Women bloggers come together to make candidates “Earn Our Votes” - and make media ask the questions we want answered
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Posted by Jennifer L Pozner July 27th, 2007 |
As day one of BlogHer07 comes to a close, I want to remind any WIMN’s Voices readers in Chicago that I will be participating in a panel and hands-on workshop session tomorrow, Saturday, July 27 at 10:30am, called “Earn Our Votes: What Questions Do Women Bloggers Want Candidates To Answer in Election 2008?”, where, on behalf of Women In Media & News, I’ll help participants come up with strategies to improve media coverage of campaigns, elections and public policy issues.
Panel participant Morra Aarons has posted a series of conversation starters for the break-out sessions, food for thought related to the issues my fellow workshop leaders will be tackling together. (Note: these conversation starters relate to the political questions women will be identifying as needing to be asked of Democratic and Republican presidential candidates in 2008 — my part of the workshop, which will focus on ways women who blog can effectively move public debate, shift/improve media coverage of elections, and work for institutional media change is not discussed in Morra’s post, so click over for meaty issues, just not meaty media issues…) The following are a few of the questions that session attendees may wrestle with tomorrow, excerpted from Morra’s post:
Earn Our Votes ’08: Conversation starters
Below, you will see sample questions posed both by the BlogHer audience, and the audience watching the CNN/YouTube debate. These are examples to guide your discussions.
Remember: Good questions discourage bulls**t answers and they force candidates to give you an answer that allows them to EARN YOUR VOTE!!
Each breakout group needs to come back with 3 good questions. Happy plotting!
HEALTH CARE
The recent CNN/YouTube Democratic Debate featured the following healthcare questions:
• How will your healthcare plan address the needs of the aging population, specifically those with Alzheimer’s, heart disease and diabetes?
• What will your healthcare plan do to address the need for affordable preventive medicine services?
• Does your healthcare plan cover undocumented workers?
• How do you intend to make sure that all Americans have some form of health insurance?
Various posts from BlogHer:Affordability / Universality
• How can we pay for healthcare in US sustainably?
• How can we make sure that anyone in the US not only has access to healthcare, but can afford it?
• How do we weed out those who choose not to have healthcare from those who desperately need it?
• How can we make healthcare a right, not a privilege, for every citizen?
• How can we mandate that all children in the US are insured?
• How do we protect families from insurance companies who deny claims in the face of a health crisis?
Women’s Issues
• How can we ensure increased access to family planning?
• How do we get birth control to be covered universally under health insurance policies?
• How do we achieve “scientific fairness” to women?
• How can we make women’s and children’s health issues a priority?
• How do we improve health education for women and children?
• How can we make childbirth and maternity leave less of a burden for working mothers? Especially as disability insurance is not offered to all nor is it usually enough. Women can afford to take time off after having a child.
• Can a woman’s reproductive rights be protected in US healthcare?
Ethics / Technology
• How can we ensure everyone has the same access to the same tests and treatments?
• How can we protect research, such as stem cell research, that has the possibility to wipe out diseases?ENVIRONMENT
Sample questions for candidates
1. Clean air, healthy bodies: The US is the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world and many of our cities have dangerously polluted air. How will your policies help clear the air—to keep us and our children more healthy?
2. Less waste: Several cities recently banned plastic bags because of their environmental impact; others have invested in recycling programs. How would you help minimize personal and industrial waste, and encourage composting and recycling?
3. Growing “clean” technology: The US uses about 25% of the world’s oil, but could create jobs by investing in “clean” technologies. How would you support the creation of “environmental jobs”—those jobs that could come from new energy technologies?
4. Climate change: With little federal action against climate change, cities and states around the country are taking leadership by pledging to reduce their carbon emissions. Will you follow their lead and set targets for reducing US carbon emissions?
5. Safe food: Much of our food travels a long, mysterious journey to get to us. With avian flu, mercury in fish, and other contamination scares, how will your policies improve the quality of our food?
6. Preparing for disaster: Wetlands, mangroves, and coral reefs protect us from storms and waves. Forests prevent erosion. Urban trees cool the “concrete jungle”. Would your disaster preparedness policies include protection of these natural defenses?
Resources:
• “Good Eating” Food Blog: www.worldwatch.org/node/3938
• “Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement”: itsgettinghotinhere.org
• Renewable Energy for America: www.americanenergynow.org
• “Beyond Disasters”: www.worldwatch.org/node/5111
• Treehugger: Sustainable News and Living Tips: www.treehugger.com
• Grist: Environmental News and Humor: www.grist.orgIRAQ AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS
• How do we really end the war in Iraq and building [sic] the U.S. reputation as a generous, peace-promoting international partner?
• “My issue is the is the war on terror [to make sure we] get in there and do the job right. Wherever we have to go. Just saying we don’t want war and want to be peaceful is not going to stop people from killing us.”
• “How will they rebuild our standing in the world as a country interested in peace, while at the same time protecting our interests both here and abroad”?
• “How will the candidates deal with Iraq, Iran and the rest of the Middle East nations, and is there a strategy for turning Iraq and Afghanistan into viable nations”?
• “[How do you propose to create] A foreign policy that looks beyond domination to building relationships and focusing on the future of this country in the context of other emerging economic superpowers in the world, as opposed to a cowboy nation seeking to impose our culture in places where it is not wanted or appropriate”?
ECONOMIC FUTURE
• Helping Small Businesses: “Women are the majority of small business owners. How are your policies going to help sustain women as they build these businesses, which are crucial to driving our economy forward”?
• Student Loan System in Crisis: “Student loans have recently been proven to be corrupt, and dangerous for many students- and yet they are necessary for many people who seek higher education. How are you going to help fix this broken system”?
• Wages Flat for all but the Mega Rich: “What are you going to do to flatten the huge disparity between the mega-rich and the middle class? “Basic economic freedom is considered the ability to work and have financial independence- and so many middle class Americans can no longer achieve this”?
• What do families do if child care costs make working difficult? For many working women, the huge costs of child care just get in the way of success. Child care is so expensive, many women are damned if they do (work), damned if they don’t (work). Are you going to demand federally-sponsored child care?
• “What policies will you propose that encourage part-time positions for people (not just parents) who need or require more balance in their lives? The FMLA system is a bandaid. When you have a seriously ill child, you need more than 12 weeks unpaid leave, but you can’t lose your job because that is where the insurance is!!”
• Cost of globalization: “…it’s truly a global economy. More and more jobs are off-shored. Top technology companies like Cisco are requiring those who want to be future leaders to live and work in places like India, China, Russia etc. if they want to be considered for future promotion to the executive ranks. What’s the US’ position in the global economy? What should be done to ensure that the US can achieve and maintain that position”?
• US energy innovation: “ The next big thing is going to be technologies/transportation that do not run on gas/oil. What if America put her shoulder to the wheel and became a leader much as we did in the space race? We need real leadership to set this as a goal and go for it. I always shake my head when I hear (car) companies whine that it’s going to hurt them. Oh really? Technological innovation will help our American economy if WE KEEP IT HERE. If you want this race to go to China/India, believe me, they’ll be happy to step up.”
If you can believe it, that was just an excerpt of Morra’s pre-session post — click over to her blog for additional discussion, as well as for questions that BlogHer participants submitted to the CNN/YouTube presidential debates.
July 30th, 2007 03:35
“Every culture in the world is just one good shove away from the precipice of barbarism.” Dan Fesperman, author of The Prisoner of Guantanamo and The Amateur Spy. One reason why public libraries must survive.
Dear:Women’s Voices Everywhere:
The year after Hurricane Betsy, I enrolled in college at USLNO. I had to take a two-hour bus trip on the New Orleans transit line from St. Bernard Parish out to Lake Pontchartrain. I hated trigonometry, and anyway, I didn’t think it would help me escape my life near the Mississippi levee or the constant smell spewing from the sugar plant. So I usually ended up at the downtown public library, then later headed to Jackson Square for a couple of Jax brews. That public library was my sanctuary. After Katrina, I decided to write THE book, start The Beatitudes Network, and donate all royalties from sale of The Beatitudes to the New Orleans Public Library Foundation to help rebuild the libraries. I give you and NOLA The Beatitudes…
Out of New Orleans before the catastrophe that was made by a hurricane and, as Dante wrote, “of false gods who lied,” comes The Beatitudes, part one in the New Orleans Trilogy. The Beatitudes portrays New Orleans as Dante’s purgatory, a place where the sins of men are exposed for all to see, where redemption is close at hand but most often lost.
This world is revealed by the lives of two social workers, Hannah Dubois (white and nicknamed Scrimp) and Earlene Washington (African-American and nicknamed Pinch), who start their own business, Social Investigations, in order to solve the murders of ten foster children in New Orleans, Louisiana. The NOPD, the Catholic Church, and politicians have sidestepped clues that point to those who hold great power. As Hannah and Earlene find more and more evidence, they also know that they are dealing with a force that crosses into the realm of the paranormal. The murderers are part of a secret organization called the White Army (la Armee Blanc), centered in New Orleans, but rooted in Medieval Europe and the Children’s Crusades. Each clue leads to a beatitude and each chapter defines the novel: The Pure of Heart, The Persecuted, The Merciful, The Sorrowful, The Peacemakers, The Meek, The Poor in Spirit, and Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Justice. The Beatitudes is thus a study of good and evil, and that act, the murder of innocent children, which encompasses all of the seven deadly sins. The Beatitudes is Book I in The New Orleans Trilogy.
Please give me the opportunity to send you a “mini book” so that you may read part of the book before its release. Then if you like it let me know by replying to this email (lynlejeune@cox.net) and I will soon send you information about ordering the book. Remember, all royalties go directly to the New Orleans Public Library Foundation.
Just send me an address, either email or snail mail, and I will get the “mini-book” out to you. Also, if you go to www.beatitudesinneworleans.blogspot.com you will see that many prominent authors such as Julie Smith, Alafair Burke, Ken Bruen and many others support The Beatitudes Network. The site also has news about New Orleans, writing, Cajun recipes, and excerpts from The Beatitudes.
If you wish, I will link to your blog and post it on my blog, along with a one or two sentence description you send me. My campaign starts “all in” this August, 2007 and will continue into 2008, including book fairs, speaking engagements, bookstores, web campaign and much more. So join us in this worthy cause to help save a great American city – New Orleans, The Heavenly City, The Crescent City, The City That Care Forgot, The City of Sin, The City of the Dead……
MERCI MILLE FOIS - THANKS A MILLION - and pass the word along about this worthy project and how authors can help. Lyn LeJeune.
August 1st, 2007 06:27
Wouldn’t it be nice to dream about getting any real answers on even just a few of those questions?