AddieStan

In Pakistan, most women lead lives of peril. Laws are stacked against them. Nearly twice as many men can read as women. Girl children are often fed only after their brothers have eaten their fill. Maternal mortality is strikingly high. Despite her feminist rhetoric, Benazir Bhutto did little to change any of that. Nonetheless, she remains a potent symbol of female empowerment to the women of South Asia. Your ecrivaine offers more on this topic at The American Prospect Online: Benazir Bhutto: An Imperfect Feminist

Your blogstress's gut feeling has long been that, on the Democratic side, John Edwards will win the Iowa caucuses. While other prognosticators have come to similar conclusions, for which they have some educated rationale (usually based on the fact that Edwards never left Iowa after the 2004 presidential race), your cybertrix has contented herself by going with the gut. Not long ago, your écrivaine spoke to a friend who is on the ground in Iowa, organizing for a candidate who is not Edwards. The friend predicted a win for Edwards, and, yes, the friend had a educated rationale. " Hillary is not going to win," said the friend. "People doing her footwork are focused on the more populous counties. Meanwhile, Edwards is organized in all the rural counties -- places where an entire caucus may consist of eight people." See, the results of the Iowa caucuses are not based on popular vote. They're a bit more complicated than the electoral college's winner-t...

Those who know their Bible surely know of the Maccabees. However, you may have missed the reference to the prophet Huckabee. Today on "Meet the Press" , the former Arkansas governor said: In light of the events of the last week, some of my previous comments on Pakistan seem prophetic.

Even as the body of Pakistan's opposition leaders and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest today, Pakistani parliamentary elections remain scheduled for January 8 -- the same day as the New Hampshire primary. It may be counterintuitive to assert, being an election-loving, small-d democrat, but your blogstress thinks it a very bad idea to hold those elections (the ones in Pakistan) as scheduled, before Bhutto's party has a chance to reorganize itself, and the nation has a chance to calm itself. For more on the crisis in Pakistan, and how it affects U.S. politics, you will find your écrivaine blogging at TAPPED: Republican Candidates Wage Epic Struggle for Civilization -- and Nomination Is Edwards Musharraf's Pick?

Benazir Bhutto , the first democratically elected woman prime minister of a Muslim nation, has been done away with : An attack on a political rally killed the Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto near the capital, Islamabad, Thursday. Witnesses said Ms. Bhutto was fired upon at close range before the blast, and an official from her party said Ms. Bhutto was further injured by the explosion, which was apparently caused by a suicide attacker. UPDATE: Posting today at TAPPED on the Bhutto killing: Benazir Bhutto Done In: Now What? Bush: Murderous Extremists Killed Bhutto

Christmas Eve brought the sad news that Oscar Peterson , the great master of the jazz piano, had died at the age of 82 in his Canadian home. Peterson's sound was distinctive, a combination of virtuosity and nuance that allowed him to move seamlessly between understated comps and solos in which a torrent of notes could spill out, sparklingly and perfectly arranged. He was a rare player who led any group in which he played, and led with subtlety. There was something in his character and playing that seemed to pull forth the essence of each musician on the stage, each becoming more him- or herself than she or he could ever be performing solo. And, all the while, he maintained a strong but sage-like presence. At least, that's how it seemed to me, listening to recordings, for I never got myself to see Peterson play live. Shame on me for that. My first awareness of Oscar Peterson was a once-removed discovery. When I was growing up, my father listened to a lot different music on ...

Alex Rossmiller has crafted a delightful parody of Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas" -- better known as "The Night Before Christmas" -- one that features in its cast of characters not reindeer, but presidential candidates. Herewith, a taste, from Alex's posting at AmericaBlog : More slick than an oil spill the candidates seem As the White House draws near in their eyes there's a gleam. And they pander and fundraise and talk themselves out In the hopes that the voters will lose any doubt. Now Rudy! Now Romney! Now Edwards and Clinton! Obama! Fred Thompson! But will anyone listen? To the top of the polls! To the top of the caucus! Now speechify, argue, make white papers glisten! CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE THING

Since Hurricane Katrina struck, the cost of renting an apartment in New Orleans has gone up by 45 percent. More than 200,000 of the city’s residents have yet to return home, unable to afford the soaring rents, and with little in the way of job prospects. Ain’t nothin’ comin’ easy these days in the Big Easy. But some people just can’t seem to get the message. Go figure; there are still some poor people – mostly black people whose Gulf Coast roots go back some 400 years – who want to stay. Looks like the only way to get rid of them for good is to raze 4,500 units of public housing, and let developers replace it with “mixed-income” (read: too costly for the people who used to live here) neighborhoods. Is your blogstress too cynical? Too conspiracy-minded? Perhaps. But yesterday, the frustration of New Orleaneans spilled out onto the streets when they suspected just exactly the scenario your cybertrix has spelled out, especially when they found themselves locked out of the city counci...

Your blogstress is getting mighty tired of the way in which the presidential candidates are questioning each other's "electability". I mean, how do you know when somebody is electable? When he or she gets elected, that's how! As your cybertrix has mentioned before, the "electability" ruse is nothing more than an appeal to voters' prejudices, be they racist, sexist or religionist in nature. From the Republicans, I expect no less. But from Democrats, it's especially bad juju. To that end, your Webwench talked earlier this week with Helen Miller , one of two African-American women in the Iowa State House of Representatives, about how Barack Obama 's admission of drug use during his youth is being deployed against him by the Hillary Clinton campaign as a form of racial code. For more, read " The Real Race Card " at The American Prospect Online. In a somewhat frightening development, you can read a paean to Obama by David Brooks , the...

As your blogstress writes this, thick grey smoke is pouring out the window of Vice President Dick Cheney 's office suite in the Old Executive Office Building. Gosh, I hope those visitor logs showing who came and went ( Jack Abramoff ?) from the veep's office are okay. In case you missed it, a federal court ruled Monday that the executive branch gotta give up the goods on the visitor logs, whose release the White House had sought to prevent under the claim of -- what else? -- executive privilege.

From the Newark Star-Ledger : Assembly votes to abolish death penalty by Tom Hester and Tom Feeney TRENTON--After more than two hours of emotional debate, the Assembly voted this afternoon to deliver to the governor's desk a bill that would make New Jersey the first state to abolish the death penalty in more than 30 years. By a vote of 44-36, the Assembly joined the Senate in approving a bill that would replace New Jersey's never-used death penalty with life in prison without parole. Gov. Jon Corzine said hours before the debate began that he expects to sign it in the next two or three days. [READ MORE]

...along comes the smarmy Mark Penn , a top advisor to Hillary Clinton 's campaign, using his star turn tonight on "Hardball With Chris Matthews" to reintroduce the notion of Obama having used drugs, he was careful to use the word "cocaine." And everybody knows what kind of cocaine black people do -- rhymes with "black" (even though that wasn't the kind that Obama said he did). This is really despicable. Meanwhile, Billy Shaheen has "resigned" as co-chair of Clinton's national campaign. Wanna bet he'll be back?

Really! Any number of other things this week deserved this level of coverage, like, say, the apparent obstruction of justice committed by the CIA with its destruction of tapes it made of its own torture of foreigners it has taken prisoner. I wish George Mitchell would go back to doing something meaningful.

A technical problem with Blogger has led to the evaporation of your blogstress's final post on the debate. Please forgive, mes amis . Do allow, nonetheless, your Webwench to recount one of the better moments of the debate. The moderator, Des Moines Register Editor Carolyn Washburn , asked Barack Obama, what with all the former Clinton administration figures he has advising his campaign, how he represented change. Hillary Clinton could hardly contain herself, and began laughing uproariously. "I want to hear this, Barack," she said. To which Obama replied to this effect, "And I'll be happy to have Hillary advising me, too." "Hillary, I'm looking forward to having you advising me, as well."

Hillary: exercise and do the best job possible for the American people Edwards: remember that every night, a child goes to bed hungry Dodd: Help America reclaim its moral authority Richardson: Same one I have every year: to lose weight. Help end the rancor. "Stay positive." Biden: The same one I make every year, to "remember where I came from." Seemed to make an allusion to the loss of his first wife and daughter. Obama: To be a better father. "...not to be timid, not to be distorted by the fears of losing..."

Made to defend some rather insensitive comments that he has made, even recently, about race, Biden defended himself by invoking his legislative record on civil rights. After which, almost unanimously, the candidates all made noises of concurrence. Obama, whose cleanliness and articulateness, as invoked by Biden, created a bit of an uproar some months ago, lept to Biden's defense, saying, "I will provide some testimony, as they say in church." Guess Biden doesn't have a chance at winning the nomination. But rumor has it he may just get the Des Moines Register 's endorsement.

Reminded that the secretive process by which she went about creating her original health-care proposal while serving as first lady, Clinton said that she learned a lot from that process -- foremost, that a good communications process is important. Promised a "transparent" government.

Obama: 1) End the war, 2) Restore the Constitution, 3) your ecrivaine 's issues with short-term memory is preventing her recall. Biden: 1) Implement the Biden plan (end the war), 2) End torture Richardson: 1) End the war in Iraq, end torture Dodd: 1) Change the discourse, shrillness; "change the nature of our conversation", 2) "give you back your Constitution," 4) diplomacy in the Middle East Edwards: 1) End the war, 2) Close Guantanamo, 3) restore civil liberties, but we need to take back America from the corporate interests Clinton: 1) I will begin to end the war in Iraq, 2) restore the Constitution

Edwards: Create a National Teaching University, modeled on the military academies. Graduates would be assigned to needy districts. Your blogstress likes this idea quite a lot. Richardson: Pre-K for everybody. Scrap No Child Left Behind. Minimum salary for teachers: $40,000. Teach art in schools. Moderator just asked Richardson to comment on the state of education in New Mexico, Richardson said it's been tough to raise test scores in NM because of unique population demographics -- more than 40 percent hispanic and 11 percent Native American -- but that they're going up. Obama: Early childhood education critical. Sacrifices from the American people: Get parents "re-engaged in instilling in their children a sense of excellence." Dodd: Parents are the first teachers. My sister just retired from teaching 42 years in the inner city of Hartford. (Read: I know what I'm talking about.) Clinton: Bring classrooms into the 21st century; they look too much as they di...

Hillary: Change -- some believe you get change by hoping for it. I believe you get change by working for it. (Take that, Barack!) Dodd: I've served in the military and I've been a Peace Corps volunteer.