http://www.theatlantavoice.com/AV_news2.htm
1 HOW IS IT THAT A PERSON CAN PAY ON A MORTGAGE FOR 20 YEARS AND STILL OWE THE BANKS AFTER THAT LONG PERIOD OF TIME?#2 WHY DO PEOPLE TRY AND GET GOD INVOLVED WITH A PROBLEM THAT A HUMAN BEING CREATED WITH THIS HOUSING FRAUD THAT HAS HAPPENED TO THIS COUNTRY?(GOD IS NOT IN THE HOUSING AND LOAN BUSINESS PEOPLE ARE) I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW A PERSON CAN PAY THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO THESE BANKS AND 60% OF THE MONEY GOES ONLY TO THE INTEREST ON THE HOUSE! THATS A MESS ALL WITHIN ITSELF...SMH
topics that I need clarity on, create laughter and conversation...nothing is exempt!
Monday, July 25, 2011
love this article and its amazing how african american women's natural hair is so mysterious to other cultures.. its all about the natural! Whats even more amazing to me is how the black hair industry is over a billion dollars now ...wow!!!
'Can I touch it?' The fascination with natural, African-American hair
July 25, 2011 8:46 a.m. EDT
What it means to 'go natural'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Natural hair on African-American women can still stir curiosity
- Women tell of strangers wanting to touch their hair
- Some see the issue as one of race relations and power
(CNN) -- Tamara Winfrey Harris tells a story of being in a chain restaurant with her husband when their names were called for a table.
Just as the couple rose to go, a middle-aged white woman standing nearby reached out swiftly to touch Winfrey Harris's hair which at the time was styled in natural twists.
"She missed by mere seconds, she was actually going to grab my hair as I walked past her," recalled Winfrey Harris who runs the blog What Tami Said. "I turned around and she said, 'Oh, your hair is neat.' It just floored me because who does that, just reaches out and touches strangers?"
It's a common tale shared by women of color whose natural hair can attract stares, curiosity, comments and the occasional stranger who desires to reach out and touch.
The reaction to such fondling can range from amusement to outrage over the invasion of personal space.
Tamara Winfrey Harris says she had a total stranger reach for her hair in a restaurant.
Blogger Los Angelista explained her response to a woman's incredulous "Are you serious, I can't touch your hair?" by writing that no she couldn't, "Because my black ancestors may have been your ancestors' property, and had to smile while they got touched in ways they didn't want to, but I am not YOUR property and never will be so you'd best move your hand away from me."
"Natural hair" for black women is, by definition, hair that is not processed and not chemically altered. Straightened hair is oftened viewed as easier to care for and more attractive.
Rather than use chemical straighteners known as relaxers (also sometimes called "creamy crack" for both the damage it can do to black hair as well as the inability of some women to live without it) some women wear their hair in its natural state.
Natural hair can be described as curly, kinky, wavy, or -- the sometimes dreaded and considered by some to be an offensive word -- nappy.
Black hair fuels a more than billion-dollar industry which includes products, weaves, and wigs that can enable African-American women to change up their styles at a whim. Tons of websites, blogs, books and videos about natural hair exist to educate those desiring to "go natural."
The style has been embraced for reasons of fashion, politics and simply by those unwilling to spend the time and money to maintain their chemically processed hair.
So why the continuing fascination with natural hair, given that so many women of color are now rocking the style and have been for years?
Keneesha Hudson said that despite the growing number of women embracing their natural hair texture, it's still considered unique.
Hudson is the owner/founder of Urbanbella, a company in Atlanta that specializes in helping women embrace their natural hair texture. She first went natural in 2002 when she did the "big chop" (cutting all of her processed hair off) so she could have the freedom to swim, she said, and today she sports a thick mane of natural curls.
"For the longest time we black women have been wearing our hair chemically straightened to a point where most of us really don't know what our natural hair looks like," Hudson said. "There's a generation of us who have never even seen our hair in any form but straight except for baby pictures."
Visitors to her salon will sometimes ask to touch her hair to establish that it is actually all hers and not a wig or a weave, she said, while still others are strangers who "sneak and touch it."
"We love to go to the football games, and there's a group of guys that sit behind us," Hudson said. "One week, towards the end of the season, one of the guys in cheering just kind of laid his hands on my head like 'Yeah!' I said 'That has nothing to do with cheering for the game,' but I just find those little moments happen a lot."
In 2008, Renee Martin wrote "Can I Touch Your Hair? Black Women and The Petting Zoo" for her blog Womanist Musings and said she continues to get e-mails from women thanking her for her post and relaying their personal experiences about their hair being touched.
Some white women who responded, Martin said, shared their stories of their own hair being touched in countries populated by people of color. They chalked it up to natural curiosity and accused Martin of being too sensitive, she said.
But she says she doesn't think the crux of the issue has to do with curiosity.
"I think it's the idea that they have the right to possess black women and they will take any excuse they can to jump over the border, whether it's policing our behavior or policing our hair," Martin said. "I think it's about ownership of black bodies more than it has to actually do with hair."
Actress Issa Rae, star/creator of the web series "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl," said she has been natural all of her life. She had cut her hair and worked the short afro into the character, who was heartbroken and starting over.
Rae has endured the comments of "Eww, why is your hair like that? Why are you trying to go back to slavery?" from other African-Americans and says that, growing up, she had requests to touch her hair from both blacks and whites.
The touching doesn't bother her as much as "when they ask stupid questions to make me feel like my hair is alien hair."
"I had someone ask me if I wear my hair like this to honor my ancestors, and that was funny to me," she said. "This is not for Kunta [Kinte]."
Rae notes that in the 1970s, there was an afro movement for a while, but it died down in the 1980s. There are quite a few layers when it comes to discussions about black hair, from length to texture, and hair is very much tied to the culture, she said.
"Hair is just a huge component of blackness, so it's not going to go away," she said.
Tia Mosley, 29, went natural at the age of 12 when she refused to get her hair relaxed anymore. The inquisitiveness about her 'do is as natural as the hair on her head, she said.
"People want to touch my hair all the time and I have no problem with it," she said. "I have a problem with the touching and the attempt to touch without asking."
Mosley said that when she used to work at a predominantly white theater company in northern Georgia, her hair was viewed as exotic and stirred up a great deal of interest.
"They thought I was from the islands and they had lots of questions about my hair," she said laughing. "I would say 'No, I'm from the island of Houston, Texas."
Friday, July 22, 2011
Taking a moment to talk.....
So this is the time where I like to just talk about some of the things I experience on a day to day basis.Sometimes its a situation that I actually experience and sometimes it is and experience that I observe happening to someone else.
Yesterday I decided to go to a very popular makeup and perfume store in the lenox mall ( i won't say the name, you can figure that out yourself) So I wanted to sample some makeup and maybe foundation and since I was going to a private event that night this would be perfect. I walked in and went up to the beauty bar area and begin explaining to the "makeup artist/sales rep" At first she was acting as if she didn't understand what I was requesting. I simply wanted her to do a sample of makeup on my face. I may buy or I may not buy a product. It should not have mattered because customer service does not have a stipulation that you have to buy or purchase something. So the manager on duty walked over because she could see the confusion happening. "oh so you want your face to be made up in a simple way with samples" I said, "yes". "Oh no problem she will take care of you( makeup artist/sales rep) "your in good hands" ..So I explained again to the sales rep and she began applying a powder foundation on one side of my jaw. "there you go sista" , she said. I said in my mind (sista? what the hell?) I instead said, "oh this is nice and light and looks very clean". I still was not getting what I asked for. So she then told me that you can purchase a $50 -$150 gift card and then I could get my whole face made up. Okay may be she didn't hear me. I JUST WANT A SAMPLE DONE. You know, all of the sample tubes that are in the store that you can put on but may need a little help and or advice from the pros in the store like make up artist and sales reps(you get my drift) So she then told me I could apply the other side of my face if I wanted to "sista". In my mind Im thinking why does this heffa keep calling me sista? I then was told by the manager the same thing about buying a gift card. She also told me that I could go around the store and check out some samples. (if i am not experienced with applying my own make up why would you not help or assist me) So I go around the store like a chicken with my head cut off and then another rep walks up to me out of nowhere actually and started helping me and showing me what color would go well with what I would be wearing that night. It literally took us 10 mins to apply a sample eyeshadow and sample lip gloss and sample eyeliner and I was done yall. And I thanked the real makeup artist and sales rep who was helping me and you know what she said? She said this is what I do. "I am a make up artist and sales rep it doesn't hurt me to help you " I noticed that she had an accent and was not from this country. She told me she was from Zambia, South Africa. And at that moment it hit me.. A person from another continent could understand my needs as a customer (even if I was not buying at that moment) and understood that the way you make a person FEEL in a situation will make then remember that feeling everytime they see you or visit an establishment! I was humbled to see that the "sista" that would not help me who was an african american woman just like myself was more foreign to me than the woman from Africa who treated me like a valued customer. So at that moment I decided that the next day I was going back into that store, purchase the items I had just sampled the day before and tip the wonderful customer service oriented "sista" from another country for being so kind and professional( would that sales rep call a white woman or latina woman sista? hell to the no) making me FEEL like I was important enough to help(even if I wasn't buying anything at that moment). And to the woman who made me feel unimportant I let her and her manager know that customer service does not cost you anything to do but if you don't know how to make the customer FEEL like they matter(even if they are not buying anything at that moment) It could cost you more than a sale it could cost you the FEELING of making others FEEL good about themselves at that moment and the sale. I also learned from the wonderful sales lady that helped me that day was sometimes people in your own neck of the woods can feel like a stranger to you and can get so caught up in the hype of selling to others that they forget we are all still people and want to feel a certain way. I encourage everyone to make a person today FEEL good about themselves. I dare you to say to someone who you don't know some thing that will make them feel better today. I dare you to say "hey I hope you have a fabulous day today" or "you have such a beautiful smile" or "I love that dress" or "stay encouraged my friend" or "no charge today its on me" you all catch my drift. BUT I DARE YOU TO MAKE SOMEONE ELSE FEEL BETTER TODAY. I DARE YOU. Marshawn Evan of ME university stated "People will remember you based on how you make them FEEL" I will always remember Gillian from Zambia, South Africa for the way she made me feel in the beauty store that day and I will pass that feeling on to others......I DARE YOU TO DO THE SAME.......
Yesterday I decided to go to a very popular makeup and perfume store in the lenox mall ( i won't say the name, you can figure that out yourself) So I wanted to sample some makeup and maybe foundation and since I was going to a private event that night this would be perfect. I walked in and went up to the beauty bar area and begin explaining to the "makeup artist/sales rep" At first she was acting as if she didn't understand what I was requesting. I simply wanted her to do a sample of makeup on my face. I may buy or I may not buy a product. It should not have mattered because customer service does not have a stipulation that you have to buy or purchase something. So the manager on duty walked over because she could see the confusion happening. "oh so you want your face to be made up in a simple way with samples" I said, "yes". "Oh no problem she will take care of you( makeup artist/sales rep) "your in good hands" ..So I explained again to the sales rep and she began applying a powder foundation on one side of my jaw. "there you go sista" , she said. I said in my mind (sista? what the hell?) I instead said, "oh this is nice and light and looks very clean". I still was not getting what I asked for. So she then told me that you can purchase a $50 -$150 gift card and then I could get my whole face made up. Okay may be she didn't hear me. I JUST WANT A SAMPLE DONE. You know, all of the sample tubes that are in the store that you can put on but may need a little help and or advice from the pros in the store like make up artist and sales reps(you get my drift) So she then told me I could apply the other side of my face if I wanted to "sista". In my mind Im thinking why does this heffa keep calling me sista? I then was told by the manager the same thing about buying a gift card. She also told me that I could go around the store and check out some samples. (if i am not experienced with applying my own make up why would you not help or assist me) So I go around the store like a chicken with my head cut off and then another rep walks up to me out of nowhere actually and started helping me and showing me what color would go well with what I would be wearing that night. It literally took us 10 mins to apply a sample eyeshadow and sample lip gloss and sample eyeliner and I was done yall. And I thanked the real makeup artist and sales rep who was helping me and you know what she said? She said this is what I do. "I am a make up artist and sales rep it doesn't hurt me to help you " I noticed that she had an accent and was not from this country. She told me she was from Zambia, South Africa. And at that moment it hit me.. A person from another continent could understand my needs as a customer (even if I was not buying at that moment) and understood that the way you make a person FEEL in a situation will make then remember that feeling everytime they see you or visit an establishment! I was humbled to see that the "sista" that would not help me who was an african american woman just like myself was more foreign to me than the woman from Africa who treated me like a valued customer. So at that moment I decided that the next day I was going back into that store, purchase the items I had just sampled the day before and tip the wonderful customer service oriented "sista" from another country for being so kind and professional( would that sales rep call a white woman or latina woman sista? hell to the no) making me FEEL like I was important enough to help(even if I wasn't buying anything at that moment). And to the woman who made me feel unimportant I let her and her manager know that customer service does not cost you anything to do but if you don't know how to make the customer FEEL like they matter(even if they are not buying anything at that moment) It could cost you more than a sale it could cost you the FEELING of making others FEEL good about themselves at that moment and the sale. I also learned from the wonderful sales lady that helped me that day was sometimes people in your own neck of the woods can feel like a stranger to you and can get so caught up in the hype of selling to others that they forget we are all still people and want to feel a certain way. I encourage everyone to make a person today FEEL good about themselves. I dare you to say to someone who you don't know some thing that will make them feel better today. I dare you to say "hey I hope you have a fabulous day today" or "you have such a beautiful smile" or "I love that dress" or "stay encouraged my friend" or "no charge today its on me" you all catch my drift. BUT I DARE YOU TO MAKE SOMEONE ELSE FEEL BETTER TODAY. I DARE YOU. Marshawn Evan of ME university stated "People will remember you based on how you make them FEEL" I will always remember Gillian from Zambia, South Africa for the way she made me feel in the beauty store that day and I will pass that feeling on to others......I DARE YOU TO DO THE SAME.......
Learn to Invest in stock (continued)
Getting Started in Investing
Question: I have no experience in the stock market, and I'd like to invest some of my money, but I do not have a clue how to go about it. Can you help me or tell me what to do before I make a move that may ruin my life?
Answer: I don't know if I can deal with all the issues that might ruin your life -- but let's look at the financial issues.
If you haven't been involved in the stock market, ask yourself how much can you afford to lose, both financially and temperamentally. Yes, I did say lose. The brokerage community usually asks, ``How much do you want to make?'' A silly question, don't you think?
I know I have no limit to the amount I am willing to make. ``Two million, not a penny more,'' you may say. I don't think so.
After you have decided that you are willing to accept the risk of loss, and how much you are willing to risk (even prudent investment has risk), I would advise starting slowly.
If you have a few thousand dollars to invest, consider starting with a diversified mutual fund, perhaps Vanguard S&P 500 Index or Vanguard US Growth (VWUSX). There are dozens of high quality, no-load funds that invest in larger company stocks. I would avoid individual stocks as they increase both your risk and your potential for reward -- not a prescription for a beginner.
Give your investment some time. Don't invest in equities with the intention to pull the money in weeks, months or even less than five years.
When you're more comfortable with the ups and downs of the market, then you can consider increasing your investments and broadening their diversification, again consistent with your risk tolerance.
The worst luck a beginner can have is making a lot of money right away. After that happens, many decide that investments are guarantees, and they invest all they have.
So my advice to you is to invest a little that you can afford to lose. Watch the ups and downs of the market and become comfortable with the volatility while at the same time increase your knowledge in available investment choices and risks.
Over time, you should have a diverse portfolio of mutual funds consistent with your goals, objectives, risk tolerance and tax situation.
Gary Schatsky is Chairman of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA). NAPFA, http://www.napfa.org/, is a national organization that represents fee-only financial advisors. He lectures nationally on topics such as personal finance, investment planning, tax planning and estate planning. Visit his Web site at http://www.objectiveadvice.com/.
Answer: I don't know if I can deal with all the issues that might ruin your life -- but let's look at the financial issues.
If you haven't been involved in the stock market, ask yourself how much can you afford to lose, both financially and temperamentally. Yes, I did say lose. The brokerage community usually asks, ``How much do you want to make?'' A silly question, don't you think?
I know I have no limit to the amount I am willing to make. ``Two million, not a penny more,'' you may say. I don't think so.
After you have decided that you are willing to accept the risk of loss, and how much you are willing to risk (even prudent investment has risk), I would advise starting slowly.
If you have a few thousand dollars to invest, consider starting with a diversified mutual fund, perhaps Vanguard S&P 500 Index or Vanguard US Growth (VWUSX). There are dozens of high quality, no-load funds that invest in larger company stocks. I would avoid individual stocks as they increase both your risk and your potential for reward -- not a prescription for a beginner.
Give your investment some time. Don't invest in equities with the intention to pull the money in weeks, months or even less than five years.
When you're more comfortable with the ups and downs of the market, then you can consider increasing your investments and broadening their diversification, again consistent with your risk tolerance.
The worst luck a beginner can have is making a lot of money right away. After that happens, many decide that investments are guarantees, and they invest all they have.
So my advice to you is to invest a little that you can afford to lose. Watch the ups and downs of the market and become comfortable with the volatility while at the same time increase your knowledge in available investment choices and risks.
Over time, you should have a diverse portfolio of mutual funds consistent with your goals, objectives, risk tolerance and tax situation.
Gary Schatsky is Chairman of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA). NAPFA, http://www.napfa.org/, is a national organization that represents fee-only financial advisors. He lectures nationally on topics such as personal finance, investment planning, tax planning and estate planning. Visit his Web site at http://www.objectiveadvice.com/.
Everyone should learn how to buy stock or invest in a stock...It's 2011 yall so there are no excuses So when you know better you are supposed to do better.Check out the website below to learn how to play the stock market game...
take 6 months in learning about stocks and trying it out with fake money in a stimulation web site like Yahoo! Finance.
www.finance.yahoo.com
www.finance.yahoo.com
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Okay now im confused.. how do "corporations" have money to pay for hookers and ho's excuse me "HIGH PRICED PROSTITUTES" but not have enough money to get the country out of debt? priority check please...smh
7 million prostitution ring busted in New York City, police say
New York (CNN) -- Seventeen people and five "corporations" connected to a New York City escort service were indicted in Brooklyn Wednesday, charged with running a high-price prostitution and drug ring.
The alleged racket earned more than $7 million in three years, catering to high-rolling customers who could drop more than $10,000 a night, according to the Kings County District Attorney's Office.
The 144-count indictment includes allegations of enterprise corruption, promoting prostitution, money laundering, and criminal sale of a controlled substance against High Class NY, an escort service based in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Among the individuals named in the documents are High Class NY's owners: Mikhail Yampolsky; his wife, Bronislava; a son, Alexander; and a stepson, Jonathan Yampolskaya. Eleven High Class NY managers and two of the escort service's largest financial investors, Efim Gorelik and Yakov Maystrovich, also are indicted. They could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
"We are not going to run from this. We intend to fight these charges," said Joseph Mure, attorney for Yampolskaya and the younger Yampolsky.
Two escorts are separately indicted on prostitution and drug-related charges.
Fees for High Class NY's escort services allegedly ranged from $400 per hour to more than $3,600 per hour, and clients often spent more than $10,000 in one night, according to the indictment. Authorities claim the money paid for sexual contact with the escorts as well as cocaine and other controlled substances.
The indictment charges that High Class NY concealed client's credit card charges in monthly billing statements. The names of five shell corporations were used on the billing statements in place of High Class NY, the prosecutor's office said.
Escorts, called "models," were required to sign employment contracts prohibiting sexual contact with clients in an effort to mask the illegal nature of the business, the indictment says.
"There is no such thing as a high-class pimp, and as we do with all other pimps, my office will prosecute these defendants and seek the maximum sentences available under the law," said District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.
The indictment charges the High Class NY operates several escort websites, including highclassny.com, discreteclub.com, nyadultdating.com, cupiddirect.com, and angelofyourchoice.com, in addition to advertising its services on backpage.com and craigslist.com.
"If any models were engaged in sexual activities, it was beyond the scope of their employment," said Albert Y. Dayan, the Yampolskys' attorney. He also asserted that prosecutors have failed to make the case of enterprise corruption against his clients because they cannot establish the alleged prostitution ring as a criminal enterprise.
According to the company's records, the escort service earned more than $7 million between September 2007 and November 2010, according to the indictment. Yampolsky faces charges of laundering these profits to hide the illegal income.
July 20, 2011 6:42 p.m. EDT
High Class NY is an escort service based in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Attorney: Any sexual activity was "beyond the scope" of the models' employment
- Charges include promoting prostitution and sale of a controlled substance
- Clients would pay thousands for a night with "escorts," the district attorney says
- Names of shell companies would mask the charges on credit card bills, the DA says
The alleged racket earned more than $7 million in three years, catering to high-rolling customers who could drop more than $10,000 a night, according to the Kings County District Attorney's Office.
The 144-count indictment includes allegations of enterprise corruption, promoting prostitution, money laundering, and criminal sale of a controlled substance against High Class NY, an escort service based in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Among the individuals named in the documents are High Class NY's owners: Mikhail Yampolsky; his wife, Bronislava; a son, Alexander; and a stepson, Jonathan Yampolskaya. Eleven High Class NY managers and two of the escort service's largest financial investors, Efim Gorelik and Yakov Maystrovich, also are indicted. They could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
"We are not going to run from this. We intend to fight these charges," said Joseph Mure, attorney for Yampolskaya and the younger Yampolsky.
Two escorts are separately indicted on prostitution and drug-related charges.
Fees for High Class NY's escort services allegedly ranged from $400 per hour to more than $3,600 per hour, and clients often spent more than $10,000 in one night, according to the indictment. Authorities claim the money paid for sexual contact with the escorts as well as cocaine and other controlled substances.
The indictment charges that High Class NY concealed client's credit card charges in monthly billing statements. The names of five shell corporations were used on the billing statements in place of High Class NY, the prosecutor's office said.
Escorts, called "models," were required to sign employment contracts prohibiting sexual contact with clients in an effort to mask the illegal nature of the business, the indictment says.
"There is no such thing as a high-class pimp, and as we do with all other pimps, my office will prosecute these defendants and seek the maximum sentences available under the law," said District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.
The indictment charges the High Class NY operates several escort websites, including highclassny.com, discreteclub.com, nyadultdating.com, cupiddirect.com, and angelofyourchoice.com, in addition to advertising its services on backpage.com and craigslist.com.
"If any models were engaged in sexual activities, it was beyond the scope of their employment," said Albert Y. Dayan, the Yampolskys' attorney. He also asserted that prosecutors have failed to make the case of enterprise corruption against his clients because they cannot establish the alleged prostitution ring as a criminal enterprise.
According to the company's records, the escort service earned more than $7 million between September 2007 and November 2010, according to the indictment. Yampolsky faces charges of laundering these profits to hide the illegal income.
Yampolskaya and the Yampolskys pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Wednesday afternoon.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
UHHHH YEAHH! OF COURSE WOMEN WOULD HAVE BEEN SOLVED THIS DEBT MESS!!
Would female leaders solve debt crisis?
July 19, 2011 8:38 a.m. EDT
When congressional leaders met with President Obama this month, the participants were all men, except for Nancy Pelosi.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- LZ Granderson: Less than 20% of the members of Congress are women
- He says women are better suited to finding ways to communicate in tense situations
- After 3 decades of breakthroughs by women, why are so few leading in Washington? he asks
- Granderson: More female leaders would help resolve standoffs such as the debt crisis
Editor's note: LZ Granderson, who writes a weekly column for CNN.com, has been named Journalist of the Year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. He is a senior writer and columnist for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, and a a 2010 nominee and the 2009 winner of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation award for online journalism. Follow him on Twitter: @locs_n_laughs
Grand Rapids, Michigan (CNN) -- There have been press conferences and secret meetings.Golf outings, walk-outings, ball-dropping and finger-pointing.
For every line a Democrat draws in the sand regarding the debt ceiling, a Republican introduces a new line of his own.
Or sometimes for kicks, a constitutional amendment.
Yes, over the past three weeks, we've seen just about every act there is to this political theater and, staying true to the time of Shakespeare, it seems every character is played by a man.
LZ Granderson
Despite representing 51% of the country, women account for just 16.6% of Congress -- 17 of the 100 seats in the Senate, 72 of the 435 seats in the House. When President Obama had his "Big 8" meeting to talk debt ceiling a couple of weeks ago, there was only one woman present, Nancy Pelosi.
Now I don't claim to be a great mathematician, but that just seems off to me.
Especially when you consider that for more than 20 years there have been more women enrolled in college than men and today there are a million more female college graduates than male.
Frum: GOP wants Obama's unconditional surrender
Between the growing education gap and gap in population, the fact that those numbers have not translated into a bigger voice in how the country is run can only be described as the result of sexism. And it's likely hindering our governance when you consider what we know about neuroscience.
Women use both sides of their brain more effectively and thus are naturally hardwired to be better communicators, more creative problem solvers and in moments of stress, less likely to walk out of meetings -- debt-ceiling variety and others -- than men.
Bachmann backs 'cut, cap and balance' 
GOP's 'duck, dodge, dismantle' approach RELATED TOPICS
So while culturally people like to cast women as mentally weak and unable to control their emotions -- supposedly making them bad leaders -- the science suggests we really don't know if Eric Cantor and President Obama abruptly left their respective tense budget meetings as a negotiating tactic or if they simply couldn't control their hormones.
This is not to suggest women are naturally better at governing than men, only that it is difficult to see how the country can continue to believe we benefit from their absence on the Hill.
We've always handled our affairs through a patriarchal prism, but today that ideology marginalizes the more educated and largest segment of the population. When you factor in our love for waving our gender-equity finger at other nations, it would seem we're in dire need of a mirror if we're truly going to turn things around.
America is 235 years old but only a total of 267 women have served in Congress, including Rebecca Latimer Felton, who was there for one day. Four states -- Delaware, Iowa, Mississippi and Vermont -- have never even elected a woman to Congress, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.
What does it say about us as an industrialized nation that after three decades of dramatic social, economic and demographic shifts between the genders, there has only been one woman to follow the late Geraldine Ferraro as a major-party national nominee? And I bet if Sen. John McCain could do it all over again, Ferraro would still be the only one.
Of course, we can't blame the absence of women in budget talks and such entirely on the boys club in Washington, seeing how it's we the people who elect members of Congress in the first place. And to be sure, voting based solely on gender or simply having more women on the Hill hardly solves our economic problems. Women have egos and are susceptible to pride, peer pressure and pandering just like men.
And as Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann have proven, they can be just as clueless.
But as the August 2 debt ceiling deadline looms, the real issue doesn't appear to be Dems vs Repubs; tax hikes vs spending cuts; or adults vs children.
It's an overall lack of diversity of thought.
Nearly 85% of the people in Congress are men. So if you ever wonder why these debt ceiling negotiations appear to have an inordinate amount of chest-pounding and tree spraying, that number -- more than the $14 trillion we owe -- seems like the best place to start.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson.
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