Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Women In Iowa Politics: Parts 1 to 5


In Billy Wilder’s terrific 1948 romantic comedy, “A Foreign Affair,” actress Jean Arthur, who died in 1991, played a character that has yet to exist in real life: an Iowa congresswoman.

Recently, in a five-part series for Iowa Independent.com, I examined the cultural, social and political reasons by this awfully embarassing fact: Iowa has never elected a congresswoman or a woman to the U.S. Senate or governor's mansion.

It’s interesting to watch this movie in 2007, to see the casual cigarette smoking in all places, the cruise-ship sexism of the Americans in Berlin, the antiquated speech and other cultural relics — and then realize that the back story for the marquee character is more progressive than anything that actually has happened for women in Iowa politics in the last 59 years.

Here are links to the five-part series:

1. Part 1: 1948 Movie More Progressive Than 2007 Iowa.
2. Part 2: The Hillary Question.
3. Part 3: Could 6+6=0?.
4. Part 4: Smiling Without Looking Stupid.
5. Part 5: The Woman Who Should Be First In Iowa.

Is Bush Administration Targeting Transgender Americans?

(Cross-posted at Iowa Independent.com)
The executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association tells Iowa Independent today that he believes the Bush Administration is using the IRS to target the nation's transgender population.

Joel Ginsberg of the GLMA says he is disappointed with the IRS decision to disallow a deduction for a 57-year-old Bostonian who underwent a sex-change operation and sought to write off $25,000 in expenses on her taxes.

The IRS is fighting out the matter with the woman in U.S. Tax Court.

“It just saddens me that tax policy is being used in this administration to target a vulnerable segment of the population,” Ginsberg tells Iowa Independent.

He added, “I do wonder whether the larger goal is to discredit the idea of gender transition.”

It would make more sense for the IRS to use its limited resources on going after million-dollar-plus tax cheats, Ginsberg said.

Read the rest of the story at Iowa Independent.com.