Soon we will see if a stay at home Mom can get a bill passed in NYS. After all, prior to being our student lobbyist governor, Cuomo said regular people (non-pols) can write bills. S.2357/A.8474 should be at the top of Cuomo’s list. The eyes of the states are on this bill. 

I was home a lot. My house was the place. Long & late hours. Lotta responsibility taking care of groups of teens which today meant making sure they’re not doing drugs & drinking, the music isn’t too loud. more, too. If parents aren’t home — there’s trouble. There’s trouble anyway. However an adult present makes a difference. I still see these previously wild teenagers in NYC & they still like to party.  They’ve left the Capital District and live and work in NYC. But you’re right about how hard it is for women to enter the labor force raising a family. In fact — it’s often hard to be taken seriously.I’m not following the race closely because we already know it’s going to be Obama. Too bad Romney is in cahoots with corporate education. Romney & Obama are equally wrong when it comes to education policy. So is most of Congress. 

But I agree with your post.

The average woman has put herself in a TERRIBLE position if she has NO  experience whatsoever in the labor force. Half of all (non-Mormon) marriages end in divorce. How can you extract yourself from a bad marriage if you have no means of support? Alimony isn’t going to get you far if both you AND your soon-to-be ex-spouse are average Americans. Women (and men) should always maintain some OPTIONS. You can’t have a healthy relationship if the balance of balance of power is perpetually skewed in one direction, IMHO.

In the followup panel talk, Cookie Roberts argued that women have be very hurt by the state-level GOP governors cutting teacher,govt. and non-profit jobs which are held heavily by women. 

Hillary Rosen probably shouldn’t have “gone there,” but she had a valid point.

I have nothing against stay at home moms. In fact, I think that one parent or the other SHOULD stay home with their kids when they’re young, if at all possible.

But here’s the point that Ann Romney is trying to sidestep: most stay-at-home moms HAVE WORKED outside the home at some point in their lives and will probably return to the wage-earning labor force after their kids start school. Very few Americans get to coast through life without having to sully their hands in the traditional workforce.

If it’s true that Mrs. Romney has NEVER had a job as a high school student, college student or post-college and before starting her family, I’d say that she’s pretty out-of-touch with the average American (female OR male). I’d say that she’s living in the lap of luxury. She’s never had to experience the “joys” of things like nasty/unreasonable bosses, unpleasant co-workers, worrying about getting laid off and not being able to feed your family, or your wages not even keeping pace with inflation. So…while Ann Romney’s CHOICE to have (in my opinion) an excessive number of kids may have resulted in some some tumultuous times at the Romney home, I can’t get all choked up about the “rough” life that she’s led.

For that matter, Ann Romney’s husband has coasted through life, too. How did he manage to pay tuition at HARVARD AND support a wife and several kids as a FULL-TIME law and MBA student? How exactly does that work? Was money falling from the sky? Maybe Romney isn’t quite the self-made man that he claims he is. Hmmm. I bet Mittens had a lot MORE help from his daddy as became wealthy.

Mr. and Mrs. Romney are truth-challenged, to say the least.

Hillary Rosen probably shouldn’t have “gone there,” but she had a valid point.

I have nothing against stay at home moms. In fact, I think that one parent or the other SHOULD stay home with their kids when they’re young, if at all possible.

But here’s the point that Ann Romney is trying to sidestep: most stay-at-home moms HAVE WORKED outside the home at some point in their lives and will probably return to the wage-earning labor force after their kids start school. Very few Americans get to coast through life without having to sully their hands in the traditional workforce.

If it’s true that Mrs. Romney has NEVER had a job as a high school student, college student or post-college and before starting her family, I’d say that she’s pretty out-of-touch with the average American (female OR male). I’d say that she’s living in the lap of luxury. She’s never had to experience the “joys” of things like nasty/unreasonable bosses, unpleasant co-workers, worrying about getting laid off and not being able to feed your family, or your wages not even keeping pace with inflation. So…while Ann Romney’s CHOICE to have (in my opinion) an excessive number of kids may have resulted in some some tumultuous times at the Romney home, I can’t get all choked up about the “rough” life that she’s led.

For that matter, Ann Romney’s husband has coasted through life, too. How did he manage to pay tuition at HARVARD AND support a wife and several kids as a FULL-TIME law and MBA student? How exactly does that work? Was money falling from the sky? Maybe Romney isn’t quite the self-made man that he claims he is. Hmmm. I bet Mittens had a lot MORE help from his daddy as became wealthy.

Mr. and Mrs. Romney are truth-challenged, to say the least.