Wonk’s Saturday Reads: Sleepyhead

CLICK FOR TRANSCRIPT/VIDEO (...at one point Hillary gets asked to comment on the passing of Betty Ford.)

Morning, news junkies… I’m really exhausted, so this is going to be a pretty basic rundown of links and snippets, nothing fancy or earth-shattering in the way of two cents from me.

This week’s Hillary photo:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton hold a press conference at bilateral meetings at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 2011. [STATE DEPT. PHOTO/PUBLIC DOMAIN.]

The Chicago Sun Times’ Lynn Sweet has got another photo worth catching if you missed it this week:

Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan at Betty Ford funeral.

Also from a Grand Rapids press report: The Westboro creeps “didn’t show as threatened, but members of a group promoting tolerance came just in case with intentions of shielding the funeral from members of the Kansas-based hate group.”

Via the BBC’s Kim Ghattas:

On the road with Hillary Clinton.

(Also give Kim’s interview with Hillary a look. And, here’s an international headline based on one of Hillary’s answers to Ghattas: Clinton Ready to Retire from ‘Merry-Go-Round.’)

In “water is wet” news, John Kerry can’t wait to step in Hillary’s place on that merry-go-round…

NYT Mag profile: The All-American.

Globetrotting with Hillary…

CNN reports: The Energizer Secretary embarks on another world tour. (“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived Friday in Istanbul, the start of a 12-day journey that, in typical Hillary fashion, will straddle the globe, taking her to Europe, India and East Asia.”) The Guardian’s takeaway: Hillary Clinton circumnavigates a sphere of diminishing US influence. Dipnote Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Travels to Turkey, Greece, India, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

My Dipnote picks of the week:

Women Leaders as Agents of Change: Caribbean Regional Colloquium. (“In a personal video message, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sent her greetings and congratulations to participants and organizers. Participants received the video enthusiastically, commenting that they felt encouraged and inspired by the Secretary’s interest and support.”)

U.S. Launches “Women in Trade Initiative” in Pakistan.

The Impact of Diplomacy and Development on Economic Prosperity.

Food for thought… Still4Hill’s take on Madame Secretary’s response to the assassination of Hamid Karzai’s brother…

Hillary Clinton: A Giant Shadow.

Good News from GetEqual.org:

After 17,000 petition signatures and a 75-person rally… Immigration Judge Postpones Deportation Proceedings For Two Years, Allowing Married Gay Binational Couple to Remain in U.S.

Via TDP (Texas Democratic Party):

MeetRickPerry.com (TDP is still in the building stages of this site right now, so the homepage is a fundraising push at this point… but I still thought this was amusing and wanted to share.)

Via Jodi Jacobson at RH Reality Check…

NYT: The Courts Stand Up for Access to Reproductive Health Care. (“While these rulings are preliminary,” states the editorial, “each is a determination that enforcing the law would cause irreparable harm and that the plaintiffs are likely to prevail at trial.”)

Bloomberg article on Indian women in finance (h/t Dakinikat):

Top Women at India Banks Prove ICICI CEO Factory Gender Neutral. (“I never thought the banking industry was male dominated because I could see Chanda Kochhar lead such a big bank,” Mistry says in the sunlit classroom. “Chanda is my inspiration because I want to join banking.”)

The loquacious veep’s first tweet:

“Just met w/Cabinet re unacceptable violence against HS+college women; tasked agencies to mobilize all assets to attack this problem – VP”

Dean Baker, from the Bastille Day edition of Counterpunch:

Economic Illiteracy...

In the same vein, when a politician asserts that Social Security is going bankrupt and that there will not be anything left for her children or grandchildren, serious reporters would ridicule her for being ignorant of the Social Security trustees projections. These projections show that even if nothing is ever done to change the program, future beneficiaries will always be able to collect a higher benefit than current retirees. The “nothing there for our children” would be treated as a serious gaffe, sort of like then-Senator Obama’s comment before the Pennsylvania primary about working class people being bitter and clinging to guns and religion. The difference is that the Social Security comment has direct relevance for policies that affect people’s lives. […] If economic and political reporters applied the same sort of investigative zeal to economic and budget reporting as they did to Representative Anthony Weiner tweeting pictures of underwear, we would have a much better informed public. Not only would the news stories that we see and hear be much more informative, but politicians would be less likely to make things up to advance their political agenda.

This Day in Women’s History (July 16)

Emily Stowe... click to read bio.

1880: Emily Stowe becomes the first female physician licensed to practice medicine in Canada. From the link:

Inspired by a woman’s meeting she attended in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1876 Emily Stowe founded the Toronto Women’s Literary Club (in 1883 reorganized as the Canadian Women’s Suffrage Association). Members prepared papers on women’s professional achievements, education, and the vote. The Literary Club campaigned successfully to improve women’s working conditions. Stowe lectured on “Women’s Sphere” and “Women in the Professions.” She said that a woman “ought to understand the laws governing her own being.” Because of pressure by the Literary Club, some higher education in Toronto was made available to women—though Stowe protested that the medical course first planned for women was substandard. Stowe campaigned for better medical education for women and influenced several eminent physicians. In 1883 a public meeting of the Toronto Women’s Suffrage Association led to the creation of the Ontario Medical College for Women.

That’s it for me. What’s on your blogging list?

[originally posted at Let Them Listen; crossposted at Sky Dancing and Taylor Marsh]