ProgressWomen

By Eli Yokley, Missouri News Network — May 9

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A $250,000 a year expenditure threatens to stall passage of the state’s $24 billion budget.

The issue is over whether the University of Missouri should continue to fund the Shear Institute, a public policy institute for women in politics based at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. Legislation barring the funding passed the House as part of a larger education bill earlier this year and now returns to the state Senate.

On Wednesday, House Democratic women penned a letter to Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon calling on him to veto the bill if it makes it to his desk.

“It is not the responsibly of the state legislature to micro-manage higher education public institutions as to their programs,” said the letter, led by Rep. Stacey Newman, D-Clayton. “This sets a dangerous precedent.”

Some Republican lawmakers, in particular, state Sen. Jane Cunningham, have insisted their believe that the institute is nothing more than a partisan organization.

Several top Missouri Republican women have also participated in the Shear Institute, including U.S. Rep. JoAnn Emerson, former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, former U.S. Ambassador Ann Wagner, and former House Speaker Catherine Hanaway. Hanaway said Tuesday she supports effort to cut funding for the institute.

Read more here.

‘For The Same Work, Dudes Get Paid More’

Huffington Post — May 1

Rachel Maddow spent a considerable amount of time on her Monday show defending her argument that men get paid more than woman.

Maddow, who appeared on Sunday’s “Meet The Press,” severely clashed with Republican strategist and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos on the topic of equal pay. Castellanos continuously interrupted Maddow and disagreed with her point that men earn more money than women. Maddow fired back, calling Castellanos “condescending.”

On Monday, Castellanos doubled down on his comments, saying that Maddow “restated an old and discredited liberal myth — that women are paid less than men, only 77%, for the same labor. The fact is women are paid less than men in America — but not for the same work. They are paid less, for other reasons.” Castellanos argued that men work more hours per week and work in different professions, like engineering and science, which pay more.

In a rare move,CNN aired a fact-checking package on Maddow and Castellanos’ clash on Monday. Reporter Lisa Sylvester used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and confirmed that Maddow was right—men do earn more than women.

Click here to read more on this topic.

courtesy of www.breitbart.com

ALERT:  HB1274 MAY BE HEARD ON THE HOUSE FLOOR NEXT WEEK

By Jeremy Truitt – The Maneater (University of Missouri) 

It is difficult not to imagine certain Missouri legislators plotting to take away women’s rights with the latest step dictating what women can and cannot do with their health and bodies.  The war on women continues.

The Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act is a current bill in Missouri seeking to place tight restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs; meaning it could be tougher to obtain a medically induced abortion in Missouri.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Andrew Koenig, R-District 88, and is aimed at further restricting the use of RU-486 and other abortion-inducing drugs. Currently, there is little specificity regarding the administering of abortion-inducing drugs in Missouri, with the exception that a physician administers it.

RU-486 is a drug used in combination with Misoprostol and when taken two days apart, they block progesterone, which is vital to pregnancy. This causes the woman’s body to expel the embryo, effectively terminating the pregnancy without a surgical procedure, according to the FDA.

Rep. Koenig goal with these restrictions is an overal reduction in abortion in Missouri as well as give women what he believes is proper care in a controlled, clinical environment.

In some countries, such as France, RU-486 is available at pharmacies with a prescription, and a woman self-administers the pills at home. In the United States, the pills must be administered at a medical facility in the presence of a licensed physician, according to the FDA.

Koenig also said the bill would require more information be given to patients so individuals can make more informed decisions.

Some people the bill places too many further restrictions on women when they already have to see a licensed physician to obtain the drug, according to a Planned Parenthood news release.  They are given a surplus of information and completely understand their options before getting the abortion-induction drug.

“At a time when the Missouri legislature should be focusing on creating jobs and fixing the economy, it is troublesome to find the legislature, once again, focused on restricting access to basic reproductive health care for women,” Planned Parenthood stated in a news release. “HB 1274 places such medically unnecessary and burdensome requirements on medical abortion as to virtually prohibit access in Missouri—clearly the intent of the legislation.”

Women who need abortions will find ways to receive them.  This bill makes it less safe and more expensive for them to do so.

The bill, HB 1274, has passed in the initial committee vote and is proceeding through the normal legislative process with an anticipated enactment date of August should it pass.

Read HB 1274 here and the source of this article here.

It’s time to take a look at Rush Limbaugh’s actions not just in regards to Sandra Fluke but over the past few years.  It is the time for the FCC to consider taking his hateful sexist comments off the air.

(CNN) – Ironically, the misogyny Rush Limbaugh spewed for three days over Sandra Fluke was not much worse than his regular broadcast of sexist, racist and homophobic hate speech:

– Female Cabinet members are ”Sex-retaries.”

-- “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”

– The National Organization for Women is “a bunch of whores to liberalism.”

– [Said to an African-American female caller]: ”Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”

These are just a few samples from the arsenal of degrading language Limbaugh deploys on women, people of color, lesbians and gays, immigrants, the disabled, the elderly, Muslims, Jews, veterans, environmentalists and so forth.

Limbaugh doesn’t just call people names. He promotes language that deliberately dehumanizes his targets. Like the sophisticated propagandist Josef Goebbels, he creates rhetorical frames — and the bigger the lie, the more effective — inciting listeners to view people they disagree with as sub-humans. His longtime favorite term for women, “femi-Nazi,” doesn’t even raise eyebrows anymore, an example of how rhetoric spreads when unchallenged by coarsened cultural norms.

At least this most recent incident has turned a spotlight back on the vile, damaging statements Limbaugh has been promulgating for years. His sponsors are dropping him; his stations have begun to follow suit.

Clear Channel’s Premiere Radio Networks Inc., which hosts Limbaugh’s program, has defended his recent comments.  If Clear Channel won’t clean up its airways, then surely it’s time for the public to ask the FCC a basic question: Are the stations carrying Limbaugh’s show in fact using their licenses “in the public interest?”

Individual radio listeners may complain to the FCC that Limbaugh’s radio station (and those syndicating his show) are not acting in the public interest or serving their respective communities of license by permitting such dehumanizing speech.

The FCC takes such complaints into consideration when stations file for license renewal. For local listeners near a station that carries Limbaugh’s show, there is plenty of evidence to bring to the FCC that their station isn’t carrying out its public interest obligation. Complaints can be registered under the broadcast category of the FCC website: http://www.fcc.gov/complaints

This isn’t political. While we disagree with Limbaugh’s politics, what’s at stake is the fallout of a society tolerating toxic, hate-inciting speech. For 20 years, Limbaugh has hidden behind the First Amendment, or else claimed he’s really “doing humor” or “entertainment.” He is indeed constitutionally entitled to his opinions, but he is not constitutionally entitled to the people’s airways.

It’s time for the public to take back our broadcast resources. Limbaugh has had decades to fix his show. Now it’s up to us.   Read more here from CNN.

2011 Missouri Women's Report created by Women's Policy Alliance with the University of Missouri- Columbia

Posted March 16 — By Doug Moore, St. Louis Post Dispatch

ST. LOUIS  There are more women than men registered to vote in every county of Missouri. But when it comes to holding office, men dominate at nearly every level of government.

Notable disparities are in Congress and the Missouri Legislature, where only 25 percent of the state’s delegation in Washington and lawmakers in Jefferson City are women. Statewide, less than 30 percent of school board members are women. And of the 330 county commissioners across Missouri, all but 15 are men.

The findings come from a county-by-county analysis of women and how they fare when it comes to holding elected office. The report also looks at health care access and pay equity.

The nonprofit Women’s Policy Alliance partnered with the University of Missouri’s Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis to create the report, to be discussed during a news conference this morning. The study was compiled from a variety of sources including the 2010 Census and state agencies.

“What we’re finding as we work with our legislators at all levels is that there isn’t very good statistical information to take to lawmakers or show the public,” said Shirley Breeze, a board member of Women’s Policy Alliance. “It’s available, but it’s fragmented here and there.”

Combining it into a report makes “things a lot easier to show the inequality that exists in Missouri.”

Women who hold office in Missouri say all topics concerning voters, including those exclusive to women, benefit from gender equity at the table. And women tend to run when there is an issue that is personal to them.

The challenge, though, is getting women to run, said Dayna Stock, manager of the Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life, based at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

“We know that women have to be asked to run,” Stock said. “They don’t come into the world and proclaim, ‘I’m going to run for office.’

When they do consider it, women often think of themselves as unqualified or they are unwilling to put their family in the glare of public life.

“Despite the emergence over the last 10 years of high-profile women in politics such as Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, we find that the gender gap in political ambition is virtually the same as it was a decade ago,” the report states.

Missouri has only 41 women among the state’s 163 representatives.  However, this is an improvement on the 31 women representatives in 2007.  Today, women win at about the same rate as men, but for every four men running, there is only one woman.

“We’re chipping away on gaining seats where we can,” Stock said. “There is still a lot of work to be done.”

Read more here from the Post Dispatch.  Also, click here to read the entire 2011 Women’s Health Report.

PLEASE HELP! Sign petition to  Speaker Tilley and MO House leaders here.   Rush Limbaugh deserves NO place of honor in Missouri’s Capitol.

By CHRIS BLANK  - Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — While advertisers flee his radio show, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh is poised to be added to the Hall of Famous Missourians in the state Capitol.

Missouri House Speaker Steven Tilley said Monday that he decided to honor Limbaugh about three months ago. He is defending his choice, saying Limbaugh is among the world’s best-known radio personalities.

Limbaugh’s show has lost nine advertisers since he referred last week to a female law student involved in the national debate about insurance for contraception as a “slut” and “prostitute.” And at least one radio station has dropped the program.  Limbaugh has since apologized.

Tilley, a Republican who like Limbaugh is from southeastern Missouri, noted that other Missourians selected for the hall have made controversial statements, including writer Mark Twain who was the first inductee nearly three decades ago.

“It’s not the hall of universally loved Missourians. It’s the Hall of Famous Missourians,” said Tilley, who’s from Perryville. Limbaugh is a Cape Girardeau native.

One group, called Progress Missouri, has started an online petition against Limbaugh’s induction, and several Missouri Democrats objected Monday to the choice. Some said it could be particularly divisive and might cheapen and degrade the honor for the others who have been selected.

“I’d like to think when we walk a group of schoolchildren through (the hall) that we’re proud of who’s out there, and I don’t see that being the case here,” said Rep. Sara Lampe, a Democrat from Springfield.

Others selected this year are late Negro Leagues baseball player Buck O’Neil and Dred Scott, a slave who sued unsuccessfully for his freedom in a famous court case.

Tilley said he is proud of Limbaugh’s accomplishments and that a radio talk show host is “going to say things that are provocative or controversial.”

Controversy has swirled around Limbaugh since his comments last week about 30-year-old Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, who was involved in the national debate about insurance for contraception. Fluke testified in favor of health care policy that would compel her Jesuit college’s health plan to cover birth control.

She was invited to testify before a U.S. House committee, but Republican lawmakers barred her from testifying. She spoke to the Democratic lawmakers at an unofficial session.

Limbaugh said Fluke was seeking to be “paid to have sex.” A day later he said: “If we’re going to have to pay for this, then we want something in return, Ms. Fluke. And that would be the videos of all this sex posted online so we can see what we’re getting for our money.”

There is no timeline for when Limbaugh will be inducted. Scott also is yet to be enshrined. A ceremony for O’Neil was held last week in the Missouri House Chamber.

Busts are funded through donations, and Tilley estimated each costs about $10,000.

Tilley confirmed his selection of Limbaugh and Scott after the liberal-leaning blog “Fired Up! Missouri” published a post on Monday, noting the website of a Kansas City sculptor preparing busts for Limbaugh and Scott.  Click here to read more.