This Week on MOMochat: Life, Liberty and the Wisconsin Recall Elections

This week's MOMochat podcast was pre-recorded so the MOMocrats could prepare to enjoy the 4th of July holiday with our families.

But while we're busy organizing barbecues and swim parties, EMILY's List is on the ground in Wisconsin, supporting the effort to recall six Republican legislators who supported Governor Scott Walker's union busting bill -- and five of the six are pro-choice women!

EMILY's List President Stephanie Schriock was our MOMochat guest in a spirited interview about the effort in Wisconsin, what we can do to support them, and why we should.

"I really see this as a springboard for all of our races coming up in 2012," Schriock said. "I think it’s going to be a very, very, interesting year and as long as women continue to step up and run, I think we’re going to see a lot of new, inspirational women leaders serving all over the country, from legislative seats, city council; right up to the United States Senate."

The protests at the state Capitol in Madison energized the Democratic party in this country and inspired people around the world. Now the people in Wisconsin have an opportunity to undo some of the damage of the 2010 mid-term elections that gave the statehouse to a Koch Brothers-funded Republican majority that has been in the forefront of this year's legislative "War on Women."

As Schriock explains, "We say there is a War on Women, and with wars, there’s two sides and I intend that women will be the victors in this war. And it is really a time for us all to pull together."

We can help the effort by donating -- and/or joining Team EMILY and phone banking to people in the state. "Of you can’t get to Wisconsin, you sure can sit in your living room and pick up the phone and call voters in Wisconsin. And we’ve got it all set up; you can go through in the comfort of your home and make those calls and share with those voters in Wisconsin how important is is – not just to the folks in Wisconsin, but to the women of this country, to see this change. And to get these women elected," Schriock said. 

"The great thing about what EMILY’s List does is we network women and men all over the country who really believe that representative democracy is our true future, is our best policy. And by getting more women elected, we’re going to get where we want to go as a society," she said.

Schriock had a lot more to say: about hero Governors like North Carolina's Beverly Purdue, who repeatedly vetoed bills from the state's Republican controlled legislature that would defund Planned Parenthood... the end of the era of the moderate Republican women... and voter caging efforts throughout the country, disenfranchising voting rights (particularly of women).

Hear the entire podcast here.

 

Guest Post: The Way to Confound Bachmann - Your Kids?

Last month, MOMocrats entered into a competition at the Circle of Moms community to find the 25 most popular political blogs written by mothers. Thanks to your votes, we made it into the Top 10 -- along with some of our other favorites. Plus, through the Circle of Moms list, we've been introduced to several new progressive voices, like Shannon Drury of the Radical Housewife (#3), who kindly offered us this account of an up close and personal encounter with now-official Presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann:

As a longtime activist in the service of feminist and other social justice causes, I have spent more than my fair share of time in the Minnesota State Capitol.  And because I believe that politics is an all-ages activity, I like to take my two kids.  

This was easier when they were small, as Elliott and Miriam were in the capitol session of 2006.  I dragged them and a stroller full of one-year-old Miriam’s junk to a hearing that involved regulating abortion procedures in our state so stringently that the “choice” in “pro-choice” would be meaningless for all but wealthy urbanites, the types who had access to everything anyway.  My sister and her four-year-old son joined us.  Great pals as well as cousins, Elliott and Aidan liked any opportunity to hold signs and chant as loud as they could, proving my oft-held theory that there are no finer activists than energetic little boys.  Yet even these two grew tired of flapping “PRO-CHOICE PRO-FAMILY” signs, taking their first opportunity to sneak away from their mothers in search of greater kicks.

“STOP THAT,” came the inevitable bark of an irritated stranger.  

A slender, finely-coiffed brunette had her gaze fixed on the boys, who were zipping in between a marble alcove and a copper bust of some long-dead former legislator.  My cheeks reddened as I plopped Miriam in my sister’s arms, mentally preparing for a heartfelt apology and a promise that the children in my care would stop behaving like overcaffeinated puppies.  Until I got a closer look at the woman’s face, that is.

I realized that my children were being admonished by Michele Bachmann, a state representative from Stillwater.

Rarely am I able to identify Minnesota legislators outside my home of Minneapolis, but Bachmann was making quite a name for herself in state politics, and not always for the reasons that she hoped.  I wouldn’t have recognized her if she hadn’t been exposed for hiding in the bushes outside a LGBT rights rally outside the capitol building the session before.  Why was she hiding there?  Bachmann never quite explained this herself, but the universally held opinion was that she couldn’t resist a peek at the folks she’d spent her tenure in the Minnesota legislature demonizing.  That very day, in fact, I’d passed by a gentleman holding a homemade sign with the words “HATEMONGER” scribbled across her headshot.  

Michele Bachmann: Taking Political Motherhood to the White House?

If you thought Michele Bachmann was a conservative mom political superstar before the last GOP debate, then you're probably standing in line to get her autograph this week as she officially announces her 2012 presidential bid, as well as her special beauty secrets of how she still looks so young and fresh after 28 kids. I certainly don't look that put together on most days and I only have one child!

I'm no fan of Bachmann's political views or the fact that even though she's a lawyer, her understanding of the Constitution leaves a little something to be desired. But I have to hand it to her -- she pretty much hit it out of the ballpark with her debate performance alongside all those GOP guys.

Bachmann was prepared, poised and made sure her answers incorporated two things that are crucial to her campaign -- her Congressional experience and her motherhood. Plus, she lucked out that she didn't have any camera malfunctions or have to answer any questions about geography. I have no doubt that she's going to use the mom thing to her advantage wherever she can, because it worked pretty well for Sarah Palin when she was trying to whip GOP women into a political frenzy.

White Male Privilege and the Daughter Test

Meet the newest MOMocrat, Grace.

Steven Levitt of Freakonomics fame recently wrote that he bases his decisions on whether to support government prohibitions on what he calls the "daughter test":

It wasn't until the U.S. government's crackdown on internet poker last week that I came to realize that the primary determinant of where I stand with respect to government interference in activities comes down to the answer to a simple question: How would I feel if my daughter were engaged in that activity? If the answer is that I wouldn't want my daughter to do it, then I don't mind the government passing a law against it. I wouldn't want my daughter to be a cocaine addict or a prostitute, so in spite of the fact that it would probably be more economically efficient to legalize drugs and prostitution subject to heavy regulation/taxation, I don't mind these activities being illegal. On the other hand, if my daughter had good reasons to want an abortion, I would want her to be able to have one, so I'm weakly in favor of abortion to be legal, even though I put a lot of value on unborn fetuses.

That this is utterly ridiculous ought to be so obvious as to need no elaborating. Do we want legislators making laws based on what they would personally want for us as parents, or based on respect for people as human beings with equal rights and autonomy? This shouldn't be a difficult question to answer. Yet a bunch more white dudes similarly privileged as Levitt have since weighed in to debate whether or not his test is reasonable.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: It's Time For Congress To Act On The Paycheck Fairness Act

This week's MOMocrats MOMochat dealt with the legal ramifications of this week's Supreme Court decision to dismiss the class action discrimination suit against Wal-Mart. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) also has something to say: 

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked up to 1.6 million women from suing Walmart for sex discrimination in a class action lawsuit. The court's 5-4 conservative majority sided with business over women, claiming that Walmart's well-documented wage and hiring disparities are coincidences and not a result of a persistent culture of discrimination.

This is unacceptable. In the U.S. today, women are paid only 78 cents on the dollar that men make. If the highest court in the land won't protect women from discrimination in the workplace, then we must stand together and demand action from Congress.

Please join me in urging my colleagues in Congress to act on The Paycheck Fairness Act now. Go to OffTheSidelines.org/EqualPay to stand with me in support this crucial piece of legislation.
The Paycheck Fairness Act would accomplish several important things including:

• Close loopholes in The Equal Pay Act to ensure that employers have a legitimate business reason for paying women less for the same work
  
  
• Prohibit employers from retaliating against workers who discuss their salary with co-workers
  
  
• Update the Equal Pay Act to make it more in line with the class action procedures available under other anti-discrimination laws
  
  
• Level the playing field for employers, so those that pay fairly are not at a disadvantage.

But this issue is not just about fairness. Achieving equal pay for women is also about economic recovery and rebuilding the American middle class. If women were paid what men are for equal work, America's GDP would rise by up to 9 points. Since women are often the primary breadwinners and caretakers for families, a rise in their pay would mean a higher quality of life for their children.

Women are now a majority of the workforce and they earn graduate degrees in larger numbers than men. Women are the economic drivers of our economy yet we are still discriminated against every day because more often than not, men are the ones in the boardrooms and the executive suites making the hiring decisions.

That's why I created Off The Sidelines, to make women aware of these disparities and the necessity that they get more involved in the issues that affect them every day. As a first step, please speak out by adding your name to the petition at OffTheSidelines.org/EqualPay.

Thanks for standing up for equal pay for women. We have a long way to go but together we can work to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and take an important first step toward revitalizing our economy and achieving fairness for women in the workplace.

To President Obama on the Drawdown from Afghanistan: Put Veterans to Work Through 'Troops to Teachers'

Tonight at 8 pm ET, President Obama will outline his plan to begin drawing down troops in Afghanistan.

Not only is this a fulfillment of his promise at his West Point 2010 speech to do so, it's long past time we pivot away from battlefields and commit our precious people-power and national spending priorities to the many economic troubles we have at home. The American people favor, by large margins, a return of our troops and an end to the occupation of Afghanistan: 64% believe that troop levels should be decreased and 73% believe "substantial" numbers of troops should be withdrawn starting this summer.

It's an undeniable fact that our veterans will be coming home to a weakened economy. How will we absorb them into a job market that can barely sustain the people here already searching for work? We've heard nothing but "austerity" talk from the GOP, and both tax cuts and job cuts -- yes, government jobs are also jobs -- from the Republican party. Clearly they have nothing to offer.

Bob Fertik over at the USA Jobs Party has a great suggestion: immediately hire 3 million teacher's aides to help in the classroom, and give 99ers (those who have been out of work longer than the 99 weeks covered by unemployment benefits) and veterans first crack at work as teacher's aides.

This Week on MOMochat: What the Wal-Mart Decision Means to You

Slate's Dahlia Lithwick says this week's Supreme Court dismissal of Wal-Mart v Dukes "may be the most consequential case of the current term." MOMocrat Joanne Bamberger says the Court basically told the women of America to just "shut up and go home."

Jessica Mason Pieklo joins Donna Schwartz Mills and Cynematic to discuss and explain the decision and how it affects cases of job discrimination on the basis of gender. 

Cynematic will also recap her journey to last week's Netroots Nation gathering in Minnesota.

Jessica Pieklo is a former litigator who, after nearly ten years litigating employment law, shareholder actions and fiduciary duty claims now writes and teaches for a living. Her areas of expertise include employment law, constitutional law, health law and business law. She teaches a number of law and political science courses for undergraduates and law students in the Minneapolis area and serves on the Board of Directors for Common Cause, Minnesota.

 

Supreme Court Tells Wal-mart Women to Go Home

The Supreme Court has told one and a half million women who work at Wal-mart, in essence, be grateful you have jobs even if you make less money and get promoted less than men. Now, shut up and go home.

That was the practical upshot of the ruling in the highly-watched case Dukes v. Wal-mart.

I used a similar phrase a short time ago when SCOTUS declined to hear the appeal of the Texas cheerleader who was dismissed from her high school squad for refusing to cheer for the student who had allegedly raped her. The denial of SCOTUS upheld the message sent by the lower courts -- as a cheerleader, you're a hand-picked mouthpiece for the school's message, so you have to say what they tell you to say (even about your attacker) or get out.

Now, in the most activist judicial move I've seen in a long time, the Supreme Court dismissed the class action suit Dukes v. Wal-mart sending that same message to the women of Wal-mart by ruling that a class of 1.5 million plaintiffs was just too big for evidence of gender discrimination to be "common" to all of them -- one of the basic requirements in a class action lawsuit. Few legal watchers, including this one, were surprised at that outcome. But digging deeper into the 5-4 opinion penned by Antonin "the Constitution doesn't protect women against discrimination" Scalia, you'll find that Scalia turned a procedural case into the latest substantive attack on women.

MOMocrats at Netroots Nation 2011

The MOMocrats get around! As the 2012 Presidential campaign is pretty much upon us, MOMocrats Joanne Bamberger (aka PunditMom) and Cynematic participated in a panel to let progressive candidates and activists know that they need to be paying attention to social media moms if they want to win.

Sitting at your desk while you're eating lunch? This video of the panel is a perfect way to get caught up with the power of women online! Thanks to former Congressional candidate Krystal Ball and Anita Jackson of MomsRising for making this panel awesome!

Watch live streaming video from fstv3 at livestream.com

And, we also had a chance to meet the fabulous sponsor of our MOMochats -- Bubble Genius -- who was an exhibitor at Netroots Nation! Can't wait to try out the samples we came home with!

Guest Post: Is Tyell Morton a Criminal, Or Just a Foolish Kid?

Guest blogger Joni Reynolds from Ebony Mom Politics alerted us to the Tyell Morton case, which we subsequently read about on The Root and AlterNet. We asked her to contribute a post about it:

On May 31, 2011, Tyell Morton did a very foolish thing.

Morton, a senior at Rushville High School in Indiana decided to do what he thought was a harmless senior prank. Dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and wearing latex gloves, Morton planted a package (containing a blow-up doll) in the girls’ restroom. When it was discovered, all hell broke loose.

Photo credit: FreeTyellMorton.org; Used with permission

The Indiana State bomb squad was called to the campus and the school was evacuated. Morton had been caught on the surveillance cameras. He admitted putting the package in the restroom; he was arrested and charged with felony criminal mischief.

Prosecutors find nothing humorous about Morton's prank, which school officials say cost them over $8,000. Morton not only missed his graduation, but he faces the possibility of spending eight years in prison if convicted.

Rush County Prosecutor Phil Caviness is taking this case very seriously. Caviness said, “In this post-Columbine world, that’s what you get when these kinds of things happen.”  

People, it was a senior prank. Did the action rise to the level of a Columbine comparison? It was foolish and stupid, but is this the kind of thing that should send a young man to prison?

Morton has no criminal record; he is simply a young man who did a very stupid thing. He should not go unscathed, but the punishment should fit the crime. He should have to pay the cost of the evacuation, and community service would be in order -- but to send this young man to prison would be a real crime.

For more information on this case, visit www.freetyellmorton.org. Add your name to the petition urging Indiana to pursue charges that are commensurate with the facts of this case here.

Joni Hudson-Reynolds is the author of the daily political blog Ebony Mom Politics. Reynolds brings insight and wit to her daily entries as she informs, empowers, and inspires her readers. Reynolds is married and the mother of two teens.