Women's Issues

[Steph]

interesting.. will have to read some more.

[MaryPage]

Good on your sister, Barbara!  One biggie for our fair sex!

And no, never in this WORLD would they ask a new grandfather if he were going to retire to be a full time grandpapa!  Never!

Double standard still flying high!  Had hoped to see it conquered in my lifetime.  What hubris I had!

[Steph]

Yes, newspeople are very bad offenders in the male -female thing.

[mogamom]

Something to brighten the day!  A woman of courage and grace:  Ms. Yousafzai


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/malala-yousafzai-and-kailash-satyarthi-are-awarded-nobel-peace-prize/ar-BB8vrRT

[Steph]

I am more interested in the man. He has worked for years against child slavery and in India that makes him hugely unpopular

[maryz]

Have you noticed the Viagra commercial that has only a sexy blonde in a slinky sundress, walking barefoot on a beach and beach resort-type area?  No man at all in the commercial, and it doesn't mention the name of the drug until it shows up at the very end.  Sheeeeshhh!!!

[Steph]

Ah the fantasies  of males are with us always.

[mogamom]

I am more interested in the man. He has worked for years against child slavery and in India that makes him hugely unpopular

Absolutely!  I never meant to take anything away from his courage and achievements; just noted that Ms. Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban and courageously continues her work!  Both are exemplary and well-deserving the Peace Prize!

[Steph]

No, I understand,l I just felt that he was getting not the attention that he deserves for all those years of hard work and being isolated.

[MaryPage]

I read the MOST amazing story in the October 13, 2014 issue of THE NEW YORKER.  (The one showing a Mega Super Store to open soon on the cover.)  The writer is Peter Hessler and he is writing a "Letter from Cairo."  The subtitle is:  "A neighborhood garbageman explains modern Egypt."  And oh boy, does he ever!  This is one of the most eye opener, incredible stories (and when I say "story" here, I mean true account) I have ever read.  A bit shocking and surprising, too, but apparently quite real.  It seems to place the change of regime, the deposing of Mubarak, on PIGS!  Yep.  Seems the Copts (Egyptian Christians) raise pigs, since no one else will in an Islamic country.  The tale continues that these pigs ate up just one whole lot of organic waste.  Murbarak's government decided to slaughter them all, in short get rid of them, and so they did, to make the Islamic Party happy.  But the pigs weren't around to eat up the garbage, and Cairo began to stink.  People got mad and started demonstrating, and you KNOW the rest of the story.  Oh, it is a hoot to read THIS letter from Cairo!  Try it and be amazed.  Be very amazed!
But it also gives the poor, which a huge number of Egyptians are, and the uneducated, which a very large percentage are, point of view about women and sex.  Now I have read whole books on the subject of genital mutilation, plus many, many magazine and newspaper articles.  Most mention that this dreadful procedure ruins women's pleasure in the sex act, among other horrors, but this New Yorker article is the very first where I have heard men quoted as saying that is why they want the tradition to continue!  The author is told they do not want women to go without the mutilation, because if they do they will CHASE AFTER OTHER MEN!
I thought that was their real reason! 

[mabel1015j]

I received this from a friend by email yesterday. I have said for some time that we should be celebrating Margaret Sanger and Katherine McCormick days. What other strangers have had more impact on our personal lives? The comments are very interesting. I don 't quite get the guy who insists contraception is bad for women........but it's interesting that some people have that philosophy.

"Someone told me about a Fresh Air show they had heard about the birth control pill. I listened to the pod cast and it was truly a riveting story: “The Great Bluff That Led to a Magical Pill and a Sexual Revolution”:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/07/354103536/the-great-bluff-that-lead-to-a-magical-pill-and-a-sexual-revolution

"One amazing part was the involvement of a women that I had never heard of, but you all probably have. Just in case:
http://med.stanford.edu/diversity/about/mccormick.html
http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/katharine-mccormick-birth-control-history/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/p_mccormick.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_McCormick

[Steph]

Would you believe that I saw a picture yesterday of an old enemy.. Yes, there was Phyllis Shafly.. good heavens, I thought like the wicked witch of the west, she had disappeared in a puff of smoke.

[MaryPage]

I saw her, too, in harshly enameled action in old films shown in the PBS presentation MAKERS.  This week they ran film number four (4) of six (6) in this series, and I took particular pains to watch last night because it was titled WOMEN IN WAR.  What it did was give a history of women serving in all of our wars, and most particularly our latest history.  Fascinating stuff, and every young American woman should have seen it.  Of course, there was old Phyllis Schlafly ranting against the ERA as its passge would mean killing us all off!  She is 90 years old now!

[mabel1015j]

The Makers series has been very good.

[mabel1015j]

I would say, after having read this article, that Phyllis may be losing it, but she's been saying similar idiotic things for decades........

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/phyllis-schlafly-obama-intentionally-bringing-ebola-make-america-more-africa

[Steph]

Phyllis lost it and never found it again, many many years ago. What a silly woman.

[BarbStAubrey]

[maryz]

 

[Steph]

 

[MaryPage]

Love it!

[Steph]

so who got the short straw for Africa.. Try the UN female embassador from the US and she just said on the air that she wasn't fworried and that she had a five year old.. time to worry lady.,

[MaryPage]

She isn't worried about what, and it is time to worry about what?

If you mean Ebola, well, neither am I.  We know how to contain and stop Ebola, and if the citizens of Africa can be educated that they have to give up their treasured traditions of how they caress and bury their dead in the name of the living, a challenge further, it seems to me, than trying to educate them not to cut away the genitals of little girls, and yet, despite huge setbacks progress IS being made and whole nations on that continent have declared female genital mutilation, or FGM (you can Google just those initials!) to be against their laws, well, I feel there is hope for containment in Africa, as well.  Yes, whole countries in Africa have now been declared disease free.  Remember when folks right here in our own country would not, could not, believe there were such things as germs that they could not see?  And that these germs carried diseases and death?  We have had to change our way of looking at things and of doing things, and eventually so will Africans.  We will have no pandemic from Ebola.

My concern, given just a little knowledge from reading up on viruses, is about the mutated viruses coming down the road long after I am dead and gone.  Unless the entire world of nations gets together and consistently puts money on research and education, a future pandemic from a virus form as yet unevolved, but as certain as death and taxes, WILL come to us.

[mogamom]

If we can 'contain and stop ebola' two nurses wouldn't have gotten infected - especially not being able to discover how.  There is a great deal about this disease we still do not understand.  Nigeria was declared 'ebola-free' and interestingly they closed their borders in their (now known to be successful) efforts to contain it.  But illegal aliens are re-introducing diseases we have long controlled, including tuberculosis; and many of these communicable diseases are drug-resistant.


A woman of out-standing courage and intelligence:


http://nypost.com/2014/10/25/former-cbs-reporter-explains-how-the-liberal-media-protects-obama/

[BarbStAubrey]

I think this hysteria folks have decided they need over Ebola is crazy - if we had this much hysteria over women killed each year - not once in a nation's life time but each year - by abusive husbands and boyfriends I could understand being hysterical over two nurses having Ebola - there are EACH YEAR 1,500 women killed by husbands or boyfriends -

So where is the hysteria - where are the governors putting in quarantine abusive husbands - most get off and like it or not when we visit our local battered women's center we learn that most abusive husbands and boyfriends are cops who protect their own and wait outside the so called secret hidden battered women's centers that only the police are told where it is located so they, their brother cops use this information to snatch a wife who is going to visit her attorney or find a job so she can start her life alone.

When I see the kind of Ebola hysteria over 1500 women with governors over-riding the president trying to stop the epidemic of deaths then I will stop looking down my nose at the stupidity of being upset over 2 women in the entire history of this nation having contacted a disease that world wide has only killed less than 7 years of abuse victims in this nation never mind in the world. I've seen this nation go hysterical before but this takes the cake.  

[MaryPage]

I totally agree with you, Barbara.  As for the two nurses in Dallas who became infected, one of the nursing staff appeared on television stating they had not had their faces and necks completely covered.  Presbyterian Hospital has now upgraded their protocols to include this requirement.  Those nurses did their best, and thank god one is now completely disease free; but she, also, said they had lacked training in Ebola.

[BarbStAubrey]

Even the hysteria over AIDS only took place after over 10,000 deaths then the same thing as now - no one then paid attention to real information but instead ran around like chickens with their heads cut off afraid to touch anyone with AIDS - now the hysteria starts with this time only 2 nurses - 1 man dead, 1 man arrived with Ebola and was cured and 1 man still being treated. That is it - that is all - and you cannot turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper or magazine without this hysteria as the headline.

Its time for adults to act like adults and for some to get online and take a science class as the New Yorker magazine points out "Fear of Ebola is Highest Among People Who Did Not Pay Attention During Math and Science Classes."

[MaryPage]

Once upon a time, our forefathers were the foreign aliens who poured into this beautiful country and decimated the native population with measles and smallpox, among other things. 

[Steph]

The UN woman.. She has a five year old and I truly hope she stays far away from the infectious areas. I worry that there is a certain type of person who truly believes that they cannot catch anything.. I think the quarantine is not going to be a good idea, but on the other hand, I think that there is a certain amount of truth in not allowing them to use public transportation for 21 days. It is so very easy to go from feeling fine to having a fever, especially on long distance flights.
We are having a measles epidemic in the US, and it is certainly not immigrants, but people who have decided their child is way too delicate to have any of the childhood shots.. That drives me nuts..

[mogamom]

And then we started carefully screening immigrants, and putting them through a proper process to keep out communicable diseases, felons, etc. to protect the citizenry.  Throwing open the borders to those convicted of rape, drug pushing, gang members, even murder - as well as those with communicable diseases - doesn't seem as though we've learned from the past.

I'm a nurse.  The HIV crisis was a very different case.  Even then we are paying a very high price for protecting the privacy of HIV infected individuals.  And health care workers were unfairly (I believe) set at risk with the policy.

But ebola is different.  While there is no cause for panic, there certainly is good cause for caution and common sense.  Fears were only heightened when people/institutions we trusted were found unreliable; when the president says any hospital in the country can deal with it (they can't), when the CDC says proper protocols are in place (they weren't; and they differ between hospitals), people naturally  wonder what else they are not being told.  For instance, 5% of ebola cases may take up to 45 days to develop symptoms.  Health  care workers are scrambling to make ethical decisions of when/if to withhold treatment in the face of exposing workers to unwarranted danger.

It's easy to 'arm-chair' these decisions; for those not on the front lines, it seems superfluous perhaps.  But people fighting to protect all workers, as well as providing the best treatment options,  don't find it so. NY Bellvue Hospital has now admitted a five year old with symptoms.  And the health care community is more concerned now that flu season is nearly upon us.

And when you find a woman with these credentials who, at great personal cost, is fighting for the truth to be told on any number of issues, I think she's earned the right to be heard: 

http://nypost.com/2014/10/25/former-cbs-reporter-explains-how-the-liberal-media-protects-obama/

[MaryPage]

Yes, and ordinary flu, the kinds we expect, cause thousands upon thousands of deaths right here in the U.S. every single year without fail.  No panic in the streets or on the news broadcasts.

[mogamom]

I think they're concerned about the flu this year because the symptoms are so similar to ebola.  But, at least in NY, there is usually a big push for flu vaccine each year with much publicity about it?

[BarbStAubrey]

I am sorry I still do not understand the stupidity of this fear to curtail any daily activity - there are worse things folks are dying from every day and we do not demand a curtailment to our life - if this is nothing but a political cartoon, yes, cartoon - then look at how much time went by before Reagan even initiated research into AIDS and only spoke, publicly acknowledging the epidemic when 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS and 20,849 had died. The disease had spread to 113 countries, with more than 50,000 cases.

This epidemic there is hysteria after 5 cases in this nation that included 1 death - it is as if this disease is of some special horror - it is a disease --- and the cause of death to those who do not have proper water or health care -

We have many causes of death that come out of the blue - folks killing each other in this nation -  not those sent abroad with the intent to be in battle but on the streets of this nation - what are we doing about that - filling up jails period - nothing to stop the epidemic

We have as I shared earlier women being killed - do you realize that 1500 women a year is over 4 A DAY - all we get is sometimes a story in the news but no Congressional panel to uncover why something has not been done

We have folks with TB not knowing and passing it along in the workplace, buses, subways, gas stations, grocery stores, churches, schools - so that last year there were over 530 deaths from TB with Latinos having a lower percentage than American Indians, Asians who have the highest percentage, Blacks and Pacific Islanders.

Common sense tells us that 1 death and 4 others who were subjected to the disease with 2 cures cannot come close to the number  who die from things we do absolutely nothing about except hope that a few professionals will keep us safe. There is no hysteria, there is no public clamor for quarantine - as compared to this ridiculous concern that someone in our midst may have Ebola that can only be passed by touching their bodily fluid - we do not get this disease by breathing the same air - for heavens sake no one in the family of the man who died is ill.

All we have seen is how easy folks who should know better have been whipped up into a frenzy of fear that is uncalled for and reminds me of the picture book from my childhood of the story of Chicken Little and the sky falling.

[Steph]

Ah, but I think that the Aid crisis was even stronger in fear. I remember living in new England and we were going out to the Cape.. Good friends would not go with us because we were going all the way out to the end and she was convinced that this was a hotbed for gays and she would get aids by being served by them. Hows that for silly, but she was genuinely scared.. I agree that women die each day from all sorts of horrid and unnecessary things, but this time, it seems to boil down to fear of unknown.. It does not help, but most of the nations involved cannot get a handle on it.. Nigeria did a wonderful job, but none of the others have. So fear gets overwhelming when it should not because many people do not understand why those nations cannot control it..

[mogamom]

I found this article.  As I have found usually happens, the information posted on an agency website that becomes a source of negative publicity disappears (at least for awhile, as did the information given to teens on the Planned Parenthood site a bit ago where they were explaining sado-masochism as 'play'), but this is the article with the information found at the CDC site:

http://nypost.com/2014/10/29/cdc-admits-droplets-from-a-sneeze-could-spread-ebola/

www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/infections-spread-by-air-or-droplets.pdf


A follow-up on the Sharyl Attkisson story:

http://nypost.com/2014/10/27/ex-cbs-reporter-government-related-entity-bugged-my-computer/

[Steph]

Tomorrow is one of my few ventures into the strictly female world. A fashion show and luncheon put on by my Womans club.. It is fun in that the food is good, the prizes wonderful and the models are all our members, so fat,thin, young,old, etc works. The political and town fathers who want to  serve as our ushers and love getting dressed up in various getups and a lovely funny afternoon is enjoyed by all.. So sometimes being a older woman is fun.

[MaryPage]

Have fun, Steph!

Megamom (you must have more than the 8 children and 13 grandchildren and soon to be 24 great grandchildren I have!) I think that article is deliberately nit picking to try to make readers doubt the truth telling of the CDC.

Obviously, now just stop and think about it:  the "droplets" from a sneeze constitute BODILY FLUIDS.  And the CDC has ALWAYS told us that bodily fluids are what it takes to transmit Ebola.  Over and over and over again they have told us that.  As for just a person walking around the office or school or your home or a shopping center and sneezing and giving you Ebola, that is BEYOND ridiculous!  Why?  Well, for one thing, Ebola is not like a common cold and is not at all likely to start out with a sneeze.  You have to have a FEVER first.  You develop a fever AND THEN you feel really sick all of a sudden like and you then, and ONLY then, begin to be a danger to others.  You are not going to be just casually at work or out shopping;  you are going to crash, going into a really high temperature and then a lot of other unpleasant stuff.  Ebola is a disease in which you hemorrhage.  Blood comes out of your nose, your ears, your mouth, your anus, your urethra and your penis or vagina.  You must know all of this, being a nurse, so why on earth are you buying into articles such as this that are trying to be ever so clever and use words to place public doubt in our principal institutions furnishing health information and guidance?  It just does not add up.
I think it is important that we all remember that that poor man who flew over here from Africa and died in Dallas DID NOT INFECT one single person on those planes.  DID NOT!  And he did not infect one single member of his family here or of his neighbors or ANYONE until after he entered the hospital and the two nurses got Ebola because they were not sufficiently covered to deal with his BODILY FLUIDS without incurring the infection.  And both of those courageous women are now completely cured!.

[BarbStAubrey]

what a sad life to wake up in the morning and start hunting for articles and news bites to support your most scary nightmares or justify your right to be against anyone in office - and then share that info with others as if truth - sad sad sad...then of course someone in that cycle is not interested in truth they just want salacious opinions to support their anger over things they have no control over.

Just came back from voting and what a joy to wait in a line for nearly an hour while neighbors and grown schoolmates talked back and forth over the heads of some in the crowd but we could all smile because it was so about our town - both republicans and democrats with a few libertarians and the green party yet, all joshing and supporting and being interested in each other and their activities. Makes me aware how few are really deep into calling outrageous those they disagree with - the breeze was cooling us from the hot hot sun and the trees were rustling till we got inside and the AC kept us cool while the line of folks snaked around the stacks in the Library where most of our children spent hours sitting on the floor exploring the books.

[nlhome]

Barb, how nice to think there are places where voting is part of community. Our state is so divided, has been for awhile. In our town, there are still people who do not talk to others, people who do not frequent certain local businesses, because of the divisiveness caused by our governor almost 4 years ago. Voting seems much more subdued these last few years, at least in our town. We seem to have lost much of that camaraderie.

[Steph]

With the exception of one man who knew everything ( just ask him), voting was a pleasure and all of the rest of the people were helpful charming and willing to be of service. I wrote down his name and intend after the election is over to write a letter to the person in charge of voting in our county. He truly should not be working the polls. With those opinions, he needs to be outside where the rest of the people who are anti a lot of things are.

[mogamom]

 :)No offense intended!  But to be informed it IS important to at least consider ALL sides, yes?  And read ALL sides.  I'm not anti anything (well..except anti-lying, cheating, lawlessness, etc...as we all are) - or angry . You don't know me.  I do  read from All sides and then wait and watch.  I found the study referred to about illegals voting, which was well-done and documented; and I reserve judgment.  And there is no doubt that officials cited in the other article advised illegals to vote as well as telling them how, when, where.  Illegals have nothing to fear from officials who recognize their 'right' to vote.  Even when a journalist (in the last election) signed in as Eric Holder the worker would have allowed him to vote: they deterred him from offering his ID, he was not the same ethnicity (obviously), and they still encouraged him to vote.  They weren't trying to 'cheat', they didn't seem particularly partisan; they were just being helpful.  It likely happens. Especially in large cities where there is a high degree of anonymity.

My personal experience with voting is very like yours, Barb.  It is a joy and a pleasure.  A good time to 'catch up' with old friends and neighbors.  But the world is much larger than my small town.  

We aren't naïve, are we?  We aren't single-issue voters politicians think they can manipulate by pulling out the same old rhetoric at each election cycle, are we?  The women I know and admire are free-thinkers.  They aren't afraid to look at all sides of an issue.  And they can discuss issues without fear or anger.  Those are the women I admire and would promote.

Some read one side and somehow always seem surprised when reality doesn't match what they're told.  Usually that reality has been explained by many people from a variety of backgrounds, though their view is often not promoted.  That's all.  Truth isn't what I make it - it is true whatever I think about it, eh?

And no nit-picking was necessary actually, as all these articles are available (though sometimes some effort may be require) as are the ones most pick to read.  Just offering food for thought, nothing else.  Most people seem pretty well-versed on one side so those articles don't seem as important to share.