08/26 Open Thread - Womens's Equality Day in the US

WOW! Just think about it, women get to be equal for one entire day, ain't that something? Well, at least it would be something if they actually got to be fully equal in all respects, even if only for one lousy day, but, alas, it is a fiction like so many other things we celebrate. It is an admirable goal, full equality for women, and it is nice that this may have some sort of inspirational effect, but it also has a somewhat distressing and depressing effect, knowing that the idea is annually dangled out there to taunt women and their supporters and sympathizers.

In 1970, a new feminist movement lead a nationwide Women's Strike for Equality. NOW's Betty Friedan articulated 3 principal goals for the strike, free abortion on demand, free childcare, and equal opportunity in the workplace. SO, how's 0 for 3 sound so far? However, the inimitable Bela Abzug did talk arch liberal Richard Nixon into issuing a Presidential proclamation declaring August 26 to be Women's Equality Day, so that's at least something. Thank you Bela, thanks, Dick.

The sorry truth is that women aren't even close to achieving full equality, especially not nationwide. There are large swaths of the country where women aren't even free, let alone equal. Self ownership is a hallmark of freedom, that and personal sovereignty. Women, in much of the US, have neither, and cannot even remotely be considered to be free. To speak of their equality is laughable. At this point in time, it doesn't even seem to be a likely eventuality.

Be that as it may, the US is not noted for its honesty in its slogans and self-descriptions, so we may as well just accept that such a holiday exists, in the same fashion as the Declaration of Independence claimed that all men are created equal, except for Indians, enslaved persons, assorted others and, of course, women.

It is pretty clear that we are not yet remotely close to achieving women's equality, and, if I may, I have a suggested solution to propose, yet another march:

Workers Women of the world US unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

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On this day in history:

- 1346 – Though greatly outnumbered, the English won a horribly lopsided victory over the French at Crecy. Because of this stunning victory, the war only dragged on for 107 more years, and, in the end, led to a French victory.

In 1542, Francisco de Orellana finished crossing South America from Guayaquil to the mouth of the Amazon River and the Atlantic

1767 – Jesuits all over Chile were arrested as the Spanish Empire suppressed the "Society of Jesus"

1768 - Captain James Cook set sail from England aboard HMS Endeavour.

1789 - The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France, proving yet again that talk is cheap.

1791 - John Fitch got a US patent on the steamboat.

1883 - The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa began its final stage

1920 - The 19th amendment to US Constitution took effect, giving women the right to vote. Et Voila!, women's equality, non? Heh.

In 1942, the Ukrainian police and German Schutzpolizei deported 2,000 Jews to the Belzec extermination camp after exterminating roughly 500 of them on the spot, mostly children and the sick.

1970 - Leaders of the "second-wave feminist movement" led a nationwide Women's Strike for Equality. I surmise that a full on prolonged national strike by all women and all of their allies might accomplish something, probably martial law, unfortunately. Every woman in this country needs to go (re)read Lysistrata.

1980 brought us the glorious Harvey's Resort Hotel bombing, wherein one John Birges, who placed the bomb in Harvey's Tahoe eventually received a sentence of life in prison, as opposed to the illustrious heroes of the FBI, who, instead of first removing it to a safe place detonated it in place, unshielded, after adding an additional C-4 explosive charge and received no punishment whatsoever.

2011 – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner received certification from the EASA and the FAA.

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Some people who were born on this day:

The very idea of true patriotism is lost, and the term has been prostituted to the very worst of purposes. A patriot, sir! Why, patriots spring up like mushrooms!

~~ Robert Walpole 1676 - Robert Walpole, scholar and politician 1728 - Johann Heinrich Lambert, physicist, astronomer, mathematician, logician 1736 – Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, mineralogist and geologist 1740 - Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, inventor, developed a man carryng hot air balloon. 1743 - Antoine Lavoisier, chemist 1865 – Arthur James Arnot, engineer and inventor 1873 - Lee de Forest, engineer, invented the triode 1874 - Zona Gale, novelist, short story writer, and playwright. Pulitzer winner. 1880 – Guillaume Apollinaire, author, poet, playwright, and critic 1882 - James Franck, physicist 1901 - Jimmy Rushing, singer and bandleader 1904 – Christopher Isherwood, author 1906 - Albert Sabin, physician and virologist 1918 - Katherine Johnson, physicist and mathematician 1920 – Brant Parker, illustrator (wizard of id) 1935 - Karen Sparck Jones, computer scientist 1937 - Don Bowman, country singer and songwriter who wrote wildwood weed 1940 - Vic Dana, dancer and singer 1940 - Nik Turner, musician and songwriter 1941 - Chris Curtis, drummer and singer 1943 - Dori Caymmi, singer, songwriter, arranger, and guitarist 1944 - Maureen Tucker, singer, songwriter. and drummer 1946 - Valerie Simpson, singer and songwriter, half of Ashford & Simpson 1949 - Leon Redbone, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1960 – Branford Marsalis, saxophonist, composer, and bandleader 1966 – Shirley Manson, Singer, songwriter, and actress 1971 – Thalía, singer, songwriter, and actress

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Some people who died on this day:

“To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds,”

~~ William James 1666 – Frans Hals, painter and educator 1723 - Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, microscopist and biologist 1865 - Johann Franz Encke, astronomer, think Encke's gap 1910 - William James, psychologist and philosopher 1958 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer 1972 - Francis Chichester, pilot and sailor 1974 - Charles Lindbergh, pilot and explorer 1981 - Lee Hays, singer, songwriter and weaver 1989 - Irving Stone, author 2004 – Laura Branigan, singer, songwriter, and actress

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Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Make your own luck day Motorist consideration Monday Women's Equality Day, Heh

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Women's Equality Day

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