At about the same time of Pope’s U.S. appearance and the sad political downfall of Speaker Boehner, Republican presidential aspirant Carly Fiorina laid a campaign trail through assorted Upstate South Carolina venues. She began her trek as keynote speaker at the chamber’s Women in Business conference at Spartanburg’s Converse College.
Ironic she should address Women in Business and continue to insist she supports equal pay for her sisters in the corporate world. In fact Media Matters quotes her reaction to the landmark Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Acts as “tokens” that essentially did nothing for women.
One businesswoman listening to Fiorina was quoted in the local paper; “Women still make 77 cents on the dollar for every dollar a man makes” she said. “Why? Women aren’t bad salary negotiators; we are simply failing to negotiate at all.” No, you’re simply failing to join unions and research candidates who are doing you irreparable economic harm. The Washington Post reports the gender pay gap is $430,000 over a lifetime of work. While Hewlett Packard CEO, the LA Times found most additional Carly jobs went to low-paying venues overseas.
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Fiorina hopes a lack of in-depth voter research and naiveté will open the door to the White House for her. As you read on, you’ll note that Carly Fiorina did everything she could financially for at least one woman…Carly Fiorina!
After the packed house Converse speech, the candidate then headed over to a pregnancy center where she defended her flight of fancy in attacking Planned Parenthood based on an edited video shot by a conservative anti-abortion group, the “Center for Medical Progress.”
The video allegedly shows a fully formed fetus as Planned Parenthood workers (doubtlessly Democrats) struggle to keep the fetus alive for the purpose of “harvesting its brain.” Here’s a portion of the video in question and accompanying commentary from Carly’s own site. It purports to feature the fetus with heart beating and legs flailing. That’s flailing?
I can spot a very obvious edit based on my background in the media. The video content (wherever it came from) is a compelling image to be sure and there are tissue harvesting techniques that are not for the squeamish. But, there doesn’t appear to be anything on the tape that even remotely fits the description that Fiorina assigned to it, including the implication that it’s an ‘aborted’ fetus.
Here is a Mediamatters site that debunks Fiorina: Now, it’s on to a Snopes site that explains fetal tissue sales and what is happening in the field of stem cell and fetal tissue research and university grants. The issue is a consummate red herring of distortion on Fiorina’s part.
And let us not forget her intention to block access to contraceptives. A move that many pundits on both sides of the political fence agree would increase the number of abortions.
Republican presidential aspirant Fiorina wants to defund Planned Parenthood and she’s willing to shut down the government to do it. Odd, considering Fiorina is a breast cancer survivor and Planned Parenthood is all about early detection and cures. But Planned Parenthood leans toward helping the poor and that would never do for a Republican leader.
After extensive examination of the candidate’s approach to running a couple of giant companies, I’ve come to the conclusion that ethics played little to no role in her stewardship of Lucent and Hewlett Packard. Her tenure at HP has been well chronicled. To say the least it was marked by extensive divisiveness, questionable decisions and actions that left the board with no alternative other than escorting her to the door. An Academic Paper written by Columbia Business School scholars tells the tale. Where applicable, press ‘open’ at the site.
As Lucent CEO, 1996-1999, the stench of shoddy and highly questionable business practices filled the corporate hallways. Her actions in misrepresenting the true value of the company would have been thoroughly investigated by a company with the courage of its ethical convictions. Lucent, like some its rivals artificially burnished its financial performance through vendor financing — lending money to customers so they could buy its products.
Here’s the further Lucent/Fiorina story as told by Fortune Magazine a few years ago. It’s a story resplendent with ethical shortcuts and downright sleazy business practices.
This month’s “Wheel of Fortune” polling has landed on Carly Fiorina. She claims a ‘rags to riches’ story from secretary to corporate power broker. She’s also Stanford educated. She’s had her share of suffering: She’s undergone a double mastectomy, chemo, radiation and a divorce with hints of infidelity on both sides; she’s never experienced childbirth, though she has had two step-children. One of the step-children, Lori Ann, the daughter of Frank Fiorina and his first wife, Pat Easler, died at the young age of 35, apparently as a consequence of a long-standing drug addiction. Carly’s first husband, Todd Bartlem, whom she met at Stanford, won’t be campaigning for her anytime soon according to the UK’s Daily Mail. He’s still bitter over what he feels is her misrepresentation of her ‘rags to riches’ tale, pointing out she lived overseas for a time and went to some of the best schools, including a brief stay at law school.
Fiorina would repeal the Affordable Care Act. One of the core essential services of the legislation is accessibility to the diagnosis, care and treatment of substance abuse. On many levels, this candidate makes no sense. Fiorina, who underwent her double mastectomy in 2009, eschews, what for many women is coverage of the pre-existing condition of breast cancer, often denied outside of ACA, but covered in President Obama’s health care plan.
I guess in vetting Fiorina, the one question that would seem to jump off the screen is; “why on earth would you vote for this woman?” In 2010, the California electorate locked the door of the senate chamber to her, giving incumbent Barbara Boxer a double-digit win. If you reverse that result for the presidency, here’s what you get. An America owned and controlled by multi-national corporate interests. You know, the kind Carly headed. A Middle-class that goes from middle-middle to lower-middle; As a bonus, she’ll preside over an essentially non-union, minimum wage working class with no upward mobility and no prospects for same. As the ’55 Tennessee Ernie Ford version of “Sixteen Tons” goes; “I owe my soul to the company store.” Most public service (education in particular) will be privatized and minimized, the air you breath will be landfill quality and citizens in the lower stratas will have ZERO voice in any issues that impact them.
I believe Carly will probably remain standing for a fair amount of time in the race for the Republican nomination. Bush will be there, as, most likely, will Cruz and Kasich. The rest of ’em will be long gone, including “you know who.”
Come election day, a Bush/Fiorina ticket?
Raised rural & small town, then lived in N.Y., Chicago & LA. Widely traveled. Returned from world wandering to pursue media life of anchorman/reporter and major, medium and small market talk radio. Highly active in politics. Once worked as orderly & security in Mens Lock Ward for the Criminally Insane at a state institution. Much more rational population than current Teapublicans. Great concern for country run by and for the extreme wealthy. The inhumane current running through this country has no precedent in modern history.
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