[nFBMI-Talk] Senator Duckworth on mission to overcome obstacles

Wed Feb 21 15:55:02 UTC 2018

Thanks for sharing this Terry. My son Edward, who is a moderate conservative
like me, has tremendous respect for Senator Duckworth. Edward spent a year
in Afghanistan, and now serves as a reservist working in Army Special
Intelligence. I also like much of what Senator Duckworth represents. If more
members of the democrat party were like this intrepid courageous woman, I
would probably still be a democrat, as I was for the first 25 years of my
voting life! 

Hat's off to Senator Duckworth--and now let's all go pound on our state's
U.S. Senators to vote NO on the Senate version of H.R. 620, the ADA
Education and Reform Act. 

Christine

> -----Original Message-----
> From: NFBMI-Talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
> Terry D. Eagle via NFBMI-Talk
> Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 3:05 PM
> To: 'NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List' <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Terry D. Eagle <terrydeagle at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [nFBMI-Talk] Senator Duckworth on mission to overcome obstacles
> 
> Senator Duckworth on mission to overcome obstacles
> 
> Laurie Kellman, Associated Press Published 1:02 p.m. ET Feb. 18, 2018
> 
> 
> 
> Washington - Breaking down barriers is nothing new for Sen. Tammy
> Duckworth, and that's the way she likes it.
> 
> 
> 
> The decorated Iraq War veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was
> shot down is an Asian-American woman in the mostly white, mostly male
> and very fusty Senate. And now, with a baby due in April, she'll be the
first
> senator to give birth while in office.
> 
> 
> 
> And so, along with her legislative and political goals, the Illinois
Democrat is
> adding a new one: educating the tradition-bound Senate on creating a
> workplace that makes room for new moms.
> 
> 
> 
> "She's been through things that you and I will probably never understand.
So
> I'm sure for her (having a baby) is in no way daunting," said Rep. Jaime
> Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., who had two children while serving in Congress.
> "She's also someone who's had a whole career in a male-dominated world."
> 
> 
> 
> Duckworth, who turns 50 in March, says she appreciates the historic nature
> of her baby's birth, as well as the fact that she represents working
mothers
> 
> and women having babies later in life. She fully expects to have to find a
> place to nurse in some quiet parlor off the Senate floor.
> 
> 
> 
> But she says having a baby, a second daughter, is just one of many stops
on
> the trail ahead.
> 
> 
> 
> "This is the last job that I want," Duckworth said of the Illinois Senate
seat
> once held by Barack Obama. The former president is one of several men she
> ticks off as mentors and role models. They include Sen. Dick Durbin,
D-Ill.,
> former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and the late Democratic Sens. Daniel Inouye
of
> Hawaii and Edward Kennedy - all backers of the Americans with Disabilities
> Act, which made the nation's landscape a little easier to navigate.
> 
> 
> 
> But she's sees both problems with compliance and efforts to undermine the
> law.
> 
> 
> 
> She points to flaws in Chicago's mass transit system, for example, and in
a
> ladies' room at a U.S. embassy overseas. And floating through Congress now
> is a bill designed to curb frivolous lawsuits under the ADA that Duckworth
> and others say weakens it.
> 
> 
> 
> Duckworth is already in the history books. She's the first female amputee
> elected to Congress, the first Asian-American to represent Illinois in
> Washington and the first member of Congress born in Thailand. Her story of
> resilience and grit set her in the rare company of grievously injured
veterans
> who later served in the Senate - Dole, a World War II veteran, and John
> McCain, who was kept prisoner for more than five years in Vietnam.
> 
> 
> 
> "If you take gender out of it, it's not that new," said Duckworth, a year
into
> her own Senate term.
> 
> 
> 
> But gender can't be ignored as the nation reckons with sexual misconduct
at
> home and in the workplace, especially since Congress is not exactly known
> for being on the leading edge of equality. The first area specifically set
up for
> lactation opened in the Capitol only a dozen years ago. The House
installed
> its first lavatory for women lawmakers in 2011. The Senate has had its own
> women's restroom for 25 years.
> 
> 
> 
> Duckworth, one of 22 women in the Senate, has the experience to give her
> policy advice and criticisms of President Donald Trump an especially
> authoritative edge.
> 
> 
> 
> His demand for a military parade? "Our troops in danger overseas don't
> need a show of bravado, they need steady leadership," she said.
> 
> 
> 
> His complaint that Democrats didn't sufficiently applaud his State of the
> Union address?
> 
> "I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment
> draft dodger," reads the Tweet pinned atop her page, referring to Trump's
> deferment from Vietnam due to a foot ailment. She refuses to "mindlessly
> cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap."
> 
> 
> 
> CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" gave Duckworth full credit for
the
> nickname. In a gag ad earlier this month, a new G.I. Joe doll resembling
> Trump, named "Cadet Bonespurs," lolls in a hammock while his comrades
> march off to war.
> 
> 
> 
> When Trump tweets that Democrats don't care about the military, "she takes
> that personally. She answered personally," said Durbin.
> 
> 
> 
> Politics and the military were not Duckworth's original goals.
> 
> 
> 
> As she worked on a master's degree in international affairs in the early
1990s
> at George Washington University, Duckworth was aiming to become an
> ambassador.  She signed up for ROTC to learn more about the military. She
> fell in love with the challenge - and with a cadet named Bryan Bowlsbey.
> They married in 1993.
> 
> Duckworth has said she applied to fly helicopters because she wanted the
> same power as men - and because it was one of the few combat jobs open to
> women.
> 
> 
> 
> She was the senior officer co-piloting a Black Hawk on Nov. 12, 2004, when
a
> grenade fired by an Iraqi insurgent exploded in a fireball at Duckworth's
feet.
> She lost both legs and partial use of her arm and faced a grueling
recovery.
> 
> 
> 
> As she recovered, Duckworth befriended some important members of the
> Senate.
> Durbin invited Duckworth to be his guest at President George W. Bush's
2005
> State of the Union address. And Dole, who had lost much of the use of one
> arm to war, dedicated his 2005 book to her. Duckworth, he wrote,
> "represents all those with their own battles ahead of them."
> 
> 
> 
> But for all of her powerful patrons, achievements and drive, the Senate
> terrain can still seem bumpy.
> 
> 
> 
> One day in December as Duckworth wheeled around a corner in the Capitol
> toward the Senate's historic vote on tax cuts, a young police officer
stopped
> her.  The elevators, he said, were reserved "for members only."
> 
> 
> 
> Duckworth looked up and, all business, informed him that she's the junior
> senator from Illinois.
> 
> The officer let Duckworth through - with apologies.
> 
> 
> 
> Source:
> 
> http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/18/senate-
> duckworth-n
> ew-mothers/110577672/
> 
> 
> 
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
> http://www.avg.com
> _______________________________________________
> NFBMI-Talk mailing list
> NFBMI-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
NFBMI-
> Talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmi-
> talk_nfbnet.org/christineboone2%40gmail.com