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Showing posts from August, 2004
Ahnold: cracking the code NEW YORK, NY--Because tout le monde will be dissecting the Terminator's address to the Republican National Convention, your blogstress will avoid wasting too much HTML on it. But speaking of code, she feels compelled to point out Ahnold's use of the "good people" line, which was no doubt a wink-wink to those disgruntled queers and freedom-loving women who resent their designation as perverts and baby-killers in the GOP platform. The Log Cabin Republicans had joined the Republican Pro-Choice Majority in trying to insert a "unity plank" into the platform, one that said "good people" can disagree on such issues as gay marriage and abortion. The measure failed, and though the platform committee inserted a bit of the language, it added a scrap so tiny as to render it meaningless. Log Cabin Executive Director Patrick Guerrero told reporters that he had lobbied speakers to address the contention over gay marriage in their spe
What you didn't see in prime time NEW YORK, NY--Once upon a time, your blogstress gave a certain grudging respect to Elizabeth Hanford Dole for having a achieved so many things unthinkable by most women of her generation--a law degree, a cabinet post, the helm of an immense non-profit and, now, a seat in the United States Senate. Back when your cybertrix was but a young vixen toiling as a feminist, this Dole paid a visit to Ms. magazine, where we received her with genuine enthusiasm, thinking her to be a reasonable sort of Republican. As of tonight, Dole chose to roundly throw reason out the window with a speech that could have been delivered by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Approaching the podium to the tune of Tom Jones' "She's a Lady", Mrs. Dole went on to carry water for the gay-hating, anti-abortion and ostentatiously evangelical wing of the GOP. Offering such utterances as: "Marriage is important because it is the cornerstone of civilization," Dole we
Fair and balanced NEW YORK, NY--In the convention hall, in the thrall of First Nephew George P. Bush (as Poppy onced called him, "the little brown one"), the delegates burst into a chant worth noting: "Watch Fox News!" Now your blogstress must hightail it out of here, since they're about to do a lockdown for the primetime speeches. And she'd rather watch the Terminator ruminate from the comfort of her hotel room.
Visuals: lies, jobs and alpha waves NEW YORK (6th Ave. near 46th St.)--This morning, while prowling for coffee, your cybertrix, still sullen from the previous night's use of 9-11 as a psy-ops exercise, she came upon a site for sore eyes. Attached to the back of a generic, perhaps rental, car, was a trailer labeled www.pantsonfire.net that featured an effigy of the president dressed in a flight suit with flames fashioned of nylon and wire shooting off the back. Later in the day, on her way out of the hall, your Webwench saw a young Asian-American woman with a delegate's credential fashion a sign on the back of a CNN paper fan that read, "I work for cheap", then crossed out the word "cheap" and scratched in "free". She stuck it on the side of a building. Then your cyberscribe came upon a a scruffy white-guy protester, clearly an army of one, who carried a piece of brown carboard scrawled with a diatribe that began, "Stop radio-controlling the
New York's night NEW YORK, NY--Oh, to be her blithely arch self, your blogstress cries. But tonight's doings at the Republican National Convention have left her bereft and at moments confused. Even before this evening's confab a disheartening trend had commenced when the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay organization led by some very smart young men, tossed in the towel on the floor fight they had threatened, and then even gave up on the floor demonstration that one of their leadership had intimated was immanent, unless your cybertrix had just thoroughly misunderstood him. The group did release an effective television advertisement , today, calling on their party to choose between the moderate and radical path. (See the Washington Blade .) With former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani as the keynote speaker, tonight was clearly 9-11 night at the RNC. (Of course, with the convention located in New York, every night could be 9-11 night at the convention.) The brief remarks by
Goin' if I have to walk NEW YORK--At long last, your blogstress has made it to the Land of Oz, that mystical city that served, if not as the place of her birth, the birth of your Webwench's worklife. At the age of 18, your cybertrix, then of long hennaed hair and a rust-colored Qiana body shirt, assumed her place at the reception desk of a fabric showroom on West 40th Street. But enough about her. (Yeah, right.) Manhattan has been overtaken by the Republicans, their protesting nemeses and an assortment of law enforcement outfits. Fifth Avenue has never before seen so many Stetsons of the cowboy variety, leaving one to dread next season's imperative reinterpretation of Texas chic, a phenomenon that cries for a collaboration between Ralph Lauren and Arnold Scaasi--then to be, no doubt, sent up by Marc Jacobs and Isaac Mizrahi for Target. While the string-ties prowl the East Side, Grand Central Terminal is watched over by soldiers in combat fatigues, wielding semi-automati

Bloodless bath?

The New York City Police Department, always on the cutting edge of technology (your blogstress was among the first, one fine St. Patrick's Day, to be shackled by the Finest with plastic handcuffs), has plans to use something called a Long Range Acoustical Device (LRAD) as a means of crowd control. A piece on ABCNews.com describes how LRAD is used by the military as a weapon: When in weapon mode, LRAD blasts a tightly controlled stream of caustic sound that can be turned up to high enough levels to trigger nausea or possibly fainting. Why say "Welcome to New York" with messy head-bashing, not to mention all that unsightly blood, when you can simply torture large crowds with a form of santized brutality? In fairness, your cybertrix must note the the cops say they have no intention of using LRAD as a weapon. They just thought it would come in handy for giving orders to large crowds, they say. Your blogstress is all ears. Thanks to Professor Soundman, Jim Mastracco, for ca
You've got to give a little, take a little (And let your poor heart break a little) All right, your blogstress has been very naughty indeed, leaving her readers in the lurch for several days without notice. It's all those preparations for her attendance at the Republican National Convention that have gotten in the way--angling extralegal credentials, finding a well-heeled media type to shack up with (gratis, of course), hand-washing all the black spandex that serves as her wardrobe. Today brings word of a defeat suffered by the Log Cabin Republicans in the GOP platform hearings when those non-hetero elephants attempted to insert, unsheathed, a clause that said good people can disagree with the platform's pronouncements against abortion and gay marriage. Coincidentally, Vice President Dick Cheney today "broke" with the president ,in what would appear to be a bit of a good-cop-bad-cop routine, on the matter of a constitutional amendment that would proscrib
Can you hear me now? Yesterday, between 6:30 and 7:00pm, man on cell phone, waiting to cross street, at corner of 2nd & Constitution: "I talked to Corzine, and he said he talked to Obama about that stuff, and Obama said..." And then, alas, the light changed and he walked away. The conversation sounded suspiciously like those your blogstress once had, during the extended period she likes to call her youth , on paydays: "Chlo--talked to Izzy about the stuff...[and he said come by at 7:30; this stuff is really good.]" In truth, the conversation was no doubt about something not nearly so interesting--money. Sen. Jon Corzine heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Rising Star (his official DNC titlte) Barack Obama is running for the Senate from the State of Lincoln. Nonetheless, the senator from New Jersey (and likely the state's next governor ), may wish to inform his bagman that discretion is in order, as one never knows where t
Kill for Peace! First, the religious right appropriated the tactics of the labor movement to create a formidable electoral bloc. Now, reports Newsweek , a pro-war group called Protest Warriors plans to appropriate the tactics of the anti-globalizers in order to "countermessage" the lefties expected to pour onto the sidewalks of New York. Gotta give 'em points for creativity. However small their numbers, they're likely to get a lot of attention. Let's hope it's taken with the grain of salt the media would shake on something called, say, Hookers for Christ.
Break out the planks The Republican Platform Committee needs your help! Your blogstress just found this nifty form on the official Web site of the Republican National Convention whereby all Republicans are invited to submit their suggestions for the party platform Elephant for a day, anyone? Here's the list of issues on the pull-down menu: Crime Culture of Life Education Energy Faith-based initiatives Health care Homeland security Iraq/Afghanistan* Jobs Medicare Military Small business Social Security Taxes Tort reform Trade Transportation War on Terror** Other Your blogstress notes no option for gay-bashing, homo-hating or fixing that queer-coddling, marriage-threatening U.S. Constitution. So perhaps there's hope? Now, get in there, and stake your claim in the big-tent platform. Your Webwench predicts a rash of "Other" suggestions from AddieStan readers. Please don't disappoint her. *Your cybertrix
An AddieStan exclusive: Read the transcript of New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey's address to a gathering of gay Democrats during the Democratic National Convention--two weeks before his coming out speech.
Thank God for New Jersey - Take 2 In which your blogstress stands corrected In an earlier post, your humble cybertrix, who is about to prove just how humble she really is, made a mistaken assertion about from which show the following quote (which she, impressively, got right from memory) actually came. (If your blogstress was a media reporter, she'd risk being "iced" by network P.R. meanies for making such an error.) The show was " Meet the Press " (not the " Chris Matthews Show ", as reported), and the sage whose name she had forgotten was Jon Meacham of Newsweek , who said: I'm a Southerner and Southerners always say, 'When it comes to political corruption, thank God for New Jersey.' Regarding another assertion made in the same post, Frank Gilligan, your Webwench's partner in musical crimes, points us to the official site for the " Chris Matthews Show ", which he was apparently able to find just fine.
Memo to Senator Corzine: Don't do it! Washington is abuzz with word that New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine, the most ethical, compassionate man to ever buy himself a Senate seat, is about to cash in his Senate chips to make a run for the governorship of the Garden State, once it's vacated, whether sooner or later, by the fabulously besmirched current occupant of Drumthwacket . Now, your blogstress understands the Senator's good, hero child intentions. He obviously hopes to save his state, the state he loves, from its hopelessly flawed character--a noble quest. But your cybertrix cries, "Stop the madness! Detatch with love!" It's not that your Webwench wouldn't like to see the taxpayers' money treated with more respect in her native land, nor would she mind seeing the joint run by someone she could respect, someone who understands the vast range of economic players in that tiny state, someone who's run a company that oversees resources equal
Queer, schmeer... Your blogstress thought she might avoid posting a new McGreevey item today, but she just couldn't stay away, especially when she heard Steve Inskeep announce this today on NPR's "Morning Edition": "New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey's decision to resign after admitting to an affair with a man doesn't seem to have hurt his poll numbers. After his announcement, a poll found his approval rating at 45 percent--two points higher than before." And your cybertrix was just about to suggest that Steve and Renee give up on trying to continue Bob Edwards' absurd-items intro to the news. Maybe not yet. Thank God for New Jersey You have no idea how much it pains your Webwench to direct any reader to the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal , but John Fund does offer a probing look at, as Newsfeed slugged it, "Why New Jersey Is a Pit of Corrupution." (Because we like it that way, Mr. Fund!) On the "Ch
Everbody to get from street! This just in from the Department of Homeland Security (c/o Frank Gilligan , your blogstress's comrade in vigilance and partner in musical crimes): WASHINGTON, D.C.--Homeland Secretary Tom Ridge confirmed today that Al Qaeda operatives have compromised the security of voting machines throughout the United States of America. The secretary warns of a massive domestic terror event that is imminent on November 2, 2004. According to credible and confirmed sources, a catastrophic attack can be triggered by selecting the names of candidates whose party affiliation is marked "D", or "Democratic". Security analysts believe that this is due to the limited knowledge of the English language of the terrorists, who have confused "Democratic" with "Democracy", an avowed target of global terrorist organizations. The secretary warns all Americans to only select "R" or "Republican" candidates to assur
When you were a tender and callow fellow Now we remember why we used to like--no, love--John Kerry. This weekend, while your blogstress was applying a fabulous faux finish to her living room walls, she was treated, via "Road to the White House" on C-SPAN radio*, to an airing of the " Dick Cavett Show " from June of 1971, on which the young Kerry of Vietnam Veterans Against the War faced off with Nixon water-carrier John O'Neill, author of the recently released book, Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry (Regnery). As O'Neill, fresh from a meeting with Nixon aides , sputtered, attacked and attempted to villify his opponent, Kerry cooly recited clauses from the Geneva Conventions ("You've heard of them?" he asked O'Neill), explaining that the "free-fire zones" designated by the U.S. brass were in direct contradiction to the conventions. He also courageously admitted taking part, at the behest o
Pimping under the dome Washington has been abuzz for weeks about the firing from Rep. Mike DeWine's (R-OH) office of one Jessica Cutler, a hottie who says she took cash for sex from politicos with whom she was set up on "dates" by members of the congressman's staff. In D.C., the focus remains n the girl, while the men who pimped and schtupped her apparently still have their jobs. Check out Jeralyn Merritt's smart item on this on TalkLeft .
A hero for our times? For those among your blogstress's peeps eager to lionize McGreevey, check out Wonkette's take . It's remarkably sober and should give one pause. This Washington Blade piece features a concise chunk of the backstory, proving they're not about to jump whole-hog on the McGreevey bandwagon. For a not-so-sober but hilarious take, check out Tom Burka's Opinions You Should Have .
Convention recap Did the governor tip his hand? McGreevey at the Stonewall Democrats luncheon At the time, it struck your blogstress as the tiniest bit odd, New Jersey Governor James McGreevey being the only "straight" speaker among a good half-dozen on the menu at the luncheon sponsored by the Stonewall Democrats in Boston on the last day of the Democratic National Convention. (Remarks transcribed below this post.) However, your cyberscribe's home state being among the latest to pass domestic partnership legislation, and the queer community being so legendarily moneyed and fabulous, she saw the thing as generic opportunism from a well-known opportunist, overlooking what she now sees as either a slip or a wink to the assembled crowd from the chief executive of the Garden State. "My friends, we are engaged in a great debate within our nation," said the governor. "What we are looking for is workplace protection, equal rights and equal opportunities.
Remarks of N.J. Gov. James McGreevey Before the Stonewall Democrats July 29 - Boston, Mass. BARNEY FRANK: Let me begin with our first speaker, who represents a part of my past, but it's the least interesting part of my past, so don't get too excited. ..But he is a man who has distinguished himself by his advocacy of fairness on our behalf. And he is one of the statewide-elected officials in this country who has done more than almost any other to get across the point that we are entitled, as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, to be treated fairly and equally. So I am very proud to present to you the governor of the state of my birth, Governor Jim McGreevey of New Jersey. GOV. JAMES McGREEVEY: To the infamous [unintelligible] leader, Congressman Barney Frank, born in the sacred soil of New Jersey, let me say, on behalf of a grateful nation, thanks to the congressman for his leadership, his courage and his strength on all issues of civil liberties in the
F'n A! Governor McGreevey Comes Out; Steps Down Holy Cannoli, Batman! Your blogstress could barely believe her ears, listening to the governor of her home state come out, at the age of 46, on national television ( video here ). No, James McGreevey is not the first politician to admit to being gay when the wolf was at the door (with some sort of seedy evidence, no doubt, of a same-sex tryst). But it's a first for Jersey, where your cybertix knows from personal experience that ethnic queers generally marry members of the opposite sex in order to stay members in good standing of the quaint, foul-mouthed, family-centric, corrupt, congested, multi-cultural culture that has spawned such fantastic figures as Queen Latifah, Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan, to name a few. Now, your blogstress never was a big fan of McGreevey's, though she did appreciate his support for Jersey's domestic parnership bill. You see, she spent much of her adult life in the county of her
On the rag As promised, more from the president's appearance before the Unity conference of journalists of color. (Astute readers may recall that your blogstress noted this one in her initial report on the president's remarks , but it's so good that it bears repeating. And your cybertrix promises to pull out a fresh one later in the day.) "Look," said Mr. Bush to the journalists assembled before him, "you can't read a newspaper if you can't read." Which would appear to explain why our president does't read newpapers ... NOTE: Scroll to almost the end of Brit Hume's exclusive Fox News interview with the president, linked above, for his answer to Hume's question, "How do you get your news?"
Bush on tribal sovereignty: This just in from Indian Country For the Native perspective on Bush's fumble on tribal sovereignty (reported by AddieStan on Friday ), go to Indianz.com . There you'll also find links to video clips of the Bush appearance before Unity, as well as to the whole banana. Many thanks to our dear friend, Marlon Fixico, for steering your blogstress to this informative site.
Brilliant person Your blogstress begs the reader's forgiveness for having fallen down on the job of deconstructing the president's remarks to the Unity conference , a gathering of journalists of color, last Friday in Washington, D.C. The reactions of the audience of journalists to both President Bush and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry the day before have become a matter of some controversy, seeing as Kerry received more than polite applause, while the president received some unstifled titters. So, a debate rages on Romenesko , the site by which journos live and die. Because a rigorous desconstruction of the Bush remarks now appears to require the effort of a doctoral dissertation, your blogstress will simply highlight one quote each day, until all the good ones are exhausted. So here's the Bush Unity quote for August 10th: "You look at my administration, it's diverse...When I see Condi [Rice], I think 'brilliant person.'
One thing perfectly clear Now, listen up, because (hopefully) I'm only going to say this once. And, in homage to our bescandaled 37th president, whose resignation was recalled in a previous post , your blogstress will borrow Nixonian syntax in order to make a rare lapse into the first person: Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I am not a terrorist. Why, you may ask, would your cybertrix feel the need to make such a statement? You see, dear reader, a blogstress will do many a shameful thing in order to support her writing habit, and yours, alas, worked at the World Bank for a year, beginning in 1998--not long after her return from Peshawar, Pakistan. Talk these days in D.C. is all about how the F.B.I. intends to comb through the employment and contracting records of the World Bank, and cull those that jibe with "suspicious travel," according to Pierre Thomas of ABC NEWS. And having traveled to Pakistan's border with Afghanistan just months
The politics of terror Slowly making its rounds through the tunnels of the internet is this amazing story of how the Bush administration burnt computer expert Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, the undercover al Qaeda source for its latest production, the August surprise. You'll recall that The New Repubic had predicted that the Bushies would capture an "important" al Qaeda figure and trot him out in a July surprise during the Democratic National Convention. And so reports of the capture of a high-value person of interest, one Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, appeared as predicted, just before Kerry's speech. Not content with its less than bouncy bounce out of its apparent coup , the administration announced, in the personage of First Toady Tom Ridge, an impending major al Qaeda attack, based on the computer records of Khan, another captured high-value person of interest, whose July arrest may have led to the apprehending of Ghailani. Ridge's announcement, in which
More beatin' 'round the... Your blogstress asks your forbearance in keeping her promise to deconstruct the whole of President Bush's remarks last week to the Unity Convention, a gathering of journalists of color at which the president dumped a motherlode of material for late-night comedians and mean-spirited cybertrices. There's just so much that your humble écrivaine finds herself a tad overwhelmed. And then there's that little problem of earning a living that keeps getting in the way. Unfortunately, a suitable patron has yet to be found for the bohemian, blog-centric lifestyle to which your gateau-de-cup aspires.
Those good ole boys were drinkin' Whiskey and rye... Thirty years after Richard Milhous Nixon resigned the presidency, your blogstress found herself moved to a profound and wistful melancholy when the deep, manly tones of the Nixonian swan song came wafting through her radio last night as she rolled paint onto her living room walls. It was a sound that transported her swiftly back to the day and place when she learned of the deal--the way the scent of a bar of Palmolive soap brings her back to her grandmother's pink-and-black tiled bathroom. As the voice of the Great Disgraced began his farewell address, your Webwench could feel under her nails the yarn of the cherry-red wall-to-wall carpet of the family living room in Clark, New Jersey, where she sat on the floor in front of a dated, tube-set high-fi, breathless and bewildered at this latest turn of the national screw. Dressed for a date, her long hair, ends curled on hot rollers, artfully splayed across her shoulders,
Flubbo op President Bush unscripted In a Q&A before thousands of journalists of color today in Washington, DC, President Bush proved why his handlers avoid, usually at all costs, putting their man in any situation that requires spontaneous speech. Though the crowd, gathered in the nation's capital for the annual Unity journalism conference, was largely polite, some of the president's answers to questions posed by a panel of four journalists were either so awkward, empty or preposterous that they drew snickers of disbelief. And it seems that, under the artful questioning of one journalist, Roland Martin of the Chicago Defender , Mr. Bush inadvertently called for the end of college legacy admissions of the sort that enabled him to attend Yale, based not on his lackluster academic history but, rahther , on his family history. (Question of the day: will he try to back-pedal on this newfound stance?) The president opened his remarks by telling the assembled crow
Check-point city Code Orange living Living, as she does, within blocks of the headquarters of two of our three branches of government (the Supreme Court and the U.S. Capitol), your blogstress finds her neighborhood resembling Berlin before the wall fell. Though no wall yet exists--just lots of fencing and jersey-wall barriers-- checkpoints abound , with every car being stopped on virtually every block within a ten-block radius of the terrorists' presumed high-value targets. People with guns sport a variety of official costumes, the most common of which is a navy blue shorts outfit, dayglo yellow vest and a 9mm pistol. Not particularly attractive. Note to self: remember to wear an ID badge while walking through nabe. Any kind of ID badge is preferable to none--unless, of course, one sports an employee ID issued by the Arab-American Anti-Defamation League. The walk from East Capitol Street, on which the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress sit, to Union Stat
Don't know much about algebra... Ordinarily, your blogstress, who prides herself on making self-induced poverty look glamorous, is in no position to advise the less glamorous on financial matters. However, this AP report about Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's impending resignation counfounds her: Ridge, 58, has explained to colleagues that he needs to earn money to comfortably put his two children, Tommy Jr. and Lesley, through college, officials said. Both are now teenagers. Ridge earns $175,700 a year as a Cabinet secretary... Ridge owns an $873,000 home in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Michele, which they bought last year with a $784,800 mortgage, according to property and banking records. Ridge's most recent financial disclosure reports, filed in early 2003, showed that he owned between $122,000 and $787,000 in stocks and funds, including modest ownership in The Walt Disney Co., General Electric, Nike, Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp. Memo
Below: The first in an occasional series whereby your blogstress singles out for note a sentence for nothing more than the quality of its craft. Sentence of the day From David Remnick's analysis in this week's New Yorker of John F. Kerry's speech to the Democratic National Convention: The greatest similarity between the first J.F.K. and the current one lies not in their Ivy privilege or clambake geography but, rather, in the fact that both built a Presidential campaign narrative from acts of Navy heroism.
What goes with orange ? Dressing for the apocalypse You'll be happy to know that your blogstress's knee is healing nicely after the escalatorcapade on which she embarked while evading security personnel at the Democratic National Convention. Though she spent the weekend limping around, her undulant gait has, as of today, returned to normal, allowing her to, once again, swing so cool and sway so gently. As it turned out, the icky wet spot on the knee of her spandex-blend pants was indeed blood, so her knee now sports the scabrous imprint of the tread from the moving stairs. Curiously, while her knee was cut by the stairs, her tech pants by Isaac Mizrahi for Target remained miraculously in tact. Well worth the $29.99 they set your Webwench back. With orange apparently set to be the big color for fall, one suspects your cybertrix will sporting those trousers often. If one runs the everyday risk of being blown to smithereens here in our nation's capital, cloth

The Porn Wars

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Women Warriors

by Adele M. Stan This piece originally ran on the New York Times Op-Ed Page on December 17, 1993. WEEHAWKEN, N.J.--Were it not for an event in my own life, I might view the current debate over date rape and the rape crisis movement with detached amusement, the way one does whenever opposing pockets of the intellectual elite have a go at each other. But for me, the issue runs far deeper than that, and it seems to me that neither side has really got it right. In 1978, I was raped by an acquaintance in my college form room. This was no murky instance of date rape; I was asleep when the perpetrator, a guest at a party my roommate was giving in our campus apartment, let himself in, gripped my arms over my head and bored his way into me. Of course I protested, but I was afraid to do so too loudly, for just outside the door lurked the beer-soaked players of an entire hockey team, and I had heard too many boasts from athletes about girls who had “pulled the train” for a team, who had servi
Orange ya glad for the president's leadership? It's one thing to use past tragedy for political gain, but quite another to use the president's homeland security director to laud "the president's leadership in the war against terror" when turning up the terrorism alert in the midst of a presidential campaign. (See full quote, below.) It's been a while since the alert was kicked up to orange, so we surely were due. I don't doubt that the New York Stock Exchange or the World Bank are in the terrorists' sights. And if, indeed, an imminent attack is averted by the vigilence of citizen, official and law enforcement officer, that's a laudable accomplishment. But to have Ridge, the man entrusted with the nation's safety, using a threat against American lives to tweak the president's poll numbers, well, that's just despicable. Ridge has been reportedly telling colleagues that he's ready to step down , weary of the work of com

The Call to Dissent

by Adele-Marie Stan THIS IS THE PRINT-FRIENDLY VERSION This piece originally appeared in the December 1985 issue of Ms. magazine. Their Christian values compel them to challenge the church, say Catholic feminists. It is a church rife with powerful and mysterious symbols, symbols that have, throughout the ages, captured the imaginations of even those from other religious traditions. Artists and writers have long been intrigued by the Roman Catholic Church with its taboos and secrets, and the church has always provided the world with entertaining theater; its secret sensuality--the smell of the incense, the taste of the wafer, the sound of its glorious music, the elaborate settings of its altars, the silk and velvet vestments--provides the means through which the congregants are seduced from childhood. Yet despite the ceremonial indulgence, it remains an institution that makes grave distinctions between the needs of the spirit and the flesh. The church is an immensely wealthy institu