Now I need to be honest here about a few things. I call myself a Jewish agnostic. I am culturally Jewish but I am a "strong agnostic" so I do not fit into the following article. Also I am a gay man. I know the gay/lesbian/Bi/transgender community all will be impacted by this potentially, however for sake of discussion and to save on time/fingers I will just use the word "gay" not to be exclusive but to be able to let my fingers have some rest. However I felt the need to bring it to the attention of everyone as I think it very much attacks the fundamentalist Christian position on gay "agenda" (snark).

For those of you that want to read the actual article, it is from an APA publication which is not in the free public domain so I cannot direct you to a copy of it to review and read. However the study was published in the June issue of the Journal of Family Psychology. Co-authors are Eric Clausell of the University of Illinois, Kate Kuvalanka of Miami University of Ohio, and Abbie Goldberg of Clark University. You can Google the name of the journal or just go to www.apa.org for more information on the APA or the journals.

<More after the break>

Last Thursday, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5781, the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2008.  This law provides four weeks of paid parental leave for all federal employees. Employees will also for the first time be allowed to use their accrued sick leave for an additional eight weeks of paid leave. By combining the four weeks of paid parental leave with earned sick leave, many federal employees will now be able to get paid for the full 12 weeks of parental leave that is their right under the existing Family and Medical Leave Act.

(updated with new title)

My Dad landed on the beach at Normandy on June 7, 1944, Day Two of the great invasion. I remember him telling what it felt like coming in from England by boat, the smell of kippered herring for breakfast, the sound of artillery echoing across the water, then landing in hell. Lying on the sand, he almost lost his life when a bullet grazed his helmet. One of his buddies never made it off that beach.

Dear Generic Conservative,

Please stop calling my generation lazy, dumb, and useless.

Thanks,
The Future Management

You'll find prior installments HERE.  

See dKos diarist nyceve for the big picture on the Healthcare battlefield.

This series is designed to give you a bird's eye view of healthcare, from the trenches.  

As always, I loathe the insurance companies.  

Let me count the ways, below the fold.

Written by Kristina Gupta, Policy Fellow
National Women's Law Center

The Pew Research Center just released a new report about our prison system, called One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008. According to the report, for the first time in our history, more than 1 in 100 American adults are confined in a prison or jail. Men are still about 10 times more likely to be incarcerated than women, but the female prison population is growing quickly. Incarceration rates for some groups of women are staggeringly high – 1 in 100 Black women between the ages of 35 and 40 are currently incarcerated.

http://nwlc.blogs.com/...

An army wife speaks out about the surge of suicides in those serving in the military and about what is currently going on at the Fort Campbell, KY base because of the suicide scares...

Also includes comments by Polly Coe, a Clarksville, TN based mental health therapist who works with the troops.

Even as Ms. Boen was preparing this article, the issue of soldier suicide exploded on the news front again with these statistics:

Five soldiers attempt suicide everyday
2100 soldiers attempted suicide in 2007, up from 350 in 2002 [before Iraq War] — CNN 2.3.08

(Originally published in Bay Windows, January 10, 2008, and crossposted at Mombian.)

Impact of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' hits children of LGBT servicemembers
Iraq War vet tells of struggles to raise two sons while closeted

Five-year-old William and three-year-old Ryan are the children of decorated U.S. Army officer Cheryl Parker. Like other children of service members, they have dealt with cross-country moves and months without their mother while she was deployed in Iraq. Unlike the others, however, they must forgo many benefits, conveniences and support services offered to military families, or risk revealing that they have another mother, Donna Lewis. This could lead to Parker's dismissal under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, even in LGBT-friendly Massachusetts. (Note: Names and identifying details have been changed to protect the family.)

that he's won Iowa, already has won in Dixville Notch, and could win New Hampshire's primary today is live up to his campaign slogan

"Change We Can Believe In."

He would be doing this by assuming leadership regarding an issue on which the Bush Administration has not led.

Namely New Orleans and Gulf Coast recovery, which need to be prominent in Obama's campaign. Not only by front-paging it on his website, the first thing anybody including media people planning campaign coverage and debate topics sees, but also seizing this issue and making it his stand-out issue. While it is possible to find his rebuilding plan for that city and the communities devastated by Katrina and Rita, it's buried below the fold.

There are many personal reasons why I cannot support Ron Paul for President. I understand the frustrations that people have over the Democrats and the government in general. But there are much more constructive ways of expressing those frustrations, including the primary process. If your elected Democratic representatives are not doing the job, the way to replace them is not to vote to dismantle the whole government, but to replace them with better Democrats.

I can't think of a more appropriate day to talk about religious freedom.

But, first, I'm going to tell you about my Christmas morning -- today, here in southeastern Michigan.

Bear with me. There is a point about religious freedom here -- even though it might not seem like it at first.

Continuing some kind of efforts to find some kind of middle ground on immigration, we continue to build on the policy proposals outlined here. Today, we will discuss the purposes that we should allow immigrants into this country as well as five broad policy goals that we should follow when developing immigration policy.

Congress Should Require the Education Secretary to use her Authority to Improve Benefits on Direct Student Loans.

Clinton has released a new agenda to address the work/family imbalance. As always, Alegre covered it first here.

As for why it is so important, Broadsheet nailed it, using a quote from Obama no less:

A family work/balance agenda could be becoming, dare I say, a must-have. As Obama pointed out in a 2005 speech, "The other side ... make[s] sure that in any given campaign or debate, the only woman's issue that ever comes up is not equal pay or health care or family leave, but the narrowest, most divisive issues like late-term abortion." Perhaps no longer?

Here is a link to the speech that the Obama quote was taken from.

Hillary’s Plan for Working Families: Helping Parents Balance Work & Family was just posted on Hillary’s website and after a quick read of this plan I’ve got to say I’m impressed.  Dammit – this woman GETS IT.  She understands the conflict we face in trying to do our jobs well to earn a paycheck and keep our healthcare coverage, and be there for our children as they grow in to adults.

"Too many Americans feel trapped between being a good parent and being a good worker," Clinton said. "It’s about time we stopped just talking about family values and started pursuing policies that truly value families. All Americans who are working hard and taking responsibility deserve the chance to do right by their children.

"With sound policies and sensible investments, we can give parents more choices to make the decisions that are best for them. We can make life a little easier for everyone – for mothers and for fathers – to do the most important job there is in any society: raising and nurturing the next generation. And that’s the right decision for all of us."

Make the jump...

So... the inevitable happened to me this week.

I have two jobs, two kids, two cars, two pets, and (obviously) too many commitments. Add in a nasty proclivity to procrastinate by hiking around in the glorious autumn sunshine or watching my more-than-glorious Colorado Rockies, and trouble is just around the corner.

How do I handle it? I revert to acting like the college girl I was a quarter of a century ago. I grind up some fresh dark roast, grab a six-pack of diet Mountain Dew, and go to work.

Usually around noon the day before a big project is due - when my anxiety has peaked and my task list has spilled over onto several sheets of paper - I sit myself down at my huge work table, plug in my two laptops, and settle in for thirty hours of straight, focused work.

Let me grab another cup of coffee, then join you below ....

Williamson County Commissioners voted today to end their contract with the now infamous T. Don Hutto Immigrant "Family" detention center. The ACLU and others had recently settled a landmark case against the center. It appears all of the bad publicity surrounding the poor treatment of families and children at this facility finally convinced the commissioners to end the county's contract (Austin American Statesman -- may require registration):

Williamson County commissioners voted today to terminate their contract with the company that operates the controversial T. Don Hutto Residential Center in one year.

The 512-bed Taylor center is one of two in the country that detains children and families while they await outcomes of asylum petitions or deportation. It's operated by a private firm, Corrections Corp. of America.

Saying that the facility has become a liability for the county, commissioners voted to give notice to CCA that the county will end the contract within one year, effective today.

A friend of mine attended a conference last week at Harvard, the purpose of which was to revisit the conclusions of what is known among social scientists and policymakers as The Moynihan Report, written by prominent sociologist, Democrat, and Senator (D-NY) Daniel Patrick Moynihan; its official title is "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action."

The Moynihan Report was written in 1965, when Moynihan was an assistant Secretary of Labor in the Johnson administration. Moynihan's two most prominent findings were that the high unemployment rate for black men was a primary cause of homelessness and family instability in the black community, and that government intervention was necessary to alleviate this problem before the already rising rate of single motherhood in the black community led to the complete dissolution of the traditional family within the black community.