I am trying to break your heart On either Thursday, June 21 or Monday, June 25, the Supreme Court will issue its decision on the Affordable Care Act, which I’ve grown to enjoy calling ObamaCare. National treasure Jonathan Cohn describes likely scenarios for how the Court will rule, and the prospects are grim. Likely, some—if not all—of the bill will […]

Government by the wealthy, for the wealthy I realize that this is going to come as a huge shock to many of you. Perhaps you’d like to sit down for this: The budget plan put forth by Paul Ryan will raise taxes on the middle class and give huge tax breaks to the super wealthy. That’s the plan that Mitt […]

Well this doesn’t happen every day

My mother was an early feminist in the late 70s/early 80s. She marched on Washington, D.C. for the Equal Rights Amendment. My first “activism” action was to join her and a handful of other ladies on a road trip for a similar march in Chicago where Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem and many other leading feminists spoke.

And we always had Ms. magazine hanging around. When I was around ten years old, I read Ms. magazine all the time. It had a significant impact on my perceptions about women and how they are viewed and treated in society.

Yesterday, a post we put up was linked and photos we took were posted at Ms. magazine’s website in a piece titled “The War on Women, Michigan Front”.

She would have been very proud of that.

But there’s something she would have been even MORE proud of, I think.

With friends like these… Tucked inside the Michigan Democratic Party platform is the following statement: We believe that women should have access to reproductive medical services and professional advice when they need it. We pledge our support for reproductive freedom, giving a woman the right to make her own choices in this matter. But we respect the individual conscience of […]

Vagina POWER!

l-r: Rep. Rashida H. Tlaib, Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, Rep. Lisa Brown, Eve Ensler, and Rep. Stacy Erwin Oakes

Yesterday, Monday, June 18, 2012, upwards of 5,000 women and men and children descended on the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan to reclaim that place of power for women and their vaginas. After being told that uttering the word “vagina” was dirty and “lacked decorum”, Representative Lisa Brown and her colleague Barb Byrum were censored and banned from speaking.

Eve Ensler, the creator of The Vagina Monologues worked with Senator Rebekah Warren and others to stage a reading of the groundbreaking and magnificent play on the steps of the Capitol. But, what transpired there was more than just a theatrical event. It was an empowering event and a tranformative event for the state of Michigan. The thousands that gathered shared their anger and disgust and their refusal to continue being treated like children or second class citizens.

Follow us after the jump for many photos, video and more.

“If saying ‘vagina’ is controversial, then the men that believe that need to look at what they feel about vaginas.”

Tomorrow, starting at 5:00 p.m. Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues brings this wildly successful play to the steps of the state Capitol Building. With help from state legislators, activists and progressive leaders around the state of Michigan, they will perform The Vagina Monologues in front of the building where Republicans have basically banned the word from being uttered.

Ensler is the founder of the group V-Day, dedicated to ending violence against women and girls all over the world.

The reading of The Vagina Monologues at the state Capitol was the brainchild of Carla Milarch, the associate artistic director at the Performance Network in Ann Arbor. You can find out more information about the “Vaginas Take Back the Capitol” event and RSVP on their Facebook page HERE. Also, be sure to share your ideas for signs to be carried at the event HERE and by tweeting using the hashtag #MIvaginasigns.

With the story of Republicans publicly censuring and banning their female colleagues from speaking on the floor of the state House because they exercised their free speech rights going national, Ensler is getting interview requests from all over. In fact, this has actually become an international story and she has been interviewed about it by the BBC in England.

I spoke with Ensler by phone this afternoon about the “Vaginas Take Back the Capitol” event and the reading of The Vagina Monologues on the Capitol steps.

Vagina Power

A couple of days ago, V-Day, the group founded by Eve Ensler to end violence against women, started a Facebook event page called Vaginas Take Back the Capitol. Ensler, the creator of the Vagina Monologues, will be presenting her show there along with a whole host of other women including state representatives and senators.

In just two days, over 2,140 people have RSVPed.

This event is going to be huge.

Click through for more information and then submit your ideas for signs in the comments.

INOKIYAR*

On the heels of the now-national story of Michigan legislators being banned from speaking for mentioning the words “vagina” and “vasectomies”, it’s worth having a look back into the ancient history of earlier this year.

Why? Because they are guilty of far more egregious behavior toward women than having their sensibilities offended by all of these “v” words.

And then some.

Powerful women are powerful

A newly formed group called the Michigan Women’s Power Assembly is kicking off tomorrow with a daylong meeting in Detroit. Their focus is to “broaden and update the women’s movement and tackle public policy assaults on women’s rights.

The event will take place this Saturday, June 16th from 8 am to 5 pm on the campus of Wayne State University at the McGregor Conference Center and is open to the public. Registration is $20 and includes lunch and childcare. Scholarships are available. Register at www.miwomenspowerassembly.com.

More information after the jump.

“Don’t let anybody tell you that the challenges we face right now are beyond our ability to solve.”

President Barack Obama visited Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio yesterday to talk about the two completely different views he and Romney have about how to create jobs and grow the economy.

Click HERE for read the entire speech or watch the video.

MANY more photos with excerpts from his speech after the jump.

This is part 2 of my photoblog on Netroots Nation. Click HERE to see part one.

Feel free to use the photos below for non-commercial uses. The only requirement is that you leave my watermark on them and that you send me a note letting us know where you posted them. You can use the contact link at the top of the page.

Lots of photos after the jump.