Couch Potatoes with a Cause (Feminist TV Club): Commander in Chief, Season 1 Episode 4

Episode Summary: Episode 4, “First Dance” (taken from Wikipedia):

President Allen faces her first summit and state dinner with the President of Russia Dmitri Kharkov. The subject of civil liberties and dissident journalists is a source of deep division between the two world leaders.

To coincide with the summit, Nathan Templeton has organized the resignation of several members of Allen’s Cabinet by offering them positions in a future administration with himself as President. Among the resignations were those of the National Security Advisor and the Secretary of the Interior. Chief of Staff Jim Gardner visits Templeton to demand explanations for his actions, but instead Templeton offers Gardner the opportunity to be his Vice-President if he resigns his position as Chief of Staff. Gardner refuses the offer as Templeton vows that he will run and defeat Allen in the next election.

During the state dinner, whilst dancing together which was viewed badly by the White House staff, President Kharkov and President Allen seem to mend their differences and offer support for each others countries. The family life of the First Family has some controversies when Rebecca, the President’s daughter, decides not to attend the dinner in order to have a date with a school friend.

At the end of the episode, President Allen presents Templeton with a biography of the 10th President of the United States, John Tyler, whose Cabinet largely resigned when he assumed the presidency. Tyler managed to stay in the White House until the end of his term.

Discussion under the cut!

Stay safe, fellow East Coasters.

Hope everyone is hunkered down and braving the storm in a safe place. I’m with my family in New York (luckily in a non-evacuation zone), and we’re stocked up with water, flashlights, and batteries; and I visited the library yesterday and checked out Entourage Season 2, 3 movies, and 2 books to add to my arsenal of crossword puzzles, lanyard, and coloring books. Stay safe and only go outside if it’s an emergency!

Happy Women’s Equality Day!

I’ve been trying to figure out all day how to properly celebrate Women’s Equality Day on my blog. I didn’t want to just rehash statistics of how women are still unequal in government representation (Women only hold 16% of seats in Congress), or how women still get paid 80% of what their male counterparts earn. I didn’t want to write another list of how women are portrayed as sex objects in many outlets of media while men are in positions of power; or the differences in toys and marketing for young children.

Then I found an article in Time Magazine from the August 22 Issue called “Here’s Looking at You: What you see in the mirror may be deciding your paycheck.”

According to the article, good-looking women earn 12% more money than below-average women. Men, surprisingly, have it worse – good-looking men earn 17% more than their below-average counterparts. This difference in earnings costs the below-average worker $230,000 over their lifetime and this discrimination costs the economy $20 billion annually.

Woah.

At first, I was thrilled that the problem for women wasn’t quite as steep. But then I remembered – the standards for women are much higher than the standards for men. We are constantly critiqued on our appearance, how our hair is done, how much makeup we do/do not wear, how much we weigh. It feels petty that we’re carrying our prejudices about appearance into the workplace, where they have little to no place. And undoubtedly, women are scrutinized at a much higher level than men.

What I’m trying to say is this: We’ve got a lot to work on. Not just the things we know about, but the things that we forget about – like social prejudices about earnings in the workplace – not just because you’re a woman, but because you’re not as attractive as the last woman who walked in.

 

Potential Fox News Earthquake Explanations

(all in good fun, of course.)

1. Obamaquake! Obama caused the earthquake with all his attempts to stop global warming, which is (according to Fox & Friends) probably part of a natural cycle.

2. It’s god lashing out at us for legalizing gay marriage. I mean, come on – NY and DC? Two of the most gay-friendly cities on the East Coast!

3. Obama had a huge hip-hop party and the vibration from the speakers caused the earthquake

4. It’s the first sign of Obamapocalypse

Couch Potatoes with a Cause (Feminist TV Club): Commander in Chief, S1E2 and 3

Episode Summaries (from Wikipedia):

Episode 2, “First Choice” –
Allen faces the first political crisis of her presidency as her selection of a new Vice President is manipulated by Speaker Templeton. Templeton leaks incorrect information to the press regarding the nomination of a Republican former governor of Oklahoma named Tucker Baynes to fill the vacant seat of the Vice President. Meanwhile, the White House is still in disorder after the resignation of several other members of the Bridges administration, including the Press Secretary. Allen appoints her personal speech writer, Kelly Ludlow, to be the new Press Secretary.

Allen’s daughter Rebecca is concerned when her personal diary disappeared from her possessions during the family’s move to the White House. The Secret Service is summoned to by the President to help find the diary. It turned out the diary was not lost but had been mistakenly placed in Amy’s room.

President Allen offers the Vice Presidency to her former political rival Warren Keaton, a former United States Army General and vice presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket that was defeated by the Bridges-Allen ticket. The episode ends with Speaker Templeton watching the announcement of the nomination and commenting that Keaton does not have a chance to be confirmed by Congress.

Episode 3, ” First Strike”
President Allen faces her first international crisis when nine undercover DEA agents are killed in the fictitious South Americancountry of San Pasquale (presumably based upon real-life Bolivia or Panama). As she begins to ponder her options on retaliation, the President is distracted when the press begins to follow her son and daughter as they begin their new terms in public school. In the mean time, the First Gentleman begins coaching vice presidential nominee Warren Keaton for his upcoming confirmation hearings.

In a flashback to several months earlier, we see a conversation between the late President Bridges and Nathan Templeton. During which, aboard Air Force One, President Bridges notes his disdain for Allen’s activism (presumably liberal-leaning or against Bridges’ own philosophy). Bridges informs Templeton that he plans to appoint Allen to a Supreme Court vacancy and that he would like Templeton to become his new Vice President.

The President orders the Air Force and the DEA to destroy coca fields in San Pasquale and calls for the people of the country to ask for the arrest of General Sanchez, the dictator of San Pasquale. Before the attack begins, the military of the country overthrows Sanchez. Juan Duran, San Pasquale’s exiled president, is asked to return to power.

Yikes. Internet problems = major delays in Feminist TV Club!

I know that I promised the next installment of Feminist TV Club by today, but I’m on vacation for a family reunion and I’ve had little to no time to actually watch the episode and spotty internet service! Forgive me?

Here’s my new plan:

There will be two episodes of Commander in Chief discussed this coming Monday – Season 1, Episode 2 and Episode 3. INVITE MORE PEOPLE TO DISCUSS EPISODE 1! Let’s get this show on the road!

Corporation People: Who Mitt Romney was talking about

hilarious slideshow here. My favorite:

Feminist TV Club/Couch Potatoes with a Cause update!

Hi guys!

I know the synopsis/discussion points for this week were supposed to be up Monday morning; but I just took the GRE this morning and am leaving for Cape Cod at 5 AM tomorrow – so the synopsis/discussion stuff for Commander in Chief, S1E2 will be up by Wednesday morning at the latest.

In the meantime – tell ya kids, tell ya wife, because they’re discussing feminism up here! I kid. Seriously though – watch Episode 1 and comment on the post/read others’ thoughts, and watch Episode 2 and get ready for some Week 2/Episode 2 epicness!

Tuesday Morning Pick-Me-Up

It’s been a rough start to the week – the Stock Market is in the crapper, there are devastating riots in London, and many of us feel powerless to stop it. Here’s a link to a website called Chicken on a Raft. Here’s hoping the end to the week is better than the beginning!

PS: If you are in London and want to help, Check out the site Riot Cleanup (or their Twitter Account) for info on how!

Couch Potatoes with a Cause (Feminist TV Club): Commander in Chief, S1E1

In case you haven’t heard, I’ve started a Feminist TV Club. We’ve started out by watching Season 1, Episode 1 of Commander in Chief – if you haven’t watched it yet, go to Netflix Instant or Sidereel and watch it immediately. It’s an excellent show.
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Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”

Episode Summary (from Wikipedia)

While on a diplomatic mission in Paris, France, Vice President Mackenzie Allen is informed that President Teddy Bridges has suffered a possibly fatal stroke. Mac is shocked when she is told of his wish that she resign should he be unable to continue acting as president. Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton would assume the presidency. Despite grief about giving up the chance to be the first female and first independent in office and reservations about allowing Templeton, whose policies she does not agree with, to take office, Allen has her staff draft a resignation speech.

Upon the President’s death, Allen is again asked by Templeton to step aside. But as she observes his prejudice towards Muslims and women, she chooses instead to take the oath of office and assume the presidency despite the challenges that lie ahead. After assuming office, she is faced with hostility from within the Bridges administration, making her all the more aware of what an outsider she has been. The Secretary of Labor and the president’s personal secretary offer their resignations, while Allen asks Bridges’ Chief of Staff, Jim Gardner, to remain in his post – formerly occupied in her time as VP by her husband, who is having some difficulty adjusting as “First Lady”.

As her first action in office, Allen finishes a mission she championed as Vice President by confronting the Nigerian ambassador, making it clear that unless they release the woman who is sentenced to death by stoning for having sex outside of marriage, the United States military will use force to see that she is rescued.

Faced with skepticism from political insiders and within her own family, Allen delivers a touching address to a joint session of Congress. As the President speaks, rather than risk U.S. invasion, the Nigerians quietly hand their prisoner over to the U.S. military and she is flown out of the country.