Reclaiming Medusa

This blog has Moved

2006-12-03T19:26:00.000-05:00

Reclaiming Medusa has moved. The new address is www.reclaimingmedusa.wordpress.com.

30,000 Iraqis More or Less

2005-12-16T09:45:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-14T11:12:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-11T12:04:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-07T20:49:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-05T16:35:00.000-05:00

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.

#####

Before You Max Out Your Credit Cards

2005-12-04T20:12:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-29T19:51:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-28T11:43:00.000-05:00

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?

2005-11-16T10:21:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-15T11:32:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-15T11:21:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-12T12:47:00.000-05:00

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,
-----------------------

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

2005-11-09T09:09:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-07T11:10:00.000-05:00

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.htm http://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

2005-11-04T10:47:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-03T10:38:00.000-05:00

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

2005-10-27T10:34:00.000-04:00

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

2005-10-25T10:32:00.000-04:00

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

2005-10-14T10:38:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-10-06T11:31:00.000-04:00

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

2005-10-04T13:21:00.002-04:00

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

2005-09-23T13:21:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-20T14:20:00.000-04:00

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.