remarkable

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You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com

I told her last night: this has been the best Christmas season of my entire life.

Oh, we had an argument on Christmas day, but we talked through it and the sky didn't fall on us.

We got a puppy, for Porkchop. She's a cocker/beagle mix. She looks like a miniature, blonde coon hound or golden Lab. Porkchop's entire demeaner has changed as a result. He loves her to death. He lets her dominate him and submits with blissful relief.

She was abandoned at Chaco Canyon, tied to a tree, left to die. When the couple found her in October, she was dying. She weighed ten pounds (she's 18 now). She couldn't walk. She's still got a delicate digestive system; her stools are too loose and she vomits from over excitement periodically. But she's very happy here and spends all of her time with Porkchop. He has become downright noble.

Last night, I threw a rib bone out front. This morning, she found it first. She growled viciously at Porky as she chewed on the bone. Porky made no move to take the bone; he just watched her eat and backed off so she wouldn't growl. Porky was starved, too, so this is a remarkable show of thoughtfulness on his part.

My girl went out on her bicycle for the 2nd time since her return. She was under the weather during her time off and came home pretty weak, needing lots of rest. But, she put her bike trailer on the bike and headed out.

We get email from the Albq. Freecycle Yahoo group. One guy had put some give-aways out in his front yard. We need smoke detectors, and he had some. So, she went to check it out. His house is half way across town, and about a mile north of ours.

Then, she went south on his cross street, to the south end of town. A lady there had a hassock: a big foot stool or ottoman. It was part of a sectional sofa. It is nearly 3x3 feet and about 2 feet tall. It's a "box spring" type bottom with a very large cushion on top. It's teal velour upholstery. She strapped it to the trailer with bungie cords. The former owners were quite impressed.

She pulled it home on the bike, in light rain and moderate wind, in the dark. It was, apparantly, quite an adventurous day for her. She called from her cell to report in and let me know when she'd return. She reported her struggles with weather, directions and lack of bathroom facilities along the route. I was laughing my head off.

When she got back, the bathroom was already warm, so she could shower. I had a fresh towel for her, helped her out of her wet clothes into her bedroom slippers, provided a clean, dry bathrobe and started dinner while she washed up.

Her previous bike trip, she'd gone to her post office box, to Smith's for a rib eye roast, and Winrock Mall for some makeup. So, we ate my favorite meat: rib eye roast. I'd baked some potatoes. We'd made a big bowl of cucumber salad (she has some bruising and swelling on her face, from an allergic reaction she had while gone; cucumbers reduce swelling), and some wheatless Yorkshire Pudding to soak up meat juices. We still have plenty left; it's a 5 pound roast. Just perfect.

There's sparkling cranberry juice, chilling in the fridge, which she brought back for New Year. She's the best friend I've ever had. We have SO much fun together.

She loves her new wardrobe. I dress her up, help her with her makeup and hair, and we go out for the day. There's a new trolly that passes right near our house. We get on that and take the new Rapid Ride bus on Route 66 to travel around town.

We went to the mall together 2 days ago. She bought me a bathrobe I've wanted my whole life: floor-length chenille, with flowers near the hem. Better than I could have imagined, it's a rich lilac color. I got an extra large, so it really wraps around with plenty of extra fabric to keep my knees and ankles warm. It wasn't cheap and it wasn't on sale. And it came from the snootiest department store in the mall. But I'd been checking on eBay, shopping.com and elsewhere. The price, while steep, was reasonable.

We ate Godiva truffles and gingerbread mocha drinks at Borders. We bought matcing cardigan sweaters at a store that's closing. Hers is pink; mine is lilac. They both have appliques of sequined flowers at the shoulder. Very '50s style. All she needs is a poodle skirt. I already got one at Buffalo Exchange, the resale shop near the radio station (cost me 2 dollars. it's blue felt, with black poodles on gold leashes with rhinestone collars).

She's looking fabulous. We dyed her hair "Egyptian plum" with a temporary hair color. I cut it shorter and curlier. She's wearing makeup. She has the new clothes, jewelry, etc. When we were in the mall, even in the snooty store, people were looking at her. Not because she looked freaky or weird; they were checking her out because, in our age range, she was the best looking woman in almost every room we entered. I was very proud.

Primping and dressing up has been very good for her. She's not dry and fussy anymore; she's more sweet-natured, sexy and girly now. I really like it...grin.

She wonders what the people at her job will think, when she gets back there next week. I'm reasonably certain they'll be very impressed. I also know of at least one woman there, our age, who will be jealous. I've already warned Ma; that woman hates to be seen next to another woman her age who might look better than she does.

Ma was never the good looking one in the room. She was nondescript, muted, nearly apologetic for her appearance. She looked like a librarian, really. Sorry librarians.

Well, now, she's rosey and curly and elegant and sparkley. She's lookin' pretty hot, for fifty! We've brought out her inner elegance, sense of fun and playfulness. She looks like her temprament, now. She looks great. So, I'm thinking of showing up at her job and just hangin' in the hall, her first day back, so I can hear people's reactions when she walks in.

Well, I have chickens to feed. And I need to warm some coffee. Ma's asleep right now. We're going to the Barret House thrift store later today. I need a new coat. If we can't find one there, we'll try WalMart's after xmas sale. I hate that place, but don't mind buying stuff there, as long as they're not making profit from me. We'll also check there for marked down xmas crap, including replacement lightbulbs for night lights.

Barret House has VERY nice clothes, very cheap. Rich ladies donate their clothing. The thrift store helps fund a shelter for homeless women and kids. I love shopping there.

Ma bought me a crosscut paper shredder at Big Lots the other day; we shred junk mail and I use the shreds for cat litter! Works great!

Later today or tomorrow, I'll post my recipes for cucumber salad and for wheatless Yorkshire pudding over at Hood Life. I'll also put them on my domain.

Hope everyone's having a safe and happy holy days season.

I sure am!

one, more nite!

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

Dear Ma,

I kept waking up all night, thinking you were back. I'd try to push my back against you. I only found pillows.

It would wake me up. I'd blink and try to remember where I was and what was different.

My mind is getting so accustomed to the concept of your return, that she thinks you're already here.

For five weeks, she's resigned herself to sleeping and living alone again. Back to the habits of scrunching pillows around to keep cold drafts from seeping under the covers. Back to planning only for me.

My mind bridges both realities with awkward ambivilence. You're supposed to be here; I'm supposed to be alone.

I feel relieved at the idea of not having to spend another Evil Christmas alone with the forced hillarity of mass media merchandising.

I'd like to bake a batch of gingersnaps with you. I bought some egg nog.

Other than that, and playing my flute to any music specials on PBS, I have no plans for holy days.

We have a tree, thanks to the generosity of the neighbors and my ability to squirrel away decorations others discarded.

Your presents, and there are nearly sixty of them, are not for Christmas. They're for your birthday. They're welcome home gifts. They're my attention to the details of your life that needed filling in. They're celebrations of your beauty. They're tributes to your new beginnings.

Your mother died so young, so soon in your life. You never had a woman to fuss over you, to attend to your grooming, to show you how to decorate your space.

This is your first bedroom as a woman. You've lived in cramped quarters that had to serve as living-bed-kitchen-bath-garage-office spaces. Or you've shared bedrooms with lovers.

I want you to come home to a space that's easy to operate, cheerful, feminine, happy and a little elegant. I want you to come home to a space that speaks of you and your needs. I want you to have a place to play, explore, examine and investigate yourself.

So, I've tidied up, accented, added, arranged. You can easily change any thing I've done that doesn't suit your needs. Or I can.

It could take you days to discover everything I've tucked away for you.

Thirty six hours from now, I'll be hopping from foot to foot at the airport, waiting for the announcement that your plane has landed.

I'll be carrying mistletoe.

Food's cooked. Everything's clean. The beds have fresh linens. There's plenty of toilet paper.

We have toys and projects available.

I have no plans. I just created space in which we can decide what each of us needs and wants.

I see some bike rides, trips to stores, walks by the river, dollar movies.

But I'm waiting to see how you're feeling adn where your energies lie.

I have no expectations.

I just want to feel your warm belly and cold toes, next to me in the bed, as we kick off the dog and tell each other the adventures between our ears.

I even got us some chocolate!

PTSD: the benefits

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

It has always been my belief that anything which generates a lot of energy can be harnassed into something beneficial, no matter how threatening and potentially dangerous it seems. And, the more energy, the more potential for creativity.

This has tremendous, potential advantages for you, as my lover, you realize.

I have a tremendous capacity to feel. And I have an inate talent at empathy. I directly experience what others feel. I, therefore, work very hard at not inflicting pain. I also work very hard at nurturing.

As you've experienced first hand, I'm good at finding people's hidden talents and encouraging them to the surface. It's how I know you're beautiful, even when you don't, and enhance your beauty with little grooming tricks that delight you.

Well, the real energy of my PTSD is my passion. I have suppressed that. I've seen the consequenses of my rage and terror in my life, and have tried very hard to avoid those.

What I need to do is face that energy, head on, and convert it to positive uses.

As you may have noticed, I'm a very sexual, and sexually-accepting, person. I have a tremendous capacity for exploring pleasure and arousal. I have few inhibitions or taboos. If it's consentual, and between responsible adults, it's on the table (grin).

I have gone from pre-orgasmic, through orgasmic only under the influence of mind-altering substances to multiorgasmic and easily aroused, under safe circumstances.

And I have a vivid imagination.

Channeling the energy I automatically produce (be it a byproduct of overactive adrenaline production, or whatever) into more creative outlets needs to be a high priority for me.

It's why I'm always building things, moving earth for gardens, walking long distances while pulling burdens, etc.

I need to be physically active, to release the energy.

You have, shall we say, certain needs in that regard.

I have been suppressing my impulses toward psychotic outbursts. It's very stressful for me to do so. I'd much rather use the desire toward physical acting out on another person in a more satisfying and loving way.

Hence, the "butch lessons." I need to be more assertive and more blatant around you. You excite me. I crave you. I have a tremendous urge to satisfy you, to watch you surrender to feeling me loving you, to seeing you open up to me.

You need to be very well and thoroughly loved: emotionally, intellectually, spiritually and physically.

I can give you that. I can give you as much as you're willing to take. I am completely convinced that I can bring you to places you never knew you needed and teach you beautiful things about yourself you've never even imagined.

I get very enthusiastic about loving you, when I see myself not holding back and not protecting my ego.

Butches, in general, put the needs of their ladies first. I'm not talking about self sacrifice; I'm speaking of etiquette, perhaps even a smattering of chiviry. It is the sacred duty of the butch to protect, nurture, satisfy and adore their women.

Butches always know when their women need a cigarette lit, a jar opened, a loving shoulder, protection from harm and a righteously wet fucking.

It's not that butches think their women aren't completely independent, self-sufficient, capable people. Oh, no. Not any of that.

A good butch finds a good woman who has complete autonomy, who has life experience, who knows herself. And a good butch empathizes with the struggles, trials and hardships her woman has endured to get there.

So, a good butch honors her woman by relieving some of that extra burden.

If her woman is treated like trash in every other aspect of her life, a butch elevates her woman to the status of great adoration and respect.

A good butch creates a place in which her woman is above the petty dirtiness of mundane life.

A good butch creates sacred space for her woman and herself.

A good butch worships at the alter of the Goddess as embodied in her companion.

I have tremendous reserves of energy for you.

I'm learning what satisfies you and am learning new ways to get there.

This isn't just sexual, you know.

But your sexuality has been badly neglected by other lovers to the point where I don't think you really know what you want, what you need, and how much you can feel.

I want to find out, Princess.

I can't leave it up to you. As you've said, if you're uncomfortable in a new situation, your tendancy is to avoid it. And anything new, especially making love with another woman, is uncomfortable, at first.

It gets a WHOLE lot easier with practice, so you'll know.

So, I'm taking the lead. I'm taking the initiative. I'm going to be more insistant that you at least look at yourself as a sexual person. I'm going to be asking you what you want more often. I'm going to be initiating play more often, and in more variety.

I'm completely willing that you refuse when you need to.

But I'm not willing to sit here and wait for you to make the decision to initiate play. If I do that, we'll be twiddling our thumbs for a very long time.

You know now that I won't exploit nor hurt you sexually. At least, I hope you know that by now. We've spent months, after the initial passion, cuddling harmlessly.

But, Princess, I have some succulent and sparkling ideas about what I want to do to you, if you're willing.

I think it's best, at first, that you experience woman loving with me being the assertive one. It'll give you a first hand experience at how truly delightful woman loving is. It's very liberating. The possibilities are amazing.

Once you're more familiar, less inhibited, and more eager about the whole concept, I'm willing to bet you'll be initiating a good deal of play between us.

So, there's definately an "up" side to having a lover with PTSD: I'm fiercely protective; I've got eyes in the back of my head; I'm resourceful; I'm stubborn; I'm assertive; I'm compassionate; I'm brave and I'm VERY passionate.

You need that. I can give it to you.

My reward is your gentleness, your humor, your obvious loyalty, your wickedness, your playfulness and how sexy you are.

My reward is that the most interesting person I've connected with in a long time looks forward to coming home to me.

post traumatic stress disorder

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

My problem with therapy is that modern psychotherapy relies too heavily on psychotropic medication: better living thru modern chemistry.

And the drug therapies available are very primative, with many side effects and reactions.

My brain chemistry is different from normal people's. My hypothalmus is supposed to be smaller and less-well developed. I metabolize that brain chemical, starts with a "c," that creates feelings of well being, before it has a chance to activate in my brain. I produce FAR more adrenaline than normal. My dopamene receptors are over charged, as my brain secretes massive doses of opiates, trying to relieve the terror and rage.

So, there's a lot going on in my brain that so-called "normal" people don't deal with.

In addition, I have accute sensitivities to mood altering chemicals. Very little of any drug can have extreme consequences on my mood, ability to function, physical coordination, memory and tendancies toward psychotic outbursts.

I'm addicted to caffeine because I was force fed ritalin for many years as a child. I constantly crave "speed" type chemicals: sugar, caffeine, and even nicotine (which, first thing in the morning, acts as a stimulant).

I have issues with alcohol because I used it in an attempt to self medicate, reduce anxiety, and reduce adrenaline production. I was self medicating in order to function.

Now, I just can't function, under some circumstances which other people consider "normal." For me, they're stressful and toxic situations. I'm the "canary in the coal mine," with regards to how disfunctional and poisonous our modern culture has become. It all affects me more directly and profoundly than it affects others, apparantly.

And, psychotherapy as counselling is not sufficient for me. I'm "high functioning:" I'm more intelligent and better self-educated than most people. SImple "bumper sticker" fixes, such as 12 step programs, don't work for me. I see through the placebo effects and can't force myself to believe things I know aren't true.

And most counsellors rely on such tricks and gimmics.

I also can't be hypnotized, which frustrates therapists to no end. Modern gimmicry relies heavily on the power of suggestion, meditation-type exercises and even mimicing REM sleep eye patterns in sessions. None of these work on me.

The BEST thing I've learned for myself, over time, is to "act as if:" BEHAVE as though I'm not affected by trauma.

I try to operate in the world as normally as possible. I don't indulge depression, suicidal ideations, psychotic impulses, etc. I don't hit myself or others, lie around saying, "what's the use?" etc.

I have learned that I don't HAVE to feel like doing things, in order to do them. I have also learned that, even though I may be in an acutely painful, existential crisis in which I have NO rational motivation to continue, if I DO continue to take care of my business, the episode WILL pass and I'll eventually be glad I didn't submit to it.

Such has been the case during your absence. And I'm very glad I haven't indulged my "demons." I've accomplished a lot while you've been gone. I've made our home a more user-friendly, sheltering and nurturing environment. I did this in the midst of a spiritual nightmare, where it would have been very easy for me to either give up or, even worse, to destroy rather than create.

I feel very good about myself for this.

I will never be able to function at full capacity. I have finally come to terms with that now. I will always have serious limitations.

There's no point in berating and punishing myself for that, as I have in the past. I have survived literal hell. It took a toll on me. There are certain aspects to life which will never be comfortable for me, and I will probably never go through these gracefully.

But I can protect myself from some possible damage. And the foundation of that protection is that I acknowledge my limitations, not push myself into situations where I'm vulnerable and unprotected, and stop forcing and punishing myself for not being like other people.

I am a very high functioning person. I work at a capacity which those unaffected by PTSD don't even reach. I'm not lazy. I'm not crazy.

I'm a very good person, with a very bad trauma history.

I'm sorry my damage has spilled over onto you. And I will make every effort at healing myself, both for my own sake and for yours. You don't need any more crap in your life, either.

I love you very much and I'm very committed to this relationship. If I thought, really thought, that I was too damaged, too broken or too dangerous to build on this foundation we have, I'd leave you in a heart beat.

But I'm firmly convinced I have a huge capacity to love, nurture, shelter and enhance the lives of others.

IF I stay within the bounds of my own needs.

This seperation, the issues it raises, my incapacitated attempts at forcing things, etc. has really shown me where I need to work and how to get there.

I refuse to isolate myself from love. And I refuse to isolate myself from you. You're one of the kindest, smartest, silliest and most interesting people I've met in a VERY long time.

I'm highly motivated to make this work.

And I know I can.

That's Butch Lesson #1: taking responsibility for my own damage, taking care of it, and not dumping it on you.

it's after 11pm

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

No replies to my email. You just went right back to sleep after I called, without even looking, didn't you?

Well, I'm taking the phone off the hook until I get back. I don't want people knowing I'm not home.

I don't know when I'll be back, of course.

I'm going to try to beg off overnight observation.

I need to take care of the house and my animals.

Why I'm bothering to tell YOU this is beyond me.

You've made your stance pretty clear: I'm just crazy, and I'm on my own.

I'll make my decisions accordingly.

Independent Lens

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Independent Lens"Girl Wrestler"
Tuesday, December 14, 2004 10 - 11:00 pm

Follow Texas teenager Tara Neal through the last year that state guidelines allow her to wrestle boys, amidst family conflict, pressures to cut weight and fierce policy debates over Title IX, which grants women's athletics proportionality in public schools. (CC, Stereo)

Log on to the companion Web site and find out what the future holds for girls' wrestling.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/girlwrestler

This is a Game, Ladies
Wednesday, December 15, 2004 9 - 11:00 pm

For more than two years, the producers of this documentary journeyed with Rutgers University's women's basketball team and their legendary coach, C. Vivan Stringer. One of the most successful basketball coaches of all time, Stringer is a survivor, a visionary, a mother and a widow. The game she teaches her players is the game of life. This film is not just about basketball. It's not about winning and losing. It's about growth, about coming of age, about girls becoming women. (CC, Stereo)

Curious about the life of a scholarship athlete? Think you have what it takes?

Take our online quiz and find out.
http://www.pbs.org/thisisagame

'Moral right takes us back to dark ages of sexuality'

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John Patterson: 'Moral right takes us back to dark ages of sexuality'
Date: Monday, December 06 @ 09:56:31 EST
Topic: The Religious Right

Hypocritical puritans hounded a leading US sex researcher to the grave. Now they're after his movie.

By John Patterson, Sydney Morning Herald

Bill Condon's biopic Kinsey would be an important movie at any time, but right now, with the "moral values" crowd in the ascendant and thirsty for the blood of heretics in the aftermath of George Bush's re-election, it's an absolutely essential movie.

Dr Alfred Kinsey, played by Liam Neeson, was the Harvard-trained entomologist who pioneered research into the sexual habits of Americans. After interviewing tens of thousands of men and women, he collected his findings in two books that changed the way Americans comprehended sex.

Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male, published in 1948, and its female counterpart (1953), revealed the bedroom (and locker room and barnyard) habits of Americans in a way that blew the lid off puritanism forever. "God, what a gap between social front and reality!" was the conclusion he came to. Kinsey's been dead for nearly half a century and now, thanks to the movie, the religious right want to dig him up and kill him all over again.

Working at the University of Indiana - about as "red" as you could hope to find nowadays, and sponsored by that well-known fifth-column, the Rockefeller Foundation - Kinsey and his team developed as precise an interview formula as was possible in a country still mired in sexual ignorance and fear.

He interviewed single and married straights, gays, lesbians, incarcerated rapists and sex criminals, even those who had sought congress with beasts of the field and farmyard, all without surrendering scientific objectivity or passing moral judgements.

Before he published his work, Americans assumed that sex occurred only after marriage, that homosexuals and lesbians were demonic inverts, and that masturbation led to godless communism, hairy-handedness and imbecilised high-school quarterbacks drooling on college jackets.

Kinsey's two books were bestsellers, but he became entangled in the neuroses of his time. The Rockefeller folk were hounded into dropping their support, and J. Edgar Hoover demanded - but didn't receive - Kinsey's assistance in witch-hunting gays at the US State Department. That Hoover was a cross-dressing, closeted homosexual who lived with his overpromoted pretty-boy assistant, FBI director Clyde Tolson, speaks volumes about the grotesque hypocrisy of public figures in those days. Kinsey's detractors lined up around the block to get their licks in, then as now, and it's possible that their efforts helped speed his early demise in 1956 aged 62.

Condon's movie does a splendid job of recreating the quasi-Victorian sexual politics of a time when people scarcely knew what to do or feel about their ungovernable sex drives. The film shows interview subjects startled to learn that babies do not emerge from the female bellybutton or that there's more than one position for coitus.

Kinsey is one of the inventors of our modern sex lives. He stands with Margaret Sanger, who agitated for birth control and backed research that gave us the pill by 1960 - which in turn gave us the unzipped sexual revolution and the bra-burning women's movement - and with Hugh Hefner, who 'fessed up and said flat out that, yup, he was hornier than a dog with two dicks and didn't care who knew it. If you've ever had a guilt-and-fear-free orgasm, you owe them all big time.

And because of that, the religious right still fear and despise Kinsey and his works. Check out some of the responses to the movie. "Kinsey's proper place is with the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele," says Robert Knight of Concerned Women for America, inadvertently showing us what he thinks of the Holocaust. Robert Peters of Morality in Media: "That's part of Kinsey's legacy: AIDS, abortion, the high divorce rate, pornography."

Focus on the Family's film critic, Tom Neven, calls the movie "rank propaganda for the sexual revolution and the homosexual agenda". And Judith Reisman, who has waged a long war against Kinsey's memory, refers to "a legacy of massive venereal disease, broken hearts and broken souls". These people are of a piece with new Republican congressmen who have sex on the brain, such as Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who thinks there is an epidemic of lesbianism in Oklahoma schools, and South Carolina's Jim DeMint who wants gays and pregnant single mothers barred from teaching decent, God-fearing folk.

At the dawn of a digitised, globalised millennium, these creeps want the clocks turned back to when the church held sway over our sexuality. They prefer us ignorant and terrified, alone in the dark, the better for them to control us through fear and guilt. Too bad for them that we live in the bright, vivid light of our incandescent dirty dreams.

Copyright 2004. The Sydney Morning Herald.

Reprinted from The Sydney Morning Herald:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Opinion/Moral-right-takes-us-back-to-dark-ages-of-sexuality/2004/12/05/1102182154111.html

The URL for this story is:
http://www.SmirkingChimp.com/article.php?sid=18969

oh, dear

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

Dear Ma,

y'know how people with black hair sometimes have those blue highlights, because of the way light refracts from the hair shafts?

Well, to darken hair, dye manufacturers are careful not to use actual black, for brown shades.

Most hair has a reddish cast to it, particularly dark brown hair.

Black would look very unnatural.

To counteract the reddishness in dark hair colors, manufacturers use purple in dyes.

It's a dusty, dark, plum purple.

Well, I forgot about that, when I decided to leave the dye in, almost twice as long as recommended on the package.

I have purple hair.

It isn't a really obvious purple, mind you. I have to be standing right under a pretty strong light. And people have to be really paying attention to see it.

But I definately have purple hair.

Now, last night, I wore the purple and black Pakinstani dress. And I was in the KiMo Theater, with subdued lighting.

So, my hair didn't really show very much, and blended into my clothing.

But my hair really is purple.

It'll calm down, after a few shampoos and a couple of weeks.

But, right now?

My hair is purple.

Love,

Ma

'Mothers, children, run and hide! America is coming to town!'

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.


Date: Monday, November 08 @ 09:56:14 EST
Topic: War & Terrorism

By Kirsten Anderberg, Alternative Press Review

Imagine walking down the street in your town, and finding yourself in a hailstorm of pamphlets, from another country, being dropped on you from an airplane above, telling the women and children to leave town, now, as war is impending and they will be in harm's way. I can only imagine such a scene, as I have never lived in a war zone. I am from the country doing a lot of the killing abroad, but my own personal safety, as well as that of my fellow Americans, has never been directly threatened by an occupying country within my country's borders, in my lifetime. So when I hear news reports that Americans have dropped pamphlets telling women and children to flee Fallujah, I can only imagine that scene.
As a mother.

I imagine that scene in the context of the stories I have read about what Vietnamese villagers went through when Americans did door to door searches in the Vietnam War, and how villagers waited in the forests around their towns, until the U.S. military had done the damage they were set on doing, then the villagers would return to try to rebuild the mess left.

An unsettled fear forever permeated the village thereafter as well, and indeed, intimidation is part of the American war tactics arsenal. Often the villagers could even watch the pillaging of their town from perches afar. And I have read accounts of Vietnam Vets, accounts of remorse and regret for what they participated in, while burning villages, innocent people's homes, and conducting brutal door to door occupations. I also saw a lot of pain and suffering when America invaded Afghanistan and refugee camps became swollen with hungry, sick and cold women, children, and the elderly. Refugee camps full of the exact people America is telling to flee Fallujah right now, by pamphlet drops.

I can imagine walking down my street and picking up one of those fliers, and reading that women and children need to flee the town. In my real situation, as a single mother, with no family and coming from poverty, with no car or savings, I can only imagine rushing home to pack our belongings, in a panic. I suppose you would need to put on your best walking shoes, if you had any. And your warmest coats. Candles and matches seem like they would be good, but maybe that would be a luxury. Socks would be nice if you had any. Something to carry water in. Food that could be transported. Utensils for eating and cooking. Any medicinal compounds and supplies. Necessary tools, scissors, knives, needles, thread, rope. A comb and toothbrush? Papers, such as birth certificates and passports. Phone numbers and addresses of people in other places that maybe could help me. Herb and Plant identification booklets. Pen, paper. Plastic sheets, tarps, anything waterproof. Clothing. Any maps I had of the region. One toy for child, perhaps, if there was room. And the heaviest of all, bedding. All of this I would need to be able to carry on my back for many miles and many days. While being responsible for a child in tow as well.

I feel there is great pain and suffering among the residents of Fallujah right now. Mothers are going through packing their things, just as I have described, to make way for the Americans.

The way the mainstream news is talking about the invasion of Fallujah, is as if it is a town full of toys, or robots, as in Toy Story, that can just be wound up and pointed in a new direction and there they will go! Leaving all their possessions, buildings, and town behind to be destroyed. I cannot believe the cold manner in which the American news announcers on TV tell us that the U.S. Military is dropping fliers on Fallujah telling the women and children to leave.
Can you IMAGINE if such a thing happened in Seattle? I can, and I am not liking what I am *feeling*. I can FEEL those mothers frantically trying to pack their belongings now, wondering what will happen to them, wondering if they will come home to burned houses and bombed buildings and infrastructure. I FEEL this because I have read the memoirs of Vietnam Vets who will *never* forget what they saw and what they were ordered to do in that war. Who forever are haunted by feelings of inhumanity after burning Vietnamese villages, as the villagers sat terrified in the woods nearby, watching, and waiting for the "liberators" to leave so they could go try to rebuild their villages and lives.

I recently read a book about the Vietnam War which had a section on door to door searches and village invasions. The brutality involved in door to door searches is inherent and frightening.

Often the invading military personnel do not speak the language of the people whose homes they want to invade and pillage. The invading soldiers often are unfamiliar and disrespectful of cultural differences, as well. Additionally, there is a frantic panic from the soldiers' adrenaline (and guilt), and if we are going to keep troops there against their will, after they were to be released from their tour of duty, who will they take that anger out on? The people who live in the country they are invading, of course. And when one's buddy is killed in action, while he is on extended tour duty, in the Vietnam War or in this Iraq War, it is often the tendency of the soldiers to want to take revenge on all Vietnamese, or all Iraqis, due to racism, for the death of their buddy. Indeed, some American soldiers, and many American citizens, seem to think *any* Iraqis deserve to die for what *they* did to America on 9/11, even though the connection between Iraq and 9/11 has yet to be proven! I have heard Americans say over and over that we should just "nuke them," meaning all of Iraq! I remember these same people saying the same thing about Iran in the 1970's.

When American soldiers invade a city or town, there is a frantic panic from villagers who cannot understand what the soldiers want or why they are destroying their villages. Additionally, American soldiers traditionally do not know how to differentiate the enemy guerillas from every day citizens in the foreign countries they invade. So, basically, they shoot anyone who runs! On the Jim Lehrer News Hour on Nov. 5, 2004, I was saddened to hear this exact subject broached by several military officials.

When Mr. Lehrer asked these military officials how the troops would be able to differentiate who is an enemy combatant and who is an ordinary citizen when invading Fallujah, the answer from the officers seemed to be that everyone who is not an enemy combatant will have fled the city by then, due to American military warnings, thus we do not need to care about that. I had heard someone talking on a news show not long ago about this idea of shooting whoever runs, like we did in the Vietnam War again. So, it only adds more chaos to the villagers' trauma when they cannot understand the language of the occupying troops, at their doors, while officers shoot their neighbors dead in front of their eyes, if they try to run!

I see the same ideas we used in the Vietnam War in play now in Iraq. General Westmoreland said during the Vietnam War, that the more Viet Cong dead, the better, basically. And in the Vietnam War, the U.S. soldiers could not tell ordinary Vietnamese citizens from "the enemy," mirroring our experiences in the Middle East right now. So they shot farmers as well as guerilla fighters.

This caused an outcry, so the military told soldiers only to shoot Vietnamese people "if they were running." When that system failed also, the policy often became, if they were dead and Vietnamese, they were just considered Viet Cong (or the enemy). THAT is what I expect to see in Fallujah. If we shot them dead, and they are Iraqi and in Fallujah, they were the enemy militia.

Period. Or as the military officials on the Jim Lehrer News Hour intimated, if they stayed in Fallujah, they *must* have been enemy fighters, because we told everyone else to leave. The thing that I did not see the American military officials explain was where all these sick, elderly and parenting citizens of Fallujah were supposed to go! Did we bring in large transport vehicles and moving vans to help these people relocate? Of course not! So, we are just telling the poorest sector in town to *disappear* and if they don't leave, and they are killed, these women, children, and elderly will probably just be tallied as part of the enemy militia in death. Just like Vietnam.

Articles by Kirsten Anderberg can be found at http://www.kirstenanderberg.com. You can receive Kirsten's articles, as they are written, via an email list called "Eat the Press." Go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/eatthepress to join the list.
Reprinted from Alternative Press Review:

This article comes from The Smirking Chimp
http://www.SmirkingChimp.com

The URL for this story is:
http://www.SmirkingChimp.com/article.php?sid=18599

Happy Hallween

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illegal rubber duckie

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Associated Press
Oct. 14, 2004
Ken York,
City Admin.
(931) 486-2252
Extension 215
Email: ken@ springhilltn.org

SPRING HILL, TN -- Katherine Williams says the yellow ducky sponge she put on sale at a flea market is merely a child's toy. City officials say the vibrator inside makes it a sex toy.

But officials in this Nashville suburb backed off from citing Williams for violating the city's sexually oriented business ordinance because she had already taken down her display by the time police responded to complaints Saturday. Nearby vendors also refused to be witnesses in the case.

"We've declined to prosecute because of a lack of evidence," City Administrator Ken York said Tuesday.

Williams, whose Passions & Pleasures business sells lotions and adult novelties at in-home parties, described her product line as "PG-13" and said she got only two negative comments at the flea market.

"Nothing we do is nasty, unless you have a nasty mind," she said, turning a knob on the yellow ducky's tail to make the sponge vibrate. "My 3-year-old son loves to play with this duck in the bath. He puts it on his neck and on his head."

Williams said she'll be back at the flea market next year.

"If she does, she'll be cited into court," York said. "That duck is a sexual toy, and it was on display. That was a vibrator on display in public view."

Published by
Associated Press

Is this the rubber duckie that's banned in Spring Hill, TN?

What do you think?

This material is copyrighted by its original publisher.

It is reprinted by Unknown�News without permission, solely for purposes of criticism, comment, and news reporting, in accordance with the Fair Use Guidelines of copyright material under 107 of U.S.C. Title 17.
http://www.unknownnews.org/041029rubberduckie.html

O'Really?

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

Date: 10/25/2004 15:22:32 -0700

Reply-to: fair

Subject: O'Reilly on Sexual Harassment: In His Own Words All headers � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � FAIR-L
� � � � � � � � � �Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
� � � � � � � Media analysis, critiques and activism

here

MEDIA ADVISORY:
O'Reilly on Sexual Harassment: In His Own Words

October 25, 2004

Andrea Mackris, an associate producer for Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly
Factor, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against host Bill O'Reilly on
October 13. �O'Reilly has countersued Mackris and her attorney for
extortion, claiming that they demanded $60 million to settle the case out
of court-- a claim Mackris's attorney rejects. �As some news accounts have
pointed out, O'Reilly's lawyers are not denying that the sexually explicit
phone calls and conversations O'Reilly is alleged to have initiated
actually happened; instead, they are arguing that such behavior does not
constitute harassment (New York Times, 10/14/04).

According to some news reports, an out-of-court settlement is still a
possibility; if that does not happen, O'Reilly is of course entitled to
his day in court. �But over the years, O'Reilly has expressed some very
strong opinions about sexual harassment and the moral responsibilities of
public officials. �These comments should be taken into consideration as
viewers and reporters consider the case, no matter what the outcome.

--On public officials, their private lives and moral judgment (7/16/01):

"There is a strong movement in America to remove any kind of value-based
argument. We see this all the time.... Public officials have the right to
lie about sex because it is no one's business what they do in private,
even if sexual harassment suits are lodged against them, i.e., President
Clinton, or even if a young girl disappears shortly after talking with a
congressman she was intimate with. Hello, Gary Condit. Many Americans
simply cannot or will not make judgments about behavior. And this is a
tremendous change in our society. The danger here is that the absence of
value-based judgments breaks down justice and discipline."

--On Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky (8/7/01):

"I was screaming this, nobody else really drove the nail. But under the
federal guidelines, as you know, if you have more power than a subordinate
and you both work in the federal system, it's sexual harassment for you to
have even a consensual affair with that person."

--When Ohio TV anchor Catherine Bosley resigned after photos of her
participating in a wet t-shirt contest were posted on the internet,
O'Reilly thought she should be let go (1/23/04):

"Let's be realistic. Politicians, news people, clergy all have images, and
all depend on the trust of the public to succeed. So we have a young woman
here who-- anchoring the news, and her pictures are all over the
Internet..... So it intrudes on her ability to communicate the news, does
it not?"

"The station has an obligation to put on people who are going to bolster
their news image. This woman, in a community like that particularly, but
in -- I think in any city in the USA, becomes a joke, and, therefore, the
station becomes a joke, and you can't be a joke if you want to compete in
the news area."

"Are you aware that in every newscaster's contract, there's a moral clause
that says, if you embarrass the station publicly in any way, they can let
you go.... Once you go public and do something like that, although it's
not illegal, it embarrasses your employer because your employer operates
on credibility."

-- Discussing an Elle magazine survey about sex in the workplace
(5/13/02):

"I have to explain to the audience that there is no sex allowed at Fox on
the job. We can't have sex here at Fox. �But MSNBC apparently have lots of
sex over there, which is why we beat them in the ratings. �Because as
we're working to give you programs, they're all having sex."

When one guest-- a human resources expert-- expressed skepticism about how
widespread workplace sex could be, O'Reilly responded:

"You know, I do know some people who do that. And here's why they do it.
It's a sense of danger. And a lot of people like that danger element in
sex. So they want to have sex and maybe they'll get caught. And that kind
of heightens their-- whatever."

--On October 21, 2003, O'Reilly said the following:

"Put yourself in this position. You make an enemy. That person accuses you
of some sex crime, maybe harassment. You're totally innocent, but the
accusation is made public. Your life will never, ever be the same. Talking
Points believes society must rethink how this sex stuff is handled and
that those who do bogus charges should be punished. Raping a person's
character is a crime, too. And evil people who do that should be held
accountable."

O'Reilly then posed these questions to his guests:

"There's no real stats on how many sex charges, sex harassment charges,
all of that, molestation, are bogus, is there?"

"This new sexual harassment can be used as a weapon, can it not?"

--On March 23, 2004, O'Reilly interviewed Linda Mills, author of the book "Insult to Injury: Rethinking Our Responses to Intimate Abuse." O'Reilly
previewed the segment this way: "In a moment, a professor of social work
says women may bear some responsibility for sexual harassment." �During
the interview, O'Reilly explained his take on the law this way:

"Look, I think that the sexual harassment thing is used as a club, as I said, by many women, all right. It's something they have against men, a
threat to keep men at bay in a very competitive marketplace.... You know,
there are women who manipulate themselves and use their sexuality to get ahead, all right. And then these women will turn around and file a sexual
harassment.... But how do you prove it? It's very difficult to prove it."

O'Reilly continued: "Well, it's changed my life. I'll tell you, when I was
a thug coming up, I mean I would say almost anything around women, and now
I don't say anything, you know, that could be remotely taken-- you know,
because, obviously, I'm a big target, and any kind of a thing like that
stigmatizes you, whether you're guilty or not, doesn't it? So it's --
women -- that's a big power source for them, and I think some women use it
ruthlessly."

FAIR produces CounterSpin, a weekly radio show heard on over 130 stations in the U.S. and Canada. To find the CounterSpin station nearest you, visit here

Feel free to respond to FAIR ( fair@fair.org ). We can't reply to everything, but we will look at each message. We especially appreciate documented examples of media bias or censorship. And please send copies of your email correspondence with media outlets, including any responses, to fair@fair.org .

You can subscribe to FAIR-L at our web site: here . Our subscriber list is kept confidential.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �FAIR
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � (212) 633-6700
� � � � � � � � � � � � here
� � � � � � � � � � � � �E-mail: fair@fair.org

O'Really?

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

Date: 10/25/2004 15:22:32 -0700

Reply-to: fair

Subject: O'Reilly on Sexual Harassment: In His Own Words All headers � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � FAIR-L
� � � � � � � � � �Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
� � � � � � � Media analysis, critiques and activism

here

MEDIA ADVISORY:
O'Reilly on Sexual Harassment: In His Own Words

October 25, 2004

Andrea Mackris, an associate producer for Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly
Factor, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against host Bill O'Reilly on
October 13. �O'Reilly has countersued Mackris and her attorney for
extortion, claiming that they demanded $60 million to settle the case out
of court-- a claim Mackris's attorney rejects. �As some news accounts have
pointed out, O'Reilly's lawyers are not denying that the sexually explicit
phone calls and conversations O'Reilly is alleged to have initiated
actually happened; instead, they are arguing that such behavior does not
constitute harassment (New York Times, 10/14/04).

According to some news reports, an out-of-court settlement is still a
possibility; if that does not happen, O'Reilly is of course entitled to
his day in court. �But over the years, O'Reilly has expressed some very
strong opinions about sexual harassment and the moral responsibilities of
public officials. �These comments should be taken into consideration as
viewers and reporters consider the case, no matter what the outcome.

--On public officials, their private lives and moral judgment (7/16/01):

"There is a strong movement in America to remove any kind of value-based
argument. We see this all the time.... Public officials have the right to
lie about sex because it is no one's business what they do in private,
even if sexual harassment suits are lodged against them, i.e., President
Clinton, or even if a young girl disappears shortly after talking with a
congressman she was intimate with. Hello, Gary Condit. Many Americans
simply cannot or will not make judgments about behavior. And this is a
tremendous change in our society. The danger here is that the absence of
value-based judgments breaks down justice and discipline."

--On Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky (8/7/01):

"I was screaming this, nobody else really drove the nail. But under the
federal guidelines, as you know, if you have more power than a subordinate
and you both work in the federal system, it's sexual harassment for you to
have even a consensual affair with that person."

--When Ohio TV anchor Catherine Bosley resigned after photos of her
participating in a wet t-shirt contest were posted on the internet,
O'Reilly thought she should be let go (1/23/04):

"Let's be realistic. Politicians, news people, clergy all have images, and
all depend on the trust of the public to succeed. So we have a young woman
here who-- anchoring the news, and her pictures are all over the
Internet..... So it intrudes on her ability to communicate the news, does
it not?"

"The station has an obligation to put on people who are going to bolster
their news image. This woman, in a community like that particularly, but
in -- I think in any city in the USA, becomes a joke, and, therefore, the
station becomes a joke, and you can't be a joke if you want to compete in
the news area."

"Are you aware that in every newscaster's contract, there's a moral clause
that says, if you embarrass the station publicly in any way, they can let
you go.... Once you go public and do something like that, although it's
not illegal, it embarrasses your employer because your employer operates
on credibility."

-- Discussing an Elle magazine survey about sex in the workplace
(5/13/02):

"I have to explain to the audience that there is no sex allowed at Fox on
the job. We can't have sex here at Fox. �But MSNBC apparently have lots of
sex over there, which is why we beat them in the ratings. �Because as
we're working to give you programs, they're all having sex."

When one guest-- a human resources expert-- expressed skepticism about how
widespread workplace sex could be, O'Reilly responded:

"You know, I do know some people who do that. And here's why they do it.
It's a sense of danger. And a lot of people like that danger element in
sex. So they want to have sex and maybe they'll get caught. And that kind
of heightens their-- whatever."

--On October 21, 2003, O'Reilly said the following:

"Put yourself in this position. You make an enemy. That person accuses you
of some sex crime, maybe harassment. You're totally innocent, but the
accusation is made public. Your life will never, ever be the same. Talking
Points believes society must rethink how this sex stuff is handled and
that those who do bogus charges should be punished. Raping a person's
character is a crime, too. And evil people who do that should be held
accountable."

O'Reilly then posed these questions to his guests:

"There's no real stats on how many sex charges, sex harassment charges,
all of that, molestation, are bogus, is there?"

"This new sexual harassment can be used as a weapon, can it not?"

--On March 23, 2004, O'Reilly interviewed Linda Mills, author of the book "Insult to Injury: Rethinking Our Responses to Intimate Abuse." O'Reilly
previewed the segment this way: "In a moment, a professor of social work
says women may bear some responsibility for sexual harassment." �During
the interview, O'Reilly explained his take on the law this way:

"Look, I think that the sexual harassment thing is used as a club, as I said, by many women, all right. It's something they have against men, a
threat to keep men at bay in a very competitive marketplace.... You know,
there are women who manipulate themselves and use their sexuality to get ahead, all right. And then these women will turn around and file a sexual
harassment.... But how do you prove it? It's very difficult to prove it."

O'Reilly continued: "Well, it's changed my life. I'll tell you, when I was
a thug coming up, I mean I would say almost anything around women, and now
I don't say anything, you know, that could be remotely taken-- you know,
because, obviously, I'm a big target, and any kind of a thing like that
stigmatizes you, whether you're guilty or not, doesn't it? So it's --
women -- that's a big power source for them, and I think some women use it
ruthlessly."

FAIR produces CounterSpin, a weekly radio show heard on over 130 stations in the U.S. and Canada. To find the CounterSpin station nearest you, visit here

Feel free to respond to FAIR ( fair@fair.org ). We can't reply to everything, but we will look at each message. We especially appreciate documented examples of media bias or censorship. And please send copies of your email correspondence with media outlets, including any responses, to fair@fair.org .

You can subscribe to FAIR-L at our web site: here . Our subscriber list is kept confidential.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �FAIR
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � (212) 633-6700
� � � � � � � � � � � � here
� � � � � � � � � � � � �E-mail: fair@fair.org

89-year-old Quaker woman jailed for anti-war protest

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89-year-old Quaker woman jailed for anti-war protest here

Green Belt Movement

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

Daughter of 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai Discusses
her Mother, Kenya and the Environment

We speak with the Wanjira Maathai, daughter of Kenyan environmentalist
Wangari Maathai who was recently awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Wanjira is the international liaison for the world-renowned Green Belt
Movement which was founded by her mother.

Listen/Watch/Read
here

Green Belt Movement

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

Daughter of 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai Discusses
her Mother, Kenya and the Environment

We speak with the Wanjira Maathai, daughter of Kenyan environmentalist
Wangari Maathai who was recently awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Wanjira is the international liaison for the world-renowned Green Belt
Movement which was founded by her mother.

Listen/Watch/Read
here

Stamping out rampant Lesbianism, one stall at a time

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

Steve Horowitz: 'They're here, they're queer, let's vote on it'

Date: Friday, October 22 @ 10:19:29 EDT
Topic: Conservatives And The Right
By Steve Horowitz, CounterBias

Conservatives are always looking for new things to get worked up about. And Republicans are always looking for new ways to exploit their paranoia for political gain.

If it's not evolution, it's allowing women to vote and own property. Or the mixing of races and the end of prayer in public schools. Or the possibility that someone, somewhere, might take a match to the flag.

Yes, as Roseanne Rosannadanna used to say, it's always something. More often than not, it's something that requires a constitutional amendment to fix. And now it's gay marriage.

If you're like me, you've been too busy raising kids, paying bills and wondering how long it's been since you rotated your tires to worry about who carries who across the threshold. But conservatives aren't like us. Things like gay marriage are important to them. And with same-sex marriage bans on the ballot in 11 states, they could turn out in enough numbers on election day to affect issues that really matter.

Like which Yalie sits in the Oval Office.

At this point, my friends, I'm going to ask you to suppress the contempt you feel for these people and ask yourself:
What is it about homosexuals filing joint tax returns that frightens them so? Why, in the words of a Republican Senate candidate in Arkansas, is gay marriage "the most important issue, I believe, in America"?

Okay, I'm not sure either. But I know it has something to do with "the sanctity of marriage," which apparently would be violated if "best man" gets a whole new meaning. And I know it has a lot to do with "activist judges."

Activist judges, as the President has patiently explained to us, are "redefining marriage" to suit their personal views. And that would be wrong, just as it was when earlier judicial activists took it upon themselves to strike down segregation, poll taxes, literacy tests, interrogation without counsel, and laws forbidding birth control.

So groups like the Family Research Council tell us that the anti-gay referendums in 11 states were not "cooked up" just to ensure the turnout of likely Republican voters -- even though they and like-minded groups are distributing "scorecards" with legislators' gay-marriage voting records. No, they're doing it to "stand up for traditional marriage."

We should be thankful. Without the efforts of these sanctimonious people, anything could happen. Just look at Oklahoma, where, according to GOP Senate candidate Tom Coburn, "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools... that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom" at a time.

And Oklahoma's a red state!

You may now return to your previous levels of contempt.

Steve Horowitz is a freelance advertising and political writer living in Hollywood, Fla. His blog is Love America, Hate Bush.
� 2004 CounterBias.com

Reprinted from CounterBias:
CounterBias

This article comes from The Smirking Chimp
SmirkingChimp.com

The URL for this story is:
here

US says women's rights are wrong

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

http://www.unknownnews.org/041019sdrr.html

U.S. won't sign U.N. statement on women's rights
Associated Press
Oct. 14, 2004

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United States has refused to join 85 other heads of state and governments in signing a statement that endorsed a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman's right to education, health care, and choice about having children.
President Bush's administration withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to "sexual rights."

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Ryan wrote to organizers of the statement that that the United States was committed to the plan of action adopted at a 1994 U.N. conference in Cairo and "to the empowerment of women and the need to promote women's fullest enjoyment of universal human rights."

"The United States is unable, however, to endorse the world leaders' statement," Ryan said, because it "includes the concept of 'sexual rights,' a term that has no agreed definition in the international community."

The 1994 Cairo program, signed by 179 countries, including the United States, says women have the "right to make decisions concerning reproduction, free of discrimination, coercion and violence as expressed in human rights documents."

While the Bush administration refused to sign the followup statement, the United States under Clinton did endorse the platform adopted a year after Cairo at the U.N. conference in Beijing that specifically mentioned sexual rights.
The United States took a leading role in drafting the Beijing document, which states: "The human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence."

Bush has blocked $34 million in congressionally approved annual assistance to the United Nations Population Fund, alleging the U.N. agency helped China manage programs that involved forced abortions. China calls the charge baseless.

Published by
Associated Press

military abortions

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

Hi,

I thought your readers might be interested in this outrageous injustice
to our women in the military, particularly those serving in Iraq and
Afghanistan.

Might you consider posting something about International Planned
Parenthood Federation's petition to Congress about this topic on your
discussion Blog?

The petition is online at:
here [personal note: I never sign online petitions; it's too easy for spammers to harvest email addresses that way].
�
Please let me know if you'd like to know more (more information is also
available at:
here).

Thanks,
Mara

Stop Mistreating Women in the Military!
here;

Did you know that the military won't cover the cost of abortion, even if
the servicewoman has been raped? But the military does cover the cost of
cosmetic surgery, including breast implants, nose jobs, and liposuction!

A ban on military abortions forces soldiers who become pregnant while
serving overseas to seek abortions at private clinics and to pay for the
procedure themselves, making it difficult and costly to end a pregnancy.

Worse yet, the ban leaves women serving in countries where abortion is
illegal - like Iraq and Afghanistan - nowhere to turn, effectively
depriving them of freedom of choice.

that gal o mine

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

We had a nearly-illegal amount of fun together this weekend. We didn't do a damn thing special.

We cruised around, looking for yard sales. We cleaned out her car trunk. We saw two, dollar movies: Cat Woman and The Terminal. We shopped a dollar store. We went to her job and worked on one of her projects.

I guess the reason it was so much fun was because we really enjoy each other.
Oh, we bicker and whine. We --literally-- poke each other in the eye and step on each other's feet. We get paranoid about each other's motives and meanings.

Each of us has had her heart, mind, spirit and body broken by stupid, cruel, selfish, cold-blooded people. We have every reason in the world to be suspicious and distrustful.

But we come to our senses reasonably quickly. We talk until we understand each other, no matter how angry or hurt we might be.

She's my best friend. In fact, she's the best friend I've had in many years.

And I'm still crazy in love with her. A gesture, a look in her eye, that lower lip pout, a phrase... it doesn't take much for me to be all gushy.

I'm so the luckiest girl in the world.

There's so much I can't write in these dang blogs yet.

But you'll have to just take my word for it: she's a miracle.

And funny as hell.

When we first moved in, my old cat, Mugwart, peed in her closet a few times. He's old, sick and not-quite-right in the head. And he's stubborn. He likes to pee in the shower. Her closet is right outside the bathroom door; guess he thought it was a shower.

Well, one night, she was hanging her bag in her closet. She said, "It's been two days since anybody peed in the closet."

Just then, her bag fell off the hanger and startled her. It holds her pager, cell phone and other stuff she needs for her job. So, it startled her and it made her laugh.

So hard, she peed on the floor!

I was standing right there and just fell out, laughing... which made her laugh more...which made her pee more...

oh, lordy!

Every now and again, when I want to tease her, I just quietly say, "It's been two days since anybody peed in my closet." And we bust up laughing.

Space woman

You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.

	E-Skeptic #35 for September 24, 2004 � We encourage you to forward this e-Skeptic to new potential subscribers. Newcomers can subscribe to e-Skeptic for free by sending a blank e-mail to: join-skeptics@lyris.net www.skeptic.com: Where Nothing is Certain...But We're Not Sure About That... FAMILY="SANSSERIF"> FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Contents  Caltech Distinguished Lecture Series Starts Season this Sunday . Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God Live On Stage (& DVD) Last Season's Lecture Videos Now Available Online ���� ���� Caltech Distinguished Lecture Series Begins New Season this Sunday: Women in Science: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century Science journalist Laura S. Woodmansee, author of Women Astronauts and Women of Space: Cool Careers on the Final Frontier, will talk about the changing role of women in science from ancient times to today. Laura will discuss how the pioneering women of science overcame obstacles to follow their dreams. Today, women work in every field of science and space exploration, but it hasn’t always been this way. Even today, women are underrepresented in most technical fields. Laura has interviewed many powerful women in science including astronauts Sally Ride, Eileen Collins, Susan Helms, Shannon Lucid, the late Kalpana Chawla of Space Shuttle Columbia, Jill Tartar of SETI, Mars engineer Donna Shirley, and many others. Discover what experiences and advice these role models have shared. Laura's new company, Space Girl Productions (www.woodmansee.com), creates entertaining educational video s and DVDs. Book signing to follow lecture. Plus: Skeptic publisher Michael Shermer will regale skeptics with tales from his month-long adventure with Frank Sulloway's expedition to retrace Darwin's footsteps in the Galapagos islands and document the ecological changes over the past century and a half. Sunday, September 26, 2:00 p.m Baxter Lecture Hall, Caltech, Pasadena, CA. Details and Directions go to top Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God" Live On Stage (and on DVD!) Not too long ago, Julia Sweeney, actor, comedian, and star of Saturday Night Live, delighted the Skeptic Society with her work in progress, The God Monologue. It became our best selling lecture tape. Now, this month, it will be our first DVD offering. Simultainiously, and by sheer coincidence, Julia is about to unveil the the finished show. Renamed Lettinging Go of God", it just began previews at the Hudson Theater Backstage. Opening night is Friday, October 8, and is already sold out. It runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8, and Sundays at 3. (more info: plays411.com/website/htmlconsumer/play_info.asp?show_id=139) back to top Recent Lecture Recordings Available Online for the First Time! � � � � Education   Who is Science Writing For? by Margaret Wertheim Evolution   UPRIGHT: The Evolutionary Key to Becoming Human by Dr. Craig Stanford God Question The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science by Dr. Taner Edis Magic and Psychics   Mind Power: Fact, Fiction & Fakery by Ian Rowland Math, Statistics & Risk   The Art Of the Infinite: The Pleasures Of Mathematics by Dr. Robert Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan Misc   The End Of The Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism, and Anthropology by Dr. Jennifer Michael Hecht   Science Fact and Science Fiction by Dr. David Brin Psychology & Human Nature Freedom Evolves: Free Will, Determinism, & Evolution by Dr. Daniel C. Dennett   LSD, Spirituality and Creativity by Dr. Marlene Dobkin de Rios   New Brain Science by Dr. Stephen Quartz   Phantom Words & Auditory Illusions by Dr. Diana Deutsch   The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach by Dr. Christof Koch   The Science of Good & Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Share, Care & Follow the Golden Rule by Dr. Michael Shermer   A Skeptic On Easter Island-Sex, Lies & Fieldnotes by Dr. Joanne van Tilburg The Descent Of Men, Revealing the Mysteries Of Maleness by Dr. Steve Jones Religion   God Against the Gods by Jonathan Kirsch   Rational Mysticism: The Border between Science & Spirituality by John Horgan Scams The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam by Dean Cameron The Cosmos-Space Exploration   Astrobiology: The Life & Death of Planet Earth by Drs. Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee   NASA and the Future of Human Space Exploration: A Skeptical View by Dr. Robert Zubrin See all our lectures and books at the Skeptic Shop back to top Permission to print, distribute, and post with proper citation and acknowledgment. Copyright 2004 Michael Shermer, Skeptics Society, Skeptic magazine, e-Skeptic magazine. Contact at www.skeptic.com and skepticmag@aol.com. If you'd like to join the distribution list (it's FREE), email join-skeptics@lyris.net . � go to top