Karen Teegarden from Birmingham, Michigan and Desiree Jordan from New York were some ticked off folks that wanted to do something about what they were seeing. “We didn’t have anything planned out,” Teegarden explained. “We just knew we wanted to do something.” She made a Facebook group page at 1 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Later that same morning she had 500 requests to join. “In hindsight this is crazy,” Teegarden said. “It was done very innocently... It began with two people who were mad and felt they had to do something. We woke up one morning and posted this call to action on our Facebook wall and the walls of like-minded people and it spread from there. “Oh my God, the kinds of personal messages that were sent were just amazing. Telling their stories, why was it important to them and thank goodness someone decided to do this.”
from p. 1
Edge of Outrage Facebook. Lear was drawn in when one of her Facebook friends posted a War on Women logo with links to personhood news stories from states attempting to pass legislation to give the unborn rights independent of the mother’s reproductive rights. It was how Lear linked up with Karen Teegarden, the founder of the national organization of Unite Against the War on Women, as well as the women who would become her compatriots in organizing the Los Angeles April 28 rally: Nanette Harrison along with core volunteers, Deborah Favorite and Melissa Stephens. Harrison, whose normally hectic schedule as a freelance television producer would usually prohibit her involvement, began following Facebook postings and links regarding personhood legislation across the country. With the slowdown in
freelance assignments, Harrison started keying in to the conversation women across the country. “Links were being posted to news stories of what’s been happening in Tennessee, Arizona, Virginia and Pennsylvania,” she said. “I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe it. “Really? We’re going back to this issue again? Wasn’t that all settled back in the 70s? I literally got drawn into it.”
The Roots of the Movement
This movement began well before Limbaugh’s X-rated slut tirade against Sandra Fluke. People were already plenty pissed. Americans wondered, ‘Where’s the outrage?” Limbaugh’s outburst was just icing on the cake. Unite Against the War on Women co-founders
They were joined by some others who were getting ready to do something very similar before they saw what Teegarden was doing. “They gave me their skill set, ‘Just tell me what you need me to do,’” Teegarden explained. “I did this not knowing what we were going to do. Within days we had a structure in place. We started separate state Facebook pages so that people could begin organizing specifically within their state.” There was already a rally set for April 28 in Washington, D.C. intended for Washington D.C. Teegarden noted that rallies held in Washington, D.C. are intended to speak to the nation as a whole rather than speak for the district itself. There will be a larger “We Are Woman” march on Washington, D.C. in September, organized by its founder, Erin Nanasi. Teegarden noted that the anger about the legislation and rhetoric had been rising for more
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California—Voting on whether to authorize strikes on the 23 California State University campuses began April 16, after failing to reach an agreement on collective bargaining through mediation. The failure of mediation efforts opens the door to the possibility of schools not opening this fall due to a massive strike. The statutory bargaining process next goes to a neutral third party who will examine the dispute in the hope of finding a settlement. If that does not produce an agreement, CSU Chancellor Charles Reed can unilaterally impose his last contract offer and the faculty will be free to strike. The vote will decide whether the faculty will grant the California Faculty Association board of directors the authority to call a strike if the legally required bargaining process fails. Voting will take place online April 16 through 27. The California Faculty Association chapter on each campus has chosen various days and times when polls will be set up for in-person voting during those two weeks.
March Was U.S. Hottest Month On Record--Signal of Coming Global Warming
March was the hottest US month on record, with over 14,000 new local high temperature records set, including 21 locations where daily low temperatures were warmer than the previous record high temperature for that day, according to data from the National Climatic Data Center at NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). . Almost all records were set east of the Rocky Mountains. Additionally, 44 locations broke daily “warmest high temperature” records by at least 22°F; 29 locations broke daily “warmest low temperature” records by at least 22°F; 55 locations broke daily “warmest high temperature” records that were at least 115 years old; 68 locations broke daily “warmest low temperature” records that were at least 115 years old; and 41 locations broke or tied 18 or more daily records during the month.