Strong 8-Yr Drop in American Opposition to Gay Marriage

Writing about the results of Gallup’s new poll yesterday, with 50% of all Americans supporting gay marriage, we had no idea that President Obama would make today’s announcement, as the first American president to endorse gay marriage.

Pew Research shared this view of American attitudes on gay marriage in late April, with a smaller group of Americans opposed (43%) than yesterday’s Gallup results (48%).

The decision by President Obama to make today’s announcement does come with political risk, especially in swing states like Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina — which last night voted for a state constitutional amendment against gay marriage and also legal rights and benefits for cohabiting couples.

Age, Gender & Religious Gaps on Gay Marriage Attitudes

There is a gender gap in the Pew Research results, with women consistently being more receptive to gay marriage. Similarly, the age gap is very visible with only 30% of 19-29 year olds opposed to gay marriage, versus 56% over 65.

The decline in opposition to gay marriage is intense, even among the oldest of Americans. In 2004 74% of Americans 65 and older were opposed, compared to 56% just eight years later.

Also worth noting are Catholic attitudes about gay marriage, with only 42% opposed.

In New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called Obama’s decision “deeply saddening.”

“I pray for the President every day, and will continue to pray that he and his administration act justly to uphold and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Dolan said in a statement.

Given the verbal assault on President Obama by Catholic bishops over the contraception mandate compromise, Cardinal Dolan’s remarks are amazingly circumspect. Those of us who follow Catholic Church politics daily know that Catholic bishops may be overplaying their hand the last few months.

Before activists like me start protesting outside Catholic Churches in the coming months, Catholics are leading the way. Read Marian Ronan’s Religious Dispatches Only 5 Million “Real” Catholics in the US?; and also Methodists Vote to Keep Homosexuality ‘Incompatible” at Religion Dispatches.

Track all our AOC front page news about Catholic bishops.

'Miss Representation' by Jennifer Siebel Newsom Looks at Media & Women

Like drawing back a curtain to let bright light stream in, Miss Representation (90 min; TV-14 DL) uncovers a glaring reality we live with every day but fail to see. Written and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the film exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The film challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself.

In a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message that our young women and men overwhelmingly receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty, and sexuality, and not in her capacity as a leader. While women have made great strides in leadership over the past few decades, the United States is still 90th in the world for women in national legislatures, women hold only 3% of clout positions in mainstream media, and 65% of women and girls have disordered eating behaviors.

Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics, like Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem build momentum as Miss Representation accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave the audience shaken and armed with a new perspective.

Check here for a screening of ‘Miss Representation’

'I Love You Rachel Maddow' by Marc Black

Musician Marc Black writes an enlightened guy, fan tribute to Rachel Maddow, shot in Woodstock, New York.

In the first quarter of 2012, FOX News continued to domimate cable TV, although viewers are down 17%, writes Huff Po. The Rachel Maddow Show does continue to lead the MSNBC linup with 1.037 million total viewers. In position #12, she’s the first non-Fox show in the Top 30.

PA Aryanna Strader (D) vs Rep Joe Pitts (R) | Big Pharma & Health Care Against Women's Rights

 

UniteWomen.org Calls Out PA (R) Congressman Joseph Pitts, Sponsor of HR 358 ‘Let Women Die’ Bill AOC FP View

HR 358, Protect Life Act

Joseph Pitts (R) PA

Open Congress Summary: Amends the new health care law so that no federal money could be applied to health insurance plans that cover elective abortions, even if the abortion coverage is paid for entirely with private funds. It also states that a federal agency can not force a health care provider that accepts Medicare or Medicaid to provide abortion services, even in cases when the mother’s life is endangered.

The above need to know about PA (R) Congressman Joseph Pitts is a public service announcement by UniteWomen.org.

Coming off the UniteWomen.org march in Harrisburg last Saturday, I realize that we ALL must engage politically in the coming months. To that end, I have pledged my personal support to Democratic candidate Aryanna Strader against Republican incumbent and NO friend to American women Joe Pitts.

Aryanna Strader campaign website

Contribute to Aryanna Strader’s campaign here. I will be opening a personal donor page shortly, but please support Aryanna Strader’s candidacy, whatever state you live in.

PA 16th Congressional Candidate Aryanna Strader addresses the crowd at Unite Against the War on Women rally in Harrisburg, PA April 28. Photography credit: Robert Rothschild

While I prepare a major statement on Aryanna Strader, who spoke at our Harrisburg rally last week, let me explain why your support from all over America — and the world — can help Aryanna Strader help women.

Strader & Pitts 40/51 in Voter Base

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M&S | Anne Sinclair @ Huff Po France | Macy's Sues Martha Stewart | Rosalind Brewer @ Sam's Club

Movers and Shakers

Evelyn Lauder Memorial

More than 2,000 family, friends and civic leaders honored Evelyn H. Lauder at a Monday morning memorial at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. Members of the Lauder family, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Barbara Walters, Elizabeth Hurley and Dr. Larry Norton shared memories of Evelyn Lauder’s life during the service.

Husband Leonard Lauder noted that he has received more than 2,700 letters of condolences since his wife’s death on Nov. 12. “I cherish and embrace each of them,” he said. “Evelyn wasn’t a head of state, but reading those letters, it made me feel that she was.” writes WWD

Evelyn Lauder was born Evelyn Hausner in Vienna during World War II and emigrated with her parents to New York City to escape the Nazis, noted Bloomberg. “No one showed this city more passion than Evelyn,” he said. “It is fitting that we are at Lincoln Center, one of the city’s most cultural landmarks, to celebrate Evelyn Lauder, one of the city’s great cultural icons. Because if anyone’s life is worthy of celebration on a great stage like this, it is Evelyn’s. She taught for years in an elementary school in Harlem. She gave back to her family and helped build a business with just five products into the powerhouse it is today. She was a fiercely devoted mother and adoring grandmother and a Jewish grandmother to countless honorary Lauders. She had a warmness, a kindness, a generousness that put everyone at ease, whether you were a supermodel or an average Joe. She also knew life had the bitter and the sweet, and the challenge was to find the right balance.

Anne Sinclair @ Huff Po France

Anne Sinclair, right, and Arianna Huffington at a news conference on Monday in Paris. Thibault Camus/Associated PressAnne Sinclair returned to public life yesterday, speaking to more than 250 journalists in her new role as editorial director for the French edition of The Huffington Post website, which debuted yesterday.

The former TV anchor and heiress to an art fortune said there would be no conflict of interest in carrying out her editorial duties as scandal continues to surround her husband Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Arianna Huffington, sitting by Ms. Sinclair’s side, defended her as a gifted journalist and a role model for other women.

Asked why she had picked Ms. Sinclair, Ms. Huffington reeled off a list of her qualifications, and then added: “Every woman in her private life — if not in her public life — has been through setbacks, ordeals and problems. When we see a woman enter the arena again, and get engaged with what is happening in the world, it gives hope and courage to every other woman.” via NYTimes

Macy’s Inc and JC Penney Duel Over Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart by Steve EichnerIn an opening salvo from former Apple executive Ron Johnson, now committed to reinventing JC Penney, the company bought a stake in Omnimedia last month, with plans to sell a wide range of Martha Stewart-branded products, starting in 2013. Yesterday Macy’s sued Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. for breach of contract.

“We can confirm that today, Macy’s notified us of its intention to renew and extend its commercial agreement with MSLO to feature and promote the Martha Stewart Collection — its number-one home brand — in Macy’s stores,” said a Martha Stewart spokeswoman. “J.C. Penney’s investment in Martha Stewart has closed and our commercial agreement with them remains in effect.”

Gabrielle Gifford Gives Up Seat

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords leads the Pledge of Allegiance in Tucson. AP photoRep. Gabrielle Giffords will resign from her Congress to focus on recovery from her gunshot wounds.

Giffords was shot in the head in January 2011 as she was meeting with constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz. Six people died in the shooting, with Giffords and 12 others being injured. Giffords has made amazing progress, to the point that she was able to walk into the House chamber last August to cast a vote.

She will attend President Obama’s State of the Union message tonight in Washington.

Rosalind Brewer @ Sam’s Club

Rosalind Brewer by Bryan Bedder/GettyWalmart has named Rosalind Brewer president and CEO of its Sam’s Club unit. Brewer is the first woman and first African-American to run one of Walmart’s three operating divisions. Brewer’s previous assignment was president of the Walmart east business unity, where she was responsible for $100 billion in revenue and 500,000 associates.

Also announced, Gisel Ruiz becomes executive vice president and chief operating officer of Walmart US. Ruiz was previously executive vice president of people for Walmart US and will oversee operations in more than 3,800 U.S. stores across all formats.

Bonnie Brooks @ L&T

Bonnie Brooks By Steve EichnerCanadian retailer Hudson’s Bay Co. has named Bonnie Brooks to president of the $4 billion company. She will oversee the merchandise, marketing and store operations of Lord & Taylor and The Bay

Brooks was previously president of the Lane Crawford Joyce Group based in Hong Kong, where she supervised four divisions in nine Asian countries — the Lane Crawford department stores, Joyce Boutiques, Pedder Specialty Group and the LCJG Distribution Co. Before Lane Crawford, Brooks was Holt Renfrew’s executive vice president and general merchandise manager and, earlier, served as editor in chief of Flare, Canada’s largest fashion and lifestyle magazine. via WWD

OMG | Santorum Question for Bob Marshall | Lawmaker Kip Smith Fails Post-Breakfast Alchohol Test

More Ultimate Hypocrisy!

Morning Libations

State Rep. Kip Smith charged with DUI in Buckhead Atlanta Journal Constitution

Georgia State Rep. Kip Smith (R) wants all welfare recipients to be subjected to drug testing, even though the same law in Florida is regarded as a farce, based on test results and costs to the taxpayers.

Smith, who likes racy cars, drove his 1998 gold four-door Jaguar XJ8 (Anne’s favorite) through a red light last Friday morning, leaving Hal’s restaurant on Old Ivy Road, with a police car trailing him. Smelling alcohol on Smith’s morning breakfast breath after pulling him over, the officer reports that John Andrew Smith initially denied that he had been drinking.

“I asked him again, and he stated he had consumed a single beer at Hal’s. I noticed also that Mr. Smith’s eyes were watery, and I asked him to exit the vehicle, which he did,” Kramer said in the report.

Smith told the officer he’d had the beer 45 minutes earlier, and the officer asked him to blow into a hand-held “intoximeter”. The officer said the lawmaker refused, stating he would prefer to go to a clinic or the hospital to get tested.

After finally agreeing to blow into the ‘intoximeter’, the police report stated that the breakfast-lovin’ legislator blew a .091, which is above the legal Georgia limit of .08. Smith allegedly failed a “walk-and-turn” test and a “one-leg stand” test also. At this point the unhappy Hal’s breakfast customer was arrested.

No Place for a Woman

Nine reasons Michele Bachmann’s campaign fizzled Des Moines Register

Bachmann looks at hanging beef carcasses during a plant tour at Amend Packing Co. in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)AOC has written plenty about Michele Bachmann’s relationship with God. In fact all the Republican candidates are riding a golden chariot on behalf of God over America’s current belief in separation of church and state. Most of us thought it was part of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, but the Republicans say “no”.  Unquestionably, the Republicans seek a Christian theocracy for America.

In analyzing why Bachmann’s campaign bit the dust with a nine-point list, chief politics writer Jennifer Jacobs writes:

#5. Sexism among some conservatives

Rival presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s Iowa coalitions director, Jamie Johnson, sent out an email saying that children’s lives would be harmed if the nation had a female president. He wrote it in June, but it surfaced on the campaign trail in the fall.

“The question then comes, ‘Is it God’s highest desire, that is, his biblically expressed will, … to have a woman rule the institutions of the family, the church, and the state?’ ” Johnson’s email said.

Johnson said the email was meant to be a private message to a friend, that he sent it from his personal email account, not his campaign account, and that he hadn’t intended it to be read by anyone else.

Peter Waldron, Bachmann’s faith outreach coordinator, said:

Three influential pastors called for her to bow out of the race, and numerous others said “that a female could not be a civil magistrate,” said Waldron, who lives in Florida and has worked six presidential campaigns dating to Ronald Reagan’s in 1980.

God’s Punishment for Abortion

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