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!

Dream Segment.....

I am at a party, and it's time to go...i round up my friend Maxie, who is going to get a ride home with me...i check to make sure i have my car keys, we go to the parking lot...(it's like an apartment complex parking lot, but with grass) I put the key to the door of a white VW Bug's driver side, and as i turn the key, the car collapses...i realize that this is my '72 that got totalled, i laugh tell Maxie...parked next to it is my '66, so we go and get into it, i start it up, and off we go...the driving is a little bit weird, but we go on...we stop somewhere and get out, Maxie & i are walking down an alley-sized walkway, he's a bit ahead of me...i am aware of large quantities of snakes on the walkway, some are writhing about...i become fearful, one; a cobra, bites me on my face...i am really scared and concerned, on the verge of freaking out about being bitten by a poisonous snake, i have it's head in my hand, and show it to someone, voicing my worry...they tell me not to worry as it hasn't bitten me in a fatal manner...i'm still upset, and trying to tell people...i finally find Maxie, and tell him, and we leave, walking back up the walkway past these snakes, but i notice that some of them are dead...

Precipitational perambulations.....

I absolutely adore my home when it snows. Everything inside is so cozy. It's wonderful to look outside and see the snow. Eveything outside is so beautiful. It's wonderful to stand outside and look all around, see the accumulation on the ground and trees; and the happy vision of the house, smoke puffing out the chimney, cats sitting at the kitchen window wondering what i'm doing just standing there, looking around. A deeply snowy day gives a deeper meaning to all that i do. I remember one time as a teenager (the '70s) having a snowy day by myself here, and listening to Carole King's album "Rhymes & Reasons", filling me with an emotional depth that i carry to this day.

Breakfast & Lunch...

1. huge apple-fritter donut & 22 oz. Guinness
2. The Station Agent directed by Thomas McCarthy
Ratchet up my personal rating for The Hedonist's Club, baby...

Dream segment...

I am traveling with a companion in the arid southwest...in an arroyo, he comes upon a large reptilian beast; huge, sleeping, we know it for an omniscient being...soon we are at the being's temple and taking turns at audience...i am second, so i wait my turn at the gift shop...Becky Logan is behind the counter, working there...i look around the shop, i see many things: jewelry and all that...i come across CDs, and put on some jazz...alto saxophone music to be exact, the musician's name is Max something (sort of a cross between Miles Davis and Dexter Gordon), and the music pleases the being...when it is my turn to talk with him, we discuss this music and more philosophy...then i awake

Support who?...

To those who purchase these magnetic "Support Our Troops" car stickers: did you check where this item was made when you bought it? Have you noticed that most all of them are now made in China? How does this support our troops? Who is it supporting? Do you realize that many of our military families are buying important supplies for their family members who are overseas fighting because our government isn't outfitting them properly? Washington puts up big numbers for military spending, but the money goes to the big weapons-makers, it goes to corporate.

Audio-Visual Aids...

Two must-see movies: "Real Women Have Curves" and "Rabbit-Proof Fence"....i just viewed them this week, and was quite impressed with both.
Am now reading The Lies of George W. Bush by David Corn...

Trigeminal Grumpiness...

I just had one of the weirdest lunar Leo transits in recent memory. Three days of bad mood. Self-loathing. Inertia. No yoga, no walk, no weightlifting, no housework. But lots of angry eating. And the negative thing about that was i wasn't even enjoying what i was narfing down. And no PMS as the reason, i'd ended my monthly cycle last week. The kicker to all this being the fact that there was a Leo Full Moon Tuesday! I usually really rock out at such a time. On a positive note, i did read...but i didn't write.

more Bushwhacked...

I was going to launch a vituperative harangue about Dubya's "education" policy (public education being something i believe in), but after finishing Ms. Ivin's book, it's altogether too difficult to focus right now on just that one issue as a subject of personal outrage. I'd be here writing a book-length posting. While that might not be that bad of an idea, i'll just say for the time being that i want everybody to read this book!

Bushwhacked...

Thank you, John Dean, for recommending Molly Ivins & Lou DuBose's book. I began reading it this afternoon, and it's the bomb.