Over at Treehugger, there was a short listing of hollywoods sexiest vegetarians.  It was not the vegetarian aspect that made my day, or the the sexy part, but the link to Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey’s latest press release regarding the Green Our Vaccine march this coming Wednesday on June 4th in Washingtong D.C.  What is their goal? 

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*cue Twilight Zone theme *

Did you know that just 6 media conglomerates control most of the media in the US?

This may seem unimportant to you and your family and I assure you there are some folks that are banking on that and expecting you will be passive, but don’t be fooled; it’s important to the freedom of all Americans.

Have you ever wondered why some news stories, even really important ones, are buried in the back of the newspaper or only mentioned in your alternative weekly? Ever wonder why the media makes almost no mention of certain alarming or newsworthy topics and other topics (Britney Spears’ escapades, Anna Nicole Smith’s death) get non-stop coverage?

In a free country, media concentration hinders vigorous public debate and limits the news, viewpoints and perspectives presented to citizens — often to their detriment.

The problem just got worse when Bush’s FCC basically gutted a rule that limited the number of both newspaper and television stations giant media conglomerates are able to buy up in the same city.

Right now a few major corporations with with ties to many special interests are controlling the news and influencing your world view.

And independent or dissenting voices are being silenced.

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What do you get when you take two TV personalities/journalists with little chemistry, one popular blogger and ask them to discuss moms who blog? In the case of Heather Armstrong’s interview on the Today Show’s fourth hour, what you get is not a discussion at all, but a look into what is wrong with mainstream media. Read the rest of this entry »

Summary: Lack of preventive health care, lack of access to health care, lifestyle, poverty and pollution combine into a perfect storm that has women’s life expectancy dropping.

Elizabeth Edwards, in her recent NY Times article, coined the term “strobe-light journalism.” She defines this as media attention, “…in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture.”

“Did you, for example, ever know a single fact about Joe Biden’s health care plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know Barack Obama’s bowling score.” Edwards asked in her article.

It’s true.

And yet, health care plans are and should be, one of the most important topics.

Recently, I began paying more attention to health and health care. I’m not alone; others have been as well. If you connect the dots between various and plentiful news stories, you can create something meaningful. In this case, you can see a major health care crisis pattern emerge, and not just the “lack of access to care” one you might immediately think of.

Do you want to know about this health crisis? Keep reading…

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Mothers Acting Up co-founder and communications director Juliana Forbes is on Central Ohio Public Radio THIS MORNING,

Friday April 18, 11AM-noon EST/ 9-10 AM MT, with host Fred Andrle on Open Line.

Tune in online as above or below!!

You can even call in to make a comment or ask a question!

Call Open Line at 614-292-8513 or write to Open Line at openline@wosu.org

The topic to be discussed: We’ll hear how mothers can advocate for the future of children worldwide, with Mothers Acting Up Communications Director Juliana Forbes.

Open Line is a live, public affairs talk show, with listener phone calls, on WOSU public radio.  

Open Line is streamed live and archived for two weeks at www.wosu.org/radio/radio-open-line

Has anyone seen the Nationwide Insurance ‘Bank Brat’ commercial?

If not, click on that link and tell me what you think. If so, skip the link if you’d like, and leave a comment.

Does it not seem a subtle cut against working mothers? Or am I just reading too much into it?

I posted about it at my blog. I was (and am) not thrilled with it.

I just wanted to make everyone aware (if you aren’t already) of The Business of Being Born

The trailer itself is amazing. That link will take you to the site of The Business of Being Born and you’ll be able to view the trailer immediately. The documentary is actually playing at The Green Mountain Film Festival here in Vermont, an influential venue showcasing independent films.

The state of maternity care in the U.S. is appalling; there’s no question in that. Just read something like Jennifer Block’s Pushed.  What gets me in that trailer is when the nurses are asked if they have ever seen a natural birth and they all answer ‘no’, basically. Scary. When  did giving birth become medical, something that needed to be fixed?

You can get it at Netflix

I’ll be getting it at Netflix.

Critics of women bloggers, and mommy bloggers in particular, want the rest of the world to believe we don’t want to talk about anything more complicated than potty training, soccer schedules and another new way to make hamburger for dinner.

It turns out that we are the ones brave enough to take on the political question many are afraid to talk about this political season:

Is this country really ready to elect a woman or a black man to be President?

We all like to think that in the 21st century we’re so much more enlightened and that we’ve moved past old prejudices and ways of thinking. Even I was hoping that we had.

But what evidence do we have that we’re ready? I don’t see a lot of examples in the real world.

We live in a country where less than 20 percent of law firm partners are women.

The numbers are close to that for women executives in accounting firms.

Women CEO’s? At least in Fortune 500 companies, you can count them on your fingers and toes.

So if our business and professional service firms across the country are still basically run by men, what makes us think that we as a nation are willing to see anything but that in the Oval Office?

Plus, if some random rudeness I’ve recently encountered from men in line at Starbucks or at traffic intersections is any evidence, there are a lot of guys out there who just don’t think they have to be considerate of a woman in any position, even if it’s just being ahead in line for a latte.

As for race, I don’t see a lot of diversity in large law firms and corporations. When pictures are included in articles, there’s still a sea of white men’s faces and very little color.

As I ponder questions about why one person gets treated differently in the media than another, it’s hard not to acknowledge that our biases, no matter how ugly, are there. And we have to factor them in when considering what can realistically happen in the presidential race this November.

We’re not as blind as Lady Justice — heck, we know that even she takes off that blindfold sometimes. So we may as well acknowledge those elephants in the room and talk about them like grown-ups.

Who knows, we might even start a trend.

Joanne ponders other weighty issues like black nail polish for moms and superheroes for presidential candidates at her place, PunditMom.

I’m feeling distraught as I read more news reports about the shooting at Northern Illinois University. The sick feeling in my stomach won’t go away. Thinking about the six people who have lost their lives, on Valentine’s Day of all days, is making me cry.

Yesterday my husband and I met my parents for dinner and while we waited for our table, we watched the news that was covering this tragedy. The camera captured footage of crying students with expressions of shock, fear and grief on their faces. I couldn’t stand to look at the screen. Flashbacks of Virginia Tech began to fill my mind.

How could this happen, I thought. What possessed this man to do something so terrible? I can only hope this never happens again, but I found myself wondering, “Which school is next?”

It keeps hitting closer to home. The Virginia Tech tragedy seemed so far away. It was shocking and devastating, but I couldn’t comprehend anything like that happening near me. And while Illinois is still 200 miles away, it felt like my heart had been broken.

I live in a college town. I can’t bear to think that someone could walk into the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and open fire in a lecture hall. But it could happen. How do we prevent these vicious acts?

How do we stop crazy people from taking the lives of others?

As a mother, my instinct is to protect my child from anything that can harm him. But when he grows up and goes to college, I can’t be there to shelter him from the maniacs of this world. It breaks my heart. It scares me so much that I want to lock my son up until he’s old enough to protect himself, but even that seems naive and crazy.

What do we do? As parents, as citizens of this country, how can we stop these terrible shootings?

Is it the fault of our government? Poor legislation? Do we blame the parents of these murderers for not raising them right?

I know I’m looking for answers that I may never find; it’s like looking for the needle in the haystack.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. I don’t even know what else to say. I just can’t believe this is happening again.

This YouTube video is just a portion of this awesome film. It’s actually Chapter 5. But believe me, chapters 1-4 are also totally worth watching and if you go here, you can watch the whole thing from start to finish.

It’s about twenty minutes but it will be some of the most illuminating, eye-opening minutes you’ve ever spent watching any indie documentary. Show it to your kids and send the link to friends and family. Everyone in America should watch this film.