The Family and Medical Leave act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1993, is the only law guaranteeing (some) Americans with job-protected leave for issues such as maternity leave and family illness. On December 1, 2006, the Department of Labor issued a formal request for public comments on the FMLA, including a detailed request for new and unpublished information related to the effects of FMLA regulations on business operations and outcomes. Supporters of the FMLA argue that this request for information was prompted by the business, anti-FMLA lobby - wanting to reducing the requirements for employers. Within the text of the request there is really no evidence of this - and any major changes would have to go through congress though, leaving little worry in my mind about significant losses in the law.

It appears the the DOL is not looking to change maternity leave policy: The Huffington Post reports that the Department of Labor said that it, "has not received complaints about the use of family leave -- i.e., leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Nor do employers for the most part report problems with the use of scheduled intermittent leave ...such as when an employee requests leave for medical appointments or medical treatments like chemotherapy. Rather, employers report job disruptions and adverse effects on the workplace when employees take frequent, unscheduled, intermittent leave from work with little or no advance notice to the employer."

What I would like to see (but strongly doubt) is additions the law. The FMLA provides only unpaid leave, up to 12 weeks, for workers at larger firms, to workers who have worked more than a year, and live within a certain distance of their workplace. This leaves a whole LOT of people out of the mix.

Moreover - in a Harvard study of 168 nations, 163 had some form of paid maternity leave; leaving the US in bed with countries such as Swaziland and Papa New Guinea.

I'm not saying we should start offering a year of paid maternity leave, but the current law provides little support for new parents, and there are serious issues that must be reconsidered.

Mitt Romney, who today will become former Governor of Massachusetts, has filled papers to form a presidential exploratory committee. The DNC has criticized Romney regarding his position on abortion. When he first ran for senate in 1994 he supported Roe v. Wade, whereas now he believes that "the sanctity of life had been cheapened." In Oct 2006 he said, "I call myself firmly pro-life." Romney is a talented politician but it is questionable whether he will be able to overcome the significant hurdles to win the presidency, some pundits have pointed to his religion (he is Mormon) and the fact that he is a republican coming from taxachusettes, and led the state while some very "liberal" laws were passed.

A new TV show in the UK puts 12 celebrities as jurors in a made up Celebrity rape trial. The fictional trial is of two footballers accused of gang-raping a 19-year old girl, Anna Crane. The Guardian reports:

Crane decides not to go to the police. Instead, her best friend sells the story of her alleged rape to a Sunday newspaper for £30,000 and covertly tapes Anna describing the assaults. This tape was played in court to the celebrity jury who have to make up their minds as to whether it is a harrowing confession or a fake tape concocted by two money-grabbing girls.

This seems to be making a mockery of the judicial system, and on top of that, gives credence to the idea that women are often just crying rape when they really just wanted it.

A facebook group called, "Laws women will abide by" has been getting a lot of attention from Wellesley Women lately. The group posts a list of laws for all women including:

Law 10. Any woman caught wearing a belly shirt while having any type of fat or skin hangin over their pants will be killed...they have the choice between the electric chair and the gas chamber.

Law 35. Women will wear thongs at all times except during their period. Exception to the rule...women weighing over 150 pounds shall not wear thongs or have thong straps hang out...offense is punishable by being choked by that gigantic fucking sling shot thong.

This MANifesto for women crosses the line from just plain obnoxious to violent. The wall has been aflutter with posts between feminists and misogynists, though interestingly the expected gender lines do not seem to apply. Women are defending the laws:

Julia said: "I think that laws are funny. If you think about it... these rules are almost socially accpetable... [sic]"

and recomending some new ones:

Mary said: "i think the law should be more like: no woman shall cry rape because all of them were asking for it..and she loved it anyway"

Not satisfied with simply being sexist, they've jumped into the racism pool with comments like this:

Maria: "just cus i have a hot body and u have stretch marks including ur eyes does not mean that u can talk shit on us here BITCH...take the floss from over ur eyes and actually see what ridiculous shit ur saying u fuckin asshole"

Will this "dialogue" result in some form of action? Wellesley women are organizing as we speak. What could and should been done that is effective??

For once Pregnancy news that does not have to do with Britney or Angelina - Mary Cheney and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe are expecting!

Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America says: "It's very disappointing that a celebrity couple like this would deliberately bring into the world a child that will never have a father. They are encouraging people who don't have the advantages they have." Adding: "Not only is she doing a disservice to her child, she's voiding all the effort her father put into the Bush administration."

It's horrible that a negative spin is being put on a joyous event, but I still cannot understand how the Vice President can support this administration's anti-gay agenda.

An Olin Engineering student, Tim Smith '09, posted this message about the Montreal Massacre on the Wellesley Community message board today. Rather than re-write my own opinions on the event with snippits of his writing, I wanted to share his original writing with you, his voice is unique on this issue and his words are incredibly moving:

Seventeen years ago today (12/6/1989), Marc Lepine walked into an engineering classroom at the University of Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique. Waving a rifle, he ordered the men out of the room and, shouting "You're women, you're going to be engineers. You're all a bunch of fucking feminists. I hate feminists," began firing at the women in the classroom. Fourteen women were killed and another thirteen people (including four men) were injured before Lepine turned his gun on himself twenty minutes later. A part-time EMT studying at the school who was deeply affected by the attacks later committed suicide, followed by his parents.   Read More »

Bolton is stepping down!

Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his temporary appointment expires within weeks, the White House said Monday.

Apparently Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, is the front runner to replace him. What do people think?

Kaiser reports that the Guttmacher institute released a report on Tuesday that said that :

Approximately half of all U.S. women who had an abortion in 2002 had at least one previous abortion [and] … 60% had at least one child.

Moreover:

most women who had more than one abortion were over age 30 and that most women who had an abortion in 2002 were using contraception at the time of conception

The Guttmacher Institute recommended that family planning centers ensure that women who receive abortions are counseled about effective use of contraception.

"The 'wall of separation' that the federal government has erected between family planning and abortion services is, paradoxically, leading to more abortions," Sharon Camp, Guttmacher Institute president and CEO, said, adding, "These policies interfere with the ability of abortion providers to ensure continuity of care for their patients by guaranteeing that, following an abortion, every woman has an appropriate contraceptive method and is able to use it consistently."

Unintended pregnancies are widespread in America today - and I find it troubling to see that most women who have abortions were using contraception. Perhaps increasing the education on how to properly use contraception is necessary, or maybe the availability of EC OTC will help the situation (though statistics show that EC OTC did not reduce abortions in the UK).

Today Dana posted a response to Julian Sanchez's CP article. I agree with her when she says that it would be politically disastrous for progressives to adopt the argument Julian is advocating. Her arguments for how we should talk about abortion fill in many of the flaws I see in Julian's argument:

From what I gather, the crux of his argument rests on the belief that a fetus does not have moral personhood, therefore abortion isn't immoral and we should preserve it. This argument (though it is nothing new) is valid and I think that most of my pro-choice peers would agree. And then the argument goes…if a fetus isn't a person, we shouldn't pander to the middle ground - that makes sense.

But he doesn't move the argument along any further - thereby missing a major part of the abortion discussion. Somehow in an article about reproduction, he manages to only use the word "women" three times and never the word "woman."

   Read More »

An interesting ruling came out of Cincinnati Appeals court this week. The law strikes down a section of abortion law that gives minors only one chance to seek a judicial bypass to get an abortion without parental consent. It also upheld part of Ohio abortion law requiring women to receive counseling 24 hours prior to getting an abortion. These waiting periods can be detrimental to women who are unable to take time off from work, find transportation etc…and the "counseling" has also been shown to be providing false information about issues such as fetal pain in other states.

An article from the United Press discusses a report by the British medical journal Lancet showing there has been

declining financial support, increased political interference and an overall reluctance to tackle threats to sexual and reproductive health.

This is not surprising to me and reflects what is going on in our own country as well. Unfortunately, the WHO blames the growing global sexual health crisis on the Vatican and U.S. Foreign aid policies. The WHO reports dramatically increasing rates of illness and death caused by sexual health issues worldwide, despite increased access to contraception.

"The bold fact is that the US has such a huge influence around the world. When it does something, it has a big impact," said Professor Anna Glasier, from the University of Edinburgh. "The problem is not so much that conservative forces are growing, but that the countries that have become more conservative are those with huge influence."

Thoughts?

The government is now spending millions of dollars on abstinence programs for unmarried adults. They are doing this because more 19-29 yr old women are having out-of-wedlock births according to Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at the Department of Health and Human Services.

We can't afford to provide healthcare, or even teach the children of our country with all the proper materials and well-paid teachers - but it is a government imperative to stop these women from having sex! (and god-forbid children)

Rebecca Traister at Salon says, "Hey asshats, maybe that has something to do with the fact that you're also chipping away at our ability to get birth control and safe and legal abortions. Maybe if you considered throwing some of that government money toward making sex education, birth control and healthcare more widely available, you'd have more luck in ensuring that each and every one of those pregnant unmarried women is pregnant because she wants to be."

Tangent to this discussion is one about single motherhood. Our government thinks its very very bad, but women are doing it at increasing rates. A favorite professor from Wellesley just wrote an op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor (which conveniently correlates to a new book) about the new face of single motherhood. The professional woman in her thirties and forties who choses to become a mother through active agency. CHECK IT OUT!

Yesterday Americablog commented on an LA times story about how Abramoff got Ken Mehlman (head of the Rep. Party) to fire the Bush administrations "premiere advocate for stopping" sexual slavery - Allen Stayman - because, "Abramoff was representing one of the countries that most profits from sexual slavery and human trafficking, the Northern Mariana Islands." The officials agenda, "posed a direct threat to Abramoff's pro-sex-slave client."

In return for firing Stayman, Abramoff gave Melhman two tickets to see U2 from Abramoffs suite at the then MCI center....

Think Progress is asking readers to e-mail Chris Wallace to request that on Sunday he ask Condoleezza Rice:

Prior to 9/11, you had eight months to respond to the al-Qaeda attack on the U.S.S. Cole. Why didn't the Bush administration take action and put al-Qaeda out of business?

Check it out. They'll be monitering Fox News Sunday to see how Wallace responds -

Update: He didn't ask :(

This morning Mark Warner, former Virginia Gov. announced that he does not plan to run for President in 2008. Warner said, "I want to have a real life." He continued, "And while the chance may never come again, I shouldn't move forward unless I'm willing to put everything else in my life on the back burner." It's interesting to hear a man say that he is not running for office because he wanted to spend time with his family - and by interesting, I mean fabulous! That is not to say I'm happy that he's not running, but rather - as a feminist who argues for equality of action in the workforce, I am happy to see a man stepping away from work in the way many people "expect" women to.

Check out Joy bringing poor lizzy down on The View. She specifically takes up the accusation that not supporting the war = not supporting the troops. Gawker asks, "Is it just us, or is The View becoming more and more like cable news with PMS?"

Todd wrote a couple days ago about the possibility of Nancy Pelosi becoming President. While that is a long shot - she does have a significant chance of being the first Madam Speaker. The AP reports that Peolosi has revealed her plan for the "first 100 hours" of democratic control. Among other things, she plans to enact all the recommendations of the 9/11 commission, raise the minimum wage to $7.25 and cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Not bad.

Brad Blog reports that while The O'Reilly Factor was covering the Foley debacle (in two segments, one with a former page and one with Ann Coulter) they made a little 'mistake.' During three cutaways they referred to Foley as a Democrat. oops! Click the link to see footage.

The pro-choice group at Wellesley has started a new project to support the activists in South Dakota trying to protect their right to abortion. All around campus women are seen sporting bright pink arm bands. There are already a couple other high schools and colleges who have also taken on the project. The Facebook group, "I'm Wearing an Armband for Choice!" has over 500 members. It's an awesome project and the donations (suggested $2 per armband) are going straight to The Planned Parenthood Action fund of Minnesota and South Dakota. Everyone should check it out and start one on their campus.

Yesterday was the NYC launch of the new magazine for Harvard alumns, 02138, Ivy Gate reports that the hottest person there was Bill O'Reilly - c'mon Harvard - pony up with someone a little better. The magazine did have a good article about elitist admissions practices though - All in all, I'm excited to read more.