Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Moms Are Becoming The Breadwinners!

Over 40% of American mothers are breadwinners.

Mothers of the 21st Century are the leading breadwinners. Over 40% of the American mothers are becoming the sole breadwinners knocking down the stereotype that men are the leaders.

The Washington Post reports that In a trend accelerated by the recent recession and an increase in births to single mothers, nearly four in 10 families with children under the age of 18 are now headed by women who are the sole or primary breadwinners for their families, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

The report reveals a sweeping change in traditional gender roles and family life over a few short decades: The share of married mothers who outearn their husbands has risen from 4 percent in 1960 to 15 percent in 2011. The share of single mothers who are sole providers for their families has increased from 7 to 25 percent over the same period.

“The decade of the 2000s witnessed the most rapid change in the percentage of married mothers earning more than their husbands of any decade since 1960,” said Philip Cohen, a University of Maryland sociologist who studies gender and family trends. “This reflects the larger job losses experienced by men at the beginning of the Great Recession. Also, some women decided to work more hours or seek better jobs in response to their husbands’ job loss, potential loss or declining wages.”


But the Pew Research report shows that Americans are decidedly ambivalent about mothers who work outside the home. Three-fourths of those surveyed say these mothers make raising children harder, and half worry that it’s bad for marriages.

About half of those surveyed felt it was better if mothers stayed home with young children. In contrast, 8 percent thought it was better if fathers did.

But at the same time, the report notes that other polls have found that nearly 80 percent of Americans don’t think mothers should return to a traditional 1950s middle-class housewife role.

“The public is really of two minds,” said Kim Parker, one of the report’s authors. Traditional gender roles “are a deeply ingrained set of beliefs. It will take a while for those views to catch up with the reality of the way people are living today.”

While not perfect, it’s a lifestyle that suits Lisa Rohrer, who works at Georgetown University Law Center, as well as her family. Rohrer became the primary breadwinner when her husband, JJ, started his own business. He now picks their two kids up from school, stays home when they are sick and does much of the housework.

“For us, it has been ideal in many ways, because it has allowed JJ to pursue his dream of starting his own business and has allowed me to take jobs that require a lot of time and travel. I’m also glad our kids see an alternative way of handling careers, marriage and kids,” she said. “On the other hand, I have a lot more sympathy for dads in families where their wives are staying at home. There is a lot of pressure when you’re the main breadwinner.”

Although the trend toward mothers who pull in the biggest part of the family income has been on the rise as more women have become educated and entered the workforce, the recession has accelerated the trend, said Sarah Jane Glynn, an analyst with the Center for American Progress.

“Part of what’s happening is that more men have been getting laid off and are having difficulty finding work,” she said, noting that the number of married wives who are sole earners has increased since 2007. “And with the way the recovery’s played out, some men who lost their jobs wound up taking others that paid less.”

The Pew Research report found that married mothers are becoming increasingly better educated than their husbands: 61 percent of husbands and wives in dual-earner households have similar education levels, but 23 percent of the mothers are better educated than their spouses, compared with 16 percent of fathers.

Women began graduating from college in greater numbers than men in 1985 and now earn more advanced degrees in many fields.

The stigma of women out-earning men appears to be waning, at least among those with college educations. About 30 percent of those surveyed think it’s better if men earn more, down from 40 percent in 1997. Those with a high school degree or less, however, are twice as likely as college-educated Americans to think men should earn more.

Heidi Parsons, 44, who owns her own recruiting firm in Alexandria, said attitudes such as that can make being a breadwinner a challenge in a relationship.
Thanks mom, you're the best.
“My husband is a massage therapist. The disparity in income is hard for him. I don’t care. I signed up for it. I knew that going in, and it’s never bothered me,” she said. “But it’s hard, because it’s hard for him. What I like to look at is how it was nice that he was home for two years when the kids were little. That’s a contribution there that goes unrecognized on the dad’s side.”

Cohen said the trend toward breadwinning mothers can be disconcerting because it upends the status quo.

“Mothers have historically been responsible for the majority of child care and rearing, and single motherhood represents an extension of that role in a way that does not challenge traditional gender norms,” he said.

Single-mother breadwinners are at a severe disadvantage, the report found.

Compared with their married peers, they earn an average of $23,000 and are more likely to be younger, black or Hispanic and have less education than a college degree.

“The makeup of single mothers has changed dramatically,” said Wendy Wang, one of the report’s authors. “In 1960, the vast majority of single mothers were divorced, separated or widowed. Only 4 percent were never married. But now, it’s 44 percent.” Now, 40 percent of all births are to single mothers, she added.

Julie Guyot-Diangone, 42, a divorced, breadwinning mother of two who works on Capitol Hill, earned a PhD in social work and specializes in orphan and refu­gee displacement. But since both her parents died a few months ago, she has no one to help her take care of her children, much less buy the groceries, cook or do laundry.

“I used to think, when looking for employment, I would look at my area of expertise. But those aren’t necessarily 9-to-5 jobs,” she said. “I find that I’m looking for work hours. Flex time. Teleworking. I’m looking for that, as a priority.”

Marcia Greco, 57, who works in Fairfax, had no choice about becoming her family’s breadwinner when her husband was laid off nearly 20 years ago. Her husband took care of their two children and went to school at night. He felt isolated. Sometimes, people thought of them as a curiosity. Despite that, and despite the unease with mother breadwinners that Pew Research report found, the situation worked for them. The two just celebrated their 30th anniversary.

“We showed our kids that anyone can be a nurturer or go out and be a primary breadwinner,” she said. “Your gender doesn’t matter.”

Single parenting is usually a mother with children. There are single parents who are fathers.

We're living in the age where the independent woman trumps the traditional conservative woman.

The independent woman is likely voting Democratic. The reasons why are purely simple.

The independent woman believes in equal pay for equal work. That's why it's essential to have fair pay laws passed.

The independent woman is split on gun control. Since the Sandy Hook tragedy, many women are split on the gun control debate. Most woman would prefer stronger background checks but limitations on firearms restrictions.

The independent woman supports a right to choice. That means no government interference in making family decision as in abortions and adoptions.

The single mother is more likely higher in a Black household than Latina and White households.

Before I go, I wanted to say this. The folks over at Loserville and their turdporter Megyn Kelly debates two asshole men who run this theme about women being breadwinners is another failed "liberal" experiment.

This network is the old White boys club and its chief Roger Ailes allows this network to continue the discourse against the independent woman, the Black family, the Hispanic family and President Barack Obama.

Warning this video contains disturbing content.

Obama Picks Susan Rice As National Security Adviser!

President Barack Obama picks UN ambassador Susan Rice as his National Security Adviser.  This pick is a retaliation to the Republicans for their refusal to look into Rice as a Secretary of State. The pick went to John Kerry. The president warns Republicans not to filibuster his picks.

The Republicans will crow about President Barack Obama's pick for National Security Adviser.

The United Nations ambassador Susan Rice will be nominated to fill the position of National Security Adviser. This decision will bring the Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham back into the spotlight. McCain (R-Arizona) and Graham (R-South Carolina) are two of the gadflies who will whine about it.

The president can pick someone who can be an adviser without the approval of the U.S. Senate.

The conservatives will be totally pissed that the president thumb his nose at the Republicans by picking a woman who went to five Sunday talk shows to defend the president's handling in Benghazi.

The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor (abbreviated NSA, or sometimes APNSA or ANSA to avoid confusion with the abbreviation of the National Security Agency), is a senior official in the Executive Office of the President who serves as the chief advisor, stationed in the White House, to the President of the United States on national security issues. This person also participates in the meetings of the National Security Council. The National Security Advisor's office is located in the West Wing of the White House. He or she is supported by the National Security Council staff that produces research, briefings, and intelligence for the APNSA to review and present either to the National Security Council or directly to the President.

The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs is appointed by the President without confirmation by the United States Senate. However, the APNSA is a staff position in the Executive Office of the President and does not have line authority over either the Department of State or the Department of Defense, but is able, as a consequence thereof, to offer advice to the President - unlike the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense who are Senate-confirmed officials with line authority over their departments - independently of the vested interests of the large bureaucracies and clientele of those departments.

She will replace Tom Donilon. Donilon will step down by the end of the month.

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

OMG! Son of a Prominent Republican Politician(John McCain) Married an African American Woman


John McCain's son married Capt. Renee Jessica Smith over the weekend.  Guess who attended their wedding?  It's none other than the perennial loser, Mitt Romney!  It's karma!  Scions of Republican/Right-wingers are getting stabbed in the back!  Their racist/classist/sexist ideologies are being exposed for what they are, disgusting pieces of propaganda.  I wonder if their white nationalist/supremacist/HBD friends of theirs think of their family members marrying Blacks and Browns, therefore contributing to the browning/tanning of America.

Already, racist right wingers at number 1 and number 2 are working up a storm over this one.

Here's the rest of the story of the wedding at:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sen-john-mccain-son-marries-san-francisco-article-1.1361776

College Republicans: Stop F***ing Up!

Young minds are wasted on the stupidity.

We here at Journal de la Reyna are sending our condolences to the family of Senator Frank Laterberg (D-New Jersey). The longtime senator died of pneumonia. The Republican governor Chris Christie will make a risky pick to replace him. This pick will join the U.S. Senate with a bunch of hyper partisans.

Many young Republicans are telling the Tea Party and the old guard to stop fucking up the party or they'll become Democrats. It's unfortunate that the next generation of the Republicans are fearing that the party is doomed if they don't include a broad coalition of groups.

Conservatives are getting a finger wagging from the Republican youth.

Even Kid Rock, a mainstream entertainer and proud Republican couldn't pull any strings at the polls.

The Republican Party didn't pull in the youth vote. The youth vote (or better known as the 18 - 34 age group) are the current crop of individuals who worry about issues such as jobs, social issues, and student loans.

The Republican Party didn't put a message out there to make young voters support perennial loser Mitt Romney. Even though there were some young Republicans willing to make Mitt their president, it was the incumbent Barack Obama who kept the youth vote in his corner. Even though the youth vote was kind of wary about the last election, President Barack Obama's arsenal of social networks and community outreach helped get the youth out to vote.

The Republicans tried to stop early voting. They wanted to pass legislation that requires individuals to state identification to vote. They failed at stopping the youth vote.

Now that President Barack Obama secured four more years, the devastating blows to the Republican Party are being felt. Many Republican establishment figures finally are realizing that their party caters to old White bigots.

Even the constant talk of the IRS and Benghazi scandals aren't working to improve the image of the Republican Party. The college Republicans don't care about this crap.

On Monday, the College Republican National Committee unveiled a data-heavy, 95-page report that examines how (and why) Republicans can make inroads with young voters.

Among voters under 30—who made up 19 percent of all voters in the November 2012 general election—President Barack Obama received 5 million more votes than Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Despite the gap, the CRNC believes there are ways to bring young people back into the GOP fold.

"[T]he Republican Party has won the youth vote before and absolutely can win it again," the report said, pointing to Ronald Reagan winning 59 percent of the youth vote in 1984 and substantial support from young voters for Georgw W. Bush in 2000. "But this will not occur without significant work to repair the damage done to the Republican brand among this age group over the last decade."
This guy is making the Republican Party look bad.
The analysis, co-authored by CRNC principals Alex Schriver and Michael Antonopoulos and polling from the Winston Group, emphasized three areas where Republicans must focus: technology, policy and branding.

Much of the data in the report is based on focus groups conducted in California, Ohio and Florida in January and polls of registered voters age 18-29 conducted in the spring.

The new report is part of a wider Republican effort since last year's presidential election to find solutions that can help the party win in the future. In March, the Republican National Committee unveiled its "Growth and Opportunity Project" report, the product of intense polling and accounting of where the GOP went wrong in 2012 and what it can do better in upcoming contests.

Here are seven pieces of advice for how Republicans can better reach young people.

1. Winning young people and minority voters goes hand in hand

The CRNC report says that the challenges Republicans face with the youth vote and the minority vote are "inseparable." As the younger population grows more diverse, the GOP's lack of support among the age group will only grow worse.

"It could be said that the GOP’s young voter problem is as much about failing to gain support from the

African American and Latino communities as anything else," the authors write. "With non-white voters making up 42% of voters under the age of 30, the issue of party diversity and the party’s success with the youth vote are absolutely inseparable."

The key, the authors conclude, is to tie messages of "economic opportunity and social mobility" to as many issues as possible.

2. Republicans who oppose gay marriage need to be careful how they discuss it—if at all

"[T]he conventional wisdom is right," the study's authors write in a section on how Republicans should approach marriage policy for gay and lesbian couples. "Young people are unlikely to view homosexuality as morally wrong, and they lean toward legal recognition of same-sex relationships."

The group's survey found that 44 percent of young voters support gay marriage and 26 percent say it should be left up to the states to decide. Thirty percent of responders said marriage should be between a man and a woman.

After conducting the focus groups, the authors concluded that it is "unmistakable" that "gay marriage was a reason many of these young voters disliked the GOP."

With the culture shifting away from the party's policies, here's what they recommend:

The best course of action for the party may be to promote the diversity of opinion on the issue within its ranks. (After all, for quite some time, former vice president Dick Cheney was to the left of President Obama on same-sex marriage) and to focus on acceptance and support for gay people as separate from the definition of marriage. Where the Republican Party will run into the most trouble over this issue is when it is not winning on any of the more prominent issues, either – the economy and spending. If a candidate is compelling enough on economic opportunity and spending, they may well be able to overcome a difference of opinion with young voters on same-sex marriage.

The authors conclude: "On the 'open-minded' issue, yes, we will face serious difficulty so long as the issue of gay marriage remains on the table. In the short term, the party ought to promote the diversity of thought within its ranks and make clear that we welcome healthy debate on the policy topic at hand. We should also strongly oppose the use of anti-gay rhetoric."

3. Republicans should focus more on a positive message and move away from being 'The Party of No'

A social media analysis in the report found that "positive" messages are often shared more on social media platforms. Adopting and spreading proactive ideas—as opposed to just challenging and nay-saying the opposition—will help spread the Republican message on mediums like Facebook and Twitter, the report found.

The tactic isn't just for getting "likes" and "shares." It's also a fundamental messaging strategy that

Republicans need to use to convince young voters that Republicans have an agenda that supports them.

"Young voters simply felt the GOP had nothing to offer, and therefore said they trusted the Democratic Party more than the Republican Party on every issue tested," the report authors write.

4. The debate over Obamacare is a good example of how Republicans can improve positive messaging

The report authors recommend ways Republicans can discuss the federal health care law while it is being implemented over the next two years:

As Obamacare is implemented and headlines continue to tell the tale of increasing costs and new problems with the health care system, it will be important for Republicans to outline a vision for how they would build a better system that does contain costs and improve quality. For the moment, the advantage that Obama has on the issue is largely due to the fact that he attempted a reform plan at all.

5. Candidates must be in touch with issues young people care about, including pop culture

You don't have to be "young" to carry a message that speaks to young people. Just look at Ron Paul! But you do have to be able to speak using terms that resonate with a younger generation. The report found that even though elected Republican leaders are generally younger than Democrats, millennials still think of Republicans as old. Perhaps it is because Democrats do a better job of speaking the language of young people.

From the report:

[I]t helps to be somewhat in touch with pop culture. Some 30% of respondents said that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who can talk comfortably about music, movies, and sports, while only 21% said that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who is under the age of 40. Young voters are far more concerned about finding candidates who understand what they are going through and have solutions to address the problems they are facing; whether that comes from a 60-year-old or a 30-year-old is not quite as important. (After the 2010 elections, House Republicans’ average age fell to under 55, while the average age of a Democratic member of the House rose to over 60. This did not stop “old” from being mentioned in almost every focus group as an attribute associated with the GOP.) However, youth and knowledge of pop culture may not even necessarily be a boost.
Reince Priebus can't get the Republican Party back together. The message is lost in King Hippo's daily rants.
6. Advertise in mediums used by young people

Candidates should think outside the realms of traditional campaign strategies. They should bring their message to the places where young people gather, including popular television shows and online:

We don’t expect candidates to throw back shots with college kids, but it wouldn’t hurt to have them target ads at the people who watch re-runs of Family Guy. Young people do not get their information the way voters used to. They carry smartphones in their pockets and purses that allow them to connect with anyone, anytime, anywhere, and that give them instant access to any piece of information they may want to know.

There are countless ways they can watch the latest episode of their favorite TV show, and the screens where they’re focusing their eyes all day are more and more likely to be portable. To win young voters, the Republican Party and its candidates must embrace this reality.

7. Show young voters what you can offer

The authors sum it all up pretty well here:

Kid Rock shakes hands with perennial loser Mitt Romney.
We’ve become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it, but won’t offer a hand to help you get there. This has to change in order to have a shot with young voters.

Will the Republicans heed the warnings?

Not really. The Tea Party will dismissed this as another attempt to bring "political correctness" and the people who are complaining are "Republicans In Name Only (RINO)".

Former Maine senator Olympia Snowe, Former Indiana senator Richard Lugar, Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), Senator Mark Kirk (R-Illinois), Senator Dan Coates (R-Indiana) are the moderate members of the Republicans Party.

They were targeted by conservatives as "liberals" because they're willing to work with the president on serious issues.

Republicans are screwed up. They'll never get it. They'll continue to fail. And we'll be watching it from the outside.

Kid Rock appears on Atlantic Records.

Unholy Fire: Catholic Church Unlawfully Terminated Pregnant Woman!

Christa Dias
American mom sues the Catholic church after she was fired from her teaching position. Christa Dias went to federal court to buck the notion that being unmarried and pregnant isn't grounds for termination.

In my community there's a story that's picked up a lot of attention. A woman sued the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for unlawful termination. The woman was from the area at the time and was teaching at some of the local Catholic schools.

She had gotten pregnant through artificial insemination and was not married. I guess in the Roman Catholic church, you have to be in tone with their values in order to get a position there. She was outed as a lesbian by the junk food media. The teacher feared that she would lose her job if her bosses would find out about her relationship with a woman.

The United States Federal Courts found that the Catholic church was in the wrong when they fired the woman and she was awarded a lump sum of nearly $200,000 for damages.

The Dayton Daily News and Associated Press reports that the Catholic school teacher who was fired after she became pregnant through artificial insemination was awarded Monday after winning her anti-discrimination lawsuit against an Ohio archdiocese.

A federal jury found that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati discriminated against Christa Dias by firing her in October 2010.

Dias, who taught computer classes, declined to comment immediately after the verdict but said later in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that she was "very happy and relieved."

The jury said the archdiocese should pay a total of $71,000 for back pay and compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages. Dias had sued the archdiocese and two of its schools; the jury didn't find the schools liable for damages.

Dias' attorney, Robert Klingler, had argued she was fired simply because she was pregnant and unmarried, a dismissal he said violated state and federal law. He had suggested damages as high as $637,000, but Dias said she was satisfied with the jury's award.

"It was never about the money," she said. "They should have followed the law and they didn't."

Steven Goodin, the attorney for the archdiocese and the schools, had argued Dias was fired for violating her contract, which he said required her to comply with the philosophies and teachings of the Catholic church.

The church considers artificial insemination immoral and a violation of church doctrine.

"We gave always argued that this case was about a contract violation and should never have been allowed to come to trial," Goodin said after the verdict.

He said that while he was disappointed in the finding against the archdiocese, he was relieved the schools were not held liable, saying that would have proven a financial hardship for them.

Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco said after court that for the archdiocese, it was always "a matter of principle" and about "an employee who broke a contract she signed."

Dias, who is not Catholic, testified she didn't know artificial insemination violated church doctrine or her employment pact. She said she thought the contract clause about abiding by church teachings meant she should be a Christian and follow the Bible.

The case, viewed as a barometer on the degree to which religious organizations can regulate employees' lives, is the second lawsuit filed in the last two years against the archdiocese over the firing of an unmarried pregnant teacher.

The archdiocese had argued prior to trial that Dias was a ministerial employee and that the Supreme Court has said religious groups can dismiss those employees without government interference. But Klingler insisted Dias had no such duties, and the court found that she was not a ministerial employee.

Klingler said the case shows jurors are willing to apply the law "even to churches and religious organizations when non-ministerial employees are discriminated against."

Goodin said he thinks the verdict could result in churches and religious organizations making their contracts "lock in" employees so specifically that it could be "hard to bring these types of lawsuits in the future."

While Goodin said a decision would be made later on whether to appeal, legal experts believe it will definitely end up in an appeals court.

Issues they believe could be raised include how to define a ministerial employee and how to resolve the conflict between religious employers' rights versus the rights of women seeking to reproduce.

Dias also has claimed that the church policies are not enforced equally against men and women.
Goodin argued that Dias, who is gay, never intended to abide by her contract. She kept her sexual orientation a secret because she knew that homosexual acts also would violate that contract, he said.

Neither Dias nor the archdiocese claim she was fired because she is gay, and the judge told jurors that they could not consider sexual orientation in determining motivating factors for the firing.

Dias, formerly from suburban Cincinnati, now lives in Atlanta with her partner and their 2-year-old daughter.

Dias said she pursued the lawsuit "for the sake of other women" who might find themselves in a similar situation. She also said she filed it for "my daughter's sake, so she knows it's important to stand up for what's right."
The Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati. 
As this issue brings to light about the decline in religion, I want to give my honest opinion of this.

I am straight man and I endorse the rights of the LGBT community. I am considered agnostic on most religious themes. I do believe in the existence of Jesus Christ but I don't believe spiritual forces or reincarnation of the Lord. I don't believe in the religious themes that give the notion that we're in two parallels of heaven and hell.

I don't have no problems with those who believe in religion. They deserve the right to practice in religion.

But I don't believe in that crap about how it's fair to discriminate because of race, gender, sexuality, nationality, disability, religion, economic or social standings.

The issue of gay marriage doesn't bother me. They are not hurting anyone. They should live their lives in peace and harmony without the United States government interfering. Conservatives are narrow minded individuals. They want the government out of your lives but when it comes to a woman's right to choice or a gay person, they want impose laws that discriminate or punish.

Understanding that the national polls are trending in the favor of those in the LGBT community. Many young voters support marriage equality. The old traditions of shunning people from positions because of sexuality are coming to an end.

The Boy Scouts of America have announced a step forward by allowing members who are gay. Still there's a ban on gay Boy Scout leaders and head figures though. That's still a work in progress.

Since President Barack Obama came out in favor of gay marriage, many young voters approved of the decision and turnout in droves to help the president win reelection.

Many people are slowly embracing the possibility of gay marriage in America. The Supreme Court will rule on the Proposition 8 and Defense of Marriage Act at the end of the month, and these decisions will greatly impact the progress made by those who want to love.

The Republicans are slowly deviating from the issue. So far, they're facing a gauntlet of criticism from the young generation of Republicans. They're telling the old guard and Tea Party figures that it's time to move away from it.

The Religious Right isn't as powerful as they were in the 1990s. They've nominated perennial loser Mitt Romney over washed up politico Rick Santorum. Both men were equally flawed and they didn't want to tackle the gay rights issue.

Santorum was more in tone to the Republican beliefs and yet he didn't win the Republican nomination.

Look, if you're still having trouble trying to adjust to the LGBT community, that's you. But you best beware that they're more powerful than you thought.

Since the days of Matthew Shepard to Tyler Clementi, many Americans are starting to realize that it could be one of our family members. It never affect me until I realized that I have family members and friends who are gay. It hits close to home and I must understand that they're human too.

Why should I treat them different?

Suicide of gay teenagers are high. Many American families are being discriminated because the parents are either two men or two women.

I understand the road is far for my friends who are gay. But still the accomplishments made today assure that the fight continues on for equality.

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