Author Topic: Women's Issues (Read 392120 times)

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #1880 on:** June 19, 2015, 02:41:08 PM »

MaryPage all I am seeing is when a catastrophe happens everyone with an agenda throws in their hook - we want to feel there was a way to control circumstances so the catastrophe did not have to happen and 'if only' this or that were done...blah blah blah - then we can get all involved in arguing if their agenda would have been best because the work that it will take to understand these young men and have a clue as to how they can do what they are doing will take time - time that we will be churning with despair and feeling helpless or worse yet, having to focus on the grief of those who witnessed or the families of the victims.

Then by the time we have had all these useless discussions the event is over and it simply becomes another touch-point defined by place and year that we use to describe, like a symbol, some other dis-associated event. We then never have to push for a real study as to what is it that makes this response to society happen - the last I heard, it is a form of suicide but that explanation does not appear to fit this event - so why - and a why without an immediate answer is hard to live with.

Steph · « **Reply #1881 on:** June 20, 2015, 09:16:46 AM »

I do not want or need guns in my life and the NRA is run by idiots. Do they actually believe that our forefathers carried weaponry everywhere.?

MaryPage · « **Reply #1882 on:** June 20, 2015, 09:35:53 AM »

Actually, Steph, the majority of their small membership (as a percentage of our population) is made up of just gullible loud mouths who buy into and spread the propaganda. The actual controlling membership is made up of the gun MANUFACTURERS, and they don't buy into it one speck, nor do they care. It is all a PROFIT MAKING ploy, and the rest of their membership could care less and the public is bedazzled by the NRA's power. The power, of course, is won from the fifty state legislatures and the Congress of these United States; the NRA's "legal expenses" are all made up of wining and dining and lining the pockets of our easily beguiled elected representatives. Now the power of the NRA has become so legendary that said elected politicians are frozen in fear, scared to death to defy the NRA with any sensible gun laws because the NRA has the power to see to it that they are never reelected.

Follow the money. Always, always, always follow the money. That has been true ever since mankind invented money!

Steph · « **Reply #1883 on:** June 21, 2015, 10:37:51 AM »

I remember a politician last name LaPierre in New Hampshire. wonder if it is the same man. If so, he is a total lunatic.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1884 on:** June 21, 2015, 11:25:49 AM »

The same man as who?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_LaPierre

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #1885 on:** June 21, 2015, 11:34:41 AM »

Now I remember him - yes, he was for years the face of the NRA - was he before or after Heston the actor?

Steph · « **Reply #1886 on:** June 22, 2015, 08:36:13 AM »

Wayne LaPierre, the seemingly permanent President of NRA. There used to be a man of that name who ran for President and a variety of other things in New Hampshire back in the 80's.

ginny · « **Reply #1887 on:** June 25, 2015, 01:51:11 PM »

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MaryPage · « **Reply #1888 on:** July 03, 2015, 11:11:36 AM »

So are we back? I'll try to post and find out!

Shis mornings paper is front page concerned about the flooding Annapolis is experiencing and the proposed expense involved in attempting to stem the tides, as it were. Think multimillions into billions. The navy quite alarmed about portents for the academy. They have already spent hundreds of millions repairing damage to classrooms, etc. Our generation is retired and dying off, so it is not and will not be our problem, but those in charge now have a real dilemma: to build dikes and install heavy machinery and keep things the way they are now at huge expense, or to abandon our shores to the waters and let nature move us inland and up. The human race is perched on the cusp of a problem with almost infinite possibilities. The domino effect will become more and more apparent, especially as we have to deal with the masses of peoples dispossessed of their homes worldwide and seeking refuge elsewhere. We are already reading about this every day in our newspapers, but the problem and the numbers will only burgeon as time goes by. Will be massively injurious to the economy, as well. My mind boggles at the enormity of the combination of the myriad difficulties to be resolved.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #1889 on:** July 03, 2015, 12:11:15 PM »

Yes MaryPage, as long as there was a buck to be made no amount of words to keep this from happening were heard. I have been reading that all this 'me' attitude is the beginnings of what continues unabated to full blown narcissism - read the tell tale signs for the narcissistic personality and it tells the story of our media and our politics - the idea of community is no longer - To think we went into WWII almost as a holy war to save Europe with young men who believed in the 'can do' principle not only for themselves but they mostly saw themselves as belonging to a 'can do' group and army with integrity running the show -

Oh there were some who made out like bandits but for the most part it was not a war about defending the economic future of a few as recent wars or to alter the balance of power in a region for our benefit.

IT is those reckless few who use their wealth to alter the balance of power in all their affairs - not for the good of even their employees but for themselves. That is an ear mark of narcissism along with lying and if they can't have your admiration, they will accept your rage so there is no way open towards equality. As long as we allow corporations and money to run the show - you can even see it in couples when those difficult years come along - often the winner is the one making the most money - money has replaced integrity, justice and cooperation.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1890 on:** July 03, 2015, 01:29:45 PM »

One thing very sad, Barbara, is to think back when I was young. My story of how life flowed along is practically carbon paper identical to millions of other young Americans of the time. Born in 1929, married in 1948, the war just over and the boys who lived through it coming back in droves as men, small rental apartment to begin setting up housekeeping, graduating to a real house with a yard in 1953, bought with the GI Bill, everyone living from paycheck to paycheck and adding on babies in a stream. Bought our first cars, bought our first TVs, bought our first stereos. Felt poor, but were going to be rich after the next few payraises. Loads of friends in our own neighborhoods and elsewhere. Peace reigning from day to day and week to week. HOPE like a day full of sunshine beaming down upon us all.

There is one big question I have for those who say there is no global warming problem, no fierce and threatening climate change, no lack of safe water, no air pollution, no dying seas unable to feed us. It is this: if these things are not a problem, why are we having to spend billions on the problem? Huh? Why are people losing whole communities of homes to ever increasing numbers of wildfires, tornadoes, derechos, and floods? Why, here in Maryland, are the watermen and fishermen going broke and giving up their traditional, generational livelihoods for other ways of earning a living? When I was young, our Chesapeake Bay was a gold mine of oysters, crabs, clams, striped bass, and an almost infinite number of other goodies. Now the bay is 70% dead. That means the lack of oxygen kills off all life forms in Seventy Per Cent of our waters. If you go down to the edges of our bay, rivers, creeks and brooks, you no longer see schools of minnows darting around. No fiddler crabs. No life to marvel at. Remember minnows? The children in my part of this nation no longer have any familiarity with them! When I was still young, Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring. She was RIGHT!

And the young marrieds of today will never have it as good as we did!

Steph · « **Reply #1891 on:** July 04, 2015, 08:44:17 AM »

Climate change has to be addressed, but people hate looking at a problem, they cannot solve easily. The Chesapeake Bay is a good example. I grew up on the Eastern Shore in Delaware an the Bay was our playtoy, our sailing heaven, to crab.. to fish, to simply get on the boats and laze around.. Now it is going.. I can remember St. Michaels when the boats would come in, sitting in one of the open air shellfish places.. All of the fish buyers lined up.. cash on delivery and in came oysters, crabs, claims.. fresh and wonderful.. Watching our dinners appear.. Now gone.. Such a shame.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #1892 on:** July 04, 2015, 07:19:59 PM »

A Mighty Girl

In celebration of Independence Day, we remember a little known hero of the American Revolutionary War, 16-year-old Sybil Ludington. At approximately 9 pm on April 26, 1777, Sybil, the eldest daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington, climbed onto her horse and proceeded to ride 40 miles in order to muster local militia troops in response to a British attack on the town of Danbury, Connecticut -- covering twice the distance that Paul Revere rode during his famous midnight ride.

Riding all night through rain, Sybil returned home at dawn having given nearly the whole regiment of 400 Colonial troops the order to assemble. While the regiment could not save Danbury from being burned, they joined forces with the Continental Army following the subsequent Battle of Ridgefield and were able to stop the British advance and force their return to their boats.

Following the battle, General George Washington personally thanked Sybil for her service and bravery. Although every American school child knows the story of Paul Revere, unfortunately few are taught about Sybil Ludington's courageous feat and her contribution to war effort.

To introduce your children to this inspiring and underrecognized hero of the Revolutionary War, we recommend "Sybil’s Night Ride," a picture book for children 4 to 8 (http://www.amightygirl.com/sybil-s-night-ride) and "Sybil Ludington’s Midnight Ride," an early chapter book for readers 6 to 9 (http://www.amightygirl.com/sybil-ludington-s-midnight-ride). An illustration from the latter by Ellen Beier is pictured here.

For an excellent book that explores women's contribution to the American Revolution, check out "Founding Mothers" for ages 7 to 12 at http://www.amightygirl.com/founding-mothers

This book is also available in a version for adult readers, "Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation," at http://amzn.to/1rNGymK

In our blog post "'Remember the Ladies' -- A Mighty Girl Celebrates the Fourth of July,” we also highlight numerous excellent books -- both fiction and non-fiction -- about girls and women of the Revolutionary Period: http://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=3819

For over 500 stories for children and teens about trailblazing girls and women through history, visit our "Role Models" biography section at http://www.amightygirl.com/books/history-biography/biography

Steph · « **Reply #1893 on:** July 05, 2015, 10:52:24 AM »

Ah, but Sybil did not have a poem that was catchy written for her.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1894 on:** July 05, 2015, 11:49:05 AM »

Well, and she was just a girl. How embarrassing!

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1895 on:** July 05, 2015, 12:17:05 PM »

Good list Barbara! Thanks for that.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1896 on:** July 05, 2015, 12:23:40 PM »

I just ordered the one picture book about Sybil to be sent to my great grandson Willem. And I had Barnes & Noble send the chapter book about Sybil to my great grandson Ezra! Hooray, and Thank You, Barbara!

Steph · « **Reply #1897 on:** July 06, 2015, 08:47:03 AM »

Having spent 10 years in and around Boston, they celebrate all three riders, not just Paul Revere. You want to have fun, go to Lexington, the night of the ride. It is recreated each year along wth the running battle by reenactors. Everyone up so early, you would not believe. A wonderful morning.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1898 on:** July 06, 2015, 09:23:04 AM »

I watched the game, yelling GO U.S.A.! all the way. Such fun! Such excitement! Such excellent soccer. You could tell all the way through that their training and practice made them know just EXACTLY what they were doing and how to anticipate and be where they needed to be at the right time. Nothing at all hap hazard about THEIR game; either our women or the Japanese. Members of my family kept phoning in a state of great enjoyment.

jane · « **Reply #1899 on:** July 06, 2015, 12:10:41 PM »

My husband and I loved the game, too. What athletes those women are. I can't believe how much energy and stamina it'd take to play that long with no breaks. It makes pro football players look like wimps!!

MaryPage · « **Reply #1900 on:** July 06, 2015, 03:03:36 PM »

The U.S. Women's soccer team made history last night after winning the World Cup for the third time. Their prize? TWO MILLION DOLLARS!

Not bad, until you learn that the U.S. Men's team earned EIGHT MILLION, and that was for losing in the first round.

Why? Because according to FIFA's leadership, equal pay for women is "nonsense."

jane · « **Reply #1901 on:** July 06, 2015, 05:58:58 PM »

FIFA administration is so corrupt, apparently, it's truly a crime!

Steph · « **Reply #1902 on:** July 07, 2015, 10:27:42 AM »

We are late to the table of FIFA, so those European and South Americann Men make it clear they are in charge and totally corrupt and no one can or will stop them. Ugh

MaryPage · « **Reply #1903 on:** July 19, 2015, 08:11:51 AM »

Steph, if you don't subscribe to Vanity Fair, you will want to grab yourself a copy of the August issue. There is an article about the royal corgis you will love.

FlaJean · « **Reply #1904 on:** July 21, 2015, 09:29:07 AM »

Steph · « **Reply #1905 on:** July 22, 2015, 09:53:39 AM »

I got Vanity Fair on my IPAD.What a really good article.. Very honest and true..

MaryPage · « **Reply #1906 on:** July 22, 2015, 02:43:12 PM »

I have never owned or spent any time with a corgi, but enjoyed the article so much that I felt certain you would love it and get your money's worth from it.

Steph · « **Reply #1907 on:** July 23, 2015, 08:39:28 AM »

Actually I read the article on Paul Newmans children yesterday.. What a mess.. I am sorry, but his partner strikes me as sleezy.. The girls and Joanne must be fit to be tied.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1908 on:** August 04, 2015, 09:11:01 AM »

The attacks on Planned Parenthood and the humongous lies being repeated and repeated at the top of the lungs of the male power network running this country are making me seriously ill. Seriously sick to my stomach.
I listened to Joe Scarborough this morning ranting on and on with all of his lung power and drowning out anyone who tried to intervene with the facts. He painted Planned Parenthood as a huge factory providing abortions abundantly, all paid for by taxpayer dollars, and taking away the dignity of human beings by being licensed to freely murder them.
Scheesch!
Joe claims PP should be closed down immediately, and when it is pointed out that they are this country's largest provider of BIRTH CONTROL, and that that cuts way down on abortions, he says there are other clinics that can supply those women.
Others in the towns, cities, counties, and states of those women? All three million and more of them per year now being served by PP? THREE MILLION?
NINETY-SEVEN PER CENT (97%) of Planned Parenthood's services have nothing to do with abortion. And they keep separate records of the three per cent of their work that does involve abortions and make absolutely certain only private funding which has stipulated it may be used for that purpose is involved in providing these services. Not a penny of taxpayer money goes to abortions. Not one red cent. And every year PP saves lives of women through early detection of cancer. Planned Parenthood is all about WOMEN; all about their reproductive systems and keeping them healthy and ALIVE.
In some cases, none of which are anyone else's business and should not be forced to go through the scrutiny of public judgment, abortion is the only answer to saving a woman's very life and providing her children with the loving care of their mother. THE ONLY ANSWER. And MEN want to shut down this last recourse for desperate women. I would remind them that abortion is LEGAL in this nation, as it is in much of the civilized world, but they won't lower their voices and open their ears to THAT important bit of information. Oh no, it is their way or the highway. Or I should perhaps say the DIEWAY, for those women whose fetuses are attacking their bodies and going to perish themselves when they accomplish the killing of their mothers. Like that desperate young mother in Ireland who literally SCREAMED at her doctors to save her and return her to her family, but the State refused and this beautiful young woman died from the poisons circulating in her body, all the while understanding exactly what was killing her. An abortion would have saved her. But these men do not want to hear the facts. They want to remain curled up in the blankets of their vast ignorance of what the problems and possibilities really are in everyday real life when you are born a female.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Savita_Halappanavar

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1909 on:** August 04, 2015, 06:52:01 PM »

Thank goodness the majority of the Senate put an end to this nonsense - for the moment.

Yes, birth control lessens the liklihood of unwanted pregnancies!!! Pure fact!

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1910 on:** August 04, 2015, 06:57:11 PM »

On the plus side - Netflix just announced they will give unlimited PAID leave to any mother or father for the first year after the birth or adoption of a child! WOW!

Steph · « **Reply #1911 on:** August 05, 2015, 08:54:00 AM »

yes Netflix impressed me with the announcement.
I am so puzzled as to why people don't read up on the good things that Planned Parenthood does. I have a few catholic friends, who are absolutely terrifying as to the hate displayed by them. But of course they don't want birth control for all of the people.. Just themselves. I am trying to remember the number of my catholic friends, who have more than to children.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1912 on:** August 05, 2015, 10:34:18 AM »

Speaking of that, Rachel Maddow showed a film clip last night of Chris Christie explaining to a group at what seems to be a diner of some sort that he considers himself a "GOOD' Roman Catholic and follower of the Pope, but he practices birth control. He goes on to say: "And not the Rhythm Method, either!" The expression on one of the male diners face is a hoot. I think Christie was making a stab at proving he is his own man, but it was downright embarrassing, and I wasn't even THERE!

FlaJean · « **Reply #1913 on:** August 05, 2015, 11:56:10 AM »

I saw that, MaryPage. The poor fella covered his face in embarrassment. I wonder what Christie's wife thought about that personal revelation?

MaryPage · « **Reply #1914 on:** August 05, 2015, 12:17:38 PM »

Exactly! After all, it takes TWO, in this case, to be a good Catholic couple! She must have been totally mortified at such a public revelation!

Of course, we don't know what we're talking about here, and it may very well be the case that she had given her permission for this. But I doubt it, and I expect you do, as well. It sounded to me like a typical Christie blurting out something without a careful thought to the consequences. Sort of a damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. Which I want, perhaps, in an admiral of the fleet in wartime, but not from a President of these United States!

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #1915 on:** August 05, 2015, 01:01:33 PM »

I saw some stats over a year ago that said among US Catholics - those who regularly attend Mass - 95% use birth control and do not confess it as a sin.

We all forget there was the Pope's commission on Birth Control that came out in favor of using birth control - the commission had 76 attending for over 2 years - among those appointed were 4 lay couples the remaining members were clergy and cardinals - there were 6 Cardinals, all members of the Curia who used their influence to squash the report that used to be available on Amazon however, Turning Point: The Inside Story of the Papal Birth Control Commission and How Humanae Vitae Changed the Life of Patty Crowley and the Future of the Church written by one of the couples in attendance is still available on Amazon.

The final nail in the coffin was when Pope Paul VI who took over Vatican II after Pope John XXIII died would not allow the discussion to take place during Vatican II along with the discussion that would re-consider marriage for the clergy nor the discussion about revamping the Curia for the twentieth century.

It was after the issue of Birth Control that most of the clergy especially in the South American countries were looking forward to was iced that we had a mass exodus of priests and the recruits for new priests became a trickle that has never recovered.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1916 on:** August 05, 2015, 02:02:20 PM »

Not to mention that the dear sisters have left the church in droves. Well, it sounds as though I am inferring they took off to other places with their suitcases in hand, and that is not the way it was, for the most part. They have died off and/or retired to their mother houses. But the new vocations are not coming back to the parishes and schools. They are staying in their mother houses and doing work for the poor and homeless on their own initiative. One of my daughters teaches French in our local catholic High School. It was over a year ago that she hosted a dinner for the very last nun to leave that school for retirement. No more are coming! It is all lay teachers now, and it makes me so sad. I attended a catholic girls boarding school for two years, and I loved the nuns so very much. So sad that apparently future generations will not have that experience!

My landlord is a dear retired priest, 11 years my junior. We have built the sort of friendship where I can say just about anything, and I give him a bad time about women and the church. He just laughs and is ever so kind to me. He was born in the Ukraine, and his father was a priest. A MARRIED priest. His parents had 5 children, and when they emigrated out of the Ukraine when Father was a boy, the church here allowed the father to remain an active priest. That was in Pennsylvania. It seems there was a deal way back when the church divided into Roman and Eastern Orthodox: the Ukraine could keep their married priests if they stayed with Rome! Who knew! Certainly none of us pure little Catholic Convent girls were told that in Religion classes! My landlord, of course, has never married and never will. But bless his heart, he is such a darling person. He lives upstairs from me.

Speaking of being a pure little Catholic Convent girl, I was married in 1948. By the early winter of 1949 I had been asked to join a "Sewing Circle." Remember those? A bunch of delightful women, all of whom lived in my garden apartment complex in Silver Spring, Maryland. I knew them quite well by the time this occurred. We would take our sewing or, in my case, piles of mending and our sewing baskets and gather in one member's living room and work away while chatting up a storm. Husbands, of course, were babysitting in the cases of those with children. I had none as yet. Well, this particular vivid memory is of just one night. The conversation had gotten around to birth control, with the young woman sitting next to me telling a hilarious story about leaving her diaphragm on the bathroom sink and her mother in law paid a visit. Jean had forgotten it was there, and was mortified when her mother in law asked what on earth it was! We all howled, of course, but I can remember this occasion so well because little old sheltered and sincerely ignorant me truly believed no Catholic would dream of using birth control. And I knew Jean to BE a practising Catholic. So when the opportunity arose, I leaned over and whispered in her ear: "Jean, how CAN you use birth control?" And it was her reply that stunned me and I remember clearly to this very day: Oh, MaryPage, she said: I wouldn't DREAM of telling the priest!" Wow! Well, life has been one long learning process for me ever since!

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #1917 on:** August 05, 2015, 02:31:32 PM »

MaryPage the exodus of nuns had more to do with what did happen in Vatican II - my sister who was leading the changes required for her Dominican band was one of those who left with suitcase in hand - all the nuns had to re-write their commission and no longer where they to be financially supported by the diocesan. That was when their salary for teaching that had been $1 a year became a real salary although about a half to a third less than the typical teacher salary for the area.

On top of there were not enough younger nuns entering the convent so those who were working as usually teachers or nurses were going to be supporting the older nuns who had no social security since they never worked for a pay check that contributed to SS. Most realized they had to make a decent income to support themselves when they aged and they also realized there was a lot of infighting because of the changes with the older nuns railing over these changes and the loss of community as nuns started in small groups to live in apartments separate from the main convent as most parishes given the new rulings sold off the buildings that housed the nuns.

What was most difficult some of the commissions went back a 1,000 years and for instance the Dominicans had their own 'right' that allowed them their own version of the Mass and their own collection of music not under the Gregorian approved collection - they lost all of that so the community was no longer the community of prayer life they had participated in for their lifetime of service. It was a hard adjustment and all seemed to be based on an economic and male dominated outlook from Rome.

The nuns will never regain what they had but this Pope at least has lifted the yoke that was put on them by the Curia - and the Bank in Rome finally being exposed for what it was probably has something to do with it.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #1918 on:** August 05, 2015, 08:54:42 PM »

Good grief - was scrolling for how to confront a condo whose lights are keeping me from using my front rooms and this came up - oh oh oh - So this is how it is done - how to appeal to the inner feeling of victimization in order to propel people without using any of their judgment, compassion, understanding, sorting of the necessary health of the mother - using only a bottomless emotional tornado to stop without thinking - using only the reptilian brain to act on what some see as only one issue - oh my oh my - so this is what we are up against.

http://timetowinabattle.blogspot.com/

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1919 on:** August 05, 2015, 10:52:31 PM »

Yes, and they aren't going to stop.

Enjoying your stories.

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Author Topic: Women's Issues (Read 392120 times)