Equality, Hell - how about Reparations?!

I found the following statistics on The Feminist Majority Foundation site today

On this planet, right now:

1,500 women die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth every day

A woman's risk of dying in childbirth: 1 in 25 to 40 in developing countries,
1 in 3,000 in developed countries.

Source: 1994 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development


75% of refugees and displaced persons are women and children.

Source: Wistat, 1994 & UNHCR

Out of 1.3 billion people living in absolute poverty, 70% are women.

More than one million babies die each year from malnutrition, neglect and abuse who would not have died if they had not been born girls

Source: Education Working Group, UNICEF

In America today:

One woman is physically abused every eight seconds
One woman is raped every six minutes .

Source: National Center on Women and Family Law, USA, 1988/New York Times, 19 October 1994

Domestic violence is the number one cause of serious injury to women ages 18-49.

At the current rate of progress, it would take 475 years for women to reach equality with men as senior managers.

Source: 1994 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development, United Nations 1995

US Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Women constitute almost 47 percent of this country’s labor force,
There are only six Fortune 500 women CEOs

According to statistics released by the US Census Bureau on September 25, 2001

For every 1 Dollar earned by White men:

White women working full-time earn only 73 cents
African-American women earn only 65 cents
Latina women earn only 53 cents

So on today, Women's Equality Day, I'd like to make a modest proposal. Since our society can't protect us - 1 in 3 women will be victims of sexual abuse in their lives; and won't promote us; and most of all isn't paying us for the work we do, why not cut to the chase. Instead of proclamations and pats on the head and the kind of placating that Bill Maher calls "making women nod", how about one simple concrete solution. I want reparations.

Now, the African-American community has talked about reparations for a while. The problem with paying reparations for slavery is that the people who were enslaved are no longer alive, so even if we all agree that reparations are in order, there's a very real difficulty in figuring out how much to pay and to whom. Not so with Gender Gap Reparations.

I propose a two step plan. First, take all of the Social Security records for every living woman in the United States and get her total lifetime earnings. If she's white, add 27%; Black, 35%, Hispanic, 47% and for those of us who don't fit into any of those categories - Native Americans, Asians, etc - we'll take the Latina rate of 47%.
Take the money out of the bloated, bullshit defense budget, and pay us . I mean send my check right now. I've worked with defense contracts, and believe me, there's more fat than fight in that budget. You could do twice the work for half the money with a bit of common sense and some basic good business practices. Tighten your belts, boys - we've been doing it for years.

Ok, so Step One is done and no one is the poorer for it. Step Two is going to be a little harder. Well, not really harder - just unpopular. Step Two is simply give every woman currently employed a raise in the percentage already discussed for each group. Business is not going to like this idea, so let's put it into perspective:

If the minimum wage had risen at the same level pace as executive pay since 1990, it would be $25.50 an hour, not $5.15.
http://www.raisethefloor.org/press_bostonglobe.html

So you can pay our girls the $6.67, 6.96, and 7.58 (based on $5.15 minimum wage) and yes, for Goddess' sake round up or you can pay us all the 25.50 an hour we'd be making if you corporate raiders weren't skimming off the top. We're willing to be reasonable, and frankly, it's more than you deserve.

So what do you think? Click below right to give me a Shout Out.

Peace.

A Marriage Proposal

I've been thinking about this for a long time, but with the new attention given to Gay Marriage and Civil Unions, it's time to put this idea out there. We need to decide as a culture whether marriage is a religious sacrament or a legal arrangement.

In our current system, it is both. The problem is that the religious side wants to control who is allowed to participate. The State has an obligation to provide equal protection under the law. Those two views simply are not compatible. So, is it a religious institution? If it is, then the government should not be involved at all and there can be no restrictions on marriage except the individual's religious beliefs. If it is a legal arrangement, then again, it has to be provided fairly, so you can't really restrict the form that it takes. Either view dictates that people be allowed to define marriage for themselves within the structure of their beliefs or choices.

Our attitudes toward marriage make very little sense. You can't enter into a binding contract until you are 18, but some states will let you marry legally at 13. Apparently, someone decided it was more difficult to get a rent-to-own dishwasher than it is to choose the person you'll spend the rest of your life with. How the State can approve a match that would under reasonable circumstances be considered child abuse, I don't know. Consider the Mormons.

The Mormon faith is perhaps the largest religion of purely American origin. In its original form, it encourages polygamy. In order not to be driven into the sea, the official church agreed that they would not practice polygamy, and those who do are excommunicated. According to our Constitution, the State did not have the right to impose that restriction. As a result, certain renegade Mormons do practice polygamy, with Utah officials mostly looking the other way.

I respect the Mormons because they take their faith seriously. They study hard, they walk their talk, and they seem to be nice people. I think that we should honor our Constitutional spirit of plurality and let them marry as they please. One problem, though, is that in the current underground of polygamy, girls in their early teens are being forced into plural marriages by their families. Of course, if they had to be 18 to get married, and if polygamous marriages were legal, this wouldn't be a problem. See where I'm going with this?

If marriage is such an important institution, let's reserve it for responsible adults. Among consenting adults, let's have fairness in the Law and therefore equal access to insurance, inheritance, healthcare, parental rights, tax cuts and the other privileges that are currently reserved for "Husband and wife". As an American citizen, I am quite capable of deciding to whom I will or will not commit. It is not the government's role to parent me. My religion of choice has no gender restrictions, or quantity either. If I want to be monogamous, polygamous, polyandrous, or just plain plural, that's my right.

America is about freedom, above all. People are fond of saying "it's not in the Constitution" - usually where privacy rights are concerned. What they forget is that the Constitution, in its wisdom and beauty, specifically reserves to the People all rights and liberty not delineated therein. In other words, if it doesn't say so, it's your right. They didn't have to mention privacy for us to have privacy rights. They simply did not restrict those rights.

To love whom we love is the most basic of rights. It makes us human. It improves our lives and by extension, the society. No one has the right to infringe on this liberty.
It's only fair.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Waxing Paranoiac about G.W. Bush and the California Recall

If you aren't scared, you aren't paying attention.


In a more innocent time - three days ago - I was wondering if W. knows that he's evil. I'm not being flip. I was watching The Final Conflict (Omen III) for the umpteenth time I really wondered - can you be the anti-Christ and not know it? I'm not saying W. is the anti-Christ - I won't give him that much credit. I'm just wondering if evil-doers always perceive themselves as evil. I mean, what if he really believes the lies he's telling? What if he really doesn't understand that he's destroying our democracy, bankrupting our government, and putting us all in the greatest danger we've ever been in. Did Hitler know he was nuts?

Then there was the other day, as I was watching JFK, when I thought it interesting that Texans were involved in the two most devastating events in American history - JFK's assassination and the 2000 election, both of which were nothing short of coups d'etat. After doing a little research, I'm getting worried.

There has been a lot of articles lately comparing the current administration to a fledgeling fascist regime. All of the Orwellian elements are there:

• perpetual war against a vaguely defined enemy;


• constantly shifting priorities;


• loss of civil rights under the guise of protecting us;


• increased surveillance by government agencies;


• blacklisting of reporters, judges and anyone who dares dissent;


• a cowed and perhaps bribed Media that reports only what the administration wants us to know;


• secrecy under the guise of national security;


• ideological zeal on the part of a patristic despot who thinks he's receiving messages from "God" and thinks he's never wrong;


• an opposition party terrified to oppose;


• interference with formerly independent scientific organizations to support the governments twisted ideology;


• misdirection and bold faced lies that make it appear that the government is supporting the troops, educating our children and cleaning our air when in reality veteran's benefits, education and social programs are being severely cut at the same time corporations are given unprecedented freedom to pollute and exploit our environment and our people;


• corruption and graft that includes financial ties to and protection of the government that supported the 9/11 terrorists;


• massive budget manipulations that benefit the rich and leave the poor with little or no safety net;

An unprecedented attempt to allow religious fanatics to dictate policy, influence legislation, and use federal money to further their agenda under the guise of social programs.

• Manipulation of democratic elections;


• Interference with the judicial process;


• Violations of international law and the Geneva Convention.

Did I forget anything? On what started out as a lark, I did a couple of internet searches. One was on Bush and Lyndon Johnson. The other was on Bush and crimes. There are some links at left that you can use to get more information on these topics, but basically here's what seems to be true:

• Prescott Bush, W's grandfather, made a great deal of money doing business with the Nazis.


• "Poppy" Bush, or Bush 1.0, was probably behind the Bay of Pigs invasion and, along with Nixon, Ford and Dulles, involved in the Kennedy assassination.


• GHW Bush still works for the Carlysle group, which has ties to Saudi Arabia.


• W.'s 2 failed businesses were bailed out by Saudi Arabian money.


• W. knew about 9/11 before it happened.


• W. lied about Iraq and WMD


• W. is being sued RIGHT NOW for rape


• W. stole the 2000 election with the help of his brother Jeb and his girlfriend Katherine Harris. The Supreme Court Justices which illegally stopped the re-count was rewarded with impressive jobs for their children


• W. and Co. are behind the recall in California.
  

The California recall is of vital importance. The media is making light of it, but it may be the key to the 2004 election. If a Republican gets control, he'll do the Jeb Bush play: Minority voters will be purged from the rolls long before the election; ballot boxes will disappear; voting machines will mysteriously show Republican candidates when the voters marked Democrats; Minorities will be systematically prevented from voting.

Arnold is a Republican. His father was a Nazi soldier. California has enough electoral votes to throw an election. Draw your own conclusion.

BlackBoxVoting.org

Please sign this letter to Jimmy Carter. All of your campaign efforts will be for nought if the election is rigged in 2004.

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/petition.htm

Morgaine

Witches and the Whitehouse - Go Howard Dean go!

Even if our NOT-President weren't every bit as bad as I thought he'd be, I wouldn't like him. He's smug, he's dumb, and he's dishonest. He's such a phony that you could almost hear the collective groan when he landed on that aircraft carrier. He's running this country like his buddy Kennyboy ran Enron - right into the ground. We've lost 3 million jobs since he took office. We went from the largest budget surplus in history to the largest debt... he has even surpassed Reagan's dismal figures. I could go on, but you get the idea.

My main objection is selfish, though. J.R. Ewing-with-a-lobotomy doesn't consider my religion a religion. Guess he missed that part in the First Amendment where it says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". Of course he's not congress. If he doesn't like what they do these days he just issues an "Executive Order" to go around Congress, around the Constitution. He can't be bothered with procedure. "God" gave him a mission and he'll do it no matter who has to die. He scares me. IF "GOD" TOLD HIM TO KILL OSAMA AND SADDAM*, as he has publically proclaimed, how do I know I'm not next?

I'm throwing my support Howard Dean's way for a few reasons. Now first, let me say that HD may not WANT me in his corner. I don't really know what his religious views are. Like it or not, he's got me and here's why. I like the way he looks at the issues. Civil Unions are not a moral issue to him - his decision to sign Vermont's Civil Unions bill was based on the concept of "equal protection under the law". He's not only Read the Constitution and all-l-l- the Amendments (that's all the way up in #14!) he actually seems to know what it means! In a culture where most of our elected representative think that the Bible is the literal word of "God" (Think hard about that, then try to sleep at night. No wonder I have a sleep disorder!) that's my idea of a miracle.

Many of Howard Dean's positions are like that. Marijuana? He thinks it should go through the same process that any drug does for FDA approval. He believes in balanced budgets, education, and alternative forms of energy. A woman's right to choose is best kept between the woman and her doctor. He believes we should all have health care - he'a a Dr., y'know, and he wants to take care of the least among us. He's got a plan for the environment that actually protects the environment. He isn't owned by any corporations, or oil companies, or even other Democrats. The party leaders are shitting bricks over Dean's success, because he isn't a "Washington Insider" with ties to all the same corporations as the rest of Congress on both sides of the aisle. (Note that a former leader in the Dem.'s was recently outed giving $2000 to Bush's campaign for 2004.)

Dean's success on the internet is a clear result of the best thing about him. He's open to new ideas, and his organization is flexible enough to make the most of new technologies like the internet. That is the one thing that has been lacking most in this country- a sense of embracing technology and using it to make us stronger, safer and more efficient. (Did you know FBI agents only recently got email? No wonder they weren't sharing information efficiently.) Like the Amber alert system, which scored another success this week in short-circuiting the kidnapping of a little girl. Why has it been such a fight to get it in place?

For that matter, why don't we have a national job registry? Why aren't all social service organizations available under one web site? We've had the internet for almost 2 decades and still no coherent approach to Copyrights. Why are the people in rural areas the last to have access to satellite technologies when we need them most? OK, I'm getting ahead of myself. At this point, a lot of us are voting on the ABC plan - Anyone But Cheney/Bush.

I had planned to go Green this time 'round. I still like what they represent. I still think the 2 party system is an aberration that the Founding Fathers never intended to develop. And I hate the fact that both parties take money from the same corporations. A Corporation can't vote, so why should it be allowed to contribute to political campaigns? And why isn't there a limit as to whom you can give contributions? You should only be able to contribute to one candidate, per election, per office. The bottom line, though, is W. has got to go.

I REALLY hope that Howard gets the Democratic nomination. I don't know if i could bring myself to vote for a Democrat that voted for this obscene war. If Kerry or Lieberman gets the ticket, Nader is going to be an awful temptation for me. These guys are old school, big money Republicrats. I just don't know if I can do it. Especially after all they all gathered on the steps of the Capitol shouting "under God" after the 9th District court finally stood up and said that it's UNCONSTITUTIONAL to have spiritual references in public doctrine.

Is it too much to ask for a candidate that will include me in his decisions? That will defend my right to the equal protection intended in our legal system? Can someone stop trying to save my soul long enough to govern?! As I said...

GO, HOWARD, GO!

*Note that he hasn't succeeded. S'pose Jesus is pissed?