File Name: 3091.txt

Ä Area: Feminism ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
  Msg#: 243                                          Date: 05-20-95  08:54
  From: Randy Edwards                                Read: Yes    Replied: No 
    To: All                                          Mark:                     
  Subj: [2 of 2] PW Hotline #8
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kill, the Senators paid off their corporate fat-cat contributors at
the expense of consumers. Three of the most notorious dangerous
products in recent history have been used exclusively by women: the
Dalkon Shield (sterility & death), Playtex tampons (toxic shock
syndrome), silicone gel breast implants (autoimmune disease, suspected
deaths). Caps on damages put a price tag on selling unsafe products --
companies will just factor an occasional lawsuit into the cost of
doing business. Worse yet, women will probably not even be able to
find lawyers to represent them. NOW is the time to make your voice
heard -- before a final bill emerges from a House/Senate conference
committee. Tell your member of Congress not to put corporate profits
ahead of constituents at 202-221-3121.


#6. Packwood Stands Accused.
After 2 1/2 years, the Senate Ethics Committee finally completed its
*preliminary* inquiry and found "substantial credible evidence" on
three charges against Bob Packwood (R/OR): his harassment of 18 women
staffers, volunteers, and lobbyists; his clumsy attempt to destroy
evidence (otherwise known as a "cover-up"); and his effors to have
lobbyists hire his ex-wife so he could avoid alimony payments. Sen.
Barbara Boxer (D/CA) and NOW renewed their calls for Packwood to
resign, but the media trumpeted his "rehabilitation" as Senate Finance
Committee chair.

What you can do: contact your Senators and urge them to expel Packwood
from the Senate.


#7. Gingrich Cuts and Runs from GOPAC.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich is trying to avoid an ethics investigation
and a special prosecutor for his apparent violations of campaign
finance laws in his role as chairman of GOPAC. GOPAC solicited
millions of dollars from corporate interests to recruit, train, and
elect conservative Republican candidates at all levels of government,
but claimed it did not have to report those contributions because less
than 10% of its money went to federal candidates. Recently, Gingrich
resigned from GOPAC and blamed "them" for anything that might have
been illegal. Meanwhile, GOPAC officials continue to oppose disclosure
of the donors that funded past GOPAC efforts.

What you can do: contact House Ethics Committee chair Nancy Johnson
(R/CT) and demand that Speaker Gingrich be investigated as thoroughly
as former Speaker Jim Wright. Her office number is 202-225-4476.


#8. Taxation Without Representation.
In Hotline #4, we argued that women should raise the banner of
"Taxation Without Representation" in challenging the fact that women
constitute only 8% of the Senate, 11% of the House, and 2% of the
governors while paying (we estimate) 40% of the taxes. Well, now we
have more ammunition for our argument: a study by the Families and
Work Institute (whose work played a major role in passing Family Leave
legislation). The study, "Women: The New Providers" found that women
earn half or more of the family income in 45% of two-parent households
-- not including households headed solely by women.

Other interesting findings: despite the claims of the right that
Americans are overwhelmingly conservative, women said "their greatest
social concern was that people did not care enough about others,"
according to the report in the New York Times (5/11/95). Health care
and the quality of education ranked next. Women overwhelmingly (90%)
defined "family values" as "loving, taking care of, and supporting
each other, knowing right from wrong or having good values" --
regardless of family structure -- while only 2% restricted "family
values" to the traditional nuclear family.

#9. Christian Coalition Assaults the Constitution.
Amidst tremendous media hype, Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition
issued its "Contract With American Families." The ten items include:
-"Religious Equality Amendment," allowing for public expressions of
religion;
-cutting the Dept. of Education and redistributing those funds to the
states and local communities;
-"school choice"
-a $500-per-year tax credit for each child;
-limiting late-term abortions and cutting federally-funded abortions;
-restricting access to pornography on the Internet and cable TV;
-ending federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts,
National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corp. for Public
Broadcasting and the Legal Services Corp.;
-the "Parental Right Act," ensuring that parents' rights over their
children are not violated; and
-requiring criminals to pay restitution to their victims' families.

Although Ralph Reed insisted these were not the "Ten Commandments,"
the press conference was treated as though Reed had just come down
from Mount Sinai with tablets in hand. Most of the Republican
establishment was at his side, including Newt Gingrich, Phil Gramm,
Trent Lott, Tom DeLay, John Kasich, and John Boehner. One Democrat --
anti-choice Rep. Mike Parker -- was there to make the partisan
Republican gathering appear "bipartisan." Gingrich praised the
coalition and promised votes on each of the items. Reed met with Bob
Dole later in the day, and Dole pledged his support for the "Religious
Equality Amendment."

The "contract" quickly engendered some harsh criticism. Rep. Pat
Schroeder (D/CO) called it "a sharp, political grab for power to push
this country back and to push it into only one mold of thinking." Rep.
Nita Lowey (D/NY) said "Because they brought Newt Gingrich to power,
when they say, 'Jump,' he says, 'How high?'"

We welcome your comments on each of these proposals, and we'll analyze
it in full in a future Hotline.


#10. Oklahoma City Update.
From the New York Times, 5/10/95: "Those who have talked with [Timothy
McVeigh] said he also seemed to be motivated by a philosophy broader
than [anger over] Waco. They said he appeared angry at the Government
because in his view it had created a climate in which abortion is
legal, family values have disintegrated, working-class men cannot find
jobs, taxes are high and spent on the wrong programs, and the right to
own guns is threatened. One person said Mr. McVeigh had talked of 'how
this country is going to hell in a handbasket.'"
And conservative leaders insist they have no responsibility to
discourage men who think this way from expressing their views through
violence?

The N.R.A., which is under close scrutiny for its incendiary anti-
government rhetoric, is trying to win sympathy with feminists by
running full-page ads accusing its nemesis, the B.A.T.F., of sexism,
racism, and even "anti-felinism" (stomping on pet cats). New York
Times columnist Frank Rich exposed that p.r. obscenity in his 5/18
column.

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