Entries for October 2009

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Health centers and clinics across the country began turning away people this week who came in search of the H1N1 or swine flu vaccine. A report from Bloomberg states:

From New York, where October deliveries fell short by 400,000 doses, to Dallas and Phoenix, which have postponed mass vaccinations, to San Francisco, where one family clinic is fielding 400 calls a day, local officials are being pressured by parents for swine flu vaccine as the death toll for children in the United States reached 95.

The flu threatened to blossom into an epidemic, as the government reported 95 deaths from H1N1 and 351 schools closed down nationwide, shutting out 126,000 students in 19 states—to prevent spread of the flu.

How the Obama administration handles this public health emergency could be key to its healthcare reform proposal. In a major blunder, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted that of the 80 million to 120 million doses it was promised this summer, just more than 23 million doses have been delivered.

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

President Obama drew heat last week for a story that surfaced outing his private White House male-only b-ball games. The story was that even though two female members of his cabinet were members of their college basketball teams, they were excluded, as were all women, from this most private of male-only clubs. The story became a metaphor for how the president views women generally and threatened to reveal some inconvenient truths about the man.

Now we see reports that gender-insensitivity charges have resonated with the Obama White House. According to Politics Daily, the president dragged chief domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes to the golf course on Sunday, and she became the first female to join his golf foursome since he took office. The event produced a photo op of global proportions.

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

It took tomes of online and on-air protests for Pepsi to remove its ridiculous iPhone "AMP" application, which is nothing more than a low-brow commercial for its highly caffeinated drink. The Los Angeles Times reports:

The soda company created an iPhone application called "AMP UP Before You Score"—aimed at helping men "score" with women—to promote its AMP energy drink.

The application provides pick-up lines and other charming tools to seduce a "wide" variety of female stereotypes—24 in total—including the bookworm, the cougar, the athlete and the women's studies major. It also has a "Brag" feature which encourages users to "include the name, date, and whatever details you remember" about successful hookups or failed conquests.

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Here's a perfect example of why it's important that the United States do more to stem violence against women in developing nations. CNN posted this story about debt-ridden Indian farmers "selling" their wives to the lenders to whom they have become beholden:

To survive the bad years, some farmers say they turn to the "Paisawalla"—Hindi for the rich man who lends money. Farmers say the loans from these unofficial lenders usually come with very high interest.

When the interest mounts up, lenders demand payment. Some farmers work as bonded laborers for a lifetime to pay off their debts. Others here say because of years of little rain and bad harvests they are forced to give money lenders whatever they ask for.

Sometimes that includes their wives.

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Some guy named Bruce Sheiman has a new book out called An Atheist Defends Religion: Why Humanity is Better Off With Religion Than Without It, and all of the sudden the media find that atheists come in a variety of flavors. Here's an excerpt from a USA Today article on the topic:

The old atheists said there was no God. The so-called "New Atheists" said there was no God, and they were vocally vicious about it. Now, the new "New Atheists"—call it Atheism 3.0—say there's still no God, but maybe religion isn't all that bad.

Faith provides meaning and purpose for millions of believers, inspires people to tend to each other and build communities, gives them a sense of union with a transcendent force, and provides numerous health benefits, Sheiman says. Moreover, the galvanizing force behind many achievements in Western civilization has been faith, Sheiman argues, while conceding that he limits his analysis, for the most part, to modern Western religion.

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I'm the first one to criticize the Obama administration when it does something untoward, or to disagree with any of its policies that I view as off the liberal deep end. But White House Communications Director Anita Dunn's comments about Fox News Channel are factually accurate, plain and simple. Fox News is nothing more than a Republican/conservative cheat sheet. Even Fox fans have the intellectual capacity to understand that concept. They wouldn't be watching if they weren't wingers (or liberals or moderates wishing to get clued in on how the right wing "thinks" if indeed it really does.)

Does Fox put liberals on its air to balance so-called debates on issues? Of course it does—how interesting would it be to watch two conservatives agree with each other? So why bother mounting a counterattack, as Fox executives have done, if the network were anything but what it is? It's befuddling.

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Get ready for a media blitz of massive proportions. Kennedy clan member and California first lady Maria Shriver has harnessed the powers of NBC, Time magazine, and a liberal think tank in Washington to profuse the Internet, print media, and the airwaves with the results of a new report she's produced. It's all timed to coincide with the consummation of a demographic trend that has been decades in the making: Women now comprise fully half of those on U.S. payrolls.

The report, "A Woman's Nation Changes Everything" is embargoed for release for tomorrow, but Gloria Steinem has apparently been given an advanced copy and wrote about it on the website of the group she co-founded, the "Women's Media Center."