Inspiring, funny, brave — we're proud of these feminists for telling it like it is and adding their voices to our increasingly single-minded national discourse.

Excerpt from a Washington Post interview with National Council of Women's Organizations Chair Martha Burk, explaining her dealings with Augusta National President Hootie Johnson, who has refused to review the club's membership policies to allow women members:

September 26, 2002

"Really, I'm running out of ways to help Hootie save face. I mean, there's only one way that this is going to end -- it's just a matter of when, and how. And I've sort of made a commitment to myself that I'll just congratulate him when it's over."

An Excerpt from "Shotgun Weddings," by Katha Pollitt, The Nation

February 4, 2002

"The very fact that welfare reformers are reduced to bribing, cajoling and guilt-tripping people into marriage should tell us something. Or have they just not hit on the right incentive? As a divorced single mother, I've given some thought to what it would take for me to marry against my own inclination in order to make America great again. Here's my offer: If the government brings Otis Redding back to life and books him to sing at my wedding, I will marry the Devil himself. And if the Devil is unavailable, my ex-husband says he's ready."

Statement of Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga.

March 5, 2002

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. McKinney) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. McKINNEY: Mr. Speaker, I am worried about what is happening to our great country today. I fear that many of us cannot see what is happening here. Maybe we are too close. Maybe there are even people who do not want us to see; but our friends and allies in Europe and elsewhere are reporting that they are seeing disturbing developments in our country, like the fading of our fundamental constitutional rights, the creation of a war machine that threatens world peace, the spending of a generation of Americans on this war on terrorism, and even an attack on truth in government by forming the Office of Strategic Influence to lie to us and to the rest of the world. The President even asked Hollywood to make these developments palatable to the American people.

With this as a backdrop, I would just like to ask that Members close their eyes and imagine being drawn deeper and deeper into black space. If Members keep their eyes closed and if they close them good and tight, they will be able to imagine themselves going faster and faster and deeper and deeper into a black unknown. All of a sudden we see a bright light at a distance far away, but faster and faster and closer and closer it becomes brighter and brighter; and in one instant, with one grand motion, we can cross from the darkness into the light. But just before we make the crossing, a huge booming voice coming from nowhere, and at the same time coming from everywhere, booms all around us: You unlock this door with the key of understanding.

Beyond it is another dimension, a dimension of hearing that which is not spoken, a dimension of seeing that which is invisible, a dimension of reading that which is not written. We are moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. Welcome. We just crossed over into the Twilight Zone, otherwise known as George Bush's America. For it is here and only here that the White House could receive warning after warning of massive attacks that were going to take place on American soil, the attack happens, and both the President and the Vice President, in separate phone calls to Tom Daschle, ask that Congress not investigate what happened and why.

That could only happen in the Twilight Zone. Or that an administration battling worldwide perception, as well as a domestic one having come to power in circumstances like Zambia's or Kenya's, could form a shadow government inside the selected government, with no one in the real government knowing about the shadow government except the shadow leaders in it. That could only happen in the Twilight Zone. Or that this President could propose the biggest hike in defense spending, where his dad stands to make a mint, as long as increased spending does not get lost wherever the $2.3 trillion is that the Pentagon has already lost, and the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, says we can afford it. That could only happen in the Twilight Zone. Or that Arthur Andersen, who kept Enron's books, could still have contracts to keep the books over at FBI, DOJ, and the Pentagon. That could only happen in the Twilight Zone.

Wake up, America. We are not only in the Twilight Zone, we have crossed the threshold into George Bush's America."

Source: Congressional Record

Statement of Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.

Sept. 14, 2001

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 1/2 minutes to my valued colleague, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. LEE), a member of the Committee on International Relations.

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our ranking member and my friend for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today really with a very heavy heart, one that is filled with sorrow for the families and the loved ones who were killed and injured this week. Only the most foolish and the most callous would not understand the grief that has really gripped our people and millions across the world.

This unspeakable act on the United States has forced me, however, to rely on my moral compass, my conscience, and my God for direction. September 11 changed the world. Our deepest fears now haunt us. Yet I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States. This is a very complex and complicated matter.

This resolution will pass, although we all know that the President can wage a war even without it. However difficult this vote may be, some of us must urge the use of restraint. Our country is in a state of mourning. Some of us must say, let us step back for a moment. Let us just pause for a minute and think through the implications of our actions today so that this does not spiral out of control.

I have agonized over this vote, but I came to grips with it today and I came to grips with opposing this resolution during the very painful yet very beautiful memorial service. As a member of the clergy so eloquently said, "As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore."

Source: Congressional Record

Open debate is a hallmark of democracy that we discard at our own peril. If you would like to nominate someone to be included in this column, send an email to content@now.org.

Updated Oct. 7, 2002