<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^> .....................Catt's Claws # 83 November 19, 1995...................... ..................... A Feminist Newsletter by Irene Stuber...................... ................................................................................ To subscribe: email >listserv@Netcom.com< and in the body of the note type >subscribe Catts-Claws and your full name< -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "(Rape was) not just a problem caused by the three accused servicemen, but a fundamental problem involving the U.S. Military." -- Suzuyo Takazato, Assemblywoman, Naha, Okinawa "(The statement of the American Admiral trivialized the brutality of the attacked and degraded Japanese women.) The remarks are unforgivable. Each time we have swallowed our anger and sorrow, but we can't stand it anymore." -- Fumiko Maeda, head of the Okinawa women's rights group "(Admiral) Macke's insulted all of us women and the Japanese." --Noriko Yamaguchi, Okinawan women's rights activist "I think it was absolutely stupid, I've said several times. For the price they paid to rent the car they could have had a girl." -- U. S. Admiral Richard C. Macke who was allowed to TAKE EARLY RETIREMENT after making this remark about the abduction and rape of an Okinawan schoolgirl by THREE U.S. servicemen. One of the servicemen has pleaded guilty while the other two have said they helped plan and carry it out. Where's my barf bag? Where's NOW on this? The Feminist Majority? The Congressional Women's Caucus - whoops, the Caucus is no more since Gingrich sliced the funds. Write Representative Pat Schroeder who is on the Armed Services Committee and ask why Macke isn't being brought up on charges. ....................... * ........................ A reader sent the following: "Isn't breaking the law, breaking the law? If homosexuals can't have sex with someone they aren't legally married to, then the heteros shouldn't either. They should get bumped out of the service." In a mind-boggling decision Air Force General Thomas R. Griffith was demoted for having an affair with a WOMAN. He had been commander of the 12th Air Force. A report said, "The preponderance of evidence supported the conclusion that Gen. Griffith, on at least one occasion, committed adultery, defined as sexual intercourse between a married man and a woman not his wife." The report when released under a Freedom of Information request was heavily censored. Yes, CC thinks this does open a can of worms that most men in the service would like locked up. In Little Rock not long ago a WOMAN officer was tried by the service for ADULTERY because she had sex with an enlisted man. No one had heard of any men being brought up on general court martial for the same kind of offense. Adultery isn't exactly new in the service and we are fairly certain sexual peccadillos are only prosecuted when there's another motive - even with homosexuals. ....................... * ........................ A sixteen year old Ohio boy, Brian Nemeth has been sentenced to 15 years to life for killing his mother Suzanne Nemeth, 40, by shooting five arrows into her head and neck while she slept. The court turned down premeditated murder although witnesses claimed he boasted at school he would kill his mother. In Texas, a 16-year-old girl was sentenced to 40 years without parole for murder. The 12-year-girl in San Antonio was convicted of murder for killing two small children and instead of the 40 years without parole she could have received, she was sentenced to 12 years with a chance for parole when she turns 18 (?). ....................... * ........................ CC Reader Marianne Das wrote to explain that the reason Caleb Fairley was allowed to please bargain the murder of Lisa Manderach and her daughter (as written about in a recent Catt's Claws) is because of a Pennsylvania law oddity which could have placed Fairley (if found guilty but mentally incompetent) in a mental hospital from which he could be released rather easily. He had also hidden Ms. Manderach's body so well that it might never have been found and without the body, the chances of a conviction were very slim. We know plea bargains are necessary, but ... sometimes it appears the monsters that walk among us are winning. ....................... * ........................ Watch for Rush Limbaugh to slowly gurgle away, flushed not by our side but his. Yep, the Religious Righters who hold two-way conversation with their god are campaigning AGAINST Rush because he isn't stringent enough. Advertisers and radio stations are seeking higher ground. Oh, well, Rush will laugh all the way to the bank. His hate-filled diatribes made him a multi-millionaire, bought him a new trophy wife to hide the embarrassment of the being a bachelor who never dated women, so ... he's probably tired anyway. ....................... * ........................ "We will refuse to rush through any legislation until we understand the meaning, impact, and side effects of every single [health care] provision." --Senator Robert Dole, Congressional Record, August 25, 1994, S12603. In 1995, a year later, the Republican majority refused to hold even one hearing on the GOP Medicare slashing proposal. Not one single hearing! "Is it justice to take almost $200 billion out of the Medicare program, severely jeopardizing its future?" -- Senator Orin Hatch, Congressional Record, August 16, 1994, S 11816. Maybe women weren't born Democrats and weren't born Republicans, but you'd better be damned sure we weren't born stupid. ....................... * ........................ P. L. Cross sent the following to CC: The Republican Party Platform in 1992 called for a "Human Life Amendment"... contending life begins at conception and should have all the right and protection of a fully developed human being. Any impediment to the development of the fertilized egg would then be considered murder. She asked some rhetorical questions, but let me say what would happen in my adopted state which has the Right to Life law: Both the UID and birth control pills would be considered tools of murder and both would become illegal. Could the government force a woman to submit to a search of her uterus? (It was done in Romania! Married women who didn't get pregnant lost their jobs and were investigated by the state police!!!!) Any drug which would induce abortions would be illegal to use for any purpose on a woman young enough to have children but could be used with impunity to save men's lives. ....................... * ........................ For those whose concerns are the molestation of children a recent California State Supreme Court decision makes fascinating reading. The high court set aside in no uncertain terms, the appeal court's siding with a defendant's argument that lewd and lascivious actions were dependant on a conviction. The decision read, in part, "At defendant's urging, the Court of Appeal rejected this long-standing approach. The court concluded that because section 288 literally requires both sexual motivation and a "lewd or lascivious act" it cannot be violated simply by any touching with sexual intent. In other words, no statutory violation occurs under this view unless the act is both sexually motivated and `lewd.' This frightening turn of events would have left children vulnerable to all sorts of actions including those of the defendant who grabbed two young girls, pressed them to his turgid body parts and kissed them until bystanders pulled them apart ... The high court was specific in condemning the defense that such behavior was not lewd and lascivious and therefor not prosecutable. As a public service, Catt's Claws will make a copy of the edited decision available to her readers. The decision was typed out by our email buddy Ken Pope. By the way, nothing lewd and lascivious in the decision - rather dry reading - no dirty parts, but it does point the way for professionals ... ....................... * ........................ An electronic gadget is to be warn by an English man with a history of exposing his genitals to young girls in the hope that it will keep him away from schoolyards. Anthony Eslick, 50, was ordered not to leave his house between 7am and 10am and between 3pm and 6pm for a period of six months or face a jail sentence. An electronic device will monitor him during those hours. The sentence, of course, does not protect the girls who might be in their own yards after 6 pm or 10:10 am on a Saturday or Sunday. ....................... * ........................ According to figures gleaned in New York _Times_ articles, the GOP balanced budget plan would reduce child abuse protection by nearly 20 percent, deny assistance to more than 16,000 homeless children, eliminate Medicaid coverage for as many as 4.4 million children by 2002, deny Social Security benefits to some 755,000 disabled children, eliminate summer job opportunities for 4 million young people, & cut nutrition assistance to 14 million children, This is the compassionate nation the Republicans and their Religious Supremacists bosses would wish upon this country. We again urge you to email President@Whitehouse.gov to sustain him in this terrible battle for our children's lives. A message of comment to Newt Gingrich georgia6@house.gov and your Congressional Representatives would also be in the best interest. ....................... * ........................ Colleges in the Northeast, or those colleges with fraternities, and big sports programs are the most likely to produce binge drinkers and turn nondrinking freshmen into alcohol abusers, a recent study showed. Women's colleges, historically black colleges and colleges attended primarily by commuters had lower rates of binge drinking, the researchers found. The researchers defined binge-drinking men as those who consumed five drinks one after the other at least once in the previous two weeks. For women, the definition was four drinks. ....................... * ........................ According to figures gleaned in New York _Times_ articles, the GOP balanced budget plan would reduce child abuse protection by nearly 20 percent, deny assistance to more than 16,000 homeless children, eliminate Medicaid coverage for as many as 4.4 million children by 2002, deny Social Security benefits to some 755,000 disabled children, eliminate summer job opportunities for 4 million young people, & cut nutrition assistance to 14 million children, This is the compassionate nation the Republicans and their Religious Supremacists bosses would wish upon this country. We again urge you to email President@Whitehouse.gov to sustain him in this terrible battle for our children's lives. A message of comment to Newt Gingrich georgia6@house.gov and your Congressional Representatives would also be in the best interest. ....................... * ........................ A study printed in the American Journal of Medicine indicates that drinking women have fewer earlobe creases than those who abstain from alcohol, a finding made significant by previous studies that link a diagonal earlobe crease to heart disease. 625 women between the ages of 30 and 74 were examined in relationship between earlobe creases and alcohol use and there was lower incidence of earlobe crease in women between the ages of 30 and 59 who had at least one or more alcoholic drinks a week than in those women who had fewer or no drinks. The diagonal earlobe crease, which first appears in some men and women after age 30 and is found in up to 60 percent of men and 50 percent of women by age 60, has long been associated with heart disease, the scientists said. ....................... * ........................ Catt's Claws published a question about the naming of the RU-486 birth control pill that has circulated throughout the feminist community for YEARS and YEARS. It was never addressed by the "leaders that be" and so we went on the limb and published it. Our thanks to the many, many readers who wrote: "RU-486 is named for Roussel Uclaff (RU) the french drug company that discovered it, and 486 is the last 3 numbers of the drug trial that it was discovered during research of another kind." Now let this rumor be dead ! ....................... * ........................ Catt's Claws hasn't examined the page that produced the following, but these excerpts sent to us show promise: http://www.synapse.net/~oracle/Contents/HumorArch.html For a telephone survey in 1992: - 65% of all Americans believe that frozen pizza will never be any good and there's nothing science can do about it. - 16% of Perot voters believe "if dolphins were really smart, they could get out of those nets." - 65% of American women believe there is "a lot of difference" between a campaign contribution and a bribe. Only 35% of men see a difference - 70% of American women have never had an emotionally satisfactory relationship with a Republican From a telephone survey of 229 Americans, Summer 1994: - 62% of Americans believe a trip to a major theme park is more culturally enriching than a trip to the Reagan Library - 29% of Perot voters say "The candidate I vote for usually loses." - 88% of Bush voters "have no idea what rappers are talking about." - 14% of Americans surveyed agreed that Puerto Rico should not be the 51st state because "that extra star would make the flag look bad." From a telephone survey of 208 Americans, Winter 1994: - 35% of Americans believe Richard Nixon went to heaven. 59% believe he went "someplace else." - 34% of those who voted Republican in the last election believe _Forrest Gump_ was a documentary. ....................... * ........................ CONDOM ALERT - Avanti Plastic Condoms break four times more often than latex. And, of course, the "thins" for the men who claim "they can't feel anything" are VERY dangerous for women who are depending on them for pregnancy and AIDS prevention. The rate of tearing for "thins" is even more alarming. A two-year test showed Avanti tore at a 9.6% rate as compared to 1.6% for PROPERLY used regular latex condoms. Many men are refusing to wear latex condoms because of an unfounded rumor of impotency resulting from them. (CAN YOU REALLY W AFRAID THIS YOUNGER GENERATION OF "MEN" ARE OF THEIR POTENCY?) Evidentally the basis for this false rumor is that about 5% (2.5% are men) of the population shows some allergic reaction to latex. The allergy is to antigens - and most of the allergic reactions are from rubber gloves, etc., made overseas, not condoms. Just make sure the condoms you buy are made in the U.S.A. under the more stringent rules about washing away antigens in production. Any man who refuses to use a latex condom should be refused unless he has taken the simple doctor administered latex allergy test ... and insist on seeing the results. AIDS is for ever. ................................................. 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.<<<<