Welcome to my blog - please tell me what YOU think about some of the things I post. I enjoy your comments.
Remember,many of the links to other articles in these posts have a finite existence: there is no way to tell how long they will be in place before being moved or removed!
This Month
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September 30, 2004
Ladies - planning on voting?
by
vtmnldy
on Thu 30 Sep 2004 03:54 PM CDT
Ladies - planning on voting? I don't really care for whom, but I was a "may be maybe not" voter until one of our group sent me this:
Subject: FW: those who came before us
The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic."
They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, lamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie "Iron Jawed Angels" (releases on DVD 9/7/04). It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. "One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie," she said. "What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn." The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her "all over again."
HBO will run the movie periodically before releasing it on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: "Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity."
Women finally did get to vote in the 1920 National Election.
Please pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. |
September 28, 2004
Melt down
by
vtmnldy
on Tue 28 Sep 2004 03:56 PM CDT
Sept 28th
| What a day yesterday - as some of you may know, we had a meltdown in our functionality , which meant no-one could place an order on our site. Thank you, all of you who called to let us know, express concern, and place your orders over the phone.
For a small business, it was kind of like having a hurricane - but without the Federal Assistance later!
Fortunately for me I have access to a Genius type of gentleman who revels in this kind of puzzle, and he was able to ascertain that there was a problem with our LivePerson chat window, which normally occupies the space top right on each page. Certainly, taking the code out of my site made it functional again.
Once the issue is sorted out, the chat window will be back, In the meantime, I am left limp, and aged by about 30 years. Which at my age I can ill afford.
Phew! |
September 24, 2004
Are Mammograms worthwhile?
by
vtmnldy
on Fri 24 Sep 2004 04:01 PM CDT
Sept 24th
| Is mammographyworth while?
An outspoken critic of it is Dr. Douglass, who commented in a recent newsletter:
"A new survey recently released by a government advisory panel called the Institute of Medicine (a pro-mammogram group, by the way) reports an 8% DECREASE in the number of breast-squashing - er, I mean mammogram - facilities in the United States over the last 4 years. Now this is a trend in mainstream medicine that's worth trumpeting!"
For more of his opinion, click here. |
September 21, 2004
Be careful about Iron supplements!
by
vtmnldy
on Tue 21 Sep 2004 04:07 PM CDT
Sept 21st
| I routinely advise people over 45 to avoid supplements with iron in them, because of the possible connection with heart disease.
For more about this, read my article on Heart health here:
For a new study, read more here.
A caveat: older women need to watch their iron levels: poor absorption as we age can cause them to be dangerously low. The answer is to have the situation checked by a blood test before taking or not taking iron supplements!! |
September 20, 2004
Importance of Supporting the Immune System
by
vtmnldy
on Mon 20 Sep 2004 04:09 PM CDT
Sept. 20th
When one reads of the re-emergence globally of killer diseases thought to be under control, it adds urgency to the need to support one's immune system. To take but one example, TB, the stuff of tragic operas and gothic novels, is making a come-back with new and more virulent strains hard to dominate and harder still to resist because of the air-borne nature of the infection.
Read the report on Tuberculosis here
Read my article on Immune Support here. |
September 15, 2004
What to do about the Flu
by
vtmnldy
on Wed 15 Sep 2004 04:10 PM CDT
Sept 15th
| Having been gently chided by a number of people for not documenting the claim, below, that the Government is "pushing" 'flu shots, I now present the article I base the claim on. The reason I didn't post it previously is because these links are only up for a given period of time, and I hate to disappoint!
The 'Flu Season Campaign Begins |
Sept 14th
With the increasing drumbeat of PR from the Government promoting the need to have flu shots, I present the alternative that I use each year - flu free since '73!
Each year, the World Health Organization predicts which flu strains are most likely to occur around the world for the upcoming flu season. These strains are then manufactured by the Pasteur Institute in France for the creation of flu vaccine, and used also for the manufacture of Dolivaxil.
Dolivaxil is derived from killed flu strains, and then prepared in homeopathic (highly diluted) doses, thereby eliminating unpleasant side effects. Dolivaxil is suitable for anyone over the age of 2, and is particularly beneficial for Seniors and those who are unable to have a flu vaccination.
I recommend also having on hand Dolicoccil, in case you feel any of the symptoms of the 'flu. |
September 13, 2004
Fortifying our food
by
vtmnldy
on Mon 13 Sep 2004 04:11 PM CDT
Sept. 13th
| An interesting debate is going on over our food supply - to fortify more, or not to fortify.
There can be no doubt that adding a few cents worth of certain vitamins to foods could reap quite a dividend in terms of health benefits, and health care costs.
But I have a problem with this on two levels: it would take the emphasis off helping people make more sensible dietary choices, if they could continue to eat junk and still support their health
It would mean even more power in the hands of those who already control our food supply
And it begs the question, can we trust them to do the right thing?
My experience tells me that the path they take is always the one directed towards profit - who would protect the sources of the nutrients they use?
The premise |
September 01, 2004
Unlikely effects of Atkins Diet
by
vtmnldy
on Wed 01 Sep 2004 04:13 PM CDT
Sept 1st
| It sounds as though Dr. Atkins may be doing not only our national girth a favor, but our breasts as well.
Read the report here. |
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