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For Financial Reform, Reinstate Glass-Steagall Act
Tweet Share on Facebook May 12, 2010 Comment (20)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The single most important thing the U.S. Congress could do to return stability to the stock and derivative markets would be to restore the Glass-Steagall Act. I have said that before and I’ll say it again, right here. Glass-Steagall, in simple terms, prevented commercial banks from investing in risky financial paper, such as the stocks, futures and derivatives that got Wall Street into big trouble in September of 2008.
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U.S. Doctors Wrong on Female Genital Mutilation Among Immigrants
Tweet Share on Facebook May 11, 2010 Comment (33)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Believe it or not, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) thinks it's OK for immigrant parents to subject their daughters to a mild form of female genital mutilation (FGM). This is more evidence our nation has gone mad over immigration and is allowing immigrants to commit all manner of crimes that would be illegal if performed by a native-born citizen.
The AAP issued a report saying, in essence, it's better to allow parents who are going to maim their daughters' private parts to inflict a "ritual nick" than to send the girls overseas (back to their home country) for the traditional form of mutilation--a "surgery" performed by midwives and other non-medical personnel which maims girl's private parts for life. According to the anti-mutilation activist group Intact America: -
Greece Financial Crisis Raises Doubts About European Union
Tweet Share on Facebook May 8, 2010 Comment (4)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I must admit I've never believed that a continent could act like a country. So the European Union's woes over Greece's financial crisis strikes me as neither odd nor unexpected. We in the United States can't even agree on various bailouts for parts of the federal government or certain U.S. industries. Can you imagine, for example, if Tennessee were asked to bail out California? The same furor would erupt as has gripped Europe, all of whose countries share a currency but none of whom are willing to accept the burden of making up for another's profligacy.
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Any Democratic Criticism of Pelosi Is a Publicity Stunt
Tweet Share on Facebook May 6, 2010 Comment (15)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
My colleague, Peter Roff, quotes a Democratic state senator from West Virginia as striking out against powerful U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just as this guy is launching his campaign for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. House seat. Peter Roff says his Mike Oliverio wields clout in West Virginia and this is nothing for Speaker Pelosi to scoff at:
West Virginia State Sen. Mike Oliverio, who hopes to unseat veteran Rep. Alan Mollohan in the May 11 Democratic primary, said this week that he hoped “there will be a better candidate than Nancy Pelosi” running for the speakership when the House votes to organize itself next January.
And I say, “Yeah, right.”
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Is a Church Cashing In on Women's Porn Addiction?
Tweet Share on Facebook May 3, 2010 Comment (28)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I must admit I fell right into the trap predicted by one church leader. But I have a hard time believing that "women addicted to pornography" is a growing problem and a trend that is going to exacerbate in the future.
The New York Times ran a story today about a Kansas mega-church that runs a program to help women addicted to pornography kick the habit. My initial reaction: How many women could be "addicted" to pornography? At best, I would believe it's a niche problem. One Craig Gross, a self-described youth pastor (apparently earning almost $10,000 per month selling 30-day online memberships to his program that helps people kick the pornography habit) told the Times some 20 percent of his customers are women: -
Oil Spill Undermines Obama's Risky Offshore Drilling Policy
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2010 Comment (11)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
A couple of weeks ago I posted here that the Vatican's most vocal enemy could not possibly have done a better job of discrediting the Catholic Church than the Pope himself, who is acting as if it's still the Middle Ages and there is no such thing as the priest pedophilia scandal.
Well now the same can be said of BP and offshore oil rigs. The timing of BP's environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig couldn't be better to bolster the validity of claims by environmentalists that offshore drilling is a calamity waiting to happen. Is this example worth the environmental damage is it doing and will continue to do for some time? Of course not! But it already has made a dent in the process of approving future offshore drilling for oil. According to the Washington Post: -
RIP a Cold War Heroine, the 'Mother of Solidarity'
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2010 Comment (6)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I often write about U.S. women’s issues, but I came across a woman of note whose legacy has been largely neglected by Western historians. Her life and death should be more widely known to American women. So here goes.
Remember the plane crash earlier this month near Smolensk in which the President of Poland and other important figures in Polish politics perished? Among the passengers on that plane was one Anna Walentynowicz, who was considered “the mother of Solidarity.” She was one of Polish President Lech Kaczynski’s delegation en route to Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre of Polish officers by Stalin’s communist secret police. She not only worked her way up to become one of the most fierce defenders of worker’s rights in that nation, but she also co-founded the Solidarity movement--most of the credit for which has gone to Lech Walesa, who, according to one Polish political expert, stole that legacy from her. -
Call for Obama to Appoint a Mother to the Supreme Court are Offensive
Tweet Share on Facebook April 27, 2010 Comment (18)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Talk about emphasizing and reinvigorating differences. I give Olympic Gold to one Peter Beinart, who argues on thedailybeast.com that not only should President Obama appoint another woman to the Supreme Court, but he should appoint a woman with children. Beinart argues that too many women without children are appointed to high level government positions, and so Mr. Obama's next Supreme Court appointment should be a mother, not just a woman. He also refers to the 20 percent of Americans over 40 with no children as "childless," as if we are lacking something, instead of as "child free," which is what we are.
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Obama Criticism of Arizona Immigration Law Ignores Federal Incompetence
Tweet Share on Facebook April 23, 2010 Comment (39)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
President Obama slammed a controversial new immigration law in Arizona, calling it "misguided." According to CNN:
"Our failure to act responsible at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe," the president said at a naturalization ceremony for 24 members of the military.
"In fact, I've instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation. But if we continue to fail to act at the federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country."
Not so fast, Mr. President. I’m not saying I support the Arizona legislation, but I have two points to make about his claim that federal legislation is needed and that Arizona’s bill is misguided. First, I covered the 1986 Congressional passage of the Simpson-Mazzoli immigration reform law. It contained amnesty for illegal immigrants who had been in this country for several years before passage. It also punished employers who knowingly hired illegal immigrants. Here we are 24 years later, and federal reform proved completely feckless. So Mr. Obama’s claim that the feds can do better is simply not true.
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Voter Anger Could Doom Democrats in Fall Elections
Tweet Share on Facebook April 22, 2010 Comment (10)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
A new Pew Research Center poll shows anger might be the dominant emotion voters have at the polls this November, and that the party in power may feel massive repercussions as a result. As CNN reports:
According to a Pew Research Center poll released this week, based on polling conducted in March and April, a growing segment of the American public holds intense anti-government views, with those surveyed describing themselves as being angry with the federal government.
The reason? A "perfect storm of conditions associated with distrust of government--a dismal economy, an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash, and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials," the report concluded.
You'd have to have crawled up into a cave in order not to have experienced this public anger. Tea Party protests are but one aspect of it. It seems anger emanates from all quarters these days--conservative Republicans upset over federal spending for the poor and on health care reform, a ballooning deficit, and federal handouts that they see as profligate spending. But even liberals are angry: at a president they supported to get the United States out of war--not more deeply involved in Afghanistan--and at a president who pledged to close down Guantanamo.
