Start A Female Revolution

Written By: Kim - Mar• 04•12

Women in the US are mad as hell, but what are we doing about it?

  • This week, Rush Limbaugh’s slur about a female Georgetown University law student, Sandra Fluke, calling her a slut and a prostitute, resulted in women everywhere revolting. He has since then apologized.
  • Last month, the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s denial of funds to Planned Parenthood resulted in such an outcry that it took less than a week for the organization to reverse its decision.
  • Last week, the Commonwealth of Virginia legislature recently passed a watered-down version of a law requiring women seeking abortions to get an ultrasound, even in cases of incest and rape.
  • A recent Washington Post editorial from February 24 discusses how the Catholic Church, the staunchest supporters of no birth control, almost voted in favor of allowing it in the late 1960s.

I don’t care which political party you belong to. Nor, do I care what your stance is on abortion and birth control. I do care that women are still not represented in places of power. This is not a world I want to leave to my daughter.

My daughter, the swim goddess.

The 2010 Census shows that half of the USA’s population are women. We’ve had the right to vote since the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution was approved in 1920 — almost 100 years ago. Yet, according to the WCF Foundation, women only hold 17% of the seats in Congress. Only 22% of state elected executive offices have a woman at the helm. Only 6 out of 50 states have a female governor. These numbers do not represent 50%. Hell, they don’t even represent 25% of our country’s population.

If we do not like what legislatures, organizations and churches are doing that impact us, what are we doing about it? If we want a seat at the table, we have to push for it. The men aren’t going to simply hand it over. Why are women reactive instead of proactive? When did we give up on allowing our male-dominated culture, legislation, business, and yes, even our churches, determine what is best for us? Is this what you want your daughter or granddaughters to live with? I don’t.

All of the women I know have the skill set to hold public office. They work inside and outside the home and are incredibly professional. They volunteer in their children’s schools. They are well informed about issues affecting their families. The juggle multiple commitments and rely on their network when necessary. And, they do all of this within a budget. Yet, no one I personally know except one woman, has stepped up to run for public office at a local level. Local political office is a stepping stone to state and national office. In all of these places, women can affect change.

As I watch the slate for Republican presidential candidates continue to try to earn a top spot for nominee, they all have something in common. You’re smart. What do you see? Three white men. I’ve got nothing against white men. Five men in my life happen to be white and I love them. There have been white men, but only one African American man, in my life who have helped me professionally. What has been lacking is a more diverse pallet. How can we manage better diversity when those in charge aren’t diverse?

There’s no diversity in our pool of power. When President Obama was running the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, there was only one female candidate: Hillary Clinton. So, I ask again: Why are we not involved more in politics? Why are we letting men determine what is best of us? How can we make our voice heard more?

To quote a favorite bummer sticker of mine: stop bitching and start a revolution. We have the skills. We have the rights. Let’s do something about it.

Why Congress Should Bailout the USPS

Written By: Kim - Sep• 05•11

I have been watching the perils of the United States Post Office in the news. Its financial situation, is, at best, crap. They may default on a $5.5 million trust fund payment for retirement funds unless the United States Congress steps in. I am not sure which is worse: The fact that this organization that has been around since 1775 is about to go under or the fact that it is asking Congress for help.

If the USPS goes under, it would be awful for all of its 574,000 employees. It would hugely inconvenience postal customers. What will “mail call” look like to our military personnel? No more care packages. No more scented letters from home. No more updated pictures to tuck in to a helmet or vest pocket. No more Girl Scout cookies sent every spring as a small reminder of home.

©Ken Kiser courtesy of StockXchng

Who is going to deliver our mail? Yes, many of us bank online and no longer receive bills in the mail. But not every business operation or consumer is set up to deliver or receive information electronically. My Dad is one such customer who does not own a computer. Yeah, he’s old school, but that’s for another blog post.

UPS and FedEx are the only other options out there who might be able to step in and fill the void. But would they want to? I would not touch the USPS’s problems with the proverbial 10 foot pole. Well, actually I could, but I wouldn’t make any friends along the way: think Michelle Rhee and DC public schools.

As a magazine publisher, I am extremely concerned.

  1. Who is going to deliver my association’s magazine, ACC Docket? Sure, we have a digital edition we’ve published since October 2007 that all of our members and subscribers receive. We also launched a mobile app in October 2010. But when surveyed, the majority of our members still want the print version.
  2. Are our advertisers ready, willing and technically adept to make the switch to providing digital advertising? How will the possible failure of the USPS impact our advertising revenue? One reason print editions still exist is that the advertising industry is not ready to completely give up print. Ad revenue is still heavily tied to print editions. Is this changing? Sure. But not nearly as fast as digital and mobile gurus would have you believe.
  3. USPS’s failure puts printers out of business. Magazine delivery can still happen in digital and mobile formats. But no longer printing our magazine affects our printer: hours or jobs would be cut. Is it because we are its biggest customer? No. It’s because everyone who publishes a magazine or journal will no longer have a distribution channel if the USPS goes under. We will all be forced to go digital and mobile simply to deliver content to our members and readers.

I am not sure the print industry would survive if this happened. This means around 594,000 men and women in the printing industry could be out of work. This number doesn’t even include folks in the paper industry, binding work, and other industries that work closely with printers. We could potentially see 1 million Americans out of work. This is not a stat I would want if I held political office.

Am I proposing that Congress gives the USPS carte blanche bailout money? Hell no. Anyone who’s ever been to an onsite post office or applied for a US passport knows that the USPS needs major TQM PDQ (Total Quality Management pretty darn quick). And then there’s the whole union issue which needs to be pruned. As in cut away forever. But if the USPS fails, and it likely could, it’s impact is widespread.

The US economy can ill afford this kind of set back now. Just as the 2008 big three car company crisis severely affected our economy, so would the failure of the USPS. We did not let the big three fail, nor should we let the USPS.