April 14th

Below is an update on President Obama's Executive Order on December 10, 2010.
Very exciting for women. It is time to take action. Read this! And this from The Whitehouse.gov

Women
Progress
The President signed an Executive Order establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls to provide a coordinated Federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families.

The President signed the Affordable Care Act, which gives all Americans better health security, with a particular focus on women specific needs:

•In 2014, the new law makes it illegal for insurance companies to deny any woman coverage because of a pre-existing condition or charge more because of health status or gender.
•Up to 15 million women who now are unin¬sured could gain subsidized coverage under the law and 14.5 million insured women will benefit from provisions that improve coverage or reduce premiums.
•Access to care is also expanded, including guaranteeing choice of a primary care provider within a plan’s network, including OB-GYNs and pediatricians.
The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which included a number of provisions of particular concern to women:

•To help working mothers and fathers obtain quality child care, the Act includes an additional $2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, $1 billion for Head Start, and $1.1 billion for Early Head Start.
•The Act boosts family incomes by expanding the Child Tax Credit to cover an additional 10 million children in working families and creating a new Make Work Pay tax credit.
•The Act includes unemployment insurance reforms that will particularly benefit women, such as incentives for states to cover part-time workers and those who recently reentered the workforce.
•The Act puts $225 million toward addressing violence against women in communities across the country, creating 5,000 jobs in the process.
•The Act put thousands more police officers on the street, funded mentoring programs for at-risk youth in hundreds of communities and bolstered law enforcement efforts in cases of Internet Crimes Against Children and child exploitation.
The President signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers.

•The President created the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force (pdf) to bolster enforcement of pay discrimination laws, making sure women get equal pay for an equal day's work.
•The President has called on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which will stop retaliation against employees who share or seek wage information and close a loophole that some employers use to avoid paying women equal wages.
The President cut taxes 16 times for small businesses:

The President signed the Small Business Jobs Act, which includes 8 of these new tax cuts that went into effect immediately:

•Zero Capital Gains Taxes on Key Investments in Small Businesses
•The Highest Small Business Expensing Limit Ever– Up to $500,000
•An Extension of 50% Bonus Depreciation
•A New Deduction for Health Care Expenses for the Self-Employed
•Tax Relief and Simplification for Cell Phone Deductions
•An Increase in The Deduction for Entrepreneurs’ Start-Up Expenses
•A Five-Year Carryback Of General Business Credits
•Limitations on Penalties for Errors in Tax Reporting That Disproportionately Affect Small Business
As part of the Recovery Act and subsequent legislation in 2009 and 2010, which put the following eight small business tax cuts into law:

•A New Small Business Health Care Tax Credit
•A New Tax Credit for Hiring Unemployed Workers
•Bonus Depreciation Tax Incentives to Support New Investment
•75% Exclusion of Small Business Capital Gains
•Expansion of Limits on Small Business Expensing
•Five-Year Carry back of Net Operating Losses
•Reduction of the Built-In Gains Holding Period for Small Businesses from 10 to 7 Years to Allow Small Business Greater Flexibility in Their Investments
•Temporary Small Business Estimated Tax Payment Relief to Allow Small Businesses to Keep Needed Cash on Hand
The President signed into law the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which puts in place the strongest consumer financial protections in history, including the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau led by Elizabeth Warren.

The President proposed doubling the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for middle-class families making under $85,000 a year, builds on historic increases in Head Start and child care provided in the Recovery Act, and helps states provide paid family leave to workers.

The President is delivering comprehensive primary care for women Veterans at all VA facilities by 2013, placing full-time Women Veterans Program Managers at 144 health systems and expanding outreach to women Veterans in communities across the country.

The President signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which promotes workplace flexibility and work-family balance.

Guiding Principles
Ensure Economic Security
Our society has made tremendous progress in eradicating barriers to women’s success. Women make up a growing share of our workforce, and more women are corporate executives and business owners than ever before. Today, women are serving at the highest levels of all branches of our Government.

Despite this progress, certain inequalities persist. The income for the typical American woman is still only about 78 cents for every dollar of the median income for the typical man, and women are still significantly underrepresented in the science, engineering, and technology fields.

President Obama believes that women have a right to receive equal pay for equal work.

Promote Work-family Balance
Millions of women and men face the challenge of trying to balance the demands of their jobs and the needs of their families. Too often, caring for a child or an aging parent puts a strain on a career or even leads to job loss. President Obama believes we need flexible work policies, such as paid sick leave, so that working women and men do not have to choose between their jobs and meeting the needs of their families.

Support Reproductive Choice
President Obama has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and believes in preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade. At the same time, he respects those who disagree with him. The President believes we must all come together to help reduce unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion.

Prevent Violence Against Women
Violence against women and girls remains a global epidemic. The Violence Against Women Act, originally authored by Vice President Biden, plays a key role in helping communities and law enforcement combat domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. At home and abroad, President Obama will work to promote policies that seek to eradicate violence against women.

April 13th

Born this day in 1854, Lucy Craft Laney, educator, founder of the Laney School, Civil Rights Activist. Born in Macon,Georgia to free parents. Laney was reading by the age of four and attending Atlanta University by the age of fourteen and graduated with a teachers degree by the age of eighteen. Laney taught for ten years and then 1883 opened her own school in the basement of Christ Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia. Laney vision was an all girls school, but when young boys showed up for school,she accepted them into the school. Over the next several years the student body expanded to 200, school was licenced by the state. "The Haines Normal and Industrial Institute." The school was named after Francine E.H. Haines, a lifetime benefactor of the school who donated $10,000 to establish the Institute. Because of her work in education, Laney was one of the first African Americans to have her portrait displayed in the Georgia state capital in Atlanta.

April 12th

Born this day in 1844, Mollie Evelyn Moore Davis, poet, author and editor. Mollie was born in Alabama and at age 16 the family move to Texas and it is here, Mollie began her career  of writing for the Tyler newspapers. Over the next several years Mollie's poetry gained state wide attention. First book, " Minding the Gap and Other Poems",  was published in 1869 and 1872. In 1874, marriage to Mr. Davis(who was on the staff of the New Orleans Times) included a move to New Orleans, LA. By this time, Davis was a nationally recognized poet.
Davis wrote about her experiences of learning about her new home in a group of essays, "Kerenhappuch and I," in the Picayune New Orleans Times.For which she was an editor. Davis was known for her home salons. Listed below are her other works.

In War Times at La Rose Blanche (1888); Under the Man-Fig (1895), a novel of East Texas; A Christmas Masque of Saint Roch (1896); Under Six Flags (1897), a school history of Texas; An Elephant's Track and Other Stories (1897); The Wire-Cutters (1899), a novel of West Texas; The Queen's Garden (1900); Jaconetta: Her Loves (1901); A Bunch of Roses and Other Parlor Plays (1903); The Little Chevalier (1903); The Price of Silence (1907); and The Moons of Balbanca (1908). Selected Poems (1927) was published by friends years after her death on January 1, 1909. In 1955 a Japanese firm published her Ships of Desire.

Davis also had a camellias named in her honor(yes the bloom above). so cool!

April 11th

Born this day in 1864, Lillie Plummer Bliss, patron of the Arts. She was always creative and interested in the Arts. She began to collect modern art from its very beginnings. And Bliss bought it, collected it and shared he treasure with the world. In 1929 Bliss was one of the founders of the MOMA, New York's Museum of Modern Art. She bequeathed her collection 150 modern art pieces which are the foundation of their permanent collection. (Above are some examples of the extraordinary art we can see at MOMA thanks to Lillie Plummer Bliss (Ps. she had good eye as they say...)

April 10th

Born this day in 1882, Frances Perkins, U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945. She became the first woman to enter the presidential line of succession.
Perkins was an eye witness to the Triangle Fire of 1911, as the trapped girls (yes most of the people died in the fire were little girls age 11-15) Locked in by their boss 149 girls died, many to avoid the fire clasping their hands and leaping to their death.
Perkins never forgot this tragic and senseless death, it was "seared on my heart."
Roosevelt signed in the New Deal and Perkins was of the ready; supporting the Civilian Conservation Corps, Public Works Administration and the National Industrial Recovery Act. And The Social Security Act, Perkins set up unemployment benefits, pensions for the uncovered elderly Americans, and welfare for the poorest Americans.
Perkins established laws to reduce workplace accidents and set up laws against child labor. Fair Labor Standards Act which set up the minimum wage and overtime laws for American workers and she also defined the 40 hour work week.

"Perkins formed governmental policy for working with labor unions and helped to alleviate strikes by way of the United States Conciliation Service, Perkins resisted having American women be drafted to serve the military in World War II so that they could enter the civilian workforce in greatly expanded numbers."

Perkins supported the rights of the worker and their right to unionize. A famous snapshot of Perkins strength and heart, as she marched down to the Post Office in Homestead, with thousands of steel workers training behind her. They were denied a meeting place by the mayor and the steel executives...Perkins found another location and met with the workers and informed them of their collective bargaining rights.

"And in 1934 Perkins who advised President Roosevelt to ignore the pleadings of state and local officials for federal troops to quell the 1934 San Francisco General Strike. The successful resolution of that strike as well as countless others during her tenure as labor secretary laid the foundation for the rebirth of American labor."

And of course the conservatives were not happy about Perkins actions- they were very angry. And in 1939..."House Un-American Activities Committee brought an impeachment resolution" ,which was dropped for lack of evidents.
It is very clear Frances Perkins made a powerful difference at a time when if those who were only interested in their personal gain, even at the expense of the well being and even death of their fellow Americans. Sometimes, folks need a good kick in the pants and Thank You God for Frances Perkins and could we please have her back here in 2011? The good fight is on and we all need to understand who is in the working and unemployed Americans corner.