Sarah Palins Kenyan pastor has made a name crusading against witches and particularly cherishes his victory over Mama Jane Njenga, whom he claims to have run out of his town. But Mama Jane is still there, in her own church just down the road.

pThe roles assigned to mother and son in a href=http://theadirondackreview.com/Michelson2.html title=Fragments - Seth MichelsonSeth Michelson's Fragments/abr / trouble me. He gives us a saintly son who clings to his mother's legsbr / quot;even when kicked and cursed and kicked . . . knowing only to forgivequot;br / and a terribly violent mother who screams to a degree unwarranted bybr / the child's (probably) accidental dropping of a gravy boat and thenbr / kicks him when she is really raging against something else, some ideabr / of mortality and Malthusian evolution that the poet evokes (notbr / entirely successfully) rather specifying./p p Were it just one son and one violent mother, I would take no issue with this./p p a href=http://blog.elizabethkateswitaj.net/?p=502 title=Elizabeth Kate Switaj blogs at Daughter of the Ring of FireRead more at Daughter of the Ring of Fire/a. /p

p I work with these ten year old kids (mentioned in the newspaper articles I have pasted into the blog posting....below)....The parents of these kids have mental health and/or drug and alcohol problems......This story draws attention to the plight of all young children who grow up in families with a parent or sibling who has a mental illness./p pMental illness affects 1 in 5 of the population in Australia. This equates to 2.9 million children in this country who are currently affected by their parents' mental health problems./p pThese children are virtually 'invisible' to the mental health system and do not receive any financial support, help or recognition despite the job they accomplish./p pThey are the ones who do all the little things (and some big things) for parents and keep the family functioning.  They learn to cook at an early age, they shop, they clean and take out the rubbish. They need a voice.  /p pCome on you closed minded bureaucrats....why are you afraid to let the little girl have her say?...These kids represent our most 'at risk' group in Australia !!/p pnbsp;/p pustrongOld enough to be a carer, too young for carers forum/strong/u/p pfrom The Australian, Wednesday October 8th, 2008, Article by Caroline Overington  /p pstrongAbr / GROUP of young people who care for their mentally-ill parents has beenbr / denied permission to attend a Young Carers conference in Canberra afterbr / the organisers told them they were too young./strong/p pJazzibr / Pybus, a spirited and internet-savvy 10-year-old, believed she hadbr / plenty to offer the government-sponsored Carers Australia conference.br / Her father, Calvin, has a mental illness. Her mother, who prefers notbr / to be named, was recently hit by a bus and suffered multiple fractures.br / Jazzi also has a sibling with Down syndrome. /p pMuch of Jazzi's time is spent caring for her family: putting on thebr / washing, doing the dishes and taking out the garbage. One of herbr / friends, Angel, is in a similar situation. /p pHer mother has a mental illness, so Angel often gets the younger siblings off to school, and puts them to bed at night. /p pWhen Jazzi saw an ad for the Young Carers Forum on the Carersbr / Australia website, she wrote to the organisers, saying: quot;I am a youngbr / carer of a parent with a mental illness and I would like to attend thebr / conference. /p pquot;I am 10 years old. My dad has post-traumatic stress and I look after him. /p pquot;Dad can't work any more. I know a lot of other young people with anbr / experience like this. Please let me know. I can stay with my auntybr / Joanne who lives near the embassy in Canberra.quot; /p pFour weeks later, a project co-ordinator for Carers Australia, Susanbr / Yeomans, got back to her, saying: quot;We have to have a minimum age and ofbr / course, it would be very expensive for you to register. /p pquot;Please take care of yourself and I do hope when you are a bit older we will see you at a young carers forum.quot; /p pJazzi doesn't give up easily. She wrote back: quot;Does that mean at 10br / I am too young to come? We do care for our parents probably as good asbr / the nurses and doctors.quot; /p pIn reply, Ms Yeomans said: quot;In planning the forum, hard decisionsbr / (had to be made) especially about the number and age of the youngbr / carers attending, as we only have a certain amount of money orbr / funding.quot; /p pAccording to the forum's website, the theme of the Young Carer'sbr / forum, quot;Bring It!quot; was chosen quot;to reflect the youth focused, energeticbr / nature of the forumquot;. /p pJazzi, Angel and their friends recently formed a support group forbr / themselves in Brisbane. They call it Smart Arts and they meet weeklybr / for art classes, and stay in touch after-hours with instant messaging.br / Jazzi wanted to take the paintings by the Smart Arts group to thebr / conference. /p pShe asked The Australian to promote the Smart Arts show at the Artsbr / Factory Gallery in Brisbane, saying: quot;My friends who are also 10 yearsbr / old and older, who do stuff like cooking, looking after brothers andbr / sisters when mum or dad are in treatment (when they have shockbr / treatment they sleep all the time) shopping, etc, are too young to dobr / it. /p pquot;Since I've been in the group I've got more confidence. We want tobr / learn how to improve, or meet older people who have good stories thatbr / can keep us going. /p pquot;I really wanted to go (to the forum) and had saved up all mybr / birthday money. I have enough to fly to Canberra as I checked out thebr / flight prices. /p pquot;Maybe if we are famous they will want us?quot; /p pCarers Australia was not available for comment yesterday./p pustrongThey did a follow-up story yesterday ...br //strong/ubr /stronguCold Shoulder to Young Carer Jazzi Pybus/u/strong by Caroline Overingtonbr / | emOctober 10, 2008/em /ppnbsp;/p pstrongTEN-YEAR-OLDbr / carer Jazzi Pybus will not be invited to attend the Young Carersbr / conference at Parliament House next month, despite being the only childbr / who volunteered to go./strong/p pCarers Australia chiefbr / executive Joan Hughes said yesterday that fully sponsored positions hadbr / been filled and that Jazzi was too young to be of assistance tobr / policymakers and academics who will attend the conference. /p pThe Australian this week reported that Carers Australia, whichbr / received $280,000 in federal funding to host a Young Carers conference,br / had knocked back an approach by Jazzi to attend with her friends, agedbr / 10 to 12, who care for parents who have schizophrenia or suffer frombr / drug abuse. /p pJazzi's father, Calvin Pybus, has post-traumatic stress syndrome.br / Her mother was recently hit by a bus and left with multiple fractures.br / She has a baby brother with Down syndrome. Her friend, Angel, cares forbr / a mum with bipolar disorder. /p pThe girls wanted to attend the conference because they werebr / themselves young carers: they do the washing, help young siblings getbr / ready for bed, and manage the household. They formed a support groupbr / for young carers in their neighbourhood, outside Brisbane. They connectbr / online, and have painted a series of artworks about their lives. Thebr / girls hoped to learn from others at the conference, too. /p pMs Hughes said yesterday: quot;What you really need to understand is that the young people who will attend have been recruited.quot; /p pThe Australian understands that Jazzi is the only young person tobr / get in touch with Carers Australia and ask to attend the talkfest. /p pMs Hughes said the aim was to bring together academics, members ofbr / parliament, service providers and young carers. Asked if Jazzi could bebr / in the audience, she said: quot;It's hard to say. It's a duty-of-carebr / issue.quot; /p pCarers Australia spokesman Anthony Watkins said the problem was a shortage of seats. /p pquot;We arranged for 32 young carers from across Australia to come,quot; Mrbr / Watkins said. quot;We had limited funds and we had to make the most ofbr / opportunities.quot; /p pOpposition disabilities, carers and voluntary sector spokesman Corybr / Bernardi said: quot;We should be supporting our very young carers. Itbr / concerns me that they are not receiving financial support. It'sbr / alarming. They are a hidden group. To hear that children are bandingbr / together for support as there are no services suitable to their needsbr / is disturbing.quot;/p p strongDiscussion through postings is most welcome!!!/strong /p

pJohn and Cindy McCain, along with the Republican party, have the misguided notion that they own a franchise on military families. Today, a group of active duty military spouses spoke out and voiced their support loudly for Barack Obama. While we as military families admire John McCain's service to our country, that alone does not qualify him to be Commander-In-Chief. There are more military families than ever before that are expressing their support for Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates. Please watch this important message from military wives, and pass it on. These are the families who live the national defense decisions made in Washington on a daily basis.  Give them a voice, as the voice of military families is so often lost in the mix./p pa href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwk4LL5-Mpohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwk4LL5-Mpo/a/p p/p pVisit my blog at: a href=http://frompoliticstoparenthood.blogspot.com/http://frompoliticstoparenthood.blogspot.com//a/p

div style=text-align: center!--[if IE]object type=application/x-shockwave-flash id=W4727a250e66f972348efbd04b140aea3 width=384 height=283br / param name=movie value=http://widgets.nbc.com/o/4727a250e66f9723/48efbd04b140aea3/4741e3c5156499a7/1f1b6e6b/-cpid/39643237ea504dc6 /lt;![endif]--!--[if !IE]--!--lt;![endif]--/object/div p(Skip to 2:16 for the reference. Darn you, a href=http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-thursday-part-2/742141/AIG/a.)/p pThis morning I clicked on the a href=http://shine.yahoo.com/Shine/a link on left side of my Yahoo! front page. The a href=http://shine.yahoo.com/page/about/About Us/a section of a href=http://shine.yahoo.com/Shine/a includes the following:/p pnbsp;/p blockquotepspan style=font-family: georgiaWhen we started talking about creating a new website for women, we wanted to avoid all of the common categories that advertisers or marketers tend to put us in. We didn’t want to be a site just for moms or just for single women or working women, or any specific demo- or psychographic. We wanted to create a smart, dynamic place for women to gather, get info and to connect with each other and the world around them . . ./span/p pspan style=font-family: georgia. . . We’ve got a woman campaigning for the top job in the country, female bloggers now outnumber men, and we’ve got Tina Fey writing a hit network show for goodness sakes. We no longer need to stand by passively as the media portrays us as fashion-obsessed diet victims. With the internet as our megaphone, we can now portray ourselves as funny, opinionated women who are in charge of our incomes, careers, families and happiness./span/p pspan style=font-family: georgiaSo what you won’t find on Shine: Advice on how to please your man and diets that urge you to quot;lose 10 pounds fast!quot; . . . /span /p/blockquote pnbsp;/p pCoolness!/p pBut then I scrolled down Shine's frontpage and found the following headlines under the a href=http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/;_ylt=AqXTqB0ffDrb5dEqUiIIxP9abqU5love + sex/a section:/p pa href=http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/i-need-advice-is-there-such-a-thing-as-an-ugly-vagina-282679/span style=font-family: georgiaIs there such a thing as an quot;ugly vaginaquot;?/spanbr / /abr / and a style=font-family: georgia href=http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/user-post-how-can-you-ease-out-of-swallowing-while-giving-oral-282698/;_ylt=AmllJuT.3kqKz1QZkSOf8WyBbqU5I need advice: Spit or swallow?/a/p pI spent the next few minutes yelling at my computer screen. Then I wondered, Is this really quot;a smart, dynamic place for womenquot;? I certainly have more pressing issues to ponder than quot;an ugly vagequot;. For instance, the illegal occupation of Iraq, or the genocide in Darfur, or the 2008 US Presidential election. Shine does address our current political state with the following front and center article: a href=http://shine.yahoo.com/event/the-thread/first-lady-fashion-smackdown-281120/Obama v. McCain: A fashion face-off/a, subtitled, quot;First Lady Fashion Smackdownquot;./p pYeah./p pI do have some advice for Ms. Vajajay and the Concerned a href=http://abcfamily.go.com/abcfamily/path/section_Shows+Greek/page_Jacob-ZacharSpitter/a. If you are with a gentleman--and I use that term loosely--who insults your vagina or gets upset when you don't swallow his ejaculate, then kick him to the curb. Tell him quot;a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsQvXgCcng8to the left/aquot;, and keep it moving. Your partner should see you as more than an eager-to-please sperm receptacle. Moreover, you should see span style=font-style: italicyourself/span as more than that. Stop trying to figure out what someone else might like. Figure out what span style=font-style: italicyou/span want and what makes span style=font-style: italicyou/span happy. Then go from there./p pThose Shine people should hire me. I am an expert at giving advice about a href=https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31787224amp;postID=5921142939626908632issues which I have no experience in/a./p

pWhere is this “inner strength” I’m supposed to develop?  Where is the “new normal?”  When do I stop catapulting between wanting to sleep forever and being unable to close my eyes?  When do I get to see my living boy as more than the one who lived?  When do I get to be ME again?  Do I ever get to be me again or this horrible shrew who just explodes at the slightest provocation?  When will I stop being pulled between anger and exhaustion?  All this crap about “experience the grief and it will make you stronger” doesn’t help me one bit.  I can’t look at her things, they sit there like macabre ornaments, this weird little box, an urn, and two plaster hearts – that’s all I have left.  I can’t feel her presence, there’s no assurance that she’s reborn, nothing, I can’t feel anything anymore.  I just want to cry myself to sleep.  Things are falling apart at the seams, more and more the world just seems unreal, unbalanced.  It’s a gorgeous day outside and I’m inside ready to scream, the house is a filthy disgusting hovel and I can’t seem to motivate myself to clean it, I have no appetite but I stuff myself with whatever I can find in the fridge because it’s something to do to try and fill the hole.  I make sweets and gobble them.  I make tons of noodles, potatoes, quesadillas, beans.  I eat what’s on my plate, I go back for seconds, I eat my son’s leftovers too.  It’s got to stop or I’ll be Gilbert Grape’s mother and have a heart attack when I try to return to some kind of normal.  I now weigh 315 pounds. I'll admit it - maybe that will help. My old workout t-shirts, which were huge so I could sweat unobserved (even in shape I was not a skinny minnie), now cling to the huge fat rolls I’ve developed.  Food isn’t the answer.  The problem is that I don’t know what the answer is. I'm not even sure what the question is anymore.  Six months out and I'm drowning, just drowning, just when everyone assumes I'm supposed to be quot;all better.quot;/p

A newly released study from a team of organizations suggests high-tech birthing procedures including cesarean sections have led to an unnecessary increase in hospital charges. The report (see a href= "http://www.childbirthconnection.org/pdfs/evidence-based-maternity-care.pdf" target= "_blank"PDF/...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=IwVvM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=IwVvM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=FkHbM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=FkHbM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=MaZQM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=MaZQM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=y21hM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=y21hM" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FeministDailyNews/~4/416883092" height="1" width="1"/

Dr. Henry Morgentaler, a Canadian abortion rights leader, will receive the Order of Canada today in Quebec. The Order of Canada is the country's highest civilian honor. A a href= "http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=eDocID=5514" target= "_blank"press release/a from the Canadian Governor Gene...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=uOBiM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=uOBiM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=yCLmM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=yCLmM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=V2yvM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=V2yvM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=MG0rM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=MG0rM" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FeministDailyNews/~4/416883094" height="1" width="1"/

Parents of a young woman who was 14 years old when she received an abortion in 2004 are suing Planned Parenthood for allegedly ignoring evidence of statutory rape. Their daughter, "Jane Roe", was accompanied by an unrelated 21-year-old man, who claimed to be her step-brother, when she sought an abor...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=wn4lM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=wn4lM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=y58sM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=y58sM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=4lJVM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=4lJVM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=BTE8M"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=BTE8M" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FeministDailyNews/~4/416117589" height="1" width="1"/

A West Virginia law regarding political advertising law was challenged last week by an anti-abortion group. The group, West Virginians for Life sought an injunction, barring the laws impact on their proposed campaign, reported the a href= "http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?JServSessionI...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=jrgAM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=jrgAM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=7YqBM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=7YqBM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=1mLMM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=1mLMM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=0JfzM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=0JfzM" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FeministDailyNews/~4/416117593" height="1" width="1"/

pIt gets really tiring to assist with the role of breadwinner AND have all the duties of a stay at home mom as well.  I don't know how many reading this work full time 9-5 jobs, or even part time jobs, but I'm sure you can relate.  My husband gets off at 3:00 everyday, sometimes earlier.  But when I come home at 5 or 5:30, the dishes from breakfast are still in the sink, the bed is unmade and none of the housework has been touched.  And what are his first words to me?  quot;what's for dinner?.quot;  And you know, the older I get, I find this less and less tolerable.  Anybody else feel that way?  I don't mind working a full time job, especially in the economic situation these days.  But I find it unfair that just because I am a woman, the housework and childrearing is viewed as quot;my responsibilityquot;.  My husband actually had the nerve to say that I should thank him when he does housework because he's helping me out!  Am I the only one who see that as ABSURD?!/p p We have two children, ages 4 and 8.  When they were babies, I was up with them every night.  I don't think that's uncommon, most women do that.  But the other night our dog woke my husband up to take her outside.  He was awake for 15 minutes and complained about it for days.  He thought I should feel sorry for him.  Anyone who has a baby and has been up multiple times in a night for months running understands my beef with his complaint.  /p p I love my husband dearly, but sometimes I think men still view us the same as they did in the 50's.  But along with taking care of them and the children, keeping house and cooking, we're also supposed to work to quot;help them out financiallyquot;.  But when do they help us?  As I said, I love my husband - he and my daughters are my world, but it's time he started thinking in the millenmium, not the 1950's.  Anybody out there here me?/p

Lithuanias parliament could soon vote on one of the most restrictive abortion bans in Europe. If it passes, pro-choice advocates predict women who cant afford to travel out of the country will turn to unsafe underground abortions.

pPeanut is very excited about her new quot;underwearquot;. Ibr / purchased some training pants today to test them out. I was going tobr / put them on after her nap, but she was insistent that she wanted tobr / wear quot;underwearquot; right then, so I gave in. We went to the toilet (shebr / didn't do anything, but I'm persisting with the routine) and I put thembr / on and explained to her that if she has to go, she should tell me andbr / we'd go together. She said no. When I asked if she'd tell Daddy, shebr / said yes./p pIbr / really don't know why she doesn't want to tell me! We have fun togetherbr / once she's on the toilet. She loves it when I read her book. She reallybr / enjoysquot;Too Big for Diapersquot; (a href=http://michellesamom.blogspot.com/2008/10/toilet-training-update.html target=_blanka Sesame Street book with Ernie, see my blog/a) right now. She asks me to sit on the floor in front of her. Sometimesbr / she will even pee. But, she does not tell me when she has to go. Shebr / consistently will pee and poop with H... It's so frustrating!/p pBackbr / to the subject at hand. When she woke up from her nap, she called me bybr / saying quot;underwear!quot;. I came up and asked her if she wanted to go to thebr / toilet. The answer of course, was no. We went anyway and she had peedbr / in the training pants. She did seem to know that she had done so. Ibr / will try again tomorrow. Perhaps after a full day in the trainers Ibr / might get a different result. I am hoping that she begins to tell mebr / when she has to go. She obviously knows... I wish I knew the reason whybr / she doesn't want to go with me./p pFinally, I'd like to add a brief rant. I know that there are anatomical differences between boys and girls that might (and I am unconvinced on this point) justify the desire for additional absorbency in one area or another of a training pant. But for crying out loud WHY do we have to gender stereotype two year olds?br / Basically, boys and girls diapers are pretty much the same and verybr / gender neutral all the way up until you get to training pants. Why isbr / this? I do NOT want Disney Princess underwear for my daughter. I alsobr / don't particularlybr / want her to have to choose between Dora and Diego. Why not just makebr / gender neutral trainers? Why do companies assume that at this age my daughterbr / will want princesses and my son will want cars (not that I have a son,br / but you see my point)? I have officially switched brands because ofbr / these practices make me sick. The problem is that my grocery store doesbr / not even SELL non-gendered trainers. I'm on the lookout. If anyone hasbr / a recommendation, please let me know./p pReposted from my blog:/p pa href=http://michellesamom.blogspot.com/2008/10/toilet-training-update.html target=_blankhttp://michellesamom.blogspot.com/2008/10/toilet-training-update.html/a/p

pAlthough I'm a Republican, I was thrilled to see Hillary Clinton do so well in the primaries.  I wasn't a supporter of hers but I really thought that she was the best candidate running in the Democratic Party for POTUS..  I was just as outraged as her supporters to see some in the MSM treat her in such a sexist way.  What was equally upsetting for me was reading such nasty sexist rhetoric from some of the Obama supporters, especially from many of the far left liberal blogs.  It was like watching the Liberals eat their own.  What disturbed me even more was that none of the leaders in the Democratic party came out against it.    /p pAs a parent and professional woman, I know first hand what it's like to deal with sexism. Sexism, just like racism, crosses all party lines, all ages and both genders.  It's not just men that have been guilty of sexism, I've read many comments from women that are just as offensive.  In fact, I've read several blog post on this site that reek of sexism. /p pI'm a never married mother and I've raised my 14 yr. old daughter alone since her birth.  Through my words and actions, I've taught her that with determination, education, inner strength and faith in God, she can do anything that she puts her mind on.  I've always addressed sexist comments or behavior when I see it, even when it's from my own political party.  I mostly identify with Sarah Palin because of my political views but I also identify with Hillary Clinton when it comes to her inner strengh and courage.  I respect both woman and I believe that both are strong role models for myself and for my daughter./p pI came across this article below from a href=http://www.womencount.org/blog/blog_detail/2008-09-sexism-and-sarah-palin title=Women Count class=content-blockWomen Count/a. The writer makes an excellent case for the need to fight against sexism, regardless of whether it's against a Democratic or Republican woman, because quot;that's how feminism works.quot; In spite of my disagreement with this statement by the writer, emquot;We cannot pretend that Governor Palin meets any standard of progressive politics or social valuesquot;,/em I have found common ground with her over this issue.  On this, it's important for all woman to unite in outrage.  /p pstronguSexism and Sarah Palin/u/strong/p pemIt started Friday afternoon with John Roberts on CNN, and then in a slow build over the weekend it became clear what the leading sexist charge would be against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: Is it appropriate for her to accept the vice presidential nomination given the magnitude of her current family responsibilities?/em/p pemThe question came not just from members of the media but also from voters around the country who wrote in to news organizations and on blogs.  /em/p p class=MsoNormalemThe obvious retort is whether anyone would ask the same question of the father of a four-month-old with Down Syndrome and a pregnant teenager. We think not. /em/p pemRadio talk host Ed Schultz on CNN Monday night took things even further by declaring that Palin would not be able to focus on her job given her family distractions.  /embr / /pp class=MsoNormalemAnd Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn wrote: “Of course, women can be good mothers and have careers at the same time. I’ve done both. Other women in public office have children…but…a mother’s role is different from a father’s.”/em/p pemThe message? Sarah Palin: bad mother.  /embr / /pp class=MsoNormalemOn that count we have no doubt these accusations would never be made about a man. In that sense, Sally Quinn is right – and that’s why things have got to change./em/p pemThe very notion that Sarah Palin should not have accepted this nomination because she is a mother with demanding challenges underscores just how far we have to go. /embr / /pp class=MsoNormalemWomenCount has promised that we would jump on these examples of sexism. Here’s where YOU come in.  uTell the media to back off, and we’ll forward your messages to the right places./u  /em/p pemStamping out sexism is about shifting the culture. It will be good for America to watch Sarah Palin on the campaign trail – bouncing from parenting to politics. That’s how most women function – multi-tasking, leaning on friends and family, and waking up each morning and doing it all again.   /embr / /pp class=MsoNormalemThroughout the weekend, we have been asked about WomenCount’s views on Sarah Palin as the Republican nominee. It is important to distinguish between the broader issue of sexism and the ideology of an individual.  WomenCount was born of the passion its founders had for Hillary Clinton’s clear view of social issues and progressive values.  We cannot pretend that Governor Palin meets any standard of progressive politics or social values./em/p pemBut regardless of the candidates’ ideology, we will work to stamp out sexism when we see it on the campaign trail. To paraphrase the words of one blogger who said it best over the weekend: We will defend Sarah Palin against misogynist smears not because we like her or support her, but because that’s how feminism works./em/p

pstrongstrongAccusations That Gov. Sarah Palin Charged Victims for Rape Kits Proven False/strongbr //strongbr / /pp align=leftstrongby Warner Todd Huston/strongembr //emSeptember 24, 2008/p ul liemLifeNews.com Note: Warner Todd Huston is an editorial columnist whose work is featured on numerous web sites. He has also written for several history magazines, and appears in the new book quot;Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture.quot; This article was originally featured in Newsbusters, the web site of the Media Research Center./em/li /ul p class=textAt least since September 8 the extreme left has been pushing a lie that Governor, then Mayor, Sarah Palin quot;charged rape victims for rape kitsquot; performed upon them in the Alaskan town of Wasilla. /p p class=textThe charge stems from a May 22, 2000 article in the local Wasilla paper emThe Frontiersman/em and has been spun from a comment made by the Wasilla Police Chief. This comment was somehow made into a Sarah Palin policy. /p p class=textEvidence of the incident, though, shows no involvement by Palin at all. Still, many Old Media outlets continue to keep illegitimately linking this rape kit billing claim to Sarah Palin, even though the truth is easily discovered. /p p class=textAs mentioned, first up was a href=http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2000/05/23/news.txtuThe Frontiersman story/u/a from 2000. /p p class=textIn that story Police Chief Fannon was quoted as standing against legislation that would force local municipalities to pick up the costs of rape kits being performed. In the interview Fannon said that, upon conviction, he favored the criminals being charged for the costs./p p class=textThe story mentions that Fannon claimed that at the time Wasilla did have a policy that rape victims' insurance would be charged for the kits being performed but there was no mention that victims themselves were charged and no claim that any ever were. /p p class=textIt should be pointed out that The Frontiersman is the local Wasilla paper, so, consequently, the story did not mention what the policy was in any other Alaskan city outside the area the paper covers other than to say that quot;most municipal police agencies have covered the cost of exams.quot; This last phrase has been focused on by Palin's detractors and spun from quot;some municipalitiesquot; into quot;allquot; (except Wasilla) and presented as some sort of proof that she hates rape victims. /p p class=textAfter Palin was picked to be VP, on September 8, a blog called Americablog found the old story and brought it up as evidence of quot;a rather nasty window into Sarah Palin.quot; Americablog is run by a man named John Aravosis, a Democratic strategist, sometimes gay activist, and Washington D.C. lawyer who once worked for Alaska Senator Ted Steven before he, Aravosis, formally switched to the Democratic Party./p p class=textLater that day The Daily Kos also picked it up and from here it began to morph even further adding false claims to the story. /p p class=textIn one of those additions to the story, Kos blogger Steven R claimed that Palin hired Police Chief Fannon embecause/em he was in favor of charging rape victims for rape kits. Steven R said he was quot;Pro-Charging Rape Victims for their strongOWN TESTS!!!/strongquot; (bold in original). I cannot find this claim anywhere prior to the meme being picked up by the Old Media echoing this Kos diarist./p p class=textAccording to the a href=http://www.disastercenter.com/alaska/crime/35.htmuUniform Crime Reports for Wasilla/u/a, up until 2000 only one rape had been reported to police in Wasilla. /p p class=textThe Kos diarist tried to claim that one rape reported equalled one rape conviction alleging that all the quot;otherquot; rapes were not convicted. But the report clearly says that it was one rape emreported/em not one rape convicted. The Daily Kos Diarist was trying to make it seem as if there were all sorts of rapes going on that weren't being reported and, presumably, all sorts of victims being charged for rape kits./p p class=textIn any case, from here the Old Media began to pick up the charge that Palin had put in place or at least agreed with this charging of victims policy. On September 12, for instance, a href=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rapekits12-2008sep12,0,2717050.storyuThe L.A. Times repeated the charge/u/a./p blockquotepWhen Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the city billed sexual assault victims and their insurance companies for the cost of rape kits and forensic examinations./p /blockquote p class=textThe L.A. Times also helped further the warped claim that made it seem that the only Alaskan town that charged victims for rape kits was Palin's Wasilla./p blockquotepThen-Gov. Tony Knowles said Thursday that Wasilla was unique in the state in charging rape victims for costs incurred by law enforcement in trying to solve the crime./p /blockquote p class=textThis charge then began to appear in all sorts of opinion columns, blogs and in the comments sections of many of the Palin stories in papers all across the country./p p class=textOn September 21, the a href=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-feminist-palin-thinksep21,0,1435363.storyuChicago Tribune repeated the tale/u/a, as well. The Chi Trib tried to spin this tale into one that made Palin notorious in the Alaska State Legislature over the practice./p blockquotepWhile she was mayor of Wasilla, her town was the only one in Alaska that required rape victims to pay for their own forensic tests. Charging victims for the quot;rape kitsquot; necessary to collect evidence and convict sexual predators was a quot;cost-cuttingquot; measure that continued until complaints about her administration's policy prompted the Alaska State Legislature to pass a bill that banned this anti-victim practice statewide./p /blockquote p class=textOn September 22, it was CNN's turn to a href=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/21/palin.rape.exams/?iref=hpmostpopuhighlight the charge/u/a. CNN also pushed the false idea that out of all of Alaska's towns only Wasilla insisted on perpetrating this policy quoting former Democratic State Rep. Eric Croft to that effect./p blockquotepFormer state Rep. Eric Croft, a Democrat, sponsored a state law requiring cities to provide the examinations free of charge to victims. He said the only ongoing resistance he met was from Wasilla, where Palin was mayor from 1996 to 2002./p /blockquote p class=textFarther down in the story, CNN does reveal that there are no records and no proof that Palin ever even knew about this charging the victim policy. CNN also finally mentions that Wasilla wasn't the only town in Alaska that had this policy./p p class=textMany other papers also mention that Palin charged victims for their own rape kits. Papers such as a href=http://www.thedenverdailynews.com/article.php?aID=1957uDenver Daily/u/a and a href=http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/17721/newsuPhiladelphia Weekly/u/a, for instance. There are far more than the few I mention here./p p class=textSo, the impression all these stories leave us with is that the town of Wasilla was a major impediment to passage of a bill in the state legislature that would end the policy of charging rape victims for their own rape kits being administered. /p p class=textWe are told that quot;Palin charged rape victimsquot; and we are told that she hired a new police chief embecause/em he also wanted to charge victims. One would think that if all this were true, Palin would have been all over Alaska's news in the year 2000 because of it. /p p class=textBut, in reality, none of these charges can be found and a href=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODA1YWM5ZjM2ZTU5ODliZTY2NTczMGUwZWYwNTVlMTQ=amp;w=MA==uJim Geraghty of NRO/u/a has done a little investigative work to prove it./p p class=textGeraghty looked to see how often Wasilla and Palin were mentioned in the debates about the rape kit bill. But he finds that there is not one mention of the town of Wasilla in the hearings over the bill. Far from being the mayor that had quot;complaints about her administration's policyquot; (as the Chi Trib says) being the one forcing the state legislature to pass the law, Wasilla is not mentioned at all in the debates about the bill./p blockquotepThe Democratic sponsor of the legislation, Eric Croft, told USA Today recently that “the law was aimed in part at Wasilla, where now-Gov. Sarah Palin was mayor.” Yet in six committee meetings, Wasilla was never mentioned, even when the discussion turned to the specific topic of where victims were being charged./p /blockquote p class=textGeraghty also could not find a single instance of a rape victim ever having been charged for her own rape kit./p blockquotepTo clarify: In preparation to attend a hearing and support the bill, one of the state’s top law-enforcement officials found no case of a rape victim ever being charged. And roughly a month after 30 Democratic lawyers, investigators, and opposition researchers, not to mention reporters from every major news agency in the country, landed in Alaska, we still have no instances to consider./p /blockquote p class=textAdditionally, Geraghty found that it was the hospitals in Alaska, not the police agencies, that were passing the bills on to the victims' insurance companies. And the idea that only Wasilla had such a policy is blasted out of the water by Geraghty who notes that Juneau emalso/em had the same policy of charging rape victims for their rape kits. /p blockquotepIn fact, at a Finance Committee hearing, Representative Gail Phillips (R., Homer) “read for the record, a statement from a woman in Juneau who had experienced the charges as indicated.” Compare Juneau (population 30,711 in 2000) to Wasilla (population 5,469)./p /blockquote p class=textOn top of all of that, there are no stories prior to Sarah Palin being offered the billet as VP by John McCain that makes the claim that Palin was informed of or involved in this policy of charging rape victims for rape kits. And, since there was only one rape reported in the city between 1996 and 2000 when the story first came to the papers, it's no wonder she wasn't aware of the policy. When would it ever have come up? Does anyone think that any given mayor of any American town is fully cognizant of every single policy or law in their city, especially if it is a law not in use because of a lack of situations to bring it to light?/p p class=textFor her part, Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella has said that the governor quot;does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test.quot;/p p class=textIn the end, it seems that this story is a wild exaggeration about Palin's role in this policy. There is no proof that she ever knew about the policy until long after the situation hit the news, it is untrue that her town was quot;uniquequot; in blocking the measure, no evidence that she, herself, was notorious for the policy, and no proof that any victims were ever charged for rape kits. In fact, according to the Uniform Crime Report there were only 5 rapes reported in the 6 years she was mayor of Wasilla and four of those happened after the state law in question was passed./p p class=textIn fact, this whole thing looks like another case where the media has been programmed by the nutroots and Democratic operatives./p p class=textYet, the media still repeatedly bring this false charge up at every possible opportunity. Geraghty is right. The Old Media and the Obama campaign owes Palin an apology./p

pMy father-in-law is now my Facebook friend.  He invited me yesterday, and while I never emreally/em considered ignoring his invitation, I accepted him with warning bells sounding loudly in my head./p pSee, I write a personal blog, a href=http://brokencorset.com/ title=Broken CorsetBroken Corset/a, that entails my views on being a woman today.  I write about political and social issues from a relatively liberal/female point of view.  I put out there exactly what I think... and I love to have discussion.  The trouble with my father-in-law is, in addition to existing on the complete opposite end of the political spectrum from me, the last time we had an intense political discussion (during the Bush / Kerry campaign) - he stopped speaking to me for a week, and there was quot;talkquot; of a brewing family feud./p pFor me, the entire concept of a feud is stomach churning and unfamiliar.  I come from a family where feuding is not allowed.  You might disagree vehemently with your mother, brother, sister, aunt or uncle, but you are not allowed to stop talking.  There is no walking away, no shutting down.  If you have to agree never to discuss the troubling subject again, so be it... but you still show up for family functions and you still honor the familial relationship with the respect of your presence./p pIn my spouse's family, this is not the case.  There have been factions within the family who have not spoken for 10 years at a time...  Grandparents that didn't see grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, cousins who never played together despite growing up only 30 miles apart.  /p pBecause this is an unacceptable consequence for me, I have stopped discussing politics with my father-in-law.  I will not be the cause of distance between my husband and his family.  I do not want to end a relationship between my children and their grandparents.  And despite our differences, I do love my father-in-law./p pAnd so I blog.  I write what I think, and I make it available to the world... though it is mostly read by my facebook friends who get a newsfeed updating them when I have a new post.  In this way, I feel like I am still engaging my family and friends in the discussion, but I can keep my mouth shut at family dinners.  /p pDuring this presidental campaign, I have found this solution to work out exceptionally well.  Of course, part of why it has been working out, is that my father-in-law has not been my Facebook friend...  so truthfully, it's a somewhat delusional tactic on my part.... because the most volatile opponent to my viewpoint has generally been exempted from my discussion./p pEven I have to admit that in this way, blogging has been as much a convenient avoidance of the problem as it has been a solution.  But no longer.  My father-in-law, the last person I expected to ever become computer saavy enough to use Facebook, is my friend./p pStill, I plan on adhering to what I was taught growing up.  No matter the disagreement, I will not disengage in the relationship.   I plan to continue my general tactic of being who I am, and saying what I think online....  and remaining a congenial dinner companion.  I believe, as I tread forward down this path with great trepidation, that the acceptance of my father-in-law as my Facebook friend actually honors our relationship.  That is why there was no other choice, despite the warning bells.  He is part of my family, and I will honor that relationship with my presence... even on Facebook, there can be no quot;ignore the invitationquot;.  Hopefully, he will respect my attempt to put some distance between our disagreement and our familial relationship./p pThe warning bells are sounding....  but I go forward with hope.  Wish me well./p

Recent polls of California voters show a shift toward voting 'Yes' on Proposition 8, which seeks to ban same-sex marriage by constitutionally defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Internal polling from a href= "http://www.eqca.org/site/pp.asp?c=kuLRJ9MRKrHb=4026385" target= "_blank"...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=5OioM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=5OioM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=KLlTM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=KLlTM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=8ltBM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=8ltBM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=2z4eM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=2z4eM" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FeministDailyNews/~4/415029924" height="1" width="1"/

As voter registration in Colorado closed on Monday, state officials noted that thousands of the new Colorado voter registration forms were completed incorrectly. Many of the errors are related to a box left unchecked in the form's identification section, related to holding a state driver's license o...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=xNogM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=xNogM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=qwY6M"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=qwY6M" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=SUsTM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=SUsTM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?a=rXeyM"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FeministDailyNews?i=rXeyM" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FeministDailyNews/~4/415015880" height="1" width="1"/

pI was speaking on the phone yesterday with a friend who is pregnant with her first child and talk turned to another woman who is getting well into her forties./p pemquot;I gather she's not interested in having kids,quot;/em I said./p pemquot;Actually she's thinking about adopting,quot;/em my friend replied. emquot;She really wants to be a mom, but she's not so big on the baby stage because they can't talk, so she's thinking of adopting a toddler.quot;/em/p pemquot;Oh...well...I don't know if that, uh, makes it easier,quot; /emI stammered./p pAnd I didn't emmean/em to sound disapproving, but perhaps I did because my friend rushed to respond./p pemquot;Well, I mean, she just thinks she could handle it better if the child could at least kinda articulate what they want,quot;/em she said. emquot;And good on her for knowing what she can handle, you know?quot;/em/p pAnd I made agreeable noises and changed the subject because I didn't know what to say. Or, perhaps more accurately, I didn't know how to say what I felt without sounding completely condescending./p pCheck out the rest at:/p pa href=http://www.donmillsdiva.blogspot.com/www.donmillsdiva.blogspot.com/a/p p#160;/p