<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> ........Catt's Claws # 94 ... January 2, 1996......... ........ A Feminist Newsletter by Irene Stuber......... ....................................................... On January 6, 1996 Catt's Claws will celebrate it's first anniversary. Our pledge is to continue - Women's voices WILL be heard. And on occasion of our first anniversary, we announce the beginning of an email discussion group: Abigails. The name is in honor of Abigail Adams whose letters include this noted statement: "We are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation." -- From Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March, 1776 To subscribe and to help foment a 1996 feminist rebellion: To: Subject: (none) In the body of the email: Our deepest thanks to Jennifer Gagliardi for figuring out a way for the discussion group to become a reality and for hosting it as chief worker and co-moderator. The list will be moderated and misogynists need not apply. PS - Jennifer asks you to be patient - the first day of the announcement she was inundated by subscriptions and the torrent hasn't slowed down. "Wow!" was her rushed comment. As we have always believed, feminism is alive and well and just needs a way to express itself out from under and away from the anal retentiveness of so many of its leaders who seem to think they have been anointed by god and have the ONLY true way. ....................... * ........................ At the request of several NOW STATE presidents, several National NOW Board members, a number of NOW members and a number of "civilians" for whom I have a great deal of respect, I am reversing my position and I am renewing my membership in NOW to continue to "fight the good fight from the inside" and *help* revitalize an organization I was once SO PROUD of. Again, let me make something clear: I have no - that's spelled NONE, NADA, ZIP, etc. - ambitions for any position in the national organization. And one board member who took me over the coals and flayed me over my stance on violence against women and Tammy Bruce also said I should stay. When thy friends and thine enemies agree ... ....................... * ........................ In referring to Navy COOK Chief Petty Officer George Powell, 49, who fondled a 23-year-old 3rd class petty officer on a commercial flight last fall, Capt. Antonio Reyes, a Navy psychiatrist said (his voice breaking), "What he did cannot be excused, but what he did as a Marine is what we ask for our young men. We ask them to come back to civilization and be civilized again, but how does one do that? It's not easy." Sir, I beg your pardon. Most of the men who fought in Viet Nam were decent men when they went there and were decent men when they returned. Where is it written in the Marine training manual that sexual harassment, fondling of strange women, and rape are part of a Marine's training. And I'm sorry, but Nam was a LOT of years ago and it appears that Powell has another sexual assault/harassment charge against him. What the damning hell of the situation is that there were other military people on that plane and no one came to the woman's defense - NOT EVEN THE CHAPLAIN TO WHOM SHE APPEALED. And even now a Navy psychiatrist is excusing Powell. What if Powell had fondled a MALE? Actually what Capt. Reyes is crying about is that the game is over boyz - you gotta start acting like grown, responsible MEN. No excuses. ....................... * ........................ The newspaper are filled with the news: "Just weeks after promising to reopen a corporate stream of donations that had been reduced to a trickle, newly appointed NAACP president Kweisi Mfume welcomed a $100,000 pledge from Nissan Motor Corp. The donation from the automaker is the first major gift to the civil rights organization since the Maryland congressman was named president Dec. 9." CC-->> One wonders about the lack of corporate donations to the women's civil rights movement. When and how much were the corporate donations to NOW which - SUPPOSEDLY - is fighting for women's civil rights as WELL AS BLACK CIVIL RIGHTS and GAY CIVIL RIGHTS (which are getting corporate support on their own). But perish the thought that WOMEN should have corporate support for WOMEN'S CIVIL RIGHTS !!! Isn't it time someone on the National NOW board stood up and demanded an accounting from the officers? Good GAWD (God, a woman deity), the NOW rallies and parades can't even pull stars anymore ... Remember the days when Barbra Streisand and a ton of Hollywood, media, and sports stars appeared on the NOW podiums to draw attention? Give support? Curious people want to know: Why isn't NOW getting the support of corporations; why isn't NOW getting the support of celebrities; why isn't NOW doing anything of importance? And, yes, we are including the Feminist Majority Foundation, the personal sandbox of Ellie Smeal. You know, this constant dunning of everyday women out here for money to keep an ineffective organization going is ludicrous. The feminization of poverty if REAL out here in the heartland of America away from the Washington, DC beltway...and attorney salaries. Yet NOW and the Fem Majority are always begging for more and more money to pay bloated salaries - and they are not figuring out alternate methods of financing the organization. Three of the veteran officers of NOW are attorneys. How about someone with business acumen next time? Or someone with a knowledge of political science? Or someone who knows something about lobbying? You know this crap about no advertising, etc., because the advertisers want control make feminist enterprises a laughing joke. The leaders are ADMITTING THEY DON'T HAVE THE GUTS, KNOW-HOW, ETC., TO CONTROL THINGS. Do you REALLY think that the editors of the major men's coddling magazines and organizations cave-in to the advertisers? Girls (and I use the term advisedly) all you have to do is put a line in your ad contract, or other contracts, that says the magazine has the right to refuse any advertising or placement requests. The feminist movement has been sold a big blob of poop by women who appear to be working AGAINST women instead of for. Do we have some double agents in our midst or just extreme naivete? (We self-censored the term we originally typed.) ....................... * ........................ Attempts by Democrats to stop Congressional and Presidential salaries so lawmakers would feel the same financial pinch as other U.S. government employees have consistently been defeated by the House Republicans. The Senate Republicans have joined with the Democrats to UNANIMOUSLY approve the legislation. But not the House Republicans under the guidance of Newtsie. The government shutdown can be laid directly on the doorstep of the House Republicans - mostly the far-right, rich extremists - who carry the balance of power in the House. ....................... * ........................ Want to make fast loot with fewer dangers than drug trafficking? Trafficking in women is fast replacing drugs as the big, easy money making schemes in Europe (and has been in the U.S. for a L00000NG time). A lot of women from Eastern Europe faced with unemployment and poverty at home are being lured to Western Europe with promises of work as barmaid, hairdressers, etc., only to be forced into prostitution. (Here in the U.S. it's keeping young girls passive and ignorant so they are forced into prostitution because they don't have any other way.) Police (need we mention this?) are not very effective in fighting the movement since when the women are arrested - unlike drug prosecutions - the women are sent back home and with all witnesses gone ... And, of course, should a conviction occur, the penalties are a laugh compared to those given in drug cases. There is a Geneva-based International Organization for Migration, or IOM, which is studying the problem in Europe and recently released a report which in part read: "High profits can be made by forcing women into prostitution since the risks for the traffickers are not great ... Sentences against traffickers are light, and there are few successful convictions," the IOM report said. IOM could add an addendum and say, "it goes double in the U.S.A." ....................... * ........................ From: JacJo: In the San Francisco Examiner Sunday editorials Stephanie Salter did a pretty good piece about the catholics and the pope's refusal to allow a women to be a priest. "The pope says Jesus picked only men to be apostles and he did it deliberately (even though he didn't say so). Thus, Jesus doesn't want women to be priests. Rather, he wants them to "use their God-given gifts in the roles open to them." As further sign of the "infallibility" of this teaching, the pope notes that the church has had only men priests for most of its 2,000 years. If one follows that line of reasoning, shouldn't all current priests resign because they aren't Jews? All the apostles were Jews. Semites, to be specific." Catt's Claws heard a lot about this famous "none ruling, ruling letter" and Barbara Cooper sent us a copy. Here it is; Pope John Paul II speaks, just short of ex cathedra, a dying man defending a dying doctrine: Responsum ad Dubium October 28, 1995 -------------------------------------------------------- Concerning the Teaching Contained in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis -------------------------------------------------------- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Dubium: Whether the teaching that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women, which is presented in the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis to be held definitively, is to be understood as belonging to the deposit of faith. Responsum: In the affirmative. This teaching requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium (cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium 25, 2). Thus, in the present circumstances, the Roman Pontiff, exercising his proper office of confirming the brethren (cf.Lk 22:32), has handed on this same teaching by a formal declaration, explicitly stating what is to be held always, everywhere, and by all, as belonging to the deposit of the faith. The Sovereign Pontiff John Paul II, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect, approved this Reply, adopted in the ordinary session of this Congregation, and ordered it to be published. Rome, from the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the Feast of the Apostles SS. Simon and Jude, October 28, 1995. + Joseph Card. Ratzinger Prefect + Tarcisio Bertone Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli Secretary ....................... * ........................ Scientists scoff and prove that women's intuition ain't so, but Susan James, New York city emergency dispatcher had "a funny feeling" at her computer terminal Christmas night when a man told police who were answering a complaint that there was no child being beaten at his apartment and produced a healthy three-year old to prove it. Susan James, instead of clearing the complaint, asked the police, with her supervisor's permission, to return and search for another child - and they found battered 5-year-old Yanin and arrested her father. She had two black eyes, bruises and scratches. HOWEVER (can you believe this) the father was then freed WITHOUT bail although under a court order to stay away from his family pending the outcome of the case. He could serve 3.5-7 years in prison. ....................... * ........................ Women with an easily treated vaginal infection has a 40% chance of delivering premature, undersized babies which have a high risk of dying in their first few weeks. Bacterial vaginosis "is a potentially preventable cause of preterm birth," said Dr. Sharon L. Hillier of the University of Pittsburgh, lead author of one of the studies of the infections. "The risk associated with bacterial vaginosis is about the same as the risk associated with smoking." The most common sign of infection is a fishy odor. Hillier said a lot of people assume that a fishy odor is normal for women. Other symptoms of the infection include vaginal irritation and a discharge. This particular infection is different from yeast infections which occur when foreign bacteria invade the vagina. (What, pray tell, is a bacterial vaginosis except foreign bacteria, just one of a different nature????) The news reports did not say if the male sexual partners need to be treated also, but then the ads for yeast infections (and a LOT of doctors) don't mention that many (most) yeast infections are caused by a dirty or infected peni - and the same for bacterial vaginosis. ....................... * ........................ And speaking of yeast infections, a new drug, FEMSTAT 3, has been approved by the FDA as a nonprescription medication that will treat yeast infections in three days instead of seven. Femstat contains the antifungal agent butoconazole nitrate, available by prescription since 1986. WARNING ! Femstat can damage and make birth control devices such as condoms or diaphragms fail. And there is a BIG warning that if the yeast infection returns within TWO MONTHS, or there is pain, etc., the woman should consult her doctor ... When in the name of GAWD (God, a woman deity) are doctors going to be up-front about yeast infections? I've lived a long life and I've only known four women who had yeast infections. What the hell is going on?????? ....................... * ........................ Thomma Carlton sent us a list of REAL ADVERTISEMENTS that were sent to her from a listserv. Here are a couple: " Lost: small apricot poodle. Reward. Neutered. Like one of the family." " Now is your chance to have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home, too." " Used Cars: Why go elsewhere to be cheated? Come here first!" " Girl wanted to assist magician in cutting-off-head illusion. Blue Cross and salary." "Illiterate? Write today for free help." ....................... * ........................ Our first of the month buddy reminder: One in eight women in our country will develop breast cancer during her lifetime, compared to one in 20 a generation ago. And 46,000 American women will die of breast cancer this year. Time for your monthly breast exam - remember, the breast you examine is the one you want to keep. ....................... * ........................ Women's rights are young and tender and we must protect them from the plagues of holy hypocrisy and newts. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >>> Send your ideas, comments, and news to istuber@cswnet.com for inclusion in the Catt's Claws feminist newsletter which will be emailed three times a week: Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. This is NOT an interactive discussion net but an exchange of information and is NOT sponsored by any organization. We are accepting *limited* donations (only what can be spared) to help offset the online costs of posting Catt's Claws. Irene Stuber. PO Box 6185, Hot Springs, AR 71902. Copyright 1996.<<<<