Unfettered Letters

Council on women just first step

We applaud President Barack Obama on his recent executive order in creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. His efforts to ensure that cabinet-level agencies coordinate their policies and programs that affect women and families are sorely needed.

However, we join with more than 50 national organizations in supporting congressional legislation that would go one step further and create a permanent Presidential Commission on Women. President Obama’s council — which currently is set up as an interagency task force with no full-time staff, no Cabinet-level leader and no set meeting schedule — is only the first step

The proposed bipartisan commission, patterned after a similar presidential commission created by President Kennedy in 1961, would address the inequalities that women experience, particularly now in our precarious economy.

The council alone, however, cannot achieve its goals. It will require the coordination and combined efforts of Congress and all federal agencies. The Council cannot just be an attempt to undo disastrous women’s policies by the former Bush administration. A dedicated commission would make sure that women are in equitable power at every level of government across the country — which is instrumental in affecting policies that currently put women at a disadvantage.

Stacey G. Newman
Executive director,
Missouri Women’s Coalition
St. Louis

Sick of silly women

This letter has been brought on by “The Bachelor,” the reunification of Chris Brown and Rihanna and the show “Tool Academy,” among many countless other examples. I don’t know about you, but I am sick of silly women! A few silly women make us all look bad.

From one single woman to others, please consider this advice:

Have some respect for yourself.

Believe that you are worth pursuing and waiting for.

There’s nothing wrong with being a little reserved. It adds to the mystery.

Choose to love a man who loves you.

Believe that there are nice men out there. If you believe this is true, you are less likely to pine away for garbage.

I am an unmarried woman in what is said to be one of the worst cities in America in which to be single. It can be difficult and frustrating, but please, ladies, let’s all grow up and quit being a bunch of whiny clowns.

When we demand more, men will take all of us more seriously.

Shannon French
Kansas City

Support for ERA in Kansas

Kansas is debating whether to add an Equal Rights Amendment to the Kansas Constitution (2/26, Local).

The opposition is trying to frame the debate by making the slippery-slope and fear arguments. They make the usual charges of abortion conspiracy, that it will invalidate rape laws, and that it would d be a pathway to gay marriage. Beyond the fact that these arguments are absurd, one must only look to the 22 states that have ERAs to know the claims are ridiculous.

Many states with ERAs have stricter abortion laws, and Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania courts have held that their ERAs do not allow for any change to abortion provisions existing in their states. The 22 ERA states all have laws against rape, and we already have an anti-gay marriage amendment.

When all fear and smear are debunked, the ERA is simply a collective constitutional commitment. It incorporates into the Constitution the prohibition of sex discrimination. While there are federal and state laws that address sex discrimination, it’s not the same as a constitutional commitment. Laws can be repealed and revoked at any time.

Support the ERA.

Marla Patrick
State Coordinator, Kansas National Organization for Women
Lindsborg, Kan.

Caroline Kennedy should run for Senate

If Caroline Kennedy wants to be a U.S. senator, she should run for election to the office just as Kansas’ Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker did.

If you will recall, Nancy was the first woman ever elected to the Senate without previously being appointed to serve out an uncompleted term, i.e., not to run in the general election as an incumbent.

In Nancy’s case, there was probably a factor of name recognition in her victory. She won the Republican primary as the most recognizable name against 12 or so opponents, at a time when winning the Republican primary was tantamount to election in the general election. Many Kansans remembered her father, Alf Landon — former governor of Kansas and Republican opponent against Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1936 general election — with high esteem and affection.

Nancy, who did not have a lot of government experience, served as a senator with competence, if not with distinction. And there was no question as to her legitimacy, as she had won the votes.

Harvey A. Jetmore Jr.
Lenexa

You’d better believe PMS is real

A woman in the article “What do doctors know about PMS?” (12/6, FYI) was dismayed that her male physician didn’t believe PMS existed.

I heard the same remark 25 years ago from my male physician, who was fresh out of medical school. He told me I needed a psychiatrist. I cried for a week. Dried my eyes and thought the most un-young-lady-like thoughts about that so-called doctor. I wished for more female doctors.

It’s a shame girls still have to wonder. Some will not get symptoms; some will have severe ones.

Nevertheless, my reply is, “Yes, Virginia, there is PMS.”

Holly Franking
Leawood

Let him call me ‘sweetie’

Barbara VanBeber (10/16, Voices) seems to be offended because Barack Obama called a female reporter “sweetie.”

If that’s the worst word he has uttered after speaking day after day ad nauseam for how long this campaign has been going on now, I would call it a miracle. Obama apologized to the reporter after it slipped out of his mouth.

I am 80 years old, and I would be thrilled to death if Obama called me “sweetie.” I wouldn’t want an apology, either.

Norma Barsky
Merriam

Sarah Palin’s debate wink

What’s wrong with cute is the same thing that is wrong with profane.

Diane Stafford was very thorough in pointing out the downside of Sarah Palin’s wink and folksy manner of speech (10/9, Business, “Let’s not wink at careless gesture”).

It would be nice to look past the superficial aspects of a candidate’s appearance or speech or behavior — not to mention race or age or gender — and focus on the content of their character and ideas. But for most of us, surface matters, speech matters and behavior matters.

When protestors at Kent State University in May 1970 were vilified as subhuman and shot by the Ohio National Guard, I was shocked. I laid the blame on the narrow-mindedness of the pro-war “adult” generation.

Now that I am 65, I know that the grooming habits, drug use, “free love” and profanity of some of the protestors gave excuses to those who despised dissent anyway.

Let us try to focus on the issues and the leadership strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. It would help if they would show us their true depth.

Phil Rhoads
Overland Park

Diane Stafford’s recent column chastising Sarah Palin for her wink during the vice presidential debate officially raises this non-issue to the level of absurdity.

To Ms. Stafford and all who would characterize the gesture as that of a red state Mata Hari, let the record show that Palin explicitly directed the wink and accompanying greeting to her father, who was seated in the audience.

If your preferred rhetorical style is Harvard-educated gravitas, I respect your choice. But to confuse colloquial expression and being plainspoken for a lack of professionalism or credibility is more than misguided. It’s prejudiced.

Rick Lucas
Overland Park

Diane Stafford’s comments were so true. After a long struggle by professional women to advance in the business world, it is unbelievable that someone as unprofessional as Sarah Palin would be considered by anyone as a good pick for vice president of the United States. But then, John McCain is an old boy from the era of women being considered tokens.

Barbara Weians
Parkville

Why Palin irks liberal women

The relentless criticism of Sarah Palin has more to do with her gender and conservative views than her qualifications.

Democrats are upset because John McCain didn’t get the memo that only Democrats are allowed to nominate women. Liberals are upset because McCain didn’t get the memo that only women with liberal views are worthy of representing women.

Democrats and liberals want desperately to keep Republicans in the imaginary box Democrats portray them in. For Republicans to deviate from the stereotype Democrats have conjured up about them is an outrage and must be stomped out quickly.

Democrats believe they have the exclusive right to promote the progress of women in politics. Now the Republicans have stolen the ball, and the unthinkable is now a possibility: The first woman to ascend to the White House may do so in a Republican presidency.

Bob Hoffman
Olathe

Women vs. mayor’s wife

Just as women are the most vicious of the Sarah Palin bashers, the women of Kansas City’s City Council just like to pile on (9/25, A-1, “Women lead push against KC mayor’s wife”). It’s like a catfight.

While they say they seek “professionalism,” I believe what they really long for are the good old days when Carol Coe and Saundra McFadden-Weaver brought real “professionalism” to City Hall.

Stephen G. Spruill
Pleasant Hill

I couldn’t disagree more with Councilwoman Jan Marcason when she said, “If you work in an office environment, you know you need to separate your personal life from your professional life.”

This attitude is a throwback to the ’70s and ’80s. Perhaps it’s a philosophy of her generation, but the modern female professional is striving for a work-life balance. Perhaps Councilwoman Marcason should take a time-management course to learn about this concept. Or take a look at how extremely successful corporations — including IBM, Microsoft and Southwest Airlines — allow their employees to strike a balance more easily between personal and professional commitments by offering flexible alternatives.

If Mayor Funkhouser and his wife choose to work side by side, then that’s their choice. I agree with East Side neighborhood advocate Mary Mittenfelner, who said the people of Kansas city voted for Mayor Funkhouser to be mayor, not for the City Council to run the mayor’s office.

Marci Braybrooks
Overland Park

Real issues matter to women

Gary Pederson (9/20, Letters, “Women picking on Palin”) doesn’t get it. He wrote “liberal females are bashing Gov. Palin because she is opposite of them: a meat-eating, gun-shooting, good looking, pro-drilling, decision-making, heterosexual, female, basketball-playing, churchgoing mother who didn’t abort any of her children.”

Is it possible females are criticizing Gov. Palin because they don’t believe she is qualified based on education and experience, not because she eats meat and played basketball? Do those attributes mentioned by Mr. Pederson have anything to do with being qualified to be vice president or president of the U.S.?

Pederson apparently thinks women aren’t smart enough to judge candidates based on education, experience, knowledge and judgment, but instead focus only on candidates’ looks, lifestyles, food preferences or hobbies. That is insulting to all females — liberal, conservative or somewhere in between.

Teresa Fry
Kansas City