<SeniorWomen.com News and Issues/>

Jo Freeman, Sarah Palin: A Risky Move and A Gift to the Women's Movement: McCains's choice for VP indicates he thinks he can shave off a piece of the population still unhappy with how Hillary was treated. It was a bold choice. A brilliant choice. A risky choice

Jo Freeman, Outside and Inside The Big Tent: Republicans who want back in are moderates, formerly known as liberal Republicans or Rockefeller Republicans, tracing their roots to Teddy Roosevelt's progressives and viewing themselves as "the real majority" in the Republican party

At the Democratic Convention

Jo Freeman, The End of the Dream? Thoughts on the Finale of the Democratic Convention: There is another dream that was part of the New Frontier of the 1960s that is threatened with foreclosure. That is the dream of every American to speak, write and think freely, and to conduct their lives without government surveillance

Hillary.... and Obama: Diversity is more than delegate deep. Women's events are still aimed at mobilizing women on behalf of Democratic candidates, but they also encourage women to run for office and celebrate those who did

Jo Freeman, Diversity In Play in the Caucuses: Much of the Democratic Convention activity takes place in caucus meetings. The convention proceedings are just a show for the media in which delegates are the backdrop

Jo Freeman for SeniorWomen.com at the Denver Democratic Convention, Recreate 68? — A Protesters' Pipe Dream: There will be protests of varying kinds by different groups all week. But judging from the numbers (or lack thereof) I saw on Sunday, the police won't need the "overflow" detention center they created "just in case"

Democractic Convention Trivia

Seniors, age 65 or older, make up 16.9 percent of the total delegation and delegates age 36 or younger comprise 14.5 percent.

The DNCC also announced the oldest delegate to the Convention is Sophie Masloff, 91, from Pennsylvania. Ms. Masloff is an unpledged delegate.

According to statistics compiled by the Democratic National Committee more women, African Americans, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, GLBT delegates and delegates with disabilities will attend the Convention than ever before.

Still Learning

Julia Sneden, Learning Differently: We do not bind the feet of our babies so that all will fit into one, universal shoe size. Why do we try to wrestle their minds into one educational box? They are divergent learners, and our world is full of them

November Election State Ballot Initiatives

"Besides electing a president on Nov. 4, voters in some key battleground states also will face divisive social policy choices, including whether to ban gay marriage in Florida and restrict affirmative action and abortion in Colorado.

"Michigan voters may be asked to end a 30-year-old ban on stem-cell research that destroys human embryos. Ohioans may decide whether sick workers should be guaranteed paid leave. Missouri voters’ attitudes toward immigrants will be tested by a measure to declare English the official state language. In Washington, voters may get to weigh whether to join Oregon in legalizing assisted suicide for the terminally ill.

"Among social issues, more proposals that would appeal to conservative voters than to liberals are showing up in 2008. But there is no consensus on whether ballot measures tend to drive enough voters to the polls to give an advantage to a presidential candidate. 'An initiative can help shape the debate and create a contrast between candidates, but there's no evidence to suggest a ballot initiative will increase turnout in a presidential year,' said John Krause, a spokesman for the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington, DC.

"Some conservatives, however, disagree. 'Social issues and family issues bring people to the polls, and they do affect voting,' said David Nammo, executive director of FRCAction, the legislative advocacy arm of the Family Research Council. He suggested that a proposed gay-marriage ban on California's ballot might help bring out enough conservatives that "California might be in play" for McCain. "It's been a long time since California was in play for a Republican," he said

Read the entire report from the Pew Research Center, Social Issues Crowd State Ballots

Stem Cell Controversy Continues

Embryonic stem cell research, which uses special cells found in three- to five-day-old human embryos to seek cures for a host of chronic diseases, has sparked a major moral and political debate in the United States. In the 10 years since University of Wisconsin scientists announced they had harvested potentially life-saving cells from surplus embryos donated by fertility clinics, the ethical dilemma presented by the studies has absorbed activists on both sides of the issue and has risen to the top of state and federal political agendas.

For patients and their families, embryonic stem cell research offers the hope of cures for chronic and debilitating conditions, such as juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries and blindness. For scientists, it represents a revolutionary path to discovering the causes and cures for many more human maladies. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, that is, they have the unique ability to develop into any of the 220 cell types in the human body. In addition to their versatility, embryonic stem cells are easier to grow in the laboratory than adult stem cells.

But many opponents, including some religious leaders, believe that stem cell research raises the same moral issues as abortion. Furthermore, opponents maintain that scientists have other promising ways of reaching the same goals, including non-controversial adult stem cell research. But proponents of the research point out that there is no substitute at this time for research using embryos. In addition, they say, the research has resulted in the destruction of only a few hundred embryos, making it fundamentally different from abortion, which results in the destruction of millions of human embryos every year.

SeniorWomen.com Credentialed to DNCC but Republicans Refuse

SeniorWomen.com's political writer and scholar, Jo Freeman, will be going to Denver, CO credentialed by the Democrats. Unfortunately, the Republicans have not granted similar documents for attendance to their convention in St. Paul, MN. We feel that Jo cannot cover the Republican Convention thoroughly without credentials; she will be denied access to important meetings and gatherings.

Jo has informed us that she plans to travel to Minneapolis in spite of this and will be standing line with the other rejects waiting to beg for a "no show" pass — the passes for those who were credentialed but not picked up.
The more she has to wait in line, the less time she will have to report on what women are doing at the Republican Convention and she will be barred access to many gatherings.

If you'd like to read articles from the Republican Party Convention that were reported on through this complete access, write to the Republican National Committee:

Republican National Committee | 310 First Street | Washington, D. C. 20003 or to their email: info@GOPConvention2008.com

or directly to: Hayden Pruett, Committee on Arrangements, 2008 Republican National Convention. Her email is HPruett@gopconvention2008.com and the phone is: (651) 467-2654

Thank you for applying for credentials to cover the 2008 Republican National Convention. We appreciate your interest in covering this historic event.Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming interest in covering our convention, we are unable to accommodate your request for Special Press Credentials. We hope you choose to follow our proceedings through other means, including our live-stream at www.GOPConvention2008.com. Sincerely, Special Press Credentials Office

Being Overtaken

Key Conclusions:

• Potential stumbling blocks to sustained Chinese growth — export concerns, domestic economic instability, inequality and poverty, pollution, social unrest, or even corruption and slow political reform — are unlikely to undermine China’s long-term success.

• China’s financial system, rather than a shortcoming that compromises growth potential, is one of the strengths of what the report calls “China’s money-making machine,” in part because of its ability to support the financing of infrastructure and other public investments necessary for sustained rapid growth.

• A Chinese economy that eclipses the US by midcentury has both commercial and potential military implications. China will be the preeminent world commercial influence. China’s military capabilities are a small fraction of the United States’ today, so there is time to prepare for a very different world in fifty years, says the report.

• American policy makers should take this opportunity to enact wide-ranging domestic reforms and rethink their concepts of global order.

“China’s economic performance clearly is no flash in the pan. Its growth this decade has averaged more than 10 percent a year and is still going strong in the first half of 2008. Because its success in recent decades has not been export-led but driven by domestic demand, its rapid growth can continue well into the twenty-first century, unfettered by world market limitation. China’s likely continued success will eventually bring an end to America’s global economic preeminence, requiring strategic reassessment by all major economies — especially the United States, the European Union, Japan, and even China itself.”

Preparing for a Domestic Surge

"Based on a review of state emergency preparedness documents and interviews with 20 state emergency preparedness officials, GAO found that many states had made efforts related to three of the key components of medical surge, but fewer have implemented the fourth. More than half of the 50 states had met or were close to meeting the criteria for the five medical-surge-related sentinel indicators for hospital capacity reported in the Hospital Preparedness Program’s 2006 midyear progress reports. For example, 37 states reported that they could add 500 beds per million population within 24 hours of a mass casualty event. In a 20-state review, GAO found that
• all 20 were developing bed reporting systems and most were coordinating with military and veterans hospitals to expand hospital capacity,
• 18 were selecting various facilities for alternate care sites,
• 15 had begun electronic registering of medical volunteers, and
• fewer of the states — 7 of the 20 — were planning for altered standards of medical care to be used in response to a mass casualty event.

State officials in GAO’s 20-state review reported that they faced challenges relating to all four key components in preparing for medical surge. For example, some states reported concerns related to maintaining adequate staffing levels to increase hospital capacity, and some reported concerns about reimbursement for medical services provided at alternate care sites. According to some state officials, volunteers were concerned that if state registries became part of a national database they might be required to provide services outside their own state. Some states reported that they had not begun work on or completed altered standards of care guidelines due to the difficulty of addressing the medical, ethical, and legal issues involved in making life-or-death decisions about which patients would get access to scarce resources. While most of the states that had adopted or were drafting altered standards of care guidelines reported using federal guidance as they developed these guidelines, some states also reported that they needed additional assistance.

What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that the Secretary of HHS ensure that the department serve as a clearinghouse for sharing among the states altered standards of care guidelines developed by individual states or medical experts. HHS was silent on GAO’s recommendation. HHS and the departments of Homeland Security, Defense, and Veterans Affairs concurred with GAO's findings.

Gas, Oil, Futures and A Site

Although we don't pretend to understand the role speculators or the futures markets play (as well as should we be focussing on the spot market?) in the issue of high gasoline prices, we do know a good source when we see one.

Milestones

On June 17, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) won a special election to fill the seat of former Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD), who resigned in May. Rep. Edwards was sworn in on June 19.

Her election marks a milestone for women in Congress, bringing the total number of women serving in the 110th Congress to 91, including a record 75 women in the House of Representatives, and sixteen women in the Senate.

Early in her career, Rep. Edwards worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center translating technical documents into layman’s language. She then attended law school and worked on several public interest issues. She also co-founded and served as the executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence and worked to enact the Violence Against Women Act (P.L. 103-322) in 1994.

Rep. Edwards holds a bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University and a law degree from Franklin Pierce Law School. She is the first African American woman elected to represent Maryland in the House of Representatives.

Nuclear Security

"An internal US Air Force investigation has determined that 'most sites' currently used for deploying nuclear weapons in Europe do not meet Department of Defense security requirements.

"A summary of the investigation report was released by the Pentagon in February 2008 but omitted the details. Now a partially declassified version of the full report, recently obtained by the Federation of American Scientists, reveals a much bigger nuclear security problem in Europe that previously known.

"As a result of these security problems, according to other sources, the US plans to withdraw its nuclear custodial unit from at least one base and consolidate the remaining nuclear mission in Europe at fewer bases.

"The national nuclear bases in Europe, those where nuclear weapons are stored for use by the host nation’s own aircraft, are at the center of the findings of the Blue Ribbon Review (BRR), the investigation that was triggered by the notorious incident in August 2007 when the US Air Force lost track of six nuclear warheads for 36 hours as they were flow across the United States without the knowledge of the military personnel in charge of safeguarding and operating the nuclear weapons."

Raising State Taxes

From Stateline's article, Tax hikes rare among states — so far by Pamela M. Prah.

A handful of states have risked the ire of voters by digging deeper into residents’ pockets to keep the revenue flowing and balance 2009 budgets. Consider:

Articles

Jo Freeman, This is an historic election. Let's celebrate it: It illustrates what is good about America, at a time when many find it hard to see the good. It demonstrates that we can overcome historic prejudices, change deeply buried values and attitudes, look beyond the surface to see the substance

Julia Sneden, Foundations: Can we not wait for the teachable moment? When we cram our children full of facts and ignore spontaneity, or when we try to provide answers before questions are asked, we do so at the expense of wonder

Blues and Stress

Excerpts from the Pew Research Center's article on social and demographic trends, The Middle Class Blues: Pricey Neighborhoods, High Stress:

When it comes to anxiety about family finances, an old truism applies: Where you stand depends on where you sit. Or, more precisely, on where your house or apartment sits.

Americans who think of themselves as being in the middle class have differing levels of comfort or distress about their financial situations, and some of that variance is related to where they live, according to a Pew Social & Demographic Trends survey.

Adults who call themselves middle class and who live in the nation's most expensive metropolitan areas have higher incomes and higher costs than do self-identified middle class adults who live in lower-cost regions. They also have more financial stresses. They're more likely to say they barely make enough to get by, and they're more likely to say they expect to have trouble paying their bills in the coming year. Moreover, middle class homeowners in high-cost areas are less likely to have paid off their homes than are middle class homeowners in less expensive areas.

For example, more than a quarter of middle class residents of high-cost areas (26%) say they have just enough money for basic expenses, or not even that much. That is higher than the proportion saying so (16%) among middle class residents of low-cost metropolitan areas. Middle class residents of low-cost areas are more likely than those in high-cost regions to say that they live comfortably or have enough for basics plus a little left over for extras, 84% to 73%.

There also are differences between high-cost and low-cost areas of the country in the likelihood of owning one's home outright, according to the survey. Middle class Americans in high-cost metropolitan areas are less likely to have paid off their mortgages than those who live in less expensive regions, putting them at greater risk in a housing market downturn. Only a fifth (22%) say their homes are paid off, compared with a third (31%) of the middle class in low-cost regions.

Book Review

Women's Issues in Congress

On May 1, the House passed, 414-1, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (H.R. 493). The Senate passed the measure on April 24 (see The Source, 4/25/08). The president is expected to sign the bill.

On April 24, the Senate passed, 95-0, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (H.R. 493), after adopting a substitute amendment offered by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The House approved the bill without the amendment on April 25, 2007 (see The Source, 4/25/07).

The measure would prohibit employers from using individuals' genetic information when making hiring, firing, job placement, or promotion decisions. It also would make it illegal for group health plans and health insurers to deny coverage to healthy individuals, charge them higher premiums based solely on their genetic predisposition to a specific disease, or require them to take a genetic test. The bill prohibits discrimination based on the genetic information of a family member, the “genetic information of any fetus carried by [a] pregnant woman,” and the genetic information of any “family member utilizing an assisted reproductive technology, including genetic information of any embryo legally held by the individual or family member.”

The substitute amendment clarified the “firewall” the bill creates between insurers and employers to ensure that employers are not held liable for violations made by their insurance companies, and vice versa. The amendment also clarified language about the collection of family medical history.

Conflict of Interest

Responsible Conduct of Research is a Columbia University teaching module that "stress[es] the importance of identifying and managing conflicts of interest. Upon completion of this module we hope that the reader will be able to define the different types of conflicts of interest ..." "There is growing concern by many that a commitment to profit has resulted in a loss of confidence in the integrity of institutions of higher education and research."

they are not always financial in nature and therefore may be difficult to identify.

Furthermore, there are conflicts in the world of medical journals. From MedPage Today:

Gaffes and Leaks Invade Journals' Ivory Tower - The real issue, Dr. Jerome Kassirer, the former editor of the NEJM said, is not the extent of disclosure of conflicts of interest — it's the conflicts themselves. He pointed to research indicating that company-sponsored studies are more likely to find in favor of the company's products.

Article and New Book

Jo Freeman, Priming the Progressives: Getting unmarried female Democratic voters to the polls in November could turn some red states blue. In states whose exit polls asked marital status, unmarried women voted at much greater rates in Super Tuesday Democratic primaries.

Politics

Julia Sneden, Drugged: The drug companies represent an incredibly powerful industry. It gives huge amounts of money to members of Congress, ensuring that our representatives won’t be eager to regulate its excesses. We need a hero (think Teddy Roosevelt and his “trust-busters”) to set things right

Great Lakes — Danger Zones?

For more than seven months, the nation’s top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially “alarming information” as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates.

The 400-plus-page study, Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern, was undertaken by a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the request of the International Joint Commission, an independent bilateral organization that advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on the use and quality of boundary waters between the two countries. The study was originally scheduled for release in July 2007 by the IJC and the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the study, which warns that more than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen “areas of concern” — including such major metropolitan areas as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee — may face elevated health risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury, or six other hazardous pollutants.

In many of the geographic areas studied, researchers found low birth weights, elevated rates of infant mortality and premature births, and elevated death rates from breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer.

Read the rest of the release from the Center and download excerpts from the report:

Long Term Care Insurance Revisited

"Long term care insurance is of special importance to women and many of us are are pondering the question of whether or not to purchase a policy. A woman's decision on the purchase of this product may be just as important in later years as an understanding of Medicare and Social Security. One reason is a longer life expectancy for women: they outlive men by about seven years. While men tend to have more acute health episodes that lead to earlier and more rapid deaths, women tend to have more chronic diseases that impair their mobility, leading to the need for long term care. Because our mates usually die before us and our children, if we have them, may not be available to care for us, we have to plan for our own needs in the future. One of the ways to do this is to understand what long term care is all about, who pays for it, the risk of needing such care, and then consider whether Long Term Care Insurance is right for you."

The GAO's Long Term Fiscal Outlook

Action Is Needed to Avoid the Possibility of a Serious Economic Disruption in the Future

As we enter 2008, what we call the long-term fiscal challenge is not in the distant future. Already the first members of the baby boom generation have filed for early Social Security retirement benefits — and will be eligible for Medicare in only 3 years. Simulations by GAO, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and others all show that despite a 3-year decline in the budget deficit, we still face large and growing structural deficits driven primarily by rising health care costs and known demographic trends. Under any plausible scenario, the federal budget is on an imprudent and unsustainable path.

Rapidly rising health care costs are not simply a federal budget problem; they are our nation’s number one fiscal challenge. Growth in health-related spending is the primary driver of the fiscal challenges facing the state and local governments. Unsustainable growth in health care spending is a systemwide challenge that also threatens to erode the ability of employers to provide coverage to their workers and undercut our ability to compete in a global marketplace. Addressing the unsustainability of health care costs is a societal challenge that calls for us as a nation to fundamentally rethink how we define, deliver, and finance health care in both the public and the private sectors.

The passage of time has only worsened the situation: the size of the challenge has grown and the time to address it has shrunk. The longer we wait the more painful and difficult the choices will become, and the greater the risk of a very serious economic disruption.

It is understandable that the Congress and the administration are focused on the need for a short-term fiscal stimulus. However, our long-term challenge increases the importance of careful design of any stimulus package — it should be timely, targeted, and temporary. At the same time, creating a capable and credible commission to make recommendations to the next Congress and the next president for action on our longer-range and looming fiscal imbalance is called for.

(This testimony was before the Senate's Committee on the Budget on January 29th; to view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on GAO-08-411T)

Article

Gina Nádas, Volunteering: A Two-Way Street for Seniors. The definition of retirement for today’s older American advocates activity and involvement rather than rest. The number of volunteers that give over 100 hours a year is highest amongst seniors 65 years and older. Just ask volunteer Emily Clack

Article

Jo Freeman reviews Where Women Run: Gender and Party in the American States — Even in states where party leaders are most receptive to running women, male party leaders look for candidates among the people and groups that they know best, and those are more likely to be men

Global Issues

Global Voices seeks to aggregate, curate, and amplify the global conversation online — shining light on places and people other media often ignore. We work to develop tools, institutions and relationships that will help all voices, everywhere, to be heard.

15 Greenest Cities

Grist, an environmental journal, introduces the findings of which cities made the 'greenest' list:

These metropolises aren't literally the greenest places on earth — they're not necessarily dense with foliage, for one, and some still have a long way to go down the path to sustainability. But all of the cities on this list deserve recognition for making impressive strides toward eco-friendliness, helping their many millions of residents live better, greener lives.

Curitiba, Brazil
With citizens riding a bus system hailed as one of the world's best and with municipal parks benefiting from the work of a flock of 30 lawn-trimming sheep, this midsized Brazilian city has become a model for other metropolises. About three-quarters of its residents rely on public transport, and the city boasts over 580 square feet of green space per inhabitant. As a result, according to one survey, 99 percent of Curitibans are happy with their hometown.

Bahía de Caráquez, Ecuador
After it suffered severe damage from natural disasters in the late 1990s, the Bahía de Caráquez government and nongovernmental organizations working in the area forged a plan to rebuild the city to be more sustainable. Declared an "Ecological City" in 1999, it has since developed programs to protect biodiversity, revegetate denuded areas, and control erosion. The city, which is marketing itself as a destination for eco-tourists, has also begun composting organic waste from public markets and households and supporting organic agriculture and aquaculture.

Reviews

Jo Freeman reviews Leon Aron's Russia's Revolution: Essays, 1989-2006 — He remains hopeful that "the vertical of power" that Putin espouses will not prevail ... and says that "having defended their right to be treated as free and thinking people, the Russians never surrendered it to a new tyranny" and never will.

News & Issues

At the Democratic Convention

Democractic Convention Trivia

Still Learning

November Election State Ballot Initiatives

Stem Cell Controversy Continues

SeniorWomen.com Credentialed to DNCC but Republicans Refuse

Being Overtaken

Preparing for a Domestic Surge

Gas, Oil, Futures and A Site

Milestones

Nuclear Security

Raising State Taxes

Articles

Blues and Stress

Book Review

Women's Issues in Congress

Conflict of Interest

Article and New Book

Politics

Great Lakes — Danger Zones?

Long Term Care Insurance Revisited

The GAO's Long Term Fiscal Outlook

Action Is Needed to Avoid the Possibility of a Serious Economic Disruption in the Future

Article

Article

Global Issues

15 Greenest Cities

Reviews