Procrastinator that I am, I waited until the last day of the sustainer drive to write this... as you can see I have a hard time with brevity anyway.
I donate $25 to World Can't Wait every month (automatically on my credit card). I do this because World Can't Wait is absolutely unique and so needed on the political stage.
I was working hard to end the war and torture under Bush before WCW got started and was always overwhelmed at enormity of the crimes being carried out. Bush, Cheney and Co. had completely blatant disregard for anyone else's opinion, and didn't care who disagreed with waterboarding, hooded detainees, bombing hospitals, threatening nuclear holocaust... but also moved unchallenged against fundamental rights in this society too: for women, for immigrants, for LGBT people, for political dissidents or people who just didn't want religion dictating policy, much less being used to justify wars of aggression. How could we stop people on a "mission from God," backed by the most powerful military on the planet?
When WCW came along in 2005 it was like a blast of fresh air. Driving out the Bush regime would have been the right thing to do - and aiming to do that was righteous, and the only "realistic" goal in response to the fascist barrage raining down from the executive branch. Our failure to do so means people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo continue to suffer and die. Instead of turning back the policies of the Bush administration, the brutal occupations, torture and medieval detentions continue - but now fronted by a "Peace" prize-winning president.
Last May, Dr. George Tiller was shot down in his church by one of the self-appointed bearers of God's wrath that populate the US. Those types had been somewhat appeased by the Bush presidency, holding out hope that "their man" would bring down Biblical law and prevent women from controlling our own reproduction. Although I never met Tiller, I felt personally attacked - as if a friend was murdered. The fact is, Dr. Tiller was assassinated for his good deeds: for a life spent caring for women in desperate circumstances, often literally saving their lives.
World Can't Wait was the only national "anti-war group" (not to mention national political figures, period) that went to Wichita for Dr. Tiller's funeral. I traveled along, to pay my respects, with a renewed determination to take on this many-headed-hydra that confronts us all. We went on later this past summer to mobilize against the threats coming from the same people who hounded Dr. Tiller for years, and protect Tiller's close colleague, Dr. LeRoy Carhart. Anyone who thought that the threats to our rights as women only came from unhinged loonies with access to firearms was checked by the all-out hysteria wrought by the Stupak-Pitts amendment, and now the state of Utah criminalizing miscarriages.
The fascists may be in the streets now, flinging racist slurs at the president, murdering our doctors, and threatening a "Sarah Palin style revolution" but World Can't Wait is in the streets too, saying the only way out of this mess is through staying true to our principles. We don't have to choose between defending the American Empire and the Teabaggers. We do have to stand up for what's right, and we do have to make sure that World Can't Wait has the funds needed for continued existence!
Please join me in sustaining at whatever level you can, or making a one-time donation this weekend towards the fundraising "Anti-War Offensive" set to kick off on Friday.
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Comments
Good post. R
The founder of "Planned Parenthood" Margaret Sanger was a eugenicistBlack Genocide:
Planned Parenthood's Evil Roots
DIANE DEW
Much can be learned of an organization by examining its roots and its fruit. When the claims of Christianity are considered, for example, we look to Christ: His life, His work, His words. The same is true of cults: we examine the root and the fruit.
Similarly, when examining the work of Planned Parenthood (PP), one cannot help but scrutinize the life and words of its founder.
"A good tree cannot bear bad fruit," Jesus said; "nor can a bad tree bear good ... You shall know them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:16, 18)
From the life, work and writings of Margaret Sanger (1883-1966) -- founder of PP and editor of The Birth Control Review from 1917 to 1938 -- the purpose and goal of that organization is revealed.
Birth Control
In her autobiography, Sanger admitted her entire life's purpose was to promote birth control. (An Autobiography, p. 194) Not only did she establish the research bureau that financed "the pill," she contributed toward the work of the German doctor who developed the IUD. ("Ernst Graefenberg and His Ring," Mt. Sinai Journal of Medicine, July-Aug. 1975, p. 345, in Margaret Sanger: Father of Modern Society, by Elasah Drogin)
Sanger believed that, for the purpose of racial "purification," couples should be rewarded who chose sterilization. (Birth Control in America, The Career of Margaret Sanger, by David Kennedy, p. 117, quoting a 1923 Sanger speech).
Couples should be required to submit applications to have a child, she wrote in her "Plan for Peace." (Birth Control Review, April 1932)
Sanger espoused the thinking of eugenicists -- similar to Darwin's "survival of the fittest" -- but related the concept to human society, saying the genetic makeup of the poor, and minorities, for example, was inferior. (Pivot of Civilization, by Margaret Sanger, 1922, p. 80)
'A Race of Thoroughbreds'?
The purpose in promoting birth control was "to create a race of thoroughbreds," she wrote in The Birth Control Review, Nov. 1921 (p. 2)
"More children from the fit, less from the unfit -- that is the chief aim of birth control." (Birth Control Review, May 1919, p. 12)
The goal of eugenicists is "to prevent the multiplication of bad stocks," wrote Dr. Ernst Rudin the April 1933 Birth Control Review. Another article exhorted Americans to "restrict the propagation of those physically, mentally and socially inadequate."
In Pivot of Civilization, Sanger referred to immigrants and poor folks as "human weeds," "reckless breeders," "spawning ... human beings who never should have been born."
Extermination
Sanger's ultimate intention was to do away with all blacks. She admitted, however, that it might be necessary on occasion to employ a few, for appearance sake.
"We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population," she said, "if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." (Woman's Body, Woman's Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America, by Linda Gordon)
In her "Plan for Peace," Sanger outlined her strategy for eradication of those she deemed "feebleminded." Among the steps included in her evil scheme were immigration restrictions; compulsory sterilization; segregation to a lifetime of farm work; etc. (Birth Control Review, April 1932, p. 107)
One of Sanger's greatest influences, sexologist/eugenicist Dr. Havelock Ellis (with whom she had an affair, leading to her divorce from her first husband), urged mandatory sterilization of the poor as a prerequisite to receiving any public aid. (The Problem of Race Regeneration, by Havelock Ellis, p. 65, in Margaret Sanger: Father of Modern Society, p. 18)
Ellis believed that any sex was acceptable, as long as it hurt no one. (The Sage of Sex, A Life of Havelock Ellis, by Arthur Calder-Marshall, p. 88)
A woman's physical satisfaction was more important than any marriage vow, Sanger believed. (Birth Control in America, p. 11)
"The marriage bed is the most degenerating influence in the social order," Sanger said. (p. 23) Quite the opposite of God's view on the matter: "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." (Hebrews 13:4)
Bad Root, Bad Fruit
A tree is either good or bad, Jesus said; a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree, good. Considering the evil roots of Planned Parenthood, and the fruit it bears today -- the promotion of promiscuity among youth (Planned Parenthood News, summer 1953, p. 10), the consequent spread of disease, etc. -- the ax (God's Word )ought to be laid to the root of that organization, expose it for what it is, and leave it for dead.
The blood of 29 million unborn babies cries out from the ground for justice. And the future of our nation, which tolerates the unjust execution of these innocents, depends on it.
"Daughters of Jerusalem, weep ... for your children," Jesus said. "For, behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed (happy) are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts which never gave suck." (Luke 23:24)
Copyright © 1992 Diane S. Dew in The Standard
@Poopiehead - nice name. Apropos. I can throw you some "quotes" from Jesus upholding slavery. Using your a-scientific mentality of "examining the roots" instead of reality, you'd be an apologist for brutal human bondage.
In fact, the truth of the matter is that fetuses are not babies and abortion is not murder. Women are human beings. Margaret Sanger's eugenicist beliefs (which were widespread in her time) are not relevant to women's rights now to bodily autonomy and control over our own uteruses and what happens to them.
The following is a list of useful abortion statistics as well as some facts on abortifacients. All abortion numbers are derived from pro-abortion sources courtesy of The Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood's Family Planning Perspectives.
WORLDWIDE
Number of abortions per year: Approximately 42 Million
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 115,000
Where abortions occur:
83% of all abortions are obtained in developing countries and 17% occur in developed countries.
© Copyright 1996-2008, The Alan Guttmacher Institute. (www.agi-usa.org)
UNITED STATES
Number of abortions per year: 1.37 Million (1996)
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 3,700
Who's having abortions (age)?
52% of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 32% of all abortions; Teenagers obtain 20% and girls under 15 account for 1.2%.
Who's having abortions (race)?
While white women obtain 60% of all abortions, their abortion rate is well below that of minority women. Black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are roughly 2 times as likely.
Who's having abortions (marital status)?
64.4% of all abortions are performed on never-married women; Married women account for 18.4% of all abortions and divorced women obtain 9.4%.
Who's having abortions (religion)?
Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical".
Who's having abortions (income)?
Women with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28.7% of all abortions; Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19.5%; Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38.0%; Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13.8%.
Why women have abortions
1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).
At what gestational ages are abortions performed:
52% of all abortions occur before the 9th week of pregnancy, 25% happen between the 9th & 10th week, 12% happen between the 11th and 12th week, 6% happen between the 13th & 15th week, 4% happen between the 16th & 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after the 20th week of pregnancy.
Likelihood of abortion:
An estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion.
Abortion coverage:
48% of all abortion facilities provide services after the 12th week of pregnancy. 9 in 10 managed care plans routinely cover abortion or provide limited coverage. About 14% of all abortions in the United States are paid for with public funds, virtually all of which are state funds. 16 states (CA, CT, HI, ED, IL, MA , MD, MD, MN, MT, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA and WV) pay for abortions for some poor women.
Great testimony to the great work of WCW! Much love to you, friend.