If only the women were in charge. === INSPIRING READ ===>

[tk2kewl]

This was read at the Ethical Humanist Society's Vigil for Cindy Sheehan last night. I never new that Mothers' Day began this way. Wow!

Mothers' Day Proclamation - 1870

by Julia Ward Howe

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will 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, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

[tk2kewl]

1. too good to sink IMO

:kick:

[Burried News]

2. Counter Example Margaret Thatcher - Falkland Islands

It aint the Nads it's a matter of Heart and Soul.

We do need alot more women in politics - said the father of two daughters.

[tk2kewl]

3. true enough...

but I'll take my chances with more women in charge than men.

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. Golda Meir, too

[ET Awful]

4. I wonder how many Freepers will stop celebrating Mothers Day

in protest :).

That's very cool. I'll have to track down some more history on it :)

[tk2kewl]

5. They'll probably start a smear campain on their own mothers next.

:crazy:

[mom cat]

31. They defile their mother each time they open their mouths.

[cyberpj]

35. FYI - more history:

http://www.peace.ca/mothersdayproclamation.htm

[mondo joe]

6. Oh the Breast Feeding Wars.

Yeah - Phyllis Schlafly and Ann Coulter could be the President and VP.

Less sarcastically: women vote more than men do already. Women can already effect these changes.

[tk2kewl]

11. Why do you suppose they haven't effected these changes then...

just curious about your take on it.

[mondo joe]

14. Simple: Because a number of women don't fit the stereotype.

It's easy to pretend women are more patient, understanding, compassionate, etc etc etc and while that might as a TREND be true there are PLENTY of women who are big fucking assholes just like Repig men.

[lukasahero]

7. What a beautiful statement!

Figured someboday had to post something other than a gripe about your subject line... :eyes:

Thanks for sharing this. We may be seeing this in action! Bless you Cindy Sheehan!

[tk2kewl]

8. I was hoping the subject line would get some attention...

I think this is an incredible piece and wanted to make sure people took a look. Do me a favor and come back later and give it a kick. :hi:

[lukasahero]

12. Well it certainly did that! LOL!

I will keep an eye on this and keep it kicked. Thanks again for sharing it.

(So yeah, I didn't really have anything to add so this is little more than a gratuitous KICK. :))

[tk2kewl]

13. thanks...

nothing wrong with gratuitous kicks :D :kick:

[annabanana]

9. I have taken to sending this out to every Mother I know..

And on Mother's Day, I send it out again, and again

[tk2kewl]

10. I hadn't heard it until last night, but I will never forget it...

I will be sending it around too. O8)

[tk2kewl]

15. One more vote? It's worth it IMO.

:kick:

[lukasahero]

16. One more kick anyway

Already voted, sorry, can't do it twice. :)

[tk2kewl]

17. Thanks

I'm pulling out the stops on this one :D


did you vote in the poll? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4388528&mesg_id=4388528

[lukasahero]

19. I did vote in the poll

See, there's another kick! :)

[BrklynLiberal]

18. and one more kick...and nomination for greatest.

[Cleita]

20. I've really been thinking, we should form an

organization that backs liberal women candidates for office. We really need to get 50% of women into all government elected positions to give us the representation we deserve. NOW and other women's organizations are too broad based, or too narrowly focused on other women's issues to address this specific matter.

[FreedomAngel82]

23. There is an organization

See EMILY's list. This organization backs women canidates all over the country who are progressive. Here's their website: http://www.emilyslist.org

[Cleita]

26. Yeah, I know, but I want one whose sole focus is in

changing the political demographic.

[tk2kewl]

24. Maybe some gerrymandering of districts...

:silly:

[catzies]

42. Have you heard of NWPC - the National Women's Political Caucus?

We were founded at the same time as NOW, in the early 70s.

We are the ONLY national organization that does what we do. EMILY'S List used to do donations only, and has just begun to offer training and NOW is issue-based rather than candidate-based.

We feel that "half the population deserves half the representation," and as president of the Ventura County chapter, I'm proud to say California NWPC leads the way in elected women. :)

http://www.nwpc.org

http://www.nwpcca.org

The National Women's Political Caucus is a multicultural, intergenerational and multi-issue grassroots organization dedicated to increasing women’s participation in the political process and creating a true women’s political power base to achieve equality for all women. NWPC recruits, trains and supports pro-choice women candidates for elected and appointed offices at all levels of government regardless of party affiliation.

Why Do We Exist?
Women are 51% of the population, yet comprise only 13% of the U.S. Congress and just over 22% of the state legislatures. NWPC will continue to recruit, train and support women until we are fully represented at all levels of government.

Candidate Recruitment
NWPC is dedicated to identifying and encouraging qualified women to seek elected office. Through our California state network of local chapters, we endorse and provide technical assistance to hundreds of candidates each year.

Candidate Criteria
NWPC endorses viable women candidates, regardless of political party, who support our core issues: The Equal Rights Amendment; Reproductive Choice and Publicly Funded Abortion; Increased Access to Child Care and other dependent care programs funded from all available sources; Ending Discrimination based on age, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, marital status, socioeconomic status and disability; Comparable Pay for work of comparable worth; and Elimination of sexual harassment.

[Cleita]

43. No I never heard of them. I'll look at them, but it seems that

if you don't have Rush Limbaugh foaming at the mouth, calling you lesbians and feminazis you aren't getting your agenda out there. I want an organization that is out there pissing the patriarchal entitlers off and gaining the support of thinking women while they do it.

[catzies]

44. I don't think there are any of those;it's up to individual women not group

endeavors, unfortunately. Our group is so below the national radar we're not drawing that kind of ire.

Perhaps it's because we only raise & spend "hard dollars." We don't do propositions or ballot initiatives, or give money to parties or think tanks or anything else. We just raise and give money to progressive pro-choice women candidates for their campaigns. And train women to run for office but don't know how. And we help women get appointed to boards & commissions as a stepping-stone to getting elected someday.

And oh yes, I'm a "feminazi." :D

[Generic Other]

21. Thanks for posting this

Arise then...women!! Right on!

[FreedomAngel82]

22. Yes

Women have stud up before. I think this time it'll be women again. We always clean up the men's mess eh? ;) J/k. But seriously, it's a nice read. :)

[tk2kewl]

25. My wife always cleans up after me. Just one of the many reasons I love her

:D :loveya:

[mogster]

28. Great!

I loved it! :-)

[steve2470]

29. kick nt

[wiley]

30. An enthusiastic kick!

If only it would happen!

[JanMichael]

32. Yeah that "Vote" thing sure has worked wonders.

At least we aren't officially a Fascist nation for the time being.

33. mothers and sons

I know in my family, my father fought in WWII, submariner, and he enlisted when he was around 17 and so needed his mother's consent, signature. And she gave it. I think later he sort of blamed her for giving the consent and she felt bad about that. He was very anti-war in his later years. If mothers spoke out en mass, it would be a strong influence to not enlist.

[cyberpj]

34. WHAT A WOMAN! Check out this bio:

http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/juliawardhowe.html

(Was just looking to give this a kick and got wowed by what I found.)

[Daphne08]

36. I've always said that if Mothers were in control, there would be

NO MORE WAR!


:kick:

[ikojo]

37. I don't think just replacing men with women will

change anything until attitudes change. Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, Condi Rice, Hillary Clinton and Madeline Albright are just a few pro war women who occupied positions of power. They had the opportunity to choose a path other than war and chose war.

[ihaveaquestion]

38. These women have risen to prominence in a "man's world."

They are necessarily women with the qualities that allow them to make a go of it in a male dominated power structure. If women were the majority, it should be different. There would be all sorts of women in power, not just those of a certain type.

[Bruce McAuley]

40. I beg to differ...

All those women went for the POWER, and I would argue that if the women of the world ran things, especially the wise older women, wars and the struggle for power would be a thing of the past.
Re-read Julia's statement.

Bruce

[Bassic]

39. I do think women might run things better than we do

And then I am reminded of two words : Margaret Thatcher.

:scared:

[ismnotwasm]

41. Every mother's son

My favorite part "our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience" Not exactly the predominate version of what a man should be these days, is it? Interestingly, my daughter is a soldier and a combat veteran. She knows now the cost of war. To her the army at it's best can do a lot of good in the world. She does not think it's at it's best now, by any means. She knows what we're doing over there is crap. I think being a bright young woman, she never bought into the bullshit that seem to turn so many of our young men. Not all women soldiers turn out that way, but she did. We don't agree on everything, but I'll tell you this, she never voted for *.