With all the talk about Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama in the news during this presidential election, issues of racism and sexism have risen to the top of the American consciousness.  What better time than now to look back at an important moment in American feminist history? The documentary film "Sisters of '77" tells the story of the 1977 National Women's Conference held in Houston, Texas.  The weekend long meeting was attended by a wide range of prominent women including former First Ladies Rosalyn Carter, Betty Ford and Lady Bird Johnson, civil rights activist Coretta Scott King, writer Maya Angelou, and feminist activists Gloria Steinem and Betty Freidan.

A couple of days ago The Huffington Post did a video roundup of GOP VP pick, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. The videos were of her comments on important issues relating to Alaska. Well anyone can do that. But tell me, have you seen clips of Governor Palin back when she was a sportscaster? Or watched as she hiked to her office from her house with a local Alaskan podcaster? Or heard what the Red State Update has to say about the moose hunting firebrand? That's where I come in.

Any discusion of the "n" word in mixed company, mingling ethnic groups, gets uncomfortable, maybe even dirty. It'll shake some folks up, maybe burn a few, but if we're lucky, like supernaturally blessed lucky, we might learn something to heal our disease. So, I've set aside the post I'd intended to write about Starbucks closing. Instead I'm picking up a topic that I've told other bloggers privately I won't discuss again until possibly next year, use of the "n" word.

I have 20/20 vision...Just as long as my contacts are in my eyes, or my glasses are on my face. So I can totally understand why people are getting Lasik surgery. If I could afford it, I would be jumping on the Lasik surgery bandwagon along with everyone else. There is nothing worse than waking up in the morning and not being able to find your glasses. Did they get knocked off the bedside table? Did you put them in a different spot? Then you blindly feel around the room until you finally find them. Those are the days I wish I could have Lasik surgery.

Are you interested in lowering your blood pressure? Reducing your risk of heart disease? If so, you may want to consider the DASH Diet.

What's up in health news? Well, there are new studies on living to be 100, and the health risks of diet soda. It also seems that doctors aren't addressing the problem of depression with patients suffering with rheumatoid arthritis. Do you hope to live to be 100?

With more and more people uninsured in our country, healthcare reform is becoming an increasingly important issue. Voters are interested in knowing where the candidates stand on the issue of healthcare. Now you can find health bloggers and political bloggers addressing healtcare reform. Here is a quick tour around some of the bloggers talking about the issue of healthcare and healthcare reform.

Cross Posted At Megan's Minute I'm baaaaaaaack! It's a New Year, a new day and today Megan's Minute is all about words. Yesterday I read this Reuters article via MSNBC.com about a "surge" of cliches that used to be "sweet" and "awesome" but which are now a "perfect storm" of bad "wordsmithing." An excerpt: "Choosing from among 2,000 submissions, the public relations department at Michigan's Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie targeted 19 affronts to the English language in its well-known jab at the worlds of media, sports, advertising and politics. The contributors gave first prize to the phrase "a perfect storm," saying it was numbingly applied to virtually any notable coincidence" The complete list includes "under the bus," "back in the day," "it is what it is," and "give back." Though I agreed with most of the words on the university's list I have to admit a special fondness for the word "awesome" and the phrase "thrown under the bus." But the university's list got me thinking and I came up with some phrases I'd like to add to the their list:

Cross Posted At Megan's Minute. I recently came across the website What About Our Daughters which was started by blogger Gina MacCauley. First let me say I know I'm a little late to this particular party since at BlogHer alone, weemsrj, Kim Pearson, and lainad have all written articles about the site. As I write this, there's a demonstration going on in Washington D.C. that Gina, her readers, an activist named Shane Johnson and others have been promoting. It's covered in this article by Marisol Bello in today's USA Today. Here are excerpts: