<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> ........Catt's Claws # 139 ... January 12, 1997......... ........ A Feminist Newsletter by Irene Stuber......... send comments to istuber@direclynx.net <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> We've heard of pissing contests but the recent studies of sperm levels of men in Finland vs the rest of the world is obviously only the opening salvo in what promises to be a very, VERY expensive new medical cottage industry. It will make the expenditures on AIDS research look piddly - no pun intended. Finnish scientists are using cadavers - yep DEAD men - to determine that Finnish sperm is more abundant and of higher quality than that of other nations. Their findings have been published in the prestigious British Medical Journal. Some other sperm researchers also said that New York men's sperm is better or whatever than West Coast sperm ... Talk about a pissing contest! Now what's a big strange about this boastful research is that everyone knows that the amount of sperm is dependent on a man's sex history: the more sex, the less sperm at any given time. (Last I heard dead men - or dying men - don't often have vigorous sex lives, but then blind men drive cars and overwhelm women on dance floors and outside college dorms - so what do I know?) But be that as it may, the researchers quietly admit that the so-called drop in the sperm rate world-wide isn't apt to affect the birth rate because males produce sperm in such over-kill quantities. Obviously, a statistical drop is a rather limp excuse for concern, but if it is shouted out like Chicken Little, "Hey guyz, the sky is falling and you won't be able to get it up ..." the research money will flood in. Only problem, of course, is that sperm and erection/orgasm are two different things as any man who has had a vasectomy can tell you. Another scientist poo-hoohs the research by pointing out the difficulty in counting the number of sperm a man has. Seems that only an itsy-bitsy drop is examined and counted and then the "scientists" extrapolate. The scientists who are campaigning for more funds to continue their questionable research are, of course, pandering to men's egos and weak men's imagined vulnerabilities. They have even started blaming the sperm drop on such things as too much estrogen in the environment. (Bet you knew women were going to be the blamed for this. Surely they won't blame the changes on men's life styles: too much belly, too many cigarettes, too much liquor, too little exercise. Pizza, pizza and beer, beer do not produce sperm ...) But please don't misunderstand me. Such studies are harmless in my estimation except to those men who have esteem problems regarding their peni. But by hitting insecure men's hot button, sperm-count researchers may start draining medical research funds from other fields such as cancer, sickle cell anemia, brain tumors, etc., in spite of other scientists pointing out that the so-called drop is probably just a counting error. How serious are such concerns regarding the future of medical research funding? Well, here's an indication: "... AN IDEA SEIZED UPON BY GREENPEACE, WHICH LAUNCHED A CAMPAIGN CLAIMING THAT POLLUTION WAS MAKING PENISES SMALLER." And y'all thought you were donating money to save the whales ... . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Sorry, guyz, but 1.5 million Danish women can't be wrong. For the first time a really scientific study of the outlandish, beyond common sense claim that there is a correlation between abortion and breast cancer has been made. And SURPRISE !!! There isn't any correlation. A study just completed and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine shows conclusively - from actual medical records - that there is no connection between breast cancer and abortion. Anti-freedom-for-women forces came up with this half-baked accusation a few years back in a disgraceful attempt to scare women who needed abortions or who had had abortions - and then went further into dishonesty in several so-called scientific studies trying to prove it. They asked - probably under questionable circumstances - if a woman had had an abortion. Understandably, under the circumstances, many women failed to be completely honest, especially when those being questioned may have been chosen in less than random fashion. In the Danish study, however, only medical records were used. No opinions. No "god is your judge" nonsense. For you see, in Denmark everyone has a medical identity number which is used in all medical procedures. With no stigma attached to abortion they are recorded the same as anything else. And it turns out that with the 1.5 million Danish women born between 1935 and 1978, FEWER women who had abortions were stricken with breast cancer than those who did not. Do you think these FACTS might confuse the anti-freedom-for women forces who put their prejudices and hatreds above truth? You gotta be kidding. They'll never get confused by the facts. What liars - no wonder they're always asking for your prayers when any of them are dying ... they're scared shitless to meet judgment. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Those who believe in peace in the Middle East and the efforts of the Women in Black are invited to subscribe to irregular press releases issued by B'Tselem Human Rights Organization: e-mail: btselem@actcom.co.il web site: http://www.btselem.org One of the latest atrocity twists is strip searching of women (and young girls) by women while men soldiers watch the disrobing. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Contact Laura Wernick who is preparing a petition to be presented to Nike's president and CEO, Phil Knight to show that we are aware of his company's exploitation of innocent people and we want it to stop. Wernick writes, " Recently, CBS 48 Hours reported the exploitation of Vietnamese> workers--mostly women--by Nike's factory in Saigon, Vietnam. These Vietnamese workers earned an average of 20 cents per hour, 15 women were physically assaulted by their supervisors, 45 were forced to kneel on the ground for 25 minutes with their hands in the air for missing a quota, and there have been accusations of foreign supervisors sexually molesting female workers. This kind of abuse is degrading and insulting to human dignity and should not be allowed to continue unnoticed." . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . I am firmly convinced computers were developed by aliens from the Crab Nebula who are essentially non-violent because they are wise. When the Crabby Nebulians get here in another hundred years or they will promise to rid our society of computers and we will HAPPILY surrender without a fight. TAKE `EM PLEASE! There is a glitch in my machine that conflicts between word processors. I've used Word Perfect 5.1 for years and will NEVER part with it. It is a great, good and solid program that does EVERYTHING I would ever it to do EXCEPT block, click, and move text from windows programs such as Netscape and email into WP 5.1 which is a non-windows program. I have tried WP 6.0, 6.2, even AmiPro but they all seem to conflict with something in my machine. I will be happily working away and suddenly a blank, black screen. Hours of work gone as the program crashes. That's what happened to the last Catt's Claws - this is a reconstruction. Oh, the misery of it all - I have also been suffering from the lingering effects of a terrible cold. (Is someone out there using voodoo dolls and pins on me ;-^) Oh, on that subject, I WILL, as soon as I'm able, post on my web site the replies of NOW's paid employee Mary Melchior who "explained" how she wasn't at fault for using the mailing list of Catt's Claws obtained under someone else's hacking (sic). I'm sure NOW will extend the same courtesy to me for my comments ... quick guyz, sign me up as the premier comedian of the year! . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Women are beginning to step forward and speak out publicly about their monster relatives. The lesbian niece of Israel president Ezer Weizman condemned him for ranting against gays and lesbians. When Jerusalem's newspaper spoke out against Weizman's statements and demanded an apology. his niece said forget it; he never admits he's wrong. And the daughter of filth purveyor Larry Flynt of Hustler magazine spoke out against her raping father in a press conference recently that was sponsored, in part, by NOW. We know the NOW part from a Canadian release although all the articles (and TV) we saw never mentioned NOW. ABC quoted Gloria Steinem, not Flynt's daughter or anyone from NOW. Interesting. We really wonder how much of the dwindling interest by the media regarding the women's movement is because of the terminal boredom personality of its leaders? . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Under the guise of an anti-gay rights bill, conservative lawmakers in Arizona are proposing legislation that would make sex between two men or women a felony. Conservative Mormons are becoming *the* great political force in Arizona which has long been the bailiwick of conservative Roman Catholics. However, the legislation has the secret agenda of also damaging the ability of support groups to help with rape and incest survivors. Scratch an anti-gay and you will uncover an anti-freedom for women person - and too often a man who believes his girl children are his sex toys. Incest has always been a major problem in conservative religions. Well, it's a problem to the women. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . A pharmaceutical firm is offering children with the AIDS virus free doses of an experimental drug. Agouron Pharmaceutical is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval of its Viracept, known chemically as nelfinavir. If approved, the drug could become the nation's fourth protease inhibitor, a powerful class of AIDS drugs credited with revolutionizing AIDS care. For information, doctors and parents may call 1-800-621-7111 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . When one reads about a case like Jon Bush, 27, who sexually molested and bit teeny boppers, 13-16 years old, to initiate him into his vampire family, one wonders about the girls. But these kinds of men are very sharp in picking out the very distressed children who are neglected and abused by their families (usually fathers or stepfathers) ... children with severe emotional and mental problems ... girls who are so alone and have no one to turn to. Does your school have a dean of women - trained in social problems - someone girls can turn to who are friendly and understanding of women problems? Or is ALL authority at your daughter's school male? Many schools also have only male gym teachers. Who is a girl to turn to when her parents and authority tolerate molestation or denigration, or stand in for the perps? It's like the Armed Forces rapes. Who were/are the women supposed to turn to? More men? Like those who were also responsible for rapes? Or male officers who made lewd remarks or denigrated women by their attitudes and their studied ignoring of the obvious abuse? You know that sexual harassment, rapes, abuse, etc., don't happen in a vacuum. When the leadership fails - such as it has at the Citadel - and the various Army, Navy, and Marine posts of this nation, the results are disgusting. Examining the cause - the failure of male leadership - and results are similar to dissecting a decaying rodent in 100 degree temperatures. Excuses don't cut the stench. President Truman said, "The buck stops here ... (at the top)." . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Did you miss this? Lucky you. But we've caught you ... In the 1997 California state budget, Governor Pete Wilson said welfare recipients, especially pregnant teenagers, "should be offered every assistance in placing their children for adoption, recognizing that such a decision is a courageous, wise and ultimately unselfish choice by the parent." Some women spoke out against it, aghast (silence from Washington feminists which chose instead to go Hollywood with a press conference about a movie) while the Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, said "I see his position as a strong social policy that he is emphasizing for the betterment of the family." Wilson, of course, is a typical Republican family values man - two marriages and all that goes with it - or should we say WITHOUT when referring to his first family. He and Christine Whitman of New Jersey are considered "moderate" Republicans! "Hey, you darkies and wet backs. You get busy and breed them chilluns and we'll take 'em into our loving families as unpaid servants, sex toys, and punching bags..." Catt's Claws would really like to see studies on how many adopted children are used as servants and are victims of childhood rape. If an estimated 18% of natural daughters are abused, what horror lies in wait for adopted girls? . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . During their investigation, police searched a Dallas Cowboy player's home and took away a video recorder, several tapes, the felt from the pool table, sex toys, used condoms and other physical evidence. Doctors who examined the woman said there was severe sexual trauma. There was a video tape. Suddenly, it's all a hoax. And they want to prosecute the woman ... I wonder how poor black men and women who are in prison for minor cocaine usage feel after viewing the cover of a Texas magazine that shows Michael Irvin with his face covered in cocaine, smashed out of his skull and holding onto his multi-million dollar contract with no jail time. Or how parents of young girls feel when professional multi-millionaire football players are accused of raping minor girls and have the cases dismissed. Or pats on the hands for drunk driving. As long as we give millions of dollars to men with little education and less social skill, we are asking for the Mike Tysons and Michael Irvins to make us ashamed we are humans beings. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . The initial profits of $750,000 for Hillary Rodham Clinton's _It Takes a Village_," is being divided among 15 hospitals and 23 other programs mentioned in the book. The bulk of the money was given to hospitals the first lady has visited over the past four years. Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock received the biggest single donation, $100,000, followed by the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, $50,000. All profits from the book will be donated. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . If anyone still has any doubts about the Junius/two-faced judicial system, let them review the case of Boyd Dean Weekly, 24, who was sentenced to life in South Dakota prison for the kidnapping and molestation (rape) of two brothers, ages 3 and 11. All too often - every town, hamlet, and metropolitan area court has its examples - when a man molests a young girl, the penalty is probation or a short sentence, but a boy? Throw away the key! Look, the penalties should be the same whether the monster rapes a girl or a boy. The sentencing leeway judges have often enables the judges to follow their religious or social beliefs and not justice. Let the punishment fit the crime, not the prejudices of the judges. For example, in Toronto, Ronald Satok, 64, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 22-year-autistic woman with such a low mentality that she could not legally consent to sex because she can "barely say more than yes or no due to her autism" was sentenced to 60 days in jail. And in Orange County (San Diego) Hispanic girls of 12 and 14 who have been raped by grown men are being forced to marry those men by A GOVERNMENT AGENCY! BTW, we received a note from Tammy Bruce who with Denise Brown has formed the WPA, a group of women ACTUALLY DOING something about domestic violence, who said they were turning their attention to this matter. Tammy also said that her organization has received word from all over the country that other social agencies are making themselves look good in the stats by removing pregnant children from the welfare rolls by forcing them to marry their rapists. If you have any word about such things going on in your area, please write. In the days before women had any rights in England (and maybe other countries) a man who raped a woman then had the RIGHT to marry her and she could not refuse! She could be screaming NO but the priest would pronounce them man and wife and it would stick. (Notice how the man stays a man but the woman becomes a wife.) . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . "Women of the world are watching as defense budgets skyrocket ... while mechanisms for women's advancements go underfunded" said Florence Butegwa, a Ugandan lawyer and human rights activist in commenting on the new U.N. report by the Women's Environment and Development Organization. However, some progress is being made according to the report. India has promised one-third of its legislative seats to women (the U.S.A. has less than 10%). Columbia is increasing its punishments for domestic violence, and in some African countries the ban against abortion is being lifted and rapists are "sometimes" being prosecuted instead of never. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . A woman's risk of stroke doubles during the six weeks AFTER she delivers a baby, not during pregnancy or delivery as doctors had guessed. The researchers estimate that there might be eight more strokes than would otherwise be expected for every 100,000 women in the period immediately after pregnancy. The study was conducted at the University of Maryland in Baltimore and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. A total of 18 strokes occurred in the 141,238 women who gave birth. The numbers are considered minor BUT, how about comparing them to the number of men coming down with prostate cancer???? Why is the death or maiming of women because of birth dismissed as "tough luck, lady," or as Martin Luther said, "if a woman dies of birthing, she is here to do it," while a man's need to pee-pee often a big worrisome thing. Oh, I know, prostate cancer is more than urinating problems, but the numbers - the priorities - are skewered. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Brian Clayton Charles, 28, was charged with terrorizing a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Tempe, Ariz., allegedly smashing its computers and windows, scattering files and pounding on a storage room door where two people were hiding, while five others hid in an office and others fled out the back door. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . In a week-long pan-African conference for African women theologians organized under the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians Association (CCAWTA) in Nairobi, women spoke out strongly for a change in the direction of the religious initiatives and outlooks. Several noted women theologians pointed out that men's views are still considered the only real issues and those brought up by women for the betterment of society as a whole are still considered women's issues. This means that illiteracy, poverty, lack of health care, violence against women and other societal problems, because they are subjects addressed by women, are called women's issues and therefor not given proper attention. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . We dearly loved the political cartoon that showed a woman prostitute being arrested for charging $25 while on the other side of the post, Dick Morris is shown untouched as he offers his political services to the highest bidder for millions. At least Dick Morris had the good graces to deny the obviously put up tale of Sherry Rowlands that he told her that Hillary Rodham Clinton was behind the White House collection of FBI files. Rowlands, by the way, was paid a pretty penny by the same publisher who came close to bribing House Speaker Newt Gingrich with that fantastic book advance in exchange for bigtime, favorable media legislation. To those who may think that Hillary could have done such a thing as collect the FBI files, please remember that she is a VERY intelligent woman. Had she wanted those files, she would have asked for them, xopied them and flipped them back el pronto - not forgotten them in a closet. By the way, don't you just love the way male TV commentators such as are DEFENDING Morris? . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Elderly women should take 1,600 milligrams of calcium citrate a day - much more than the normal amount recommended for younger women - because they don't utilize the calcium as well according to a report by Dr. B. Lawrence Riggs and his team at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. HOWEVER, the study, from between lines indication, may have been funded by a company that produces calcium citrate and makes NO MENTION of the fact that calcium should be taken with Vitamin D to be effective. Women need Vitamin D! And all of us who spend lots of time in front of a computer screen and under florescent lights need huge amounts of Vitamin A. Skin problems, zits, etc., are an indication that you are being drained of "A" by the tubes, lighting and monitor. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . 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. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >>> Copyright 1997 by Irene Stuber, PO Box 6185 Hot Springs, AR 71902, email istuber@direclynx.net. Send your ideas, comments, and news to istuber@cswnet.com for inclusion in the Catt's Claws feminist newsletter which will be emailed up to three times a week. This is NOT an interactive discussion net but an exchange of information. Catt's Claws 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. <<< To receive Catt's Claws by email, write and in the body of the note We thank Jennifer Gagliardi for handling the madding subscription list through her listserv.