The start of this particular discussion, as I recall, was someone
saying that "Third World" was an insulting term and suggesting
alternatives which, presumably, were intended to be less insulting.
I have two objections to the suggested replacements.
First, on the grounds of accuracy, because "north/south" and
"colonial" are so vague as to be capable of being construed in
totally different ways and so not conveying the intended meaning at
all. Second, because I would rather not use yet another euphemism
(Third World itself being a euphemism) if I don't need to.
I agree with many of Jayne's comments on the way language constrains
our way of looking at the world. That's why it is so important.
Sincerely,
June Brough.
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mon May 22 11:55:55 1995
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Michael Golden)
Subject: ** Women Leaders Online ** (fwd)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Mon, 22 May 95 10:45:37 PDT
Forwarded message:
Date: Sun, 21 May 1995 21:31:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: PNEWS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: ** Women Leaders Online **
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From: joan r saks berman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Women Leaders Online
Joan R. Saks Berman, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PHS Indian Hospital (505) 256-4083
801 Vassar Drive NE FAX (505) 256-4088
Albuquerque, NM 87106
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 18 May 1995
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Political Woman Hotline
Volume 1 #8
May 19, 1995
-----------------------------------------------
Day 136 of the Contract ON America
Only 536 days until Election Day 1996
2,175 responses so far!
-----------------------------------------------
copyright 1995 political woman inc.
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Precedence: list
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#1. Our tentative new name is: *Women Leaders Online*.
Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions on our name change. We
struggled with this, and ultimately chose WLO because it is simple,
similar to our old name, and lacks the "p" word (political) that some
members consider to be an epithet. If you know of a group already
using this name, please let us know immediately! In the meantime,
we'll conduct a legal name search, and confirm the final name in a
future Hotline.
At the same time as we pondered our name change, Laurie Mann
volunteered to be our new web coordinator, earning our eternal
gratitude. Laurie is moving the web page to
http://worcester.lm.com/women/women.html, so reset your web browsers.
Laurie could use some help with individual pages, so if you'd like
to volunteer write her at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For those of you on AOL, you can get access to the web by downloading
the new version (2.5) of AOL software. Click on the Internet icon (the
globe), then click on the web icon and you'll get the directions.
#2. It's Budget Time
The budget process is underway, and social programs are the principal
target. The Republicans must cut $1.2 trillion over seven years to
balance the budget by 2002. The Senate budget gets there through
straightforward cuts, while the House budget includes a variety of
budget tricks and phony numbers. The House budget also includes $350
billion in tax breaks and a $70 billion defense increase, which would
force even deeper cuts in domestic spending.
House Republicans would eliminate the Department of Education, the NEA
and NEH, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the George
Bush's "Goals 2000" education reform project (remember the "Education
President"?). Senate Republicans would kill federal financing of
presidential campaigns (begun 20 years ago, after Richard Nixon's
monumental Watergate abuses were revealed), AMTRAK, the Arms Control
and Disarmament Agency, and Bill Clinton's National Service program.
The Republicans in both bodies would slash funds for elderly housing,
the homeless, national parks, student loans, public schools, mass
transit, Medicaid, and Medicare.
The Democrats are drawing the battle line on Medicare cuts. They
estimate seniors will have to pay an additional $3,000 over the next
seven years as a result of the cuts. On the advice of Newt's language
manipulators, Republicans vehemently deny they are "cutting" Medicare,
and instead claim to be "saving" it from a looming fiscal crisis --
one they denied existed during last year's health care debate.
An ABC/Washington Post poll found that 56% of those polled said they
opposed the Senate budget plan, and 60% opposed the House plan.
Support for Republicans dropped from 49% to 42% since the budget plans
were announced, while support for Clinton increased to 42%.
Progressive activists are struggling to call attention to the massive
amounts of "corporate welfare" that could be cut instead of essential
domestic programs. An article in the New Republic (5/29/95) compared
government giveaways to Dante's Inferno, and identified hundreds of
billions of dollars that could be recaptured to eliminate the deficit.
Even Republicans acknowledge that the term "corporate welfare" makes
Americans "flip out," according to pollster Frank Luntz, so they
refuse to even mention the subject because it would open up a
pandora's box as the public discovered exactly how special interests
are soaking the Treasury. In fact, initial GOP budget plans included a
paltry $25 billion in closed tax loopholes for large corporations,
mostly in oil, gas, timber, and mining. These cuts were intended to
demonstrate that the budget cuts would "target rich and poor alike,"
according to the Wall Street Journal (5/16/95). However, even this
pathetic cut was blocked by House Ways and Means Committee chair Bill
Archer, who declared that there are no "subsidies" in the tax code --
topic closed.
What you can do: read the New Republic article, and write your
representatives and your newspapers calling for cuts in corporate
welfare -- not programs for the poor.
#3. Rescissions Update
In part because of grassroots pressure, President Clinton said he will
veto the Republican "rescissions" bill, which would cut $16 billion in
current spending and mandate devastating timber cuts. The White House
has received more than 22,000 contacts urging a veto because of the
forest provision. The breakdown is as follows: 8,000 calls, 13,500
E-mails, 1,200 other, and 600 pieces of wood. This has exceeded the
volume of contacts after the Oklahoma bombing. Our thanks to members
who contacted the White House.
#4. Welfare Reform Update.
Senate Finance Chair Bob Packwood has drafted a welfare plan that
simply turns the program entirely over to the states, without imposing
conservative forms of social engineering (such as excluding children
born to welfare recipients from receiving aid). Such an approach will
create competition between the 50 states to drive their welfare
recipients to *other* states, with predictably disastrous consequences
for the poor -- none of which has been discussed in the media.
Meanwhile, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D/NY) finally weighed in
with a proposal of his own, which builds on the welfare reforms he set
in place in 1988. Moynihan's plan would increase funds for job
training, rather than slash benefits.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has calculated the impact
on each state under the Personal Responsibility Act's proposal to
block grant AFDC, reduce Food Stamps, deny aid to low-income disabled
children and block grant school lunch, WIC, and other child nutrition
programs. Nationally, funding would fall $2.6 billion, 15%, below what
would have been spent nationally on AFDC, JOBS and emergency
assistance under current law in the year 2000. For more information e-
mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Source: Handsnet Weekly Report).
#5. Senate Licenses Dangerous Products.
This item appeared in the Washington Feminist Faxnet (5/12/95).
The Senate this week passed a product liability bill that is truly
revolutionary, and there is no doubt it will hurt women. In capping
punitive damages at $250,000 for companies whose products maim and
kill, the Senators paid off their corporate fat-cat contributors at
the expense of consumers. Three of the most notorious dangerous
products in recent history have been used exclusively by women: the
Dalkon Shield (sterility & death), Playtex tampons (toxic shock
syndrome), silicone gel breast implants (autoimmune disease, suspected
deaths). Caps on damages put a price tag on selling unsafe products --
companies will just factor an occasional lawsuit into the cost of
doing business. Worse yet, women will probably not even be able to
find lawyers to represent them. NOW is the time to make your voice
heard -- before a final bill emerges from a House/Senate conference
committee. Tell your member of Congress not to put corporate profits
ahead of constituents at 202-221-3121.
#6. Packwood Stands Accused.
After 2 1/2 years, the Senate Ethics Committee finally completed its
*preliminary* inquiry and found "substantial credible evidence" on
three charges against Bob Packwood (R/OR): his harassment of 18 women
staffers, volunteers, and lobbyists; his clumsy attempt to destroy
evidence (otherwise known as a "cover-up"); and his effors to have
lobbyists hire his ex-wife so he could avoid alimony payments. Sen.
Barbara Boxer (D/CA) and NOW renewed their calls for Packwood to
resign, but the media trumpeted his "rehabilitation" as Senate Finance
Committee chair.
What you can do: contact your Senators and urge them to expel Packwood
from the Senate.
#7. Gingrich Cuts and Runs from GOPAC.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich is trying to avoid an ethics investigation
and a special prosecutor for his apparent violations of campaign
finance laws in his role as chairman of GOPAC. GOPAC solicited
millions of dollars from corporate interests to recruit, train, and
elect conservative Republican candidates at all levels of government,
but claimed it did not have to report those contributions because less
than 10% of its money went to federal candidates. Recently, Gingrich
resigned from GOPAC and blamed "them" for anything that might have
been illegal. Meanwhile, GOPAC officials continue to oppose disclosure
of the donors that funded past GOPAC efforts.
What you can do: contact House Ethics Committee chair Nancy Johnson
(R/CT) and demand that Speaker Gingrich be investigated as thoroughly
as former Speaker Jim Wright. Her office number is 202-225-4476.
#8. Taxation Without Representation.
In Hotline #4, we argued that women should raise the banner of
"Taxation Without Representation" in challenging the fact that women
constitute only 8% of the Senate, 11% of the House, and 2% of the
governors while paying (we estimate) 40% of the taxes. Well, now we
have more ammunition for our argument: a study by the Families and
Work Institute (whose work played a major role in passing Family Leave
legislation). The study, "Women: The New Providers" found that women
earn half or more of the family income in 45% of two-parent households
-- not including households headed solely by women.
Other interesting findings: despite the claims of the right that
Americans are overwhelmingly conservative, women said "their greatest
social concern was that people did not care enough about others,"
according to the report in the New York Times (5/11/95). Health care
and the quality of education ranked next. Women overwhelmingly (90%)
defined "family values" as "loving, taking care of, and supporting
each other, knowing right from wrong or having good values" --
regardless of family structure -- while only 2% restricted "family
values" to the traditional nuclear family.
#9. Christian Coalition Assaults the Constitution.
Amidst tremendous media hype, Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition
issued its "Contract With American Families." The ten items include:
-"Religious Equality Amendment," allowing for public expressions of
religion;
-cutting the Dept. of Education and redistributing those funds to the
states and local communities;
-"school choice"
-a $500-per-year tax credit for each child;
-limiting late-term abortions and cutting federally-funded abortions;
-restricting access to pornography on the Internet and cable TV;
-ending federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts,
National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corp. for Public
Broadcasting and the Legal Services Corp.;
-the "Parental Right Act," ensuring that parents' rights over their
children are not violated; and
-requiring criminals to pay restitution to their victims' families.
Although Ralph Reed insisted these were not the "Ten Commandments,"
the press conference was treated as though Reed had just come down
from Mount Sinai with tablets in hand. Most of the Republican
establishment was at his side, including Newt Gingrich, Phil Gramm,
Trent Lott, Tom DeLay, John Kasich, and John Boehner. One Democrat --
anti-choice Rep. Mike Parker -- was there to make the partisan
Republican gathering appear "bipartisan." Gingrich praised the
coalition and promised votes on each of the items. Reed met with Bob
Dole later in the day, and Dole pledged his support for the "Religious
Equality Amendment."
The "contract" quickly engendered some harsh criticism. Rep. Pat
Schroeder (D/CO) called it "a sharp, political grab for power to push
this country back and to push it into only one mold of thinking." Rep.
Nita Lowey (D/NY) said "Because they brought Newt Gingrich to power,
when they say, 'Jump,' he says, 'How high?'"
We welcome your comments on each of these proposals, and we'll analyze
it in full in a future Hotline.
#10. Oklahoma City Update.
>From the New York Times, 5/10/95: "Those who have talked with [Timothy
McVeigh] said he also seemed to be motivated by a philosophy broader
than [anger over] Waco. They said he appeared angry at the Government
because in his view it had created a climate in which abortion is
legal, family values have disintegrated, working-class men cannot find
jobs, taxes are high and spent on the wrong programs, and the right to
own guns is threatened. One person said Mr. McVeigh had talked of 'how
this country is going to hell in a handbasket.'"
And conservative leaders insist they have no responsibility to
discourage men who think this way from expressing their views through
violence?
The N.R.A., which is under close scrutiny for its incendiary anti-
government rhetoric, is trying to win sympathy with feminists by
running full-page ads accusing its nemesis, the B.A.T.F., of sexism,
racism, and even "anti-felinism" (stomping on pet cats). New York
Times columnist Frank Rich exposed that p.r. obscenity in his 5/18
column.
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Michael Golden
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Biology
Grossmont College
8800 Grossmont College Drive
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