The New York Times recently reported that the Bush Administration is proposing a new regulation that could potentionally (presumably the intention) discourage clinics and hospitals from providing birth control to women in need.
The legislation purposely confuses the definition of abortion and contraception, calling abortion "any of the following procedures - including prescription, dispension and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action - that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation."
Senator Hillary Clinton blogged on Huffington Post stating that the Bush Administration "could prevent providers of federally-funded family planning services, like Medicaid and Title X, from guaranteeing their patients access to the full range of comprehensive family planning services. They'll also build significant barriers to counseling, education, contraception and preventive health services for those who need it most: low-income and uninsured women and men."
This is exactly why we must elect pro-choice candidates. Sen. John McCain has repeatedly voted against allowing women to obtain birth control and he has made it clear he intends to carry on Bush's anti-choice legacy should he reach the White House.
This week NDN will be in Austin, TX for Netroots Nation. NDN is a premiere sponsor of Netroots Nation and will have two panels at the conference this year. Netroots Nation amplifies progressive voices by providing an online and in-person campus for exchanging ideas and learning how to be more effective in using technology to influence the public debate. Both of NDN's panels will be on Saturday, July 19, where NDN President Simon Rosenberg will be speaking with Andrei Cherny, author of The Candy Bombers and co-founder of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas and NDN Fellow and Director of our Green Project Michael Moynihan on a New Era of Possibility: Looking at America's Role in the World after the Bush Presidency at 3 p.m. Simon will then present his "Dawn of a New Politics" PowerPoint at 4:30 p.m. For the entire agenda for the conference, here. Other NDN staff will be at the conference and we are anxious to meet you so please come out and say hi.
On Monday, July 21st, Simon moves on to New York to discuss the current political environment and what is going on in Washington. Simon will be joined once again by NDN Green Project Director Michael Moynihan who will discuss climate change and the state of the American economy. The breakfast will take place at 8:00 a.m. in the Regency Room of the Regency Hotel at 540 Park Avenue. Please feel free to invite other you feel might be interested in hearing what Simon and Michael have to say about the state of the nation. Click here to RSVP.
Finally, NDN will be at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, at the end of August. We have a full line-up of public and private events, briefings and forums scheduled to showcase our work and celebrate our community. If you would like more information on NDN's convention events, please contact Tracy Leaman at 202-842-7213 or tleaman@ndn.org. NDN also has rooms and entire convention packages. If you are interested in buying into NDN's convention packages, please contact Chris McCleary at 202-842-7207 or cmccleary@ndn.org.
And don't forget that NDN is still at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) conference this week and our team is blogging from there still, so please check back to read live coverage of what is happening at NCLR as it happens.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund officially endorsed U.S. Senator Barack Obama yesterday. This is only the second time in history that Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed a presidential candidate. See below the endorsement statement by president Cecile Richards and accompanying clips of Senator Obama.
You'll find Simon back in New York next week. If you missed him on his last visit (or even if you didn't), join him on Friday, July 11 at 8 a.m. for breakfast at the Regency Hotel at 540 Park Ave. in the West Ball Room for a special presentation of NDN's Dawn of a New Politics PowerPoint presenation, which is newly updated on the rise of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and a look ahead toward this fall and what could be an Obama Administration. Please RSVP to Dave O'Donnell (dodonnell@ndn.org) or at 202-384-1212. Feel free to bring a friend you think migh be interested in seeing this compelling presentation.
The weekend brings NDN to San Diego and the National Council of La Raza's Annual Conference where Andrez Ramirez will be speaking. Andres speaks on Tuesday, July 15, at 8:30 a.m. on Latino Voters: Making Their Mark in the 2008 Election. The presidential candidate that understands and addresses the issues that are relevant to Latino voters stands to gain a significant advantage in his quest for the White House. While some candidates recognize the power of the Latino vote, others choose to neglect the fastest-growing major segment of the U.S. population. If you are at NCLR's conference, stop by Andres' session on Tuesday.
The following week NDN moves to Austin for Netroots Nation. NDN is a premiere sponsor of Netroots Nation and will have two panels at the conference this year. Netroots Nation amplifies progressive voices by providing an online and in-person campus for exchanging ideas and learning how to be more effective in using technology to influence the public debate. Both of NDN's panels will be on Saturday, July 19, where Simon will be speaking with Andrei Cherny on a New Era of Possibility: Looking at America's Role in the World after the Bush Presidency at 3 p.m. Simon will then present his "Dawn of a New Politics" PowerPoint at 4:30 p.m. For the entire agenda for the conference, click here.
Finally, don't forget that NDN will be at Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, at the end of August. We have a full line-up of public and private events, briefings and forums scheduled to showcase our work and celebrate our community. If you would like more information on NDN's convention events, please contact Tracy Leaman at 202-842-7213 or tleaman@ndn.org. NDN also has rooms and entire convention packages. If you are interested in buying into NDN's convention packages, please contact Chris McCleary at 202-842-7207 or cmccleary@ndn.org.
NDN is very excited to be a sponsor of the Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) 2008 Conference - Rebooting the System, taking place next week in New York City. NDN's own Peter Leyden, Director of the New Politics Institute will be speaking on a panel on Tuesday and you will be able to find many of the NDN staff, including Michael Moynihan, Maggie Barker, Melissa Merz and myself on hand throughout the two days, so look for us to say hello.
Also speaking at PDF are some of NDN's close friends including Morley Winograd, co-author of Millenial Makover. Morley and his co-author Mike Hais recently spoke at an NDN eventin NY on the rise of the Millennial generation. NDN's good friend, Gina Cooper, executive director of Netroots Nation, another powerful annual conference where NDN is proud to be a sponsor, will be speaking at the closing plenary session on Tuesday. For the full agenda of the conference see here. We hop to see you at PDF next week!
Following PDF, Simon will be heading to Chicago where he will be giving a special presentation of NDN's newly updated Dawn of a New Politics PowerPoint presentation on Friday, June 27th in the Vatican Room of the Drake Hotel at 140 E. Walton Place at 8:00am. If you would like to attend, please RSVP here or to Dave O'Donnell (dodonnell@ndn.org) at 202-384-1212.
On Saturday Simon will be at the opening ceremony of New America Democracy Project's Boot Camp. Simon, along with elected officials, will be giving the rally call for those fighting for immigrant rights, citizenship, voter registration and moblization.
The Gallup poll reports that Senator Barack Obama has made gains in women voters after Senator Hillary Clinton left the race, indicating that Senator John McCain's opposition to equal pay for women, support for overturning Roe v. Wade, opposition to legisation expanding access to emergency contractopion and support for limiting access to all forms of birth control is not making him popular with women voters.
Media Matters reported on Maureen Dowd's repeated uses of gender roles to mock Democrats.
Similarly, Susan Faludi points out in the New York Times how Republicans are attempting to paint Senator Barack Obama as feminine because he doesn't play into a typical gender role.
Geraldine Ferraro reports on sexism in the race for the Presidency in the Boston Globe.
A new Brookings report shows that there are not more women in office becuase we aren't interested.
Editor and Publisher interviewed Senator Hillary Clinton on sexism in media coverage.
Not only are we not interested in politics, Elaine McArdle at the Boston Globe writes about a new study that shows women don't like science and engineering either. Even more interesting, the three grand winners at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair...All Young Women! And yet we aren't interested in science? huh.
The Women's Media Center put together this clip of sexism in the media.
Senator Barack Obama had to apologize to female reporter Peggy Agar for calling her "sweetie" while campaigning in Detroit. Obama stated ""Second apology is for using the word 'sweetie.' That's a bad habit of mine. I do it sometimes with all kinds of people. I mean no disrespect and so I am duly chastened on that front." Coming from Detroit myself, I'm sure the comment didn't turn many heads or loose him any votes in the Chrysler LLC plant where he made it, and certainly it isn't the most offensive or sexist thing he could have said, but sexist it is. To be fair, Obama is excellent on women's issues and just last week was endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice America. The fact of the matter remains that whether he meant any disrespect or not, had Peggy Agar been named Steve or John, Barack Obama would never have called her "sweetie" and that is sexism.
