Toledo, Ohio, is a city awash in mortgage foreclosures. The county employs a full-time clerk just to type up and send out the foreclosure notices. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D), who has represented Ohio’s 9th District for 26 years, is telling homeowners to stay put:

Rep. Kaptur is well-known as an economic populist and champion of working people. In the current foreclosure crisis, she’s urging homeowners to become aware of all the legal and financial intricacies involved — details that may enable them to save their homes. …

We hate to seem ungrateful, so let’s begin with this:
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama after he took office. Women everywhere are glad to have those legal rights restored to them that were removed when the Supreme Court decided Ledbetter v. Goodyear in 2007.
So, score one for women, for Obama, and for those early champions of the bill, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Hillary Clinton, among others.
Paycheck Fairness Act
The Ledbetter Act restores rights to women that were stripped …

Andrew Malcolm reports in the L.A. Times “Top of the Ticket” blog that Obama may be preparing to appoint New Hampshire GOP Senator Judd Gregg as Secretary of Commerce in order to open up his seat in Congress, which will allow NH Dem. Governor John Lynch to appoint a Dem. to replace Gregg, giving the Dems the magic number for their Senate majority.
If Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell can’t keep Gregg from leaving, that creates a Senate vacancy, right? And that means the replacement would be named by New Hampshire’s …

Tomorrow morning, Amy Siskind will be interviewed live at 7:15 am EST on how effective she thinks President Obama’s plan will be in creating jobs for women.
We’ll let you know if other air times are added, and we’ll have a clip for you later, if you don’t manage to see it live.
UPDATE: We just heard from CNN that they’re having issues with live interviews in the morning. They’ve postponed Amy’s spot until further notice. We’ll keep you posted.

Back in the Fall, we explored the concept of “Unlucky 16″. The notion that women account for only 16% (or thereabouts) of so many leadership positions in government (16% Congress, 17% Senate), academia and corporate America. In fact, in 2008, women in corporate American make up just 15.4% of Fortune 500 corporate officer jobs (which is actually down from 16.4% in 2005).  Despite the fact that women make up 52% of the population and 54% of the voters in the 2008 election, we seem unable …

Earlier this month, I reported on Hiram Monserrate’s being sworn in to NY State Senate despite a felony assault charge for cutting his girlfriend’s face with broken glass. We have received notice of NOW’s plans to hold a press conference to address this grave matter. We encourage any TNA members who are in the area to attend the press conference on Saturday on behalf of The New Agenda. If you are able to do that, please advise us.

Dear Supporter of Women’s Rights:
On Saturday, January 31 at 1:00 PM, the National …

This past Saturday, I attended my first TNA grassroots meeting in New York.? We were a small group of 5, including two TNA founders, Amy Siskind and Karen Gerringer. Many topics were touched upon during this first meeting, and then member Sally brought up the big one: Respect.
Her outrage at the disrespect shown Hillary and Sarah during the campaign was like a fire that burned deep and intense. I think the lack of respect and our desire to fix it is what brought us together.?? I support The New Agenda …

Editor’s note: This is an ACTION ALERT for our readers. Please read this post on what Dr. Kvavik calls SOB-ing, and then think about how we can stop the SOB-ing of Kirsten Gillibrand that is going on right now. We need your ideas and your help to stop this thing in its tracks!
What is it about Sen. Gillibrand? What do Sen. Gillibrand, Gov. Palin, and Secretary of State Clinton have in common? Why, they’ve all been SOBed!
The press and mainstream media have Simplified, Objectified, and …

Editor’s note: Beginning this month, The New Agenda Blog will be featuring regular columns from a diverse group of contributors. Cynthia Ruccia is a long-time Democratic party member and activist, and ran for Congress against Republican incumbent John Kasich (Ohio) in 1994 and 1996. She is a co-founder of The New Agenda.
One of the essential elements necessary for The New Agenda to thrive is to build an army at the grassroots from sea to shining sea.  As The New Agenda Grassroots Chair, along with Thia Lawson, I am here …

Is there any room left under the bus?
You betcha!
Let’s step back for a moment and imagine the conversations taking place in Washington DC.   President Obama is trying to push through his Stimulus Bill and is meeting with resistance from the Republicans.
Boehner:   “Barack, if you want our support on the bill, you’re going to need to give up something.”
Emanuel:  (whispering) “Barack, we got the women’s groups under control. They won’t say a peep.”
Obama:   “Hmm…how about we give up funding of birth control and that pleases your far right base and you give …