Senior Women Web

Author: SeniorWomenWeb

  • Abortion Is Slowly Becoming Legal in Name Only

    This article was published by the Center for American Progress

    State Laws Seek to Deny Women Their Reproductive Rights

    By Sally Steenland

    Joseph Kroll, director of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment bureau wrote the new rules for abortion clinics.

    When does a legal right become theoretical instead of real? If you want to know the answer, take a look at what’s happening to reproductive rights.

    States across the country are denying women what they need to protect their health and plan their families.

    More than 900 antiabortion laws have been introduced since the midterm elections last November, and more than 60 have been passed. For instance, in Kansas a new licensing law for abortion clinics mandates what size and temperature clinic rooms must be, requires that staff dressing rooms have toilets, that clinics stock particular medical equipment and supplies, and that they be connected to nearby hospitals.

    South Dakota enacted an antiabortion law with requirements so onerous they essentially deny a woman her legal right to an abortion. The bill mandates a waiting period of 72 hours before a woman can have an abortion and requires two separate visits to a doctor. It also requires that a woman get counseling at a “crisis pregnancy center,” a place explicitly created to oppose abortion. On top of these obstacles, South Dakota spreads across nearly 755,000 square miles and has only one abortion clinic. A doctor is flown in from out of state once a week to see patients.

    Right now there are only three abortion clinics in the state of Kansas. Soon there may be none.

    Indiana recently defunded Planned Parenthood clinics throughout the state. The new law makes any organization that performs abortion ineligible for state funds. Lack of clarity in the state’s antiabortion law is affecting hospitals, too. Since its enactment, doctors in hospitals have stopped terminating pregnancies that pose a high risk to the health and life of a woman for fear of losing Medicaid patients.

    According to Elizabeth Ferries-Rowe, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Wishard Memorial hospitals, the law has “tied the hands of physicians attempting to provide medically appropriate, evidence-based care.”

    Dr. Ferries-Rowe gives this example: A woman loses her amniotic fluid at 16 weeks of pregnancy. If her pregnancy isn’t quickly terminated, she risks serious infection that can damage her organs and cause brain damage or death. Given Indiana’s law, however, doctors would not be able to terminate her pregnancy.

    Twenty-week bans: An extremist trend

    Among the most dangerous laws are those that restrict or ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. So far, six states — Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma — have passed 20-week laws, and more are likely to follow. Only about 1.5 percent of all abortions occur after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but those that do are often medically necessary.

  • CRR: An Update on Locally-Administered Pension Plans

    The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has released a new brief, An Update on Locally-Administered Pension Plans. The following is from that brief by Alicia H. Munnell, Jean-Pierre Aubry, Josh Hurwitz, and Laura Quinby

    IntroductionUS coins

    The financial crisis and ensuing recession have had an enormous impact on state-administered pension plans.  Funded levels declined sharply, the Annual Required Contribution (ARC) increased to make up for the fall in funding, and the percent of ARC paid declined as the bottom fell out of state revenues.

    In response, states have increased employer and employee contributions, cut employment, slowed wage growth, and lowered benefits for new employees (and in a few instances reduced COLAs for current employees, but these initiatives have been challenged and are currently in the courts).  Less is known about how locally-administered plans have fared in the last four years.  This brief attempts to fill that gap.

    The discussion proceeds as follows.  The first section describes our sample of 97 locally-administered plans from 40 states, which was collected initially in 2006 and updated to 2010 for this brief.  The second section presents the change in the funded status of local plans over the last four years, looking separately at plans for police/fire, teachers, and general employees.  It also reports the changes in the ARC and the percent of ARC paid during this period.  And it compares the experience of locally-administered plans with those of state-administered plans.

    The third section reports on the impact of pension contributions to local budgets.  This analysis is complicated by the fact that, in aggregate, only 40 percent of local pension contributions go to locally-administered plans, while 60 percent go to state plans.  While good data are available for local-to-local contributions, local-to-state contributions are less explicit and in some cases must be estimated.

  • CSM’s Article: “A woman’s credibility is put under a microscope”

    From the Christian Science Monitor article, Why chambermaid’s credibilty is so germane in the Strass-Kahn case:

    The hotel maid who accused the French politician and former chief of the International Monetary Fund of attacking her lied to prosecutors and detectives about her background and her actions on the day of the alleged assault, according to the District Attorney’s office. In addition, on the day after the alleged attack, she was tape-recorded discussing with a prison inmate the possible financial benefits of pursuing the charges, according to news reports.

    “It is a conversation that would expose her greatly on cross-examination,” says Stan Twardy, a former US attorney and now a partner at Day Pitney in Stamford, Conn. “It greatly undermines her credibility as a witness.”

    Witness credibility is particularly crucial in sexual assault cases, say lawyers, because the alleged victim is likely to take the witness stand. Any information germane to the accuser’s credibility can be brought up during cross-examination. This would include statements to other people, interviews with the police, and even who her friends are.

    “In these cases, credibility is paramount because substantiation almost never exists,” says Alan Kaufman, a former federal prosecutor and a partner in Kelley Drye & Warren’s white-collar defense practice group in New York. “Absent an independent witness and depending on the forensic evidence, a lot depends on the credibility of the person making the allegations.”

    Advocacy groups for women say they are not surprised to see the accuser’s credibility being questioned. “In pretty much every case that involves sexual assault, a woman’s credibility is put under a microscope,” says Amanda Norejko at Sanctuary for Families, a service provider for victims of gender-based violence. “It’s very difficult to go up against someone who has money and power and influence.”

  • The GAO Examines Retirement Income and Celebrates Its 90th Anniversary

    Retirement Income:
    Ensuring Income Throughout Retirement Requires Difficult Choices

    Highlights of GAO – 11 – 400, a report to the Chairman,
    Special Committee on Aging, US Senate

    Why GAO Did This Study:

    As life expectancy increases, the risk that retirees will outlive their assets is a growing challenge. The shift from defined benefit (DB) pension plans to defined contribution (DC) plans also increases the responsibility for workers and retirees to make difficult decisions and manage their pension and other financial assets so that they have income throughout retirement. GAO was asked to review:

    • (1) strategies that experts recommend retirees employ to ensure income throughout retirement,
    • (2) choices retirees have made for managing their pension and financial assets for generating income, and
    • (3) policy options available to ensure income throughout retirement and their advantages and disadvantages. GAO interviewed experts about strategies retirees should take, including strategies for five households from different quintiles of net wealth (assets less debt); analyzed nationally representative data and studies about retirees’ decisions; and interviewed experts and reviewed documents about related policy options.

    Financial experts GAO interviewed typically recommended that retirees systematically draw down their savings and convert a portion of their savings into an income annuity to cover necessary expenses, or opt for the annuity provided by an employer-sponsored DB pension instead of a lump sum withdrawal. Experts also recommended that individuals delay receipt of Social Security benefits until reaching at least full retirement age and, in some cases, continue to work and save, if possible. For example, for the two middle net-wealth households GAO profiled with about $350,000 to $375,000 in net wealth, experts recommended purchase of annuities with a portion of savings, drawdown of savings at an annual rate, such as 4 percent of the initial balance, use of lifetime income from the DB plan, if applicable, and delay of Social Security. To navigate the difficult choices on income throughout retirement, they noted strategies depend on an individual’s circumstances, such as anticipated expenses, income level, health, and each household’s tolerance for risks, such as investment and longevity risk.

    Regarding the choices retirees have made, GAO found that most retirees rely primarily on Social Security and pass up opportunities for additional lifetime retirement income. Taking Social Security benefits when they turned 62, many retirees born in 1943, for example, passed up increases of at least 33 percent in their monthly inflation-adjusted Social Security benefit levels available at full retirement age of 66. Most retirees who left jobs with a DB pension received or deferred lifetime benefits, but only 6 percent of those with a DC plan chose or purchased an annuity at retirement. Those in the middle income group who had savings typically drew down those savings gradually. Nonetheless, an estimated 3.4 million people (9 percent) aged 65 or older in 2009 had incomes (excluding any noncash assistance) below the poverty level. Among people of all ages the poverty rate was 14.3 percent.

  • The College Affordability and Transparency Center: Why Costs Have Gone Up and What Will be Done?

    College of William and MaryThe US Department of Education released several College Affordability and Transparency Lists as part of its effort to help students make informed decisions about their choice for higher education. These lists are an important part of the Administration’s work to make college costs more transparent and to boost college affordability and accessibility. More broadly, this announcement reflects President Obama’s commitment to delivering a government that is more open, transparent and accountable to the American people.

    “These lists are a helpful tool for students and families as they determine what college or university is the best fit for them,” said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “We hope this information will encourage schools to continue their efforts to make the costs of college more transparent so students make informed decisions and aren’t saddled with unmanageable debt.”

    Under the requirements, six lists will be created. Three lists focus on tuition and fees, and three others look at the institution’s “average net price,” which is the average price of attendance that is paid by fulltime students after grants and scholarships are taken into account. Each list will be broken out into nine different sectors to allow students to compare costs at similar types of institutions, providing the following information in simple and understandable terms:

    Lists Sectors
    1. Highest tuition and fees (top 5 percent) 1. 4-year public
    2. Highest average net price (top 5 percent) 2. 4-year private nonprofit
    3. Lowest tuition and fees (bottom 10 percent) 3. 4-year private for-profit
    4. Lowest average net price (bottom 10 percent) 4. 2-year public
    5. Highest percentage increases in tuition and fees (top 5 percent) 5. 2-year private nonprofit
    6. Highest percentage increases in average net price (top 5 percent) 6. 2-year private for-profit
    7. Less-than-2-year public
    8. Less-than-2-year private nonprofit
    9. Less than-2-year private for-profit

    The lists highlight the institutions that have the highest prices as well as those schools where prices are rising at a fast rate. Those institutions where prices are rising the fastest will report why costs have gone up and how the institution will address rising prices. The Department will summarize these reports into a document that it will post online. In addition to the tuition and net price data, users can look up information on the prices of individual career and technical programs, such as cosmetology, medical assistance or vehicle maintenance programs.

    The Department created the College Affordability and Transparency Center on College Navigator to host the lists. The site also includes a variety of other data about individual schools, including information on admissions, retention and graduation rates, and financial aid.

  • Women of Note: Capt. Leigh “Breaker” Larkin, A Recipient of the Mackay Trophy

    by Staff Sgt. John Wright, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public AffairsLeigh

    A weapons system officer from the 389th Fighter Squadron at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan was recently named one of four Airmen to receive the 2010 Mackay Trophy for her part in a combat mission near Turkmenistan April 6, 2010.

    Capt. Leigh “Breaker” Larkin along with F-15E Strike Eagle pilots Lt. Col. Donald D. Cornwell, 333rd Fighter Squadron, Lt. Col. Dylan Wells, 48th Fighter Wing and fellow WSO 1st Lt. Nicholas Tsougas, 4th Training Squadron, were members of “Dude Flight,” a combat mission killing more than 80 Taliban insurgents and saving approximately 30 coalition troops.

    On that day, Dude Flight 01 took off from Bagram Airfield to support “Jaguar 12,” a Joint Terminal Attack Controller supporting troops-in-contact in Bala Morghab, Afghanistan.

    The coalition ground forces were part of a Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force that was in the final phase of clearing a town of Taliban fighters. As the troops reached the heart of the town, they were surrounded and ambushed by the enemy. They became pinned down and began experiencing casualties.

    A Quick Reaction Force was dispatched to help reinforce the patrol, but was hit by an improvised explosive device, and subsequently began receiving small arms fire.

    “Due to the densely populated area, dropping ordnance wasn’t the best option,” Captain Larkin said. “The JTAC on the ground immediately requested a ‘show of force’ flyover. However, low cloud cover and the terrain made this a difficult and dangerous endeavor.”

    Captain Larkin, who is deployed here from the 389th Fighter Squadron at Mountain Home Air Force Base,Idaho, studied the terrain and found the optimum let-down area that helped guide the pilots through the best possible flyover route using terrain-following radar.

    In all, Dude Flight performed five ‘shows of force’ flyovers that interrupted enemy operations and bought the coalition ground forces valuable time.

    Unfortunately, the show of force was only a temporary victory as enemy fire intensified. Sniper rounds pierced mud huts as the JTAC relayed the situation on the ground to the F-15s above.

    The situation became desperate. The enemy grew bolder and descended on the surrounded collation forces, who were outnumbered and low on ammunition.

  • Things I Wish I Could Say

    by Rose Madeline Mula

    “I’d like to thank the Academy ...“ How I’d love to utter those words, draped in Dior and dripping diamonds, standing before an audience of thousands of Tinseltown’s elite, a bank of cameras capturing the moment for millions more. Heck, I’d even be happy to be able to say, “It’s an honor just to be nominated…”

    But it’s highly unlikely that either of those scenarios will ever take place.

    Other words that, unfortunately, will never pass my lips are:

    “Have your people call my people.”

    I would love to have people! And I don’t mean just relatives and friends. I mean anonymous people who would do my bidding because I can afford to pay them enormous amounts of money.

    “I need some fashion advice. I have no idea what to wear to accept a Pulitzer prize.”

    As if that matters! I’d wear a burlap bag if necessary.

    “How many blocks does that line stretch? I’m getting writer’s cramp from signing all these books.”

    I wish! However, the only people who show up at my book signings are the few friends ‘ve begged, bribed or bullied into coming; except for one stranger who stopped by at a recent signing. He glared and asked, “Are you anybody?” I smiled brightly, holding up my book.. “I’m the author!” “Yeah,” he replied, “But are you anybody?” “No,” I had to admit, smile fading, “I’m nobody.”

    “Do you know who I am?!”

    Yeah. Nobody. We just established that.

    “I can’t decide whether to spend next weekend at my chalet in Chamonix or my manor on Maui.”

    Decisions, decisions …

    “Is my jet fueled and ready for take-off?”

    How else could I travel to Chamonix or Maui on a moment’s notice?

    “Hello, Brinks? I’m going to collect my $100 million lottery winnings check, and I need an armed escort to the bank.”

    Hey, somebody’s got to win. Isn’t it my turn yet? Maybe I should buy a ticket.

    “I think I’ll take the Lamborghini today. I drove the Ferrari yesterday.”

    Besides, the Ferrari clashes with my outfit, and I don’t have time to change.

  • Michele Bachmann’s Waterloo

    FactCheck.org:

    The GOP lawmaker’s presidential campaign starts with a slew of off-base claims

    Summary

    Rep. Michele Bachmann officially joined the presidential campaign trail, but made a flurry of false and misleading claims along the way.

    The Minnesota Republican appeared on two Sunday talk shows the day before giving her formal announcement speech in Waterloo, Iowa. On the shows, she made false statements about income from her family farm and government subsidies to her husband’s business. She also made misstatements regarding earmarks, federal pay, government-owned “limousines” and health care:

    * Bachmann falsely claimed that she and her husband “have never gotten a penny” from a family farm that received federal subsidies. But she reported income from the farm in 2006, 2008 and 2009 — the most recent year available — on her congressional financial disclosure statements.
    * She claimed she had been “faithful” to her pledge not to request federal earmarks. But she requested $40 million in transportation earmarks in the 2009 fiscal year budget after taking the pledge, later claiming such projects should not be subjected to her promise. She withdrew her requests after the House Republicans took a party position in 2010 not to seek earmarks.
    * Bachmann wrongly blamed President Obama for increasing the number of federal transportation workers who earn more than $170,000 from one to 1,690 during the recession. At least two-thirds of those employees were receiving more than $170,000 before Obama took office.
    * She criticized the president for a 73 percent increase in government “limousines.” But one department accounted for the increase, and it had a long-term plan, pre-dating Obama, to add armored vehicles. The term “limousine” includes armored vehicles and sedans, not just actual limos.
    * She claimed government money received by her husband’s counseling clinics did not benefit the business, because the funds paid for employee training. It’s true the clinics received $24,041 for training, but the business received thousands more in government funds, including money for treating crime victims.
    * The three-term congresswoman repeated — on two Sunday shows —the false claim that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the federal health care law will “cost the economy 800,000 jobs.” The CBO never said that. It said there will be a “small” impact on jobs.

    When she got to Waterloo to deliver her first official campaign speech, Bachmann made her now viral gaffe in saying that tough-guy actor John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. The Duke was born in Winterset, Iowa, and was raised in California. It was John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer, who was from Waterloo.

    Analysis

    Rep. Michele Bachmann announced on June 27 that she will run for president. In advance of her announcement, she appeared on the Sunday talk shows on Fox News and CBS. The headlines from her Sunday appearances were dominated by a question posed to her by “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace, who asked Bachmann if she is a “flake.” He later apologized.

    We aren’t interested so much in what questions she was asked, but rather how she answered them — beginning with another question by Wallace about the Bachmann family farm.

    No Income from Family Farm?

  • Congressional Bills Introduced; Abortion, Employment and Feminine Hygiene Products

    The following are bills introduced into Congress last week referring to the field of women’s issues, as organized by Women’s Policy, Inc:

    Abortion 

    S. 1241—-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)/Judiciary (6/21/11) — A bill to prohibit taking minors across state lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions.

    H.R. 2299—-Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)/Judiciary (6/22/11) — A bill to prohibit taking minors across state lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions.

    Child Protection

    S. 1234—-Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)/Finance (6/20/11) — A bill to reauthorize grants to assist children affected by methamphetamine or other substance abuse under the promoting safe and stable families program.

    Education 

    S. 1269—-Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (6/23/11)—A bill to require the secretary of Education to collect information from coeducational secondary schools on such schools’ athletic programs, and for other purposes.

    H.R. 2331—-Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)/Education and the Workforce (6/23/11) —A bill to assist states in making voluntary high quality universal prekindergarten programs available to three- to five-year-olds for at least one year preceding kindergarten.

    Employment

    S. 1252—-Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)/ Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (6/22/11) — A bill to promote the economic self-sufficiency of low-income women through their increased participation in high-wage, high-demand occupations.

    H.R. 2315—-Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO)/Education and the Workforce (6/23/11) — A bill to promote the economic self-sufficiency of low-income women through their increased participation in high-wage, high-demand occupations where they currently represent 25 percent or less of the workforce.

    H.R. 2364—-Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)/Education and the Workforce, House Administration, Oversight and Government Reform (6/24/11) — A bill to permit leave to care for a domestic partner, parent-in-law, adult child, sibling, grandchild, or grandparent who has a serious health condition, and for other purposes.

    Family Support

    H.R. 2346—-Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)/ Education and the Workforce, Oversight and Government Reform, House Administration, and Ways and Means (6/23/11) — A bill to improve the lives of working families by providing family and medical need assistance, child care assistance, in-school and afterschool assistance, family care assistance, and encouraging the establishment of family-friendly workplaces.

  • Alchemy in France: Roquefort’s Legendary Tradition

    by Jane Shortall

    I finally made a trip I’ve long wanted to do, a sort of four day pilgrimage really, to a special town in the department of Aveyron.Roquefort

    It’s not a big town, indeed it looks like many others in rural Southern France, but the name is instantly recognised all over the world. My first impression was of vibrant, flower bedecked streets. Buildings are painted in an array of stunning colours and there is a feeling of prosperity in the air as the proud citizens go about their business.

    Meanwhile, deep underground, in shadowy caves where the sun’s rays never reach, where the air is damp, mouldy and humid, something akin to a miracle is taking place.

    Some caves are enormous, with corridors you can walk through, others are smaller but share the same advantage; the curious cool air that blows through the cracks, pits and corridors, creating a perfect atmosphere. Down here, far away from light, in a temperature that stays at ten degrees and with ninety-five percent humidity, alchemy is at work.

    This is no ordinary town; we are in Roquefort, where under the very streets, thanks to nature providing this unique, moist, cool microclimate, one of the world’s favourite foods, the one they call the King of Cheeses, is slowly maturing.

    Nobody can really say when Roquefort was first discovered, but locals tell of the legend of the young shepherd, who, on seeing a beautiful girl, left his lunch of bread and cheese in a cave and followed her. On his return he found the bread too mouldy to eat, but the cheese, which had turned blue, was delicious. This story is thought to be from the days when the Neolithic shepherds drove their flocks right up from the plains of the Mediterranean coast to the rich meadows of this part of France, four thousand years ago.

    So loved is this fabulous cheese that Louis 14th decreed it should be protected forever. Further protected, that is, since a French crown patent had already protected Roquefort in 1411. The King was by no means the first foodie to pass this way. When the Romans built the Via Domitia, linking the Pyrenees with Italy, the route passed not so far from Roquefort. The precious cheese would be sent over to the coast and then by sea down to Rome, where wealthy aristocrats paid high prices for it.