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May
30
1. Excellent editorial from the Cleveland Jewish News that rebuts the stereotyping idiocy of last week’s New York Times article about Jews in S. Florida and Barack Obama’s candidacy. That gray lady is going to make her hair fallout if she doesn’t stop that kind of crap.
2. A new website for Obama supporters: Oh Boy Obama. I keep writing Oy Boy Obama by mistake when I type that.
Oh Boy Obama is the unofficial campaign think-tank. Created by Obama supporters for the purpose of giving the Obama grassroots a platform to submit and vote on ideas to better the 2008 primary and general election campaign of Barack Obama. All supporters are welcome to contribute.
3. The Women’s Media Center is offering intensive media training through its Progressive Women’s Voices program. Please take a look and either apply, forward to someone who might or blog about it. The program actively works to place women on op-ed pages and in the media (talking head shows).
4. The Ohio Attorney General’s human resources director has resigned. I’m not sure what to read into that but I always think about the information that leaves when a human leaves.
5. Congratulations to Dr. Nancy Wingenbach, the new Orange schools superintendent (two-year contract). I’ve known Nancy for almost as long as she’s been in the district and think she is a superb choice. Dr. Lukich, whom she’s succeeding, is going to Palantine, IL for another superintendent job.
6. Okay – so – does this post imply that White Hat Management Life Skills Centers in Florida sanction religious invocations? With public dollars? After all the fuss over the charters in Florida with Hebrew language being taught?
7. Here’s the description of the BlogHer panel I’ll be on (I’m calling myself the token class privileged white feminist but seriously? I’m feeling pretty intimidated – the other women are major knowledge players in the are of race and gender):
Who We Are: Race and Gender: What are the lessons of 2008 No, this actually isn’t a re-hash of the Obama vs. Hillary debate. But certainly Election 2008 has made us all look at our own (and society’s, and the media’s etc. etc. ) attitudes about race and gender. BlogHers proved that you can indeed discuss these incredibly sensitive topics without it descending into anarchy or hate speech, but it’s tough. Please join Maria Niles, Jill Miller Zimon, Cynematic, Adele Nieves and Caille Millner as we discuss what we’ve learned about ourselves…and about others so far in 2008.
What I’m most thrilled about is that Maria and Adele have both played absolutely critical, vital without them I wouldn’t be where I am today roles in my learning and understanding about WOC, POC, allies and so much more (and still much more I don’t know). I know this is going to be yet another transformative experience – at age 45. How bad can that be?! I feel very lucky. Even if I’m token. 
8. John Ettorre at Working with Words tells us that Pat Tillman’s mother, Mary, has now written a book, Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman, about what the government did and didn’t tell her about her son’s death in Afghanistan. Tillman’s is truly one of the most nightmarish stories to come out of our military involvement in the Middle East. From Kirkus Reviews:
“Alongside fond memories and recollections of Pat’s charismatic bluntness and self-sacrificing nature, Mary details her family’s exhaustive search for the truth with the help of allies ranging from Senator John McCain to retired General Wesley Clark to numerous investigative reporters…the chilling results yielded by the Tillman family’s unflagging efforts indicate that Pat’s death was, at best, a result of gross negligence and incompetence on the part of the U.S. Army and, at worst, a sinister coverup by high-ranking officials willing to lie to a soldier’s family and hoodwink the public in exchange for higher approval ratings.” – Kirkus Reviews
9. And the uncertainty continues in the Democratic primary. I wonder how many Jews are on that DNC committee – think they’ll go to Shabbat services first tomorrow?
10. E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post writes an interesting column about women, anger, Obama, Clinton and the media. One of my favorite sections:
Female politicians feel for Clinton as someone who regularly faces questions that male politicians would never be asked. When a reporter queried [Rhode Island Lt. Gov. Elizabeth] Roberts about “my brand of lipstick and what color was it,” she revealed the vital information — “Revlon Number 235″ — but noted that “some of my supporters were offended that she asked me.”
These are professional politicians, so they know that Clinton is on the verge of defeat because of her campaign’s organizational mistakes, its failure to take Obama seriously early on and the difficulties created by her husband’s presence. Roberts points to an age split among women, noting that her 19-year-old daughter, Kathleen, is a staunch Obama supporter. Obama, Kopp said, clearly has a strong appeal “among younger women, though that’s true among many older women, too.”
Indeed, Obama has the support of many prominent female elected officials, notably Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Govs. Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. He won significant female support in the primaries, carrying a majority of the women’s vote in 13 states and splitting it evenly with Clinton in Wisconsin.
Nonetheless, even these very pragmatic female politicians who very much want a Democrat to win the White House are looking for signs of “understanding and respect,” said Kopp.
“It’s a campaign, someone wins, someone doesn’t win, that’s life,” she said. “But women don’t want to be totally dissed.”
Does anyone want to be totally dissed, ever? Echoes this, doesn’t it? Think they’ll call Dionne a male, Republican Scientologist?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:49 pm May 30th, 2008 in Politics, Remains of the Day
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Dear Jill, Many So. FL Jewish folks have been pretty horrified by these characterizations. And, yes, there was a huge uproar about teaching Hebrew in charter schools with tax money. There was also a huge uproar when Jeb Bush wanted to give vouchers to parents who would prefer to send their children to religious schools. Don’t know how I feel about the Hebrew question – if it’s taught as a language elective along with French, Spanish, Italian I guess that would be okay. The whole Church and State question came up again with state legislators tackling the Intelligent Design question again. (Personally, I don’t mind that being addressed as a question of philosophy, but it’s hard to see it as science). Florida’s election will come down to many things imcluding Century Village, and all of the other retirement communities of So. Fla. Another huge question will be the blue dog cultural conservative vote in the Panhandle. All in all, it should be interesting.
Thanks for the “on the ground” reflections, Lynda. It’s incredibly helpful. Blogs often espouse opinions that have nothing to do with how people who are actually involved in something might really be feeling. I know I’ve slipped into that from time to time, I’m sure.