Joonie & Rhiannon Reaching Out

"Pharmacists' Rights".....

On 3/28/05, the Washington Post ran an amazing above-the-fold article on the subject of pharmacist's right to refuse the filling of prescriptions that they might feel personally abhorrent. To me this just seems to go against the entire idea of entering the medical field. The article shows us that this idea is primarily focused on the (surprise!!!) reproductive meds. In other words, these pharmacists are refusing to fill a woman's birth control pill prescription. They are refusing to fill a woman's "morning-after" pill prescription. Some of the pharmacists refusing are ones who believe that ANY form of contraception is abortion.( One woman who was refused her prescription in Milwaukee for the morning-after pill had the nerve-wracking experience of a condom breaking during sex with her husband.) I personally feel that if a pharmacist thinks his/her religious and/or personal ideologies could interfere with his/her performance of medically sanctioned duties that he/she should resign and find another outlet.
UPDATE: on April 1st, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D) issued an emergency rule which requires pharmacies to fill contraceptive 'scrips "without delay". The rule is in effect immediately, and will be up for review to make it permanent. This in contrast to the 11 other states which are considering laws to allow pharmacists to refuse. Blagojevich has also set up a toll-free number for residents to call and report any refusals. Imagine that! A politician who listened to his constituents, and responded! Great job...

Organic Farming Redux...

Last month 27 children died in Manila from eating one of their staple foods; cassava root. Why? The crop had been sprayed with a pesticide of the carbamate family. Talk about an outrage. I wonder which of our chemical manufacturing giants provided the poison this time?

Microbrew Meow

Buddy Has A Black & Tan
Note the foam on the whiskers...yes, my boy does enjoy a good beer...i've always had dogs that loved good beer, this is my first kitty who imbibes...i fondly recall the times that Rocky (huge German Shephard) would purposefully knock over the brewskis Mom & i would be having at the time...(i have many Polaroid photos of this particular act!) then he would gleefully slurp up the spoils...my doggie companion now, named Rhiannon, will ask for her beer in her special Beer Bark, so you know to pour a bowl for her pleasure...

In Memory of Betty...

Dill & Black Swallowtail caterpillar
i lived for two weeks on coffee
and Guinness
you couldn't eat, so i couldn't eat
i slept in 15 minute intervals, if at all
the tiniest sound, i was there
you didn't want the morphine
you didn't want the diaper
i held your hand, i told you it was o.k.
i hollered, i laughed, i hated those tumors
you shrunk, they grew
you wouldn't go until i was out of the room
you headstrong Aries Womon, i love you

4 Betty, 1976...

trailing-arbutus womon
has shown me mosses
daisies
crocus
carnations

aries womon
from whose womb i come
our sacred connection
cord through which we nourish each other
now not seen, but known
mother and daughter/magic blood
we know the secrets
our eyes speak

the love i have for you is
beyond words

dream segment...

i am at a large warehouse-type building with a companion, we are finding coins in this one filing cabinet-shaped structure...he/she goes into another room, i continue to find coins, they are now half-dollars in large quantities...i pick then all up and put them into the front pockets of the work apron i am wearing, they are quite hefty...when the deluge of coins stops, i look under the folders and find more little coins that had fallen earlier; thinking, "i might as well get them all"...and "now we'll split them all evenly, half & half!"...i go to find my companion...

dream segment...

i am hanging out with Gwynne, and we have come to the place where her cats are...there are boxes of chocolate...i am eating Reese cups as she checks on her cats...something bad has happened to one of her cats...she calls out from the other room for me to help her...i walk in munching on a mega-Reese's...she has her cat on an operating table-type set up, and is removing these huge metal staples from the kitty...she needs me to help by holding the cat's front paws, i set down the candy and reach out to help...it is quite intense as we work together to remove all of this metal from the cat...we have no anesthesia, we are very worried, we work as quickly as we can, wondering who has done this horrible thing?...

Joonie the last of the Old Dynasty, and Splash the progenitor of the new.....Edie (my O.C.; that stands for Original Cat) was Joonie's Mom, and Splash is the Mom of Panther, Buddy, Tyga and Dot.....

1992 Presidential Election.....

This was the bumpersticker i made up for that election:
"I'm not voting for George Bush, I'm not voting for Bill Clinton...
I'm voting for GEORGE CLINTON!!!
Let's put some FUNK in the White House!!!"

More MUST- reads.....

What's the Matter With Kansas? by Thomas Frank, and Thieves in High Places by Jim Hightower....

Hightower has been my hero since 1976 when i read his book Eat Your Heart Out...which of course is a "must-read" if you have not yet!