MOMocrats

We've been hearing a lot of hand wringing in the media over the last couple of weeks about the Obama Administration's flaws: That his economic team was ineffective, indecisive and unfair to women (among other accusations). Much of this comes from "Confidence Men," the new book from Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Ron Suskind.

Not surprisingly, Karoli and the other MOMocrats have a few things to say about this, too.

Join Cynematic, Karoli and Donna Schwartz Mills for a lively talk with four women running for school board in Bill Gates' backyard up in Seattle. Sharon Peaslee, Michelle Buetow, Kate Martin and Marty McLaren have a vision for education in their district, and we'll hear why it doesn't completely mesh with that of Gates and the Broad Foundation's plans for education reform in America. Lively political discussion from a progressive perspective, hosted by MOMocrats Cynematic and Donna Schwartz Mills.

Join Cynematic, Karoli and Donna Schwartz Mills for a lively talk with four women running for school board in Bill Gates' backyard up in Seattle. Sharon Peaslee, Michelle Buetow, Kate Martin and Marty McLaren have a vision for education in their district, and we'll hear why it doesn't completely mesh with that of Gates and the Broad Foundation's plans for education reform in America. Lively political discussion from a progressive perspective, hosted by MOMocrats Cynematic and Donna Schwartz Mills.

Over the years, we've learned a lot about reading the labels on processed foods -- but what about whole foods that have been genetically engineered? Should we be concerned about produce that originated in a laboratory? Or the results of cross-pollination from a GMO crop into the food chain?

These are some of the questions that are posed to this week's special guest, dietitian Ashley Koff,  author of the new book, Mom Energy, and one of the spokespeople for this month's Right2Know March. Ashley talks in-depth about the dangers of GMO foods and what to do about it with MOMocrats Cynematic and Jaelithe Judy (who also writes extensively about food and politics at Care2.com). 

MOMocrats Donna Schwartz Mills and Karoli are also on hand to discuss this week's news.

When women sit at the table, the conversation includes topics that are near and dear to us: Education. Healthcare. Eldercare. Living Wages. Work-Life Balance. Reproductive Rights.

According to the Women's Campaign Forum, we're ranked 87th in the world for the number of women in our national legislature. Even Cuba and Afghanistan have more female representation than us!

 We'll be hearing more about that on tomorrow's edition of MOMocrats MOMochat, when our special guest is Women's Campaign Forum President Siobhan "Sam" Bennett.

Join Cynematic, Julie Pippert and Donna Schwartz Mills live at 12:00 noon Eastern/11:00 Central/9:00 a.m. Pacific, or catch us on the podcast here.

Julie Pippert joins MOMocrats Cynematic and Donna Schwartz Mills to offer a first-hand report on the Texas wildfire that is still raging after burning down 600 homes. Jaelithe Judy and military spouse Karen Francis are also onhand to discuss 9/11 and how it changed the world our children live in -- and especially the effect that 10 years of wartime has had on the families of our military.

Cynematic, Donna Schwartz Mills and Jessica Pieklo welcome NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan to talk about about the Tea Party wave that purported to be about fiscal responsibility but turned out to be a mob focused on eliminating reproductive freedom for women.   Keenan is a former Montana state legislator and superintendent of public instruction. In 2000, she was her district's Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives. As President of NARAL, she helped elect a new slate of pro-choice legislators in 2008. The last round of mid-term elections was a setback, but as the NARAL site points out, "In 2010, 31 NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC-endorsed congressional candidates won their races. Choice played a key role in the re-election of Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Barbara Boxer of California, Patty Murray of Washington, and others."    Note that this week's show is at a special time: 10:30 a.m. ET/7:30 PT.

In 1971, at the behest of New York Rep. Bella Abzug, Congress designated August 26 "Women's Equality Day."

Forty years later, we've made some strides -- but as evidenced by the stalling of the Paycheck Fairness Act and the recent Wal-Mart ruling, we are still not equal. We still only make 77 cents to the dollar, make up just 17% of legislators in Congress and just 15.2% of the Fortune 500 corporate boards. And working women who are also mothers have additional hurdles to jump. 

Cynematic and Donna Schwartz Mills and Julie Pippert welcome Kristen Rowe-Finkbeiner, co-founder of MomsRising.org and author of The Motherhood Manifesto and The F-Word: Feminism in Jeopardy.

Earlier this week, Warren Buffett made the case for raising taxes on wealthy individuals like himself, noting that back in the 1970's, when the rate was up to 39%, fear of taxes didn't prevent investments in good deals.

Texas MOMocrat Julie Pippert and Calfornian Donna Schwartz Mills chat about tax reform, state budgets and the myth of Rick Perry's "Texas Miracle."

News of the Tea Party downgrade broke last week, while nearly a dozen of the MOMocrats were attending the BlogHer conference in San Diego. What does it mean for our economy, not to mention our chances of holding on to the White House and taking back Congress?

We will also have plenty to say about the results of today's Wisconsin recalls and a recap of the best sessions we attended at BlogHer.