Chapter 24: Accelerating Global Interaction Part 2

This last section of the chapter talks about the world's environment.  The three factors that are focused on are: population increase, use of fossil fuels, and economic growth.  It is amazing that the population has quadrupled going into the 20th century.  During 2000, the idea of global warming became the main focus with it's burning fossil fuels that effect the ozone layer.  The United States alone contributes 30% of global warming, it is no surprise since the US is a super power that distributes a lot of fossil fuels.

Women's Issues In Presidential Race

The fight for the “working women” in the Presidential campaign began in earnest last week with Hilary Rosen’s claim that Ann Romney is “out of touch with women’s issues” because, while Mrs. Romney is nice woman and to be admired for raising a family and overcoming a disease, she just has no experience with the economic issues women are facing since she has “never actually worked a day in her life.” Understanding their voting power, Ms. Rosen comments were directed at women, who constitute 46 percent of the workforce and 52 percent of the voters.
The aggregate power of women voters will ultimately determine the message "niches" used in the 2012 White House bid. Ms. Rosen’s “wedge-driving” remarks are clearly aimed at the marketing niche of working women, in an effort to alienate this significant voting block from Ms. Romney.
Rosen’s statements would be amusing, if they weren’t so offensive.  Ms. Rosen is a campaign strategist for the president, and certainly understands the consequences of her comments. She must also have calculated that the Democratic Party—the party that hails itself as the party of “choice” for women—has taken Ms. Romney’s choice of homemaker as a career, the path of board membership on civic and political organizations, the life of volunteer service (impacting lives of women and children through equine therapy, literacy outreach, and sports programs for children with severe disabilities) and devalues the woman and these significant and meaningful contributions.
Ms. Rosen attempted to create a “we vs. they” scenario by vilifying Ms. Romney’s choice as a homemaker, and making her appear “lesser than” the “working” woman.
Mobilizing the coveted universal, married and working woman is challenging, as this universe transcends traditional segmentation and crosses over socio-economic strata. No matter what explanation is provided, in the name of work/life balance, many women in this category do not fully and consistently “lean into” politics in the same fashion as men.  At some point many women stop demanding ideological politics because the “realities of life” carry a series of other demands.
Ms. Rosen attempted to polarize working women against Ms. Romney by saying Ms. Romney “never actually worked a day in her life.”  The message here is that by not working somehow Ms. Romney is “out of touch” with the day-to-day struggles of the working woman. Because the economy ranks highest in the wheelhouse of concerns for working women, one can only conclude these comments were purposeful and calculated. In light of a recent report from the Pew Research Center that found "women represent the only group for whom employment growth has lagged behind population growth in the recovery."
By differentiating Ms. Romney, Rosen implied that Republicans do not understand the struggles of working women and therefore cannot represent them as well as their counterparts.
John Sculley, former President of Pepsi and CEO of Apple once said, "No great marketing decisions have ever been made on qualitative data."
Numbers show that wedge issues in niche, female-centric markets, will continue to dominate the female vote. Politics is the war of moving numbers and the flexibility to message to women depends largely on understanding their complexities and real concerns. Ms. Rosen’s comments are made to strip the GOP of a strong and credible female voice by painting it as “out of touch” with real women, who are the backbone of both parties. Every woman should understand the strength of her voice. The travesty with this latest attempt at dividing women is that no one wins.

http://mauldin.patch.com/articles/gender-the-elephant-in-the-room-of-the-presidential-race

Women Of The Arab Spring

Last month, a delegation of members from the U.S. House of Representatives, which I was honored to lead, met with inspiring women of North Africa who are helping to change the world.

In Cairo, Egypt; Tunis, Tunisia; and Tripoli, Libya, we held discussions with women who are committed to ensuring that women have a seat at the table and are able to succeed in this rapidly changing and strategically important region. It is an uphill climb, but there is no better time than the present.

The women we met were outspoken in their belief that the new governments must be truly democratic, and that longstanding biases against full participation by women in their society must be abolished. These women came from many different backgrounds and viewpoints, yet they are aware that while their moment is now, the obstacles are great.

Some had participated in the massive Arab Spring demonstrations that challenged decades of autocratic rule. Others had studied in the United States and other countries and then returned to build a future where women's voices are equal to those of men. Some are already serving in government but spoke about a need for more women to serve and to lead in forming new democracies in the Middle East.

One message came through clearly in every discussion: They look to the United States as an essential partner in their efforts to build democratic societies.

Women journalists played a crucial role in the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Women are already deeply involved in rebuilding the political and economic systems of their country. Although just 10 of more than 500 members of the new parliament are women, the signal we received is that Egyptian women are committed to expanding their influence and their ranks, and to ensuring that the constitution under development will fully protect the rights of women in Egypt.

Similarly in Tunisia, Deputy Speaker Mehrezia Labidi pledged to lead the effort for women's rights and secular law in her nation. Women already hold 26% of the seats in the Constituent Assembly, which is responsible for drafting Tunisia's Constitution.

The determination of Tunisian women has been demonstrated outside the legislative chambers as well. In the midst of unrest at the University of Manouba, a young woman watched outraged as a zealot tore down her country's flag, and she then courageously climbed the flagpole to restore the flag to its rightful place, winning the plaudits of her countrymen.

Fundamental to opening opportunities to women in public and private life is expanding their access to education. The young women with whom we met in Tripoli were unanimous in their belief that improving the quality of education for all Libyans is essential to the success of their revolution and the modernization of their country, particularly in light of the utter failure of the nation's secondary schools and universities under Moammar Gadhafi.

What I heard from the women of North Africa was a refrain I have also heard in Iraq and Afghanistan and throughout the Middle East: Women and young people are weary of war. They are fed up with leaders who use ideology, religion and war to distract from the real challenges to peace, prosperity and democracy: a lack of education, a failure to provide jobs and economic opportunity, and the subjugation of women. They employed social media such as Facebook and Twitter to circumvent the repression imposed for decades by autocratic regimes and demonstrated astonishing bravery to liberate their countries from tyranny.

They have succeeded in that first phase: Gadhafi, Mubarak and Tunisia's Zine el Abidine Ben Ali are gone. These young women are under no illusions about the challenges they face. They are deeply committed to building democratic societies, and they are looking to us. We cannot fail them.

Leaders throughout North Africa and the Middle East must honor the role women played in freeing their countries: All their citizens -- including women -- have important contributions to make at this historic moment. That is a lesson it has taken the United States many generations to learn, but it is surely one of the most important pieces of wisdom we can share with developing democracies around the world.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/03/opinion/pelosi-women-africa-democracy/index.html

Chapter 24: Accelerating Global Interaction

The following Chapter talks about the idea of globalization which is the idea of international transactions and global commerce which is The exchange or buying and selling of commodities. During the 20th century the world started to have political relationships, cultural influences, and economic transactions.   The world was being brought together as means of trade and to make profit, but most importantly to improve the economy.   

MLK ANd Ghandi Quotes

"To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest" (Ghandi)

This quote means that what is the point in believing and having faith in life if you just give up on it and not fulfill it?  Yeah there are always obstacles, but it is up to each and every person to overcome those obstacles.  You must always believe.

 "A man who won't die for something is not fit to live" (MLK)

The same as Ghandi's quote, a person must always stand by their morals and not live in fear from them.  The power of believing is a powerful weapon, one that can and will change the world.  It will take time, but one day it will come true.  Always keep your head up no matter what.

Chapter 23

This chapter begins with Nelson Mandela who was in prison for 27 years and when he got out he became president of South Africa in 1994.  During this time many countries got their freedom, countries like: India,Pakistan, Syria, the Phillipines, Jordan, and Israel.  People like Ghandi were introduced who fought and wanted their freedom.

Chapter 22: Feminism and Communism Part 2

This last section really intrigued me because the term used to describe the problems between the United States and the Soviet Union(Russia) and that term is "The Cold War."  It is called that because it really wasn't a war it was more of a competition, mainly the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.  The Soviet Union was the first nation to send a satellite into space, which caused American to be extremely scared and paranoid since Americans saw it as the Soviets becoming more advanced with their technology and they feared that the satellite was going to attack.  At that time things were more extreme than they are now.  The U.S. tried to out beat the Soviets by sending Apollo 11 to the moon.  The U.S. was the first nation to put man on the moon.  The other thing talked about was the Cuban Missile Crisis where at the time President Kennedy was in office when this event happened.  The way it happened was that U.S. jets flew over Cuba since it was their territory at the time and took survaillence photos of missiles being set up in Cuba with the Soviet logo on it.  This caused fear because a nuclear war could erupt with a simple push of a button by the Soviets and it was so close to the United States.  Kennedy decided that the U.S should make a blockade to prevent more missiles from coming in and it worked and the U.S. promised to remove their secret missiles that were located in Italy and Turkey as long as the Soviets got rid of theirs.  Crazy stuff