Recently in Television Category

Never mind that it is probably the first time anyone on FOX News has acknowledged that women pay out the "wazoo" for feminine hygiene products. Too bad they didn't also note that such expenditures don't come with medical reimbursement.

And, since I can't describe this mental leap-frog any better than Jodi at RH Reality Check, I'm going to link directly to her commentary.

...In it's ongoing "fact-based" coverage (as in, "we make up the facts and we report 'em"), Fox News has managed to equate the following: tampons, taxes, the deficit and....freedom.

Now, in my many years experience with tampons, I have never seen any interest by any major network in the fact that women pay out-of-pocket for tampons, sanitary pads and other related items every month, without, mind you, any reimbursement from any health insurance plan.  We're just supposed to deal with menstruation for roughly 35 to 40 years, and in between get pregnant and birth the babies, without complaining about our periods, our pregnancies or our uncovered maternity care...

More thoughts on the impending tamponated tea parties at Feminist Peace Network and The Political Carnival. Did I mention there was video?

The TruTV Crime Library, via its "Weirdest Wills" feature, highlights the will of Iowa attorney T.M. Zink, who died in 1930 and left $35,000 in a 75-year trust for the construction of a "womanless library."

"Zink ... had such a strong disdain for women that he wished to use his savings to establish a library that would allow no works by female authors or artists, and would prohibit female patrons. In his will, Zink stipulated that his $35,000 be placed in a trust for 75 years, and the accumulated sum be used to build the Zink Womanless Library, where every entrance would bear a sign with the words 'No Women Allowed.' Zink's daughter, who was left $5 in the same will, challenged it successfully, and the female-free learning zone was never built."

Hat tip to Prof. Gerry Beyer.

Arizona Sen. John McCain evidently made a phone call to David Letterman last night apologizing for having to zip off to Washington, D.C. and handle the economic crisis. Unfortunately, that wasn't really the case.

During an interview with Keith Olbermann, Letterman goes to a live feed from the CBS News studio just down the street. McCain is sitting on the set across from Katie Couric getting his mug beat with make-up.

"Hey, John, I got a question," Letterman shouts over the audio. "You need a ride to the airport?" (This exchange starts at roughly 6:20.)

And, in case anyone has forgotten, McCain announced his bid for the presidency on Letterman's show.

I missed the television airing of "Women, Power and Politics," a program produced by PBS and reported by Maria Hinojosa, but I was able to watch the video online. So can you.

The program features not only thoughts on Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, but offers a glimpse of the U.S. Senate campaign being waged by Jeanne Shaheen. (The woman who took the stage in Unity when Clinton tossed her support behind Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee.)

"When I first ran for governor," said Shaheen, "I was referred to in the paper as Betty Crocker -- and that was meant as a compliment."

In the report, which I really can't say enough good things about, Hinojosa makes the point that at the current rate of progress it will take 100 years before men and women are equally represented in Congress. Think about that. One hundred years.

I guess I never honestly believed to see that goal met in my lifetime, but I had hoped that my daughters would see it. If our nation continues to chug along like this, my daughters will never know a Congress equally represented by men and women. Am I working this hard for my future granddaughters? More importantly, can the issues our nation faces really be solved by primarily men?

And, yes, I'm being honest with that last question. Can the crisis that we face be solved by the men who created the crisis? Do men bring an inherent understanding of health care to the offices they seek? Bottom line, don't all women, regardless of party affiliation, bring a different attitude about life, policy and government to public service?

In any event, these are some of the questions I'm left to ponder after watching the PBS report. I was always told that good journalism could be summed up by answering all of the reader's questions. I still think this is true in most cases, but there are exceptions. Subjects such as women in politics, I think, are even better when they leave the reader/watcher with more questions.

Go watch the report and let me know your thoughts. Is the United States as far as it should be? What do American women need to do in order to move past stereotypes and the thought process that leaves us believing that a woman running for office is an oddity?

One of the great things about being a journalist is meeting people in all different walks of life. Some come into your life for short bursts of time, to help you through a particular event or moment, and others become friends that you can call on repeatedly.

One of the many people I've met while covering the immigration raid and its aftermath in Postville is Jeff Abbas of the listener-supported KPVL radio station. He's quick with a laugh... and nearly compassionate to a fault. Throughout this mess, he has been a strong voice in the community. Being that strong voice, however, hasn't always been easy for him. As I've learned first hand while covering the Cedar Rapids floods, it's difficult to watch a place you love, a place that you call home be ripped apart and try to put itself back together.

Jeff was recently featured on KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids. Kudos to you, Jeff!

If any readers have been wondering what they could do to help the town of Postville in the wake of the immigration raids, giving a donation to the radio station -- the only radio station in town -- would be of benefit. Feel free to download the stream and listen in too.

Today, the campaign for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards launched its second major television ad buy in Iowa -- just 13 days following its first.

The new ad, which will run throughout the state, highlights the candidate's plan to hold Congress accountable for passing universal health care within six months of his potential presidential inauguration.

“We all want universal health care – but just having a plan is not enough,” Edwards said in a prepared statement. “We've seen plans fail before in Congress, and they will again unless we have a new approach. We have to be willing to take on the drug companies, insurance companies, and their Washington lobbyists who killed reform last time. But if you're defending the system, taking money from their lobbyists and giving them a seat at the table, reform is just not going to happen.”

On the first day of Edwards’ administration, he said he will submit legislation that ends health care coverage for the president, all members of Congress, and all senior political appointees in the legislative and executive branches of government on July 20th, 2009 -- unless Congress has enacted universal health care reform.

Edwards added that he will require Congress to pass universal health insurance that meets four principles:

1. It must be truly universal
2. Anyone who has health care must be able to keep it and pay less for it
3. Anyone who doesn’t have health care must get it, with help if they can’t afford it
4. Doctors and patients, not insurance companies and HMOs, must have control of health care decisions