“I think this week’s outrage over the Komen decision should be a warning to the Republican party about how quickly there was a mass outrage over further and further attacks on general women’s health. You could see the same backlash on attacks on contraception.”
— Kellie Ferguson, executive director of Republican Majority for Choice, cautioning her own party not to pick a fight over contraception.
Republicans for choice?! They must feel like rabbis at a Nazi roundtable.
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“SLAVERY by Another Name” is based on a book by Douglas A. Blackmon and produced and directed by Sam Pollard. Laurence Fishburne narrates this 90-minute documentary that challenges the belief that slavery in this country ended with the Emancipation Proclamation. It airs Monday, February 13, 2012 at 9:00 PM EST on PBS.
This chart tracks the four-week moving average of initial jobless claims, beginning in January of 2008.
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There’s never been a shortage of distinguished German-language writers: Heinrich Böll, Thomas Mann, Herman Hesse, Günter Grass, Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Müller – all winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature. But in the United States, there’s a shortage of German-language readers, and very little German-language fiction gets translated into English. Spanish and French are taught more often than German in American schools – in part because of our proximity to Latin America, but also because of the growing numbers of U.S. immigrants from Spanish- and French-speaking countries. But the literary output of Germany, Austria and Switzerland has had a harder time crossing over. It’s ironic in that, while the U.S. is one of the most ethnically diverse nations in the world, most Americans trace their ancestry to Germany than any other particular country. And although the Chinese were the first to invent the printing press, Germany’s Johannes Gutenberg was the first to invent movable type in Europe. The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 exposed the world to more of Eastern Europe’s literary greats, and increased Internet usage in the past decade has drawn writers and readers closer. But, German scribes still seem relegated to some antiquitous past. An annual festival in New York City, Festival Neue Literatur, has been trying to change that for the past three years.
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Mimi Alford, who served as a White House intern in 1962, now claims she had an 18-month affair with John F. Kennedy in her new memoir, “Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath.” First of all, you actually have to be known for something significant to write a memoir; a clandestine love affair doesn’t qualify. Second, Kennedy has been dead for almost half a century – even his wife and son are dead – and Alford literally comes out of nowhere to talk about this! Kennedy, a WWII hero and a true American, accomplished more in his short life than most people – including most presidents – do in a lifetime. If you want a more thorough examination of Kennedy’s life, either visit the official JFK web site, or read Chris Matthews book, “Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero.”
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Krispy Kreme doughnut cheeseburgers. Where’s Michelle Obama when you need her?!
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“I don’t think we did anything wrong. I never had one of these sex abuse cases.”
– Roman Catholic Cardinal Edward Egan withdrawing his 2002 apology for child molestation scandals exposed when he was Archbishop of New York.
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Josefina Vazquez Mota, a 51-year-old economist and former Mexican congresswoman, became the first female presidential candidate from any of México’s major parties when she won 55% of the vote in Sunday’s primary for the National Action Party (PAN), with 89% of polling stations counted. Although it’s just the primary, her victory marks a milestone for women in a country that didn’t grant them the right to vote until 1953. The first female governor did not take office until 1989, and only a handful of women have been elected to political office since. México’s presidential elections will be held on July 1. Vasquez-Mota sounded confident when she proclaimed, “I will be the first woman president of México in history.”
PAN scored a major triumph in 2000 when Vicente Fox won the presidency; a significant achievement because the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) had ruled México for 71 years. PAN also hopes México will follow Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and other Latin American countries that have elected female leaders in recent years.
It would be an interesting political coup if México elects a female president, considering the United States – which champions itself as the leader of the free world and progressive on women’s rights – really hasn’t come close. If you ponder the vice-presidential runs of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008, it’s even more depressing.
“Wow, now it’s Santorum’s turn! A clinging creep, but if he makes Mitt Romney’s life miserable, he’s doing the Lord’s work.”
– Bill Maher on Rick Santorum’s win in Colorado’s GOP primary
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Chief Writing Wolf 