Category Archives: women

Banning Circumcision

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There’s a group in California that is trying to get circumcision of boys banned.  I cannot understand the routine circumcision of boys–with exception for religious rites, such as the Jewish tradition.

When I had my firstborn, my son, in the early eighties, I was with the new crowd of questioning why this procedure was being done?  I guess I was more of rebel that I had thought because I didn’t want to do it to him, and the family thought I was bonkers.  Something happened, however, when a nurse was cleaning my son and doctor had to perform an emergency procedure and cut into the foreskin after it failed to return to normal position (I’m trying very hard not to get too graphic here).    After about five days, I was questioning whether this was a good idea, and caved to family pressure to have him circumcised.  One of my many regrets…

Here’s a link to Parents mag that discusses the pros and cons of it.   I used to read this mag as a guide and you can tell by the wishy-washy article that it was difficult to justify not getting a circumcision.  One of the stupidest reasons is that “I don’t want him to look different than everyone else…”

I say leave the kid alone, and if there are repeated urinary tract infections or some other health issue, then by all means have it removed…but to do so because you *may* have issues without really testing the waters doesn’t make sense.   It’s like removing the tonsils because the kid may have repeated infections.

And if the kid decides later in life that he wishes to remove it then he has that option.

And I feel the same way about ear-piercing.  I see little baby girls with ears pierced and I cringe.  Let the child make up her own mind on whether she wants pierced ears or not.

Lastly, one has to wonder at what kind of psychological damage this does–a baby being hurt like that by adults has to have some sort of impact.  I know that they did not use anesthetic when my son was circumcised–I’ll always wonder what that did to him.  They actually tried to tell me that babies don’t feel pain.  What utter crap.

Vandana Shiva

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More from the organic farmers’s group–this article on Vandana Shiva, an intelligent, feminist activist who is a delight to watch whenever she appears on DN!   She doesn’t back down and she has sound arguments to all the corporate-speak.

From the article:

Why do you refer to the term seed slavery?

In another time, some people thought it was alright to own other people as slaves. In our times some corporations think it is alright to own life on earth through patents and intellectual property rights (IPR). Patents are granted for inventions, and life is not an invention. These IPR monopolies on seeds are also creating a new bondage and dependency for farmers who are getting trapped in debt to pay royalties. This is why 270,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide.

Word.

Be sure to click on the Puztai link.  Wow. This falls under  “if you have nothing to hide…”  then why are you trying to quash this information and silence a scientist who made such a discovery…?

 

Dennis Banks on DN

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DN! has a clip up of Dennis Banks on Columbus Day, or Indigenous Peoples Day.  

I never learned about how Columbus and the Spaniards treated the Native peoples until college.  They would  sharpen their knives and then cut the Natives to see if they were sharp enough, they raped the women, and worked the men, women, and children until they literally dropped dead mining gold.   There are horror stories of babies being pulled from their mothers’ arms and being fed to dogs.  And then there was the religious bullying of converting them to Catholicism because their spirituality intimidated the Spaniards.

Paradise lost…

 

Women of Togo March

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…I guess the go-for-a-week-without-sex-thing didn’t work out so well.  No mention of it, anyway.

In other news, Koch Conservatives are urging women to keep their clothes on for other reasons….

You know, I’m almost disappointed that the election is coming up so soon…things are just starting to get interesting…

…chastity belts will be the next thing advocated by these groups…

Aung San Suu Kyi

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…is coming to Fort Wayne tomorrow. She is giving a speech in her native tongue at the Memorial Coliseum free of charge.

For those that don’t know, Fort Wayne is home to the largest Burmese population in the United States.

Story here:  http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/ipfw-screens-movie-before-a-nobel-peace-prize-winner-visits-fort-wayne(of course, there are the prejudiced ones who put their stupid comments in the comments section….<sigh> and the rightwing radio station has said little, if anything, about the trip.

I want to go, but my car is having issues and I might not get it repaired in time to drive out there.

Anyway, it’s a historical event for this town and I’m happy that she is able to make the trip.

If you wish, you may listen to the speech on the local public radio station:  WBOI Link here:  http://nipr.fm/

 

 

So…it’s come to this…

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Good Grief.  

The ultimate insecure man…

…who now has the tools to feed that insecurity.  What was he hoping to do with the information?  Embarrass her?  Catch her in the act of something?  It’s not like the days of divorce before—where you had to have grounds for a divorce…so I’m at a loss as to what his ultimate reasons were…

If your marriage is that broken, it’s time to walk away dude.

Think about this technology and single women…living in apartments that their landlords have access to anytime they want…pretty unnerving.  I’ve seen ads for teddy bears with cameras in them, shower heads with cameras in them (marketed under the shady reason of a “nanny cam” )  etc. , and always wondered about certain shady individuals who use the technology for their own creepy desires.

Big Brother, indeed.

 

Expanding VAWA to protect Native Women

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Turtle Talk has this blog up on a petition to expand Violence Against Women Act to protect Native American women.

Video here:

 

Here’s an article with more details on what is going on.  Be forewarned–the links to other instances of rape and people condoning it (Australia)–even participating in it (California) are tough to read. The 15-year-old gal that was raped barely escaped being murdered, if she was so brutalized that she was unconscious.  Makes me sick to my stomach.  What can possibly be going on in someone’s brain to make them treat another human being like that??

Do as I say, not as I do…

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…is how Rahm Emanuel operates.

Story here on the private school where he sends his kids.  His kids enjoy a good education with art, physical education, languages, and God forbid, libraries…

…while he advocates charter schools run not by education majors, but finance majors; busing kids clear across town; longer school days that don’t necessarily mean a better education; and questionable evaluation measures for the kids and their teachers…

From the story:

Writing on the University of Chicago’s Lab School website two years ago, [Director David] Magill noted, “Measuring outcomes through standardized testing and referring to those results as the evidence of learning and the bottom line is, in my opinion, misguided and, unfortunately, continues to be advocated under a new name and supported by the current [Obama] administration.”

Well said.  But is anyone listening…?

More on the Chicago Teacher’s Strike

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Valerie Strauss has an excellent article up here on her perspective of the critical reasons for the strike.

The problem with the whole pay incentive thing is that really doesn’t appeal to those who love kids and love to teach–this appeals to people who are there for the paycheck…

People who love money over everything else have little sense of fairness and compassion.

I really don’t want them anywhere near kids…