Stern. Witchy. The ‘b’ word that rhymes with witchy. Shrill. Scolding.

I suspect that few of us would allow our husbands to use those words to describe us (even if they are thinking them on occasion) when they are in front of our children, especially not in the presence of our daughters.

Yet, innumerable journalists, especially men, have found it perfectly OK to describe Hillary Clinton in those words as she runs for president, plus many others that get used to describe powerful and assertive women. Hateful and prejudicial phrases that convey an underlying meanness and insecurity about females who challenge traditional stereotypes about women in our society.

If these men, many of whom undoubtedly have daughters, paid the tiniest bit of attention to what their children are focused on, they might rethink the vocabulary they are using to pillory Hillary. Read the rest of this entry »

School cafeteria lunches have been the brunt of jokes since we were all in elementary school — tater tots, milk boxes and mystery meat patties were the mainstays of high school meals if you weren’t brown-bagging it.

For the moment, it’s time to take those jokes a lot more seriously.

We trust that if we send our kids off to school with some money for a hot lunch, that while it may not be as nutritious as something we’d cook at home, that a school lunch isn’t going to give them E. coli poisoning. Or mad cow disease. Or salmonella poisoning. This week, a large California meat packing company recalled close to 150 million pounds of beef after an undercover video was disclosed showing sick and downed cows being dragged to the slaughterhouse. 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 »

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 »

It feels like a day doesn’t go by without another alert of lead or other dangerous toxins being found in the toys our children play with and gnaw on when they’re toddlers. At first, I figured our family was pretty safe from the suspect toys coming to light since our daughter, at age seven, is way past the chewing on plastic phase.

But even Halloween costumes weren’t safe this year. Wouldn’t you know that this was the time that PunditGirl wanted to be a scary pirate, complete with the yucky rubber teeth.

We were fortunate that she’d only had the scary chompers in her mouth for a few minutes before deciding they were more trouble than they were worth. But one of the boys in our neighborhood has been playing with his own set of pretend rubber teeth since this summer. The family’s pediatrician said they should bring him in right away to test his lead levels. I haven’t heard back what the results were, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Read the rest of this entry »

Before you throw something at me (or the computer screen), that’s not what I think.

But one recent study says that for every ten hours a week a mother works, the odds increase about ten percent that their children will be overweight.

The supposed connection? According to the study by the Institute of Child Health in London, it’s not a matter of money — it’s a matter of time. After studying the lives of 13,000 British working mothers, the Institute claims it found that when mothers work longer hours, there’s less time to make healthy food, leading to fatter kids. Read the rest of this entry »

Workplace discrimination against women, especially those with any sort of care-giving responsibilities, can be subtle.

But sometimes it’s so obvious, all you can do is shake your head like Scooby-Doo and say, “RUH??”

That’s what lawyer Alyson Kirleis found herself confronted with as a shareholder in a Pittsburgh law firm. But instead of seeing her firm responsibilities grow as as one of the firm’s owners, they started to shrink — partly because she says her more senior male counterparts thought she was spending too much time at the office and not enough time taking care of her two children. Read the rest of this entry »