Natural Attachment

Here are some of the pictures from the Picnic that were taken by Marie. I’ll have more up here soon.

Anarchist Picnic 2008

Come join POG, my family and some Hip Mamas this Saturday (July 5th) at the Fourth Annual Anarchist Picnic in Pittsburgh.

Though, as my husband points out, maybe this should be called a ‘basket lunch’ or ‘potluck in the park’, since according to ‘urban legends’,  ‘picnic‘ does have its roots in racism as a slang term for lynching. I haven’t seen where this is true and it’s more possible that the term actually comes from the French ‘pique-nique’.

Either way and however you choose to describe/label this gathering, you should come. It will be fun and as always, please don’t leave the children at home — this is for them too.

I recently read a posting over at Midwives Alliance of Pennsylvania that talks about Diane Goslin and what will become of her and midwifery in PA.

It’s a very interesting concept…the government controlling women and their needs/wants. One of the questions that has been brought up by the courts and commoners (ha!) is whether or not a woman has civil liberties and constitutional rights to birth with whomever she damn well pleases. Of course I say that it’s a resounding yes and a real no-brainer!

I left the following comment for the posting mentioned above:

”Namely, they wanted to know if a woman has a Constitutional right to birth her baby at home with whom she wants.” Yes! If not for every woman…then at least for those whose religion supports and often requires that a midwife be used over or rather than a physician and that the birth take place at home and not a medical facility.

Due to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 the government is pretty much required to err on the side of religious freedom in all cases. This should guarantee birth freedom for women and their midwives.

Due to the Religious Freedom Protection Act of 2002 in Pennsylvania, women and their midwives have even more legal and constitutional support and protection. If the Act above fails, this one is even more stringently in support of the religious victim in many ways.

It is a matter that I’d like to see ACLU get involved with.

And I say it again…I’d really like to see the ACLU step it up already! Why this hasn’t been turned into a real religious or civil rights battle I don’t know, because that’s how we get everything else we want! I mean for G-d’s sake, if members of O Centro Espirita Benficiente Uniao do Vegetal (UDV) can get high on hoasca for religious purposes, then I had better be able to squat a baby out wherever and with whomever! I am not knocking the religious community mentioned here either — I support them and I am rather impressed by their efforts to keep their freedoms intact.

Keep in mind that hoasca is a scheduled one narcotic and in order for these church members (and anyone who comes to ritual) to take part of the hoasca tea, it must first be transported in LARGE quantities across International, Federal and State lines — that’s a HUGE felony for people outside this church, in case you didn’t know. I don’t want to transport illegal substances ostensibly scheduled as “worse than cocaine (it’s a schedule two drug)” across any line, breaking any trade agreement or federal law — I JUST want to birth my babies and educate them in a manner that I see right.

I have two final thoughts: 1) If you don’t want me feeling like I have no other choice than to birth unassisted, then let me have my midwife of whatever stripe, credential or non-credential that I choose and 2) Keep your laws off my body, birth, baby and my constitutionally guaranteed metaphysical/spiritual experiences.

From: Jeb Feldma
Date: February 7, 2008 7:45:44 PM EST
Subject: Help Braddock

hello all:

deep cuts to public transportation. a $500 million underground tunnel to stadiums. a $7 billion dollar, four-lane, toll road through poor, african-american neighborhoods. tragically, this is what passes for transportation policy in allegheny county.

if you have not done so already, i am respectfully requesting a few moments of your time to help our community and the region by voting against the mon-fayette expressway in the recent poll on www.postgazette.com.

please help braddock and the numerous other communities that have already been severely harmed (or would be obliterated) by this wasteful, highly destructive, and interminable 40-year discussion.

Post Gazette Poll: Do you want a private-public partnership to pay half of the $3.6 billion cost of completing the Mon-Fayette Expressway?

respectfully,

mayor john fetterman
Braddock

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Obviously, you know that I have voted against this atrocity. Please, we need to help Braddock, PA stay on the map. We also need to be putting more effort into saving this forgotten city. It is currently the only close place even remotely resembling an ‘autonomous zone‘ — we need more of those. If you don’t know much about Braddock, then today is YOUR lucky day!

Braddock Pennsylvania - Braddocc (mayor fetterman’s site)
Braddock, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (wikipedia)
A Call to Arms (pittsburgh city paper)
Braddocc (myspace)