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 # 93 December 27-30, 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< -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Margaret Russell writes: "Irene, if you don't nominate yourself, you are doing a serious disservice to how the cyberworld is perceived and the extent of its impact on women, internationally." And she then forwarded the following message: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You Ought to be in Pictures" "Rick Smolan and the team that created the "Day in the Life", "From Alice to Ocean" and "Passage to Vietnam" photography books, want to shoot you and your friends! They're looking for the best examples about how Cyberspace is changing peoples lives all over the world and if they like your story they may send one of the world's top photographers to shoot pictures of you on Thursday, February 8, 1996. On that day over 1000 photographers, many of them armed with digital cameras, will be dispatched around the globe to show how Cyberspace is beginning to reach out and affect peoples lives. It's going to be one of the largest photographic projects ever done and certainly one of the biggest collaborative internet projects. "The idea is to use the power of the Internet to let people around the world both contribute and view images and stories of things that happened since they woke up that day...." OK, we nominated ourselves and if any readers would like to contribute anything in support of Women of Achievement or Catt's Claws, write Karen Wickre, Editor, 24 Hours in Cyberspace, kwickre@aol.com. ....................... * ........................ Catt's Claws reader Nancy Phillips, M.D., Assistant Professor, Pathology St. Louis University School of Medicine, subspecialist in gynecologic and breast pathology and researcher in genetics of ovarian cancer took some exception to our and the news media's coverage re biopsies for breast cancer determination. We feel this subject is so important and so misunderstood that Dr. Phillips' entire letter should be published (with the exception of our exchange regarding opera that we both love and in that, too, she is much more knowledgeable): (Her preliminary comments: "Yes, there are careless docs, well-meaning fossil docs, crooked docs, and insecure indecisive docs, all of whom can delay diagnoses. "Yes, I see disaster patients with distant metastases show up at my university for bone marrow transplants. 30 years old, 2 year-history of enlarging mass with alarming mammographic characteristics, solid by ultrasound (bad - not a benign cyst), her doc did not think that cancer was likely in such a young woman. True about the age, but *1. occasional young women get cancer, and the incidence is 100% if YOU are the patient *2. palpable changing mass with worrisome mammographic/ultrasound features MUST be biopsied, young or old, woman or man (men get breast cancer at 1/100 the incidence of women, and generally do worse since tumors eat into chest wall and lymphatics since there isn't much to a man's breast).") --- Dr. Phillips' article:..... "There are three breast biopsy options: 1. traditional surgical biopsies, which attempt to remove all abnormal tissue for pathology examination; 2. fine needle aspiration, in which a very fine needle is inserted into a palpable mass, cells sucked out with a syringe, and a cytology preparation made that resembles a Pap smear; 3. needle core (Tru-cut) biopsy, in which a thicker needle is used to extract several pieces of tissue measuring 1 millimeter (1/25 inch) in diameter and up to 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in length. The core biopsy is usually done under mammographic visualization to obtain tissue from a non-palpable mammographic abnormality such as microcalcifications that are sometimes (NOT always) associated with cancer. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. The traditional surgical biopsy enables the pathologist to examine all of the worrisome tissue, whereas the other two methods only obtain part of the worrisome area. Often, the pathologist can make a diagnosis on a small sample, but there are times when the pathologist cannot make a definitive diagnosis, and prudence dictates getting the traditional surgical biopsy to resolve the uncertainty. Furthermore, if only a small portion of the lesion is sampled, the crucial area can be missed. Advantages of the smaller biopsies include not having to undergo surgery, lower cost, breast less sore afterward (though not a painless procedure). In experienced hands, the small biopsies can be very accurate on suitable patients, and the fine needle aspirations have been standard-of- care in Sweden for 25 years with excellent accuracy. Even in the Swedish experience (the longest in the world), there are patients who must get a surgical biopsy after an inconclusive result on aspiration biopsy. So, how to choose a method..? 1. Fine needle aspiration and mammographically-directed biopsies are relatively new in this country, and many surgeons, pathologists, and radiologists don't have much (or any) experience in these methods. These methods also require good communication between the three specialists, especially during the inevitable learning phase when the procedure is being introduced to the institution or practitioners. At this point, the best bet is to obtain these small biopsies at university hospitals or university-affiliate community hospitals in larger cities. If a small-biopsy program is being started by good pathologists, radiologists, and surgeons, all with common sense and prudence, the rate of missed diagnosis will be very low but more patients will require subsequent surgical biopsy to resolve diagnostic uncertainty than would be re-biopsied by a program with long experience (eg.Karolinska Institute, Sweden, the foremost center for aspiration). It will be several years before the small biopsies are well established in non-academic centers, so if you live in an isolated location, traditional surgical biopsy, for which all surgeons, pathologists, and radiologists have had at least some training and experience, may be the safe choice in most situations. 2. If a lesion is obviously cancer and the goal is to make a tissue diagnosis before proceeding with the definitive mastectomy or lumpectomy with axillary (armpit) lymph node dissection, any of the three methods is likely to work. If someone comes into our center with a stony-hard mass distorting the breast, or with skin changes, we do the aspiration biopsy in most cases. Likewise, if the lesion looks benign on mammogram (little rounded mass), a small biopsy can confirm that the lesion is a benign fibroadenoma and give the patient peace of mind. 3. If the lesion is indeterminate on mammogram and the patient has a history of proliferative breast disease that may be difficult to distinguish from pre-cancer, or has a strong family history, going straight to surgical biopsy is sensible. All the problem tissue can be examined by the pathologist. Making breast diagnoses is not always straight forward, and the pathologist is helped significantly by seeing the whole lesion. Medicine, and particularly the specialties requiring pattern recognition skill i.e., pathology and radiology, is still as much art as science." End of article. Dr. Phillips added: (Irene, this is wordy but covers the points that I want the public to understand. Medical choices in breast care tend to be rather complex because the field is changing and because what may suit one patient will not be appropriate for another. Merry Solstice.) CC-->> Thank you doctor and merry every day to you. A physician who cares and takes the time (for free) to share her knowledge about this very difficult and personal subject is very precious. Thank you - and readers, remember your monthly exam of the breast you want to save. <--cc. ....................... * ........................ Andrei Codrescu was discussing religious theology and the resurrection of Christ on a humorous talk piece on NPR when he criticized the belief that all believers will go to heaven and nonbelievers automatically are destined for hell. "The evaporation of four million (people) who believe in this crap would leave the world a better place," he said. Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition screamed and got his apology from NPR - although his demand that HE, Ralph Reed be given two minutes of air time was refused. Where the hell are the leaders of feminist organizations when bad stuff is said about women on any radio or tv show ????? And whose fault is it that the media won't publish the boring stuff the leadership puts out? Where is Jeanne Clark when we need her? Put Diane Minor back to working with film at which she is a veritable genius. ....................... * ........................ The high court of Canada has held Dow Corning Corp. and its breast implants responsible for the major health problems of Susan Hollis after an implant ruptured in her right breast. Hollis was awarded $95,000. ....................... * ........................ Oh, the wicked never sleep. The Republican religious zealots, Mormons, Christian Coalitionists, etc., are joining to propose a constitutional amendment which would change the First Amendment's freedom of religions and replace it with allowed prayer in schools and tax support of church activities. (Who decides what religion?) Main supporters are, (oh hang your hat high on the bigot lamp post) Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee introduced the bill in the Senate and Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill, chair of the House Judiciary Committee introduced it in the House. (Y'all remember ole Orin and the pubic hair on the coke schtick when he made out that ONLY Anita Hill would have ever heard of such a thing and NEVER mentioned that Clarence Thomas who was a avid porno reader would have certainly read about big dongs. Blush. Whose? Mine?) "Before we adopt a new constitutional amendment on religion, let's try using the one we have," said Oliver S. Thomas, legal counsel for religious liberty for the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. "According to many conservative religious leaders, the problem isn't so much the law as it is noncompliance with the law by some school officials and lower courts," Thomas said. What's this got to do with women? Every one of the fundy religions opposes birth control, abortion, and women's rights. Seeing women only as mothers and wives to take care of the man and *his* children just like the men were supposed to have done back in the Stone Age when most of the bible was written ... except, the men in monastaries without female companionship did a lot of the writing ... so the BIG question is, how much of what they wrote about human relationships were true? ....................... * ........................ Sometimes we wonder if there isn't a better way - one of the side effects of capitalism has invaded Russia: hungry and homeless children begging on the streets and a burgeoning population of street people, something not seen during the commie rule. Of course, the disappearance of good jobs for women and women in government is another side effect. Sometimes we wonder about capitalism as the rich get richer and we get the best Congress that their money can buy. ....................... * ........................ Peter Brighteyes, 34, sought Canada-wide for the brutal murder and abduction of Edmonton, Canada businesswoman Sheila Salter, 42, surrendered to police. Salter was abducted from a parking garage and her body found in an abandoned farmhouse. She died after being stabbed in the neck. ....................... * ........................ Oh, the heartland of Amurika ... an Oglala, South Dakota girls basketball team from Loneman School was examined in the locker room by a referee appointed YMCA (yeah, yMca) volunteer who had to be shown bra straps and tops of underpants after a complaint that there was a boy on their team. The local YMCA director wrote an apology and the girls' male coach who said he didn't give permission (!) for the examination flubbed it off. Hey, Barbs Goodman? Is a simple "oh, gee, I'm sorry" is good enuff? ....................... * ........................ Robin Shahar was offered a job by the attorney general of Georgia who then withdrew the offer after learning she was planning a commitment ceremony with her lesbian partner. A federal appeals court ordered the case back to the lower court saying that stricter standards must be used in such cases - which means the law must be followed not tradition or community prejudices. Shahar who is now a staff attorney for Atlanta said, "I've had tears of joy. I'm thrilled with the outcome." Ms. Shahar claimed the attorney general was trampling her rights of free association, freedom of religion and equal protection. "The intimate relationship between Shahar and her partner who she planned to marry did not involve marriage in a civil, legal sense, but it was inextricably entwined with Shahar's exercise of her religious beliefs," 11th Circuit Judge John C. Godbold wrote. The attorney general claims that she would not be able to strictly enforce the state's anti-sodomy laws. Catt's Claws wonders about a litmus test of the attorney general and ALL his staff officers for marital or otherwise rape, spousal abuse, incest, etc. We're sure they are all angelic southern gentlemen. ....................... * ........................ Here's another reality check for those who think marriage is a protection. No kids or five kids in diapers, it matters not. In a number of states of our great land, husbands are no longer responsible, even for the hospital bills run up for childbirth. Florida now joins Maryland, Alabama, Mississippi and Virginia in striking down the law which declares a husband responsible for paying their wives' housing, food, clothing and medical bills, and a wife responsible for her HUSBAND's debts as well (as the author of Catt's Claws was when her husband deserted is family). The doctrine of spousal care was established by the courts in 1895 when a married woman was unable to own property, enter contracts or obtain credit. It required a husband to pay third parties for food, shelter, clothing and health care provided to his wife, and extended to wives when they had sufficient earning capacity to cover their husband's debts. Since the Florida constitution demands "equality between the sexes, it follows that a husband can no longer be held liable for his wife's" debts, Chief Justice Stephen Grimes wrote for the majority in a 5-2 decision. ....................... * ........................ If you don't think science isn't spending BIG BUCKS trying to eliminate females, you ain't been paying attention. With Medfly gene research they have devised a medfly that should be able to pass its altered genes on and eventually eliminate the pests that cost fruit growers millions of dollars. However, the research produces both male and females so scientists are now working on a gene that will cause the female medflies to die at "birth" or before. Can you just guess how fast such gene technology will spread into the human chain in places like India and China who now kill off millions of girl babies? Or in Amurika macho-land where a man's virility is judged by how many "men" he produces. Bet more money is being spent researching Medflies than on parthenogenesis (women birthing women without male sperm) ... and the amount of money being spent on research for cloning and other methods, that would eliminate ANY need for adult females would probably balance the budget. ....................... * ........................ Black and female, Energy secretary Hazel O'Leary is under fire from the Republicans for her "somewhat" expensive overseas jaunting. If she were white and male, one would expect the cries would be less and if she were white, male, and Republican she probably would be hailed as a role model. ....................... * ........................ The Republicans in the House of Representatives have held true to their word that they would attempt to balance the budget on the backs of women and children, the poor and disabled, and the elderly. The Republican so-called welfare reform bill (which saves enough money for the Republicans to give huge tax breaks to the wealthiest people in the United States) would, among other things, cut food stamp benefits, drastically reduce aid to disabled children, cut the federal school lunch program, and other aids to those unable to help themselves - to the tune of $58 billion over the next seven years - not counting, of course, the rise in illness, crime, etc., that will result from turning away from social responsibility and compassion. President Clinton vetoed it. How many vetoes is that now? Isn't it strange that our "unbiased" news media isn't keeping tabs on the number? Would that destroy the unjust "waffling" tag they gave Billie? ....................... * ........................ Catt's Claws came under some surprisingly ORGANIZED objection to the story we did on the man who raped his 19-day-old daughter with his thumbS in her rectum. First, a LOT of email using about the same terminology said that it wasn't rape. Another group objected to our math, having missed the fact that he confessed to using both thumbS. Yes, our math was wrong - we said diameter which indicated a circle, but the two thumbs together probably made an oval - so that, depending on the size of his hands would indicate an oval of 10" or more for an adult-size man. Now to those who objected to the use of the word rape, and tried desperately to dismiss the matter as a math error, please insert a ten inch ruler sideways and start objecting to the crime, not my lack of math ability. ....................... * ........................ A couple of months ago we wrote about a Caleb Fairley who brutally murdered a woman and her daughter in Limerick, Pa., near Philadelphia, because the woman resembled his "dream" woman in his Dungeon and Dragons fantasy games. Now, it looks like he may get away with the brutal murders even though he confessed and the DNA evidence is a match. All he did was change attorneys and his attorney is pleading him not guilty on the charges of murder, aggravated assault, theft, and abuse (rape?) of a corpse. An insanity plea is possible if defense attempts to suppress the evidence fail. In a deal that caused a great deal of criticism, district attorney Michael D. Marino promised no death penalty in exchange for Fairley revelation of where he had hidden Lisa Marie Manderach's body. Her daughter's body had been found before the deal was made. Marino defended the deal to save Fairley from the death penalty by claiming he did not have enough evidence to hold Fairley. Prosecutors say that the DNA tests on the bloodied fingernails of Ms. Manderach and hair, blood, and fabric samples prove Fairley's guilt. Fairley's family owns the clothing store that Ms. Manderach and her daughter were shopping in and are said to be taking a "great" interest in the case...starting with a new attorney. (Information thanks to Marianne Das) ....................... * ........................ We REALLY wonder about what the so-called defenders of women's rights were when they let that anti "partial birth" abortion to go through Congress without pointing out just what it was all about. According to Dr. William F. Harrison, a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology writing in the Arkansas _Times_ a weekly newspaper, "approximately 1 in 2000 fetuses develop hydrocephalus while in the womb." Usually not discovered until LATE in the second trimester, "it is not unusual for the fetal head to be as large as 50 centimeters (nearly 20 inches) in diameter and may contain ... close to two gallons ... of cerebrospinal fluid." (The average *adult* skull is about 7 to 8" in diameter.) Studies show that most elective abortions occur in the first trimester. Second or third trimester abortions are usually because of birth defects or danger to the mother. Dr. Harrison says the partial birth and the "draining" of the fetus' skull is actually drawing off of this fluid from the brain area of the fetus. The collapsing of the fetal skull is to allow the removal without the brutal rupturing of a woman's uterine passage or necessitating a classic cesarean section that poses its own dangers to a woman and any future pregnancies. The fetus with severe hydrocephalus cannot live and we wish someone would let people like Ralph Reed, Orin Hatch, Pat Robertson, and Pope John Paul II know that they are condemning women to death for no reason - no reason except their damned puny male egos. Approximately 500 women face this procedure each year. Mild to moderate hydrocephalus can be sometimes be treated in utero and the fetus saved, and some very mild cases can be delivered and treated after birth. Those which have advanced or severe hydrocephalus cannot. Without the "partial birth" abortions, their births can easily kill their mothers with no chance of fetal survival. (NOTE: The math used in this article is Dr. Harrison's.) ....................... * ........................ For better or for worse, in spite of a long and distinguished career on stage and film, Butterfly McQueen will always be remembered for her stunning acting in _Gone with the Wind_ and her dwaddling down the Atlanta street playing with picket fences before delivering her immortal line: "Miss Scarlett, I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!" McQueen hated the role which portrayed her (and her foremothers) as dimwitted and lazy. In later years she grew to appreciate it because it gave her a living. Hattie McDowell got the Academy Award that year for her portrayal of Mammy in GWTW but McQueen got immortality in one defining moment. She died recently of terrible burns suffered in a kerosene heater accident. We wonder if she ever realized that many of us grew to see the portrayals of both blacks and whites in _Gone with the Wind_ with a great deal of pain. There were two movies: one the bouncy, white supremacist legend of the Deep South which ignored the facts of what life was like for MOST who lived there, and the second movie that began with that awesome scene in the park where the wounded lay and the movie (as the book did) tore away the fabric of the Confederate legend to show the pain and ugliness of a social system that the rich and the powerful inflicted on the less fortunate for their personal profit and self aggrandizement. Sadly, we cannot change history. Almost every people were enslaved by someone at some time in history. Ugly. Horrible. Beyond description. Thank GAWD we're beyond that ... or are we? How many of us are still enslaved by a past we cannot change, held back from the future by bars and chains of our own making? ....................... * ........................ Hey Jane, can't you control your husband better? Ted Turner, TV mogul donated millions to the Citadel in honor of his three sons who graduated from there. The Citadel is using some $1.5 of Turner's money in the $2.75 mill they have spent to block women from entering their sacred school which is partially supported by the tax dollars of the women they bar. Jane Fonda, surely a feminist(!), is married to Turner. ....................... * ........................ In an effort to crack down on child porno, President Clinton has signed a law that increases penalties for it. All penalties would be doubled if the Internet is used. OK - cover your ears and make sure your seatbelts are fastened before you read on. Here it comes: Isn't it about time the Gay Task Force comes out STRONG against child pornography and child molestation (rape)?. We realize that in the "beginning" of the Gay Task Force (before the word Lesbian was added and the "girls" were expected to make coffee and take notes) there were some on its male dominated board who felt that such things were ... all right. In fact, a couple of those guys were reported chicken queens. But it is now the Gay and LESBIAN Task Force. Granted that most child molestation, etc., is done by heterosexual men, not homosexual. SO WHAT? The perception out here is that GAYS do the molesting, rape, porno, etc. Finally, after almost 25 years of existence, shouldn't a responsible organization come out against such things loud and clear? Until the responsible gay men come out against child molestation LOUD and CLEAR, all gays (and lesbians by inference) will be smeared with the offal of those among them who betray children. ....................... * ........................ Poor Queen Elizabeth. Talk about kids driving a parent nuts. And just what is daddy "charming" doing about all this? From what we've heard, the boyz were just following in daddy's footsteps. ....................... * ........................ 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.<<<<