12/22/09-by Paula Brooks
China’s first government-backed gay bar finally opened its doors this weekend in the tourist city of Dali in southwestern Yunnan Province, after a nearly three week delay.

Set up by a local anti-AIDS activist, Dr. Zhang Jianboto, with funding from Dali’s Health Bureau, as a way to attract gay men and then use it to distribute information on AIDS/HIV prevention, the bar was originally scheduled to open on December 1,World AIDS Day, however, Zhang had to delay the opening to protect the privacy of the volunteers and customers after the news of the bar opening attracted intensive media coverage throughout China.

More than 60 people, mostly gay men, attended the ceremony Saturday. Customers were given condoms free of charge.

While homosexuality has been documented in China since ancient times, it is still a sensitive subject in China. During the days of Mao’s Cultural Revolution gays were routinely arrested as “hooligans,” and sent off for “re-education.” Up to 1997 gay sex was illegal in China. Additionally, until 2001 the Chinese Governments Classification of Mental Disorders also considered homosexuality a form of mental illnesses.

Although in larger Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, gay clubs, bars, tea houses, saunas, and support centers are becoming more widespread, prejudice from the justice system and harassment from police, including detention and arrest nonetheless still occur, so most Chinese LGBT’s find it difficult to come out publicly.

Chinese LGBT’s also face societal and family pressures caused by the government’s one-child policy, which makes parents, rely on their only child to marry and produce grandchildren. All major religions in China also have some sort of codex, which have traditionally been interpreted as being against exclusive homosexuality when it interferes with continuation of the family lineage. So many marry and stay closeted.

China’s Ministry of Health recently admitted the country has an AIDS problem and estimates that China will have 560,000 to 920,000 living HIV carriers, with 97,000 to 112,000 AIDS patients by the end of 2009. The nations health minister also said sexual transmission has become the major cause of infection, accounting for more than 70 percent of all newly detected HIV/AIDS cases, and sexual transmission among gay men accounted for 32 percent.

According to China’s official newspaper, the China Daily, Dr. Zhang said he hopes that the bar can provide a platform to educate gay men about AIDS and would like to see the bar become a public gathering place for gay men, especially those from rural villages,who used to gather in a patch of woods near Dali.

“Starting from December 20, the bar will open nine hours every day, from 3 pm to 12 pm,” he said.

The minimum charge at the bar is a bottle of Coca Cola at 5 yuan (about .75 cents US), and tea and some snacks are free, he said.

“The charges are just for the need of bar operation, and we are not aiming for profits. Customers need not worry about that,” he added… (via China Daily )

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12/21/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
When the Republicans made it their mission to rile up as much of the anti-government, anti-Democrat, anti-reform, racist, sexist, bigoted, anti-Semitic groups as possible in this country in order to return to power, they made one thing clear with regards to the health care reform- if President Obama did not pass anything, they would declare his Presidency deader than President Clinton’s supposedly was after his health care debacle. They obstructed, threw fits, claimed that Obama was more partisan than Clinton (even though he repeatedly reached out to them), and did everything including apparently calling for either the death or illness of Senator Robert Byrd in order to make absolutely sure that health care reform would pass beyond the century mark for debate. In large part, because of that, the debate did not go Progressive’s way. Obama was intent upon passing something- anything, and it did not matter whether or not that bill matched his campaign promises or if it was even somewhere near protecting people from the health insurance companies. It was, as one Huffington Post headline read, a gift wrapped up for the lobbyists.

Vermont has already started negotiations on setting up a single payer system in the coming years. Doing so would likely reduce the amount of money that Vermont has to pay for health insurance for its residents. It may even attract businesses who would be happier to pay taxes to the state rather than hand over more and more money to the health insurance companies. It may entice people to move to the state in order to get health insurance. The debate has yet to begin and the public records on the pros and cons of the single payer system are scarce and hard to say with any accuracy. More Vermonters support single payer than do any other system.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders introduced an amendment which would have created a single payer Medicare For All system in the United States. Rather than let it come up for a vote, Senator Tom Coburn forced a read of the whole amendment in an attempt to slow the debate down to a crawl. Senator Sanders was, ultimately, forced to withdraw the amendment. Of course, Senator Coburn was not there when Senator Sanders went on to deliver a sternly worded and heated denouncement of the Republican’s decision to throw a fit over the way in which democracy works. The Republicans have done everything they can to undermine democracy by stalling legislation, demanding full readings, and refusing to negotiate no matter what.

Jane Hamshir at Fire Dog Lake has posted a compilation of why it is time to kill the Senate Health Care Reform Bill.

1. Forces you to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations — whether you want to or not.
2. If you refuse to buy the insurance, you’ll have to pay penalties of up to 2% of your annual income to the IRS.
3. Many will be forced to buy poor-quality insurance they can’t afford to use, with $11,900 in annual out-of-pocket expenses over and above their annual premiums.
4. Massive restriction on a woman’s right to choose, designed to trigger a challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court.
5. Paid for by taxes on the middle class insurance plan you have right now through your employer, causing them to cut back benefits and increase co-pays.
6. Many of the taxes to pay for the bill start now, but most Americans won’t see any benefits — like an end to discrimination against those with preexisting conditions — until 2014 when the program begins.
7. Allows insurance companies to charge people who are older 300% more than others.
8. Grants monopolies to drug companies that will keep generic versions of expensive biotech drugs from ever coming to market.
9. No re-importation of prescription drugs, which would save consumers $100 billion over 10 years.
10. The cost of medical care will continue to rise, and insurance premiums for a family of four will rise an average of $1,000 a year — meaning in 10 years, your family’s insurance premium will be $10,000 more annually than it is right now.

Senator Leahy and Melanie Nathan 6/3/09

By Melanie Nathan:- When I met Senator Leahy, I was touched by his compassion, his sensitivity and his veracity. Most of all he is a champion for equality and as a supporter of UAFA, and has done much for our LGBT binational immigration.   I would like to support Senator Leahy in his endeavors, first and foremost because he has my trust and faith.

On Tuesday Senator Leahy took to the Senate floor and formally filed an amendment to repeal the antitrust exemption for health insurance companies and it has already 18 co-sponsors signed on.

In the senator’s words, “I look forward to debating this critical measure during our deliberations on the broader health care reform bill. After all, to bring insurance costs down, we’ve got to introduce more competition in the marketplace — and my amendment will do just that.”

More Senators ought to join to get this critical amendment passed. 

Click here to forward an email to your Senators now — and urge them to support our amendment to repeal the antitrust exemption for health insurance companies!

I have not read the amendment but the Senator assures that amendment will introduce antitrust oversight to the health insurance industry, ruling out of bounds egregious anti-competitive conduct like the currently activated and detrimental price fixing loophole which  raises our health costs.  

There will be no real Health Care reform until, inter alia, the health insurance industry is forced to compete on a level playing field just like every other business in America, large and small. In all fairness, consumers must know that the price they’re being quoted is a concomitant of a free and fair marketplace.

The senator in a letter to his on-line community implored our support “That’s why this amendment repealing the health insurance industry’s antitrust exemption is so important — but I need your help, right now, to get it passed.” Call your representatives and Senators to ensure they support the Bill and this critical principle.

11/27/09-by Paula Brooks
The Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board in Sault Saint Marie, Ontario is catching flak over H1N1 vaccinations… not because it is giving them… or concerns that a batch of H1N1 swine flu vaccine was recalled after reports that the shots were leading to great number of severe allergic reactions…but because it sent students home with a vaccination consent form that included a line asking if the students, were transgender as well as male and female…

Last week, Ontario health officials expanded their H1N1 vaccination program to include elementary school children and adults over 65 with chronic health problems beginning Monday free of charge.

Sault Ste. Maries’ Algoma Public Health Unit, which issued the forms to the School District, indicated that the collection of information on other genders besides male and female in the Health Units jurisdiction was a requirement of the Ontario Ministry of Health.

However, Sault Ste. Marie Catholic School Trustee Kathleen Rosilius has taken issue with the consent forms and questioned the appropriateness of distributing the vaccination consent forms in Catholic schools, telling the conservative LifeSiteNews that the forms are, “agenda-driven, social-engineering.”

Unlike other health units in Canada that have experienced shortages of the H1N1 vaccine, a few small northern health units including Algoma, were initially provided proportionately more vaccine because of concerns about transportation and weather problems in that part of Canada, so the the rural Canadian health district decided to expand its vaccination program to other less than high risk groups.

On Wednesday however, the World Health Organization (WHO) and a pharmaceutical company warned the doctors in Canada not to use a batch of H1N1 swine flu vaccines after reports that the shots were leading to great number of severe allergic reactions…. There have been 24 confirmed cases of a type of severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis in Canadians who have received an H1N1 flu shot, including one person who died after getting vaccinated…

While elementary school students Canada have not been considered a high risk group, and it is not known if this Health District received the vaccines in question, children are highly susceptible to the H1N1 virus and it is well known that influenza will spread rapidly amongst elementary school students, then on to others including those who may be considered high risk, so vaccinating children contributes to reduce transmission to others….

So notwithstanding some Catholics getting their panties in a bunch over the consent form wording… all in all it is generally a pretty good idea to have your elementary school aged child vaccinated… at least it will be after the Canadian government health officials get it figured out why the vaccinations are killing people…

And as a gay mom… I would have to say that I would be far more concerned about the fact that vaccinations that are supposed to be keeping my children safe and well might not be doing that… instead of worrying the wording on a permission slip does not fit my view of the world.

Too bad doctors and scientist can’t come up way to make safe vaccines or a vaccination for bigotry and ignorance…

via Sault Ste. Marie Catholic School Board Using Gender-Confused H1N1 Vaccine Consent Form.

Photo via Kodomut on Flickr

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In  mid- 2009, MassEquality sent a survey to one individual in each of the 38,210 households on its mailing list to capture the participant sample possible,  providing the largest “snapshot” ever taken of the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.   Health data were collected through an online questionnaire developed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) in consultation with the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, a think tank dedicated to LGBT issuesA follow‐up email went out halfway through the data collection period. The  online survey was completed by 1,598 individuals in a period just over one week, yielding a response rate of 4.2%. Among the findings:

 • Among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, the health of bisexual and transgender people is somewhat worse than their heterosexual and non-transgender counterparts, respectively.

• The health of lesbian, gay, people is comparable to that of heterosexual respondents. However, lesbians were less likely to have routine pap tests compared with their heterosexual female counterparts.

• Transgender persons had worse outcomes with respect to self‐reported health, disability status, depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, and lifetime violence victimization.

• Bisexual respondents how worse outcomes with respect to self‐reported health, disability status, suicide ideation, as well as lower rates of mammography for bisexual women compared with their heterosexual female counterparts.

• Legally married same‐sex couples were more likely to obtain health insurance through their spouse’s employer than non‐legally same sex couples.

 This research validates the research on other minority populations that associates stigma and other social determinants with poor health outcomes.  The health disparities faced by minority groups are all too common. Increasingly, there are more theories regarding the factors that lead to health disparities. Research increasingly points to a range of social inequities including income, access to health care or insurance, and housing as factors that impact everyone regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender. However, there are theories specific to minority groups that add additional factors based on minority status.

 Recent changes, including marriage equality, may be helping to reduce disparities for lesbians and gay men, possibly by providing greater access to health insurance.  However, transgender persons still face major barriers with respect to employment nondiscrimination, public accommodations and general social acceptance. This report finds transgender persons reporting the highest level of health disparities.  See http://www.mass.gov/Eeohhs2/docs/dph/commissioner/lgbt_health_report.pdf

One big hit is when it comes to  Gay Men and Women with Diabetes  -    Could the medical community be overlooking 2.5 million people who have diabetes?  Currently, 23.6 million children and adults in the United States, or 7.8 percent of the population, have diabetes. Although an estimated 17.9 million of them have been diagnosed, 5.7 million (nearly one quarter) are unaware that they have the disease.  If lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people comprise 10 percent of the U.S. population, then 10 percent of people with diabetes are part of the LGBT community-about 2.5 million people.  (Another reason to participate in the 2010 census.)

Lack of equality has always been a problem as we all know, but when it comes to specific stories we realize just how hard we must fight, because our lack of rights  detrimentaly impact  every aspect of our lives.  When Jim went to a local emergency room  for kidney stones, he experienced an episode of hypoglycemia. While he was trying to get a nurse’s attention to explain what was happening, his blood sugar sank to a dangerous 19 mg/dL and he began to have a seizure. The emergency staff rushed to raise his blood sugar and admit him to the intensive care unit, but no one bothered to tell his spouse, John, who was scared and confused.   Yet another example of the loneliness of marriage for a gay couple in the US.

“ Diabetes is a stress in any relationship and  when you combine that with the added stresses of life as a lesbian or a gay man-whether you are open about it or not-there is a great need for LGBT people with diabetes and the partners who support them to receive services and information geared to their unique needs, “  Said John from DANG Foundation.   

With the help available in the myriad of articles and unique content provided by  pre-eminent sites like the Diabetes Health Website,  and an increased awareness of one’s right to fight…. my message is fight for your rights and fight for your health…and fight for your health so you can fight for your rights.

Blog by Melanie Nathan

11/19/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
A recent study recommends that women start getting routine mammograms after the age of fifty. This has caused a great deal of uproar. Cynthia Nixon is a breast cancer survivor, and she is only forty three. However, it is not this recommendation that I want to discuss, but the lack of a particular recommendation that strikes me as odd. Why is there no recommendation for when men should get their breasts checked out?

Yes, men get breast cancer. Certainly men get it in smaller numbers than women do, but it is something that does happen. It even influenced an early episode of the series Family Guy where Louis Griffin discovers a lump in Peter’s breast. It turned out to be a fatty corpuscle, but, despite the humor of the episode, the reality is that men do get breast cancer. Yet, there is no guidelines on when a man should go into a doctor’s office to have his boobs pressed flat, folded and manipulated in order to find out if they have a lump in their breast. Alright, while a man getting a mammogram seems incredibly unlikely and even down right impossible, there is a serious lack of information and education regarding breast cancer in men.

Many people might find it hard to fathom the notion of men getting breast cancer, but there are 2000 confirmed cases of men getting it every year, and one in four of them die. Men are often more likely to be misdiagnosed with regards to breast cancer. Often times it is not caught until so late that it ends up being fatal. What is more, it may not be properly diagnosed even after it has hit the fatal stage. Breast cancer also changes as it spreads, which may make it harder to diagnose if not caught in the breast first. What it means is that, as understanding of the disease gets better, more men may be diagnosed with breast cancer per year than currently are.

It is a common institutional bias within both the political and medical establishment to view disorders and diseases as belonging to one group or another. With politicians it is an easy way of saying “hey, see, I support YOUR concerns” by throwing money into researching diseases and disorders that often strike many people outside the niche group. Within the medical establishment, it is a combination of different factors which make it appealing to simply box in disorders and diseases rather than investigate and educate as a whole.

It is this expediency, this institutional bias, which makes it all that much easier to throw the minority concerns under the train in order to get political results. It results in men dying of breast cancer, women dying of heart attacks, and straight men and women dying of AIDS related causes. It is an issue that comes up constantly, but is not often addressed or adequately resolved.

The John W. Nick Foundation has information regarding male breast cancer. As an additional note, not only is Kathleen Sebelius maintaining that women should still get their first mammogram at age 40, but many cancer physicians and societies as well.

11/19/09-by Paula Brooks
The Obama administration distanced itself Wednesday from new recommendations on breast cancer screening called for earlier this week by a federally appointed task force after concerns among women caused lawmakers of both sides of the isle to attack the study.

The new guidelines released this week by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force suggested that only women over 50 need to get routine mammograms as part of breast cancer screening and said the early screenings are causing excess biopsies, unnecessary anxiety and the discovery and treatment of tumors that would not cause problems if let alone. Many doctors and experts however object to these recommendations, and say the task force is sending conflicting messages to women about how they can prevent breast cancer.

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, (D-FLA), a survivor of breast cancer, said she was “very concerned” that the recommendations conflict with those of other authorities, like the American Cancer Society.

“At a time when we are working to reform our health care system to provide greater access to preventative care,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement, “these guidelines and the fact that they conflict with many of the recommendations from leading cancer organizations only adds to the confusion that so many women have when it comes to breast health.”

“I am concerned that women are being given differing messages about how to prevent breast cancer,” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said. “In addition to getting my own mammogram each year, I have been involved in public awareness campaigns to encourage other women my age to do so. I understand that there were many independent scientists involved in making this decision, but that there are also many respected medical experts that are disagreeing with the recommendations. I plan to seek some answers here so that women are getting a uniform message about how to protect themselves.”

Republicans meanwhile pointed out that the recommendations illustrated the dangers of a government role in medical decision-making and they raised the boogey man of health care rationing for woman.

“This is the little toe in the edge of the water,” said Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). “This is where you start getting a bureaucrat between you and your physician.”

Democratic staffers on Capitol Hill acknowledged yesterday that the recommendations in the midst of negotiations over a health care overhaul were “not helpful,” and one staffer from Representative Tammy Baldwin’s (D- WIS) office told LGR that people over at the executive branch, “sometimes just don’t seem to be on the same page, with what is going on in congress or with their bosses.”

Secretary Of Health And Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, acknowledged in a statement that the recommendations, by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, had “caused a great deal of confusion and worry,” and emphasized that the task force “is an outside independent panel of doctors and scientists who make recommendations” that neither “set federal policy” nor “determine what services are covered by the federal government.”

“The task force has presented some new evidence for consideration,” Sebelius added, “but our policies remain unchanged. Indeed, I would be very surprised if any private insurance company changed its mammography coverage decisions as a result of this action.”

However Sebelius did not say in her statement the government would not eventually embrace the recommendations from the task force, which is appointed by her department, and said only that “there has been debate in this country for years” about the proper age and interval for breast cancer screening.

Women in the United States have the highest incidence rates of breast cancer in the world. Breast cancer is the second-most common cancer (after skin cancer) and the second-most common cause of cancer death (after lung cancer).

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Ten days ago, the House passed the Stupak Amendment, which would be one of the biggest setbacks to women’s health and rights in recent decades; unless we stand together and stop it, this will provide license for our rights to be rolled back to where the right wing would have us. Do not think the backlash would stop at women’s issues. It will go every which way!

The Stupak Amendment is discriminatory, extreme, and just plain wrong. At Lez Get Real we have been reporting and commenting on the Stupak Amendment, and we are not letting up – why? Because it will take away health insurance coverage that women already have. This would be a huge step back for women’s health. Now this together with the suggestion by Government Task Force regarding Breast Cancer screening at age 50 as the new recommendation is simply unacceptable and worthy of a revolution for our health!!! The mere fact that they can think this up is disturbing to me….

We support Senator Barbara Boxer’s (D-CA) launch of a petition because women must not be denied access to safe and legal medical procedures. If you want to join : click here -Senator Boxer wrote her supporters and saying: “For decades, a very difficult and delicate compromise has held firm: Women can use their own private funds for legal reproductive health care procedures, but federal funds cannot be used for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother. But in a stunning turn of events, anti-choice House members passed the Stupak Amendment as part of the health care reform bill and shattered that compromise. The House amendment would tell women who participate in the new health insurance exchange that they can’t even use their own funds to buy a policy that includes abortion coverage. We need to be sure that all our voices are heard clearly on this issue.”
Boxer asks: “How can we tell women that they will lose coverage that they already have? How can we tell women that they can’t buy insurance coverage for a legal health care procedure, even if it’s paid for with their own money?”

 SIGN THE PETITION and then visit our site in the next few days for my personal story on how Breast Cancer Screening in my forties saved my life…   

Blogged by: Melanie Nathan, nathan@privatecourts.com : Picture – Credit to Artist Benny Ovid, Tel Aviv, Israel – Thanks to  Dorit Israel, from her Personal Art Collection.

 By Melanie Nathan -  If there is one thing to come out of healthcare reform’s ultimate house bill, is the need for the Democrats to take lessons in the “Lockstep Tango” and who would be better teachers than the experts on the other side of the aisle.

History nonetheless -as an unusually emotional Nancy Pelosi graced the gavel on a 220-215 House Vote – to cheers and tears and amidst a barage of defections.   I invite comments about the Reproductive Rights Amendment thrown in to produce the vote. 

 Visit  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOQ-Iw6_wTA&feature=player_embedded   

Blogged by MELANIE NATHAN, CEO of Private Courts, Inc. Consulting, mediation & private advocacy ; motivated by injustice, I blog about family law/mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com.

Tell the U.N.:

To: Ban Ki-moon (U.N. Secretary General)

Sponsored by: CARE go to http://change.org

To: Ban Ki-moon (U.N. Secretary General)

 Just weeks ago in the West African country of Guinea, countless women were brutally raped in a public stadium when soldiers stormed a peaceful protest. The world reacted with outrage, but Guinea is just the tip of the iceberg.

What happened in Guinea is a visible example of the violence and abuse that threatens women and girls all over the world. In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, 36 women and girls are raped every day. This is the world’s shame.

You can do something to change it. Sign the petition at www.change.org to urge the U.N. Security Council to appoint a special representative now who can help hold government forces and armed groups accountable for stopping repeated gender-based violence, and assist survivors of rape and assault. This special representative was called for in a recently passed U.N. resolution to protect women and girls from sexual violence, but pressure is needed to ensure urgent action.

America is not far off in terms of the brutality. Shame USA – what in our culture breeds gang rapists that feel good about brutalizing a 15 year old, 100 pound child at her school dance for over 2.5 hours.  Its man vs. woman – its crimes against women .  Flagrant disregard for humanity. Selflish momentary instances of feeling powerful, which turns back upon itself because of itself;  and serves only as a constant endeavor because in truth those who suffer such loss of their own humanity can barely sustain that feeling of power; and so must compensate by perpetuating the crime.  Its unconscienable in Africa, America and anywhere. It has got to stop.  To my way of thinking omission and inaction is as bad as the bad action itself. If you can do something to stop crimes against humanity you are obligated to do so; and for us that means waking up to the call of our sisters. Silence is tantamount to participation.

Post by Melanie Nathan, Contact nathan@privatecourts.com
www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com; www.privatecourts.com

10/30/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Today, President Barack Obama extended and strengthened the coverage of HIV/AIDS in the United States by signing into law the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act. In doing so, President Obama recognized that the disease is a priority. Obama opened his remarks noting that, while Americans often focus upon the epidemic in Africa, the United States is in serious condition on this issue.

He also went further and lamented that part of the problem was that the disease was originally seen as striking only one specific part of the population. “It has been nearly three decades since this virus first became known. But for years, we refused to recognize it for what it was. It was coined a “gay disease.” Those who had it were viewed with suspicion. There was a sense among some that people afflicted by AIDS somehow deserved their fate and that it was acceptable for our nation to look the other way,” he said.

What President Obama signed was the fourth reauthorization of the bill. The program set up under the bill helps to provide individuals with the medicines and treatments they need to fight this disease.

On Monday, President Obama will issue new rules regarding travel for people with HIV/AIDS. Stating at the signing, “If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it. And that’s why, on Monday my administration will publish a final rule that eliminates the travel ban effective just
after the New Year. “

HIV/AIDS strikes millions of people irregardless of their sexual orientation. Many gay men are more likely to be tested with regards to the disease, and are, thus, more often able to catch it while many straight men tend not to be tested. This is what likely accounts for the disparity in numbers with regards to which group has the most cases.

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Quoting: The Democratic Party Site – CALL OUT: 

 “A lot of folks use Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family. For Sarah Palin, it’s a great way to spread lies about health insurance reform.  A few months back, Palin took to Facebook to declare that health reform would create “death panels,” and drive private insurers out of business — and nonpartisan fact-check sites and the independent Congressional Budget Office debunked those lies.

But that hasn’t stopped Sarah Palin. She’s back with a new Facebook note claiming that reform will raise costs on families and drive up deficits. Unfortunately for her, even the conservative “Tax Foundation” says those claims are false. “

So we’re calling out Sarah Palin, and taking to Facebook to debunk her lies on the very same pages she’s using to spread them.  Call Sarah Palin at 202-747-1812″

No more lies – it is not going to work anymore….

Refs: http://www.democrats.org/page/content/callemoutpalin

 Melanie Nathan -Quoting from Democratic Party Webpage and e-mail. Spread the word good lezgetrealpeeps- especially on your facebook sites!

10/01/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Representative Tammy Baldwin is hoping to increase funding to a segment of the population hit by the HIV/AIDS virus by increasing the amount of money that government spends on getting these individuals treatment. Currently, the Ryan White comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency Act or the CARE Act provides medical care for people living with the virus who are without sufficient medical coverage to receive treatment.

HIV/AIDS appears to have arrived in the United States sometime between 1920 and 1950; however, the disease was not isolated and identified until the early 1980’s. More than 56,000 Americans are infected with HIV every year. The virus is not curable, but it is treatable, and the expense for the treatments can be a significant burden adding to the already physical and emotional trauma of the disease.

What Rep. Baldwin hopes to do is increase the funding for CARE and increase the reimbursement rate. Often those organizations which help the underinsured, uninsured, and indigent lack proper funding to help many of the people who are in need. They often receive grant money through the mechanism of the Ryan White CARE Act. Unfortunately, even with Medicare being relatively well run, the program cannot fund all of the needs of many of these organizations, and the economic downturn has severely undermined charity of almost all kinds while increasing the amount of people who are in need of those benefits.

The Ryan White Grantee Payment Equity Act (HR 3665) would increase the amount of money going to these organizations through the fund. This would help to fund these groups at a time when the need for their services is increasing both through increases in the numbers of people who have HIV/AIDS, and through the loss of jobs for those who have the disease but are able to work and get health insurance.

“As HIV/AIDS continues to disproportionately afflict low-income Americans, lack of financial resources should not prevent these individuals from receiving health care. I am proud to introduce legislation that will improve health care access for some of the most vulnerable in our society,” Rep. Baldwin stated in her press release regarding the submission of this bill.

“It is unjust – and at times unbelievable – that Americans tolerate a health care system in which the patients who desperately require care are the most hard-pressed to get it. When you have a disease like HIV/AIDS, but don’t have the insurance coverage or money to get the care you need, it’s a serious problem. HIV/AIDS is not a disease that can go without treatment, especially if those who have contracted it are to have any chance of living. We need the health care providers that receive funding through the CARE Act to fill the gaps in health insurance coverage and resources that leave HIV/AIDS patients vulnerable. I am proud to co-sponsor this legislation, which will expand funding to these providers, allowing them to care for the growing number of HIV/AIDS patients who are in need,” ,Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI) stated in support of this measure.

“The Ryan White Grantee Payment Equity Act makes a critical investment in our health care workforce that provides care to HIV/AIDS patients, and reiterates this Congress’ commitment to the health and wellness of all Americans,” added Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA). “Many HIV/AIDS patients struggle everyday to get access to the quality care they need and deserve. I applaud Congresswoman Baldwin for her leadership on this issue, and am proud to be an original co-sponsor of this important piece of legislation.”

The Ryan White Grantee Payment Equity Act has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee upon which Rep. Baldwin currently sits.

10/01/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Friday, October 2 will see another HIV/AIDS forum held by the White House. This time, the forum will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Zuhrah Shrine Event Center. These events are RSVP, but that it simply so that they can get a headcount. This event is part of a long series of events scheduled by the White House in order to get ideas from the community on how to slow or even halt the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus.

This event will feature Minnesota Senator Al Frankin as well as Congressman Keith Ellison. Also attending the event will be White House Office of National AIDS Policy Director Jeffrey S. Crowley, and Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman.

The panel will begin at 6pm CT and run until 8pm CT. If you are interested in helping the White House create an effective HIV/AIDS policy, then be sure to call them and then attend.

The Zuhrah Shrine Event Center is located at:
2540 Park Avenue, S
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Phone: 612-871-3555

8/24/09-by MELANIE NATHAN
Circumcision will be discussed this week at the C.D.C.’s National H.I.V. Prevention Conference in Atlanta, which will be attended by thousands of health professionals and H.I.V. service providers.

When I visited South Africa in 2000, I remember reading an article in the Johannesburg newspaper – the financial section- which predicted that HIV virus would infect 1 in 4 of the work force in South Africa by the year 2010. Well I think the statistic was reached five years early. It has been a place where HIV has spread rapidly and for many reasons. At the same time Africa presents a place of reference where by virtue of the vast numbers, research is can be of value. How and when we apply that research can take detours as the clash of culture and controversial issues complicate the advisories.

I picked this up off the CDC website and it sent me to an Article in the New York Times on line, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/health/policy/24circumcision.html article by Roni Carin Rabin which published this week; he reports that public health officials are contemplating the promotion of routine circumcision for all baby boys born in the United States, to reduce the spread of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. This is 2009. Rabin says that the “topic is a delicate one that has already generated controversy, even though a formal draft of the proposed recommendations, due out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by the end of the year, has yet to be released.”

In February 23, 2007 it was reported in Paris that trials showed that male circumcision more than halves the risk of HIV infection. The trials, conducted in Kenya and Uganda and earlier in South Africa, found that men who were uncircumcised were twice as likely to catch the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) compared with circumcised counterparts. The researchers have found that circumcision serves to protect the female partners of the tribes that were used in the studies. However it is clear that this did not take cognizance of sex between male and male where circumcision may not in fact impact the statistics.

In 2000 Robert Bailey of the University of Illinois, Chicago reported at the 13th International AIDS Conference about his studies of the Luo, a tribe of 3 million in Kenya who do not practice circumcision and who presented an unusually high percentage of HIV infection — around 30 percent in women and 25 percent in men. http://www.doh.gov.za/aids/docs/13conf00.html He joined other researchers at that time, saying it “may be time for health officials to think about promoting circumcision in Africa as a way of helping to prevent the spread of HIV. “ The data were so dramatic that the trials in Kenya and Uganda were apparently halted ahead of schedule, for it would have been ethically wrong to continue them.

Would promotion now in the US turn into more than mere promotion? Perhaps promotion per se is valuable as long as it serves an educational purpose, one that enables parents to use the information to make their own decision. However to what extent is the CDC required to “protect” society. If it makes its promotion more declaratory and possibly even mandatory in the same way as we are required to have certain immunizations.

I can only imagine the controversy if there were to be such a recommendation here in the USA, albeit at this late stage in the timeline of this research and these conclusions. Are we notoriously slow to protect the women in our society – to protect the female interest above the satisfaction of the male?

“Experts are also considering whether the surgery should be offered to adult heterosexual men whose sexual practices put them at high risk of infection. But they acknowledge that a circumcision drive in the United States would be unlikely to have a dramatic impact: the procedure does not seem to protect those at greatest risk here, men who have sex with men.” Again what about the women?

Till Newell and Marie-Louise Barnighausen calculate that in KwaZulu-Natal province, where HIV incidence is very high but circumcision rates very low, 35,000 new infections could have been prevented in 2007 alone if the 2.5 million men there had been circumcised.

Experts in asserting this as preventative for Africa say they implementing circumcision should be approached with caution, because of how different cultures perceive it – some as ritual into manhood whereas others see it as emasculating. http://www.aegis.com/NEWS/AFP/2007/AF070284.html

In the US however the cultural considerations are vastly different. One can only imagine that the controversy will revolve around the comfort and satisfaction of the young man, the impact on him later and the ideal that perhaps he would consider circumcision of his own accord as a choice when he is older.

Rabin reflects on the fact that in the US circumcision rates have fallen in part because the American Academy of Pediatrics, in setting the guidelines for infant care, has not endorsed routine circumcision. “Its policy has said that circumcision is “not essential to the child’s current well-being,” and as a result, many state Medicaid programs do not cover the operation. The academy is revising its guidelines, however, and is likely to do away with the neutral tone in favor of a more encouraging policy stating that circumcision has health benefits even beyond H.I.V. prevention, like reducing urinary tract infections for baby boys, said Dr. Michael Brady, a consultant to the American Academy of Pediatrics. “

I wonder how the anti-circumcision mothers would feel when it comes to weighing up their son’s satisfaction versus their daughters’ safety?

This is going to find an interesting path and maybe even something else to add to the healthcare debate. Who is going to pay? Surgery vs. AIDS Drugs…. ?

Blogged by MELANIE NATHAN, CEO of Private Courts, Inc. Consulting, mediation & private advocacy ; motivated by injustice, I blog about family law/mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com.

8/22/09-by Paula Brooks
Reports coming from Sweden are saying that a shortage of healthy sperm and a spike in demand from lesbian couples has caused a backlog of artificial insemination requests at Swedish fertility clinics, that is forcing couples seeking the procedure to look outside the country.

According to Sweden’s English language newspaper, The Local, the problem stems in part from a 2005 change in laws governing fertility treatment at Swedish hospitals. That change granted lesbian couples the right to receive fertility treatments that previously were only offered only to married women or those who were in registered heterosexual partnerships.

Inger Bryman, head of gynecology and reproductive medicine at Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska University Hospital said, “We had estimated an increase of around 25 couples per year after the law change. Now there are 90 couples in line.”

However, Swedish lesbians are not the only cause of the sperm shortages.

Swedish law allows children born from artificial insemination to learn their biological father’s identity once they turn 18. That fact has discouraged donors, thus adding to the crisis.

However, the major reason for the shortage say Swedish health officials is due to poor quality sperm, either related to deterioration while being frozen or to medical conditions.

Because all this, Bryman explained, the wait can be up to 18 months and her hospital is unable to comply with Sweden’s healthcare guarantee law, which says that patients must receive treatment within a reasonable amount of time and last spring, the hospital started an ad campaign to actively recruit new donors in an effort to reduce wait times.

With the sperm shortage, and wait times, many Swedish couples have now chosen to seek treatment in other countries, chiefly in Denmark or Finland.

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8/22/09-by Paula Brooks
President Obama announced Friday the launch of the National HIV/AIDS Community Discussions, a series of events to be held across the country beginning with an event being held in Atlanta to be held next week as part of a larger National HIV Prevention Conference that started yesterday and that will run through Wednesday.

These events, hosted by the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) will offer the public a chance to provide input as the White House works to fulfill the President’s pledge to develop a National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS).

Obama said he believes that the country must re-focus national attention on the domestic epidemic and he has articulated three goals for the NHAS: reducing HIV incidence, increasing access to care and optimizing health outcomes, and reducing HIV-related health disparities. “HIV remains an serious challenge to the American people and I am committed to developing an effective National HIV/AIDS Strategy,” said President Obama in a press release.

The President also said the National HIV/AIDS Community Discussions will provide an opportunity for members of the public to give their input on how we can best address the issue of HIV/AIDS. “With the insights from communities across the country, we will have a strategy that is focused on the goals of reducing HIV incidence, getting people living with HIV/AIDS into care and improving health outcomes,” said Obama.

There are more than 56,000 new HIV infections occurring in the United States each year, which works out to about one person every 9.5 minutes and about 1 in 5 people infected with HIV don’t even know they have the virus.

The White House said in a press release, the national HIV/AIDS community discussions are just one mechanism for engaging the American people and obtaining input. The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) will also provide input, and public comments submitted to the ONAP website will also be taken into consideration.

ONAP is part of the White House Domestic Policy Council and is tasked with coordinating the continuing efforts of the United States government to reduce the number of HIV infections across the U.S., and respond to the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Also according to the press release, other cities in which communities discussions will be held are: Washington, DC; New York, NY; San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles, CA; Houston, TX; Albuquerque, NM; Jackson, MS; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Minneapolis, MN; Columbia, SC; Puerto Rico; and the Virgin Islands.

Specific dates will be announced later said the White House.

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8/14/09 8:25 AM ET- by Paula Brooks

A recently done study by researchers at UCLA has found that nearly twice as many gay, lesbian and bisexual Californians sought mental health or substance abuse treatment last year than did straights.

The study, which looked at data from a survey of more than 2,000 Californians, found 48.5 percent of gay, lesbian or bisexual individuals said they received treatment during the past year, as opposed with 22.5 percent of heterosexuals.

The study also found that lesbians and bisexual women were most likely to seek treatment while heterosexual men are the least likely to look for help.

“It is well known that health services utilization is greater among women generally. Here we have shown that minority sexual orientation is also an important consideration. Lesbians and bisexual women appear to be approximately twice as likely as heterosexual women to report having received recent treatment for mental health or substance use disorders,” Researcher Susan Cochran said in a news release.

The researchers speculate the increased use of healthcare might be the result of higher exposure to discrimination, violence and other stressful life events.

“The pervasive and historically rooted societal pathologizing of homosexuality may contribute to this propensity for treatment by construing homosexuality and issues associated with it as mental health problems,” Cochran added.

Other studies have shown that LGBT young face daily threats to their mental and physical health, that range from anti-gay taunts to beatings in their schools and communities. Research indicates that 31 percent of gay youth were threatened or injured at school in just the last year.

Also because of a lack of safe places to socialize, the LGBT community has in the past had to rely on gay and lesbian bars as a place to meet potential friends and partners.

The study appears in the current issue BMC Psychiatry

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A 22-year-old ban that has prohibited individuals testing positive for HIV from immigrating or traveling to the U.S. may be lifted according to sources at the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are currently seeking public comment through Aug. 17 on the proposal, which would remove HIV from the list of diseases that can bar entry to the United States and do away with HIV testing as part of medical exams for permanent residence and travel visas.

“We’re trying to end the stigma and the discriminatory practice for a disease that doesn’t warrant exclusion for coming into this country,” said the director of the CDC’s division of global migration and quarantine, Dr. Martin Cetron. “We have to appreciate this is not a threat we face from abroad.”

While Dr Cetron acknowledged, “HIV is clearly a public health disease of significance,” he added that simply letting somebody with HIV into the country does not “immediately pose a risk to the public.

So far the reaction to lifting the ban on the CDC’s comment board has been mixed, and critics of the proposed regulation change are expressing concern about the cost of lifting the ban or that infected immigrants and travelers could spread the disease.

Image via Wikipedia

Senator John Kerry D-MA, a key supporter of the proposal to remove the ban, said in a statement, “I sincerely hope we can continue to work in a bipartisan manner with the help of the public health, religious, LGBT and immigration groups to make this proposed rule final as soon as possible.”

The proposed change comes more than a year after Congress voted to repeal the 1987 restrictions on HIV-positive immigrants as part of a package of AIDS reforms proposed by former President George W. Bush.

About 1 million people immigrate to the United States each year, and about 6.6 million people visit using nonimmigrant visas, according to State Department statistics.

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Mike Wallace talks to President Ford, Judy Roberts (injured by the 1976 swine flu vaccine, paralyzed similar to Gardasil injury), Dr. David Sencer, Mary Tyler Moore, and others about the Swine Flu vaccine of 1976. The admitted lack of safety and informed consent to the public, even as TV ads frightened American citizens into getting the shot, is just plain shocking.

Do you think anything has changed today? Please take the information in this article to help you make an informed choice.

“60 MINUTES, Sunday Nov 4, 1979

“SWINE FLU”

MIKE WALLACE: The flu season is upon us. Which type will we worry about
this year, and what kind of shots will we be told to take? Remember the
swine flu scare of 1976? That was the year the U.S. government told us
all that swine flu could turn out to be a killer that could spread
across the nation, and Washington decided that every man, woman and
child in the nation should get a shot to prevent a nation-wide outbreak,
a pandemic.

Well 46 million of us obediently took the shot, and now 4,000 Americans
are claiming damages from Uncle Sam amounting to three and a half
billion dollars because of what happened when they took that shot. By
far the greatest number of the claims – two thirds of them are for
neurological damage, or even death, allegedly triggered by the flu shot.

We pick up the story back in 1976, when the threat posed by the swine
flu virus seemed very real indeed.

PRESIDENT GERALD FORD; This virus was the cause of a pandemic in 1918
and 1919 that resulted in over half a million deaths in the United
States, as well as 20 million deaths around the world.

WALLACE: Thus the U.S. government’s publicity machine was cranked into
action to urge all America to protect itself against the swine flu
menace. (Excerpt from TV commercial urging everyone to get a swine flu
shot.) One of those who did roll up her sleeve was Judy Roberts. She was
perfectly healthy, an active woman, when, in November of 1976, she took
her shot. Two weeks later, she says, she began to feel a numbness
starting up her legs.

JUDY ROBERTS: And I joked about it at that time. I said I’ll be numb to
the knees by Friday if this keeps up. By the following week, I was
totally paralyzed.”

Kathleen Sebellius is telling us now that they will begin testing in early August, and try to have the vaccine out by September/October. I just don’t think 4 to 8 weeks of testing merits the level of safety they claim. Also, they are recommending this for children who are very young, and who have proven to be in study after study the ones who have the worst reactions to these vaccinations. One study finds that children who recieve the seasonal flu shot are 3x more likely to be hospitalized for influenza. Consumer Health reports:

“Most children are vaccinated three times by the time they enter grade school, the first in infancy, the second before kindergarten and then re-vaccination before entering Grade 1. The accumulation of these vaccines is what is killing our children and suppressing their immune systems. Are children dying of vaccinations? Absolutely.”

Toxins found in vaccines include:

• Mercury (Thimerosal):

“Most parents blieve that mercury or Thimerosal is no longer present in vaccines, siince it became a concern several years ago.

However, Thimerosal is still present as a preservative in the influenza (flu) vaccine, often given to pregnant women and young children, and in some tetanus shots.”

• Aluminum:

“Several childhood immunizations contain aluminum, which helps to make the vaccine more effective. These vaccines include the DTaP vaccination, the hepatitis B vaccination, the HPV vaccination, and the Hib vaccination, all of which are given several times to babies under twelve months. Neil Z. Miller explains that “babies who follow the CDC immunization schedule are injected with nearly 5000 mcg (5mg!) of aluminum by 18 months of age” (Aluminum in Vaccines: A Neurological Gamble, PDF file, 2009).

This should raise some alarm, as Dr. Sears notes that “aluminum can build up to toxic levels in the bloodstream, bones and brain when injected.” Miller quotes the American Academy of Pediatrics, who say aluminum can interfere “with a variety of cellular and metabolic processes in the nervous system and in other tissues.” Miller notes that the CDC, WHO and FDA are aware of concerns connected with aluminum – but ignore this hazard in vaccines.”

• & More:

“The NVIC notes that vaccines may contain, in differing amounts depending on the vaccine, “lab altered viruses and bacteria; … formaldehyde; … monosodium glutamate (MSG); hydrochloric acid; hydrogen peroxide; lactose; gelatine; yeast protein; egg albumin; … antibiotics; unidentified contaminants.” These ingredients are present in vaccines in very small quantities. However, Dr. Sears notes that formaldehyde is carcinogenic and that MSG “can affect how the brain functions” and cause nerve tissue damage when injected.

Vaccines have been found to also be ineffective because the virus strain mutates by the time everyone gets the shot anyway. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has poured so much effort into getting the truth out about vaccines, I hope you’ll check out this article on Huffington Post.

“People will argue that ADEM is rare; that vaccines “only” caused PDD in Bailey; and that this was a legal and not scientific decision. The problem is we don’t know how prevalent ADEM is because we never looked; while “PDD” is interchangeable with “ASD” in the language of public health. And, the three cases that lost were also “legal” decisions.

Robert Kennedy, Jr. and I would love nothing more than to reassure parents that the nation’s current vaccine program is 100% safe for all kids, and that zero credible evidence has been presented to link vaccines with autism. But that simply isn’t true — as at least two court cases have found.”

Now that the WHO has moved us up to pandemic level six for swine flu the push for mass vaccinations is going to be ramped up. Before you make your decision on what’s best for you and your family, I hope you’ll check out this documentary: Vaccine Nation. This film, released in 2007, has run the gamut of awards including Best Documentary in ten different film festivals. This film isn’t a boring scientific study. I guarantee that it will grab you by the heart when you hear parent, after parent, after parent share their story. I truly feel that this is a film every parent should watch.

“

HOW TO BECOME ACTIVE

Published with Socialite. A Wordpress Plugin.

People, I am seriously begging you to legalize marijuana, asap. Do it now before California goes bankrupt. Do it before Mexico implodes under the weight of corruption caused by these maniacal drug cartels. We legalize weed, and bam, 3/4ths of their profit is gone. That will in one fell swoop accomplish more than the billions we’ve wasted on “the War on Drugs“. 20,000,000 Americans have been arrested since 1965 in the US. The cost of processing, trying, and incarcerating these non-violent offenders is astronomical, and completely unnecessary. And think about all the jobs it would create! An entirely new industry is exactly what we need to be able to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, cuz right now, we don’t even have boots.

People, thanks to the economic crisis, are finally waking up to the fact that we NEED to do this.

MSNBC Reports:

“For the most part, what we’ve seen over the past 20 years has been incremental,” said Norm Stamper, a former Seattle police chief now active with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. “What we’ve seen in the past six months is an explosion of activity, fresh thinking, bold statements and penetrating questions.”

Some examples:

• Numerous prominent political leaders, including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Mexican presidents, have suggested it is time for open debate on legalization.
• Lawmakers in at least three states are considering joining the 13 states that have legalized pot for medical purposes. Massachusetts voters last fall decided to decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of pot; there are now a dozen states that have taken such steps.
• In Congress, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., are among several lawmakers contending that marijuana decriminalization should be studied in re-examining what they deem to be failed U.S. drug policy. “Nothing should be off the table,” Webb said.
• National polls show close to half of American adults are now open to legalizing pot — a constituency encompassing today’s college students and the 60-something baby boomers who popularized the drug in their own youth. In California last month, a statewide Field Poll for the first time found 56 percent of voters supporting legalization.

That poll pleased California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat who introduced a bill in February to legalize marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol — taxing sales to adults while barring possession by anyone under 21. Ammiano hopes for a vote by early next year and contends the bill would generate up to $1.3 billion in revenue for his deficit-plagued state.”

Now there was less support than that for Prop 8, and I sure as hell can’t get married.

The state of California, the world’s 8th biggest economy, is going bankrupt (except a state can’t even file for bankcruptcy). Maybe if we move the state capitol to Wall Street we can get some help? It’s ridiculous that the Obama administration feels they have the right to blow billions on the car industry, just to drive them into 60% government ownership, but you can’t help California out with a lousy twenty four billion? You’ve got trillions for the banks, and nothing for the people of California? The administration thinks we can live without it, we’ll just have to cut some services. Yeah, like teachers, and healthcare. Just “services”, right? Nothing important.

David Cho, Brady Dennis and Karl Vick reported in The Washington Post:

California Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, warned last week that the state was “less than 50 days away from a meltdown of state government.”

While its fiscal crisis is severe, experts say the state is unlikely to default on what it owes, even if it runs out of cash. It can raise money through taxes and other means to assure repayment of its debt. Most likely are massive cuts in public services.

“After June 15th, every day of inaction jeopardizes our state’s solvency and our ability to pay schools and teachers and to keep hospitals and ERs open,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) said Friday.

Problems unique to California have made it hard for the state to find a way out of its crisis.”

So a unique way out of it makes the most sense! Check out these great organizations to find out how you can get involved. I am not exaggerating when I say that we need to save California, and this could do it. Hell, it could jumpstart our whole economy! Its the most American thing to do, be creative, be inginuitive. They do say that neccesity is the mother of invention, right? And hey, that hemp grower Thomas Jefferson did alright for us, don’t you think?

NORML

LEgalize.org

The national conversation about the dangers of medicating our children is heating up once again. Personally, I’ve always been wary of putting kids on drugs. Its just such a sensitive time for our bodies, and we’re growing so much, it just seems like an unnecessary risk to give these chemical cocktails to them. I mean, can you imagine growing up on pills from before you can even remember. Does that set you up to be dependent on Big Pharma for the rest of your life? Just my thoughts, I guess worries would be more correct to say.

This new study confuses me more than ever. The study shows a risk of sudden death because of really young kids taking these ADHD drugs, but then it says its not a reason to stop taking them. They say the test was too limited to be sure enough to stop the widespread use. While I definitely understand that no one should ever ever ever suddenly stop taking a prescription, it does make you wonder how we got to this point in our culture. When I was growing up, I thought it was a big time faux-pa to drug your kid. Everybody I knew was pretty hard set against it. How did this change-over happen? Anyway, here’s some info on the study:

By Salynn Boyles @ WebMD Health News

Is the problem in the prescribing and monitoring?

“On November 17, 2008, on the popular Furious Seasons website, Philip Dawdy reported that Zyprexa had killed 3,455 people between 1997 and early 2008, based on a review of an FDA staff document with a summary of adverse events in the agency’s database.

From 1993 through the first three months of 2008, 1,207 children on Risperdal suffered serious adverse events, including 31 who died, according to a report in the November 18, 2008 New York Times.

The deaths included a 9-year-old child, receiving Risperdal for the unapproved use of ADHD, who suffered a stroke twelve days after starting the drug. At least 11 of the deaths were in children whose treatment was for an unapproved use.” ~By Evelyn Pringle at CounterPunch.

And what really struck me as I researched this was the number of kids in the Foster Care System on these drugs. In state after state the numbers were upwards of 50%.

AJC.com writes:

“Children and teens taking ADHD stimulant medications were seven times more likely to die suddenly than their peers, the study found.

“What we found — to our surprise — is that even if you take out confounding factors, the association between stimulant use and sudden death was still significant,” said study author Madelyn Gould, a professor of clinical epidemiology in psychiatry at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City. “I’m confident the association is real and significant, but it’s very rare.”

The researchers sifted through mortality data from 1985 through 1996, and found 564 cases of sudden death that occurred in children aged 7 to 19, and they compared them to 564 youths who had been killed as passengers in automobile accidents.

After ruling out factors such as a history of known cardiac problems; known causes of death, such as asthma or an accidental death; and other conditions, such as sickle cell anemia or cerebral palsy, Gould and her colleagues found only 10 sudden, unexplained deaths in children taking stimulant medications.

When they compared those 10 youths to age-matched controls who had died in car crashes, they found that the odds of sudden death were 7.4 times higher for children taking stimulant medications.

“Stimulants do increase blood pressure, and there have been reports of them changing heart rates,” noted Gould.

“This report is quite helpful,” said one of the authors of the accompanying editorial, Dr. Benedetto Vitiello, a psychiatrist and chief of the child and adolescent treatment intervention branch at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. “It rings a bell for everyone to be more attentive and less cavalier about the use of these drugs.”

And then In my research on the foster kids angle of this, I was horrified to see this headline on MSNBC: AIDS VACCINE Tested On Foster Children from back in ‘05. Obviously, there are some wolves in the healthcare industry who see these poor kids as defenseless guinea pigs.

“The research was conducted in at least seven states — Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Colorado and Texas — and involved more than four dozen different studies. The foster children ranged from infants to late teens, according to interviews and government records.

Several studies that enlisted foster children reported patients suffered side effects such as rashes, vomiting and sharp drops in infection-fighting blood cells as they tested antiretroviral drugs to suppress AIDS or other medicines to treat secondary infections.

In one study, researchers reported a “disturbing” higher death rate among children who took higher doses of a drug. That study was unable to determine a safe and effective dosage.”

Sick. How is it that there are scientists who can carry out this kind of experimentation? I just can’t imagine ever doing that to a child. This is certainly not the way to help kids. I think the real problem with the “Healthcare” Industry is that they really seem more interested in paying off corporations than helping patients.

Again, I want to make it abundantly clear that it is critically important not to stop use of any prescription suddenly. Always consult your doctor if you feel the need to step of the medication safely. Suddenly stopping can even prove to be fatal, so please, just take the time to educate yourself, and talk with your doctor.

“Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies.”~ Washington Post.

Mercury causes brain damage. I kind of figured somebody was saying something bad about corn syrup since all those adds saying how it was good for you and natural popped up. The FDA is a joke, and to prove it to yourself, here’s an experiment you can do at home:

“”Even at low levels methylmercury can harm the developing brain. The last thing we should intentionally do is add to it,” Wallinga added, in an MSNBC article also covering the story. I think we’ve seen the gutting of the FDA under the Bush administration, and we’re suffering the consequences. We should not be worrying about poison in our soda, salmonella in our tomatoes and spinach, and hormones in our milk.

Our way of creating, and safeguarding our food supply is changing dramatically day by day. Companies like Monsanto are now patenting living organisms, like the corn they are being forced to grow in Iraq. Monsanto, also an Obama supporter, has been destroying farmers around the world with their mutant GMO seed. Did you realize that you’ve probably already eaten Gentically modified food? Did you know they’re pushing hard just to get labels on beef from a GMO cow? I’ve got a container of organic milk in the fridge bragging right on the front label how there’s no cloned cow milk in it!

There is a lot to look into. But we all have a responsibility to ourselves, and our families to get involved in this issue. New laws are being written that hurt our agriculture, not help it. You can do something about it! Get in contact with your local representatives. I know we’re about to start knowing these guys on a first name basis, we have to contact them about so much stuff, but that’s what they’re there for!

Yesterday I participated on a media call regarding the release of the 3rd edition of HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index. The call was very informative and featured some of the high performers from the index. On the call was a transgendered person that ran into discrimination time and time again when interacting with doctors in the healthcare profession.

The press release from the Human Rights Campaign is below:

Report Shows Healthcare Industry Lags in Addressing Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Patients

Transgender community especially vulnerable to discrimination, says report issued by Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Gay and Lesbian Medical Association

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, the nation’s largest association of LGBT healthcare professionals, today released the third annual Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), a national report that sets benchmarks and highlights best practices in healthcare facility policies for LGBT Americans. The release coincides with the annual observance of National Hospital Week. To view the report, visit: www.hrc.org/HEI.

“While many facilities are leading the way in fairness for LGBT patients and their families, on the whole, the healthcare industry is failing to adequately address the needs of our community,” said Human Rights Campaign Foundation President Joe Solmonese. “But tools like the HEI can turn this trend around. By helping to remove barriers and create truly welcoming healthcare environments, we can build a stronger, healthier community.”

A key finding in the 2009 report is the dramatic disparity between the number of patient non-discrimination policies inclusive of sexual orientation and those inclusive of gender identity. Less than seven percent of participating facilities protect patients from discrimination based on gender identity, while nearly three-quarters of participants provide these protections based on sexual orientation. This finding is symptomatic of the healthcare discrimination faced by transgender Americans every day, from the explicit denial of healthcare services to insensitive remarks by medical staff.

“Tragically, the importance of protecting transgender patients and their families from healthcare discrimination is made clear to us time and time again when we hear stories of discrimination,” said transgender health advocate and HEI Advisory Council Member Dr. Rebecca Allison, a cardiologist practicing in Arizona. “As healthcare providers, we have the responsibility to ensure that all of our patients are given the culturally competent care they need and the respect they deserve. The policies and practices highlighted by the HEI provide a starting point for ensuring transgender competence.”

Ten of the 166 participants answered “yes” to each of the survey’s main criterion which applied to them, thereby establishing a set of model policies that will serve the entire healthcare industry. The participation of all facilities is appreciated and seen as indicative of a commitment to furthering healthcare equality for LGBT patients and employees.

“We believe the growing level of participation we’re seeing by hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country reflects a genuine interest in the healthcare industry to better understand and address the specific needs of LGBT patients.” said Jason Schneider, MD, President of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. “We’re encouraged by this level of participation, and believe that the HEI is moving the healthcare industry toward policies, standards, and training that will ensure equal treatment for the LGBT community.”

“We at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston are thrilled to have participated in the HEI survey in 2009, and we vigorously embrace the commitment to inclusion and diversity in healthcare that it embodies,” said Dr. Michael Gustafson, BWH’s senior vice president for Clinical Excellence. “And while we are proud of our perfect HEI score, we are equally gratified that the process of self-assessment has stimulated significant new quality improvement activity to further bolster our care policies and practices for both LGBT patients and our LGBT staff.”

Other key findings of the HEI include:

· Visitation Policies. The HEI survey has identified model visitation policies that are explicitly inclusive of the LGBT community. These model policies will set the standard for credit on these questions in the future.
· Advance Healthcare Directives. All HEI-participating facilities have compliance policies requiring the honoring of legally-valid advance healthcare directives. Unfortunately, LGBT individuals come forward with tragic stories of hospitals failing to recognize these directives, reflecting a disconnect between the existence of written policies and the actual implementation of these policies on the part of all personnel. Future HEI surveys will focus on staff training related to advance healthcare directives as a means to eliminating this disconnect.
· Cultural Competency Training. Seventy-two percent of participating facilities provide cultural competency training addressing sexual orientation and healthcare issues relevant to lesbian, gay and bisexual community. Seventy-one percent of participating facilities provide cultural competency training addressing gender identity and healthcare issues relevant to transgender community.
· Employment Non-Discrimination Policies. Ninety-eight percent of the participating facilities bar employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, while only 63 percent of those policies include “gender identity or expression” or “gender identity.”

The report is based on responses to an online survey, conducted October through December 2008, addressing patient non-discrimination and visitation policies; cultural competency training; recognition of legal documents between same-sex partners; and the protection of LGBT employees through fair employment policies. The responses in the HEI 2009 report represent the policies of 166 facilities from across the country, including 93 hospitals and 73 clinics.

“We thank the participating facilities for their willingness to review their policies affecting the LGBT community, and laud them for the remarkable work they’ve already done,” said Solmonese.

In addition to the report, the HRC Foundation is releasing a new resource for healthcare lawyers and administrators entitled, “Breaking Down Barriers: An Administrator’s Guide to State Law & Best Policy Practice for LGBT Healthcare Access.” Included in the document is an explanation of the issues most relevant to the equal treatment of the LGBT community, including hospital visitation access and medical decision-making rights. The document provides model policies and best practice recommendations, as well as a review of the hospital policies submitted by HEI participants and research into relevant state healthcare law. The document is available for download: http://www.hrc.org/issues/12668.htm.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association has been working since 1981 to ensure equality in healthcare for LGBT patients and healthcare providers, through advocacy, education, research and patient referrals.

Lezzymom has two kids and a wonderful partner. Her political commentary has appeared on C-Span and CSPAN.org. Visit her Lezzymom blog for more of her insights.

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• Hospitals and the Rights of Homosexual Couples (takepart.com)

We have just had one of the biggest doses of fear since the re-election campaign of George W. Bush.

Riots exploding in Europe, the economy continuing it’s endless plunge, air force one and fighter jets terrorizing New York? I mean what is going on here? And then this Swine Flu stuff on top of it?

Remember the old system of constant reporting the color code of terror all day every day? Remember: “We don’t know when it’s going to happen, but it’s going to happen!” Remember that? Now it’s: “This wasn’t the big one, but next fall we’re going to have the greatest crisis human kind has ever faced! It’s coming!”

I am not trying to be one of these fear mongers. I am not trying to scare you into buying something, or doing something for my benefit. I am simply trying to say that this company that makes this stuff is criminal, and should not be trusted.

The company that has requested to make the swine flu vaccine is called Baxter.  On March 6th 2009 multiple sources, including the Times of India, reported that they sent out the virus H5N1 to labs instead of a regular human flu in several different countries. The scientists who discovered this were shocked that they were shooting up their lab rats with a virus capable of mutating into a global killer, especially since they had already been using a human flu strain on them. That kind of cross contamination would have had grave consequences like… creating a virus like swine flu.

Baxter is supposedly under investigation for this by the WHO, but they do not seem all that concerned. It is, at the very least, criminally negligent. Do not trust these guys with your health, I’m telling you. Do not let them scare you into vaccinating your kids.

There is no current vaccine that will work against Swine Flu. That includes Tamiflu (which is being reported to cause severe mental disorders in teens).

If you go to the WHO website, they advise you:

The best scientific evidence available today is incomplete but suggests that seasonal vaccines will confer little or no protection against influenza A(H1N1).

All the hype to go get flu shots is nonsense. History does repeat itself.

In 1976, the first outbreak of Swine Flue killed just one person, but the vaccine killed twenty-five, and sickened thousands more. Don’t believe me? How about congressman Ron Paul, he’s in the government, he should know right?

In 2006 the UK  announced plans to inoculate every person in the country with Baxter’s vaccines in the event of a pandemic. Here in the states, they’re running mass inoculation practice drills on children in Alaska.

Please remember parents, that there is NO LAW that can require you to have your children shot up with this stuff. Do not be bullied. Do not be coerced by fear tactics, or threats. Make your own decision, and never let anyone make it for you.

Jenime is an artist living in the SF bay area. You can watch her musings and ravings any time by visiting her channel on YouTube.

Sick
Photo by ghindo

On my wellness blog, I talk about how you can introduce or avoid life experiences that can affect your health and overall state of wellness.

It can be easy to know what to do to get better if you have a health condition with visible symptoms. If you notice that your nose is a little stuffy you could relieve your symptoms with cold medicine, tissue, or a little steam. However, there are many people in society today that are facing the much more complicated task of relieving invisible symptoms. Whether you have visible or invisible symptoms, the result is the same – you don’t feel well. The difference with an invisible illness is that your symptoms are not visible to other people, which means that others usually assume that you are feeling well and expect you to live your life as such. For example, if you were facing a physical condition with visible symptoms such as a broken bone, people would see your cast and would not necessarily expect you to participate in social activities while you were ill. When you are facing a physical condition with invisible symptoms such as arthritis, other people might see you as well and expect you to participate like normal. Anyone with an invisible illness would need to learn to communicate their needs more so than someone with a visible illness.

Many invisible illnesses are a chronic illness which means that they can become long term problems. Invisible illnesses can include:

- AutoImmune Disorders such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Rheumatoid arthritis.

- Chronic Pain from injuries.

- Dietary Disorders such as Diabetes, Metabolic syndrome, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

- Neurological Disabilities such as Multiple Sclerosis and Epilepsy.

- Psychiatric Disabilities such as Depression, Bipolar Disorder and Anxiety.

- Multiple Chemical Sensitivity or Food Allergies.

If you know anybody who may have one of these illnesses, or any other invisible illness, you might be aware of the challenges anyone with invisible disability might face.

You can read more about “invisible disability” here, but I can tell you from personal experience that the symptoms of many invisible illnesses can include pain, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, weakness, etc. Every invisible illness can have its own hallmark symptoms as well. Diabetics can experience shakes, cold sweats, nausea, etc. and Diabetes usually contributes to more invisible illness such as Heart Disease and Kidney Failure. Anxiety can lead to palpitations, hyperventilation, and fainting spells; and AutoImmune Disorders could subject you to more colds and the flu because of impaired immune function. Dealing with symptoms like this on a long term basis can lead to depression, yet another invisible illness. And because people don’t realize that you are ill, they might mistake the fact that you don’t feel well for being anti-social, cynical, or negative. Those of us who face invisible illness have a whole range of issues to confront besides the fact that we are ill.

This is why it’s comforting to know that there is support available for anyone with an invisible disability.

When I first realized that I had an invisible health condition there weren’t many resources available for me to learn how to manage my condition. I just knew that I had a bunch of symptoms and I didn’t feel good. On the outside everything looked fine, but on the inside I had pain, nausea, and felt weak. I seemed to catch every cold and flu that came around, plus had headaches and was chronically fatigued. My doctor tried many times over the years to prescribe me medication like birth control pills and anti-depressants. I just felt that I didn’t want to take a pill for my whole life, and I felt like I got sick without a pill I wanted to get better without one. I’ve done my homework to find out how to manage my condition the best that I can so that I can still function and participate in life. I still have my bad days, but there are more good days than bad now that I know how to manage my illness better. Of course I am going to discuss the different options there are for managing your health here on this blog; but I have found that there is a whole community of people with invisible illness that are looking for resources as well.

Here are some of the websites that I have found online that are dedicated to improving the lives of those with an invisible disability:

- The Invisible Disabilities Advocate and the IDA Stuffstore.

- The Invisible Chronic Illness Experience Organization

- The But You Don’t Look Sick Website

- MeetUp.com Chronic Illness MeetUp Groups

- Invisible Illness Week on MySpace

Plus you can visit Helium.com and read articles written by people like me who have an invisible disability.

It’s sure to be an interesting read, because it’s an interesting life! I never know how I am going to feel on any given day, so it’s hard to plan much in advance. I truly live my life day by day. Symptoms arise and I have to deal with them as they come. Over the years being ill has affected my education, my career, and my family life. Fortunately I have had the will to work with what I’ve got to live a good life. Google, WikiPedia, and Amazon have helped in the education department and I moved from working for others to working for myself so that I could control my own schedule. My family life is improving as they are more understanding of my illness and I am more understanding of how difficult it is for them to deal with me. Where there is a will, there is a way someone once said, and I took that to heart.

Having done research on invisible illness online, I know that there are others out there who are facing the same situation.

I want to encourage you to reach out to others with your condition and connect with your family and friends for support. Research your condition as much as possible and learn what you can do to alleviate symptoms with the least amount of medication as possible. There are many methods available to you to help you relieve your pain or ailment. I hope that you are able to find the resources that you need here on this blog, and I encourage you to read my post on emotional inputs and outlets. I’ve also put together a list of books from Amazon on invisible illness that you can find below.

You can also discuss this topic with other readers by visiting the Wellness is Wholeness Community. I hope that you were able to appreciate the information presented in this post, and I want to truly thank you for visiting this blog. I also want to take the time to encourage you to manage your expectations more when dealing with other people… you never know who might be facing an invisible illness. Thank you and stay well.

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her by visiting her page on MySpace.

Thanksgiving Day is fast approaching here in the U.S. and many of us are preparing for the holiday across the country.

This year, as the holiday approaches it’s been tough to navigate my emotions, it’s really been an up and down kind of year. I am the kind of person who is deeply affected by emotions, so much so that having a broken heart is enough to send me to the hospital. It’s not something I enjoy, but it is a fact about my personality. Facing this is mandatory as a mom, because not only do I need to be around for them physically, I have to be a role model on how to cope with life emotionally as well. My entire life has had its ups and downs, and I have found that taking on attitude of gratitude has helped me through the tough times tremendously.

During the winter holidays it’s even more important to hold onto that attitude of gratitude, at a time when temperatures drop, and most of us begin to stay indoors and isolated from others more often.

For me, this is the first Thanksgiving without my mother. She passed away two days after Gina and I got married this past summer. One of the things my mom passed on to me was a love of cooking, and feeding her family with full flavored dishes. Facing reality, there are some recipes of hers I will NEVER be able to duplicate… some of her inside cooking secrets she really did take with her to the grave. Instead of taking this as a downer, I laugh! LOL I smile thinking about how my mom would experiment with her food, and would never write her recipes down. She always measured by her taste – and you know what that did? It forced me to develop my own tastes! And now, I am looking forward to running around my kitchen this Thanksgiving, experimenting and trying to duplicate her stuffing and candied yams; with my children running around my feet, and the football game on the TV in the next room – much like she did. How grateful I am that I had a mother who showed me how to have a family, and how to fill their bellies with love.

It’s easy to let things get you down, and it’s hard to get out from under a depressed attitude.

Yet the answer to your grief is so simple! Just count your blessings, write a gratitude list, and find a way to be grateful for all experiences in your life. This doesn’t discount what you are feeling if you are feeling a bit down. Simply put, gratitude highlights the things in your life that should inspire you towards happiness. It’s very easy to focus on the things that we don’t like in our life, but all that really does is bring more of the same into your life. Focus on gratitude, (it feels good to be grateful!)and you will bring more things to be grateful for into your life instead!

Here are some quotes about gratitude that I like to keep in mind:

Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more. ~ Brother David Steindl-Rast

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful. ~ Buddha

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude. ~ Denis Waitley

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. ~ Cicero

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. ~ H. U. Westermayer

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. ~ Johannes A. Gaertner

You can find more quotes at WisdomQuotes.com, about gratitude and more.

Here is a funny video that I found on YouTube.

Have you heard of ‘The Happy Dance’?? Well this is ‘The Gratitude Dance’ and you are supposed to do it every day. ;o) Watch how it’s done…

Some more words of wisdom on gratitude…

“Thank God–every morning when you get up–that you have something to do which must be done, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you a hundred virtues which the idle never know.”
~ Charles Kingsley ~

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
~ Melody Beattie ~

“Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.”
~ Author Unknown ~

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
~ Epictetus ~

“The sun was shining in my eyes, and I could barely see
To do the necessary task that was allotted me.
Resentment of the vivid glow, I started to complain–
When all at once upon the air I heard the blindman’s cane.”
~ Earl Musselman ~

“You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.”
~ Sarah Ban Breathnach ~
Simple Abundance

“Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much. For on the smiles, the thanks we give, our little gestures of appreciation, our neighbors build their philosophy of life.”
~ A. J. Cronin ~

Those were from ColleensCorner.com where I also found this poem entitled
“Be Thankful”…

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.
~ Author Unknown ~

From Spirituality and Practice, here is some more information on HOW to be grateful and why you would want to be:

The Basic Practice
The spiritual practice of gratitude has been called a state of mind and a way of life. But we prefer to think of it as a grammar — an underlying structure that helps us construct and make sense out of our lives. The rules of this grammar cover all our activities. Its syntax reveals a system of relationships linking us to the divine and to every other part of the creation.

To learn the grammar of gratitude, practice saying “thank you” for happy and challenging experiences, for people, animals, things, art, memories, dreams. Count your blessings, and praise God*. Utter blessings, and express your appreciation to everything and everyone you encounter. By blessing, we are blessed.

Why This Practice May Be For You
The continuum of words related to gratitude go from greed and jealousy; through taking things for granted and feeling entitled; to appreciation, acceptance, and satisfaction. The practice of gratitude would be an appropriate prescription whichever one of the above describes your attitudes.

The rules of the grammar of gratitude are not as simple as they seem at first glance, however. For example, often instead of rejoicing in what we have, we greedily want something more, better, or different. We can’t be grateful because we are making comparisons and coveting other possibilities.

When this happens on a personal level, when it’s our ego that is dissatisfied, then we are ungrateful. But when we want something more, better, or different for the glory of God* or for the benefit of the community, this greed may be a manifestation of our devotion, our love, or our yearning for justice. And then we are grateful for these commitments.

*You might replace the idea of ‘God’ with the idea of ‘Source’, ‘Creator’, or other term representing your personal religious beliefs.

You can learn more about gratiude and being grateful from the books below…

Or for even more visit GoGratitude.com to join the Go Gratitude Experiment.

This year, I thought I would have a short list of things to be grateful for. When I stop thinking for a minute sometimes, and just feel grateful, it’s easy to see how irrelevant negative emotions are. Gratefulness is empowering, and if you are in the U.S. I suggest you take full advantage of the up and coming Thanksgiving holiday to practice finding things to be grateful for. I’m grateful for my family, my friends, and also I’m grateful for YOU! THANK YOU for reading this blog. I hope you enjoyed this post and keep the Attitude of Gratitude going strong! Happy Thanksgiving!

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her by visiting her page on MySpace.

I knew that I had PCOS before I knew I was a lesbian.

What I didn’t know when I read that article was how new the illness was to the medical world. None of my doctors put all of my symptoms together to discover a single cause. I had seen a cardiologist, urologist, and neurologist, when what I needed to diagnose me was a gynecologist! Fortunately much time has passed since then and people are taking this illness a little more seriously. I myself had to take this illness seriously as soon as I had my children. When I started to see my health decline I was especially worried for them. I fought for my health to be here for them and I had to do my homework to figure out how to keep this illness from impacting my family life in a negative way.

During my research on PCOS I was astonished to find that the 32% of heterosexual women have polycystic ovaries but in lesbian women the occurrence is a whopping 80%!!!(article)

Eighty percent is pretty darn close to one hundred percent in my book! That’s a lot of lesbians with polycystic ovaries!! Are you a lesbian? Do you have polycystic ovaries?? If so, you could also have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. The studies show that 14% of the heterosexual women in their study had PCOS, while lesbian women in the study with PCOS were a drastically higher 38%.

Here is what the U.S. Department of Health Women’s Health website has to say about PCOS:

Polycystic ovary syndrome can affect a woman’s menstrual cycle, ability to have children, hormones, heart, blood vessels, and appearance. About one in ten women of childbearing age has PCOS. PCOS is the most common cause of female infertility (not being able to get pregnant). The cause of PCOS is unknown. Women with PCOS tend to have a mother or sister with PCOS. Researchers also think insulin could be linked to PCOS. For many women with PCOS, their bodies have problems using insulin so that too much insulin is in the body. Excess insulin appears to increase production of androgen. This hormone is made in fat cells, the ovaries, and the adrenal gland. Levels of androgen that are higher than normal can lead to acne, excessive hair growth, weight gain, and problems with ovulation.

Here is a list of common symptoms of Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome:

-Irregular or No Periods and/or Irregular Bleeding

- Weight Gain and/or The Inability to Lose Weight

If you are a lesbian, you have a high likelihood of developing PCOS!

If you find that you are suffering from some of the above mentioned symptoms, don’t be like me – do something about it now, don’t put it off! Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome can lead to other health problems as well such as High Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, Thyroid Problems, Insulin Resistance, and/or Type 2 Diabetes. Fifty percent of women with PCOS will develop Type 2 Diabetes which in turn can lead to Cardiovascular Disease, Kidney Failure, Vision Loss, Circulation Problems, and Liver Damage. Plus, women with PCOS are at a higher risk for Endometrial Cancer, Heart Attack, and Stroke… gee, doesn’t this all sound so sexy???

If you are facing these symptoms, see your gynecologist ASAP to develop a program for you that will tackle this illness head on.

There is no cure for Polycystic Ovaries, but you can manage your symptoms and reduce the risks for developing more serious illnesses later on. One of the most important goals in treatment should be to have a regular period each month. When you have PCOS, the fundamental problem is that regular ovulation does not occur and most time you can find that there are cysts on your ovaries. These seem to be eggs that were not able to fully leave the ovary like with normal ovulation. This triggers a domino effect because then you don’t have your period, your hormones get out of whack, and it triggers symptoms throughout your body which are basically a response to the imbalance of hormones in the body. Not having your period once in a while, say during pregnancy, is okay. But if you are going years with irregular or missing periods, this contributes to the thickening of your vaginal walls – thus the increased risk for Endometrial Cancer. (I know I know – more sexxy talk!)

Seriously my friends, if you (or a woman you know) is facing the possibility of PCOS you have to become aware of this!

Studies are now showing that women with PCOS are highly likely to have a mother or sister with PCOS. My family history will show that my maternal grandmother (who died at age 37) had ovarian cysts. She died from an aneurysm, and also had severe migraines and vision loss in one eye. My mother passed away at a young age 52, and had been plagued with medical problems her whole life. I can recall her losing pregnancies when I was growing up and basically being sick every day of her life. She was on dialysis and eventually died from the cardiovascular disease that was a result of her diabetes. I have 4 sisters as well with various medical concerns, and we all have our own form of female problems. All of these women – my grandmother, mother, myself and 4 sisters – have had to work within a medical world unaware of the big picture of PCOS. I myself was very diligent in getting care because my symptoms were pretty severe. I have had a lot of doctors look at me like I was an idiot and even tell me that I need to stop believing everything I read on the internet. (*LOL) Now things are different, and there is more comprehensive care; plus there is more research being done on PCOS as well.

This is how they found that there is link between PCOS and lesbians; the study was done between 2001 and 2003.

The findings that 80% of lesbian women in the study suffer from polycystic ovaries raised the question of whether this hormonal imbalance could contribute to our sexuality. I have had people ask me the probing question of why I think I am a lesbian, and I have to say that this is a whole new blog post, my friends! What I will say on this right now though, is that this for sure is an interesting line of questioning to pursue!! What I can contribute to this is that I have 4 sisters with female medical concerns, plus myself as well… and we are all gay. Well, I have one sister who has a husband but he is aware that she is a lover of women as well. (*wink) So that’s a fun fact for you that might make you wonder what’s really going on, just like I do! I mean, why do so many lesbians have cysts on their ovaries, and why are all my mother’s daughters lesbians?? Gotta be hormonal, no? This is just one of those things that make you go hmmmm…

In any case, that question will take it’s time to get answered and in the meantime I am here dealing with the fact that I am a lesbian with PCOS.

Like I mentioned above, there is no cure for this illness. The good news is that you can reduce your symptoms and manage your condition with some simple lifestyle changes. Remember that the main goal is to ovulate regularly, which you will know is happening when you have a regular menstrual cycle. There are a lot of different types of medication that a doctor can prescribe for you when you have PCOS. Some medications are for you to have a period, stop having your period, birth control, fertility pills, and/or diabetes medication. Sometimes you will need minor surgical procedures, alternative medicine treatments, and/or hormonal intervention.

If you do your own research on the internet you will find that PCOS is only the tip of the iceberg – there is also Auto Immune Syndrome, Metabolic Syndrome, and Insulin Resistance to look into as well. PCOS is a hormonal imbalance and hormones act like triggers for many functions in our body. When you have an imbalance of hormones it affects many different areas of your body. Every woman has a unique program they have to follow to achieve their desired results within their given circumstances.

Here are some things that you can do on your own to help manage your symptoms if you do have PCOS:

1. Recognize that you have what is called an “Invisible Illness”. Nobody can see that you are sick from the outside, including yourself. There is a lot going on under the surface that you have to be mindful of. Recognize that you have an illness and make your health a priority! (Read my article titled My Invisible Illness here.)

2. Make great efforts to reduce the amount of stress in your life! Stress reduction is a HUGE factor in balancing the hormones in your body because stress does its own hormonal damage aside from any you might experience as a result of PCOS. Stress + PCOS = Hormonal Havoc. Read more on the impact of stress in women here. (The most stressful period of my life was the years of going through a divorce and coming out as a lesbian – this was also when I had the most visits to the hospital!)

3. Get plenty of rest! Sleep has its own hormonal contribution to your health, so make sure to get enough of it. Changes in the way you sleep, how often and how long you sleep, and what time of day you sleep can disrupt your body’s chemistry so this is something to keep aware of. If I don’t get a good night of sleep, I will feel very sick in the morning. If I get a good night of sleep then I am okay. Part of the reason I started to get sick so often after having my first baby was because that was the end of a good nights sleep! For women with PCOS who have a baby to wake to each night, be sure to take the advice “Sleep when the baby sleeps”!

4. Diet and Exercise are important to everybody’s health, but to women with PCOS even more so. Insulin and sugar levels have a lot to do with how you feel and maintaining a balance is crucial! In all honesty there is no need to add sugar into our food at all, except out of pure love for a sweet taste. Avoiding processed and sugary foods is a smart thing for everybody to do! Women with PCOS have a greater interest in avoiding sugar since the consequences are so severe. We have to take it a step further and avoid any food item (even a natural unprocessed food item) that will raise our glucose levels. Watch out for anything that is high in carbs. I tell you, if I eat a too many potatoes or carrots I will get reeaalllly sleepy. Can anyone say sugar coma?? Focus on complex carbs which have more fiber such as whole-grain products. A simple change from white bread to wheat bread can make a significant difference in your health! Foods made with Splenda instead of sugar are a smarter choice and so is taking a daily multi-vitamin. In addition, exercise helps to lower blood sugar levels and even a small loss in body weight can make a woman’s cycle more regular.

5. Reduce the amount of environmental toxins you expose yourself to and drink plenty of water. In our current society we are practicing a lot of habits that man was not naturally intended to. There are so many man-made elements involved in our daily life that it’s easy to overlook the impact that they might have on us long term. The bottom line is that women with PCOS can benefit greatly from reducing their exposure to toxins in foods, the environment, and in the personal products that they use as well. Labeling laws are not in favor of the consumer, so I try to stay away from packaged food items in general, as much as I can. If you live near a store like Whole Foods or Trader Joes, that is a good place to start for more natural food items. I also purchase nature-based home and personal care products from a members only catalog online. I am starting to see products like these available in the stores more as well such as with Seventh Generation and Method brand household products. In addition, drinking plenty of water is a good way to flush some of the toxins from your body and replenish any fluids you may have lost throughout your day.

6. You might also want to look into alternative therapies for your symptoms. Holistic healing methods address illness through the whole body and can help to alleviate many symptoms. Detoxification, such as with detox foot pads, is something I encourage but you should discuss this with your doctor. Other ideas are daily meditation, deep tissue massage, and aromatherapy.

7. Take some time to work on YOU. The emotional side effects of PCOS are real. Dealing with the unattractive side effects of polycystic ovaries does a number on your self esteem and depression is common. Anxiety and the tendency to withdraw socially are common as well. To alleviate this you have to make the time to work on your appearance, talk to someone, have a picnic, go for a road trip, and basically enjoy life! If you can afford it, regular waxing and facials can be a big boost to your self esteem. Dancing is a great way to let off some steam and get in some cardio at the same time as well. Be creative and tap into your passions to find emotional outlets that work for you. Reach out to others and create a network of friends you can count on for support when you need it.

If you are a woman with PCOS, lesbian or straight, be sure to reach out for support and to learn from others who have the same condition.

Some websites where you can reach out to others with PCOS are:

PCOList.org – The Lavender List
PCOS.net
Daily Strength.org
Soul Cysters.net
Project PCOS

Plus you can visit the following websites for more information:

Lesbian Health Info.org
Insulite Labs
Women to Women
4Women.gov
Polycystic Ovaries.org
PCOS Info at MayoClinic.com
INCIID
PCOSupport
and
www.Hormone.org

You can also reach out to me as well!

I have another blog here on Blogger called Wellness is Wholeness (here) where I post about what I have learned on my journey towards health and wellness. Plus I keep my favorite health and wellness graphics in my MySpace photo album. There is a discussion group for this blog and for my wellness blog also where you can chat with other readers and with myself as well, links are at the bottom of each blog.

I’ve had my ups and downs with PCOS and can point you in the right direction if you are facing this same condition.

Whether you are a lesbian with PCOS, a straight woman with PCOS, or any woman who is facing infertility, I strongly suggest the lifestyle changes that I mentioned to you above. If you are dealing with an aggressive form of PCOS then you might have to take more drastic measures. I felt a lot of relief of my symptoms after I had a laparoscopy a few years ago, and have managed to avoid medication thus far. Not stressing out when life gets rough is a big factor as well. Like I said, each woman’s situation is unique so confer with your doctor to see what is best for you.

Thank you so much for reading this article on Lesbians and PCOS. I hope that this post has helped some of you, and brought some awareness to those of use who are dealing with PCOS. Take care until the next post and thank you again for reading!

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her by visiting her page on MySpace.

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We’re halfway into Breast Cancer Awareness Month… have you felt your boobies yet?

Studies show that early detection of breast cancer is important, so you might diagnose the illness while it is most treatable. If you don’t already, make it a point to take some time at least once a month to sit down and really “feel your boobies”. OK, so the campaign catch phrase is silly, but the purpose is extremely serious, double serious for lesbian couples. So seriously… feel your boobies on a regular basis. *wink*

Giving yourself a regular breast exam is the best way to stay on top of your breast health, and in charge of the factors that are within your control.

You alone can literally take your breast health into your own hands, and give yourself the gift of early detection. Breast cancer is something we don’t like to think about, it’s not a sunny day in the park. It is a reality though, and we have to face reality. Women get breast cancer and lesbian couples have two women at risk in their household so the chances are high that your life will be affected by this disease in some way. Get used to checking your breasts for changes, and visit your doctor for tests if you notice any abnormalities. For step by step instructions on “How to Do a Breast Self Exam”, visit this article on eHow.com.

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her by visiting her page on MySpace.