newsweek

http://www.mediaite.com/online/newsweek-writers-discover-sexism-in-not-d...

by Glynnis MacNicol | 10:33 am, March 22nd, 2010

Well, kudos to Newsweek. Four months after being the subject of some heavy-handed, headline-making accusations of sexism following a questionable Sarah Palin cover to heart, the magazine has subjected itself to the inspection of three of its young female employees, who have lately come to the conclusion that actually sexism is not dead. Turns out they didn’t have to look far.

    Female bylines at major magazines are still outnumbered by seven to one; women are just 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and less than a quarter of law partners and politicians. That imbalance even applies to the Web, where the founder of a popular copywriting Web site, Men With Pens, revealed late last year that “he” was actually a she. “I assumed if I chose a male name [I'd] be viewed as somebody who runs a company, not a mom sitting at home with a child hanging off her leg,” the woman says. It worked: her business doubled once she joined the boys’ club.

I suspect if you are over the age of 30 none of this will strike you as terribly shocking. It does make me wonder however, if now that the country has adjusted to the President, passed health care, and got over the shock of the economy, whether this signifies we are ready to return the conversation that Hillary Clinton’s candidacy reignited back in the spring of 2008. Namely, wow, is sexism ever not dead.

The issue of Jan. 11, on my table yesterday, contains an excellent, yet short, analysis by Howard Fineman of the entire HC episode.

The sub-title is: "And why he may come to regret it."

.......<snip>

Perhaps not since the New Deal has a new president made such a massive bet on a single domestic initiative. I think I understand Obama's reasoning. It did not take him long (probably after the first round of CIA briefings) to realize that he was not going to be able to satisfy his liberal base on intractable, unwinnable foreign and security policy. It's easier to make history on the home front. And Obama was genuinely moved by the heart-wrenching health-care stories he heard on the campaign trail. So he sought—and may well get—things to brag about. The legislation will extend coverage to at least 30 million of the uninsured, and it will end, or at least limit, some of the insurance industry's most predatory practices.

There's lots more inside that Newsweek than meets the eye.  The publisher's welcome has lots on why Palin really is a threat to the Obama Presidency.  But I'm intrigued by Diedre Depke's article, not just on Stupak, titled,  Why Obama is losing women.

By Deidre Depke | NEWSWEEK

Hours after the House passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act, debate veered violently away from the economics and merits of the bill and toward the familiar American quagmire of abortion politics. "Outrageous," declared a Feminist Majority press release. Rachel Maddow predicted a revolt among women. "Discriminatory," said California's Barbara Boxer.

 

At issue, of course, is Stupak, the 11th-hour amendment to the health-care legislation coauthored by the previously unremarkable Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan. It would prohibit federal subsidies from being used to buy health policies that cover elective abortion. Abortion-rights supporters say the provision would lead most insurers to abandon abortion coverage in all policies.

Cross posted from Alegrescorner with the blessing of our friend Pacific John

When right wing news critics get ammunition of this quality, there's something very, very wrong.

Are Newsweek editors actually this unaware of their biases? Yes they are!

The September14th Newsweek cover is posted on the left. Notice the question that dominates it: Is Your Baby Racist? The current issue highlights Nurtureshock, a new book that argues some modern strategies for nurturing children are backfiring, because new research has uncovered data that proves them ineffective. The authors point to a 2007 study in Texas to back their view that white parents don't talk about race with their children as much as nonwhite parents do, and that they should. 

This diary isn't about the article or the book. It's about the editors' decision to make the book the focus of the issue.  It is about the choice of the cover. Why that cover at this time? Why is it a white baby? Why isn't  there a group of babies of different races on the cover with that question? 

My take goes like this.The baby is white, which means the editors are directing their question to white America. By pointedly omitting other races, they are arguing that racism is a white problem. They aren't directly saying it, because it could cost them, but it is the subliminal  message. 

Newsweek Issue of April, 6, 2009

Hillary Clinton is now the second member of the Obama administration to be shot down on talk of once again banning assault weapons.  The first was Attorney General Eric Holder.  Both of these honest officials have stated what they know in their hearts but the administration of no lobbyists, the candidate of no special interests have asked them to effectively shut up so as not to offend the NRA.

After meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Clinton said that reinstating the U.S. ban on assault weapons—which was passed in 1994 and expired in 2004—is one step this country could take to curb the flow of guns to Mexico's drug cartels. "These military-style weapons don't belong on anybody's street," Clinton told NBC. Within hours, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that he was unaware of "any plans" to push for such a ban—even though Obama had backed one during last year's campaign.

But wait.  Obama wouldn't back off a campaign promise would he?

Ahh!  Newsweak makes my week once more with this weeks cover story titled, "What would Dick do?" and inside as "Obama's Cheney Dilemma".

Click for full story

The cover is what caught my eye, cover image in new window.

It is after all my treasure trove of crap.

This week is the year end, double issue featuring the most powerful people in the world.  They call them The Global Elite http://www.newsweek.com/id/176484

First piss off is the Conventional Wisdom/Up or Down graphic column.  Hillary is UP "Odor of fractious, low-road campaign fading.  And brains, experience, work ethic could make her a great secretary of state."

GRRRRRRR that will require an entire post of it's own.

But the real piss off and the one I'd like to ask a volunteer of the woman species to blog about is titled, "Player or Pretender".

On the left with the Pretenders we have PUMAs.  On the right with the players we have Cougars.

It does seem that Newsweak gives me story material every week and this week there are at least three.

Did you know that Obama was born August 4, 1961?  Nine months after JFK was elected.

Well considering the love and swooning that surrounds our next President, Jessica Bennett theorizes that next August could see a hugemungous baby boom.

Change You Can Conceive In

Could euphoric Obama fans be sparking a baby boom?

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