Why Women Need to Vote

This came across my desk & it was worth sharing...



WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE



This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-Grandmothers. They lived only 90 years ago.



Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote. The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. 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 Burns, 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, slamming, 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.

HBOhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf



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.' 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 angry…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 released the movie 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.'



Please, if you are so inclined, 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. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.



History is being made!



http://www.awelllivedlife.net/

http://www.awelllivedlife.blogspot.com/

HypnoBirthing & Interventions

This is from another HypnoBirthing practitioner from the UK. I thought it was worth sharing...

HB and Interventions


We teach our couples to negotiate and accept any 'necessary medical intervention', so I believe to describe a 'good/bad' HypnoBirth or refer to births as 'not a real HypnoBirth' is arrogant and bad psychology for our mums. It is nonetheless a HypnoBirth because HB at its best covers almost every eventuality.
In my early teaching days I was suitably evangelical and the 'p' words -pain & pushing - had no place in my vocabulary or my classes; the visualisations were exclusively of the 'perfect' HypnoBirth. When the inevitable 'necessary' interventions occurred - from a forceps delivery to elective c-section and emergency c-section - mums reported back to me that the lack of preparation for those eventualities had left them a bit lost at the time of their decisions to agree to the interventions and a sense of failure that they'd somehow done something wrong or 'failed' their HypnoBirthing 'final' - and leaving me wondering if I'd omitted something essential.


My own cousin had an amazing HypnoBirth - following a whole series of 'interventions' throughout her very difficult pregnancy. She had wanted a homebirth - massive fibroids made that inadvisable. Her baby was stubbornly breech, despite every turning technique and baby appeared to be doing his best to turn. My cousin was a vaginal breech herself; she changed consultant at 37 weeks to one who agreed to support a vaginal breech. At 41 weeks, the same consultant gently asked her to consider elective c-section. She took herself deep into self-hypnosis and following a dialogue with her body and her baby (ALL very valid HypnoBirthing skills) decided her baby needed help to be safely born. Her consultant at all times stressed that he would support whatever decision she came to - he respected her knowledge and ability to make informed decisions . . . which came purely from HypnoBirthing . . . and he would still support a vaginal birth if that was her decision.


She accepted the offer of the c-section, remaining calm, focusing love and good hormones - and oxygenated blood - down to her birthing body and her baby all the way and requesting lights/sounds/voices, etc. be considered for as gentle a delivery as possible. She adjusted her visualisations to include a gentle delivery and good recovery for herself and baby. This was an adjustment - a negotiated intervention, based on an informed decision (made possible by HypnoBirthing training), not a capitulation or, horrible word - failure.


Again, her surgeon did his best to give her a HypnoBirth. Baby was to go skin to skin with dad while she was 'busy' after the procedure and not to be taken to another room. As soon as possible, baby was to go to the breast. They modified their birthing preferences to take the changes into account - again, making their own informed decisions with every change that occurred. All good use of HypnoBirthing skills.


At the time of Jack's birth it was discovered the cord was twice around his neck, quite tight and thus and very short - which explained why he seemed to be making his best effort to turn and not quite making it. A vaginal breech could have been a bad decision.


As far as mum is concerned, HypnoBirthing worked for her and she's my greatest advocate. Without HypnoBirthing, she would have had no control or choices whatsoever - it would all have been taken over and become a totally medical procedure. As it was, she and her husband used all their HypnoBirthing knowledge and skills to effect the very best birthing experience they could in the ever changing circumstances surrounding Jack's birth day.


Jack - now 10 months old - is an amazing little boy - a glowing example of what we describe as a HypnoBaby, successfully and exclusively breastfed and the most blissful parents you could wish for.


So yes, HypnoBirthing works - DESPITE any circumstances that prevail. HypnoBirthing works - if the parents have total confidence in their ability to make informed decisions. Continuing calm and relaxed, breathing down and communicating with baby exactly as for a vaginal delivery - explaining to her body what is happening and visualising healing afterwards - as hypnotherapists, exactly what we would do to prepare for surgery, ensuring no post-op shock and good recovery.


My teaching now includes mention of this - and urges parents to adjust to any change in circumstances without disturbing the calm focus and continuing with their HypnoBirthing breathing until baby is in their arms.


With Birthing Preferences - they will make a few notes under an 'EVEN IF' section, then put them out of sight. I use the words "EVEN IF" in response to parents' question of "WHAT IF?" It suggests a smoother process and an acceptance that nature's way isn't always the quick and easy way, but HypnoBirthing will still be there for them - working away "as if by magic". Knowing the contingency is there reassures them of continuing control and keeps the fear away.


This is a long post - but this minor emphasis has changed things for my mums who do accept necessary intervention. They still feel empowered and, just as importantly, that HypnoBirthing didn't let them down when it counted.


Geraldine Vinall

Essex UK



Thank you Geraldine for your insight & wisdom...I feel it is our job as HypnoBirthing practitioners to educate our clients to have true informed consent & to empower our clients to have the best birth they can have. Your words ring true...



http://www.awelllivedlife.net/

http://www.awelllivedlife.blogspot.com/

Things that make you go hmmmm....

First off, Eve Ensler's article about Sarah Palin in the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/drill-drill-drill_b_124829.html

Secondly, a little comparison of the candidates that came across my desk:

"I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic,different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're wonderful and a genuinemaverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the firstblack President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible with strong family values.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now. "

Things that make you go hmmmm....

www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com

Holistic Moms Promote "Birth Rights" on Labor Day

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Date: August 25, 2008
Contact: Nancy Massotto, Executive Director
Telephone: (877) HOL-MOMS

HOLISTIC MOMS PROMOTE "BIRTH RIGHTS" ON "LABOR DAY"
Parenting Group Says Womens' Rights to Natural Childbirth Are Rapidly Disappearing
(Caldwell, NJ) -
This Labor Day, as we honor the steadfast efforts of our country's workers, the Holistic Moms Network (HMN) – a national non-profit with 130 Chapters across the U.S. – will be advocating for some of the toughest labor faced by women: childbirth. Through a number of events – organized on or around Labor Day -HMN will focus attention on the critical issue of preserving a woman's right to choose how and where she gives birth - a right that is rapidly disappearing.

This past June, HMN issued a press release to call attention to the American Medical American Association's adoption of Resolution 205, which states that hospitals and hospital birthing centers are "the safest settings" for labor and delivery, despite strong evidence to the contrary. The Resolution is seen by HMN and birth choice advocates as an attempt to outlaw homebirth and eliminate low-intervention childbirth choices for women, thereby robbing them of a powerful birth experience and placing them and their newborns at higher risk of injury and death.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, vaginal births after Cesarean (VBAC) rates have fallen by 67% since 1996 and U.S. hospitals are increasingly denying women the right to have VBACs, effectively forcing them into unnecessary Cesarean surgery. This runs contrary to the government's own Healthy People 2010 initiative which seeks to increase the VBAC rate to 63% by 2010."Cesarean section is a major surgical procedure that increases the likelihood of many complications for mothers and babies compared to vaginal birth," says Dr. Nancy Massotto, HMN's Executive Director who birthed both of her sons at home. Risks to babies include surgical cuts, breathing problems, and difficulty breastfeeding. Risks to the mother include surgical injury, infection, and death from increased blood loss. Last year, the Associated Press reported that U.S. women are dying from childbirth at the highest rate in decades, with the jump in C-sections partly to blame.

The World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agree that, for the safety of both mothers and babies, a country's C-section rate should not exceed 15%. Medical institutions are clearly not heeding this advice. New Jersey – home to HMN headquarters - has the highest C-section rate in the country – 38.9% in 2007. This is 7% above the national average of 31%. New Jersey Center for Health Statistics data show that Bayonne Medical Center's C-section rate was an astounding 62% in 2006 - up 15% from the prior year. In 2007, Paterson's Barnert Hospital's C-section rate was 53.9 but its VBAC rate was a mere 1.8%.

To inform women about this crisis and about their birth rights, HMN is organizing and participating in Labor Day events across the country.