- President Obama appointed the first Latina to the Supremes: Imagine what would have happened to the Supreme Court under four more years of radical Republicans. Obama has thus averted a long-term dramatic swing to the extreme right on the court, and appointed a progressive to keep matters in check.
16 Days & Another Reason to Vote for Dems
President Obama dramatically reversed the reputation of the United States around the world, with now most nations looking favorably on the US, and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize as one consequence.
17 Days & Counting
Democrats also:
- Extended a $2500 tax credit to 5 million families to help with college tuition.
18 Days
Even as a smoker, this one was majorly important, but Democrats:
- Granted regulatory power to the FDA to control tobacco products, another dramatic reversal of the Bush years that industry has lobbied hard to prevent.
19 Days Until Nov 2
Also, Obama:
- Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that makes it easier to sue for wage discrimination, a dramatic reversal of the bill’s fortunes under Bush.
Long overdue and much needed for people who discover systemic discrimination years after their hire.
20 Reasons to Vote Democrat on Nov 2
Because Obama can’t get anything done without Democrats in Congress (as pathetic as they often are). And for all you Obama nay-sayers, here goes, one day at a time, one major accomplishment a day.
First of all, he:
- Stabilized the top 20 banks without federalizing them.
- Reduced the rate of foreclosures inherited from the Bush administration.
He Isn’t Superman
Ashley Love of TFM has a post up about Arianna Huffington’s talk about the “demonizing and scapegoating” of the president. She was inspired to comment:
When Arianna started talking about the “demonizing and scapegoating” of the president by “irrational” people, it really struck a chord with me. Like many LGBTTQI Americans, I have become very upset with many queer activists making all these personal attacks on the president, as if he is a dictator that can wave a magic wand and grant us all our wishes at once. Reality check: President Obama has to work with the courts, Congress and the people to create change (and those anti-LGBT equality Republicans are holding up equality, not the president!). To put all the blame on him when things are not moving fast enough is infantile, and suspect. It’s bad enough the racist Tea Party is slandering him, but for LGBT direct action groups to act just as crazy is dangerous. If the Democratic vote gets split, do we really want another 8 years of Bush and Ken Melhman types ruining this country again? The scary thing is there are lot of classist gay folks who only care about marriage equality, they don’t care about ENDA or many other issues that affect the less privileged part of the LGBT community, and they most certainly don’t care about rights for trans and intersex Americans. Many of them would not mind if a classist Republicans got into office, because many gay people believe in a hierarchy in the LGBT community, with rich white gay men at the top, and transsexual, transgender and intersex people at the bottom. These Animal Farm types don’t care about the epidemic of homeless LGBT youth, or hate crimes that happen to trans women of color every week, or trans health care rights, or many queer communities of color, or LGBT people who have low income, etc. We need President Obama to stay in office, or things will get worse for the majority of the LGBT community.
I can’t agree more.
Her reasons are exactly why we all need to be out & voting for Democrats for other public office, too: to say, out loud & clear that we do NOT want these wingnuts who barely consider us human.
And yes, I understand the “I’m tired of voting for people who only like me marginally better” and I agree. I’m tired of it too. We need to keep the pressure on, but that means keeping the pressure on the whole political system, not just on President Obama.
Abridge No Speech
I can’t imagine a better way to commemorate 9/11 than by having a federal judge call out DADT for violating the First Amendment.
A federal judge in Southern California on Thursday declared the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment rights of gay and lesbians.
Abridge no speech, indeed.
Oh, right: fascists burn books, can we get that clear already? No one else.
90 Years Ago Last Week
To hell with Ken Mehlman, today Wisconsin is celebrating the 90th anniversary of Wisconsin’s signing of the 19th amendment! (I don’t know why they’re celebrating a week after the anniversary date. If anyone does, let me know. WI ratified in June, so it’s not that.)
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Once upon a time it was argued that we would make politics more moral, because women were, naturally, more moral. Ha!
MWMF: Solidarity, Please
This photo of a protest/action, in support of inclusion of trans women at MichFest (aka MWMF) brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for the linkage goes to Joelle Ruby Ryan, who teaches Women’s Studies and is a transfeminist. She is as excited as I am by bridges being built between trans and non-trans women, and you can follow her on twitter at JoelleRubyRyan.
(Of course there’s nothing that could keep me away from a music festival more than a policy of it being only for women, but I’m not big on any kind of separatism.)