To subscribe or unsubscribe: irenestuber@delphi.com !^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^! ! Catt's Claws ... a feminist newsletter #32 ... April 18,1995 ! !^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^! "(Mary, the mother of Christ) had lived all the suffering a woman can experience in the most tortured anguish. "She attended, *impotent*, the torture of her son." -- Sister de Vries speaking at the 1995 Easter Vigil meditation officiated by Pope John Paul II in an attempt to bring to his attention the plight of women in the church under his leadership. Recently the Pope has issued another "letter" about women hoping to sidestep the increasing criticism of his position but he is holding fast to his belief that women's proper roles are motherhood and being a good wife. ....................... * ........................ A baby girl was recently born in Italy carried to term by her father's sister from her mother's egg two years after her mother had died in a traffic accident. With such an example - plus one about a woman age 63 bearing a child - Italian doctors are being ordered to follow a new medical code and only accept stable heterosexual couples for artificial insemination. Italy, home to the Vatican which forbids birth control, abortion and of any medical intervention on embryos, also has the world's lowest birth rate (I'd like to see an explanation of THAT on TV's _How Do They Do That?_ since most Italians are catholic.) There is also a man's rights movement afoot in the U.S. to prevent unmarried women from being artificially inseminated. Such a law would never pass U.S. Constitutional muster in anything but a radical religious supremacist Supreme Court - one that certainly would be in place if the radical religious bigots can lull socially responsible people into staying away from the polls in 1996 and give the Republicans the White House into their corner pocket. If that happens, kiss-off women's rights in the U.S. of A. (P.S. Nothing is being said about men buying babies through pay- for-pregnancies although at least one such baby was beaten to death by the father. The term "surrogate mother" is incorrect. Any woman that bears a biological child in her body ain't surrogate anything - she's for real THE mother ... only a bunch of guys could think otherwise.) ....................... * ........................ The ultra-conservative state newspaper in Arkansas which supports EVERYTHING Gingrich does had to choke and print an article about welfare recipients that shows that blacks are only 51.71% of the AFDC recipients, 42.8% of those on food stamps, and 37% on medicaid in a state with a very high percentage of blacks. The headline also reads "No "cadillac queens' in Arkansas, investigators say; most don't cheat. " Guess Newtsy Pewpsy better to find some more dead giraffes to keep his ditto heads busy so they don't wake up to find they've been lied to. ....................... * ........................ Those with strong stomachs may read what the anti-freedom-for- women forces are saying by asking for the monthly newsletter published by Oklahoma P.L.A.N. (Pro-Life Action Network), the activist arm of Oklahoma Orthodox Christians for Life. Fr. Anthony says anyone who would like to receive the Pro-Life Action News can do so by sending email to: prolife@orthodox.org and be sure to include your snail-mail address. One friend keeps enrolling her cats and dogs so when she gets mail addressed to them, she knows its antis stuff. ....................... ........................ A Houston, TX said that Dow Chemical Corp. is partly liable for a woman's leaking breast implants meaning the company will have to contribute to a $4.2 billion settlement in a separate implant lawsuit. The jury found that Dow Corning used silicone implants with materials that were not adequately tested. The jury also found that Dow Chemical knew Dow Corning's safety tests were inadequate. The $4.2 billion settlement of a worldwide class-action suit was approved last year in Alabama.The federal judge overseeing the case dismissed Dow Chemical from the settlement, but said he would consider the Houston verdict in deciding whether to reverse his ruling. Dow Corning furnished nearly half of the $4.2 billion settlement fund, which critics say is woefully insufficient. Concerns that the fund may run out of money have increased pressure to involve Dow Chemical, which has annual sales of more than $18 billion. (Wasn't it Dow that had that terrible accident in India that killed for many?) The woman plaintiff in the Houston case expressed tearful gratitude."I'm very relieved it's over with," she said. "I'm also so thankful to 12 people I never saw in my life (who) could come together and realize that we're all not crazy, that we really are sick and that the implants did this to us." ....................... * ........................ "It's gotten to be morbid joke among both lesbians and heterosexual women I know: 'What would the world be like if women reacted violently every time an unwanted man came on to them?'" -- Robin Kane, when commenting on the "Jenny Jones" incident when a man killed another man for saying on a TV show that he was attracted to him. ....................... * ........................ A Canadian white supremacist was convicted of assault causing bodily harm for an attack on a woman during a street confrontation between neo-Nazis and anti-racist demonstrators. A jury found that George Burdi, 24, either kicked Alicia Reckzin in the face or encouraged someone else to do it. Canadian law allows for a conviction in either case. Burdi, former leader of the now-defunct white supremacist Church of the Creator, could face up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced May 11. ....................... * ........................ The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled the Legislature can block cities and counties from passing laws that deal with gay rights. The ruling unanimously upheld a 1993 law designed to invalidate local anti-gay ordinances. Despite that law, voters in 27 cities and counties have endorsed such ordinances. Some were approved before the state law was passed. ....................... * ........................ The biggest problem on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier when 414 women were assigned to it was a shortage of hot water ... after a lot of blaming, it turned out the MEN were taking more showers, thus the water shortage... "Everything has gone perfectly," Capt. Mark Gemmill is quoted as saying. "It's almost supernatural." Why not for earth's sake? Just because a bunch of guys in monasteries during the stone age couldn't keep their hands off women when they saw them - and imagined all sorts of wild things when they didn't see them -- and wrote such awful stupid things in their books -- doesn't mean that normal, healthy, *modern* men are as uncontrollable as those stone age guys were. For earth's sake, let's grow up. This idea that when the sexes are in close proximity it leads to constant sex is ridiculous. Remember some things from history, the end of civilization was predicted when women became ushers in movie theaters (!), or coed dorms were formed, or co-educational schools, or women's dresses showed ankles ... You know, when *I* think more of men being decent human beings then the patriarchal hierarchy does - something has GOT to be wrong with what's going on. Those sweaty palmed religious bigots had best wake up to what REAL men are like. ....................... * ........................ Gov. Thomas Carper of Delaware when meeting the train of Rep. Bob Dornan, R- Calif, a presidential candidate in Wilmington wore a wig and a dress and carried a sign reading "Dornan's the one" and when the train stopped Carper called out "Hi, Bobby" in a high campy voice,. Dornan drew back shocked and his aides rushed to get between the two men until someone recognize Carper. (One wonders why when the Republicans get together they all act like they are still in frat houses. A GOVERNOR in drag ??? I feel for people in Delaware.) ....................... * ........................ Tansu Ciller, Turkey's prime minister is meeting with President Clinton - Cillar is a she. ....................... * ........................ "I felt my responsibility wa to the people of America. I needed to say the things I said. I was the people's surgeon general." -- Dr. Joselyn Elders speaking 04/15/1995 in Little Rock where she defended the college tenure system saying the tenure is important because "I've had such a close brush with knowing how important (the ability to speak out is). We should always keep academic freedom and tenured professorships for our young people. Elders said having tenure let her set her own agenda. The religious supremacists who attacked Elders, who is black, remain dedicated to ruining her life. She is a tenured professor with the Arkansas University system and they cry and moan and carry on all the time because of her outspoken stance regarding a woman's right to choose and in defense of children. ....................... * ........................ Assistant HUD Secretary Roberta Achtenberg, the highest - ranking openly lesbian in the federal government is resigning at the end of April to run for mayor of San Francisco. "If I'm going to b major of San Francisco, I have to begin my campaign immediately." She is a former SF supervisor. ....................... * ........................ Tara VanDerveer, Sanford Coach, accepted the Olympic women's basketball coaching job. VanDerveer will leave her two-time national championship program for a year. She has been at Sanford ten years. In the interim, assistant coach Amy Tucker will step in. VanDerveer has a 403-113 record in 17 years of coaching. ....................... * ........................ Lech Walesa's son has been sentenced to two years in jail after causing all sorts of mayhem with his car while he was drunk. He blames it on his girlfriend saying he began drinking because she said she was pregnant and then wrecked the car when she said was leaving him. ....................... * ........................ "First I'm a woman. then I'm a black. Then I'm a lesbian. If they've gotten over one and two, three's easy." -- Patricia Lewis, a lesbian and a saleswoman in Southfield, Mich., speaking to a newspaper reporter April 1995. ....................... * ........................ Women's rights are young and tender and we must protect them from the plagues of holy water and newts. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >>> 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. <<<