Happy International Women's Day, 2013

 

"The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights." --Gloria Steinem

 

Link: International Women's Day 2013

Fascinating article on "The Case for Girls"

There is a terrific article in Fast Company magazine this month showing there is a really awful preference for male babies in the world (link below): "It may not be surprising that there's a lingering preference for baby boys over baby girls worldwide. What's alarming, however, is that this global inclination is manifesting more strongly than ever." It's not just unfortunate but for a society, in can be dangerously lopsided. It's not healthy for the growth of a nation. More than that, it goes against nature in other ways, too: "In the 21st century, there's a compelling case for girls as the equal--and in some cases, optimal--gender for roles in leadership, innovation, and economic growth. Women excel in education, the most crucial factor in tomorrow's workforce; we are 56% of undergraduates in the U.S. and approaching parity in China and India. Our socialization is geared toward the right stuff for the changing requirements of success in the 21st century: Women are likely to have a more balanced, empathetic leadership style, better communication skills, a knack for fostering innovation through collaboration." Anyway, as I said, fascinating. You may want to look into it: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/161/branding-for-girls-advertising-for-women

Another committee?

After the debacle that was the Bush administration, it seems clear we need government.

We need roads and streets and bridges.

We need the people who respond to fight fires and help people after floods and hurricanes (think Katrina) and all that, sure.

Hey, I'm a left-wing, bleeding heart liberal, as you know if you've read here in the past.

But there is--there has to be--some point at which there really is just too much government.

The Department of Homeland Security is surely one of those.

We've had the FBI and the CIA for years and they're supposed to protect us internally and from outside the country, from threats.

Why did we need to create another large, tax-gobbling bureaucracy to keep us safe?

If the FAA had done its job at our airports and kept people from having pocket knives on-board commercial airlines, chances are the attacks on 9/11 wouldn't have occured. (For that matter, if President George W. Bush, at the time, had read and responded to his Daily Presidential Briefing, which warned him of a possible attack at our airports by Muslim extremists, the attacks on 9/11 wouldn't have happened, but that gets forgotten).

With the current financial/fiscal mess the country is experiencing, the last thing we need is to keep creating positions in the White House and country.

A "Car Czar" comes to mind.

Do we really need a "Car Czar"?

What is the Commerce Department doing?

Can't some person or persons in the Commerce Department keep an eye on the automobile industry and report back to the President on what's happening and what we need to do?

What brings this to mind is President Obama's creation this week of a White House Council on Women and Girls.

As the father of a girl, for starters, and as someone who knows and recognizes that women need support, particularly in this male-dominated world, I know we all need this.

My first reaction to this news was to be against this new council.

Not anymore.

As long as this White House Council is kept small and on target, I think this is nothing but a good development.

Let's just not grow it to take up an entire building.