A Woman Who Supports Gay Rights & Marriage Equality Boycotts Target

I applaud this woman for publicly withdrawing her purchasing power from Target.

Recently the corporation donated $150,000 to the Republican candidate for the gubernatorial campaign in Minnesota, Target's home state. This sparked ire from LGBT groups, who demanded to know how Target could support an anti-marriage equality candidate at the same time as they supported gay rights and causes.

As mentioned by Randi Reitan, boycotting Target will be hard, because it's convenient to shop there and it's a handy place to pick up gifts for kids and grandkids. Soon it'll be time to stock up on back-to-school stuff. But I admire her allegiance to her cherished LGBT family members and friends, and her quiet, principled stand.

Corporations and marketers want to court women because they know we control the purse strings. Sometimes I detest being treated as if I'm merely Giddy Shopper Lady. (I mean, I am all that, AND more. Heh.) What if we could take that same power of the purse strings and use it for good, not evil? Together we could really get Target's attention. Maybe we could even get them to do the right thing--be consistent in their support of LGBT causes.

Cynematic's cobwebby blog is P i l l o w b o o k.

Democratic Candidate for Governor of Oklahoma, Jari Askins, Wins Primary to Face a Sarah Palin-Backed GOP Candidate

By SEAN MURPHY (AP) – 6 hours ago

via www.google.com

Oklahoma now has two women vying to fill the seat of governor of the state.

After a come-from-behind victory in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, current Lieutenant Governor Jari Askins wins to face an anti-choice Sarah Palin-backed GOP candidate, Congresswoman Mary Fallins.

While not full-throatedly pro-choice, Lt. Governor Askins supports women's access to abortions in "hard cases," a more moderate position than avowedly anti-choice Fallin. Oklahoma is among the most anti-choice states in the country, the legislature having earlier this year voted in a "compulsory ultrasound" law for women seeking abortions and approved public posting of information on women who receive abortions. Askins' message of gender equality through pay equity resonated with women voters, so it'll be interesting to see how Fallin responds on that issue.

Askins also benefited from last-minute support from a popular football coach who had also campaigned for sitting Governor Brad Henry previously. She's demonstrated a bipartisan approach so far, emphasizing bread and butter issues like jobs and education.

It's important to note that for all of Palin's vaunted popularity among hard-right Tea Party Republicans, endorsement from the former half-term governor can just as likely be the kiss of electoral death as a boost.

Why? The quitter from Wasilla consistently turns off most moderates and an overwhelming percentage of liberals. One blogger notes that her 29% favorability rating makes her about as popular as George W Bush was--quite a feat when she hasn't yet had an opportunity to launch two costly and unsuccessful wars or tank the economy. That makes it hard for her strident persona to translate into electoral success--she's a hothouse orchid who blooms best in the overheated swamps of Faux News and the fact-free right-wingosphere. We'll see if Oklahoma's moderates outnumber its hard-right ideologues, and if Askins can get Democrats and independents out to vote.

Cynematic blogs at P i l l o w b o o k.

Go Watch This--Elizabeth Warren at Netroots Nation 2010: Building a Progressive Economic Vision (via the Consumer Financial Product Bureau)

Unabashed Elizabeth Warren fan here. Though I attended Netroots, I was busy when she spoke. Through the magic of Ustream, I watched and so can you. Her part is from 7:50 in, to 29:00. (The whole video is good, but who has an hour and 15 minutes to watch all of it?)

We desperately need her as the head of the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The sooner President Obama appoints her the head, the sooner you can understand all the terms of the mortgage, credit card, and bank loans you agreed to.

Cynematic blogs at P i l l o w b o o k.

Netroots Nation: MOMocrats Join MotherTalkers Rocking the Caucus

This week, I have the privilege of co-hosting the Parents' Caucus at Netroots Nation on behalf of the MOMocrats, along with Elisa Batista of MotherTalkers. This isn't your average mommyblogger conference panel. First, it's a caucus, more like an open discussion with all of the members. Anyone who's a NN10 attendee and a parent is welcome to come and speak. Second, we're discussing tough issues affecting parents with progressive views. And third, it's going to be a lot of fun.

What is the pay disparity between a single mother and a man? What percentage of fathers are primary caregivers? We've got a trivia contest, so bone up on your facts. Prizes will be given to those who answer the most questions correctly. (Hint: prepare for our trivia challenge by reading or viewing The Motherhood Manifesto, checking out MomsRising.org, and the Census bureau for info on parents and children.)

But more than that, it's a chance to talk to others who face similar concerns as parents, caregivers, and Americans. Learn about what's happening in Congress and at the White House regarding workplace flexibility, and global programs dedicated to helping educate women and girls.

So if you're in Las Vegas, please join me, Elisa, and the other MOMocrats (Joanne, aka Punditmom, and Cynthia, Cynematic) and MotherTalkers at the Netroots Nation Parents' Caucus in Miranda 5 at the Rio at 10:30 Friday morning. Kids are welcome too!

What a Five-Year-Old Needs to Know About Sex

Last week, after a tempest-in-a-teapot on Twitter that covered birth control, comprehensive sexual education vs. abstinence-only, Title X, CEDAW, and political minorities vis a vis Madison’s Federalist Papers, someone tweeted, “The only thing a 5yrold should need to know about sex is...well...nothing.”

Shortly thereafter, I saw Logan Levkoff debating Peter Sprigg, of the Family Research Council, on Fox News over proposed curriculum changes in Helena, MT.

Did you catch that? Peter Spriggs is all a flutter over the possibility of teaching kindergartners “the names of the male and female sex organs.” In other words, teaching kids the correct names of their own body parts.

Go Watch/Read This: Rachel Maddow on The Afghanistan War

Some months ago, I tried to say why it is I think Women Can End the Afganistan War.

Now the brilliant Rachel Maddow has managed to lay out, based on facts gathered during her recent visit and live broadcasts from Afghanistan, what's at stake for America if we stay and why there are strong moral imperatives for us to leave. (The transcript to her opinion piece is here.)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Nation-building, or its more modest cousin, development aid, is not nor should it be a military objective. Why? Because the inevitable loss of life among our soldiers in pursuit of building a nation other than our own is too high a price to pay, and the inevitable loss of life among their civilians directly undermines the building of a peaceful civil society.

MOMocrats Guest Post: The Jungle Revisited: Production, Safety and the Next Disaster

In 1906 Americans were riveted and horrified by “The Jungle”, Upton Sinclair’s novel which vividly described the sickening working conditions of Lithuanian immigrants in Chicago’s meatpacking plants. This muckraking bestseller, with its underlying call for government intervention and regulation, in no small part contributed to the creation of what is now the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Today we often think of the era before Teddy Roosevelt as a dark age, an era where workers could get swallowed into vats of lard and end up in the sausage on our breakfast table.

Over one hundred years later, in April 2010, Americans watched in horror as coal miners in West Virginia were also swallowed up, paying the ultimate price for working for a company that by many accounts, views its workers as disposable. As the details of the tragedy unfolded, the cavalier attitudes of Massey Energy and its CEO became widely known: the culture of placing profits ahead of the very people dragging coal from of the earth; the regulatory citations; the open hostility towards unions and their own internal safety mechanisms. Most of us, who can’t even begin to fathom what it takes to summon the courage to work in a coal mine each and every day, could only shake our heads in sadness.

Months later it was déjà vu all over again. An oil rig explosion in the Gulf took the lives of 11 workers. Again, BP’s striking disregard for worker safety (as evidenced by reams of violations) became public knowledge. Millions of Americans then got to the business of voicing our collective outrage at environmental degradation that we can barely wrap our heads around.

In the first instance, we targeted our collective wrath upon Massey CEO Don Blankenship. He was a cartoonish villain of a guy who all but sneered, twirled his mustache and bought judges on camera (ok, so that last part at least, wasn’t on camera). After the second disaster, BP CEO Tony Hayward – the millionaire who “want[s] [his] life back” - was the focus of our bulls-eye. Later, Americans, along with our President, eventually channeled this anger on the obscure DOI-based Minerals Management Agency, with its sex and drugs and rubber-stamping of deep-water drilling permits.  These are all valid targets in the short term, but how do we possibly prevent the next “tragedy” if we only view these disasters as aberrations, as isolated incidents in our industrial economy?

Happy Independence Day, America

I still think this is a better choice for the national anthem--much more singable than the Star Spangled Banner.

Two versions. The first, from the Boss:

The second version comes from the Inauguration ceremony for our 44th President of the United States:

Remember how you felt then?

Cynematic blogs sporadically at  P i l l o w b o o k.