California NOW

CDC Reveals White House 'Eviscerates' Dr. Julie Gerberding's Testimony to Hide Health Effects of Global Warming

Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified today before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on the "Human Impacts of Global Warming." She told the committee that Global Warming is anticipated to have a broad range of impacts on the health of Americans," but she gave few specifics, apparently because the White House cut her report from 14 pages to four.

The White House's deletions included details regarding effects on human health, the numbers of people likely to be adversely affected because of increased warming and the scientific basis for some of the CDC's analysis on what kinds of diseases might be spread in a warmer climate and rising sea levels.

So...The White House doesn't care about our health? Hmmm...

Our very own Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) put out a statement stating, "The administration should immediately release Dr. Gerberding's full, uncut statement, because the public has a right to know all the facts about the serious threats posed by global warming."

Researchers Knock Out HIV???

ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2007) — With the latest advances in treatment, doctors have discovered that they can successfully neutralise the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The so-called ‘combination therapy’ prevents HIV from mutating and spreading, allowing patients to rebuild their immune system to the same levels as the rest of the population.

If this research of Professor Jens Lundgren from the University of Copenhagen and the research group EuroSIDA's study is correct, this is huge news! The research study demonstrated that the immune system of all HIV-infected patients can be restored and normalized. The only stipulation is that patients begin and continue to follow their course of treatment.

The Women's Conference

So how was the The Women's Conference? The list of speakers included some really cool people like Jamie Lee Curtis, Geraldine Ferraro and Joan Baez. The 2008 'Presidential Spouses' (is that an official title?) were also speaking. The website is so pretty in shades of pink, purple, orange and yellow the front page shouts WE Communicate, WE Read, WE Make a Difference, WE Honor, WE Lead, WE Pass it On. WE Pledge. The cynic in me clicked on the WE Pledge...assuming that it would ask me for a donation...but instead it said this:

Ten Things I Pledge to Myself
I pledge to "show up" in my life as myself, not as an imitation of anyone else.
I pledge to avoid using the word "just" to describe myself. For example, I won't say, "I'm just a mother," "I'm just a student," or "I'm just an ordinary person."
I pledge to give myself ten minutes of silence and stillness every day to get in touch with my heart and hear my own voice.
I pledge to use my voice to connect my dreams to my actions.
I pledge to use my voice to empower myself and others.
I pledge to serve my community at least once a year in a way that will benefit other women.
I pledge to ask myself, "Who am I? What do I believe in? What am I grateful for? What do I want my life to stand for?"
I pledge to sit down and write my own mission statement.
I pledge to live my own legacy.
And I pledge to pass it on."

Not bad at all.
But then it says: WE Collaborate and shows flashing logos of corporate sponsors meaning "WE Shop".

So how was The Women's Conference? Was it focused on women? Did they address issues you care about? Was it feminist? Did you love it? Hate it? Tell me!!!! I heard our Action Hero Governor was acting like a fireman today, so he couldn't make it.

Go, Peggy, Go!

American Astronaut Peggy Whitson will be the first woman to take the helm at the International Space Station! How cool is that?

Whitson will spend a total of 190 days in orbit and will participate in two spacewalks.

Big steps for womankind!

I hope that when my daughter's generation are parents, this kind of news won't be such a big deal and their children will have grown up seeing women everywhere doing everything. But, for now, this is the kind of news I especially love sharing with her.

Bush Appoints Anti-Family Planning Advocate to Head Family Planning Office

He never ceases to amaze. President Bush appointed Susan Orr, a critic of contraception, to be the Acting Duputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs, the federal program responsible for providing birth control and other family planning services for low-income families.

No, I'm not kidding.

Orr is an abstinence-only advocate, and past director for the Family Research Council (a fundamentalist Christian organization). She has called contraception part of a “culture of death,” and when Bush proposed ending contraceptive coverage for federal employees, Orr said she was pleased because it’s not "medically necessary." She supports the global gag rule, and opposed RU-486.

Her appointment came just days after the WHO and Guttmacher report that showed that where contraception is available, abortion rates are lower.

Senators Hillary Clinton and Patty Murray, along with Reps Louise Slaughter and Diana DeGette, joined National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association and Planned Parenthood to announce their opposition to Orr's appointment, and call on Bush to withdraw Orr and replace her "with someone qualified and committed to family planning."

I really think he's trying to go down in history as the most ironic president ever.

Meanwhile, the Senate fought off anti-choice legsilators who were quietly trying to take away any funding to any reproductive rights facility that offered abortions (thanks to the Hyde Amendment abortions already are restricted from federal funding). Good catch, Senators!

Loved Your Flawless Party Hollywood NOW!

Last Saturday night, the California NOW Executive Committee crashed the Flawless Calendar Launch Party! We surprised Executive Producer Chenese Lewis and Hollywood NOW President Lindsey Horvath by showing up, but they surprised us right back with a glitzy night of glamour! The party was hosted by Plus Size Supermodel Mia Tyler , daughter of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and sister of Liv Tyler. The California NOW Executive Committee is pictured here with Mia, who completely supports the work of the National Organization for Women.
The party was full of gorgeous models were absolutely 'Flawless'!

Go Buy A Flawless Calendar!

What You Should Know About Childbirth

Check out this article about this new report by Childbirth Connection, called Listening to Mothers II. It is a landmark survey of 1,600 women's childbearing experiences, and reveals some disturbing things about hospital maternity care in this country.

The suveys show that most women experience poor care, and unnecessary interventions.

My mother and father traveled an hour from Lawrence, Kansas, where they lived, to Kansas City, Kansas so I could be born via natural childbirth. In the early seventies there were no doctors in Lawrence (a progressive, college town) that would facilitate a natural birth. The doctor who did deliver me was even able to deliver me from breach position while my mother, focused like a laser, labored wtih no interventions.

The births of my two children (both in San Francisco) were indeed minus epidural, but I, like most in this survey, was attached to IVs and fetal monitors, had my membranes artificially ruptured and an episiotomy without my consent (which, honestly, even if they'd tried to ask me at that point, they would have probably been answered with "WHATEVER THE HELL YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET THAT THING OUT OF ME!").

The article explains that only a very small minority of women received "all of the care practices that promote natural birth. Despite the relative health of women in the United States, many women are not getting the uncomplicated births they might expect."

Birth is perhaps the most natural phenomenon ever. So, why is it so under-explored in some ways and over-medicalized in others?

I can't help but think that if men gave birth, things would be different.

Join Hollywood NOW to celebrate Love Your Body Day!

October 19, 2007 -- Hollywood NOW, the local Chapter of the 41-year-old national organization working to bring women and men into full equality, welcomes the Hollywood community to Love Your Body Day 2007.

Join Hollywood NOW Saturday October 20, from 6-10 pm, for the Flawless Calendar Launch Party at Here! Lounge in West Hollywood. Here! Lounge is located at 696 N. Robertson Blvd., at the intersection of Robertson Blvd. & Santa Monica Blvd, in West Hollywood. Mia Tyler & the featured calendar models will be on hand to sign calendars and take pictures. All community members, 21+ years old, are welcome to participate in the event. Admission is free.

The Love Your Body community celebration will unfold Sunday, October 21, at West Hollywood's Fiesta Hall in Plummer Park, from 12-4 pm. Admission is free. Plummer Park is located at 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., between Vista St. and Martel Ave., in West Hollywood. Love Your Body Day is open to all ages, and will be hosted by Mia Tyler.

"It is such a joy to know events like this are happening in Hollywood," says Hollywood NOW's Love Your Body Day host Mia Tyler. "Because the entertainment industry is often implicated as the culprit for unreasonable and unattainable standards of beauty, it is important for the Hollywood community to encourage and celebrate a healthy body image for women, and I am excited to be part of the celebration." Love Your Body Chairperson Chenese Lewis, herself a former Miss Plus America, has dedicated her efforts on both the local and national levels to advocating a healthy body image for women, and celebrating women of all shapes & sizes. To learn more about her work with Hollywood NOW's Love Your Body activism, go to www.LoveYourBodyDay.com.

Produced by Chenese Lewis Productions, LLC, the weekend's festivities will kick off Saturday evening with a true Hollywood party at Here! Lounge to celebrate the launch of the Flawless Calendar, produced by Chenese Lewis. Leading women championing the cause for a healthy body image for all women will be on hand to toast the occasion.

Continuing on Sunday, Love Your Body Day will be a community celebration, offering entertainment; complimentary massages & makeovers; and vendor booths. Host Mia Tyler will welcome the various singers, actors, dancers, comediennes, and spoken word artists to the party. Tyler, daughter of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler & half-sister to Liv Tyler, is an accomplished plus-size model and actress, and wants everyone to realize that we are beautiful in our own ways. SkorchMagazine.com will be staging their plus-size model search at the event. Attendees will have the opportunity to talk with representatives from the magazine, and compete to be Skorch's signature model for the new clothing line, MEWV. The pinnacle of the festivities - the "Real Women" Fashion Show - will begin at 2 pm. Models of all shapes and sizes will be flaunting the styles of various plus-size designers and retailers.

Stop Electronic Voter Fraud in California

The past two national elections were an outrage to honest voters. It's been well-documented that voting machines are not reliable. Secretary of State Debra Bowen is trying to stop that from happening here in California.  Read Debra's letter  and give her a hand! 

Women and Children Beware

Hundreds of California sex offenders who were to be monitored for life under Prop 83 Jessica's Law, approved by voters last year, are now unsupervised. The law did not detail who is responsible for tracking them or how to pay for the enforcement. The ambiguity in the measure affects thousands of sex offenders being released.
Contact Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Phone: 916-445-2841 Fax: 916-445-4633 and let him know what you think about perpetrators being released into our communities without supervision!