More information on what
has and hasn’t happened in the last four years.
The following is a recap and a supplement
to last month’s newsletter regarding the events of the last four years.
They are summarized from the
www.udecide.org
website.
In terms
of progress (or lack thereof) on the education issues:
~under this administration
the U.S. has continued to fall behind other industrial nations in
academic performance.
~President Bush
said the NO Child Left Behind Act was intended to close this gap.
However, the 2004 Federal Budget provided $9 billion
less for the Act than Congress authorized.
~After school programs are
also underfunded. At least 15 million children go home from school to an
empty house. The 2005 Federal Budget includes only half the funding that
was promised for after-school programs in the No Child Left Behind Act
~ College costs are
soaring with no help in sight. In the past four years, college tuition
and fees have risen 35%. However, the current administration has refused
funding that would permit more students to attend college. During his
campaign, Bush promised to increase the federal student Pell Grant
maximum to $5,100 per year. This has yet to happen.
~It’s happening at both
ends of the education spectrum. Although Head Start has proven to help
poor children succeed, plans are in the works to freeze Head Start
enrollment. In doing so, 40% of the children now eligible for Head Start
will be prevented from benefiting from the program.
Financially Speaking:
~Our national debt is a
record breaking $7.3 trillion. This would equal $1 million a day for the
next 20 years. In order to reduce this debt there will need to be more
tax increases and reduction of public services, and a greater degree of
inflation.
~When the current
administration began there was a $236 billion annual budget surplus. In
the years that have followed, this surplus has been turned into a $422
billion deficit. It’s an increase of over 30%, more than any other
administration in history.
~Tax cuts: This
administration’s tax cuts resulted in $166 billion less revenue in 2003,
approximately 44% of our deficit. In 2000, 63% of the nations
corporations paid no federal taxes. Still the current administration
proposes that companies be given an additional $119 billion in tax cuts.
~ The administration's
plan to cut biomedical research, health care, job training and veterans
benefits will still leave us with a deficit of $422 billion alone.
Regarding Employment
and the Economy:
~We’ve lost nearly a
million jobs. This administration is the only one since the 1930’s to
lose rather than gain jobs.
~In the past four years
the number of Americans who indicate that they are working part-time
because they can’t find full-time jobs has increased 35%. The largest
increase for any administration on record.
~Only
Corporations have profited. Only 15% of the economic gains have gone to
wages, the smallest share in 50 years. 47% has gone to corporate
profits, more than in any period since WW II.
OCTOBER
IS A VERY IMPORTANT MONTH FOR WOMEN’S CONCERNS
This is the month that
remembers victims of domestic violence and looks at what can be done
to prevent these assaults against women. It is also the month that
focuses on Breast Cancer. And lastly it is the month that reminds
women to Love Your Body.
Domestic
Violence:
The agencies responsible
for meeting the needs of domestic violence victims have been seriously
impacted by the poor economy and cuts in funding. In speaking with a
representative of one such agency, LifeSpan this editor was told that
in the past few months they have been forced to lay off staff, placing
a greater burden on some already very hard working women. Most
seriously, however, was the fact that they were forced to stop
performing intakes for legal services for a period of six weeks unless
it was an extreme emergency. When one considers that this agency
conducts more than an average of 100 intakes a month, the impact on
women who need such services is tremendous. LifeSpan is not alone.
Many other domestic violence agencies are experiencing similar
problems. They need help from corporations and individuals in order
to continue offering the most effective services to these women. For a
list of Domestic Violence Agencies in Illinois, log on to
stopchicagodomesticviolence.org.
Breast
Cancer Awareness:
If you are at least 40
years of age, you should have had a “base” mammogram by now. If you
have a history of breast cancer in your family (mother, sister, aunt),
no matter what your age, talk to your doctor about when to start and
how often to have your mammograms and/or look into one of the early
detection programs offered by some hospitals in the area. And lastly,
maybe take a minute to maybe save a life. Please tell friends to tell
10 today! The Breast Cancer site always needs more people to click on
it each day to meet their quota of donating at least one mammogram a
day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to
their site and click on “donating a mammogram” for free (pink window
in the middle). This doesn’t cost you a thing. Their corporate
sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate
mammograms in exchange for advertising. Visit the
breastcancersite.com.
Love Your Body Day:
October 20th
is Love Your Body Day. It is no secret that the media and society as a
whole has created an unrealistic ideal of what a woman should look
like. Soaring rates of eating disorders over the last 20 years
represent young girls, teens, and women’s efforts to meet this ideal,
with dangerous results. It is time for us to get real. Maximum good
health is an individual issue and the ideal to which we should be
striving.
TAKE A MINUTE NOT ONLY
ON LOVE YOUR BODY DAY BUT EACH DAY TO THINK ABOUT THE FOLLOWING
I AM A WOMAN RE-CLAIMING MY BODY
|
My
body, at last, I claim you! I live here! I am not some discarnate
spirit using just any vehicle to get around. I live in the
full, round, soft, juicy, wet, strong, agile, capable, spirit
filled, nurturing, graceful, flowing, comforting, lovely smooth,
dancing, singing, playing, working, praying body of a woman!
For so many years I rejected my body because it isn’t perfect
according to the standards of my culture. I have been unfaithful to
it, letting others opinions turn me against it, allowing others to
use it without love, without tenderness. Because I myself rejected
my body, I didn’t protect it, didn’t demand that it be treated like
the precious gift that it is. My body, the temple of my soul,
deserves better from me.
I
reclaim this body. I reclaimed these eyes and their vision; this
mouth and its words; these arms and legs and their hugging and
dancing. I re-claim these breasts and their magnificent fullness; I
reclaim these wide, round hips and strong fleshy thighs and their
walking on earth. I re-claim this vagina and all its secret folds
and this womb and its bleeding. I re-claim all of my body parts,
named and unnamed. This body is a miracle; it is the first gift of
the Creator to me -my birthday present. I take this body to have and
to hold, in sickness and in health, to honor, love, and cherish
until death do us part. I am a woman reclaiming my body! (author
unknown) |
