Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Sometimes, you just have to admit how wrong you were. Here is my confession: I was wrong about Hillary Rodham Clinton. As a Republican, I had typical Republican views of her. Even when I became a Democrat (and a feminist), I didn't like her. Part of it was that I was caught up in the Obama craze of the 2008 campaign. I insisted that I didn't want the first woman president to be someone riding their husband's coat tails. When she did an amazing job as Secretary of State, my view of her started to change. After reading her memoirs, I can't believe that I continued to think of her in that way for as long as I did past my Republican days.

She was accomplished in her own regards before she even met Bill Clinton. She kept her name after marrying him until giving into pressure to add Clinton for HIS political future. (Myth I used to believe: She only added Clinton when she wanted the name recognition for her political career.)

One part I loved and completely relate to right now was this part: "I joked about the Irish television personality who had recently welcomed a group of women lawmakers to his show by asking "Who's minding the children?" I smiled and said "I long for the day when men are asked the same question."

It drives me nuts that Adam is hardly ever asked this, even though we both work. And as much as I love the man, he annoyed me recently when he wouldn't tell his boss the reason he needed a specific night off each week was that he needed to be home with Brayden because I was going to have to work that night each week. All he would say to his boss was that he needed Thursday nights off. His boss ket scheduling him anyways, which I think might not have happened had he explained his reasons for needing it off. (Anyways, back to the book review-)

I also related to her take on abortion. I had read a quote by her last year that I agree with- "abortion should be safe, legal, and rare." It was interesting to read a longer explanation of her views. "When I defend my pro-choice position in the debate over abortion in our country, I frequently refer to Romania, where pregnancy could be monitored on behalf of the state, and to China, where it could be forcibly terminated. One reason I continue to oppose efforts to criminalize abortion is that I do not believe any government should have the power to dictate, through law or police action, a woman's most personal decisions."

She went into more detail of the Lewinsky scandal than I thought she would. Reading that part was hard. It made me wonder something, though. One argument against her is that she only stayed married to him for her own political career. I don't know if I believe that anymore. I think that she got flak from both sides of that issue. At the end of the day, it was her decision to make and she made it. I almost think people (not me, but some people) would have respected her more had she left him.

I wanted her to write more about her first few years in the Senate. Hopefully she'll eventually write another memoir that focuses on her time in the Senate, her time as Secretary of State, and maybe even her time as President. I know I'll vote for her if she runs in 2016.

Utah Senator Mike Lee and the Violence Against Women Act

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was first signed into law in 1994 by then President Bill Clinton. From Wikipedia: "The Act provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice."

The bill ended at the beginning of 2013 after failing to be reauthorized during the 2012 legislative session. All of the women in the Senate (with the exception of Nebraska's Republican Senator Deb Fischer) co-sponsored the bill to be brought for a vote during this session.

Utah's own Senator Mike Lee was one of only eight senators to vote against considering the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. It is likely that Lee is against added provisions that expanded the number of visas available to illegal immigrants who are victims of domestic abuse (a provision that has already been dropped), as well as provisions that protect LGBT victims of violence and Native American victims of domestic violence. However, Senator Lee is somewhat infamous for explaining away his very partisan votes with his extreme beliefs about unconstitutionality.

Lee has not spoken about his vote today, but his argument against the 2012 bill can be found here: "The Violence Against Women Act oversteps the Constitution’s rightful limits on federal power. Violent crimes are regulated and enforced almost exclusively by state governments. In fact, domestic violence is one of the few activities that the Supreme Court of the United States has specifically said Congress may not regulate under the Commerce Clause. As a matter of constitutional policy, Congress should not seek to impose rules and standards as conditions for federal funding in areas where the federal government lacks constitutional authority to regulate directly."

For ways to contact Senator Lee, look here. You can be sure I'll be sending him an email myself. If I get a response, I'll be sure to post it.

Cross-posted from Remember in November

Currently

Humming Mumford & Sons- When I don't have an audio book to listen to at work, I usually end up shuffling through Mumford & Sons songs

Drinking Nothing at the moment, but I seem to have gotten myself hooked on Diet Coke again

Worrying about doing our taxes and what bills we'll get for Brayden's surgery

Working on my first coursera class, the Remember in November blog following the Utah State Legislature, and getting back into going to the gym

Wondering about preschools

Reading Letters From Exile: The Correspondence of Martha Hughes Cannon and Angus M. Cannon and Paranoid Park by Blake Nelson (Just goes to show the very wide variety of books I read!)

Wishing that I had a few more hours in the day

Remembering the good things in life

Beginning to think about my identity outside of "Mom" a little more

Getting more and more interested in Buffy the Vampire Slayer