This time of year the world celebrates peace – or claims to.   Radical Islamist Taliban insurgents have intensified their attacks on the Afghan capital with brazen bombings and afternoon raids. They’ve gone after Kabul’s police chief and an outspoken women’s rights activist.  That may be because Afghan women are actively agitating for a place at the peace table.  According to the international aid group Oxfam, women are being left out of government efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban.

We celebrate a lot during the holiday season – family, faith, giving.  But since 2012 the season is not all about celebrating. It’s also about remembering one of the darkest days in decades, December 14, 2012  – when 20 first graders and 6 educators at Sandy Hook elementary school were gunned down by an ex-student wielding a shotgun.

The last of the turkey’s gone to hash, and Black Friday is behind us.  We’re now into a  full-on month of shop till you drop.  Consumers are snapping up mountains of plastic soon-to-be-junk from toy stores and big boxes alike. Is it stuff we need?  Will we love it in January? And what's the message we're sending our kids? There's a better way, and here it is.

After a drubbing in the elections President says he wants to work with the new Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell.  Let’s they don't shake hands on the Trans Pacific Partnership, which McConnell has named as a priority.  What is it?  A giant  trade agreement between the US and twelve  Pacific Rim nations now being negotiated in secret -- and it's a disaster for U.S. workers.  

When it comes to how we treat our veterans, we do pretty well in some areas, but fall down in others. Homelessness is one of the worst.  It’s way too high for both male and female vets – and this is one area where women are catching up to men.

Women are the majority of the population, of registered voters, and of those who actually show up at the polls, meaning they can control any election.  The gender gap is alive and well -- women usually go for Dems and men stick with the good ol' boys in the Republican party.  But if candidates listen, getting the female vote is just not that complicated.

Ebola panic is sweeping the nation, and politicians, always eager to take advantage of voters’ fears, are jumping on the bandwagon hoping it will pay off at the ballot box. Most female voters aren't buying the baloney -- Gallup polls show equal pay is the number one issue.

It’s been a rough couple of years for reproductive rights – not only with the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision granting corporate control of contraception, but in Congress and statehouses around the country.  Females are the majority of voters, and a super-majority when they’re joined by men who support them. Women can control any election, and we’d better make it happen.

We’re in the countdown to the mid-term elections, so let’s talk about what’s at stake for the majority of voters – women.  Unfortunately women also make up another majority -- those working for our pathetic $7.25 an hour minimum wage.

First of five broadcasts on what's at stake for women in the upcoming elections.  Today's topic: Some candidates are promising to repeal Obamacare if elected.  What does it mean for women if the system goes away?