Women can vote, but only recently

From MoJo Blog

The suffragists--known then and even now by the sexist, demeaning nickname, "Suffragettes"--paid a great price to get the vote. They were belittled, threatened, beaten, chained, kicked, dragged, choked, had their heads bashed against prison walls, and were force-fed, causing permanent physical damage. President Woodrow Wilson stood by quietly while the women were stalked and tortured, then took credit for the 19th Amendment when the inevitable occurred.

Though it is nice to acknowledge the anniversary of women's suffrage, it is perhaps more important to acknowledge that women in this country could not vote until the 20th Century. And that our nation--land of the free--was a so-called democracy for 144 years before half of its population could cast a vote.

Remember, as our government would turn Iraq over to a doctrine that won't even let women drive cars, or show their faces in public...this battle for freedom, the real one, waged by the people, not governments, has only started for those of us who belong to the Earth Clan...and we've got a long road ahead of us, with only a few victories behind, freedom for humanity is still a distant goal.

Lets remember the women who showed us the way.

Lets also remember the men and women who still to this day oppose this freedom (continuing from MoJo):

In this shocking appearance on "Meet the Press" last week, PNAC bigshot Marc Gerecht allowed that since America had done okay as a "democracy" for almost 150 years without women voting, that was proof that democracy-building in Iraq does not require women's suffrage. George W. Bush seems to agree with him, but then--why wouldn't he? He is doing everything he can to derail women's rights in his own country.

Kansas State Senator Kay O'Connor is probably giving a thumbs-up to Gerecht as I write this. In 2001, she said:

"I think the 19th Amendment, while it's not an evil in and of itself, is a symptom of something I don't approve of. The 19th Amendment is around because men weren't doing their jobs, and I think that's sad. I believe the man should be the head of the family. The woman should be the heart of the family."

I know irony was supposed to have died in 2001, but this was a female office-holder speaking. Two years later, in fact, she went on to run (unsuccessfully--she faced an ethics charge) for the office of Kansas Secretary of State.