What We're Reading - Why Edition

Written by: Linsey P on Feb 24, 2012 2:58 PM EST

This week’s What We’re Reading: Why edition is a conglomeration of questions that the public ask of our elected officials; Are women property? Where does education belong?  Why is Gitmo still open?  Why do corporations pick on small business owners? These articles answer all of the above questions and show how important it is to pay close attention to what is happening across the country. 

Kaili Lambe, Campaign Manager
Pick of the Week:

“This post is by my godparents, Gay and Katy Hendricks and connects a lot of what I learned in Women’s Studies 101 with the current Republican War on Women.”

Women: Person or Property?
By Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks

“If you ask a woman whether she would like to be treated as a person or as property, she would probably say "Person." If you ask a woman whether her uterus belongs to her or to the Republican Party, she will probably say "I own it." However, millions of women vote Republican in every big election, attempting to elect a party who wants to own their uteruses. In right-wing Virginia, the legislature and governor are conspiring to pass a law that will literally cause an unnecessary probe to be inserted into women's vaginas. If Republicans, who are so vocal about opposing big government, don't see the irony in causing government to snoop around in women's uteruses, they were apparently born without the irony gene.”

Julielyn Gibbons,  Training Director
Pick of the Week:

“If there ever was a time for campaign finance reform, this is it.”

One-Forth of All Super PAC Donations Last Month Came From Just Five People
By Dashiell Bennett

“The limit on individual contributions can go directly to a candidate is S$2,500, but when giving to a super PAC the sky is the limit.  And a handful of wealthy individuals have already crossed the $1 million threshold in giving.” 

Monique Teal, Campaign Academy Organizer 
Pick of the Week:

“It's frustrating that we continue to fund the effects of floundering social programs and inadequate community support instead of redirecting that money to programs that we know will lessen prison populations such as education and mental health programs. We can do better.”

Obama Budget: Grow Prisons and Keep Gitmo
By James Ridgeway and Jean Casella

“ According to the Sentencing Project, only 1 in 10 federal prisoners is locked up for a violent offense of any kind. More than half are drug offenders—hardly surprising, since federal prosecutions for drug offenses more than doubled between 1984 and 2005. The 1980s also produced mandatory minimum sentences, which meant we were not only sending more people to prison, we were keeping them there far longer—a perfect formula for an exploding prison population.”

Ruby Reid, Online Training Organizer
Pick of the Week:

“I have a personal interest in this current bill but I think the overall issue remains the same - while insurance companies continue to take our money their coverage gets worse.  There’s a bill in the California legislature that can change that but right now in California outpatient chemo is considered part of the prescription allowance, which is usually pretty limited.  For example, Kenya’s plan covers up to $10,000 in prescriptions, but his at-home chemo costs $3,000 per month.  You use up your $10,000 pretty fast at that rate.”

High-Deductible Health Insurance Pinches Workers From Both Sides
By Jeffery Young

High-deductible health insurance is becoming more common, according to survey data reported by the Employee Benefit Research Institute last December. In 2011, 27.7 million working-age people were enrolled in a health plan with a deductible of at least $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for families. The proportion of insured Americans who have this type of coverage has more than doubled since 2005, the report says.

Linsey Pecikonis, Deputy Communications Director 
Pick of the Week: 

“I watched the Republican debate on Wednesday night and of all the ridiculousness that was spewed by the four candidates I became outraged when Rick Santorum claimed the federal government ‘should get out of the education business.’  I’m a big proponent of a better education system and removing the federal government is not the way to get there.”

Santorum flunks the history of home-schooling
By Andy Horowitz

“If Rick Santorum had been a better history student, he would know that presidents spent the first two centuries of American history working to support the education system he now wishes they disliked. Take Thomas Jefferson, founder of the University of Virginia and patron saint of today’s small government conservatives: He consistently expounded the virtues of public education. In his 1779 Virginia “Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge,” Jefferson argued that without public schools, only the rich would be educated, leaving poor but potentially productive citizens unable to participate effectively in the democracy. “It is better that such should be sought for,” Jefferson wrote, “and educated at the common expense of all.”

Gabe Koss, Programmer
Pick of the Week: 

“A tale ongoing tale of David vs. Goliath happening right in our own backyard.”

A defiant dude: Chick-fil-A and their attack on “Eat More Kale.”
By James Lantz and Bo Muller-Moore

“I might night win -- the odds are stacked against me.  All over the country ‘trademark bullies,’ large corporations that bully small businesses over alleged claims of trademark infringement  are legally harassing small businesses and wearing them down with repeated lawsuits and appeals...This is more than just plain wrong, it’s un-American.”

Laura Caccioppoli, Political Department Intern
Pick of the Week: 

“This article highlights some concerns I have over the current administrations acceptance of drilling it seems that President Obama’s energy policy consists of ‘step one: drill, step two: drill and step three: drill some more,’ is just digging us into a larger environmental hole.”

In Nod to Rising Gas Prices, Obama Talks About Energy
By Mark Landler

“Mr. Obama’s remarks, tinged with humor and sarcasm, were bluntly political, on a trip that included fund-raising events in Miami and Orlando.  But his message was sober: neither he nor anyone else can do much about oil prices, which he said were likely to keep rising.”

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