I have long joked that things would be a lot different when I’m King of the World.

Public places would have more “rest” facilities for women since the lines are always so much longer than for the guys.

Men would be required to do half of the child care for their own kids and every employer would have on-site day-care facilities.

And while I’m at it, I’ll hire Clive Owen and John Cusack to clean my house and cook the meals! Hey, it’s my fantasy, right?

I do believe there is plenty of truth to the argument that loads of things would be better if women ruled the world.

Dee Dee Myers has beaten me to the punch in bringing this discussion to the main stream media. Read the rest of this entry »

The women we love in popular culture are the good girls.

Cinderella. Sleeping Beauty. Girls who don’t rock the boat. Pretty, demure and corseted. These are the models we let our little girls believe are the ideal.

And that’s Hillary Clinton’s problem. She’s not the “good girl” in that fairy tale princess sort of way. That makes a lot of us a little uncomfortable.

Hillary is more Princess Smartypants than Princess Aurora.

More Mulan than Madeleine.

For some reason, we can’t get past our lingering, underlying obsession with the idea that girls are for rescuing, not ones to be cast in the role of smart problem solver. Read the rest of this entry »

I may have exposed my now-eight-year-old-daughter to toxic chemicals when she was a baby that could cause her to develop breast cancer or diabetes or a whole host of other bad things as an adult.

Irresponsible mom, you say? I didn’t think so at the time.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that I got sick to my stomach when I read about the latest on baby bottles, water bottles and sippy cups.

A chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic sex hormone that is used to make many hard plastic products like our trusty sippy cups. Read the rest of this entry »

As I’ve been getting over my disappointment about John Edwards dropping out of the presidential race, I’ve been pondering the other candidates — what do they bring to the table?

One thing that can be telling about a candidate is identifying their other supporters — are those people I can connect with to help figure out who to vote for?

In deciding who to support, I’m not generally swayed by celebrity endorsements. They’re interesting and they sell newspapers, but they don’t influence my vote. But the candidates must think they do. Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of months ago I wondered if Oprah’s very public endorsement of Barack Obama would backfire.

Apparently, for some, it has.

I thought maybe some fans would just see the endorsement as a bit of Oprah-overreaching. But one Oprah-lyte started a discussion thread on Oprah’s website entitled, “Oprah is a Traitor!!!” Apparently some viewers and fans who believed Oprah’s messages of female empowerment and ‘you go, girl!’ felt her endorsement of a man for the White House amounted to turning her back on what has become her bread and butter — the all woman, all the time message. Read the rest of this entry »

Women’s Voices, Women Vote has launched its new get out the vote campaign. In 2006, the theme was “Do You Remember Your First Time?”

For 2008, WVWV is targeting single women again — 20 million of them in the “20 Million Reasons” campaign. Many pollsters and pundits have said that women voters will be the key to this historical election. But single women historically haven’t voted in the same numbers as married women.

Of those 20 million women being targeted, slightly over half are single mothers. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2004, George Bush beat out John Kerry for the White House by just over three million votes.

The 2008 race is bound to be a close one, as well. I know the candidates are a little preoccupied with Iowa and New Hampshire at the moment, but with a margin of victory so slim, wouldn’t you think that the candidates would be interested in over seven and a half million women who will probably be voting?

Catherine Morgan at Informed Voters can’t believe that those of us who write and read blogs are being ignored by the candidates.

And Erin at Queen of Spain is banging her head against the internet firewall.

Why? Read the rest of this entry »

Right smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, President Bush has vetoed for the second time the extension of federal funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

But is it worse that Bush vetoed it again or that the Congress doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to the President and make sure that millions of children don’t lose what meager coverage they have just days before Christmas?

Or that Congress is willing to go along with the President’s demands for yet more money for the Iraq war, yet won’t allow a fraction of that money to help children who need health insurance because — GASP — that would mean raising the cigarette tax to fund it! Read the rest of this entry »

We just finally got around to watching Sicko, Michael Moore’s movie as indictment of our health care system in America. All I have to say is, now that I’m a tad closer to 50 than 40, I may have to rethink where we’re going to retire just on the basis of dealing with the medical issues that can come in later decades.

Yes, I am a Michael Moore fan, but I am able to admit that there are times he can go a little too far over the edge when trying to make a political point.

But after watching Sicko, I am worried sick about my semi-retired parents, as well as what the “golden” years hold for us here in the United States when it comes to health care. My dad, who has been a farmer all his life, drives a school bus part-time just so he can hang on to his medical insurance and not have to rely on Medicare and Medicaid. But, as Moore shows us, not even having a premium insurance policy will guarantee us needed treatment. And that’s what makes this documentary part horror movie. Read the rest of this entry »

Nigella Lawson has apparently hit a nerve in Britain. Some of her fans think she’s crossed the line from her figure being “womanly” to just plain old fat.

Sound harsh? It’s no secret that Lawson, the cookbook queen and self-proclaimed domestic goddess, is proudly on the zaftig side. But according to one news report, viewers of her latest show have been complaining that they think she’s packing on the pounds in an unhealthy way.

Nigella’s response? Read the rest of this entry »