There is no doubt that Sarah Palin has left her mark on the 2008 Presidential election. Now that she is back in Alaska, she is still the target of the MSM in an attempt to neutralize her. The measure of her mark, however can be found at Team Sarah where members are still joining and the membership is just shy of 60,000 members today!
The grassroots effort to unify the conservative voice to be fully prepared for the 2010 election is gaining momentum through a variety of alternative media sites such as Smart Girl Politics, Team Sarah, #dontgo movement, Grizzly Groundswell and the conservative voices on Blogtalk Radio to name just a few.
As we have just finished celebrating a national day of Thanksgiving, it is worthy to reflect on the things that we have to be thankful and for the things that have made this nation great. Sarah Palin is representative of these ideas and ideals and for this we should ask why she represents such a threat to the left in this country? This should explain it:
About Me
- Carolyn
- St. Louis, MO, United States
- What the name sez, Christian, conservative, 2nd amendment supporter. Physician, wife, daughter and loving mother.
Showing posts with label Social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social media. Show all posts
Friday, November 28, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
A Woman's Place is in the Conservative Movement
On November 5, conservatives burned with resolution regarding the need to rebrand and reimage the Republican party or at the very least the conservative message. Recently the discussion has become less heated as many of us have stepped back to consider what needs to be done. In spite of taking some time for reflection and pragmatism, others have been less than silent. Suggestions as to what the Republican party should do have been free flowing. Many pundits see the need to moderate the Republican party and make Republicans more like Democrats. The RINO has been held up as the gold standard for the party suggesting that there should be a large squishy party that stands for nothing and is willing to give up positions in the name of kumbaya. Kathleen Parker wrote a recent column suggesting that GOD is the problem with the Republican party and the sooner that GOD is out of the way, the sooner the Republican party can get on with the business at hand. Mort Kondracke posited that the problem is that the conservatives listen to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Laura Ingraham and this is the root of their problem.
On the other hand, the Dontgo Movement has been revitalized and repositioned to be a grassroots conservative voice in the alternative media, Team Sarah has continued to recruit members with nearly 60,000 women willing to continue to speak out for conservative causes and a newly formulated coalition of conservative women bloggers, Smart Girl Politics, has formed with an active face in the blogosphere and social media. These outlets are designed to take back the real conservative message of smaller government, fiscal responsibility and the socially conservative message that is needed to take back our government from the hands of a socialist DINO. Robert Robb has a cogent column on what this will entail that should be a jumping off point for all conservative movements.
These conservative grassroots/ netroots organizations have the task of organizing and connecting all manner of social, fiscal and religious conservatives together in a cohesive network with a unified message that can begin to compete with the network that the Democrats so successfully wrought to achieve their November victory. While "now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party" as the old typing test says, it may be even more important that "all good women come to the aid of their party."
It is well known in the field of health care that women are their most important focus group. Women have babies and choose a medical caregiver and a hospital or birthing center for this event. They are usually the one who chooses a pediatrician and this choice usually comes from interactions with other moms or with their obstetrician or midwife. Later when it is time for hubby to be dragged kicking and screaming to an internist or specialist, it is usually the wife who does the nagging, the dragging and the choosing. If your child goes to something other than the local public school, it is likely that mom is a driving force in the selection of a private school, and if, God forbid, as Joy Behar says, you are a knuckle dragging idiot who home schools their children, then it is likely that mom bears the brunt of the lesson planning, teaching, homework and time management in order to make it happen. (And just so that I don't get hate mail, this is in no way an indictment against those dads who have taken on role reversal for any one of a variety of excellent reasons--my husband is one of you!)
As women, we hold the future of our children and grandchildren in our hands and it is our responsibility to give them a bright and secure future. We have the chance to teach them the values and factual history that they are no longer learning in school. We should be members of the PTA and school board to fight for the things that are missing in our public schools. We should be engaged in our communities to be sure that we are electing officials who speak for our beliefs and values. We are the ones who should be working for conservative candidates, and especially for strong conservative women candidates. We are usually the volunteers that work in charities and on the boards of non-profit organizations that support conservative causes. The internet has made our world very small and communication very easy. It is high time that we use these mass media tools to educate and energize conservative women everywhere.
The power of a coalition of smart, articulate and educated women cannot be underestimated. We need to engage conservative women from all walks of life into a force with which to be reckoned. We need to be sure that conservative women are as politically articulate (or perhaps even more so) as conservative men. We need to walk hand in hand with our conservative men, just as we walk with them hand in hand in our families. We are the spouses and mothers of our military men and women who hold the home together while loved ones serve far away. We recently learned that conservative women are hated for their clarity of position, but that should only bolster our resolve. Let's face it, women are dedicated, focused, altruistic and capable of great acts of strength, that is why we are mothers. These are characteristics that we bring to the conservative table, too.
We are entering the frenetic Christmas season and one of my favorite Christmas jokes will soon begin circulating through the email channels.
This is what conservative women are made of and what the conservative movement needs for the future!
On the other hand, the Dontgo Movement has been revitalized and repositioned to be a grassroots conservative voice in the alternative media, Team Sarah has continued to recruit members with nearly 60,000 women willing to continue to speak out for conservative causes and a newly formulated coalition of conservative women bloggers, Smart Girl Politics, has formed with an active face in the blogosphere and social media. These outlets are designed to take back the real conservative message of smaller government, fiscal responsibility and the socially conservative message that is needed to take back our government from the hands of a socialist DINO. Robert Robb has a cogent column on what this will entail that should be a jumping off point for all conservative movements.
These conservative grassroots/ netroots organizations have the task of organizing and connecting all manner of social, fiscal and religious conservatives together in a cohesive network with a unified message that can begin to compete with the network that the Democrats so successfully wrought to achieve their November victory. While "now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party" as the old typing test says, it may be even more important that "all good women come to the aid of their party."
It is well known in the field of health care that women are their most important focus group. Women have babies and choose a medical caregiver and a hospital or birthing center for this event. They are usually the one who chooses a pediatrician and this choice usually comes from interactions with other moms or with their obstetrician or midwife. Later when it is time for hubby to be dragged kicking and screaming to an internist or specialist, it is usually the wife who does the nagging, the dragging and the choosing. If your child goes to something other than the local public school, it is likely that mom is a driving force in the selection of a private school, and if, God forbid, as Joy Behar says, you are a knuckle dragging idiot who home schools their children, then it is likely that mom bears the brunt of the lesson planning, teaching, homework and time management in order to make it happen. (And just so that I don't get hate mail, this is in no way an indictment against those dads who have taken on role reversal for any one of a variety of excellent reasons--my husband is one of you!)
As women, we hold the future of our children and grandchildren in our hands and it is our responsibility to give them a bright and secure future. We have the chance to teach them the values and factual history that they are no longer learning in school. We should be members of the PTA and school board to fight for the things that are missing in our public schools. We should be engaged in our communities to be sure that we are electing officials who speak for our beliefs and values. We are the ones who should be working for conservative candidates, and especially for strong conservative women candidates. We are usually the volunteers that work in charities and on the boards of non-profit organizations that support conservative causes. The internet has made our world very small and communication very easy. It is high time that we use these mass media tools to educate and energize conservative women everywhere.
The power of a coalition of smart, articulate and educated women cannot be underestimated. We need to engage conservative women from all walks of life into a force with which to be reckoned. We need to be sure that conservative women are as politically articulate (or perhaps even more so) as conservative men. We need to walk hand in hand with our conservative men, just as we walk with them hand in hand in our families. We are the spouses and mothers of our military men and women who hold the home together while loved ones serve far away. We recently learned that conservative women are hated for their clarity of position, but that should only bolster our resolve. Let's face it, women are dedicated, focused, altruistic and capable of great acts of strength, that is why we are mothers. These are characteristics that we bring to the conservative table, too.
We are entering the frenetic Christmas season and one of my favorite Christmas jokes will soon begin circulating through the email channels.
Do you know what would have happened if it had been Three Wise Women instead of Three Wise Men?
They would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole and brought practical gifts.
This is what conservative women are made of and what the conservative movement needs for the future!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Life's Winding Road
I recently participated in a career fair put on by my college alma mater. They looked for alums who had been successful in their careers who would be willing to share advice with students who were studying in the same area of interest. My college is a small liberal arts college where the student body is still relatively small and more dedicated to education than science. As a student, I was an anomaly as a biology major. Nevertheless, I am very fond of my college and I was flattered that they thought of me as successful, so I agreed to go, with the thought that I could make a difference in the life of some student somewhere.
Several of my best friends from college also attended and it was more like a reunion weekend for me than a working weekend. I was a part of the Math and Science panel. We all presented a bit on "how I got to be what I am today." I was very interested to hear how we all got to be where we are today and the thing that was MOST interesting was that none of us started out to be what we are today!
One of my friends is a patent attorney for a major telecommunications company. She started out a math major who went on to grad school in applied mathematics and somehow ended up working for telecommunications in their research and development area. Over the years she acquired an MBA and a JD, both of which are used in her present role, but now she has a comprehensive view of how the applied math can be used in new product development and she understands the business rationale and application of these new products AND she can research the patents on new technology more efficiently because she understands how the new product came to be.
Another of my friends started out as a Sociology major and wanted to into the foreign service. There was only one graduate program in foreign service at that time, so competition was brutal and the school was downright snooty about their monopoly. One of her advisors missed a deadline for a letter of reference and when she went to interview for the graduate program, she was summarily dismissed as having an incomplete file. Having no recourse, she went home with tears in her eyes and no plan in sight. Her father, a small town doctor, suggested that she return to the metropolitan area where she went to college (because she really liked the city) and go to nursing school as it would provide her with a Plan B until she could reapply to the foreign service program. She ultimately never reapplied to the program and finished nursing school. She became interested in oncology nursing and worked at several major teaching institutions throughout the country, working with cancer treatment protocols. She is now employed by a major pharmaceutical company working in the area of clinical trials for new cancer treatments. Her path took her from foreign service to pubic service.
My own road to being a physician was equally quirky and circuitous, starting out as a high school biology teacher who got influenza which resulted in losing my voice. By the end of that school year, I had nodules on my vocal cords from strain and a throaty scratchy speaking voice! My ENT physician suggested that unless I wanted to sound like Andy Devine (for those of you who are too young to remember Wild Bill Hickock and his sidekick, google it and watch it on YouTube) I needed to get another job that was not so dependent on talking. I got a job in a research lab at one of the local medical schools and worked there for a couple of years with the idea that I would go back to graduate school and get a PhD in biochemistry. Somehow while I was surrounded by the physicians and research fellows in the lab, I was bitten by the thought that medicine would be a good melding of all of my interests. I applied (in spite of warnings not to get my hopes up because the competition is brutal), was accepted and here I am! My twisted rationale for spending the time and money to apply to medical school was so that when I was 40 and having a midlife crisis, I would not be looking in a mirror and wondering what my life would be like if I had applied. Today my love of teaching runs through my practice and extends to lecturing nationally, regionally and even at our community college.
None of us took a year or two off to "find ourselves" and all of us had a path in mind after graduation. All of us had student loans to pay off. All of us took lowly jobs and worked our way into our present situations. All of us were grounded in a good work ethic. Our best advice to the students was to keep your eyes open and watch the world around you. While you are working toward the goal that you have in mind, take off the blinders and look around. Have hobbies that introduce you to people that you would otherwise never meet. Take a menial job just to see another aspect of life. Get off of your high horse and realize that everyone puts on their pants one leg at a time. See the commonality that binds people together in all aspects of life. Ultimately, do what you love and love what you do.
This can apply to all of us, not just students who are starting out in life. There are myriad opportunities "out there" and the world is made smaller by social media and the internet. Today, you can network with a total stranger or collaborate with someone on the other side of the world in your jammies! The road to success may be crooked and it could well be rough. You need to listen to your heart and follow where it leads you. Do what you love and love what you do.
Several of my best friends from college also attended and it was more like a reunion weekend for me than a working weekend. I was a part of the Math and Science panel. We all presented a bit on "how I got to be what I am today." I was very interested to hear how we all got to be where we are today and the thing that was MOST interesting was that none of us started out to be what we are today!
One of my friends is a patent attorney for a major telecommunications company. She started out a math major who went on to grad school in applied mathematics and somehow ended up working for telecommunications in their research and development area. Over the years she acquired an MBA and a JD, both of which are used in her present role, but now she has a comprehensive view of how the applied math can be used in new product development and she understands the business rationale and application of these new products AND she can research the patents on new technology more efficiently because she understands how the new product came to be.
Another of my friends started out as a Sociology major and wanted to into the foreign service. There was only one graduate program in foreign service at that time, so competition was brutal and the school was downright snooty about their monopoly. One of her advisors missed a deadline for a letter of reference and when she went to interview for the graduate program, she was summarily dismissed as having an incomplete file. Having no recourse, she went home with tears in her eyes and no plan in sight. Her father, a small town doctor, suggested that she return to the metropolitan area where she went to college (because she really liked the city) and go to nursing school as it would provide her with a Plan B until she could reapply to the foreign service program. She ultimately never reapplied to the program and finished nursing school. She became interested in oncology nursing and worked at several major teaching institutions throughout the country, working with cancer treatment protocols. She is now employed by a major pharmaceutical company working in the area of clinical trials for new cancer treatments. Her path took her from foreign service to pubic service.
My own road to being a physician was equally quirky and circuitous, starting out as a high school biology teacher who got influenza which resulted in losing my voice. By the end of that school year, I had nodules on my vocal cords from strain and a throaty scratchy speaking voice! My ENT physician suggested that unless I wanted to sound like Andy Devine (for those of you who are too young to remember Wild Bill Hickock and his sidekick, google it and watch it on YouTube) I needed to get another job that was not so dependent on talking. I got a job in a research lab at one of the local medical schools and worked there for a couple of years with the idea that I would go back to graduate school and get a PhD in biochemistry. Somehow while I was surrounded by the physicians and research fellows in the lab, I was bitten by the thought that medicine would be a good melding of all of my interests. I applied (in spite of warnings not to get my hopes up because the competition is brutal), was accepted and here I am! My twisted rationale for spending the time and money to apply to medical school was so that when I was 40 and having a midlife crisis, I would not be looking in a mirror and wondering what my life would be like if I had applied. Today my love of teaching runs through my practice and extends to lecturing nationally, regionally and even at our community college.
None of us took a year or two off to "find ourselves" and all of us had a path in mind after graduation. All of us had student loans to pay off. All of us took lowly jobs and worked our way into our present situations. All of us were grounded in a good work ethic. Our best advice to the students was to keep your eyes open and watch the world around you. While you are working toward the goal that you have in mind, take off the blinders and look around. Have hobbies that introduce you to people that you would otherwise never meet. Take a menial job just to see another aspect of life. Get off of your high horse and realize that everyone puts on their pants one leg at a time. See the commonality that binds people together in all aspects of life. Ultimately, do what you love and love what you do.
This can apply to all of us, not just students who are starting out in life. There are myriad opportunities "out there" and the world is made smaller by social media and the internet. Today, you can network with a total stranger or collaborate with someone on the other side of the world in your jammies! The road to success may be crooked and it could well be rough. You need to listen to your heart and follow where it leads you. Do what you love and love what you do.
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