Creating a Strong Unified Voice

Are you jobless? Are you working poor? Are you near homelessness? Are you feeling disempowered, helpless, frustrated, angry, bewildered, invisible and unwanted--simply because our leaders ignore us and forget our real needs for us Americans? Are you tired of worrying how your children will get a sound, quality, safe education? Are you worried about how you will pay your bills, how will you maintain affordable healthcare, keep housing affordable, how you will avoid bankruptcy, and how you will avoid foreclosure? You are all these things, and much more, aren't you? Of course, you are! How many of you are wondering which bill you pay this month, or what food you can afford to buy, or which food bank do you visit this month. And if you aren't at that level yet, you worry about how long, if you have one, your job will remain in this country. And for many of you, if you are working, how many jobs -- 2 to 4 -- will you have to have just to pay for the basic things you need. The voices of all of us are unifying. We are wailing, screaming, raging, and we want safe, legal change in how the laws are used to help us and protect us. The most important thing you can do today is ask your girlfriends--give them a copy of this posting -- and ask them--"What are YOU willing to do to help change this country for the better?" Pick up the phone--write letters--send emails--to ALL your elected officials for your community, county, state, and U.S. Congress--and IF their positions do NOT help you, then VOTE--VOTE for representatives who WILL. VOTE your heart, your pocketbooks, not religious hot-button issues. You have to live with your choices and how they will be once elected. Contact women's organizations--learn what the issues are -- ask others to help you understand if you don't--but don't sit a single moment on the sidelines--You, your spouse (if you have one); your children--and your neighbors--all must unite as one voice calling for jobs to be returned; for homes and rental units made affordable; for affordable health care plans available for all; and for wiser use of taxpayers' money to be spent on these domestic issues. We cannot afford America in its current condition--can we? Be honest with yourself--it's getting harder and harder to survive...prices go up, up, up, while your salary goes down, down, down. Are you winning? If you are, congratulations! you are a rarity. If no, then join your voice to the millions across this country who need to galvanize, organize, rally, and make it clear that we matter, and we have not gone away! Please don't let the sun set before you tell others about this posting today. Get Started!!!

America' Running Out of Jobs, Homes, and Gas

Did you ever expect to see that jobs were being lost in record numbers overseas to outsourcing, the massive influx of immigrants, the loss of affordable housing, and also the loss of affordable gasoline. Too many families are pawning off prized possessions to pay for the staggering rise of fuel. Communities are drastically cutting back funding; retail stores are paying extremely high prices for goods shipped to them; affordable electricity rates have vanished...the question is: Does anyone in Washington D.C. care about us? Why the disconnect between the mainstream American and the U.S. Congress? It's not just Katrina or Rita--it's protecting jobs here and keeping companies here in the U.S. Last week the Chinese Premier Hu-Jintao and President Bush did not come to terms on the trade imbalance or currency problems the Chinese cause. The numbers here speak volumes of how our government ignores that there many millions of unemployment mothers, fathers, single adults, etc., who have been out of work for a year or longer. And no one seems to care about providing affordable housing--seeing, for example, mobile home parks being sold to developers, and the poor people who cannot afford high-end housing or condominiums, end up becoming homeless--Something is very wrong with this picture. Fuel prices over $3.00 a gallon for regular unleaded--yet a retired fuel company executive is receiving $400 million dollars as severance pay? Something is wrong with this picture. Colleges hike their tuition costs each year anywhere from 10 percent to 25 percent on average--but why do college presidents and sports coaches in universities receive millions of dollars, as poor students scrape to pay for a single course--something is wrong with this picture. Too many Americans cannot even live on $7.00 to $15.00 per hour--never mind jobs paying minimum wage. The biggest issue affecting this country and bringing it down is good, old-fashioned greed. It is wrong that our children cannot afford things, or be able to have a summer job. It is appalling to learn that people support illegal immigrants knowing that they are classified as "cheap labor", or sending the jobs overseas--calling the workers in India or China "low-cost" or "dirt-cheap". Yet, we are expected to keep our families safe, pay the bills, pay the taxes, have a car to get to jobs, etc. Americans have been betrayed by companies--they don't care about us--they care about the top executives getting cushy and comfortable. They don't believe in loyalty to its employees. Case in point: stripping health-care benefits and pensions. Call your Congressional Delegation -- tell them you've had enough! Don't excuse them, and don't look the other way. If there have been protests in 64 cities by immigrants, maybe it's time for us to do the same thing. Congress needs to see and hear directly that it MUST tend to these issues and stop playing favorites with the wealthiest. They must be told in no uncertain terms to stop punishing the poor. We can inform them that if they don't, we can all band together in our respective districts and vote them out of office in favor of people who will fight for us. We are in trouble.

One Amazing Mother

Motherhood is a vocation given by the Creator to women who do amazing miraculous things to raise, nurture, train, and grow their children into adulthood. I have an amazing true story about a woman friend who gives herself so much into her being a mother that "love equals motherhood" true embodies her. Linda, who I have had the blessed fortune to have only known a few short years, lives in the Midwestern heartland of the United States, has three children--the oldest I will save for later. Of her other two, one is a son with Autism, and a younger daughter. Linda has had to spend the better part of her time raising them. She has struggled financially to afford her place. She relies on help from various financial streams to get her through. She lives where she does due to she found an excellent place for her son's care with his autism. She has been so poor that she sacrifices meals for herself, sometimes for days, in order to make sure her children get the proper food and nourishment they need. She gives herself so completely that whenever I speak to her, she has a gleam in her eye and a peppy tone in her voice, being the proud Mommy she is, as she talks about her most prized gifts--her children. I never hear her complain about being a mother; I never hear her feel sorry for herself. She keeps a keen sense of humor, and she is such a loving woman, she is an inspiration to me. She gives totally from her want, and she never hesitates to give and give and give. She spends so much time helping her son to adjust to living in the world with Autism--it takes so much energy from her but she never complains about it and she loves this child so much. She makes sure her daughter also gets so much love and attention. This is the Linda I have come to know and love. She is a sister to me, and a wonderful girlfriend to other women. The oldest one is a son she gave up for adoption many years ago. For the first time they talked last year. She speaks so glowingly about him, and she made sure that if she could not care for him at the age she birthed him, she ensured that he would grow up cared for, fed, loved, and safe. She has hurt over this, but she did not abandon this child, nor did she abort him prior to birth. She sets a model of a loving mother who has made ultimate sacrifices. Who, like Linda, do you know of in your own lives that does with so little the many things she not can do, but does so outstandingly! How do they inspire us as women, challenge us to give beyond hurting us, to love someone so deeply that we want them safe, secure, fed, clothed, educated, nurtured, loved, celebrated and happy? Maybe it was your own mother, or your girlfriends' stories about their own mothers, or the story of a woman who raised so many of her own through adversity, painful times, and great struggles. They teach us to persist, endure with a smile, be joyful, laugh with a good sense of humor, rely on our girlfriends to help us keep our sanity, how to become leaders ourselves, how to love, how to thrive, and how never to give up for anything. One of my grandmothers raised 15 children; my other grandmother raised 13. Each suffered the pain of losing 2 respectively in childhood years. They watched the others all grow into adult years. Both grandmothers raised all their children through the First World War,Great Depression years of the 1920s and 1930s, Second World War, and into the Korean War era. They suffered greatly physically yet they never thought being a mother was a weakness. They were inspirations to me, from the stories I learned about them (one died before I was born). They made all their children's clothes by hand; they washed clothes in the old-fashioned hand-rolling washing machines and hung the wash to dry on clotheslines. They canned all their food, butchered their own meat, made their own bread, cut the wood, educated the children, and saw to it that they had a safe, secure home to live in. And they, too, did so much with so little. It takes a very special woman to be a mother--there is no textbook with your name on it that shows you how to be the mother you were meant to be--you discover the gifts you have inside you as you go along. So, take inspiration from Linda, my grandmothers, your mother, other mothers, ask yourself this question: What lesson do I need to learn today in my own womanhood, and how can I by my own example, help another? Linda, thank you for all you have taught me, this writer, and your lessons are better than all the diamonds in the world. Thank you.

The Life That Belongs to Us All

This week is a time for deep reflection and a time to celebrate the Presence of the One who made each of us, and the reasons for why we were made in the first place. It is a time to recall how, if you are Jewish or Christian, great acts of love and miracles that took place saving humankind. It is a wondrous time to acknowledge how special that we were, each of us, that the Creator, who many call God--felt it so necessary that we be born, live, and to serve God through service of our neighbor. We can recall little events that God used to preserve us, sustain us, clarify and set right our personal journeys. We can see how God protected us from harm, shielded us from hurt, helped us heal when wounded, and stood by us in times when no one else would or could. The greatest miracles are the little things that we take for granted: thinking, talking, breathing, walking, moving, eating, seeing, smelling, touching, feeling, listening, and praying. The list is endless--and the gift of each other to each other. God needs us, wants us, loves us, and helps us through all things. We are good intrinsically because God made us good to begin with! Let your inner being celebrate with great love the awesome mystery of life you have today--for it could be snatched in the next minute!! Let your voice rise to praise the One who made you--never ever take for granted this power you possess inside you. It solely comes from God and God alone. Your free will is a gift too; You ability to love and be loved is a gift also. Your capacity to have compassion, to understand human suffering and the gifts of empathy and sympathy truly also are from the same God. The gift of your dignity, your self-esteem, your unique identity and talents are all from the same mysterious God. As this writer gets older she says to herself that the older she gets the less she knows. The mystery of God and human nature expands greater every day. Do not dawdle with the days; you do not know how long you have left. Do all you can to better humanity in the little ways you do. Take the example of Elijah who became silent and humble in the Presence of God when God spoke to him in a whisper. Acknowledge each day a prayer that separates you as a mortal from the Divine God who made you. Believe that even the difficult events and circumstances God has a hand in using in your life. Nothing is wasted by God on you; nothing is truly bad--it has purpose. Remember that the very purpose of your existence is this very moment--the future has not happened, and the past is over. This moment is sacred--in it you are actualizing life as it happens. Seek good, not evil; seek love, not hate; seek peace, not war; seek resolution, not strife; seek happiness, not sadness; seek humility, not arrogance; seek gentleness, not aggressiveness; seek goodness, not bad things; and seek life, not death. Take to heart that you by your very life you lead makes you a person to emulate, and a person to look up to. You may not realize it, but you are on the stage of life and we are the audience. You are our teacher--we learn amazing things from your personal example how to live. We cannot function without you and need your lessons. You may feel you are insignificant--but you are you--and that "you" sets you apart from us. Yes, we know of famous holy people--but you have much to share and lead with too. Those holy people did not become loved or honored overnight--they did what is suggested here in this posting. The honor that you gain from God will not come due to the religion you practice; it only comes from the authentic person you are and have become. Be a living candle of light that shines hope and expectant faith and dispels darkness and despair. Give yourself freely and please do not look back. Blessings abound from small to great. And live in God every moment, every day. This is what real Life is all about. Blessings!

Passover from Violence and Death Into Peace And Life

This week 2 major religious event occur simultaneously and in the spirit of them both, let us ponder for a few moments how our world has sadly rejoiced in violence. It fills our ficticious television show and novels; it permeates and oozes in every newscasts. Many television shows make their ratings dollars in how graphically they can display dead bodies. Even how the macabre fills movies, video games, and the like. Our world has developed a delicacy for death and destruction--as long as it is not our own lives. Every day there are new horrible accounts of mass murders, suicides, IEDs, homicide after homicide. This is madness--it is not normal. We were not created by Our Maker so that someone else could strike us dead, nor for us to do the same to another human being. Our lives were designed to bear fruit, life, and purpose to those around us. We are bearers of Love--protecting life, nurturing it. We are also ambassadors for peace--a coexistence that celebrates cultural differences which the Maker intended to be and not for us to destroy. Too much killing has taken place--but there is not enough love--love that says "We cannot continue this madness-we realize that we have to learn to respect and build bridges between peoples." Every person will stand before their Maker alone and be judged. This is a common belief of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. No one escapes--yet most wars over the past 2,000 years have started over a religious disagreement. We are only human--we are unable to contain, comprehend, or fathom the Mystery of the Creator's Essence. Nor are we able to decide on the part of the Creator who is right, wrong, or both. We can only say that our words in our religions are crafted to support the tenets of whatever faith we adhere to. But words also lead to war--they can lead to peace; words can lead to hate--they can lead to love; words can lead to confusion--they can also lead to clarity. words can lead to condemnation--they can also lead to vindication; words can lead to destruction--they can also lead to edification; words can lead to insults--they can also lead to comfort; words can lead to prejudice--they can also lead to breaking down stereotypes; words can lead to lies--they can also lead to truth; words can lead to slavery--they can also lead to liberty and freedom; words can lead to death--they can also lead us to life. We are what we say--the words we use and say come subconciously from within us as a deliberate free act of our will. This day--ask yourself--which choices will you use words--for bad, or for good. Yes "Sticks and Stones may break our bones, but words can hurt me." This week find at least one person that you have hurt with your words and use good uplifting words to better your relationship with them. Words are powerful--use them wisely--the life you save may, in fact, be your own.

Congress Cannot Fund Housing for Katrina Victims, but Can Pay $29 Billion in Wasteful Projects

Okay, I promise not to stay on my soapbox, but I had to write on this one!!! Today the news media is reporting that the U.S. Congress voted to pay for $13.5 million dollars to support the World Toilet Summit in Ireland, another $500,000 for a teapot museum, $6.5 million for wood utilization research--naming a few of the $29 Billion dollars for little pork projects. This money is hard-earned taxpayers' dollars--not to be used for special interests. This money needed to be passed into the hands of the poor who need rental assistance, food assistance, education assistance, job training, child care support, and disaster relief. Instead the money was wasted on needless, useless things. Isn't it true that if we hold our peers to being financially responsible in their private lives, that we should ask the same of the elected officials in the Congress and State Legislatures??? It is not the average American who gains from these projects--only the wealthiest few. They are playing with our money and gambling it away frivolously. In a time where the economy is showing housing sales cooling, job hiring (meaning jobs that pay a decent fair wage) is anemic, and affordable housing is disappearing, for our leadership to not provide this money in higher priorities tells one thing: they don't care about the neediest. Talk is cheap--pork projects are an expensive waste. Challenge the Congress for a full explanation--you have that right to know. This is not the time for spending on luxuries...This country cannot afford it, Period.

A True Tale of Revival

Stories like the one I am going to share always warm the heart and give us pause to ponder the sanctity and beauty that life brings. The life itself in a pet brings us joy, comfort, love, and even life-lessons. The life-lesson happened to my girlfriend Rachel, who raised 2 ferrets, Charlie and Jasmine. Rachel arrived home after work to find that both ferrets this week escaped their cage and ate something poisonous. Sadly they appeared to have died. They appeared lifeless. So, sadly Rachel and her boyfriend prepared to bury them both. Rachel, wanting to view them one last time, opened the box. Charlie clearly died--but Jasmine jumped up and out of the box!!!! Needless to say, Rachel was startled, as were her son and her boyfriend!!!! Jasmine was rushed to a local veterinarian, who said that while Jasmine was poisoned and very sick, she would make a full recovery. What a story about hope, life, and love! It was amazing that Rachel was led inside herself to open the box--and out sprung life!!! Rachel shared with this writer how she was heartbroken over the apparent loss of both--and when she shared with me the great news--her sadness melted away and joy filled her. Yes, there was loss--Charlie--but all was NOT lost--Jasmine. That is the mystery of life itself. Doctors give prognoses about people everyday--saying they have so many months to live, and yet--they live for many more. Hope, faith, trust, love, and our tears get us through life. What stories of amazing events can you share that not only uplift your life--but will uplift others around you? Could it be a relationship you are having that appears dead--then something wonderful, even magical occurs--to revive and grow it beyond where it was lifeless? Could it be a difficult time in your life that appears to be failing, and all of a sudden--you turn the corner--you meet the man of your dreams, a career dream comes true, a social situation that appeared hopeless suddenly is resolved to your favor--these all have the miracle of new life in them. In the forest, when a fire occurs and scorches the earth--not all dies...In fact, the burned-away brush gives room for new life to appear. That which appeared to be dead really wasn't--it just needed to be opened and released from its box. So, today, find that box of something in your life that appears dead--open it to new air--it will spring up into new life!

American Arrogance

Whenever you go shopping for clothes, electronics, etc., the list is long as to how many products you purchase are not manufactured or assembled in the 48 contiguous United States. That's not new. But what you may NOT realize is how much workers in China, for example are paid--a few pennies per hour. That's correct! Many people there are paid less than a dollar per hour! These are workers who are making your expensive televisions, DVD players, clothing, to name a few things. When you see a hangtag on your clothes or an imprint on the electronics that says "Made in China" keep in mind the following: These people are not free. They must work or be put in prison. They do not enjoy freedom of expression--case in point is the recent prosecution of Chinese citizens using the Internet who criticized their government. They cannot worship except at state-run religions, which tow the Communist Party line. This is the same government that crushed the Tiannanmen Square bid for freedom. This is the same government that is threatening Taiwan and wants to take away their freedom. This is also the same government that radically stripped democracy from newly-reacquired Hong Kong. We are paying for them to keep people in bondage...we are paying their dirt wages so company executives in these companies can live filthy rich lives in non-Chinese countries. The same holds true for outsourcing jobs to India, where a person is paid 90 percent less of the original salary that was paid to an American worker doing the same work. This is why so many companies are failing now here in the U.S.--the greed factor is destroying our country. And also, even here in the States, where the Hispanics who are here, whether they have documentation or not--are exploited and paid dirt wages. Our government brags and says they promote freedom and justice and democracy--but--at who's expense? A just wage is a moral and virtuous right guaranteed by the Creator so people can enjoy life. Too many people are so poor and yet cannot get a fair wage. Articles proclaim that if we don't outsource, keep the immigrants, etc...the arguments claim that we would not be able to "continue enjoying low-cost items." Maybe if we started to say that if we feel we ourselves deserve a fair wage--why aren't we demanding it be given to the same flesh-and-blood people in the other countries? Why aren't we demanding boycotts of companies who are aligned with this greed factor? Why aren't we standing up for the people in need as much as people standing in churches praising their God???? If we do not amend our ways on this, we will get what we give... Did you know that we have currently only $12 Billion dollars (U.S.) of our products being sold to China, while $212 Billion is imported from there??? Something is VERY wrong with this picture. Don't be fooled by what Washington is allowing; Don't be lulled to sleep thinking the problem will go away magically. It will affect you, your life, your family's life, and your friend's lives for years to come if we don't start demanding that companies make products here--so good paying jobs will remain here on American soil. Do your homework--do research--learn about the companies, and learn what you can do to slow down the flood of jobs out of this country. It is more than outsourcing--it is the ultimate act of preserving, protecting, and upholding basic human rights for all people worldwide, not just here. Please do your part, little or big, to begin a national conversation: Are my actions in buying these products hurting the liberties and freedoms of others worldwide, and can I help bring the jobs back home? You decide...yours and my future depends on what we do collectively.

Fighting the Fight for Children

Doesn't it seem that in the past 5 years that horrid stories of abuse against children have surfaced like a volcano erupting? All the news stories about children physically, sexually, and emotionally abused. Now we have to contend with protecting children from becoming victims of online sexual predators. Now we have to protect teenage children from not only being that, but from becoming infected with HIV. Violence and death by handgun affects so many children. Recently, in my community, an 8-year-old boy brought a fully loaded handgun to his daycare. Children in many countries suffer malnutrition, horrific and barbaric acts against them by adults. Many non-custodial adults still avoid and evade paying their dutiful and owed monetary support for the children they helped create. In the United States, when 60 percent of all homeless are women and children--too many children do not enjoy a safe, affordable home. In the Darfur region of Sudan, in Appalachia in the United States, in too many places--children are in harm's way. Too many stories of "latchkey" children being alone and tragedies occur all too often with death resulting. They need us to be advocates, protectors, to be friends, and caregivers. Many children need good stable homes--free from substance abuse, violence, and sexual abuse. They need love, care, concern, esteem-building, gentleness. They need places to play; they need to be treated as children--not as little adults. They need us to stand for them--to be the responsible adult voice who will intervene on their behalf for their safety, health, growth, and protection. That child we save today may be tomorrow's U.S. president; that girl we protect may be tomorrow's CEO; that boy who is turned inward may be tomorrow's astronaut. We need to help children believe that while this world is unstable, and in spots unsafe, it is still a world where dreams do come true. We can help them realize and fulfill those dreams. A famous golfer spoke recently how he places his millions into childrens' development centers and said that this brought more joy to him than a single golf stroke (Tiger Woods on CBS "60 Minutes") Bill Gates, his wife Melinda, and the singer Bono were declared Time Magazine's 2005 Persons of the Year for their humanitarian efforts. We all have a gift to share--we can pass on goodness, light, hope, love, patience, creativity, gentleness, encouragement, peace, faith, knowledge, morality, sound ethics--to the greatest investment of all--children. This is the best investment than all the money ever invested on Wall Street. We must strengthen laws to protect children..it is our moral, civic, ethical and social duty as adults. They will thank you later as adults.

No Girls Left Behind

Much discussion is taking place in how to best provide sound, quality education for young girls growing up around this world. While in the United States strides have been made in the past 25 years creating improved opportunities for education in topics traditionally taught more to boys, there are too many countries where education is denied, even against the law in some countries. In Afghanistan, the Taliban forbade girls from learning to read or write. In many improverished nations girls usually are kept to home and provided little or no formal education. Education is the key to liberation and true freedom. Girls must be provided the same rights to learn, to explore, to become all they can be and much more. Denying any education to young girls and women in other countries must be treated as a human rights abuse. If they could learn to read, they could read safety labels, food labels, instructions, protections from illnesses. Illiteracy is still rampant in many parts of the world. Being able to read would empower young women to work in higher-paying jobs. Many Hispanic immigrants who are here in the United States have little or no literacy training. If they could read and write, they could do better. Girls have dreams to be fulfilled--not all want to be mothers or stuck in the home for their lives--just as boys don't want to be. We can, and must, work to end illiteracy, to help people overcome the lack of these very important life skills. What you can do is if you know of people who cannot read to encourage them to contact the local school where they live so they can be connected in to community-based programs. There is one woman who recently won a nationally-televised contest, and admitted her own personal inability to read. There is no shame on this person--there is much we must do to eradicate this in our country. Please let's get girls worldwide into schools, and let's help them become the strong vibrant women leaders of tomorrow.

The Real Beauty of Women

Fashion models strut their stuff down runways every week somewhere in the world, demonstrating designers' latest inventions of clothing, jewelry, shoes, and handbags. The models look frail, almost skeletal--too thin and not realistic for the average woman's frame. The clothing for the most part is not practical for everyday use. Even copycat gowns called "knock-offs" won't be seen on most women because they don't get to go to expensive parties. Most women, if they wear cosmetics, wear what they can afford. For most of us, that is usually what we get from a drugstore or grocery store. But our beauty is something that cannot come from a fashion runway, a grocery store, a department store, or a drugstore. The authentic real beauty of a woman is her soul. It radiates when she is born--with squinty eyes, pudgy face, clinging close to her mommy; It radiates in the precocious little girl who plays, sings, explores, and whose eyes light up being alive. It radiates in the teenage girl first finding boys, being with her girl buddies, enjoying her newfound womanhood as she changes during puberty. It radiates as a young woman, finding her own independent identity, her likes, her choices, her own desires, her real loves, her hopes, her dreams, and grows into the woman she early on wants to be. It radiates in the woman who juggles raising children and keeping a career or in the woman who becomes scholarly in her educational pursuit yet remains single. It radiates middle-aged woman who watches her children graduate from high school, go on into the workforce or on to college; and it radiates in the same woman who embraces each of her grandchildren as they are born--the circle of life completely fulfilled for her. It radiates in the grandchildren who come screaminig "Grandma!." It radiates in the long-term, never-say-die sister friendships she has built up over many years. It radiates in the woman who retires from work but never from motherhood, always as active as she can be until such time she cannot be physically. And it radiates in the end, when God gently leads her by the hand home to Herself. And her beauty will radiate forever in the memories, stories, tears, and happy times she filled during her life. This tapestry of beauty did not require plastic surgery, mascara, eyeshadow, lipstick, foundation, little black dress, heels or hair done to the nines--because her beauty radiates because of the love that flooded forth from her soul to everyone. How do you radiate to others your inner beauty? Be genuine, simple, humble, humorous, sincere, honest, loving, dedicated, and true to yourselves. All those things radiate the real beauty of women.

Sister, What are YOU doing to fight to get Affordable Women's Health Care?

About 45 million Americans currently cannot afford any health care benefits. Let's use a guestimate that roughly 1/2 of those are women--who have young children to raise. How many of these women go year after year without routine mammograms, PAP smears, routine physical examinations, and ignore medical warning signs simply because they cannot afford even a visit to the local hospital's emergency room? Women are dying at a faster rate than ever before from heart disease, breast cancer is still the second cause of death for women, and lung cancer is claiming more non-smoking women than ever before. Too many working poor and homeless women cannot even be seen by a doctor as a charity case. In fact, emergency rooms are treating less impoverished people than ever before in the U.S.--they are near bankruptcy. Many people are being triaged, and most triaged for lesser illnesses are given referrals to doctors' offices, who tell them that they cannot be seen unless they pay the full amount. It was recently on a national news documentary show that the uninsured unfairly are charged the full amount and not given discounts, while those on health plans receive huge invoice discounts. Why are we going backward in this country? It's not just the women--men also--but for the sake of this--when the majority of poor are women and children, then it truly becomes a civil rights issue for women. Women who get paid shabbily and don't get medical care benefits while trying to support their children on what they make. The travesty here is that we are the richest country in the world that can pay for every spacewalk, every university, every road, every weapons system--but somehow social medicine cannot be created, funded, or maintained. If other dangerous illnesses spread, such as HIV and (hopefully not) Avian Flu, who will provide adequate treatment? If the U.S. Government invested in ensuring that every woman, man, and child had good medical checkups, immunizations, and preventative maintenance, many illnesses such as colon cancer, heart disease, breast cancer--may be stopped through early detection. Women who have to avoid the routine tests could obtain them without fear of inability to pay. What may cost a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand dollars in medical testing could avert paying millions of dollars for cancer therapies and emergency heart care. How many women have you encouraged to fight for her getting competent medical care? How many women have you encouraged to perform monthly breast self-examinations, or have regular heart checkups? How many women have you gotten after for their smoking cigarettes? Also--are you doing it yourselves? Another area is getting sound mental health care for women as well. We bear heavier burdens given the dangerous posture the world finds itself in. Trying to survive in this world with all its trauma, stresses, and pain will wear you down. Depression is treatable and needs to be treated when it occurs. It can do irreparable damage physically to you as well as impair your outlook on life. It too, can cause heart disease. Another area is dental care---poorly cared for teeth will cause major health problems. I had a friend who died from periodontal disease that infected her heart. Please today get after your girlfriends to act healthier, think healthier, and be healthier...You just may have saved their lives.

Women's Empowerment, Entitlement and Equality

The National Women's History Month is fast drawing to a close for this year. During this month hopefully you have explored the lives of courageous, strong, vibrant women who were visionaries ahead of their time. These many women stood in the face of gender discrimination, sexual bias, misogyny, knowing that it was wrong to treat females with less respect than males. They also believed in the dignity, class, character and spiritual beauty that each female possessed naturally in her soul. They refused to give up the fight for today's women's freedoms; they did not allow the old status quo of the "good old boys club" to forever define, shape, and govern the lives of women. They chose to break new ground in the "male-dominated" career fields; they fought to get equal education, equal sports opportunities for girls and young women; they blazed career paths that they went from being secretaries to being CEOs and corporate board members. They went from kitchens to being astronauts in space; They went from being women in the pews to becoming church clergy; They clarified that being feminine is not weak, or limiting, or helpless--they celebrated its's virtues, strengths, and goodness. They showed that females globally not only deserved free and equal civil rights--they demanded it. They made it quite clear that being female is an amazing gift of the Creator who made each of us. Become empowered--don't settle for less; don't believe you are incapable of contributing to this ongoing change of society. Don't become complacent by thinking that women's rights and freedoms have been reached--we still have many things to achieve, and new countries to blaze new trails for women's civil rights. Be aware of your entitlements--naturally bestowed on you by your Creator as a woman. You are entitled to respect, love, honor, dignity, class, character, respect, legal representation, equal footing, equal pay, higher education--and you should never settle for anything less. You deserve to be seen and not be treated as invisible; you deserve to have your opinion equally considered in the midst of any man as valuable; you deserve to be seen as talented, competent, and a main contributor. If our female predecessors can do it, so can't we--and so must we. The fight is far from over.

Desperate Families

In every community across North America, growing numbers of families find themselves being denied access to support services. Social (or should they be called "unsociable") services funding is being slashed by federal, state and local governments, frequently justified as "cost-cutting measures." Yet, the numbers of laws giving more money to the wealthiest citizens are increasing. Homeless shelters are being closed in record numbers; food stamps eligibility is being strictly tightened; jobs are being moved in record numbers like never before. Affordable housing has evaporated. The wealthiest and the greediest are the ones getting blessed with asistance they don't deserve. People lose jobs faster than lightning striking, and when they cannot pay their bills, it is assumed it is their fault they cannot find work. When they go for lengthy periods of time without work their credit scores are affected adversely. So,when they apply for new jobs and credit checks are performed, they get denied jobs because they did not pay their bills on time. What was once a very strong, vibrant job economy now is anemic and weak. The U.S.Government is eager to move all manufacturing, administrative, information technology, financial, and security jobs out of the country, but by the legislative actions it has taken it truly could care less for the majority of the people. This includes both parties in each chamber of the U.S. Congress. The members will never be poor--they will never starve, go with out work, they have security and limos to drive them around. They have chartered flights; they have luxurious homes, and enjoy high-end life. They are for the most part disconnected to real Americans. They "talk" a good speech, but they truly are naive to real suffering. If they really cared cleanup for Hurricane Katrina would be further along; if they cared about protecting American families they would have stopped the flood of American jobs out of the nation; and if they truly believed in preserving U.S. homeland security they would have sealed the borders in faster time, prevented companies from outsourcing our private business data to non-American workers who work in jobs in other countries handling our everyday decisions. Frankly, they do not care for us--it's not loss personally for them. Families are desperate--they want good jobs, not substandard paying ones, or to have to work 2 to 3 jobs just to pay rent for a low-income apartment. They want financial protection, not to see corporations be blessed with not having to pay taxes, to get away with wiping out pensions, or to collect massive profits off the backs of sending outsourced jobs. They want good food on their tables, not to have to rely on food banks to feed them. Americans are not lazy, and they do any job if it available. They may not like it, but if it means keeping themselves and their families from homelessness, they will do it. It is wrong to give them to undeserving, unauthorized people. Why should American children have to suffer because the leadership refuses to support their own people first? It was believed that citizenship has its privileges. Our children need medical care, dental care, after-school jobs, etc. Adults want to see that their college education will not be wasted because companies don't want to pay them a fair wage. Why should veterans of our wars have to see their hospitals be closed, or elder Adults have Medicare benefits cut,while Congress votes themselves large pay increases each year? Family values mean we value the social family unit and must do everything to create a safety net for every American. Tax money is not given so it can be paid to the wealthiest only or every other country. Stand up and say no more--Family Values ARE true American values. No one should ever take that away--not now, not ever!

What are YOUR Dreams, Goals, and Ambitions?

When you were born, everyone had their dreams and thoughts and personal hopes what you would become as a woman--a mother, a wife, a good sister, a good daughter...and the like. But did you find that your own life experiences conflicted with all the desires others wished you would be? What if you did not want to be married, or did not want to have children; what if you chose to wait until you met the right man--after you finished your professional education? Were you trained socially that you would have to have a family in your 20s--never mind a personal career? The subliminal images and even direct social expectations still have young teenage girls wanting to please a boy rather than finishing their education, or focusing on the fashion rather than her dreams. What about the young woman who gave up her college studies to be a stay-at-home mom out of duty to her man, who leaves her with the children? Who is going to help her then? Do you know of too many women who have been mislead down the mommy track too soon and are unable to provide for themselves? We need to build a new coalition of women determined to get as many women through a 4-year college degree they can use in the real world. We need to make it clear that women need good careers, not minimum wage jobs, to provide for their children. We need to ensure that financial aid is adequate so a woman can complete her college education faster than the average 5 to 10 years it takes an adult to complete a single bachelor's degree in the U.S. We must provide help to young girls to see a healthier self-image as female, to motivate them in understanding they too have dreams, goals, and ambitions. Many women have pierced the glass ceiling in business--but more need to do it--it needs to be shattered. More churches need to ordain women as ministers and priests. If we are going to revolutionize the world we better bring change to the heart of our very daily events we attend--work, faith, and social groups. If women were provided many more models of strong, vibrant, creative women, such as Oprah, J.K. Rowling, the late Princess Diana, Queen Latifah, the late Rosa Parks, and the late Coretta Scott King, and many others--they would stand up and say that their goals, dreams and ambitions are not selfish but intimately connected to their personal womanhood. It is never wrong to be true to yourself--it is a lie when you say that you will set yours aside for someone else who won't do the same for you. You then become a model for other women, and your future children. Why can't you be a doctor, or a lawyer, a CEO, a minister, or priest or business owner, or maybe president of the United States? Dream big--Success is a great goal--fulfillment is an even greater goal and ambition. Don't give up on what your dreams are--they matter for you too. And they are ALL achievable--only YOU keeps you back.

Time to Even the Score in Congress

In the Declaration of Independence, the call was made that the then-newly liberated nation we now call the United States would have "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Today equal representation is something women have struggled to have. Did you know that only 21 women occupy current incumbent seats in the entire 535-seats of Congress today? That means that 514 seats are held by men. Men are wonderful, don't misunderstand me, but that roughly amounts to 5 percent representation of us women by women. Too many critical issues that affect us women are being decided by the opposite sex--people who don't know what it's like to live, be, survive, and grow up as female. They can look vicariously through their wives', or mothers', or female friends' eyes, but they will not experience it personally within their own skin. Corporations conduct nationwide talent searches for qualified, calibered people to work within high-level positions; why don't we start doing the same searching for female candidates to represent the majority of Americans who are female? No, we don't have to elect 250 women to make it egalitarian in nature; It is time that this country, which has millions of well-educated, talented and very brilliant women in business, who by sheer proof of their leadership skills, would make great political leaders for their political districts. The shaping of laws in this country would have a significant different outcome and appearance. Even how the United States' foreign policies would fare different, and our relations with the world improved. We might have less poverty in this country and worldwide. Tax money might be better spent on domestic issues of education, social services, family needs, health care, equal rights for all groups/races--the list goes on. It is also time we consider a woman to be elected as President--not as a token, but because of her abilities. Just because a person may wear pants, suit and tie, that is not a healthy guarantee that the country will be led competently better or that male leaders are superior. These stereotypes need to be broken. What will YOU do about it? Get involved--talk it up with your women friends, colleagues, and ask yourselves: Why have we waited so long, and what are we waiting for? Start making lists of women you feel possess strong leadership, mentoring, and business skills. The more we do this, the more we change our future. Then and only then will we have true life, authentic liberty, and our pursuit of happiness will be fulfilled.

Global Threat of HIV/AIDS Against Women

How much do you, a woman, really love yourself? How much do you really know about HIV and AIDS? How much do you talk it up with your girlfriends about safety? We always look out for each other to keep ourselves from physical, emotional, and spiritual harm. What about sexual harm? Sure, we walk with girlfriends to keep ourselves from being harmed; we fight against domestic violence. But did you know that millions of women are dying from HIV--a very preventable virus? Too many people, men and women, are carrying this virus and don't even know it. Women are carriers and don't realize it. Too many people worldwide--many millions--have become infected and keep on infecting. It is not a gay disease--it is an "everyone" disease. Don't be fooled into believing that using proper protection will stop the spread--it will slow it down, but it is not foolproof. Don't be lulled to believing that other sexual practices outside of normal sexual contact are safe--in fact--they are the worst, most dangerous and easiest transmission methods. If you have a partner--has he/she been tested? Do you know their results? Have you yourself been tested? If you have a new partner and want to be intimate--suggestion: both of you go get tested--get each other's confidential number--when results come back go together and view the OTHER's results. Too many people NEVER go back to get theirs out of fear, and in doing so, put innocent people at risk of becoming infected. Also, if they cannot verify their status in a satisfactorily (testing is the only way) manner, then you must protect yourself, just like not allowing yourself to be hit by a car. Keeping yourself out of harm's way is vital to your safety, your survival, your dignity, and above all, your self-esteem. Other people need you around to care for them--children, friends, family, co-workers. Please don't let impulse lead to needless exposure to an incurable, fatal virus. Take a local HIV/AIDS education class--learn for yourself. Many countries in Africa and Asia will lose 50 percent of their population to this dreaded virus. 9 Million children are now orphaned because their parents died from AIDS. Please get tested and don't leave such a sad legacy to your own children. They need you for years to come.

Have We Sold Away Women's Dignity?

Being a woman today is dangerous...and it's not laughable. Too many women (and their children) still around the world are in poverty, destitution, forced to live in squalor, denied jobs because of their gender, paid terribly less than men, and suffer unmentionable crimes against them. Too many young women report are forced into human slavery and trafficked as sex slaves worldwide. Many women still only get paid 71 cents on average to every man's full one dollar. Social pressures seem to ignore the advances that feminism fought dearly for. It seems that the world does not believe women are free, independent, beings and can decide for themselves how to use their bodies. It seems the male-led religions feel threatened that women can decide how to take care of their bodies. Women are still being told that they must submit to their husbands--but do the men follow suit to their wives the same way? Also, young women are drawn into dressing near nakedness, while young men don't nearly go as far. Also, too many women are told subconciously that being skeletal thin makes you attractive. And women much more than men are beaten down for being over some weight standard. But, what we really never hear is how we are truly beautiful as we are today, and not for some false ideal that will not bring us happiness, but more torture and pain. In short, women are beaten down in one way or another. Either we're too smart or too dumb or too fat or too skinny--but no one ever says--we are beautiful just as we are. Too many are told how to dress a certain way with certain colors to "mask" the supposed body flaws we have. Whatever happened to saying that that they weren't flaws at all-but the very things that show our real beauty as women!!! Whaever happened to saying that our human worth, our dignity, holding our heads high. By our agreeing with the fashion magazines' images we slander ourselves and insult our own inner beauty. Without us the world would be in worse shape. We will never look magazine-cover ready--but we will have a beautiful womanhood that can never be insulted--that of mothers, friends, confidants, sisters, buddies, committed, concerned family people. Instead of telling a woman she needs to lose weight to be loved and accepted--tell her to do it so she doesn't get diabetes or heart disease. Teach girls to admire themselves, and raise them early on to stand up for themselves--telling themselves there is not one thing wrong with how they look--it's time we took the truth to every person worldwide and say: "Enough insults, enough falsehoods about females, and we won't take it anymore" If you are a woman who has insulted herself for how she looks because you have given yourself into the marketers' view, then forgive yourself, start again, and love yourself for who you are right now. The next time someone, man or woman, tells you you look ugly, fat, not beautifull-tell them it is truly their problem and how dare they judge their own appearance better than your own? Also ask them what makes them an authority in this area. In addition, when you stop and admire who you are this very moment, you break the cycle of lies told about women--you celebrate dignity. So, go to the mirror, admire yourself, and thank God for your body--it's the one that got your through school, college, married and/or with a significant other; it also got you jobs; through it you made friends; with your body you have hands to hug and be hugged; you have feet that carry you all around the world; your eyes helped you see the beauty of life; your ears helped you hear the words of love from many; and your face attracted many amazing wonderful people from friends to lovers. So, don't be too hard on your body. It has and will serve you well.

A Project for the Ladies...

Keeping in the spirit of National Women's History Month and International Women's Day (March 8th), I have a project for the women who read this blog. It is not complicated, but it will take some effort on your part. Celebrating women's lives and their achievements helps us to recognize those whose lives paved the way for our own liberty and freedom. (See my previous post, "The Measure of a Woman") This project is this: select the most influential woman you have ever known in your life. Put a collage of pictures, videos, write some essays, decorate it with flowers, and highlight in the project how HER example, HER model, HER existence, and HER womanhood had the greatest effect on your life's development. And it must be someone you know personally well (e.g., a teacher, a neighbor, a mentor, a long-time girl buddy). When you are done, give this created gift to her. Tell her why you made it, how she influenced your life, and what impact for the better she had on you in your own womanhood. We all have that 'one' heroine we think of often--who is yours? Please share with me (no full names, please) in your comments who she is and why. Let us build a tapestry of the unknown women in our lives who helped be who we are today. Without them, where would we be?

On the Perilous Road to America

In the past several months more media pieces surfaced about the long, dangerous, and often fatal journeys people have taken to come to the United States. Photographs show the dangerous journeys on tops, bottoms, and sides of freight trains. Hundreds, maybe thousands, die each year in the southernmost states of this nation. One state recorded its highest total of found dead illegal Hispanics by October, 2005--in the hundreds! That does not include other states, nor the ones not yet found. It seems that, correctly or incorrectly, the U.S. Government by not dealing with the border issues swiftly and decisively, has sent the wrong signal to those south of the border. The deperate poor see a green light to chance it, along with their families, putting them all at risk to come here. These people must cross rough deserts, with high heat, no food, no water, with lots of rattlesnakes and scorpions, and they face a greater gamble at being successful making it into this country than winning money on a slot machine. They live in horrid squalor; they lack the necessary immunizations from childhood diseases our government requires, especially for children to attend school. And when they get here, many of them have to shack up, 5 to 20 deep in apartments in many parts of the country. They lack knowledge of basic English, they don't know the rules and social expectations of American culture, and more than likely have limited job skills. When President Bush said they take the jobs no Americans don't want--he basically said they were third-class people who would do the dirtiest, dehumanizing work. Many of them when they work for people get stiffed of what they have earned and have complained they don't get even minimum wage. A guest worker program is not what this country needs--what this country needs is to stop the flood of people into this country for the time being. It needs to decide that, if it wants a guest worker program, then make the people prove they can pay their way to support themselves here first. But before establishing such a program--see to it that Americans get first dibs at the jobs, so they are not being shortchanged the chance to have paying jobs to keep themselves out of unemployment and homelessness, which both have grown by leaps and bounds. If the U.S. Government cannot ensure safer means for people to travel to live in this country from Latin America, then it has a duty to protect them from making the journey--so doesn't the Government of Mexico. These people have suffered so much in their own countries--please don't add any more to their misery. And if you think it's not a problem, go read how the governors of the four border states enacted emergency legislation to seal and patrol their borders. Too many hospitals have been forced into bankruptcy due to the high costs of paying for the medical care for all the illegal Hispanic immigrants who were hurt during the journeys. They should not even be doing this!!! Today, please send a copy of this post to your Congressional delegation and ask them: Mr./Ms. Congressperson, can you go to sleep tonight in peace knowing this is occurring every hour of the day, all day?? And ask yourself the same question as well. This situation affects all of us and there is no excuse for it happening. Not one.