To subscribe or unsubscribe: irenestuber@delphi.com !^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^! ! Catt's Claws ... a feminist newsletter ... March 16, 1995 ! !^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^! Would anyone using a "blind" reader that gives noise from the various "graphics" please write me and I'll see to it that you get a clean ascii copy. Also, anyone out there with access to a Listserv who can forward this newsletter? ....................... * ........................ Maybe it's because Texas has Molly Ivins to latch onto these lines, but Texas legislators seem to say the damndest things in the funniest ways Sen. David Sibley of Waco said trying to write a certain kind of reform legislation is comparable "to playing pickup sticks with your butt cheeks - no matter what you do, you mess up everything." Or Rep. Chisum, the Austin-American-Stateman saying gays bring violence on themselves. "They go to parks and pick up men, and they don't know if that someone is gay or not." {Right, says Molly.} ....................... * ........................ It's going to have to be said sooner or later and I might as well take the flack right now: If there was ever a flash point that shows a difference in aims of gay male activists and women it is the amendment that is attached to the Ryan White Aids Funding Reauthorization bill that will REQUIRE HIV testing for all pregnant women. The men's gay groups and their AIDS action arms initially ignored it (and some are still ignoring it) because it only affected women. Fortunately, most have come aboard and are cooperating in the fight to have it dismissed in Congress for what it is ... and unwarranted infringement on civil rights, an unconstitutional invasion of women's rights ... hey, test pregnant women? How about mandatory testing of the fathers ????? and Congressmen ???? But unfortunately, many gay men are fighting the issue not on the basis of women's rights, but on the danger it posses down the road for gay men if the requirement should pass constitutional muster and can be turned against them. It really hurts to see gay guys wanting women to support their rights and then have them not support women's rights ... ........................ * ........................ Women who used artificial insemination from "friends" or even from sperm banks five years or more ago should be tested for HIV. {From the Centers for Disease Control} ....................... * ........................ The republicans with their Contract Out on America are soooo two- faced ... They say they want to get the federal government out of people's lives and turn things back to the states ... and then turn around to pass a federal bill that would override state laws to provide protection for companies with harmful products. The big monied corporations are spending a fortune in ads and lobbying to push through a measure that is passing on strictly party lines. The measure would establish a national, uniform set of laws on product liability and limit the sums awarded to injured people. Supporters say it is needed to free business from a patchwork of state laws and to limit the growth of court-clogging lawsuits. Critics contend the bill would deprive citizens of legal redress if they are harmed by defective products and would usurp states' rights. President Clinton has said he would veto it. Do you realize that President Clinton is the thin line between you and a complete takeover of the U.S. government by the radical religious supremacists who are running the republican party? Senator Dole, the latest cave-in to the religious supremacists recently said he was no longer opposed to an anti-abortion amendment to the U.S. Constitution! Don't you think it's about time you wrote to President Clinton and said " How can we help?" ....................... * ........................ "We are sending a clear message to women victims of rape 'you have to carry your rapist's child.' We are sending a clear message to women victims of incest, 'you have to carry your father's child,'" said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-New York. House Speaker Newt Gingrich joined the flopovers to the religious supremacists when he reversed his position on the bill to abolish Medicaid payments for abortions in cases of rape or incest. He had originally said he supported the payments but then said the abolition restored the right to states to decide how to use their tax dollars. Currently states are REQUIRED BY A 1993 ORDER BY PRESIDENT CLINTON to use Medicaid funds to pay for abortions in cases of rape or incest or when the life of the mother is endangered by carrying the pregnancy to term. Seven states -- Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah -- face a cutoff in billions of federal dollars of Medicaid funds for their refusal to comply with the 1993 administration order to pay for Medicaid abortions in cases of rape or incest. A total of 19 states have laws prohibiting public funds for abortions in cases of rape, incest or if the life of the mother is endangered by carrying the pregnancy to term. ....................... * ........................ In reviewing some old notes for a recent speech, I came across the following - as a former crusading newspaper reporter I have been sickened by the recent changes in the way the media reports things. Subconsciously I thought, like so many others, that it was just my political views and my advancing age that made things look different in print, but ... In 1965, financed by grants from the Adolph Coors Foundation (the beer people), the Education Research Institute was established by the American Conservative Union with the aim of training radical rightists as newspaper reporters to change the direction of what they perceived as liberal reporting. In 1966, the Los Angles Archdiocese hired the firm of Spencer- Roberts to organize Right-to-Life groups in California. The American Bishops association have also hired a national PR firm to conduct their anti-freedom-for women campaign financed by parishioners donations while parish children and the disadvantaged go hungry. ....................... * ........................ "If absent parents aren't paying child support, we will garnish their wages, suspend their licenses, track them across state lines, and if necessary, make them work off what they owe," said President Bill Clinton as he ordered a tough crackdown on federal and military personnel who fail to support their children. In the meantime, the republicans are saying they will establish state and national registries of all child support orders and new hires but refuse to order any penalties for the deadbeat dads ... crackdowns on deadbeat dads (and the few moms) are being opposed by Children's Rights Councils, the so-called advocacy groups for children in the various states who are supported by funds from the Men's Rights Association (bet you didn't know that)! The attorney for the Men's Rights Association masquerading as child advocates says that efforts should be made to assure kids have fathers, not just money machines. Well, as the mother of children whose father was a disappeared, deadbeat dad, let me assure you that there are three children out there who would have been grateful for the money when their fathers took off for living-happily-ever-after-in-no-obligation-land. The Department of Health and Human Services which is tracking the state payments says child support would grow by $2.5 BILLION over the next ten years if all the states had strong deadbeat dad laws. Now, that's a way to reduce welfare. If the deadbeat dads don't have jobs or the money to pay, put them in work programs the way Newt wants to do to the mothers ... ....................... * ........................ Write everyone - Janet Reno, your senators, your congressional representative, President Clinton and DEMAND a special investigator be set up to probe the Newt's book deal, the financing of his college courses and his PAC among other things. If Cisneros can be probed for money he gave his ex-lover (and those two were in love) then certainly Newt should be checked out. Anyone notice how the Newt got pictures and a lot of pro-gay publicity out of his half-sister's visit to his office and the fact that there were ONLY eight photographers on hand ??? And President Clinton who actually tried to do something good for gays and lesbians is constantly denigrated by their organizations. Where was Newt when Clinton tried his damndest to remove restrictions against gays in the military and was knocked down by the Congress? Hey, fair is fair ... ....................... * ........................ Okay, if I haven't offended EVERYONE in this newsletter, here's another: A painter arrived in Heaven and asked St. Peter, "Why is the Virgin Mary so sad in all the pictures I've ever seen of her?" St. Peter said, "She's right over there. Why don't you go and ask her yourself? It's OK you're allowed to talk to anyone here." So the artist went over and said, "Blessed Mother, it's really an honor to meet you, but I've always wondered about something and I hope you don't mind if I ask. Why, in all the pictures and statues of you, do you always seem so sad?" And Mary answered, "I wanted a girl." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >>> Send your ideas, comments, and news to irenestuber@delphi.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. <<<