!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.! ! ! ! Catt's Claws ... A Feminist Newsletter #65 ... September 17, 1995 ! ! ! !.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.! Stinging from the numerous speeches and remarks of delegates at the U.N. Women's Conference including U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Chinese official snapped back: "Some people from some countries have made unwarranted remarks or criticism of other countries," said China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Chen Jian, in response to a question about Mrs. Clinton's speech. "We would like to caution these people to pay more attention to the problems in their own countries," he said, adding that the criticism ran counter to the spirit of the U.N. gathering. Hey, guy - the murder of millions of infant girls also runs contrary to the spirit of any U.N. gathering .... HOWEVER, did you read about the organs that are being marketed from China??? BIIIIG, Big, Big business. Those little orphan girls are cut apart for their organs which are shipped all over the world...maybe and probably for their ovaries which contain fully developed human eggs. One wonders what kind of human beings (AKA doctors and medical administrators) BUY those organs - or use the body parts (including the ovum of infant girls) for experimentation. ....................... * ........................ After 61 years with the New York City counsel's office, Edith I. Spivack has retired. An institution of prodigious knowledge, Spivack was the first woman in the department - and she was hired originally at HALF salary although she did the same work as the men. Ah, yes, let us return to the old days and their family values ... of half pay for women. ....................... * ........................ Diane Ilac says you can call the members of the club she started three years ago fat, "because that's what we are." Ilac started the Well-Rounded Club in Rhode Island after tiring of being a wall flower. She was sure there were some men out there who didn't mind a few extra pounds on the women they dated. Indeed, there appear to be a LOT of men who prefer larger women. The dances the group holds now are well attended and one woman said, "This club gave me back my self-esteem. You might not meet the love of your life, but you'll meet hundreds of people." ....................... * ........................ Gleened from news reports from the U.N. Conference on Women: Elizabeth Sinclair, an American working for the Body Shop chain of stores, learned about connecting the Internet through ham radio operators to villages that have no phone lines. She plans to suggest her company donate computers to Third World women's groups that cannot afford them. She said it was vital for non-governmental groups to keep in touch electronically. "There are groups in different countries doing the same work who've never heard of each other. They can't wait another five years for the next conference." ....................... * ........................ Other speakers at the first session included five women "heads of state or government": Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan; Vigdis Finnbogadottir, President of Iceland; Begum Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister of Bangladesh; Dr. Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe, Vice President of Uganda and Minister of Gender and Community Development; and Mguyen Thi Binh, Vice President of Vietnam. ....................... * ........................ Neighbors said Mark Alen Clark, the estranged husband of Betty Louise Clark, had threatened to kill himself and his family. No one took him seriously. Police said there were no reports of domestic violence from Mrs. Clark. (Surprise!) Clark loaded his car truck with slurry dynamite, then got his wife, their 4-year-old daughter, and Mrs. Clark's two other children 11 and 6 into the car by saying he would take the children shopping for school clothes. The car exploded in an Essex, MD, shopping center. All that was left was a crumpled, burned-out shell. The glove compartment was found half a mile from the blast. ....................... * ........................ Sitting down? Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., keeps trying to grab headlines from the Vince Foster tragedy even through he admits as two previous criminal investigations have concluded that he did commit suicide. His latest ploy? The Senate Whitewater Committee he chairs will subpoena Chelsea Clinton's former nanny, Helen Dickey. ....................... * ........................ The Irish government is again campaigning to legalize divorce, a move strongly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church leaders. And the new law wouldn't be all that liberal. It would require the couple live apart for four years with "no reasonable prospect of a reconciliation." An attempt to legalize divorce in 1986 was defeated by the voters by a 2 to 1 margin. The new vote comes Nov. 24, 1995. In a 1992 referendum, voters decided to keep the abortion ban, but endorsed the right to get information about abortion services in other countries. Since then, however, there have been several well publicized cases where young girls have been raped and authorities attempted to force them to bear the rapist's child rather than let them go to England to get abortions. ....................... * ........................ According to a Reuters report sent to us by Varda Ullman Novick, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali wants 35 percent of all professional jobs in the United Nations to be taken by women by the end of this year and 50 percent by 2000 -- which means men not need apply for two of three openings. At the senior and higher levels, the target is 25 percent by 1997 against 16.9 percent at present, the top U. N. personnel officer Angela King said. King said out of 185 missions to the United Nations, only five were headed by a woman, including U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Albright. No woman currently heads a U.N. peacekeeping mission. Nafis Sadik, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, told the news conference her organization had adopted a policy of positive discrimination toward women. ``If there are two candidates that are equal, I would perhaps select a woman,'' she said. -- Varda who is touring parts of Europe right now also wrote, "I received a complimentary copy of "Women's Health Digest," a 161-page slick magazine, full of glossy ads for various drugs and pharmaceutical companies. Most of the articles glowingly promote HRT, other drugs, etc. It is published by "The National Menopause Foundation, Inc." Who is President and Chief Executive Officer of The National Menopause Foundation? Morris Notelovitz, MD, PhD. (Three out of four of the contributing editors are male and 10 of the 26 members of the "medical advisory board" are male.) Isn't that like a woman doctor heading up the national prostate foundation, etc.? CC-->> Varda, you just don't understand the system. Men control their bodies and women are controlled by men, so women's bodies are men's bodies ... or something like that ... or is it, like Dr. Karen Horney said, "Men are victims of womb envy." Ah yes, why else would they seek to control women's reproductive organs so strongly? ....................... * ........................ A large number of Non-Governmental Organization women have formally filed objections to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali about the "massive presence of religious organizations of all obediences including fundamentalist ones (Muslim, Catholic, pro-life groups...) whose missions and actions oppose women's human rights guaranteed by the UN texts." The group denounced " on the very space that women have historically created (NGO Forum, Nairobi 1985), the presence and behaviour of these organizations which hinder and sabotage the work and exchanges (interrupting workshops, seizing material, ...) among women whose active solidarity is vital to move their rights forward." And the group demanded: " the UN take measures so that the NGOs' work be respected - and the accreditation criteria to comply with the UN concepts and texts so that the NGOs' progressive function in favour of women's rights be fully exerted." CC-->> Catt's Claws received several messages from Americans who were at the U.N. Conference complaining that their rooms had been searched in Huairou and Beijing and papers, pamphlets, etc., had been stolen, their phones were taped or put out of order. <--cc ....................... * ........................ Latest group to want to erase reality is the Abbotsford, British Columbia, school board which wants to teach its children creationism even though the province has officially banned the subject unless it is taught in a class on religion. Creationism holds that the ENTIRE universe was made by God in six days. (Of course, it also holds that innumerable men begat innumerable men without any women.) ....................... * ........................ At the recent Christian Coalition conference in Washington, D. C., Pat Robertson said that they will do "whatever it takes" to again make abortion illegal. Following Robertson were Republican Presidential hopefuls barking like trained seals: Phil Gramm said he signed a pledge to defend the Republican Party's platform plank calling for a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion. Bob Dole, when faced with a sea of Gramm's signed pledges, replied: "Don't look at pledges; look at the record." ....................... * ........................ Now here's a woman who needs all kinds of help. She KNEW her man, Guy Michael Reedy had escaped from prison for assaulting his ex wife, had taken on another man's identity, but she still married him and had a child with him. However, she told police about it AFTER he shot her three times in their home near Chicago. But by that time, the police knew it also. ....................... * ........................ Martell Welch Jr., the 19-year-old Detroit man accused of murdering Deletha Word, will probably claim his victim was killed by the Angel Dust in her system, not because of what he did. Witnesses have said Welch dragged Word out of her car, pulling most of her clothes off in the process, and beat her. Witnesses said the beating took place for about 20 minutes on the bridge. Word jumped into the Detroit River from the bridge in what looked like an attempt to escape Welch. Two men who tried to save her in the water, but failed have been given citations for valor at a Black Men Against Violence rally. ....................... * ........................ George Stephanopoulos' car struck another car as he was leaving a parking space in front of a Washington, D. C., restaurant, "causing minor damage." He is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 18. Yes, he had failed to renew his driver's license - something many of us have done without thinking. (I once drove for almost a year before I realized mine had expired.) The Republicans have made all sorts of accusations about the incident which, from all reports, was a simple fender bender with no attempt to evade responsibility. Why don't the Rep propagandists like the truth? ....................... * ........................ To receive Catt's Claws by email, write and in the body of the note No name, but remember the hyphen. ....................... * ........................ 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 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. 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.<<<< ??