Truffula Tuft

Everybody In, Nobody Out

I've been mostly ignoring what's happened to the health care reform bill. Once the substance was removed, we were left with months of posturing and semantics. Who has time to follow the ins and outs of that? It's very discouraging, but I got a bit of hopeful news in my box this morning:

"To ecstatic applause from health care advocates, the California Senate today breathed new life into national prospects for fundamental health reform by passing on a 22 to 14 vote a major bill to guarantee healthcare in the state through creating a Medicare for all system that would cover every Californian...
Read the rest here via Common Dreams

Obama in his State of the Union address, said

“But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.”

How about Single Payer, Mr. President? Single Payer Action is a direct action group still tirelessly working for this simple and practical solution.  You can join them here. Their slogan: We're building to 1,000,000 nationwide for single payer. Medicare for all. Everybody in. Nobody Out. Onward.

On another discouraging topic, namely the Supreme Court's recent sale of the government to corporations, Keith Oberman gives a scathing indictment of that decision in one of his special comments. He opens by describing the 1857 Court's Dredd-Scott decision that led to the Civil War, and remarks that the one made on 1/21/10 may have even more impact. He paints a horrible picture of the future under corporate rule. 

It's satisfiying to hear the way he shreds the folks that brought us this mess, but what ARE we going to do about it? As he puts it, this decision may have murdered of what's left of our democracy.

Peace,
Jen

Zentangles

Since the Supreme Court gave away the farm last week, I've been feeling as powerless and pissed off as I did in the bad old Bush days. I'm pretty sure the new ebay style "democracy" is not going to represent the interests of the people. But what the hell can we do about it?

One thing is to take better care of ourselves, on all levels, because there is less and less we can count on from anywhere beyond our neighbors, friends and family. On this note, I've been learning to meditate and trying to bring more meditative activities into my life. I recently learned to do walking meditation with a Vipassana monk that comes to my son's Tae Kwan Do studio on Sundays. It's easier for me than sitting meditation, where I almost always fall asleep. This is partly because I'm almost always sleep deprived, but also because wrestling my monkey mind into quiet is really hard.

Another thing I've been enjoying is this doodling meditation technique called Zentangle. Anyone who can put pen to paper can make one. Check out this Flickr group and another one to see some. There are many blogs and how-to videos out there about them. For something that is so simple, it's generated a lot of digital space.

You basically drawa simple shape - a circle, square, amorphous shape, then divide it up into 3 or 4 or 10 or however many pleasing shaped zones you want. Then you fill in the zones with patterns. Use nice paper and pens that feel good, or whatever you've got available. The important thing is, don't think about it too much (or at all). Just let your hand move and see what comes out, like automatic drawing.

I started doing it on the big whiteboard in the dining room that we use for homeschooling. The fact that it had to be wiped off on Friday for our movie club meeting made my attachment minimal. I added to it as I felt like it for 5 days, using different colors each time. My rules were 1. no repeated patterns and 2. don't plan before touching pen to board. Here's how it came out:

 

This week I've invited the family to participate and add pieces too.

peace,
Jen

Art and Real Life

A collection of links to share today. First some spiffy graphic design in the service of helping people understand important statistics.

Once a week, GOOD Magazine puts together what they call Transparencies, to show all kinds of data and compare things (pop culture, politics, history). No boring pie charts or bar graphs here. Might be useful for homeschooling and certainly good for 20 minutes distraction from what you're supposed to be doing. For example:

Comparing acreage used by the top retailers in the US (The biggest retailer in the world covers an area larger than Manhattan, can you guess who it is?); Comparing the first hundred days of the last 13 presidents includig Obama; Foods that might make you sick; and dozens more.

You can subscribe to get a weekly notice about the newest ones.

I'm a big fan of the radio news program Democracy Now. Amy Goodman is a national treasure. I especially enjoyed a segment she did last Friday. She spoke to Anna Deveare Smith, an actor and playwright who has interviewed hundreds of people — doctors and patients, celebrities and regular folks, Americans and people from around the world — about their struggles with illness, pain, mortality and the healthcare system. Ms. Smith then distilled the emotionally charged stories into her latest solo show, Let Me Down Easy. Watch the segment here (it's in the third part, starting at 39:50). Includes a few clips from the show. I hope to see the whole thing someday.

She says her show is an "exploration of the power of the body and the resilience of the human spirit, featuring first person accounts from a wide variety of sources". I love art that incorporates real life stories like that. It sounds like it goes way beyond all the "health care experts" we are being battered by elsewhere. The debate could use some depth.

Lastly some environmental art: Mater Matrix Mother and Medium is a "process-based temporary public art installation" by Seattle-based artist Mandy Greer. Last spring and summer she invited and taught the public to "tat" a 200 foot long river of recycled yards and fabrics. This funky, sparkley texture web of blue was then draped and woven into the trees of an urban forest. How cool it would be to come upon this while taking a walk through the woods. I wonder what the squirrels and birds thought?

Peace,
Jennifer

BPA in Your Beans

Mother Earth News had an eye-opening article this summer about the dangers of BPA  leaching into food and water. After researching it more I've stopped buying canned foods and you might want to consider doing the same.

Apparently the lining in most cans of food is a BPA based epoxy. This chemical has been linked to all kinds of health problems because it mimics the action of natural estrogen. Foreign estrogens (also known as xenoestrogens) can upset normal hormonal balance, stimulate the growth and development of reproductive tumors (breast, uterine, prostate), impair fertility, and disrupt pregnancy. It can cross the placenta to affect the fetus and get into breast milk. It has also been linked to hyperactivity in kids.

BPA is also found in many drinking containers (including SIGG bottles, more about this at the bottom of this post), bottle caps, plastic cutlery, plastic food storage containers, toys, dental sealants, some dental composites, water pipes, eyeglass lenses, and more. It is also in printer ink, newspapers and carbonless receipts. Most recycled paper contains BPA, including paper towels and paper used to contain food.

COCA COLA is not only defending BPA as safe but is lobbying and publicizing it's safety to prevent regulations restricting it's use.  And we believe that right?

Are you thinking "Oh hell, how am I going to make dinner without canned beans and tomato sauce? Is this one more thing I’m going to have to cook from scratch in all my copious amounts of free time?"?

Or "I'm trying to be healthy and drink more water but now my fancy expensive water bottle is poisoning me too?"

The Environmental Working Group tested 97 canned foods and found detectable levels of BPA in more than half of them. The highest concentrations were in canned meats, pasta and soups.

In September I wrote to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Eden Foods, Muir Glen, Amy's and EarthFare, asking if they had BPA in their cans. All but one (Eden Foods) replied that, yes, they did have BPA lined cans (Earthfare did not respond). Eden Food's beans do not have BPA in the cans, but their other products do.

Organic Grace has a list of several health food companies and their record on BPA in their cans. There are a few more starting to pop up with BPA free cans. Consumer pressure will really work here so I invite you to take action.

ACTION
Write to the companies that make the canned foods you usually buy and tell them you are concerned about BPA. Here are some contacts:
Amy's 
Whole Foods
Muir Glen 

Sample letter - copy or adapt freely:

Dear __________
There is an alarming article in the last issue of Mother Earth News, and another I just read from the Organic Consumers Association about high levels of BPA in canned foods. BPA is known to cause cancer and infertility and to disrupt pregnancy. I am very concerned about this. I have chosen your products in the past because of their healthy content but I will not buy canned foods from your company again until the BPA is taken out of the cans. Eden Foods has apparently found a way to can their beans without BPA. Perhaps you should follow their lead.
Sincerely, __________

WATER BOTTLES

I'm all for reusing things, but It's a good idea to discard water bottles that are scratched or clouded because most have BPA in them. SIGG is exchanging bottles purchased before August 2008 for new BPA free bottles. Details here. You must send yours back before 10/31/09.

peace,
Jennifer

Dawn Smith vs. CIGNA

Four years ago, Dawn Smith was diagnosed with a rare, but treatable brain tumor. CIGNA denied her

treatment for more than two years.

 

MoveOn.org took

up her cause and deluged them with calls and emails. Now they're changing their tune but still have never offered any explanation for all the previous denials or a guarantee that they'll approve the next step in her treatment.

Dawn came to Asheville on Saturday to tell her story. I didn't get to hear her but I wish I had. She set out from Atlanta five days ago for CIGNA's headquarters in Philadelphia to publicize her case. She's told her story in living rooms, coffee shops, and yesterday in front of a thousand-member congregation. She's sharing her journey on her blog  It Could Happen to Anyone.

MoveOn has created a petition to support Dawn and the many others like her that have been abused by big insurance companies. You can sign here

Read the blog and leave her a message of support. CIGNA was willing to reverse course when their actions were made public. Does that mean every person in a battle to get the health care they paid for has to have a blog and a speaking tour to get it?

Lots of opportunities for taking action on Health Care reform can be found at Universal Health Care ActionNetwork (a clearing house for many organization)

My preference is for a Single Payer plan. Learn more here

peace,
Jen

A Crazy Idea for Health Care

It's the first guest post ever, from my dear friend Maggie. She has a truly revolutionary idea to solve our health care crisis (those tea bag wavers might not go for it though).

Hey Friends,

So I woke up this morning with this crazy idea for our country. How about this: We each pay in something to a big pool, based on what we earn each year. You know, maybe one year we earn a lot of money, one year not so much, one year our expenses for our business are so high we pay in virtually nothing but the next we pay in more? Whatever it is, we pay in a percent with some adjustments for hard times. Maybe we could call this a "tax"? Yeah maybe we could call that an "income tax", how does that sound....pretty reasonable?

Then, we could use that money to pay for the things that we all need. You know, things likes roads to get around on and a group of people to stand by ready to help us if our house catches on fire or someone has a heart attack in our house or something. An emergency core of people standing ready to defend our country in case something really bad happens? Maybe we need some people to ride around in cars and make sure everyone is safe and that no one breaks into our house when we go out of town.

Of course we all would like someone with expertise to look at our children each year and help us determine if they are their healthiest, someone to help them when they're sick and treat us when our health fails, maybe some Dr.'s for that and some hospitals, yes we will definitely need some hospitals. You get the idea.

Anyway, if we all chipped in some for this stuff with our "taxes" (paid relative to what we have of course) that should be enough to make sure everyone can be covered for these things we all need. We'd probably need to decide on some people to help manage all of this and if we all decided there were some more things we really need (like maybe we decide that it is good for all of us to try to....I don't know "stop global warming" or something, we could pay in a little more.

What do you think?

Or, now here is another idea. We could just let everyone kind of decide for themeselves. Like, if you have a lot of money, you can kind of do what you want. You can build your own roads around town (you know just for your family and guests) and you can hire a group of people to stand outside your house to keep you safe. Of course you can hire the finest building inspectors etc. so that won't be a problem for you. You'll want a swimming pool of your own obviously and hopefully you can buy a portion of what some call Yosemite or Yellowstone or some place beautiful like that that you can go with your kids when you get the urge. The Grand Canyon is nice.

You can pay to see the best Dr.s and maybe you can even build a little hospital for your family and friends, just big enough so that you're not tempted to let anyone else use it? Stuff like that.

And if you don't have a lot of money? Hmmmm .....I guess......well... you'd just be screwed. But I don't know ......maybe that's better?

Maggie Baird

photo from Huffington Post via About.com

Public Option (?) Please

Have several blog posts in process that I can't seem to get to, but I want to share this video, in case you didn't get it already from MoveOn, and some thoughts on health care.

First - call Congress today - we need a Public Option in our health care system 202-224-3121

What the heck IS the Public Option? I couldn't tell you. The rhetoric is as thick as pea soup. I feel discouraged by Obama's backing off his campaign promises here. Is he just pandering to the Insurance Companies, so they don't give all their money to the Repubs next year? Where's that audacity Barack!?

Most public figures yakking about it are misleading at best. Does the Public Option include "government-run health care"?  Well, some talking heads include that, but usually with a gasp of horror. There are these co-op things. There are reforms of various sorts, and "preserving competition" and "triggers" and blah blah blah.

Paul Krugman has a useful summary in this blog post.

Here at our house we are on the "Eat right, don't do any dangerous sports, and pray we stay well" type of health insurance. Have been for 8 years. It's worked so far. Some may call me irresponsible. It's not a simple choice.

Here's the thing - nobody is suffering from lack of health insurance. The people in that video, and millions more are suffering from lack of health CARE. WHY does it all have to go through the f*#%$ed up insurance industry, who obviously care NOTHING for you or me, but only about keeping their cush jobs. Am I misunderstanding something? Isn't it obvious?

One idea that Obama put forth last night - that all Americans would be required by law to have health insurance (like mandatory auto insurance) made me shudder. Especially if there ends up being no Public Option. I may be forced to pay for expensive crappy insurance or be penalized!

Some politician's idea of what is affordable to me is not going to work. Honestly I cannot afford it. I could afford maybe 150/month max. The cheapest I could find last time I researched it 3 years ago, was 650/month for a truly crummy plan. Now we're older and everything cost 30% more on top of that. If I'm lucky it'll be 900.00 with a huge deductible and no coverage of anything I would actually use, except in a dire emergency. There is no way I can pay that.

I like Thom Hartmann' idea: Medicare Part E: Everybody

"No need to reinvent the wheel with this so-called "public option" that's a whole new program from the ground up. Medicare already exists. It works. Some people will like it, others won't - just like the Post Office versus FedEx analogy the President is so comfortable with.
...any American citizen can buy into the program at a rate to be set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which reflects the actual cost for us to buy into it. Thus, Medicare Part E would be revenue neutral!"

Simple and efficient. And probably impossible to rally Congress to, in the current climate of misrepresentation and pandering. But we can still hope.

Peace,
Jen

Swine Flu Vaccine Worries

I am worried about the swine flu vaccine. Homeschoolers are a little more "off the radar" but public schools are one of the first places they expect to do mass vaccinations, possibly mandatory. Whatever your thoughts on vaccines, it seems this one is very rushed and not adequately tested.

Dr. William Sears, attachment parenting advocate and author of "The Baby Book", has written about his worries about making the vaccine mandatory:

Now, what you can fret about is whether or not the government will make the vaccine mandatory. Not “mandatory” in the sense that all vaccines are “required,” but parents can sign a waiver. I’m talking about mandatory in that Child Protective Services will take your kids away, or hold you back while they force the shot on your child. Yeah, that would be something to worry about. So, write your senator now and put in your two cents. OR, don’t even worry about it until they decide whether or not it’s mandatory, but by then it will be too late to make your voice heard.

Having put that conspiracy on the table, I will offer one piece of reassuring news. The latest report I just got from the AAP discusses their anticipation that not everyone who is recommended to get the flu shot will go out and get it. That tells me they aren’t thinking “mandatory” yet. However, I’ve also seen reports that the government is thinking about making it absolutely mandatory. I don’t know whom to believe yet.

That is alarming to me, coming from the trusted Dr. Sears. Read the rest here.

Dr. Joseph Mercola (health activist and author) has written Swine Flu is NOT the Problem -- It is the Vaccine that May Harm or Kill You. I read his newsletters regularly. They are strident at times but based on fact.

The last one is from the NVIC (they call themselves the watchdogs of vaccine safety) "Swine Flu Vaccine: Will We Have A Choice?"

All of these articles recommend contacting our government officials sooner than later, and demanding protection of our right to opt out of vaccinations. I wrote a sample letter blow that you can copy freely.

Peace,
Jennifer

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Senator/Congressperson _____________

 

I am concerned about stories I read in the media on the possibility of mandatory vaccinations for H1N1 Swine flu. I have heard that the United States Emergency Medical Powers Acts and other legislation, including the Patriot Acts, provide for mandatory vaccination.  No exemptions (religious or otherwise) are provided. I want to retain all my rights to make my own health choices and I ask for your support in this.

According to the CDC and WHO vaccines produced for the potential Swine Flu pandemic will not have been tested in any meaningful way by late 2009. They contain potentially dangerous substances like the oil-based adjuvant squalene.

 

Many trusted physicians, including Dr. William Sears, Dr. Joseph Mercola, and Dr. Ron Paul, have warned about the dangers of forced vaccination and the ineffectiveness of such measures to stop infectious disease. Their independent medical opinions must be given great weight. Please commit to protecting citizens rights to opt out of vaccinations, and to hold hearings to evaluate the true status of the pandemic threat and treatment safety.

 

Thank you,

 

______