Retrograde Versus Progress

Unfortunately here in the United States we have a mindset that is endeavoring to move women's rights back into medieval times. I am appalled at the mentality of men in power. A case in point is North Carolina's current bill SB31 which will make holistic healers felons and be sent to prison. In other words, only licensed AMA physicians and those who push the pharmaceutical drugs will be allowed to practice. This is a travesty and especially for women who make up the majority of holistic medicine. It is a fact that more people die from mainstream doctors and medications than from holistic practioners and herbal use. We, as a country are in retrograde.

Another aspect of retrograde is the U.S. representatives wanting to do away with Planned Parenthood and thus we have an impasse with the U.S. budget. I won't go into the qualities of having Planned Parenthood as one can Google it and learn about how it helps women and men to make wise choices. By doing away with Planned Parenthood, abortion would be outlawed. What most people do not understand is that a fetus may not want to be born to a woman who does not want it. In other words, the spirit of the fetus also has choices. It has up to a year after birth to decide to stay or die. An aborted fetus always has eternal life and will come again to someone who wants it. Why is there is such an anti-abortion mentality? Is this so that these babies can be brought up to be in the military and then get killed? It just does not make sense. These same men in the seat of power have a history of promiscious sex and of course, few of them would support a child born out of wedlock. Oh, the hipocrisy of it all!

If ones sifts through the mindset of those who are pursuing shoving women back into the dark ages, one will find that there is a fear-based mindset that women are smarter than men. These type of men who can be bought by the pharmaceutical companies and other corporate world entities, enjoy the power they can wield and to hell with women.

It is time for women to become vocal. It almost happened in the sixties, however the challenge is that women did it to themselves because they could not as a collective agree. One has only to read Roseanne Barr's book, "Roseannearchy" to understand how the women's movement fell part. One of the most obvious culprit was Phyllis Schlafly. She was a lawyer, had about 8 children and became the Republican's darling. She was also well paid for her speaking tours. She helped to shut down the Equal Rights Amendment. Here is one of her quotes: "ERA means abortion funding, means homosexual privileges, means whatever else." The Republicans have now created a clone of Schlafly and that is Sarah Palin. What an afront to women!

Right now, I am on my soapbox. When I was growing up in Texas, there was an old saying that I abhor. "Keep the women, barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen." I am also against Christianity as it is practiced today by the majority who think they are Christians. I am a retired minister of Divine Science and know the Bible. It is interesting how men who profess to be Christians mis-interpret the teachings of Jesus. All one has to do is read Matthew, Chapter 5. This is the Sermon on the Mount and read about doing to others as you would have them to do to you as well as 'love your neighbors' as yourself.' This is said to be the greatest sermon ever said. And yet, it is tarnished by those in the pulpits.

Being a mother of three sons, I am not anti-male. I have three beautiful adult sons and I am proud of their accomplishments. Their father was a career military man who spent 2 tours in Vietnam – a war that ushered in the use of drugs into this country. It was a fight over the 'Golden Triangle' – the largest opium producing and heroin production in the world until in this century Afghanistan moved to the top of the list. Drug the population and gain control and now we are ruled by Corporate World. However, all is not lost.

We as individuals can only take care of ourselves and for those who have small children, teach them the Sermon on the Mount. It is also to let go of our fears, our prejudices, and to mentally step back and see things as they are, but not follow the crowd. In the midst of change of chaos we can individually be honorable people. There are major earth changes already in motion and we can ride the waves by creating our own individual lives for the future. We are indeed, the future.

Celebrating 100 Years of Women's Right to Vote in Washington State

HONORING WOMEN WHO HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE.

If I had my druthers, I would be most happy to say that all women in the United States had the right to vote for 100 years. On Monday, February 1, the women of Washington State will be celebrating their 100 years of the right to vote. The move for equal voting laws began in 1854 when a member of the Washington Territorial Legislature introduced an amendment for this and it failed to pass by one vote even though another bill passed in the same year, which gave all male white citizens above the age of 21 the right to vote. Even though this was voted down, it rallied the women and they filled the large cities and the small towns. They were angry and argued that the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment used the word 'citizen' meaning 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States did not mean only white males over 21 years of age.

When the Territorial Legislature passed the law giving the right to vote to 'all white citizens above the age of 21" some of the suffragists tested their voting rights based on the U.S. 14th Amendment in 1869 at White River. Their votes were rejected although fifteen women in Thurston County successfully voted in 1870.

The women of Washington State began organizing parties, marches, and demonstrations. Actually Washington was a territory because it was not admitted into the Union until November 11, 1889. One forceful woman was Emma Smith DeVoe who after moving to Tacoma organized speeches, rallies and demonstration forcing the issues into the open. In 1883, both houses of the legislature signed into law a bill giving women voting rights and the governor signed it. However, in 1887 the Washington Territorial Supreme Count revoked suffrage because of a suit brought by a gambler who had been indicted by a grand jury that included women. This did not stop the women.

In February 1910, the legislators allowed a vote to amend the State Constitution giving women the right to vote. It passed and the suffragists had distributed one million pieces of literature. Washington State joined the states Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Colorado who had already enacted the women's right to vote. The right to vote did not become nationwide until the 21st Amendment initiated by suffragist Alice Paul was ratified by the necessary number of states.

Even though women have the right to vote today, there are still many hurdles to overcome and one is the Equal Rights Amendment, which needs only three more states to ratify it. This amendment gives all women equal rights. It is pitiful that women have to gain equality law by law and also an amendment. When is this going to stop? If it is to be, it is up to each woman individually to bombard their national representatives to garner the votes from the states who have not ratified the E.R.A.

Frances Perkins
One notable woman who is rarely recognized or honored for her achievements is Frances Perkins. Some will say Frances who? Frances was born in 1880 in Boston. She attended college in New York State and developed a passion to help the underprivileged. In 1911 she was working for the Factory Investigation Commission in New York City when the Shirtwaist Factory Fire occurred. From her biography by Naomi Pasachoff, the writer tells of Perkins being horrified that 146 immigrant women had jumped to their deaths. Perkins lobbied until she had a law passed in the city for all buildings to have fire escapes.

Perkins became active in politics and what I have gleaned from her biography is that she was persistent without seemingly being abrasive in her approaches. As she worked her way up the political ladder, she always made friends with the wife of the politicians. She worked for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and became a friend of his wife Eleanor. This seems to be a trait Perkins had or a ploy to become friends with the wives and then there would be no jealousy of her while working with their husbands - smart woman. With the election of F.D.R. as President, Perkins became his Secretary of Labor and the first woman cabinet member. She was also at that time as the first selected cabinet member to be in line for the presidency if he should pass.

As the Secretary of Labor from 1933-1945, Perkins initiated and with F.D.R. backing her, the Social Security Act, Civilian Conservation Corps, Unemployment Insurance, Public Works Agency and its successor the Federal Works Agency and the Fair Standards Act. Therefore, I salute Frances Perkins for love and caring for the poor and wanting to make life better for them.

Her biography is The Woman Behind the New Deal: Frances Perkins by Naomi Pasachoff.

The Forgotten Symbol Omitted from The Lost Symbol

The Forgotten Symbol Dan Brown Omitted From The Lost Symbol

In reading Dan brown's latest book, The Lost Symbol, I was delighted and I applaud him for his magnificent research along with his knowledge of symbols and ciphers. His book is one to read if one wants to understand the symbolism of the Freemasons and their effect on our nations' capitol. Several years ago I traveled to Washington D.C. and visited the Capitol. I have been a student of symbols for many years, and it was each to the Masonic symbolism there. I often wonder how many people really understand these great symbols which hold messages for all to see and to realize what their meaning are.

There is an unobvious obvious that Dan Brown did not touch on in his latest book, but then he was developing his plot based on Freemason symbols and these are really universal symbols. Our senators, representatives and the many tourists who visit the Capitol have almost overlooked the Feminine Principle so blatantly obvious for those who recognize the unobvious obvious.

I had not visited the Capitol in over forty years. When I first arrived, my eyes were drawn to the 19-1/2 foot bronze statue crowning the dome. This statue is a female and her original and formal name is Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace. Beginning at her head, she wears a helmet with a circle of stars topped with a crest of an eagle's head, talons and feathers. She is clothed in a long full robe with creases. Her right hand rests on a sheathed sword while the left holds a laurel wreath representing victory and a shield of thirteen stripes representing the original thirteen states. This statue is standing on a globe with e Pluribus Unum atop a pedestal with fasces, which are rods with an axe blade as a symbol of ancient Roman magistrate's authority. She was erected on top of the Capitol dome on December 2, 1863.

There she stands in all her glory – a female figure. Who said this was a male country? Ah, there is even more. When entering the east central entrance to the Capitol, one can look up and see the pediment over the entryway titled, "Genius of America" with three female figures representing Justice, America and Hope. President John Quincy Adams wanted these figures to "represent the American Union founded on the Declaration of Independence and consummated by the organization of the general government under the Federal Constitution, supported by Justice in the past, and relying upon Hope in Providence for the future." I find it amazing that there are three feminine figures representing 'Genius in America.'

The pediment above the House entrance wing is the "Apotheosis of Democracy." The central figure is a female representing Peace. Peace has her right arm stretched out over a youthful winged figure named Genius who holds a torch signifying immortality. The wings signify knowledge and wisdom. Flanking the sides of her are figures representing Industry and the other Agriculture representing two sources of wealth. The pediment has ocean waves on each end standing for the Atlantic and the Pacific. Apotheosis is an interesting word meaning "exaltation to divine rank, stature or deification. Again, we have the feminine principle as the center figure.

The entrance to the Senate side of the Capitol also has a pediment, "Progress of America" with the central figure a woman named America. She has an eagle at her side, a laurel wreath in her right hand and the sun at her back. The feminine principle once more.

In walking into the Rotunda, my eyes were drawn to the domed ceiling. These paintings by Brunei with the central one titled Apotheosis of Washington. We see George Washington rising to the Heavens surrounded by female figures representing Liberty, Victory and Fame. Once more, we have the word 'apotheosis' meaning deification. On the perimeter of George rising to heaven are six other frescoes. One is dedicated to Science and portrays the goddess Minerva/Athena teaching Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton and F.B. More while she is pointing to an electric generator creating energy in stored batteries.

The fresco of "War" is "Armored Freedom" with her sword raised and cape flying, with a helmet and shield reminiscent of those on the Statue of Freedom. She tramples Tyranny and Kingly Power and a fierce eagle carrying arrows and a thunderbolt assists her. Armored Freedom is a woman. All of these frescos were painting by Constantino Brumidi in 1865.
Moving on to the other frescoes, we have "Marine" showing Neptune, god of the seas in a boat with the Goddess of Love, Venus laying a transatlantic cable. The frescoes of "Commerce" and "Mechanics" portray men while the one named "Agriculture" has the goddess Ceres sitting on a McCormick reaper. Only when we unify the female-male principles in balance will we have peace and true justice.

If our history books are correct, the men who have governed this great nation have been blind to the feminine principle, and they have denied women the right to vote until 1920. The Equal Rights Amendment only needs three more states to ratify it and I find it pitiful that women have to get their rights law-by-law. Our feminine principle dominates the early art of the Capitol. She graces the top of the Capitol through heat, rain, sleet, snow and watches over those who govern us. It is time for revelation and acceptance of the feminine principle.

Dan Brown's book, The Lost Symbol is excellent because it has brought the Freemasons into a true perspective of what the organization is truly about. There have been women Freemasons in history; however, this is an obscure attribute. Perhaps with the revelations of Brown's book, it may be open to women once more.

For more representations of the feminine principle, one only has to see the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Capitol Rotunda. The sculptor was a female, Vinnie Ream, the first woman artist commissioned by the U.S. Congress in 1866 to create a memorial to President Abraham Lincoln. She was eighteen years old.

How can the United States fulfill its destiny when women do not have full equal rights? How can this be the 'land of the free and the home of the brave' when women do not have full freedom and the ugly heads of bigotry and prejudice suppress freedom for all? It is time for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and equal opportunity for everyone. The forgotten symbol in our U.S. Capitol is the Feminine Principle.

ARE YOU MAKING A DIFFERENCE

This election year is a pivotal one. We can choose to vote or not vote, however one vote can make a difference. Votes can send messages loud and clear. Speaking out can send messages loud and clear. Today I received an email and in the body of the email was a profound message,

and one I had put on the back burner of my mind. In the 1970's I worked to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed. Only 38 ratified states were and are needed. It fell short by 3 votes and there are 15 states sitting on their hands. Why is the ERA needed? It gives women full benefits and not lip service. The woman who wrote the Equal Rights Amendment is no longer on this plane. However, her work does live on. Her name is Alice Paul. Please read the following about this great woman and the women who worked with her 81 years ago.

A History Lesson For Us All ....How Women Got To Vote

"A short history lesson on the privilege of voting... The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and with their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, 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. 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, I'm too busy?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's 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--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.' HBO will run the movie periodically before releasing it on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunko 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 pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so ha rd for by these very courageous women."

I recommend "Iron Jawed Angels", starring Hilary Swank, available through most libraries and the Ken Burns film "Not For Ourselves Alone: the story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony", also available through a library. These films really tell us how important it is for all women to vote. Please exercise your hard won right.

There are 15 unratified states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia. If you live in these states or know people who do, please

bombard them with information and urge them to vote only for those who are pro-ERA. We only need 3 - yes, 3 more states to ratify the E.R.A.

For more information:
http://www.eracampaign.net/
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A CRITICAL POINT FOR WOMEN

Bettye Johnson ©

History…tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me.
The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilence in every page;
The men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all –
It is very tiresome. Jane Austen (1775-1817)

We are at a critical point of evolution of not only the Earth but for humans as well. No longer can we women sit back and allow the men to continue as they have for the past eons. War seems to be their solution for greed, retaliation and conquest. The time is now for women to resurrect the feminine principle. As I understand it, the feminine principle is one of life-giving, nurturing, creativity and an ongoing evolutionary process. Mother Nature is considered the feminine principle. Another name for Earth is Gaia, the feminine.

In looking up the word ‘feminine’ in the New World Dictionary of American Language, I was astounded – yet why should I be – at the definition given. “Feminine: 1) female; of women; girls 2) having qualities regarded as characteristic of women and girls, as gentleness, weakness, delicacy, modesty, etc.” It really is a dichotomy in view of the feminine principle is action in Mother Nature. Nature is not weak nor is she delicate or modest. At times she is not gentle. Man may be able to harness Nature, but no one can tame Her. Now who made up the definition of feminine? Why of course, a man.

Is it any wonder that women have been thought to be powerless? The male history writers gave the few women in history that had power manly attributes. Males write history. This is why now women have to re-empower themselves. We look to Nature. A seed is planted in Her soil and nurtured until it sprouts and becomes.

Praying for peace will not work. All through the past, people have prayed for peace and it did not bring lasting peace. One side usually has been declared the victor with the winner writing the history. People from both sides were praying to the God they believed in. It makes one wonder, is one God more powerful than the other? The Dai Lama did not keep the Chinese out of Tibet. The Jews did not keep Hitler from sending many of them to the ovens. Germany did not win. The Civil War in the United States had brother pitted against brother, Christian against Christian with the South losing. Is God dead? No, it is humans acting out their greed, anger, hatred and fear. God is the observer - both loving and allowing.

Peace as this world knows it is tenuous. There has to be a more effective way for this world to evolve beyond war and strife. There must be a shift from a male dominated world to a world of women and men sharing as partners. It must be a partnership of respect with no suppression of either sex. Women must be given freedom from abuse, enslavement and prejudice. Men must be freed from their prison of being in charge, the breadwinner, along with being abusive. It is time for a change in the way we view our world. Women can impact the world by effectively coming together as a cohesive group and demanding change.

We are living in trying times. Today we are reeling from the shock of September 11, 2002. We have war in Iraq. Throughout history (his-story), there have been wars. For the most part women have had little or no say in the affairs of a country, a continent, or the world. With a few exceptions, men have ruled the world and women along with their children are swept up in the maelstrom of war sending their sons and now their daughters. Some never return home. Is this what motherhood is all about? Are we raising our children to be fodder for a war machine?
Women became dis-empowered five thousand years ago and before. We, the females, have become the largest group of people where there is tremendous bias and prejudice against. Women in Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and most African nations are subjected to genital mutilation. They never know the pleasure of copulation. Women of Muslim countries such as Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and even parts of India are enslaved by a belief system and treated no better than a slave. They have no rights.

It is interesting to note that these Muslim women for the most part wear black tents and the black color is known to enhance heat. Since it is very hot in these countries, these tents are like ovens. However, the men wear white, which is cooling.

In India, women were and are being burned on a pyre when the husband dies, because there is no room in the society for a widow. Even today widows go to a place where they can live together and wait until they die. Even though this is changing, there are still instances of a man or even his mother who will kill the wife by pouring boiling oil on her. This is done because the dowry has run out or the mother-in-law does not like her. The Washington Post ran an article regarding an Indian mother who killed her three small daughters and herself by jumping into a well. She did this to escape harassment from her husband and mother-in-law because the fan and television promised as part of the dowry by the young mother’s family had not been provided. There are many barbaric acts against women.

Women are stoned to death for adultery in Muslim societies. We can say that is terrible however Pat Robertson, of the Christian Right, is reported to have said in regard to our space program and the possibility of extraterrestrials that “…the threat is so serious that people who believe in space aliens should be put to death by stoning – according to “God’s word.” This was purportedly said in 1997. It is unfortunate this mentality is alive today.
Women have had little to say in the churches. There has been no female Pope or Dai Lama. In the Protestant churches some headway has been made like that of a snail. However, the sexual practices of priests and churchmen are being uncovered with their molestation of young children.

Even today we have women who work against the freedom of other women. I am speaking specifically of Phyllis Schlafly. In the 1970’s I worked for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment for women. This amendment was written in 1921 by suffragist (feminist) Alice Paul. It had been introduced in Congress every session since 1923. It passed Congress in 1972, but failed to be ratified by the necessary thirty-eight states by the deadline of July 1982. Thirty-five states ratified it. It failed by three states.

Schlafly was one of its outspoken critics stating it was not needed. Here was a woman who claimed to be pro-family. Her stand was that a woman’s place was in the home and women should not take jobs from men. The women on welfare and single mothers did not count. Not only was she a paid speaker and a writer of articles and books, it also, meant she was away from home quite a bit. That is the height of hypocrisy. Today she has a column on Internet and her latest is still bashing women. “Hooray for Hootie! At last we have a real man who can resist the histrionics of the pushy feminists. It’s so refreshing to know that somewhere there is an American man willing to stand his ground…”

It was these feminists nee suffragists who in the 1920’s worked hard to see that women had the right to vote and worked to get an amendment to the Constitution for no sex discrimination. Unfortunately many of our elected femaile government senators and representatives fully realize the sacrifice that women such as Alice Paul gave in order for them to have the vote and the privilege of holding offices.

Women have been subjected to just about every abomination that man can envision. In China it became the practice during the Latter Tang Dynasty (923-936 AD) to bind the feet of young girls beginning around age 3 so that their feet never grew. Big feet were considered alien to feudal virtues. It continued even when it was banned by the Manchuria who established the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In remote mountainous areas, women still had their feet bound even when the New China was founded in 1949. However, the last manufacturer of shoes for these feet closed its doors in the 1990’s.

Even today, in the twenty-first century we really have no freedom to partake in the running of this world. In every country, men are the decision makers. Few women in the past one hundred years have been the head of a government. Indira Gandhi of India was one and Golda Meier another. Queen Elizabeth II is a figurehead. She is not a decision maker for the government. There is a saying that ‘it is a man’s world’. And it has been.

Currently we have a woman running for the presidency and we also have a female as Speaker of the House of Representatives. These are small steps, but we should not expect them to carry the load. After all, they are operating in a man’s environment. We also have women on the picketing lines protesting the contrived war in Iraq and they are to be commended. Now is the time for the women to become vocal as well as visible.

No one can give another self esteem because it must come from the inside. Each woman should realize her worth from within and stop giving her power away. There are many avenues open for a woman to find her own worth and place in the scheme of life. Women can still do this and be a loving mother and wife. I know because I did it. It is up to the individual to take the first step. Ask and it shall be given. Knowledge is the greatest gift one can give to oneself. Knowledge is power. Seek and you will find. Life is a gift. Please treasure your life and you can make a difference.

Bettye Johnson ©