Catt's Claws is ranked among the Best 1001 Internet Sites by _PC Computing, awarded Three Stars by _NetGuide_, and recommended by _Mother Jones_. <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> ........Catt's Claws #90 ... December 21, 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< Bill Clinton received a preponderance of the lesbian and gay vote because of his position on their justly deserved rights as human beings. One of the FIRST things he signed when he became president was an edict to uphold lesbian and gay rights. However, he was blocked by his attempts to remove military restrictions against lesbians and gays in the military by such stalwarts of human rights as Democratic Senator Nunn of Georgia, Republican Jesse Helms of South Carolina and Orin Hatch of Utah, and a whole bunch of other democrats and religious supremacists. He couldn't get the votes and Nunn led the offense. This left the door open for a lot of Republican gay men - a whole cadre who surround and support House Speaker Newt Gingrich because of his racist stands - to get all over Clinton's case on the "don't ask, don't tell," proposition in an attempt to make it a complete failure and draw the gay vote away from Clinton. But, strangely enough, the policy has been found to have its points. It's not good, but it's not all bad - and with this Congress, it's really remarkable that it is holding up. But even with the bruises, Clinton is keeping his word in the anti-gay climate of Congress. Another thing you won't read in too many daily papers: "Lesbian and gay Americans, like all Americans, should be judged on the basis of the quality of their work, not penalized on the basis of someone else's prejudice," said George Stephanopoulos in announcing that President Clinton is supporting legislation barring job discrimination against lesbian and gays. President Clinton is supporting a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) and James Jeffords (R-VT) that is tagged the "employment non-discrimination act." Clinton's letter of support marks the FIRST TIME A SITTING PRESIDENT HAS SUPPORTED A NATIONAL GAY RIGHTS MEASURE. There is no way this bill can be passed in today's Congress, but the damned noble courage of Clinton to come out in support when all it can do is cost him votes is something that makes me view him more and more as a president I am proud to have heading my country. But what I consider strange to "hey, what the hell is going on here?" is that in all the gay and lesbian material from all sorts of organizations that I am send almost daily there has made absolutely NO MENTION OF THIS LATEST CLINTON PRO-Lesbian/gay stand. Granted I am not on EVERY mailing list, but I'm on plenty. Am I missing something or .... ....................... * ........................ Juanita Winston who outweighs her former boyfriend by about 40 pounds is back in jail after she broke up a liquor store William Narr worked at and then sat on him until he promised to rekindle their romance. Winston had been in jail in Norristown, PA, for nonsupport of her children when Narr took up with another woman. ....................... * ........................ Aaron Podolefsky sent along this news for those who want to know what the enemy is doing: Internet for Christians (ifc) is a new, biweekly, one-way mailing list for everyone interested in the latest news about the fundie Christian activity on Internet and the commercial online services. Send email to: ifc-request@gospelcom.net and in the body of the message type: subscribe your email address. We need information about the rumored new partnership of sorts between a major online service and THE basic right-wing religious group FOCUS ON THE FAMILY that may be the cause of growing censorship. ....................... * ........................ As of Jan. 1, it will be illegal for California businesses to price services differently based solely on the gender of the customer. But it's going to have to be a customer beware situation. Accidentally a couple of years ago in another state that had equal prices laws, I discovered that I was paying fifty cents more to have my jeans laundered than a guy did. They claimed women's jeans don't fit on their machines the way men's do and it takes extra work. When I pointed out that they *were* men's jeans, they then claimed it was a mistake. So get together with a guy or two and find out the prices you are supposed to pay for haircuts, etc., before you buy. ....................... * ........................ On 12-18-95 the U. S. News and World Report magazine ran a column in which John Leo ranted and put out his pigeon chest the way a typical teen- age boy does when he thinks he invented sex - only in John's column he was ranting that President Clinton and Janet Reno had filed SECRETLY for women to be accorded the same legal strict scrutiny as black men have. The following is an article for the 10-31-95 Catt's Claws that we didn't get a chance to publish. It's just too bad that Leo and his magazine don't read the news before writing such shit as accusing Clinton of "furtiveness" when he wrote: "Yet neither the Justice Department nor the White House...bothered to tell us what was going on." Oh, John, you are such a typical Republican outhouse keeper. We're sure that in the future, the President of the United States will send you and the staff of U.S. News personal faxes before he does anything since y'all don't seem able to read regular newspapers like the unwashed public out here. "Based on news reports, United States law provides MORE protection based on race than on sex. (We use sex instead of gender because, regardless of what the media is saying, there is a difference between gender and sex.) In other words, if you discriminate against a man of color because he is a man of color you are held to a higher standard for your actions than if you discriminate against a woman of color (or Caucasian) because she is a woman. "That is the heart of the Virginia Military Institute case that has been accepted for review by the U.S. Supreme Court, although conservative forces are trying to limit the scope of the case to just VMI entrance requirements. The Clinton administration is pushing for VMI, a state-run and taxpayer supported institution, to accept women and to broaden the judgmental standards for sex discrimination. Arguments in the case will be held before the Supreme Court in January. "According to newspaper accounts, women's rights advocates are asking the court to use the VMI case to give women the highest level of legal protection -- "equality with no ifs, ands or buts," said Georgetown University law professor Susan Deller Ross. Conservative attorneys such as Anita Blair of the Independent Women's Forum argues, "You can't legislate against nature," and says the courts must recognize the differences between men and women. Robert Maginnis of the conservative Family Research Council is also arguing against the equality for women by saying that men and women learn differently. "Seems to us that the same arguments were used against those black men some years back ... "This case, by the way, comes pretty close to an EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT type of equality for women ..." -- Joe Leo's article 1.5 months later than that of CC's above also brings up such old chestnuts as unisex bathrooms, same sex marriages, etc., as scare tactics that served so well with the unwashed in the ERA campaign. But this time we're not dealing with upper to middle upper class male politicians. We got a chance to overcome the ruling that women MUST be judged legally by the prejudices installed by these same upper and upper middle class men in years/centuries past. As it is now, in a nutshell, justice in the U.S. for women is based partially on tradition and not law and personal prejudices are considered legal in many cases. Under strict scrutiny, black women and men and white women and men would all be judged equally - Now wouldn't that be a blast in a country that waves its flag as "all men are created equal," which of course is true for ALL MEN with women - even black women - standing on the corner waiting for justice to come by. Oh, yeah, we expect to hear some more about CC being racist for demanding equal rights for ALL people. Well, folks, we ain't racist ... but we aren't stupid. ....................... * ........................ This is a joke, a Far Side kind of a joke: "I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give the wrong answers." -- _A Bit of Fry and Laurie_ ....................... * ........................ Slogan of 105.9, the classic rock radio station in Chicago: "Of all the radio stations in Chicago...we're one of them." ....................... * ........................ And then there are the Cleveland Indians ... I was still in Cleveland (a city I am PROUD to have been born and raised in but left because it has the worst possible weather, even worse than Chicago). I lived there when they lost four straight in the 1954 World Series. They had won more games than any other team in history - and had a losing streak at the worst possible time. The 1995 series was somewhat a replay. Sigh. But Cleveland, the city, is a renascence city with a world-class art museum, a public library system second only to that of New York City, a symphony orchestra long considered one of the top ten in the world, a school system that was far in advance of its time, diversity, culture, gardens, parks, great academic centers such as my alma maters East High School and Western Reserve University, etc. I remember watching Ted Williams - after he came back from Korea - hit a home run in old League Park to beat the Indians - and as he rounded the bases, we Cleveland fans as a whole stood and cheered him for a career and a life worth remembering. That, my friends, is what Cleveland is all about. (Except, it's too damned cold.) (And we can't win a world's series.) (And BAH to those for taking away the Cleveland Browns.) ....................... * ........................ There is a nasty claim going around that has been invented and circulated by the misogynistic Men's Rights Association and fundamental churches, namely that women who kill their poor, poor abusive husbands don't get the death penalty. Ah, contraire. Women get the death penalty for spouse death at perhaps a higher rate, or at least get higher penalties because women can't afford the kind of legal defense that men can. (OJ's defense is estimated to have cost close to NINE MILLION dollars.) Alabama's Judy Haney is a typical example. She is on death row for killing her husband after years of beatings and abuse of her and their children. One of Haney's public defender attorneys came to court so drunk that the judge halted the trial and sent the attorney to jail for the night. The next day Haney was convicted and sentenced to death. It may well be that the only defense women really have when they defend themselves against years of abuse is the kind of publicity that Susan Smith got. Alabama is the state that gave a father only 25 years for murdering his two young daughters for insurance money and to stop paying child support. ....................... * ........................ In Miami, a man who killed a puppy was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison, five for cruelty to animals and 4.5 for violating probation. Wonder what his sentence would have been if he had killed his wife? In most states the penalty for cruelty to animals is higher than the abuse of a wife. ....................... * ........................ Women are the poorest people in the United States and one of the reasons is that deadbeat dads aren't paying towards the support of their children - and only a few people in authority are doing anything about it. Tops, of course, is President Clinton whose mother was a single parent and he knows FIRST HAND how tough it can be and is sicing the U.S. government on the deadbeat dads. Tops on the deadbeat dad side is _Time Magazines_ 1995 Man of the Year Newt Gingrich who left his wife when she was suffering from cancer and refused to support his children. Seems that she wasn't pretty (or young) enough to be the wife of the president of the United States. You should live so long, Newtie. Hey, decent people who are shocked to a run for the outhouse have got to put the _Time_ magazine Man of the Year in perspective. They chose Adolph Hitler among some other stellar non-human beings. Leading the way towards men's irresponsibility towards their children are the most extreme of the religious right churches who do everything to block legal and legislative action aimed at making men more responsible for their sexual actions. In a recent survey printed by _Time_, ultra conservative Indiana has the highest rate of deadbeat dads in the nation with 94 per thousand; Florida is second with 64, Michigan has 61, and Ohio 51 (My ex-husband is one of those from Ohio if they keep stats that long). New Mexico with it high American Native population is the lowest in the country with only 9 per thousand. ....................... * ........................ New research is showing that violence, including more sexual abuse and assault than previously IMAGINED, is the major factor in the general decline of health among American adolescents. ....................... * ........................ In answer to our question about increasing rape penalties, Martha H. Harris sent us the following summation (which we paraphrased): "An attempt by North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt to make first degree rape punishable by life without parole in certain circumstances was opposed by women's groups since many juries bring in a lot of not guilty verdicts because they don't feel that what the rapist did was "that bad" -- not so bad that he should have his life/career ruined by spending some time in prison." CC-->> Rock and a hard place? Don't prosecute and punish equitably according to the crime? Of course, after the OJ decision, maybe they have a point, but it sure frosts me to see women defending lighter sentences for rape. Has anyone bothered to see if the theory of heavier sentences meaning more acquittals stands the test of study? So often these "facts" are BS fed to a bunch of women who hear a logic in them and don't bother to check. Wouldn't it be nice if we had some sort of women watching rape trials like Mothers Against Drunk Driving? Maybe we're just too tired of excuses for not acting in a more militant manner - aggressive? - assertive? - life defending? The way the feminist movement is going regarding rape, we are just turning belly up and nothing gets done. There is a point where we have to take a stand and not always take the priported "safe" way out. But NOW officers are so greedy and fearful of their powers that they have formed no alliances WITH PROFESSIONAL women who could form, direct, and make up task forces to study such things and direct reform and education. Women are capable of running big corporations, ad agencies, public relations firms, etc., but our NOW and the Feminist Majority leadership (one and the same) is so ineffectual today that none of these highly capable women are brought into the fight. RIDICULOUS ! ....................... * ........................ Canada is at least a bit more honest than the U.S. in discussing its institutionalized prejudices. In 1994, Canadian women made 70 cents for every dollar made by men, down from 72 cents in 1993 - AND - 90 percent of new, full-time jobs in 1994 went to MEN. "Women are getting bypassed," said Jim McCambly, president of the Canadian Federation of Labor. Economists are predicting the gap will widen in the future. ....................... * ........................ OJ is being forced to turn over his financial records to the Brown and Goldman families suing him in the wrongful death lawsuit. "The whole purpose of this area of discovery is to find out what his net worth is and how much money he has made as a result of these deaths," the attorney for Fred Goldman said. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial April 2. A status conference is for Feb. 15. Preliminary depositions are being taken now. Looks like OJ is making and infomercial that will sell for about $29.95 and will feature OJ claiming his innocence. Can you IMAGINE THE GALL? Who would buy such a thing? Guess he still hasn't found the caddy who killed Nicole and Ron - he's been looking high and low for him on the golf courses ... remember how his attorneys tried to make out that his hands were sssssooooo bad that he couldn't have held a knife - although he sure can hold a golf club. ....................... * ........................ While the patriarchy is putting out information that less caffeine is a way to GET pregnant, some might have put it another way: women who drink more than 300 milligrams of caffeine a day (roughly three cups of coffee or eight sodas) are able to REDUCE their chances of getting pregnant by 74%. Smoking decreases the birth control benefits of caffeine. Pregnant women have long been warned consuming caffeine because it may lead to early pregnancy loss. ....................... * ........................ The Rev. Keith Tucci, one of the most dangerous of all the anti-abortion leaders is in a Florida jail this Christmas for violating a court-ordered protective area around the Aware Woman clinic in Melbourne, about 50 miles southeast of Orlando. Fines were imposed against 99 others in charges stemming from 1993 incidents. The sentencing had been held up because of their appeals that failed in all the higher courts. ....................... * ........................ David H. Gillon, 43, of Hartford, Conn., pleaded guilty to interstate distribution of child pornography by transmitting a pornographic picture over America Online in August. A search of his home showed 300 graphics of children in explicit sexual conditions. His arrest was part of am FBI crackdown on porno and online services. ....................... * ........................ Glen Rogers has been charged with murder, robbery and grand theft auto charges Wednesday in the slaying of Tina Marie Cribbs, 34, in Tampa, FL. Rogers is also suspected of stabbing or strangling four women in Florida, California, Mississippi and Louisiana since September. Three of his victims were found in bathtubs and one in a punctured water bed. ....................... * ........................ Catt's Claws salutes Jennifer Gagliardi for posting Catt's Claws through her listserv and making this whole thing work. ................................................. The URLs to the most current weeks' worth of Catt's Claws set up on the Web by Laurie D. T. Mann, the Feminist Webitor, are: http://worcester.lm.com/lmann/feminist/cattsclaws.html The FTPs for Catt's Claws being archived by William Affleck-Asch, are: ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/f/feminist/ (or NCFTP open ftp.eskimo.com cd /u/f/feminist/) The FTPs for Catt's Claws being archived by Dorothy Dean are: FTP.execpc.com ....................... * ........................ 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.<<<<