Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 10:34AM For a donation of $5 or more, POWER will send a card to a mother(s) of your choice. Stop by our office and fill one out OR use the donate button and add the address and message you would like us to write on the card.
Art this year is by the talented Sylvie Sovina. You can see more of her paintings at warmasyellow.com.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 12:34PM POWER needs YOU!!!
Mama Care Fair is just around the corner – Monday, May 6th. POWER is seeking single individuals willing and able to give mamas a break for the evening to enjoy a hot meal, relaxation, and tlc. In addition, we are seeking in-kind donations and services for the busy mamas to feel special. Please call Patricia at 360-352-9716 if you are available to volunteer, shell out a few bucks for a gift certificate, cook, clean-up or provide a service to these lovely mamas or email at advocate@mamapower.org.
We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for all that you do!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 12:31PM 
Well there is a kind of a gold standard on human rights. It’s the Universal Declaration in 1948. Its important for American’s to understand the status of that declaration. It was not a Western imposition. It was arrived at by consensus over a very broad range, including input from elsewhere. In fact, much of the initiative came from elsewhere. Some from here, Eleanor Roosevelt in particular. But it was agreed upon and affirmed by congress. It has the highest legal status you can say.
It’s got three parts, all of equal status. The first part is political and civil rights, so the right to vote and so on. The second part is social and economic rights, and that includes the right to housing, the right to healthcare, the right to education. All fundamental rights, and by world standards are easily as significant as voting rights. Maybe more so. The third section is cultural rights. The right to preserve your culture, to protect it and so on.
Well the U.S. attitude from the beginning has been to dismiss the third component, not even talk about it. It’s never discussed. And to reject the second component. So U.S. officials have disparaged and dismissed the social and economic provisions. That’s true especially under the Reagan and Bush One administrations.
Jeane Kirkpatrick, the U.N. Ambassador under Reagan(1), just dismissed the socio-economic provisions with ridicule. It’s a letter from Santa Clause. That’s exactly the same as throwing out the civil and political rights and saying their nothing, just a lot of words.
Paula Dobriansky(2) in the first Bush administration, she described social and economic rights as ‘a myth.’ That there are no such rights. The only rights are civil and political rights, and it’s just a myth to think that these are rights.
Morris Abram, who was the delegate to the international U.N. human rights group(3), they were debating something called the ‘right to development,’ which basically paraphrased the Universal Declaration. He voted against it; I think the U.S. was the only country to vote against it, with, again, very disparaging remarks. Saying it’s preposterous. Incitement. You can’t talk about social and economic rights. They don’t exist.
So the U.S. has been one of the strongest opponents of social and economic rights, which is a core part, one-third, of the Universal Declaration. Actually the U.S. is opposed to two-thirds since it doesn’t discuss the cultural rights. We should know that our country is in the lead in undermining human rights. That’s important, especially given the standard rhetoric from political leaders, intellectuals, media, and so on about how we defend human rights all over the world. We don’t defend them at all in principle. We defend them against enemies. So we are all in favor of human rights in Easter Europe or Iran, and say that’s fine. But not in our domain. Not here.
Foreclosure is one case in point. The right to housing is a core part of the Universal Declaration. Its particularly obscene her, because in the foreclosure case these people were cheated. They were cheated by the big banks, who created the crisis on the verge of criminality, some of them actually criminal. They created the crisis; induced people to undertake obligations they couldn’t possibly fulfill, and are now throwing them out in the streets, even though congress legislated there should be assistance to the victims.
Notes:
1. Jean Kirkpatrick was nominated by Reagan as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
2. Paula Dobriansky has worked as a foreign policy expert in the administrations of five presidents in total, with her position ranging. Her statements were made when acting as Secretary of State for Human Rights and Human Affairs, which she did for both Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
3. The official title for Morris Abram that is being referenced is Representative of the United States to the European Office of the United Nations, which he was appointed to be George H. W. Bush. He served from 1989-1993.
4. The date of this interview was 10/26/12.
This interview was a part of the larger documentary Expect Resistance, which chronicles the Take Back the Land and Occupy movements in the context of Rochester, NY.
Learn more about the film here.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Expect-Resistance-A-Documentary-on-Housing-Defense-and-Liberation/131551616928675
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 2:43PM Help us make sure that HB 1457 - the Family Medical Leave Insurance (FMLI) bill - gets across the finish line in Olympia this legislative session!
Click here to send a note to your state legislators urging them to act quickly to support HB 1457 - the FMLI bill - and move it to the House floor for a vote!
http://action.momsrising.org/go/2715?t=5&akid=3947.2021117.Z_jXNZ
Together we’ve made some great progress on HB 1457 - the FMLI bill - this session. We’ve had several MomsRising members testify about the need for FMLI, we delivered stuffed storks and story books about FMLI to legislators and we’ve sent hundreds of emails in support of this common sense, family-friendly policy. Thanks to all of your work, we got the bill passed out of the House Labor and Workforce Development Committee.
Now we’ve got to get across the next hurdle – out of committees and headed to the House floor for a vote – by the end of the week!
Urge your legislators to act quickly to support FMLI and schedule it for a full House vote!
http://action.momsrising.org/go/2715?t=7&akid=3947.2021117.Z_jXNZ
Why is FMLI so important?
Paid family leave gives kids a healthier start. It gives families the economic security they need to stay out of poverty at a critical time. It can even benefit businesses’ bottom line. This saves everyone--from parents to taxpayers to businesses--money in the long-run.
That's right. Studies show that paid family leave after the birth of a child combats poverty, gives children a healthy start, lowers infant mortality by more than 20% [2] and helps lower the wage gap between women and men. [3]
Yet, in the United States, only 49% of mothers are able to cobble together paid leave following childbirth by using sick days, vacation days, disability leave, and maternity leave. And 51% of new mothers lack any paid leave -- so some take unpaid leave, some quit, some even lose their jobs just when they need them most. [4] No wonder having a baby is a leading cause of "poverty spells" in our nation!
In addition, a number of studies have shown that maternity leave has a positive impact on how long women breastfeed and thus on the long-term health of the child and mother. This is important because major medical authorities recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed for their first six months because of significant health benefits for both mother and child. Despite the government's Healthy People 2010 breastfeeding goals, only 13.6% of U.S. infants are exclusively breastfeeding and only 43% are breastfeeding at all at six months of age. [5] Recently the U.S. Surgeon General called paid family leave policies important for families and babies’ health – linking the ability of new moms to take paid leave to increased rates of breastfeeding. [6]
Paid family leave isn’t just good for families – it also benefits employers. A recent study of the California Paid Leave program showed that most employers found that the Paid Family Leave had a positive effect on productivity, profitability/performance, turnover and employee morale. [7] In addition, paid family leave helps level the playing field for many small businesses which wouldn't normally be able to afford leave since the majority of legislative proposals for paid family are paid for by small employee paycheck deductions and NOT by businesses. It's a win-win.
But while 177 other countries have some form of paid leave for new moms after the birth of a child, the U.S. isn't one of them, an omission that sets up our families for failure. [8]
*Send a quick note – right now – to your state legislators and urge them to bring the FMLI bill forward for a full House Vote!
http://action.momsrising.org/go/2715?t=9&akid=3947.2021117.Z_jXNZ
*And please forward this email to at least three friends in Washington State who you think might take action too.
Together we’re a more powerful voice for women and families.
-Kristin, Ruth, Sarah, and the while MomsRising team
P.S. Can you take a moment to share your experiences with family leave (or your experiences with a lack of family leave)? What did you--or your friends or family members--do when a new child arrived? http://action.momsrising.org/go/662?t=11&akid=3947.2021117.Z_jXNZ
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 2:28PM Heartsparkle Players and Olympia FOR – Celebrate International Women’s Day with “Stories of Women Making a Better World: Their Struggles, Successes and Resilience”
Each month the Heartsparkle Players invite a guest artist, community organization, arts program or social service agency to be a part of their performance. Through this collaboration they acknowledge and honor the work individuals and organizations do in our community. The Olympia FOR is delighted to collaborate with Heartsparkle Players for March. Playback Theatre is a spontaneous collaboration between performers and audience. People tell moments from their lives, then watch them re-created with movement, music and dialogue. Tonight, in addition to the regular interactive performance, the Olympia FOR also honors Ruth Lipow, Ramona Hinkle, Cindy Corrie, and Jody Mackey. 7:30 pm at Traditions Café, 300-5th Ave SW (& Water Street), in downtown Olympia). A $5-$10 donation is requested, but Heartsparkle never turns anyone away for not donating. Info: www.heartsparkle.org and Debe 943-6772 Info about Olympia FOR: Glen(360) 491-9093 info@olympiafor.org www.olympiafor.org