.  These issues are not exclusively female or woman issues.  Everyone should care about each other’s health.  Everyone should care about education and its escalating costs.  Everyone should care about family issues – from sick leave to be with ill children to paid parental leave.  Everyone should care about equal pay for equal work as we all benefit from equality, don’t we?

 

Should politics interest you, I suggest a few pieces for reading along with the links in the beginning of this post.

7 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

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