Author: storiesinamerica

As you watch, listen and read the news today and this week, think about these statistics:
 
When W was first selected, the media watchers Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting looked at who appeared on the evening news on ABC, CBS and NBC. Ninety-two percent of all U.S. sources interviewed were white, 85 percent were male, and where party affiliation was identifiable, 75 percent were Republican.

Those numbers haven’t changed much. According to the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center, on the three main U.S. broadcast networks, 87 percent of “expert” sound bytes are provided by men.

On the Sunday talk shows, it’s worse. The ratio of male to female guests is 9 to 1. After 9/11, the frequency of women guests on those shows dropped an additional 39 percent, according to the White House Project.

The picture isn’t as bleak when it comes to women in management. Women currently hold 35.5 percent of newsroom supervisory positions, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. That’s slightly better than 33 percent in 1999. Overall, women make up 37.7 percent of the newsroom.

And then there are magazines. A great website, womentk.com, tracks the ratio of male to female writers in national general interest magazines, including The Atlantic, Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. The ratio of male to female bylines in those magazines is 1,037 to 355. That’s 1,037 male writers and 355 female writers.

Because so many of you have probably gotten used to seeing so many men on television, it’s important to point out that on cable television, the only women who have their own shows are Paula Zahn, (extreme fluff), Nancy Grace, Rita Cosby and  Greta Van Susteren. Grace, Cosby and Van Susteren spend their valuable airtime on murders, kidnapping and other sensational stories.

The media is still a man’s world and the lefty press isn’t any better than the mainstream. Why is this important? Because women and men come to the table with very different life experiences and views than men. When I started out in radio, I was the only female on an all-male staff. The only stories about women’s issues came from me. The only stories about how a merger would impact people, rather than pocketbooks, came from me. It’s not that the men didn’t care about these issues — it’s that they didn’t think about them. And that’s why it’s important to fight for and encourage more women to get into management. At the end of the day, that’s where the ultimate decisions are made.

Unlike millions of Americans, I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by excellent transportation and only drive when absolutely necessary. For those of you who have no choice but to drive on a regular basis and are going away for the long weekend, check out this Buyblue.org list of oil company donations to political parties. Only one company, Amerada Hess, gives to Democrats. The rest give to Republicans. Hey, thanks for the $10.7 billion in tax breaks we didn’t need.
Citgo – $2,500 to Republicans (click here to read about the Citgo BUY-cott)
Shell – $86,000 to Republcians
BP (Beyond Petroleum – brilliant marketing name) – $209,498 to Republicans
ConocoPhilips – $276,500 to Republicans
Chevron – $383,800 to Republicans

And the winner is…

Exxon Mobil – $779,964 to Republicans

Have a good weekend and drive safely…

“We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
-Five-star Army General Dwight Eisenhower’s last speech as president in 1961
I finally saw Why We Fight last night, a chilling film about the history and impact of the military-industrial complex. You’ll see amazing footage from bomb making plants and weapon company expos and you’ll hear from the men who dropped the first bombs on Baghdad. This film is not a liberal rant against war; it features people who both oppose and favor American domination through pre-emptive action.

Here are a few facts about the military-industrial complex:

*Forty-nine percent of your taxes go to the military industrial complex.

*The military’s share of the income tax dollar has risen by 20 percent since 2000, while the share of spending has dropped for job training (-21 percent), environment (-19 percent), housing (-7 percent) and veterans’ benefits (-2 percent), according to the National Priorities Project, a non-partisan, non-profit research group.

*Classified military spending has reached its highest level since 1988, near the end of the Cold War, a new independent analysis has found. Classified, or “black,” programs now appear to account for about $30.1 billion, or 19 percent, of the acquisition money the Defense Department is requesting for fiscal year 2007, according to Steven M. Kosiak, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, an independent policy-research organization. The figure is more than double the amount the Pentagon requested in 1995, when classified military acquisition spending reached a post-Cold War low.

*The biggest windfall in the invasion of Iraq has most certainly gone to the oil services and logistics company Halliburton . The company, which was formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney, had revenue of over $8 billion in contracts in Iraq in 2003 alone. And while Halliburton’s dealings in Iraq have been dogged everywhere by scandal – including now a criminal investigation into overcharging by Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root for gas shipped into Iraq – Vice President Cheney manages to be doing quite well from the deal. He owns $433,000 unexercised Halliburton stock options worth more than $10 million dollars.
Source: CorpWatch

*Lockheed Martin is the world’s #1 military contractor, responsible for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, F-16, F/A-22 fighter jet, and Javelin missiles. They’ve also made millions through insider trading, falsifying accounts, and bribing officials. According to the Arms Trade Resource Center, Lockheed Martin gets $105 from each U.S. taxpayer and $228 from each U.S. household. In 2002 the company was effectively taxed at 7.7% compared to an average tax rate for individuals of 21-33%.

In late 2001 the company was awarded the world’s largest weapons contract ever, a $200 billion deal to build the Joint Strike Fighter, a “next-generation” combat jet that eventually will replace aircraft used by the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. In the last few years the SEC has investigated Lockheed for insider trading and falsifying their accounts.

Lockheed Martin did not win the contract on force of personality alone, or fighter plane design. During the calendar year 2000, Lockheed Martin spent more than $9.8 million lobbying members of Congress and the Clinton administration, more than double the $4.2 million the company spent during 1999. Among the company’s newest lobbyists: Haley Barbour, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. During the 1999-2000 election cycle, Lockheed Martin contributed just over $2.7 million in soft money, PAC and individual contributions to federal candidates and parties. More than two-thirds of that money went to Republicans. Lockheed Martin spends more on lobbying Congress than any of its competitors, spending a whopping $9.7 million in 2002. Only General Electric and Philip Morris reported more lobbying expenses. And in the 2004 election cycle, Lockheed contributed more than $1.9 million.
Source: CorpWatch

*Today the victors of modern wars no longer rape and pillage as their predecessors did, instead they make extraordinary profits by giving contracts to their favorite companies to rebuild what they have destroyed and then hand the bill to local taxpayers to pay. For example, within days of the American occupation of Iraq, Bechtel of San Francisco, California, was hired to repair the power system, telephone exchanges and hospitals, weeks after multi-billionaire Riley Bechtel, the principal shareholder, was sworn in as a member of President Bush’s Export Council to advise the government on how to create markets for American companies overseas.
Source: CorpWatch

Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing moms on this list…

“Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts  ….  Say firmly: Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
-Peace Activist Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)
Julia was instrumental in creating Mother’s Day in 1870 in reaction to the carnage and suffering of the Civil War. She envisioned women around the world would meet on this day to discuss ways to achieve world peace:

She saw some of the worst effects of the war — not only the death and disease which killed and maimed the soldiers. She worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, and realized that the effects of the war go beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. She also saw the economic devastation of the Civil War, the economic crises that followed the war, the restructuring of the economies of both North and South.

In 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new cause. Distressed by her experience of the realities of war, determined that peace was one of the two most important causes of the world (the other being equality in its many forms) and seeing war arise again in the world in the Franco-Prussian War, she called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a congress of action.

She failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother’s Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Anna Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who had attempted starting in 1858 to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers’ Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.

Anna Jarvis’ daughter, also named Anna Jarvis, would of course have known of her mother’s work, and the work of Julia Ward Howe. Much later, when her mother died, this second Anna Jarvis started her own crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother’s Day was celebrated in West Virginia in 1907 in the church where the elder Anna Jarvis had taught Sunday School. And from there the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. Finally the holiday was declared officially by states beginning in 1912, and in 1914 the President, Woodrow Wilson, declared the first national Mother’s Day.

According to About Women’s History, as Julia became more famous, she was frequently asked to speak at public events. While her husband never actively supported her activism, he became less adamant that she remain a private person. Over time, his “resistance eased.”

Because we tend to gloss over dollar amounts, even billion dollar amounts, and the budget is written in a fairly confusing way, I recently wrote a story about how Bush’s budget is impacting real people. It focuses on seniors who can’t afford food in South Carolina, AIDS patients in Alabama and parents who are struggling to find affordable child care in Indiana. Thanks to Bush’s budget, their problems are getting worse by the day.
The following action alert is from the National Women’s Law Center:

House Republican leaders plan to bring the budget resolution back for a vote on Thursday, May 4. The last time they tried this, your calls bolstered moderate opposition and leaders cancelled the vote.  But the Republican leadership is trying again to muster the votes to pass the budget.  Your Representative needs to hear from you now!  If you’ve called before–it’s time to call again!

Call your Representative TODAY!  Use this toll-free number: 800-459-1887

Tell Your Representative:

Vote “No” on the budget resolution. It threatens education, child care, health care, nutrition, and other vital services that women and their families rely upon. Cutting services to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthy few are the wrong priorities.

The House budget resolution provides $10 billion less in funding in FY 2007 for discretionary programs than is needed to maintain current services. As you know, this will undoubtedly lead to cuts in programs such as education, Head Start, child care, job training, services for the elderly, and many health programs. In addition, the House budget resolution calls for billions in cuts to mandatory programs, much of which could come from cuts to critical supports for low-income families, such as the Earned Income Credit, Supplemental Security Income and Unemployment Insurance.

At the same time, the House budget proposes $228 billion in additional tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the very rich, all while increasing federal deficits by $256 billion over the next five years (as compared to what deficits would be without these policy changes).

Antonia Juhasz, visiting scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, was on Democracy Now! this morning talking about her new book, The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time. Here are a few of the most important and alarming points and facts Juhasz raises in the interview:

*Currently, 150 U.S. corporations have received $50 billion worth of contracts, as you said in the introduction, to utterly fail in reconstruction in Iraq, but the money has still been granted.

*That [reconstruction] plan was ready two months before the invasion. It was written by BearingPoint, Inc., a company based in Virginia that received a $250 million contract to rewrite the entire economy of Iraq. It drafted that new economy. That new economy was put into place systematically by L. Paul Bremer, the head of the occupation government of Iraq for 14 months, who implemented exactly one hundred orders, basically all of which are still in place today.

*And the most important company, in my mind, to receive blame is the Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco. They have received $2.8 billion to rebuild water, electricity and sewage systems, the most important systems in the life of an Iraqi. After the first Gulf War, the Iraqis rebuilt these systems in three months’ time. It’s been three years, and, as you said, those services are still below pre-war levels.

*Bremer became the dictator of Iraq. His orders laid out the law. Now, probably the most important thing to know is that that was completely illegal under international law. The Geneva Conventions are very specific about what an occupying power should do. It must provide basic security and services. It cannot change the laws or the political structure of the country it occupies. The Bush administration did exactly the opposite — changed all the fundamental economic and political laws and utterly failed to provide for the security and the basic needs of the Iraqi people. What you hear most often in Iraq today is people saying, “Please just put us back where we were before you came.”

*Chevron has seen its most profitable years in its entire 125-year history over the last two years. They are making out like bandits. They have been at the forefront of advocating for decades for increased U.S. economic access to Iraq.

*Chevron has been training Iraqi workers in the United States for years, mapping — doing mappings, free services, so that they are ready, when the permanent government is in place, to sign contracts. And then, I believe, once those contracts are signed, they will get to work, but they need security. And what better security force than 150,000 American troops. And I do not think that those troops will leave, unless we all have something to do about it, until the oil companies are safely at work.

And here she explains the connection between high gas prices and the Bush administration:

The Bush administration is the most beholden administration probably in American history to the oil and gas industry. This is the first time in history that the President, Vice President and Secretary of State are all former energy company officials. In fact, both Bush and Rice have more experience as energy company officials than they do as government leaders. Cheney outbeats them. He’s spent 30 years working for government. However, his five years at Halliburton have been so profitable that you might say that his Halliburton years outweigh their oil years, because Bush was a very bad oil company executive. But their links to the oil sector are deep.

The oil industry provided more than 13 times more money to the Bush-Cheney ticket in the first round of elections than it did to his competitor, nine times more in the second. And this industry has been absolutely coddled by the Bush administration: enormous tax subsidies, deregulation, and, I would argue, a war waged on their behalf.

Now, there’s two intimate connections between the war and the price of gas. But first, I think it’s very important for people to understand that the vertical integration of the oil industry, which has been absolutely exacerbated under the Bush administration. For example, ChevronTexaco and Unocal merging into one company, the completion of Exxon and Mobil’s merger, all of these little companies merging into enormous behemoths, so that you have ExxonMobil being the company that has received the highest profits of any company in the world, over the last two years, ever in the history of the world. That is because of the vertical integration and monopoly power of these companies. That means that they control exploration, production, refining, marketing and sales.

The price of oil at the pump is about 50% the price of a barrel of oil, about 25% taxes, and then the rest is marketing and just the price determined by the company at the pump. So that means that about 18% to 20% is absolutely determined by the oil companies themselves and governed by the companies themselves. So they could reduce the price of oil and reduce their profit margin, or they could jack up the price of oil and increase their profit margin. They have chosen to do the latter.

And one of the things that has helped them do that is, first of all, the United States is receiving a tremendous amount of oil from Iraq. Oil is down in overall export and production, but not tremendously so. We were — at prewar was 2.5 million barrels a day. We’re now at about 2 or 2.2 million barrels a day. But 50% of that, on average, is coming to the United States, and it’s being brought to the United States by Chevron and Exxon and Marathon. The myth of dramatically reduced supply has helped them create an argument to the American public, which is, you know, it’s a time of war, we’re suffering, gas prices are going to go up, everyone needs to come in and support this because this is war. Well, that’s just not true. The companies are using that as a myth to help make it okay for them to receive these utterly ridiculous profits.

This is funny. Bush, the man who realized this country is addicted to oil in January of this year, is in California (where the average gallon of gas is $3; in Beverly Hills, it’s $4) on Earth Day talking about the promotion of fuel cells. “These fuel cells have the potential to revolutionize the way we power our cars by giving us vehicles that will emit no pollution and will be more efficient than gas-powered cars,” he said. Meantime, the price of oil broke a new record reaching $75 a barrel on Friday and people in Texas are pawning personal items to pay for gas.

Isn’t it ironic that after the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, when 20 million people across America called on the government to adopt policies to protect the environment, Republicans responded by passing the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act. Congress even adjourned for the day so members could participate in Earth Day events. The Republicans for Environmental Protection don’t have much to celebrate today:

While the GOP still has a number of conservation champions, the party leadership is dominated by people who have lost sight of the importance of conservation and environmental protection for keeping America strong and prosperous. It is time to restore the great Republican conservation tradition, and time for Republican leaders to recognize that Conservation is Conservative.

REP is out with its first scorecard to assess the performance of Republicans in Congress on environmental and conservation issues. Senators Richard Shelby (AL), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Saxby Chambliss (GA), Pat Roberts (KS), Jim Bunning (AL), Mitch McConnell (AL), Thad Cochran (MS), Trent Lott (MS), Jim Talent (MI), Conrad Burns (MT), Chuck Hagel (NE), George Voinovich (OH), Rick Santorum (PA), John Thune (SD), John Cornyn (TX), Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), and Michael Enzi (WY), all scored zero. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska got a -10. Jesus would be proud.

Rather than focus on global warming, peak oil and the destruction of the planet, here are a few things you can do to make a small difference:

Don’t leave the water running. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth or washing the car. Fresh water is one of our most precious natural resources.

Flick off the light when you leave the room. Power plants burn fuels to create energy for your light bulb. Burning fuel makes smog that pollutes the air and adds to global warming. The less energy you use the less they need to make. Plus you’ll save on your energy bill.

Print on both sides of the page at work. It’s easy to change your printer settings — you’ll use half the paper and save trees.

Wash your clothes in warm or cold water. It works just as well as hot in your washing machine and cuts back on energy use.

Ditch the paper cups. Bring in a glass to keep at work instead of using the paper ones by the water cooler.

Turn off your computer at the end of the day. A monitor left on overnight uses enough energy to print 5,300 copies.

To find out what kind of footprint you’re leaving on the planet, click here.

A Louisiana Senate committee voted 7-0 to ban all abortions with an exception to save the life of a mother. The bill, which was authored by Democratic Senator Ben Nevers,  will go into effect only if the Supreme Court overturns Roe V. Wade. Democratic Senator Diana Bajoie said she wants to make the bill “more pro-life” by not allowing any exceptions:

She did not offer the amendment but served notice she will on the Senate floor, where Nevers is expected to take up the bill next week. “I do have some concerns about this bill,” Bajoie said. “It should be all or nothing…Life is life.”

Nevers said he will work with Bajoie to “get as much of a pro-life bill as I can.”

Nevers says the government should force young girls who are raped by a male relative to have his baby because “that child had nothing to do with that awful crime.”

Doctors who perform abortions would face a minimum of a year in jail and a maximum of 10 years, and a minimum fine of $1,000 and a maximum fine of $100,000. Women who seek abortions would not face criminal charges.

If you’d like to express your views to these “pro-life” Democratic Senaors before this law passes, contact:

Senator Ben Nevers: 225.342.2040

Senator Diana Bajoie: 225.342.0752

To contact all Louisiana State Senators, click here.

Louisiana has an extremely poor record on reproductive rights. NARAL Pro-Choice America gives it an F for the following reasons:

*92 percent of Louisiana counties have no abortion provider.
*The state has unconstitutional and unenforceable criminal bans on abortion.
*State law subjects women seeking abortions to biased counseling requirements and mandatory delays.
*Louisiana has an unconstitutional and unenforceable law mandating husband consent before a married woman may obtain an abortion.
*Louisiana prohibits the use of public facilities for the performance of abortions.
*Louisiana allows certain individuals or entities to refuse to provide women specific reproductive health services, information, or referrals.

“As two senators on opposite sides of the abortion debate, we recognize that one side will not suddenly convince the other to drop its deeply held beliefs. And we believe that, while disagreeing, we can work together to find common ground. We believe that it is necessary for all Americans to join together and embrace policies that will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, decrease abortions and improve access to women’s health care.”
-Senators Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid in a Times Union op-ed piece about preventing unwanted pregnancies and abortion
Reproductive Rights

Clinton and Reid co-author “common ground” abortion piece – AP
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid have co-authored an op-ed piece about finding “common ground” on the abortion issue. The Democrats from New York and Nevada, respectively, are on opposite sides of the abortion issue. Clinton, the former first lady and potential 2008 presidential candidate, favors abortion rights while Reid is anti-abortion. “As two senators on opposite sides of the abortion debate, we recognize that one side will not suddenly convince the other to drop its deeply held beliefs,” the two Democrats wrote in the piece that ran in Tuesday’s Albany Times Union newspaper. “And we believe that, while disagreeing, we can work together to find common ground.”

Debate set for today on push to limit abortion – The Times-Picqyune
The state’s [Louisiana’s] first major attempt in 15 years to pass a strict abortion bill that outlaws the procedure in all cases except to save a mother’s life will get a hearing today in the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare. Supporters said they are unsure how lawmakers will react to Senate Bill 33 by Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, one of several anti-abortion measures filed for the session. The big question is whether the measure can survive without amendments expanding the number of exceptions.

Judge rules for Kan. abortion rights group – AP
In a victory for an abortion rights group, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that abortion clinic doctors and other professionals are not required under Kansas law to report underage sex between consenting youths. The ruling by U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten was a setback for Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an abortion foe. Kline contended a 1982 Kansas law requiring doctors, teachers and others to alert the state and law enforcement about potential child abuse covers consensual sex between minors. He argued that the law applies to abortion clinics, and later extended that to other health professionals and teachers. The Center for Reproductive Rights challenged that interpretation in court, and the judge sided with the organization. Kline said he had not decided whether to appeal.

Vetoes put abortion back into campaign – The Arizona Republic
A string of vetoes by Gov. Janet Napolitano has brought new focus to an abortion issue that has been overshadowed by immigration and other matters this legislative session. Napolitano has used her veto stamp on abortion bills three times in the last week and soon could issue still another with the Senate’s approval Tuesday of a measure restricting access to abortion for minors. That measure, House Bill 2776, now returns to the House for consideration of Senate amendments. The debate is a likely preview of an upcoming clash between the Democratic governor, long a defender of abortion rights, and presumed GOP frontrunner Len Munsil, a staunch opponent of the practice and former president of the conservative Center for Arizona Policy.

Judge overturns West Palm’s clinic buffer law – Palm Beach Post
A federal judge has ruled that a city law imposing a buffer zone on abortion protesters violates free-speech rights and has ordered the city not to enforce it. The law — enacted in October after someone set fire to the Presidential Women’s Center, the last clinic in Palm Beach County where abortions are done — created a 20-foot buffer around entrances and other public areas outside health-care facilities. U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled that the city didn’t prove the existence of problems that it said the law addressed: restricted patient access and a threat to public safety. Even if it had, the law is too strict, he ruled. “Freedom of speech is rarely an issue when everyone agrees,” Middlebrooks wrote. “Perhaps more than at any other place and any other time, in cases such as this, speech guaranteed by the First Amendment must be protected.”

Let’s (Not) Talk About Sex – IPS
Although many countries in Latin America have laws stating that sex education must be made available in primary and secondary schools, these are implemented in a haphazard way, and in some cases not at all. An informal survey by IPS correspondents in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela shows that sex education is patchy or nonexistent in the region, with the exception of Cuba. “There are girls who get pregnant because they get sick, so they need help,” said Sara, a seven-year-old Mexican girl, in a conversation with her private school classmates. The conclusion reached by Sara, based on a television ad not designed with children in mind, is an illustration of the lack of adequate information about sex faced by millions of children in Latin America.

General

Duke Rape Suspects Come From Money – AP
They grew up in privileged surroundings in the suburbs of New York City. Collin Finnerty of Long Island and Reade Seligmann of New Jersey both come from a world of golf courses and multimillion-dollar homes and were educated at exclusive all-boys Catholic prep schools. Their paths merged after the high school lacrosse stars won admission to Duke University, and continued their athletic and academic careers. On Tuesday, they stood as co-defendants, accused of raping a stripper at an off-campus party in Durham, N.C.

Politics

Giuliani Stumps for Conservative Senator, Despite Differences – NY Times
Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York campaigned on Tuesday for Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a social conservative who is facing a tough re-election fight in one of the most competitive battles in the nation this year. While both men are Republicans, Mr. Giuliani supports abortion rights and is considered more moderate, while Mr. Santorum is known for his strong opposition to abortion and gay marriage. In campaigning for Mr. Santorum, Mr. Giuliani could be mending fences with more conservative Republican leaders in advance of a possible national bid in 2008.

International

Tehran police chief warns Iranian women over dress code – M&C News
Tehran’s police chief on Tuesday warned women in Iran to observe the Islamic dress code or face consequences. General Morteza Talaei told Fars news agency that within the next few days some 50 squads, including female officers, will start checking dress codes in Tehran. All women in Iran, including foreigners, are expected to respect the Islamic dress code of contour-hiding gowns or long coats, and scarves hiding the hair. Many women in Tehran and other big cities have been ignoring strict observation of the rules. The police chief warned that the squads would confront all women wearing Bermuda-style pants, tight coats, loose scarves and no socks.

“Oh hell! I would go to jail if I had to just to make the goddamn point! You’ve got to make a statement … I thought it was a great idea to get the message through to that son of a bitch in the White House. Our men are dying and the Iraqi people are dying and for what–for that idiot Bush!”
–Marie Runyon, a 91-year-old member of Grandmothers Against the War. Runyon, who is legally blind and walks with two canes, was charged for disorderly conduct on October 17 after she and her 17 aging colleagues tried to enter the Times Square Recruitment Office in New York. The women are scheduled to go to trial this Thursday.
Reproductive Rights

‘Roe v. Wade’: The divided states of America – USA Today
Two hours after South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds signed an abortion ban last month, NARAL Pro-Choice America blasted an e-mail to its supporters: “Is your state next?” The South Dakota legislation and the abortion rights group’s warning are early skirmishes in a battle over what states would do if the landmark Roe v. Wade decision were overturned — though both sides concede that may never happen. If it does, a fight that for three decades has focused on nine members of the Supreme Court would be waged instead among more than 7,000 legislators in 50 state capitals. “Now is the time to get moving on this in Ohio,” says Tom Brinkman, a state legislator who has introduced a bill to ban almost all abortions. Meanwhile, Kellie Copeland of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio is braced. “Our supporters feel the fight is coming back to the states,” she says.

Conscience clause for pharmacists could be bitter pill – St. Paul Pioneers Press
There’s another epidemic in health circles, less contagious but almost as troubling as avian flu. It concerns an apparent outbreak of pharmacists who don’t care to dole out pills they disapprove of. Though the American Pharmacists Association has assured consumers that the cases have generally been contained, concern about the very delicate sensibilities of men and women in lab coats has prompted some states to consider “conscience clause” measures, allowing pharmacists to opt out of dispensing medications that are contraindicated by their own moral standards or religious convictions. While there is no state law preventing a pharmacist from refusing to dispense a drug, the Minnesota Legislature is now under some pressure to make one.

Napolitano vetoes two abortion bills – AP
Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano on Monday vetoed two more abortion bills passed by the Republican-led Legislature. Napolitano used her veto stamp to kill bills passed by lawmakers to prohibit state and local governments from using public dollars to provide health coverage for abortions and to require that parents’ consent for a minor to get an abortion be notarized.

The world in their sights – Guardian
For many years, reproductive-rights activists in the US have predicted a series of events that would lead to the toppling of abortion rights. Currently, and with breathtaking speed, we have passed many of those benchmarks. The anti-abortion movement has become a powerful bully on our national political stage. Now, it plans to flex its muscle internationally. The UK may be its next stop. In fact, the US movement has already begun exporting its menacing brand of activism. And they’re not even leaving home to do it.

General

Grandmothers of Invention – The Village Voice
The Granny Peace Brigade, as the 18 grannies now call themselves, has captured attention far beyond New York, generating buzz on the Internet, on progressive websites and political listservs. Media outlets have covered the grannies with fawning fascination, playing up the images of little old ladies clutching their walkers and hanging onto their flowered hats, flanked by beefy cops. Carol Huston, a veteran peace activist and granny brigade member, tried to enlist at the Times Square recruiting center to protest the Iraq war three years ago. Not one reporter showed up. This time, as she puts it, “the press went nuts over us like I’ve never seen before and all of a sudden–zoom!–this action takes off.” Similar granny groups have popped up across the country, staging their own protests at military recruiting centers, fueling the larger anti-war movement. Now there are as many as 38 anti-war granny groups in the United States, from Pittsburgh to Detroit, Berkeley to Sarasota. Just last month, three of the New York grandmas flew to Berlin, where they gave speeches to hundreds of people on why they’ve hit the streets to protest the Iraq war.

Limbs Lost to Enemy Fire, Women Forge a New Reality – Washington Post
Her body had been maimed by war. Dawn Halfaker lay unconscious at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, her parents at her bedside and her future suddenly unsure. A rocket-propelled grenade had exploded in her Humvee, ravaging her arm and shoulder. In June 2004, she became the newest soldier to start down a path almost unknown in the United States: woman as combat amputee.

Duke Athletes Indicted for Rape Post Bond – LA Times
Two members of the Duke University lacrosse team surrendered today on charges of raping and kidnapping an exotic dancer, ensuring months of continued controversy in a school and city that have been consumed by issues of race, sex and privilege since details of the case emerged in March. Dist. Atty. Mike Nifong, who would not discuss the evidence, said he hoped to charge a third person shortly.

In the Courts

Female Forklifter Takes Her Case to High Court – Women’s eNews
The high court on Monday heard the case of a female forklifter who says a sexual harassment complaint led to retaliation at work. The case is expected to clarify the legal protections for those who complain of harassment or discrimination on the job.

In the Workplace

Women shorted on federal contracts – Chicago Tribune
Nabbing a federal government contract helped put Carolyne Turner’s financial software company on the map 25 years ago, but today the federal procurement process has led the $2 million firm to more dead ends than new deals. Turner isn’t the only one who has noticed that large corporations continue to win the lion’s share of federal government contracts. In fact, despite the federal government’s pledge to award 5 percent of federal contracts to women-owned small businesses, it routinely falls short of that goal, said U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York, the ranking Democratic member of the House Small Business Committee. It’s not a new problem. Six years ago, Congress recognized it, enacting legislation that set aside contracts in certain male-dominated industries for competition by women-owned businesses, said Margot Dorfman, chief executive of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce. But the Small Business Administration has yet to implement the law, Dorfman said.

International

Report Shows Continued Violence and Discrimination Against Afghan Women – Feminist Wire
A new report on the current status of Afghan women and girls issued by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) demonstrates that Afghan women and girls continue to face extreme obstacles and discrimination as they seek to exercise their rights. The “Evaluation Report on General Situation of Women in Afghanistan” states that despite the Afghan government’s constitutional obligation to “observe and respect women’s rights’ and the numerous human rights treaties Afghanistan has signed, women face many problems in all aspects of their lives.

Afghan women as teachers, an United Nations initiative – NewKerala
Afghan women related to former fighters will be trained as teachers under a new United Nations initiative aimed at educating women in the war-ravaged country while facilitating the reintegration of ex-combatants and their families into civilian life. Training will take place throughout Afghanistan under the five-month programme, which began Sunday following the signing of an agreement between the UN Development Programme and the the country’s Ministry of Education.