Need Some Inspiration? MOMocrats Will Help You Get to the WIE Symposium in New York City!

Sep 13, 2011 by PunditMom

The deadline for the giveaway has passed and comments are now closed on this post. Congratulations to readers Sarah and Abigail, who will be attending the WIE Conference in New York this weekend.

You probably know we don't do a whole lot of giveaways here at MOMocrats, but some offers are too good to turn down.

MOMocrats have a chance to give two of our readers a full pass (a $600 value) to the Women: Inspiration & Enterprise Symposium in New York City September 18-19.  Sadly we can't get you to the Big Apple, but if you can get yourself there, leave us a comment below and we will draw two lucky winners at random who can spend a couple of days being inspired by the likes of Queen Rania of Jordan, Melinda Gates, Christy Turlington, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and many other amazing and accomplished women.

Tempted?  I'll further tempt you by telling you that some of the topics include,The Power of Social Media, Women in Media, Getting Women Off the Sidelines, and Advocacy and Making a Difference.

Thanks so much to the WIE conference for making this giveaway possible.  If I lived a little closer to New York City, you KNOW I'd be there! Think you could use a little inspiration (and maybe get a little shopping in while you're in Soho?), leave a comment below (make sure to include your E-mail address so we can contact you if you win!) by 5 p.m. E.S.T. on Thursday, September 15, 2011 and we'll see who gets to hang out with some inspiring women for a couple of days!

 

read more

Michele Bachmann and Me

Aug 1, 2011 by PunditMom

Michele Bachmann and I had lunch together. It's true! She even had these lovely Tea Party cookies!

OK, there were about 200 other people in the room, too. But we were both eating in the same place at the same time!

Bachmann was at the National Press Club and, as a member, I was lucky to snag a couple of tickets so Mr. PunditMom and I could see and hear the Tea Party powerhouse up close and personal. No, it's not our usual kind of date, but it is part of our theory on the importance of knowing what those on the other side of the political aisle are up to. So when one of them is in your 'hood, why not go?

Bachmann pretty much took the opportunity to give her standard stump speech — raising the debt ceiling is bad, President Obama is bad, Ronald Reagan was a saint, Constitution, God, Americans are scared. You've heard it before.

But it was at the National Press Club. So that means questions that aren't planted or scripted. Heh.

read more

Michele Bachmann: Taking Political Motherhood to the White House?

Jun 27, 2011 by PunditMom

If you thought Michele Bachmann was a conservative mom political superstar before the last GOP debate, then you're probably standing in line to get her autograph this week as she officially announces her 2012 presidential bid, as well as her special beauty secrets of how she still looks so young and fresh after 28 kids. I certainly don't look that put together on most days and I only have one child!

I'm no fan of Bachmann's political views or the fact that even though she's a lawyer, her understanding of the Constitution leaves a little something to be desired. But I have to hand it to her — she pretty much hit it out of the ballpark with her debate performance alongside all those GOP guys.

Bachmann was prepared, poised and made sure her answers incorporated two things that are crucial to her campaign — her Congressional experience and her motherhood. Plus, she lucked out that she didn't have any camera malfunctions or have to answer any questions about geography. I have no doubt that she's going to use the mom thing to her advantage wherever she can, because it worked pretty well for Sarah Palin when she was trying to whip GOP women into a political frenzy.

read more

Supreme Court Tells Wal-mart Women to Go Home

Jun 21, 2011 by PunditMom

The Supreme Court has told one and a half million women who work at Wal-mart, in essence, be grateful you have jobs even if you make less money and get promoted less than men. Now, shut up and go home.

That was the practical upshot of the ruling in the highly-watched case Dukes v. Wal-mart.

I used a similar phrase a short time ago when SCOTUS declined to hear the appeal of the Texas cheerleader who was dismissed from her high school squad for refusing to cheer for the student who had allegedly raped her. The denial of SCOTUS upheld the message sent by the lower courts — as a cheerleader, you're a hand-picked mouthpiece for the school's message, so you have to say what they tell you to say (even about your attacker) or get out.

Now, in the most activist judicial move I've seen in a long time, the Supreme Court dismissed the class action suit Dukes v. Wal-mart sending that same message to the women of Wal-mart by ruling that a class of 1.5 million plaintiffs was just too big for evidence of gender discrimination to be "common" to all of them — one of the basic requirements in a class action lawsuit. Few legal watchers, including this one, were surprised at that outcome. But digging deeper into the 5-4 opinion penned by Antonin "the Constitution doesn't protect women against discrimination" Scalia, you'll find that Scalia turned a procedural case into the latest substantive attack on women.

read more

MOMocrats at Netroots Nation 2011

Jun 20, 2011 by PunditMom

The MOMocrats get around! As the 2012 Presidential campaign is pretty much upon us, MOMocrats Joanne Bamberger (aka PunditMom) and Cynematic participated in a panel to let progressive candidates and activists know that they need to be paying attention to social media moms if they want to win.

Sitting at your desk while you’re eating lunch? This video of the panel is a perfect way to get caught up with the power of women online! Thanks to former Congressional candidate Krystal Ball and Anita Jackson of MomsRising for making this panel awesome!

And, we also had a chance to meet the fabulous sponsor of our MOMochats — Bubble Genius — who was an exhibitor at Netroots Nation! Can’t wait to try out the samples we came home with!

read more