BlogHers Act

BlogHer is trying to harness the power of women on the internet. They are asking women bloggers to identify two different things:

1. Choose a global issue as BlogHer's hot-button issue of the year.

My choice? Well...it is a tough one. On the one hand, I'd like to see folks address issues of global poverty and workers' conditions all over the world -- shouldn't all trade be "fair trade"? Like Leslie Morgan Steiner of the Washington Post blog On Balance, I'd also like to see women's rights improve globally. One way to address this issue might be through the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Many countries have not ratified this document because it would require them to treat women as human rather than second-class citizens. While I'm not sure that universal ratification would materially change things for women in other countries, I do think it is an important first step in changing attitudes.

2. Election '08 -- what four issues would you like to see presidential candidates address?

*How to end the war in Iraq and rebuild our tarnished reputation abroad.

*ERA now. It's back, we need it. I want my rights as a woman to be protected in the constitution. I do not believe in any of this "universal he" crap. You know, I heard that in the '70's French feminists got their rights enshrined in the constitution by buying billboards that said "Fifty percent of men are women". So women would have to risk being drafted. In my mind that is a tiny price to pay.

*Big money in politics and the two party system. I know it will never happen, but I would like to see the US change to a multi-party system because I think it will decrease the effect of lobbiests on the government. I think our current system is corrupt because it doesn't serve all of the people, like a democracy should -- instead it serves corporations.

*Health Care. Preferably universal.

What do you all want? Post here!