Help, I'm drafting a letter

[FizzFuzz]

to our local newspaper. Coverage of the March was on the third page. Under-reported the numbers ("hundreds of thousands"), had some quotes from some of the more than 1000 local people who went (yes at least they reported that), didn't include any informative quotes from any of the many powerful speakers there, but DID include a quote from the local rep for Democrats For Life, stressing how "harmful abortion is on women and children." (who didn't attend the March) They made sure to print a slam from this woman against the Democratic party as well (“I can’t believe the Democratic Party, which I believe in so much as a social justice party, just doesn’t open its eyes.”)

Help me folks, I need a few names of HIGH PROFILE speakers, and maybe a real ass kicking quote or two. Not alot, I'm keeping the note short, but something to counter their spin.

Of course they'll ignore it, I know they will, but I plan to forward it to some friends and soooooooo...

I really was ready to cry, I am so fed up and frustrated. Maybe I will just have to stop reading ANYthing political anymore. I dunno. I'm just about to lose it.

[Robbien]

1. You want quotes, I've got quotes, lots of them

"There is a religious and moral superiority and arrogance that so many, not all, Republicans have. It is the ultimate intrusion by government to tell a woman when she can have children, if she has them at all." -- Actress Lynda Carter.

"This administration is filled with people who disparage sexual harassment laws, who claim the pay gap between women and men is phony, ... who consider Roe v. Wade the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history." -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

"We cannot let them take over our bodies, our health care, our lives."_ Protester Carole Mehlman, 68, of Tampa, Fla.

"The march is about the totality of women's lives and the right to make decisions about our lives." -- Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

"Women count" Tyne Daly

[Lars39]

2. Some of the speakers/introducers......

Tyne Daily, Julian Bonds, C. Flahti(can't think of her 1st name), Gloria Steinem, Ashley Judd, Camryn Manheim, Susan Sarandon.
I know there's more....

[proud patriot]

3. Focuss on the Young people that turned out

also mention the third wave of the womens' revolution is here.

:hi:

[Robbien]

4. From the Salon article

After her speech, Daly retreated to a quiet corner and talked about media priorities. "People didn't seem to care about the death of soldiers or the ruination of the economy, just about Miss Jackson's breast," she said, suggesting that "we as women should go to Washington to march and collectively bare our breasts" -- and here she grabbed her own ample rack -- "These are the WMDs: the Weapons of Media Distraction." Daly, a mother of children ranging from 36 to 18, said she knew that she, however well respected, was not likely to be the lightning-rod personality that electrified the nation's youth. "I wanted the cast of 'Sex and the City,' I wanted the cast of 'Friends,'" she said of her Hollywood organizing for the march. "But we live in an atmosphere of fear. It's hard to get people out."

[FizzFuzz]

5. Keep em coming

Its encouraging just reading 'em.

This local paper didn't even NAME any of the dignitaries that were there. Delegations from how many foreign countries? I can't remember. Didn't mention that either. Goddamm them.

When our Mayor (D, winner of numerous awards including National 10 Best Mayors, was running for County Executive, this damn paper did a pre-election story, like the day before, on the local demographics, little stories with pictures of a few ordinary people and how they planned to vote. They included R's and D's to maintain a fiction of respectable journalism, but ran the two anti-Mayor people (one was a D, I think) on the front page with about 1/4 the page for text. Nice BIIIG pictures. Lead was a Black woman (did I mention, the Mayor is Black?), telling how she "just doesn't like him. He argues too much. His ads are negative. I'm going to vote for XXX" (the R-Conservative woman running against him). No mention of the incredibly negative, insulting and anti-intellectual ad run by HER Rethug election committee.

Goddamm them.

I haven't finished the letter, so feel free to mention anything you think of.

Thank you all SO MUCH. You are great.

[Mz Pip]

6. The march was on the first page

of our newspaper and it showed the picture of the hundreds of thousands of people.

I might mention that relegating the reporting of the march to the 3rd page and refusing to quote any of the Pro-Choice speakers does not negate that fact that people are out there and they are angry at the direction this President is taking the issue of choice. They can ignore it all they want, they can spin it to suit their politics. It will not change the reality. We will not go backwards with our rights. Get used to it.

MzPip
:dem:

[Lars39]

7. 57 countries.

Here's the organizers' website: (There might be more info there.)

http://www.marchforwomen.org/index.php

[FizzFuzz]

8. Here it is

I sent it to the paper and to a bunch of friends.
Of course I forgot to sign it, (grrr) but my name is in the heading.
So here's what I wrote:

Yesterday's March For Women's Lives was the largest march OF ANY KIND in American History. ("Yesterday’s march was the largest in American history", Gloria Feldt, Planned Parenthood Federation of America.) There were more than 1 million participants ("There were over a million of us there with a third of those attending under the age of 35", Feldt, PPFA.)

In your coverage today, Monday, the story seriously under-reports the numbers, and was relegated to the third page, while a serialized article about the Mafia, the death of Estee Lauder, and a story about Evangelical Christians were given front page real estate.

You neglect to name speakers like Louise Slaughter and Julian Bond, nor do you include meaningful quotes, like Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), who said to over one million people, "This administration is filled with people who disparage sexual harassment laws, who claim the pay gap between women and men is phony, ... who consider Roe v. Wade the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history."
or "The march is about the totality of women's lives and the right to make decisions about our lives." -- Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

You omit the fact that representatives from 57 different countries came, supporting not just abortion rights, but affirming that women not be forced by poverty and the gagging of clinics into having no access to life saving health care. They and the million marchers affirmed the rights of women world wide to make decisions about our own lives.

Shame on you, Democrat and Chronicle, for choosing propagandistic spin over journalistic ethics.

[Robbien]

9. Good letter

And it helps to write them, does it not.

Yesterday I spent all evening writing to mainstream news and local news on this issue because I was pissed off that they did not give this rally the recognition it deserved.

They should be ashamed. For their mothers, sisters and daughters sake.

[FizzFuzz]

10. yes it does

and thanks Robbien. You're so right. don't these people understand their own loved ones are in danger? Oh right, problems only happen to women who ask for it, as THEY would never do. (It's a psychological ploy of denial practiced by the weak, ignorant and self-satisfied--persecuting those who are unlike ME makes me safe. Sound like any governments we know?)

It helps me feel that I'm doing something besides just freaking out and pulling my hair and other things that could negatively affect my karma.

Sigh. Now I need to let go---relentless outrage isn't getting me anywhere.