Cokie Roberts, etc. / War on Women

If anyone made it to any of the recent events - please post about it.

The HT's write up about Cokie Roberts was that she was pushing for compromise.

What can happen there - is that you get each side going farther from the middle so they can 'compromise' back to their original intention. Like Used car salesmen - or probably a lot of other negotiable situations.

Most of us are aware that the Republicans have been going way out from normal (and from equality) - and insisting we follow them. That, of course, is not going to happen.

Compromise and consensus only work when people are trying to be reasonable to begin with - and share some common goals.
---

From NUVO - on the (United against the) War on Women Rally at the Statehouse in Indianapolis:

Despite threatening weather, over 100 protestors gathered in support of women's health and equal pay on the South Lawn of the Statehouse. This rally coincided with 49 others across every state. 

Organizers wrote, before the rally:
"From Indiana Rep. Bob Morris attacking the Girl Scouts and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell advocating for transvaginal probes, to bills that restrict birth control, enact "personhood" laws, and intrude into the relationship between a woman and her physician, it's clear that lawmakers — predominantly male — have gone too far in their efforts to restrict women's rights and choices." 

Speakers at the Indiana We Are Women rally included John Gregg, Democratic candidate for governor of Indiana; Betty Cockrum, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Indiana; Heather Maddox, communications director of the 51% Club; Rev. Stephen Sinclair, Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis; Dr. Terri Jett, chair, Department of Political Science, Butler University; Vi Simpson, Indiana State Senator (D); and Jean Breaux, Indiana State Senator (D).

Standing next to Gregg in one of the photos is our own Shelly Yoder .

Bio - Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion

Story / Interview on NPR.org:

Writing The Messy Life Of A Sexual Health Pioneer

Margaret Sanger founded the organization that became Planned Parenthood. Her work around sexual health made her one of the most celebrated and vilified figures in women's history. Host Michel Martin explores Sanger's complex life and drive for her work with Jean Baker, author of the biography Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion.

These Clowns Remind Me of the Raging Grannies

We Are Insurgent

The Rebel Clown Army Manifesto   (found on Adbusters)

we are insurgent because we have risen up from nowhere and are everywhere. Because ideas can be ignored but not suppressed and an insurrection of the imagination is irresistible. Because whenever we fall over we rise up again and again and again, knowing that nothing is lost for history, that nothing is final. Because history doesn’t move in straight lines but surges like water, sometimes swirling, sometimes dripping, flowing, flooding–always unknowable, unexpected, uncertain. Because the key to insurgency is brilliant improvisation, not perfect blueprints. 

we are rebels because we love life and happiness more than ‘revolution.’ Because no revolution is ever complete and rebellions continues forever. Because we will dismantle the ghost-machine of abstraction with means that are indistinguishable from ends. Because we don’t want to change ‘the’ world, but ‘our’ world. Because we will always desert and disobey those who abuse and accumulate power. Because rebels transform everything–the way they live, create, love, eat, laugh, play, learn, trade, listen, think and most of all the way they rebel. 

we are an army because we live on a planet in permanent war–a war of money against life, of profit against dignity, of progress against the future. Because a war that gorges itself on death and blood and shits money and toxins, deserves an obscene body of deviant soldiers. Because only an army can declare absurd war on absurd war. Because combat requires solidarity, discipline and commitment. Because alone clowns are pathetic figures, but in groups and gaggles, brigades and battalions, they are extremely dangerous. We are an army because we are angry and where bombs fail we might succeed with mocking laughter. And laughter needs an echo. 

We are approximate and ambivalent, in the most powerful of all places, the place in-between order and chaos.

_____________________________

From the Raging Grannies site / raginggrannies.org/herstory/:

The Grannies have daringly crashed parties, receptions, commissions and hearings of all kinds to give visibility to issues or events that some wanted secret. The organisers of the first trade show of high-tech military products in Victoria wanted to keep protesters away because their presence would make US uniformed officers in attendance ill at ease (Stewart, 1989, p. 4). To their chagrin the Grannies showed up. The entrance being free for those wearing military uniforms the Grannies got out their veterans’ uniforms or made them with things like cellophane and all kinds of gaudy baubles. Predictably refused entrance, they haggled long enough to allow cameras to reveal the little secret on the evening news. A year later, they resurrected the uniforms and trotted down to the Armed Forces Recruitment Office to sign up as volunteers as the threat of war in the Gulf increased: “unable by law to ask the Grannies their age, the baffled recruiters ploughed through the necessary paper work straight-faced; one Granny was even invited back for a math test! Back they were a week later with knitting needles and wool” (McClaren and Brown, 1993, p. 7). The granny invited back for a chance to qualify as a maritime officer displayed typical Grannies’ humour: “I’m certainly prepared to go in any capacity they send me, . . . I wanted to go as a person who is experienced in conflict resolution. I qualify because I lived with a man for 40 years and brought up children” (Meissner, 1990). 

'Faith Aloud' Prayers for Women & Difficult Choices

I saw this on RH Reality Check.


Rev. Rebecca Turner, a United Church of Christ minister, and the head of Faith Aloud, created a series for “40 Days of Prayer.” Faith Aloud is a pro-choice religious organization based in St. Louis, Missouri. 

“Today we pray for women for whom pregnancy is not good news, that they know they have choices.”

“Today we pray for the men in our lives, that they may offer their loving kindness and support for women’s difficult decisions.”

“Today we pray for Christians everywhere to embrace the loving model of Jesus in the way he refused to shame women.”

Turner originally wrote these prayers to counter religious-based protests against women's rights to choose abortion.  For some years, the “40 Days of Prayer” were used in various ways by clinics but ignored by the anti-choice movement. However, recently when a clinic in northern California reprinted the prayers in a brochure,  the movement took notice, and Turner’s prayers—and by extension, the concept of a religiously-based prochoice group—drew much attention from the religious right, including interviews by Fox News and Focus on the Family, and follow up stories in various anti-choice publications.

An interview with Turner follows in the article:

From Hate to Love: Why "40 Days of Prayer" is Under Attack by the Christian Right

We Are Women Rally - April 28th - Indiana Statehouse 10am-noon

Location: South Lawn of the StatehouseIndianapolis Indiana 

Event Details:

Hosted by: We Are Women March - Indiana

"Help defend women’s rights and pursuit of equality. Join Americans all across the United States on April 28th, 2012, as we come together as one to tell members of Congress in Washington DC and legislators in all 50 states. "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!”

"All Americans have the right to make decisions about their own bodies, including the right to contraception without interference from government, business, or religious institutions."

"Everyone is invited to join, plan, and march as WE STAND TOGETHER to demand that every person be granted equal opportunities, equal rights, and equal representation."

"The Art of Activism: How Do You Find Your Voice in Society?"

Bloomington Supporters!

We need your presence to pack the house for this panel in support of PPIN! The panel also includes the President and CEO of Indiana Right to Life and there have been rumors that he is bringing a large numbers of his supporters to sweep media coverage and make it look like the majority of Hoosiers are in support of his organization. We need to make sure that our presence is strong!

The O'Bannon Institute for Community Service 2012

Friday, April 27

11 a.m. – Panel featuring PPIN President & CEO, Betty Cockrum

Topic: The Art of Activism: How Do You Find Your Voice in Society?

Bloomington Monroe County Convention Center
302 South College Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47403

In addition to the panel featuring Betty, there is a full day of speakers, culminating in the afternoon with Cokie Roberts ! 

There is no cost to attend.    

For more information and to register, click here.  

Please let me know if you are able to attend. We expect that a large group of PPIN opposition will be there and we want to know how many of our "troops" we can count on for support.

Please wear a pink Planned Parenthood shirt to the event if you have one. If you don not, we will have a limited number of pink "I stand with Planned Parenthood" t-shirts available for you to wear in order to show your support.

Please spread the word and invite as many of your friends as you can!

 ------

9:00a.m.
Welcome remarks by Ivy Tech-Bloomington Chancellor John Whikehart and Former Indiana First Lady Judy O’Bannon

9:30a.m — Panel One:  The Heroes We Love to Hate: Do Americans Hate Politics But Love Their Politicians?  

11:00a.m. — Panel Two: The Art of Activism: How Do You Find Your Voice in Society?

1:15p.m. — Panel Three:  The Drama of Obama v. ?: What Will Happen in the 2012 Presidential Election? 

2:30p.m. - 3:30 p.m. — A Conversation with Cokie Roberts (Political Analyst for ABC News, NPR Senior News Analyst, Former Co-Anchor, This Week with Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts)