Motley Moose – Archive

The subject of the President’s Weekly Address was covered earlier in the week. Please enjoy this post of First Lady Michelle Obama celebrating Black History Month. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

From the White House – Honoring the Women of the Civil Rights Movement, Both Past and Present

First Lady Michelle Obama delivers remarks at “Celebrating Women of the Movement,” an event honoring Black History Month, in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 20, 2015. The First Lady introduces moderator Vanessa De Luca, Editor-in-Chief of Essence magazine and the panel of intergenerational women who have played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement – both past and present.

The President’s Weekly Address post is also the Weekend Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, President Obama highlights the importance of making sure our economy rewards the hard work of every American – including America’s women.

One of my favorite women.  Photo: me.

Jan F, Laura and I are bringing you NEWS.  Please use as an open new thread until the next “All The News” is posted.

FEATURE ARTICLE

The Triggers of Economic Inequality

Bill Moyers.com; Troy Oxford and Lauren Feeney

In recent years, the rich have seen their wealth grow dramatically while the poor and middle class have basically flatlined. It’s no accident, argue Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson in their book Winner-Take-All Politics. The infographic below, which draws from Hacker and Pierson’s book, explains how our politicians – on both sides of the aisle – fell under the spell of corporate dollars and re-engineered our economic system to favor the wealthy. The dark green line shows the income trajectory for the top 1 percent since 1970, while the light green line shows the bottom 90 percent. Click the orange triangles to learn about critical turning points that helped create the skewed system we have today.

This is the most amazing chart, illustrating the path our country took to today’s inequities.  Social/economic/etc.  Please visit this site and explore.  Also, how can we make this better for all of our citiizens and everyone who lives in our country?

Ahhhh, nothing says “respect for women” quite as loudly as a photo like this, huh?

Oh, that’s not really what this diary’s about, but it caught your attention, didn’t it?

Some of you may remember Republican Congressman Pete Sessions (TX-32), pictured above, from past controversies, like sorta-kinda-maybe suggesting that his own party should become like the Taliban, his ties to Jack Abramoff, and his undoubtedly deeply family-oriented decisions to hold multiple fundraisers at Las Vegas nightclubs. But now it seems he’s mouthed off in a way that is proving beneficial to his Democratic challenger in 2010 by letting slip — in language very easy to understand — what Democrats have long known, but which I truly think the GOP believes to be one of its best kept secrets.

Really, it’s everyone’s issue: The health care crisis in this country affects all of us, even those fortunate enough to have coverage. But when it comes to health care and dealing with insurance companies, there are special concerns for women, especially if they are buying insurance through the individual market. Some of those concerns vary by state, making them all the more confusing, and unfortunately, a lot of women are unaware of these issues until they run into difficulties. Federal laws provide certain protections for women who receive insurance through their employers, but women purchasing insurance through the individual market face unique problems. They face institutionalized sexism in the form of higher costs, shoddy plans riddled through with gender-based exceptions, and denial of coverage based on a “preexisting condition” that may surprise some of you.

Before the end of the Democratic primary process there was much speculation about Barack Obama’s support among women. The fact that Obama’s support amongst women was weak while he was running against a woman candidate gave many pundits all the excuse they needed to suggest that support would remain weak once the primaries ended. They were obviously wrong, as the current polls show.

Another premise put forward by some pundits is that women vote more with their emotions than on the issues. They are as wrong about this as they are about Obama’s weakness with female voters. All that is needed to disprove this claim is to look at women’s voting patterns over the years.

Women have always favored the Democratic Party over the GOP. The Democratic Party is also the party with the best record and issues platform when it comes to women’s issues. Put those two factors together and it becomes apparent that women have been voting on the issues all along.