Recently, George state Representative Terry England told a story that “Life gives us many experiences.” England went on to explain, “I’ve had the experience of delivering calves, dead and alive — delivering pigs, dead and alive. … It breaks our hearts to see those animals not make it.”
Category Archives: For the Women
Life Inside the CCA Owned New Mexico Women’s Prison 10
Here is a very well done report about the women’s prison in New Mexico. This report briefly covers the dog rescue and training program, Heeling Hearts. I am one of the original volunteers who helped coordinate and set up this program. I was unemployed during that time, which was back in 2007, therefore I was able to volunteer quite a bit of time then. My dear friend, Lyn, is still in charge of and running the program, so I get keep up with her about what is going on with the dogs and the women in the program.
The Invisible War | Rape in the Military 20
THE INVISIBLE WAR is a groundbreaking investigative documentary about one of our country’s most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within our US military. Today, a female soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire with the number of assaults in the last decade alone in the hundreds of thousands.
OK personhood protest: If I wanted the government in my womb ... 8
(Updated March 1, 2012 @ 2:30 pm MT)
Oklahoma women yesterday marched on the state capitol to protest a Senate bill that would grant a fetus full 'personhood' at the moment of conception.
The bill sailed through the state Senate a few weeks ago and reportedly is expected to pass in the Republican-controlled House as well. Governor Mary Fallin (R), who has signed other anti-abortion bills, is expected to sign the "Personhood Act" if it gets to her desk.
I really wanted to share this photo as this sign is great! So perfect and expresses the sentiment of so many women over the Personhood bill. Check out the post for more details.
I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar! 81
That is IT! I have HAD it up to my pre-menopausal eyeballs! Ladies, and men who support women and see us as your equals, it is time to get MAD! Or get even MADDER! Time to be vocal, time to stand up for our rights!!! I am going to rant, and I mean rant hard! This may end up being a babble-fest, but damn it, I’ve got to get this off my chest. Or should I say breasts, as I am a woman and freakin’ damn proud of it!
A Hunting: From The Periphery by V.Lyn | The Versatile Blogger Award 17
I would like to share with you a few excerpts from probably the most moving post I have ever read anywhere either on the internet or on paper.
When I was tormenting myself last night with having to choose only fifteen blogs to award the Versatile Blogger Award to, there was a specific post on V Lyn’s site, “Drayton’s Gazette” that I specifically wanted to honor. But for some reason, I just could not find it. I swear I looked at every post of V’s she published over the past two months and it just was not there. So today, I asked if she had removed it. This post is something that is very personal to her, and very traumatic to any young child – or adult woman for that matter. So I thought she may have decided to keep it to herself.
Komen Said No to Planned Parenthood But Yes to Guns | The Walther P-22 Hope Edition For the Cure 18
When a friend sent me this link, I thought it was a joke. I was wrong.
The Susan G. Komen Foundation, which has found itself in the center of a storm over abortion this week after cutting off Planned Parenthood then reversing their decision, may have just stepped into another emotional policy debate: guns.
A Seattle-area company, Discount Gun Sales, is advertising a “Walther P-22 Hope Edition.”
The company says on its website:
More…
Linda, Double Mastectomy, Has a Few Words for the Susan G Koman Foundation 4
Meet Linda. Breast cancer survivor. Double mastectomy. Has lived through to hell and back from breast cancer and has a few words to say. Here Linda will give you the most heroic reponse to The Susan G. Komen Foundation you will ever see. If you have not seen this, please watch.
Mandatory Male Birth Control | What’s Good for the Goose… 9
I remembered an idea I came up with several months ago when I was reading about how Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication. Howell’s amendment was in protest to a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion.
Condoms With Teeth Fight Rape In South Africa 3
"Condom with teeth" by Rape Ax
This post is a subject on a topic which is very delicate – especially to the women who have suffered through this act of violence. This is a topic which must never be hushed nor considered “dirty,” but rather treated as exactly what it is… a real act of violence which occurs daily to thousands of women throughout the world. I know several women who have been through this horrific act, and just the other day, a close friend of several years who is 53 told me she was raped when she was 18, and disclosed the specifics, which was her vehicle breaking down only 50 miles away from home – and the look on her face brought tears to my eyes. Even after all these years, she still suffers. More…
Be the kind of woman… (ladies, this is for YOU!) Reply
Okay, ladies… THIS IS FOR YOU!!!! More…
Women in China, and a school for women on marrying a billionaire Reply
I just finished watching this video uploaded by Al Jazeera regarding a school in China for women which teaches girls the skills to win the heart of wealthy men. This report is not what really bothered me, it was the majority of the responses given. Here are a few examples (and I’m ignoring the trolls):
I hate gold diggers >.<
I like how china is trying to become like the next america
They just simply sell themselves for Money and that will not have a good end i am sure.
Just more evidence that women want money, not happiness or love.. just throw money at them and they’re all yours…… until it runs out.
A fool and his (or her) money will soon part. That $46/hr could be better spent than on a scam like this.
this is sick….
iam sure everyones parents would want their daughters to marry rich people,its completely different dude,the chinese girls are gold diggers!
Everyone is quick to be a critic, but not move to make any changes. Plus the ignorance in these replies is simply overwhelming. Personally, this school is a very smart decision upon the founders only because of the circumstances the women in China face from the day they were born until the day they die.
It is a survival move….
Because of a Confucian tradition, boys have always been valued more than girls. Males carry on the family name, are considered better workers, receive higher wages and are viewed as the parents’ insurance during old age. When parents are restricted to having only one child, they much prefer that it be a baby boy.
The People’s Republic of China is a totalitarian state. The Communist Party is the only political entity allowed to exist within its borders. Because of this fact, much of the information on women’s rights can be classified as secret. Many statistics on kidnapping and the trafficking in girls and women, induced abortions, sterilizations, infanticides and other human rights violations are unknown.
Statistics from China are sketchy at best. They purposely remain cut off from the western world in order to minimize our influence over their people. And those statistics that do make it out of China are most likely skewed to reflect more reform for women than what is actually occurring. I have found various statistics throughout the past 15 years, and they all follow the same trend.
Illiteracy is predominant amongst women. As much as 70% of the illiterate are women during recent years.
Only slightly more than a third of college students are women. Even less go on to graduate school.
On average, women were paid only 70-80 percent of what men received for the same work. Most women employed in industry work in lower skilled and lower paid jobs.
With the one-child-per-couple law, there are still gender-based abortions occurring. Factually, men have a better life in China than women. It is also part of Chinese tradition for the children to care for their parents during their elderly years. Parents will have more security knowing a son is more apt to care for them than a daughter. This may be harsh, but the truth does not change the facts of survival.
So what is a woman to do in China? They are fighting for more equal rights, but they have thousands of years of traditional to battle against. Progress will be slow. In the meantime, each person, each family must survive. With all these cards stacked up against women, then seeking a wealthy husband is a reasonable solution. Parents will gladly pay for their daughters “education” if this helps ensure they will be taken care of by their wealthy son-in-law.
Cannot say that I blame them.
Womens Rights in China may be on the rise, but they still have a long way to go.
And for those fools who posted such ignorant comments… You are (obviously) on the internet. Crawl out from under your rock and start googling and learning. The world is at your fingertips.
I have my own saying, “Ignorance is not bliss when someone elses ignorance interferes with my bliss.”
March in Boston Is Latest in ‘Slutwalk’ Crusade (Video) Reply
Holding signs and chanting “We love sluts!” approximately 2,000 protesters marched Saturday in Boston, as the city officially become the latest to join an international series of protests against sexism and rape, known as “SlutWalks.” (May 7)
Indiana To Cut Planned Parenthood Funding – An update Reply
A follow up to my previous post: Indiana Votes To Cut Planned Parenthood Funding | April 27, 2011
April 29, 2011
Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels said Friday he will sign restrictive abortion legislation and make Indiana the first state to cut off all government funding for Planned Parenthood, a move likely to boost his credentials among social conservatives as he considers whether to run for president.
Daniels said he supported the abortion restrictions from the outset and that the provision added to defund Planned Parenthood did not change his mind. He said women’s health, family planning and other services will remain available.
“The principle involved commands the support of an overwhelming majority of Hoosiers,” Daniels said in a statement announcing his intention to sign the bill when it arrives on his desk in about a week.
But the measure also puts Daniels’ state at risk of losing $4 million a year in federal family planning grants likely to be cut off because of the legislation. Daniels, known as a fiscal hawk, did not address the loss in his statement.
The bill wasn’t part of Daniels’ agenda and he did not publicly advocate for the Planned Parenthood provision, but signing it might help his chances of winning the GOP nomination. Daniels opposes abortion rights, but his call for a Republican “truce” on social issues has drawn the ire of the social conservatives.
State Rep. Linda Lawson, a Democrat from Hammond who opposes the bill, said the legislation wouldn’t win Daniels any friends among independents and women.
“It might be a maneuver, but I don’t know if it’s in his best interest,” Lawson said.
Daniels said he has ordered Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration to ensure Medicaid recipients receive prompt notice of nearby care options.
“Any organization affected by this provision can resume receiving taxpayer dollars immediately by ceasing or separating its operations that perform abortions,” Daniels said.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana had urged Daniels to veto the bill and started a series of statewide rallies against it Friday.
Daniels, 62, has said he will decide on a run for president after the Indiana Legislature adjourns, which is expected Friday. He’s also said he will not have a decision this weekend.
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PERSONAL VIEW: In 1981, when I was but 16 years old, like most girls my age, I became sexually active. However, unlike a few of my friends – I did not want to become pregnant. My parents were “old school” and approaching them would be like walking up face to face to a hungry lion with a slab of meat in my hands. Just was not an option. But Planned Parenthood was. I choose wisely, called the clinic and made my appointment. Shortly thereafter, I walked out with birth control pills in my hand, and never regretted that day.
Because I made this choice, and Planned Parenthood provided me with this option to do so, I went on to college, graduated, and became a productive member of society. Had it not been for this clinic I would have most likely become pregnant, as hormones were raging and I would have not stopped having sex with my boyfriend. Thankfully, I was never put into a position of either having to choose an abortion, or live on welfare as an unwed teenage mother.
Thank you Planned Parenthood.
Cutting off funding will not stop abortion. It will only move it into the back rooms, STD’s will increase, and women will have a harder time finding health care.
Indiana Votes To Cut Planned Parenthood Funding 1
PERSONAL VIEW: In 1981, when I was but 16 years old, like most girls my age, I became sexually active. However, unlike a few of my friends – I did not want to become pregnant. My parents were “old school” and approaching them would be like walking up face to face to a hungry lion with a slab of meat in my hands. Just was not an option. But Planned Parenthood was. I choose wisely, called the clinic and made my appointment. Shortly thereafter, I walked out with birth control pills in my hand, and never regretted that day.
Because I made this choice, and Planned Parenthood provided me with this option to do so, I went on to college, graduated, and became a productive member of society. Had it not been for this clinic I would have most likely become pregnant, as hormones were raging and I would have not stopped having sex with my boyfriend. Thankfully, I was never put into a position of either having to choose an abortion, or live on welfare as an unwed teenage mother.
Thank you Planned Parenthood.
Cutting off funding will not stop abortion. It will only move it into the back rooms, STD’s will increase, and women will have a harder time finding health care.
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Indiana is poised to become the first state to cut off all government funding for the Planned Parenthood organization, providing a significant victory for the anti-abortion movement but presenting a political predicament for the state’s governor, Mitch Daniels, as he considers running for president.
The Indiana House voted 66-32 Wednesday to approve a bill cutting the $3 million in federal money the state distributes to the organization for family planning and health programs.
The measure also ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy unless there is a substantial threat to the woman’s life or health and requires women seeking an abortion be told that life begins at conception and that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges in a nearby hospital. The Senate approved the measure earlier this month.
The action opens a new legislative front in the conservative assault on Planned Parenthood, which has been targeted for its abortion services. Efforts to cut off federal funds in Congress failed this month, but bills are moving in a number of statehouses.
Indiana’s measure is now in Daniels hands, which could force him to make a decision between the state’s fiscal interests and a prime goal of his party’s social conservatives.
If he signs the measure, Indiana risks losing $4 million in federal grants for family planning services. If he vetoes it, Daniels could antagonize ardent social conservatives already wary of his public statements about the importance of focusing on economic issues this year.
But signing it also could provide Daniels with the political cover he needs from those who question his commitment to social conservative causes. He could point to it throughout the presidential campaign as evidence that opposition to abortion rights and other social causes are part of his political makeup.
A Daniels spokeswoman said the governor would not comment until the bill arrives on his desk for action. He’ll have seven calendar days once he receives the bill to take action. He also could allow it to become law without his signature once those seven days pass.
Daniels has said he will decide on a run for president after the Legislature adjourns, which is expected Friday.
Planned Parenthood says abortions account for just 3 percent of the services it provides. Planned Parenthood clinics across the country perform 1 million screenings for cervical cancer, 830,000 breast exams and some 4 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases. Abortion-rights supporters say cutting funding for Planned Parenthood would primarily hurt poor women who often have few choices for health care.
Conservative lawmakers say, however, that any money the organization receives at least indirectly supports abortions.
“If we’re buying the roof over their head or their paper clips, we’re still subsidizing abortion,” said Republican Rep. Matt Ubelhor, who sponsored a bill to ban state grants or contracts to Planned Parenthood of Indiana.
Planned Parenthood officials urged Daniels to veto the bill and said they would go to court to challenge the funding cut-off.
Indiana social agencies say federal law doesn’t allow states to choose which medical providers receive payments from Medicaid, which pays Planned Parenthood of Indiana about $1.3 million a year.
Republicans in Congress and in state legislatures see state action as an effective new tactic against Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. The push has been intensified since last fall’s midterm ballot elected more Republican governors and larger Republican majorities in many statehouses. Other tough restrictions on abortions have already been approved in many conservative states.
Abortion-rights supporters expect they’ll be fighting the de-funding issue in other state legislatures.
“These battles have been going on for decades,” said Elizabeth Nash, who tracks state legislation for the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health research organization that supports abortion rights. “They rise and they fall, but right now they seem to be the worst that we’ve seen.”
In North Carolina, the proposed state budget includes a ban on state contracts with Planned Parenthood for teen pregnancy prevention and family planning. In Texas, the Republican-controlled House stripped more than $60 million from the state budget for family planning services, shifting some of the money to anti-abortion programs and crisis pregnancy centers. Last year, New Jersey’s Republican governor, Chris Christie, cut $7.5 million from the state budget for 58 clinics specializing in women’s reproductive health.
Indiana’s Ubelhor said he campaigned on de-funding Planned Parenthood last year, when he defeated an incumbent Democrat and helped Republicans gain control of the Indiana House. He said state legislatures shouldn’t wait on Congress to act. “I think as a state we should do as much as we possibly can,” he said.
Sue Swayze, a legislative lobbyist for Indiana Right to Life, said she expects more state action.
“I think it will give folks who might otherwise have been reluctant to either face the controversy, period, or to put their state on the line, motivation to know that there is some support in Congress for it,” Swayze said.
Nash said abortion rights supporters will argue that the measures hurt state budgets as well as women’s health.
“Those efforts are not in the interest of public health, they are ideological,” she said.
Although the issue could be politically awkward for Daniels, whose term ends next year, it should be welcome for Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, who is considering a run for governor. Pence, a Republican, led the drive in Congress to block Planned Parenthood funding.
by The Associated Press | April 27, 2011
Keith Olbermann on Jean Schmidt (OH) and Planned Parenthood… ala Olbermann style Reply
“The best part about being Republican? When you need facts, you can just make them up.” Keith proceeds to embarrass Jean Schmidt, 2nd Congressional District of Ohio. Keith, “The Schmidt has hit the fan once more.”
Keith continues to say, “Federal law already prohibits taxpayers money from funding abortions. But to hear the Jean Schmidt’s of this world tell it, Democrats are practically kidnapping pregnant women off the streets, driving them to Planned Parenthood, and aborting fetuses with 1040 forms and food stamps.”
Which is in response to Schmidt’s statement, “For every 33 pregnant women that walk into a Planned Parenthood clinic, 32 receive an abortion.”
Just watch….
After 67 years, lawmakers apologize to rape victim Reply
_ In this Oct. 7, 2010 file photo, Recy Taylor is seen her home in Winter Haven, Fla. The Alabama Legislature has officially apologized to an Taylor, who was raped nearly seven decades ago by a gang of white men as she walked home from church. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)_
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Legislature has officially apologized to an elderly black woman who was raped nearly seven decades ago by a gang of white men as she walked home from church.
The Senate gave final approval Thursday on a voice vote to a resolution that expresses “deepest sympathy and deepest regrets” to Recy Taylor, now 91 and living in Florida. She told The Associated Press last year that she believes the men who attacked her in 1944 are dead but that she still wanted an apology from the state of Alabama.
The House approved the resolution last month. It now goes to Gov. Robert Bentley, who said Thursday he’s not personally familiar with details of the case, but sees no reason why he wouldn’t sign it.
Reached by phone Thursday by the AP, Taylor said she welcomed the Legislature’s action.
“I think that’s nice,” she said. “It’s been a long time. I’m satisfied.”
The resolution by Democratic state Rep. Dexter Grimsley of Newville says the failure to prosecute the men was “morally abhorrent and repugnant.” He has said police bungled the investigation and harassed Taylor, and local leaders recently acknowledged that her attackers escaped prosecution in part because of racism.
The AP does not typically identify victims of sexual assault but is using her name because she has publicly identified herself.
Taylor was 24 when she was confronted by seven men who forced her into their car at knife- and gun- point and drove her to a deserted grove of trees where six of the men raped her in Abbeville in southeastern Alabama. She was then left on the side of the road in an isolated area.
Two all-white, all-male grand juries refused to indict the suspects after the attack. Recy Taylor’s brother, 74-year-old Robert Corbitt, said law enforcement authorities tried to blame the attack on his sister. He said his family was threatened after the attack, his sister’s house was firebombed and his father had to guard the house.
“I’m so glad they (the Legislature) decided to do the right thing,” Corbitt said.
Corbitt said Taylor is in poor health, but he hopes she will come back to Abbeville by Mother’s Day in May. Grimsley said he hopes to present her with a copy of the resolution at that time.
Taylor said officials in Abbeville expressed regret that she was not present earlier this year when her hometown issued an apology in the case.
“Since I wasn’t there, they said they should’ve had somebody on the phone to let me know that they were sorry about the length of time that it’s been,” she said. “I don’t even know what they said. They said they did the wrong thing.”
Taylor has returned to Abbeville frequently since moving to Florida more than 30 years ago and said she expects to visit her brother there next month. She is not sure she will feel differently now that the town has apologized.
“A lot of people have gone on,” she said. “There’s nobody to fear there now.”
There was no opposition to the resolution in the Legislature and no debate in the Senate before Thursday’s vote.
“The family deserves someone to say that was a tragedy and the lady was done wrong,” said Republican Sen. Scott Beason of Gardendale, chairman of the Rules Committee that asked the Senate to approve the resolution.
Democratic Sen. Billy Beasley, whose district includes Abbeville, said Taylor wanted an apology and the Senate wanted to provide one.
“The state of Alabama apologizes for the incident that occurred to Mrs. Taylor many years ago, and we wish God’s speed for her and continued best wishes,” Beasley said.
Grimsley said the apology shows Alabama officials were able to do the right thing on a racial matter.
“I think it’s going to take things like this for the state to move forward” from the racial turmoil of the past, he said.
Grimsley said he pushed the apology through the Legislature for Taylor.
“I just knew I had to do something for her while she’s still here,” he said.
Taylor’s story, along with those of other black women attacked by white men during the civil rights era, is told in “At the Dark End of the Street,” a book by Danielle McGuire, a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. Activists including Rosa Parks took up the causes of Taylor and others, but their efforts were later overshadowed by other civil rights battles.
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BOB JOHNSON,Associated Press
Associated Press writer Errin Haines contributed to this report from Atlanta
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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Women not allowed to vote in Saudi elections – Al Jazeera Reply
Women not allowed to vote in Saudi elections – Al Jazeera
For the Women and Children of the Egyptian Revolution Reply
“I really believe the revolution has changed us. People are acting differently towards each other.” These are the words of Ms Kamel, 50, one of the many women who were out on Tahrir Square, who actively participated in the revolution.
Women were out in force during the popular uprisings that toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but their future in post-revolutionary Egypt is not so certain.
Women’s rights activist Engy Ghozlan says that what happened on International Women’s Day shows that the revolution has not changed any of Egypt’s social problems.
“We were faced by abusive men making fun of our demands, saying that a woman should never run for president,” she said.
Even if many men haven’t yet changed their attitude towards women since the revolution, journalist Shaimaa Abul Kheir believes women’s self worth has increased.
“As a result of taking part in the revolution, Egyptian women now see themselves as equal to men and have the confidence to demand their rights. We’ve proved that we can organise and effect change and the challenge for us and all Egyptians is to make sure extremists don’t take control.”
This video is dedicated to the Women who stood their ground, and to the children by their side who believed….
