equal pay day.

just like tax day, it comes around each year,
& is always a little depressing.
equal pay day.

49 years ago, president john f. kennedy signed
the equal pay act of 1963.
today, women still must work until mid-april of this year
in order to earn what the average american male earned last year.
yep — today's the day we catch up with where the men were january 1st.

according to the latest u.s. census stats,
full-time working women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.
& naturally, the gap is wider for women of color.

*heavy. sigh.*

ok. so, the better-than-nothing news is,
president obama has flagged equal pay as a priority.
in fact, in his 2012 state of the union address, the president said,
" ... an economy built to last is one where we encourage
the talent & ingenuity of every person in this country.
that means women should earn equal pay for equal work."

so, what is the president doing to walk that talk?

1) he created the equal pay task force.
since its creation two years ago, the eptf has helped:

:: increase enforcement actions;

:: increase recovered money for women seeking
their fair share for doing the same work as men;

:: increase outreach to employers & employees alike,
with rewarding results; &

:: make sure the full weight of the federal government
is centered on closing the gender pay gap for good.

2) the department of labor is gathering & distributing good pay-gap info.

:: a solution to the gender pay-gap problem has been difficult
in large part because access to essential information has been limited.
the equal pay app challenge invited software developers to use
publicly available data & resources to create applications that provide
— greater access to pay data, organized by gender, race & ethnicity,
— interactive tools for early career coaching or online mentoring, or
— data to help inform pay negotiations.
the winners of the challenge have been announced, &
soon, anyone with a smartphone, tablet or computer
will be able to easily access the info they need to make sure they're paid fairly.

:: the dol has also just published two new brochures
to educate employees regarding their rights &
to ensure employers understand their obligations
under existing equal-pay laws.

let's hope once more americans know better,
more americans will do better.
until then, tip your waitress an extra 23% today,
in "celebration" of equal pay day.


image source: fringepop.

ashley judd's face.

it's practically a tale as old as time . . .
beauty vs. the beast.

actress stars in new tv show.
actress promotes new tv show.
actress' appearance seems slightly different ["puffy," according to some].
media presumes actress has had plastic surgery.
media feeding frenzy ensues.

except this time, the actress was ashley judd,
& you don't mess with ashley judd.

judd promptly penned a piece for the daily beast,
condemning the current "conversation" about women's bodies
as "the assault on our body image,
the hypersexualization of girls & women
& subsequent degradation of our sexuality as we walk through the decades,
& the general incessant objectification" —
i.e., misogynisitc bullshit.

the whole essay is well worth reading, & you should.
but what really hit home for me was the portion in which,
as jezebel.com writer lindy west says,
"ashley judd just dunked on us so hard."

my dunking/aha! moment:

"that women are joining in the ongoing
disassembling of my appearance is salient.
patriarchy is not men. patriarchy is a system
in which both women & men participate.

it privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys & men
over the bodily integrity, autonomy, & dignity of girls and women.

it is subtle, insidious, & never more dangerous
than when women passionately deny that
they themselves are engaging in it.

this abnormal obsession with women’s faces & bodies
has become so normal that we
(i include myself at times — i absolutely fall for it still)
have internalized patriarchy almost seamlessly.
we are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers,
or as abusing other girls & women.

a case in point is that this conversation was
initially promulgated largely by women
a sad & disturbing fact."

sad & disturbing, indeed.
& oh, so common.

in fact, if i'm truly honest, then i must confess
one of my first knee-jerk [emphasis on the jerk part] reactions to
the buzz about ms. judd's altered appearance was
something along the lines of a resigned "like mother, like daughter."
[ashley's mom, country singer naomi judd, has copped to a facelift or two.]

but like jezebel.com's lindy west,
i hope along with growing older, i'm also growing wiser,
deeper & much more accepting.
i hope i'm growing into a better feminist:

"i'm certainly not innocent of celebrity body-snarking ... .
but i find that the older i get the more consciously i avoid it,
& the more i reject the notion that when you profit from being a public figure
you become public property.

we've locked celebrities [female celebrities in particular]
into this impossible position —
they lose five pounds & they're anorexic;
they gain that weight back & they might as well
call maury povich to airlift them out of their trailer.
so what the fuck are they supposed to do?

there's a line between reasonable attention & unreasonable scrutiny,
&, for my part, i'd rather sacrifice a few good jokes
about the flavor-of-the-week's gaping coke nostril
than contribute any more to the commodification & dehumanization of women.

my feminism doesn't end where your celebrity begins."

dear ashley judd,
you are a beautiful woman.
a woman with a beautiful face & body, yes.
but much more importantly, a woman
with a beautifully brilliant mind.
a beautifully brave spirit.
& a beautifully open heart
[click here for more on her humanitarian work,
which includes extensive global efforts
to fight aids & poverty, & — not surprisingly —
to advocate for women's rights].

not to mention your beautifully eloquent &
hopefully moving [as in moving on, moving forward] words for all of us:

"who makes the fantastic leap from being sick,
or gaining some weight over the winter,
to a conclusion of plastic surgery?
our culture, that’s who.
the insanity has to stop, because as focused on me
as it appears to have been, it is about all girls & women.

in fact, it’s about boys & men, too,
who are equally objectified and ridiculed, according to
heteronormative definitions of masculinity that deny
the full & dynamic range of their personhood.

it affects each & every one of us,
in multiple & nefarious ways:
our self-image, how we show up in our relationships & at work,
our sense of our worth, value, & potential as human beings.

join in — and help change — the conversation."

doing my best, ms. judd. & still promising to do better.

yours, mine & ours,
me


image source: unknown.

e.r.a.gain.

under the u.s. constitution,
discriminating against a person of color
is punishable by law.
discriminating against a woman
isn't.

some americans have been trying to
fix this discrepancy for 88 years,
without success.

thank goodness, they're not done trying.

the equal rights amendment [e r a]
to the u.s. constitution
was originally written by american suffragette alice paul
& introduced in congress in 1923.

51 years later, in 1972, the e r a
was passed by both the u.s. house & senate
by a two-thirds vote.
it had a decade to become ratified
by two-thirds of the states [38].
it died in 1982, lacking only three more states' approval.

the amendment consists of 52 words,
with the key line being:

"equality of rights under the law
shall not be denied or abridged
by the united states or by any state
on account of sex."

that's the sentence that means
men & women will have equal rights under the law.

that's the sentence that will make the courts
treat gender discrimination with the same strict scrutiny they use to deal with racial discrimination.

who would have thought american women
were considered lesser citizens than black men??
of course, they got the right to vote first, too.

june 21st, u.s. senator robert menendez of new jersey
& u.s. representative carolyn maloney of new york
reintroduced the e r a,
now known as the women's equality amendment.

why? because as long a way as we've come,
baby,
over the past few decades,
as many glass ceilings as we've shattered,
as many positions of power we've proven we can excel at,
as many military members as we've sent into war,
women are still underpaid & underrepresented
here in the good ol' u s of a.

president obama – surrounded by strong, smart, capable
women & girls who also happen to be
the people he holds closest to his heart –
has put his full support behind passage of the w e a.

quoth my president:
"history shows that countries are more prosperous
& more peaceful when women are empowered."

& so, a week prior to the national holiday
celebrating the freedoms offered by our country,
i must ask in response to mr. president's observation:

why not america??


image source: banning+low.

oh, bama.

so, two days ago,
my president came to austin.
& i went to see him.

not quite personal [alas, no meet-&-greet],
but definitely up-close.

like, 25 feet, maybe.

yep. leader of the free world.
talking to about 750 austinites.
of which i was one.

talking about his first-term achievements.
talking about his second-term goals.

talking about disappointments.
talking about sacrifices.
talking about reality.

talking about connection.
talking about togetherness.
talking about sameness.

talking about americans.
talking about putting on boots.
talking about climbing up hills.

talking about yes. we. can.
again.

now, that's what i'm talking about, y'all.


**HUGE thanks goes to my dear & generous friend
& fellow blogger diana,
who shelled out the giant clams necessary
for me to be her plus-one
to this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
best. friend. ever.**


image source: just me & my canon powershot, baby. booyah.

tune for today.

my fellow americans,

YES, WE CAN.

remember??
i do.

& whenever i can't,
whenever i doubt,
i watch this.

take four minutes today
& make yourself remember
what's great about being an american.
[p.s. working together for the greater good isn't just for democrats.]

bloom day.

my dear friend diana is a master gardener, talented writer
& now, a gardening writer.

her blog, sharing nature's garden,
often participates in garden bloggers' bloom day,
in which those with green thumbs & flexible clicker-fingers
post photos of what's blooming wherever they are on the 15th of the month.

so, even though i'm not a gardener of any kind,
neither actual nor virutal,
i still love to see spring busting out all over.

so in homage to diana & her fellow dirt-players,
i snapped some shots of the first, fresh signs of spring
here in the heart of texas.

up above, a pretty pink bud on our neighbor's peach tree.

down below, the bright new leaves of the same neighbor's willow tree, waving in the warm breeze.

a bradford pear tree's delicate white blossoms in another neighborhood yard.

the eye-popping purple flowers of a red bud tree.

& the grape-ish color [& aroma] of a downtown mountain laurel tree.

& finally, i thought i might share a photo of what i'm growing:

impassioned protesters,
recently rallying for adequate state funding for public education.

[perry refers to our governor,
who is always perfectly coiffed & almost always an inadequate leader.
imho.]

so, what is your garden growing, either literally or metaphorically??

midweek wow.

is anyone else totally burned out on political commercials already?

ah, midterm election season, when a middle-age liberal's fancy turns to thoughts of canada ...

here's another reason to consider the land of the maple leaf: dominic lacasse, "l'homme drapeau" or, en englais, the flag man.

oh, canada!


think pink:


over 1,900 men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year, & one in six cases will be inherited [compared with only 5-10% of women's cases]. click here for tests he should pursue & other potential risk factors.


image source: cdnuniguy's photobucket

76?? looks like seventy-sexy to me.

i confess: i'm not a huge stephen colbert watcher.
but i am a huge salon.com reader.
& i think gloria steinem is the bomb.

so yesterday, salon writer tracy clark-flory posted a little something about gloria steinem's recent visit to "the colbert report."

here's the part of the post that got me to watch the video:

as for feminism's supposed triumph over men, colbert asked: "are you happy that women have won?" steinem shot back with obvious amusement: "the idea was never victory and defeat. the whole idea was, you should pardon the expression, equality － that we're actual human beings & that was it. i know it sounds radical, but that was it."

& here's the video － it's an extremely entertaining exchange, well worth the watch-time, even if just for the shock & awe that is ms. steinem @ 76yo.

she's still the bomb.
& still a bombshell, apparently.

enjoy:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Gloria Steinem
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

image source: letsrollforums.com

as seth & amy might say, *really*??!?

if you're a mom, then there are 27 countries where it's better for you to live than the united states.

27.

really??

greece, italy, ireland, iceland, bosnia, croatia, herzegovina, slovakia, the baltic states, latvia, lithuania, montenegro, singapore.

all better spots to be a mom than the u.s., according to save the children's 11th annual mothers' index.

really!? really.

so how did the u.s. of a rank so low?

1. one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world － 1 in 4,800 women dying of pregnancy-related causes.

2. an above-average under-five mortality rate － 8 in 1,000 births.

3. one of the lowest preschool enrollment rates in the developed world.

4. the stingiest maternity-leave policy, in terms of both time and money, among wealthy nations worldwide.

really??!?

the very best places to be a mom? norway, australia, iceland, sweden, denmark, new zealand, finland, the netherlands, belgium & germany.

norway's women are well-paid, have easy access to contraception, & are provided with one of the world's most generous maternity-leave policies.

the very worst? equatorial guinea, eritrea, sudan, mali, congo, yemen, guinea-bissau, chad, niger & afghanistan.

afghanistan has high infant mortality, low female life expectancy, & the world's worst primary education rate for girls.

another great reason to be grateful i'm not an afghan woman.

but 28th, america? really??!?


image source: gil hanson

an activist & advisor worth remembering.

white-girl confession: i didn't know a thing about dorothy height until her death late last month.

color me embarrassed [i.e., i'm a pink girl now].

because not only was dorothy irene height considered to be the grande dame of the civil rights movement, but she was also the first modern movement leader to treat equality for african-americans and equality for women as one and the same.

for example ... she was one of the chief organizers of the 1963 march on washington.

she was among those who insisted that dr. martin luther king, jr. be the final speaker of the day, so that his words would be well-remembered.

she sat just a few seats from the podium as dr. king delivered his inspirational "i have a dream" speech [that's her, above right, in the hat]. later, she mentioned being a little disappointed his talking points didn't address equal rights for women.

wow. amazing, miss dorothy.
and that was just one historic, progressive moment of an amazing life.

dorothy height was born in va and raised in pa.

dorothy was a teen when she commenced her activism career path, protesting at anti-lynching demonstrations.

dorothy was accepted at barnard college, but when she arrived, was denied entrance because the school had already admitted its quota of two black students for the year.

75 years later, barnard college designated miss dorothy as an honorary graduate.

she earned her actual undergraduate degree and her master's degree in educational psychology at new york university.

miss dorothy served as the president of the national council of negro women for forty years.

she helped found the national women's political caucus.

miss dorothy had the attention and ear of first lady eleanor roosevelt and every sitting president since.

she was awarded america's two highest civilian awards － the presidential medal of freedom in 1994 and the congressional gold medal in 2004.

she visited president obama in the oval office 21 times since january 2009.

she died april 20, 2010, of natural causes at the age of 98. she had three dozen honorary doctorates.

president obama eulogized her, wept openly at her funeral, and ordered u.s. flags flown at half-staff on april 29th in her honor.

miss dorothy never married. she loved knitting, sweet potato pie and stylish chapeaus.

amazing, miss dorothy.
amazing miss dorothy.


image sources: freedom's song, associated press

monday morning, mama.

here's a little first-monday-morning-of-may wakeup call for we women,
& one little lady especially ...

from my magical friend & 2010 state musician of texas, ms. sara hickman.



happy first monday of may, all!! :)

pay gap. sux.

i was all about the greening of the blog during earth day[s] last week. now i need to turn our attention back to another sort of vital green.

cha-ching.

tuesday, april 20th, marked how far into 2010 american women must work from january 1, 2009, to match what men earned last year.

no, no typos. for what a guy earned working from 1.1.2009 to 12.31.2009, a gal had to work an extra 110 days [78 weekdays] to earn the same.

o.m.g. i'm sorry － what year is this?

2010 － and women are still earning only 77 cents for every male dollar.

the harvard business review put together this eye-opening [potentially to the point of tears] presentation of some of the pay-gap facts, such as they are ... i dare you to not be righteously rageful [click the image to go to the rest of the presentation]:

sux, yes?

the lilly ledbetter fair pay restoration act was the first bill president obama signed into law. it doesn't seem to have done much yet, but obama says he's not done with pay parity yet.

the president is cracking down on pay inequity and backing the paycheck fairness act. the measure will make it okay to talk about pay in the workplace, make it easier to prove sex discrimination, and make penalties harsher for companies who underpay women employees.

go-bama. american women don't have 110 days to spare.

image source: huffington post

a texan worth remembering.

It's the end of an era, as far as I'm concerned.

First Ann, then Molly, then Lady Bird. Now Liz. One by one, our strong, loud, independent, hilarious, yellow-dog yellow roses of Texas have been lost to the ages.

Liz Carpenter － White House press secretary, activist, author, Democratic Party Girl, dangerously quick wit, feminist, Force of Nature, & Texan by the grace of God － died last Saturday of pneumonia at age 89.

A sixth-generation Texan, Liz － nee Mary Elizabeth Sutherland － had relatives who died at the Alamo, wrote the Texas Declaration of Independence, served in the Civil War, fought for women's suffrage, and founded the Central Texas town of Salado, where she was born.

She was the middle child of five, moved to Austin when she was seven. She found two of her lifelong loves － her future husband, Les, and journalism － at Austin High School. The couple went to The University of Texas, and Liz found a third lifelong love － politics. She was the first woman ever elected vice president of the student body.

Les and Liz married and moved to Washington, DC, to open up their own news bureau. Liz began by covering President Franklin Roosevelt's administration and New Deal, but really came into her own when then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson hired her as his executive assistant, serving chiefly as his press secretary.

It was Liz who wrote the 58 words delivered by newly sworn-in President Johnson on the November day President John Kennedy was assassinated:

"This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help and God's."

Liz transferred to First Lady Lady Bird Johnson's staff as director and press secretary. She was the darling of the press corps. The Secret Service code-named her "Springtime." And she and the First Lady developed a close friendship that lasted longer than 60 years.

And that was only the beginning. Liz went on to help launch the National Women's Political Caucus, lead the Equal Rights Amendment Initiative, serve on the International Women's Year Commission for President Gerald Ford, serve as assistant secretary of public affairs under the Secretary of Education for President Jimmy Carter, and serve on the advisory committee of the White House Conference on Aging for President Bill Clinton.

She wrote five books, was honored by The University of Texas with the Liz Sutherland Carpenter Distinguished Visiting Lectureship in the Humanities and Sciences, battled breast cancer twice － and won, and planned her own funeral, complete with two rehearsals so everyone playing a role knew just what to do. She will be cremated and her ashes, mixed with wildflower seeds, will be scattered on a hill in Salado.

Liz is survived by her daughter, Christy, of New York, her son, Scott, of Washington state, a grandson named for her late husband, and a step-granddaughter.

So many folks have so many wonderful things to say about Liz Carpenter, but I especially like this quote from Cathy Bonner, former executive director of the Texas Department of Commerce and founder of Dallas' Women's Museum:

"She was a feminist's feminist, a mentor's mentor and a stand-up comic's comedian. I loved her wisdom and her wit, her Texas soil and salt-of-the-earth sensibilities, and her loyalty to family, friends and yellow dogs."

For decades, she was Austin's grand dame, and for her whole life, she was a dame who was grand. I hope she and Lady Bird, Molly and Ann are all together up above, swapping stories, laughing until they cry, and watching over the Texas women they left behind in awe and gratitude.


image source: jennifer hill robenalt

what a wonderful world ... of women.

Monday was the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. Many countries honor the occasion with a national holiday, including Vietnam, Russia and China. But not here in the good old U-S-of-A, no sir – er, ma’am. Here in America, the best we can do is hold a media event at the White House … which is nothing to sneeze at, I realize, but still, it’s not exactly a national holiday, now, is it? Heck, it’s not even a Hallmark-created holiday.

Lowered expectations, anyone?

Anyway, the State Department commemoration was kind of cool. President Obama and the First Lady welcomed women of the Obama Administration, members of Congress, women’s organization leaders and high-school students to their albino abode. Women working to help women all around the world were honored. And Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got all girlfriend-y.

Yes, ‘Chelle and Hill actually managed to make light of the dark 2008 duel between Clinton and Barack for the Democratic presidential nomination. The First Lady briefly stumbled over Clinton’s job title: “Let me thank my dear friend, Senator – Secretary Clinton. I almost said President Clinton,” quipped Mrs. O to laughter and applause.

“But let me thank you for your friendship,” the First Lady continued, “for your support … and for your indispensable advice in getting me through this first year and helping me figure out how to get my family settled in our new life in D.C.”

But the tone of the event turned serious as the President noted the challenges America still faces along the road to gender equality:

“Even as we reflect on the hope of our history, we must also face squarely the reality of the present – a reality marked by unfairness, marked by hardship for too many women in America. The statistics of inequality are all too familiar to us – how women earn just 77 cents for every dollar men make; how one in four women is the victim of domestic violence at some point in her life; how women are more than half the population, but make up only 17% of the seats in Congress, and less than 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs.

“These, and any number of other facts and figures, reflect the fundamental truth that in 2010, full gender equality has not yet been achieved.”

So that's the bad news – a misnomer, since it's not really "news," now, is it? And the good news? The ten amazing women who earned the U.S. State Department's 2010 International Women of Courage Award:

• Dr. Lee Ae-ran of the Republic of Korea, for promoting human rights in North Korea and aiding the refugee community in the Republic of Korea;
• Shukria Asil of Afghanistan, for promoting governmental responsiveness to meet women's needs;
• Androula Henriques of Cyprus, for fighting human trafficking;
• Jansila Majeed of Sri Lanka, for strengthening rights for internally displaced persons;
• Jestina Mukoko of Zimbabwe, for documenting human rights abuses;
• Sister Marie Claude Naddaf of Syria, for working for social services for women;
• Ann Njogu of Kenya, for seeking social transformation and being at the forefront of reforms in Kenya;
• Sonia Pierre of the Dominican Republic, for ending discrimination based upon country of origin and the human rights abuses of statelessness;
• Colonel Shafiqa Quraishi of Afghanistan, for integrating women into the government and police force; and
• Shadi Sadr of Iran, for advocating for women's legal rights and an end to execution by stoning.

Please click on their names and learn more about this extraordinary, global top ten and how each is making a difference in the world for women.

image source: associated press

life lesson from fgotus to flotus.

When it comes to ensuring your own happiness, First Grandmother Of The United States Marian Robinson was a good example for her daughter, Michelle Obama － of what not to do.

"She said being a good mother isn't all about sacrificing," says the First Lady. "It's really investing and putting yourself higher up on your priority list." Obama says Mrs. Robinson put her own two children first, sometimes to her own detriment.

"She encouraged me not to do that," says Obama.

The First Lady says women should do what makes them happy, because if mama is happy, then everybody's happy.

"I've learned to make choices that make me happy," says Obama. "I've freed myself to put me on the priority list and say, 'Yes, I can make choices that make me happy, and it will ripple and benefit my kids, my husband and my physical health. That's hard for women to own. We're not taught to do that, but it's a lesson I want to teach my girls."


image source: comite des amis lyonnais de barack obama

fgotus.

Offering a big presidential-in-law HOLLA!! to FGOTUS [fuh-GO-tus] － the unofficial acronymic nickname for Marian Robinson, First Grandmother Of The United States.

According to an recent Associated Press article, the First Lady's 72yo mom － despite originally being less than thrilled with the move from her native Chicago to DC － has created rather a happy life for herself in and out of the White House.

Mrs. Robinson spends plenty of time watching over her young granddaughters, Malia [11] and Sasha [8], attends many White House functions, and with "Michelle's family," traveled abroad for the first time last year － via Air Force One － to Ghana, Russia and Italy, where she met the pope.

But she also rooms solo up on the floor above the First Family's living quarters, has formed her own circle of friends, goes shopping on her own, and enjoys visit to the Kennedy Center, as well as an anonymity the First Couple is a little envious of.

"She's quite the lady about town," President Obama said. "But the nice thing is that she just walks out the gate and goes."

A little in-laws-in-the-White-House history: Both Woodrow Wilson and Harry S. Truman had live-in mothers-in-law during their presidential terms － Wilson's was his second wife's mother, and his wife's sister lived with them, too; Truman's MIL lived with them despite her open dislike for Harry.

image course: something within

global girl power.

Forbes' annual list of the world's Power Women isn't about fame or fortune － it's about influence. And yes, gals, size matters.

Putting together this year's list of the top 100 most powerful women worldwide, Forbes considered two qualities: how many media mentions the women got; and how big of an organization or country the women lead.

Number one for the fourth consecutive year is German Chancellor Angela Merkel [above], leader of the world's fourth-largest economy. Runner-up at number two is Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Sheila Bair, who has overseen the orderly takeover of 77 banks to date this year, while fighting big boys like Fed Chair Ben Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for more power for her agency.

The list is largely corporate, with numbers 3, 4 and 6-10 all big-business CEOS － Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, Cynthia Carroll of Anglo American, Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods, Ellen Kullman of DuPont, Angela Braly of WellPoint, Anne Lauvergeon of France's Areva, and Lynn Elsenhans of Sunoco. Number 5 is Singapore's Ho Ching, who leads Tamasek, the city-state's sovereign wealth fund.

At number 36, Hillary Rodham Clinton is the highest-ranking woman U.S. government leader, followed by First Lady Michelle Obama at number 40, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (#51), newly sworn Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (#54) and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (#56). Poor 16-year Supreme Court veteran Ruth Bader Ginsberg didn't make it into the top 100 this year [time to work that publicist, Justice G!].

Of course you're now wondering, as I did, but what about Oprah?? Well, Forbes opted to give women media figures their own list this year, based upon how much money they earn, how many media mentions they receive, how big of an audience they reach [size still matters!] and how many Facebook/Twitter followers they've got. Topping the Most Influential Women in Media list by a landslide is, naturally, Lady O, followed by ABC's 63-year-old Diane Sawyer and 79-year-old (!) Barbara Walters.

Rounding out the top twelve of a list of 30: talk-show hostesses Ellen Degeneres and Tyra Banks [#5 － really?!?], NBC's Meredith Vieira and Ann Curry, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, domestic goddess Martha Stewart [#9, and Tyra's #5 － something's gone terribly awry!], spunky chef Rachael Ray, The Ladies of The View, and blogging post-mistress Arianna Huffington. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow [to whom I'm offering a special shoutout, because I love her] ranked midway at 15th.

salut sotomayor!!

Just in case you've been buried under sand or otherwise piled up on (as I have been for about a month), let us now seize the moment to celebrate Sonia Sotomayor, who has been officially sworn in as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice ever and just the third woman in the court's 220-year history.

Sotomayor took her public oath of office last Saturday from Chief Justice John Roberts, with her left hand resting upon a Bible held by her mother, Celina, and Sonia's only sibling, her brother Juan, standing beside her as a witness.

The Senate vote almost a week ago to confirm Sotomayor as the court's 111th justice was 68-31. America's longest-serving senator, 91-year-old Robert Byrd (D-WV), despite his tenuous condition following a lengthy hospitalization, was brought in in a wheelchair to vote for Sotomayor. The only senator absent from the floor was Edward Kennedy (D-MA), who is currently suffering from brain cancer.

President Obama applauded the Senate's favorable vote on his first Supreme Court nominee as "breaking another barrier and moving us yet another step closer to a more perfect union."

Today, at a White House celebration held in her honor, Sotomayor echoed the President's sentiments, saying, "It is our nation's faith in a more perfect union that allows a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx to stand here now. I am struck again today by the wonder of my own life and the life we in America are so privileged to lead."

The court is scheduled to hear arguments September 9th in a campaign finance case. The whole court will convene the day prior for a formal welcoming ceremony for Sotomayor.

latina law.

Well, he may not be perfect, but he's plenty for me — President Barack Obama yesterday nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, choosing a woman born of immigrant parents and raised in a public housing project to become America's first Hispanic justice and third woman justice ever.

Sotomayor, 54, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, will succeed retiring Justice David Souter, a consistently liberal member of the nation's highest court.

Here are some highlights of Judge Sotomayor's life up until now:

1. She was born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, close enough to Yankee Stadium to turn her into a lifelong fan. Her parents were Puerto Rican immigrants — her father, a factory worker with a third-grade education who spoke no English, and her mother, a nurse.

2. Sonia was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the age of eight. The following year, her father died unexpectedly at the age of 42. Sonia turned to books for solace, and says her love of girl detective Nancy Drew ultimately led her into law.

4. Sonia's mother, Celina, worked tirelessly to support her children as a single mother, and strongly emphasized education, spending her hard-earned money on the only set of encyclopedias in their neighborhood.

3. Sonia graduated as valedictorian of her class at the Roman Catholic school Blessed Sacrament and at the parochial Cardinal Spellman High School. She earned a scholarship to and her A.B. from Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude, then moved on to earned her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

4. Sotomayor served as an Assistant District Attorney for New York County for five years, prosecuting robbery, police brutality, murder, child pornography and assault cases. She then practiced corporate law for seven years with the private firm Pavia & Harcourt, where she specialized in intellectual property litigation.

5. President George H. W. Bush nominated Sotomayor to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1991; she was confirmed in 1992. In 1995, she saved America's favorite pastime by ending a long baseball strike with a ruling against the owners in favor of the players.

6. In 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated Sotomayor to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; she was confirmed in 1998, becoming the first Latina to serve in one of the most demanding circuits nationwide. She has since participated in over 3,000 panel decisions and authored about 400 opinions.

7. Sotomayor has a younger brother, Juan, who is now a Syracuse doctor. She was married once, to Kevin Edward Noonan; they divorced after seven years and had no children.

8. During her remarks in reaction to her Supreme-Court nomination, Sotomayor cited "one extraordinary person who is my life aspiration" — her mother, Celina [mother & daughter are pictured above]. Said Sonia, "My mother has devoted her life to my brother and me ... I have often said that I am all I am because of her. And I am only half the woman she is."

Salut y buena suerte, Juez Sotomayor!!

introducing b'obama.

That's Bo Obama, the First Family's new addition — a six-month-old Portuguese Water Dog, welcomed to the White House over the weekend.

Bo was a gift for the Obamas from U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, who himself has three of the breed — Sunny, Splash and Cappy. First daughters Malia and Sasha named the puppy because of their cousins' cat (also named Bo), and because of Michelle Obama's father, nicknamed Diddley — as in Bo Diddley.

Apparently, a top-secret get-to-know-you session between Bo and the Obamas happened a few weeks ago. "The Meeting," as White House staffers referred to it, clearly went well. Not too surprising, since Senator Kennedy's dog trainers have been working with the little guy to ensure he's the only doggie gift to be found upon the White House floors.

According to Wikipedia, "Portuguese Water Dogs make excellent companions. They are loving, independent and intelligent, and are easily trained in obedience and agility skills. Once introduced, they are typically friendly to strangers, and actively enjoy being petted, which, due to their soft, fluffy coats, is a favor humans willingly grant them."

All good things, since all of First Family members are also first-time "dog people." Neither the President nor the First Lady had dogs in childhood, and Sasha and Malia have never had pets.

Kindly tally Bo as yet another campaign promise fulfilled by President Obama.
And let us all hope the Obamas don't turn into people like this:
http://www.dallasnews.com/video/dallasnews/hp/index.html?nvid=351155&stry&shu=1