snarktastic

passed around by a coworker...

2009-06-03T18:26:59Z

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/06/03/nnaf_tiller/print.html

Helping the women Tiller can't

Money pours in to a memorial fund run by a group the doctor himself supported, just days before he died.

Lynn Harris

Jun. 03, 2009 |

"I am done with candlelight vigils," Gloria Feldt wrote at Salon in response to the murder -- no, assassination -- of Dr. George Tiller. You may well agree, as do I, that outrage and action in response to persistent, pernicious domestic terrorism should not be solely up to us.

But we do need a salutary outlet for our anger. And we do want to feel that we are helping, at least in a broad sense, the women whom Dr. Tiller no longer can. (We'll see if Dr. LeRoy Carhart -- yes, that Carhart -- will step in as well.)

And so, less than eight hours after Dr. Tiller's death -- in response to a flood of angry and anguished inquiries, and the resulting request from Tiller's own office -- the National Network of Abortion Funds created the George Tiller Memorial Abortion Fund. "We are honored to be entrusted with this duty," NNAF communications director Erin Kate Ryan told Broadsheet. "After all, this is what we do."

The NNAF is a network of grass-roots groups who raise money to directly help women who find themselves unable to pay for the abortions they need. The Tiller Fund, says NNAF executive director Stephanie Poggi, "will provide assistance to the same women Dr. Tiller served: women seeking abortions in their second trimesters, women facing extreme obstacles to abortion, and women who often must travel from their homes to obtain the abortion care they need." The fund will help cover the cost of the procedures as well as of travel and lodging, she added.

The fund raised $15,000 in its first 24 hours. And as of this morning, the total had reached $19,000 from 300 donors. That's not counting mail-in donations, those collected at Tuesday night's vigil in Philadelphia, or what appears to be forthcoming from a soldier in Iraq who, unable to donate online, e-mailed yesterday to find out what else he could do.

A generous donation from a venerable benefactor also came in via U.S. mail on Monday, the day after the shooting. It was $500 -- and it was sent, days before he was shot, by Dr. Tiller himself.

"[W]ithout financial assistance, the reality of fertility control for these poor women will remain an unfulfilled promise," Tiller had said in an 2003 interview for the NNAF newsletter. "The Network makes the world a better place to live, one woman at a time, by allowing her to decide the most fundamental decision of her life -- when to be a mother."

The doctor's own gift -- remarkably spooky, remarkably generous -- "makes clear that the Memorial Abortion Fund is a fitting tribute to this compassionate provider of critical abortion care," said Poggi.

If you're inspired, you may donate to the fund here. And for the love of God, may there never be a Dr. Carhart fund to match.

-- Lynn Harris

arksnay @ 2008-12-27T18:46:00

2008-12-27T23:46:42Z

Hey, NYCers, anyone want to have brunch or something tomorrow? Call me if yes.

protest against prop 8 on Wednesday night - anyone want to go?

2008-11-10T17:01:17Z

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/archives/2008/11/prop_8_protest.php

This is what it says, no discrimination against Mormon people implied:

LGBT New Yorkers and Straight Allies Please Join Us...

Wednesday, November 12, 6:30-8:00pm at New York Manhattan Mormon Temple, 125 Columbus Ave at 65th Street

Tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters are in the streets in California and Salt Lake City and around the country protesting the votes banning same-sex marriage in California. Join them! Make your voices heard right here in New York City.

We will tell the Mormon Church how we feel about its relentless campaign to condemn and control our lives. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was, by far, the biggest financer of California's heinous and hateful Proposition 8. The Mormon Church begged their members to donate money to Prop 8, pouring 20 million dollars into the campaign. And their attacks on us didn't start there and aren't about to end. They're plotting right now to bring their money and influence to bear against the LGBT community everywhere in this country, including trying to prevent marriage equality in New York.

PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION - BRING SIGNS -- ALERT THE MEDIA

arksnay @ 2008-11-07T19:26:00

2008-11-08T00:26:22Z

My parents will be here in an hour and I have to go three whole days without saying a word about politics. Give me strength.

arksnay @ 2008-11-05T00:47:00

2008-11-05T05:47:42Z

And south dakota defeated the abortion ban!!!

arksnay @ 2008-11-04T23:59:00

2008-11-05T04:59:20Z

Holy fucking shit.

ACLU action alert on the HHS regs

2008-08-25T20:47:51Z

https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=999&page=UserAction

All the cool kids are posting comments about the proposed HHS regulations. You can fill out the form on this page and it'll post automatically with the letter next to it. I'm sure all the big pro-choice organizations are doing these too. As soon as the NYCLU e-alert is out I'll post that as well, but in the meantime, here's our press release about it:

http://www.nyclu.org/node/1946

Whee.

and on a serious note...

2008-08-22T17:11:44Z

...check out this nonsense, courtesy of RH Reality Check:

Published on Reproductive Health | RHRealityCheck.org (http://www.rhrealitycheck.org)

Turning Backs on Patients: HHS Fails to Deliver on Contraception/Conscience Proposal

By Emily Douglas

Created Aug 21 2008 - 7:48pm

The Department of Health and Human Services today formally released proposed regulations [1] that Secretary Michael Leavitt claims are necessary to protect health care providers and institutions who decline to provide certain medical services because those services offend their "consciences."

After intense criticism in the mainstream media and from millions of Americans, HHS has removed an explicit redefinition of contraception as abortion from the regulation. In so doing, the agency may have created a much larger problem.

Unlike the draft version [2] leaked over a month ago, this version of the proposed rule [3] does not invite providers to decide for themselves when pregnancy begins, what an abortion is, what contraception does and give that provider's beliefs legal cover. But despite Secretary Leavitt's insistence [4] that "This regulation is not about contraception. It's about abortion and conscience," providers may need no specific invitation.

The regulations now read, "This lack of knowledge [of provider conscience law] within the health professions can be detrimental to conscience and other rights, particularly for individuals and entities with moral objections to abortion and other medical procedures." "Contraception" falls nicely into the category of "other medical procedures." Says the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association's Mary Jane Gallagher, "The proposed regulations, and Secretary Leavitt's public comments about them, leave the door open as to whether institutions and individuals can deny access to contraception."

The proposed regulations may no longer imply that state laws in California, Massachusetts, Illinois and elsewhere that require hospitals or pharmacies to dispense contraception and emergency contraception are the very problem they're seeking to address - as the leaked version of the regulations did. But that doesn't mean the regulations as written wouldn't undermine those laws anyway. Targeting "provider conscience" can be a shell game for attacking access to contraception and abortion if contraception and abortion are what providers' consciences are telling them not to provide. "While the rules are not identical to the draft proposal being circulated by HHS last month, the agency...interprets existing conscientious objection laws so broadly that it could result in women not receiving information they need to make informed healthcare decisions," notes the Center for Reproductive Rights.

At first blush, the new regulation may appear simply to create a certification process -- at a taxpayer cost of $44 million -- that requires providers to sign their compliance with existing provider conscience law, but it may in fact extend the reach of current law. Worrisome provisions proliferate in the new regulations - for instance, that referral for services, or indeed any information about the services being denied - is not required of those conscience-bound providers.

The regulations also seem to expand the definition of just who provides health care services. The Department claims that it wants to define this "broadly," and will include those who do not provide but would assist in the provision of services, including nurses but also those who, for example, "clean the instruments" used for a procedure. What's next, those who stock the antiseptic ointment? Receptionists who make the appointments?

Perhaps most troublingly, the "other medical procedures" cited in the regs could, of course, extend far beyond abortion, contraception, or anything having to do with women and reproduction. Could physicians morally object to providing services to lesbians seeking infertility treatment (as the California Supreme Court ruling recently declared they couldn't)? Could they object to serving IV drug users seeking HIV testing? What about a Scientologist pharmacist asked to fill a prescription for Zoloft? While the proposed regulation takes into careful account provider conscience, no provision is made for protecting patients' care.

In fact, one has to ask where in these regulations a patient's conscience is ever considered. The proposed regulations suggest that health care providers or "entities" (inclusive of individuals, institutions, organizations) won't even be required to refer a patient to another provider who would provide care. How will patients be able to trust that they are getting accurate medical information? By not requiring referral, the proposed regulations could mean that a rape survivor in search of emergency contraception could not only be denied service, but does not have any right to be told where she might be able to obtain this legal service."This draconian regulation means that women can be refused care and information by the very people they trust to provide it," says President of the National Partnership for Women and Families Debra Ness. "It undermines the doctor-patient relationship because women will now have to question whether their health care providers are giving them complete and unbiased information, and the best care possible."

In the month since the draft regulations were leaked, Secretary Leavitt has suggested repeatedly that the intention of the regulations was not to define abortion or contraception, but to narrowly address provider conscience. "[T]he issue I asked to be addressed in this regulation is not abortion or contraceptives, but the legal right medical practitioners have to practice according to their conscience and patients should be able to choose a doctor who has beliefs like his or hers. The Department is still contemplating if it will issue a regulation or not. If it does, it will be directly focused on the protection of practitioner conscience," he wrote on his personal blog [5] on August 11. But anyone concerned about whether, in a world of expanded protection for practitioner conscience, patients seeking care in accordance with their own consciences might be unable to access services, was left cold by the thought experiment that followed. Secretary Leavitt mused: "Is the fear here that so many doctors will refuse that it will somehow make it difficult for a woman to get an abortion? That hasn't happened, but what if it did? Wouldn't that be an important and legitimate social statement?"

The regulations are now open for 30 days of public comment, and must be finalized before becoming law.

arksnay @ 2008-07-21T14:12:00

2008-07-21T18:18:56Z

Hooooly crap, I'm currently on a conference call about this bullshit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/washington/15rule.html?_r=3&ref=us&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/07/15/hhs-moves-define-contraception-abortion

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/emailphotos/pdf/HHS-45-CFR.pdf

Have you heard about this? What is this world?

another amazing recipe

2008-06-22T20:21:56Z

(Sorry to post nothing but recipes lately...)

Grill sliced yellow squash (homegrown) and Spanish onions (not homegrown) over charcoal.

Sautee lambsquarter leaves (homegrown) with olive oil and lemon. Mix with very darkly roasted garlic.

Mix ricotta and parmesean cheese with egg and mix in the greens.

Press the cheesy greensy goodness onto individual cooked lasagna noodles. Top with alternating small slices of grilled squash and onion. Roll up.

Top each roll with lots of homemade pesto made with freshly picked basil and shredded mozzerella. Bake. Serve to stressed out crazy ladies.

arksnay @ 2008-06-01T21:26:00

2008-06-02T01:26:20Z

Holy shit, I was stupid today and got the worst sunburn I have had in years. This freaks me out a bit.

a good day

2008-05-26T14:43:00Z

Yesterday was close to the ideal weekend day.

I woke up without an alarm and lounged around listening to NPR and appreciating my lovely sheets for awhile. Got up and breakfasted on good coffee and one of Mawrter's oatmeal bacon cheddar scones (delicious AND I wasn't hungry again until 5).

Spent a lot of the day doing tiring apartment things, including the insane yet satisfying task of washing my windows inside and out. Put various things in the garden to make plants grow better, birds land somewhere else and ants die.

Put henna on my head and knitted a very beautiful object for one of you for an hour while my hair turned a super sexy color of red.

Met Jill in the city and had dinner in a dim, lovely Belgian restaurant with the setting sun shining in the open door. I had velvety tomato pesto soup and a salad with smoked duck.

Took Jill's delightful dogs for a long walk then hung out at her place watching The Diving Bell and the Butterfly while doing more knitting. (Although it's a bit difficult to knit in a new stitch qhile reading subtitles.)

Went home and blissfully slept.

Ahhhhhhhh.

garden madness

2008-05-08T16:27:14Z

Whoa. So any of you who have been in my garden or talked to me about it know that it has always been kind of shady, and one reason it was kind of shady was that there was a gigantic humongous tree in the yard next door.

Well, yesterday at 7:30 AM I was woken up by a group of people with chainsaws and ropes and a wood chipper, who, remarkably efficiently, completely obliterated the gigantic humongous tree. I suddenly have this super sunny garden space! I can do things like grow chili peppers, potentially! Woo hoo! But I think that some of my plants that were only under control because they didn't get enough light are going to explode. Y'all should be prepared to be handed a lot of vegetables this summer...

let me pick your brains...

2008-05-02T16:51:52Z

...who knows any songs, preferably by indie type artists, that are specifically about being pro-choice? Anyone? Anyone? We're drawing a blank here.

arksnay @ 2008-03-03T12:22:00

2008-03-03T17:26:07Z

I seem to have been stricken with food poisoning after eating at a VEGAN RESTAURANT. How is that even possible? (I mean, I know it's possible, but I feel betrayed.)

I do NOT recommend food poisoning as a way to start your work week.

I do recommend seeing City of Men, a companion piece to City of God, which I saw right before the evil healthy food incident.

planner woes and drinkin'

2008-01-27T19:55:52Z

First, people who work in the city (or even people who don't) - what's a good place to have drinks after work with a bunch of people? It has to be kinda train accessible and not full of obnoxious stockbrokers. I want to have drinks with whoever can after work on Friday - BECAUSE I CAN! - but have historically been in remotest Queens during happy hour time.

Second, I had to leave my 2008 planner behind when I quit and need a new one, preferably one that's not klunky and ugly. I've been on a quest for a few days and can't find a single one! What's going on? The Strand is all out. Feeling hope that corporate badness could meet my needs, I went into the Union Square B&N while killing time before seeing Persepolis yesterday and asked if they had any planners, and they said no. I declared that that was crazy, and the information desk person looked all haughty and said, "Well, you shouldn't have procrastinated, then!"

I didn't plead my case, as that's a very silly reason to start an argument. But I ask you, what is a person expected to do if her planner is destroyed in a fire, or her cat pees on it, or she loses it, or she accidentally throws it in the river while trying to take out her aggressions on anti-feminist propaganda, and it's not early January? What then? Hmm?

(Please keep in mind that I've been giggling to myself as I write this, and I'm not actually all that up in arms about the lack of time management resources available in NYC.)

(Also, I'm not writing about leaving my job yet because it isn't real enough to write about yet.)

arksnay @ 2008-01-22T20:41:00

2008-01-23T01:35:54Z

Yep, I just left my landlord a voicemail saying I'm calling 311 if the heat isn't working tonight. Bastard.

More to say another time when my fingers aren't numb from cold.

arksnay @ 2008-01-12T14:35:00

2008-01-12T19:38:28Z

I'm going to start putting recipes I make up here, because I never write anything down and create these amazing things I can't replicate. So:

winter vegetable slaw

Coarsely grate and throw into a bowl:

Three tart apples, cored but with the skin on (toss with vinegar or lemon juice before adding other stuff)
Half of a small green cabbage
One small fennel bulb
One gigantic beet (peel it first)
One very small red onion

Peel and seed either half of a normal butternut squash or a whole tiny one. Coarsely grate that and spread it out on a cookie sheet or something. Sprinkle it with salt to draw out the bitterness. wait several minutes then pat dry with paper towels and throw in with everything else.

Mix this all up. Marvel at how beautiful and colorful and vitaminy it is and wonder whether your hands will still be pink tomorrow.

Press handfuls of this between paper towels if it's way too juicy, which mine was.

Mix a little garlic vinegar (I have this great one that's cider vinegar with garlic and brown sugar), lots of cracked pepper, a bit of lemon juice and a little honey dissolved in hot water. Toss all this stuff with it.

Taste it, shout hooray!, and adjust any flavors that need adjusting.

arksnay @ 2008-01-12T00:08:00

2008-01-12T05:12:51Z

Knitting can be challenging
when it's late at night
and you're on the N train
which is crowded with dodgy characters wearing nicely polished shoes
and you've just drunk a respectable amount of beer
and played funny video games from the eighties
with a friend you secretly love
who will clearly never love you, for many reasons
including your abysmal level of skill
at blowing up pretend spaceships that look like flying lobsters
and you needed to drink and blow up pretend spaceships in the first place
because you devoted your time at work today
to giving lovely and wonderful teenagers some news
that would make them feel sad and forsaken and weepy
which is the opposite of the effect you usually have on teenagers
and you are tired
and anyway you don't really know much about how to knit.

I am going to experiment with making some kind of slaw type thing including grated squash and grated beets. Sound good? I have high hopes but thought of this while drinking.

tell me stories

2008-01-07T16:08:19Z

I don't think I have ever quit a real (meaning not short-term and understood that people will stay awhile) job for reasons other than relocating or serious conflict. Have you?

If so, tell me about it. How did you handle making the break? How did your colleagues handle it? It you gave notice, what was the lame duck period like? How did you feel about the decision before and after?

I think the administrators at work are being absolute freaks about my leaving, but I don't know what's normal. Give me a basis for comparison?

holy crap!!!!!

2007-12-28T00:04:57Z

They called to offer me that job tonight! Oh my god!

My family doesn't completely understand what an insanely big deal this is yet, but I feel like running around screaming, or else throwing up, and I haven't decided which yet. I am about to have a month of feeling like a total traitor, but hopefully the outcome will be worth it?

Aaaaagh!

arksnay @ 2007-12-17T15:04:00

2007-12-17T19:58:12Z

Well, they called my references today.

arksnay @ 2007-12-09T14:57:00

2007-12-09T20:16:03Z

Last night I made an epic to-do list for today, most of which involved going to the city and buying things at despicable stores I normally avoid. By completing everything on this list I would have been done with *insert random winter holiday here* shopping for nearly all of my friends and all the people in my family who are not little kids.

And then I woke up, said something to my cat and found I sounded like James Earl Jones. And then I went across the street to get coffee and some other things and found I wanted to collapse with exhaustion by the time I returned. Apparently the cold I thought I was catching yesterday was real.

Poo. No efficient errand-running for me.

arksnay @ 2007-12-07T23:30:00

2007-12-08T04:24:29Z

I JUST GOT HOME FROM WORK. Ugh.

arksnay @ 2007-11-29T10:15:00

2007-11-29T15:10:19Z

Huh, Henry Hyde died.