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30,000 Iraqis More or Less

Many thanks to Information Clearinghouse for giving this piece top billing last night:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11311.htm

30,000 Iraqis More or Less
By Lucinda Marshall
12/15/05 "ICH"

George's face was eerily matter-of-fact as he said it. "30,000 Iraqis more or less" have been killed so far in the 'War on Terror'. No remorse or sadness, he seemed wholly unaffected in any way by the enormity of such a loss of life, let alone that he might bear some responsibility for it happening. But it was major news that during his remarks to the World Affairs Conference in Philadelphia, the President had finally put a figure on the number of 'enemy' war dead and my local newspaper duly ran the story on Page One.

Asked about his linkage of Saddam Hussein to 911, Bush maintained that Saddam had been a threat and that the reports of weapons of mass destruction had been widely believed. He claimed that knowing what he does now, he would make the same decision, that Saddam had been a threat and that we are now safer. The President also talked about the challenges nations face making a transition to what he often terms a "free and democratic" society. One wonders if there were chuckles at his understated, "I think we were welcomed. But it was not a peaceful welcome."

In response to other questions, he also mentioned the number of American war dead, and that he thought Iraqis responsible for prison torture should be held accountable. But it wasn't until the 3rd from last paragraph in the wire story that appeared in my local paper that this chilling statement was reported, "The long run in this war is going to require a change of governments in parts of the world." Hello? Wait a minute, stop the presses, HE SAID WHAT?? But I digress, we'll get back to this in a minute. The article finished by noting that part of Bush's new strategy to win American support is to be more frank in his discussion of Iraq.

Well that might be what his spinners are saying he is doing but looking frank and being frank are two entirely different things. Just because it sounds truthful does not hide the stench of propaganda and deceit and it is the media's responsibility to not only report what the President says, but also how what he says contrasts with reality.

There was no mention that the only reason anyone believed the 'intelligence' about weapons of mass destruction was because the Bush Administration had vouchsafed for it, even though at the time there was ample evidence that it was horse pucky. Nowhere was there any mention that the number of terrorist attacks throughout the world has increased dramatically since 911. When Bush mentioned the official number of American war dead, there was no mention that Rep. John Conyers and other members of Congress are questioning the accuracy of this number, and the bottom line is we don't have a clue how many dead Iraqis there are. Might be 30,000 might be 100,000, we simply don't know.

Predictably, the President babbled on about victory and the success of "the mission", but the press, as it usually does, declined to question just what mission he was talking about. Was it the one to get Bin Laden? Or the one to get Saddam? To find WMDs? Stop terrorism? And what would constitute a victory over terrorism? A little clarification is long overdue, don't you think?

Nowhere in the coverage was there any comparison of the torture the President accuses the Iraqis of to the secret prisons run by the U.S. or the prisoner abuse at places like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Unbelievably, in commenting about the speech, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, said that, "We must tell the Iraqis that we have done our part--we've done more than our part. Now it's up to you (the Iraqis) to get your political house in order."

Levin's thinking seems to be the attitude of many Republicans and Democrats alike. We've apparently become amnesiac about the fact that we destroyed their government, bombed their cities, used chemical weapons, demolished water and electrical systems? Does Mr. Levin consider that part to be part of "our part"?

But clearly the most important thing we need to know is just how many governments does Bush plan to 'change' in the name of democracy? Over and over in his speech he compared the Iraqi situation to our own fight for freedom against the British. There is just one little difference. We fought for our own freedom, the British did not demand that we become a democracy. That can hardly be compared to bombing a country into 'freedom'. Apparently we've forgotten our grade school history lessons.

In the end, it all comes down to this: At what point will we finally quit nodding like bobbleheads and start demanding the truth, both from our media and from our government? When do we quit handing out political free lunch passes for such wholly inapplicable euphemisms as 'victory' and 'success' when the real topics on the table are lying, war crimes and treason?


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We're Melting

We're Melting
by Lucinda Marshall
December 10, 2005

One wonders what the Wicked Witch of the West must have been thinking in that terrifying moment in the Wizard of Oz after Dorothy doused her with water, when she realized that she was melting and no amount of evil spells was going to change that? With the recent deluge of melting glaciers and warming seas, it seems we residents of planet Earth may be reaching a very similar moment.

the article continues at:
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/3/2005/1616

The New Breast Cancer Treatment Guidelines

By now probably most of you have seen the story about the new guidelines for treating breast cancer. To say that this is a welcome breakthrough would be an understatement. But what is truly disturbing is the statistics about how many women have been treated with chemotherapy even though it is only effective in a small percentage of breast cancers. Associated Press medical writer Marilynn Marchione writes,

"But the worst part is, it only helps about 15 percent of those who get it after the usual surgery to remove their tumors. Roughly 25 percent get worse despite chemo. A whopping 60 percent would have been fine with hormones alone."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051210/ap_on_he_me/breast_cancer_1

Looked at another way, that means that 85% of patients who have received chemo were subjected to the toxic regimen that can cause a host of hideous side effects UNNECESSARILY. The only folks who benefited from that were the shareholders and CEOs of pharmaceutical companies, many of whom fund and serve in advisory capacities for the very organizations that promote early treatment. Very bad medicine indeed.

Of course there will be those who say that until recently, we could not distinguish between those who would benefit from chemo and those who would not, and this is true. But bear in mind that this is a very 'cure' oriented business. Virtually no research is being done to look at the causes of breast cancer. Finding and stopping the cause or treating breast cancer without massive drug regimens isn't profitable. And with pharmaceutical companies facing the lose of 85% of their market for these drugs, there would be little incentive for them to have looked at this earlier and more rigorously. The damage that has been done to women's lives, not only by the disease, but by its treatment is truly staggering. The time to demand that resources be devoted not only to treating this disease but also to stopping it is way overdue.

An RSVP to the Tea Party

Today I received a response to "An Invitation to a Tea Party" that, with the author's kind permission, I would like to share. Carol in Oregon (who saw the piece on Jack Dalton's blog--thank you Jack!) wrote:

"Dear Lucinda,
Samuel Adams is an ancient uncle of mine. I like your boycott ideas and I never shop with any of those groups. I would like to go one further and have a real Boston Tea Party. Rent a frigate, dunk the enablers in the congress, the administration and the corporations in the harbor, haul them out and sail to The Hague with them in irons for their trials for crimes against humanity.

After that, I’d like to see us undo or houseclean the specious and excessive laws passed during the last fifty years, including the NSC68 from 1947 and most Executive Orders. My question is: who gave these people the right to dismiss the Preamble, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights? I want us, also, to go back to the “common defense” concept and toss out the CIA and the National Security laws. Further, I want secrecy in government forbidden forever. All “Patriot Acts” would be illegal.

I know this is a lot; but, we have been betrayed by corporate pseudo-persons-in law for too long. That concept has to go, too.

I am stuck out here in Oregon on a goat farm at age 66 with little chance to do anything except argue by email with the local precinct guy for the Democrats whose central committee concepts I despise. I was active in Chicago during the Vietnam War as president for Women For Peace and belonged to WILPF. I also belong to the ACLU (was elected secretary once) and Amnesty Int’l; and I despise the idea of torture as against the Declaration’s “…all men (sic) are created equal …” My ancestors include the two Green Mountain Boys: Seth Warner and Ethan Allen, an entire generation of Warners who fought the Revolution, Sam Adams, and the presidents’ Adams. We believe fiercely in human rights and freedom from oppression from any source.

I hope you consider staging, if not having the actual felons onboard, an art piece of another Boston Tea Party sailing to The Hague with demonstrators labeled for the real culprits. I would send a little money for it.

Please keep me informed of what your group is doing. I read your work on Jack Dalton’s site. I am also related to Ohio Daltons. "

I wrote back to tell Carol that unfortunately I do not live near Boston Harbor either, but perhaps we can throw 'tea parties' (however you chose to define them) in the places where we live. Many thanks to all who wrote. I can never gauge which pieces will resonate, so the feeback is always helpful and appreciated.

An Invitation To A Tea Party

Here's my latest article:

http://www.countercurrents.org/us-marshall051205.htm

An Invitation To A Tea Party
By Lucinda Marshall
05 December, 2005
Countercurrents.org

Robert Greenwald's WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price is a potent and timely effort to awaken our inner conscious consumer. But the corporate ethics malfunction that we are experiencing goes far beyond Walmart, and pervades every aspect of our lives. There is nothing new about any of this. Arundhati Roy has worked tirelessly to point out that our spending habits play a significant part in supporting corporate empires and folks like Ralph Nader have been begging us to pay attention to our complicity in corporate plundering for years.

As we stumble through the holiday season, mindlessly maxing out our credit cards, it is high time that we re-examine our own complicit spending and consuming habits. The reality is that we do have the power to commit change in the way we spend our money, not only during the holiday season, but also in the purchasing choices we make every day. There is no shortage of companies that are poster children for the bad corporate citizen award. But perhaps we can chose a few that many of us use every day, and make the choice to pick alternative products until these companies take substantive action to change their destructive policies. With that in mind, here are some worthy targets for a national Buycott:

Coca Cola: You shouldn't be drinking this stuff anyhow, it's unhealthy. But there are a lot of other reasons not to drink Coca Cola products, the most important being the company's leading role in the commodification of water. Other reasons include safety issues at their plants and how they treat their employees, particularly in Columbia where Latin America's main bottler, Panamco is accused of hiring para-militaries to kill and intimidate union leaders and workers (www.killercoke.org). In India, the company's practices are linked to water shortages and pollution. See www.caja.org and www.indiaresource.org for more information.

General Electric: These folks, while claiming to bring good things to life, are a major military contractor and builder of nuclear power plants. That is bad but what is worse is that they also own NBC News. If you think their involvement in the energy and defense industries doesn't impact how these issues are reported on the news, I have some real nice land along the Gulf coast for you. Buy somebody else's light bulbs, preferably energy efficient ones.

ExxonMobil: Filled your tank lately? Well fill it somewhere else, CITGO is the best choice. CITGO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state owned oil company. Venezuela is run by a democratically elected government which uses the oil revenues to help the country's poor. They don't do that in Saudi Arabia. When energy companies refuse to invest in renewable resources, make obscene profits and give their CEO's bonuses with that many zeros, they don't need your business. You can find a CITGO station near you at http://www.citgo.com/CITGOLocator/StoreLocator.jsp. You can also sign a petition to hold Exxon accountable at http://www.moveonpac.org/exxon/.

DuPont: This company has known for decades that there is no safe level of exposure to Zonyl RP, their grease-resistant coating that is used for food packaging and that it could contaminate food at three times the federal safety standard. The company did not share this information with the FDA. As a result, the chemical is found in the bloodstream of virtually every American. The company has also failed to disclose known health effects of one of the ingredients in Teflon, which is used in a wide variety of products, from cookware to carpeting. No corporate entity should ever have the right to force consumers to be exposed to chemical toxins without their knowledge. While this is a somewhat more difficult company to buycott because their products are often part of other products, make every effort to avoid them.

Ford: Their fleet has the lowest fuel economy of any car manufacturer in America which leads to higher fuel usage and auto emissions. Tell your local Ford dealers that you demand fuel efficient cars. Check out www.actforchange.org for more information. And don't forget subways,buses, bikes and feet.

And of course,

Walmart: This company is destroying our nation one community at a time. It pays wages so low that their employees can't afford health care and need food stamps. Walmart discriminates against women and drives local companies out of business. Most ironically of all, despite the company's constant mantra of low prices, it is actually the leader in overcharging at theregister. In her new book, Democracy's Edge, Frances Moore Lappe offers the best reason to avoid Walmart. According to Lappe, "a dollar spent in a locally owned business can generate three times more local economic activity than a dollar paid at a corporate chain." Go to www.wakeupwalmart.com for more information about this largest of predatory companies and take your business elsewhere, to locally owned merchants if possible.

There are plenty of other companies that don't deserve our business (see http://peace-action.inbyron.com/lists.html and http://www.boycott-republicans.com/ for some more good ideas). The point here is that not patronizing these particular offenders is virtually painless, making participation in a Buycott an easy choice for a wide cross-section of people.

A few centuries ago, the good people of Boston told the British where they could take their tea and shove it. It's high time that we hold another Tea Party and not the kind with white gloves or dainty china. By not giving these companies our business, we can give them the business and make it clear that we have had enough of their toxic, non-sustainable, socially reprehensible behavior.

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Before You Max Out Your Credit Cards

I don't know how many of you belong to Co-Op America (if not you should) but their latest newsletter contained a really good article about the banks that issue credit cards. What was especially interesting was the many affinity cards that are issued by banks with totally different politics than the groups that we are trying to support. It also contains some suggestions for credit card issuers whose politics are a bit less revolting. Seems like a simple way to put your money where your mouth is.

When I couldn't find the article online I wrote to them and asked about forwarding it and the Associate Editor, Andrew Korfhage, kindly put it online for me! Please pass this along. Here is the link to the article:

http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/realmoney/articles/creditcards.cfm

Ridin' The Bus With Deborah

Below please find Doris Colmes' outstanding article, "Ridin' The Bus With Deborah". Doris is a long time activist, Holocaust survivor and dear friend. It is an honor and a privilege to be able to publish her work on the FPN website.

http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/Colmes.htm

Ridin’ the Bus With Deborah
by Doris Colmes, MSW

When Deborah Davis hit the news, I got hit as well – right in the pit of my stomach where terror hides, and panic lurks.. “Oh God, I mumbled, “It’s happening again”

And just exactly what had Deborah done to get this emotionally detached old lady into such a replay of emotions left over from 1938 Nazi Germany? It was the gut-wrenching realization that the Nazi Police State in which I was raised has come back to roost – in the United States.

Deborah, who commutes by bus in Denver, Colorado, had been asked to present her I.D. to a man in uniform. If she didn’t, she was told, it would mean walking several miles to her job. So, she complied, but, it rankled. Deborah knew that, unless she was being a danger to self or others, behaving irrationally, or drunk and disorderly, no one had the right to ask for her identification. As long as she was sitting quietly in her seat, she could not be arbitrarily asked for ID. (She’d learned that in her 8th grade Civics class, where she had also been taught about police states, and how casually they usurped the rights of their citizenry.)

And so it went. For several weeks, when asked to show ID, Deborah refused, and, when asked if she were getting off at the Denver Federal Center she said, “no” was left in peace, completing her bus trips right on schedule.

And then it happened: On September 26, 2005, when the bus reached its stop at the Federal Center, a guard got on the bus and confronted her. When Deborah insisted that she was under no obligation to show any ID whatsoever, the bus was halted, a supervisor climbed on, and demanded ID. This time, when she refused, a second cop arrived, and, when Deborah stuck to her guns, she was suddenly arrested.

And it was not a gentle arrest. As she relates on her website http://www.papersplease.org/davis/facts.html:

'Grab her' was the shout, and with the police wrenching her arms behind her back, she was jerked out of her seat, handcuffed, thrown into a police cruiser, rushed off to the police station inside the Center, where cops had a bit of difficulty deciding with what to charge her. So they wrote up a couple of tickets (contents unknown) took off her cuffs, and told her that if she ever entered that Center again, she’d go to jail. No more bus commutes for Deborah!

Reading this, took me straight back to that living nightmare called Nazi Germany. There, if one didn’t show ID upon command, and/or if anything was even the slightest bit out of the ordinary on these papers, it was “Bye-Bye,” and – if one were a Jew, a Gypsy or seen as “gay” by the arresting officer – that was some long Goodbye, indeed (http://jack-dalton.blogspot.com/2005/05/papiere-bitte.html) Death camps were waiting, needing monthly quotas, and age was not an issue. Little kids zoomed off to extermination just as quickly as adults, and all for the sin of, perhaps, an inkblot on an identifying number, or the magic word “Jew” printed on the top.

And, now, it seems, we’ve come full circle. Not only do we now have the Patriot Act (a wonderfully modern up-date of Germany’s “Enabling Act,” (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/ /http://jack-dalton.blogspot.com/2005/06/patriot-act-vs-german-enabling-act.html), right down to the last comma) but we also have a 82 billion dollar defense bill, which (with a vote of 100 to 0) had the Real ID Act hidden inside it. (S.1637, FSC-ETI. Passed May 11, 2004) This law allows a national identification process in which each and every person in the U.S.A. will be on computer. And, yes, you’d better show that ID upon command, or you’ll wind up like Deborah. And, as time goes by, much worse: Honorable, ethical, racially profiled, and dead.

Is this an exaggeration? Well, let’s look at the current administration expanding the power of a little-known Pentagon Agency called the Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA, which was created three years ago to protect military facilities from attack.. According to Washington Post writer Walter Pincus, (http://washingtoonnpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/26/AR2005112600857_pf.html ) a presidential commission will expand and transform the CIFA into an agency that has authority to investigate crimes within the USA, such as treason, foreign or terrorist sabotage or even economic espionage. And would allow it to label – at will – any person or activity of which it did not approve under these headings.

The Pentagon has pushed legislation that would create an intelligence exception to the Privacy Act, allowing the FBI and others to share information gathered about US citizens with the Pentagon, CIA and other agencies, as long as the data is deemed to be related to foreign intelligence (See CIFA).

This, of course, in addition to the Patriot Act revisions which give unlimited power and access to any and all governmental agents to anyone or anything they choose, without warrant or even “reasonable cause” (whatever that now means)

Alexander Solzhenitsyn once wrote: “If the least important soldier in the German Army had chosen not to comply with orders to execute innocent people, others would have followed his lead, and there would not have been a Holocaust.” Those words still ring true, right along with the actions of Mohandas Gandhi and Rosa Parks, and, today, with the action of Deborah Davis.

Sure, lots of folks protest that they have had enough and that “someone” needs to take action and then – at least in my experience – they say, “Oh this is such a shame,” shrug their shoulders and start talking about the newest TV Reality Show.

In Deborah’s case, why are there not crowds holding signs, protesting, outside the Denver Federal Center? Could it be because of current media censorship? Diversionary news, such as Michael Jackson and/or Scott Peterson get major coverage – to the point of insanity – but persons like Deborah, or, just as currently José Padilla, are shuffled off to the side-lines. My hunch is, that although Deborah faces arraignment in Denver on December 9, 2005, hardly anyone in that town is even aware of what just happened. As for media censorship and how it works, that’s a whole other article.

It takes someone with not only the courage of her/his convictions, but also with a deep sense of urgency, to actually do something concrete that graphically shows the rest of us what is actually happening here. And that is what Ms. Davis has accomplished. The same steely resolve needed for anyone to say, “I have had enough, and my answer is NO” is reminiscent of Rosa Parks, also on a bus, a half-century ago..

I love this country. It literally saved my life at a time when I was pretty convinced that there was nowhere left to go, except, perhaps, to the nearest oven. And, through the years, I’ve witnessed all that is so dear, so valuable, so much the essence of my entire existence, dissipate. Dissipate into a haze of hidden agendas, corruption and increasingly self-serving administrations.

Of necessity, what happened to Deborah Davis must be compared to what happened to so many people at the start of the fascist regime in Germany, when “compliance” was the daily hymn, and acquiescence to the German “Enabling Act” (Bona fide ancestor of our “Patriot Act”) was so absolutely expected, that anyone who protested disappeared immediately and permanently.

I thank Deborah Davis not only for being a role model, but also for setting an example that I, for one, will unconditionally follow.

In conclusion, let us all memorize and act upon together, this poem, written by Pastor Martin Niemöller in Nazi Germany:

“First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.”

Pastor Martin Niemöller

NOW Stumbles on Issues of Racism and Misogyny

In recent months, the National Organization for Women has been branching out to address issues such as militarism and racism. This is a welcome step in as much as such issues have significant impacts on women's lives.

It was however discouraging to see a recent article in the NOW Times by Deborah Peterson Small, "Perspectives on Katrina", that while ably addressing issues of race and class, did not make the connection as to how these effect women in times of natural disasters.

I am copying below the letter that I wrote to NOW President Kim Gandy. As you will note, several authors (including myself) have been working to address these issues. It is crucial that women's organizations not only take ownership of their voice on these issues but also stand firm in insisting on addressing how they impact the lives of women. While quesitons of race, class, militarism, etc. are important in and of themselves, there is no greater good that justifies invisibilizing the lives of women.
---------------------

Dear Ms. Gandy,

I am very pleased to see NOW taking an active stance on peace and racism issues. It is critical that women recognize the impact these matters have on the lives of women. I was however disturbed to see the choice of Deborah Small's "Perspectives on Katrina in your most recent newsletter. While it is an excellent piece, it does not address the impact Katrina and other natural disasters have had on women's lives.

Feminist Peace Network now has a page on our website that lists resources for helping women impacted by natural disasters throughout the world, http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/NaturalDisasters.htm. It also lists a number of excellent articles on the subject:

Surviving Domestic Violence and Disasters by Elaine Enarson

Natural Disaster Exposes Gender Divides by Joni Seager

Katrina and her Gendering of Class and Race by Zillah Eisenstein

Were Women Raped in New Orleans? Addressing the Human Rights of Women in Times of Crisis by Lucinda Marshall

A Feminist Perspective on Katrina by Loretta J. Ross

New Orleans and Women of Color: Connecting the Personal and Political by Janelle L. White


It is crucial that women's organizations not only take a stand on racism, classism, etc. but also make clear the impact that these issues have on women's lives, otherwise women will continue to be marginalized in favor of addressing the 'big issues'.

Sincerely,

Lucinda Marshall, Founder
Feminist Peace Network

The Turning Point?

Here's my latest article:

The Turning Point?
by Lucinda Marshall

There have been a couple of encouraging signs of sanity lately that make me wonder if we've finally hit rock bottom and begun to see the light. I say that very cautiously, fully realizing that after the siege of the last five years, this could be grasping at straws. But hopefully they are the straws that break the proverbial camel's back. First, there was the crystal clear message sent by voters in last week's election, a slam-dunk vote of no confidence. That is not an illusion because right on the heels of the election, Congressional Republicans are frantically re-thinking their budget cuts after the realization set in that they all of a sudden might not be able to get away with slashing out the heart of basic social services....(full article)

A few questions for Target

Fellow FIVERS (Feminists against Intimate Violence through Empowerment, Energizing, Education, Exchange;Resources, Resistance, Revolution, Research; ANDSupport) member Cheryl Soehl had some great questions for Target which I pass along with her kind permission.

"Do they fill prescriptions for viagra for unmarried men?
Do they sell condoms?
Contraceptive foam?
Do they sell medications for STIs to fornicators?
Do they dispense medications that contain alcohol?
Do they sell other medications that can act as abortifacients? i.e.,methotrexate, inteferon, etc. Mifepristone (one of the ingredients inRU487 is being developed as an antipsychotic antidepressant.
Will theyrefuse to dispense it for psychiatric patients?"

And then there is this fine analysis of the Target position:http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/target-digs-itself-deeper-hole-in.html.

"I don't know about you, but when I go to the pharmacist, I don't want him sending me to another Target 40 miles away simply because he has religious issues with my prescription. It's none of his business what prescription I'm getting filled, and short of there being a glaring mistake in my prescription a la "It's a Wonderful Life" - i.e., instead of allergy pills someone gave me cyanide - it's none of his damn business passing religious judgment on my prescriptions, my illnesses, my prefered form of treatment, or me.I already have a priest, and he doesn't work at Target, thank you.But Target feels otherwise. In fact, Target is now claiming - quite incredibly - that its employees' religious fanaticism is covered the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Yes, apparently Target employees are allowed to not sell you things based on THEIR religion."

Be sure to check out the rest of this fine post and the additional questions it poses.

A few questions for Target

Fellow FIVERS (Feminists against Intimate Violence through Empowerment, Energizing, Education, Exchange;Resources, Resistance, Revolution, Research; ANDSupport) member had some great questions for Target which I pass along with her kind permission.

"Do they fill prescriptions for viagra for unmarried men?
Do they sell condoms?
Contraceptive foam?
Do they sell medications for STIs tofornicators?
Do they dispense medications that contain alcohol? Dothey sell other medications that can act as abortifacients? i.e.,methotrexate, inteferon, etc. Mifepristone (one of the ingredients inRU487 is being developed as an antipsychotic antidepressant.
Will theyrefuse to dispense it for psychiatric patients?"

And then there is this fine analysis of the Target position:

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/target-digs-itself-deeper-hole-in.html.

"I don't know about you, but when I go to the pharmacist, I don't want him sending me to another Target 40 miles away simply because he has religious issues with my prescription. It's none of his business what prescription I'm getting filled, and short of there being a glaring mistake in my prescription a la "It's a Wonderful Life" - i.e., instead of allergy pills someone gave me cyanide - it's none of his damn business passing religious judgment on my prescriptions, my illnesses, my prefered form of treatment, or me.
I already have a priest, and he doesn't work at Target, thank you.

But Target feels otherwise. In fact, Target is now claiming - quite incredibly - that its employees' religious fanaticism is covered the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Yes, apparently Target employees are allowed to not sell you things based on THEIR religion."

Be sure to check out the rest of this fine post and the additional questions it poses.

Geena in 2008

Here's my latest article:

Geena in 2008by Lucinda Marshall

The White House Project recently released the results of a poll conducted by Roper Public Affairs that has some eye-opening results. According to the poll, most Americans believe men and women are equally qualified to handle issues such as foreign policy, homeland security and the economy. More amazingly, a large majority thinks that a female president would be as good or better at the job than a man. So what are we waiting for? It's time to posit a strong, viable female contender for the presidency in 2008. One person that candidate should not be is Sen. Hillary Clinton. While Sen. Clinton has proven herself to be remarkably adept at playing the political game, she has done so at a price. That price has been evidenced in her ongoing support for the Iraq war, and trying to walk the center line by suggesting that we need to find common ground with the right on the issue of abortion, somehow losing sight of the fact that abortion is not the issue, women's human rights are. Electing a woman because she knows how to fit in will not change anything. But if not Hilary, then who? (full article)

Boycott Target

The Target Corporation's decision to allow its pharmacists not to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception if it is against their religious beliefs is reprehensible. In doing so they are denying women reasonable access to medical care and as such, denying them of a basic human right. It is not the Target Corporation's right to decide for a woman whether or not she can use this drug, and as Planned Parenthood points out, they have made filling a prescription for this drug unduly burdensome for women. I urge you to shop elsewhere,
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See this link for the complete story:
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=111071

"Planned Parenthood protests Target's Plan B policy

Target Corp. is defending its policy on filling prescriptions for emergency contraception after the Planned Parenthood Federation of America accused the retailer of disrespecting customers' reproductive rights."

The Need to Re-focus Global Spending

The latest issue of Utne has an outstanding section on feminine power. One of the articles, "Women Make a Difference" includes some very important statistics:

1. Every minute a woman dies of pregnancy and childbirth related complications. That is 500,000 women a year.

2. 70% off the 1.3 billion people in the world who live on less than $1.00/day are women.

3. 90 million of the 150 million children who do not go to school are girls.

4. Gender-based violence kills and disables more women between the ages of 15-44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined.

The current issue also includes a "Budget for the Human Family" to provide for non-military needs. The budget includes shelter, food, clean water, eliminating illiteracy, providing refugee relief and many other items. The total annual cost was $105.5 billion (versus the $900 billion that is spent on military spending each year).

Imagine what a little shift in our spending priorities could accomplish!

Time to Burglar-Proof the Elections

The following list of problems with voting machines doesn't present anything particularly new, but it is an excellent summation of the issues involved. Also, here is a link to the latest by Bob Fritrakis and Harvey Wasserstein about the GAO report about the election and what happened in Ohio, "Powerful Government Accountability Office report confirms key 2004 stolen election findings". As the article points out,

"The non-partisan GAO report has now found that, "some of [the] concerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes."

The United States is the only major democracy that allows private partisan corporations to secretly count and tabulate the votes with proprietary non-transparent software. Rev. Jesse Jackson, among others, has asserted that "public elections must not be conducted on privately-owned machines." The CEO of one of the most crucial suppliers of electronic voting machines, Warren O'Dell of Diebold, pledged before the 2004 campaign to deliver Ohio and thus the presidency to George W. Bush.

Bush's official margin of victory in Ohio was just 118,775 votes out of more than 5.6 million cast."

Brian Bogart had an interesting piece on ZNet a few weeks ago entitled, "All Problems Bleed from America's Wound" where he makes this critical observation about our obligations as citizens and voters,

"We are the key to change. There will be no progress without active participation of the American people. Voting is no longer a form of participation, but a form of crisis perpetuation. Our founders entrusted us with the advancement of their vision, and taught us to diligently pursue it by continuous alteration of government, to abolish and remake it as necessary to keep us on a safe and forward path."

Finally, here are your fun voting machine facts:
20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA
by Angry Girl
Nightweed.com

Did you know....
1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.
http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of Global Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00191.htmhttp://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here: http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov.)
http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html
http://uscountvotes.org/
NOTE: Please copy the above list and distribute freely! LET THE FACTS BE KNOWN! Thank you!

More Breast Cancer Hype

I wanted to pass along this alert from Breast Cancer Action about Herceptin. I know we all really want to believe that this is a miracle drug, but as this alert makes clear, there are still so many unanswered questions, perhaps the biggest being why are drug companies allowed to hype their products with so little evidence.

Also, The American Cancer Society has just published its bi-annual report on breast cancer, http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Breast_Cancer_Death_Rates_Dropping.asp. While the report says that death rates are falling, it is not at all clear whether this adjusts for if they are simply starting to count earlier due to early detection. Notably, it does say that the incidence continues to rise. Of course no mention is made of environmental factors, rather that the data suggests that the increase is due to women continuing to have less children at a later age. As usual, it seems to be all our fault :-(.

Below is the alert from BCA.

-------------------------

"Take Action: Tell the NCI to Give us Herceptin Facts, not Hype

Tell the NCI to Give us Herceptin Facts, not Hype

Herceptin is a targeted therapy for breast cancer that holds significant promise for some breast cancer patients. While currently approved only for treatment of metastatic disease, recent reports about trials of Herceptin in the adjuvant setting (to reduce the risk of recurrence in women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, have completed initial treatment, and are currently free of breast cancer) indicate that Herceptin may be even more beneficial if given earlier.

But the recent reports about Herceptin have far overstated what we currently know about the drug. The studies in the adjuvant setting have been relatively short (a maximum of 2 1/2 years of data) and yet some researchers are calling the drug a "cure." An Associated Press article on October 19 reported: "Several experts used words like 'revolutionary,' 'stunning' and 'jaw-dropping' to describe the findings." The article also quotes a representative of the National Cancer Institute: "In 1991, I didn't know that we would cure breast cancer, and in 2005, I'm convinced we have,' exulted Dr. Jo Anne Zujewski, head of breast cancer therapeutics at the government's National Cancer Institute."

Using the 'cure' word in this context is outrageous, and is inaccurate as a way of describing these short-term trial results. Even the studies' authors admit that it's unknown how long Herceptin needs to be taken. At a price tag of $48,000 per year, that question becomes critically important, as does the issue of who will have access to the drug. After 2 1/2 years, we can't possibly know all of the side effects (short and long term) in addition to the serious ones we already know, such as cardiotoxicity. As seen with drugs like tamoxifen, the entire range of side effects can take over a decade to become widely known. To read BCA's statement to the press concerning these issues, visit our press release on the topic.

Please join Breast Cancer Action in asking the NCI to widely distribute accurate information on Herceptin. Below is sample text for contacting Dr. Zujewski of the NCI. Please e-mail a copy to Pauli Ojea so that we'll know how many members take action. We deserve valid information from the NCI, not hype.

Dear Dr. Zujewski,

I read, as have millions of other people who are following the breast cancer news, the following statement from you regarding the NEJM publication of the data from the adjuvant Herceptin trials: "In 1991, I didn't know that we would cure breast cancer, and in 2005, I'm convinced we have," exulted Dr. Jo Anne Zujewski.

I believe this hype -- about a drug for which we have very little information on side effects and which we know fails some patients for which it seems appropriate -- has created a great deal of harm and confusion for breast cancer patients and for women concerned about the disease.

I urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to issue and distribute to the broadest possible audience a new statement, making clear that:

1) Herceptin, when it works, works only for a subset of breast cancer patients (and not even for everyone in that subset),

2) That we so far have only 2.5 years of data in the adjuvant setting, so, at this time, we can make absolutely no statement about cure for those for whom the drug does prove effective, and

3) We do not have long term side effect data, and so cannot say with any certainty at this time that the benefits in the adjuvant setting outweigh the risks.

I look forward to hearing about how you plan to address the many problems your statement has created. People need responsibly vetted information, not more hype, especially from the nation's leading cancer agency.

Sincerely,

NAME

CC: Dr. Von Eschenbach

NCI Liaison Office"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before There Are 2000 More

Saddened and angry though we may be by the deaths of 2000 U.S. military personnel, we need to look at this milestone in context. As much as the Pentagon would just as soon not own up to losing 2000 of its boots on the ground, it beats the heck out of having to own up to the real loses.


Because what that number does not include is the more than 15,000 who have been wounded. It doesn't count the many more who are coming home with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and health problems due to exposure to our own chemical weaponry. And it certainly doesn't include the tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have been killed. Nonetheless, the antiwar movement chose to make this milestone a focus of nationwide vigils and the notion that this was a media moment to run with in and of itself bears some serious examination.

Not only is 2000 a gross under-representation of the damage done, it also pales in comparison to other recent death tolls. Hundred's of thousands of people have died due to earthquakes, tsunamis, mudslides and hurricanes during the last year. Hundred's of thousands have died from hunger and lack of health care.

What is astounding is how little it would take to prevent so many of these non-military deaths. It has been estimated that the expenditure of only $50 billion dollars a year (approximately 5% of global military spending) would reduce hunger, and poverty, provide of universal primary education, reduce child mortality by three-quarters, and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

And yes, 50 billion is a small number. Global military spending in 2004 reached $1.035 trillion dollars, nearly half of which was spent by the U.S. alone. Our military expenditures are more than the next seventeen nations combined. Perversely, there seems little evidence that the expenditure of such eye-popping amounts of money for military purposes makes the world any safer.

Indeed, it is precisely the poverty, hunger, lack of health care, education and employment that that create the terror that breeds terrorism. The mere expenditure of 5% of our current military budget to productively address these issues is the most constructive step we can take to end the deaths of many, not just a selective few.

A recent Knight Ridder investigation uncovered the fact that the Pentagon is a lousy comparison shopper. The report found that the Department of Defense was paying $20 for plastic ice trays, $81 for coffee makers, $575 for popcorn makers and $887 for microwave ovens. And here in the great state of Kentucky, we just received a Homeland Security grant in the amount of $36,300 to protect us from terrorists who might play bingo in the bluegrass state in order to raise money for nefarious purposes. Yes folks, this is true.

And why do I tell you all this? Simply to point out that it probably wouldn't take much to trim 5% from military expenditures. And in doing so, we would be able to start providing food and health security, education and jobs. In short, we could reduce the root causes of terror. Perhaps this is where our focus ought to be before we find ourselves holding vigils for "3000".

Resources re: Impact of Natural Disasters on Women

The Feminist Peace Network now has a page of resources for helping women whose lives have been affected by the recent spate of natural disastersthroughout the world, http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/NaturalDisasters.htm:

Women and Children bear the brunt of harm in the wake of natural disasters. The following are links to information about organizations that are working specifically to help women whose lives have been impacted by the recent horrific weather throughout the world.

Earthquake in Pakistan: UNFPA

Mudslides in Guatemala: Madre

Hurricanes in U.S.:

This article lists organizations in MS, AL and LA, FPN is still looking for information about organizations helping women in Texas and Florida, please contact FPN if you know of such organizations: Ms. Magazine

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Challenging the 2 Party System

I am passing along the following as one of the most constructive pieces I've seen about regaining control of our electoral process. A few weeks ago I did an interesting 30 second research project. I went to the Green Party website and was just bowled over by their platform, http://www.greenparty.org/Platform.php. Just as a reality check, I then checked out the Democratic and Republican party sites. The first one was mostly dedicated to bashing Bush and the latter was, guess what, defending Bush. I sent the Greens a check.

The GAO issued a report last week saying we can't be assured that the 2006 and 2008 elections will not be as riddled with fraud as the last 2 presidential elections have been. It is (past) time to challenge the system, and working to reform the Democratic Party is not sufficient.

-----------
follow this link for the complete story:
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct05/Zeese1024.htm

"To Create the Democracy We WantChallenge the Corrupt Two-Party System
Don't Participate in It
by Kevin Zeese
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 24, 2005

Recently, on the anti-Bush, Democratic Party
leaning website Daily Kos an open letter was published urging me to run as a
Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Maryland rather than independent of the two
political parties. Below is my response to the suggestion.

Dear
Daily Kosers:

Elections should be about current issues and a vision for the future. For me that vision is of a truly representative democracy. I want Americans to look back 50 to 100 years from now -- when we have a vivid multi-party democracy and say -- “can you imagine in the last century how there were only two major parties and dozens of colas? Boy, were we an immature democracy!”

A survey published in the July 16 Economist asked U.S. voters whether they felt their elected officials represented their priorities. Only 17 percent said “yes.” In the greatest democracy on earth 83 percent can't say they are represented! It is no wonder we have such low voter turnouts. (A survey of non-voters found that that a majority of non-voters felt that the candidates did not represent their concerns -- even in the last election 40% of registered voters didn't vote, Kerry gave them no
reason except not being Bush -- not good enough.) It is also not surprising that
Democrats are at their lowest popularity in more than 50 months while Republicans are also dropping in the polls. Neither party represents the priorities of the people."

EFF defends Google's right to post thumbnails from porn sites

It is unfortunate that EFF seems to have entirely missed the difference between free speech and perpetuating the objectification of women. I wonder about the copyright of these images in the first place. Was consent obtained from the models to post these images? Were they compensated? Are they all of legal age? Good issue, wrong site to defend.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/1013-02.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEOCTOBER 13, 20058:16 AM

CONTACT: Electronic Frontier FoundationRebecca Jeschke, press@eff.org+1 415.436.9333 x125Jason Schultz, Staff Attorney, jason@eff.org

Adult Website Lawsuit Threatens Google Image SearchInjunction Could Shut Down Popular Service LOS ANGELES - October 12 - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a brief Wednesday in support of Google Image Search, arguing that a federal district court should reject a request for a preliminary injunction that could shut the service down.

In its lawsuit, adult entertainment website Perfect 10 claims that Google violates its copyrights by making and delivering thumbnail images of its photos as Internet search results. In its friend-of-the-court brief, EFF shows that these copies are a well-established fair use of digital images and they help people find and use the works for informational and educational endeavors.

"Google Image Search helps millions of people locate and learn about information on the web every day," said Jason Schultz, EFF staff attorney. "We're concerned that the public will lose out if Perfect 10 succeeds in shutting it down."

Perfect 10 argues that a preliminary injunction is justified because Google is violating its right to reproduce, distribute, and display its copyrighted work. But there is a long tradition in fair use that certain kinds of copies are socially useful, even without permission of the author. Courts have held that copies are a legal intermediate step to making non-infringing uses of the copyrighted work?for example in teaching, education, and news reporting.

Thumbnails created by Google Image Search allow users to identify information they are looking for online and then access that information?much like an electronic card catalog. As certain information about images can only be conveyed visually, there is no other feasible way to provide image search on the Internet than capturing images, transforming them into thumbnails, and then displaying them on a search results page for users.

While the images provided by Perfect 10 may have limited academic application, the ramifications of its lawsuit could have a huge impact on educational research.

"Without the right to make legal copies, Google Image Search wouldn't be able to help you find a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial, for example," said Schultz.

A hearing in this case is set for November 7, 2005.

For the full text of the brief, see: http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/Perfect10_v_Google/EFF_amicus_brief.pdf

###

Who Gave Lynndie the Leash?

excerpt:


"The real crime that Lynndie England committed was not that she posed inappropriately but rather that her participation challenged the assumptions of how women are supposed to behave. The military has always been a culture that uses rape as a weapon of war and one that takes a 'boys will be boys' attitude about sexual assault within it's own ranks. That photos of female soldiers posing with their weapons such as the ones on Wilson's site or those of Pvt. England pointing at a prisoner's genitalia are considered morally reprehensible, while photos of rape and torture are trivialized as entertainment rather than seen as violations of human rights and international law, is hardly surprising. They simply represent the continuum of misogyny that is an implicit part of the ethos of militarism."

For the complete article, please go to:

http://www.countercurrents.org/iraq-marshall041005.htm

The Booby Trap

Does Breast Cancer Awareness Save Lives?
A Call to Re-think the Pink
by Lucinda Marshall, @2005

You know that it's October when the leaves start turning and the world turns a glorious pink. Yes pink, the mascot color of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). Each year we are exhorted to race for the cure and go for our mammograms because, according to the NBCAM mantra, "Early detection saves lives". We buy pink lipstick and wear pink ribbons because part of the proceeds goes to benefit breast cancer research.

The question we fail to ask however is does being 'aware' save lives?

Complete article: http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct05/Marshall1003.htm

Riding Out The Storm at NORAD

You’ve got to hand it to the Shrub, he really learned from the Hurricane Katrina fiasco. Suzanne Malveaux reported on the noon news on CNN that the boy wonder is leaving DC to go check on the carnage in Texas and then will be going on to the NORAD facility at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado to stay on top of the military’s response to Rita. HUH????

Since when is the military in charge of coordinating the response to natural disasters? Exactly how much more blatant does the transition to police state have to get before the citizens of this burg wake up. The best though was when Malveaux acknowledged that Bush might be leaving DC in part to avoid this weekend’s protests where she breathlessly informs us that hundreds if not thousands are expected. Geez, there will be about that many attending from my mid-size midwestern city alone and organizers expect upwards of 100,000. Does CNN not read their press releases? This kind of blatant underestimation amounts to an unacceptable and blatant misrepresentation of the truth. Hmmm, maybe that’s why Mr. and Mrs. America don’t have a clue…

Late breaking fantasy: Where exactly is Crawford in relationship to the storm path? Perhaps W could open up the ranch to those fleeing the storm. Just a thought.

OWFI Update from Iraq

Today I received an e-mail from Yanar Mohammed, founder of the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq with an update on OWFI’s work over the summer.

At her behest, part of the report must be kept confidential because the information contained in it could jeopardize the lives of the women mentioned. However, in broad terms, OWFI has been instrumental in obtaining health care for women in need in Iraq, has been able to get 51 children back into school, is helping women obtain work and is providing shelter for women whose safety is at risk for various reasons.

So far as OWFI’s political work, here is the report:


“OWFI played (a) leadership role in confronting and managing public media announcements to scandalize the negative role of the constitution that divides Iraqi people, marginalizes and oppresses Iraqi women as it bases legislation primarily on religion without giving international human/woman’s rights much consideration.

OWFI’s Demonstration on August 21st (was) joined by other progressive labour groups.

Local and some foreign media covered the only demonstration of its kind in Baghdad where women were brave enough to say “NO” to a Sharia based constitution. One of the Islamist TVs (Al Furat) commented very negatively about our work and especially against Yanar Mohammed. Their show attempted at escalating religious hatred against OWFI’s work.
Other media such as BBC World Service radio and TV reported this demonstration and took repeated interviews for Yanar Mohammed during this campaign.

OWFI’s Press Conference against the Constitution was held on June 28th next to Palestine-Meridien Hotel to express our dismay with the constitution draft that was totally based on Sharia, thereby ridding women of all their previously achieved civil liberties. The slogan and poster said it in a few words:

No to the Constitution of the Middle Ages
No to an Federal-Islamic Constitution

Seven of our core activists graduated from a three day intensive course about fundamentals of woman activism and human rights. We invited some of the guards of the OWFI office in order to inform them about our work. The course focused on feminism globally, especially on the American feminism of the 20th century. Local Iraqi, and regional /Arab feminism were also explained. Finally, results were concluded about the current women’s organizations scene in Baghdad. All the spectrum from far left to far right organizations were discussed in detail. A progressive/conservative map of local feminism was explained and discussed in the presence of the activists and many guests – some from Al Mahaba Radio (Women’s Radio)staff.”

As Yanar concludes in her letter, “OWFI's name symbolizes freedom, modernity and self-esteem for women in a time where darkness, killing and destruction is being spread by most of the other groups.”

To learn more about OWFI’s work and to help support their work, please visit their website at www.equalityiniraq.com.

More on the Gender Impact of Natural Disasters

Joni Seager has an excellent piece, “Natural disasters expose gender divides” in today’s Chicago Tribune about the disproportionate impact of natural disasters on women. As Seager eloquently points out, the heavy burden suffered by by non-Whites, the poor and women is not mutuallly exclusive, they are in fact linked. Illustrating this point, 15% of families in New Orleans lived in poverty before Katrina, 41% of families headed by women in New Orleans lived in poverty. Other points raised by Seager include:

It is no surprise that the impact of Katrina is not gender-neutral, disasters seldom are. In the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan, 1.5 times more of the dead were women, after last year’s Tsunami in Southeast Asia, 3-4 times more women than men died.

These disparities take place for many reasons including sexual differences (or perceived social perceptions of) strength.

Women are more likely to be caregivers who stop to gather children or to hold children in their arms, making it harder to swim/hang on.

Women are less likely to have drivers licences than men, let alone cars.

This knowlege seems to have been lost on government officials and the media who have barely covered the impact of the storm on women except for a few reports of rape that were not followed up in any kind of comprehensive way.

---------------

Over the weekend I received this update on the status of services for victims of sexual abuse. After reading Ms. Seager’s article, it should be no surprise that you won’t see this story on the evening news, which has given some lip service to more sensationalized reports of rape but seems oblivious to the impact of the storm on at-risk women. Please see the address at the bottom for donations or you can also donate at www.louisianaraperelief.org.

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 13, 2005
BEATEN, SEXUALLY ASSAULTED, AND LIVING IN A HURRICANE EVACUATION SHELTER OR A MAKESHIFT TENT CITY . . . KATRINA VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE STILL NEED YOUR HELP.

Fleeing for my life and my children’s safety two times in the same week is something I couldn’t even imagine until it happened to us last week.

When we went to the Red Cross Shelter, they were really nice to us, but I couldn’t get away from him . . . my husband. He watched me, followed me, and would pinch me very hard on my legs and upper arms when no one was looking. He blamed me for us being in the shelter and punched me in the stomach when I asked him what he meant.

I was humiliated. He (my boyfriend) forced me to have sex with him and this other man in the shelter. I was scared to tell anyone. What would happen to me and my children if I told?
YOUR HELP IS STILL NEEDED RELIEF EFFORTS TARGET ONE OF THE MOST VULNERABLE POPULATIONS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS

PLEASE DONATE
Louisiana Domestic Violence Victims Hurricane Relief Fund
The Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (LCADV), a private 501c3, not-for-profit organization incorporated in 1982, is establishing a Louisiana Domestic Violence Victims Hurricane Relief Fund to assist victims of domestic violence and child victimization who are displaced and affected by Hurricane Katrina.

To date the relief fund has received about $60,000 in donations, but more is needed. The MS Foundation for Women donated $15,000. The National Network to End Domestic Violence donated $20,000. The Shelter Alliance donated $5,000 and the Tides Foundation has donated $2,500. LCADV has received numerous donations from individuals throughout the US - from attorneys, doctors, authors, battered women, battered womens shelters, caring individuals, NOW members, domestic violence support groups, etc. Offers for assistance have poured into our office and LCADV would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to each donor. BUT ADDITIONAL DONATIONS ARE NEEDED. PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE WORD.

Four of our domestic violence shelters and two nonresidential programs are completely closed at the time and two or three may be completely destroyed. We have battered women and children who are trying to relocate to safety. Also we have received reports that women are being battered by their partners in the emergency shelters and they need our assistance, stated Merni Carter, Executive Director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She goes on to say, Sadly domestic violence and child victimization are social problems that do not stop during this natural disaster and with cessation of all direct services in the gulf coast region, a huge metropolitan area of over 1 million people, there is the increased need for relocation and basic monetary assistance is essential for these battered hurricane evacuees.

LCADV is accepting donations that are specifically earmarked to assist battered survivors and their children who have been directly affected/displaced by the hurricane. The donations will be used to assistbattered victims from the following parishes in Louisiana: Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines.

The donations will be used for the following purposes:

• Relocation of domestic violence victims.
• Purchasing of basic needs, i.e. baby formula, diapers, food, clothing, etc. that could not be met elsewhere.
• Deposits on houses, electric bills, Car repair, gas, public transportation Medical/prescription needs, Other basic, life sustaining needs.

All donations go directly to victims of domestic violence affected by this hurricane and will not be used for any administrative or other purposes.

The website is http://www.lcadvhrf.org. Also learn more about LCADV by logging onto http://www.lcadv.org.

Other ways to make donations:
If you would like to make a donation using MasterCard or Visa, you may contact the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence office at 225-752-1296 with your credit card information. Donations may also be electronically deposited into our account by faxing a voided check with the amount of the donation to (225)751-8927. LCADV will setup an electronic deposit and you will receive confirmation of your donation with the tax-deductible receipt.

Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (LCADV) LCADV, a private not-for-profit 501(c) (3) organization, is a statewide network of battered women’s programs, other organizations, and individuals who share the goal of ending violence against women and children in Louisiana. The Coalition coordinates a statewide network of 20 community-based domestic violence programs. In addition to coordinating life-saving services throughout the state of Louisiana, LCADV focuses on public policy development, training and technical assistance, increasing public awareness and education as related to domestic violence and child victimization. LCADV operates the Louisiana Domestic Violence Hotline.

Website: http://www.lcadv.org/

Were Women Raped in New Orleans

My recent article, “Were Women Raped in New Orleans? Addressing the Human Rights of Women in Times of Crisis" was based in part on an interview with Judy Benitez, Executive Director of the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault. With her kind permission, what follows are her comments in their entirety.

“Of all the tragic events following Hurricane Katrina’s arrival in Louisiana and the subsequent flood, among the most tragic are the rapes of evacuees. At a time when they could not have been more vulnerable, a currently unknown number of people were subjected to a violent, terrifying, and humiliating crime.

Did rapes really happen at the Superdome (and elsewhere) in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the flood? I feel sure that they did, if for no other reason than the sheer volume of people (25,000 - 30,000) who were in one place at one time. The question of how many assaults occurred is a valid one, if only because there hasn’t been any uniform mechanism for them to be reported. The usual channels through which rapes are reported—law enforcement agencies, medical centers, and rape crisis centers—have been either non-functioning or functioning in such a way as to make gathering statistics impossible. Measuring how frequently social problems happen is important, of course—but not when a medical provider has a line of hundreds of people to be seen. Each person’s medical needs are met, and they are moved along. These are not usual circumstances.

Even in usual circumstances, it is difficult to measure how many sexual assaults happen because the nature of crime is such that victims are reluctant to report. In addition to the very personal and frightening nature of the crime, victims who have lived in American society have been exposed to messages – from the entertainment media, from family, from friends—that rape victims are somehow to blame for what happened to them. They fear being blamed, and they just want to pretend it didn’t happen.

Some rapes are reported to police. What percentage of those that happened is reported to law enforcement? Some say one in four; some say one in 10. All agree that it is the vast minority of cases. And it merits mentioning that the FBI says that the rate of false reports of rape is the same as the rate of false reports of other crimes, between 2 and 5%.

Rape crisis centers see many more victims than are seen by law enforcement. Unlike law enforcement and medical personnel, however, rape crisis centers don’t only work with victims who have been raped a short time ago. They may see someone hours after a rape, or two months, or 20 years. For that reason, their statistics, while compelling, do not provide a snapshot of how much sexual assault took place in a given area during a given time period.
Some have suggested that since there are not yet official reports of rapes in the Superdome or elsewhere during the hurricane aftermath, then clearly it is just so much histrionic rumor. The idea that because something cannot be measured, it does not exist is ridiculous. The number of Superdome survivors and witnesses talking about rape is proof enough that it did happen. Was it 2 rapes? 20? 100? A group of advocacy and law enforcement groups are working now on developing a system to measure this, because it is important. Even without an exact number, though, we know it happened, and that alone is bad enough.

One victim has already made her rape public knowledge. Singer Charmaine Neville, 49, who has been so generous with her talent in performing at events to benefit non-profit organizations, told People magazine that she didn’t have money to evacuate because she had just paid for a new roof for her 140-year-old home. She rode out the storm there, and later moved to a shelter at an elementary school. Seeking to escape the heat, she slept on the school’s roof, where she awoke to a man holding a knife at her throat; he raped her and left. This is just one story, one tragedy. How many more are there?

The mixture of frustrated, angry, powerless people in one place for a long time is a toxic one. Some of them were drinking and using drugs, which exacerbates the problem of violence. The intermingling of men and women, children, elderly folks, people with disabilities, people with substance abuse problems, people with mental illness, and people with criminal tendencies was a deadly one. It is no secret that in our society, some people are strong and some are weak. Some of the strong help those who are weaker - and some prey on them. The inhumane circumstances of the evacuees in the Superdome - conditions in which no human being should ever have to live - caused frustration on a level that most people will never know. That sense of helplessness, lack of control, and powerlessness would make most people angry; for predatory people, the availability of someone over whom they can have power and control, on whom they can take out their anger, is all the excuse they need to commit rape.

The rapes that happened in the Superdome and elsewhere victimized not only those who were assaulted, but also those who witnessed the rapes and were helpless to stop them. The trauma of that experience should not be minimized. While this does happen in other circumstances - for example, assailants who prey on a couple and rape the woman while the man is forced to watch - it is not a common experience in our state. These witnesses were victimized, too, and they need support and services just as the primary victims do.

The aftermath of the hurricane and flood led to conditions in which rape was not only possible, but extremely likely. It also demonstrates, in reality and in metaphor, who in our society is “rapeable.” Who is able to get away, and who is left behind? Those with privilege escape; those without privilege are left to experience whatever may happen - rape, disease, hunger, hardship, death. Who was left behind, and who was raped? Poor people. People of color. Children and babies. Women. Old people. People with disabilities. Homeless people. That’s not to say that white middle- or upper-class people are never raped; they certainly are. But when they report, the crime is more likely to be taken seriously, and if the offender is prosecuted, his punishment will be more severe.

It’s important to remember that New Orleans was also home to many, many survivors of sexual assault. The circumstances of the hurricane warnings, evacuation, the flood, and the loss of lives, homes, and livelihoods evokes many of the same feelings experienced during a sexual assault. Fear of dying; knowing that life as it was is no more. Helplessness. Loss of control. Sadness. Victimization. There’s no doubt that the survivors who once lived in New Orleans have been triggered by these events, and they are now in a new home - temporary or permanent - but without the support and services they once counted on from the rape crisis centers in the affected areas. Thankfully, our state and our nation stand ready with other sexual assault crisis centers, the staff of which, like family greeting loved ones, is ready to welcome them with open arms.”

Web site: http://www.lafasa.org; http://www.louisianaraperelief.org

Google's Inappropriate "Sponsored Links"

This probably sounds a bit narcissisistic, but I routinely do searches on articles that I've written because that is the only way I can find out if they've been mentioned or recopied on various sites. This morning I did a search on an article that I published earlier this week, "Were Women Raped in New Orleans? Addressing the Human Rights of Women in Times of Crisis". In addition to the references to the article, a Google search came repleat with a sidebar containing totally inappropriate "Sponsored Links" (see below). I have written to Google and will pass along any response that I get, but I hope others will also contact them (you have to do it from the help section on their site. Below, verbatim are the ads that appeared in the sidebar.


------------
"Sponsored Links New orleans women1000s of New Orleans photo profilesFind your perfect match today free!www.mate1.com

Get Laid TonightFind Someone In Your NeighborhoodTo Have Sex With Today Hot Pics!www.myhotsexfinder.com"

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The article itself can be found on both www.countercurrents.org and www.dissidentvoice.org.

Bush Admin: Women's social rights not crucial to democracy

My good friend Doris Colmes caught this little atrocity this morning. David Gregory was interviewing former Middle East specialist for the CIA, Reuel Marc Gerecht and caught this horrendous statement on just how (un)important women's rights are to the Bush administration. Truth of the matter is what Mr. Gerecht is saying is the painful truth, but it sure does give lie to the Bush Administration bs about going to war for women's rights.

Worse yet, David Gregory couldn't be bothered to question this obvious departure from the the official position. Hello? Send Mr. Gregory some coffee and a few emails, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152/. We can no longer afford this kind of doormat journalism.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8926876/

"MR. GERECHT: Actually, I'm not terribly worried about this. I mean, one hopes that the Iraqis protect women's social rights as much as possible. It certainly seems clear that in protecting the political rights, there's no discussion of women not having the right to vote. I think it's important to remember that in the year 1900, for example, in the United States, it was a democracy then. In 1900, women did not have the right to vote. If Iraqis could develop a democracy that resembled America in the 1900s, I think we'd all be thrilled. I mean, women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy. We hope they're there. I think they will be there. But I think we need to put this into perspective."

Let's Play War: How Militarism is Marketed to Children

http://www.countercurrents.org/us-marshall130805.htm

My friend Loretta is hopping mad about the mail that her nine year old grandson is receiving. While military recruiters cannot 'recruit' children under seventeen years of age, there is nothing stopping them from waging a marketing campaign to win the hearts and minds of much younger children such as Loretta's grandson. She tells me that he just received a mailing from the Marines labeled "Required Summer Reading" that offers him limited edition posters. As any parent well knows, anything labeled as 'limited edition' is irresistible to kids of that age.

Parents are becoming more aware of the presence of military recruiters in high schools because of the No Child Left Behind Act which requires schools to turn over contact information on students to the military unless the students request that their records not be shared. While this is an easy way for the military to obtain information on prospective recruits, it is only one of many ways in which the military can make a sales pitch to children.

Each branch of the military runs its own JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) programs. The Air Force alone runs 746 JROTC programs throughout the U.S. with plans start more this year. The programs enroll more than 100,000 students. According to the American Friends Service Committee, each program costs school districts an average of $76,000, effectively putting cash-strapped schools in the position of subsidizing the military. It is important to note that JROTC programs routinely bring weapons into schools (and teach children how to use them) and there are numerous reports of JROTC-related violence, including murder.

The programs claim that they are not geared towards recruiting, that their purpose is to teach leadership and discipline. But as former defense secretary William Cohen told Congress in 2000, JROTC is "one of the best recruiting devices we have." (1)

When now Vice President Cheney served as Secretary of Defense, he summarized the purpose of the military quite accurately, "The reason to have a military is to be prepared to fight and win wars. That is our basic fundamental mission. The military is not a social welfare agency, it's not a jobs program." Yet recruiters and JROTC programs as well as television ads routinely hawk the educational and job benefits of joining the military.

What they do not tell prospective recruits is that 57% of military personnel receive no educational benefits and only 5% receive the maximum benefit. The military frequently boasts about the great job training it provides, but according to the Army Times, only 12% of male veterans and 6% of female veterans report using job skills learned in the military. According to the Veterans Administration, veterans earn less, make up 1/3 of homeless men and 20% of the nation's prison population. (2)

The military's presence in schools is not limited to high schools. The Middle School Cadet program at Lavizzo Elementary School in Chicago is one example. Youngsters wear uniforms and are taught how to carry guns, a skill distinctly at odds with the policies that virtually every school has banning weapons on school property. (3)

The Navy also offers a program geared at middle-schoolers, the Navy League Cadet Corp, designed for children ages 11-14, in addition to their Naval Sea Cadet Corp which is geared towards high schoolers. The Navy offers 300 such programs reaching 11,000 children.
Another tool the military uses is to send military recruiting trucks to visit U.S. high schools. The trucks use high tech media and eye-catching graphics to whet students interest. The Army describes its Special Operations Van this way,

"The SOF incorporates several exhibits. One can experience the excitement of flying a helicopter, test your skills and landing accuracy in the Airborne parachute simulator, or improve your driving or marksmanship (sic) in the Ground Mobility Vehicle (GMV) system."

While the military claims that vehicles like this are for educational purposes, their own regulations indicate otherwise, stating that the vehicles are to be sent to schools that recruiters are trying to target, and that recruiters must stay with the trucks while they are open to the public. The purpose of the trucks is to "Ensure that exhibits create a favorable image of the Army and current Army enlistment opportunities." (Section 1-5.a.) (4) (5)

The Department of Defense has been quick to understand that video games are an excellent marketing tool. On the America's Army website, you can play all manner of war games, although as Sheldon Rampton points out in his article "War is Fun as Hell", the games are a, "sanitized, Tom Clancy version of war."

Not only that, but the website sexes up their offerings, providing what Rampton aptly describes as a "babes-and-bullets fantasy", by employing a group of young attractive female gamers known as the Frag Girls to market the games. (6)

As one woman gamer describes it,

"Lord knows you wouldn't want someone that was a real gamer and a wife and mother. What would the drooling masses have to drool over? Certainly it wouldn't be a young attractive SINGLE female that they might think they had a chance with right?" (7)

And just to make sure there is no doubt as to what a Frag Girl is, they have their very own website which offers these illuminating definitions:

"frag /frag/ n. & v. · n. 1 number of kills. 2 a fragmentation grenade. · v. 1 to eliminate other players in multiplayer shooters (fragging).

rag·doll physics {buzzword} /ragdol fiziks/ n. 1 a program allowing videogame characters to react with realistic body and skeletal physics.

frag·doll /fragdol/ n. 1 a female gamer with the skills to dominate in multiplayer shooters. 2 a lady with the sass to use the laws of physics to her incontestable advantage."

As concerned as many parents, schools and communities are about the impact of No Child Left Behind, the Pentagon's recent announcement that it intends to assemble a much more comprehensive database is far more worrisome. According to the Pentagon, the database will contain some 30 million records of data about youth ages 16-25. The data kept will include name, gender, address, birthday, email address, ethnicity, phone number, education records including graduation dates, grade point averages education level and military test scores. Parents, educators and privacy rights activists have raised a number of objections to the planned database, pointing out that it violates the Privacy Act and the DoD's own regulations about the collection of information on citizens.

Misleading advertising is always reprehensible. But when we allow our military to target children, leading them to believe that war is a game and fighting is fun, one has to wonder if the next logical step is camouflage diapers? (8)

*********

Notes:

(1) "Air Force Plans To Invade: 48 High Schools Set to Start AF JROTC". Based on research by Peacework intern Jamie Munro and materials on JROTC from the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and the American Friends Service Committee Youth and Militarism Program. Compiled by Sam Diener.

(2) "Why Question the Military's JROTC Program?", Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors.

(3) "The Children’s Crusade" by Jennifer Wedekind, In These Times, June 3, 2005.

(4) "US Army Makes Surprise Claim: We're Endangering US High Schools",Peacework Co-Editor Sam Diener previously served on the staff of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors. Bill Sweet, an AFSC and GI Rights Hotline volunteer, contributed research to this article.

(5) "Army's New Special Operations Van Invading US Schools", American Friends Service Committee.

(6) "War is Fun as Hell" by Sheldon Rampton, Alternet, August 2, 2005.

(7) "The Fragtastic FragDolls" by Danielle "Sachant" Vanderlip.

(8) There are several excellent organizations that offer more information about military recruiting and marketing to youngsters. They include:

• American Friends Service Committee.
  
• Center on Conscience and War (NISBCO).
  
• Leave My Child Alone (has
  downloadable forms to opt out of having a child's contact information given to
  the military and to opt out of the new Pentagon database).
  

#########

--Lucinda Marshall, @2005

Child for Sale: The Corporate Takeover of Our Classrooms

Independent-Media.tv:

It's August and the stores are chalk/chock full of the latest notebooks, back-to-school clothes and all manner of 'necessary' electronics and locker accessories. Call me cynical, but I can't help wondering if the reason so many schools start back in August instead of after Labor Day is to insure that retailers have something to sell after July 4th. Labor Day is not the easiest holiday to merchandize, which leaves a gaping hole in advertisement themes for July and August. In any case, there is something sickeningly poetic about starting to glorify the institutionalizing of our children the day after Independence Day.

As any parent will tell you, the only school prep that counts is the late summer quest for cool--cool shoes, cool clothes, and for lack of a better technical term, cool stuff. Case in point, the ruler that folds into one inch increments which caught my son's eye when we recently went scavenging for the items on his school supply list. It of course goes without saying that no child is going to succeed academically if you buy the wrong jeans or sneakers.

There's nothing new about children wanting to fit in, be cool, be accepted. But the amount of gear necessary to accomplish this has skyrocketed in recent years as more and more advertising is geared at our children. What is particularly disturbing is how much of the sales pitch takes place in the schools themselves.

Marketing in schools take place in a variety of ways. Many companies obtain exclusive agreements from schools to use or sell specific products. Does your child's school sell Coke or Pepsi products? It's unlikely to be both. Some 20% of our schools offer brand name fast food in their cafeterias. When questioned about whether feeding children sugar water and greasy foods is detrimental to their health, the companies in question are likely to tell you they are providing children an opportunity to make choices.

Companies such as Pizza Hut sponsor incentive programs like "Book It!" where children earn certificates for free pizzas when they read books, rewarding children for learning by feeding them unhealthy food. Other companies like General Mills donate money to schools in exchange for boxtops, which of course means that parents have to buy General Mills products to help their schools, undoubtedly spending far more than General Mills donates.

Perversely, some schools encourage parents to buy from websites that donate a portion of their proceeds to the school. Since these websites rarely pay taxes, money is diverted from the community tax base that supports the schools.

A number or corporations provide educational material to schools. Exxon Mobil and the American Petroleum Institute are only too happy to provide educational materials to the National Science Teacher's Association. It is a reasonable assumption that 'information' from a company such as Exxon Mobil isn't likely to present an unbiased view on topics such as global warming and energy conservation. Other examples include nutrition education materials from McDonalds and anti-smoking information from Phillip Morris.

Perhaps the most insidious marketing is via Primedia's Channel One, which according to its website is, "delivered daily to nearly 8 million students and 400,000 educators in nearly 12,000 middle and high schools across the country". Fittingly, I discovered this fact only after closing the Verizon ad that popped up immediately when I clicked on their "About Channel One" page.
Channel One provides 12 minutes of programming each day, 2 minutes of which are paid advertising. Added up, children at schools that subscribe to Channel One are required to watch an entire week of television every year, and of that, a whole school day is spent watching advertising. Incredibly, a Primedia spokesman justified the advertising by suggesting that in order for the news to be unbiased, it had to have ads.

Unfortunately, children for the most part trust that what they learn in school is true. When a brand name is presented to them in that context, it has almost unassailable credibility. The regrettable result of the corporate invasion of our schools is that kids begin to believe that Coke quenches your thirst, McNuggets make a great lunch and conserving energy is not important. We need to take a very hard look at just what we are teaching our children before we fail altogether.

Lucinda Marshall, @2005

Boycott the Republicans

Several days ago I received an email from a gentleman I've never heard of before, Dennis Baer. With his permission I am reprinting his missive here. What Mr. Baer is suggesting is to boycott those companies that support the coffers of the Republican Party. In particular he suggests boycotting General Electric because they are a defense contractor as well. I particularly like this last idea because they are also a major player in the nuclear energy industry as well. The icing on the cake is that unlike companies such as Halliburton which the average consumer would be hard pressed to boycott, GE is also in the business of making consumer appliances and we don't need to buy them. We don't need to watch NBC which they also own. In other words, this is a very easy boycott to support.

Arundhati Roy has spoken eloquently about the need to boycott the economic underpinnings of empire. Mr. Baer has found a very practical way to do so. He also offers a list of demands. You may not agree with all of them, but they are a very good starting point.

Here is what Mr. Baer wrote:

"When we join together and withhold our purchases from some targeted Republican contributors we can wield power that will force the executives of these Republican contributors to go to the Republican party do our agenda.

Now, the agenda written below does not address everything but you can choose a big company that gives aid and comfort to the Republican Party and demand that their executives get the Republican Party to do what you want. You can exercise this power every day and you can get other people to join and exercise this power every day. What company executive would want thousands of people demanding a set of progressive agenda, every day with a legal threat of losing your business? Join me and I promise you a peaceful revolution. No need to go out in the streets, no need for first amendment zones, no arrests. You create a no buy zone for some selected Republican contributors such as Walmart, etc. Join me, please.

Here's how we force congress to pass a progressive agenda. Companies do not like boycotts. I suggest you email these demands to Walmart, Wendy's, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Curves for Women health clubs, each big Republican contributors. Also include Eckerd, CVS, and Walgreens Pharmacy chains. You can send this to other companies as well.

We demand that your company executives get the Republican Party to hold a press conference and accede to these demands and then finally legislate and sign these into law. Until such a press conference happens and the legislation gets passed I will boycott your products.

We demand that the Republican party end their aggressive and hateful action to end a woman's right to choose abortion or not.

We demand the resignation of Tom Delay.

We demand that the United States withdraw from Iraq.

We demand that the Congress of the United states and the president of the United States enact a law to increase the minimum wage to TEN dollars an hour and also to extend unemployment benefits for all people whose unemployment benefits expired after 6 months even though they still seek work.

We also demand that the Congress of the United States to not privatize social security benefits in any form including taking a percentage of the social security tax and placing it in private accounts. People can already create their own pensions with money after taxes in the private sector.

We also demand that the congress make all of a person's earned income taxable for social security FICA tax purposes and remove the 88,000 dollar salary cap. This will make social security solvent for many years to come.
We demand the congress increase the payroll tax in order to make social security solvent as well.

We also demand congress and the president enact a prescription drug benefit under Medicare Part B which covers 80 percent of medication cost, with no extra premium, no extra deductibles, no means test and no coverage gaps, and no penalties for signing up in a succeeding year.
We also call for the complete repeal of the faulty Medicare law HR 1 / S 1 passed by congress in Nov 2003.

We also demand vote by mail throughout the United States of America. This will prevent Republicans from vote suppression by skin color which happened electronicly and in person in the 2000 and 2004 elections. Demand that your state implement vote by mail with ballots easy to fill out and difficult to change or invalidate by Republican Party officials.

We demand Civil servants on every state payroll should keep track of voter registrations and vote counting of mail in votes in each precinct and not companies such as Choicepoint. We need to take the Republican Party out of the business of keeping track of voter registration and counting votes.

We demand States ban the secretary of state from engaging in politics especially acting as a campaign official for a presidential campaign.

We do this in the spirit of peaceful resistance to a congress that refuses to enact this legislation.
If you don't support what the Republicans did since they took over the House of Representatives in 1995 and don't support the Republican party's plans for this year then Join the revolution for progressive legislation and sign the petition at
http://www.boycott-republicans.com (note--I have not been able to access this site although Mr. Baer insists it is working).

To each person reading this if you agree with my message please tell your friends and have them tell their friends.

We can stop the war in Iraq by boycotting the defense contractor General Electric corporation.
I want each and every person who wants to stop the War in Iraq to contact the defense contractor General Electric. Go to http://www.ge.com and send them email to the effect that you have decided not to buy any GE products including ovens, stoves, refrigerators, light bulbs, televisions, radios, telephones, video recorders, dvd recorders and players, etc. UNTIL their company executives get the President of the United States aka THE CHIMP to hold a press conference announcing that he will withdraw all US Troops from Iraq, to get replaced by UN troops to defend Iraq until Iraq troops can defend their own country.

In addition to sending email from the web site you can make these demands of GE through their public relations officials. Please act polite when contacting them.

Gary Sheffer
Executive Director, Communications and Public Affairs
(203) 373-3476
gary.sheffer@ge.com

Peter O'Toole
Director, Public Relations
(203) 373-2547
peter.o'toole@ge.com
Yes his name's really Peter O'Toole but Bush appeared the one Lying in Winter about the Iraq war. "

Pornography: Objectification or Free Speech? The Debate Rages On

It is truly astounding to listen to otherwise progressive, left-leaning men bend over backwards to vociferously defend their right to view pornography as a matter of free speech while viciously attacking anti-pornography feminists who dare to suggest that pornography is a tool to objectify women.

Noam Chomsky recently posted a short piece on his ZMag blog discussing his interview with Hustler Magazine (which will be in the September, 2005 issue), re-igniting the firestorm that took place on my blog over at ZMag several months ago. The gist of Chomsky's piece was that he had no idea who he was interviewing with or what kind of magazine Hustler is, which is a bit hard to believe, but all he was saying was that he felt taken advantage of. The responses to this post were quick to once again equate the male right to objectify women with free speech, and most are of the same ilk to those posted earlier to my blog.

Activist Nikki Craft has had an extensive email conversation with Chomsky about his experience and she joined in the discussion on ZMag about Chomsky's misadventure. She invited readers to check out Hustling The Left and read her rather extensive correspondence with Chomsky. For the most part her comments were ignored by other posters in the Comments section and when she pointed that they weren't bothering to educate themselves about what they were spouting off about, they ignored her again. Hardly surprising when earlier this year a woman who spoke out against pornography on my blog was referred to as being, "filled to the brim with estrogen on a men-hating rampage".

The zinger came when another ZMag blogger decided to write a blog entry stating that Craft's comments should not be censored, never mind that no one had even remotely suggested such a thing. His rationale was that she had posted a link to a site that had pornography on it. Unfathomably, the implication was that a site that critiques porn is no different than a site that offers porn. Worse, because her work is dedicated to exposing the damaging impact of pornography it is offensive because that in some way restricts free speech. It seems unlikely that the participants in this discussion are aware that Craft's activism about this issue goes back decades, although even if they were, they would likely be dismissive of any evidence that does not jive with their perception of what a good feminist is supposed to think.

What I find most interesting is that Chomsky's blog entry was not actually about porn, but it didn't take much for the comments to turn to that topic. This is exactly what happened on my blog at Zmag a few months ago when I racked up over 800 comments on one entry (Chomsky's only at 100 as I am writing this, but perhaps he'll catch up). No other topic gets this kind of response in those blogs. As Loretta Kemsley, publisher of Moondance points out, "Porn is another element where men get to define the terms of our sexuality."

In an article entitled, Sexuality, Masculinity and Men’s Choices, Robert Jensen offers the following insight as to why the discussion on porn gets so heated,

"...at some level everyone knows that the feminist critique of pornography is about more than pornography. It encompasses a critique of the way "normal" men in this culture have learned to experience sexual pleasure—and the ways in which women and children learn to accommodate that and/or suffer its consequences."

This is not a free speech issue, it is a control issue, and speaks to the heart of male privilege. In point of fact, if one actually reads what Chomsky told Craft, it is clear that he feels pornography is degrading and that being interviewed by Hustler is totally inappropriate:

(Nikki Craft) "I'll try to rephrase my question: I'm not attempting to misrepresent you, but I believe I can conclude from this exchange that you do employ a standard against publishing in pornographic publications that degrade women.

Chomsky Replies: Certainly. That's why I insisted that they withdraw the interview when I learned what the journal was, and how they had misrepresented themselves.

(Nikki Craft) If that is the case, thank you. In your opinion what is the effect of leftists who are publishing in and cooperating with such publications. Do you think this is a political mistake? Do you see it damaging to our political movement in any way? Any other potential for harm that you could point out?
Sincerely, Nikki Craft

Chomsky Replies: I think it's a mistake. That's why I refuse to do it."

The full interview can be found at http://www.hustlingtheleft.com/chomsky/index.html.

There are several excellent articles regarding Hustler and pornography which you may want to read as well. The first is Aura Bogado's Hustling the Left on the Znet site (as well as the responses from Susie Bright and Nion, see the links below Bogado's article). As Nikki Craft points out, it is unfortunate that this article has been relegated to the Gender section on the Znet site, the article is about a great deal more than gender. Secondly, Ms. Craft asked that I also mention Jennifer McLure's excellent article, When White Males Attack:Larry Flynt, Racism and The Left.

Lastly, while it is not specifically about Hustler, Aviva Ariel's excellent article, Rappers Delight gives a very perceptive critique of the damaging impact of pornographic language in rap lyrics, namely that it gives legitimacy to degrading descriptions of women and gives men the impression that it is acceptable to describe women in this way and further that the language involved also impacts women's sense of what they must accept in relationships. As Jensen goes on to point out in the article mentioned earlier,

"And because heterosexual women (LM: actually I would say this applies to all women) live with men and men’s sexual desire, those women can’t escape the question—either in terms of the desire of their boyfriends, partners, and husbands, or the way they have come to experience sexuality. That takes us way beyond magazines, movies, and computer screens, to the heart of who we are and how we live sexually and emotionally. That scares people."

The final point that we need to come to grips with is that pornography and misogynist portrayals of women are no longer confined to magazines in brown paper wrappers at the back of the store. It is in the pop up ads that evade all manner of blocking software on your kids' computer. It is when Senator Hillary Clinton needs to champion the cause of labeling the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" as adults-only entertainment. It is on television where a friend who recently took a day off from work was astounded at the number of instances of violence against women being portrayed as entertainment on network tv. It is the word 'bitch' being used in everyday discussion by everyone from pre-pubescent teens to Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

With the advent of cable television and the internet, pornography (and all its damaging implications) has gone well beyond the realm of personal immorality. It has become an inescapable part of the cultural fabric our everyday lives, and that will not change so long as men refuse to examine and take responsibility for the consequences of their usurpation of sexual entitlement.