calimary
calimary's JournalMy first-hand experience with Gloria Allred:
I was working in the newsroom of a large L.A. station and she was one of five featured commentators whose pieces ran one per day on weekdays. So you'd see her in the building every week when she'd come in to record. There was this state legislator who had been in the news for various political reasons and because he was out there making appearances on local TV and radio and being interviewed, he was making another kind of "news." Word started circulating that he was rather the horndog who'd hit on damn near anything with two X-chromosomes, so if you (female) spotted him in the hallway, go hide or bury yourself in a small crowd of coworkers/witnesses. At one thankfully brief but insane point he actually had me bent over backwards, over the top of a teletype machine in the newsroom - obviously nobody else was around at that hour. Hey, you haven't lived. 
Anyway, I had access to Gloria Allred and every now and then we'd exchange pleasantries. I asked to interview her and during the interview she talked about lots of other stories, not just the high-profile ones. Off-mic she told me that everywhere she went, inevitably there'd be one or more women who'd slip her a note as they'd pass each other in the halls - because there was SO MUCH sex discrimination going on. Allred told me she kept this stuff confidential unless the note-passer specifically told her otherwise. She said this happened all the time, all over town. It was during the '70s, a dicey time because women were just starting to get hired in the market, so we collectively brought a whole new ethic and set of considerations into the workplace. It was a genuine "Brave New World" in what had previously been all-male territory. And of the many issues that came up, nobody knew how to handle them. Women generally shared the feeling that even though we'd broken through the hiring barrier through hard work that made it well-deserved, we were still negotiating from a position of weakness. Allred felt solidarity was important for women in the workplace. She felt we had to stand up for ourselves and our rights, and it was always better to stand up together in numbers.
There came a time later on in which I was rather abruptly replaced - by a guy - under some really sexist and humiliating circumstances. It was AWFUL!!! One of the ickiest moments in my then-fledgeling career!!! I forget how, but I saw Gloria Allred again. And I sorta poured out my heart to her about what had happened. She asked to take me to lunch. She treated me to a great meal at an elegant restaurant, sat there at the table and listened to me and comforted me, and talked to me. She shared more of her own experiences and how she felt it was important to be a hard-ass and really fight this shit, especially since women tended not to have as many allies as the men they'd be up against, back then. She said I had a really strong case. She said she would be glad to help me with it if I wanted to pursue it. She also said she would do nothing about it unless I asked her to, and that she'd always keep the details in confidence in any event. She was utterly supportive and graceful, and intense. Sort of always on a mission. And I will NEVER forget that.
It was an awful, miserable, humiliating, nerve-wracking, unstable, isolating, and frightening time for me - especially since, among other indignities, I'd also been threatened with blackballing if I tried to make an issue of it. It was a very vulnerable time in my early career when I felt, professionally, very alone, especially since there weren't many other women on staff there even to talk to. Hell, in the climate inside that station at the time, everybody was nervous and somewhat paranoid. And dammit, she was there for me if I needed her, and even when I decided I'd rather move on and put it behind me. It amazed me that somebody this high-profile would reach out to me like this. She was there at the exact time I needed somebody gutsy willing to stand there with me, even if only for moral support. She never followed up, either, or tried to ambulance-chase. She left it completely alone.
And so it's been, lo these - what? Thirty-some-odd years later? I can't even count that high anymore.
Say what you will about Gloria Allred. She was there for me at a bad time and asked nothing of me. She'll always be aces with me.
I've long argued that this place isn't just a website, it's a think tank.
You also have to keep in mind - the people who post here are not only Dems or liberals or progressives or whatever label you want.
They're also...
parents
bosses
employees
veterans - of SEVERAL military conflicts from Vietnam to Iraq/Afghanistan
attorneys
academics and teachers
various sorts of political reps or professional participants (Elizabeth Edwards used to post here)
VIPs and other prominent people
strategists
historians
organizers
medical specialists
researchers
bloggers and writers
small business people
nerds
white
black
Asian
Hispanic
Native Americans
Catholics
Jews
Protestants
Europeans
Australians
South Americans
Middle Easterners
media people, past and present
environmentalists
scientists
magistrates
engineers
grandparents and other elderly
designers
musicians
adoptees/adoptive parents
widowed
divorced
newly married
computer nerds
graphic artists
students
pet lovers
sci-fi freaks
gay
straight
single parents
adopted
newly bereaved
employed
unemployed
abused or molested
from large families
alone
psychologists
ailing
retired
disabled
devoutly religious
agnostics
atheists
new grads
philosophers
analysts
crusaders
humorists
troublemakers
lobbyists
jurists
urbanites
suburbanites
small-towners
crime victims
unjustly accused
financial experts
uninsured
insured
debaters
homeless
well-to-do
empathizers
tough-love believers
...and so many more, from every geographical area and population demographic in the country - AND the world.
Just consider all that input, those filters, originating from all those different sources. All those different viewpoints intaking and processing what goes on around us in this country. The writing here often tends to be spectacular! Same thing for the analysis. What I've learned here, reading other people's opinions, considering their viewpoints and the world they come from that fuels those viewpoints, has lifted me miles beyond where I was when I first came here, not long after bush "TOOK" office in 2001.
I love following along when people are debating some issue or point, and it always enlarges my understanding of whatever issue or point it is.
I love how people can ask for help, either about information they need for some research, or talking points to refute some lout teabagger's astroturfed email; or prayers; or comfort after losing a loved one or even a pet, or a job; or advice or direction on some matter or problem that needs solving.
This is a one-stop-shopping online hangout. And a think tank. I marvel at the brain power here and the crackling sense of commitment to some genuinely great ideals. And I'm honored to be a member of this community.
Welcome to DU! Glad you're here! You'll become smarter and more sophisticated in your thinking and assessments of politics. We all benefit from the learning and enlightenment we get here. And without fail, people post breaking news here startlingly quickly.
It's a full-service place!
Reminds me of the dubya deal to have the taxpayers pick up the tab for his
Texas Rangers stadium. His with his fellow co-owners, that is.
You know, it just seems to me that - if you qualify as a Billionaire, with that big fat "B" - shouldn't you pick up your own tab for stuff like this? Especially since you stand to profit most directly from the results? Seems to me if you're a Billionaire, you can afford to pay for this and not go on the public dole.
Maybe this is the evidence for their own inner self-hatred? I thought people like him hated people "on the public dole." Now he wants to be one of them.
Kicked, rec'd, bookmarked, and I pulled a bunch of these off to save in
my own download file.
I'm sorry that my former friend who unfriended me on Facebook (and about whom I still care) couldn't see these, 'cause some of 'em are gonna wind up on my page. I'm just grateful that at least HE wasn't sent to mitt romney's high school.
He unfriended me because I complained about, asked him to stop, and eventually started deleting, some really bitter, cynical, caustic remarks about Obama and Democrats in general. Claims he isn't voting for romney either "because they're all alike, they're all evil," and somehow wanted to come on and punch holes in and spew shit on EVERY argument I made that Obama, even at his most disappointing, is STILL lightyears better than any of the alternatives, and hasn't really been all THAT disappointing, if you ask me. He demanded 100% immaculate perfection. Which you're never gonna get from ANYBODY!
Some backbones take a little longer to solidify.
Especially in as toxic an environment as what we're gagging and choking and struggling through, now.
Prejudice against one group is prejudice against all. I'm delighted to see
the NAACP not willing to split hairs on this. If we can isolate one demographic against which we're still allowed to discriminate, then ALL demographics are vulnerable. And believe me, if prejudice against gays is allowed to stand, won't be long til they start out after blacks again. Oh wait... that's already underway with their restrictions on the right to vote.
These people tend to throw the whole "slippery slope" argument at us to defend shit like "the sanctity of marriage" and other stuff. We have LEGITIMATE concerns about that, ourselves.
I salute the patriots at the NAACP for standing against these reactionary 13th-Century-mindset assholes - who would take us all back to the Bronze Age if they thought they could get away with it.
EXCELLENT! This is GREAT news! Cheers to Charles Bartolet!
Wins today's Warrior for Truth Award!!!!
We HAVE TO challenge these people when they make crap-based assertions like this and attempt to hijack the decision process, basing their crusade on those bogus and utterly illegitimate "sources." Maybe this guy went to Regent or Liberty "University"?
This is the only way to fight them and win. Throw it back in their faces and demand proof, which they won't have because this shit is just made up on some biased, compromised, agenda-driven breitbart-wannabe blog or drudge dreck. They should start being force-fed the response message - "tell it to the Tooth Fairy." "Nice fairytale there! Straight outta Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm."
I have to agree. Include the so-called Regent "University" too.
They teach with a Biblical filter to all their law instruction, brushing past any facts or objective legal interpretations.
Remember those young guns from alberto gonzales's Justice Department who were hauled in before Congress, especially that little blonde cookie who admitted to vote caging? "I crossed the line," she said. Wonder if she was ever disbarred? She should have been. Is that the kind of shit they're teaching you guys at Regent University (which I believe is where she got her "degree"
?
Btw - I just looked it up. That was Monica Goodling. Brainwashed bible-bimbo "lawyer" for george w bush's "Justice Department."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/23/AR2007052300728.html
We probably should start a meme or a framing in which every written mention of Liberty "University" or Regent "University" is put in quotation marks. Indicates its alleged "status" in the "well, not REALLY" category.
Because if they're teaching a Bible-based agenda instilling that kind of slanted filter into them against which they'll measure EVERY legal issue from here on, in their careers, that is frickin' BOGUS!!!!!!!! It's like the aspartame people sneaking into the Hershey's factory and THAT'S what gets snuck into the sugar vat instead of genuine sugar when Hershey chocolate is blended.
I wish there was a way to stop this shit. It's polluting our justice system.
Happy Mother's Day, Mother Earth!
Nothing like reminding us that we need to pay attention when Mom's about to speak. Like one of my husband's family's elder stateswomen advised:
"...your mother always knows best."
What they really want is Somalia. They don't realize it but that's what they want.
Just consider:
Total anarchy!
No organized government worth anything, or with anything to say about anything!
No one in charge - ANYWHERE!
A tiny cadre of the 1% - pirates and warlords who have all the money and power and control everything!
Millions of poor, sick, starving, homeless, displaced refugees!
All the guns you can eat - unregulated, certainly unregistered, and EVERYWHERE!
Sounds like paradise for the teabaggers, doesn't it?
Sounds like that's what they're pushing us toward, here in America. They don't see it, but it's as plain as the greed in their non-existent hearts.
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