Brave Like Soldiers

Penmanship is now 'handwriting' as Washington state removes gender bias in statutes

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Washington state’s governor signed into law on Monday the final piece of a six-year effort to rewrite state laws using gender-neutral vocabulary, replacing terms such as “fisherman” and “freshman” with “fisher” and “first-year student.”

While this may not have an immediate tangible effect, words and language play a significant role in shaping how we think, and mandating gender-neutral language in state statutes is a great first step in the right direction. The article notes that some words, such as “manhole,” won’t be replaced, because legislators couldn’t think of any other alternatives (whether or not “personhole cover” will ever gain traction remains to be seen).

Reblogged from ShortFormBlog

Tags: gender LGBTQ* feminism vocabulary words washington Politics News

Bobby Jindal’s plan to kill Louisiana’s income tax hits a major snag

shortformblog:

cause In recent weeks, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican who is expected to run for president in 2016, has been pushing a bold tax plan in his state that would eliminate income taxes entirely on individuals and corporations, in an effort to make the state more desirable for businesses. To make up for the loss of income, the state’s sales taxes would jump by 56 percent, the cigarette tax would jump significantly and a number of tax loopholes would be closed.

reaction Jindal’s popularity has tanked. With a 38 percent approval rating in the state, President Barack Obama is now a more popular figure in the conservative Louisiana. Why’s that? Well, two reasons: First, the sales tax increase is seen as hitting the poor more than the rich (though Jindal says there will be tax credits available for low-income residents); and second, many residents see it as a transparent scheme to shore up Jindal’s credentials with conservatives outside of Louisiana before running for president. Many of those polled also note that he’s been out of the state a lot lately. source

Come ON the sales tax in NOLA is already 9% I don’t need it to be higher >:(

Reblogged from ShortFormBlog

Tags: louisiana News Politics bobby jindal

Reblogged from Feminist Becky

Tags: hillary clinton feminism politics bamf

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A debate about which party can better manage the federal government is a very small and short-sighted debate. If our vision is not bigger than that, we do not deserve to win.

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Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal • In a speech he plans to give to the Republican National Committee Thursday evening, during which he will use the phrase “recalibrate the compass of conservatism.” Jindal sounds like he’s running for president in 2016, and also like he’s hoping to score an era-defining speech akin to Rush Limbaugh’s defiant bit at 2009’s CPAC. Jindal’s response to the State of the Union that year didn’t get a lot of love from anyone, but he’s otherwise proven himself to be one of the country’s best Republican governors, so it’ll be interesting to see what sort of bandwidth he gets from this speech. (via shortformblog)

Oh boy.

Reblogged from ShortFormBlog

Tags: bobby jindal louisiana politics news serious stuff

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And if another Republican man says anything about rape other than it is a horrific, violent crime, I want to personally cut out his tongue. The college-age daughters of many of my friends voted for Obama because they were completely turned off by Neanderthal comments like the suggestion of “legitimate rape.

— Karen Hughes, former George W. Bush adviser • Voicing her frustrations with the rhetoric on rape and women’s rights from some members of her party leading up to last Tuesday. As both a woman and Republican, Hughes comes by the intensity of her disdain naturally — no less than two GOP Senate candidates in eminently winnable races, Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, had their chances derailed by high-profile, tone-deaf and offensive comments on rape and pregnancy. The Obama campaign maximized its advantage with female voters to staggering effect this cycle, beating Mitt Romney among single women by 38%. source (via shortformblog)

Reblogged from ShortFormBlog

Tags: feminism rape trigger warning election 2012 politics

itsinthetrees:

Mazie Hirono, the Senator-Elect from Hawaii, will become the first Asian-American woman in the U.S. Senate.

<3

Reblogged from English Roses & Scottish Heather

Tags: politics feminism race issues election 2012

saffiremoon21:

reallyfoxnews:

This seems like an unbalanced assessment.

On the other hand, that Mitt Romney face is just excellent.

Reblogged from Something Creative

Tags: fox news election 2012 Presidential Election 2012 obama romney politics

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I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.

— Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, diving headfirst into controversy with the above remarks on abortion, just weeks shy of Election Day. Mourdock was asked to explain his views on abortion by a questioner during his final debate against Rep.Joe Donnelly, and Libertarian candidate Andrew Horning. All three of them oppose abortion rights, but neither Donnelly or Horning went quite so far — Mourdock’s policy position on this issue, setting aside his highly incendiary language, is in step with the GOP’s party platform, though not with the Romney campaign’s recent claim of support for rape and incest exceptions. source (via shortformblog)

Reblogged from ShortFormBlog

Tags: politics election 2012 UGH UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH abortion rape trigger warning tw richard mourdock indiana

fuckyeahplannedparenthood:

You would think that even if conservative lawmakers continue to deny our humanity and right to our bodies, they would at the very least understand that people being in control of their reproductive decisions is great for the economy.

Reblogged from Fuck Yeah Planned Parenthood

Tags: planned parenthood women are watching feminism birth control politics election 2012