It’s been quite a week between the lawmakers in Washington taking the debt-ceiling deal to the 11th hour and yesterday being one of the worst days in the financial markets since 2008.  Yet despite all the chaos, this Friday’s Round Up is going deploy Power Tool #5 ‘Carpe the Chaos’ and keep marching forward to highlight some of the good, not just the bad and the ugly – we’ve had quite enough of that.

And while this may seem like an odd place for a movie reference, She Negotiates Founder Victoria Pynchon’s ForbesWoman article “The Budget End-Game as Bad Summer Movie” was certainly a box-office hit!  Pynchon’s witty tongue-in-cheek piece told a tale of incredible drama that is getting mixed reviews from both sides of the aisles and sadly, left many Americans leaving the theatre disheartened and incredibly disappointed.

“Meanwhile, the American-public-as-summer-movie-focus-group begs the studio to provide a more satisfactory conclusion or its executives will find them at home watching The Real Housewives of New York City while they re-calculate their ability to pay the electricity bill, purchase health insurance, pay the rent, finish college, or retire sometime before their 80th birthdays.”  — Victoria Pynchon,  “TheBudget End-Game as Bad Summer Movie”

However, there was one story this week with a very happy ending.  As of August 1st, new insurance plans are required to fully cover women’s preventative care including free birth control, wellness visits and other services under the Affordable Health Care Act.  In announcing the new historic guidelines, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said they will help women get the care they need to stay healthy.

“Today we are accepting the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine, so no woman in America needs to choose between paying a grocery bill and paying for the key care that can save her life.”  — HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

Dr. Howard Koh, Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health says that by 2013, thirty-four million U.S. women ages 18 to 64 will receive the benefits spelled out in the new ruling.  This couldn’t come at a better time as it appears a rough road is still ahead for American women.

However, there are some voices in the women’s political blogosphere that are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore!  Donna Norton’s post on MomsRising.org says it’s time that after all of the endless weeks of watching Washington, it’s time for someone else to “drive the bus”.  She says it is especially critical now that the soon-to-be-formed super committees will be on deck to decide all of the deficit reduction measures promised in the debt-ceiling deal because as she puts it, “the ride isn’t over yet”.

“Urge Congress to appoint legislators to serve on the super committee who will stand up for families on Main Street, not just bankers on Wall Street — and, while you’re at it, tell Congress what you’d do if you were in the driver’s seat:

http://action.momsrising.org/sign/drivebus4/

She’s so right, the ride is far from over and as this rocky road trip continues, where will you be?

The future economic turbulence may bring wrong turns from lawmakers and other leaders. To ‘Carpe the Chaos’, where can you get behind the driver’s seat to set things back on course?