I MISSED THIS AT THE TIME

Published October 2, 2024 by Nan Mykel

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I missed this at the time:

CNN — In some political careers, there comes a moment when you must stand up and say something you never wanted to say.

For Ohio state representative Teresa Fedor, that moment came in 2015, as she listened to her fellow lawmakers debate a bill that would forbid abortions once a heartbeat is detected, which can sometimes be as early as six weeks. A former schoolteacher who served in the legislature since 2002, she says she knew it was time to tell her own story.

“I knew when I decided to stand up, there was no looking back,” she says. Fedor, 59 at the time, began indirectly, noting that she had not heard any discussion of exceptions for rape. She said she respected her opponents’ reasoning. And then, a minute into her speech, she stunned her colleagues. On 25 March 2015, Fedor got so frustrated during the debate on abortion in the lower chamber of the state’s legislature that she stood up and revealed that she had been raped and terminated the resulting pregnancy. “You don’t respect my reason, my rape, my abortion, and I guarantee you there are other women who should stand up with me and be courageous enough to speak,” she said. “What you’re doing is so fundamentally inhuman, unconstitutional, and I’ve sat here too long.” Fedor was raped many years ago, while she was in the military. (^[16]

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CNN —

Former President Donald Trump cast himself as a “protector” of women at a Pennsylvania rally Monday evening and claimed that American women won’t be “thinking about abortion” if he’s elected.

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I wish I had saved the clipping, but not too long ago I read that one spokeswoman bemoaned abortions, because they might prevent one child from growing up to find a cure for cancer. [Statistics show that he would much more likely be a psychopath.]

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PUNISHMENT FOR SEX?

Is it my imagination or beneath the fire and brimstone’s energy against abortions does there lurk a brutal whiplash for females who make love, screw, get raped or are incested? Or for family size to increase in order to maintain the “white” civilization? Or to keep women out of competition with men at the workplace?

The question of how soon it’s possible to detect and confirm a pregnancy has come into focus as new abortion restrictions have been enacted across the country, including in Iowa, where a ban on most abortions after six weeks took effect in July. A similar ban took effect in Georgia, on May 1, although temporarily halted by a lower court judge.

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“SAY GAY?”

Published April 14, 2024 by Nan Mykel

IS ANTI-ABORTION MOVEMENT A SIGN OF MISOGYNISM?

Why are men Randomly Punching New York City Women? – The New York Times

Ms. Pires made a note to be vigilant when she was in New York. Heading to lunch on a bright and chilly afternoon at the end of last week, she was standing at an intersection on Delancey Street waiting for the light to change when she noticed a man, walking in the opposite direction, “studying” her. She registered that he was “quite well dressed,” but almost nothing else made an impression.

Before she knew it he struck her with his fist, hitting her on the right side of her head. He fled uptown on Essex Street. She reported the incident at the Seventh Precinct, where a detective told her that these type of attacks had become “kind of a big deal at the moment.” She was left with swelling in her ear; her face turned black and blue. https://www.nytimes.com

On March 27, the Council’s Women’s Caucus issued a statement confirming that reports of these attacks were not a hoax but instead part of “an alarming trend in violence against women.”

Were women panicking needlessly? It was hard not to interpret these recent offenses within the broader context of a roving and seemingly ever-more-insidious misogyny. In 2022, the most recent year for which there is available city data, women were killed by intimate partners at a rate 30 percent higher than the previous year. Reports of domestic violence also increased during that period, and nationwide, between 2018 and 2021, incidents of domestic violence involving guns went up by more than 7 percent. And:

Six Months Post-Roe, 24 US States Have Banned Abortion or Are Likely to Do So--Guttmacher Institute

SAY GAY, anyone?

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Let’s hang onto our right to vote!!!

I LOOKED UP “RETROGRADE”

Published April 10, 2024 by Nan Mykel

After reading that Arizona’s Supreme Court has ruled that a near total abortion ban from 1864 is enforceable, the word “retrograde” came to mind, and I looked it up on Google to see if I was right. I was: Among many definitions Google led me to, I liked best

“tending towards an earlier worse condition; declining or deteriorating.”

NBC News reports that The ruling is on hold for 14 days, and voters will likely have a chance to weigh in on a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution this fall.

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WHY do I keep comparing the anti-abortion folks with our history of imprisoning suffragettes?

More than 300 suffragettes were incarcerated at during the early 20th century in one of the darker aspects of the campaign for the vote for women, and one that has historical and contemporary resonance for the women’s liberation movement. Built in 1852, Holloway prison became a female-only site in 1903.

The women of the National Woman’s Party sentenced to prison in November 1917 for picketing the White House had no idea what awaited them when they arrived at the Occoquan Workhouse. They endured brutality and abuse from the prison guards, but remained committed to their cause.

On Nov. 15, 1917, about 20 women were subjected to beatings and torture at Occoquan Workhouse, a prison in Virginia, in what became known as the “Night of Terror.” On the evening of Nov. 14, the superintendent ordered his guards to brutally assault imprisoned suffragists.

We’ll see if women nowadays are more “pushovers” than the suffragettes were, come November. Overcoming the throw of the dice that made us female presents a long row to hoe.

Image: Library of Congress

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Sorry, I couldn’t get rid of that blank space: nan?

WE WOMEN CAN STILL VOTE

Published September 25, 2022 by Nan Mykel

A male candidate for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District once said the US suffered from women’s suffrage and praised an organization trying to repeal the 19th Amendment. Of course he denies that is his current belief, but you might guess which side of the great divide he is still on. But we can still vote, so let’s do it!!

A friend recently said that he formerly had some hope that women would get more active and improve the political scene, but that since some of them have been so frequently quoted in the news he had lost hope they would save democracy. (I earlier promised I would not say their names so as not to increase their fame.) I looked up the stats and it was difficult to quickly understand the results of women voters pro and con Biden. (Again, ignoring the “T” word.)

We women sure aren’t perfect. In fact, a goodly portion of us have feet of clay (remember all the swooners over Frank Sinatra?) And there was the woman who, when asked what the last administration had done for her, said, “I don’t know but every time I look at Him I feel warm all over.”

It was in Atlanta during the earlier days of NOW when I attended a large meeting of a re-invigorated women’s movement, possibly of NOW or some similar new organizational movement. I had envisioned we would witness a good mutually supportive presentation. After all, aren’t we the warm, caring empathic sex? But the first two presenters made what I considered snide, competitive remarks about each other. I’d forgotten that many of us are easily swayed and have been “trying to be men,” both at the workplace and “socially.” A woman may fight for orgasms in print, but then lose herself in the presence of masculinity. I have also read that many feminists resent transgender women. Do I sound disillusioned? I know myself, and how nonassertive I’ve been all my life, but …..

At least a number of women melt around men and surrender their common sense. Remember all the talk about “dumb blondes?” I’m sure I’ll regret this post, but the number of vocal women willing to discount the lives of other women via the abortion issue is truly disheartening. Have a heart, women! Have a heart! How could we put the very life of a woman at risk for the uncertain appearance of a possible person, even when it’s fathered by forcible rape and even if it puts her own life on the line?

It appears that a majority of the MAGA women are racists, and can intellectually ignore the fact that more people of color have abortions than others. Do they realize that the possible foetus may be a person of color? The vision of a new generation of children whose mothers didn’t want them gives me chills. i heard one elected woman say the foetus should be allowed to grow up and “maybe cure cancer.” Surely that’s a “dumb blonde” statement? Because we’re not strong physically doesn’t mean we have to buy into being weak-kneed intellectually.

Perhaps we women could profit from meditating regularly on our breath and the light? What glory an army of potentialized women could do for O Beautiful, For Spacious Skies?

IF YOU BELIEVE THIS, GO…..

Published August 11, 2022 by Nan Mykel

STAND IN THE CORNER…

Republicans in Congress argued that none of these bills are necessary because the right to birth control and the right to same-sex marriage are safe. “In no way, shape or form is access to contraception limited or at risk of being limited,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) said during Thursday’s debate on the birth control bill. “The liberal majority is clearly trying to stoke fears and mislead the American people once again because in their minds stoking fear clearly is the only way that they can win.” (Yahoo News)

“The FBI has gone rogue and is doing the dirty work of a communist regime,” tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Boebert “In Venezuela, they eat the dogs, and it started because they do not have firearms to protect themselves, to defend themselves against a tyrannical government.”

“We save the babies, we’ll save America,” Mike Pence told conservative youth.

At least Bostelman apologized: So easy to repeat motivated misunderstandings: A Nebraska state lawmaker apologized on Monday after he publicly cited a persistent but debunked rumor alleging that schools are placing litter boxes in school bathrooms to accommodate children who self-identify as cats. State senator Bruce Bostelman, a conservative Republican, repeated the false claim during a public, televised debate on a bill intended to help school children who have behavioral problems. His comments quickly went viral, with one Twitter video garnering more than 300,000 views as of Monday afternoon, and drew an onslaught of online criticism and ridicule. Bostelman initially said he was “shocked” when he heard stories that children were dressing as cats and dogs while at school, with claims that schools were accommodating them with litter boxes.

Sorry, I can’t handle any more at present…..

Dear God, They’re Dangling Money…

Published August 8, 2022 by Nan Mykel

Per the release, effective from July 20 taxpayers can claim “a dependent personal exemption … in the amount of $3,000 for each unborn child.” Those expecting twins can claim up to $6,000. According to the The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the new law also “allows expectant mothers to file for child support to cover the costs of pregnancy and delivery,” and requires unborn children to be counted for Georgia’s census records.

Poetry Reblog: Nan

Published August 7, 2022 by Nan Mykel

THE EARTH IS FLAT AFTER ALL

Dubbed Democracy, it used to be

top of the line, the lead ship at sea,

and on the land it served as well,

until the strains of its death knell fell,

having an underbelly swole

with all the pilfered things they stole

in broad daylight, and on tv!

Gone is the half belief in he

who’ll take us safely to the shore

while staying steadfast to the core.

The compass nestles in the deep

while those on board remain asleep.

They used to say the earth was round,

that right makes might, but I found

that all I knew I now know not,

and not so sure that we’ll endure,

to make a safe arrival.

Nan

I WOKE UP THIS MORNING WITH MY MIND SET ON….

Published August 4, 2022 by Nan Mykel

FREEDOM! Since suddenly getting old, my mind has been invaded by lines of old jingles. Today I recalled hearing Jane Sapp sing the above mentioned song at an education gathering at Ohio University. I even recorded it for ACTV.

Then I recalled the nursery rhyme allusion in Ruth Reilly’s poem (2022 Torch Song, my post yesterday). The connection with freedom? A winning jingle for the coming election….

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe She had so many children she didn’t know what to do….

So SHE VOTED DEMOCRAT!

Thanks to Ruth!

Ruth H. Reilly’s SUMMER 2022 TORCH SONG

Published August 2, 2022 by Nan Mykel

Crickets chirp in the warm August night

My cat stretches across my lap

As I meditate deeply with all my might

To keep my vigorous blood from running out like sap

As men of might–and God forgive them–some women too

Resurrect old laws that would make all women

That old woman who lived in the shoe who

Had so many children she didn’t know what to do.

It sounds so sweet, all those millions of babies.

Not many stop to think–what cost?

The mothers’ lives maybe? Is it true too…

We can all be good little Nazis following unholy laws to keep our jobs?

Never mind the raped 9 year old little girl, the miscarriage, the ectopic pregnancy–

Her infection now sepsis, her spiking fever. Don’t touch her. We’ll all be fired!

We hear about these deaths, and we see with clarity where we are.

We little miss nobodies, not even in charge of our own bodies.

Makes us just itch to light a fire.

Many thanks to good friend Ruth Reilly for sharing her firey torch song with us.

Be Nice to Your Librarian

Published August 1, 2022 by Nan Mykel

Image: Not Quite Old.com

Should I have titled this “Shame Shame Shame” or the title I finally used? My empathy overcame my anger, I guess.

As Claire Moses reports in yesterday’s nytimes, librarians are being given grief by those who want to prevent others from reading certain books. The Proud Boys, ushered in by police, ceremoniously prevented a children’s library story hour earlier, and Moses reported that a librarian in Texas quit after 18 years because she was harassed online. She moved out of state and took a job in tech. I thought it was the other, non-democratic countries like Russia that put restraints on information. I reckon it’s the result hof the saboteurs of our previous way of life. Moses doesn’t bring abortion into her discussion, but I do:

Not only is it not enough to make women bear unwanted foetuses, but to control what those foetuses can put into their heads via the written word when/if the world as we know it still exists and when and if they learn to read (if there are any public schools left). The future looks grim if our country continues in lock step with our extremist fellow citizens. With the burgeoning glut of anticipated babies on the horizon and limited jobs largely due to increasing automation in a tight-fisted economy, it ain’t pretty unless there’s a turnaround, and soon. Can we just pause and look around the bend a minute?

According to the May 2022 Nation, via the PBS News Hour, 81 percent of Mississippi’s abortions, 74 percent of Texas’s abortions, and 72 percent of Louisiana’s abortions were by persons of color. The new state anti-abortion laws will significantly increase the non-white population of those and other states. It’s okay by me. Personally, I enjoy an interesting blend of colors in both people and in the new autos. We could all survive what may be a post-covid infection about to end, with a little help from our friends and neighbos. Please?

Those who pray with nefarious motives reap their just desserts? Who said that?