Now, some say that’s not true. Or it is true, but it’s the liberals waging it and not the right-wing throwbacks to the caveman era.

Just more of that up is down shit we got from the Bush administration for eight years.

The Republicans wanna have it both ways too. The Obama administration is bad for women, but women are doing great in this economy! Yahoo! Helps, of course, that their base apparently can only consider one statement at a time, and so any contradictory statements are not considered when a new one comes along.

So when an Ed Gillespie says on Meet the Press “The U.S. economy is a hostile workplace for women under President Obama … It’s still the economy, and women aren’t stupid,” the Republican sheeple don’t remember that women have always been at the bottom of the heap. Women make 77 cents on the dollar compared to men, and that didn’t just happen since January 20, 2009.

So what does presumptive nominee Mitt Romney and the rest of the cabal intend to do about it? I’ll let Joan Walsh answer that.

It’s undeniable that Romney and the GOP support policies that disproportionately hurt women. They want to cut back the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-wage workers; most recipients are women. They want to slash Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security; women make up most of those programs’ beneficiaries, too. To the extent that they, as well as GOP governors, are pushing public worker layoffs, those hit women harder too, since they’re more likely to work in the public sector than men.

They wanna do other things too, like put restrictions on abortion that lock the doctor’s opinion out of the matter. That’s Georgia, where the legislature has passed a bill that bans abortion after five months — regardless the health of the fetus, the health of the mother or even if the fetus is dead. Because? One of the bill’s prime sponsors says that he’s delivered calves and pigs dead and alive, so it should be ok for humans too.

Click here to view the embedded video.

But it’s not all about women it seems. The Tennessee legislature has been trying for a while now to ban use of the word “gay” to mean homosexual. They’ve not been successful … yet, but they did manage to pass a vague bill requiring sex education to preach against “gateway sexual activity,” without explaining what that means. Kissing? Holding hands? Running your fingers through someone’s hair? Got me.

And then of course there’s the myriad politicians who don’t think it’s a good idea to ban bullying against gay people. Gay journo Dan Savage, speaking to the National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle, ran into a little of this in high school students. From David A. Graham:

In the course of his talk about bullying, Savage pointed out anti-gay activists sometimes cite the Bible to justify their beliefs and behavior. He then went on to point out that the Bible sanctions any number of activities we don’t allow today, including slavery and the stoning of women who are not virgins when married (the full text, if you don’t want to watch the video, is here), strictures he referred to as “bullshit.” In protest, some (presumably) Christian members of the audience walked out. As he wrapped up the inflammatory section of his remarks, Savage apologized for offending anyone, but undercut that apology somewhat by adding, “It’s funny, as someone who’s on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible, how pansy-assed some people react when you push back.

Here’s the video in case you do want to watch it:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And before you start whining about how do you know they’re Christians and weren’t just upset about the foul language — they’re journalism students, ferchrissake. If “bullshit” upsets them, they’re in the wrong business.

So really, it’s not just a war on women. It’s a war on everything good and decent, despite attempts to characterize it as something dirty and bad.

Well, my fellow Politicos, it’s been a wild week – so much to talk about! So many things that I have included a couple of links at the bottom of the post for you because there won’t be time to discuss them together here this week.

But the main thrust of my post this week is the issue that could affect your kitchen table politics the most.  Right now, 10.7 million homeowners in the U.S. are “underwater” in their loans, meaning that their homes are worth far less than when they purchased them. That’s one in every four families. The crisis is worst in Nevada, Arizona, Florida and here in California, where 30% of borrowers owe 50% or more of their home’s value. There are over a million California families who are upside-down, and ove a hundred thousand in New York alone. With such a large number of families in crisis, it puts any economic recovery at risk.

What choices do families who are underwater in their home loans have? Very few. You can’t afford to sell it at a loss because you’d still be deeply in debt; You can walk away from the home, like 588,000 homeowners did last year, even though they could still afford to pay the mortgage – just stop paying and let the bank foreclose. Or, like 40% of folks,  you can stay and keep paying your mortgage, if you can still make the payments, and continue to hope against hope that someday housing prices will rise to at least the level they were when you bought the house – if you got in at the early end of the bubble, your chances are better that if you ought at the peak. That’s where we are now, hoping against hope that something’s gotta give, having been taught all our lives that you don’t walk away from your debt, you keep your commitments. It is simply the integrity of the middle class homeowner that keeps the housing market even afloat right now.

So when The President came out in his State of The Union and said that he’d be uniting the State Attorneys General and the U.S. Attorney General to prosecute the responsible parties that caused this mess, prosecuting the banks that bundled our loans and used them as chips in their high-stakes game of Texas Hold-’em, I saw a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Then, within a matter of days, I heard that there was a $25 billion settlement with the banks – turns out it’s been six months in the making. Finally, someone addressing these abuses. And that’s what they are, abuses. But I also thought, “Hey, that was happening way too fast,” and I said to The Hubby that $25 billion won’t go far when we’re talking about the vast number of homes underwater. I was afraid that, like most lawsuits, the banks would be free and clear after that, having paid their fine, so to speak. So I started looking further into this new development – I wanted to see if we’d even be eligible, because most of the loan modification programs left us out in the cold.

And I’ll tell you what, my fellow Politicos, I am guardedly optimistic, for some families’ fates. The L.A. Times had a great article last week that outlined some of the basics of the deal.  I’ll summarize them here:

• The main way the settlement will help homeowners will be what’s called a “principal write-down,” in which your actual principal is lowered by the bank to be more in line with what your house is worth. The expected principal reductions could be up to $35 billion.
• Some folks will be allowed to do a short sale for what they owe. Basically, you would break even, without a foreclosure on your credit record.
• Or, if you’ve already gone through a foreclosure, you might receive between $1,500-$2,000 for all the problems you encountered during foreclosure.

One of the positive things about this deal is that it will change mortgage lending guidelines so that the Texas Hold-’em of the past cannot continue. New regulations are designed to make it easier for folks who are near foreclosure to be able to make their payment, and, ultimately, stay in their homes. Another important feature of the deal is that this is not the end; the AG’s deal does not eliminate the banks’ liability. They can still be sued and prosecuted further. Which is important – my immediate thought was that $25 billion won’t go far among the millions and millions of households at risk of losing their homes.

Now, one source stated that the deal only applies to houses purchased from 2008-2011. I’ll be looking into that to see if it’s the case, and let you know. If it is true, there are a multitude of families who are still out of luck, like mine. Also according to The Blaze:

$17 billion will go toward reducing the principal that struggling homeowners owe on their mortgages.

$5 billion will be placed in a reserve account for various state and federal programs.

A portion of that money will cover the $1,800 checks sent to those homeowners affected by the deceptive practices.

About $3 billion will help homeowners refinance at 5.25 percent.

This all seems like just a drop in the bucket, especially for those whose homes have already been foreclosed. Which is why it’s so important that banks have no immunity and can be further prosecuted.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And true to this statement, on Friday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued three of the biggest banks for fradulent lending practices and use of false documents in foreclosures – that’s where the electronic recording of loans was done to end-run local registrar’s offices – now banks can’t find your mortgage, the paperwork that shows they own your house in the MERS database (The Mortgage Electronic Registration System). Often no paperwork exists, due to the “robo-signing” of loans in this registry. MERS saved the banks $2 million in county registrars’ fees.

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden speaks about this as only a beginning:

Click here to view the embedded video.

He and other state AG’s will be continuing to fight for more in their states, but The President has opened lines of communication with the Federal AG so that more of these multiple-state prosecutions can be done. Biden fought hard for the rights of states and the feds to continue their prosecutions. “It should not have taken the Federal government, the state AGs, HUD and the United States Department of Justice to force the banks to do what they should do, and might ultimately have to do anyway, and that’s write down some of the principal.” And that’s the moral and ethical issue here. Once again, we find that corporate profits reign over morality every time. That’s why this is such an important settlement – it is the government standing up for the little guy, for the rest of us.

And that’s why I am cautiously optimistic. While our loan won’t be covered, if my sources are correct, I am hopeful that this is not the end. Because we were raised to do the right thing, and that includes not walking away from our debt. I hope that we’ll be able to find a way to refinance at a decent interest rate, or that the banks will write off part of the principal we owe, but I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel yet. I hope that Attorneys General like Holder, Schneiderman and Biden keep fighting the good fight for us and so many other hard-working and honest families like ours.

There are a couple of other “Must-reads/sees” this week:

• Rachel Maddow’s Washington Post Op-Ed on the GOP attack on Birth Control is an historical look at the whole “personhood” movement and how it ties into the Rethugs’ hoising themselves on their own pitard.
• Washington State Representative Maureen Walsh’s speech about why she supports the Marriage Equality law that just passed in her state. She may be a Republican representative, but she’s a mom, first and foremost. As moving a speech and argument for equality as any I have ever heard.
• Last, but not least: California’s Prop 8 found unconstitutional! A step closer to the Supreme Court, this tightly written decision comes down, truly reflecting the beliefs of the majority of Californians. One more step forward for marriage equality. Our Gal Rachel speaks to the unlikely team of attorneys who are fighting the good fight.

A huge week for homeowners, a giant step forward for LGBTQ rights, “personhood” amendments on the march to wipe out birth control. What’s your story of the week, my fellow Politicos? What’s the talk around your kitchen table? Speak out here at Kitchen Table Politics!