I attended a local event at the Women's Intercultural Center for Women's History Month/International Women's Day last week that paired a special movie screening with a "sliding scale bake sale." Cupcakes and drinks cost a dollar each. But women got a special deal: those without children paid $.90, married moms paid $.73, and single moms paid $.60 for those same $1.00 items.
A sign explained what was happening:
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"WHY THE DIFFERENT PRICES?
We don't mean to discriminate. But this is a
SLIDING SCALE BAKE SALE
The prices reflect the REAL WAGE GAP
between men, women, and women with children.
Even today, for each dollar that a man earns, a woman can expect to earn $.90, a married mom can expect to earn $.73, and a single mom can expect to earn $.60.
If this seems unfair at a bake sale, imagine how it feels in the real world, WHERE RENT AND FOOD ARE NOT SOLD ON A SLIDING SCALE.
Info source: www.momsrising.org"
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Wasn't that what the President General said when he announced that women who'd been arrested under the Wartime Security Act would serve out their sentences in army brothels overseas? "These traitors will redeem themselves by safeguarding the virtue of patriotic American women and the sanctity of the American family." Suddenly Ro felt sorry for Dolly. She knew androids had no feelings, but she'd heard people say the same stupid shit about cats and dogs. Damned if they didn't. This...creature...was going to be programmed to respond to how she was treated. She would certainly look as if she were experiencing emotions like love, happiness, sorrow, or fear. And she would behave as if she felt pleasure or pain, heat and cold, pressure and tastes and sound.
Women couldn't stick together, huh? Couldn't protect one another? Ro nodded to herself. Right now, Dolly was just about the only female companionship she had. It was sort of like having a little sister. And you couldn't send your little sister out into the real world unprepared to deal with all its wickedness. Whistling her own tune now, Ro started rattling the keys. As she worked, she giggled from time to time. The programmers on either side of her, who had probably both been in uniform just six weeks ago, didn't notice her any more than they had noticed Pete's imitation of a dog licking his own balls. They had let their military haircuts grow out without bothering to trim them into a facsimile of civilian fashion. One of them had a scar that ran all the way around the top of his skull. The other walked funny, carrying his head sideways, tucked in toward his left shoulder. Ro didn't even want to think about what had happened to them while they were bringing democracy and Christianity to the oil fields of the Middle East.
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Charlene had been laid off from her job at the shipyard as soon as word came down that her husband had been discharged and was on his way home. They called it mandatory marital leave. It was supposed to be a benefit, so employers deducted money out of your check to cover it. Once the six months was up, you were supposed to be able to apply for your old job, but Charlene knew her welding days were over. Being able to get your hair done during the day was no compensation. After being responsible for mending holes bigger than she was in battleships, spending all day doing the dishes sure felt foolish.
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Unlike a lot of her friends, she hadn't conceived during their honeymoon. Maybe that was the problem. Peoplesaid having a baby helped you stay connected to your husband, kept the magic in the marriage. Every now and then she had gotten form letters from the army offering to send her doctor frozen "reproductive materials"t even if Jason wasn'y able to be with her. She knew it was important to keep the population level up.
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It still made her feel guilty, remembering how awkward her reunion with Jason had been. She knew she was supposed to be excited and happy, and treat him like a hero. But the deeply tanned, heavily muscled, angry man who came out of the airport gate was not the boy she remembered. Jason had made her laugh. He had been a great dancer. He wasn't much on the football team. but he had a nice body, and he was kind.
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The truth was, he scared her. He was too rough, and tense all the time, even when he came, as if he were holding in somethin awful that would kill him (and her) if it escaped. He could not sleep the night through without waking up in a sweat, screaming. But he never wanted to talk about it. He rushed through the act of sex as if it were an ordeal, and he would not look her in the eye or kiss her.
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If she could, she would divorce Jason and move to another city, make a fresh start. Leave the West Coast behind and take the bus back to Atlanta. There had to be jobs for women like her someplace else. They couldn't be laying everyone off. She had skills, she had experience. But under the Military Morale Act, the same one that had created mandatory marital leave, it was illegal to divorce someone who had served in the armed forces. The President General needed his men to know that while they were serving their country, everything at home was safe and sound.
TINA: hey “poetryman” you sound like you are one of the elitest who condemn this country..
Pride in this country has been walked over by people like you!
Displaying your pride in this country is something that is important, and sadly lacking in the country. When it comes to presidential elections pride in our country and its symbols is very appropriate.. just as it is on Independence day, Memorial Day, Labor Day.. and is wonderful if shared & displayed the rest of the year. When i saw pix of the DNC i was amazed by the lack of patriotism… this is the time when displaying patriotism is exciting! But when organizers of the DNC do not even bother to adore the location with any form of pride for the USA that is sad.. instead there were forms of pride for an individual man.. that is sad & egotistical.. but that hasbeen the foundation of his campaign!
When it comes to people of the heartland, the farms/workers of this nation.. they are the 1st ones who will show pride in our country, even when times are tough.. they still show pride.. and they will gladly display their patriotism any way they can.
The ONLY people I ever see who spit on the flag & this country are the brain-washed-liberals who think they are better than everyone else.. who believe in socialist concepts that Obama obviously supports.
Trashing the flag.. that was the BIG issue, aside from the lack of patriotism displayed at the DNC.. the flags those who attended were given.. were simply tossed in the trash.. that is sad, that is disguting.. and underlines what I am saying.. those no doubt were the self-riteous socialist democrats..
PS.. to emphasize a point…
McCain’s supporters were shouting “USA,USA”… as they proudly waved American Flags.
Obama supporters shouted “Obama, Obama”.. as they drooled over that individual..
That shows so much.. McCain supporters are supporting AMERICA.. you know the country we LIVE IN!
Obama supporters do not care about this country and are in a love-drool fest with an individual who has no policies or plans.. exccept to destroy this country and everything we believe in! A vote for that egotistical loser is a vote for a socialist country with a topping of chaos! There are already countries with that.. grab Obama and go there if you believe in him, ok?)
TPM: I see some of you responded to me, yet appear to have no idea what it is that I was saying. I will try it again.
**Just because my wife and I wear wedding rings doesn't mean our marriage is sound.
Just because hundreds of flags are being waved and people are chanting USA doesn't mean that our country is in good shape.**
By the way... the “flags in the dumpster” story seems to have been a GOP/RNC lowly tactic to give the perception of grave misuse of the symbol (flag). Too bad, too, because you had your moment there and now it seems that it really never happened. Funny how such maneuvers can cause such unneeded flack, eh?
You probably don't believe that the GOP or RNC or McCain camp would do such a thing and that, in and of itself, is degradation to country.
Another example**, if one needs it to understand what I tried to convey the first time---
Before, however, I would like to give the commenter, Tina, something to chew on-
Tina, with all due respect… I'm smack dab in the middle of farm country! I'm surrounded by farmers and cowboys, etc! I was raised on a farm! (My brain, however, was lucky enough to have never been fertilized by your version of how you imagine all country people, farmers, etc think. You know what assuming can do for a point in your argument? Sure you do.) Furthermore, I know plenty of farmers and "country folk" who think Bush is the worst president this country has seen and they could give a rat’s ass about displaying a symbol or chanting USA just to indicate their love of country! They'd rather be able to feed, house, educate, and clothe their children than worry if some Josie friggin’ blow thinks they've enough love for their country! It’s preposterous to assume that they are empty and vacuous and only care for patriotic symbols! They'd rather consider the facts and the state of the nation than wave some goddamned flag around imagining that it was or is a sure fired way of showing love of country! They’d say respect The U.S. Constitution over any idiotic, manufactured in China symbol! What, Tina, don't believe there are any “country folk” out there that think like that? Who you going to believe a country boy from Arkansas or your assuming ears and eyes?
Now on to the example-
**When seeing a doctor for something and you're in the waiting room and see the degree plaque(s) hanging on the wall letting everyone know that the doctor is licensed, etc...they can be a form of comfort for patients, right? I mean surely there is no other reason for them hanging around, other than code, if not for that, right?
Well, just because he or she has plaques on the wall from a prestigious medical school doesn't make him or her the best doctor for you or your family, right? I mean they could still be a quack. They could still botch the operation. They could be a pervert or a sloppy surgeon, etc. Right? So the degree hanging on the wall indicating that the doctor has the credentials to see you for your ailments doesn't really guarantee you anything, right?
Just because someone waves a flag or chants USA like they love their country does not necessarily make it so and it certainly doesn't mean that they have good intentions for their country and it doesn't mean that those that do not display a flag are any less inclined to love their country. It does, given the inclination to think that it does prove something, makes fools out of a good many voters.**
Peace...
CHAD: But when you do get a flag and dump it on the floor/in the trash when it doesn’t suit your immediate purpose anymore is an indicator of your feelings.
TPM: Chad,
What a load...
We live in the most consumptive nation on the planet... We also live in one of the most ignorant. I love the world I was born on. And yes, I love the country I was lucky enough to have been born in, but when the flag most of them were waving, the smaller, made for consumption, manufactured in China type, "seemed" to have been dumped by the wayside in plain view (gasp!) instead of waiting until they got home to toss them or stack them in the closet to collect dust or what have you, I call your assumption the height of hypocrisy. The flags, by the way, were mostly found to be a number of unused and still in bags and untouched by the DNC crowd. You've been lied to about the overwhelming misuse of the flag at the DNC. I cannot recall which station I saw the story on (certainly not FOX), it was also in a number of papers, but they debunked the entire mess and put it toward a campaign tactic to shore up the flag loving, USA chanting sycophants that hadn't decided who they were going to vote for yet! It's laughable, at best, to assume that "Democrats" (I'm an Independent, by the way), who have served their country in record numbers, are abusing the flag any more than anyone else. Hell! I'd rather abuse the flag; burn it, soil it, etc, than abuse the flag in the fashion that the Republicans have been doing for almost eight years! They aren't just abusing a symbol; they're abusing the very thread of this nation’s laws and her respect throughout the globe. Torture, illegal wire tapping, the 9-11 mantra, Justice department lies, worst foreign policy blunder(s) in history, the disrespect of our soldiers coming home to Walter Reid and others and returning to cut benefits, etc, and let's not forget the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner had a big old “flag” hanging from that god-awful deceit!
I guess the US Constitution, the troops, and the rule of law just don't quite suit their immediate purpose, eh, Chad?
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That is how it stands at this juncture. Not sure if I'll venture that way again.
(I am not leaving a link to "Pirates, Man Your Women"...) No point, really.