Author Topic: Women's Issues (Read 391662 times)

Steph · « **Reply #2440 on:** February 18, 2016, 09:06:03 AM »

Truth is I cannot figure out a single politician who is telling the absolute truth this year.. I like old Bernie, but there is no way we can afford all of his programs and no way he could ever get congress to go along.. I know it wont happen, but you know.. that the best answer would be no more career politicians,, but nothing like Trump either.

mogamom · « **Reply #2441 on:** February 18, 2016, 11:20:28 AM »

I saw a fact check on Bernie also - his claim that we all work harder for less money. It was shown that he was taking numbers from two different studies (the explanation of the claim came from the Sanders campaign headquarters) and so he was comparing apples to oranges. But listening to the debate,s and the Town Hall meeting last night - I hear two different explanations for Rubio's move on immigration and Cruz did misrepresent Trump's view on Planned Parenthood.

It's an important year to look at all their websites and hear all their points/counterpoints: a year for great discernment, not that that isn't important in every election - but especially so this year it seems. I did like the format of the Town Hall meeting better than the debates, though. It really gave each person the chance to explain more fully their thinking rather than just respond in sound bites and defenses from other candidates. For instance, it was the first opportunity I really got to hear Ben Carson's ideas more fleshed out. I wish the Democrats would hold one also.

Didn't the moderators of past national debates instruct the audience to save their verbal/applause comments until the summaries? I don't ever remember the kind of interruptive noise-making from the audience as there has been in the last couple of debates. The Town Hall was better that way also - much less disruptive.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2442 on:** February 18, 2016, 11:56:11 AM »

I asked myself the question what if I HAD to vote for a Republican or suffer dire consequences, which one of the entire original line up would I cast that vote for, and I wound up choosing John Kasich. And he is still hanging in there!

I can visualize Kasich meeting with the heads of foreign governments and impressing them favorably. I admire his command of language and the way he answers questions in debates and interviews with articulate views and no inane sound bites.

You have probably already heard about this, but I am throwing it in in the event that you managed to miss it. I think it is hilarious, and hope she pushes it through!

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2016/02/17/kentucky-viagra-bill

Steph · « **Reply #2443 on:** February 19, 2016, 08:33:53 AM »

The Viagra is silly and not real I hope.. it is as intrusive as anything I have seen.
I like Townhall meetings as well..
Trump is why the noise.. His supporters seem convinced that the louder they yell, the more people will join in and they are also quite vicious to those around them that are not Trump Supporters..

MaryPage · « **Reply #2444 on:** February 21, 2016, 07:11:38 PM »

Of course, this Kentucky legislators bill is a huge JOKE, but the point of it is to show the male state legislators how personally intrusive the bills they introduce regarding women's reproductive systems are.

Steph · « **Reply #2445 on:** February 22, 2016, 08:53:35 AM »

I am getting wary of the people who look at Marco Rubio as an alternative.. This man is really one way. He wants to ban all abortions, no matter what, even where the mothers life is in danger.. According to him, his religion has decided that.. boo.. You have to reach back in the republican side to John Kasich, who sounds a bit more reasonable.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2446 on:** March 08, 2016, 09:04:57 AM »

I watched the Academy Award winning short documentary last night on HBO: "A Girl In The River: The Price of Forgiveness." Astonishing to me, looking back, how many journalists and newscasters got it wrong in describing it. Obviously, they had either not actually seen it, or had not given it their full attention. It was said and written that it is about religion. It is most definitely NOT about religion! On the contrary, it is said right in the documentary that the tradition has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with male domination.
It is very real and very powerful. And very discouraging. I do not see how the mind set of the men in that part of this world of ours will ever be changed to see females as human beings and the equals of males. Women are disposable items that men own, and therefore have a right to murder and throw away. It is cultural, and runs deep. Nothing whatsoever to do with Islam.

But then I remind myself that women did not get the vote here in the U.S. until 1920. And we still have not been declared equal in the constitution. We were 2 states short of passing the ERA. Maybe one day our granddaughters or great granddaughters can rejoice in being declared equal under our laws. In the meantime, I should not feel so gratefully superior to the women of the Middle East and Central Asia. I strongly recommend you try to catch that short documentary. If you have HBO, you can watch for it there or find it on On Demand.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2447 on:** March 08, 2016, 12:43:07 PM »

It all stems from ethnic and tribal purity - the only way to assure tribal purity is to control women's sex lives - they are the gender who bear the children - this is ingrained in their economics - tribes are related families that some are small with only several thousand and others are in the millions - the tribes are the owners and investors of the land and the profitable commerce from the land and its minerals, including today Real Estate and industry - even what we would consider public parks are tribal owned with police being able to detect if anyone is attempting to use the park not from that tribe or is of mixed marriage and they are removed, forcefully if necessary. Goes back to the culture of tribal owned water and a tribal oasis.

Those families who are pure to the tribe annually profit from the tribal investments just as folks in the stock market received an annual check - if a daughter marries outside the tribe or has a child outside the tribe the entire family no longer receives their annual dividend check so that the men, fathers, brothers, even uncles will make sure their family, their women do whatever is the traditional way to keep the next generation within the tribe.

Without running to my library to get the books and authors there were about 5 books I read about this 2 or so years ago. The headscarves worn by the men designates their tribe and as the one book explained, today, the amount of pride shown as young men adjust their headscarves in the mirrors lining the various new buildings in Abu Dhabi was the tip off as to how this is the pride of tribal culture throughout the Middle East - Reading at the time it reminded me of all the mystic tied up in the hat culture among cowboys and ranchers, another group who maintain a traditional viewpoint for men and women however, their economic welfare is not tied to the behavior of women.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2448 on:** March 08, 2016, 01:39:54 PM »

But Barbara, this particular documentary of a true story is set in Pakistan. These peoples came from India originally, and they do not wear the headgear or conform to the same tribal traditions that the Arabs do. This is more the cultural mind set of the entire Indian subcontinent for thousands upon thousands of years regarding the value of women. They have no value. Zero. Nada. If their dowry money runs out, burn them. If their husband dies, burn them. If they are raped or dare to turn down the husband their father or brother chooses for them, kill them.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2449 on:** March 08, 2016, 02:01:00 PM »

Had not seen the documentary - I was sharing my understanding that goes to the root of how difficult the traditions will be to eliminate among those in the Middle East - as to India, from what I understand without having seen the documentary, yes this is basic to the culture but do not know where its start came from - their older religions do have goddesses but then so did Greek and Roman culture - some of the most horrific treatment of women seems to be in many of the African nations - and certainly Chinese women have to thank Mao and the communist revolution for their elevated position today however, over the past 20 years I have worked with so many from Asia, especially from Indonesia and they are still sharing jokes among themselves that deride woman and were popular here in the states, back in the 50s. Yep, I agree the average woman has a long way to go...

MaryPage · « **Reply #2450 on:** March 08, 2016, 04:28:52 PM »

The hugely disconcerting and discouraging thing, insofar as expecting things will improve for women in that part of the world, is that the Whole Dang Society is set up for this very thing. The law is that Even If the man or men confess to the killing(s), they are acquitted if the girl or woman "forgives" them. In the case in this documentary, the uncle and the father confess to shooting the girl in the head and putting her in a bag and throwing her in the river. And she swears she will never forgive them. But then, her new family harass her and harass her and harass her into agreeing to go to court and swear forgiveness, because they live in the same city and all of their neighbors will shun and disrespect them if the girl allows her father and uncle to be found guilty and spend time in jail! And the girl knows the men may well attempt to kill her again, if they are acquitted and free. But she cannot live with everyone haranguing her, so she gives in. And when the judge asks her in court if she forgives her father and uncle, she just says Yes, and that is that. Her own family feels they have kept the respect of their neighbors (even her mother felt the girl had dishonored the family!) and her new family feels the same. Only a few police and lawyers, who seem to have educations away from Pakistan, are appalled by this. The government of Pakistan accepts it as the way their society thinks about the status of women!

MaryPage · « **Reply #2451 on:** March 09, 2016, 07:32:32 AM »

You are probably wondering what the girl did that so dishonored her family? Well, she and her boyfriend went to the local courthouse and got married, because her father felt the boyfriend was of poorer, lower status and wanted to marry her off to an older man. She dishonored the family by marrying against her father's wishes and not marrying her father's choice for her, so her murder was justified and deserved and the two men got off scot free! All Pakistan knows one's daughters are one's property, and they have no choices of their own. To act as though they DO have choices is to dishonor and disrespect one's own family!

Such perverted thinking may well never see the light of change! And they may kill this girl yet, to regain the total respect of their community. Just as Malala has been told by the men who shot her on her school bus for daring to go to school there that if she returns to Pakistan, THEY WILL KILL HER! There's the thing, you see: to be respected and honored in your community in Pakistan, you must kill women who are of your own blood if they dare break the rules, two of which are do not go to school and marry your father's choice.

Steph · « **Reply #2452 on:** March 09, 2016, 08:43:04 AM »

Actually the European nations.. France and Germany and a few others are realizing the immigrants are carrying this mind set forward and they are truly horrified. I have been noting more and more that many of the young males are going back to the middle east. They were told by the people that got them there, that they could send for families ( not any more), get good jobs( no language experience) free houses on and on. They hate the food.. do not want to respect others cultures.. I just read an article the other day that a manufacturing plant in our midwest had hired a lot of Muslim workers and it was working fine, but then the workers decided they needed more and more religious breaks and now the company has rebelled. fired over 150 workers and is advertising for workers who understand that work is also important. The cultural divide is way too strong. We are lucky in that our immigrants mostly understand work and how the U.S. works..In Europe there is culture shock and it will get worse.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2453 on:** March 09, 2016, 11:19:38 AM »

Awful to hear. But again, I feel I must stress that these things are NOT anything whatsoever to do with their religion, except for the work breaks. These are cultural matters, and probably predate Islam by a lot. When you listen to what they have to say and look at the way they live, in that documentary, you at least come to see how the walls of difference may never, ever come down. Mind boggling, but there is truly a nation there in which only the men are citizens and make decisions and count. Women are just property men own and slaves to them.

But again, I think of some of what women in our own culture have had to cause to change, and I have a glimmer of hope. We can own property, go to school, work at real jobs (but not for equal pay as yet), and choose our own partners in marriage or whatever.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2454 on:** March 09, 2016, 02:12:34 PM »

Yes, you are so right - this culture is far older than Islam - the more you read about Tribal culture it is easier to understand the insular nature of protecting and fighting for the tribe. There is no concept of the individual - there is no one vote for one man - they vote as their tribal leaders will have them vote.

Just listened to a bunch folks visiting Versailles and creating a youtube of the various fountains that are all marvelous works of art depicting some of the Greek myths - from the accent you can tell the one taking the video that was uploaded onto youtube were mostly from Asia - they have no clue what they are looking at - all they see is water shooting from a statue - the western culture, especially in Europe sits on the past that includes these myths that are woven in so much of even current literature.

We have over a 100 families from Syria living in the apartments nearby and the elementary and middle school have gone over the top helping these kids learn English while they must attend their regular classes - as they learn they do not have the background of childhood stories that kids were told to them during nightly bedtime stories and are shown on kid's TV shows and in movies - none of that is part of their history aside from the horrors we hear about as they must write in their journal everyday using English - as they learn English the stories still convoluted are their natural sharing of their life that has been horrific. Even the manner in which they received any education was accompanied with a lot of physical abuse if they had learned something other than the Koran if they had been in Turkey and came back to Syria -

But I do take solace in that we all came here and our families all had to adjust and learn - for some it was easier than it was for others - I remember as a kid being a Jew was not easy - and the years we lived in Kentucky being Catholic was not easy, we see movies and documentaries and read how it was very difficult for Asians and so we now have another group with a different culture - I suspect it will take some time - it seems if we use the past it takes about a generation or 20 years.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2455 on:** March 09, 2016, 04:59:19 PM »

Wow - I really think we need to know this - The work that is done to make this the site we have grown to trust and love needs to be told - we should not take for granted the volunteer effort by those who protect us from behind the scenes.

Message this morning from Ginny, Administrator...

Quote

I came in, tho, to tell you what Marcie has done which has made such a HUGE difference to those who have to go after the spammers. She's incorporated a captcha thing which forces the bot trying to register to choose photos in response to a text question or something, it's brilliant.

Since the day she put it up there has not been one more spammer@!!!!!! NOT ONE! It's a miracle to come in here and not see on the top left hand of the page the numbers of "people" waiting to be hand checked. And if you would skip a day it would take forever to clear them. And on holidays it was a nightmare.

Getting rid of these scumbags is a tiring job. They sometimes sneaked in anyhow and Jane has been patiently winnowing them out. So great is the difference that the check for Spammers thing no longer comes up and I can't see how many we have manually removed but it was something like 248,000 or something. Jane or Marcie may know how to access that check screen, I don't, and quite frankly I hope I never see it again, but isn't that marvelous?

A lot safer for us, too, since the bots can't see the emails unless they are registered.

So hooray for Marcie for doing this and for Marcie and Jane ALL THESE YEARS manually getting rid of these people who need a job instead of trying to cheat us all. The last bit was from Russia I think?

Jane, Administrator

Quote

Incredible...but the number now is:

266852 Spammers blocked up until today

MaryPage · « **Reply #2456 on:** March 09, 2016, 06:22:49 PM »

OMG! I had no idea. It scares me to bits. Should I be eliminating my email address from my profile? Good Grief! I started with Senior Net in February 1999, and have all of this time had no idea that stuff even existed. What a scary world. And huge thanks to Marcie and Ginny and all who have labored. I won't say "so tirelessly," because obviously they must have been worn to a nub. As for Ginny's description of what Marcie did, it is all Chinese to me, but I am in AWE regarding Marcie's mental powers!

Which brings me back to the cultural differences regarding how women are seen by men in Pakistan and neighboring countries and here. I was just watching the local evening news, and they led off with not one, but two serious stories of women being killed by men. In one horrendous case, and yes, this is right here in the metropolitan Washington area, both a woman and her sister were killed. He had been jailed for a call about domestic violence, with her the victim. Then she recanted and actually put up bail money for him. It was not long after he got home that he killed the two women. The other story was just as bad in that the woman wound up dead, but there was nothing about her having enabled him to that extent.

Same old, same old. As I say, we may have won a lot of ground toward being equal and having rights, but the old culture still lurks in the hearts of men.

Where'd that come from? The old radio program, The Shadow?

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2457 on:** March 09, 2016, 07:15:53 PM »

MaryPage we have ALWAYS been kept safe here on SeniorLearn and SeniorNet before that because of the work of some backroom administrators - no fear of sharing your email or phone since they cannot read our posts - nice feeling - so few offer this kind of protection - we have a lot to be grateful for...

What ever is the difference I am convinced it has to do with aggressive action for power - when men do not feel as powerful and they need to be - and I am not talking about extra or super power just the normal empowerment we all strive for - men who because of usually childhood experiences do not feel self empowered they chase power and the easiest is to go after someone weaker that they can taunt or ridicule and slap around - girls traditionally were expected and taught to be meek and mild so we were an easy set up - children can easily be a target as can the handicapped. It is how gays get ridiculed - seldom by the strong but by those who most often question their prowess as a man.

There is so many studies that show men need competition and for every win they do better the next time - that need for winning and the competition that is the engine for winning is not as important to a women who yes, likes to win but women do not appear to build on their wins - wins are something to be proud of but has no affect on the next race so to speak - most women compete over their looks, wealth, house, skills, but her basic self as a women is not strengthened by ridiculing and using sex against men much less women.

I do not know if that temperament was reduced because of natural selection or if it is part of the female - for sure there are aggressive dangerous women but I have yet to hear of one who was not brutalized herself and rather than proving her power she is in a revenge mode - but to have an entire culture for thousands of years using these reactions as the cause and way of life seems like there is no advancement in learning, as if everyone still functions on the emotional level of thousands of years ago. That to me is the question - why did some cultures change and others did not because for sure women in the west were treated not too much differently back before the Middle Ages and we still have a long way to go towards equality - the gains we do have required revolution, education and men experiencing women's work.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2458 on:** March 09, 2016, 08:28:29 PM »

For millions of years, the female of the species has given birth and nurtured and protected and raised and TAUGHT the young. Lots of lessons were learned about how to get along with others and how best to equip the young to survive and thrive. All this while the men were out hunting in groups, competing, bragging, exchanging salacious stories. Now it is pretty much built in, though I have known men I will credit with having sensitivities and logical thinking. All of that seems to be going backwards now that we have overpopulated our planet

Steph · « **Reply #2459 on:** March 10, 2016, 08:33:36 AM »

I had to laugh about the winning stuff.. It seems to have been left out of me. Some of it is being a quaker of course, but I just dont feel the need and will withdraw if someone tries to force a contest.. After we retired and our backs got worse, we took up kayaking.. The sit on top type.. I loved it but insisted on my own.. thank heaven.. i would dawdle along looking at fish and weeds and oysters, etc and my husband would go faster and faster. I finally said.. go ahead. I dont want to race and just want to look.. He would fuss and then take off and work off energy and come back later and join me,.. So I agree that men seem to need to race and win, but I just dont.. I note that I have one daughter in law like me and the other is a born competitor.. but we all agree.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2460 on:** March 11, 2016, 06:42:59 AM »

I took up kayaking every other weekend at a friend's place on the Nanjemoy River in Charles County, Maryland all during the nineteen eighties. Before that, I had only used a canoe, and boy did I ever love the difference. It was as though I were paddling my own body and could take it anywhere I chose. To the right of the pier I took off from, the wetlands soon ended and the river widened and widened. I never went that way. To the left, the river grasses grew ever higher, and it was such fun to paddle among them and realize I could hide in there forever. As the river grew more and more narrow, again the wetlands, home to one of the largest heron nesting areas in the world, became a small river, and then a creek with the trees along the two banks meeting overhead. Oh how I loved these private early morning journeys, and just to see a turtle sunning on the branch of a tree that reached low along the water made my whole trip memorable. I have felt the Joy!
Goodness knows, there are dozens of places around Annapolis where one can rent a kayak and enjoy. My own community here has boat racks down on the beach that are rented by the year, and Quiet Waters Park is 5 minutes away, where you can rent a kayak or a paddle boat by the hour and tour all around Harness Creek and the South River. Sadly, I am too old, but as I say, I have known the Joy and will have that always.

Steph · « **Reply #2461 on:** March 11, 2016, 08:19:53 AM »

I love Mosquito lagoon in New Smyrna Beach. It is a bird sanctuary and as long as you bathe in insectect repellent it is great. Yes, Kayaks are so much fun.. very intuitive way to be on the water. I had manatees and dolphins come right up and bump the kayak, not hard, just sort of.. who are you.. The manatees will rear up from the water to see you and you get this very inquisitive eye looking at you. They will swim along with you in the semi shallow water. Lovely memories for me..

MaryPage · « **Reply #2462 on:** March 11, 2016, 10:41:38 AM »

Lucky you! I never had manatees and dolphins, sob! But I did have turtles and snakes and fish and Great Blue Herons, plus white ones. Herons are fascinating fishermen. So patient and so STILL. Like you, I have my memories.

maryz · « **Reply #2463 on:** March 11, 2016, 01:22:11 PM »

John did white-water kayaking (on the rivers in E. TN, NC, SC, and GA) for years, until his shoulders complained too much. Then he took up sculling on the Tennessee River through Chattanooga. None of this competitive - just a chance to get away and on the water. Always such special times for him.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2464 on:** March 11, 2016, 03:23:36 PM »

I would go out alone early in the morning, spring, summer and fall. I especially treasured the summer mornings. I would go after the mists had risen, but before much of the world was awake. A small kayak for one, the kind where you let your body down into a hole, makes you one with the watercraft itself. When you paddle to go this way or that, you feel as though you are signaling your own body to go that way or this. As Steph says, I would explore all the little nooks and crannies of the shoreline and the water mazes running all through the acres and acres of tall grasses. The final effect is that you come to feel your heart is beating in sync with the heartbeat of Mother Earth herself: you are Gaia!

JoanK · « **Reply #2465 on:** March 11, 2016, 05:40:02 PM »

MaryPage: I don't kayak, but I share the feeling through early morning walks in the woods. So quiet, that if an acorn falls, it's an event.

And I was blessed to live in a place that had some wildness left in it. I saw over 200 species of birds just by getting up with the sun and taking my cup of coffee out on the patio.

Have you heard the story of the man who, after hurricane Katrina, paddled a canoe around the streets. Because he was so quiet, he could hear cries for help that were too faint to be heard by the patrolling power boats.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2466 on:** March 11, 2016, 06:00:31 PM »

I love a walk in the woods above ALL things, Joan. And no, I had not heard that story from Hurricane Katrina, but it does not surprise me. Power boats make noise way out of proportion with Nature, and disturb the whole ecology dreadfully. There is absolutely no excuse for them revving it up the way they do. Have you ever noticed that a sailboat under power rather than under sail makes very little noise? Power boats do not HAVE to be the way they are, it is just that the mostly male buyers LOVE the roar. It is the noise of Power, and they crave it. Things could be otherwise, and should be as a gesture towards saving our planet. You can see cargo ships, cruise ships, yachts from all over the world, and every type of boat you can think of here on the Chesapeake Bay outside my windows, and none make the noise of the power boats.
One thing I do not understand about our human species is why we will not talk about or write about things we are in denial about. It has always seemed to me that we could make absolutely leaps and bounds in progress and save many, many lives if we would just talk truth to reason. But we don't. For instance, back in 1945 my dad was stationed in Louisiana for about half a year. And I can remember vividly that so very many people spoke of "when the big storm comes and we lose Nawlins." Yes, I heard it over and over; and so it was that I grew up expecting New Orleans to be lost under the waves one day. And the day nearly came, and I was old. But my head has been asking me since 1945, "well, why don't they all just move OUT of the way of that storm that's coming?" And I still believe that would be the saner and, in the long run, cheaper way to handle it. But they haven't seen fit to elect me to run things.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2467 on:** March 11, 2016, 06:45:32 PM »

That would have been disaster MaryPage - I forgot now how many billions of dollars of commerce go down the Mississippi to 'Nawlins' to be shipped out of that 'natural' port - States as far north as bordering Canada depend on that river for a large part of their economic health and the jobs in their areas that ultimately feed the trip down the river -

In order for those docks to operate and those ships to be loaded there is manpower needed and that manpower needs houses and food and places to send their children to school and hospitals and garbage pickup and and and - then those people providing that service need houses and food and places to send their children to school and hospitals and garbage pickup and and and - Nearby are those who fish the Gulf and those farming the land to catch and grow the food for New Orleans and they too need schools and hospitals -

We could go on and on but that is how a city is created - and yes, there is often an influx of too many and the jobs are not constant so that folks end up living hand to mouth -

This port was created some 2000 years BC - it was a port when French fur traders came to this Indian held territory that was on a trade route since the year 400. The natives had built levees which was the prime reason the French raised its flag making this official settlement with a fort only 100 years after the settlement at Jamestown.

The massive flooding with hurricane Katrina had little to do with the storm - the Army Corp of Engineers quietly owned up they skimped and there was graft so that the modern levees built by the Corp were not built to plan and could not stand the force of the hurricane along with the city foolishly allowing permits to build on the barrier islands. What happened during Katrina has been continually blamed on the storm rather than the real culprit - greed, graft and lackadaisical Corp oversight.

As Shock Doctrine quickly gave root to investors taking advantage of the numbed and devalued city, they eliminated New Orleans as a haven for the poor. Some wonder if the whole thing was a plan waiting to happen.

Instead of rebuilding the school system there are more Charter Schools for profit in New Orleans than the number of schools operating within the cities school system. Hospitals closed never to re-open as did Churches, many musicians never returned just as many everyday folks displaced never returned.

All because of inferior built levees needed to keep this city on a natural port that serves the entire Midwest from another great depression that would occur with no outlet for its agriculture or manufactured products.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2468 on:** March 11, 2016, 10:24:24 PM »

Oh my! That is all too much for me!

Steph · « **Reply #2469 on:** March 12, 2016, 09:11:01 AM »

quite true, but it is also true, that New Orleans is naturally way low and they pump to keep it above water. and the massive Lake Ponchatrain is always too high and needs pumping. The might Mississippi roars each year and floods almost each year somewhere on its path. We used to stay in a variety of places in the spring in the RV to watch it roar and get wild to watch. I am told by friends who visit at least once a year, that in many ways, the new New Orleans is quite wonderful.. It was too much of a favorite place for Tim and I, so I dont visit.. Too hard.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2470 on:** March 14, 2016, 05:56:27 PM »

I am upset tonight because I have two granddaughters and two great granddaughters in Oklahoma, and, while I have read a little about the fact that they have been having some earthquakes out there since the fracking has begun, I had no idea until today when I was reading the March 21st issue of TIME magazine that they had 900 in 2015 alone! Scares me to death. Devastating! The articles I have read previously have failed to include all the details, and in shortchanging the public have failed to raise the national conscience and the sense of alarm that should go with that. I have seen detailed diagrams in newspapers and news magazines about precisely how fracking works, and have read the warnings from many scientists as to the probable pollution of the drinking water supply and earthquakes and other good reasons to be against fracking. And so I, being a believer in Science, have opposed fracking. I just had no awareness that the State of Oklahoma had been so very dismissive of that Science for so very long a time and had been putting millions of citizens in serious harm's way to the extent that they have. You would think maybe ten earthquakes would set off the alarm bells in their heads; but NINE HUNDRED! What sort of world are we inhabiting these days?

Steph · « **Reply #2471 on:** March 15, 2016, 08:37:51 AM »

I too want to know what is happening in our world.. Donald Trump?? who is now bragging that Sarah Palin and husband would have prevented the San Bernadino massacre. Sigh.. People rioting. People being filmed smashing their fists in someone elses face. This is so wrong and is exactly what was happening in Germany and how Hitler came to power.. We need to take back civil behaviour.. The First Amenment does not mean to be dangerous.. Sigh.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2472 on:** March 15, 2016, 12:33:10 PM »

Oh Steph, we are SO on the same page. A President should, above all things, be presidential. Someone wrote a piece in our local paper day before yesterday saying that he and his wife had just come from a lengthy round the world trip (Annapolis is full of such, and I am green with envy) and that everywhere they went Trump was On The Front Page of their newspapers and magazines and TV news shows. And the citizens of this globe think we have lost our cotton picking minds. And some heads of state are saying they just won't meet with him. Scheesch! They said that almost everyone everywhere asked them about Trump and were just terribly relieved to hear they were not fans of his.
I heard Trump say he would pay the legal fees, if any are needed, for that old guy that punched that demonstrator. The demonstrator was doing absolutely nothing but being led out of the hall the rally was being held in. I am just SO ASHAMED! I thought Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau twitting us in the Rose Garden that he heard a lot of us were making plans to possibly come to his country to live was a hoot, but it also should have made Trump's followers stop and think. Or not. One, they weren't watching, because President Obama was there with him. And Two, they would just say good riddance!
Did you catch the rally last night where Hilary Clinton had a long interview face to face with Chris Matthews? I watched it TWICE! They repeated it at eleven, I think it was. He did it at seven and then repeated it at eleven. She was fantastic. Fabulous. Answered every single question clearly and without any hesitation whatsoever. Her explanations for Benghazi and every other such question should settle everything they say about her forever. Of course, it won't. It won't because her detractors have no interest in whether the lies told are false or not. They just feel filled to the brim with hatred and desperately WANT the lies to be true. They are perfectly willing to perpetrate the falsehoods indefinitely, hoping against hope that a majority will believe them.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2473 on:** March 15, 2016, 02:28:29 PM »

I can see this as one step further than is not being talked about - this is what is happening to our entire political system only we do not see it - it is money - big money is running our country - Trump is self promoting - he has all the money he needs to make this a game - he and his money have ruined the Republican Party - he simply destroyed the entire party - he is baiting the ugliest aspect of humanity within the voting public and using a technique well known that takes hold in a mob - they did survey after survey some 20 years ago with the mobs that broke through the fencing around the English Football fields that we call soccer and they call football. The conclusion of these surveys is that folks act differently and their worst characteristics come out in a mob as they need to better the damage done by another in the mob.

The use of big money is what gives Congressmen the power to not do their job for the people and to satisfy only those who give them money under the guise of re-election funds and trips for the Congressmen and their family - Money has so corrupted this nation it is sickening - if you read about those who own the private jails - they use their money to make sure that Congress enacts more laws that would incarcerate so they can keep their jails full. On and on it goes as money is used to make rich folks richer and to suck the profits out of this nation and to bait folks into bad behavior because that is what this is for Congressmen - baiting them with money towards bad legislation or bad behavior.

It is no different than the police using these bait cars to tempt those in the poor sections of town - when do they ever bait with something that will inspire goodness - no it is always baiting the worst aspect of humanity - well money is baiting the worst in Congress and money is baiting the worst among voters and money ended up baiting the anger and rage that some folks just needed that bait no different than some in the poor area of town needed a car to bait them into jail time.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2474 on:** March 15, 2016, 03:49:58 PM »

I had never heard about bait cars. Sickening.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2475 on:** March 15, 2016, 04:29:14 PM »

Yes they purposely have a plan clothed policeman get out of a vehicle without locking the door and leaving the keys in the ignition and then an unmarked police car waits across the street or behind some trees but nearby and waits with a camera on the vehicle till someone gets in - some get in and change their minds - others get in and a group gets in with them but most get in alone and then they drive off with the police behind them so that in a couple of blocks they are stopped and of course handcuffed etc.

There is regular TV program showing this in many many cities. The police waiting for the culprit have all sorts of disparaging remarks they make and it is on TV about the people and their appearance while they are watching the bait car being stolen.

I keep wondering when do they set up some bait that if taken leads to the one taking the bait being kind or thoughtful or brings out the good in people - even the poor and desperate have good characteristics - when are those good characteristics baited...?

Steph · « **Reply #2476 on:** March 16, 2016, 10:24:26 AM »

That is so sad and so wrong.. I dont like having a car stolen, but they are tempting the people for no reason. We had a van stolen from our driveway some years ago, but they jimmied the lock and then popped the ignition.. We had not parked it in the garage the night before with our other car because we had gotten home late and tired. It was teens and the little brats had stolen stuff on the whole street, put it in our van, drove to the next development and promptly hit a light pole. What a mess. Took the police hours to sort out what belonged to who.

mogamom · « **Reply #2477 on:** March 21, 2016, 11:51:24 AM »

This is sad news as well:

LITTLE HAVANA (CBSMiami) — As President Barack Obama boarded Air Force One for Cuba Sunday, crowds marched in Miami’s Little Havana against the presidential visit to the communist nation.

Demonstrators rallied on S.W. 8th Street and 13th Avenue chanting, “Libertad!”

Florida Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera was at the march. A first generation Cuban-American running for U.S. Senate, Lopez-Cantera said the president’s visit to Cuba is a photo-op that the Castro regime set up to legitimize themselves — and, since easing U.S.-Cuba relations more than a year ago, nothing has changed.

“There hasn’t been any reduction of oppression,” Lopez-Cantera told CBS4’s Donna Rapado. “As as matter of fact, there’s been an increase in oppression, an increase in political arrests and an increase of political beatings against people who are simply seeking to have rights that we take for granted here in America. Freedom of expression, freedom of the press, free elections, the end of human rights violations and the release of political prisoners.”

In fact, just before Obama’s arrival, more than 50 demonstrators were arrested in the streets of Havana. They are “Las Damas de Blanco” — the Ladies in White. They are the wives and relatives of jailed anti-Castro activists who march to Mass each Sunday, as they have for nearly four years.

Video showing police pulling and dragging the women as they chanted for freedom only fueled the anger those against the president’s visit already feel.

“I hope tonight somebody talks to Obama about what happened in Havana today,” Angela Bueno de Godinez told Rapado. “That’s impossible. A disaster.”

Some say promises have not been kept.

“The president promised he would visit Cuba when changes were made toward human rights,” said activist Carlos Puig. “Changes have been made. For the worse.”

The rest of the story is here:
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2016/03/20/rally-held-in-little-havana-demands-cuban-libertad

Change comes slow...sigh. I do hope it comes soon.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2478 on:** March 21, 2016, 12:32:08 PM »

We can't help Cuba change - in oh so many ways - if we aren't talking to them. We can have so much more influence with the people and the government if they are having contact with people from outside their dictatorship. Seeing options can be a cracking of the door to wanting different lives AND it provides an interest and an education to many Americans who never give a thought to Cuba and what is happening to Cubans.

I'm very happy Pres Obama is shining this light on Cuba.

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #2479 on:** March 22, 2016, 09:04:48 AM »

Miami cubans are all for someone else solving their problems.. We certainly have dialogue with worse nations.. I am old enough to remember Baptista and he was certainly not a good dictator.. Cuba must solve their own problems.. not Miami.. I live in central Florida and I know a number of people who are very excited about the opening of Cuba.. So not all cubans are against it. I think the roundup was wrong, but the Castro brothersw are always a bit paranoid.

News:

Author Topic: Women's Issues (Read 391662 times)